*N. Korea: We’re Speeding Up Our Nuclear Development
North Korea will not only continue its nuclear-weapons tests, but now intends to speed them up “to the maximum pace,” Pyongyang declared in a statement Monday via its KCNA state-run news agency. “Now that the U.S. is kicking up the overall racket for sanctions and pressure against the DPRK, pursuant to its new DPRK policy called ‘maximum pressure and engagement,’ the DPRK will speed up at the maximum pace the measure for bolstering its nuclear deterrence,” a spokesman for the Hermit Kingdom’s foreign ministry said in the statement. He added that North Korea’s “measures for bolstering the nuclear force to the maximum will be taken in a consecutive and successive way at any moment and any place decided by its supreme leadership.” U.S. President
Donald Trump has said that a “major conflict” with North Korea may erupt over the country’s ballistic-missile and nuclear programs. In recent weeks, the U.S. has directed a nuclear submarine and sent an aircraft carrier group to waters near the Korean Peninsula in a show of force.
*Hamas, in New Document, Seeks to Show a More Moderate Face
Hamas, the militant group that has long engaged in violent resistance against Israel, sought on Monday to present a more moderate public face with the impending release of a document that calls for closer ties to Egypt, waters down anti-Semitic language and accepts at least a provisional Palestinian state. Fragments of the document have been leaking out for weeks, but the official release will come at a telling time and place: Hamas officials, normally secretive, were set to hold several high-profile events on Monday in Doha, the capital of Qatar, an American ally expected to play a crucial role in any deal between the Israelis and Palestinians. The release of the document will come just two days before
Mahmoud Abbas, the president of the Palestinian National Authority, a Hamas rival, is scheduled to meet with President Trump in the White House as the sole representative of the Palestinian people.
*
Trump on Wiretap: ‘I Don’t Stand by Anything’
President
Donald Trump said he doesn’t “stand by anything” with regard to his false claim that former President
Barack Obama had Trump Tower wiretapped, stating incorrectly that he was proven correct. “I don’t stand by anything. I just—you can take it the way you want. I think our side’s been proven very strongly. And everybody’s talking about it. And frankly it should be discussed,” Trump told CBS News in an interview that aired Monday on
CBS This Morning. “That is a very big surveillance of our citizens. I think it’s a very big topic. And it’s a topic that should be No. 1. And we should find out what the hell is going on.” When CBS News host
John Dickerson pressed Trump further, the president said “OK, it’s enough, thank you,” and cut off the interview.
*LBN-WHERE THE ELITE AND UNDERDOGS MEET:
*Funding Deal Reached to Avoid Government Shutdown
Congressional negotiators have reached a $1 trillion funding bill agreement after weeks of wrangling and amid fears of a government shutdown. The deal, which comes after a stop-gap spending bill allowed Congress to avoid a shutdown last week, will cover all federal agencies until
Oct. 1, the Associated Press reported. The agreement has reportedly seen Republicans back off from some of their more contentious proposals, including plans to remove funding from Planned Parenthood and deprive “sanctuary” cities of federal grants. While the bill will not give President
Trump funding for his border wall with Mexico, it does give a $15 billion boost to the military, the report said. It also rejects White House requests to slash funding for certain medical research programs and adds $1.5 billion to bolster border security. The Senate and U.S. House of Representatives will have to approve the bill by the end of
Friday, and then it will be sent to Trump for his signature. The Senate’s top Democrat expressed praise for the measure late
Sunday. Saying the bill ensures that “taxpayer dollars aren’t used to fund an ineffective border wall,” Sen.
Chuck Schumer described it as a “good agreement for the American people” and one that “takes the threat of a government shutdown off the table.”
*SCOTUS Upholds California Law Banning Gay Conversion Therapy
The Supreme Court
on Monday ruled to uphold a California law that bans the controversial practice of gay conversion therapy. An appeal was brought in front of the court in which the plaintiff, therapist and minister
Donald Welch, argued that the law infringes on religious rights. The California law applies directly to medical professionals who are licensed by the state. The state government, led by Democratic Gov.
Jerry Brown, argued that religious rights were not being curbed.
*Uber Suspends Driver in Australia Over ‘Bomb Plot’
Uber suspended one of its drivers in Australia over alleged comments he made to a passenger, reportedly admitting involvement in an ISIS-related organization and a plot to blow up its capital city’s Parliament House. The Canberra driver told the woman he intended to blow up a shopping mall and the government seat, Uber said Monday. The female passenger told the Associated Press that she had hailed a ride after a night drinking with friends, and the Uber driver at one point asked if she had “ever eaten human flesh.” She told the news agency that the driver said he was not planning to take her home. Eventually, she asked to pull over at a gas station so she could use the restroom. Once there, she called the police from inside. Police said they didn’t find anything suspicious when searching the driver’s vehicle, so they took the passenger home and made no arrests. A police statement said: “Police conducted initial background checks and established there was no threat to the public or the complainant.” An investigation into the driver is ongoing, with the assistance of national-security agencies. The driver allegedly did not dispute the allegations. “I want Uber to be doing a lot more screening of the people that they’re bringing on, because apparently it’s not doing enough,” the woman later said.
