New Year’s rang in with tragedy in China – Israel is shocked at the game-changing card played by Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas – Maybe Sony should have been nicer to its workers? – And more in your CareerSpot World News Briefs:

New Year’s in Shanghai turned horrible when a crowd surge and stampede claimed 35 lives along the famous Bund waterfront.  At least 42 people were injured, and many of the victims were students.  It’s not clear what set this off, but earlier in December, China cancelled a larger New Year’s Even event planned on the Shanghai waterfront, citing crowd control problems from last year when 300,000 people showed up.

The weather improved off Borneo, where AirAsia Flight QZ8501 plunged into the Java Sea.  Seven bodies have been recovered so far, out of the 162 passengers and crew on board.  An Indonesian search and rescue official said that none of the bodies recovered so far from the crashed AirAsia jet had been wearing a life jacket – contradicting reports from some of Murdoch’s media outlets.  Meanwhile, investigators say radar evidence indicates the ill-fated plane made an “unbelievably” steep climb moments before the crash.  It’s already known the pilot requested a higher elevation from air traffic controllers, to avoid a powerful storm.

Some 98 people are believed to be unaccounted for from the fire aboard a ferry on the Adriatic Sea earlier this week.  11 people are officially listed as dead and hundreds of people were rescued from the ferry as fire raged on the car deck when it traveled from Greece to Italy.  But there is confusion over the number of people on the boat, and many people apparently weren’t included on the official manifest.  Survivors also accuse the Norman Atlantic’s crew of virtually ignoring them as the disaster raged.

A potential game-changer in the Mideast:  Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas has signed the founding treaty that established the International Criminal Court (ICC).  Membership would allow the Palestinians to pursue war crimes charges against Israel, as well as legal action against Israeli business owners who build factories and other facilities in Palestinian territories.  Israeli Prime Minister has already condemned the move, and claims to be taking precautions to “protect” Israeli soldiers, but his cabinet realizes something serious is afoot. 

Systems administrators at CNN aren’t looking at a happy New Year – the hackers that invaded Sony’s servers threatened to go after a major us news organization (probably CNN) and the FBI itself.  This, from FBI documents leaked by The Intercept (.pdf link).  The organization is unnamed and is referred to as USPER2 in the document, mirroring the codename USPER1 used to refer to the hackers who got into Sony Pictures’ server, releasing movies, scripts, and embarrassing emails onto the Internet.

Meanwhile, another prominent net security firm is adding itself to the list of those who disagree with the FBI, which blames North Korea for the Sony hack.  Kurt Stammberger of Norse Security says it was an inside job, carried out by a former employee angered at massive layoffs in May.  Stammberger calls this person “Lena”, although he doesn’t know her real name (or gender for that matter).  The FBI is sticking with its story of an elite North Korea cyber terrorism unit.

Speaking of technological boondoggles, the oft-delayed F-35A fighter jet is running into yet another setback.  This time, the software that will power the four-barreled rotary cannon on the F-35A won’t be ready for at least four more years.  And when it does work, it can only carry 180 rounds of ammo – far less than the thousands needed to successfully fly combat missions.  According to the RAAF’s website, Australia is committed to 72 of these gems, which won’t be fully operational until 2023.

Popocatepetl blows its top!  Good video.

A member of the Russian punk rock collective Pussy Riot was one of many arrested in all-night protests against the conviction and sentence of prominent opposition leader Alexei Navalny.  A court in Moscow earlier this week handed down a suspended sentence for Navalny’s corruption conviction, but stuck his younger brother in prison for three and a half years.  Navalny and his supporters say President Vladimir Putin is holding the younger Navalny as a hedge against opposition activity.  They also insist the corruption charges are trumped-up.

Vladimir Putin’s New Year’s address to the Russian people hailed the “return home” of the Crimean Peninsula.  A little historical note here, Russian history more or less begins with Saint Volodymyr Christianizing the Kievan Rus in 988 on the Crimean Peninsula, such is Russia’s feelings of ownership of Crimea.

Auckland!  Sydney!  Hong Kong!  Dubai!  London!  Moscow!  Rio de Janeiro! 

The UN World Health Organization has upped the worldwide death toll from the West African Ebola epidemic to more than 7,905 deaths out of more than 20,000 infections. 

Death toll estimates go from 24 to at least 33 people killed in a suicide bombing at a Shiite cultural center in Yemen, where students were celebrating the Prophet Muhammed’s birthday.  Al Qaeda is suspected.