3+ min ago (465+ words) Hilary Duff was intimidated by Jennifer Coolidge while working on the 2004 movie "A Cinderella Story" together. The "Lizzie McGuire" alum reminisced about working with the "American Pie" star and how Coolidge got into character as Fiona, the wicked stepmother of Duff's character, Sam, in the modernization of the classic fairy tale. "By the way, it's just so much fun to watch her career," Duff, 38, said of the Emmy-winning actress. "She just goes there in such a big way that it was really impressive and slightly intimidating as a teenager." "And she was mean to me, so it was a little scary, 'cause I was only like 15 and she was just, you know, mean to me 'cause she's my evil stepmother," she recalled. Duff admitted Coolidge, 64, was so good in character that it made her uncomfortable. "At the time, I was…...

4+ min ago (404+ words) A Muslim father and his two sons tied up his teen daughter and drowned her in a swamp because they believed her "Western behavior" was shaming their family, according to Dutch prosecutors. The body of Ryan Al Najjar, 18, was found gagged, bound with tape and submerged in a marsh May 28, 2024, six days after she vanished from the family's home in Joure in the north of the Netherlands,the NL Times reported. Her male relatives allegedly murdered her after she adopted a "Western" lifestyle that included her refusing to wear a headscarf, associating with males and using social media. Mohamed Al Najjar, 23, and his brother Muhanad, 25, are charged with murdering the teen, while her father, Khaled, 53, is accused of orchestrating and participating in the killing before escaping to Syria. Ryan was picked up from a house in Rotterdam by her brothers…...

5+ min ago (459+ words) It is common nowadays for playwrights to go back and forth between stage and screen assignments, but Tom Stoppard, whose death at 88 was announced on Saturday, was an early adopter of the practice, with TV credits going back to the early 1960s. Some entries in his impressively lengthy collection of screenplays were originals, but he was especially in demand both as a script doctor (usually uncredited) and as a go-to scribe for literary adaptations. In that latter capacity, he was able to tackle novels by writers as wildly different as John le Carr, Leo Tolstoy, E.L. Doctorow, Vladimir Nabokov, J.G. Ballard and Ford Madox Ford. Below you will find a selection of films with Stoppard screenplays that are available on major American streaming platforms. (Those curious about his work on Rainer Werner Fassbinder's "Despair," a Nabokov adaptation, will have to poke around YouTube.)…...

8+ min ago (860+ words) This as-told-to essay is based on a conversation with Mahmoud Ashraf Mahmoud Mohamed, a 22-year-old founder who goes by Komy A. He's a final-year university student at the Asia Pacific University of Technology and Innovation in Kuala Lumpur. The following has been edited for length and clarity. Business Insider has verified his employment and academic history. While pursuing my bachelor's degree in cybersecurity in Malaysia, I began working in 2023 for a UK company that developed software solutions. When OpenAI dropped their AI, I could bring it into any software that I write. I started automating some parts of my job with AI. At some point, I had a full AI system with agents that was automating for four clients at a time. There was so much potential in this. I was excited about it and decided to leave my job and…...

13+ min ago (355+ words) A bar in Idaho is getting pummeled with one-star reviews online after offering customers "free beer for one month" if they provide proof of having assisted Immigration and Customs Enforcement in deporting an undocumented migrant. "ALERT: Anyone who helps ICE identify and ultimately deport an illegal from Idaho gets FREE BEER FOR ONE MONTH at Old State Saloon!" reads an online post Saturday from Old State Saloon, a bar and grill in Eagle, Idaho. The bar's Google page was immediately flooded with negative reviews, many of which staff at Old State Saloon responded to, calling reviewers "angry progressive liberals" and "liars." "And the 1 star reviews roll in from the loser LEFT," reads another post from the Old State Saloon X account. One such one-star review reads: "Don't bother. Place is trashy and overly political." Old State Saloon staff, in turn,…...

20+ min ago (760+ words) Ladies and gentlemen, the victorious Justin Herbert. Give him a hand. (The Chargers wish you could.) Herbert, who has been knocked around all season but so far had avoided injury, saw that streak come to a disappointing end Sunday, even though the Chargers walked away with a 31-14 win over the Las Vegas Raiders. It was the Chargers" most lopsided victory in the rivalry since 2008. Their spiral-slinging star quarterback sustained an injury to his non-throwing hand that required him to briefly leave for the locker room in the first quarter. Herbert only missed part of one series and would lead his team to an AFC West win, but he was limited. He had to operate out of shotgun, as opposed to being under center, wasn"t as sharp and accurate as he typically is, and protected a gloved left hand that…...

22+ min ago (409+ words) The self-styled secretary of war reportedly ordered a second missile strike on two alleged smugglers who survived an attack on a boat administration officials say was carrying drugs from Venezuela to the U.S., and many military and legal experts say Hegseth's "no quarter" order violated international and U.S. laws. "I don't know that that happened and Pete said he did not want them, even know what people were talking about, so we'll look in "we'll look into it," Trump told reporters. "But no, I wouldn't have wanted a second strike. The first strike was very lethal, it was fine, and if there were two people around, but Pete said that didn't happen. I have great confidence." Rep. Mike Turner (R-OH), former chairman of the House Intelligence Committee, joined with Democratic lawmakers in condemning Hegseth's alleged "kill everyone" follow-on order as illegal, and…...

23+ min ago (599+ words) An influential New York rabbi said he schooled Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani on peace in Gaza after his father's synagogue was targeted by a hateful mob of anti-Israel protesters. Rabbi Marc Schneier, president ofThe Foundation for Ethnic Understanding and the founding rabbi at The Hamptons Synagogue, said he told Mamdani to his face that he is "out of touch with the greater Muslim world" as leaders of the religion want a two-state solution. "I said to him, "Not only are you out of touch with the Jewish community, you're out of touch with the greater Muslim world," Schneier said Sunday on 77 WABC "The Cats Roundtable" radio program. "You, Mr. Mayor-elect, you refused to recognize Israel's right to exist as a Jewish state," he claimed he told Mamdani during an interview with WABC's John Catsimatidis. Mamdani is a practicing Muslim. Schneier said…...

23+ min ago (599+ words) An influential New York rabbi said he schooled Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani on peace in Gaza after his father's synagogue was targeted by a hateful mob of anti-Israel protesters. Rabbi Marc Schneier, president ofThe Foundation for Ethnic Understanding and the founding rabbi at The Hamptons Synagogue, said he told Mamdani to his face that he is "out of touch with the greater Muslim world" as leaders of the religion want a two-state solution. "I said to him, "Not only are you out of touch with the Jewish community, you're out of touch with the greater Muslim world," Schneier said Sunday on 77 WABC "The Cats Roundtable" radio program. "You, Mr. Mayor-elect, you refused to recognize Israel's right to exist as a Jewish state," he claimed he told Mamdani during an interview with WABC's John Catsimatidis. Mamdani is a practicing Muslim. Schneier said…...

24+ min ago (515+ words) Secretary of State Marco Rubio emphasized that any peace deal to end the war in Ukraine must ensure that the never will "never have another war again" on Sunday " as top negotiators from Washington and Kyiv met in Miami. The meeting came before President Trump's top envoys jet over to Moscow to try to sell the latest deal to Russian tyrant Vladimir Putin. Their goal is to close the gap on what territory Ukraine could give up and what security guarantees Kyiv will receive in exchange " two critical issues that were left unresolved during talks in Geneva one week earlier. "This is not just about ending a war this is about ending a war in a way that creates a mechanism and a way forward that will allow them to be independent and sovereign and never have another war again,…...