Hello, Australia! – Hong Kong convicts a woman of severely abusing her maid in a case that gained international attention – Obama talks about arms for Kiev – A redneck judge throws US law into chaos – And a lot more in your CareerSpot World News Briefs:

Malaysia’s highest court has upheld the sodomy conviction against the country’s most important opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim.  It effectively returns the 67-year old to prison for the remainder of his five-year prison sentence.  The conviction is widely seen as politically motivated, and the government seems almost flagrant about it.  Ibrahim was Deputy Prime Minister in the 1990s, but was jailed for sodomy after falling out with the ruling Basiran Nasional Party in 2000.  After the conviction was overturned, he led the opposition to unprecedented gains in 2008, and was charged with sodomy a second time.  He was acquitted in 2012, led the opposition to even better results in 2013, and the acquittal was overturned in 2014.

A Hong Kong woman has been convicted of abusing her Indonesian maid in a case that attracted attention from around the world.  The court found that Law Wan-tung beat and abused Erwiana Sulistyaningsih with objects including a mop and a clothes hanger – knocking the woman unconscious – and depriving her of proper food.  The abuse was so bad that Ms. Erwiana needed to be hospitalized upon returning to Indonesia last year.  Wealthy Hong Kong residents employ some 300,000 domestic workers from other parts of Asia.

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi has conceded defeat in local elections in Delhi.  The candidate from the anti-corruption, center-left Aam Aadmi party bested Modi’s ruling conservative BJP party.  Aam Aadmi follows Gandhian precepts on Social Justice.  Its 2015 manifesto calls for free Wi-Fi in public areas, subsidies for water and power, and building more colleges.  OMG, I love these folks.  It’s Modi’s first electoral setback since he was elected PM, and a devastating defeat for the third place Congress party, which had dominated the subcontinent’s politics in previous decades.

US President Barack Obama confirmed that he is considering sending arms to Ukraine to help it defend itself from the Kremlin-backed insurgency in the east.  At an appearance at the White house with visiting German Chancellor Angela Merkel (who reportedly opposes arms to Ukraine), Mr. Obama said that national borders must not be redrawn at the point of a gun.  But just before Merkel returns to Europe for emergency talks for a peace deal, the pro-Russian rebels – with their new Russian arms and “volunteers” – circled the town of Debaltseve, strategically important because of its transportation hub.  Fighting in eastern Ukraine has claimed more than 5,300 lives and routed 1.5 million people from their homes.

Gay couples can get married in some parts of the Deep South US state of Alabama, but not in others.  This is after the state’s top judge Roy Moore ordered local justices to defy the US Supreme Court and refuse to issue marriage licenses.  Eleven or more rural counties seem to be complying with Moore, and the counties with larger urban populations – otherwise known as “civilization” – went ahead and started marrying same-sex couples.  Other judges refused to be caught in the middle and made the Solomon-like decision to not marry anybody.  That’s right – an ultra-conservative has actually managed to stop straight marriage in a redneck American state.  SMDH.