Hello Australia!! - New South Wales braces for a potentially dangerous day - The racism bubbling at the surface of Bolivia's coup d'etat - A chilling warning in Hong Kong - And more in your CareerSpot Global News Briefs:

This is it:  Today is supposed to be the worst conditions for bushfires in New South Wales with a potentially disastrous combination of high temperatures, low humidity, and strong winds.  More than six million residents in the Greater Hunter, Greater Sydney, Illawarra, and Shoalhaven areas are under a Catastrophic Fire Alert, the first time that's been done in the heavily populated areas of NSW's east.  The NSW Rural Fire Service (RFS) is advising people whose homes aren't extremely well-prepared to leave now and don't wait for evacuation orders.  To keep up with the latest updates on the bushfires in New South Wales, check the NSW RFS website.  For information on the bushfires in Queensland, check the QLD RFS website.

Evo Morales resurfaced on Twitter, a day after being forced to resign as President of Bolivia in a coup d'etat.  He posted a video of his supporters gathering and denouncing the coup and said, "You never abandoned me and I will never abandon you," and, "The world and patriotic Bolivians will repudiate this coup."  There was intense violence and vandalism overnight, including by right-wingers invading and trashing Evo's home.  Racism was all over the place as cops and upper-class Bolivians burned and vandalized flags representing indigenous groups (Evo was the country's forst indigenous president).  Bolivians face a power vacuum, as Evo, his vice-president, and the head of the legislature were all forced to resign by the military.  A conservative opposition lawmaker, Jeanine Anez Chavez, is "offering" to run an interim government, which would be less obvious than the military, one might suppose.

Hong Kong leader Carrie Lam has labeled pro-democracy protesters "the people's enemy" after video showed a government supporter being set on fire - that man is now reportedly in a critical condition.  Another video showed a Hong Kong cop shooting a protester at close range, the third since June.  She warned the more raucous elements of the pro-democracy movement that using violence to extract concessions from the government "will not happen".  Meanwhile, the editor in chief of China's Global Times tabloid - which has reflected the view of Beijing's hardliners - warned encouraged Hong Kong police:  "You have the backing of not only Hong Kong and Chinese people, but also Chinese soldiers and People's Liberation Army in Hong Kong,” Hu Xijin wrote, "They can go into Hong Kong to provide support at any time."

Spain's Socialist party has won its fourth election in four years, but with a weakened majority that will make it more difficult to form a coalition.  The far-right Vox party came in third, but doubling its seats in the legislature.  The leader of Left-wing Podemos Pablo Iglesias, whose inability to form a coalition with the Socialists led to the latest early election lamented, "These elections have allowed the right to grow stronger and now we have an extreme right which is among the most powerful and strong in Europe."  And Europe's far-right is thrilled congratulating Vox on its larger platform to complain about immigrants and push extreme nationalism.

Turkey has launched an investigation after the death of the co-founder of the White Helmets, a group that performed search-and-rescue operations in opposition-controlled parts of Syria that had been bombed by government forces.  No cause of death was announced for James Le Mesurier, a former British military officer found in his office in Istanbul.  Some reports indicated he had recently required medical attention due to stress, and was using sleeping pills and antidepressants.

A video from Saudi Arabia's state security forces has labeled feminism, homosexuality, and atheism as extremist ideas, and declared that "all forms of extremism and perversion are unacceptable".  The development seems at odds with crown prince Muhammad's drive to present the oil kingdom as more tolerant than in the past, mostly to attract more foreign tourists and workers.

Almost on the other side of earth from hot, dry eastern Australia, unseasonable cold and snow settled in over Chicago and the US upper Midwest.  Which proved to be a problem for an American Airlines flight landing at Chicago's O'Hare airport:  The plane skidded off of the runway and into the grass infield, the wing touching the ground.  No one was seriously hurt.