Hello Australia!! - Fire races through a rave and authorities are bracing for a mass-casualties event - Trump trips on his own amateurism - It's now millions in the streets of Seoul calling for the president's ouster - And more in your CareerSpot Global News Briefs:

Fire ripped through an old warehouse near San Francisco, California, killing at least nine people - but authorities are bracing for as many as 40 - 50 fatalities because there are so many unaccounted for.  A rave featuring the DJ Golden Donna on the top floor attracted around 100 people.  This happened late Friday night in Oakland's Fruitvale neighborhood; the decrepit, old "Ghost Ship" warehouse was subdivided in several spaces used predominantly by artists and musicians.  But it also was the target of several complaints:  It is said that the stairway was made of stacked up old shipping pallets, and that garbage had been strewn about the property.  The investigation will determine if arson was the cause.

Beijing has filed a formal protest with the United States after incompetent US president-elect Donald Trump took a phone call from Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-wen - making it the first time in decades that a US leader has acknowledged direct contact with a Taiwanese leader.  Demonstrating that he is unable to grasp the nuances of international geopolitics, the orange toddler-in-chief tweeted, "Interesting how the US sells Taiwan billions of dollars of military equipment but I should not accept a congratulatory call" (hint, it's because of the US's complex and deep economic ties with China, where your suits are made, you moron).  Chiang Hai-shek and the Nationalists fled to Taiwan after losing the civil war to Mao Zedong's Communists in 1949 - Beijing regards Taiwan as a breakaway province that must eventually be reunited with the mainland.  

Thailand has arrested and charged a citizen under its strict less-majeste laws for the first time since the installation of King Maha Vajiralongkorn last week.  Thai cops picked up law student and anti-coup activist Jatupat Boonpattararaksa while he was attending a Buddhist ceremony.  They accuse him of sharing a BBC News article about the new king to social media.  The story included details of three marriages that ended in divorce and other material that cannot be published in the Thai news media.  Jatupat faces up to 15 years in prison if convicted.  Critics say the coup government is using the less-majeste laws to silence political dissent.

Seoul, South Korea's largest-ever crowd attended this weekend's protest calling for the resignation of President Park Geun-hye - at least 1.7 million, and greater than 2 million by some accounts.  Another 500,000 took part in protests in other cities.  Ms. Park has offered to resign once parliament sets forth an acceptable succession of power.  Prosecutors have charged a close friend and some close employees of influence peddling. 

Syrian government troops now control at least 50 percent of Aleppo, and expect to control the rest within three weeks.  The most recent district of Aleppo to fall back into government hands, Tariq al-Bab, had been under the rebels' control for four years prior.  Some 250,000 people remain trapped in besieged areas of the city.

A young chimpanzee has been repatriated to Africa from a zoo just a few kilometers from Mosul, where Iraqi troops are dislodging guerillas from the so-called Islamic state.  The four-year old named Manno had been illegally trafficked there shortly after birth, and given a diet of fruit, human soft drinks, and the occasional cigarette - and basically used as a selfie prop.  It has taken the United Nations' Great Apes Survival Partnership and a series of very hard working volunteers nearly three years to rescue Manno from the war zone and send him to Kenya's Ol Pejeta Conservancy.

Fidel Castro has come home to Santiago de Cuba.