Hello Australia!! - A former UN Secretary-General has died - The government pumps more money into drought recovery - If Democracy is allowed, Brazil's government is in for a rebuke - And more in your CareerSpot Global News Briefs:

Former UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan has died at the age of 80 after a short illness in hospital in Bern, Switzerland in the early hours of Saturday.  His wife, Nane, and three children Ama, Kojo, and Nina, were by his side.  Hailing from Ghana, Mr. Annan was the United Nations' seventh Secretary-General, serving two terms between 1997 and 2006 and receiving the Nobel peace prize for his humanitarian work jointly with the UN in 2001.  Earlier this year he told the BBC: "The UN can be improved, it is not perfect but if it didn't exist you would have to create it," adding, "I am a stubborn optimist, I was born an optimist and will remain an optimist."

The Federal Government is planning to dramatically increase funding to drought-stricken communities, in an acknowledgement that the situation in the east is more dire than earlier believed.  The ABC reports the cabinet signed off on this last week, and Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull will announce the funding is being increased to $1.8 Billion in an appearance in Forbes, NSW.  The Coalition is also expected to appoint retired army Major General Stephen Day to the position of national drought coordinator.

If Brazil's general elections were held today, former President Dilma Rousseff would win the the senate seat representing the state of Minas Gerais.  Ms. Rousseff was removed from the presidency by what many consider to be a parliamentary coup, on charges that even her detractors admit were not crimes nor impeachable offenses.  Her political mentor former President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva still leads the polls for president despite being jailed on corruption charges supporters claim are trumped-up to prevent him from returning to office.  The Workers' Party (PT) is calling on the non-elected conservative government to heed the decision from the United Nation's Human Rights Committee which demanded Lula be allowed to run in the October election.

The death toll in the Italian bridge collapse rose to 43 lives lost on Saturday:  A Romanian truck driver who was described as the most severely injured  died in hospital of severe cranial and chest injuries.  Earlier, rescuers found four more bodies in the thousands of tons of twisted metal and broken concrete that used to be the Ponte Morandi in Genoa.  It's believed these were the last four people still missing.  Government officials tried to console the families taking part in the state funeral for victims, but there is much anger and finger-pointing going on in and among the government, and from the families that chose not to take part in official mourning.

Qatar is accusing Saudi Arabia of blocking its citizens from taking part in the Hajj, the annual Muslim pilgrimage to Mecca.  The Qatar National Human Rights Committee said Saudi Arabia had shut down the system used by travel agencies to obtain permits.  The Saudis deny the allegation and accuse Qatar of politicizing the religious festival.  The two countries have been butting heads since June of last year, when Saudi Arabia closed the border, reportedly planned an invasion, and accused Qatar of sponsoring terrorism; skeptics believe the new Saudi government was in reality more offended by Qatar's Al Jazeera news channel which exposed abuses inside the oil kingdom.