Good Morning Australia!! - Are Robert Mueller's Ducks finally in a row? - Eliminating the competition, Egyptian-style - The great Jazz trumpeter Hugh Masekela is dead - And more in your CareerSpot Global News Briefs:

Three developments in US Special Prosecutor Robert Mueller's probe into Russian influence over the Trump presidential campaign:  Mr. Mueller is reportedly seeking to directly question the orange clown himself.  This comes after the New York Times revealed that Mueller interviewed former FBI director James Comey late last year.  While not shocking, it can't be understated that James Comey is a central figure in the probe, with deep knowledge as to the extent of Trump's Russian ties.  Earlier, it was reported that Mueller's team interrogated Attorney General Jeff Sessions - the first member of the Trump cabinet to be hauled in for an intervew.  In this case, it lasted for several hours. 

This all came out on the heels of a blockbuster report from Axios alleging that FBI Director Christopher Wray threatened to resign because AG Sessions had been pressuring him to fire a deputy seen as "disloyal" to Trump.  If true, it shows that Trump views the FBI as his personal political police force to pursue his vendettas, and that Jeff Sessions is doing his dirty work.  Trump on Tuesday denied that Wray threatened to resign.  Of course, all of this incremental stuff is just shadows and whispers unless Mueller gets down to it and indicts Trump.

The Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) is alive, and will be signed by Australia and ten other nations at a ceremony in Chile in two months.  Canada had walked away from the negotiations earlier, but has since resolved its objections in talks in Tokyo.  Aussie trade minister Steve Ciobo says the deal would "eliminate more than 98 percent of tariffs in a free-trade zone, with a combined GDP of $13.7 Trillion".  The deal will ease Australian beef and cheese imports into Japan, establish bilateral trade deals for Australia with Canada and Mexico, and abolition of all tariffs on seafood, wine, sheep meat, cotton wool, and manufactured goods across the region.

Freedom fighter, apartheid buster, and South African jazz legend Hugh Masakela is dead of prostate cancer at age 78.  Known as the "Father of South African Jazz", his "Soweto Blues" was the soundtrack of the anti-apartheid movement.  He also had hits in The West with "Grazing in the Grass", and "Up, Up, and Away", "Riot", and guested on The Byrds' "So You Want to be a Rock and Roll Star". 
Hugh Masekela
Other songs to check out: "Stimela", "Don't Go Lose It, Baby", "Marketplace", "Mama", "Chileshe", and "Bring Him Back Home", about future South African President Nelson Mandela who was still a political prisoner at the time.

A Volcano triggered an avalanche at a ski resort in Gunma, Japan; one military officer ona ski training mission was killed and eleven others were hurt by flying rocks and other falling debris.  Seven people at the ski resort had to be evacuated when teh avalanche cut off the road home.  The Kusatsu-Shirane volcano had been relatively peaceful for 35 years prior to this.

Egyptian authorities detained former military chief of staff Sami Anan shortly after he announced he was running for president.  The government of Abdul Fatah al-Sisi claimed Mr. Anan violated the military code by announcing his political bid without permission, and accused him of trying to drive a edge between Egypt's military and its people.  This knocks out the last serious challenger to al-Sisi, after former Prime Minister Ahmed Shafik was arrested on a visit to the UAE and literally forced to give up his presidential ambitions earlier this month.

Thousands of civilians have been uprooted by the Turkish assault on Syria's Afrin Province, which was secured by the Kurdish People's Protection Units (YPG), which Ankara considers to be affiliated with Kurdish separatists north of the border.  The Turkish forces are making only limited progress, but the YPG is asking civilians to take up arms and join its defense.  The United Nations says 5,000 people are on the run from the violence in an area that had been relatively secure in the Syrian Civil War.

Guatemalan President Jimmy Morales appears to be annoyed with growing disgust over his use of US$40,000 in public funds to purchase luxury items for himself.  The investigation by newspaper Nuevo Diario uncovered purchases of $400 bottles of whiskey, $4,000 in dry cleaning, and $3,000 designer sunglasses - apparently because he left his own shades at home on his way to an event.  When asked about the purchases by reporters, he snapped back: "Because I don't have to pay for them out of my salary!"