Uncategorized
Ben Stiller wants you to meet his parents
A few years back, when nepo baby discourse was at its most heated, actor-director Ben Stiller emerged as an elder voice of reason.
“Untalented people don’t really last if they get a break because of who they are or know or are related to,” Stiller tweeted to The Black List founder Franklin Leonard, who was opining on “Let Me Go (The Right Way),” a short film whose creative team included the progeny of Steven Spielberg, Stephen King and Sean Penn. Access is access, Stiller conceded, but the children of celebrities face their own challenges.
If one needed further proof, they might look to an early pan of The Ben Stiller Show knocking him for his pedigree, among the many pieces of ephemera kept by Stiller’s father, Jerry. Or to the cassette tapes in which Jerry confronted his wife and comedy partner, Anne Meara, about her drinking, All of it was stored in a kind of archive at the Stillers’ apartment on Riverside Drive. Ben digs through those bankers boxes and scrapbooks in a new documentary, Stiller & Meara: Nothing is Lost.
The subtitle is a nod to a line from one of Meara’s plays, After-Play and an audio recording where Jerry tells his father, Willie, that a tape recorder would preserve his voice forever. Taken with Jerry’s packratting — he kept everything — it’s named for a theme of L’dor V’dor. Nothing is lost from generation to generation. Talent may pass down, but so too do the mistakes our parents make.
It was, Ben admits, an inherited impulse that drove him to bring a camera to the family apartment after Jerry’s death in 2020, at the age of 92. Jerry was an inveterate home moviemaker with his Super-8, paving the way for his son’s ambition to direct. Shooting the home as he and his sister, actor Amy Stiller, prepared it for sale, Ben tells his parents’ love story while meditating on his own family life.
Letters to Anne from Jerry show an early marriage divided by the itinerant gigs of theater folk, a reality that was only resolved when Jerry decided they should form a comedy duo. Anne, wanting to be a serious actor, at first resisted, but the routines — which they’d improvise into a tape recorder — helped to launch their careers.
Their repeat appearances on The Ed Sullivan Show made them famous, and they solidified their act by drawing from their backgrounds, debuting the alter egos, the couple Hershey Horowitz and Mary Elizabeth Doyle. They did the Irish-Jewish thing years before Bridget Loves Bernie — and with an actual Jew, unlike the Irish Catholic irl David Birney. In their sketches they swap admiration over their respective culture — reduced to planting trees in Israel and Notre Dame football — though in reality Meara had converted to Judaism. (Sullivan, married to a Jewish gal, is said to have teared up.)
Ben follows in their footsteps at the Ed Sullivan Theatre, when he’s there as a guest on Colbert for directing Severance. Sullivan’s show was high stakes, he reflects, and his mother would handle the stress by drinking.
While Anne had an ease in her performance and flair for comedy, we learn that Jerry drilled his lines — he was both a perfectionist and perhaps a little less than a natural. While Anne got fulfillment from life outside of acting, Jerry needed to perform and to be loved, but was most devoted to Anne. When their careers became solo acts, their marriage grew stronger.
Ben considers his parents’ upbringing as a way to understand his own. Anne’s alcoholism is linked to unresolved trauma from her mother’s suicide; on a piece of writing Ben finds in the apartment, Anne describes how her mother “turned on the gas and inhaled eternity.”
Jerry’s working-class parents loved Jack Benny and George Burns, but didn’t support his ambition to become an actor. Anne thought it may have come from an urge to shield him from rejection. Willie’s thwarted desire to act is attested to in an interview Jerry taped with him, showing the project of this film isn’t exactly new for the family.
When it came to Ben and Amy, Jerry wanted them to find another path, for the same reason. (Jerry, as has been noted elsewhere, couldn’t have been more different as a father than Seinfeld’s Frank Costanza — he was the type to nurse Ben through a bad LSD trip or drive to his camp when he was homesick.)
The siblings recall their latchkey childhood, when their parents were on tour, and speaking to his own children Ben realizes he repeated this absence while making efforts not to. When he began working with his wife, actor Christine Taylor, he feared some of the same frictions his parents suffered would emerge, and when they were separated, he felt like a failure given their resilience.
In the process of making the film, during COVID, the couple reconciled.
Nothing is Lost is a tender tribute that finds its poetry in between generations. A match cut of a home movie of young Ben (Benjy) to one of his sons, Quin, shows symmetry right down to the same missing baby teeth. It’s graceful when tackling the tough question of the advantages Ben may have gained.
Ben said he wanted, in his early career, to distance himself from them. But as Taylor notes, he used one or both of his parents in just about all of his work.
“Because I wasn’t stupid, they were funny,” Stiller reasons.
It runs in the family.
Ben Stiller’s Stiller and Meara: Nothing is Lost is playing in select theaters Oct. 17. It debuts on Apple TV+ Oct. 24.
The post Ben Stiller wants you to meet his parents appeared first on The Forward.
