Best I News!

$41 million is enough to kick "Kung Fu Panda 3" on its way to the top of the North American box office, according to Rentrak estimates Sunday. The DreamWorks Animation film cost a reported $145 million to make and earned a strong "A'' CinemaScore from audiences — 70 percent of whom were families. "It's a bold move to take a franchise which has had great success in that summer corridor and move it into late January, which is generally considered a very slow time," Rentrak's senior media analyst Paul Dergarabedian said. "It also filled a huge void in the marketplace." The first film opened to $60.2 million in 2008 and the second to $47.7 million in 2011. For Fox, switching up the release was a no-brainer after seeing the successes of "The Lego Movie" and last year's "The SpongeBob Movie: Sponge Out of Water" in this time frame. "We know that when the market conditions are right, this business reall...

Due to poor performing of fossil fuel stocks to the market as a whole -- and perhaps most importantly, compared to renewable energy stocks, the market is encouraging pension funds and institutions to jettison fossil fuels from their portfolios, waving a clear warning flag to investors about the financial future of oil and coal companie, said Michael Liebreich, chairman of Bloomberg New Energy Finance, at a summit on climate risk put on by the nonprofit sustainability advocacy group Ceres. Referring to investors who won't divest and continue to own fossil fuel stocks, Liebreich pointedly said that the market was "divesting through value destruction" -- in other words, cutting their holdings in traditional, polluting energy companies by slashing their value. Over the last 10 years, the S&P 500 index is up just over 50 percent. Yet energy stocks over the same time period have risen only 1.3 percent. For big investors to simply allow their holdings in big energy ...

Syria's main opposition group is considering a proposal by U.N. special envoy Staffan de Mistura that could pave the way to the delegation pressing ahead with talks after holding their first meeting with him on Sunday, a Western diplomatic source said. Representatives of the Saudi-backed Higher Negotiation Committee (HNC), which includes political and militant opponents of President Bashar al-Assad, had warned earlier in the day that they may yet walk away from the Geneva talks unless the suffering of civilians in the five-year conflict is eased. With Islamic State bombers killing over 60 people near the country's holiest Shi'ite shrine, the Syrian government's chief delegate retorted that the blasts in Damascus merely confirmed the link between the opposition and terrorism - even though Islamic State has been excluded from the talks. The United Nations is aiming for six months of talks that would focus on achieving a broad ceasefire, while working toward a polit...

Gregory Hudgens, the father of actress Vanessa Hudgens, died Saturday night of cancer. "I am so sad to say that last night my daddy, Greg passed away from stage 4 cancer. Thank you to everyone who kept him in your prayers," she wrote to her almost 6 million followers. The "High School Musical" star will still play Rizzo in Fox's "Grease: Live" on Sunday and dedicated her performance to her late father. “Tonight, I do the show in his honor,” she wrote. Hudgens first revealed that her father was in poor health six months ago with a sweet picture of her dad, a former firefighter, asking her fans to keep praying for his healing. Then, when Hudgens accepted the award for Breakthrough Performer at the 2015 Industry Dance Awards & Cancer Benefit Show, she opened up about her father's struggle with cancer. “Last year, my boyfriend, Austin [Butler], lost his mom, Lori, to cancer, and my dad has just been recently diagnosed with stage four ca...

Like then-senator Barack Obama in 2008, Sanders is powered by a groundswell of enthusiasm among young voters who view him as an incorruptible populist fighter. Unlike Obama, his campaign was caught off guard by massive crowds early in the cycle and was late in channeling them into a grass-roots organization, officials concede. If Bernie Sanders loses Iowa's caucuses on Monday, he may be a victim of his own success. While the Sanders campaign now says it has an activist army spreading the word on social media, at rallies and even campus bars, it may not be enough to gin up the participation levels necessary to overcome Hillary Clinton’s statewide advantages among reliable Democratic caucusgoers. For her part, Clinton is also far more organized than she was when she lost in 2008 to Obama. Brandon Holdgrafer, a 20-year-old physiology major, is a good example of Sanders’ challenge. In between sips of coffee at a Starbucks in Ames, Iowa, Holdgrafer said he feels “really strongly”...

