Hello, Australia! – More Diggers are going to Iraq – Find out where parents who refuse to vaccinate are going to jail – Myanmar captures a rare white elephant – And a lot more in your CareerSpot World News Briefs:

Australia is sending 300 additional troops to Iraq, to assist the country tackle the threat posed by Islamic State (IS).  The fresh troops will join 200 Aussie Special Forces already in Iraq who are training Iraqi forces.  Prime Minister Tony Abbott insists the deployment is necessary to domestic as well as international security.

Pakistan is dealing with anti-vaxxers with mass arrests.  Security forces rounded up around 470 parents who refused to allow their children to be vaccinated against Polio.  “We have decided to deal with the refusal cases with iron hands,” said Peshawar Deputy Commissioner Riaz Khan Mehsud, “Anyone who refuses will be sent to jail,” and won’t get out until their children are vaccinated.  The Taliban and assorted Islamist hardliners oppose vaccinations as some sort of Western “plot”.  After being wiped out in most of the world, Pakistan is one of only three countries where Polio is still endemic.

Boko Haram released a video showing two captives before and after they were beheaded.  It’s not the first time Boko Haram has done this.  But it raises questions about the Nigerian terrorist group’s potential links to Islamic State, because of IS’s propensity towards beheadings, and because the video was a much slicker production than Boko Haram’s cruder, previous videos.  The two men were accused of spying for police.

March is fire prevention month in the Philippines and it didn't start out too well.  Fires raced through a shantytown in the capital Manila, and in two locations in Quezon City.  Hundreds of people are homeless as a result.

Russia finally allowed the girlfriend of slain opposition leader Boris Nemtsov to fly to her native Ukraine to visit her family.  The 55-year old Nemtsov was gunned down in front of 23-year old model Anna Durytska on a bridge just a couple of hundred meters from the Kremlin.  Despite being one of the world’s most secure locations, any CCTV camera that could have provided a detailed look at the assassins just happened to have been shut down that day.  Nemtsov has earlier expressed fear he’d be killed at the orders of President Vladimir Putin because of his opposition to Russia’s involvement in the eastern Ukraine insurrection.

Venezuela says the United States has two weeks to reduce its number of diplomats in the country from the current number – about 100 – to a level equal to the number of diplomats Caracas has in America – 17.  President Nicolas Maduro has frequently accused the US of meddling in Venezuelan affairs, especially by supporting opponents of the democratically elected Socialist government.  The new rules require US citizens visiting the country to apply for visas charged at the same rates levied on Venezuelans wishing to visit the US.

Myanmar has captured a rare “White Elephant” in the rainforest in the country’s western Ayeyarwaddy region.  Forestry officials first became aware of it about six weeks ago, and managed to corral it last week.  She’s about seven years old and 190 centimeters talls.  White elephants have been revered for centuries in Myanmar, Thailand, Laos, and other Asian nations, and their appearance is usually considered auspicious.  They’re actually albinos, with pink skin more susceptible to sun damage, fair eyelashes and toenails.  The World Wildlife Fund frowns on capturing them at all because the practice threatens the wild populations.