Hello, Australia! – What is Tony Abbott up to? – A North Korean official meets a grisly end apparently on the orders of the dear leader – Thousands of migrants are floating in limbo – And a lot more in your CareerSpot World News Briefs:

Is Tony Abbott planning an election before the end of the year?  The morning after his government revealed a suspiciously generous budget, the PM said he plans to serve a full three-year term, without specifically ruling out going to the polls ahead of time.  Opposition leader Bill Shorten says Labor will support the Small Business package in the government’s budget, but is prepared to fight an election by pointing out health and education cuts.

North Korea has reportedly executed its ex-Minister of Defense by anti-aircraft gun in a gruesome public spectacle.  Hyon Yong-chol was last scene at a defense conference in Moscow last month.  But since then he was convicted of treason – apparently for dozing off at official events and talking back to the dear leader Kim Jong-un.  You’ll recall two weeks ago CareerSpot World News reported on a similar execution that took place last year, discovered by the Committee for Human Rights in North Korea through analysis of satellite photographs of the Hermit Kingdom.  Pyongyang’s anti-aircraft guns fire rounds roughly akin to a Western .50-calliber – putting a human in front of that would pretty much leave the body unrecognizable.

The death toll from the Magnitude-7.3 earthquake that struck Nepal early this morning is at least 66 lives lost.  Almost 2,000 are hurt.  This is in addition to the more than 8,000 who were killed in the 25 April disaster.  Several structures that managed to survive last month’s quake but were damaged came tumbling down around anyone not lucky enough to be able to get out. 

A magnitude-6.8 earthquake struck off the northeast coast of Japan early this morning, but damage appears to be minimal.  The Tokyo Noon News showed a video of a wine shop cleaning up some broken bottles, and some other stores with plaster damage.  But concerns were high because two nuclear power plants are in the quake zone – and one of them is the Fukushima Daiichi plant, whose owners really haven’t been able to stop the radiation from spewing out of the holes where three cores melted through the ground.  Today’s quake was an aftershock to the 2011 mega-disaster that preceded the meltdowns.

Nicaragua’s Telica Volcano erupted with hot ash, gas, and rocks.  Visitors to the summit managed to get amazing video of the eruption as it began.

UK Home Secretary Teresa May is setting up a new flashpoint between her country and the European Union.  Writing in The Times, May says migrants who attempt to reach the European Union by crossing the Mediterranean should be turned back.  She is flat-out rejecting the plan being considered by some EU officials to send the impoverished African and Middle Eastern migrants to member countries ranked on their size and wealth.  May claims it will only encourage more migrants. 

Malaysia and Indonesia both vow to turn back ships carrying thousands of Rohingya Muslims from Myanmar.  Malaysia says the plan is rescue people from boats that are not sea-worthy; but if the boats are in good enough shape, Malaysia will provide provisions and send them on their way.  The International Organization for Migration (IOM) says as many as 8,000 people could be adrift in the Straits of Malacca or in international waters.  Myanmar likely wouldn’t take them back, as it considers the Rohingya to be illegal immigrants from Bangladesh – even though most of the Rohingya have been in Myanmar for several generations.