Hello Australia!! - The US is beating the war drums, will Australia provide the drum sticks? - Iran threatens Trump right back - Arson now suspected in the Greek fires - And more in your CareerSpot Global News Briefs:

The Trump administration is planning to bomb Iran as soon as next month, and Australia is poised to help the US pick targets allegedly related to Iran's nuclear program.  The ABC reports that "senior members of the Turnbull government" says "secretive Australian defence facilities would likely play a role in identifying targets in Iran".  These include the top-secret Pine Gap joint defence facility in the Northern Territory and the little-known spy agency Australian Geospatial-Intelligence Organisation.  The source also said that the UK would play a role, but the other two members of the Five Eyes intelligence alliance - Canada and New Zealand - likely would not.  This follows an all-caps tweet from Donald Trump aimed at the president of Iran that appeared to threaten war.

An Iranian special forces commander says Iran is ready to defend itself and is warning Trump that attacking Iran "will destroy all that you possess".  Major General Qassem Soleimani - leader of the Quds Force of Iran's elite Revolutionary Guards - belittled Trump's all-caps tweet as using the language of "night clubs and gambling halls".  But ominously, he cautioned:  "We are near you, where you can't even imagine.  Come.  We are ready," and, "If you begin the war, we will end the war." 

In Trump scandal news, US federal prosecutors have subpoenaed Trump's longtime financial gatekeeper Allen Weisselberg to testify before a federal grand jury.  This is in the criminal probe of Trump's former personal lawyer Michael Cohen, who appears to be now working with the Feds as they investigate Trump's finances and the Russian attack on the 2016 US presidential election.  Mr. Weisselberg has served as executive vice president and chief financial officer at the Trump Organization, and was once described by a person close to the company as "the most senior person in the organization that’s not a Trump".  Meanwhile, the New York Times reports that special prospector Robert Mueller is reviewing Trump's Twitter outbursts seeking evidence of obstruction of justice.

US House of Representatives far-right Republicans have dropped their attempt to impeach a Justice Department official in charge of the Trump investigation.  They got a "talking to".

Whoa, what's up with Facebook?

Former cricketer-turned-politician Imran Kahn is claiming victory in Pakistan's national election.  "We were successful and we were given a mandate," he said on national TV.  But the party of disgraced former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif and a host of smaller parties are rejecting the results and alleging a vote-rigging and manipulation scandal.  Even the official results show Khan's PTI party failing to capture an overall majority, so it would have to seek coalition partners in order to form a government.

Authorities in Greece say there are "serious indications" arson was the cause of the fire that killed 83 people in coastal villages east of Athens.  Dozens are still missing, while around 60 people are still being treated in hospital - eleven in intensive care.  

Italian police defied a European Union court ruling and cleared out a Roma camp of nearly 400 residents, including dozens of children.  Residents accuse police of excessive violence and using pepper spray:  "They forced us out," said Mikhaila Dobreska, "They pushed all the women."  The European Court of Human Rights earlier in the week asked Italian authorities to suspend action and outline plans to rehouse the community.  The camp was made of shanties and many lacked electricity and clean water, but only about 140 residents had accepted Italy's offer to move into a "reception center". 

Former Colombian president Alvaro Uribe has quit his Senate seat to face a bribery and fraud investigation in the Supreme Court.  He's accused of making false accusations and witness tampering.  Uribe is a vocal critic of the peace deal with the Communist FARC which ended the five decade civil war by turning the guerillas into a legitimate (if unpopular) political party.  He's also seen as the driving force behind the election of incoming conservative President Ivan Duque. 

Mary Ellis, who is one of the UK's last surviving female pilot from World War II, is dead at age 101.  Mrs. Ellis said she had flown "about 1,000 aeroplanes" during the war, delivering Spitfires and bombers to the front line during the conflict.  She did this despite the prevailing sexism of the time, expressed in aviation magazine editorials and by fellow pilots:  "Everybody was flabbergasted that a little girl like me could fly these big aeroplanes all by oneself."
Mary Wilkins in 1941
Mary Ellis
Young Mary Wilkins joined the Air Transport Auxiliary (ATA) in 1941 after hearing an advertisement for women pilots on BBC radio.  She did her duty, and in 1950 moved to the Isle of Wight in 1950 to take charge of Sandown Airport.  There she married pilot Don Ellis, a fellow pilot, in 1961; she lived in her home at the airport until her death this week.