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LBN E-Lert Edited by Natgeda Remy
Contributing Editors: Teju Jyothi, Rachel Yip, Kevin Aquino, Marissa Stone, Delia Ramos, Ben Yano, Anna Alaverdyan.
LBN E-Lert Disclaimer: 1.) The LBN E-Lert accepts no liability for the content of this email, or for the consequences of any actions taken on the basis of the information provided. The LBN E-Lert is not associated with any commercial or political organization and is transmitted via the web for the sole benefit of its subscribers. 2.) Unfortunately, computer viruses can be transmitted via email. The recipient should check this mail and any attachments for the presence of viruses.
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| WEDNESDAY • MAY 26, 2010 |
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 BP BEGINS “TOP KILL” PROCEDURE TO CAP GULF OF MEXICO OIL LEAK: Today, BP went ahead with its most ambitious — and potentially most consequential — effort to plug the mile-deep gusher of oil that has been streaming into the Gulf of Mexico for more than a month. The procedure involves pumping thousands of pounds of heavy fluids into a five-story stack of pipes in an effort to clog the well and stop the torrent of oil. BP officials say the method of containing spills has never been attempted so far underwater and that it could take days to determine whether it had succeeded. They cautioned that there was no guarantee that the gambit would work. Tony Hayward, chief executive office of BP, said, it would be “a day or two before we can have certainty that it’s worked.” On the other hand, failure could become apparent within minutes or hours, a technician involved in the procedure said.
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NORTH KOREA FREEZES RELATIONS WITH SOUTH KOREA: Mounting tensions on the Korean Peninsula reached a new level Tuesday as a North Korean agency announced that the communist nation is severing all ties with its neighbor to the south and will “abrogate the agreement on non-aggression.” A spokesman for North Korea’s Committee for the Peaceful Reunification of Korea accused South Korean President Lee Myung-bak of falsely blaming Pyongyang for the sinking in March of the South Korean warship Cheonan, according to the state-run Korean Central News Agency.
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 LBN-THE “INSIDE” STORY: According to new research almost 1 in 10 people in Britain go to work with a hangover at least twice a week, and 1 in 5 of those admits it has an adverse effect on their work. And over 17% of those who admitted to going to work with a hangover said it caused them to make mistakes and fall behind with their work, while 7% said they had to go home early because they felt too unwell. The survey of more than 1,000 adults also raised fears that bosses are not doing enough to curb excessive weekday drinking by their employees, despite its negative impact on productivity.
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 LBN-THE “INSIDE” STORY-PART 2: A New York City community board has voted for a plan to build a mosque and Islamic cultural centre near Ground Zero. The vote, 29-1 in favor with 10 abstentions, came after hours of contentious public comment from angered conservative activists and families of the victims of the 9/11 terror attacks. And last night a top Manhattan politician backed the plans, saying that while the wishes of 9/11 families must be respected, the board must also try to “balance diversity.”
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PAKISTAN MAKES TIMES SQUARE-LINKED ARREST: Pakistani officials have detained a 10th person in connection with the investigation into the failed May 1st car bombing of New York’s Times Square. He is suspected of having served as an intermediary between the bombing suspect, Faisal Shahzad, and the Pakistani Taliban.
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 OBAMA, MCCAIN CLASH OVER BORDER PATROL: A lunch between President Obama and Republican Senators grew heated on Tuesday, with Tennessee Senator Bob Corker attacking the president’s “audacity” in using the GOP as “props” while he pushed through his initiatives with “party-line votes.” A source says that Obama told Corker, “just because Corker didn’t get what he wanted he shouldn’t get so mad.” But Corker wasn’t the only one to butt heads with the President. His old rival, John McCain, says that he told Obama, “We need to secure the borders first. He didn’t agree” —which seems odd, considering Obama followed up the meeting by announcing plans to send 1,200 National Guardsmen to the Mexican border.
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LBN-INVESTIGATES: The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration said that from 2000 to mid-May 2010, it had received more than 6,200 complaints involving sudden acceleration in Toyota vehicles. The reports include 89 deaths and 57 injuries over the same period.
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THE NINE UNHEALTHIEST MEALS: The Center for Science in the Public Interest has released its 2010 Xtreme Eating Awards—a list of nine of the unhealthiest meals available at national restaurants. Entries include Five Guys, whose bacon cheeseburger has 920 calories and 30 grams of saturated fat; add a large fry for an additional 1,460 calories. The Cheesecake Factory’s pasta carbonara somehow packs a whopping 2,500 calories and four-days worth of saturated fat. Also on the list: The California Pizza Kitchen’s Tostada Pizza, which has 1,440 calories, and its pesto cream penne, which has 1,350 calories.
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 NICOLE SCHERZINGER WINS DWTS: Reality-show favorite Dancing With the Stars finished up its 10th season Tuesday evening, crowning Nicole Scherzinger and Derek Hough the dancing champs. The show started with a close race, as the finalists were separated by only three points. Scherzinger and Erin Andrews were tied in the lead with 55 points, while Evan Lysacek tailed them with 52 points. Scherzinger and Hough performed a Tango and a number to “Proud Mary” for the finals, impressing judge Bruno Tonioli, who screamed “Crowning glory!” As usual, previously eliminated contestants were brought back for the finale, including Pamela Anderson, Shannen Doherty, Kate Gosselin, and Buzz Aldrin. Scherzinger racked up the most judges’ points of any contestant ever on the show and won a perfect score of 30 for their final dance.
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LBN-MEDIA INSIDER: ***Former Us Weekly editor Janice Min has been named the editorial director of The Hollywood Reporter. ***Disney’s 3D phenom “Alice in Wonderland” on Thursday will become the sixth movie to cross $1 billion in worldwide box office and the first spring release to do so. Tim Burton’s adventure fantasy has rung up more than $332 million domestically and $667 million internationally. ***Actor Seann William Scott and screenwriter Steve Conrad have launched Elephant Pictures, which aims to bring together directors, writers and actors for shorts, features, documentaries and episodic Web content.
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 LBN-TODAY’S BIRTHDAY: John Wayne (1907) An American actor and enduring icon of rugged masculinity, Wayne is best known for playing the archetypal Western hero in films like Stagecoach, The Alamo, and Rio Bravo. He appeared in some 250 films before his work in True Grit earning him his first — and only — Academy Award.
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 LBN-NOTICED: ***New York City Mayor Mike Bloomberg, William H. Macy and his wife, Felicity Huffman, drinking El Mayor tequila over dinner at Zengo on Third Avenue in NYC, the night after Hizzoner dined at Jackson Avenue Steakhouse in Long Island City with Tim and Nina Zagat. ***Pamela Anderson attends TheBigBluff.com game launch at Industry in LA. ***Michael Douglas and Catherine Zeta-Jones attend the Film Society of Lincoln Center’s 37th Chaplin Award Tribute honoring Michael Douglas at Alice Tully Hall Lincoln Center in New York City. ***Eva Longoria and Victoria Beckham arrive at the Soho House to attend the new LG Phones Launch Party in West Hollywood. ***Sophie Monk arrives at the E! 20th Birthday Celebration held at The London Hotel in West Hollywood. ***Paula Abdul shops at Lloyd Klein in West Hollywood. ***Popular jewelry designer Danielle Welmond, having dinner at El Cholo restaurant on Wilshire and Main in Santa Monica. ***BE AN LBN-CORRESPONDENT – Send your celebrity sightings to: LBNElert@Timewire.net.
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ITALY JOINS EURO AUSTERITY DRIVE: The Italian government has approved austerity measures worth 24 billion euros (£20bn; $29bn) for the years 2011-2012. The announcement makes Italy the latest eurozone country to announce cuts in an effort to reduce the gap between spending and earnings. The UK and Danish governments also this week announced plans to curb spending. Italy will take measures to reduce public sector pay and will put a freeze on new recruitment.
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CLINTON: WORLD MUST RESPOND: Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said Wednesday in South Korea that the world must act on the North’s sinking of a South Korean warship on March 26th, one of the biggest acts of aggression by the North since the end of the Korean War. Clinton called the sinking an “unnecessary provocation” and called for a “strong, but measured response,” but she did not elaborate any further. China, North Korea’s biggest ally, has not yet weighed in on the incident, calling the sinking “extremely complicated.” Relations between the Koreas continued to deteriorate as officials on both sides of the border traded barbs.
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 LBN-BOOK NEWS: ***A 3rd year anniversary celebration of the continued success of the best-selling business book “Broken Windows, Broken Business” (Warner Books) will take place at Book Soup in Los Angeles on Sunday, June 6 at 6pm. L.A. Business Journal editor Charlie Crumpley will interview author Michael Levine about his Broken Window Theory for Business. ***Real Housewife of NJ star Danielle Staub released her memoir The Naked Truth on May 25. ***Tyra Banks recently announced that she was writing a trilogy of young adult novels called Modelland. ***Stona Fitch, author of Senseless and Printer’s Devil released his latest, Give + Take.
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 LBN-SNAP: David Cameron.
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 LBN-MUSIC INSIDER: ***Following the stir she helped propel when sixth grader Greyson Chance appeared on her show, Ellen Degeneres has signed the YouTube wunderkind as the first artist on a record label she is creating. The “American Idol” host is expected to announce the new venture, eleveneleven, on Wednesday. ***Apple’s dominance in the digital music market has angered competitors, and the company is now raising the interest of the Justice Department. Apple employees have been in talks with major record labels and Internet music companies, sources say. The investigation concerns Apple’s tactics for selling music online, and how the company has used its huge market share to bully music labels into withholding access to Amazon.com.
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 AIR INDIA STRIKE ENTERS SECOND DAY: India’s state-run airline Air India has cancelled 76 flights on the second day of strike action by its employees. The strike comes days after an Air India Express Boeing 737 from Mumbai crashed into a gorge in southern Mangalore city, killing 158 people. Some 20,000 employees have struck work against a management order not to talk to journalists. They are also protesting a delayed payment of wages and shortage of cabin crew, union leaders say.
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LBN-BUSINESS INSIDER: ***The labor practices of a Taiwan-based supplier to many U.S. computer makers are under scrutiny after the rash of suicides. ***Two people, including an employee of the Walt Disney Company, were arrested in Los Angeles on Wednesday on charges of insider trading tied to the entertainment giant. ***Shares rose Wednesday as investors bought back equities that appeared cheap after two days of decline.
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 LBN-SPORTS INSIDER: ***Comedian Jon Lovitz is a big Dodgers fan, willing to shell out tens of thousands each year to catch the local nine in action. But his fandom may land the barrel-shaped funnyman in court. The Los Angeles Dodgers are suing Lovitz for allegedly failing to pay for his season tickets, according to a breach of contract lawsuit filed in Los Angeles Superior Court on Monday. ***It’s back to the bachelor pad for Tiger Woods: The New York Post says the golfer is building a new home in Jupiter Island, Florida. It includes an oxygen-therapy room, a practice golf course, and at least four swimming pools—a children’s pool, a lap pool, a dive pool, and a reflection pool. The 9,000 square-foot home is slated to be finished in August. ***Washington Redskins star Albert Haynesworth is being sued for $10 million by a Brooklyn exotic dancer who claims he impregnated her — then abandoned her. Salma Hayek look-alike Silvia Mena, who’s nearly four months pregnant, says she met the 6-foot-6, 350-pound defensive lineman in Miami late last year. But she claims in papers to be filed in Brooklyn Supreme Court he dumped her after learning she was expecting in late February.
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 LBN-RECOMMENDS By MONICA CROWLEY (Political commentator, blogger and host of The Monica Crowley Show): I recently got as a gift some fabulous, custom-made note cards from Philosophies. They have the most unique and whimsical stationery designs for anyone on your shopping list. I can’t wait to use them for one-of-a-kind gifts.
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LBN-COMMENTARY By ANONYMOUS: You don’t know me. I’m in my early forties, a career army officer, born and raised in the South. For the last ten years, I’ve been in a committed relationship. But revealing who I am would mean breaking the law and risking getting fired, despite eighteen years of service to our country, three combat deployments, promotions and a presidential commission to lead troops. As I write this, it’s just past 11 p.m. on Tuesday night in Afghanistan, a day that started like most other days. Yet, today was different. Today, I read that the White House struck a compromise with military leaders, gay advocacy groups and Congress in a deal that could—just might—make ‘Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell’ a memory by Christmas.
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 LBN-COMMENTARY By THOMAS L. FRIEDMAN: I confess that when I first saw the May 17 picture of Iran’s president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, joining his Brazilian counterpart, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, and the Turkish prime minister, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, with raised arms — after their signing of a putative deal to defuse the crisis over Iran’s nuclear weapons program — all I could think of was: Is there anything uglier than watching democrats sell out other democrats to a Holocaust-denying, vote-stealing Iranian thug just to tweak the U.S. and show that they, too, can play at the big power table? No, that’s about as ugly as it gets.
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LBN-COMMENTARY By TONY HSIEH (CEO of Zappos.com): I started to notice similarities between what was good poker strategy and what made for good business strategy, especially when thinking about the separation between short-term thinking.
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 LBN-A DIFFERENT VIEW:
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LBN-OVERHEARD: ***Despite rumors that her sex tape would harm her marriage to Hank Baskett, Kendra Wilkinson is confident that they will not let “Kendra Exposed” get to them. ***Bristol Palin recently confessed in an interview with “Harper’s Bazaar” that she is completely alone when it comes to raising her son Trip without babydaddy Levi Johnston. Bristol stated, “He is a stranger to me,” referring to Johnston’s abandonment of both her and their child.