*LBN-MEDIA INSIDER: ***Ryan Seacrest has been chosen to be Kelly Ripa‘s new LIVE co-host, almost exactly a year after Michael Strahan‘s departure. The announcement was made on the show Monday. “It’s going to be a busy year,” Seacrest quipped. He and Ripa then aired footage of him entering the building early Monday morning. He had to hide in his car so no one would see him driving in. ***Megyn Kelly is “Keeping Up With the Kardashians” before launching her NBC shows. Snapped on the set of the reality series Thursday, an E! insider said that Kelly sat down with most of the Kardashian-Jenner clan. The show’s producer Ryan Seacrest was also there.
*LBN-BUSINESS INSIDER: ***Anyone curious to get a glimpse of what urbanists envision for the future of Los Angeles — less suburban, more vertical living with a greater emphasis on walkability and public transportation — could do worse than to study the renaissance taking place in the 176-acre Westside neighborhood of Century City. For more than half a century, the development built on the old Fox backlot was derided as a windy collection of unexceptional office towers where lawyers congregated before they clocked out. But proof of concept for luxury housing in the area was established in 2013, whenCandy Spelling moved into her $35 million condo in the Robert A.M. Stern-designed Century Tower on Avenue of the Stars. Paula Abdul also owns a unit in the amenity-rich building, as do celebrity chef Nobu Matsuhisa and, according to several sources, Rihanna. Now a residential boom is taking hold as a string of massive projects in various phases of development are betting that the area can compete with Brentwood, Santa Monica and West Hollywood. It is going to be a fantastic place,” says LA Realty Partners’ Gary Weiss, who admits to having fully imbibed the local “Kool-Aid.” Three years ago, Weiss — who has negotiated some of the biggest leases in Century City, including CAA’s 2007 move to the “Death Star” at 2000 Avenue of the Stars and WeWork’s recent 15-year, 65,000-square-foot lease on Constellation Boulevard — sold his Calabasas home of 23 years and bought a condo in The Century (where a penthouse is listed for $26.5 million). “In the last 10 years, it has become a real neighborhood,” says Weiss. “It’s not just your father’s law firm anymore.”
*LBN-READER QUESTION: Does a Son Need a Male Role Model? Please send you reply to:
(Please put “LBN-Reader Question” in the subject line.
*LBN-BOOK NEWS: ***In her new book, “The Other Side of Impossible,”
Susannah Meadows, a Brooklyn-based former senior writer for Newsweek, has compiled compelling stories about people who faced and ultimately surmounted daunting medical challenges. The book focuses on several families, including her own, who felt they had no choice but to wade into the world of unproven therapies. The families’ ventures into a realm that some would call quackery were typically inspired by love, desperation and hope and were fueled by irrepressible grit and determination to find solutions to debilitating health problems that defied the best that conventional medicine could offer.
*LBN-NOTICED: ***Power attorney Tom Girardi returning from Washington, D.C. this weekend on his private Gulfstream jet landing at Van Nuys airport. Girardi was in Washington, D.C. where he was honored the the Library of Congress for the charity work on behalf of the organization. Congratulationing Girardi was Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor, former Marine Colonel Oliver North and L.A. entertainment attorneyBert Fields. ***Kylie Jenner looks to have fully moved on from her cash-strapped ex by showing up big for rumored new beau Travis Scott during his birthday weekend. The reality star-turned-beauty mogul, 19, was on hand for the “Goosebumps” rapper’s 25th birthday party at Cipriani Downtown in Soho in NYC on Sunday evening, alongside big sister Kendall Jenner and sibling pals Bella and Anwar Hadid.
*Baltimore Mayor Asking FBI For Help With Investigating City Crime, Rising Murder Rate
Baltimore’s mayor is asking for help from the FBI, as the city struggles to contain a soaring murder rate. But will bringing in the feds stop the killings? The mayor pulled no punches earlier this week when she said the murder rate is out of control. She wants to bring in the FBI to the city, but will it make a difference? Some people are skeptical of that. Violence in Baltimore has reached a crisis level, with the number of killings shattering a 20-year high this early in the year, Baltimore’s mayor was blunt. “I’m calling on all the assistance we can possibly get because I can’t imagine going into our summer months with our crime rate where it is today, what that’s going to look like by the end of the summer,” says Mayor Catherine Pugh.
