Hello Australia!! - Chemical weapons inspectors finally go to work in Syria - Julie Bishop is cautious on North Korea - India takes a hard line on child rapists - And more in your your CareerSpot Global News Briefs:

Syrian and Russian forces finally allowed a team from the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) to travel to the town of Douma and collected samples and other evidence of the suspected chemical weapon attack on 7 April that killed dozens of people.  The samples will be sent to the OPCW Lab outside The Hague, and then analyzed by designated labs.  While OPCW team was delayed, the Syrian and Russian governments proliferated different conspiracy theories who might have attacked the town, which at the time was controlled by rebel forces opposed to President Bashar al-Assad - but the West has maintained that Assad was responsible and launched an incredibly questionable missile attack on him last weekend in retaliation.

The United Nations Security Council held a rare meeting out of New York City at a remote farm in Sweden to talk about ways to end the Syrian crisis.  Ordinarily, the Secretary-General and Ambassadors would hold a retreat in upstate New York.  The location - former UN Secretary-General Dag Hammarskjold's old summer house - is hoped to help members get past current divisions and inject new momentum to the process.  "It's important for the council's credibility," said Sweden's deputy UN ambassador Carl Skau.  The discussions ruled out a military solution.

World leaders are welcoming North Korea's announcement that it would halt missile and nuclear weapon testing, although Australian Foreign Minister Julie Bishop is cautious: "In the past North Korea has made promises and then failed to honor them, so we need to see verifiable steps that it will abandon its nuclear weapons and ballistic missile programs," she said in London while attending the Commonwealth Heads of Government meeting.  Japan and Germany echoed the need for verification.  Pyongyang made the announcement in what looks to be a concession ahead of a possible meeting between Kim Jong-un and Donald Trump.

At least ten people have been killed in violence in Nicaragua, where opposition is growing to the government's pension reform plan, which would increase contributions but reduce payouts.  Vice-President Rosario Murillo - who is also first lady to President Daniel Ortega - claimed to be willing to negotiate and says "all subjects are on the table", but also compared the protesters to "vampires demanding blood to feed their political agenda".  Independent TV stations claims they were taken off the air for live coverage of the rioting.  The UN us cautioning Nicaragua to "comply with their international obligations to guarantee that people are able to freely express their rights of freedom of expression and freedom to peacefully assemble".

Fora second consecutive Saturday, tens of thousands of Hungarians took to the streets in Budapest to protest the disputed reelection of right-wing Prime Minister Viktor Orban.  The crowd marched through the city to a rally where speakers demanded a non-partisan public media.  The Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) said that media bias played a role in the campaign:  When Orban came to power in 2007, he set about turning the nation's public broadcasters into sycophantic mouthpieces for his government and xenophobic policies.

Protests show no sign of slowing on the streets of the Armenian capital, Yerevan.  Tens of thousands are calling for former President Serzh Sargsyan to step down as prime minister and demanding fresh parliamentary elections.  At least 230 people were arrested, according to police figures.  The protesters allege Sargsyan is amassing power as have other leaders of former Soviet countries who have turned to xenophobic, far right nationalism - all of the oppression of the old days with none of the public benefits like pensions, healthcare, or education.

India will prescribe the death penalty for people convicted of raping children younger than 12 years of age.  It comes after public criticism of Prime Minister Narendra Modi for allegedly not responding quickly enough after two high-profile crimes.