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BEIJING (AP) — Dazzling special effects, Optimus Prime ... and Beijing. The latest "Transformers" movie has all three, mixing Texas-based action with scenes in China's capital and a heavy dose of Hong Kong in an attempt to straddle the world's two biggest movie-going audiences.

The fourth installment of the Michael Bay-directed franchise has gone all-out to woo China's audience with Chinese locations, talent and even a reality TV show. "Transformers: Age of Extinction" illustrates the delicate balancing game of Hollywood studios trying to work out what the Chinese market wants while simultaneously catering to Americans.

If such films aren't handled properly, they risk alienating both audiences, said Michael Keane, an expert on China's creative industries at the Queensland University of Technology in Brisbane, Australia. In China, the core movie-going group of 19-to-25-year-olds already like Western films, he said.

"They would like 'Transformers,' and as soon as you start stuffing in Chinese elements, they can see through it, and you may shoot yourself in the foot by doing it," Keane said.

Western studios are adding Chinese elements to increase their appeal in China, where films earned $3.6 billion in ticket sales last year. "Skyfall" was partly set in Shanghai and Macau. Chinese actress Fan Bingbing played one of the mutant superheroes in "X-Men: Day of Future Past," which has earned $114 million in China — almost a quarter of the movie's total international box office.

But the sprinkling of Chinese elements in "Transformers: Age of Extinction," opening in China and North America on Friday, has gone further than many recent Hollywood movies.

More than half an hour of its action takes place in Hong Kong and the crew filmed in three other Chinese cities. Chinese star Li Bingbing has a fairly major role and boy band singer-turned-actor Han Geng has a one-liner. A reality TV show was held a year before the movie's debut to choose four people to play roles.

In one scene a billboard stretches across most of the screen, advertising a Chinese liquor. In another product placement, Stanley Tucci's character takes a break on a roof and drinks from a carton of Chinese milk.

Online film critic Zheng Kunjie said the number of Chinese elements in the film was "unprecedented" in a Hollywood import. The familiar scenes and brands make the "Transformers" movie more realistic to a Chinese audience than one that employs a Western stereotype of "a classically beautiful China" like in "Skyfall," she said. While these will make Chinese moviegoers amused and interested in the film, the Chinese elements don't affect the development of the story, she said.

Florian Fettweis of Beijing-based media consultancy CMM-I said too many Chinese elements could dilute the appeal to U.S. movie-goers.

Western movies that have contained a more China-specific narrative have tended to fare badly at the box office, such as last year's directorial debut by Keanu Reeves, "Man of Tai Chi," set in Beijing and centering around Chinese martial arts.

Unlike the latest "Transformers" movie, "Man of Tai Chi" had official co-production status in China. To be classed as such by Chinese authorities, at least a third of their main creative talent must be Chinese, 30 percent of its film budget must come from China, some production must take place in China and the film must include a certain amount of undefined Chinese elements.

Officially designated co-productions benefit both sides. For Hollywood, they earn an automatic exemption from China's quota on foreign movies and allow a larger share of the country's box office. China's filmmaking industry, meanwhile, is keen to acquire more skills and technological know-how.

Last year, there were 49 official co-productions in China, the majority of which were with Hong Kong and Taiwanese companies, according to leading entertainment consultancy EntGroup. China counts productions in the self-governing island of Taiwan as being Chinese.

There were three China-U.S. co-productions, including "Cloud Atlas."

A flurry of recent cooperation agreements between Hollywood studios and Chinese players suggests more co-productions are on the way.

In April, Paramount and state-owned China Film Group signed a deal to co-produce fantasy-action movie "Marco Polo" based on the 14th century European explorer who traveled to China. He is a positive figure in Chinese history and workable fodder for a Chinese-inspired script.

He Xuefeng, a Film Bureau official, said it was too early to say whether "Marco Polo" would be given co-production status.

On Monday, Chinese private investor Fosun International Ltd. announced that it would invest in Studio 8 — a company founded by former Warner Bros. executive Jeff Robinov. Also this month, Hollywood film financier and Chinese producer Relativity Media and Jiangsu Broadcasting Corp. announced an agreement to co-produce, co-finance and distribute film and television content for both the international and Chinese markets.

"Transformers: Age of Extinction" is not an official co-production, but Hollywood-based Paramount worked with China Movie Channel and Jiaflix Enterprises to make the film. Paramount is not thought to have applied for the official co-production status, although it did not respond to requests for comment, and was likely assured of being chosen among this year's quota of imports because of its blockbuster brand and Chinese elements.

