Good Morning, Australia! – An Aussie is killed in combat in Syria – Who is flying mysterious drones over Paris? – The cherry on top turns deadly in New York City – I now pronounce you Husband and Root Vegetable and Wife – And a lot more in your CareerSpot World News Briefs:

An Australian man has been killed in fighting against Islamic State (IS) in Syria.  So far, the man is identified “Ashley” and nicknamed “Gabar”, had several tattoos, and his Kurdish allies whom he joined in the battle against IS believed he had ample military experience.  The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights believes the Aussie is the first Westerner to be killed fighting alongside the Kurds. 

Initial reports indicated Islamic State (IS) abducted 90 Assyrian Christians from villages in eastern Syria, but there are growing fears that number is much larger – as many as 285 people may have been kidnapped.  It’s troubling because of IS’s history of summarily executing prisoners who don’t subscribe to the group’s bizarre and violent interpretation of Sunni Islam.

US authorities arrested three foreign nationals living in Brooklyn for allegedly plotting to join IS.  30-year old Abror Habibov and 24-year old Abdurasul Juraboev were originally from Uzbekistan;  19-year old Akhror Saidakhmetov came from Kazakhstan.  All three were charged with conspiracy to provide material support to a foreign terrorist organization.  They made it onto the FBI’s radar with social media posts threatening to kill US President Barack Obama and other acts of violence.

For the second night in a row, radio-controlled drones have been sighted flying over sensitive locations in Paris.  The French capital is on heightened alert because of last month’s terror attacks, and the idea of unidentified aircraft buzzing about for unknown reasons is disturbing to law enforcement.  France has strict laws regarding these gadgets, and in most cases people would require a license to use a drone.  Meanwhile, Authorities arrested three Al Jazeera journalists for using a drone in a park on Paris’ western outskirts, but it appears to be unrelated to the incidents at the Eiffel Tour, US Embassy, and other sensitive areas.

The Sierra Leone man who worked in an orphanage for kids who lost their parents to Ebola has himself died of the disease.  Augustine Baker of the UK-run St. George Foundation orphanage was admitted to a treatment center last week.  33 kids and seven staffers at the orphanage are now under quarantine.  Since January of 2014, Ebola has killed more than 9,500 people, mostly in Sierra Leone, Guinea, and Liberia.

At least 90 people are dead in a series of snow avalanches in mountainous Panjshit province of northern Afghanistan.  Authorities are having problems getting into the area to help, noting they have to plow 40 kilometers of roads just to get there.  The heavy snowfall came as a surprise to area residents after a relatively mild winter. 

The Acre and Tahuamanu Rivers in northern Bolivia burst their banks and flooded thousands of homes.  At least 4,000 people have been routed from their homes.  Meteorologists say this year has seen some of the worst flooding of Bolivia’s annual rainy season.

Cops battled protesters in Acapulco, Mexico.  The demonstrators were protesting the government’s piss-poor handling of the disappearance of 43 student teachers last year.

Chicago police are denying the department has its own “black site” where suspects are “disappeared” and subjected to unconstitutional treatment, including torture.  US investigative journalist Spencer Ackerman discovered the “open secret” which local defense attorneys say is “a place of interrogation off the books”.  In short, if someone is arrested in Chicago but the name doesn’t appear on official booking records, the person is probably at the black site in the out-of-the-way Homan Square neighborhood.  In recent years, several inmates who were wrongly convicted on “evidence” gathered by Chicago police have been exonerated and set free.

The heir to a large Maraschino Cherry company in Brooklyn, New York City is dead of suicide, after authorities discovered 57-year old Arthur Mondella was using the family business as a front for a marijuana-growing operation.  Inspectors were there to investigate allegations Mondella was dumping red-dyed waste into the river – so much so, the local bees and their honey were turning red – when they noticed the distinctive aroma of weed.  Mondella excused himself, went to the men’s room, and put a .357 Magnum to his head.  The inspectors found a massive marijuana growing operation beneath the factory, along with other goodies such as a Porsche and a Rolls Royce.

A woman who lost her wedding ring 16 years prior got it back – wrapped around a carrot from her garden.  Lena Paahlson lives on a farm near Mora, Sweden.  She and husband Ola believe the white gold band with seven small diamonds took a roundabout way back home:  They think it fell off Lena’s finger while she was peeling vegetables, accidentally mixed in with the compost or fed to the sheep which – ahem – fertilized the garden, and eventually wound up in the carrot patch.