China might just have delivered an ominous warning to its neighbors – Germany honors a murdered hero – Brazil comes up with one solution to the marriage gap – And more in your CareerSpot World News Briefs:

Governments and diplomacy wonks are trying to determine Chinese President Xi Jinping’s exact intent in a major foreign policy speech before a Communist Party meeting over the weekend.  At a time when China is making territorial claims way beyond its internationally recognized maritime borders, Xi said his government would protect China’s “territorial sovereignty, maritime rights, and interests and national unity”.  On the other hand, Xi said China sought “peaceful development” and opposed the “willful use or threat of force”, and adding that “the general trend of prosperity and stability in the Asia-Pacific region will not change”

Colombia’s Marxist FARC rebels released a general and two other people the militants had abducted earlier.  FARC turned General Ruben Alzate, a US-trained counterinsurgency expert, over to a Red Cross team that took him by helicopter back to a military base.  Alzate was the highest-ranking military officer captured by the rebels in 50 years of civil war – he’ll now have to answer questions about why he violated military protocol and ventured into the rebel-dominated territory while dressed as a civilian and without his normal security detail.

Germans gathered to honor a young woman who was murdered trying to defend two teenage girls being harassed in the restroom of a Macca’s near Frankfurt.  Last month, 23-year old Tugce Albayrak got in between the girls and the three scumbag attackers, but one of the stinking cowards punched her – causing her to fall and strike her head on the pavement.  Life support was turned off on Friday, Tugce’s 23rd birthday, and an 18-year old man is under arrest.  Sports stars are tweeting her name with the hashtags #Civilcourage, #Angel, #Courage, and #Respect.  President Joachim Gauck says Tugce is a “role model”, and is being urged via petition to posthumously award her Germany’s Federal Order of Merit.  You can sign that petition as well.

Members of the Saint Louis Rams football team used the “Hands up, Don’t shoot” gesture to support the protests over Michael Brown, the unarmed black teenager who was gunned down by a white cop who apparently won’t be charged with the murder.  Racists probably collectively shat their pants, but no one cares what those people think.  The Saint Louis suburb of Ferguson, scene of the crime, has been wracked by protests and violence since authorities led a grand jury to decline to charge Darren Wilson, who quit the police force on Friday.

Thousands marched in Moscow and other Russian cities to protest against proposed health service “reforms”, which include plans to close hospitals and cut jobs.  The protesters flew banners from Leftist, centrist, and nationalist parties, and were joined by doctors, among other workers.  Russia’s budget is under pressure from western economic sanctions over the Kremlin’s involvement in Ukraine’s eastern unrest, and the Ruble is losing value, and OPEC is keeping oil prices down.

Iraqi Prime Minister Haidar al-Abadi is promising a crackdown on corruption and an investigation into 50,000 false names collecting salaries off of the military’s payroll.  The PM’s office says most of the payments have been stopped.  The 50,000 names include soldiers who had deserted or were killed in recent fighting.  The US has spent billions of dollars trying to build up the Iraqi army.

The Taliban has stepped up its campaign of suicide attacks in Afghanistan.  Kabul’s police chief is offering to resign after three South Africans – an aid worker and his two teenage children – were killed in an attack on a foreigner’s compound, which the Taliban targeted because it was used by Christians.  In separate attacks in Kabul, two American soldiers, two British embassy workers and dozens of Afghan civilians have died.

“I do” times 4,000.  Rio de Janeiro held the biggest mass wedding in the city’s history, for 2,000 couples who couldn’t otherwise afford their nuptials.  Couples with a monthly family income of under US$1,000 took part, with volunteer civil judges, a Roman Catholic Bishop, and other clergy overseeing the ceremony.  Rio officials made it as easy as possible for the new families, booking special trains to get people from the favelas to the Maracanazinho Sports Arena – which will host Volleyball in the 2016 Summer Olympic Games.