Hello Australia!! - The US is accused of meddling in the economies of its allies - How NZ put thousands of guns beyond use - Some relief for fire-ravaged Australia today - And more in your CareerSpot Global News Briefs:

Cooler weather could bring relief to firies battle bushfires in Victoria and New South Wales on Sunday.  But the fires at Green Wattle Creek and Ruined Castle have joined together, and officials aren't ruling out the possibility that it will combine again, with the huge Gospers Mountain "mega fire".  An elderly man is missing after fire consumed his home in the area.  In Queensland, conditions remain dangerous as than 60 fires are burning within containment lines across the state as crews continue back-burning operations.  In South Australia, police will allow more residents of Adelaide Hills through roadblocks so they may survey the damage at their properties.  At least one person died in that blaze.

Australia has had nine deaths and more than 800 homes consumed by fires this year.

Germany, the European Union, and Russia are criticizing the US for imposing new economic sanctions that target firms building Nord Stream 2, an undersea pipeline that will allow Russia to increase gas exports to Germany.  The US claims Nord Stream 2 is a "tool of coercion and political leverage" that Moscow could use against Berlin (as opposed to helping to rig US presidential elections).  But German officials including Chancellor Angela Merkel accuse the US of "meddling in our internal affairs".  The Trump administration now has 60 days to identify companies and individuals providing services for the pipeline, but one Swiss company has already suspended its activities in the project to avoid penalties.  The pipeline is almost finished, and Moscow says it will finish the project regardless of what the US does.

French forces killed 33 apparent jihadists in an operation in Mali's Mopti region near the Mauritanian border.  "This morning, thanks to an engagement by our soldiers and the Barkhane forces, we were able to neutralize 33 terrorists, take one prisoner and free two Malian gendarmes who had been held hostage," said French President Emmanual Macron on a pre-Christmas visit to troops in Ivory Coast.  Around 4,500 French troops are based in the region to the Operation Barkhane anti-terrorism campaign.

A court in Pakistan has sentenced a university lecturer to death for blasphemy, after Islamic hardliners accused him to insulting the prophet Muhammad in a social media post.  Junaid Hafeez was arrested in March 2013 and has been in jail ever since, much of that time in solitary confinement because of physical attacks from other inmates.  His first lawyer was murdered just for taking the case.  Amnesty International called the verdict "a gross miscarriage of justice" and described it as "extremely disappointing and surprising".

New Zealand police say they've taken in more than 56,000 firearms as part of the six-month amnesty following the country's new, tighter gun laws.  This was part of the response to the murders of 51 people at two mosques in Christchurch by a white nationalist terrorist, New Zealand's worst massacre in modern times.  Gunowners who complied were compensated up to 95 percent of the original price of the weapons.  Those who didn't face arrest, fines, or even jail if/when they're caught.