North Korea was one of 31 countries to condemn Australia’s delay in raising the age of criminal responsibility and detention of immigrants at a U.N. human rights session on Wednesday. China and other Beijing allies also levelled charges at Australia, along with nations including Canada, Germany, France, Italy, Greece, Sweden, Spain, Poland, Portugal and Mexico, The Guardian reported. But North Korea’s intervention raised eyebrows, given the well-documented generational human rights abuses rampant inside the secretive nation....

“The U.S. has tried to contact us since mid-February through several routes including New York,” North Korean First Vice Minister Choe Son Hui said in a statement carried Wednesday by the official Korean Central News Agency. “It recently requested to contact us by sending e-mails and telephone messages via various routes. Even in the evening before the joint military drill it sent a message imploring us to respond to its request through a third country....

Radio Free Asia (RFA) reported this week that the man allegedly acquired a copy of the dystopian South Korean show in China and illegally smuggled it into North Korea. Copies of the show were then allegedly sold on USB flash drives and SD cards. The alleged smuggler, whose name was not released, will reportedly be sentenced to death via a firing squad, according to RFA. Additionally, one student who purchased a USB drive reportedly received a life sentence in prison, while six others who were caught watching the show were sentenced to five years hard labor, sources told the news outlet....

While having a north node in Cancer makes you warm and intuitive, like the crab that represents this cardinal water sign, you may struggle to come out of your shell. Famous people with their north nodes in Cancer include Marilyn Monroe, Bob Marley, and Michelle Obama. [2] X Research source If you have a Capricorn south node, you’re likely a great leader who loves control. However, your life journey is about learning to give up that control and embrace vulnerability....

No amount of preparation, however, could counter what the Huskies senior delivered on a wintery night. Lynch broke his single-game FBS rushing record for quarterbacks with 321 yards and No. 18 Northern Illinois completed its first unbeaten regular season in 50 years with a 33-14 victory over Western Michigan. "Jordan Lynch is the best player in college football and that's no disrespect to anyone else" said Fleck, a former Northern Illinois star receiver and assistant coach....

If we’re going to criticize Kentucky for rolling John Wall and Anthony Davis through, and Kentucky for rolling Michael Kidd-Gilchrist and Devin Booker through, and Kentucky for rolling DeMarcus Cousins and Brandon Knight through, how do we let CMU off the hook for Josh Groban’s hit-and-run approach to college education? MORE: 15 best coaches | Jerry Stackhouse can still ball out | Cliff Alexander says his mom was “tricked”...

In its appeal, Northwestern wrote: “In this unprecedented decision, the Regional Director set out to alter the underlying premise upon which collegiate varsity sports is based. By finding that Northwestern University’s football program is a commercial enterprise and that its football scholarship student-athletes are ‘employees’ within the meaning of the National Labor Relations Act (‘Act’), the Regional Director ignored the evidence of Northwestern’s primary commitment to the education of all its student-athletes, evidence that fully supports that its student-athletes are primarily students, and not employees....

But Big Tobacco may have found a new marketing hook. Flavored cigarettes, from Egypt and Jordan, that are washed and cooked to remove toxins, are becoming popular among hipsters in the United States and United Kingdom. They’re still deadly, though, and a likely target for Norway.

There is, however, one very large group whose portrayal continues to follow the same stereotypical lines as always: fathers. The evolution of children’s literature didn’t end with “Goodnight Moon” and “Charlotte’s Web.” My local public library, for example, previews 203 new children’s picture books (for the under-5 set) each month. Many of these books make a very conscious effort to take women characters out of the kitchen and the nursery and give them professional jobs and responsibilities....

Dramatic as it was, the Indian invasion surprised no one. Park rangers had been sparring with the Pataxo for 40 years. In 1961, when the national park was created, some 220 Indians lived in relative harmony with this pristine tropical wilderness. Today more than 3,000 Pataxo are wedged into three crowded villages, and they have made short work of the forest. Traditional slash-and-burn agriculture and cutting trees to make handicrafts for tourists are only partly to blame....

These are not simply the calculations of pride and emotion. They are made from an Arab perspective-much of it quite pragmatic-that the White House is either reluctant to concede or may not comprehend. “If there is no war and [Saddam] withdraws, then he looks like a coward, an idiot, who’s lost everything,” says an Arab envoy who has dealt with the Iraqi dictator personally on dozens of occasions. “He is thinking, ‘If I go to war, there is a chance that I will survive it, and at least I will be looked on by the Arabs as a hero who went against the whole world because of right, of justice’....

The NFL, in a thinly veiled response to Rams, owner Stan Kroenke, recently informed teams that the league will make decisions regarding relocation, not an individual owner, according to a memo obtained by the Los Angeles Times. MORE: Chargers could sue to keep team out of LA | Kronke meets with St. Louis stadium head | Stadium plans The memo reads in part: The special committee, formally known as the Committee of Los Angeles Opportunities, includes owners Clark Hunt (Chiefs), Robert Kraft (Patriots), John Mara (Giants), Bob McNair (Texans), Jerry Richardson (Panthers) and Art Rooney II (Steelers)....

Sugar cane is a big, if controversial, business in south Florida. Since 1930, when the U.S. Sugar Corp. opened its first plantation near Lake Okeechobee, more than 500,000 acres have come under cane. Sixty years of state and federal programs to build dikes and. drain swamps left a nutrient-rich muck ideally suited to the crop. Profits are almost guaranteed: a federal support program props up the domestic price of sugar, while quotas hold down imports from Latin America, the Caribbean and the Philippines....

“I’m not sure. I don’t know,” she says. There’s a tinge of anxiety in her voice. “But you’re so smart,” he says. “You were on the dean’s list. I thought you wanted to go to law school.” A pause. “I would be getting out of law school just at the moment I want my children. I certainly don’t want to go work in an office. I saw my mother do that....

For more than a year, debate on Korea has proceeded as if two viable alternatives were on offer. One, in diplomatese, is to “play it long,” to avoid turning a drama into a crisis. The other is to play chicken with Kim Il Sung until he blinks. It’s a false choice. The second course would escalate tension until, as one Asian scholar says, “Doomsday becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy.” Military planners in Washington readily explain why: conventional weapons can’t destroy Kim’s military capability....

Notre Dame has played football since 1887, and this will be the first time it could play for a conference championship. Why? Notre Dame has played football independently from conference affiliations, but its other sports have played in a conference, and right now that conference is the ACC. As part of Notre Dame joining the ACC in other sports, like men’s and women’s basketball, the Irish agreed to play a set amount of football games annually against ACC opponents....

Answer that question before launching into the obligatory round of Irish criticism that is sure to come after the latest playoff failure. No. 1 Alabama routed No. 4 Notre Dame 31-14 in the relocated Rose Bowl Game at AT&T Stadium on Friday. The Irish now own a combined record of 0-7 in BCS bowls and College Football Playoff semifinals. MORE: Georgia beats UC, but eight-team debate ensues Notre Dame (10-2) still looks a long way from its first national championship since 1988....

Line: LSU -8.5, Total: 52.5 Line movement: The Tigers opened -8.5 at The Wynn and were bet down to -8 within a day. By Christmas Eve, The Wynn adjusted to -7.5, the consensus number around Las Vegas the day before kickoff. But late money has come in on LSU, as the Tigers were bet up to -9 at The Wynn. The total at the Westgate Las Vegas SuperBook was bet up from 51....