Good Morning Australia!! - Germany reels over human guinea pigs in a medical experiment - One of Trump's favorite targets quits - It wasn't IS that destroyed an ancient temple in Syria - And more in your CareerSpot Global News Briefs:

The German government is blasting automakers for funding experiments on humans and monkeys to test the harmful effects of diesel engine fumes.  And it didn't happen in the 1940s; the program ran "sometime between 2012 and 2015" according to newspapers Stuttgarter Zeitung and Suddeutsche Zeitung.  It was run by the European Research Group on Environment and Health in the Transport Sector (EUGT) - a now defunct organization founded by German automakers Volkswagen, Daimler, and BMW.  "What is known so far is disgusting," said German Environment Minister Barbara Hendricks.  "The fact that an entire industry has apparently tried to conceal brazen and dubious methods of scientific research makes it even more monstrous," she added.

The newspapers reported that experiments focused on "short-term nitrogen dioxide inhalation by healthy people" who were examined at hospital after inhaling the gas over several hours.  The monkeys, of course, were not volunteers.  The automakers are denying direct knowledge of the experiments.  Volkswagen said in a statement "we are convinced that the scientific methods chosen at the time were wrong".  Daimler ordered an investigation, emphasizing it was "shocked by the extent of those studies and the way there were carried out".

Anyway..

Polish President Andrzej Duda says he will review legislation that makes it a crime to imply Polish involvement in the Holocaust of World War II.  Israel was incredibly insulted by the legislation passed by the lower house last Friday, noting the historical truth of nazi Germany operating its death camps on Polish soil with support from local collaborators.  Critics of the draft law accuse Poland's far right government of attempting to whitewash history.

The assistant director of the US FBI has stood aside.  Andrew McCabe, who was a frequent target of criticism from the orange clown Donald Trump and his sycophants in Congress, will use up his outstanding vacation time before his retirement date in March.  In other words, he was leaving anyway.  Republicans who view the FBI as their personal political police force viewed McCabe as disloyal because his wife once ran for office as a Democrat - something that is not illegal, not unethical, and not immoral.

Turkey has arrested more than 300 people for social media posts that criticized the invasion of Syria's Afrin province, and accused them of spreading "spreading terror propaganda".  Turkish forces moved into Afrin, a stronghold of the Kurdish YPG which Ankara believes is a branch of Kurdish separatists in Turkey.  Detainees included politicians, journalists and activists.

An ancient Hittite temple has been seriously damaged by Turkey's assault in Afrin.  Ain Dara was built by the Arameans in the first millennium BC and featured carved basalt lions, which have been reduced to rubble by the Turkish assault.  Former Syrian antiquities chief Maamoun Abdul Karim says the Turkish damage was "the same level of atrocity" as that seen in Palmyra - destroyed by the so-called Islamic State.

Colombia has suspended peace talks with the ELN rebel group, accusing it in three weekend attacks that killed seven police officers.  The ELN has claimed responsibility for one of the attacks.  President Juan Manuel Santos accused the rebels of a "lack of coherence on the part of the ELN between its words and actions".

North Korea cancelled a joint cultural event with the South after what it said was insulting news coverage from the South.  The event on Mount Kumgang in the North, featuring art performances and taekwondo, would have been part of a series of events ahead of the South's hosting of the Winter Olympics in PyeongChang.  Seoul said North Korea's decision to cancel the joint performance was "very regrettable".