China’s choking pollution is officially a “crisis” – Terrorists slaughter students in Africa – New fears that people lost a lot of money in a Bitcoin debacle – How not to tow a car in Russia – And more in your CareerSpot World News Briefs.

The World Health Organization (WHO) says China’s smog problem has reached “crisis” levels, and residents of Beijing need to stay inside during the current emergency.  Fine particulate pollution, called “PM 2.5”, has repeatedly reached more than 400 micrograms per cubic meter in recent days – That’s more than 16 times the WHO’s safety guideline of 25 micrograms. 

China arrested a scholar from the Uighur Muslim ethnic group and charged him with secession.  Ilham Tohti is a Beijing economics professor and has been detained since last month.  His wife says the charges are ridiculous.  Tohti has been critical of China's treatment of the Uighurs and recently blogged about fears of a crackdown the minority group following last October's deadly attack in Beijing's Tiananmen Square.

As many as 59 students were killed at a boarding school in northeastern Nigeria, and police are blaming the terrorist group Boko Haram.  All 24 buildings on the campus were burned down.  Earlier reports stated 29 students were killed, but more bodies were found in the bush, of students who were injured and tried to flee but didn’t make it.

Portions of the trial of Olympic sprinter Oscar Pistorius will be broadcast on television, so says a South African judge.  He’s charged with murdering his girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp, Pistorius says the shooting was an accident.  The judge also ruled that the audio portion of the trial will be broadcast in its entirety.

A Mexican court has ordered drug baron Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman Loera to remain in a maximum-security prison while awaiting trial on new charges.  Guzman’s defense is also attempting to block extradition to the United States where several more drug and murder charges await.  But Mexico has not signaled if it will even go for such a scenario – Guzman still has to finish out the prison term from which he escaped in 2001.

The Tokyo-based Bitcoin exchange Mt. Gox is shutdown, its chief executive has resigned, and its website is disabled.  It comes amid report the company had lost 744,000 Bitcoins through theft that had gone unnoticed for years.  Depositors can’t make withdrawals and there are some who fear they’ve lost hundreds of thousands of real dollars in the latest SNAFU in the world of unregulated virtual currency exchanges.  My advice?  Go back to Dungeons and Dragons and pretending to read long-ass, boring Ayn Rand books, boys – it’s cheaper.  -- j/k

It may seem like wishful thinking, but South Korea’s government is forming a committee to prepare for reunification with North Korea.  President Park Geun-hye says the committee will expand dialogue and private exchanges with Pyongyang.  Assuming anything like that does happen, the cost of reabsorbing the impoverished North will cost Seoul $1 Trillion by some estimates.

In Russia, there are no free rides.  A Saint Petersburg motorist and his pal through they found the solution to moving their broken down car – tie it to the back of a trolley bus.  It seems so obvious.  Less obvious, however, was the issue of steering.  Enjoy the show!