"We're going to win, we're going to win," Trump told an enthusiastic crowd in a middle school gym, urging supporters Sunday to caucus for him and even talking about the criteria for a vice president. "We're leading everywhere." He exuded confidence the day before his first election day, Asked what he might be looking for in a running mate, Trump first said it was too early to discuss the subject, though he went on to say he would consider people in key election states and pick a person who could assume the presidency if necessary. "There are some great people out there," Trump said. The New York businessman who has never sought public office appears to be locked in a tight battle with Texas Sen. Ted Cruz a day ahead of the Iowa caucuses. Kicking off a brief Sunday swing in western Iowa, Trump provided a litany of the protests with the current government have have fueled his campaign: jobs, trade deals, the Iran nuclear agreement, the Syria...

A new Iowa Poll shows that Hillary Clinton has kept a tight result over Bernie Sanders in the waning hours leading into the Iowa caucuses. Clinton is the top pick for 45% of likely Democratic caucusgoers, with Sanders at 42%, The Des Moines Register/Bloomberg Politics poll shows. Clinton's support is up 3 percentage points from earlier this month, and Sanders' is 2 percentage points higher. “This race is as tight as can be,” said David Axelrod, a national political strategist. “If Bernie Sanders had momentum headed into the final month, the race now is static and essentially tied." “It comes down to who can grind it out on the ground on Monday night,” said Axelrod, a senior political commentator for CNN and an architect of Barack Obama's successful 2008 and 2012 presidential campaigns. The results are within the poll’s margin of error of plus or minus 4 percentage points. "Turnout is everything," Axelrod said. "If turnout is within a normal ...

Everybody who wants to be the 45th president of the United States spent the last day before the Iowa caucuses in a metaphorical maelstrom of grass-roots campaigning as polls showed close contests in both parties. But as the first contest of the 2016 presidential campaign nears, it was a literal storm that could loom even larger over the Hawkeye State: Wintry weather that could hit parts of Iowa just as voters show up to caucus at 7 p.m. Monday. "Enough snow and a wintry mix will occur to make roads slippery in the southern third of Iowa as people are heading home from the caucuses," said Alex Sosnowski, an AccuWeather meteorologist. The anti-establishment candidates — Donald Trump for Republicans and Bernie Sanders for Democrats — are relying on high turnout to give their insurgent campaigns credibility and momentum going into next week's first primary election in New Hampshire. Trump, a real estate mogul and reality television star facing his first-ever election d...

European Council president Donald Tusk has left a meeting with "No deal" yet over a renegotiation of the UK's relationship with the Prime Minister David Cameron. It had been planned that any proposed deal could be put to other EU leaders on Monday, ahead of a February summit. An early deal would allow Mr Cameron to call a referendum on the UK's EU membership before the summer holidays. Mr Cameron and Mr Tusk met over dinner at Downing Street on Sunday. However, Mr Cameron later said on Twitter that it had been a "good meeting" and that Mr Tusk had agreed to another 24 hours of talks before publishing the draft UK renegotiation text. According to an EU source, Mr Tusk's negotiating team stayed in Downing Street after the meeting. After the 24-hour period has passed, the team will assess the situation and decide whether to table a draft agreement or not. 'Emergency brake' The pair hope to finalise a package of measures for the EU le...

