Good Morning Australia!! - Scores are killed in a chemical weapons attack in Syria - Another Trump-Russia connection is detailed - Is the end near for South African president Jacob Zuma? - And more in your CareerSpot Global News Briefs:

The Syrian government is suspected in the chemical weapon attack in Idlib that killed at least 58 people - possibly up to a hundred - and left hundreds with damage to their lungs.  Several children were among the victims (warning, disturbing images).  This happened on Tuesday in a rebel-held area of the northwestern province of Idlib.  And it happened days after US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson and US UN Ambassador Nikki Haley said that the removal of Syria's Bashar al-Assad was no longer a priority of United States foreign policy.  The United Nations Security Council will discuss the chemical attack at Wednesday's meeting.

He's innocent!  The man in black seen in CCTV images taken in the St. Petersburg subway around the time of yesterday's explosion did not do it.  It turns out he's truckie just going about his business.  The man reportedly went straight to police when he saw that Russian media had released the photo as depicting an alleged suspect, and it quickly rocketed around the world.  They questioned him, ran down his alibi, and it checked out.  The man in black was released.  In addition, a 21-year-old Kazakh university student who was named by some media outlets as a potential suspect overnight turned out to be one of the victims.

Meanwhile, Russian cops say the actual suicide bomber who killed 14 people and injured almost 50 in St. Petersburg's subway was an immigrant from Kyrgyzstan.  22-year old Akbarzhon Jalilov was born in the Kyrgyz city of Osh in 1995 and had obtained Russian citizenship.  Investigators say he also planted the second explosive device which was found and defused before it could explode.  It is not known whether Jalilov acted alone or with accomplices.

The Washington Post is reporting that the United Arab Emirates arranged a secret meeting in January between major GOP donor and Blackwater founder Erik Prince and a Russian close to President Vladi­mir Putin.  It appears to be part of an effort to open an unaccountable back-channel line of communication between Moscow and President-elect Donald Trump.  In addition to founding the mercenary group that ran into much controversy during the Iraq War, Prince is the brother of Betsy DeVos who was appointed Education Secretary in the Trump Administration.  Prince's first clandestine meeting took place in the Seychelles islands eleven days before Trump was sworn into office; although it is not known what was discussed, the FBI is reportedly investigating.

Allies are deserting South African President Jacob Zuma, after years of inept government rife with corruption.  Powerful union leader Bheki Ntshalintshali said Zuma was no longer the "right person" to lead the country, describing the president's leadership as "inattentive, negligent.. and disruptive".  Zuma's legislative coalition partner, South African Communist Party (SACP), has also called on Zuma to go.  Zuma was already losing support within his own African National Congress (ANC) party before he sacked popular and internationally respected Finance Minister Pravin Gordhan last week.

Ecuador has declared Vice President Lenin Moreno of the ruling Socialist Party the winner of last weekend's presidential election.  The 63-year old veteran pol and author of "Being Happy is Easy and Fun" is believed to be the world's only paraplegic president, raising hopes for increased help for the disabled.  The Organization of American States (OAS) monitored the election and already certified that it was on the up and up.  Despite this, conservative loser Guillermo Lasso plans to challenge the result.

Opposition politicians are criticizing Japan's decision to allow schools to "study" the 19th-century imperial order on education that was banned after World War II for promoting militarism and emperor worship.  Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga said the Imperial Rescript on Education would be allowed as teaching material if it is used in line with the constitution and the education law.  This comes after a private school chain linked to a shady land deal in Osaka was found to be teaching the banned nationalist lunacy.

Lawmakers in Hungary approved a strict education bill that critics say vindictively targets the internationally respected Central European University, founded by progressive US billionaire George Soros.  Soros is a critic of nationalist conservative Prime Minister Viktor Orban, who it turns out got through college on a scholarship provided by.. wait for it.. Soros.  Yeah, that's gratitude.  The move prompted thousands to protest outside the CEU's campus in Budapest.  The bill winds down CEU's ability to enroll new students unless a new joint operating agreement is reached with the US.

Eleven major advertisers have pulled their ads from conservative pundit Bill O'Reilly's talk show on Fox News.  This, after the New York Times reported in its Sunday edition that Fox and O'Reilly paid US$13 million to five women who accused him of sexual harassment.  The advertisers include automakers BMW, Mercedes, Mitsubishi, Hyundai, and Kia, as well as big pharma giants Sanofi and GlaxoSmithKline.  However, O'Reilly's show brought in US$111 Million for Fox last year, so don't expect it to go anywhere.