I’ll say “Happy New Year Australia!!” now because some of this stuff isn’t very happy.  But that’s the news.  SO:  The grim fate of the AirAsia jet is confirmed – Nine die in a murder-suicide in Canada – A change in some very old rules is expected to lead to worsening unemployment in a country that may not be able to take anymore – And more in your final CareerSpot World News Briefs of 2014:

Teams are pulling debris and bodies from the Java Sea where AirAsia Indonesia Flight QZ8501 apparently plunged into the water early on Sunday morning.  There’s no indication of any survivors from the 162 passengers and crew.  Indonesian President Joko Widodo says the priority is to get wreckage and bodies off of the floor of the Karimata Strait, and return the remains to the families.  Including the disappearance of Malaysian Airlines Flight MH370, more than 1,300 people died in air accidents in 2014, making it the deadliest year since 2005.  More than half died in QZ8501, MH370, and Malaysia Airlines Flight MH17 in Ukraine.

Police in Edmonton, Canada say domestic violence is behind the murders of eight people in the far northern prairie city.  A middle aged woman was shot killed at one address.  Later on, police went to another house and discovered seven bodies: three women, two men and two young children, a boy and a girl.  The man police believe to be responsible apparently killed himself at a Vietnamese restaurant in a suburb.  Although frontier cities like Edmonton tend to have higher crime rates than the rest of Canada, mass murder is pretty rare.

In America’s shooting gallery, a two-year old toddler reached inside his mother’s purse as they shopped at the WalMart in Hayden, Idaho.  The unsecured weapon discharged, killing 29-year old mother Veronica Rutledge.  For some reason, she had a permit to carry a concealed weapon.  The little boy may not even comprehend what happened, but his three older sisters – all under the age of 11 – who witnessed it do understand, according to authorities.  As far as the weapon goes, “It’s pretty common around here.  A lot of people carry loaded guns,” said Lieutenant Stu Miller of the Kootenai County Sheriff’s office.

A wall burst out at a Morton Salt facility in Chicago, burying some brand new cars at the Acura dealership next door (Acura is what upscale Honda cars are called in America).

Rescuers from Italy’s Navy and Coast Guard have taken control of a cargo ship carrying some 700 people, migrants and refugees from the Syrian Civil War.  The Moldovan-flagged Blue Sky M freighter put out a distress call near Greece’s Corfu Island about armed men on board.  Greek authorities found nothing suspicious (other than the 700 migrants) and the ship lurched west across the Adriatic Sea toward Italy.  Over the Holiday Period, Italy has picked up or rescued 2,300 people trying to make the crossing from North Africa, lifting the year’s total to more than 170,000.

Russian cops arrested opposition leader Alexei Navalny as he attempted to join a rally of his supporters.  He was taken back to his home, where Putin’s authorities have Navalny under effective house arrest.  They were going to protest the guilty verdicts against Navalny and his brother.  Earlier, a court gave Alexei a suspended sentence, but stuck younger brother Oleg in the slam for three and a half years.  Alexei says that Russian President Vladimir Putin is holding Oleg as a hostage as an act of intimidation.  Thousands of protesters filled Kremlin Square, but Russian cops pushed them out.

German opposition lawmakers are demanding an investigation into reports that Berlin’s military and intelligence agency contributed to a NATO “hit list” – a compilation of Taliban targets in Afghanistan, some of whom were killed without a trial.  Germany had the third largest presence in the NATO coalition force in Afghanistan, which officially ended its mission a few days ago.

A renegade group of soldier in The Gambia apparently failed in a coup attempt while dictator Yahya Jammeh was out of the country.  Jammeh is reportedly returning to assert control over the presidential palace.  Gambia under Jammeh isn’t a terribly pleasant place – Human rights activists say Jammeh’s government is repressive and has targeted political dissidents, journalists, and gays and lesbians.

Scientists believe the first patient of the West African Ebola Epidemic was a two-year old boy in Guinea who contracted the virus while playing in a hollow tree trunk that hosted a colony of bats.  The findings appear in a report in the journal EMBO Molecular Medicine.  Researchers traced the epidemic all the way back to the first patient, took samples from the kid’s home village and chatted up the locals to fund out how it could have happened.  Youngsters in the village frequently played in and around the hollow tree.  From there, the virus raced through Guinea, Sierra Leone, and Liberia with a handful of infections from people who left those countries.  More than 7.842 people are dead out of some 20,000 infections, and it isn’t anywhere near over.

This was likely the last Christmas for tens of thousands of Spain’s small businesses and jobs, because of the end of decades-old rent control laws.  The conservative government of Mariano Rajoy apparently couldn’t stand to see rents kept at reasonable rates that these stores and shops, bars and restaurants could afford – most of them, family-owned.  Labor groups say 55,000 businesses are expected to close down over the coming weeks and months, which will wipe out around 120,000 jobs – in a country that already suffers a 24 percent unemployment rate.

More than 5,000 people marched in Peru’s capital to protest the new “Youth Employment Law”.  It allows employers to slash employment benefits for those aged between 18 and 24 years old – something that will reduce their payments into Social Security and life insurance.  30 days of holiday time is also halved to 15.  Naturally, this is opposed by student groups, labor, and anyone with a heart and mind, but the government claims it will increase youth employment.