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LBN-QUOTE: “Whoever is careless with the truth in small matters cannot be trusted with the important matters.” – Albert Einstein.
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LBN-HISTORY: On May 26, 1913, Actors’ Equity Association was organized in New York City.
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LBN E-Lert Edited by Natgeda Remy
LBN E-Lert Disclaimer: 1.) The LBN E-Lert accepts no liability for the content of this email, or for the consequences of any actions taken on the basis of the information provided. The LBN E-Lert is not associated with any commercial or political organization and is transmitted via the web for the sole benefit of its subscribers. 2.) Unfortunately, computer viruses can be transmitted via email. The recipient should check this mail and any attachments for the presence of viruses.
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| TUESDAY • MAY 25, 2010 |
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NORTH KOREA SAYS IT WILL SEVER ALL TIES WITH SOUTH AS TENSIONS MOUNT: Relations between North and South Korea, already strained over the sinking of a South Korean warship, deteriorated to their worst point in years on Tuesday as the South Korean President re-designated the North as its archenemy, and the North said it would sever its few remaining ties with the South.
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OBAMA TO TRAVEL TO GULF COAST: White House officials say President Obama will travel to Louisiana Friday to assess the efforts to stop the oil leak there. It will be his second trip to the region since the leak began.
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 JINDAL ‘FRUSTRATED’ WITH FEDS OVER SPILL: It appears Bobby Jindal has finally found his tongue: The Louisiana governor complained about the federal government’s response to BP’s Gulf Coast oil spill on Monday, saying “We’ve been frustrated with the disjointed effort to date that has too often meant too little, too late for the oil hitting our coast.” Jindal vowed to go ahead and construct sand booms to protect wetlands with or without the support of the Army Corps of Engineers. BP, meanwhile, continues its bumbling effort to stem the leak: It has delayed the implementation of its latest plan, the so-called top kill, until Wednesday; and the company continues to use a toxic dispersant to break up oil in the Gulf despite an order from the EPA that it use a less-dangerous chemical.
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DISNEY DROPS MIRAMAX DEAL: After high-stakes (and highly public) negotiations, Disney has ended talks with Bob and Harvey Weinstein in their effort to buy back Miramax Films for close to $625 million, sources tell The Wall Street Journal. The movie moguls originally sold the hit-making studio for $80 million in 1993 and were backed by billionaire Ron Burkle in their attempt to broker what sources say was an overly complex deal to regain control of Miramax, which they co-founded in 1979. The collapse of talks clears the way for other potential buyers, including Tom and Alec Gores, who reportedly have a $200 million, deal in the works.
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 LBN-MEDIA INSIDER: ***The filmmakers of Hot Flash Havoc (www.HotFlashHavoc.net), the most provocative and revealing film ever made about menopause, have been selected to screen their film at the first-annual DocMiami International Film Festival. The documentary will be shown at the Doral Golf Resort and Spa located at 4400 N.W. 87 Avenue, Miami, FL 33178 on May 28, 2010 at 3:00 p.m. ***Monica Lozano, the publisher and CEO of La Opinión, has been named chief executive officer of parent ImpreMedia.
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‘DESPERATE’ FERGIE ‘IN A VERY BAD PLACE’: Days after Sarah Ferguson was caught selling access to ex-husband Prince Andrew, the Duchess of York is falling apart, insiders say, describing her as “desperate” and “in a very bad place.” According to The Daily Mail, Fergie tearfully apologized to friends and loved ones in a phone call Monday; she’s also admitted that her ex-husband knew nothing about her scheme. “No one is excusing what she has done and it will take those who trusted her a long time to forgive,” a source told the paper, “but essentially she is a decent person and it’s hard not to feel slightly sorry for her.” Earlier this week, Ferguson was shown on tape asking for $40,000 in cash and more than $700,000 by wire transfer in exchange for access to Prince Andrew, who serves as Britain’s special representative for international trade and investment. The sting was orchestrated by News of the World reporter posing as a wealthy businessman. Following the scandal, Ferguson appeared at a Variety charity event in Los Angeles Sunday, where she told the audience, “When I got on that flight from London today I thought ‘Phew, I’ve had a heavy day.’” Ferguson, whom sources say claims to be broke, has allegedly said that she fears for her and her two daughters’ future in the wake of the scandal.
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 LBN-SEE IT: Winston Churchill.
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 ANN CURRY ADDRESSES WRONG SCHOOL: Maybe her brain stops working after 8 a.m.? When Today show host Ann Curry gave the commencement address at Wheaton College in Massachusetts on Saturday, she accidentally listed alumni from a small evangelical school in Illinois also known as Wheaton. Not that they weren’t impressive—Wes Craven and Billy Graham are alumni of the Illinois school; but the Wheaton she was actually speaking to also had some impressive alums, including Christine Todd Whitman and Catherine Keener. “I am mortified by my mistake, and can only hope the purity of my motive, to find a way to connect with the graduates and to encourage them to a life of service, will allow you to forgive me,” Curry said in an open apology letter on Wheaton’s website.
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LBN-BOOK NEWS: ***NY Post TV writer and columnist, and author of six celebrity bios, Michael Starr’s SHATNER: The Amazing Trek of William Shatner, a biography about actor, singer and pitchman Shatner and his 60 years in the entertainment business, sold to Drew Nederpelt at Sterling & Ross, with Rachel Trusheim editing, (world). ***National Lampoon publisher and film producer Matty Simmons’s ANIMAL HOUSE: THE BOOK, chronicling all the back-stage insanity behind the creation, selling of, producing, filming, and marketing of one of the most enduring comedies, to be published in conjunction with ANIMAL HOUSE: THE MUSICAL which is slated to open on Broadway in mid-2011, sold to Yaniv Soha at St. Martin’s, by Paul Bresnick at Paul Bresnick Agency (world).
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.JPG) SEX AND THE CITY 2 GETS PANNED: Sarah Jessica Parker may be in need of some retail therapy after this week: Early reviews of Sex and the City 2 are less than fabulous, with New York magazine dubbing the film “an epic eyesore.” Citing a lack of real plot and a series of unfortunate (but expensive) wardrobe choices, the reviewer describes the much-anticipated sequel as “nothing but surface,” adding, “The most depressing thing about Sex and the City 2 is that it seems to justify every nasty thing said and written about the series and first feature film.” Ouch.
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 WHO READS THE LBN E-LERT: Nutrition and fitness expert Susan Dopart along with over 317,000 other “influencers” in all 50 of the United States and 24 foreign countries.
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 LBN-THIS DAY IN HISTORY: Star Wars Is Released (1977)
After its release in 1977, Star Wars became a worldwide pop culture phenomenon, spawning two film sequels and three prequels as well as myriad novels, video games, and comic books. The films, which grossed over $4 billion, chronicle Luke Skywalker’s quest to help the rebels defeat an evil empire and iconic villain Darth Vader.
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 CRIST SUED OVER TALKING HEADS SONG: After using the song “Road to Nowhere” by the band Talking Heads in a campaign ad, Florida Governor Charlie Crist is being sued by lead singer David Byrne, who says he was “upset” by the spot and is seeking $1 million in damages. Apparently not a fan of the Senate candidate, Byrne explained the suit was “not about politics,” adding “It’s about copyright and about the fact that it does imply that I would have licensed it and endorsed him and whatever he stands for.”
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LBN-HEALTH WATCH: ***The increased presence of lithium “button” batteries in various household devices, such as cameras, remote controls, watches, hearing aids, and toys, has been associated with a rise in the rate of severe poisonings from battery ingestion among US children. The 20-millimeter lithium cell, which is about the size of a US nickel, appears to present the greatest danger to children because it can become lodged in the throat and burn the surrounding tissue. Experts say that because adults often do not witness the actual swallowing of these batteries and because such poisonings can be difficult to diagnose, prevention is of vital importance.
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 LBN-IF WOMEN CONTROLLED THE WORLD:
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LBN-INVESTIGATES: In 2007, $4.7 million worth of American flags were imported by the United States, the vast majority of that amount ($4.3 million) from China. The U.S. exported $2.4 million in U.S. flags that year, with half going to Mexico.
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LBN-HOLLYWOOD INSIDER: ***According to a Reuters report, U2 has cancelled the North American leg of its upcoming world tour in the wake of Bono’s emergency back surgery. The U2 frontman was operated on last Friday and has been recovering in a hospital outside Munich. Band manager Paul McGuinness told Reuters that the singer “feels awful” about the tour changes. ***Christina Aguilera has canceled her 20-date summer tour, which was scheduled to begin in July.
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LBN-NOTICED: ***Pierce Brosnan with a three-day beard, NBC boss Jeff Zucker carrying a sleeping child and P.R. powerhouse Howard Rubenstein on Madison Avenue in NYC after leaving the Israel parade on Sunday afternoon. ***Sarah Jessica Parker, Kristin Davis, Cynthia Nixon and Kim Cattrall linked up in their usual order on the “Sex and the City 2″ red carpet last night as their sequel premiered at Radio City Music Hall. Liza Minnelli, Jennifer Love Hewitt, Michelle Trachtenberg, Gabourey Sidibe, Jessica Szohr, Amanda Peet, Vanessa Williams, John Corbett, Jason Lewis, and Chris Noth with partner Tara Wilson attended the red carpet premiere in high fashion. ***Britain’s Duchess of York, Sarah Ferguson leaves the Variety Children’s Charity 2010 Hollywood World Conference at the Grand Ballroom of the Renaissance Hollywood Hotel & Spa in Los Angeles. ***Shakira performs during a concert in Lisbon, Portugal. ***Dame Helen Mirren attends the Chelsea Flower Show at the London Royal Hospital. ***Tara Reid arrives at the 25th anniversary of Cedars-Sinai Sports Spectacular at the Hyatt Regency in Century City. ***Jake Gyllenhaal arrives at the David Letterman Show to promote his new movie “Prince of Persia.” ***BE AN LBN-CORRESPONDENT – Send your celebrity sightings to: LBNElert@Timewire.net.
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LBN-BUSINESS INSIDER: ***The euro is down more than 15% year-to-date against the dollar, and it’s fallen almost 10% over the last month alone. ***Carlyle Group co-founder David Rubenstein, 60, travels the world raising money from investors and looking for the next promising deal, striving to maintain Carlyle’s amazing average return of 30% a year since its launch in 1987.
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 GERMAN MILITARY SECURITY FIRM HELPS SOMALI WARLORD: German lawmakers have voiced concern about a deal between a German military security firm and a warlord hostile to the UN-backed government in Somalia. Asgaard German Security Group, which hires former German troops, has signed a contract with Abdinur Ahmed Darman, who claims to be the Somali president. MPs from three German parties said the deal would aggravate the conflict in Somalia and violate UN sanctions.
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 UNREST SPREADS IN JAMAICA OVER ATTEMPTS TO EXTRADITE DRUG SUSPECT: Violence in Jamaica surrounding the planned extradition to the United States of an alleged drug kingpin continued Monday, with police saying 27 people have been killed and 31 wounded. The unrest revolves around U.S. attempts to extradite suspected drug kingpin Christopher “Dudus” Coke, who was charged last year in federal court with conspiracy to distribute marijuana and cocaine and with conspiracy to illegally traffic in firearms.
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 LBN-RECOMMENDS By ALEX MCCORD (Star of The Real Housewives of New York): Machiavelli’s The Prince is on my bedside table right now. I had never read it, but my husband Simon van Kempen and I were talking one night over a glass of wine and it came up. It was the first time in the 11 years that we have been together that he had read something I had not. Obviously, I immediately had to get it and catch up!
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 LBN-COMMENTARY By THOMAS SOWELL: A heartbreaking social statistic is that children on welfare have only about half as many words per day directed at them as the children of working-class families– and less than one-third as many words as children whose parents are professionals.
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 LBN-COMMENTARY By KOFI ANNAN: This is an important year for Africa. The World Cup is putting the continent at the center of global attention. With Africa’s strengths and frailties under greater international scrutiny than ever before, what will the story be? After major difficulties in the wake of the global financial crisis, African economies are recovering and proving their resilience, in contrast to gloominess elsewhere in the world. The African Development Bank and IMF foresee GDP growth rates of around 5 percent by the end of the year.
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 LBN-HISTORICAL COMMENTARY By ALBERT EINSTEIN: When you are courting a nice girl an hour seems like a second. When you sit on a red-hot cinder a second seems like an hour. That’s relativity.
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 LBN-A DIFFERENT VIEW:
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 LBN-OVERHEARD: ***The Friars Club has selected Quentin Tarantino for its annual roast on Oct. 1 at the New York Hilton. The director of “Reservoir Dogs” and “Inglourious Basterds” follows in the brave footsteps of Matt Lauer, Donald Trump, Chevy Chase, Richard Pryor, Bruce Willis and Hugh Hefner, who were all ridiculed mercilessly and with language strong enough to make Lisa Lampanelli blush. Friars Club President Freddie Roman joked, “Having seen ‘Pulp Fiction’ and ‘Kill Bill,’ I pray that he understands that we only roast the ones we love.” ***Kate Winslet hit her head and was badly bruised while playing basketball with her kids Sunday night. Filming of Winslet’s new HBO miniseries “Mildred Pierce” was suspended yesterday so she could recover.
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LBN-QUOTE: “There are no secrets to success: don’t waste time looking for them. Success is the result of perfection, hard work, learning from failure, loyalty to those for whom you work, and persistence.” – Colin Powell.
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LBN-DID YOU KNOW: ***The chief export of Chuck Norris is pain. ***Chow Yun Fat was born in 1955. ***Paul Walker was born in Glendale, CA. *** Mark Sinclair Vincent, better known as Vin Diesel, was raised by his astrologer/psychologist mother and adoptive father in an artist’s housing project in New York’s Greenwich Village.
