Disaster strikes the Solomons – Old wounds fail to completely heal, 20 years after the Rwandan genocide – China says its crews “might” have detected a black box signal in the MH370 search – The Red Shirts vow to back Thailand's embattled government – And much more in your CareerSpot World News Briefs:

The Solomon Islands need a lot of help right now, after last week’s killer floods.  At least 17 people are dead, and that number is expected to rise after drenching rain swept house after house into the sea, leaving the beaches covered in debris.  Thirty and are missing and 12,000 people are taking shelter with the UN in shelters in Honiara.  But aid workers are worried about the other 37,000 homeless people spread out through the Islands whom they can’t get help to immediately.  There is extensive damage to water and sewage infrastructure, electric and communications systems, and the main airport’s runways were clogged with debris.

Australian planes may be sent to the patch of the Indian Ocean where Beijing says the Chinese ship Haixun 01 detected a pulse signal similar to that emitted by flight data recorders, such as those on missing Malaysian Airlines Flight MH370.  Australia’s search chief Angus Houston says the Chinese information is consistent with that for which the international effort is searching.  There were also white objects floating in the water, but we’ve been down that road before.  MH370 disappeared four weeks ago with 239 people including six Australians.

Tens of thousands of “Red Shirt” supporters of the Thai government rallied outside of Bangkok, and warned of possible civil war if conservative and nationalist protesters try to change the government without elections.  The Red Shirts accuse the opposition, which hasn’t won a free election since before 1992, of trying to use the courts to do what they couldn’t accomplish with Democracy.  Opposition leaders have consistently said they want to replace the elected government with a ruling council of appointed “good people”.

US President Barack Obama is congratulating Afghanistan on the 58 percent turnout in the presidential election, the country’s first-ever democratic transfer of power.  In fact, the provinces didn’t print up enough paper ballots to meet voter enthusiasm.  Voter turnout might have been even higher, but for the Taliban.  Although the Islamist group doesn’t appear to have disrupted the election as it promised, it did keep people away from the polls in the regions it controls – few people showed up to vote in those areas.

Two polls released just before voting in India point to a possible majority for the Hindu nationalist BJP party.  The center-left Congress Party appears to be on track to its worst loss since Indian independence in 1947.  Voting begins on Monday and goes in regional phases through 12 May – Results are expected on 16 May.

Venezuelan opposition leader Leopoldo Lopez has been charged with inciting violence in the demonstrations that have killed almost 40 people.  Educated at elite US schools, the conservative Popular Will Party leader has been in jail since 18 February since he dramatically (some might say overdramatically) surrendered to authorities, who say he encouraged followers to set fire to and destroy public buildings.

The clear sky over Ecuador is punctuated by a gigantic plume of hot ash and gas from the Tungurahua Volcano more than nine and a half kilometers into the air.  The mountain’s name means “Throat of Fire” in the local Quechua language.  Ecuador's National Secretariat for Risk Management says, “For now, the ash fall is mild,” but that Tungurahua’s behavior is impossible to predict.

France is pulling out of Monday’s commemorations for the 20th anniversary of the Rwandan genocide.  This comes after Rwandan President Paul Kagame accused France and Belgium of taking part in the killing, which France has long denied.  France was allied with Rwanda’s former Hutu government, which largely perpetrated the Genocide against the Tutsi, from which came President Kagame.

The Roman Catholic archbishop of Atlanta announced he will sell a US$2.2 Million mansion just three months after he moved in.  A group of parishioners had pressured Archbishop Wilton Gregory to get on the program of austerity set by Pope Francis, who famously eschewed the Prada shoes, Papal apartments, and Vatican limo in favor of an economy car.  The mansion has an upper-level safe room, an eight-burner kitchen stove, an elevator, public and private offices and two dining rooms.

The Chicago light rail train driver who fell asleep at the controls, only to have her train crash and go halfway up the escalator at O’Hare Airport has been sacked. 

Pillow Fight!