Blog

Special Report: How Sony sanitized Adam Sandler movie to please Chinese censors

By Clare Baldwin and Kristina Cooke HONG KONG/LOS ANGELES (Reuters) – In a 2013 script for the movie “Pixels,” intergalactic aliens blast a hole in one of China’s national treasures – the Great Wall. Sony executives spared the Great Wall because they were anxious to get the movie approved for release in China, a review of internal Sony Pictures emails shows. It is just one of a series of changes

Syrian government says too early for more U.N.-backed peace talks

By Laila Bassam and Sylvia Westall BEIRUT (Reuters) – Syria’s foreign minister said on Friday it was too early to hold another United Nations-backed peace conference on Syria, indicating the dim prospects for diplomacy as a U.N. envoy wraps up three months of consultations on the war. Walid al-Moualem also reiterated his government’s view that Iran’s support for Damascus would continue after its nuclear deal with world powers including the

Burundi President Pierre Nkurunziza wins third term

Burundian President Pierre Nkurunziza has won a predicted but controversial third consecutive term in office, according to official election results announced Friday. Nkurunziza won 69.41 percent of the vote in Tuesday’s vote, handing him an immediate first-round victory, the election commission said. Nkurunziza’s candidacy was condemned as unconstitutional by the opposition and provoked months of protests and an attempted coup in the central African nation.

DOJ asked to probe handling of Clinton's emails: NYT

By Jonathan Allen NEW YORK (Reuters) – The U.S. Justice Department is weighing a request by two government inspectors general to open a criminal investigation into the possible mishandling of classified information in Hillary Clinton’s private emails from when she was secretary of state, according to a report in the New York Times. A Justice Department official confirmed the department received a criminal referral but gave no other details. The

Obama departs for Kenya, returning to his father's homeland

President Barack Obama departed for Kenya on Thursday, his first trip to his father’s homeland as U.S. president, kicking off a swing through Africa that will also include a stop in Ethiopia. Obama, the first black U.S. president, is the son of a black father from Kenya and a white mother from Kansas. Obama is expected to meet with family members while in Nairobi, but he will not be traveling

Police seek motive in Louisiana movie theater shooting

An Alabama drifter opened fire inside a crowded movie theater, killing two women in Lafayette, Louisiana, on Thursday evening, police said, in the latest act of random gun violence to shock the United States. The gunfire erupted during a showing of the film “Trainwreck” before the 59-year-old suspect, identified as John R. Houser, killed himself with a .40 caliber handgun as officers rushed to the scene, police told a morning