Hello, Australia! – Will Ireland make history today? – One of the world’s iconic tourist attractions shuts down because of pickpockets – Police reportedly cut down dozens of drug cartel soldiers – And more in your CareerSpot World News Briefs:

The polls are closed, and Ireland begins counting votes on Saturday morning in the referendum on allowing Gays and Lesbians to legally marry.  Voter turnout was reportedly “unusually high”, especially in urban areas boosting hopes of a “yes” victory.  The Fine Gael-Labour government and the main opposition parties all back a yes vote.

The TLC network has pulled “19 Kids And Counting” off the schedule after revelations that the first of those kids, 27-year old Josh Duggar, molested young girls including some of his sisters when he was a teenager.  Compounding it is the fact that his parents kept the secret from law enforcement for more than a year, and the lot of them went to become advocates for right-wing social causes, venomously opposing LGBT and women’s reproductive rights, which have brought accusations of hypocrisy.  The scandal threatens to stain at least some of the current crop of Republican Party presidential candidates, who frequently associated with the Duggars to curry favor with social conservatives.

The Eiffel Tower shut down for several hours on Friday as workers walked out to protest pickpocket gangs running amok at the tourist attraction.  They’re demanding “formal guarantees from management that lasting and effective measures will be taken to end this scourge to which numerous tourists fall victim every day”.  The tower was eventually reopened in the late arvo, after hundreds of disappointed tourists were turned away.

About 40 people were reportedly killed in a shootout between law enforcement and drug gang members in western Mexico on Friday.  There is a lockdown on information, and reports about the bloodshed in a place called Rancho del Sol in Michoacan state are emerging only because nearby law enforcement are being ordered to keep calm in their communities.  Some cops were killed in the shootout, but most of the dead are reportedly members of the Jalisco New Generation cartel.

A major setback in Colombia, as the Leftist FARC revolutionary group suspended its unilateral ceasefire following an army attack that killed 26 of rebels.  The Marxist-Leninist FARC released a statement blaming “five months of land and air offensives against our structures all over the country”, and deploring “the joint attack by the air force, the army and the police”.  President Juan Manuel Santos is urging the FARC to “speed up” negotiations taking place in Havana, Cuba.

Cholera is exploding in a lakeside refugee camp where people fleeing the violence in Burundi have sought shelter in Tanzania.  31 people are already dead and the UN says 400 new cases are being reported every day, with a total of more than 3,000 infections so far.  The street fighting in Burundi hasn’t ebbed as opponents stage daily protests against President Pierre Nkurunziza’s attempt to run for a third term in office.

Myanmar has finally stepped up and rescued two migrant boats containing more than 200 people – people who were trying to get away from oppression in Myanmar in the first place.  Officials derisively referred to them as “Bengalis”, the Myanmar government term for the Rohingya minority whose citizenship it denies, despite the lengthy history of the Rohingya in the country.  There are believed to be thousands of such immigrants trapped in crap boats in the sea from Myanmar to Indonesia, which considers them to be illegal laborers.

There are bodies lying in the streets of the Syrian town of Palmyra, after victorious Islamic State forces took out their revenge on opponents via dozens of summary executions.  The door-to-door hunt was carried out in the same way as the purge in Ramadi, Iraq earlier this month.  A lot of these people were unable to leave because Syrian troops blocked civilians from clearing out as Islamic State took control of the historic sites and modern residential district.  Strategically, the capture of Palmyra puts IS within striking distance of one of the Syrian military’s biggest arms depots.

Islamic State is claiming responsibility for the suicide bombing that killed at least 21-people at a Shiite mosque in Saudi Arabia’s east.  It’s believed to be the first attack by the Saudi branch of the terrorist group. 

Giant Kangaroo spotted around the Brisbane ‘burbs.

Baby Hippo takes a swimming lesson at the San Diego Zoo, mugs for the tourists.