Hello Australia!! - The Palestinian leader rejects further US peace initiatives because of Trump - The US is humiliated by its own diplomats who are caught in lies and middle school "mean girl" nonsense - Fresh elections put Spain's secession crisis right back at square one - And more in your CareerSpot Global News Briefs:

The United Nations Security Council voted unanimously to punish North Korea for its intercontinental ballistic missile program by reducing the nation's petrol imports by up to 90 percent.  The fuel isn't just vital for everyday life in the hermit kingdom, but powers its missile and nuclear programs as well.  China and Russia - Pyongyang's only trading partners of consequence - voted for the resolution.  US Ambassador to the UN Nikki Haley said the sanctions sent an "unambiguous message to Pyongyang that further defiance will invite further punishments and isolation".

Earlier, Haley sent "friendship" invitations to countries that didn't vote for the UN General Assembly resolution condemning Donald Trump's' decision to recognize Jerusalem as the capital of Israel.  Yeah, you read that right.  Because international diplomacy can be handled by mean girl middle school tactics.  Only nine nations including the US and Israel voted against it, and some 35 other countries including Australia abstained from the vote.  So, I guess Julie Bishop gets to go to Nikki's house for milk and cookies, along with with representatives from tiny South Pacific and developing nations that are wholly dependent on US foreign aid.  The resolution passed by an commanding 128 votes - including from some of America's closest traditional allies.

Back in the adult world, French President Emmanuel Macron declared that the US had "marginalized itself" in the Middle East Peace Process because of Trump's Jerusalem declaration.  Hosting his Palestinian counterpart Mahmoud Abbas, Macron said: "The Americans have marginalised themselves and I am trying to not do the same thing."  Abbas was more blunt:  "The United States has proven to be a dishonest mediator in the peace process and we will no longer accept any plan from it," the Palestinian President said before praising France; "We have trust in you.  We respect the efforts made by you and we count heavily on your efforts," Abbas told Macron.

A journalist caught US Ambassador to The Netherlands Pete Hoekstra in a series of blatant and racist lies, and it's all on camera.  In 2015, then-US Congressman Hoekstra told a racist lie to an eager conservative audience, claiming that Muslims were "burning cars" and "burning politicians" in the Netherlands and had established "no go" zones where non-Muslims cannot enter.  Of course that's not true.  This week, reporter Wouter Zwart confronted Hoekstra who claimed he never said it and then labeled Zwart's claim as "fake news".  Zwart then showed the clip to the dense and soulless Hoekstra, who lied about denying it on camera just a few seconds earlier and lied about using the words "fake news" - again, which he did ON CAMERA.  That's the level of dishonesty an allied government can expect from dealing with Trump and his loyalists.

The separatists won Catalonia's snap election, dealing a blow to Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy's plans to end the secession crisis.  Rajoy is refusing to leave the country to negotiate with separatist leader Carles Puigdemont, who fled the country after the Madrid government cracked down on the separatist movement.  He had earlier agreed to talks with whichever party won the election, but now insists the the discussions take place in Spain - not Belgium, where Puigdemont is holed up. 

Peru President Pablo Kuczynski survived an impeachment vote over his dealings with the tainted Brazilian construction giant Odebrecht, which figures into pay-to-play scandals on four continents.  The 79-year old denied any wrongdoing and accused his opponents of attempting to stage a coup.

A South Korean court sentenced the head of the Lotte Corporation - one of the country's biggest "chaebol" financial dynasties, in which small families own huge corporations that control vast swaths of the national economy - to four years in prison for corruption.  But 96-year old dementia patient Shin Kyuk-ho will remain free while his lawyers appeal the sentence.  His eldest son was found not guilty, his other son and heir to the Lotte throne was given a 20-month suspended sentence, and his daughter got two years in prison.  Prosecutors are getting slightly tougher on chaebol corruption:  Earlier this year, Samsung's Jay Y. Lee was sentenced to five years in a pay-to-play scandal that sank former president Park Guen-hye.