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LBN-HISTORY: On May 25, 1983, “The Return of the Jedi” opened nationwide. It set a new record in opening day box office sales. The gross was $6,219,629.
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LBN E-Lert Edited by Natgeda Remy
LBN E-Lert Disclaimer: 1.) The LBN E-Lert accepts no liability for the content of this email, or for the consequences of any actions taken on the basis of the information provided. The LBN E-Lert is not associated with any commercial or political organization and is transmitted via the web for the sole benefit of its subscribers. 2.) Unfortunately, computer viruses can be transmitted via email. The recipient should check this mail and any attachments for the presence of viruses.
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LBN E-Lert Edited by Natgeda Remy
LBN E-Lert Disclaimer: 1.) The LBN E-Lert accepts no liability for the content of this email, or for the consequences of any actions taken on the basis of the information provided. The LBN E-Lert is not associated with any commercial or political organization and is transmitted via the web for the sole benefit of its subscribers. 2.) Unfortunately, computer viruses can be transmitted via email. The recipient should check this mail and any attachments for the presence of viruses.
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LBN E-Lert Edited by Natgeda Remy
LBN E-Lert Disclaimer: 1.) The LBN E-Lert accepts no liability for the content of this email, or for the consequences of any actions taken on the basis of the information provided. The LBN E-Lert is not associated with any commercial or political organization and is transmitted via the web for the sole benefit of its subscribers. 2.) Unfortunately, computer viruses can be transmitted via email. The recipient should check this mail and any attachments for the presence of viruses.
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| MONDAY • MAY 24, 2010 |
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LBN-INVESTIGATES: In July 1776, an estimated 2.5 million people lived in the United States.
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 WALL ST. RELIEVED ON FINANCE REFORM: The New York Times says that there was a “sigh of relief” on Wall Street after the Senate passed financial-regulatory reform last week. One investment banker explains, “It’ll crimp the profit pool initially by 15 or 20 percent and increase oversight and compliance costs, but there’s no breakup of any institution or onerous new taxes.” A Goldman Sachs analyst seconds the estimate that profits will initially drop by 20 percent. “The health care bill is going to transform the structure of health care exponentially more than this legislation on financial regulation is going to change Wall Street,” says Roger C. Altman, the chairman of Evercore Partners and deputy Treasury secretary in the Clinton administration. “It’s not even close.”
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 BRITTANY MURPHY’S HUSBAND FOUND DEAD: Five months after actress Brittany Murphy died, her husband, Simon Monjack, was found dead on Sunday night. The LAPD replied to a 9:24 p.m. call for an “unspecified medical aid request” at Monjack’s home—the same one where Murphy’s death took place. Monjack was 39 at the time of death.
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LBN-HOLLYWOOD INSIDER: ***Contrary to expectations, no announcement regarding Bob and Harvey Weinstein’s deal to reclaim Miramax came during the Cannes Film Festival. But while reports on Friday said the deal had in fact fallen apart, Harvey Weinstein and Ron Burkle (the deal’s primary financial backer) released the following joint statement: “The Weinstein Brothers, The Weinstein Company and Ron Burkle are all working towards a deal to purchase and operate Miramax. The parties continue to work diligently towards an agreement.” ***Paula Abdul is once again being fitted for judges robes. The former “American Idol” panelist will be the lead judge in a new primetime talent competition series on CBS, “Got to Dance.” According to reports, Abdul will also act as executive producer, creative partner, mentor and coach. The show is from ShineReveille and based on the UK hit. ***ABC and Sony Pictures TV have enlisted new operatives for their planned reboot of “Charlie’s Angels.” Former “Smallville” show runners Miles Millar and Alfred Gough have been brought in to take a fresh stab at the script and serve as show runners and exec producers should a pilot be green-lighted.
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SOUTH KOREA SUSPENDS TRADE WITH N. KOREA: South Korean President Lee Myung-bak announced Monday that his country was suspending trade with North Korea, closing its waters to the North’s ships and adopting a newly aggressive military posture after the sinking of a South Korean warship. South Korean military officials on Thursday announced the results of an official investigation into the sinking of the ship, the Cheonan, which concluded that North Korea fired a torpedo that cut the vessel in half.
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 AUSTRALIA WANTS ISRAELI DIPLOMAT EXPELLED: Australia has called for the expulsion of an Israeli diplomat after it said an investigation confirmed that Israeli agents were behind the forgery of four Australian passports used in the assassination of a Hamas operative in the United Arab Emirates. “It is beyond doubt that the Israeli government is responsible for cloning and counterfeiting these passports,” Foreign Minister Stephen Smith said Monday.
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 STATE OF EMERGENCY IN KINGSTON: Jamaican authorities declared a state of emergency in Kingston after gang members supportive of an alleged drug lord wanted by the United States attacked police stations and blockaded a large swath of the city. Two police stations were evacuated after being hit with Molotov cocktails, while the status of a third was unclear. Gang members blocked off a miles-long area of Jamaica’s capital city — mostly in West Kingston — using vehicles, sandbags, barbed wire and anything else they could find. The standoff revolves around attempts by the United States to extradite suspected drug kingpin Christopher “Dudus” Coke.
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ICELAND’S EYJAFJALLAJOKULL VOLCANO REDUCES ACTIVITY: The Icelandic volcano which has been disrupting air traffic for more than a month is showing a marked drop in activity, new measurements suggest. Experts say the temperature in Eyjafjallajokull’s crater appears to have fallen to 100C, meaning it is now producing steam, not magma. But officials warned that it was too early to say whether the eruption was over completely. Ash clouds from the volcano grounded thousands of flights last month.
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 FERGIE ‘DEVASTATED’ BY SCANDAL: While she’s no stranger to controversy, Britain’s Duchess of York appears to be stung by a recent sting making headlines. “She is devastated by the story and deeply regrets the situation and any embarrassment it has caused,” Sarah Ferguson’s spokeswoman told Reuters. Earlier this week, she was caught on tape asking for $40,000 in cash and more than $700,000 by wire transfer in exchange for access to ex-husband Prince Andrew, who serves as Britain’s special representative for international trade and investment. The scandal was first reported on News of the World’s website; the sting was orchestrated by one of the publication’s reporters, posing as a wealthy businessman. “Five hundred thousand pounds when you can, to me open doors,” Ferguson told the undercover reporter. Yet she also says that her ex-husband “never does accept a penny for anything.” The royal couple split on good terms in 1996, after a 10-year marriage.
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 LBN-BOOK NEWS: Mark Twain spent the last decade of his life toiling over his autobiography, and demanded the text not be published until 100 years after his death. That day has finally come. Twain wrote 5,000 pages of his memoir, and the University of California Berkeley will publish the first volume this fall. The eventual trilogy will have half a million words. Scholars argue over whether the Tom Sawyer author wanted to delay publication to talk freely about religion and politics or gossip freely about friends. Twain thought Christian missionaries trekking to Africa should stay in their own country and try to do something about lynching in the South. And an angry 400-page addendum details the tumultuous relationship with secretary Isabel Van Kleek Lyon in the last years of his life. (She bought him an electric sex toy, but also perhaps “hypnotized” Twain into giving her power of attorney over his estate.) Whatever his motivations, Twain “was certainly a man who knew how to make people want to buy a book,” a scholar says.
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 LBN-THIS DAY IN HISTORY: Peter Minuit Buys Manhattan (1626) Peter Minuit was the director-general of the Dutch colony of New Netherland who is credited with the purchase of the island of Manhattan in 1626. According to legend, he persuaded the natives—perhaps a Metoac band of Lenape known as the Canarsee, who were actually native to what, is now Brooklyn—to “sell” the island for a handful of trade goods worth approximately 60 guilders.
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 THAI FILM WINS CANNES’ TOP HONOR: The Cannes Film Festival’s top prize, the Palme D’or, went to Thai director Apichatpong Weerasethakul for Uncle Boonmee Who Can Recall His Past Lives, the fantastical story of a man’s past lives and ghostly relatives. Weerasethakul thanked the jury warmly for his win, telling them that he “would like to kiss all of you” and that he was a huge fan of Tim Burton’s hair. Uncle Boonmee is the first Thai film to win the honor. Juliette Binoche and Javier Bardem were honored for their acting—with Binoche winning Best Actress for her turn in Iranian director Abbas Kiarostami’s Certified Copy and Bardem sharing the best male performance award with Elio Germano.
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 LBN-NOTICED: ***Producer Mark Joseph on the set of next movie Doonby in Smithville, TX with John Schneider, Robert Davi, Jenn Gotzon and Will Wallace. ***After his live show, Conan O’Brien signs autographs for fans outside of Massey Hall in Toronto, Canada. ***Diane Kruger, Salma Hayek, jury member Benicio Del Toro, and jury president Tim Burton attend the Palme d’Or Closing Ceremony held at the Palais des Festivals during the 63rd Cannes Film Festival in Cannes, France. ***Dakota Fanning speaks onstage at the 11th Annual 5K Mattel Children’s Hospital UCLA Benefit held at the university’s campus in Westwood. ***Reese Witherspoon shops at the Brentwood Country Mart near Los Angeles. ***BE AN LBN-CORRESPONDENT – Send your celebrity sightings to: LBNElert@Timewire.net.
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 LBN-HEALTH WATCH: ***The Food and Drug Administration will begin next month to consider endorsing a kind of Viagra for ladies—German pharmaceutical giant Boehringer Ingelheim wants to offer a little pink pill that has been shown to boost sexual desire in women. (Pfizer had hoped Viagra would boost female libido, but it didn’t work in women.) The drug, flibanserin, will be discussed June 18 by the FDA’s Reproductive Health Drugs Advisory Committee; the drug could be the first to enter an estimated $2 billion market in the U.S. In trials, flibanserin failed to effectively treat symptoms of depression, its original intended use, but it had an interesting side effect.
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LBN-SPORTS INSIDER: ***Pitcher Jose Lima died today at home in Pasadena, reportedly of a heart attack. A native of the Dominican Republic, Lima won 89 games in thirteen seasons as a pitcher, including in 2004 the Dodgers’ first port-season win in more than a decade. ***Lakers run into big problems in 118-109 loss to Suns. ***Rafael Marquez defeats Israel Vazquez via TKO ***Texas Rangers: Sale to proceed through bankruptcy plan. ***Cleveland Cavaliers fire coach Mike Brown after 5 seasons.
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 I, LBN: Model Natalina Maggio, a LBN reader from Venice, California.
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LBN-MUSIC INSIDER: Bret Michaels appeared on the season finale of “The Celebrity Apprentice” on Sunday night and was rewarded with $250,000 for charity. ***La Scala says illness has forced the cancellation of two highly anticipated concerts that were to Mark Claudio Abbado’s return to the Milan opera house after 25 years. ***Ferlin Husky and Billy Sherrill inducted into Country Hall of Fame.
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 LBN-RECOMMENDS By DANIEL CLOWES (Cartoonist, author and screenwriter): Wally Gropius, Tim Hensley’s debut “graphic novel” (still not comfortable enough with that term to remove the quotes) is my favorite book of the year by a wide margin. What looks like a European reprint of a mid-1960s hybrid of Archie and Richie Rich is upon closer inspection a brilliant, hilarious, deeply complex and wholly original work that rewards a fifteenth reading as much as a first.
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 LBN-COMMENTARY By MARK HYMAN, MD (Practicing physician and pioneer in functional medicine): The economic burden due to vitamin D insufficiency in the United States is $40-$53 billion per year. This can be corrected for pennies a person per day.
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LBN-COMMENTARY By PAUL KRUGMAN: The Obama administration is facing grass-roots anger, but that anger is being channeled and exploited by corporate interests.
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LBN-COMMENTARY By GARY SCHAUB Jr. and JAMES FORSYTH Jr.: A professor and strategist have calculated that the United States could address its national defense and military concerns with only 311 strategic nuclear weapons.
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 LBN-COMMENTARY By ARIANNA HUFFINGTON: In times of mortal danger, soldiers unconsciously create a sense of purpose and community and kinship. We must do the same if we are going to survive on the financial battlefield where millions of Americans find themselves.
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 LBN-A DIFFERENT VIEW:
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LBN-OVERHEARD: ***Molly Sims planned a lot for her 37th birthday Tuesday. We hear that the model and 10 of her gal pals are jetting down to Cabo San Lucas in Mexico, where they’ll stay through Memorial Day. ***Betty White embroiled in a bitter 30-year-old feud with her formerly troubled stepdaughter. The beloved TV star - who is in the midst of an unlikely career resurgence at age 88 - has rebuffed all attempts at reconciliation with Martha Ludden, daughter of game show legend Allen Ludden, despite the humbled woman’s desperate pleas for forgiveness.
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LBN-QUOTE: “When you get to the end of the rope, tie a knot and hang on.” - Franklin D Roosevelt.
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LBN-HISTORY: On May 24, 1883, after 14 years of construction the Brooklyn Bridge was opened to traffic.
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LBN E-Lert Edited by Natgeda Remy
LBN E-Lert Disclaimer: 1.) The LBN E-Lert accepts no liability for the content of this email, or for the consequences of any actions taken on the basis of the information provided. The LBN E-Lert is not associated with any commercial or political organization and is transmitted via the web for the sole benefit of its subscribers. 2.) Unfortunately, computer viruses can be transmitted via email. The recipient should check this mail and any attachments for the presence of viruses.
