Chatter: North Korea lashes out after new UN sanctions

NEED TO KNOW

North Korea hits back. The Hermit Kingdom has responded to new UN sanctions with characteristic vitriol, vowing to scrap peace pacts with its neighbor to the south.

An announcement carried by North Korea's state news agency said the main border crossing to South Korea will be shut, and a hotline with Seoul closed down.

Yesterday the UN unanimously approved a fresh round of sanctions in response to North Korea's nuclear test last month and its threat of a "preemptive" nuclear strike against the United States.

As North Korea experts weigh in on this latest flare-up in tensions, we can't help but wonder what former NBA star Dennis Rodman, new BFF of the "awesome" Kim Jong Un, makes of it all. Or maybe not.

WANT TO KNOW

Kenya counts… and counts… In Kenya the protracted race for president may be drawing to a close, with leading candidate Uhuru Kenyatta, the current deputy prime minister, approaching the 50 percent mark needed to avoid a second round of voting.

While votes are still being counted, Kenyatta's opponent, Prime Minister Raila Odinga, will need a strong performance in the remaining ballots to force a run-off.

A win by Kenyatta would be a headache for the West: the son of Kenya's founding father, Kenyatta is facing International Criminal Court charges for his role in the violence that followed the 2007 presidential election.

Chavez the eternal? The late Venezuelan president will join the ranks of Mao, Lenin, Ho Chi Minh and Kim Il Sung, under a plan that will see Hugo Chavez's corpse embalmed and put on display "for eternity" at a military museum in Caracas.

The embalming will follow today's state funeral and an extended period of lying in state to meet the demands of huge crowds. GlobalPost's John Otis, who has covered Chavez since his first run for president, tells us why he will miss him.

Bin Laden "spokesman" arrested. Sulaiman Abu Ghaith, said to be a spokesman and son-in-law of Osama bin Laden, has been arrested in Jordan and will be tried in New York City. He is to appear in court today, and faces charges including material support for terrorism and conspiracy to kill Americans.

STRANGE BUT TRUE

A dog's day. We end this Friday with the latest fashion from Crufts 2013, a posh dog show in Birmingham, England. You see, it was raining as these pampered pedigreed pooches headed into the first day of competition at Crufts. And, well, this happened.

Not to be outdone, an extreme dogstyling competition in the US has taken an avant-garde approach to its design aesthetic. Looks ruff. (sorry!)