Hello Australia!! - US regulators delay Quantas' expansion plans - The horror show that is Trump's cabinet - Turkey appears ready to step far away from the Western norms for Women's Rights - And more in your CareerSpot Global News Briefs:

The US Transportation Department is temporarily blocking plans by Qantas and American Airlines to expand their alliance and increase flights between the US and Oz.  Officials say that the pairing would reduce the options available to travelers, "given the scale of the resulting joint business."  American Airlines said in a statement that it plans to appeal the decision because it seems to be an abrupt about-face from the Transportation Department's recent practices:  "Other airlines have the significant competitive advantage of antitrust immunity in the US-Australasia market."

US President-"elect" Donald Trump has nominated three incredibly troubling figure to key security positions in his upcoming shyte-show of an administration:  For Attorney General, Trump has picked Alabama US Senator Jeff Sessions - who was turned down for a Federal judgeship in the 1980s because of racist incidents, and has been inflicting his revenge upon America via neo-confederate and racist bloviating ever since.  Sessions loved the Ku Klux Klan until they started to smoke pot!  And he doesn't necessarily think that grabbing a woman by the p***y is sexual assault.  Oy vey.

For Director of the Central Intelligence Agency, the nominee is Kansas Congressman Mike Pompeo - an inexperienced Tea Party blowhard who set off alarms with his comments that whistle-blower Edward Snowden deserves the death penalty.  Pompeo faced fierce opposition from his own Republican party when he mulled a run for the Senate.

Which brings us to National Security Adviser nominee Mike Flynn.  The retired Lieutenant General:  Was fired from the US Defense Intelligence Agency for his foul temperament; is not respected by his peers, especially for his habit of tweeting fake news stories to the point that his former subordinates referred to the difference between the truth and "Flynn facts"; is a virulent Islamophobe who says people should fear Muslims and called Islam a "malignant cancer" and a "sick" ideology.  Oh, he's also a sexist ass.  Double Oh, he's also severely compromised with professional conflicts of interest.  Trump's kind of guy!

None of this is normal.  Each of these belligerent white men has demonstrated racist, sexist, bigoted, anti-immigrant, Islamophobic, and climate change denial insanity.  They're also demonstrated showboats who love to be the center of attention more than they like actually doing their jobs.  The US corporate media will try to pass this off as the usual partisan battles, but this is very, very different. 

Meanwhile, Trump has settled three lawsuits related to his Trump University scam for US$25 Million.  New York State's Attorney General Eric Schneiderman called it a "stunning reversal" by Trump and a "major victory" for victims of the scam, who paid thousands of dollars for comically bogus instruction on how to become a real estate millionaire.

The UK Supreme Court on Friday allowed the Scottish and Welsh governments to join the case to determine how the Brexit might be carried out.  The decision could complicate, stall, or even scuttle the Brexit, if Scotland gets its way.  The case, which is to determine who has the authority to trigger Article 50 of the European Charter and withdraw the UK from the European Union, gets underway next month.  British PM Theresa May wants to begin the lengthy negotiations with Europe as soon as April 2017.

Several Turkish military officers assigned to NATO have secretly asked for asylum in other countries in the alliance.  NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg is not identifying the countries, officers, nor their reasons.  Each nation will handle the requests individually.  Turkey's military has been repeatedly purged since the failed and somewhat suspect coup attempt earlier this year.

Turkey's parliament gave preliminary approval to a bill to decriminalize statutory rape.  The legislation would pardon men convicted of having sex with female children only if they had sex without "force or threat" and if they married the victim.  Critics point out this farce it legitimizes rape and child marriage, and lets off men who are aware of their crime.  Violence against women has steadily increased in Turkey, and it's totally a coincidence that it paralleled the rise of right-wing autocrat President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

Dozens of people have been killed in eastern Aleppo, as Syrian government forces (or their Russian pals) carry out four days of bombing raids.  The rebel held part of the city face a tough winter:  "My understanding is that virtually all warehouses are now empty and tens of thousands of families are running out of food," said UN Syria humanitarian Jan Egeland.

The UN World Health Organization (WHO) says the Zika Virus is no longer a worldwide health emergency.  The infection, transmitted by mosquitoes or sexual contact, is linked to severe birth defects in almost 30 countries - 2,100 in Brazil alone.  But WHO's Dr. David Heymann stressed that Zika still posed a "significant and enduring" threat, and the agency is shifting to a longer-term approach against the virus.

Volkswagen is cutting 30,000 jobs worldwide to deal with the fallout from the emissions cheating scandal.  It is expected to save the company more than AU$4 Billion annually - suggesting the cuts will impact the company's high-wage earners above AU$133,000 per year.  At the same time, VW will invest more in electric and self-driving cars to remain on the competitive cutting edge.

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