Two Aussies are in the predicament of their lives in China – Hundreds of thousands of people take cover as a potentially deadly storm heads for the Philippines – NASA is flying high again – Repression in Putin’s Russia is said to be as bad as the Soviet Union – Russell Brand b-slaps The Sun – And more in your CareerSpot World News Briefs:

An Australian couple could face the death penalty for allegedly trying to smuggle methamphetamines out of China.  Australian Kalynda Davis of Penrith, NSW and Peter Gardiner – with Australian and New Zealand citizenship – were arrested trying to depart Guangzhou Airport last month.  Authorities in China claim they were carrying some 36 kilograms of drugs.  Their families are concerned that China’s criminal justice system will fail them and that zealous prosecutors have predetermined their fates.

Hundreds of thousands of people from coastal areas of the central Philippines have evacuated their homes, as Super Typhoon Hagupit (called “Rosa” in the Philippine storm-naming system) closes in.  It’s heading for the general area around Tacloban City, which was ravaged by a super typhoon last year.  With ferry traffic suspended, thousands are stranded in Manila, which is north of Hagupit/Rosa’s path, and in the far south.  The eastern part of Samar Island is already deluged with rain.

The US space agency NASA successfully tested its new Orion rocket system that could take humans back to the moon and off to Mars.  The 4.5-hour flight took the drone from Cape Canaveral in Florida, to orbit at an apogee of 5,800 kilometers up, to a scorching 30,000 kilometers per hour reentry, and back to splashdown west of San Diego.  The main rocket, boosters, and thermal protection on the capsule all performed as hoped.  After decades of space travel in the now-retired Space Shuttle, NASA’s Orion returns to the type of ships used during the Mercury, Gemini, and Apollo missions – just bigger and with cutting-edge technology.

Kenya’s President Uruhu Kenyatta says he feels “vindicated” now that the International Criminal Court at The Hague has dropped its case against him.  Prosecutors claim the Kenyan government impeded their investigation into post-election violence in Kenya that killed 1,200 people during 2007 and 2008.  Kenyatta has steadfastly denied ordering the killings, and says the ICC failed the victims with a “rushed” investigation.

France has agreed to compensate victims of the Holocaust who were taken on French trains to concentration camps.  The fund will be worth almost A$75 Billion, and will be transferred to the US, which will pay out to eligible claimants.  French rail moved some 76,000 Jews to nazi camps, and only about 3,000 survived.  Living survivors could get more than A$120,000 each, and heirs may be eligible for tens of thousands of dollars.

The French city of Marseille is backing down from a truly idiotic and boneheaded plan to force the homeless to wear “yellow triangles” – for their own good, of course.  After practically everyone in the world with a conscience and sense of history reminded officials in France’s second-largest city what the nazis – including the French Vichy – did to label Jews, Gays and Lesbians, and other “undesirables” during the holocaust.  The morons who came up with the idea claimed that the yellow triangles would have contained medical information to make emergency management easier, and is not considering the social stigma involved.  SMDH.

Human Rights Watch (HRW) is accusing Russia of the worst repression since Soviet times.  In a damning new report, HRW says the clampdown by Vladimir Putin’s government on speech and political opposition has triggered a “full alarm about autocratic rule”.  The government is moving to further restrict the Internet, and has already pretty much housetrained television.  HRW accuses the Kremlin of appealing to its conservative support base by repressing the LGBT community.

Despite economic sanctions, the British Museum has loaned one of the so-called Elgin Marbles to the Hermitage Museum in Saint Petersburg, Russia.  And that’s got Greece rather upset, as Athens contends that the ancient statues from the Parthenon were illegally obtained by Thomas Bruce, the seventh Earl of Elgin, and they should be returned to Greece. Greek Prime Minister Antonis Samaras calls it a “provocation” to Greece and its people.  "The Parthenon and its sculptures have been looted.  The value of the sculptures is priceless,” he said.   “We Greeks identify with our history and culture, which cannot be fragmented, loaned or bestowed.”

China arrested former security chief Zhou Yongkang on corruption charges and expelled him from the Communist Party.  Zhou is the highest-level official to face such charges in recent times.  The state-run Xinhua news agency says Zhou is accused of “serious violations of party discipline”, “accepting large sums of bribes”, “disclosing party and state secrets”, and “committing adultery with several women”.

A doctor and a charity owner are under arrest in India, after ten patients were left partially blind and in danger of losing the rest of their site following botched cataract surgery.  The patients contracted infections at the charity-run medical camp in Amritsar.  This comes weeks after 15 women died following sterilization surgery at a government medical camp, and has Indians questioning their public health infrastructure.

The Police Chief of Mexico City Jesus Rodriguez Almeida has resigned over strong criticism of his officers’ response to a 20 November protest over the 43 missing students in southern Guerrero state.  About a dozen people say they were subjected to arbitrary arrest without evidence in last month’s demonstrations, and were freed a week later with no explanation.  The 43 missing are believed to have been abducted by police at the orders of the mayor of rural Iguala town and handed over to a drug gang which killed them and burned the bodies.

NEVER go to war against a comedian, the comedian will win every time.  Russell Brand destroys Murdoch’s crappy taboid.

Everyone loves Goats playing soccer, except for Greek Soccer officials.