Hollywood coming to China isn't "necessarily a good thing for creative freedom" because screenwriters will avoid topics sensitive to Beijing such as the Dalai Lama or the Falun Gong spiritual group, said Keane, the expert at Queensland University of Technology.

"It's going to mean a kind of dumbing down in terms of people will self-censor," Keane said. "They're going to make stories that are neutral or even positive towards China in order to get into the marketplace."

The shaggy hair, overpowering fastball and consistent dominance have been replaced by a mustache, off-speed pitches and a long stretch of mediocrity.

Tim Lincecum has undergone quite a transformation since bursting on the scene as the undersized Freak who dominated bulky sluggers. Through it all, Lincecum has remained a fan favorite in San Francisco for his ability to produce memorable performances.

Lincecum pitched his second no-hitter against the San Diego Padres in less than a year, allowing only one runner Wednesday and leading the San Francisco Giants to a 4-0 win.

"Right now I guess I can say it's really cool," Lincecum said. "When I get older I can reflect on that a little more and just take it in for what it's worth. Right now I'm still kind of in the moment."

Lincecum shut down the weakest-hitting team in the majors, striking out six and walking one in a 113-pitch outing — 35 fewer than he needed last July 13 against the Padres in his first no-hitter.

Lincecum retired the final 23 batters after walking Chase Headley in the second inning, relying much more on his off-speed stuff than his fastball. Though the Padres hit a few balls hard, San Francisco fielders didn't need to make any exceptional plays to preserve Lincecum's gem.

"I've always been that guy who will kind of go for the strikeout," Lincecum said. "I think my first no-hitter I had 13, so I think I was going for those a little bit more often."

"Today I tried to be a little bit more efficient and take what they were going to give me. They were giving me a lot of groundballs and a lot of pop flies, so I was just going to try to keep attacking the way that I was," he said.

The right-hander with two NL Cy Young Awards became just the second pitcher in major league history to no-hit the same team twice. Hall of Famer Addie Joss did it for Cleveland against the Chicago White Sox with a perfect game in 1908 and a no-hitter in 1910.

Lincecum (6-5) threw the 16th no-hitter in Giants' history. Just one other pitcher has thrown two for the team: Christy Mathewson for the New York Giants more than 100 years ago.

"It's hard enough to do one," Giants manager Bruce Bochy said. "To do two, that puts you in a little different class. I couldn't be happier."

Lincecum joined Sandy Koufax, Randy Johnson and Roy Halladay as the only pitchers with two Cy Young awards and two no-hitters.

"Just to be in that company allows me a chance to pat myself on the back a little bit," he said.

Making the performance even sweeter was the fact that Lincecum got two hits of his own, becoming the first pitcher with two hits in a no-hitter since Rick Wise hit two homers for Philadelphia against Cincinnati on June 23, 1971.

"Regardless of what they did, I think it's cool I got two hits anyway because up to today I only had one and a pretty poor batting average," Lincecum said. "I got that thing above .100 and I feel much better about it."

But Lincecum will always be known for his pitching. He arrived as a shaggy-haired phenom nicknamed the Freak in 2007 for his ability to generate tremendous velocity from his slight frame.

He won NL Cy Young awards in 2008 and '09 and helped lead the Giants to their first World Series title in San Francisco the following season.

As age and wear and tear ate away at his velocity, Lincecum was forced to change his approach to pitching. It hasn't been an easy transformation at times as he posted a losing record the past two seasons as his ERA hovered around 5.00.

He was even relegated to the bullpen when the Giants won it all again in 2012, but was brought back with a $35 million, two-year deal last offseason for moments just like this.

"I think it's been a battle for him at times to make that transformation to what he is now," Bochy said. "Sometimes less is more, and that's what I think if anything, hopefully, he learned today."

Lincecum made quick work of the San Diego hitters in the late innings.

He drew a standing ovation when he batted in the eighth, then got another ovation when he took the mound to begin the ninth.

Lincecum struck out pinch-hitter Chris Denorfia to open the ninth. Pinch-hitter Yasmani Grandal followed with a tapper back to Lincecum, who tossed to first for the out.

Will Venable was up next and Lincecum retired him on an easy grounder to second base. Lincecum took a few steps toward first when the ball was hit, stopped to watch the play and clapped his hand into his glove when it was over.

Catcher Hector Sanchez soon met Lincecum for an embrace, and the rest of the Giants joined in the celebration.

