Hello Australia!! - Kurds look for new allies after Trump's abandonment - Brazil girds for a rough ride - What was that blue light over New York City? - And more in your CareerSpot Global News Briefs:

Syrian troops are taking control of the key northern city of Manbij for the first time in six years; a government spokesman said they were there to "crush terrorism and defeat all invaders and occupiers".  This comes after Kurdish forces withdrew and invited government forces to return, in reaction to Turkey's threat to cross the border and attack.  Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan considers the US-backed Kurdish YPG forces to be part of a terrorist group, despite the incredible service that the YPG did for the world by wearing down the so-called Islamic State (IS).  This also follows Donald Trump's seemingly rash decision to withdraw US troops from Syria, and idea decried by US allies who say it could lead to a resurgence of IS.

A German member of the so-called Islamic State is facing life in prison for purchasing a five-year old girl as a slave in IS-occupied Mosul, Iraq in 2015 and allowing her to die while chained outside in the hot sun.  Authorities say "Jennifer W." went to Iraq to be an IS bride, and was a member of the terrorist group's "morality police", forcing local Iraqi women to wearing black burqas at threat of violent reprisals. 

Leading Israeli author Amos Oz is dead at age 79.  Oz was one of the country's widest read writers and the winner of several international literature prizes.  His best known work "A Tale of Love and Darkness" was turned into a film in 2015, directed by Natalie Portman.  Mr. Oz was also an early proponent of peace with the Palestinians and the two-state solution, which led some hard-liners to label him a traitor - "A badge of honor," he said.  In recent years, he shunned official functions and lobbed heavy criticism on the government of Benjamin Netanyahu for its "growing extremism".

New York City officials say the otherworldly teal-blue light that blanketed Queens and Manhattan last night was from an exploding power transformer at an electrical substation. 
Uhm, that's not normal...
New Yorkers noticed the lights flicker briefly at about 9:30 PM local time and the blue glow came from Queens at about the same time.  Oddly, there was no damage to surrounding homes and buildings.  There was sort of a mini-panic among some people who thought that aliens were arriving in spaceships, or the end was coming.  But, there can be only one explanation.
Actual documentary footage
Actual documentary footage
It was a transformer fire.  Absolutely, that's totally what it was. Check our partners Exycasinos.com and you will learn all you need to know about Australian online gambling. Casino top lists, gambling games strategies, bonuses overview - all can be found there. Every successful gambler should study and practise with no rest.

Brazil's Leftist parties will boycott the inauguration of far right Jair Bolsonaro as president on 1 January.  Bolsonaro has angered many with comments seen as homophobic, racist, and misogynist, as well as expressing nostalgia for Brazil's 1964-1985 fascist dictatorship.  But the Workers' Party, which governed between 2003 and 2016, the Socialists, and the Liberty Party are going to have a tough time of it, because after the last election they've been reduced to 75 of the 513 seats in Brazil's lower house.