YOUR FRIENDS' ACTIVITY

    Dennis Rodman gets his "Gangnam Style" mixed up in Pyongyang

    SEOUL (Reuters) - Former NBA star Dennis Rodman appears to have mixed up his Koreas on a visit to Pyongyang, tweeting that he expected to run into South Korean rapper Psy on his trip to the North.

    Rodman, famed for his tattoos, piercings and radical hair colours from his time on court, arrived in North Korea on Tuesday to shoot some hoops and a documentary to be aired on HBO in April.

    "Maybe I'll run into the Gangnam Style dude while I'm here," the 51-year old tweeted (@dennisrodman) after his arrival.

    Psy, a 35-year old roly-poly rapper, shot to global fame with his Gangnam Style song last year, garnering more than a billion YouTube hits for his portrayal of the ritzy and shallow Gangnam enclave in the southern part of the South Korean capital of Seoul.

    While Pyongyang is by far the richest part of North Korea, Rodman is unlikely to see the kind of wealth and designer chic on display in Gangnam.

    The North's economy is 1/40th the size of South Korea's, according to most independent estimates, and is smaller than it was 20 years ago according to the United Nations.

    The only bling that Rodman may encounter in North Korea appears to come from third generation of the country's ruling family.

    Jowly 30-year old dictator Kim Jong-un has a penchant for Disney shows and fun-fairs, while his young wife - rumoured to have given birth recently - has been seen sporting a Dior bag.

    Many North Koreans struggle to put adequate amounts of food on the table each day and recent reports suggested there had been a famine in the country's food-basket area in 2012.

    (Reporting by David Chance, editing by Elaine Lies)

    News for You

    • The new consoles from Microsoft, Nintendo and Sony

      NEW YORK (AP) — Microsoft is the last of the three big video game console makers to unveil its latest gaming system. The unveiling comes nearly eight years after the Xbox 360 went on sale. It follows last fall's debut of Nintendo's Wii U and a preview in February of the upcoming PlayStation 4 from Sony.

    • Woman on Trump: 'Somebody had to stand up to him'

      CHICAGO (AP) — An 87-year-old woman who alleges Donald Trump cheated her in a skyscraper-condo sale told jurors Monday she had qualms about suing the real estate mogul and TV celebrity. But, she quickly added, "Somebody had to stand up to him."

    • Disney-owned ESPN cutting hundreds of jobs: source

      By Liana B. Baker (Reuters) - ESPN, the sports channel that is Walt Disney Co's most profitable unit, is cutting 300 to 400 jobs across the company and closing a small Denver office, a person with knowledge of the cuts said. The job cuts, comprising 4 to 6 percent of ESPN's staff of 7,000, include open positions that will not be filled, said the source, who asked not to be named because the information is not public. But ESPN will continue hiring for other open positions, the person said. The channel has recently won rights to exclusive coverage of the U.S. ...

    • Man pleads guilty in Picasso vandalism case

      HOUSTON (AP) — A man accused of vandalizing a 1929 Pablo Picasso painting in a Houston museum — an act that was caught on cellphone video — agreed Tuesday to a two-year prison term as part of a plea deal with prosecutors.

    • NY Cuomo letter warns Kardashian over T-shirt logo

      ALBANY, N.Y. (AP) — New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo's sent a letter to Khloe Kardashian informing the reality star the logo on her T-shirt line may be violating copyright law.

    • A diversion in the air for 'Today'

      NEW YORK (AP) — Two charter airplanes carrying the "Today" show anchor team and their crew from Hawaii to Yellowstone National Park were diverted in the air to Oklahoma for coverage Tuesday of the catastrophic tornado outside of Oklahoma City.