North Korea plan to attack US mainland revealed in photographs. Russian company plans exploratory drilling in Turkmen sector of Caspian Sea.

The Telegraph - North Korea plan to attack US mainland revealed in photographs - North Korea has revealed its plans to strike targets in Hawaii and the continental United States in photos taken in Kim Jong-un's military command centre.

The Diplomat - China and the BRICS: Unavoidable Hegemony? - China’s growing dominance within BRICS can be demonstrated in any number of ways. Most succinctly, China’s GDP is over 1.5 trillion dollars larger than the combined economic output of the other four BRICS members. Furthermore, the current trend is for the disparity to grow even wider. As Oxford Analytica, a global analysis and advisory firm, points out, China accounted for around 70 percent of the growth in the BRICS’ share of global economic output between 2000 and 2011.

RIA Novosti - Putin Says ‘Gave Up’ Eavesdropping After KGB - Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Friday his time in the KGB had taught him that it was “bad” to listen into other people’s conversations.

Deutsche Welle - Iran, North Korea, Syria block UN Arms Trade Treaty - The three countries rejected the UN's Arms Trade Treaty on Thursday, complaining that the document was flawed and failed to prevent the sale of weapons to rebel groups. Iran, North Korea and Syria are all currently under some form of UN arms sanctions. Several other countries had cited concerns and secured ammendments to the draft during a difficult negotiating period, but they agreed to accept the final text.

Trend - Russian company plans exploratory drilling in Turkmen sector of Caspian Sea - The Russian Oil and Gas Company ITERA plans to drill the first exploration well at Block 21 in the Caspian shelf of Turkmenistan in 2013, Russian media quoted the general director of ITERA Vladimir Makeev on Thursday.

Xinhuanet - 5.6-magnitude quake hits Xinjiang: CENC - A 5.6-magnitude quake jolted the junction of the Changji city and the city of Urumchi in the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region at 13:01 Friday Beijing Time, according to the China Earthquake Networks Center.