The Blind Swordsman resurrects Japan's most famous samurai, the legendary Zatoichi. Miramax is distributing the movie in the United States. NPR's Bob Mondello offers a review.
Bob Mondello, who jokes that he was a jinx at the beginning of his critical career — hired to write for every small paper that ever folded in Washington, just as it was about to collapse — saw that jinx broken in 1984 when he came to NPR.
President-elect Trump has called for sweeping tariffs on all imports. Some domestic businesses would welcome that, but others warn it will mean higher prices for their U.S. customers.
Under Syria's president, a vast jail complex in the capital Damascus was known as a place where Syrians were disappeared without trial. Now it's crowded with with families searching for loved ones.
Many presidents face failed Cabinet picks so when former Rep. Matt Gaetz withdrew from consideration for President-elect Donald Trump's Cabinet, it wasn't unprecedented, though Trump's style has been.