CNN's Howard Kurtz revealed the video tape of last week's debate between Washington Post's Dana Milbank and Huffington Post's Nico Pitney. Kurtz claimed that he could read the lips of Milbank as he told Pitney, "You are such a dick."
This video is from CNN's Reliable Sources, broadcast July 5, 2009.
Hollywood's major studios and streamers have made no contract overtures to striking actors since they walked off the job in July, the performers' chief negotiator said Thursday, urging the companies to make a good-faith effort.
Duncan Crabtree-Ireland, who negotiates on behalf of the 160,000 movie and television actors who belong to the Screen Actors Guild (SAG-AFTRA), gave the update on the work stoppage on day one of the Toronto International Film Festival.
In mid-July, actors joined writers on the picket line in the first industry-wide walkout for 63 years over pay and other work conditions, effectively bringing the giant film and television business to a halt.
When asked how talks were going, Crabtree-Ireland said: "The studios have not come back to the table. They have not said that they want to come back to the table. (...) It's been 56 days."
The negotiator -- who appeared on the red carpet for the premiere of Hayao Miyazaki's "The Boy and the Heron," the first major screening at TIFF -- said it was "well past time" for some progress to be made.
"I urge them to come back to the table and make a fair deal. That's the only way these strikes are going to come to an end."
The walkouts have brought new productions to a halt, but also have put a crimp in this year's fall film festivals, with many actors eschewing premieres to respect SAG-AFTRA rules barring promotion of projects from the big studios and streamers.
Waivers have been offered in some cases.
Crabtree-Ireland said he came to Toronto "to show our support for film festivals, TIFF in particular," and to encourage members to champion their work when interim agreements are in place.
"It actually helps our strike effort, it helps the fight that we're having, for these projects that have signed off on our deal to be promoted and to be successful," he said.
He said more than 1,200 independent producers had signed off on the deal that the guild proposed to studios on the last day of bargaining, noting: "They realize the terms are reasonable, the terms are absolutely realistic and doable."
- 'Important strike for us' -
Patricia Arquette, making her directorial debut in Toronto on Thursday with "Gonzo Girl" starring Willem Dafoe, attended her premiere wearing a giant SAG-AFTRA button.
"We very much support our union, it's a very important strike for us," she said on the red carpet.
At the premiere of "North Star," the first feature directed by Kristin Scott Thomas, producer Finola Dwyer said stars Scarlett Johansson, Sienna Miller, Emily Beecham and Scott Thomas "would have all loved" to be in attendance.
"But they stand firm with their SAG colleagues and friends," Dwyer said, to applause from the audience.
TIFF CEO Cameron Bailey told AFP that his team had learned a lot about the "really important issues" in the negotiations, including concerns about the encroachment of artificial intelligence into art, and said he hoped a deal would soon be struck.
"I think we all need it –- for the industry and culture of movies," Bailey said.
President Joe Biden arrives in Vietnam on Sunday on a mission to bolster US influence, but the heavy emphasis on countering rival China will likely confine human rights concerns to the margins.
Biden will become the latest in an unbroken line of US presidents since Bill Clinton in 2000 to visit the Southeast Asian former foe.
The underlying goal will be much the same as during Biden's time at the G20 summit in New Delhi this week -- to shore up support against China's growing influence.
"For decades, the US and Vietnam have worked to overcome a painful shared legacy of the Vietnam War," National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan told a briefing this week.
"This visit is a remarkable step in the strengthening of our diplomatic ties, and it reflects the leading role that Vietnam will play in our growing network of partnerships in the Indo-Pacific as we look to the future," he said, using another term for the Asia-Pacific region.
- 'Actually matters' -
On Sunday in Hanoi, the 80-year-old US president will meet the leader of Vietnam's ruling Communist Party, Nguyen Phu Trong, the White House said.
There will be a welcome ceremony, speeches by the two leaders and a press conference by the US president -- who on Tuesday awarded the top US military honor to a helicopter pilot who rescued four soldiers during the Vietnam War.
Biden will meet President Vo Van Thuong and Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh on Monday.
On the cards is an upgrade in the relationship between the two countries, less than 50 years after the end of a conflict that left millions of Vietnamese and 58,000 US service members dead.
They are expected to sign off on a "comprehensive strategic partnership", Hanoi's highest level of diplomatic ties.
Gregory Poling of the Center for Strategic and International Studies said that for Vietnam, a partner country's place in the hierarchy of diplomatic relations was important.
Currently Vietnam only has ties at the same level with Russia, India, South Korea and China.
And it is China that Biden has in his sights on the trip, as Beijing keeps up intense efforts to expand its influence in Asia.
