Hello Australia!! - A dire warning for Canberra to fix the budget - Theresa May indicates her opposition against Scotland's proposed independence vote - No one will back Trump's paranoid delusion - And more in your CareerSpot Global News Briefs:

Australians face lower living standards and higher taxes unless the government does something to end the budget impasse:  That's the warning from the Business Council of Australia (BCA), which has put it its pre-budget submission to the government.  The BCA says gridlock will merely postpone the inevitable, making younger generations pay for the sins of today.  The group forecasts a nightmare scenario of budgetary hacking, ranging from possible social security cuts to eliminating the entire education and defense budgets combined.  "None of these options is acceptable, but without intervention they are inevitable," the submission said.

UK Prime Minister Theresa May says "now is not the time" for a second Scottish independence referendum, claiming that Scots shouldn't be asked to decide until after the results of the impending Brexit are in to be judged.  "Right now we should be working together, not pulling apart," May told British television.  Former Scottish First Minister Alex Salmond told the ABC's Lateline that May has misjudged the situation and that Scotland is determined to stay with the single market economy of the European Union, with or without London.  "This is a pretty narrow-vision Prime Minister. She's set in her ways, she's determined to barge on regardless," said Salmond.  "I think she's going to get her comeuppance and I think there will be a referendum in Scotland and I think (current Scottish First Minister) Nicola Sturgeon will win it."

European leaders are welcoming the results of the Dutch election, which will likely return Prime Minister Mark Rutte to power while freezing Islamophobic, anti-immigration nationalist Geert Wilders in his tracks.  French President Francois Hollande said it was a "clear victory against extremism", while German Chancellor Angela Merkel hailed a "good day for democracy"; the European Jewish Congress hoped the result marked a 'domino effect' of mainstream parties pushing back against extremism and populism.  

Turkish leader Recep Tayyip Erdogan is threatening to scrap the refugee deal with Europe, saying his country will not re-admit failed asylum seekers who had reached Europe via Turkey.  Erdogan is in a heated dispute with European leaders who have refused to allow the Turkish government to hold campaign rallies to convince Turkish ex-patriots to vote for a measure to give Erdogan increased autocratic powers.  The number of asylum seekers reaching Europe through Turkey has dropped significantly since the EU reached the deal with Turkey a year ago.

A monitoring group says at least 42 people were killed in an air raid on a mosque in rebel-held northern Syria.  It's not clear who carried out the air raid - however, Russian forces have recently bombed the area around the mosque in Atareb town in Aleppo province.

Somali pirates who hijacked an oil tanker earlier this have released it without condition, after a gun battle across the bow of a smaller boat that was believed to have been carrying supplies to the pirates.  The hijacking of the oil tanker while en route from Djibouti to the Somali capital Mogadishu was the first since 2012.

A preacher in Sierra Leone found a 706-carat diamond - one of the 20 biggest such rocks known to humans.

Guatemala's Supreme Court has withdrawn parliamentary immunity from a lawmaker under investigation for allegedly taking part in torture and forced disappearances during the 1980s civil war.  Edgar Ovalle is a ruling party member of Congress and close confidante of President Jimmy Morales.  In his former role as a General, an investigation links him to human rights violations in Guatemala's predominantly Indigenous Quiche region.

Donald Trump was asked if he realized that the plan to repeal "Obamacare" would hurt his own voter base:  "Oh, I know," Trump said matter-of-factly on Fox TV, "I know.  It's very preliminary."  Trump ran for the White House promising to repeal the Affordable Care Act and replace it with some nebulous scheme to cover everyone in the US.  But a devastating report from the non-partisan Congressional Budget Office (CBO) found that the Republican party replacement - known to some as Trumpcare - would cause 24 million to lose coverage and dramatically raise coverage costs for middle aged people as they're trying to prepare for retirement (what retirement?).  And these gaps would disproportionately impact people in the lower income countries that voted for Trump.

Irish Taoiseach Enda Kenney says he had a "productive meeting" with Trump on his annual Saint Patrick's Day visit to the White House.

White House Spokesman Sean Spicer said Trump stands by his delusional and unhinged accusation that his predecessor President Obama ordered the wiretapping of Trump Tower during the presidential race last year; This is even after statement from the bipartisan leaders of the Senate Intelligence Committee, who said there is absolutely no evidence of Trump's IDIOTIC slander.  The House Intelligence Committee shot down Trump's claim a day earlier.

Speaking of Trump's presidential campaign, a key campaign figure from Oklahoma turned himself into police after being caught in a cheap motel with an underage male prostitute.  A former missionary and bible college graduate before turning to conservative politics, Shortey now faces child prostitution and other felony charges.  Shortey seems destined to vacate his Oklahoma state senate seat, and the body has already stripped him of his committee assignments and official parking space.