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ART LINKLETTER DIES AT 97: 
LOHAN ORDERED TO WEAR TAG, SUBMIT TO DRUG TESTS: 
LBN-VIDEO LINK: 
AL QAEDA CLERIC PROMISES MORE ATTACKS: Muhammad ud-Deen The U.S.-born militant cleric, Anwar al-Awlaki, is calling for the death of U.S. soldiers in Iraq and Afghanistan and is vowing to increase attacks against the U.S. In a new video message, Awlaki praised the Fort Hood shooter, Nidal Hasan, who killed 13 people at the Texas army base in November. “Nidal was my student, I’m proud of Nidal Hasan and this was a heroic act,” said the cleric. “If the situation remains we will see new Nidal Hasans appearing. These American soldiers on their way to Afghanistan and Iraq, we will kill them.” In April, President Barack Obama’s administration gave the authorization to capture or kill Awlaki, whose family is well known in Yemen. The Middle East country, though, has maintained it will not hand over the cleric, but instead put him on trial if arrested.
KIM JONG-IL ORDERED S. KOREAN ATTACK: The deadly assault on a South Korean warship couldn’t have happened without the approval of North Korea’s sickly leader, Kim Jong-Il, senior American officials said. They tell The New York Times that Kim ordered the attack to ease the succession of his youngest son. “We can’t say it is established fact,” said one official. “But there is very little doubt, based on what we know about the current state of the North Korean leadership and the military.” North Korea’s bellicose behavior comes at a time when the U.S. is trying to shore up support against the totalitarian state.
GOP WINS HAWAII SPECIAL ELECTION: Honolulu City Councilman Charles Djou beat out Democratic opponents to become the first Republican representative in Washington for Hawaii’s 1st congressional district in two decades. Djou won 39.4 percent of the vote. He will finish out the term for Rep. Neil Abercrombie who resigned to run for governor.
LBN-MEDIA INSIDER: ***Hail Mary! Employees of Oprah call her “Ms. Winfrey” when they’re on the set in Chicago, but outside, she’s known by the code name “Mary.” “That way, when they’re talking about her, and someone overhears the conversation, no one knows they’re referring to Oprah,” the talk-show queen’s biographer, Kitty Kelley, told Montecito Journal columnist Richard Mineards. Kelley, who did four years of research and 850 interviews, claimed in the book that Oprah had “lesbian affairs” and once had a fling with former TV host John Tesh.
ACROSS THE UNIVERSE: The LBN E-Lert is read daily in all 50 United States and in 24 countries including Australia, Brazil, China, France and India.
BOND CAR AUCTION MAKES $6.8 MILLION: An un-restored car from the James Bond movie Goldfinger sold at a $6.8 million auction along other James Bond cars from the 1950s and ‘60s. The DB4 model sold for a cool $121,564 while the auction’s top lot, a DB2 Team car, was snatched up at $741,431 despite having crashed once on the way to the 1950 Le Mans, the world’s oldest sports car race in endurance racing. Total auction numbers beat out a low estimate of $6.2 million, although nine of the 45 cars did not sell. According to dealers, the economy isn’t stopping buyers looking to swap their investments for physical objects such as art and cars.
LBN-SNAP: Motown’s Berry Gordy.
LBN-SPORTS INSIDER: ***The day before he was charged with first-degree murder, UVA lacrosse player George Huguely played a round at the well-manicured Farmington Country Club, an exclusive refuge in Charlottesville. His team was celebrating the end of a top-flight regulation season. Hours later, Huguely was allegedly smacking his former girlfriend Yeardley Love’s head into a wall, police say. There were two sides to the 22-year-old, one of privilege and one of rage. ***With every other team in the league now eliminated, Germany’s Bayern Munich and Italy’s Inter Milan teams went head-to-head Saturday afternoon for the final of the Union of European Football Associations Champions League. Both teams have had embattled seasons, but the underdog title goes to Inter Milan, which had not won a European Cup since 1965. The game, held in Madrid, Spain, was played on a Saturday for the first time ever, an attempt to draw in more international viewers. Inter scored the first goal to take the lead, and finished 2-0 to take the title.
LBN-NOTICED: ***Ozzy Osbourne isn’t all about loud rock music — he asked a waiter at Serafina on 61st Street in NYC to turn down the music so he could talk with his wife, Sharon, the other night. A spy tells us the Black Sabbath front man, who admits he is “almost deaf” after 40 years of rock concerts and loud parties, “was polite, and nobody was going to refuse him” on Thursday. The previous night, Rudy and Judith Giuliani got cozy in a corner of the restaurant and “seemed to only have eyes for each other, and only broke off to shake hands with a few people who approached their table.” ***Keri Russell, Will Arnett and Mitch Hurwitz, creator of their new TV series, “Running Wilde,” picked up by Fox, at Da Silvano in NYC. ***Barbra Streisand dining with her older brother, Sheldon, and Joy Behar at the Friars Club in NYC, celebrating his birthday. ***Pam Anderson, Ice-T and Coco drinking Cristal at the MGM Grand at Foxwoods in a booth not far from lovebirds Eddie Cibrian and LeAnn Rimes. ***Charlie Sheen having coffee at Taste at the Palisades. ***Actress Nora Von Waldstatten attends the “Carlos” portrait session during the Cannes Film Festival. ***Elizabeth Banks attends a screening of the film “Poetry” at the 63rd Cannes Film Festival. ***Taylor Swift poses with her trophies at the 58th Annual BMI Pop Awards at the Beverly Wilshire Hotel in Beverly Hills. ***Plugging away on the set of her new movie “Larry Crowne,” Julia Roberts was spotted in Pasadena as she worked the day away alongside Tom Hanks. ***BE AN LBN-CORRESPONDENT – Send your celebrity sightings to: 
LBN-RECOMMENDS: 
LBN-SNAP: Author Malcolm Gladwell.
LBN-COMMENTARY By FRANK RICH: The Democrats need a compelling response to the populist rage of the Tea Party movement. 
LBN-COMMENTARY By MAUREEN DOWD: T. S. Eliot wrote about when memory mixes with desire. Politicians get in trouble when desire nixes memory. They know they are misrepresenting an experience, but can’t help themselves. Their desire to be the person they describe is too overpowering. Politicians are actors trapped in the same part, and some occasionally feel the need to punch up the script. They are salesmen engaged in the hard sell, and some occasionally get carried away. Consider Richard Blumenthal. The 64-year-old attorney general of Connecticut, who is running for Chris Dodd’s seat in the Senate, had a fine résumé that needed no sprucing up. He has degrees from Harvard and Yale Law School, clerked for Justice Harry Blackmun on the Supreme Court, and spent six years in the Marine Corps Reserve. 
LBN-COMMENTARY By THOMAS L. FRIEDMAN: The veteran global investor Mohamed El-Erian, who runs Pimco and has lived through many a financial crisis, recently issued a report describing the new, perilous state of today’s global economy. He described it like this: “The world is on a journey to an unstable destination, through unfamiliar territory, on an uneven road and, critically, having already used its spare tire.” I like that image. America used its spare tire to prevent a collapse of the banking system and to stimulate the economy after the subprime market crash. The European Union used its spare tire on its own economic stimulus and then to prevent a run on European banks triggered by the meltdown in Greece. This all better work, because we’re not only living in a world without any more spares but also in a world without distance. Nations are more tightly integrated than ever before. We’re driving bumper to bumper with every other major economy today, so misbehavior or mistakes anywhere can cause a global pileup. 
LBN-COMMENTARY By SANDRA DAY O’CONNOR: States can avoid political campaigns for judgeships by adopting a merit selection system that still lets voters decide who sits on the bench. 
LBN-COMMENTARY By LADY GAGA: My schedule is such that I don’t get very much time to eat. But I certainly don’t have an eating problem. A little MDMA [Ecstasy] once in a while never killed anybody, but I really don’t do drugs. I don’t touch cocaine anymore. I don’t smoke. Well, maybe a single cigarette - with whisky - while I’m working, because it just frees my mind a little bit. But I care about my voice. The thrill of my voice being healthy on stage is really special. I take care of myself. 
LBN-HISTORICAL COMMENTARY By FLORENCE NIGHTINGALE: I have lived and slept in the same bed with English countesses and Prussian farm women, no woman has excited passions among women more than I have.
LBN-A DIFFERENT VIEW: Abe Lincoln.
LBN-FACESPACE:
NATO’S SOUTHERN AFGHAN BASE ATTACKED: Insurgents have attacked a NATO military base in southern Afghanistan, officials said. Rockets started hitting Kandahar Air Field, followed quickly by a ground assault, said Navy Commander Amanda Peperseim, a spokeswoman for NATO forces at the base. She said the attack was still ongoing and did not provide further details. No one immediately claimed responsibility for the attack - the third major assault on NATO’s military hubs in Afghanistan in six days. 
AIG EXECS ESCAPE PROSECUTION: Nearly two years after AIG collapsed, federal investigators have decided that the insurer’s executives did nothing wrong—or at least nothing criminal. The investigation, whose details were a closely guarded secret, focused on whether AIG’s executives, led by Joseph Cassano in London, deliberately misled investors and an outside auditor about the firm’s financial exposure, particularly on several deals tied to mortgages. Still, AIG isn’t in the clear just yet. The Securities and Exchange Commission could yet bring a civil-fraud lawsuit for securities violations—much like the one that rocked Goldman Sachs last month.
13-YEAR-OLD CLIMBS EVEREST: Jordan Romero probably can’t wait for people to ask him what he did with his summer. On Saturday, the 13-year-old from Big Bear, California became the youngest climber to reach the top of Mount Everest, beating the previous mark set by a 16-year-old from Nepal. And, once he reached the top, the first thing he did was call his mother. “Mom, I’m calling you from the top of the world,” he said from 29,035 feet, according to the Associated Press. Romero, who scaled Kilimanjaro at age 9, is now just one summit away from scaling the highest peaks on all seven continents, though it could prove the toughest—the Vinson Massif in Antarctica. He and his team, which includes his father, will head there in December.
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SIMON ‘BORED’ WITH IDOL: Why is Simon Cowell packing his bags? He told Oprah on Friday that he quit American Idol because he was “bored” and had started “to go on autopilot.” He also said he missed Paula Abdul—“she’s got great instincts”—and hoped that his replacement, whoever it may be, will know more about music than Ellen DeGeneres. “I think primarily, you’ve got to have somebody on that panel who actually knows what they’re talking about—because everyone is talking about casting the nasty person or this person or get another Brit,” Cowell said. “If we were judging ice skating, I mean, you wouldn’t have somebody on who’s obnoxious. You’d have somebody who knows the difference between a 10, a 9 and an 8. I think, to a point, [the show] has to get back to that.”
BOB KERREY TAPPED TO LEAD MPAA: After winning a Medal of Honor in Vietnam, being a United States senator, and running the New School in New York, Bob Kerrey’s latest challenge will be in Hollywood. Kerrey has been selected to be the next chairman of the Motion Picture Association of America, though a deal has yet to be signed. Kerrey was chosen by the heads of the studios that make up the MPAA—Disney, Warner Bros., Sony, NBC Universal, 20th Century Fox and Paramount—to replace Dan Glickman, who held the post for five years and was widely criticized for not providing strong enough leadership.
I, LBN: Singer-songwriter Judy Collins, An LBN reader from New York,NY.
REALITY TV CREW CATCHES GIRL’S DEATH: The death of Aiyana Stanley-Jones, the 7-year-old girl who was killed when a cop broke down her door while looking for a homicide suspect and accidentally shot her as she slept on the couch, was a national news story in and of itself. But it gets worse: The Detroit police were being filmed that night by a television crew for A&E’s upcoming show, The First 48. The New York Times asks, “Does the presence of TV crews affect how well police officers do their jobs?” One former cop and author says, “Those cameras can influence the behavior of what’s already a very dangerous and unpredictable job.” And a professor who specializes in reality television says, “There is evidence that they do tend to go into lower-income neighborhoods and are less likely to be shown policing affluent white suburban spaces. They want a particular kind of drama. They want the money shot.”
TEXAS APPROVES CONSERVATIVE NEW CURRICULUM: More education controversy out of the Lone Star State, the Texas Board of Education approved a new curriculum Friday, set to affect more than 10 million students in social studies courses throughout the state. According to critics, the new changes gloss over issues such as slavery and the civil-rights movement, but Texas conservatives say that their goal is to rewrite an overly liberal historical narrative in the education system. Both sides of the debate accuse the other of infusing the state’s educational system with political wrangling, and the final vote came after multiple days of 15-hour debates.
LBN-TODAY’S BIRTHDAY: Laurence Olivier (1907)One of the most revered actors of the 20th century; Olivier took on more than 120 stage roles and starred in nearly 60 films over the course of an award-winning career that spanned more than six decades. A versatile performer, he earned accolades for his portrayals of Shakespearean characters, like Henry V and Hamlet, as well as for his performances in modern dramas. 
LBN-NOTICED: ***”Dancing With the Stars” castoff Chad Ochocinco — who has to report to Cincinnati Bengals training camp soon — drinking cranberry juice as his dancing partner Cheryl Burke had a glass of Sancerre with lunch at a sidewalk table at Rue 57in NYC. ***Naomi Watts and Liev Schreiber checking out the sexy shoes at the United Nude boutique on Bond Street in NYC. ***“Glee” actress Lea Michele and her mother dining with Michele’s boyfriend, Theo Stockman, at East Village eatery The Smith in NYC. ***Donna Summer, in baggy blue jeans and Balenciaga coat, blowing air kisses in the lobby of the Mark Hotel in NYC. ***Beyonce Knowles, Jada Pinkett-Smith, Jay-Z and Will Smith attend the post-theater reception celebrating the 11 Tony Award nominations for “FELA!” at The Palm West in New York City. ***Madonna departs from the exclusive Aura nightclub in London at 2 in the morning. ***Janet Jackson arrives at a special screening of “Why Did I Get Married Too?” in Brixton, South London. ***Woody Allen checks out a copy of Helen Vendler’s “Last Looks, Last Books,” as he walks through Midtown Manhattan. ***BE AN LBN-CORRESPONDENT – Send your celebrity sightings to: 
LBN-SNAP: Pee-Wee Herman.
