Five are dead after powerful flood currents sweep away cars in Queensland – Tensions in Baltimore are eased as six cops are charged with murdering a young black man – Topless feminist group Femen pulls off its best stunt yet – Meet the senior citizen who punched a bear in the face – And more in your CareerSpot World News Briefs:

Five people died in southeast Queensland when their cars were swept away by fast-moving flood waters.  It happened in last night’s torrential downpour.  Authorities say swift water rescue teams saved 58 people from the flood.  But two cars were separately swept away into King John Creek at Caboolture, killing: a 74-year-old man, 39-year-old woman and a five-year-old boy, in one car; and 49-year-old driver of the second car.  The man’s children managed to escape.  Police are warning people not to drive into floodwaters.

Blues guitar legend BB King is in “home hospice care”, according to a message on his website.  The 89-year old King’s daughter had him taken to the hospital on Thursday because he was dehydrated and wasn’t eating.  He also might have suffered a mild heart attack.  The King of the Blues has long dealt with complications from diabetes.  BB King is nest known for his 1970s hit “The Thrill is Gone” and a collaboration with US “When Loves Comes to Town”.  He’s been a member of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame since 1987 and has 30 Grammy nominations.

Soul singer Ben E. King is dead at age 76.  He’ll forever be remembered for the 1961 hit “Stand By Me”.

Six Baltimore police officers have already posted bail and are free, after being arrested and charged in the death of Freddie Gray, the young African American man who died a week after suffering a severed spine in the cops’ custody.  Four of the cops are charged with second-degree murder and manslaughter.  Five of them immediately mad bail and were released – the total bail for all sex was less than the US$500,000 bail imposed on an 18-year old charged with some misdemeanors from the unrest in the city earlier this week.  Nevertheless, word of the charges against the cops instantly brought down tensions in the east coast American city.

Nigeria’s military appears to be making major headway in rescuing civilians from the terrorist group Boko Haram.  The military tweeted news that it found yet another 234 women and girls in the Sambisa Forest, which Boko Haram used as its stronghold and base for launching attacks in Borno state.  It’s not clear if any are the Chibok Girls kidnapped from a government boarding school last year, in an incident that caused worldwide outrage.  400 girls and women were rescued earlier in the week.

Saudi Arabia says it killed “dozens” of Houthi rebels in Najran, a town just north of the border with Yemen.  Three Saudis were killed in the battle.  The Saudis have led a series of air strikes against the Houthi in Yemen in support of the president ousted by the rebels.  The United Nations says more than 1,200 people have been killed and 300,000 have fled their homes in Yemen in the past six weeks.

The UN Security Council failed to agree on a Russian-drafted statement calling for a pause in the fighting in Yemen.  The led to Russia accusing the Western and Arab members of the Security Council of paying “lip service” to the needs to Yemen.  “If you cannot agree to a motherhood and apple pie statement what can you agree on,” said Russian UN Ambassador Vitaly Churkin.  Later, Russia and China blocked a French-drafted statement calling for peaceful elections in the African nation of Burundi, currently experiencing a political crisis.  Observers fear the growing chasm between East and West is now harming cooperation at the UN.

The US quickly rejected a Chinese suggestion that some disputed islands in the South China Sea could be used for international rescue and relief missions.  China has been very busy building on the islands and extending them to include an airstrip and several buildings.  The Philippines and Vietnam are especially critical of the reclamation work hundreds of kilometers beyond China’s internationally-recognized territorial limits.  The US said that if China wanted to reduce tensions caused by the islands, it should making them.

Police in Nepal say the death toll from last weekend’s killer earthquake has surprised 6,600.  The country is still in dire need of tents, food, and medicine.  You can donate to help Nepal through these links:  UNICEF – The World Food Program – The Australian Red Cross – OXFAM Australia – Medicins Sans Frontieres Australia (Doctors Without Borders) – also, Charity Navigator helps you pick charities that are open and accountable. 

Some one thousand European Union citizens are still unaccounted for in Nepal, according to EU envoy Rensje Teerink.  The problem is that backpackers generally are not known to register with their home country embassy upon arrival in the country, which makes it hard to trace them.  Twelve EU citizens are known to have died, and it remains to be seen how many were visiting sites and temples in remote parts of the country.

Bare-chested Femen activists took the piss right out of French right-winger Marine le Pen’s annual May Day address in Paris (did I mention that the video is not safe for work?  Seriously, NSFW).  As the leader of the xenophobic and borderline fascist National Front tried to speak and put a wreath at a statue of Joan of Arc in the French capital, the activists stole the attention, making nazi salutes and unfurling banners that said “Heil Le Pen”.  Oh, the fascists were ever so upset!  But if the activists from the renown Feminist group weren’t enough, Le Pen’s own father Jean-Marie LePen – who openly embraced France’s Vichy nazi collaborator past – wandered on to her stage to a round of applause from the dim-witted racist party members.

Do not mess with a man’s Chihuahua.  73-year old Carl Moore of the Sierra Nevada Mountains in Northern California is a contractor, a former boxer, a past Country Music bar bouncer, and a US Marine veteran.  So when a 135-kilogram bear tried to get into his yard with its hungry eyes trained on Moore’s Chihuahua doggy, Moore knew what he had to do:  He punched the bear in the face.  Really, really hard.  “I never faced anything in my life that I didn’t figure I can whip,” Moore said.  The bear took off, and hasn’t come back.