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Expert: North Korea could restart Yongbyon nuclear plant in six months to a year
By Samuel Burke, CNN
After weeks of bellicose rhetoric, North Korea announced Tuesday that it will restart a nuclear reactor it had shut more than five years ago.
Siegfried Hecker, one of the world's most prominent nuclear scientists, was one of the last Western observers to visit the Yongbyon nuclear complex. He believes that the North Koreans could restart the plant within six months to a year.
“They would have to rebuild the cooling tower, they would also have to prepare the fresh fuel to put in, but in my opinion it could be done in six months to a year’s time,” Hecker told CNN’s Christiane Amanpour in an interview on Tuesday.
Hecker is the former director of United States' Los Alamos National Laboratory.
Amanpour reported from Yongbyon in 2008, which North Korean officials made a big show of shutting down – the cooling tower was blown up in front of television cameras.
She asked Hecker if the North Koreans had deceived the world at that time. FULL POST
South Korea’s U.N. Ambassador: ‘War possible, but unlikely’
South Korea’s Ambassador to the U.N. Kim Sook told CNN’s Christiane Amanpour that a war with North Korea is “always possible, but at that moment whether it is practically possible: rather negative.”
Ambassador Kim said war is unlikely because South Korea has experienced this very situation many times in the past.
“The high level of rhetoric and this time around invectives – we have seen many times before,” Kim said. Though, the ambassador admitted that the level of this language and “slandering” – as Kim put it –is different this time around.
“But people in Seoul and by and large the South Korean people are not in panic, they don’t expect a war could happen anytime soon,” Kim said.
South Korea just elected a new President, Park Geun-hye, who is also the country’s first female president. Ambassador Kim dismissed the fact that she has been characterized as a largely untested leader, saying that new presidents have been tested before with these types of situations upon taking office in South Korea.
North Korea has made personal attacks against President Park, referencing her gender.
“The female president does not necessarily mean she is weak. She is politically very solid,” Kim said. Adding, “We leave nothing to chance.”
Ambassador Kim also emphasized that talking with their neighbors is still on the table.
“Dialogue is by and large the first and foremost way to engage North Korea,” he said.
Pervez Musharraf flexes his social media muscles
Former Pakistani Prime Minister Pervez Musharraf is implementing a new workout regimen and he is showing off pictures of it on Twitter & Facebook.
Pentagon: ‘North Korea may be dialing down’
By Mick Krever, CNN
North Korea may be "dialing down" its latest provocation just a bit, a spokesman for the American military said on Monday.
"We haven't seen any kind of troop movements on the North Korean side that would indicate imminent military action," Pentagon Press Secretary George Little told CNN's Christiane Amanpour.
North Korea's provocations include the release of a photo last week showing leader Kim Jong Un looking at a map with military leaders – a map titled "U.S. Strike Plan," with multiple American cities targeted for attack.
Monday brought news, first, that the United States was sending F-22 fighter jets to the peninsula; then, that the United States is moving at least one warship closer to the North Korean coastline.
Little cautioned against reading too much into that move.
"We have regular ship movements in the Asia-Pacific region, and we use our ship movements for any number of purposes," he said. "So I'd be very careful about connecting this to recent tensions on the Korean Peninsula."
‘Egypt’s Jon Stewart’ reveals details of interrogation
By Samuel Burke & Claire Calzonetti CNN
‘Egypt’s Jon Stewart’ faced his toughest crowd yet on Sunday.
Bassem Youssef, host of the satirical Arabic-language news show 'The Program,' was interrogated for five hours at an Egyptian prosecutor's office, as part of an investigation over complaints that his comedy material insulted Islam and Egyptian President Mohamed Morsy.
During the interrogation, Youssef says, he was forced to watch evidence against him – his own television programs.
"Basically we were going through the punch lines," he told CNN's Christiane Amanpour in an exclusive interview on Monday. "Answer questions, line by line, phrase by phrase and joke by joke." FULL POST
Is China buying up Africa?
By Samuel Burke, CNN
The world's second superpower is pouring billions of dollars into Africa, running oil and mining firms all over the continent.
China is constructing everything from roads and bridges to stadiums and important government buildings.
The headquarters of the African Union, perhaps the most important political building in Africa, was built entirely with Chinese money, to the tune of $200 million.
And while China is aggressively investing in Africa, the U.S. appears to be sitting on the sidelines. China has passed the U.S. to become Africa's biggest trading partner. FULL POST
Is America helping or hindering peace in the Middle East?
By Samuel Burke, CNN
Peace talks between Israel and the Palestinians are completely stalled.
Parties from both sides have called for America to renew its efforts, but one person is not.
Columbia University professor Rashid Khalidi argues that America's role in that peace process is actually hindering the situation, not helping it, in his new book called "Brokers of Deceit: How the U.S. Has Undermined Peace in the Middle East.
Khalidi believes that a trip like the one President Barack Obama just made to the region has more do with the U.S. relationship with Israel than it does with the Palestinians.
In his book, Khalidi goes as far to argue that the U.S. is largely complicit, whether deliberately or not, in the reality that there's been no peace between these two places. FULL POST
Twitter tool could save you from yourself
A new Twitter tool tracks every Tweet sent for negative statements and sentiment about people's jobs or bosses. CNN's Samuel Burke looks at how this tool could even be used to save us from ourselves.
China's 'Internet crocodile' steps down
Chinese entrepreneur Jack Ma, who is 48, says he's too old for the Internet.
Pope Francis rejects papal apartment
Pope Francis has been shunning the frills of his new job and this time he is choosing a new more modest apartment as his home for now.
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