Hello Australia!! - Does Brazil's leader actually want to fight the Amazon wildfires? - Iran warns Australia - A big move to save Africa's elephants - And more in your CareerSpot Global News Briefs:

While the "lungs of the planet" burn, Brazil's far-right president Jair Bolsonaro is playing games with offers of international help to fight the fires in the Amazon Rainforest.  Bolsonaro is refusing the US$20 Million in aid offered by the Group of Seven (G7) countries this week until his French counterpart Emmanuel Macron "withdraw insults" against him.  Macron had accused Bolsonaro of lying to him about his commitment to preserve the rainforest, and it escalated until Bolsonaro insulted Macron's wife and Macron said all Brazilian women must be "ashamed" of him.  The fact remains that Bolsonaro's allies are the ranchers, agriculture interests, and mining companies that environmental group accuse of setting the fires so that the jungle could be cleared for development.

Not that US$20 Million is all that much.  It's about 1/6 of the budget for the movie "Venon", a rare stinker in the Marvel movie pantheon.  By comparison, Netflix paid $100 Million to put the 1990s sitcom "Friends" on its streaming platform.  Instead of money, it seems kind of like the only number that the world needs to be worrying about is that the Brazilian Rainforest is believed to generate as much as 20 percent of our oxygen.  You'd think that'd be something we could all agree is extremely important?

Now that the G7 meeting is over, the stories are leaking out.  Donald Trump ruined Saturday night's dinner by continually insisting that his pal Vladimir Putin and Russia should be readmitted to the soiree, making it the G8 again.  Russia was booted out for invading Ukraine and annexing Crimea in 2014;  Trump continually argued that it was his predecessor Barack Obama alone who ousted Putin because he had been "outsmarted" (whatever that means), while German Chancellor Angela Merkel and British Prime Minister Boris Johnson strongly argued that Russia had become even more undemocratic since then.  Only possibly-outgoing Italian Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte (more about him below) backed Trump, who reportedly "went to the mat" for Putin against the US' allies.

Iran is lashing out at the US and Australia.  Days after French President Macron suggested that Trump should meet with Iran's president, Hassan Rouhani insisted that US economic sanctions be lifted first:  "We will change our behavior towards those who imposed sanctions on the Islamic Republic of Iran and committed economic terrorism, if they show remorse."  Several conservative news outlet interpreted those comments as Rouhani demanding Trump "bow his head" to Iran.  Meanwhile, the a top Iranian official is warning Australia for joining the United States in patrolling the Strait of Hormuz.  "I don't think there'll be material damage to Australia. The damage will be to the reputation and prestige of Australia," said Kamal Dehghani Firouzabadi, the deputy chair of Iran's Foreign Relations Committee, "Those who take part in this coalition are responsible for the damage caused by this coalition."

Beijing is demanding Australia respect its handling of the case of a Chinese-Australia writer arrested but apparently not yet charged with alleged espionage.  Foreign Minister Marise Payne said Dr. Yang Hengjun - an Aussie citizen since 2002 - has been held in "harsh conditions" for several months.  "The Australian side should earnestly respect China's judicial sovereignty and must not intervene in China's handling of the case in any way," said a foreign ministry spokesman.  

Okay:  Italy.  PM Conte's Five Star Movement has until today to strike a deal with its former center-Left enemy Democratic Party to form a new government and avoid snap elections.  Five Star's coalition with the far-right La Liga party fell apart, mostly because of Deputy Prime Minister Matteo Salvini's relentless self-promotion which has succeeded in usurping Five Star's popularity if not its actual authority.  Five Star and the Democrats are reportedly at odds over several cabinet positions and whether Five Star's loud-mouthed party leader Luigi Di Maio would step down as deputy PM.  

UK Labour's Jeremy Corbyn struck a deal with the other opposition parties to block a no-deal Brexit, which Prime Minsiter Boris Johnson seems intent on causing.

Big news from Geneva and the meeting of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES):  Capturing baby elephants for sale or other transfer to zoos around the world is now mostly banned and will only be allowed under the most exceptional circumstances approved directly by a CITES panel of experts.  This comes after a 2016 count of Africa's elephants found that nearly one in three has disappeared over the past seven years - meaning there were fewer than 400,000 left.