Has not been offered a new contract, Chelsea captain and defender John Terry, will leave the club at the end of the season. The 35-year-old defender, who joined the club at the age of 14, has won four Premier League titles, five FA Cups and the Champions League with the Blues. "Ideally I would have loved to stay, but the club's moving in a different direction," he said. However, a club spokesman said later on Sunday that Terry could yet be offered a new deal. Terry has played 696 times for Chelsea and hopes to continue his career, but not with another English club. 'Channels of dialogue open' Guus Hiddink, who replaced the sacked Jose Mourinho in December, is in charge of the Blues until the end of the season. "They said that when the new manager comes in, things might change," Terry said after Chelsea's FA Cup win at MK Dons. "It's a no at the minute. I needed to know now like I have done every January and sometimes it takes ...

Bombings near the Shia shrine of Sayyida Zeinab, south of Syria's capital Damascus, killed at least 50 people. A bus station and a building housing military headquarters were hit by the blasts, which mangled nearby vehicles. It happened as the government and opposition groups gathered in Geneva in a bid to start talks aimed at a political solution to the conflict. The attack, claimed by the Islamic State group, was aimed at disrupting the talks, the EU said. Both the Syrian government and opposition are in Geneva but the talks have yet to begin. The main opposition group says the government must first meet key humanitarian demands. US Secretary of State John Kerry urged both sides to seize the opportunity to end the bloodshed. Mr Kerry said there was "no military solution" to the spiralling crisis, which he warned could engulf the region if the tentative UN-sponsored negotiations fail as previous attempts have. The UN envoy to Syria has scheduled separate d...

The opposition saying it would send a team to consult on the goal of the negotiations but still refusing to commit to attend them though peace talks aimed at ending the Syrian war got off to a rocky start Friday. The announcement by the opposition that it would send a fact-finding team to consult with the United Nations came at the end of a confusing day during which U.N. officials declared that the talks had officially opened even though the delegation opposed to President Bashar al-Assad had not shown up. The disarray cast into doubt prospects for a successful outcome to a process that has been touted by the Obama administration as a foreign policy priority for the year ahead. “There’s a lot riding on this diplomatic process, and it’s why the United States is so invested in it,” White House press secretary Josh Earnest said shortly before the opposition’s decision to send the team was announced, reflecting growing impatience within the Obama administration at the opposition’s ...

Facebook is starting to ban sales of guns on its flagship social network and its Instagram photo-sharing service, a move meant to clamp down on unlicensed gun transactions. Facebook already prohibits people from offering marijuana, pharmaceuticals and illegal drugs for sale, and the company said on Friday that it was updating its policy to include guns. The ban applies to private, person-to-person sales of guns. Licensed gun dealers and gun clubs can still maintain Facebook pages and post on Instagram. Although Facebook was not directly involved in gun sales, it has served as a forum for gun sales to be negotiated, without people having to undergo background checks. The social network, with 1.6 billion monthly visitors, had become one of the world’s largest marketplaces for guns and was increasingly evolving into an e-commerce site where it could facilitate transactions of goods. The ban thrusts Facebook into the center of another major societal debate. Discussions over gun cont...

It looks like director Justin Chadwick agrees to combine the cast from three of the hottest titles on screens right now for his upcoming project as he's nabbing famous faces from Game Of Thrones, Sherlock and Star Wars: The Force Awakens for his developing spy thriller, Official Secrets. According to Screen International, Harrison Ford, Martin Freeman and Natalie Dormer will be teaming up with The Silence Of The Lambs star Anthony Hopkins as well as Legend's Paul Bettany for the new film, whose plot will be based on real-life events. Considering the calibre of these actors and the fact that Chadwick widely impressed with his latest film, the Oscar-nominated Mandela: Long Walk To Freedom, it seems this project will certainly be one to watch. The star-studded movie will be an adaptation of Sara and Gregory Bernstein's book The Spy Who Tried To Stop A War: Katharine Gun And The Secret Plot To Sanction The Iraq Invasion. It centres around Gun (Dormer) a young British secre...