*THINK FREELY – READ LBN:
*LBN-R.I.P.: ***Ueli Steck, a renowned mountain climber nicknamed “the Swiss Machine” for his rapid ascents of some of the world’s most imposing peaks, died in an accident on Sunday at a camp near Mount Everest, Nepali officials said. At the time of his death, Mr. Steck, 40, was trying to climb the 25,791-foot Himalayan peak of Nuptse in preparation for an ambitious ascent of Everest, said Dinesh Bhattarai, the director general of the Nepal Department of Tourism. A message on Mr. Steck’s website said that the exact circumstances of his death were unknown, and that his family was “infinitely sad.” His was the first recorded death of the Everest climbing season, Mr. Bhattarai said.
*LBN-SITE OF THE DAY:
“The Bureau of Engraving and Printing prints billions of dollars – referred to as Federal Reserve notes – each year for delivery to the Federal Reserve System. U.S. currency is used as a medium of exchange and store of value around the world. According to the Federal Reserve, there is approximately $1.39 trillion worth of Federal Reserve notes in circulation.”
LBN-THIS DAY IN HISTORY:
| 1941 – General Mills introduced its oat-based, ready-to-eat cold cereal as CheeriOats but, in 1946, changed its name to Cheerios because of a trademark dispute with Quaker Oats. Today, it comes in nearly a dozen different flavors and is marketed to children as well as adults. It has used several different characters in its advertising over the years, including Charlie Brown from Peanuts |
*LBN-VIDEO LINK: Steve Jobs on Failure —
*LBN-COMMENTARY by Sheryl Crow (Singer): I meditate 20 to 25 minutes in the morning, then 20 minutes in between tucking the boys in and going to bed. It’s compassion-based – the idea is to live life from an extremely compassionate place and be mindful.
*LBN-COMMENTARY by David Fear: It was no secret that producer Robert Evans were not crazy about casting Al Pacino,the Italian-American theater actor, as Michael Corleone, and that he wanted an actor like Robert Redford to play the young Don-to-be. (“Listen, there are blond, blue-eyed Sicilians,” Coppola pointed out to the audience. “The French were there for 200 years.”) And Pacino had told the filmmaker that it was okay if it didn’t work out, because “don’t worry, we’ll work together on something else.” Even after he’d been filming for a while, the powers that be wanted someone else in the role (“I kept testing even after I got the part,” he says), and it wasn’t until Coppola bumped up the scene where Michael shoots Sollozzo in the restaurant in the production schedule – so the brass at Paramount could see that Al could nail this – that Pacino had truly secured his place.
*LBN-A DIFFERENT VIEW:….
*LBN-OVERHEARD: ***Married “Grey’s Anatomy” star Jesse Williams and Derek Jeter’s ex Minka Kelly are “definitely seeing each other,” according to a source close to the actor. “They started seeing each other last year. He ended things with his wife this year. He’ll be in Paris with Minka later this week. People know [about the relationship], but weren’t saying anything because he was still married,” the source said. ***Val Kilmer confirmed he had cancer – and is now doing OK – after months of denying he was sick. The first hint that Kilmer was ill came in 2015 when he was spotted at UCLA Medical Center. Then in November, fellow actor and pal Michael Douglas mentioned that Kilmer was fighting throat cancer. Kilmer, at that time, said he never had cancer and that Douglas was “misinformed.” ***Michael Moore is headed to Broadway. The filmmaker announced Monday morning that he will star in The Terms of My Surrender, a new Broadway play that will attempt to take down Donald Trump. Michael Mayer, the Tony-winning director of the original Spring Awakening as well as the hit Hedwig and the Angry Inch revival, will stage the IMG Original Content production. The show will mark Moore’s theatrical debut. The limited 12-week engagement will begin previews at Belasco Theatre (just blocks from Trump Tower) on July 28 before an opening night on August 10. ***At the Godfather cast reunion in NYC this weekend, Diane Keatonwas called out by Jane Rosenthal right after Al Pacino, but she didn’t follow him. And when it came time to sit down, Keaton skillfully moved away from Pacino and made sure two people separated them. Well played. Why? Their romance ended badly in the late 1980s just as “The Godfather III” was being filmed. ***Andy Warhol and Truman Capote were famously friends: The artist depicted the writer in his work several times, and the pair spent hundreds of hours in conversation (some of it published). Now pieces of those conversations will be adapted into “Warhol Capote,” a new play opening this September at the American Repertory Theater in Cambridge, Mass. All of the dialogue in the play will be drawn from recorded conversations between the two from the late 1970s, when they intended to create a Broadway play together. The tapes of these conversations were recently discovered and culled through by the director Rob Roth.
