Good Morning Australia!! - The White House security scandal about lying and Russia bubbles over the porcelain rim - Trump's pals in Russia are testing American resolve by air and by sea - Kim Jong-un's brother is reportedly assassinated, and weirdly at that - And LOTS more in your CareerSpot Global News Briefs:

The White House has already changed its story on the resignation of National Security Advisor ret. General Michael Flynn four times.  During the White House arvo news briefing, spokesman Sean Spicer said that Donald Trump "demanded" Flynn's resignation over a "loss of trust".  Earlier in the morning, White House counselor Kellyanne Conway told reporters that Flynn offered his resignation and that Trump, while maintaining confidence in him, accepted.  Flynn resigned last night amid reports that his contact with the Russian ambassador before he was officially part of the White House could have been illegal and that he lied to Vice President Mike Pence and others about the nature of his contact with Ambassador Sergei Kislyak; earlier yesterday, the White House said Trump was evaluating the situation after Ms. Conway said Trump still had confidence in Flynn.

The biggest problem coming out of the briefing is the new White House timeline of the Flynn saga:  Spicer acknowledged that Trump became aware of Flynn's problems on 26 January - but Flynn didn't go until 13 February.  That's 17 days before anything was done about a National Security Advisor who lied to the Vice President and could have been a target for Russian blackmail.

The Republican Congressman who chairs the House Oversight Committee reacted with indifference: "I think that situation has taken care of itself," said loyal Rep. Jason Chaffetz of Utah.  Congressional Democrats pounced on that:  "Do you hear that?  Do you hear the silence?  That's the sound of Republicans conducting no oversight of Trump - Zero," said Rep. Elijah Cummings of Maryland in a fiery news conference.  "What did the president know and when did he know it?" Cummings demanded to know. 

Several Republican Senators are alarmed over the shyte-show at the White House.  Sen. Roy Blunt of the Senate Intelligence Committee called for an exhaustive investigation into connections between President Donald Trump and Russia - and said his committee should talk with Flynn "sooner, rather than later".  Sen. John McCain, chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, pulled know punches:  "General Flynn's resignation also raises further questions about the Trump administration’s intentions toward Vladimir Putin’s Russia, including statements by the President suggesting moral equivalence between the United States and Russia despite its invasion of Ukraine, annexation of Crimea, threats to our NATO allies, and attempted interference in American elections," McCain said.

BTW:  Another Federal judge has ruled against Trump's travel ban on people from seven predominantly Muslim countries.  Judge Leonie Brinkema of the federal district court in Virginia said religious bias is at the heart of the ban, and that makes it unconstitutional.  "The president himself acknowledged the conceptual link between a Muslim ban and the EO (executive order)," Judge Brinkema wrote.  A Federal Appeals court in California already put the ban on hold, upholding the stay put on by a Seattle judge. 

ANYWAY...

This would have been a lead story on any other day:  Kim Jong-un's older, underachiever brother Kim Jong-nam has been murdered at Kuala Lumpur International Airport in Malaysia.  A two-woman assassination team got the man reportedly traveling as "Kim Chol" at the budget airlines terminal - putting a chemical-soaked cloth over his face.  Whatever was on there, it burnt his eyes and killed him.  An autopsy has been completed, but the results have not yet been released.  46-year old Jong-nam hasn't exactly been the model scion of a ruthless North Korean dictator - he preferred to spend his time at Disney amusement parks and in front of the slots in Macau, and has been on the outs with the fam after giving interviews saying he did not believe in dynastic succession. 

Georgian officials say they stopped a plot to poison a top figure in the Georgian Orthodox Church.  Police in Tbilisi arrested an Orthodox priest before he could fly to Germany, confiscating a vial of cyanide.  It's not clear if the priest was targeting Patriarch Ilia II, who is being treated in Germany after gall bladder surgery.  However, "A treacherous attack on the Church has been prevented," said Prime Minister Giorgi Kvirikashvili.

Okay, those two stories were kind of John Le Carre- and Ian Fleming-esque.  Shall we go right to Tom Clancy?  Russia violated an arms control treaty with the US by moving two banned intermediate-range missiles to active bases, including the testing site at Kapustin Yar in the country's southeast.  The move happened in December and was just confirmed this week.  Also, a Russian spy ship is patrolling up and down the US east coast, just over the maritime boundary in international waters.  The Viktor Leonov is a Soviet-era Meridian-class intelligence collection ship, which can measure US Navy sonar capabilities and is armed with surface-to-air missiles.  Has Trump tweeted anything about that?  Nah.

Disney has cut ties with the world's highest paid YouTube star "PewDiePie" (never heard of him) after he uploaded a series of nazi-themed videos, including one with people holding signs calling for "death to all Jews".  His real name is Felix Kjellberg, and he is said to have made US$15 Million through YouTube in 2016 with provocative videos.  Kjellberg apologized, denied anti-Semitism, and claimed his point was that some people would do anything on video "for five dollars".  So that's his excuse:  He's not a nazi, but he will hire financially depressed people to commit depraved acts in return for not enough cash to buy a Big Mac for lunch.  F__k this guy.  F__k Felix "PewDiePie" Kjellberg of Sweden.

Police in Paraguay found 25 TONS of Venezuelan cash in a house in the country's north.  Since the Bolivar isn't worth a lot these days, cops suspect a criminal gang was going to bleach the markings off, and use the paper to make counterfeit US bills.  The world has been indifferent to Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro's complaints of criminals hoarding his cash, causing economic chaos in the country - now the world has proof.