China, which fought a war with Vietnam between 1974 and 1988, hasn't been slacking either. This week it sent a high-level delegation to Vietnam to "reinforce solidarity and cooperation", according to Chinese state media.
- 'Egregious' -
However, Vietnam won't be keen to play a role in balancing Washington and Beijing, said Nguyen Quoc Cuong, the Vietnamese ambassador to the United States from 2011 to 2014.
"Vietnam has a very clear policy of befriending all. Vietnam has always said we don't take sides, not choosing the US against China. The US is fully aware of this", said Cuong.
But Biden is betting that Vietnam won't mind being closer to Washington at a time when China's sweeping maritime claims in the South China Sea have fueled tensions.
The Democrat, seeking re-election in 2024, is also thinking about the economy at home. He has called for global supply chains that are less dependent on China, and Vietnam could be a key player in that.
In Vietnam, Biden will be juggling strategic interests with the defense of human rights -- a familiar theme from his dealings with allies like Saudi Arabia and India.
His trip comes days after a US government commission on religious freedom harshly criticized Vietnam for "egregious, ongoing, and systematic violations".
Separately, the State Department has highlighted "significant human rights issues" in the Communist state including illegal or arbitrary executions, torture and the holding of political prisoners.
"We also always raise issues related to freedom of expression, freedom of religion, and other basic human rights", Sullivan said.
"This trip will be no exception to that".
Vietnamese activists have few illusions.
"I do not expect any serious push (for change) from the US", said Le Cong Dinh, a former human rights lawyer in Ho Chi Minh City who was imprisoned for subversion.
"Human rights protection is no longer a top priority."
The trip also includes a poignant visit by Biden to the memorial to his friend John McCain, the former US senator shot down and held captive during the Vietnam War who in later years helped rebuild ties between the two countries.
North Korea has launched its first "tactical nuclear attack submarine", state media reported Friday, although the South Korean military said the vessel might not be operational.
North Korean leader Kim Jong Un presided over the unveiling ceremony on Wednesday, saying the sub was part of a "push forward with the nuclear weaponisation of the Navy", according to state news agency KCNA.
Images in state media showed Kim, wearing a light suit and sun hat, speaking to white-uniformed sailors next to the submarine, whose bow was decorated with the North Korean flag.
The launch of submarine No. 841 -- named the Hero Kim Kun Ok -- "heralded the beginning of a new chapter for bolstering up the naval force of the DPRK", KCNA said, referring to the abbreviation of North Korea's formal name.
During the launch ceremony, which involved confetti and balloons, Kim said the submarine is "one of core underwater offensive means of the naval force of the DPRK".
North Korea will turn its existing submarines into attack vessels equipped with nuclear weapons, Kim said.
On Thursday, KCNA said Kim inspected the submarine as it prepared for a test cruise, and entered it "to acquaint himself with its weapon system and underwater operation capability".
But the South Korean military said Pyongyang's claims could not be taken at face value.
"Our initial assessment is that it does not look to be operational," the Joint Chiefs of Staff told AFP.
- Modified sub -
North Korea has conducted a record number of weapons tests this year, and last month failed in its second attempt to put a spy satellite into orbit.
Seoul and Washington have ramped up defense cooperation in response, staging joint military exercises with advanced stealth jets and US strategic assets, and holding naval drills with Japan.
According to the Nuclear Threat Initiative, a US-based think tank, North Korea is estimated to have between 64 and 86 submarines, one of the world's largest fleets.
However, experts doubt if all of them are operational given their age, according to NTI.
In 2019, Kim was shown in state media inspecting a previously unreported submarine.
"This is the same -- albeit more extensively modified -- submarine North Korea showed us way back in July 2019," Joseph Dempsey, a researcher at the International Institute for Strategic Studies, wrote on X.
"While North Korea has added a missile compartment and externally emulated more contemporary design features... (the sub) at its core is an obsolete Romeo class diesel-electric boat, originally designed in the 1950s," he said.
"As a platform it will have some fundamental limitations and vulnerabilities."
The capacities of the new submarine "won't be revolutionary, but will increase the complexity of the nuclear threat posed by North Korea," said US-based analyst Ankit Panda.
"Kim Jong Un early in his tenure indicated that he viewed the Korean People's Navy's role as significant and he's intermittently focused on indicating that publicly."
South Korea condemned the submarine launch, saying the North was "squandering its scarce resources into its futile weapons development while disregarding living difficulties of its people."
"Pyongyang must realize its weapons programs and threats... only puts their security at risk in the face of an overwhelming response from the strengthened South Korea-US-Japan joint posture," said Kim In-ae, deputy spokesperson of South Korea's Unification Ministry.
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