Dennis Rodman Shoots an Air Ball in Pyongyang
Basketball bad boy Dennis Rodman's bizarre attempt at diplomacy with North Korea found a suitably surreal coda on a court in Pyongyang on Jan. 8. Before tip-off at the game between a North Korean team and a squad of former NBA stars, Rodman, clad in a blue jersey, marched over to a microphone and crooned "Happy Birthday" for Kim Jong Un, North Korea's young despot, who is believed to have turned 31. The crowd in the arena, like all North Korean crowds, clapped with rhythmic discipline.
Rodman's friendship with Kim--and the eccentric baller's belief that a game of hoops could open the door to better ties with the Hermit Kingdom--has drawn the ire of much of the world. In the U.S., NBA officials distanced themselves as far as they could from the endeavor; New York Congressman Eliot Engel said Rodman's overtures to Kim were like "inviting Adolf Hitler to lunch." Even Charles Smith, a player on the tour, told reporters he felt "remorse." Paddy Power, the Irish betting house that initially sponsored the proceedings, had already pulled out.
Throughout the strange spectacle, Rodman remained defiant, defending a trip that has yielded no clear diplomatic dividend. In a ranting interview with CNN, Rodman appeared to side with Pyongyang on its detention of Kenneth Bae, an American missionary sentenced to 15 years' hard labor in a prison camp on unspecified charges. "Do you understand what [Bae] did in this country?" an irate Rodman asked his interviewer. Perhaps not, but we do know how foolish the man once nicknamed the Worm looked.
EGYPT
'I am a comedic character.'
ABLA FAHITA, a Muppet-like Egyptian television personality, denying a nationalist blogger's claim that her character's recent commercial for Vodafone Egypt--offering customers the option to reactivate old SIM cards--contained coded messages about an attack by the Muslim Brotherhood. The fracas underscores growing paranoia in Egypt as the military-backed leadership cracks down on Islamists and supporters of ousted President Mohamed Morsi.
POLL
WORLD'S WORST PEACEMAKERS
An annual WIN/Gallup International survey asked more than 66,000 people worldwide which country they considered the "greatest threat to peace." The top four:
U.S. 24%
Pakistan 8%
China 6%
Afghanistan 5%
The Predictor
How Big Oil Could Hurt Greenland
The Danish territory recently awarded exploration licenses to BP, Statoil and more, reversing a tightening of offshore-drilling policies and raising hopes of eventual independence. But activists worry that the bounty--the Arctic around Greenland may hold billions of barrels of oil--will come at a dangerous cost.
DAMAGED ECOSYSTEM
Despite a large Danish subsidy, Greenland's economy relies on fish exports (prawns, Greenland halibut and cod). Conservationists fear the impact that vibrations and undersea noise from vessels or drilling operations will have on fish behavior.
DISRUPTED COMMUNITY