U.S. & South Korea Hold Talks on North Korea Negotiations; Israeli Spacecraft Crashes on Lunar Surface
JOHN VAUSE, CNN INTERNATIONAL ANCHOR: Welcome back, everybody. I'm John Vause with an update of the top stories this hour. WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange taken into custody in London on Thursday. He resisted arrest and was carried out of the Ecuadoran embassy, where he spent the past seven years in self-imposed exile. A British judge found him guilty of violating bail. Assange now faces possible extradition to the United States on one count of conspiring to steal military secrets. Protestors in Sudan are urging anti-government demonstrators to stay in the streets, even after the ouster of longtime dictator Omar al- Bashir. The military is now in control, and protestors want them to step aside and allow a new civilian government to take control. The U.S. president has hinted he's open to a third summit with the North Korean leader, Kim Jong-un, but it's now up to Kim. President Moon Jae-in of South Korea met with Donald Trump at the White House on Thursday to try and restart those stalled nuclear talks. Earlier this week the North Koreans warned it would deal a telling blow to hostile forces who think sanctions can cripple the country. The U.S. president seems unmoved by that, saying he's happy to keep sanctions in place, because they're at a, quote, "fair level." CNN's Paula Hancocks in Seoul, South Korea, watching all this for us. I guess, Paula, if nothing else, this visit by Moon Jae-in shows that the North Korean leader, he's still on their radar. You know, it's still an important issue. They're still talking about it and may discourage him from taking other measures to seek attention, maybe like a nuclear test or a missile test.</s>PAULA HANCOCKS, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: John, what they decided at this meeting as they were talking from the readouts we received afterwards was that both leaders believed that North Korea was not going to revert back to nuclear activity, that they did believe he was going to keep on this -- this economic path that he said that he wants. That they also agreed that the top-down approach, which is effectively the leaders meeting and trying to decide things amongst themselves, rather than the working-level talks, is the right way to go. We did hear from the president, as well, of South Korea, through his people, that he is going to, once he gets back here to Seoul, try and have another summit with -- with Kim Jong-un. And the reason for this is he's going to try and talk to the North Korean leader and then pave the way for a third U.S.-North Korean summit. But there was an acknowledgment from President Trump that this is very much in Kim Jong-un's court. He is the one who can decide which direction this goes in now. But there was a sign that the U.S. and South Korea were not completely on the same page. We've heard from the South Koreans that they just want the momentum to keep going. A small deal is not a bad deal in their eyes. But President Trump once again saying he wants the big deal. He wants complete denuclearization and then others -- other things like lifting sanctions will follow. Although he did suggest there's a little bit of wiggle room there -- John.</s>VAUSE: There's always a little bit of wiggle room, it seems. Paula, thank you. Good to see you. Paula Hancocks there, live in Seoul. Well, as the saying goes, better to have tried and failed than never have tried at all. An Israeli spacecraft made it tantalizingly close to landing on the Moon, only to crash just as it was about to touchdown. CNN's Oren Liebermann reports on what was a daring attempt.</s>OREN LIEBERMANN, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Moments before the Israeli spacecraft called Beresheet was supposed to land on the moon, the team in the control room in Israel lost communications with the craft. At the same time, it was experiencing issues with its main engine. The $100 million privately-funded spacecraft was well into its landing sequence, traveling at more than 2,100 miles per hour, about 75 miles from its intended landing site, according to the telemetry data being fed in live, and the problems began and escalated quickly. There was a moment of silence in the control room. Then one of those monitoring the landing sequence said, "There's a suspicion that we didn't land on the moon in the best fashion. We're trying to clarify the matter." Just a short time later, one of the team leaders said, "I'm sorry to say we didn't make it to the moon in one piece." Beresheet spacecraft had crashed. Trying to put a positive spin on the accomplishment, the team leader said, "We made it all the way to the moon. We're the seventh country to make it all the way to the moon." Had this been successful it would have made Israel the fourth country to ever soft land a spacecraft on the moon, essentially a controlled landing on the lunar surface. The three other countries? The U.S., the former Soviet Union and China, all world powers. Israel would have been, by far, the smallest country and the smallest program. Some even joked that instead of calling the spacecraft Beresheet, which means, in Hebrew, the beginning of the Bible, "In the beginning," this should have been called Chutzpah, for Israel believing it had the gall to pull this one off. In the end, to keep the weight of the craft down, there were very few redundancies built in. And the landing was always going to be the most difficult part. And it was in that landing sequence that Beresheet crashed on the lunar surface. Oren Liebermann, CNN, Jerusalem.</s>VAUSE: Well, now to a successful space mission of another kind. SpaceX launched its first ever mission for a paying customer with its Falcon heavy rocket on Thursday. The U.S. company sent a communications satellite in orbit for a Saudi company. What also made this mission unique: The Falcon's three powerful boosters returned safely to Earth, which makes them reusable, which makes them cheaper, lowering costs. Extended stays in space can change the body in many ways, right down to the genetic level. A NASA study reached that conclusion after comparing American astronaut Scott Kelly -- he's on the right -- with his identical brother, Mark. He's on the right. No, just kidding. Scott Kelly spent almost a year in space while his twin remained here on earth. Researchers say the study suggests human health can be mostly sustained for a year in space. Despite changes in weight, gut bacteria, cognitive abilities, astronaut Kelly's body returned to normal six months after making it back to Earth. British lawmakers have a little bit of breathing room before another Brexit deadline, but for the rest of Britain, patience is done. How a dose of dry humor might just be keeping the public sane. That's next.