Melbourne sure is livable! The most livable, you might say – Oz and Indonesia prepare to Spackle over relations damaged by spying revelations – Iceland might blow its top – And a lot more in your CareerSpot World News Briefs:

For the fourth year in a row, Melbourne has been named the World’s Most Livable City by the Economist Intelligence Unit’s livability survey of 140 cities.  The survey rated urban regions in such areas as healthcare, education, culture, et cetera.  Melbourne received an overall score of 97.5 out of 100, but nailed perfect ratings for healthcare, education and infrastructure.  Adelaide, Sydney and Perth also made the top 10. 

Foreign Minister Julie Bishop said Tuesday that she would soon fly to Jakarta soon to sign agreement that will heal a bilateral rift.   Diplomatic relations were seriously damaged by revelations from US intelligence leaker Edward Snowden that Australia had tapped the cell phones of the Indonesian president, his wife and eight Indonesian ministers and officials in 2009.  Indonesia insisted on the new code of conduct before normalizing relations and cooperating on intelligence and security issues.

Julian Assange is apparently getting ready to leave the Ecuadorean Embassy in London.  The Wikileaks founder has been holed up there for two years to duck extradition to Sweden on sex charges which he suspects are trumped up as an excuse to eventually extradite him to the United States. Investigations continue there into the disclosure of classified material to WikiLeaks, which was later published in the New York Times and other news organizations.

A giant saltwater crocodile has killed a fisherman in the Northern Territories.  His wife looked on helpless as he waded into the Adelaide River 60 kilometers outside of Darwin to untangle a line, and the croc took him.  This happened only a hundred meters from a well-known spot where tourists go to see the beasts propel themselves out of the water to snatch dangled hunks of meat.  The croc is well-known to tourists and wildlife officers as “Michael Jackson”, a rare half-albino, four and a half meters long.  Officers shot the reptile and recovered the man’s body later.  It’s believed to be the fourth fatal croc attack this year.

Kenya’s anti-terrorism unit is committing “horrendous” crimes “right under the noses: of the government.  Human Rights Watch says it has documented evidence of “at least 10 cases of killings, 10 cases of enforced disappearances, and 11 cases of mistreatment or harassment of terrorism suspects”, mostly in the capital Nairobi.  The US and UK provide the funding for that unit, which was formed after al Qaida bombed the US Embassies in Kenya and Tanzania.  Washington, London, and Nairobi are not commenting on the allegations.

India has cancelled a planned meeting of Foreign Secretaries with Pakistan, after Pakistan’s high commissioner in Delhi consulted Kashmiri separatist leaders ahead of talks.  India and Pakistan claim sovereignty over the Kashmir region, although most countries recognize it as Indian.  The two countries have fought a few wars over it.  But, it’s a really good Led Zeppelin song.  Na na na.  Na na na.  Na na na.  Na na na.  Na na na.  Na na na.  Yeah, excellent, that’s the stuff.

A new poll shows Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff has no chance of avoiding a runoff after this October’s presidential election, and that she is in a statistical dead heat with a more conservative and business-friendly rival.  It’s the first poll taken since the plane crash death of the Socialist party candidate, and ascendance of the more popular running mate to the top of the Socialist ticket.  That’s going to siphon left-wing votes from Rousseff.  If the president got any good news in the poll, it’s that her personal approval rating is quickly rebounding and dissatisfaction after the World Cup is dissipating.

Iceland is warning of a possible volcano blast.  This comes after a swarm of earthquakes that have taken place since Saturday in Bardabunga – a subglacial stratovolcano located under Iceland's largest glacier.  Scientists say there could be a small explosion outside the glacier that could lead to melting and a small amount of ash that will cause trouble locally.  Or an explosion from underneath the glacier might blast a tower of ash into the atmosphere.  The last time that happened in 2010, it caused major air traffic disruptions that stranded 10 million travelers around the world.