A fight over Medicare brews in Canberra – Hong Kong is warned to toe the line – And wearing a headscarf might get people kicked off the bus – And a lot more in your CareerSpot World News Briefs:

Opposition leader Bill Shorten is vowing that Labor will stop the Abbott government’s scheme to slash the Medicare compo to doctors for short consultations.  “Our position is unequivocal, it's in black and white,” Shorten said.  “We will oppose Tony Abbott absolutely changing the rebate system for our GPs, making it a lot harder and through this sneaky backdoor method.”  Doctors warn that offices could be forced to shut down, and patients would flood hospitals as a result of Tony’s tinkering with something that isn’t broken.

Hong Kong chief executive C.Y. Leung took a hard line in his annual address, saying the territory is faced with a choice between more democracy or more growth.  Guess which side he took?  Leung says Hong Kong would not deviate from the course set by Beijing, and that democratic reforms must follow the existing law – or, he warned, Hong Kong would “degenerate into anarchy”.  In the final quarter of last year, Leung faced down weeks of pro-democracy protesters flooded streets, demanding free elections in 2017.  The protests eventually fizzled out without achieving the organizers’ goals.

Tanzania is banning witchdoctors to try and stop the horrific illegal traffic in the body parts of people with albinism.  More than 74 albinos have been murdered since 2000, and chopped up as good luck charms, sold for several hundred dollars each.  Common sense queries, “if this hand belonged to someone unlucky enough to have been chopped up, perhaps it isn’t really lucky,” but apparently the witchdoctors aren’t listening.  Tanzania plans a national operation to arrest witchdoctors and put them on trial if they continue to practice.

The genocide retrial of former Guatemalan dictator Efrain Rios Montt is on hold again after he failed to attend a court hearing.  A judge ordered officials to verify the 88-year old’s health status to determine if he is faking an illness.  Rios Montt was already convicted of ordering his troops to wipe out indigenous villages during the 1980s, because he thought they were Leftist sympathizers, but that conviction was overturned on a technicality.

Islamic headscarves and other symbols are now banned on public transportation in a city in China’s restive Xinjiang region.  Local authorities say the situation will last through August, because of a sports tournament.  However, the area has been rocked by deadly violence attributed to ethnic Uighur Muslim separatists.  Authorities in Karamay city say “five types of people” will be banned:  Those wearing headscarves, veils, burkas, clothes with the crescent moon and star symbol, and “youths with long beards”.