Good Morning Australia! - New details of Aussie spies' ravenous appetite for data - Obama appears to break one of his main campaign promises - Angry artists leave some not-so-hidden messages on a TV show that glorifies the so-called war on terror - And more in your CareerSpot Global News Briefs:

Australia's intelligence community accessed private internet data gathered by the US National Security Agency even more than their British counterparts.  A newly released document from the Snowden Files says Oz accessed 33 percent more than the UK during a twelve month period in 2011 and 2012.  "What we've now found out is that DSD, the Australian intelligence services, were using PRISM, they were having access directly to Google, Apple, Facebook and other big US companies which are right into heart of their customer's data and pulling that out," Eric King from British activist group Privacy International told the ABC. 

..Mind you, this is despite Australia's population being only a little over a third of the UK's - leading to fears that Australians are under mass surveillance.  And if so, why didn't all that snooping prevent terror attacks, such as at Parramatta, or the Lindt shop in Sydney?  Just asking, Bruce.  Anyway, the DSD is now called the ASD.  I suppose that's to keep people from think it's aligned with the CIA and DIA, when it's really working with the NSA, but not the DSS.  OK?

President Barack Obama announced that US troops would be staying in Afghanistan beyond his presidency, effectively pushing the issue off on his successor.  There are currently 9,800 US troops stationed in Afghanistan, and 5,500 troops will remain in Afghanistan when he leaves office in 2017.  Mr. Obama apparently decided this major policy shift because Afghan forces are "not as strong" as they needed to be:  "As commander in chief I will not allow Afghanistan to be used as safe haven for terrorists to attack our nation again," said the US President.

Traffic in Phoenix, Arizona was mooo-ving along when a cow got loose at a freeway.

Artists hired to create Arabic graffiti on the set of the US television show "Homeland" instead peppered the backdrops with phrases criticizing the show:  "Homeland is racist", "Homeland is rubbish", and "Black Lives Matter" in reference to US Police killings of African Americans.  The artists say they were opposed with the show's constant portrayals of Arabs and Muslims as dangerous terrorists.  "Homeland" and its wacky graffiti airs on Channel 10.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel says Europe must secure its borders.  She spoke in Brussels before a EU leaders' summit in Brussels to discuss the more than 600,000 migrants and refugees that have poured into Europe so far this year.  Most EU leaders are convinced that efforts to contain the migration crisis will not succeed without closer co-operation with Turkey, which most of the multitudes have used as a transit point into Europe.

London's sight-gag of a Mayor Boris Johnson plays a mock rugby game with kids on a visit to Japan, manages to knock down a ten year old boy.

Oscar Pistorius is to be released from prison next week, serving only twelve months of a five year prison sentence for the shooting death of his partner Reeva Steenkamp.  Barring any legal challenges, the former olympic and paralympic athlete will be moved to house arrest on Tuesday.  Prosecutors are still appealing that "culpable homicide" verdict, saying it should have been "murder" with a much stiffer sentence.

Argentine President Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner (CFK) and Amnesty International are demanding justice after the third murder of a transgender person in a month.  Diana Sacayan was a noted LGBT activist when she was found dead in her Buenos Aires apartment earlier this week.  A couple of years ago, CFK personally gave Sacayan her identity card recognizing her as a woman:  "I ask the national security services and the metropolitan police to solve this horrible crime," the President said during a public address.  Although countries like Argentina and Brazil have in recent years led the world in LGBT rights such as marriage equality, Amnesty says Latin America accounts for 78 percent of murders o ftransgender people from 2007 to 2014.

A former speaker of the US House of Representatives is pleading guilty to failing to report large cash transactions in violation of US tax law, apparently to pay hush money to men whom he molested as children back when he was a High School wrestling coach.  Conservative Illinois Republican Dennis Hastert is not charged in the sex abuse incidents.  The plea will head off a trial and possibly keep embarrassing details of the case from being made public. 

Hastert is the architect of the "Hastert Rule", a self-imposed Republican discipline in which they refuse to allow congressional votes on any issue that won't carry a majority of Republican votes.  Because the party is controlled by corporate lobbyists and backwoods hillbillies and conspiracy theorists, it prevents use legislation from getting through the US congress.  So, if you ever rack your brain wondering, "why doesn't America do this," or "why doesn't America do that?" - It's because of the guy who allegedly molested young boys and didn't have to go to prison.