Happy New Year Australia!! - A skycraper burns as the clock strikes midnight - Brussels arrests suspects in an alleged New Year's plot - Rats on a plane - WHO doesn't like the new Star Wars film?? - And more in your CareerSpot Global News Briefs:

Fire engulfed the 63-storey Address Downtown Hotel in Dubai, which burned in the shadow of the world's tallest building The Burj Khalifa.  Authorities say as many as 60 people are hurt, mostly suffering smoke inhalation, but there are area few more serious cases.  Witnesses say the fire quickly raced up the side of the hotel and CNN reported explosions inside the building.  Despite the nearby disaster, the incredible light and fireworks show at the Burj went on as scheduled to ring in the New Year.

Sure looked good in Sydney, too.  And Bangkok, Hong Kong, et cetera.

Soon after New Year's celebrations were cancelled in Brussels, police arrested three people for allegedly plotting an attack on the Belgian capital's festivities.  They'll be held for 24 hours, at least until the moment passes.  Two more were already arrested earlier in the week, prompting the Mayor to shut down New Year's, and three more suspected were already released. 

Another Mexican mayor has been charged in the disappearance and likely murders of 43 student teachers in Iguala Town, Guerrero state.  Cesar Penaloza Santana is charged with links to organised crime.  He's the former mayor of the town where the students came from before they disappeared in Iguala in September 2014. 

Someone launched a massive DDOS attack on the BBC's website at around 07:00 GMT on Thursday.  It temporarily took down the BBC main website as well as associated services including the main iPlayer catch-up service and iPlayer Radio app.  The problem was resolved within a couple of hours, but there's been no claim of responsibility.

Islamic State is claiming responsibility for a gun attack in Dagestan, a southern republic of Russia on the Caspian Sea.  On Tuesday, gunmen opened fire at the ancient Derbent Citadel UNESCO World Heritage site, killing one person and injuring eleven more.

A Mumbai to London flight was forced to return home three hours into the voyage, because of a rat running around loose on the plane.  The filthy little rodents can chew through wires and control cables, not to mention being a general health risk just because they're rats.  This is teh second time this year an Air India flight has been grounded because of rats in the plane.

An emotional Kim Jong-un led the funeral for his top aide Kim Yang-gon, who died in a mysterious car wreck on Tuesday.  The official state news agency called the elder Kim "the closest comrade-in-arms and steadfast revolutionary comrade of Marshal Kim Jong Un".  Kim Yang-gon is also North Korea's fourth politician to have fallen victim to an unexplained "traffic accident" since 2003.

The new Star Wars films "The Force Awakens" is pretty much well-recieved by those who've seen it, but it has a rather surprising critics:  George Lucas said he worked hard to make sure each of teh six films he helmed had a different look and feel, before selling out to Disney for more than US$4 Billion.  "They wanted to do a retro movie.  I don’t like that," Lucas told US journalist Charlie Rose.  "They weren't that keen to have me involved anyway, but if I get in there, I'm just going to cause trouble, because they're not going to do what I want them to do.  And I don't have the control to do that any more, and all I would do is muck everything up.  And so I said, 'OK, I will go my way, and I'll let them go their way.' "  The new "The Force Awakens" is on track to be teh highest-grossing film of all time.