*Saudis Thwart Attack on Mecca’s Grand Mosque
Saudi authorities say they foiled a suicide attack on the Grand Mosque in Mecca after the bomber blew himself up in a nearby apartment. The Interior Ministry said in a statement read out on state television that an attack had been planned on worshipers and security forces at the mosque during the holy month of Ramadan. But after security forces trapped the attacker on Friday, surrounding him in the center of the city, he detonated his explosives, killing himself and injuring six foreigners and five members of the security forces. Authorities said three cells were involved in the bomb plot, and security forces fatally shot a man earlier in the day at a separate site suspected of serving as an Islamist hideout. Five suspected militants have been arrested in connection with the planned attack.
*Senate Announces Probe Into Loretta Lynch
The Senate Judiciary Committee is seeking information fromLoretta Lynch on her role in the FBI’s investigation into Hillary Clinton, the panel said in a bipartisan letter Friday. The former attorney general is being asked to say whether she ever assured Clinton the investigation wouldn’t “go too far.” The letter cites a New York Times report alleging former FBI Director James Comey believed Lynch “helped play down” the investigation into Clinton.
*WHO READS LBN? Law professor Alan Dershowitz
*John McEnroe: Andy Warhol ‘Ruined’ My Sex Life:
John McEnroe says the Studio 54 era wasn’t all it was cracked up to be — admitting he couldn’t even get into the storied club — and he even calls Andy Warhol “annoying” and “mediocre” in his upcoming memoir. The tennis enfant terrible recalls in “But Seriously,” out Tuesday from Little, Brown and Co., that he could never get past the velvet rope at Studio 54, pleading with its infamous doormen, “I’m six in the world!” But, “the doormen would be like, ‘So? McEnroe, get the hell out of here!’ In fact, I don’t think they even knew my name — my memory has added that in the hope of making me feel better.” Of Warhol, McEnroe writes, “He was always there at every party I was ever at, taking your picture late at night, even when you were super f - - ked up . . . I remember thinking, ‘Who is this weirdo with the fake hair? Why is he waving his camera around when we’re here at 3 in the morning? Isn’t there a place that could be off-limits?” (Warhol was known for taking Polaroids of everyone, including Mick Jagger, Yves Saint Laurent, Jack Nicholson, Debbie Harry, Alfred Hitchcock and Pelé). But in his book, McEnroe complains that Warhol interfered with his sex life, saying that at late-night parties, where one might “loosen your collar and try to find a good-looking model or whatever,” the artist “always seemed to be up in everyone’s face with his camera, being a pain in the ass.”
MY REVIEW: “LBN keeps me in touch with America. I read it every day.”—– Mischa B., an LBN reader from Moscow, Russia.
*LBN-MUSIC INSIDER: ***John Legend‘s work has won Grammys, an Oscar and a Tony, but years before achieving global fame, the Legend-to-be took home another prize: spelling bee champ. A 1989 story in The Springfield News-Sun proclaimed, “Product of home teaching wins bee.” The newspaper noted the future R&B singer’s sharp attire, his steady gaze and crisp enunciation, saying the 10-year-old Legend “came to win … and win he did.”
*LBN-INVESTIGATES: Some dolphins can understand as many as 60 words, which can make up 2,000 sentences. They also show signs of self-awareness.
*LBN-NOTICED: ***San Francisco socialites and Silicon Valley types celebrated the 50th anniversary of the Summer of Love when Zak Williams — son of Robin Williams — and his wife, Alex, hosted a bash at a Pacific Heights home for tattoo guru Scott Campbell and Clement Kwan’s “luxury cannabis brand” Beboe. The high-end weed has been dubbed the Hermès” of marijuana”
| *LBN-SITE OF THE DAY: |
“The World Factbook provides information on the history, people, government, economy, geography, communications, transportation, military, and transnational issues for 267 world entities. Our Reference tab includes: maps of the major world regions, as well as Flags of the World, a Physical Map of the World, a Political Map of the World, a World Oceans map, and a Standard Time Zones of the World map.”
*LBN-SPOTLIGHT: “It always seems impossible until it’s done.” – Nelson Mandela —–
*LBN-R.I.P.: ***Marion Goldin, one of the most respected and prolific producers at CBS’s flagship newsmagazine, “60 Minutes,” died on June 15 at her home in Palm Springs, Calif. She was 76. Her death was confirmed by her brother, Donald Freedman.
*LBN-COMMENTARY by Bret Stephen: This is the column in which I formally forswear Twitter for good. I’ll keep my Twitter handle, and hopefully my followers, but an editorial assistant will manage the account from now on. I’ll intercede only to say nice things about the writing I admire, the people I like and the music I love. Why now? Because, while reading a cover story in New York magazine, it occurred to me that Twitter is the political pornography of our time: revealing but distorting, exciting but dulling, debasing to its users, and, well, ejaculatory. It’s bad for the soul and, as Donald Trump proves daily, bad for the country.
*LBN-A DIFFERENT VIEW:….
