Good Morning, Australia! – One of the most durable and iconic film actors of the last 60 years is gone – Murdoch sets up the next generation – A man gets a new Johnson and it’s pointing to fatherhood – FIFA’s top flack drops a bomb, takes a hike – And more in your CareerSpot World News Briefs:

Legendary British movie actor Christopher Lee is dead at age 93.  He was already a veteran in the late 1950s through the early ‘70s when he revitalized the characters of Count Dracula and Frankenstein’s Monster in the Hammer Films horror classics.  But in more than 250 movie roles, he brought forth other iconic characters – Including a Bond villain in “The Man with the Golden Gun”, the evil wizard Saruman in The Lord of the Rings, Count Dooku in the “Star Wars” prequels, Pakistan founder Muhammed Ali Jinnah in the 1997 biopic.  And if you haven’t seen the original 1973 version of the pagan cult thriller “The Wicker Man”, do see it (but not the execrable Nicolas Cage version!).  Christopher Lee was hospitalized last weekend for respiratory problems and heart failure and died on Sunday morning.

US saxophonist Ornette Coleman, who pioneered the free jazz movement, died in New York of a cardiac arrest at age 85.  His ideas of improvisation without chord changes were so revolutionary, that he was once beaten up outside New Orleans, and his sax thrown over a cliff by people who couldn’t handle it.  But alongside trumpeter Don Cherry and other musicians he pushed Jazz into its next greatest phase in the late 1950s and beyond.  Check out:  “Turnaround”, “When Will the Blues Leave”, the manic call-and-response on “Eventually”. 

Media baron Rupert Murdoch is reportedly planning to step down as chief executive of 20th Century Fox, leaving the day-to-day decisions to his sons James, and executive co-chairman to Lachlan Murdoch.  So, let the King Lear replay begin.

It really works!  The South African man who is believed to be the world’s first recipient of a penis transplant is going to be a father.  Dr. Andre van der Merwe says it’s proof his technique was successful.  “This is what we intended, that he should be able to stand up and be able to urinate and have intercourse, so it is a milestone for him,” said Dr. Van der Merwe.  The unnamed 21-year old man lost his original equipment in a botched circumcision, a frighteningly commonplace error in leftover tribal medicine. 

The International Monetary Fund has left the Greek bailout talks, citing “significant differences” over Athens’ refusal to enact labor and economic reforms.  Even as the Syriza government issued its usual “gonna wrap up a deal any time now!” statement, the conservative IMF and Eurozone creditors lament that Athens hasn’t adopted more of that austerity-driven, pro-market magic that screwed up the economy in the first place.

China’s Supreme People’s Court is sending former security chief Zhou Yongkang to prison for the rest of his life.  The 72-year old is the highest profile and highest ranking politician to be found guilty of corruption charges.  Prosecutors said Zhou took advantage of his posts to seek benefits for others and illegally accepted large amounts of money during his long political career.

An Egyptian police lieutenant has been sentenced to 15 years in prison for the killing of an unarmed Socialist activist in January.  34-year old Shaima al-Sabbagh, the mother of a five-year old son, died after the cop blasted her with birdshot during a crackdown on a peaceful demonstration.  Her heartbreaking death was caught on camera at several angles, and was so egregious that even the country’s military leaders who ordered crackdowns on peaceful protests expressed outrage.

Looking for a career in corporate communications?  There’s an opening at FIFA.  Director of Communications Walter de Gregorio stepped down after making this joke on Swiss TV:  “The FIFA president, secretary general, and media director are sitting in a car.  Who’s driving?  Answer: The police.”  DeGregorio’s job became really difficult two weeks ago when US prosecutors indicted 14 current and former FIFA officials on bribery and money laundering charges.

Nothing to see here, just that guy in Tokyo taking his Giant Tortoise for a walk again.