"It was amazing," Sanchez said. "Anybody wants to be part of something special like this. That's a great feeling."

WASHINGTON (AP) — Strange bedfellows, indeed.

The Obama administration has found itself in a foreign policy and national security pickle of rare complexity with the apparent entry of Syria into the Iraq conflict on the side of the U.S.-backed government in Baghdad, as well as active Iranian military support for Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki.

Washington already was toeing a delicate line with Shiite Iran, which the U.S. deems the world's most active state sponsor of terrorism, over their common short-term interest in turning back the advance of militant Sunni rebels in Iraq.

Now, to its dismay, Syrian President Bashar Assad — regarded in Washington as a pariah who should be ousted — has joined the club with what U.S. and Iraqi officials say are airstrikes against the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant in western Iraq. ISIL had been fighting Assad in Syria before turning its major focus to seizing large swaths of northern Iraq.

Assad is being supported by Iran in his country's own civil war with opposition forces, and a decision for Syria to hit ISIL on Iraqi soil is perhaps not surprising. While al-Maliki may not like Syrian attacks on Iraqi territory, "if it distracts the Islamic State from its trek towards Baghdad for a while, then they will welcome it," said Robert Ford, former U.S. ambassador to Syria.

But as Iraq's other immediate neighbors — Jordan, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia and Turkey — bolster their defenses, the new fighting threatens to unravel a byzantine balance of Mideast alliances and enmities that the United States long has sought to manage. The U.S. is deploying 300 special forces to train and advise the Iraqi army and is conducting surveillance flights. Iran is also flying surveillance drones over Iraq in aid of al-Maliki's government, and on Tuesday, Syrian planes killed 17 people in a strike in Iraq's mainly Sunni Anbar province, according to U.S. and Iraqi officials.

American and Iranian officials have had some direct discussions on the matter, though the administration has ruled out the prospect of direct military cooperation or coordination with Iran.

However, amid widespread concern, notably among Sunni Arab states and Israel, about the convergence of U.S., Iranian and Syrian policies on ISIL, President Barack Obama's national security team has scrambled to produce a consistent and coherent message to the region. Administration officials said intervention by Syria was not the way to stem the insurgents, who have taken control of several cities in northern and western Iraq.

"We've made it clear to everyone in the region that we don't need anything to take place that might exacerbate the sectarian divisions that are already at a heightened level of tension," Secretary of State John Kerry said at a meeting of NATO foreign ministers in Brussels. "It's already important that nothing take place that contributes to the extremism or could act as a flash point with respect to the sectarian divide."

At the White House, spokesman Josh Earnest went further.

"The solution to the threat confronting Iraq is not the intervention of the Assad regime," he told reporters. "In fact, it's the Assad regime and the terrible violence that they perpetrated against their own people that allowed ISIL to thrive in the first place. The solution to Iraq's security challenge does not involve militias or the murderous Assad regime, but the strengthening of the Iraqi security forces to combat threats."

Administration officials have said repeatedly that the only way to resolve the crisis is for Iraqi leaders to come together and form a truly inclusive and representative government in which all three of the country's main ethnic and religious groups — Sunni, Shiite and Kurd — have a voice.

Yet, it remains unclear if al-Maliki is willing to allow such an administration to be formed, and as long as the crisis continues, Gulf Arab countries with their long and deep distrust of Iran in particular are watching Iraq with increasingly dire concern.

Underscoring the urgency, Kerry, who traveled to Baghdad and the Kurdish city of Irbil this week, was to meet in Paris on Thursday with the foreign ministers of Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Jordan and Israel, plus the prime minister of Lebanon, to try to ease their fears and discuss how to attempt to coordinate a response. In another sign of how critical the situation has become, Kerry will then fly to Saudi Arabia on Friday to hold similar talks with King Abdullah.

Karim Sadjipour, an Iran expert with the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, said the situation in Iraq, coupled with ongoing U.S.-Iran nuclear negotiations, have produced a "bizarre dynamic" in which the United States and Saudi Arabia appear to be "allies but not friends" and the United States and Iran appear to be "friends but not allies."

The addition to the mix of Syria's Assad is likely to further muddy the waters.

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Associated Press writers Vivian Salama in Cairo, Lara Jakes in Brussels and Julie Pace in Washington contributed to this report.

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EDITOR'S NOTE — Matthew Lee has covered international affairs and U.S. foreign policy since 1999 and for The Associated Press since 2007.

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