Good Morning Australia!! - One of the most familiar faces in Hollywood suddenly dies - Russians stand up to Putin - Stunning numbers of anti-immigrant attacks in Germany - And more in your CareerSpot Global News Briefs:

Actor Bill Paxton of "Titanic", "Apollo 13", "Aliens" and many others is dead at age 61.  He apparently suffered a stroke following heart surgery in Los Angeles.  Mr. Paxton's every-man good looks and easy going personality kept him working from the 1980s in "Weird Science" and "Terminator", through "Aliens", "True Lies", and "Ghosts of the Abyss".  Always a bankable supporting actor, he brought in big money for Hollywood at the top of the marquis in "Twister", which prompted a fad of storm chasing in the US.  More recently, Paxton did more television and starred in the breakthrough HBO show "Big Love" and was to star in a TV version of the movie "Training Day".  He is survived by his wife and two children, and as one of Hollywood's genuine nice guys, is missed by practically everyone he ever met.

Thousands of Russian defied the Putin regime ban on demonstrations and marched in Moscow to remember the assassination of prominent government critic Boris Nemtsov, who was infamously gunned down right outside the Kremlin in this date in 2015.  Marchers chanted "Russia will be free!" and "Putin is war!"  The signs carried quotes from Nemtsov, including "I'm against the annexation of Crimea"; "Give us back our elections, you rats!"; "For Russia, without Putin".  Five Chechen men are on trial for the killing.  They deny the charges and Nemtsov's relatives fear whoever ordered the murder will never be found.

Meanwhile, Putin's buddies in the White House are desperately - and not terribly effectively - trying to tamp down a widening scandal over contacts between aides to Donald Trump and Russian intelligence officials during and after the 2016 election.  On a Sunday morning news show, White House spokeswoman Sarah Huckabee Sanders (no relation to Bernie) dismissed allegations of inappropriate Trump-Russia ties as “BS” – bullshit.  However, the White House already accidentally admitted that it has been trying to stage manage media coverage of the scandal and the FBI's investigation.

Malcolm and Jokowi announce Australia and Indonesia have resumed full military ties.

Over the weekend, we learned that beloved Aussie children's books author Mem Fox and Muhammad Ali, Jr. were along those detained and harassed by the increasingly aggressive and fascistic border guards in the US.  Now, 62-year old French historian Henry Rousso says he was singled out and threatened with imminent deportation as he tried to attend a conference at Texas A&M University.  The school confirms that it wasn't until a law professor intervened that the academic was allowed to proceed.  Trump's brain-dead zombie cops are targeting academics and intellectuals as well as oppressed minorities.  Sound familiar to anything else in history?

Germany is admitting that the wave of racist xenophobia is worse than it looks:  2016 saw an average of ten attacks per day on immigrants - 560 people were injured in the violence, including 43 children.  Around 3,000 attacks took place on migrants outside of their housing - 1,000 were attacks on the housing itself.  The Leftist opposition is urging Chancellor Angela Merkel's government to focus on the far right groups perpetrating the violence.

UK Olympic disance runner Mo farrah insists he is a "clean athlete"; this comes after a leaked report in the Sunday Times suggested his American coach may have broken anti-doping rules to boost the performance of some of his athletes.  Alberto Salazar has been under investigation since a BBC report made allegations about drugs use at his US training base.