Hello Australia!! - The government approves expanding a coal port near the Great Barrier Reef - Fire causes damage to an important Brazilian cultural repository - Japan finally gets moving on a stadium for the 2020 Olympics - And more in your CareerSpot World News Briefs:

Environment minister, Greg Hunt, has given the green light to expanding the Abbot point coal terminal in northern Queensland.  But his condition that the dredge spoils are properly disposed of in nearby industrial land - instead of in the Great Barrier Reef marine park as originally proposed - still isn't impressing opponents and environmental campaigners.  The Greens say the project is still dangerous to the environment and a waste of taxpayer money to enrich big mining companies. 

The Worldwide Fund for Nature's (WWF) Louise Matthiesson says,"Although we're pleased that the dredge spoil can no longer be dumped at sea, it's not appropriate to place it beside an internationally significant wetland, when there are better locations available further inland."  And the group 350.org maintains the expansion makes a mockery of the Paris climate accord before the ink has had a chance to dry:  "The Turnbull government can't seriously sign on to deals which limit climate damage to 2 degrees and then give a green light to massive coal export projects which guarantee that the 2 degree target can never be met," said campaigner Moira Williams.

Officials in Sao Paulo, Brazil are determing the extent of the damage done to an important museum after fire raced through the 19th century railway station building where it is located.  Flames shot through the roof of the historic Luz Station (which some historians believe has many similarities with Flinders St. Station in Melbourne) and a firefighter lost his life trying to protect the Museum of the Portuguese Language on the third floor.  It contains priceless documents on the history and evolution of the Portuguese language.  It's hoped that the cultural loss may be minimal:  "We probably have many things backed up," said curator Isa Ferraz.

Venezuela is rejecting criticism from Argentina's new conservative president Mauricio Macri over human rights.  It's the first clash between the two after a decade of close relations that ended with Macri's election.  Macri called on President Nicolas Maduro to release so-called "political prisoners", including opposition leader Leopldo Lopez who was convicted of leading 2014's political violence that killed 44 of his own countrymen.  Venezuela accused Macri of planning to release killers and torturers imprisoned for their crimes under his country's military junta of the 1970s and '80s.

China has convicted a prominent human rights lawyer of "inciting ethnic hatred" and "picking quarrels" on his social media posts, and gave him a three year suspended sentence.  It means Pu Zhiqiang will have to stay out of trouble for that time during which he will bemonitored by the government.  It's the latest in a crackdown on political dissidents in China.  Mr. Pu had been criticial of China's treatment of ethnic Uighur Muslims in the northwest and mocked the military's macho rhetoric in an island dispute with Japan.

Japan has picked a new stadium design for the 2020 Summer Olympics and Paralympic games, going with local architect Kengo Kuma's design for the main venue.  Mr. Kuma's plan is lower profile than some of the competing designs, and incorporates a plant-covered facade that will match the neighboring Meiji-Jingu gardens.  Back in July, Japan scrapped the previous plan by Anglo-Iraqi architect Zaha Hadid over the public outcry over the cost, which would have been the most expensive sports venue ever constructed.