LBN-SPORTS INSIDER: ***A former L.A. Kings hockey player-turned-assistant coach was arrested this morning in Washington D.C. for allegedly sexually abusing a 21-year-old woman — his own daughter. TMZ has learned 51-year-old Mark Hardy is in police custody after his daughter told cops that Mark “put his hand down [her] shorts and touched her genital area without her permission.”
LBN-COMMENTARY By Bill O’Reilly: In yet another example of the federal government’s being out of control, Assistant Secretary of State Michael Posner, in a human rights discussion with the Chinese, brought up the new Arizona illegal-alien law as an example of American “discrimination.” Posner said he discussed the law “early and often” with Chinese officials, even though they didn’t even initiate the conversation. 
LBN-COMMENTARY By JES ALEXANDER (Publisher Of Herald de Paris et Cie.): I attended the University of Virginia. If I were graduating from college this year, I would hope the commencement speaker would be one of our most distinguished (and funny) alumnae, Tina Fey.
LBN-HISTORICAL COMMENTARY By LUDWIG VAN BEETHOVEN: Music is the wine which inspires one to new generative processes, and I am Bacchus who presses out this glorious wine for mankind and makes them spiritually drunken.
LBN-A DIFFERENT VIEW:
LBN-OVERHEARD: ***Alexis Houston has figured out a way to get attention: Call on Gloria Allred and throw a press conference. The singer showed up outside Michael’s in NYC yesterday to deny she was having an affair with “Today” host Matt Lauer. By her side was Allred, who has gotten her hands into all the good sex scandals lately, from Tiger Woods to Roman Polanski. One blog reported Houston had a fling with Lauer, prompting both parties to issue denials. “I feel that my privacy and personal space have been invaded,” Houston told reporters yesterday. She then went inside and celebrated her 26th birthday. ***Eighties singer Adam Ant has been placed under mental hospital care after a spate of bizarre and often offensive outbursts in public; numerous British newspapers are reporting Friday. ***Marco Maccioni, the middle son of Le Cirque ringmaster Sirio, married singer Sabrina Wender at the Municipal Building yesterday. 
LBN-THE “INSIDE” STORY: After street demonstrations over Facebook (pictured above), Pakistan has now also blocked internet access to YouTube because of “growing sacrilegious content” on the video-sharing website. It is the latest development in an escalating international debate over Islam and freedom of speech online. The move came a day after the Pakistani Government responded to a court order by temporarily blocking Facebook over a page advertising a contest to draw cartoons of the Prophet Mohammad. The “Everyone Draw Mohammad Day” page and several spin-offs invite users to send in caricatures of the Prophet – infuriating many Muslims who regard any image of him as blasphemous.
BLAIR SAW WRITING ON THE WALL: Former National Intelligence Director Dennis Blair, who stepped down from his post on Thursday, knew that his days in office were numbered. At a recent speech, he joked that Redskins quarterback Donovan McNabb would be his replacement. Press leaks and turf wars marked his 16 months atop the fractious intelligence community. Blair is the third person to hold the position of DNI director. The post was created after 9/11 to try to unite disparate U.S. intelligence agencies. Blair’s exit shines a light on the continuing difficulty of that task—one that was identified by the 9/11 Commission as an essential change. 
PINK HITLER POSTERS PROVOKE FURY: The 18ft high posters of the Nazi leader advertise a line of clothing for young people and adorn street corners and bus stops in Palermo, Sicily’s biggest city. The ads show the Fuhrer in a lurid pink uniform, with his swastika armband replaced with one bearing a bright red heart, above the slogan “Change Style – Don’t Follow Your Leader”.
LBN-SEE IT: Chelsea Handler.
ACROSS THE UNIVERSE: In addition to being read in all 50 of the United States, the LBN E-Lert is read daily in 24 foreign countries including: China, Mexico, Germany, England, Iraq, Canada, India, Brazil, Japan, Korea, Greece, Spain, Norway, Australia, South Africa, Sweden, Israel, among others.
SCHWARZENEGGER’S APPROVAL HITS ALL-TIME LOW: Only 23 percent of Californians think the Republican governor is doing a good job, while 65 percent disapprove, the survey found.
OSAMA’S TOP GUN IS BACK: For over a year, there was nothing but silence from the previously vocal deputy leader of al Qaeda, Ayman al-Zawahiri. Up until December 2008, he had been at the forefront of al Qaeda’s propaganda machine. Now, in a new audio message out Wednesday, al-Zawahiri appears to praise two men who were killed by allied forces in Iraq and promises that the movement will have its revenge.
VEGAS’ BIGGEST LOSER’S LOSSES NOW OVER $200 MILLION: Anyone who wants to claim the title of biggest loser will have to deal first with the legacy of businessman Terrance Watanabe. In a lawsuit filed last year against Harrah’s Entertainment, Watanabe’s lawyers acknowledged that the Omaha, Neb., philanthropist had lost the astounding sum of $127 million. But now that his attorneys have examined casino records handed over in discovery, they say he lost far more: a staggering $204 million in a single year at two Harrah’s casinos, the Rio and Caesars Palace.
BRET MICHAELS BACK IN HOSPITAL: Poison frontman and Celebrity Apprentice finalist Bret Michaels is back in a Los Angeles hospital, after suffering what doctors are calling a “warning stroke.” A note posted on Michaels’ website said he was experiencing “numbness on the left side of his body, predominantly his face and hands.” Tests have revealed that Michaels has a hole in his heart. Michaels’ doctor said this condition is unrelated to the brain hemorrhage Michaels suffered a few weeks ago. NBC had hoped that the singer would appear on Sunday’s season finale of Celebrity Apprentice.
LBN-SNAP: Former Attorney General Ramsey Clark now 82.
LBN-NOTICED: ***Former first daughter Jenna Bush was heckled in the middle of her speech at a Unicef event in SoHo Wednesday night. ***Noticed at the 11th Annual Maxim Hot 100 Party last night: Russell Simmons, Jeremy Renner, Nicole Scherzinger, Danny Bergen, Olivia Munn, Ciara, and Sophie Monk. ***Yvonne Kai of HeyDoYou.com hosted a Pink Carpet Soiree at The Bungalow on Melrose last night to celebrate the pre-premier of the film Sex and the City 2. Vendors with exquisite jewelry, fashion, and make-up brought out the Carrie, Samantha, Charlotte, and Miranda out of everyone. Also at this event LCO New Business lead Kevin Aquino, Marty Hamm, LBN E-Lert contributing editors Katie Wetzel and Casey Deiter. ***BE AN LBN-CORRESPONDENT – Send your celebrity sightings to: 
LBN-RECOMMENDS By ELIZABETH HURLEY (Actress and Model): When I’m in New York to make a movie, I just go to 
LBN-COMMENTARY By CHARLES KRAUTHAMMER: It is perfectly obvious that Iran’s latest uranium maneuver, brokered by Brazil and Turkey, is a ruse. Iran retains more than enough enriched uranium to make a bomb. 
LBN-COMMENTARY By LYNDA RESNICK (Author, Rubies in the Orchard): Good causes need marketing, too. A group of us is determined to help support Epilepsy research and awareness, and we know that as others see how prevalent and devastating a disease it is, they will join us.
LBN-HISTORICAL COMMENTARY By FRANKLIN D. ROOSEVELT: The liberty of a democracy is not safe if the people tolerate the growth of private power to a point where it comes stronger than their democratic state itself. That, in its essence, is fascism - ownership of government by an individual, by a group. .JPG)
LBN-A DIFFERENT VIEW: Musician Norah Jones.
FRENCH CABINET BACKS VEIL BAN: This can’t be good for the already strained relations between the French and the country’s Muslim population. On Wednesday, the cabinet approved a bill making it illegal to wear clothes designed to hide one’s face—in essence, the full-face veil worn by many Muslim women. Calling the veil, “an affront to the nation’s values of dignity and equality,” the measure would mean that women who wear them in public could be fined, while men found to have forced them to do so could face jail time. Less than 24 hours after the announcement, however, construction was due to begin in Marseille on what will be France’s largest mosque. In a city which is home to 250,000 Muslims, the mosque will feature an 82-foot minaret and hold 7,000 faithful. “This is recognition,” said Nourredine Cheikh, the man who led the campaign for the mosque’s construction. “This is what tells me that I have the same status as Catholics and other religious people in this country.”
MASTERPIECES STOLEN AT PARIS MUSEUM: Five paintings made by world-famous artists, including Picasso and Matisse, have been stolen from the Museum of Modern Art in Paris. Early reports suggest that the paintings together are worth an estimated $630 million. The theft was reported early Thursday morning in Paris. According to France’s Nouvel Observateur the pilfered paintings are: “Pigeon with peas” by Pablo Picasso; “Pastorale” by Henri Matisse; “Olive tree near l’Estaque” by Georges Braque; “Woman on the range” by Amédéo Modigliani; and “Still life with candlesticks” by Fernand Léger. BBC news said museum officials discovered the theft Thursday morning when they noticed a broken window and lock. 
BEYONCE ROCKS STATE DINNER: Following Wednesday night’s state dinner at the White House for Mexican President Felipe Calderón, President Obama found his way to a tent on the South Lawn and told guests, “I know we just had a very formal dinner. But we heard that this was the place for the real party.” It’s unlikely they were disappointed as Beyonce—accompanied by her husband Jay-Z and introduced by Obama as “somebody some of you may have heard of”—performed for the crowd. Other celebs bringing a dash of glamour to Washington at the formal affair organized in the Mexican president’s honor: Whoopi Goldberg, Eva Longoria Parker, George Lopez, and Olympic speed skater Shani Davis.
N. KOREA CAUSED NAVAL TRAGEDY: Officials in South Korea now claim to have proof for what they have suspected for months: A North Korean torpedo is to blame for sinking one of their navy’s ships in late March, which left 46 South Korean sailors dead. With help from the United States, South Korea’s investigation has concluded that “evidence overwhelmingly proves” a North Korean torpedo caused a “strong underwater explosion,” splitting apart the large ship. South Korea promised it would take action against the attack, but North Korea continues to deny any involvement in the incident. U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton is due to arrive in Seoul next week to mediate the fallout. Officials in the U.S., Britain, and Japan quickly condemned the totalitarian state for the report’s findings. Capturing world sentiment, Japan’s prime minister called the attack “unforgivable.” 
MIKE OVTIZ HEADED FOR DIVORCE: Former CAA head and Disney president Michael Ovitz and longtime wife Judy Reich are calling it quits. The couple had been together since 1969, when they both attended UCLA. A family friend confirmed they are separated and said, “They have three great kids. They’ve been together since they were kids. He’s trying to make the split as painless as possible.” Ovitz had no comment.
LBN-BOOK INSIDER: ***Relationship expert Shannon Fox, and divorce attorney Celeste Liversidge have launched their new book 
FINAL PAIRING SET FOR IDOL: Next week, America will crown an Idol winner for the ninth time and its choice is between Crystal Bowersox and Lee DeWyze. For Bowersox, 24, the show represents the latest step in a career that, at one time, had her playing for money in train stations. The song that earned her spot in the last show was “Maybe I’m Amazed,” by Wings. And, for the 23-year-old DeWyze, who sang “Hallelujah,” it is a long way from the Chicago paint shop where he used to work.
LBN-NOTICED: ***Legendary entertainment entrepreneur Peter Guber and media expert and author Michael Levine having dessert together at the Beverly Hills Hotel coffee shop yesterday. ***Kid Cudi dancing on a banquette at CV in NYC and tipping an astonished waitress $1,000 while “Gossip Girl” boy Connor Paolo looked on. ***Tina Fey celebrating her 40th birthday with 14 friends at Giuliano’s in Hell’s Kitchen in NYC and ordering a plate of pasta to take home to her husband. ***Naomi Watts and domestic partner Liev Schreiber checking out the shoes at United Nude’s Bond Street boutique in NYC before it officially opened. ***Music publicist Lesley Zimmerman having a drink last night at the Avalon Hotel on Olympic Blvd in Beverly Hills. ***Carmen Electra attends the NYX Cosmetics Decade+1 anniversary event at The Roosevelt Hotel in Hollywood ** Will Smith and Jada Pinkett Smith attend the 2010 TNT and TBS Upfront Presentation at the Hammerstein Ballroom in New York City ***Miss USA 2010, Rima Fakih, leaves the Wendy Williams show in New York City. ***BE AN LBN-CORRESPONDENT – Send your celebrity sightings to:
LBN-THE “INSIDE” STORY: In parts of south-east Asia, the south Asian subcontinent and east Africa, acid attacks are common, particularly on women (horrific example above). The Taliban and other extremist groups have frequently resorted to throwing acid in women’s faces for even small transgressions, such as daring to go out unveiled. But there are concerns that such attacks may also be on the increase in the UK. Hospital admission figures for the past 3 years show a steady rise in the number of people being treated for acid attacks. According to the National Health Service information center, 44 people were admitted to hospital in 2006-07 after they were “assaulted with a corrosive substance”. The following year the figure jumped to 67 and last year there were 69 admissions. These figures only include hospital admissions where a patient had to spend a night or more in hospital and there is no ethnic breakdown. But charity workers fear there is enough anecdotal evidence to suggest acid attacks are becoming more common.
