Good Morning Australia!! - Moscow denies arming the terrorist Taliban - The UN is asking for "peanuts" - It could be the end of the road for a wayward separatist leader - And more in your CareerSpot Global News Briefs:

German authorities detained former Catalan leader Carles Puigdemont on a Spanish arrest warrant.  Puigdemont had been trying to get back to Belgium, where he has been living in self-imposed exile for the past few weeks after botching Catalonia's attempt to secede from Spain.  Puigdemont had earlier pulled a hasty exit from Finland, getting out of the country just before cops were to arrest him.  The Spanish Supreme Court last week ruled that 25 Catalan separatist politicians would face charges for their roles in the secession vote.  Carles still has quite a few supporters who rallied on his behalf in Barcelona.

The United Nations childrens agency is asking for US$350 Million in funding for children starving because of the proxy war in Yemen.  "UNICEF is asking for 2018 alone for its humanitarian program close to $350 Million," said UNICEF's Geert Cappelaere.  "That is peanuts compared to the billions of dollars that are currently invested in fighting war.  We are asking for peanuts."  The US and the West generally back Saudi Arabia and the exiled Yemeni government, while Iran backs the Houthi rebel group - basically, no one is in charge.  Mr. Cappelaere was referencing the orange clown Donald Trump's comments last week that Saudi Arabia's billions of dollars in military spending on the Yemen war was "peanuts". 

Dozens of buses picked up families and fighters from what's left of East Ghouta under a deal between the Syrian government and a local rebel group, Faylaq al-Rahman, which allows some 7,000 people in total to be driven to opposition-held territory in north-western Idlib province.  Three other rebel groups that have controlled the enclave outside Damascus have already surrendered and the Syrian government is finalizing its control.  Meanwhile, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan says his forces that have attacked ethnic Kurds in Syria's Afrin province will now push further into another town.  He also labelled student peace protests in his country as "terrorists".

Russia and the Taliban issued separate denials to allegations the Kremlin has been supporting the Afghanistan Islamist group.  The head of US forces in Afghanistan John Nicholson last week said that Moscow has been supporting, and even supplying weapons to the Taliban, which have been used in attacks on US and Afghan forces.  The Russian Embassy in Kabul called the charges "baseless" and the Taliban says it has not "received assistance from any country". 

A shopping mall fire in Kemerovo, Siberia killed four people including three children.  The Winter Cherry Mall is located about 3,600 kilometers east of Moscow.

Police in Belarus arrested dozens of pro-democracy protesters in Minsk; among them, opposition politicians and a 90-year old man.  They accuse dictator Alexander Lukashenko of "Russifying" the country and erasing its Belarussian identity.  Lukashenko - a key ally of Russian president Vladimir Putin - accuses them of anything he wants to because he's been dictator since 1994 and has kept the country under his control and out of the world headlines during that time, regularly cracking down on anyone who raises their hand and says, "Yeah, but.."

Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe went on national TV and did the deep bow thing and apologized for causing anxiety and loss of confidence in his government.  Instead of resigning for the corruption scandal that has embroiled him, his wife, and his best friend Deputy PM Taro Aso, he promised to redouble his efforts to change the constitution to scrape out that pacifist stuff that kept Japan out of war for 73 years.  The scandal involves the sale of prime Osaka real estate at a fire sale price to a far right-wing school associated with Abe and his wife, and the cover-up of information relating to the sale.

The first direct flight from Australia to the United Kingdom landed at Heathrow airport on Sunday morning, local time, thanks to the Boeing 787-9 Dreamliner.  The 14,484 kilometer flight from Perth shaves three hours off the standard flight because it eliminates stop-overs in Asia, the Middle East, and Europe - and of course, way better than the 4-1/2 days it took when the old "Kangaroo Route" from Sydney to London flew 70 years ago.  It's a "historic day for aviation," said Qantas boss Alan Joyce, "From today it will be the first link between Australia and Europe that has ever occurred non-stop in aviation.  We are so excited."

Springtime in Japan means Sakura.