UK cinemas saw record ticket sales because of movies such as Star Wars, James Bond and Jurassic World. While total box office sales in 2015 touched £1.24bn (€1.63bn, $1.78bn), marking a 17% jump on year, these three blockbuster franchisees accounted for more than a fifth of total ticket sales. Also, the number of movie- goers, increased to 172 million in 2015, up 9% on year. 'Star Wars: The Force Awakens' accounted for the most at £114m in the box office in 2015 despite not being released until mid-December, according to the British Film Institute (BFI), a charitable organisation which promotes and preserves filmmaking and television in the UK. The second highest grossing film in the UK was 'Spectre', the latest movie from the James Bond stable with £94.7m. This was followed by 'Jurassic World', the revival of Spielberg's 1990s classic, which clocked in ticket sales of £64m. Amanda Nevill, chief executive of the BFI said: "With spend from film pr...

A Russian fighter jet came within 15 feet of a U.S. Air Force reconnaissance plane over the Black Sea this week. This event is being called by Pentagon as an "unsafe" incident, U.S. officials say. "On January 25, 2016, a U.S. RC-135U flying a routine route in international airspace over the Black Sea was intercepted by a Russian Su-27 in an unsafe and unprofessional manner. We are looking into this particular incident," said a statement from Army Lt. Col. Michelle L. Baldanza, a Defense Department spokesperson. Another U.S. military official told CNN that the Russian jet flew along the right side the U.S. plane then turned away in a maneuver that had an adverse impact on the "controllability of the U.S. aircraft." The official did not know if the Russian aircraft was armed at the time. The official said the incident occurred more than 40 miles from the Russian coast. The U.S. official said Russian intercepts happen routinely and the majority are con...

A British woman who the police said had traveled to Syria to become a “jihadi bride” was convicted Friday of joining the Islamic State. The woman, Tareena Shakil, 26, went to Syria in October 2014 and returned about three months later to the United Kingdom, where she was arrested at Heathrow Airport in London. She was charged with being a member of a terrorist group. The authorities said Ms. Shakil was the first woman in the United Kingdom convicted of joining the Islamic State — also known as ISIS, ISIL or Daesh — although dozens of British women are suspected of having joined up in Syria and Iraq over the past 12 months. Ms. Shakil told the police that she and her son had been kidnapped while on vacation in Turkey and taken to Syria. In a police video of her questioning, which was released to the news media on Friday, she tells investigators, “It was never my intention to enter into Syria.” Investigators said, however, that they had found evidence, including Twitter posts and...

The State Department has marked twenty-two emails from Hillary Clinton's private email server as "top secret" and won't be released, cited from Friday The emails were not marked as classified at the time they were sent. "We can confirm that later today, as part of our monthly FOIA productions of former Secretary Clinton's emails, the State Department will be denying in full seven email chains, found in 22 documents representing 37 pages," State Department spokesman John Kirby told reporters. "The documents are being upgraded at the request of the intelligence community because they contain a category of top secret information," Kirby said. Clinton campaign spokesman Brian Fallon said that Clinton said the emails should be released and called at least one case, "over-classification run amok." "We firmly oppose the complete blocking of the release of these emails," Fallon said in a statement. "Since first pro...

A rare opportunity to step out of the Republican front-runner Donald Trump in the party’s last debate before the Iowa caucuses takes the rest of other Republican candidates taking advantage of this absence. The policy-heavy event in Des Moines offered a glimpse of what the Republican contest might have been without the unpredictable billionaire businessman — but the candidates could not resist lampooning Mr Trump for boycotting the final debate before voting kicks off in the 2016 campaign on Monday. Iowa residents will choose among the Republican and Democratic candidates in the first of a series of state-by-state contests to choose delegates to each party’s convention. Texas senator Ted Cruz, locked in a tight contest with Trump in Iowa, opened the debate with a sarcastic impression of the property mogul’s frequent insults of his opponents. “I’m a maniac and everyone on this stage is stupid, fat and ugly,” Cruz said. “And Ben (Carson), you’re a terrible surgeon.” Then he...