LBN-SEE IT: Here’s Elton John wearing an interesting earring at an event in London the other day.
LBN-THE “INSIDE” STORY-PART 2: Pakistan has blocked Facebook (pictured above) indefinitely in response to public outrage over a competition on the social networking site that encourages people to post drawings of the prophet Mohammad. The Pakistan Telecommunications Authority, which controls internet access, directed service providers to block the website “till further notice” in compliance with a Pakistani high court order obtained by a group of lawyers yesterday. The court action was triggered by a Facebook page entitled “Everybody Draw Mohammed Day – May 20th” which reportedly contained over 200 images, many of them apparently to offensive to Muslims, who consider all depictions of the prophet to be blasphemous.
LBN-MUSIC INSIDER: ***Mick Jagger — hawking “Stones in Exile,” a documentary about the making of the Rolling Stones‘ 1972 album, “Exile on Main Street” — told reporters in Cannes: “We were young, good-looking and stupid then. Now we’re just stupid.” The album was mostly recorded at Keith Richards’ villa in the South of France — where the Stones had fled Britain’s crushing income tax — in a hedonistic haze of heroin, pot and booze. “Nixon was in the White House and Watergate was going on, but we didn’t know about it until later because we were down there making this album,” said the rubber-lipped rocker.
WHO READS THE LBN E-LERT? Prominent talent agent Jeff Berg along with over 317,000 other “influencers” understands that information is power and the LBN E-Lert is a power-tool.
LBN-RECOMMENDS By CHRIS NOTH (Actor): After doing the play Farragut North, which I had to gain a lot of weight for, I went to Brazil, to a place called 
LBN-COMMENTARY By MARK MCKINNON: An economy in recession. An ever-deepening deficit. An increase in terrorist attacks. And an angry, divided electorate. If only Bush had not won that third term. So says Barack Obama. Much like the schoolyard taunt,” I’m rubber, you’re glue,” President Barack Obama, the actual current occupant of the Oval Office, continues to deflect criticism of his administration’s failures by persistently pointing the finger of blame back at his predecessor. Even on day 485.
LBN-COMMENTARY By REV. JESSE JACKSON (Civil rights activist): A new study released by the Institute on Assets and Social Policy revealed that even when African-Americans had a good education and well-paying jobs, they could not achieve the wealth of their white peers.
LBN-COMMENTARY By DICK MORRIS: The message of the May 18th primaries is that it is open season on incumbents. In Pennsylvania, Senator Arlen Specter (D-Pa) lost decisively to Congressman Joe Sestak (D-Pa)in his primary contest while Senator Blanche Lincoln (D-Ark) limped into the runoff in the Democratic primary by 44-42 over Lt. Gov. Bill Halter. 
LBN-HISTORICAL COMMENTARY By PRINCESS DIANA: They say it is better to be poor and happy than rich and miserable, but how about a compromise like moderately rich and just moody?.JPG)
LBN-A DIFFERENT VIEW: New York City, 1972.
LBN-OVERHEARD: ***John Travolta burst into tears when his two beloved pooches were killed in a horrifying freak accident. The Pulp Fiction star - who’s expecting a baby with his wife to heal the heartbreak of their son Jett’s death - was refueling his plane at the airport in Bangor, Maine, on May 13 when disaster struck. ***Megan Fox has been fired from The Transformers franchise but she says she quit. It was announced yesterday that Megan will not be back as Shia LaBeouf’s human love interest in T3: Rise of the Cliché due next year. ***Former Senator John Edwards is determined to work out a “plea deal” to avoid jail time as a federal grand jury investigating him appears to have wrapped up its case. ***Howard K. Stern has been accused of threatening a man whom South Carolina police call a “witness” in the Anna Nicole Smith drug trial,this according to a police report obtained by TMZ. ***Courtney Love claims that Kate Moss once chased her around the room before pinning her down for a sex session. ***Having turned 50 only last month, Valerie Bertinelli is looking forward to another milestone: a wedding this fall to her boyfriend of six years, businessman Tom Vitale. ***A Beverly Hills judge has issued an arrest warrant for Lindsay Lohan after she failed to show up for a probation hearing over a 2007 drunken driving case. Lohan’s lawyer told the court the actress was stranded in France because her passport had been lost or stolen during a trip to the Cannes film festival.
FIRST LOOK: FAISAL SHAHZAD MUGSHOT: 
TALIBAN ATTACK U.S. AIRFIELD: The Taliban attacked a U.S.-run airfield in the predawn hours Wednesday, wounding seven U.S. servicemen, in the second attack in two days against coalition forces. The skirmish was part of an offensive launched earlier this month that aims to undermine the U.S.-led coalition’s efforts to stabilize southern Afghanistan. Starting at 3 a.m., Taliban forces led an assault at Bagram Airfield, 30 miles north of Kabul, with rockets, small arms, and grenades. At least ten insurgents were killed. Tuesday was the deadliest day in a year in Afghanistan, after a suicide bomber in Kabul killed 18 people, including five Americans. Another two Americans were killed in a separate blast in the south, moving the total U.S. death toll in Afghanistan past 1,000. The Taliban announced earlier this month a new strategy called “Operation Al-Fatah” targeting NATO forces, diplomats, contractors and government officials.
PAKISTANI ARMY MAJOR ARRESTED: Pakistani officials announced Tuesday an army official with the rank of major has been arrested in connection to Faisal Shahzad, who’s confessed to trying to bomb Times Square on May 1. The arrest of marks the first time a military official has been linked to the failed terrorist attack. While the details of the connection are still murky, anonymous sources said the major and Shahzad had been in cell phone contact, but did not say for how long. Tuesday’s arrest comes days after officials arrested a Pakistani Taliban member, who allegedly acted as a liaison between the Taliban and Shahzad and told investigators the Taliban played a major role in the attempted terrorist attack. Although Pakistani authorities originally underscored the Taliban’s involvement, they said they are now investigating a trip Shahzad and the liaison took together in Pakistan in 2009. Meanwhile, Shahzad appeared in Manhattan federal court Tuesday, making it his first public appearance since his arrest on May 3.
KELLY PRESTON PREGNANT AT 47: After losing their son Jett last year, John Travolta and Kelly Preston are getting some good news: The couple is expecting. “It’s impossible to keep a secret,” the family said in a statement, “we are expecting a new addition to our family.” Travolta is 56, and Preston is 47. Their 16-year-old son Jett died in January 2009 from a seizure, and they have a daughter Ella, who is 10.JPG)
THE DUBIOUS GOP CLASS OF ‘94: The Washington Post’s Dana Milbank notes that departing Rep. Mark Souder (R-IN), who announced his resignation Tuesday after admitting an affair with a staffer, is one of a number of scandal-plagued Republicans from the famed “Republican revolution” Class of ‘94. That year saw Republicans dominate the midterm elections and capture both the House and Senate from the Democrats. Other notable flameouts include ex-Rep. Mark Foley of Florida, who admitted to sending inappropriate text messages and IMs to House pages; South Carolina Governor Mark Sanford, currently tending to his relationship with his Argentine mistress; and Sen. John Ensign of Nevada, whose parents tried to buy the silence of his mistress’ family. Milbank writes: “The House Republicans of ‘94 stand out: No fewer than 15 of the 73 elected in the landslide that year have entertained the nation with flaps that include messy divorces and a suspicious car accident.”
THREE DARFUR AID WORKERS ARE KIDNAPPED: Three aid workers, including a US woman and two Sudanese nationals, have been kidnapped in Sudan’s troubled Darfur region, officials say. The victims were stopped by an armed gang near the town of Nyala, capital of South Darfur state, government minister Abdelbagi Gailani told the BBC. He said the kidnappers made off with the group’s two vehicles, and that they were probably being held for ransom. This is the latest in a series of kidnappings of aid workers in Darfur.
LBN-MEDIA INSIDER: ***After several reports surfaced that the host of the 8:00 p.m. hour wanted out of her contract — and a timeslot she was struggling in — released a remarkably candid statement admitting her defeat.” I knew on the day that I accepted my job at CNN that a ratings victory at 8pm was going to be a formidable challenge,” CNN Reporter, Campbell Brown wrote. “As I have been told over and over, this is the toughest timeslot in cable news.”
LBN-NOTICED: ***Boston Red Sox pitchers Josh Beckett and Jon Lester and their wives at Uncle Jack’s Steakhouse on West 56th Street in NYC. ***David Boreanaz buying Utah Jazz gear for his son, Jaden, 8, at the NBA store on Fifth Avenue in NYC. ***Jimmy Fallon browsing at the Limelight Marketplace in NYC and reminiscing with one shopkeeper about clubbing in the deconsecrated church. ***LCO publicists Lee Runchey and Shannon Donnelly having lunch at Spark Woodfire Grill on Pico Boulevard in L.A. ***Literary agent Bettie Young having lunch at the Polo Lounge in the Beverly Hotel. ***Linda Thompson was spotted in the Beverly Hotel lobby. ***Entertainment producer Gavin Polone walking on Wilshire Boulevard and Linden Drive. ***Nicolas Cage and Tom Cruise attend the Jerry Bruckheimer Hand and Footprint Ceremony at Grauman’s Chinese Theatre in Hollywood. ***Erin Andrews attends Derek Hough and Mark Ballas’ birthdays at H Lounge in West Hollywood. ***Sylvester Stallone shops on Rodeo Drive in Beverly Hills. ***BE AN LBN-CORRESPONDENT – Send your celebrity sightings to:
LBN-RECOMMENDS By KEVIN FRASIER (Entertainment Tonight’s weekend anchor and correspondent): ET Co-Host Mark Steines and I are huge photography nuts. He carries his cameras everywhere, but I just got the Canon Powershot 90 because I can’t do the big digital SLR all the time. The Powershot is just as good as a digital SLR and has all the functionality of a much bigger camera.
LBN-COMMENTARY By JOHN STOSSEL: In America, we’re supposed to be innocent until proven guilty. Life, liberty and property can’t be taken from you unless you’re convicted of a crime. 
LBN-COMMENTARY By MAUREEN DOWD: When does a woman go from being single to unmarried? As my friend Carol Lee, a Politico reporter, observes: “It seems like a cruel distinction and terrifying crossover.” Single carries a connotation of eligibility and possibility, while unmarried has that dreaded over-the-hill, out-of-luck, you-are-finished, no-chance implication. An aroma of mothballs and perpetual aunt. Men, generally more favored by nature as they age, can be single at all ages. But often, for women, once you’re 40 or 50, or simply beyond childbearing age, you’re no longer single. You’re unmarried — meaning it isn’t your choice to be alone. There are post-50 exceptions. Consider celebrity examples: Samantha in “Sex and the City,” Dana Delany, Susan Sarandon and Madonna are seen as sexily single. 
LBN-COMMENTARY By THOMAS L. FRIEDMAN: President Obama’s handling of the gulf oil spill has been disappointing. I say that not because I endorse the dishonest conservative critique that the gulf oil spill is somehow Obama’s Katrina and that he is displaying the same kind of incompetence that George W. Bush did after that hurricane. To the contrary, Obama’s team has done a good job coordinating the cleanup so far. The president has been on top of it from the start. No, the gulf oil spill is not Obama’s Katrina. It’s his 9/11 — and it is disappointing to see him making the same mistake George W. Bush made with his 9/11. Sept. 11, 2001, was one of those rare seismic events that create the possibility to energize the country to do something really important and lasting that is too hard to do in normal times. 
LBN-HISTORICAL COMMENTARY By LENA HORNE: I was lucky, as many of my generation were, in having a man like Dr. King in our lives. He came at a time that we needed to take a long look at each other and see how similar we were. 
LBN-A DIFFERENT VIEW: 
TALIBAN CAR BOMB HITS U.S. CONVOY: An explosives-packed minivan drove into a U.S. convoy and blew up in rush-hour traffic on Tuesday in Kabul, killing at least 10 people, five of them Americans. At least 47 people were injured and many were left lying in the street amid body parts that were blown 200 feet from the blast. The New York Times reports that a woman was torn in half in her bus seat as her baby survived, wiggling in her lap, and a man’s head landed on the hood of a truck. The Taliban claimed credit for the bomb, carried out by a Kabul resident, it said on its website. It was the worst suicide attack in several weeks in the city, as the insurgency is concentrated in rural areas.
EX-OBAMA PASTOR: “OBAMA THREW ME UNDER THE BUS”: The Rev. Jeremiah Wright, Barack Obama’s controversial former pastor, said in a letter obtained by The Associated Press that he is “toxic” to the Obama administration and that the president “threw me under the bus.” In his strongest language to date about the administration’s 2-year-old rift with the Chicago pastor, Wright told a group raising money for African relief that his pleas to release frozen funds for use in earthquake-ravaged Haiti would likely be ignored. 
WHITE HOUSE PUP WORTH $1,600: Bo Obama, the curly black-and-white first dog, was worth $1,600 when the late Sen. Ted Kennedy gave him to the first family, President Obama’s financial-disclosure forms show. Because the pooch was a gift, the president had to disclose his value. The forms also reveal Obama made several million dollars in book sales, which are invested in U.S. Treasury bills. Vice President Biden also released his financial-disclosure forms, showing him to be far less wealthy and mostly invested in mutual funds. Notable gifts Biden disclosed include a first-edition copy of “Anna Livia Plurabelle,” signed by author James Joyce and valued $3,500. 
