Hello, Australia! – More than a dozen people are injured in a crash outside Cairns – A former FIFA exec is being investigated for a real lowlife crime against one of the world’s poorest countries – What are uninvited Chinese ships doing in Malaysia’s waters – And more in your CareerSpot World News Briefs:

Officials say 19 people are injured in Ravenshoe, south of Cairns, after a ute crashed into a cafe, setting off a gas explosion.  The ute collided with another vehicle on Grigg Street in the northern Queensland town, and crashed through the “Serves You Right Cafe” only to strike a gas cylinder.  “We just heard a massive sonic boom and went running out and saw the cafe on fire and lots of burnt people,” witness Kate Lewis told the ABC.  Three of the injured are reportedly in critical condition.

When Jack Warner was still FIFA’s vice president in 2010, he visited Haiti with news that the world football body and the Korean Football Association would provide almost A$1 Million to help the country recover from the devastating earthquake.  That money disappeared into bank accounts controlled by Warner and was never seen again.  The BBC reports US prosecutors have now taken up the investigation into what happened with the missing million. 

Russia is hastening its military build up in the Kurile Islands, where Moscow and Tokyo have rival territorial claims.  Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu didn’t elaborate on what that will mean.  Japan calls the islands off its far northern coast the “Northern Territories”, which were seized by the Soviet Union at the close of World War II and passed to Russia at the end of the Cold War – and Tokyo wants them back.

Malaysia is protesting the incursion of Chinese Coast Guard ships in its waters north of Borneo.  The Chinese ships were spotted in the Luconia Shoals, a set of islets within Malaysia’s 200-nautical mile exclusive economic zone, and 2,000 kilometers away from mainland China.  It’s the second time Chinese ships were spotted messing around near Malaysian islets.  China is hurtling headlong towards international confrontations because of its island building campaign in the South China Sea far from its borders.

Police in India killed at least twelve Maoist rebels in clashes south of Patna, the capital of Bihar state.  Police say the fighters were on their way to mines in a neighboring state allegedly to extort money from the owners.  The rebels, who count China’s former Communist Leader Mao Zedong as their primary influence, are considered to be India’s foremost internal security challenge.  Last year they killed six police officers in a daring raid. 

German Chancellor Angela Merkel says time is running out to reach a deal to keep Greece in the Eurozone.  Speaking at the close of the G7 Summit in the Bavarian Alps, Merkel said Europe will stand with Greece, but only if Athens “makes proposals and implements reforms”.  The Greek government said it was ready to negotiate a settlement acceptable to both sides by the end of this month, when Greece's bailout program expires, but negotiators say no movement has been made on either side.

The land is moving, however.  A strong earthquake has hit central Greece and was felt in the capital Athens.  There were no immediate reports of damage.  Both the Greek Geodynamic Institute in Athens and the US Geological Survey registered at as a magnitude 5.2.