Hello Australia!! - Trump subjects himself, his office, and his country to ridicule after his stupidest tweet yet - A US official knocks down claims of a Cuban secret weapon - A giant from the golden age of space travel is gone - And more in your CareerSpot Global News Briefs:

It's going to be another hot one in the east - the temperature is expected to top 40 C degrees in Sydney, Campbelltown, Wagga Wagga, and to approach that high mark in Canberra. 

The orange clown Donald Trump defended himself from the growing consensus he's the impulsive, dimwitted man-child as depicted in the tell-all book of his administration "Fire and Fury" with a series of early morning bathroom tweets referring to himself as "like, really smart" and "a very stable genius".  Which is exactly what sane people do, right?  OMFG.  Later at Camp David, a reporter asked why he felt compelled to comment on his mental state, he explained he was refuting the narrative presented by author Michael Wolff in the book "Fire and Fury" - and doubled down on the horn blowing by claiming he was a "very excellent student" at "the best colleges, or college". 

Wolff's book is based on the year spent inside the West Wing and the author has the audio recordings to back up hundreds of interviews conducted with staffers, and it paints a picture of a thoroughly dysfunctional White House in which no one likes or can work with each other, and every staffer believes the president is neither intellectually nor emotionally up to the job.  Wolff told The Hollywood Reporter, "I hear that the president is very angry, or, let me be precise: I hear that he is truly bouncing off the walls."  Wolff's book, and word that a group of Democratic lawmakers accompanied by one Republican, met with a psychiatrist for a briefing about Trump's mental health, have led to renewed concerns over his psychiatric state.

Cuba did not use a top-secret audio weapon against US diplomats in Havana, according to a US Senator.  Arizona Republican Jeff Flake - believe by many to be gearing up for a run against the very stable genius in 2020 - met with Cuban officials who were told by the US FBI that a mysterious outbreak of vertigo was caused by a weapon.  "Nobody is saying that these people didn't experience some event, but there's no evidence that that was a deliberate attack by somebody, either the Cubans or anybody else," Flake said, refuting allegations from Trump's Secretary of State Rex Tillerson.  Cuba steadfastly denied the allegations all along.

Brazil's northeastern Rio Grande do Norte state has declared a "state of calamity" because of a police strike that has lasted 20 days.  Cops walked off the job on 19 December in a dispute over back pay and working conditions.   There's been a spike in crime and violence including 100 murders; officials had to call in 3,000 troops to stem the chaos.  The calamity decree allows the state government to pay for services and sign contracts without a bidding process.

Former Toyota boss Tatsuro Toyoda, son of the company's founder and uncle of the current president, is dead at age 88.  He pushed the company ahead during its great international expansion in the 1980s and '90s.  One of his big achievements was joint venture with GM in Northern California which filled America with Corollas.  That plant was eventually taken over by Tesla Motors.  Trivia!

US Astronaut John Young is dead at age 87.  He was the only astronaut to fly a total of six missions in three of NASA's important programs:  Gemini (1960s) in which he famously smuggled a sandwich on board the orbiter; Apollo (1970s) in which he once circled the moon and years later walked upon it; and Space Shuttle in which he commanded the Columbia on the first Spacelab mission.