Author: NY TIMES

Al Pacino put a room full of Hollywood stars a little bit on edge to close out the 96th Academy Awards.Rather than listing all 10 nominees while presenting the best picture Oscar, or offering a conventional “And the Oscar goes to,” Pacino simply said “Here it comes” before slowly opening the envelope.“And my eyes see ‘Oppenheimer,’” Pacino said next, to tepid applause from an audience that seemed unsure whether that statement was the most important proclamation of the night.“Yes, yes,” Pacino, 83, said of the movie that was considered the favorite to win best picture and finished with a night-best…

Marwan Issa, who was the target of an Israeli strike in central Gaza over the weekend, is one of three leaders of Hamas in Gaza who Israel says were the main planners of the Oct. 7 attack, which killed over 1,200 people and led to the kidnapping of about 240 others, according to Israeli officials. It remained unclear on Tuesday whether the strike had hit him.Here is what to know about the most senior Hamas leaders in Gaza:Marwan IssaMr. Issa, the deputy commander of Hamas’s military wing, would be the highest ranking Hamas military official to be killed by Israel…

Andrew Tate, an online influencer known for his displays of wealth and his misogynistic views, is facing criminal accusations over sexual misconduct in two separate cases.Mr. Tate and his brother, Tristan Tate, have since 2022 been battling charges from Romanian prosecutors that include human trafficking.They were detained this week on a separate arrest warrant issued by the British authorities, a spokesman for the brothers said, this one accusing them of acts of sexual aggression.Here’s what to know about the situation.Who is Andrew Tate?Mr. Tate, who is both British and American, is a former kickboxer who has gained a large online…

Thirty years later, Christian Leitner isn’t sure he knew it was coming. In 1994, he entered the NBA in his second season with the Minnesota Timberwolves. Maybe someone notified his agent, but he doesn’t think so.The former Duke star remembers seeing the ad on ESPN one day. Chris Farley, in his prime on “Saturday Night Live,” wore Laettner’s No. 32 jersey and recreated his buzzer-beater against Kentucky that made NCAA Tournament history iconic moments.”All I know is, it came out and it was hilarious and it was great,” Lightner told Competitor.Farley aired three commercials on ESPN, all promoting college basketball,…

The cedar-shingled house that Andre Dubus III built for his family in the seaside town of Newbury, Mass., has four levels that sprawl across 6,000 square feet, with plenty of rooms that could have made a nice writer’s office. But Mr. Dubus plies his trade down in the mechanical room, near the exercise equipment and the boiler, in a lofted space that he built himself out of plywood.Reached by a staircase nearly as steep as a ship’s ladder, the room is no wider than an outstretched arm and not much longer, with low ceilings that amplify the feeling of being…

Ce’Yann Irving, a mother of a 1-year-old daughter, pays $990 a month for a two-bedroom apartment on the site of a former dairy processing plant in the Central City neighborhood of New Orleans. She has amenities, like a 24-hour gym and an on-site community clinic, at arm’s reach.“I’m a first-time mom, so if my daughter coughs too long, I’m trying to take her to a doctor,” said Ms. Irving, 30, who is a disaster case manager for Catholic Charities. “Here, I can literally walk to the clinic, and if there’s a wait, just wait in my own apartment.”The affordable housing…

Since queer characters are today put at the center of many more stories than they used to be, it’s probably no surprise that most of the attempts to revive the Gay Best Friend are period pieces — including “And Just Like That … ,” which, for all of its contemporary inclusiveness (there are nonwhite and nonstraight “Sex and the City” ladies now!), still has one Manolo Blahnik planted firmly in the late ’90s. In the second season, Anthony is granted a boyfriend, a handsome, sweet, literary, affectionate, prodigiously endowed Italian poet decades younger (honestly, even as wish fulfillment, it’s a…

The Lebanese militant group Hezbollah fired more than 100 rockets into northern Israel on Tuesday morning, according to Israel’s military. It was one of the heaviest barrages in the months of cross-border strikes that have fed fears that the war in Gaza could expand to another front.It was not immediately clear how many of the rockets landed or were intercepted by Israeli air defenses. Israel’s military said its fighter jets had retaliated by striking a number of sites linked to Hezbollah in Lebanon.In a statement, Hezbollah said it had launched the volley in response to Israeli military strikes on Monday…

The first sea shipment of food for Gaza left the Mediterranean island of Cyprus on Tuesday morning, officials said, the start of an untested maritime corridor to bring aid to hundreds of thousands of Palestinians whom the United Nations says are on the brink of starvation.The ship was pulling a barge loaded with about 200 tons of rice, flour and other food from World Central Kitchen, a charity group. The ship, provided by the Spanish aid group Open Arms, is the first authorized to deliver supplies to Gaza by sea since 2005, according to Ursula von der Leyen, the president…

There’s a youthquake underway at one of France’s oldest institutions.The Mobilier National, the national repository of furniture and the decorative arts, was formally established in the 17th century under King Louis XIV. Now housed in a massive Art Deco complex in the 13th Arrondissement — on land that was once the vegetable garden for the Les Gobelins tapestry factory — it houses more than 130,000 commodes, clocks, candelabras, chairs, tapestries, carpets and other antiques spanning four centuries of French history. For elected officials, a selection from the Mobilier National’s reserves is made available for refurbishing government agencies and residences, from…