Tom Stoppard, celebrated British playwright, dies aged 88

Tom Stoppard, a playful, provocative dramatist who won an Academy Award for his screenplay for Shakespeare in 1998, passed away. He was 88.

United Agents claimed Stoppard passed away “peacefully” at his Dorset, southern England, home surrounded by his family in a statement released on Saturday.

He will be remembered for his writing, for example, humanity, brilliance, irreverence, generosity of spirit, and profound love of English, according to the authors. Working with Tom and getting to know him was an honor.

Few dramatists of the 20th century could match Stoppard’s scope and continued success in the world of comic invention and linguistic pyrotechnics.

Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead, his first film, was released in 1966, and his 1993 film, Arcadia, his sequel, Leopoldstadt, has kept theatergoers amused and intrigued by his unique style of acting.

His writing had a distinctive style that earned him the name Stoppardian, frequently philosophical or scientific, but it was always funny. It refers to using verbal gymnastics to discuss philosophical ideas.

In a 1970s interview, the Czech-born Stoppard said, “I want to show that I can make serious points by flinging a custard pie around the stage for a few hours.”

Theatre is primarily a recreation, according to the statement. However, it can also be a place for people who like to stretch their minds.

On September 11, 2018, Stoppard arrives at Westminster Abbey for a memorial service for the late director of theatre Sir Peter Hall.

early years

On July 3, 1937, Stoppard, the son of Eugen Straussler, a doctor, and Marta (or Martha), nee Beckova, a nurse, was born in what was then Czechoslovakia.

When he was a baby, the Jewish family fled the Nazis and settled in Singapore.

However, his mother and his older brother Peter escaped to India with him because Singapore became unsafe there. After Singapore fell to the Japanese, his father perished while he remained there.

The family relocated to England after Marta Straussler wed Kenneth Stoppard, a major in the British army.

Pocklington in northern England, where Stoppard was born, became a boarder before dropping out of school at the age of 17.

He made the decision to avoid school. Instead, he immediately began reporting for a small newspaper in Bristol, western England.

He started working as a theater and cinema critic, and his passion for drama persisted.

FILE PHOTO: Tom Stoppard accepts the award for Best New Play for
[Brendan Mcdermid/Reuters] At the 76th annual Tony Awards in New York City in 2023, Stoppard accepts the award for Best New Play for “Leopoldstadt.”

a successful career

Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead, a tragicomedy centered on two minor characters from Shakespeare’s Hamlet, was Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead, which was immediately a hit at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe.

Before earning a Tony Award for best play in the United States, it moved to London’s West End.

“What’s it about”? Bemused theatergoers reacted frequently to the play frequently. According to Stoppard, who was questioned when he was speaking to a woman outside a Broadway theater, “It’s about to make me very wealthy.”

Hermione Lee wrote in Hermione Lee’s authorised biography, but he undoubtedly had managed to transform his previously fragile finances. He later questioned whether he had said “very.”

In fact, Stoppard’s work would go on to win numerous awards both domestically and internationally.

He received the London Evening Standard Theatre Awards’ 1997 knighthood, and in 2014 he was named “the greatest living playwright.”

He is best remembered for his movies, which include the Star Wars and Indiana Jones franchises, to non-theatre-goers.

He won an Oscar for his screenplay for Shakespeare in Love, which won seven Academy Awards that year overall.

The director of the Broadway premiere of Stoppard’s marriage and affairs story, The Real Thing, said, “He has no apparent animus toward anyone or anything.”

What happens in Gaza’s ‘Bermuda Triangle’

More than a month and a half have passed since a ceasefire in Gaza was declared. 600 trucks bringing food, medicine, tents, fuel, and other basic necessities into the Strip were required as part of the agreement.

We’ve grown used to official pronouncements about daily truck crossings across the border. Releases include photos, careful documentation of crossings, and celebration-filled announcements.

Since the ceasefire began, 4,200 trucks carrying humanitarian goods have been bringing into Gaza each week. Since the start of the ceasefire, more than 16 600 food trucks have entered Gaza. 70% of the trucks that entered carried food. The Israeli occupation authorities’ November 26 update claims that there are more than 370, 000 tons of food.

The Palestinians in Gaza are regarded as having the highest levels of nutrition worldwide.

There are indeed many commercial trucks allowed in that carry food that is low nutritional value, like chocolate bars and biscuits, or that is too expensive, like frozen chicken that costs $25 per kilogram or a tray of eggs for $30, but it is unclear to many of us how Israel counts the “trucks of food” in this context.

The official count is also questioned by humanitarian organizations. Only half of the food aid needed for Gaza is imported, according to the World Food Programme. Only a quarter of the needed aid is actually allowed to enter, according to Palestinian relief organizations.

And then only a small portion of that amount actually gets to the displaced, impoverished, injured, and hungry. Because a large portion of the aid that enters Gaza ends up in a “Bermuda triangle”

On the map, the distance between the border and the displacement camps, where aid should be distributed, appears short, but in reality, it is the longest in terms of both security and political terms.

Yes, many trucks that pass through never reach the families who require the most supplies.

Trucks are mentioned, but no humanitarian packages are visible. They hear rumors of tons of flour, but they don’t see any bread. They never see trucks coming to their camps or neighborhoods, despite watching videos of them entering the Strip. Gaza appears to be the only place the aid leaves in the dark.

Recently, street conversation about the unaccounted for has gotten louder, especially now that basic food items have suddenly appeared in neighborhood markets but still have labels that read “Humanitarian Aid Not for Sale.” Cans of chicken meat marked “this label” are available for $15 each.

