American Morning
Life inside a North Korean prison
[cnn-photo-caption image=http://i2.cdn.turner.com/cnn/2009/images/06/09/intv.kumar.cnn.art.jpg caption="T. Kumar of Amnesty International has studied conditions inside North Korean prisons."]
American journalists Euna Lee and Laura Ling have been sentenced to 12 years of hard labor in North Korea. What kind of conditions would they face in a North Korean prison? Not much is known about them. But through the Committee for Human Rights in North Korea, we have satellite maps showing the layout of one prison.
T. Kumar is the advocacy director for Asia and the Pacific at Amnesty International and he has studied the prison conditions in North Korea. He spoke to John Roberts on CNN’s “American Morning” Tuesday.
John Roberts: If they were sent to one of these prisons, what kind of conditions would they encounter based on the studies you've done?
T. Kumar: We have to divide the situation into two categories. First is about the living conditions. The living conditions are extremely harsh. It's overcrowded, very little food and very little, if any, medical attention. Then every day they have to work for more than ten hours. Very hard labor starting from breaking stones to working in the mines. And very little food again during the day.
Roberts: Very high rates of death in detention among these prisoners?
Kumar: Yes. It's a combination of facts why the deaths are occurring. Number one, it's hard and forced labor. Second, it's lack of food. And unhygienic environment…There is no medical attention at all in many cases. So combined of all of these issues, [there is a] very large number of people who die in these [prisons].
Expert: Replace ‘black boxes’ with new technology
[cnn-photo-caption image=http://i2.cdn.turner.com/cnn/2009/images/06/09/intv.irving.clive.art.jpg caption="Clive Irving tells CNN that new technologies could replace existing flight data recorders."]
24 victims from Air France Flight 447 have been pulled from the sea so far. The number one priority according to the Brazilian military is recovering the bodies, but searchers are also desperately looking for the flight data recorders before time runs out. The area they’re concentrating on is about the size of Nebraska, almost 80,000 square miles.
Clive Irving says the daunting task of finding the so-called black boxes should be a wake-up call for doing away with this “antiquated technology.” Irving is the editor of Condé Nast Traveler magazine and specializes in aviation reporting. He joined John Roberts on CNN’s “American Morning” Tuesday.
John Roberts: Brazilian authorities released a photo of the vertical stabilizer from Air France 447. It was found yesterday. It’s eerily similar, if you remember, to American Airlines 587 where they pulled the entire vertical stabilizer out of Jamaica Bay.
Clive Irving: In fact, it looks just like a plastic model assembly kit where you clip the vertical stabilizer on the fuselage and if you pull it off…it's an extraordinarily clean break there.
Roberts: And the fact that it is a clean break and it seems to be pretty much intact, does that give you a thought as to how this plane may have come down?
Irving: I think I’d be very wary to make a connection between the two things. Remember, this is a composite, not a metal vertical stabilizer. So the whole physics of the thing and how it shears off might be very different to the circumstances of an all metal plane.
Roberts: With American Airlines Flight 587, the pilots over-corrected. They put too much pressure on it and it snapped right off. We know the weather was bad in the area this aircraft was flying through.
Irving: Well yes it was. It was very bad. But I think the wake-up call here is the most significant thing, is we had our eyes pointed to a completely new technology that we almost didn't realize was there because the only clues that we have so far since this crash came from the uploaded data, the 24 messages sent to the maintenance center at Air France. That's all we've got to go on at the moment.
New book: 'Obama's BlackBerry'
[cnn-photo-caption image=http://i2.cdn.turner.com/cnn/2009/images/06/09/obama.bb.gi.art.jpg caption="President Barack Obama uses a BlackBerry or similar device as he walks to the Oval Office after returning to the White House in Washington, DC, January 29, 2009."]
It's no secret President Obama uses a BlackBerry. In fact, you might say he's even addicted to his.
"Obama's BlackBerry" is a new book that includes dozens of phony texts and emails that poke fun at the nation's first BlackBerry-toting president.
Rob Baedeker, the book’s co-author and a member of the San Francisco-based comedy troupe Kasper Hauser, joins “American Morning” today.
Read excerpts of the book:
Page 14 (PDF)
Page 15 (PDF)
Page 25 (PDF)
Page 28 (PDF)
Page 65 (PDF)
Pregnant with girl or boy? At-home test may tell you
[cnn-photo-caption image=http://i2.cdn.turner.com/cnn/2009/images/06/09/art.gender.test.cnn.jpg caption="IntelliGender makes a gender prediction test. If a urine specimen turns orange, it's a girl. Green is for boys."]
