Wilford Brimley, ‘Cocoon’ and ‘Natural’ actor, dies at 85

Los Angeles: Wilford Brimley, who worked his way up from movie stunt rider to an indelible character actor who brought gruff charm, and sometimes menace, to a range of films that included “Cocoon,” “The Natural” and “The Firm”, has died. He was 85. Brimley’s manager Lynda Bensky said the actor died in a Utah hospital. He was on dialysis and had several medical ailments, she said. The mustached Brimley was a familiar face for a number of roles, often playing characters like his grizzled baseball manager in “The Natural” opposite Robert Redford’s bad-luck phenomenon. He also worked with Redford in “Brubaker” and “The Electric Horseman.” Brimley’s best-known work was in “Cocoon”. AP

Israel showers India with greetings on Friendship Day

Jerusalem: Israel on Sunday showered India with goodwill greetings on Friendship Day, peppered with a Bollywood number, with Israeli President Reuven Rivlin also congratulating PM Narendra Modi. Rivlin tweeted in English and Hindi his message . “Happy Friendship Day to our dear friends in India!,” the Israeli President wrote. “Mitrata Divas par meri or se aapko aur bharat ki janta ko bahut bahut badhai,” he wrote. “Tere jaisa yaar kahan, kahan aisa yaarana (There is no friend like you, there is no friendship like ours).” “May our #Friendship & #GrowingPartnership strengthen even more in future!,” a tweet from the official handle of the Israeli embassy said. PTI

US Marshals put Fyre Festival merchandise up for auction

New York: More than three years after the highly publicised Fyre Festival famously fizzled out in the Bahamas, merchandise and other “minor assets” are up for sale, courtesy the US Marshals Service. The US Marshals announced that 126 items from the festival will be auctioned off, with proceeds going toward the victims of Billy McFarland. McFarland acknowledged defrauding investors of $26 million in the 2017 Fyre Festival and over $100,000 in a fraudulent ticket-selling scheme after his arrest in the scam. He was sentenced to six years in prison in October 2018. AP