Germans outnumber xenophobes at mass rallies across the nation – A long-awaited genocide trial is thrown off schedule – Venezuela’s President tries to stick his finger in the oil pipe – A really expensive fish – How does an Australian Emu cope in Israel? – And tons more in your CareerSpot World News Briefs:

Tens of thousands of Germans came out to counter-protest an anti-immigration rally organized by some shadowy figures on the right.  The main rally in Dresden attracted some 18,000 anti-immigration malcontents supporting “Pegida”, an acronym for “Patriotic Europeans Against Islamization of the West”.  But in Berlin, Stuttgart, Muenster, and Hamburg, the counter-protesters outnumbered the pegida-files by ratios ranging from 10-to-1 to 25-to-1.  In Cologne, the provost of the UNESCO World Heritage Site Cologne Cathedral ordered the lights turned off in a silent protest of pegida.  Pols from across the German political spectrum – from conservative Chancellor Angela Merkel to the Social Democrats and Greens – are condemning pegida, which has attracted support from neo-nazis and other ultra-right oddballs.

Bangladesh opposition leader Khaleda Zia is calling on her supporters to lock-down the nation’s road, rail, and river transport indefinitely.  The blockade call is in reaction to the deaths of four of her supporters in clashes with police and pro-government crowds on the anniversary of disputed elections.  Zia is being detained in her offices; she says she is being held prisoner by government troops.

Russian opposition figure Alexei Navalny had cut off his electronic tag to protest his house arrest.  Navalny posted a photo of the severed gadget on his popular blog, said he was being illegally detained, and said his conviction and suspended sentence on corruption charges was bogus and trumped up (something echoed by rights groups in and out of Russia) by the Putin government in retaliation for his anti-corruption activities.

Meanwhile, Russian President Vladimir Putin signed a decree to open the military to more foreign soldiers, as long as they speak Russian.  Previously, recruits had to be Russian citizens.  This move is expected to attract more recruits from Russian-speaking republics in Central Asia and the Caucuses that used to be part of the Soviet Union.  The West worried that it will give Putin more troops to put into Ukraine (which he denies).

A court in Guatemala City postponed the retrial of former dictator Efrain Rios Montt on genocide charges, after the three-judge panel ruled that one of the justices was not impartial.  Rios Montt is accused of ordering the scorched earth policy against indigenous groups he considered to be “Leftists” which resulted in the murders of at least 1,771 members of the Ixil Mayans as entire villages were wiped out.  Rios Montt was already convicted of genocide in 2013, but it was overturned a week later on a technicality.  Human Rights Watch says the situation is “not only extremely frustrating but also is revealing of the lack of solid independence of the judiciary in Guatemala”.

The US says it opposes Israel’s withholding of tax revenues from the Palestinian Authority.  Israel collects taxes for the PA and then transfers it in monthly payments.  But the Netanyahu government announced it is halting the transfer in reaction to the PA’s moves to join the International Criminal Court (ICC) in The Hague, which Israel fears will be used to file war crimes charges.  “We call on both sides to avoid action that raises tensions and makes it difficult to return to direct negotiations. Obviously this action would qualify in that category,” said US State Department Spokeswoman Jen Psaki.

Emu gets loose in Israel, dutifully obeys all traffic laws.  Well, until he cut off those blokes in the turning lane.  Hoon Emu.  They caught him, and authorities are holding the big bird until they find out from which farm he escaped.

In Tokyo, first Tuna of the New Year to be auctioned off at the legendary Tsukiji Fish Market went for A$46,150, to Kiyoshi Kimura who owns a chain of Sushi restaurants.  I guess it’s good luck to buy the first tuna of the year.  If you have that kind of money to lay down on a big dead fish, you might already have a lot of good luck. This is a bargain compared to the A$900,000 and A$2.16 MILLION Kiyoshi-san had to pay in 2012 and 2013, respectively, for the honor.  Greenpeace points out that Blue Fin Tuna has been egregiously over-fished.

Neither serious damage nor injuries are reported from a magnitude 5.6 earthquake about 100 kilometers northwest of Christchurch, New Zealand.

The search area for AirAsia Flight QZ8501 is shifting slightly eastward in the Java Sea, to compensate for currents that may have pulled more wreckage and bodies in that direction.  162 passengers and crew were on board, 37 bodies have been recovered.

The US arrested two men on charges of organizing and arming the recent coup attempt in The Gambia in western Africa.  The two defendants of Gambian origin are accused of conspiring against a “friendly nation” and conspiring to possess firearms.  Gambia’s strongman President Yahya Jammeh was out of the country during last month’s violence and has returned to the nation he has ruled since 1994, when he came to power in his own coup.  Since then, Jammeh has been accused of stamping out the opposition, has claimed he can cure HIV/Aids, and would rule The Gambia for “a billion years”.

Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro is off on a tour of OPEC countries, trying to get them to raise prices.  He’s also heading into talks with Chinese President Xi Jinping to ask for patience in repaying loans.  Low oil prices are playing havoc with the Russian and Venezuelan economies.  Oil dropped below US$50 a barrel on Monday in New York, and may go lower yet as America’s Gulf allies continue to overproduce and flood the market. 

Two US skiers were killed in an avalanche in the Austrian Alps.  19-year old Bryce Astle and 20-year old Ronnie Berlack were junior members of the US team.  They were part of a group descending from a mountain near the Rettenbach glacier, the venue for the races that will open the 2015 Alpine Skiing World Cup.

Big giant pastry in Mexico City weighs more than 19,000 pounds.

Explosion at a fireworks factory in Colombia knocks the camera operator back on his arse!  Amazingly, only two people wre slightly injured but several homes were damaged.