Hello Australia!! - Iran issues a vague verdict in a Western journalist's spying case - A notorious anti-Islam politician is coming to Australia - Putin defends his moves in Syria - And more in your CareerSpot World News Briefs:

The government is facing dissatisfaction with its decision to grant an entry visa to the controversial Dutch Islamophobe politician Geert Wilders, so he can attend the launch of a new, anti-Islam political party called the Australian Liberty Alliance.  Crossbench senator John Madigan notes that Australia recently denied entry to an American anti-Abortion Rights zealot:  "We're supposed to be a place where people can express an idea or an opinion, but only now if some people allow you to have it," Madigan said.  "That's a very dangerous precedent to be set."

Others, like Lebanese Muslim Association president Samier Dandan told Fairfax Media that the government's choice of who gets visas seems inconsistent:  "Other countries have refused (Wilders) entry and we have recently rejected (rapper) Chris Brown for behaving in a certain way," said Mr. Dandan, who says the government is sending the exact wrong signal to the Islamic community.  They're worried that Wilders will throw a lit match into a tinder box, given the tension after the killing of a police employee in Parramatta on 2 October.

Fear of thousands of refugees lifted Austria's anti-immigrant (and ironically named) Freedom Party to a second place finish in Vienna, Austria's mayoral election.  But the party just couldn't whip up enough xenophobia to unseat the current pro-immigrant Social Democrats and their coalition partners, the Greens.  About five percent of the refugees who've come to Europe from the Middle East, Africa, and South Asia so far this year have applied for asylum in Austria.

Iran has convicted Iranian-American journalist Jason Rezaian, who was arrested in July 2014 on espionage charges.  "He has been convicted," judiciary spokesman Gholamhossein Mohseni Ejei told the Iranian ISNA news agency, "But I don't have the details of his verdict."  Rezaian was born in California and was the Washington Post's Tehran bureau chief.  Officials at the Post say the vague nature of Iran's announcement shows the case is suspect and that Rezaian is being used as a bargaining chip in a "larger game".

Five people died and five were hurt when a British Puma Mk2 military helicopter crashed in Kabul, Afghanistan.  NATO gave the casualty figures but did not identify the nationalities of the dead and injured, and said the crash happened on Sunday afternoon at its headquarters in the Afghan capital.  The BBC reports at least two of the dead are RAF personnel.

Russian President Vladimir Putin is defending his military actions in Syria, saying that Russian airstrikes are indeed intended to "stabilize the legitimate authority" of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.  In a friendly interview with state TV, Putin denied Washington's allegations that that Russian air strikes were hitting moderate opposition groups rather than Islamic State (IS) militants.  Both the Syrian government and opposition groups are reporting that Syrian troops backed by Russian airstrikes have advanced against fighters in Syria's contested central region.