Hello Australia!! - Defence officials reveal a deadly mistake in Iraq - The surprising winner of Australia's top literary prize - A pretend president is way more popular than one country's real thing - And more in your CareerSpot Global News Briefs:

Australian Defence officials say two RAAF fighter jets were involved in a bombing mission that killed 35 Iraqi civilians.  This happened in June 2017, as US-led coalition air power supported Iraqi forces in retaking Mosul from the so-called Islamic State; the ABC reports that Iraqi forces misidentified that bustling home of a local cleric as a target for bombing by a group of coalition aircraft that included a pair of Aussie F/A-18F Super Hornets.  After a lengthy delay in telling the Aussies that something went horribly awry and several months of investigation, RAAF Air Marshal Mel Hupfeld told the ABC:  "We do know from our review of events that our air crew made no error in this mission."  But he also didn't necessarily blame the Iraqis for bad targeting info in the heat of an intense battle.

The US says it killed at least 24 Al Shabaab terrorists in an air strike in Somalia.  US Africa Command says its deadliest attack in months was carried out on Wednesday near an extremist camp near Shebeeley in the central Hiran region north of the capital, Mogadishu.

Israeli military prosecutors charges five IDF troops with badly beating a Palestinian father and son while they were handcuffed in custody in early January.  The attackers allegedly removed the son's blindfold and forced him to watch his father being beaten, and suffering a broken nose and ribs.  The Palestinian men were being held on suspicion of assisting gunmen involved in a West Bank shooting that killed two Israeli soldiers in December.

The winner of the top prize at the Victorian Premier's Literary Awards couldn't attend the ceremony because he has been barred from entering Australia since 2013.  Kurdish-Iranian journalist and Manus Island refugee Behrouz Boochani won the country's most valuable literary award, the $100,000 Victorian Prize for Literature, as well as claiming $25,000 for first place in the category of non-fiction for his book "No Friend But the Mountains: Writing from Manus Prison".  Judges created an exception for him to enter the competition despite not being an Australian resident or citizen.  From Manus Island, Mr. Boochani said, "I hope this award will bring more attention to our situation, and create change, and end this barbaric policy," referring to Australia's treatment of refugees seeking a better life.

Brazil says the number of confirmed deaths from last Friday's collapse of a dam at an iron ore mine has risen to 110.  Lieutenant Flavio Godinho of the Minas Gerais state civil defense agency said Thursday that 238 people are listed as missing.  The CEO of Val SA, which owns the mine, says he does not expect any of his top executives will be arrested - three other lower level Vale employees and two engineers with a subcontractor have been arrested.

The US Upper Midwest is slowly emerging from the deep freeze.  Officials say the insanely cold weather caused the deaths of at least 13 people.  At its worst, the temperature in Chicago was -55 F Degrees, with windchill factored in.

Greece's parliament will vote on North Macedonia's NATO accession agreement "in the coming days", and it's likely to pass.  Greece had for almost three decades blocked its neighbor's bids to join NATO and the EU because of the incredibly silly dispute over ownership of the name "Macedonia".  Now that the smaller country has agreed to call itself "North Macedonia" - a deal that aggravates nationalists on both sides of the border - both nations can work on extending "peace, cooperation and stability in the Balkans" according to a spokesman in Athens.

Ukraine's presidential election is two months off, and the front-runner is a TV comedian.  Volodymyr Zelenskiy played the nation's president in a popular TV series.  In the latest poll, he raced ahead of incumbent President Petro Poroshenko and former Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko.  "With voters tired of current politicians and the lack of success in the economy, Zelenskiy could bring a surprise," said Volodymyr Fesenko of the independent Penta analytical center.