Is Pyongyang planning a nuclear surprise? – Vladimir Putin is clamping down on social networking – A religious tattoo runs afoul of self-appointed guardians of religion – And a lot more in your CareerSpot World News Briefs:

South Korea is warning of a possible “surprise” nuclear test in the North, because of increased activity at the hermit kingdom’s underground nuclear test site.  Seoul’s defense ministry did not reveal details, however local media reports the site has recently been cloaked by screens and many vehicles were coming in and out of the place. 

Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas is setting conditions for extending stalled peace talks with Israel. Among them: a freeze on construction of Jewish settlements, talks on borders of a future Palestinian state, and a fourth prisoner release by Israel.  Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office didn’t seem too interested.  The deadline for this round of peace talks is next Tuesday.

Egypt is drawing up new legislation that greatly broadens the definition of “terrorism”, drawing criticism from rights groups and lawyers who say any peaceful activist could be charged if these laws are approved.  The legislation also makes holding a leadership position in the outlawed Muslim Brotherhood a death penalty offense.  Militants have killed hundreds of police and security officers since the military ousted the deeply unpopular Islamist regime.

The founder of the Russian social network VK has been ousted and VK’s leadership has been replaced with loyalists to President Vladimir Putin.  Pavel Durov says he’s planning a mobile social network (assuming he doesn’t order sushi with Polonium-210 or get in a plane crash) off of Russian soil, with apps that encrypt messages from prying eyes.  Durov has been a critic of Putin, and his VK network has become a platform for people for and against Russia’s return to militarism.

Brazil’s National Truth Commission says ex-President Juscelino Kubitschek was not murdered by the country's 1970s military regime despite years of rumors and claims of conspiracies.  Kubitschek died in a car crash on a motorway between Rio de Janeiro and Sao Paulo on 22 August 1976.  An earlier report from the Sao Paulo Truth Commission said there was “documentary proof” of a murder plot.  No reason was given for the disparity.

MH370:  Nope.  Not yet.

Pakistan is building a giant solar energy park in a desert area to help ease the country’s chronic energy crisis.  Rolling blackouts have inflicted misery on the people and strangled economic growth.  It’s hoped the solar facility in the Cholistan desert in Punjab province will produce 1,000 megawatts of energy.

Sri Lanka will deport a British woman for having a tattoo of a Buddha on her arm.  Naomi Coleman is a practicing Buddhist who has attended services and meditations around Asia, and had gotten through customs without a problem.  But her cab driver ratted her out to authoritarian Sri Lankan officials, who jailed her overnight and insisted she must be deported to her country of origin, rather than to her next destination in Asia.  Coleman says she was never given the opportunity to defend herself.