Hello Australia!! - Facebook acts against hate mongers - A showdown is brewing between US House Democrats and the Trump administration - Measles locks down an entire cruise ship - And more in your CareerSpot Global News Briefs:

Facebook announced it is kicking some of the most caustic far-right voices from its social network.  Leading the list is Alex Jones of the conspiracy theory website InfoWars, who had several of his pages struck from Facebook last year.  "We've always banned individuals or organizations that promote or engage in violence and hate, regardless of ideology," said a spokesman in a statement.  "The process for evaluating potential violators is extensive and it is what led us to our decision to remove these accounts today."  Other figures being banned are US Black nationalist leader Louis Farrakhan, who has a history of anti-Semitic statements; alt-right provocateur Milo Yiannopoulos; as well as racists Laura Loomer, Paul Joseph Watson. and Paul Nehlen.

US House of Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi is accusing the Attorney General William Barr of lying to Congress.  "He lied to Congress.  And if anybody else did that it would be considered a crime," Pelosi told reporters, "Nobody is above the law."  Barr last month said under oath that he was not aware of any complaints from US Special Prosecutor Robert Mueller over Barr's handling of the report about Russian meddling in the 2016 presidential election and the Trump Campaign - it has since emerged that Mueller vehemently objected in a four-page letter that Barr failed to mention.  After getting interrogated pretty well before the Senate a day earlier, Barr cancelled his planned return to the House Judiciary Committee - prompting one member to taunt him by placing a statue of a chicken in the chair Barr would have occupied.

Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro took a walk with troops - a lot of them - in a display designed to demonstrate that the military is still loyal to the democratically-elected government and constitution.  While the Western corporate media seems intent to portray opposition Juan Guaido's call for toppling Maduro's government as a revolt, there has been no widespread support - not from the people, not from the military.  Maduro praised the army's loyalty.  "No-one dare touch our sacred ground or bring war to Venezuela", he said. 

The US military is reporting a huge spike in sexual assaults in 2018, up from 14,900 in 2016 which is the last time a survey was conducted.  This reverses years of declines in such crimes.  "Sexual assault is illegal and immoral, is inconsistent with the military's mission and will not be tolerated," wrote Acting Defense Secretary Patrick Shanahan, who directed the military to crack down and "criminalize" sexual harassment.

A cruise ship reportedly owned by the Church of Scientology has been quarantined off of the Caribbean island of St. Lucia because a crew member has come down with Measles.  "Because of the risk of potential infection, not just from the confirmed measles case but from other persons who may be on the boat at the time, we thought it prudent to make the decision not to let anyone disembark," said the island's chief medical officer Merlene Fredericks James.  Although some high-profile Scientologists have come out against vaccinations, the organization's website says members "seek conventional medical treatment for illnesses and injuries" including "prescription drugs".

Julian Assange is fighting extradition from the UK to the United States, where he faces charges related to one of the largest compromises of classified information in history.  "I do not wish to surrender myself for extradition for doing journalism that has won many awards and protected many people," Assange told the London court from prison through a video link.  He's in prison because yesterday, the judge sentenced him to 50 weeks in jail for skipping bail in 2012 to avoid being sent to Sweden to face sex assault charges, which the judge termed a deliberate effort to postpone justice.