Mexico reveals the fate of the 43 missing students – Ukraine accuses Russia of sending in the tanks – Liberia sees a drop in Ebola cases – And more in your CareerSpot World News Briefs:

Mexican authorities say the 43 student teachers who disappeared from Iguala town in southern Guerrero state back in September are dead – murdered, their bodies burned on crude pyre, and the ashes dumped into a river.  Attorney General Jesus Murillo Karam says that bone fragments and teeth have been recovered, but matching them to the DNA of the missing 43 would be difficult at best.  Three of the 76 people arrested so far have confessed on video that police handed the students to the local drugs gang, which carried out the murders at the orders of the town’s ex-mayor.

The US will send 1,500 more non-combat troops to Iraq to train and assist government forces fighting Islamic State militants.  They’d join several hundred American military advisors already on the ground.  Again, the White House is insisting the troops will not take part in combat.

The Palestinian Fatah movement of President Mahmoud is blaming its rival Hamas for a wave of bombings at the homes of Fatah leaders.  At least 10 explosions hit houses and cars belonging to senior Fatah members but no casualties were reported.  The two factions struck a reconciliation agreement earlier this year and formed a unity government; but they started coming apart again with the Gaza conflict with Israel.

Ukraine’s government says a column of 32 tanks and 30 trucks has crossed into rebel-held eastern Ukraine from Russia.  Moscow denies it, but Ukrainian military command in Kiev says the column headed for the town of Krasny Luch.  More than 4,000 people have been killed since Russian-backed rebels took command of government buildings in the Donetsk and Luhansk regions, eventually declaring breakaway “people’s republics”.

Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF) is confirming a significant slowdown in the number of Ebola cases in Liberia – in fact, two MSF treatment centers have no cases at all.  But the epidemic is still raging with nearly 5,000 people killed out of 14,000 infections.  MSF is carefully watching the Liberian situation, pointing out that twice this year Guinea has seen a lull in Ebola cases – only to have the disease come roaring back.

Everybody loves Baby Otters!  This little feller was rescued off the California coast, and for some reason was taken to the John G. Shedd Aquarium in Chicago where it will subsist on a diet of Deep Dish Pizza and Italian Sausage and Beef Combo Sandwiches, listen to blues, and be disappointed in the local baseball teams.

Saudi Arabia might ease its all-out ban on female drivers.  The Saudi king’s advisory council is recommending allowing women over 30 to drive, provided they are off the road by 8:00 o’clock at night, and they don’t wear make-up.  The recommendations are not binding, and still might opposition from ultraconservative Muslims.