Howdy Australia! - The Pope arrives in America - Volkswagen's emissions scandal goes worldwide - A partial coming together on what to do with thousands of asylum seekers in Europe - And more in your CareerSpot Global News Briefs:

US President Barack Obama and the First Family greeted Pope Francis at Joint Base Andrews (formerly Andrews AFB) in Maryland for the Pontiff's first visit to the United States.  US Presidents rarely greet arriving dignitaries at the airport, usually waiting until they arrive at the White House.  Francis will travel to New York and Philadelphia in addition to delivering an address before Congress - hopefully, he'll have a few things to say about the capital of capitalism and inequality.  He arrived after a four-day visit to Cuba where he held several masses, but avoided stepping into any controversies in the Communist state.  The Pope was key in negotiations that led to the US and Cuba ending more than five decades of cold war and reestablishing diplomatic missions in their respective capitals.

On the other side of the country, Chinese President Xi Jinping arrived in Seattle for his first state visit to the US.  Xi will spend three days meeting business and technology leaders in Seattle, before heading to Washington for talks with President Obama.  It comes against the background of US officials accusing China of widespread computer hacking and theft of commercial secrets.

The Volkswagen emissions scandal is going global, and we're finding out how big of a hole the company might have dug for itself.  The world's largest automaker is admitting that its Type EA 189 "clean diesel" engine in 11 million cars sold worldwide under the VW, Audi, and Skoda badges.  VW last week admitted that it rigged the control software in cars with that engine to lie during vehicle emissions tests and cover up the fact those cars were putting out pollutants as much as 40 times in excess as US safety standards allow.  The company's stock lost 35 percent of its value this week, shareholders are reportedly withdrawing their support for CEO Martin Winterkorn, and other German manufacturers are accusing VW of tarnishing the "Made in Germany" brand.

The European Union approved a plan to distribute 120,000 refugees throughout member nations, but it remains to be seen if it will come to fruition.  Finland abstained from the vote; the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Romania and Hungary voted against it.  Slovakian Prime Minister Robert Fico said that, "as long as I am prime minister", his country would not implement a quota.  And the Czech Interior Minister Milan Chovanec tweeted, "We will soon realize that the emperor has no clothes.  Common sense lost today."  The UK is reserving its right to opt out of the plan.

Millions of Muslims have descended on Mecca, Saudi Arabia for the annual Hajj pilgrimage.

A 14-year old Muslim teen has withdrawn from the Texas high school that had him arrested for bringing a "hoax bomb" to school.  In fact, the device was a home-made alarm clock he successfully constructed for one of his classes.  The utter stupidity of MacArthur High School in suburban Dallas prompted Facebook, NASA, and US President Barack Obama to extend invitations to science kid Ahmed Mohamad.  The family hasn't indicated where Ahmed and his siblings will finish their secondary studies - but they are trying to get travel visas to take part in the aforementioned Hajj.

Pakistan is delaying the execution of a convicted murderer, because they can't figure out how to hang a paraplegic man.  Pakistan's prison guidelines require that a prisoner stand on the gallows and 43-year old Abdul Basit is confined to a wheelchair, the result of an infection contracted in prison.  

The leader of the coup in Burkina Faso has defied a deadline to step aside and return power to the interim government.  Former security chief General Gilbert Diendere and his presidential guard seized power last week as the interim government planned to disband the guard and hold Democratic elections.  The military has taken up positions in the capital Ouagadougou and ordered anti-coup protesters to go home in fear of the outbreak of fighting.

Politicians threw eggs at Kosovo's Prime Minister as he told parliament of plans to give ethnic Serbs greater autonomy.  The plan isn't popular because Serbia still hasn't recognized Kosovo's independence after it broke away in 2008.

Baby Giraffe tests out those new knees at Milwaukee County Zoo, north of Chicago.