A number of warning signs apparently preceded the deliberate downing of Germanwings Flight 9525 – A racecar flips at a famous track and kills a spectator – Nigeria’s presidential election isn’t going too smoothly – China has petty reasoning for putting five women at risk – And more in your CareerSpot World News Briefs:

German newspapers are painting a disturbing picture of the young co-pilot believed to have deliberately crashed Germanwings Flight 9525 into the side of one of the French Alps last week, killing 150.  A cop quoted by Welt am Sonntag said 27-year-old Andreas Lubitz “was treated by several neurologists and psychiatrists” for “severe subjective overstress symptoms”, and that a number of medications had been found in his Duesseldorf apartment.  The New York Times added Lubitz was also being treated for eye problems that might have threatened his career as a pilot.

And Bild reports Lubitz’s ex-girlfriend recalled comments he made last year, which now seem ominous.  “One day I’m going to do something that will change the whole system, and everyone will know my name and remember,” Lubitz reportedly told the woman identified by the pseudonym “Maria W.”  She recalled how Lubitz’s facade was occasionally pierced by his inner demons.  “He would suddenly freak out in conversations and yell at me,” she said, “At night he would wake up screaming ‘we are crashing’ because he had nightmares.  He could be good at hiding what was really going on inside him.”

A spokesperson for Lufthansa, which owns Germanwings, declined to comment.  Lubitz managed to keep all of this a secret from his employer.

One person was killed when cleared the fence at Germany’s Nurburgring racetrack and crashed into a spectator area.  The video shows Jann Mardenborough’s Nissan GT-R Nismo went airborne and landed upside down.  The Veranstaltergemeinschaft Langstreckenpokal Nurburgring (VLN) Endurance Race was stopped and there were no closing ceremonies.  Nissan Motorsports says the 23-year old Mardenborough got out of the car and was taken to hospital for routine checks, adding, “Today’s events have been a tragedy.”  The VLN is a shorter, amateur version of the 24 Hours Nurburgring with car classes ranging from ricers and hoons (with roll cages and safety equipment) to GT3 cars.

Great video:  Mr. Tough Guy would-be robber gets tazed by UK cop who sort of just like Simon Pegg in “Hot Fuzz”.  The video cuts off before he gets himself a Cornetto Blue.

There is growing international revulsion for China’s treatment of five women campaigners for women’s rights – one of whom suffered a heart attack after a grueling interrogation, another who is in poor health because authorities confiscated her medication for Hepatitis B.  They’re the latest to be caught under the wheels of President Xi Jinping’s crackdown on all forms of dissent – academics; lawyers; journalists; and now, feminists.  The crime committed by Zheng Churan, Li Tingting, Wei Tingting, Wu Rongrong, and Wang Man?  Handing out pamphlets calling for greater women’s rights.

Nigeria is extending voting in the Presidential election through Sunday, because of technical delays and Boko Haram attacks.  A number of voters were stalled because of a problem with the biometric voter ID system.  Even President Goodluck Jonathan tried for some 50 minutes to register his fingerprints in his home village of Otuoke.  When that failed, he took and break and came back.  When the second attempt failed, they just gave him a paper ballot.  Jonathan is facing a strong challenge from former general Muhammadu Buhari, who had no problem voting on Saturday.

Somalian security forces ended the al Shabaab terrorist siege at a hotel in Mogadishu.  24 people were killed.

Al Qaeda gained full control of Syria’s northwestern city of Idlib.  It’s a crushing blow to Bashar al-Assad’s government forces, which collapsed after four days of fighting.

Four people, two of them children, were horribly killed when they tried to recover gasoline from a crashed tanker truck that exploded.  Officials in Mexico’s Tabasco state said in a statement, “Local residents using aggression and ignoring the directions of authorities began to collect the fuel without measuring the risks they were taking.”

The youngest brother of Sri Lankan President Maithripala Sirisena died of severe head injuries, after an axe attack.  The government describes it as happening “during an altercation with a friend”.  42-year old Priyantha Sirisena was flown to Colombo for treatment but died.  The president was out of the country on a state visit to China.

People are flocking to a mudslide in San Francisco Putumayo, Colombia to see the image of what they think is Jesus on a hillside.  Looks more like Bob Marley if you ask me, so…

Everyone loves Andean Bear Cubs!