north korea sentences american. american citizen matthew todd miller was convicted this weekend of...
TRANSCRIPT
North Korea sentences American
American citizen Matthew Todd Miller was convicted this weekend of committing "acts hostile" to North Korea and sentenced to six years of hard labor. The circumstances
surrounding his alleged crime remain murky. According to the state-run Korean Central News Agency, the 24-year-old arrived in North Korea as a tourist on April 10 and ripped up his tourist visa, shouted his desire to seek asylum and said "he came to the DPRK after choosing it as a shelter.“ DPRK
refers to North Korea's official name, the Democratic People's Republic of Korea. Its government is a communist
dictatorship renowned for human rights abuses. Early Monday, the U.S. State Department demanded that North
Korea release Miller. He traveled to North Korea after arranging a private tour through the U.S.-based company Uri Tours, which takes tourists into North Korea. The company
offers tours despite U.S. State Department warnings that U.S. citizens have been subject to arbitrary arrest and detention
in North Korea.
In Other NewsIn Other News The city of Chongqing in southwestern China has divided a
sidewalk on one of its busiest streets into two lanes -- one for cellphone users and the other for those without. Fifty meters long and three meters wide, it has warning signs painted in white on the ground. It is estimated that the number of smartphone users in China will exceed 500 million this year (which is about 200,000 million more than the entire population of the United States). The idea was inspired by a recent experiment in Washington DC.
Harvey Mudd College only offers majors in the high-paying fields of biology, chemistry, computer science, engineering, math and physics. All 800 undergrads are trained in a specific, well-paying field, while also taking liberal arts classes that emphasize critical thinking skills. The approach seems to be working: One decade into their careers, graduates from this Los Angeles-area college are earning a median salary of $133,800 -- the highest of any other college or university in the country.