Uncategorized
11-Year-Old Girl Succumbs to Wounds from Iranian Missile Strike
A photo of Nesya Karadi. Photo: courtesy of her family.
i24 News – An 11-year-old girl has died nearly three weeks after being critically injured by an Iranian missile strike on her family home.
Nesya Karadi passed away Friday at Sheba Medical Center, becoming the 21st civilian fatality in Israel since the current conflict began on February 28.
The attack occurred on April 1, just hours before the start of Passover. Officials confirmed the strike involved an Iranian missile equipped with a cluster warhead; a sub-munition directly hit the Karadi home, wounding 14 people.
Among the injured was Nesya’s father, a volunteer with the Magen David Adom paramedic service. In a final act of heroism before losing consciousness from his own injuries, he reportedly administered life-saving first aid to his daughter.
Hanoch Zeibert, the Mayor of Bnei Brak, expressed the city’s deep grief over the loss of a “pure child whose whole life was ahead of her,” pledging the municipality’s full support to the Karadi family during their ordeal
Uncategorized
Palestinian Local Elections Give Some Gazans First Chance to Vote in Years
A Palestinian woman votes during the municipal election at a polling station in Deir al-Balah, central Gaza Strip April 25, 2026. REUTERS/Mahmoud Issa
Palestinians voted in local elections on Saturday that for the first time in two decades include Gaza and are a gauge of the political mood.
The West Bank-based Palestinian Authority has said it hopes the inclusion of the Gazan city of Deir al-Balah will reinforce its claim to authority over the territory from which it was ousted by Hamas in 2007.
Some Gazans, who are struggling to meet their basic needs in the devastated enclave, welcomed the opportunity to vote.
“As a Palestinian and a son of the Gaza Strip, I feel proud that after this war the democratic process is returning,” said voter Mamdouh al-Bhaisi, 52, at the Deir al-Balah polling station.
Turnout, however, was low at 13.8 percent in Deir al-Balah by 1 p.m. (1000 GMT) and at 25.3 percent in the West Bank, according to official figures. Voting will continue in the West Bank until 7 p.m., while in Deir Al-Balah it ends an hour earlier due to electricity constraints.
Casting his ballot in a polling station in the Al-Bireh area, near Ramallah, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas said eventually elections will be held across the Gaza Strip.
“Gaza is an inseparable part of the state of Palestine. Therefore, we have worked by all means to ensure that elections take place in Deir al-Balah to affirm the unity of the two parts of the country together,” he said.
ISRAEL HAS EXTENDED CONTROL OVER GAZA AND WEST BANK
Since a US-brokered ceasefire in Gaza between Hamas and Israel took effect in October, intermittent talks led by the United States have made little progress towards a settlement that envisages international supervision of Gaza.
European and Arab governments broadly support an eventual return of Palestinian Authority governance in Gaza, together with the establishment of an independent Palestinian state. It would comprise Gaza, East Jerusalem and the West Bank, where the Palestinian Authority exercises limited self-rule.
Western diplomats say local elections could be a step towards the first national elections in nearly two decades and advance reforms to increase transparency and accountability that the PA says are under way.
“We hope that the procedure carried out today will be crowned with legislative and presidential elections,” said Munif Treish, one of the candidates in the West Bank.
Saturday’s vote is the first of any kind in Gaza since 2006 and the first Palestinian elections to be held since the Gaza war started more than two years ago with a cross-border Hamas assault on southern Israeli communities. Municipal elections were last held in the West Bank four years ago.
STRUGGLE TO PAY WAGES AS ISRAEL WITHHOLDS FUNDS
The Palestinian Authority has struggled to pay wages as Israel withholds tax revenues it collects on its behalf, raising fears of economic collapse. Israel justifies withholding the funds in protest at welfare payments to prisoners and families of those killed by its forces, which it says incentivize attacks.
The Israeli government has also taken steps to help settlers acquire West Bank land. Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich has repeatedly said: “We will continue to kill the idea of a Palestinian state.”
In Deir al-Balah, which has suffered less damage from Israel’s assault since 2023 than other Gazan cities, banners bearing candidate lists hang from buildings.
The Palestinian election committee cited widespread destruction among the reasons voting could not be held across the rest of Gaza, more than half of which is controlled by Israel, with the rest under Hamas rule.
HAMAS BOYCOTTS VOTE BUT SOME CANDIDATES ARE ALIGNED
Some Palestinian factions are boycotting the elections in protest at the PA’s request that candidates back its agreements, which include recognition of the state of Israel.
Hamas, which has ruled Gaza for nearly two decades, has not formally nominated any candidates but one list in the Deir al-Balah election is widely viewed by residents and analysts as aligned with it.
Analysts say the performance of candidates linked to the militant group could gauge its popularity. Most candidates, including in the West Bank, are running under Fatah, the main political movement behind the PA, or as independents.
Hamas has said it would respect the results. Palestinian sources told Reuters ahead of the vote that the group’s civil policemen would be deployed to safeguard polling stations in Gaza.
