Good Morning Australia! - Beijing's extra-chunky air quality prompts its first Red Alert - Venezuela's conservative opposition is claiming a larger mandate against Chavismo than expected - Kenya tires of its globe-trotting leader - And more in your CareerSpot World News Briefs:

For the first time, China has issued a Red Alert over smog in the capital Beijing.  This highest warning has not been used before, despite years of declining air quality documented in statistics, photos, and videos uploaded to the internet.  Although readings of harmful PM 2.5 air pollution were higher last week, Beijing officials chose to raise the Red Alert because the air is projected to be thick with particulate matter for several consecutive days.  Schools are closed, and cars with even and odd numbered plates are being banned from the roads on alternate days.

Global emissions of carbon dioxide are likely to stall and even decline slightly this year, according to a new study published in the journal Nature Climate Change and presented here at COP21 climate conference in Paris.  It says emissions of carbon dioxide from fossil fuels and industry are likely to have fallen 0.6 percent in 2015.  The reason is surprising, given today's news from Beijing:  "The main cause is from decreased coal use in China.  It's restructuring its economy, but there is also a contribution from the very fast growth in renewable energy worldwide," said University of East Anglia Professor Corinne Le Quere - who notes that the growth in green energy coincides with economic expansion of two to three percent during the same time period.

Venezuela's opposition is now claiming a two-thirds majority in the weekend's legislative elections, giving it the power to make sweeping changes to legislation and appointments made under the current Socialist government.  Programs now in jeopardy include pensions and housing for the poor, health care, and education.  Many voters were hit-hard by chronic food shortages of items such as milk, rice, coffee, sugar, corn flour, and cooking oil, which President Nicolas Maduro blamed on economic sabotage from the right-wing and its benefactors in the United States.  "We have lost a battle today, but the struggle to build a new society is just beginning,"said President Maduro.

Belgium's culture minister is denying he's a racist after dressing up as the Christmas character "Black Pete" and putting the picture up on social media.  Many believe "Black Pete" is an ugly racial stereotype leftover from Belgium's days as a colonial power (and that really didn't go too well) and needs to be ended.  Clueless minister Sven Gatz claims he has "engaged against racism" throughout his entire political life.  But Wouter Van Bellingen, the director of Minority Forum, said the move was tasteless.  He told the Flemish newspaper De Morgen: "Globally, there is criticism of the figure of Zwarte Piet.  If you know that.. how can you post some pictures of yourself?"

Turkey's foreign ministry called in Russia's ambassador after a sailor on a Russian naval ship that passed through Istanbul via the Bosphorus Strait brandished a shoulder-mounted missile launcher.  "This is provocation, this is a harassing passage," said Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu.  The naval fleets of Black Sea nations enjoy unhindered to the Bosphorus, which leads to the Mediterranean Sea and the world's oceans.  The Kremlin acknowledges that a meeting occurred and that Ankara has been supplied with "explanations".

The US-led coalition denies responsibility for an air strike in Syria that killed three government troops and 13 other people.  Officially, the coalition is targeting Islamic State - but Western officials have made no secret of their desire to see Syrian President Bashar Al-Assad and his regime out of power.  Whoever is responsible, this strike took place Sunday night in Deir al-Zour province, which is largely controlled by Islamic State.

Kenyans are getting a little irked with President Uhuru Kenyatta's international travel - so much so, that it led to the rise of the hashtag #UhuruInKenya, under which Kenyans mocked their president at home as though he were a leader on an official visit.  Some of the comical memes feature Kenyans expressing surprise that their leading actually speaks the Swahili language;  Kenyatta surprised at the sites in his own capital Nairobi; Kenyatta stopping at the Nairobi airport long enough to dump off his laundry and pick up suitcases of fresh clothes.  The Kenyan State House insists Kenyatta's junkets are necessary to attract foreign investment.

Giant Pandas love the snow.