Good Morning Australia!! - China makes another attempt to calm the North Korean situation - France and Europe hope for a centrist future - A US southern city scrapes out the hate - And more in your CareerSpot Global News Briefs:

China's President has placed a second phone call to the White House to urge restraint and calm as Pyongyang and Washington lob verbal assaults at each other.  Earlier on Monday, US Ambassador to the UN Nikki Haley went on the morning news and said North Korea had better not "give us a reason" to fight.  Over the weekend, North Korea's official news agency threatened to sink a US aircraft carrier currently steaming towards the Korean Peninsula.  This is the second time that Xi Jinping has called Donald Trump, and each time the subject has been to express how childish rhetoric could spill over into war.

French politicians are starting to coalesce around centrist presidential candidate Emmanuel Macron in the second round of national elections to take place on 7 May.  Outgoing President Francois Hollande is calling on voters to reject far-right xenophobe candidate Marine Le Pen, who came in second place in Sunday's first round behind Macron.  Earlier, Republicans' Francois Fillon and Socialist Benoit Hamon backed Macron after they learned they would not advance to the final round.  It's the first time in 60 years that candidates from France's main Left and right parties didn't make it to the second round.

European markets breathed a sigh of relief over Macron's first-place finish; The France's Cac 40 closed up four percent, while Germany's Dax rose by 3.37 percent.  The Euro rose to its highest level against the dollar since mid-November, although it gave some of that back.  Le Pen is polling way below Macron, easing fears that the far right would lead France into a "Frexit".

Maoist guerillas killed at least 25 Indian paramilitary soldiers in their stronghold in Chhattisgarh state.  The Naxallite gunners fired down from the hilltops as troops were trying to protect crews paving new roads that were supposed to make it easier for government forces to chase the Maoists through the forests.  The Maoists have waged hit and run attacks for three decades in their fight for greater rights for tribal people and the landless farmers.

Afghanistan's security chiefs have resigned last week's Taliban attack on an army base near the northern Mazar-e Sharif city.  About 10 Taliban infiltrators dressed in Afghan military uniforms killed at least 100 people - mostly news recruits - and some reports indicate that 165 people were killed.

Jordan appears ready to scrap a law which allowed rapists to escape punishment by marrying their victim.  Women's activists as well as liberal Muslim and Christian scholars have campaigned against Article 308 for a long time; supporters claimed it helped preserve a victim's honor and reputation (smdh), something that victims reject.  Last year, the cabinet rolled back parts of the law so molesters could only marry victims if she was aged between 15 and 18 and the attack and the attack was consensual - which turned it into state-sponsored pedophilia.  MPs must still approve the cabinet's changes.

An Israeli teen appeared in court to be indicted for allegedly threatening Jewish Community Centers (JCC) in Australia and New Zealand, but mostly in the United States.  Identified by US media as 18-year old Michael Ron David Kadar, he is also accused of trying to extort money from a US state lawmaker.  The US has agreed to allow his trial to take place in Israel, where his defense attorney claims the young computer genius is "autistic" and has the emotional development of a five-year old.  Kadar managed to cover his tracks for months by hijacking his neighbors' WiFi as well as using voice-masking software to disguise his voice.

Workers in New Orleans began removing Confederate military memorials in the famous southern US city.  Critics say the statues of murderous slave owners and glorification of the south's treasonous past were reminders of the vile racism that provided the Confederacy's reason for its short-lived existence.  One of the memorials openly hailed "white supremacy in the South" for many decades before the inscription was covered up.  The workers wore bullet proof vests and masks to protect their identities from any racist scum who might have wanted to take advantage of America's insane gun culture to make a statement - none did.  However, the decision to remove the racist memorials came in response to a scrawny, weak racist who shot and killed nine black people at a church in Charleston, South Carolina in 2015.

Kenyan police say they've arrested a number of suspects in the shooting of noted conservationist Kuki Gallmann and are performing ballistics tests on a recovered weapon.  The 73-year old author of "I Dreamed of Africa" was airlifted to hospital in Nairobi for a seven-hour operation after being shot in the stomach while surveying the grounds of her eco-safari lodge, which was burned down last month.  Officials describe the shooting as an "isolated" incident, but earlier said that the arson was the work of cattle herders seeking new grounds for their animals in an area beset with drought.