Is Greece’s anti-austerity sentiment spreading? – Ukraine peace talks begin under doubt – You won’t believe what cops did to a teacher who was just walking down the street – And a lot more in your CareerSpot World News Briefs:

Tens of thousands of people rallied for the Spanish Leftist political movement Podemos, encouraged by the success of Greece’s Syriza Party victory.  The “March For Change” is Podemos’ first major rally of 2015 before the elections to be held by the end of 2015.  Podemos has surged into the lead in recent opinion polls.  And like Syriza in Greece, says it will seek to write off part of Spain’s debt if it wins.

Faced with Syriza’s defiance, German Chancellor Angela Merkel is ruling out any canceling of Greece’s debts – and yet says she wants Greece to stay in the Eurozone.  That echoes comments from other European financial officials.  Meanwhile, the world’s coolest Finance Minister Yanis Varoufakis and Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras already cancelled some of the EU’s mandated privatization schemes.  They’re off to Paris, Rome, and London next week.  London, of course, is least-likely to agree with then new government in Athens.  But France and Italy have previously called for the course to be changed from the German style of budget austerity.

At least 40 people are dead in fighting between Ukraine government troops and Russian-supplied rebels around Debaltseve, a key transportation hub in the east.  This happened as truce talks began in Minsk.  The previous ceasefire fell apart when rebels – fresh from receiving new arms and reinforcements from Russia – declared they would no longer abide and went on the offensive.

Fighter jets from Chad bombed the Nigerian town of Gamboru and surrounding areas, targeting Boko Haram militants.  They’re clearing the way for Chadian troops to cross over and push back the Islamists who had overran the town months ago in an attempt to create their own breakaway caliphate.  Chad’s military said three of its soldiers and 123 militants were killed in the two days of fighting in the area.  Meanwhile, the US is throwing its support behind a multinational force to fight Boko Haram.

A week after Philippine forces attacked a southern village, it’s not clear if the targets of that raid were killed.  44 police commandos died in the clash with Moro Islamic Liberation Front fighters in operation “Oplan Wolverine” at Mamasapano town on 25 January, as did a handful of terrorists and civilians.  The goal was to capture two wanted fugitives who took refuge with local Muslim separatists.  One of them was Malaysian-born Zulkifli bin Hir – also known as “Marwan” – who figured into the 2002 Bali nightclub bombing and numerous other attacks around Southeast Asia.  Manila’s chief peace negotiator says the deadly clash dealt a temporary setback to peace talks with the separatists.

A history teacher is suing the American city of Seattle for US$500,000 after being pepper sprayed in the face for no reason.  Jesse Hagopian had just delivered a speech at a peaceful, city-sanctioned rally marking the holiday for civil rights leader Martin Luther King, and was walking down the street while talking on the phone with his mother.  He crossed the path of a jittery, over-caffeinated cop who was having a hard time performing simple crown control duties.  The officer sprayed the noxious liquid at random people, and Hagopian got it right in the face. 

The former head of Colombia’s intelligence agency surrendered to authorities and returned to Bogota after years on the run.  Maria del Pilar Hurtado is charged with using the DAS spy agency to monitor opponents of former President Alvaro Uribe – using illegal wiretaps on politicians, human rights defenders, journalists, and even Supreme Court justices.  Dozens of other DAS officials are already convicted of illegal spying and funneling the information to right-wing death squads, and the agency was deemed such a cesspool that authorities dissolved it in 2011. 

Sleepy baby Gorilla is sleepy (and hungry).