Good Morning, Australia! – Syria’s military gave civilians no way to escape from Islamic State – Obama denies his Middle East policy is foundering – Good news for a boy found crammed into a suitcase – And a lot more in your CareerSpot World News Briefs:

Syrian government forces trapped civilians in the besieged city of Palmyra, blocking their escape from advancing Islamic State forces.  Only about a third of the 200,000 residents were able to get away before IS gained complete control of the ancient Roman ruins and modern Arab settlement, according to the United Nations, which is now concerned about reports of summary executions, as has been the standard practice whenever IS conquers new territory.  Also, Syrian forces appear to have withdrawn from the last border crossing with Iraq, leaving it in the hands of the militants.

US President Barack Obama is defending his approach to handling the situation in Syria and Iraq, where IS has seized the cities of Palmyra and Ramadi, respectively.  “I don’t think we’re losing,” Mr. Obama told The Atlantic Magazine, attributing the loss of the Iraqi city to Iraq’s failure to build up its forces there.  Counseling patience, he added, “We’re eight months into what we’ve always anticipated to be a multiyear campaign, and I think Prime Minister (Haider al-) Abadi recognizes many of these problems, but they’re going to have to be addressed.”

Russia is pledging to help Iraq reclaim territory from Islamic State.  President Vladimir Putin hosted Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi for talks on increasing investment in Iraq as well as military technical ties – that will likely mean more weapons sales.  Moscow has already delivered some of the 40 helicopter gunships from a previous deal and more are on the way.

Police from Washington, DC to New York City and beyond are on the trail of the man suspected of holding a wealthy family and their housekeeper hostage overnight in their mansion, torturing and murdering them.  Detectives matched DNA left on a pizza crust left at the crime scene in Washington matched 34-year old Daron Dylon Wint – a convicted criminal who once worked for one of the victims.  Investigators believe Wint terrorized wealthy manufacturing executive Savvas Savopoulos; his wife, Amy; their 10-year-old son Philip; and the family’s housekeeper, Veralicia Figueroa – leaving their bodies to burn in a hastily set fire intended to destroy evidence of his crimes.

All six Baltimore police officers involved in the death of Freddie Grey were indicted by a grand jury, in some cases increasing the charges originally specified by the prosecutor.  25-year old Freddie Gray died a week after he suffered a severed spine in police custody, setting off days of civil unrest by a black population sick and tired of being brutalized by untrained, unsupervised cops.

Greek Finance Minister Yanis Varoufakis is in hot water over a report in the New York Times that he secretly taped a meeting with EU finance ministers in Riga.  “Fairy tales, fairy tales, fairy tales,” he told reporters upon entering his offices on Thursday morning.  But the NYT reported that Yanis himself had made the claim, and added he couldn’t release the recordings because of confidentiality rules.  And later in the day, the former Sydneysider Varoufakis released a statement that again claimed confidentiality – meaning that he didn’t deny making the recording.  Greece has been locked in negotiations with the EU and IMF over economic reforms they say must be implemented before the final 7.2 Billion Euro tranche of the country's 240 Billion Euro bailout is released.

Guatemalan President Otto Perez sacked several ministers to try and quell a rapidly expanding political crisis over corruption allegations.  Earlier this week, the central bank chief and 14 other people were arrested and accused of rigging a multimillion-dollar Social Security contract to benefit a pharmaceutical firm.  Street protests have been steadily building since Vice President Roxana Baldetti stepped down after being linked to a ring that took bribes to avoid customs taxes.

Spain says a eight-year old boy smuggled into the country inside of a suitcase a couple of weeks ago can stay, for now.  Adou Ouattara will be reunited with his mother.  His father Ali Outtara is still in custody, charged with arranging the illegal crossing in the Spanish North African exclave of Ceuta.  The couple is originally from Ivory Coast and came to the Spanish Canary Islands for work, but didn’t have enough money to qualify for bringing their son through as well.