Author: NY TIMES

Lewis, who announced last year that he had Parkinson’s disease, played himself as David’s friend on the show (as he was in real life). He and Essman, the comedian and actress behind the invective-spewing Susie Greene, the wife of David’s manager, provoked very different reactions from fans, he recalled.“When I’ve been with her in public, they want her to yell things back at them,” he said. “For me, it’s like, ‘You’re going to be all right, Richard.’”He dialed me directly, rather than having a publicist connect us, as is more common, and seemed happy to stay on the phone and…

It was unclear who was overseeing the convoy. Philippe Lazzarini, the head of the main U.N. aid group that serves Palestinians, said that no U.N. agency was involved and the Israeli military said the aid was to be distributed by “private contractors.”Lawlessness is rampant in many parts of northern and southern Gaza, residents and aid officials say, with no authority emerging to take charge of public order after Israel’s ouster of Hamas forces in those areas.The World Food Program said last week that it has paused food deliveries to northern Gaza because of the challenges of safely delivering aid there.Mr.…

President Vladimir V. Putin has threatened to reach into Russia’s arsenal of nuclear weapons at three points in time in the past two years: once at the outset of the war against Ukraine two years ago, once when he was losing ground and again on Thursday, as he senses that he is grinding down Ukrainian defenses and American resolve.In each instance, the saber rattling has served the same basic purpose. Mr. Putin knows that his opponents — led by President Biden — fear escalation of the conflict most of all. Even bluster about going nuclear serves as a reminder to…

The biggest names in NASCAR are taking action.Dale Earnhardt Jr. is leaving NBC for racing newcomers Amazon Prime Video and Warner Bros. Discovery, according to sources familiar with his decision. Sports). Competitor.Earnhardt is expected to take the season off before resuming his broadcast career in 2025 when WBD Sports and Amazon begin coverage.The move is expected to give WBD Sports and Amazon instant credibility when launching the series. There will be five games per season. WBD Sports games will be televised on TNT and live on Max with a bleacher report component. NASCAR complements WBD Sports’ strong NBA, NCAA Tournament,…

In the sixth season of the Netflix series “Love Is Blind,” one contestant, Chelsea, implied — through the walls of a self-contained dating pod — that she had a celebrity look-alike.“I get one person, and it’s just because I have dark hair and blue eyes,” she coyly teased another contestant, Jimmy, before revealing her alleged doppelgänger.“Megan Fox? Are you saying you look like Megan Fox?” Jimmy asked in astonishment when he realized who she was talking about. Although Chelsea clarified again that she didn’t see it herself, the seed had been planted. Viewers could see for themselves the way Jimmy…

It’s a classic Disney movie plot: A family comes together to fight an enemy.Only this time it is happening in real life, with the grandchildren of Walt and Roy Disney, who founded the company in 1923, joining forces to oppose Nelson Peltz, the activist investor who is waging a proxy battle for board seats. The heirs — nine in total, including Abigail E. Disney, who has at times been a harsh critic of Robert A. Iger, Disney’s chief executive — publicly lined up behind Mr. Iger and the current Disney board on Thursday.“These activists must be defeated,” Roy P. Disney,…

Many Americans prefer to believe the Covid pandemic is a thing of the past. But for the nation’s nursing homes, the effects have yet to fully fade, with staffing shortages and employee burnout still at crisis levels and many facilities struggling to stay afloat, according to a new report published Thursday by federal investigators.The report, by the inspector general’s office at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, found that the flawed infection-control procedures that contributed to the 170,000 deaths at nursing homes during the pandemic were still inadequate at many facilities. And while the uptake of Covid vaccines…

Puccini’s “Turandot,” a verismo opera set in a fabled version of ancient China, makes for an odd love story. Its unlikable romantic leads go largely unfazed by the death and dismemberment they instigate; when they finally share true love’s kiss, they’re standing atop a figurative pile of corpses.On Wednesday at the Metropolitan Opera, the conductor Oksana Lyniv made a strong debut, emphasizing the murderous, life-or-death stakes instead of the fairy-tale Orientalism that has made it a cultural lightning rod in recent years.“Turandot” has been on the receiving end of calls for revision and more for the stereotypes it perpetuates about…

A shooting at a gas station outside a settlement in the Israeli-occupied West Bank on Thursday afternoon left two Israeli men dead, according to Israeli officials, who said the gunman was also killed.Avraham Applebaum, a medic for Israel’s emergency medical services, said that when he arrived at the gas station outside the Israeli settlement of Eli, he saw “one injured person with many bullet wounds in a car and another lying” on the ground. “We did what we could,” Mr. Applebaum said, but the wounds were too serious. Shortly thereafter, the two men, aged 20 and 40, were declared dead…

Brian Mulroney, Canada’s 18th prime minister, whose statesmanship on what he called “great causes,” from free trade and acid rain in North America to the overthrow of apartheid in South Africa, gave way to accusations of financial misdoing and influence-peddling after he left office, has died at 84.His daughter Caroline Mulroney announced the death on X, formerly Twitter. She did not say where or when he died or specify the cause of death. “He died peacefully, surrounded by family,” she wrote.Born into a blue-collar family in eastern Quebec, Mr. Mulroney transcended his small-town roots to become a prosperous lawyer and…