By Danielle Dellorto
(CNN) - Expecting moms can determine whether they're carrying a boy or a girl as early as 10 weeks after conception, according to an over-the-counter gender prediction test by a Plano, Texas, company.
IntelliGender, the creator of the "Boy or Girl Gender Prediction Test," say scientists isolated certain hormones that when combined with a "proprietary mix of chemicals" react differently if a women is carrying a boy or a girl.
It claims that within 10 minutes of taking the urine test, a mother will be able to tell her baby's gender. The specimen will turn green if it's a boy, and orange if it's a girl.
IntelliGender would not say what hormones or chemicals it uses it in its test because of a pending patent.
"Most parents have a great degree of curiosity to find out if they're having a boy or a girl, and it can be so excruciating to wait until the 20-week sonogram to find out," IntelliGender co-founder Rebecca Griffin said. "But the test was never meant to be a diagnostic tool. We don't claim 100 percent accuracy."
In fact, the company's Web site specifically says to not "paint the room pink or blue" until an expectant mom confirms results with her doctor.
"We specifically state to all our consumers that they shouldn't make any emotional or financial steps until the results are confirmed via sonogram," the company says.
The gender predictor test boasts a 78 to 80 percent accuracy rate, according to the latest IntelliGender report.
Guitarist sues Coldplay, YouTubers compare songs
From CNN's Carol Costello and Ronni Berke
Coldplay's “Viva La Vida” is more than just their biggest hit – it's a phenomenon – selling a whopping 6.8 million copies, according to the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry. Guitarist Joe Satriani has filed a lawsuit claiming copyright infringement, saying the mega-band copied his song “If I Could Fly,” from 2004, to create their mega-hit. In court documents, Coldplay has denied those allegations.
Satriani, famous himself in the world of rock – now plays in the band, Chickenfoot, with Sammy Hagar. Hagar lays on the sarcasm in support of Satriani. “I was shocked to that Joe would steal that song from those guys,” Hagar said. “Joe you just took and erased the singing and the lyrics and made an instrumental out of it.” “And somehow, I did it four years earlier,” Satriani quipped.
The case has captured the imagination of YouTubers all over the world – most of whom are more than eager to prove Satriani right. One posting, a note-by-note analysis, by a Canadian guitar teacher has gotten nearly 700,000 hits. Then there are the “mash-ups,” where YouTubers put Coldplay's lyrics over Joe Satriani's guitar riff. Some of this stuff is so cleverly done it's gotten the attention of Satriani's attorney.
“What is fascinating about YouTube is you get 1,000 good ideas as a lawyer you could adopt and use in court,” attorney Howard King says.
But, musicologists, like Prince Charles Alexander, who's produced records for Mary J. Blige and Usher, say mash-ups can be deceiving. “You don’t pick up the guitar and invent music. You actually are inspired by someone else that played,” says Alexander, who teaches at the Berklee College of Music in Boston. “So you as an outsider who are mashing these two records up and saying "Wow look how similar they are," are actually looking at a process that's been going on for a very long time.” Alexander says you can mash-up many well known and make them sound the same.
Coldplay’s lawyer told us the band can’t comment on pending litigation. However, Coldplay front man Chris Martin wrote on the band's website, it was, "initially a bit depressing" but now it’s “inspiring." And he adds: “Now we've got more to prove than ever before.”
What’s on Tap – Tuesday June 9, 2009
Here are the big stories on the agenda today:
- A huge chunk of the tail section of Air France Flight 447 has been recovered from the Atlantic. the discovery could be crucial for investigators who are hoping to learn why the jetliner crashed – killing all 228 people on board.
- The Obama Administration is ramping up efforts to reform health care in this country. Nothing is final yet, but some lawmakers are considering a fine for any American who chooses not to buy into the plan.
- Secretary of State Hillary Clinton is calling on North Korea to free two American journalists who've been sentenced to 12 years in a labor camp. Our Jason Carroll has reaction from the families of Euna Lee and Laura Ling, who are asking for the north to show “compassion.” They're speaking for the first time since their loved ones were convicted.
- The power of Youtube may help decide an alleged case of music plagiarism. Guitarist Joe Satriani has filed a lawsuit, claiming the band Coldplay ripped him off with the Grammy-winning hit, Viva la Vida. Coldplay denies it. All you have to do is hit up Google to hear comparisons for yourself. So who needs experts anymore??
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