NEWT GINGRICH FORECASTS OBAMA LOSS: Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich gives President Barack Obama only a 20 percent chance of being reelected — and says he might be the one to give Obama the boot. Gingrich, who this week published a book called “To Save America: Stopping Obama’s Secular-Socialist Machine,” said he thinks Obama has “about one chance in five of getting reelected.” and called him “the closest thing to Jimmy Carter I’ve seen.” “Because he’s so radical, you’re now going to have, I think, the most consequential campaign since 1932,” when Franklin D. Roosevelt clobbered President Herbert Hoover, Gingrich said. 
MISS USA POLE DANCING PHOTOS: Rima Fakih may have been the first Arab American to win the Miss USA pageant, but she’s certainly no stranger to the stage. In 2008, Miss Michigan USA won a pole-dancing contest hosted by a local Detroit morning radio show. Photos from the contest have been posted on the radio show’s website, and they feature Fakih working her stripper pole skills in a blue tank top, red shorts, and high heels. Another photo shows dollar bills popping out of her bra. Pageant officials had no comment on inquiries asking if Fakih’s Miss USA crown was in jeopardy.
HUANG GUANGYU, FORMER RICHEST MAN IN CHINA, GETS 14 YEARS IN JAIL: An appliance retailer who was once China’s richest businessman was sentenced to 14 years for insider trading and other crimes Tuesday, the latest in a series of Chinese tycoons jailed for financial offenses. Huang Guangyu built Gome Electronics into China’s biggest appliance retailer and was estimated in 2008 to be worth $6.3 billion. His abrupt fall reflected the uncertain status of entrepreneurs in China, where an economic boom has created dozens of billionaires but complaints of misconduct are widespread.
LBN-THE “INSIDE” QUESTION?: Plans to build a giant mosque close to Ground Zero in New York (pictured above) have caused a storm of protest from families who lost loved ones in the 9/11 atrocity. Angry relatives claim the move is an “insult” to the victims of the attack on the World Trade Centre. The mosque is part of a proposed 13-story Muslim community center, which will include a swimming pool, gym, theatre and sports facilities. ***LBN-QUESTION: Do you object to this idea or not? Please send your answer to: 
BRISTOL PALIN’S SPEAKING GIG: Like mother, like daughter: Teen mom Bristol Palin has signed a contract with Single Source Speakers and will earn between $15,000 and $30,000 per appearance, according to the Palin family lawyer. The groups website says that Bristol, 19 years old, will be available for conferences, fundraisers, special events and holidays, plus women’s, youth, abstinence, and “pro-life” programs. .JPG)
CLINTON SAYS U.S., CHINA AND RUSSIA HAVE DEAL ON NEW IRAN SANCTIONS: The Obama administration announced Tuesday morning that it has struck a deal with other major powers, including Russia and China, to impose new sanctions on Iran, a sharp repudiation of the deal Tehran offered just a day before to ship its nuclear fuel out of the country. “We have reached agreement on a strong draft with the cooperation of both Russia and China,” Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton told a Senate committee. “We plan to circulate that draft resolution to the entire Security Council today. And let me say, Mr. Chairman, I think this announcement is as convincing an answer to the efforts undertaken in Tehran over the last few days as any we could provide.” The announcement came just a day after Iran said it would ship roughly half of its nuclear fuel to Turkey in a bid to assuage concerns about its program.
I, LBN: Kaja Perina, Editor of Psychology Today Magazine, an LBN reader from New York City.
FORMER HARVARD STUDENT FAKED PRESTIGIOUS ACADEMIC CAREER: A former Harvard University student compiled world-class academic credentials — including perfect grades and two prestigious Harvard prizes — by fabricating his own history and plagiarizing others’ work, according to a Massachusetts prosecutor. Adam Wheeler, 23, of Delaware is scheduled for arraignment Tuesday in Woburn, Massachusetts, on 20 counts including larceny, identity fraud, falsifying an endorsement or approval and pretending to hold a degree, according to Middlesex County District Attorney Gerry Leone.
LBN-COMMENTARY By DEBBIE HARRY (Lead singer of Blondie): I love Alicia Keys. I think it’s wonderful that she did a cover of “Rapture” on the Sex and the City 2 soundtrack, which comes out May 25. I’m over the moon about it! I love that she changed up the beat and yet, she kept the original verses. I would absolutely love to collaborate with her!
LBN-COMMENTARY By DAN RATHER (Host, Dan Rather Reports): How many children are being peddled on the streets of Portland and in other cities and towns, to say nothing of the Internet? Whatever the number, it is a national outrage and disgrace. And the problem is growing, not diminishing.
LBN-COMMENTARY By WYCLEF JEAN (Grammy-winning musician and founder of Yéle Haiti): My hope is that an agricultural community will launch a national agroforestry movement that will lead to permanent, self-sufficient communities.
LBN-RECOMMENDS-SPECIAL REPORT: The Editors of the LBN E-Lert Recommend: The 21 Club in New York City: Located in midtown Manhattan near the Broadway theater district, many of NYC’s leading hotels, and top sights, ‘21’ offers superb American cuisine, a Grand Award-winning wine list, and discretely attentive service. Dine in either of the two restaurants, the famous Bar Room or romantic Upstairs at ‘21’ (a renowned spot for proposals), and make any day a special occasion. 21 Club, 21 West 52nd Street, New York, NY 10019 (212) 582-7200 
LBN-COMMENTARY By GOLDIE HAWN (Academy Award Winning Actress): My life is an ongoing process of experiences and discovery. The future has no canvas. Thus the mystery. Therefore no one, not even myself, is qualified to direct the film of ones life as it continues to unfold.
LBN-HISTORICAL COMMENTARY By MITCH HEDBERG: I wish my name were Brian because maybe sometimes people would misspell my name and call me Brain. That’s like a free compliment and you don’t even gotta be smart to notice it. 
LBN-A DIFFERENT VIEW:
JUSTICES BAR LIFE TERMS FOR YOUTHS WHO HAVEN’T KILLED: In a 5-4 decision, the Supreme Court said that sentences of life without possibility of parole for crimes other than homicide that were committed when the offender was under the age of 18 are unconstitutional. The decision, in a Florida case involving an armed burglary conviction, said such sentences violated the Eighth Amendment’s ban on cruel and unusual punishment.
IRAN TO SEND NUKE MATERIAL TO TURKEY: Iran will send its nuclear material to Turkey, marking a major diplomatic breakthrough in the standoff with Tehran over its nuclear program. The country says it is for peaceful uses, but many nations worry it is intended to build a nuclear weapon. Brazilian and Turkish officials brokered the deal during a marathon 18-hour session in Tehran Sunday. 
ROGUE THAI GENERAL DIES: Thai army commander Maj. Gen. Khattiya Sawasdipol, a key leader in the Red Shirt protest movement paralyzing Bangkok, has died, six days after being shot by a sniper during an interview with the International Herald Tribune. His death brings fears of increased violence as demonstrators face a deadline to leave the capital. Khattiya’s participation in the protests was an embarrassment to Thailand’s government; he battled secessionists along the country’s border for much of his career. Two years ago, the army officer told The Wall Street Journal that he had turned against the government after he was asked to lead aerobics classes in public markets. Khattiya went on to train a paramilitary wing for the Red Shirts and began talks with the ousted Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra. The current prime minister pointed to the general as a destabilizing force in the country, which Khattiya did not object to in fact, he called for a revolution. The clashes have claimed the lives of 36 people and more than 200 have been injured as soldiers have begun to fire directly into crowds. Part of Bangkok has been deemed a live fire zone. 
WHO READS THE LBN E-LERT? Academy Award winning Actress Goldie Hawn along with over 317,000 other “influencers” in all 50 of the United States and 24 foreign countries.
LBN-SEE IT: Craig Newmark, founder of Craigslist.
LBN-MUSIC INSIDER: ***Jay-Z has seen several of his major investments flounder during the recession, even as much of his $1 billion empire stays strong. The rapper lost $50 million on hotel developments in Manhattan, the Las Vegas branch of his 40/40 Club was closed in late 2008 and a Chicago franchise was aborted, and he walked away from a $2 million investment to develop the Aqueduct Racetrack in New York. The award-winning Broadway musical Fela! has yet to turn a profit, and the New Jersey Nets, which he has a 1.5 percent stake in, have performed poorly. However, Jay-Z’s business remains strong in core music and apparel retail sales, which will likely bring in 10 figures this year. His Rocawear brand is a big seller this spring, in part because the rapper insisted on smaller logos and less baggy pants. Experts say the hip-hop mogul is talented enough to market anything but a breakfast cereal. ***Ronnie James Dio — who took over as lead singer of Black Sabbath after Ozzy Osbourne left the group — died today. He was 67. Dio announced last summer he was battling stomach cancer. According to his website, he had been undergoing treatment at a Houston hospital. 
LBN-THIS DAY IN HISTORY: Police Raid Symbionese Liberation Army Headquarters (1974) The Symbionese Liberation Army (SLA) was an American terrorist group responsible for various bank robberies, murders, and acts of violence between 1973 and 1975. The group is perhaps best known for kidnapping 19-year-old media heiress Patty Hearst, who later became a member of the SLA—a decision experts attribute to a psychological condition known as Stockholm syndrome—and participated in their heists. 
MISS USA CROWNS FIRST MUSLIM WINNER: Rima Fakih swapped her “Miss Michigan” crown for “Miss USA” Sunday night, after nearly tripping during the evening gown part of the pageant. With her Lebanese background, Fakih is believed to be both the first Arab American and the first Muslim ever to earn the title. “This is historic,” said an official in Michigan’s American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee. “This shows the greatness of America, how everyone can have a chance to make it.” The last time Miss Michigan won the pageant was in 1993. 
LBN-NOTICED: ***John Gotti Jr. at The Lion in NYC discussing a potential project over dinner with “Growing Up Gotti” producer Bill Stanton and the eatery’s co-owner, Dave Zinczenko. ***Rachel McAdams lunching at Haru’s Gramercy location in NYC with a guy carrying a Citi Habitats folder, maybe a broker helping her find an apartment. ***Shoe designer Christian Louboutin dining with Lucy Liu at Le Caprice in NYC. ***Marisa Miller hosts MGM Grand’s Wet Republic Pool party in Las Vegas. ***Naomi Watts attends the photocall for Woody Allen’s new film, “You Will Meet A Tall Dark Stranger,” at the 2010 Cannes International Film Festival. ***Cameron Diaz and Mike Myers smile at the “Shrek Forever After” premiere at the Gibson Amphitheatre in LA. ***Shia LaBeouf returns to the Hotel Du Cap Eden-Roc, Entibes, following the photocall for “Wall Street 2: Money Never Sleeps,” at the Cannes Film Festival. ***BE AN LBN-CORRESPONDENT – Send your celebrity sightings to: 
RHODE ISLAND SCHOOL REACHES DEAL TO REHIRE FIRED TEACHERS: A Rhode Island high school that fired all its teachers in February has reached a tentative agreement with the school’s teachers union to rehire them, the union announced Sunday. The school board of the Central Falls School District, outside Providence, had voted to fire 93 staff members from its high school — including teachers, administrators and other personnel — over low student performance. The agreement, which must still be ratified by teachers, includes measures to improve student achievement, including a longer school day, targeted professional development for teachers and more after-school tutoring, the statement from the Central Falls Teachers Union said. 
LBN-COMMENTARY By SENATOR CARL LEVIN: Is Congress on the side of the American worker who lost so much in the Great Recession or is it on the side of the Wall Street firms that put all of us at risk? 
LBN-COMMENTARY By ROSS DOUTHAT: Every crisis — from the global economy to national security — seems to make the powerful more powerful. 
LBN-HISTORICAL COMMENTARY By VLADIMIR LENIN: Despair is typical of those who do not understand the causes of evil, see no way out, and are incapable of struggle. The modern industrial proletariat does not belong to the category of such classes..JPG)
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CROWD OF 150,000 SUPPORT POPE: Despite the clerical sex abuse scandal, followers of the Catholic Church are still showing their support. An estimated crowd of 150,000 filled St. Peter’s Square for Pope Benedict in a major show of loyalty on Sunday. The Pope said he appreciated the “beautiful and spontaneous show of faith and solidarity” and repeated his denunciation of what he called the “sin” that has invaded the church. Crowds of this size are expected for major holiday Masses and canonizations, not for Benedict’s brief Sunday blessings. Rome’s mayor told the Associated Press “We want to show our solidarity to the pope and transmit the message that single individuals make mistakes but institutions, faith and religion cannot be questioned.” 
OIL SPILL ATTACKS UNDERWATER WORLD: Scientists say they have no idea how the oil spill, still spreading throughout the Gulf of Mexico, will affect the complicated ecosystem that thrives in the deep waters off the U.S. coast. Among those creatures that make the Gulf their home are sharks, sperm whales, and giant squid. There’s even a flesh-eating scavenger, which one biologist describes as “a giant roach, put… on steroids.” Said one oceanographer, “Everybody fixates on the picture of the cormorant or the bird flailing around all covered with oil, and while that’s obviously sad to see, no one should assume there’s not similar things occurring in the open ocean.”
MAJOR MEXICAN POL FEARED KIDNAPPED: A major Mexican politician’s car has been found with signs of violence, leading many to fear that he has been kidnapped. Diego Fernandez de Cevallos, 69, is a member of Mexican President Felipe Calderon’s National Action Party, and has been missing since Friday. Fernandez de Cevallos’ car was found near his ranch in Queretaro, in the center of the country, with some personal belongings. Authorities could not confirm that he is dead or if his disappearance had something to do with drug gangs. The Mexican government is trying to crack down on drug trafficking, and the drug lords have responded violently with kidnappings and killings. In the lead-up to state elections, several local politicians have been killed.
