Paris prepares to host world leaders at a massive rally against terrorism – New information about the heroes of the three-day terrorism spree – Sri Lanka’s new president made some startling accusations about his predecessor – These are your CareerSpot World News Briefs:

About 700,000 people marched through Paris, Nice, Toulouse, Orleans and many other French cities to commemorate the victims of last week’s terrorist attacks.  People carried signs reading, “I am Charlie” (referring to the satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo), “I am against racism”, and “Unity”.  17 people were killed in attacks on a satirical magazine, police officers, and a kosher supermarket by self-styled Islamist extremists.

Paris will follow that up with a massive Unity Rally on Sunday, to stand against terrorism and honor the victims of the three-day killing spree.  It’s going to be a major security challenge for police – As many as a million people are expected to observe the rally led by France’s President, regional European and Mideast leaders, as well as Muslim, Jewish, and Christian figures.  2,000 extra officers will be deployed, in addition to the extra hands assigned to guard Synagogues, Churches, and Mosques after last week’s violence.  Police say their biggest fear is someone trying to attack the crowd with an automobile.

As investigators untangle the chaos of the last week’s attacks, some of the details are changing.  For instance, the teen initially identified as an accomplice of brothers Cherif and Said Kouachi when they gunned down 12 people at the Paris office of the satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo on turns out to have been in school at the time of Wednesday’s massacre.  18-year old Hamyd Mourad says the attack was “horrific” and his “thoughts are with the victims”.  Mourad’s sister was married to the dead terrorist Cherif Kouachi, but Mourad said his relationship with his brother-in-law was “distant”.  The fugitive Kouachi brothers were killed in a shootout with police north of Paris on Friday.

The wife of gunman Amedy Coulibaly – who killed a policewoman on Thursday and murdered four hostages in a siege at a kosher food mart on Friday before being killed by police – appears to have left the country before the attacks, and may be in Syria.  They’re still searching for 26-year old Hayat Boumeddiene to find out what she knew and when she knew it.  Coulibaly’s mother and sister are denouncing his role in the attacks as “odious” and urge people not to confuse anything he did with Islam.  Before he was killed, Coulibaly claimed that his actions were coordinated with the Kouachi brothers, and they appear to have been associates.

As Muslims throughout the world condemn Coulibaly and the Kouachi for trying to rationalize their violence as being in the name of Islam (or their ignorant and radical interpretation of it), we now know that two major figures were Muslims themselves.  One of the police officers killed while guarding the offices of Charlie Hebdo was Ahmed Merabat, described by his brother Malek as “Muslim, and very proud of being a police officer, and defending the values of the Republic.”  In the Kosher food store, it turns out that Lassan Bathily – a Muslim store employee – was the one who quickly herded some customers into the store’s freezer to hide from maniac Amedy Coulibaly.  Lassan then joined the other hostages in the store, never letting on that others were now beyond the gunman’s reach.

Okay, let’s leave Paris for a while.

35,000 marchers at a massive rally in Dresden, Germany condemned the anti-immigration group “Pegida”, which claims to be opposed to the “Islamization” of Europe.  The turnout is nearly double the largest demonstration ever held by the malcontents in Pegida.  Saturday’s counter-demonstration observed a minute's silence for the 17 victims of this week's terrorist attacks in France.

Boko Haram’s insanity in Nigeria hit a new low, after the terrorist group strapped a suicide bomb onto a ten-year old girl and sent her out into a crowded marketplace.  At least 19 people were killed and several more are wounded in Maiduguri town, a place frequently targeted by Boko Haram.  Meanwhile, Nigerian Roman Catholic Archbishop Ignatius Kaigama is accusing the West of ignoring the threat of the militant Islamist group Boko Haram, days after the reported slaughter of around 2,000 people by the group.

The leaders of Iran and Venezuela say they will work together to stabilize falling global oil prices.  In Tehran, Presidents Hassan Rouhani and Nicolas Maduro are urging members of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) to “help stabilize an acceptable oil price in 2015”.  Each has hinted that they believe the recent lower price of oil is the work of “some powers” (ahem America ahem) trying to cause some measure of political and economic destabilization.  Indeed, Saudi Arabia’s over-pumping of oil has damaged the economies of Venezuela, Iran, and Russia, all nations with testy relations with Washington.

At least 30 people are dead after an oil tanker collided with a bus in Pakistan, near the city of Karachi.  The tanker was reportedly speeding and on the wrong side of the road.  Pakistan’s highways are very, very dangerous.

The new President of Sri Lanka is promising to loosen restrictions on journalism and harassment of reporters, and is inviting dissidents in exile to come back to the country.  Maithripala Sirisena is also vowing to reverse the authoritarian policies of Mahinda Rajapaksa, who was initially praised for his early admission of defeat after election results were announced.  But new President Sirisena accused his predecessor of trying to deploy the army when he found out the he lost.  Luckily for Sri Lanka, the military refused to get involved, and the transfer of power was handled democratically.  The army is not commenting on the allegations.

Teams raised the tail of Airasia Flight QZ8501 from the Java Sea Floor, weeks after it crashed with 162 passengers and crew.

Colombia’s Marxist FARC rebels say their month-old ceasefire is under threat by continued attacks from the military.  Bogota refuses to sign on to a bilateral ceasefire for fear the rebels would use the time to rearm, which the FARC denies.  The government and FARC are now in their third year of negotiations to end the five-decade-old civil war.  Some 220,000 people have been killed in fighting in that time.

This is what morons do.  Three people were injured when boneheads in the crowd started throwing chairs at a dart contest at Melbourne’s Docklands.  Schmucks.