Were you disappointed that your Civil War movie didn't have any battle scenes?No, I wasn't, because it's been done so much. There have been some wonderful films with beautifully done battles and gore and all that. But I was more interested in what the vibe was following the war. You portray Lincoln's assassination, but you choose not to show his face. Why?If you try to authenticate his face, you're just never going to win. There's no face like it except ...

Although Pakistan's headlines are dominated by the violent excesses of Taliban extremists, the majority of Pakistanis subscribe to the more mystical Sufi tradition of the country's Barelvi school of Islam. And attacks on their places of worship are becoming depressingly familiar. Last Sunday, two bombers attacked the 13th Century Sakhi Sarwar shrine, near the southern Punjabi town of Dera Ghazi Khan, slaughtering 50 people and injuring twice as many. Mercifully, two other bombers failed to detonate their ...

If he holds his handy lead in the polls, Porfirio Lobo will be the next President of Honduras. Problem is, the last man elected to that office, Manuel Zelaya, was ousted last summer in a military coup. That makes it unlikely that any nation — except maybe the U.S. — will recognize Lobo if he wins the Nov. 29 election. But as he relaxes in his opulent house near Honduras' capital Tegucigalpa after a day of campaigning, Lobo ...

After Wall Street stabilized last spring, it didn't take long for the economy to become a political afterthought to the major battle of the year in Washington: health-care reform. But last Tuesday's off-year election broke D.C.'s political trance like a brick through plate glass. Republicans triumphed in two major gubernatorial races thanks largely to independents fleeing Democrats over economic worries. Suddenly every politician in town cares about the economy more than anything else. So Friday's jobless number from the Labor Department will quickly become ...

Lyon snatched a dramatic last-gasp 2-1 victory at Anfield as Liverpool lost four games in succession for the first time since 1987 to leave the English giants' Champions League qualification hopes hanging by a thread. Liverpool came into the match struggling in the English Premier League, having already lost four of their nine matches this season. And their form in Europe has been no better, with Rafael Benitez's side slumping to a 2-0 defeat at Fiorentina in their last match. ...

Last spring, Manon Slome was walking down a street in New York City when she noticed something odd: "Store after store was closed. When stores are empty it's like, 'What's going on?' It was a feeling of siege." Plenty of people in America could make the same observation. Nationwide, 10% of shopping center stores sit empty, according to the real-estate analytics firm Reis. That's the highest percentage of vacancies since 1992 ...

Padraig Harrington may have missed out on the British Open title but the mischievous Irishman showed how much the Claret Jug means to him by stealing the trophy from current holder Stewart Cink. American Cink had brought the suitcase containing the trophy into a dressing room before the Tour Championship at the East Lake Golf Club in Atlanta and left it outside his locker Allowing Harrington, who won the Open Championship in 2007 and 2008, the opportunity to play a ...

Police say the foster parents of a missing 5-year-old California boy with cerebral palsy are suspects in what is now being called a homicide investigation. Jennifer Campbell and Louis Ross, who are engaged, told police in Oakland, California, that Hasanni Campbell disappeared on August 10 while Ross was dropping him off at the shoe store where his fiance worked. Police arrested the two as suspects, but released them this week pending further investigation, Lt. Jeff Thomason said. "We had nothing ...

Former world number one, Rafael Nadal, has exclusively told CNN his levels of fitness ahead of the U.S. Open are "better than expected," boosting his chances of becoming only the seventh man in history to win a career grand slam with victory at Flushing Meadows. The Spaniard, who dropped to third-best in the world after being sidelined for over two months with a knee injury, said he was pleased with his physical preparation for the major that starts on ...

Simon Sousa, shell shocked and bleary eyed, stood on a grassy corner near the Kennedy compound in Hyannis Port. He clutched a 8"x10" framed and signed photo of himself with Senator Ted Kennedy, a memento from when Kennedy had helped his Brazilian house cleaner get a green card two years ago. He planted a few tiny American flags and he says he may drive to Boston for the funeral on Saturday. "I do not understand, he seemed okay ...