Aid packages frequently lack the promised items even when they reach the needy. For instance, when my family opened a food package that was supposed to contain six bottles of cooking oil, there were only three bottles of cooking oil and no rice.

Not just corruption, either. The Israeli army has been systematically destroying Gaza’s institutions after two years of the genocidal war. There is no organized body with the power to maintain public order and security.

From May 19 through November 29, 8035 aid trucks made it to their destinations in Gaza, according to the UN’s aid monitoring system, and 727 were “intercepted” either “peacefully” or “forcefully” between those dates.

Trucks are frequently forced to travel dangerous routes because the Israeli army places restrictions on the roads they can use. Some roads can only be used by armed groups and are not used by powerful neighborhood groups or neighborhood committees. A few dozen kilometers of travel is made possible by all of this. Aid enters Gaza’s “Bermuda triangle” in this manner.

International organizations are also unable to impose security. Because of the risk, they are unable to take trucks with them, and they are unable to accurately track every shipment. They rely on a system full of gaps that various parties can quickly exploit because of their reliance on local committees and volunteers.

Who actually benefits from the end of aid, in the middle of all this?

Some businesses are seeking quick profits. Local armed organizations are looking for cash sources. And there are, of course, the occupation and its allies, who want to keep using hunger as a means of political pressure. They all get relief from the suffering of regular Palestinians.

Since the ceasefire, there has been less attention to what is happening in Gaza. The world’s population is relieved that the genocide has ended, and it no longer wonders why Palestinians are receiving aid.

The disappearance of aid is being normalized in policy and political circles, as if it were a natural outcome of conflict. However, it is not an engineered crisis intended to be yet another form of collective punishment for the Palestinian people.

Trucks are disappearing into Gaza’s “Bermuda triangle,” but the strength of Palestinians to keep going is another factor as the world chooses to ignore it once more.

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Russian strikes on Kyiv kill three as Ukraine envoys travel to US for talks

As Ukrainian representatives traveled to the US for talks on a renewed push to end the war, Russian drone and missile strikes in and around Kyiv, according to officials, have killed at least three people and injured dozens more.

Russian Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha wrote on X on Saturday that it had fired dozens of cruise and ballistic missiles at regular people’s homes, the energy grid, and important infrastructure.

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Russia continues to pursue its “war plan,” which includes killing and destroying, while everyone is talking about peace plans, he added.

According to the Kyiv City Military Administration, two people were killed in the Kyiv capital’s attacks. In a combined missile and drone attack on the larger Kyiv region, a woman died and eight others were hurt, according to the regional police.

In response to Russia’s attack on Ukraine on November 29, 2025, vehicles burn after being damaged in a Russian missile and drone attack on Kyiv.

According to Mayor Vitali Klitschko, 29 people were hurt in Kyiv, according to Vitali Klitschko, who also noted that residential buildings were struck by falling debris from intercepted Russian drones. Additionally, he claimed Kyiv’s western region had lost power.

Tymur Tkachenko, the head of Kyiv’s military administration, claimed a 42-year-old man was killed by a drone, and his 10-year-old son was taken to a hospital with “burns and other injuries.”

According to Tkachenko, “the world should be aware that Russia is targeting entire families,” noting that the son was the only one to have been injured so far.

EU Ambassador Katarina Mathernova doubted Russia’s aforesaid desire for a peace agreement following the attacks in Kyiv.

While a potential peace deal is being discussed by the world. Moscow responds with missiles, not diplomacy, Mathernova wrote in an X post.

Team from Ukraine travels to the US

Volodymyr Zelenskyy, the president of Ukraine, stated on the diplomatic front that his negotiators had left for Washington in search of a “dignified peace” and the end of Russia’s 2022 war.

Washington is increasingly compelled to support Zelenskyy’s acceptance of a US proposal to end the conflict, which according to critics favors Moscow.

Following the resignation of his top of staff Andriy Yermak on Friday amid a corruption investigation, Rustem Umerov is currently leading the Ukrainian team.

He posted on X, “The task is clear: to quickly and substantively work out the steps needed to end the war.”

The United States and Ukraine continue to collaborate in the most constructive way, and we anticipate that the conclusions of the meetings in Geneva will now be communicated to them.

At Kyiv’s request, US President Donald Trump’s initial 28-point strategy for a world war ended in Geneva was changed with US and European officials’ input. However, there are still many contentious issues unresolved.

Black Sea attacks

Separately, a SBU security service official reported on Saturday that Ukraine had violated Western sanctions by using marine drones to attack two oil-exporting tankers while avoiding Western sanctions.

The SBU and the Ukrainian navy jointly conducted the “shadow fleet” vessels, the official told the Reuters news agency on condition of anonymity.

According to Turkish authorities, two shadow fleet tankers were blown up on Friday near Turkiye’s Bosphorus Strait when two explosions caused fire to engulf the vessels. Rescue operations were launched for those on board.

This video grab taken from images released by the Security service of Ukraine (SBU) on November 29, 2025, shows smoke rising from a cargo ship on fire in the Black Sea off the Turkish coast, amid the ongoing Russian-Ukrainian conflict.
In the middle of the ongoing Russian-Ukrainian conflict, smoke rises from a cargo ship on fire in the Black Sea off the Turkish coast in this video grab taken from images.

Both tankers, identified as the Kairos and Virat, were unloaded and headed for Novorossiysk, a significant Russian oil terminal, according to the SBU official.

Both tankers suffered significant damage after being hit, according to “video]footage,” and were essentially taken out of service. The official claimed that this will be a significant blow to Russian oil transportation. When the strikes occurred, they did not.