Hello, Australia! – A murdered Russian dissident’s daughter blames Putin – An Australian teen is reportedly dead in a suicide bombing – Once supported by the US, a reputed death squad leader can no longer call America his home – And a lot more in your CareerSpot World News Briefs:

The so-called “White Jihadi” from suburban Melbourne has purportedly killed himself in a suicide bombing in Iraq, at least according to an Islamic State (IS) propaganda video.  The teen, now identified as 18-year old Jake Bilardi, is seen on the video behind the wheel of a truck that was apparently packed with explosives, and the caption “May God accept him”.  It then shows an explosion in the distance.  Bilardi left Cragieburn for the Middle East last year, and apparently left improvised explosive devices behind at the family home. 

Indonesia is rejecting Foreign minister Julie Bishop’s latest bargain for the lives of Bali Nine ringleaders Andrew Chan and Myuran Sukumaran.  She offered Australian money to pay for the cost of life imprisonment, should Indonesia grant clemency to the convicted drug smugglers.  Just editorializing a bit here:  As reprehensible as capital punishment is, Bishop’s offer also suggests the belief that Indonesia’s constitutional justice system is not absolute and can be bargained with from abroad.  The same goes for her previous offer of a prisoner swap.  Pressuring Jakarta to stop an objectionable practice is great, but I have to wonder if such offers that hardens and hearts of Indonesian officials.  How would Australia respond to a similar offer from Indonesia?

The Philippines says it is preparing to arrest more suspects in the sweep of accused pedophiles that involved an Australian man.  51-year old Peter Gerald Scully is charged with abusing children aged from 18 months to 13 years old, posting video online.  He faces life in prison if convicted.

The daughter of murdered Russian opposition leader Boris Nemtsov says the President Vladimir Putin was “politically” to blame.  25-year old Zhanna Nemtsova says there’s no prominent figure left in the opposition with the gravitas to take on Putin, and that the “opposition is beheaded and everybody is frightened”.  She also says investigators looking into her father’s assassination on a bridge near the Kremlin haven’t even bothered to contact her for background information.

The Police Chief of Ferguson, Missouri is stepping down.  That’s the town beset by months of civil unrest after one of his cops shot and killed an unarmed black teenager for jaywalking.  Chief Thomas Jackson also came under fire for the shameful brutality and thuggery displayed by his cops who escalated the violence while dealing with peaceful protesters.  Jackson gets to resign, and will keep his health insurance for a year.  Maybe after that, he’ll qualify for Obamacare.

Two senior US Secret Service agents are under investigation for crashing a car at a White House security checkpoint last week.  They had apparently just been out drinking with a retiring colleague.  One of the men was directly in charge of President Barack Obama’s security detail.  It’s the latest in a string of embarrassing episodes involving the secret service and drunken incompetence.

A US immigration appeals panel is upholding the deportation order against Carlos Eugenio Vides Casanova, the former El Salvador defense minister during the period from 1979 to 1989 – when the country was torturing and murdering civilians perceived to be enemies of the state.  Vides Casanova was at the helm of the security apparatus in 1980 when four US nuns were kidnapped and murdered by his guardsmen.  He argued that because the military dictatorship was backed by the Reagan and Bush administrations, he shouldn’t be deported for essentially carrying out US foreign policy.  The panel didn’t buy that and ordered him deported back to El Salvador to face justice.

A little sidebar to the above item:  The host of the top-rated show on Rupert Murdoch’s US media jewel Fox News claims to have been a witness to the murder of the nuns.  This was proven to be false as were other claims by Bill O’Reilly.  Murdoch’s network has yet to take any action on its dispersal of bogus information.

Another person who was murdered by Vides Casanova’s death squads will be beatified by the Roman Catholic Church on 23 May.  Archbishop Oscar Romero was murdered while giving a mass in 1980, after he had spoken up against the killings and repression by the US-backed regime.  Pope Francis fast-tracked the process, the last step before sainthood, and the Vatican just today set the date.

A bus collided with two trucks in central Tanzania, killing 41 people.  One of the trucks swerved to avoid a pothole, dumping its container on the bus, crushing several passengers, sending it crashing into the third vehicle.  Tanzania has a lot of traffic problems, due to the aging, poorly maintained roads and vehicles.