A massive earthquake at the top of the world kills hundreds, Australians are missing in the chaos – Indonesia sets the execution date for two Australians – Turkey’s Erdogan slams nations recognizing Armenian genocide – A President answers a Message on a Mango – And more in your CareerSpot World News Briefs:

The death toll is quickly rising in Nepal after a magnitude 7.8 earthquake 81 kilometers northwest of Kathmandu that caused death, injuries, and destruction over a wide area.  Well more than 1,500 people were killed in Kathmandu and surrounding villages, and the numbers will be revised as teams venture out into remote areas where it is believed entire villages may have been wiped out.  Several landmarks have been flattened or heavily damaged, such as: the Dharahara Tower; Durbar Square in the capital’s Old City; the 5th century Buddhist temple complex at Swayambhunat, or “Monkey Temple”. 

At least five Aussies are unaccounted for after the disaster in Nepal.  The Red Cross identifies them as:  59-year old Dianne Coburn and 18-year old Liam Coburn Oliver, from Melbourne;  20-year old Zachary Sheridan from Adelaide;  and 43-year old Jason Upton.  And the family of Perth woman Ballantyne Forder is trying to get information about the 20-year old.  Ms. Forder has been volunteering at orphanages in the area of the quake, including the cities of Kathmandu and Pokhara.

The Nepal quake even triggered an avalanche of ice and boulders on Mount Everest, which fell onto the base camp killing some 18 people – foreigners and Sherpas.  Many more are trapped.  It’s unclear how many are injured.  Mountaineer Arjun Vajpai managed to record a video of the scene after the avalanche and get it uploaded to the Internet.  The worst quake to strike Nepal in 80 years also was felt in India, Pakistan, Bhutan, Bangladesh, the Tibetan Autonomous Region, and China, causing damage and injuries in some cases.

Indonesia has given its 72-hour warning to Andrew Chan and Myuran Sukumaran, letting them know that their executions for the crime of drug smuggler are imminent.  Convicts from Brazil, Nigeria, and the Philippines are expected to be put in front of a firing squad along with the two Australians. 

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan is lashing out at countries that have labeled Turkey’s mass slaughter of Armenians 100 years ago as genocide.  “They should first, one-by-one, clean the stains on their own histories,” Erdogan said of France, Germany, Russia, and Austria.  Erdogan’s paranoia shined through as he accused US President Barack Obama of siding with Armenia, even though Mr. Obama last week pointedly avoided using the word genocide to describe Turkish crimes.

Pakistan’s Prime Minister is condemning the murder of a human rights activist.  Gunmen on a motorcycle shot and killed 38-year old Sabeen Mehmud in Karachi as she returned from hosting a talk on the Pakistani army’s alleged involvement in the torture and killing of political activists.  Mehmud’s mother was in the car and was injured in the attack.  PM Nawaz Sharif expressed his condolences and ordered an immediate investigation.

Volkswagen chairman Ferdinand Piech has stepped down, ending the power struggle at the top of the world’s third-largest automaker.  In an earlier interview with the German news magazine Der Spiegel, Piech had criticized his chief executive and heir apparent Martin Winterkorn.  Piech and his Porsche cousins control 51 percent of VW, but the five-member governing board threw its support Winterkorn. 

A viral video in Venezuela – President Nicolas Maduro began his career as a bus driver and likes to show off his workingman street cred by driving his own bus.  Last week, as well-wishers gathered around, someone tossed a mango through the driver’s window, which hit Maduro on the head.  It turned out it wasn’t a political protest, but a plea for help.  A woman wrote her name and phone number on the tropical fruit, and her problem with housing.  Later on TV, Maduro displayed the message on the mango, and told Marleny Olivo that she will be given a new flat as part of the “Great Housing Mission of Venezuela”.

Just a note here:  In the West, we’re constantly being told that somehow Venezuela is a ‘dictatorship’, even though international observers have confirmed every election since 1999.  We’re told that the people are violently dissatisfied with the government, even though the President drives through the country in a bus with the window open.  We’re told that Venezuela suffers ‘oppression’, even though a mango bonked the President on the head and paramilitaries didn’t ruthlessly disperse the crowd with water cannons and tear gas (while our own leaders are incapable of traveling without entourages and phalanxes of security agents sealed off from the people in bullet- and bomb-proof limousines and armored SUVs).  And the offending mango isn’t cordoned off and tackled by the bomb squad – it’s picked up and turned into a new flat for a little old lady.

Where’s that dictatorship again?