Hello Australia!! - Investigators establish a Russian connection to the downing of MH17 - A second US diplomat confirms yesterday's impeachment bombshell - In America's shooting gallery, two teens are killed at their suburban high school - Shocking entertainment news, and more in your CareerSpot Global News Briefs:

The bushfire danger in New South Wales and Queensland is increasing today because of hot, dry winds.  The SBS reports that this past week's bushfires have claimed four lives in NSW and destroyed more than 300 homes.  To keep up with the latest updates on the bushfires in New South Wales, check the NSW RFS website.  For information on the bushfires in Queensland, check the QLD RFS website.  And in Western Australia, click on the link for Emergency WA.

High level Russian officials were giving direction to the Ukrainian separatists who are suspected of shooting down Malaysia Airlines flight MH17, an air disaster that killed all 208 people on board including 38 Australians.  Investigators say top Kremlin deputies Vladislav Surkov and Sergey Aksyonov were involved in a series of phone calls with the leaders of the self-proclaimed Donetsk People's Republic (DPR).  Mr. Surkov is a former Kremlin strategist and deputy prime minister, while Mr. Aksyonov was the Kremlin's pick to take charge of Crimea when Russian troops moved in during March 2014.  Four months after that invasion, a Russian-made Bukh missile that originated from Russia's 53rd Anti-Aircraft Missile Brigade based at Kursk but was fired by the separatists took down MH17. 

A second official from the US Embassy in Ukraine was present when Donald Trump telephoned US Ambassador to the European Union Gordon Sondland to ask if Ukraine was going to manufacture a scandal against Trump's Democratic Party rival Joe Biden and his son Hunter.  That means at least two Embassy officials overheard the call, the existence of which was revealed only yesterday by Ambassador William Taylor during his testimony before the US House Impeachment investigative committee.  The second call took place a day after the infamous July phone call in which Trump tried to strong-arm Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky by threatening to hold back pre-approved military aid to deal with the country's civil war with Russian-backed separatists in the east.

A teenage shooter walked into his high school in the far northern suburbs of Los Angeles and pulled a .45 caliber pistol from his rucksack, killing two fellow students and wounding two others.  Police say he shot himself in the head as he crossed an athletic field in a possible escape attempt.  The victims found were a 16-year-old girl, who later died at the hospital, a 14-year-old girl, a 15-year-old girl, and two 14-year-old boys, one of which died later at the hospital as well.  Investigators are not determining why the shooter did this on his 16th birthday.  

Danish authorities arrested a 38-year old nazi scum for vandalizing 86 headstones at a Jewish Cemetery in the city of Randers.  The desecration happened earlier this week on the 81st anniversary of Kristallnacht violence in Germany, when the nazis attacked Jewish homes and businesses.  Israeli ambassador Benny Dagan visited Randers and said "it's a wake-up call to all of us that we must take anti-Semitism much more seriously".

Two people in northern China are being treated for Pneumonic Plague, an even worse disease than Bubonic Plague which is caused by the same bacterial infection.  The patients are from Inner Mongolia, but are now receiving treatment in Beijing's Chaoyang District.  In May, a couple from the same area died of Bubonic Plague from eating raw Marmot, a local folk medicine remedy for something that was probably a less serious than Plague.

KISS has cancelled their final tour of Australia because frontman Paul Stanley has caught a bad case of flu.  The tour was supposed to begin this weekend in Perth and make its way to New Zealand.  "Words cannot begin to convey our massive disappointment in having to cancel our End Of The Road tour of your incredible country.  Our connection to you is unparalleled and decades deep," the Starchild wrote to fans Down Under, "We waited as long as we could and held out hope to the last minute that my situation would clear up and we would be able to march forward.  Doctor's orders ultimately have taken precedence and finally we now find ourselves with no choice but to surrender."  

Disney Plus launches its premium pay service in Australia on 19 November.  And when it does, viewers will see a new notice in front of certain films:  "This program is presented as originally created.  It may contain outdated cultural depictions."  Referring to all that racist stuff in the old films like the crows that speak with exaggerated African American accents, or the "Siamese" cats in "Lady and the Tramp", and for the love of Zeus don't get me started about "Song of the South".  Disney has gotten rid of the racist stuff in its recent live action/CGI remakes, but the old classics will be presented in their entirety on Disney Plus, and you can explain it to your kids yourself.