The Palestinian Central Elections Committee said more than one million Palestinians, including 70,000 in Gaza, are eligible to vote, with results expected late on Saturday or on Sunday.
Uncategorized
Iran Says It Won’t Accept ‘Maximalist Demands’ as Islamabad Hosts Peace Push
Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi meets with Pakistan’s Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar, as Pakistan prepares to host the US and Iran for the second phase of peace talks, in a location given as Islamabad, Pakistan, released April 25, 2026. Photo: ESMAEIL BAQAEI VIA X/Handout via REUTERS
Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi laid out Iran’s demands and its reservations about US positions on Saturday as Islamabad hosted a new push to end a war that has killed thousands and roiled global markets.
Though details of the talks were scant, Araqchi met Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and other high-ranking officials. The White House had earlier announced that President Donald Trump’s special envoy Steve Witkoff and son-in-law Jared Kushner would travel to the Pakistani capital on Saturday, but Iran has so far ruled out a new round of direct talks.
Washington and Tehran are at an impasse as Iran has largely closed the Strait of Hormuz, which normally carries one-fifth of global oil shipments, while the US blocks Iran’s oil exports.
IRAN SETS OUT ITS ‘PRINCIPLED POSITIONS’
The conflict, in which a ceasefire is now in force, began with US-Israeli airstrikes on Iran on February 28. Iran has since carried out strikes against Israel, US bases and Gulf states, and the war has pushed up energy prices to multi-year highs, stoking inflation and darkening global growth prospects.
Araqchi “explained our country’s principled positions regarding the latest developments related to the ceasefire and the complete end of the imposed war against Iran,” said a statement on the minister’s official Telegram account.
Asked about Tehran’s reservations about US positions in the talks, an Iranian diplomatic source in Islamabad told Reuters: “Principally, Iranian side will not accept maximalist demands.”
US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth had earlier told reporters that Iran had a chance to make a “good deal.”
“Iran knows that they still have an open window to choose wisely,” he said. “All they have to do is abandon a nuclear weapon in meaningful and verifiable ways.”
Araqchi arrived in Islamabad on Friday. But an Iranian foreign ministry spokesperson posted on X that Iranian officials did not plan to meet US representatives and that Tehran’s concerns would be conveyed to mediator Pakistan.
Trump told Reuters on Friday that Iran planned to make an offer aimed at satisfying US demands but that he did not know what the offer entailed. He declined to say who Washington was negotiating with, “but we’re dealing with the people that are in charge now.”
White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said the US had seen some progress from the Iranian side in recent days and hoped more would come this weekend, while Vice President JD Vance was ready to travel to Pakistan as well.
CEASEFIRES IN PLACE, FEW SHIPS CROSSING HORMUZ
Days after Trump extended the ceasefire, international flights resumed from Tehran’s Imam Khomeini International Airport on Saturday, Iranian media said. The first passengers had departed for Medina, in Saudi Arabia, Muscat and Istanbul, with operations expected to accelerate in the coming days.
“Well, it’s a good feeling. When flights resume, trade is done, and people can do their jobs. It’s a good feeling,” said one passenger at the airport, where passengers were queuing at check-in desks.
Iranian airspace has been largely closed since the start of the war. Tens of thousands of flights have been canceled, rerouted and rescheduled worldwide, shutting much of the Middle East’s airspace because of missile and drone threats.
Trump unilaterally extended a two-week ceasefire on Tuesday to allow more time to reconvene the negotiators.
Oil prices surged this week, with Brent crude futures soaring 16 percent, on uncertainty over the fate of the peace talks and as violence flared in the region.
Shipping data on Friday showed that five ships had crossed the Strait of Hormuz in the previous 24 hours, compared to around 130 a day before the war. The ships included an Iranian oil-products tanker but none of the vast crude-carrying supertankers that normally feed global energy markets.
Data analytics firm Vortexa said this week it had recorded 35 total transits through the US blockade from April 13 to 22, involving Iran-linked or sanctioned vessels for inbound and outbound journeys.
“The enemy, whose objective of crippling Iran’s missile and military capabilities has failed, is now seeking an honorable exit from the quagmire of war,” Iranian media quoted a defense ministry spokesperson as saying. “Iran is today in firm control of the Strait of Hormuz.”
Iranian state TV quoted the country’s top military command as reiterating that Iran would react if US forces continued their “blockade and piracy” in the region.
On Thursday, Israel and Lebanon extended their ceasefire for three weeks at a White House meeting brokered by Trump, but there was little sign of an end to the fighting in southern Lebanon.
Israel invaded its northern neighbor last month to root out Iran’s Hezbollah allies after the militant group fired across the border in support of Iran. Tehran says a ceasefire there is a precondition for talks.
Four people were killed in Israeli strikes on southern Lebanon on Saturday, Lebanon’s state news agency reported, and Hezbollah fired rockets at Israel, the Israeli military said, in the latest challenge to the ceasefire there.