Hello, Australia! – Marriage Equality would sail through if not for you-know-who – Greece is near evenly split on the big referendum on its future with the EU – Rescuers race to save a ten-month old baby adrift at sea – Here comes the Sun-Powered plane – And Baby Lions in your CareerSpot World News Briefs:

Labor Senator Penny Wong is blasting opponents of same-sex marriage rights for their “illogical and quite offensive” language.  “I wish the standard of this debate would perhaps be a little better than suggesting that marriage equality will somehow lead to polygamy,” Wong told reporters in Sydney on Saturday.  In reality, places like the Netherlands, Belgium, Canada, and the US Commonwealth of Massachusetts have all had marriage equality for more than a decade and there have been absolutely no outbreaks of polygamy.  Anyway, backers accuse PM Tony Abbott of standing in the way of marriage equality, which they say would easily pass the lower house if Abbott would just knock it off.

Police are downplaying speculation that methamphetamines played a role in the murder of Adelaide Crows coach Phil Walsh.  His son, 26-year old Cy Walsh, is charged with the crime; he is currently sedated at the Flinders Medical Centre.  His mother was discharged from the same hospital on Saturday morning after being treated overnight for a minor leg wound.  Police reportedly collected a small smoking pipe found at the murder scene in the Walsh home.  Cy Walsh was arrested two kilometers from the home near a bunch of units alleged linked to the drug trade.

Greek voters are split almost down the middle before Sunday’s vote on whether to accept European demands for more “austerity”.  The latest Ipsos survey puts “Yes” supporters at 44 percent and “No” at 43 percent, with many still undecided.  But in dueling rallies in Athens on Friday, the “No” crowd led by Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras and Syriza was much larger, indicated a more energized and motivated base.  If the Greeks approve the European creditors demands, it is likely that the Syriza government will resign.

France has denied an appeal for protection submitted by WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange, who has spent the past three years under political asylum in the Ecuadorian embassy in London.  Assange made his appeal via a lengthy open letter published on the website of the newspaper Le Monde.  But French President Francois Hollande’s office rejected the idea immediately, saying it was not a proper formal request for asylum; Assange was not in immediate danger; and because Julian is the subject of a Swedish arrest warrant.

An earthquake in southwestern China killed at least three people and damaged around 3,000 homes and buildings.  This happened in Pishan County in southern Xinjiang near the Indian border.  The People’s Daily says the region sustained US$30 Million in damage.

Kenya is cracking down on moonshine after several men died, went blind, or were left impotent by illegal, home-brew alcoholic beverages.  President Uhuru Kenyatta says some men are addicted to “killer brew”.  The stuff is popular in poorer areas of the country where people cannot afford to go out and buy liquor.  Growing protests by women watching their families and communities coming apart prompted the government to move.

Over the objections of the Roman Catholic Church, a 79-year old Colombian man has become the first in that country to legally die by euthanasia.  Ovidio Gonzalez was suffering from terminal throat cancer and said he had been suffering unbearable pain.  Assisted suicide has been legal for two decades; but it wasn’t under earlier this year that the health ministry published guidelines for hospital to follow.

Turkey’s coast guard had to race to save a baby who had floated out to sea after her parents forgot they had left her in the water.  This happened near the town of Kucukkuyu on the Mediterranean Coast near the Greek Isle of Lesbos.  Her family and horrified beachgoers watched as ten-month-old Melda Ilgin was carried away in her flotation device.  Luckily, the waters were calm and the boat quickly reached the tot, a full kilometer from shore – she was alright.  They returned little Melda to her grateful family, and the kid will never remember it.

The Solar Impulse 2 landed in Hawaii, after a grueling five-day flight from Nagoya, Japan.  This was the longest and most dangerous leg of the solar powered plane’s round-the-world journey, and required absolutely perfect weather conditions.  The ultra-light aircraft carries no fuel, and spins its propellers from solar batteries mounted on the wings, which have a similar span as jumbo jets.

Two lion cubs named Max and Mona spent one last night in Gaza, waiting for Israel to open the border for the day.  Animal welfare workers will then take the kitties to a wildlife refuge in Jordan.  Max and Mona were born before the war last year, and purchased by Gaza resident Saed Eldin al-Jamal who kept them at his family’s home in the border town of Rafah.  Saed was all tears as he put Max and Mona into their crates for the journey.  He used to take them out to the park for brave children to pet.  But they’re lions, and lions are not friggin housecats.