World AM News Briefs For Thursday, 27 April 2017

Good Morning Australia!! - The US is beating the drums at North Korea - Turkey begins another round-up of Erdogan's alleged "enemies" - The pitter-patter of little hooves return after almost a century and a half  - And more in your CareerSpot Global News Briefs:

The US tougher line on North Korea is causing friction in Asia.  The military began installing the Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) anti-missile system in South Korea, over the objections of the North and China, whose foreign ministry vowed Beijing would "resolutely take necessary steps to defend its interests".  Even South Korea's leading presidential candidate Moon Jae-in has called for a delay in the deployment, accusing Washington of ignoring South Korean public opinion.  The Pentagon says THAAD would be operational "in coming days".  Meanwhile, the White House brought all 100 US Senators over from Capitol Hill for a top-secret briefing on the North Korean situation.  And earlier, the top US military commander in the Pacific told Congress that missile defenses as far away as Hawaii might have to be bolstered to deal with the perceived threat from North Korea's missile and nuclear weapons programs.

With his first 100 days in office about to draw to a close and nothing but chaos and embarrassment to show for it, the White House is staging a bunch of vindictive and spiteful events to try to bolster Donald Trump's faltering image.  The orange clown is reportedly drafting a plan to withdraw the United States from the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), which harmed the US manufacturing sector but which most economists agree benefits the overall US economy over its neighbors Mexico and Canada.  Trump also threatened to expand a burgeoning trade war with Canada over milk and soft wood lumber.  And the jerk signed executive orders to review of environmental protections on national monuments that were declared by Presidents Barack Obama and Bill Clinton.  Unlike National Parks which are declared by congress, monuments have little protections from the whims of the executive branch. 

France says it has proof that Syrian intelligence manufactured the sarin gas used in the chemical weapons attack on a rebel-held city earlier this month.

Turkey arrested more than 1,000 people suspected of being affiliated with exiled cleric Fethullah Gulen, whom autocratic president Recep Tayyip Erdogan accuses of engineering last year's failed coup.  Another 2,200 were being sought as authorities targeted what they claimed was a secret structure within Turkey's police force.  Authorities suspended 9,000 officers, and referred to to the 1,009 arrested suspects as being "covert Imams".

A South African court has annulled the deals the government made with South Korea, the US, and Russia to build nuclear reactors.  The court ruled that the government failed to hold public hearings and a parliamentary debate over its plans, making the deals unlawful.  Environmental groups welcomed the ruling, which came on the eve of the 31st anniversary of the 1986 Chernobyl nuclear disaster in Soviet Ukraine. 

Celebrated director Jonathan Demme has died at his home in New York City of complications from esophageal cancer at age 73.  Like others of his generation, Mr. Demme cut his teeth making stylish schlock for exploitation film master Roger Corman ("Caged Heat", "Crazy Mama"), in the 1980s he moved into Oscar territory ("Melvin and Howard"), concert films ("Stop Making Sense"), and numerous rock videos for the fledgling MTV network.  Demme's best-known films came in the 1990s, including "Silence of the Lambs" for which he would receive an Academy Award, and "Philadelphia".  Prolific, adaptable, and creative, Demme more recently directed the hits "Rikki and The Flash" and the remake of "The Manchurian Candidate".

Where the Buffalo Roam:  The first baby Bison to be born in Banff in 140 years have taken their first steps. 

"It's fantastic.  We knew it was coming, but when the message came out of the back country on Saturday that the first calf had already dropped, I think everyone was pleasantly surprised," said Bill Hunt, a resource conservation manager with Parks Canada.

The calves are the children of North American Bison reintroduced into the Canadian National Park in the Northern Rocky Mountains two months ago, a herd which included ten pregnant females.  Around 30 million bison used to roam around in Canada until they were hunted almost to extinction in the 1800s.

White Tiger Cubs born at Austrian Zoo.