Hello Australia! - The seas are not limitless and there's new evidence of trouble ahead - RAAF jets conduct attacks in Syria - China has resumed construction on reefs taken from the Philippines - And more in your CareerSpot Global News Briefs:

Overall populations of fish, plus marine mammals, birds, and reptiles have declined by 49 percent around the world since 1970, according to a new report prepared by the World Wildlife Fund and the Zoological Society of London.  It gets even worse for species relied on as food sources - Stocks of tuna and mackerel, for instance, are down 70 percent in the same time period.  "Human activity has severely damaged the ocean by catching fish faster than they can reproduce while also destroying their nurseries," said WWF International's Marco Lambertini. 

The Defense Ministry confirms that RAAF fighter jets conducted their first operation against Islamic State in Syria, officially expanding Aussie operations from Iraq to include its troubled neighbor.  Three air strikes targeted an oil collection point, an armored personnel carrier, and an IS tactical unit.  No Aussies were hurt, and Defense Minister Kevin Andrews said the raids were conducted "from a distance or height that preserved the safety of the Australian aircraft".

Riot police dispersed dozens of left wing students protesting at the US embassy in Manila, arresting at least six.  The League of Filipino Students splattered red paint on the embassy's seal.  They're opposed to US troops and hardware on Philippine military bases.  The US closed its bases in the islands in 1991 when the Philippine Senate declined to renew the leases.  But cooperation between the two countries has been steadily returning since then, prompted by Islamist insurgents in the south; and more recently, China's claiming of disputed reefs in the South China Sea.

China appears to be building a third runway in the South China Sea.  This comes shortly after announcing that its island-building projects were coming to an end, and shortly before Chinese President Xi Jinping is to visit Washington, DC.  Satellite imagery revealed that construction is underway on a runway on the appropriately named Mischief Reef.  These reefs to the west of the Philippines are several hundred kilometers beyond China's internationally-recognized maritime boundaries.

Japan's defense ministry says it scrambled four fighter jets on Tuesday to intercept an unknown foreign aircraft, presumably Russian, intruding on Japan's air space off the northern island Hokkaido.  A protest is being lodged with Moscow.  This was the first time in two years that a plane from Russia violated Japan's air space, but part of a pattern of Russian aircraft showing up uninvited off Alaska and over the Baltic Sea nations.

Nigeria's army says it freed a dozen kidnapped women and children from the terrorist group Boko Haram.  This happened during a sweep to clear out Boko Haram camps in northeastern Borno state.  The military has managed to free hundreds of people held by Boko Haram, but none of them turned out to be from Chibok where the group kidnapped more than 200 schoolgirls.