I, LBN: Mayor Gavin Newsom, an LBN reader from San Francisco, California.
SHUTTLE ATLANTIS REACHES SPACE STATION: Space shuttle Atlantis is expected to reach the international space station on Sunday, delivering cargo and a research module. Astronauts onboard are also carrying replacement parts and batteries for the station. The mission is the final one for the storied spacecraft, which first blasted off in 1985. Atlantis carried the Magellan spacecraft, which was responsible for mapping 98 percent of Venus. It also transported Galileo, which did important work gathering information in Jupiter.
28 WEDDING GUESTS ELECTROCUTED: Twenty-eight wedding guests were electrocuted Friday as an overhead cable came in contact with their bus in central India. 23 women,3 men and 2 children died. Five passengers jumped to safety and suffered minor injuries. The high-voltage wire touched an iron wardrobe on the roof of the bus as it stopped at Mandla district of Madhya Pradesh state, said top district administrator K.K. Khare. As passengers began stepping down while holding the steel railings, the current passed to the ground to cause a jolting electric shock in the bus, Khare said.
LBN-SEE IT: West Point graduate David Petraeus with his future wife, Holly Knowlton, daughter of West Point superintendent Lieutenant General William Knowlton, on June 5, 1974.
PEACE TALKS REFUSED IN BANGKOK: Following the death of 30 people in violent clashes in Bangkok, Red Shirt protesters offered to hold U.N.-mediated peace talks with the government, but were refused. On Saturday, Thailand’s prime minister announced that there would be no cease-fire with the protesters, known as Red Shirts. “Overall, I insist the best way to prevent losses is to stop the protest,” Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva said. “The protest creates conditions for violence to occur.” Thousands filled the streets, Molotov cocktails in hand, following the prime minister’s speech. Soldiers fired automatic weapons into the crowd. Earlier in the day, one protest leader warned of more violence to come. “It’s likely to become a civil war. I don’t want to see it,” said Karkaew Pikulthong.
LBN-SPORTS INSIDER: ***Lookin at Lucky won the 135th Preakness Stakes Saturday, the two-year-old horse’s second victory in a row. Under perfect weather, trainer Bob Baffert picked Martin Garcia to ride to victory, calling the jockey “a superstar.” Lookin at Lucky’s win crushed the hopes that Super Saver, who won the Kentucky Derby, would take the second leg of the Triple Crown.
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LBN-COMMENTARY By HANNAH SELIGSON: Rare is the study that unites cougars and gold-diggers. But according to recent numbers from the Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research in Germany, women who marry much younger men and women who marry much older men have something in common—both groups suffer an increased risk of death.
LBN-COMMENTARY By MAUREEN DOWD: This week, when the president first told me he’d chosen Elena Kagan to serve on the Supreme Court, I couldn’t help but smile. I met her 20 years ago, when she took a break from teaching school and chasing guys to join my staff in the Senate, and even back then, it was easy to picture her in a black robe. Of course, Elena prefers to see herself in something frillier, because she’s a girl’s girl. Just try dragging her out of La Perla! And I’m sure, under those robes, she’ll be rocking some Juicy Couture jeans and Christian Louboutin suede boudoir slides. Uh-oh. Did I sound gay there for a minute? Well, I’m not. And neither is Elena Kagan. 
LBN-COMMENTARY By THOMAS L. FRIEDMAN: By the time I got there last Sunday, the fire at the Marfin Egnatia Bank on Stadiou Street here had been extinguished, but the charcoal smell of the torched bank interior still wafted out onto the sidewalk through the broken windows. Ever since Greek anarchists firebombed the bank on May 5, killing three employees who had defied a general strike, the Marfin bank has become an impromptu shrine. A huge pile of bouquets, teddy bears and scribbled condolence notes grew by the hour on the sidewalk out front, as Athenians kept on coming to pay their respects to the innocents killed inside. People would lay down a rose and then just stare at the building or read the handwritten messages pasted all over the facade. My own eye went to a colorful drawing, clearly done by a child, of a burning building and people screaming “help, help” from upper windows. Under it was written, in Greek: “In what kind of a world will I grow up? Lydia, age 10.” A good question, Lydia. 
LBN-HISTORICAL COMMENTARY By ADOLF HITLER: Struggle is the father of all things. It is not by the principles of humanity that man lives or is able to preserve himself above the animal world, but solely by means of the most brutal struggle.
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TOYOTA PLANNED TO SMEAR CRITICS: Congress is demanding answers from Toyota on whether the company led a smear campaign against critics of its safety record. The company recalled millions of its cars last year over complaints of stuck accelerator pedals, and documents provided to lawmakers describe an effort by the automaker to develop a PR campaign to discredit top witnesses at congressional hearings on the issue. Polls conducted by the White House pollster Joel Benenson were used to test attacks against Sean Kane, a safety consultant, and David Gilbert, a professor at Southern Illinois University-Carbondale, and lawmakers want to determine whether the PR plan against them was ever put into action. In a statement, Toyota said that the two made “assertions” that had “created unwarranted consumer concern” and that its polling fell within the realm of normal public-opinion research.
SENATE VOTES TO LIMIT DEBIT FEES: The Senate continued its surprise populist turn on financial reform Friday, voting for limits on fees charged to stores by banks on credit- and debit-card transactions. The move was a hard-fought victory for retailers, who have asked Congress to take action on the fees for years. In total, 64 senators voted for the measure, including 17 Republicans. The change could save billions of dollars for businesses that make heavy use of customer credit- and debit-card payments, from small restaurants to retail giants like Wal-Mart, potentially lowering costs for consumers as well. Defenders of banks warn that the reduced profits could be felt by customers in the form of less favorable reward programs on cards.
BRET MICHAELS READY TO TOUR: Just five weeks after suffering a near-fatal brain hemorrhage and receiving an emergency appendectomy, Poison singer Bret Michaels is returning to the stage. In an interview with People magazine last week, Michaels said he feels lucky to be alive and wants to “continue to rock the world.” Oprah Winfrey is having him on her show next week, he’s got a song with Miley Cyrus on his new album coming out June 8, and he’s upped his rehab routine to twice a day to ready himself for his May 28 concert in Biloxi, Mississippi.
PALIN LOVES GUNS, BEING A REDNECK: “You might be a redneck if” Sarah Palin headlined at the National Rifle Association’s annual convention Friday in Charlotte, North Carolina, cracking jokes about being a “redneck” but defending the Tea Party movement. While the former Alaska governor and vice-presidential candidate is “fine” with being labeled a redneck, she denies the conservative Tea Party movement is “violence or racist.” Cracking a bunch of redneck jokes from what appeared to be her BlackBerry, Palin also called out the “lame-stream media” for spreading propaganda that guns are dangerous. “Criminals, of course, are to blame for crime,” she said. Other speakers at the convention included other frontrunner GOP presidential hopefuls such as Mississippi Gov. Haley Barbour and Sen. John Thune (R-SD). Around 70,000 people are expected to attend the NRA convention this weekend.
LBN-BUSINESS INSIDER: ***This information ought to do wonders for Steve Jobs’ reputation: Before convincing police to launch a felony investigation into the leak of the next-generation iPhone, Jobs himself contacted the tech site Gizmodo to try to recover it. Court documents unsealed Friday revealed the notoriously secretive Apple CEO called Gizmodo and demanded the phone be returned. Gizmodo bought the phone from a man who had found it in a beer garden, and Jobs reportedly feared “huge” losses in sales to current models after the pictures were published on the website. Police seized 22 items—including an iPhone, iPad, MacBooks, and an Apple base station—in a raid on Gizmodo employee Jason Chen’s home, though no charges were filed against Chen. Chen is still under investigation.
I, LBN: Adam Christing - an LBN reader from La Mirada, California.
LBN-MEDIA INSIDER: ***Looks like all that celebrating TiVo investors did in March was about a year premature because a court reversal Friday has wiped out all the hefty gains TiVo stock has managed since then. A court said Friday that it will revisit TiVo’s victory in its patent-infringement lawsuit against Dish Network and EchoStar, a decision that had TiVo shareholders selling the stock in droves. ***Summit Entertainment has picked up U.S. distribution on Paul W.S. Anderson’s upcoming 3D swashbuckler “The Three Musketeers.” Summit, which also is selling the Constantin Film/Impact Pictures project worldwide in Cannes, plans to bow “Three Musketeers” next summer. ***’Education’ duo, Finola Dwyer and Amanda Posey are developing Nick Hornby’s ‘A Long Way Down’ for the big screen.
LBN-SPORTS INSIDER: ***Dennis Rodman didn’t learn much from his stints on “Celebrity Rehab” and VH1’s “Sober House.” The former NBA star was spotted at the Raleigh in Miami last weekend running amok at a rum-tasting festival with a bunch of bikini-clad girls. “He was cross-dressed, wearing a silver sequined top and open button-down shirt, parading around hitting on anyone that would listen,” a spy says. Says his rep, “Dennis still has a few drinks here and there. Stopping his drinking has always been a gradual process.” ***A woman has come forward in the Lawrence Taylor case to say the NFL legend did not have sex with the 16-year-old girl he is accused of raping. The witness — a 23-year-old stripper who says she was living with the 16-year-old girl and her alleged pimp at the time — gave a sworn statement to investigators from the defense team, saying she was waiting outside the hotel at the time of the alleged incident.
LBN-BOOK NEWS: ***Jimmy Kimmel Live meets with Michelle Obama’s brother Craig Robinson, whose memoir is A Game of Character: A Family Journey from Chicago’s Southside to the Ivy League and Beyond. ***Bookstore sales rose 1.6% in March, to $1.01 billion, according to preliminary estimates released this morning from the U.S. Census Bureau. For the first quarter of 2010, bookstore sales were up 1.2%, to $4.32 billion. Sales for 2009 have been restated as were sales for January and February. For the entire retail segment, March sales rose 10.8% and for the quarter were up 6.2%.
LBN-COMMENTARY By BILL O’REILLY (Political Analyst, Fox News): ***Despite global warming, hell might be freezing over, because the very liberal Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi is apparently encouraging the Catholic clergy to campaign for immigration reform from the pulpit during Sunday mass. Wow.
LBN-VIDEO LINK: WATCH: 
LBN-COMMENTARY By CHARLES M. BLOW: Conservatism is rising, but it will surely fizzle because it is fueled by anger and desperation, not ideas.
LBN-HISTORICAL COMMENTARY By TUPAC SHAKUR: I don’t see myself being special; I just see myself having more responsibilities than the next man. People look to me to do things for them, to have answers. 
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LBN-THE “INSIDE” STORY: In the UK nearly 1 in 7 school children do not speak, read or write English as their first language, official figures just released show. Including state primary, secondary and special schools in England, 14% of school pupils speak another language at home, according to the Department of Education. The survey reveals a picture of a changing Britain and shows the challenge faced by many schools where they have to integrate children who lack a command of English. And for prospective employers it gets even worse, because after the kids have been through the school system, it seems that about half of them can’t speak, read or write English.
EXPERTS CALL LEAK FAR WORSE THAN U.S. ESTIMATES: What’s worse than a gigantic oil spill? An even bigger one. New video evidence of massive plumes of oil spilling into the ocean is leading scientists to upgrade their estimates of daily leakage from the oft-repeated tally of 5,000 barrels to as much as four or five times that amount, or 20,000 to 25,000 bpd. In addition, experts are criticizing BP for not using established scientific techniques to confirm the precise number. “The government has a responsibility to get good numbers,” an oceanographer at Florida State University, Ian MacDonald told the New York Times. “If it’s beyond their technical capability, the whole world is ready to help them.” The 5,000 bpd estimate was already five times higher than initial announcements by BP of 1,000 bpd. A barrel of oil contains 42 gallons. 
SENATE APPROVES “POWERFUL” CREDIT-RATING BOARD: Wall Street is about to get a bit less cozy. In a 64-35 vote, the Senate approved a provision that will put some much needed space between bond issuers and rating agencies, by establishing a credit-rating board that would defuse some of the conflicts of interest. The current model, in which bond issuers choose their ratings agencies, has been faulted for the inflated ratings that led to the financial crisis. The measure is included in the financial-reform package that is slowly making its way through Congress. Even if the bill finds opposition, it will be tough to bring down with more than 60 votes backing it. 
LBN-SEE IT: If women ruled the world?
LBN-HOLLYWOOD INSIDER: ***Naomi Watts has signed on to play Marilyn Monroe in the film adaptation of Blonde, the imagined memoir of Marilyn Monroe by Joyce Carol Oates that was nominated for a Pulitzer in 2000. The story Oates wrote includes allusions to sex with Joe DiMaggio, Arthur Miller, and John F. Kennedy—not to mention a smattering of studio executives and others. The film is to be directed by Andrew Dominik (The Assassination of Jesse James), and the distributor says that he imagines the project as “a modern Raging Bull which will explore one of the most iconic figures of the last century.”
HAITI PROSECUTOR SEEKS 6-MONTH SENTENCE FOR U.S. MISSIONARY: A Haitian prosecutor asked for a six-month prison sentence Thursday for an American missionary accused of trying to take nearly three dozen children out of the country after a devastating and deadly earthquake in January. Laura Silsby’s attorney, Chiller Roy, said the judge is expected to make a ruling in the next few days. Silsby was charged with trying to arrange “irregular travel” for 33 children she planned to take to an orphanage she was building in the Dominican Republic. She was jailed January 29, along with nine other American missionaries who were later released.
LBN-NOTICED: ***Producer Michael Mailer and hotelier Andre Balazs in deep discussion on Taki’s sailing boat