GOLDEN GLOBES: Julianne Moore's autocue breaks

DNA test confirms Ceausescu's remains

BUCHAREST, Romania – DNA tests have confirmed that the grave of Nicolae Ceausescu contains the remains of the Romanian dictator and his wife, the couple's son said Wednesday.

Ceausescu ruled Romania for 25 years with an iron fist before being ousted and executed with his wife Elena after a summary trial during the 1989 anti-communist revolt in which more than 1,000 people were killed.

Some Romanians, including the Ceausescu family, had doubts that the couple were really buried in the Ghencea military cemetery in Bucharest.

Valentin Ceausescu, a 62-year-old nuclear physicist, told the Associated Press the test results had finally cleared up lingering doubts. He said he had never visited his parents graves because he was not certain they were buried there.

Their bodies were exhumed at the request of the family as part of a five-year lawsuit, in a move that shocked Romanians.

Ceausescu, the only remaining child of the Ceausescus, told the AP that the family were looking for closure, and not revenge. He said he wanted to bury his parents at the same cemetery in adjacent plots. They had been buried about 20 yards (meters) apart

In the dawn exhumation, a team of pathologists and cemetery officials hoisted the wooden caskets of Ceausescu and his wife out of their graves, took DNA samples from the corpses, then reburied the coffins. The process took over two hours.

The daughter of the Ceausescu couple, Zoia Ceausescu, sued the defense ministry in 2005, saying she had doubts that her parents were in the cemetery. She died of cancer in 2006 and Valentin took up the case.

The couple's other son Nicu died of cirrhosis in 1996 and is buried in the same cemetery.

UK police train for Mumbai-style terrorist attacks

LONDON – British police are training with military experts to prepare for Mumbai-style gun attacks by terrorists, the country's interior ministry said Tuesday.

The Home Office said police and counterterrorism officials want to learn lessons from the deadly 2008 attacks in India, including how to handle terrorist shooting sprees.

The training follows recent warnings from U.S. and European intelligence agencies about a plot to attack European cities by groups of terrorists using firearms.

The U.S. State Department advised American citizens living or traveling in Europe earlier this month to take extra precautions following reports that terrorists may be plotting attacks in airports, travel hubs and tourist attractions.

A Home Office spokeswoman, speaking on condition of anonymity in line with government policy, said police continually refine their ability to handle new terrorist tactics.

"The police regularly train and exercise for a variety of scenarios with a variety of partners," she said. "It is right that we learn the lessons from previous incidents and that these inform and strengthen such procedures."

Britain's defense ministry and the Home Office declined to confirm a BBC report that claimed troops from the military's elite SAS force were involved in the exercises.

The SAS has a unit on permanent standby to respond to terrorist threats in Britain.

"We know we face a real and serious threat from terrorism," the Home Office spokeswoman said. "We keep security arrangements under constant review to take account of the threat, lessons we have learned and new challenges."

London's Metropolitan Police declined to comment on the training exercises.

Netanyahu to craft response to US pressure

JERUSALEM — Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was to convene his inner forum Friday in a bid to craft an Israeli response to mounting pressure from the United States, officials said.

A tight-lipped Netanyahu returned home Thursday after a tense visit to Washington that appeared to deepen a bitter row with the administration of US President Barack Obama over the building of Jewish settlements.

The Americans have reportedly given Netanyahu a series of demands needed to kickstart moribund peace talks with the Palestinians.

Netanyahu will meet his inner forum of seven senior ministers to draw up Israel's response to Washington, Cabinet Secretary Zvi Hauser told public radio on Friday, denying media reports the US had given Israel a deadline.

"I suggest you wait patiently. The forum of seven is meeting today in the afternoon to discuss things. If there is a necessity for further discussions they will happen," Hauser told the radio.

"All aspects of the issue will be examined and they will formulate Israel's position according to Israel's interests and in the time needed to do so," he said.

Hauser declined to discuss the details of Washington's demands, in line with the laconic stance adopted by both sides.Analysis:US standing firm in row with Israel

There was an unusually opaque news blackout throughout the visit, no concrete achievements were reported and the Israeli leader was given none of the trappings usually reserved for visitors such as photo op and press conference.

Still, late Thursday both sides tried to put a more positive spin on what has been called the worst crisis between the allies in decades.

Israeli government spokesman Nir Hefetz insisted Israel and its closest ally had edged closer to an understanding.

"There was progress; there is a narrowing of the gaps between the positions of Israel and the positions of the United States on this issue," he told Israel's Channel Two TV.

"We are making progress on important issues," White House spokesman Robert Gibbs said as President Obama flew to Iowa on Air Force One.

The spat erupted after Netanyahu's government announced 1,600 new housing units for annexed, largely Arab, east Jerusalem as US Vice President Joe Biden was in the region earlier this month hoping to promote peace talks.

The Palestinians see east Jerusalem as the capital of their promised state, and refuse to meet Netanyahu face-to-face without a complete freeze of settlement construction in the occupied territories.

In Washington, Defence Secretary Robert Gates said Israeli-Palestinian tensions -- which the US administration had hoped to ease -- are affecting Washington's national security interests.

"The lack of progress toward Middle East peace is clearly an issue that's exploited by our adversaries in the region," he said.

Before flying home, Netanyahu cancelled planned interviews with reporters after none of the customary photo opportunities with US officials or any formal statements with them.

Media reported that Netanyahu's carefully coordinated dressing down was accompanied by demands for wide-ranging measures including the extension of a partial settlement halt and the release of hundreds of Palestinian prisoners.

Gibbs described the discussions as "honest and straightforward," a diplomatic euphemism hinting at tensions, after Netanyahu entered the talks having laid down a hard line on settlement construction in east Jerusalem.

Netanyahu on Tuesday said US demands for a settlement freeze could delay the resumption of Middle East peace talks for a year, a day after a fiery speech in which he said: "Jerusalem is not a settlement."

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New workers' tombs found near Egypt's great pyramid

CAIRO — Egyptian archaeologists have unearthed a number of tombs of workers who helped to construct the country's largest pyramid, Culture Minister Faruk Hosni said in a statement on Sunday.

Antiquities chief Zahi Hawass led the team that "uncovered a new group of tombs dating back to the period of the fourth dynasty (2694-2513 BC), which belonged to workers who helped to build the great pyramid," Hosni said.

The first of these tombs was discovered in 1990.

Hawass said the new discovery at the Cheops pyramid was particularly important as it "belies all that was said about the construction of the pyramids by bound workers... and contradicts the idea that they were constructed by slaves."

He cited as evidence the fact that "the tombs are located in the direct vicinity of the pyramid and even overlook it. If they were slaves, they would not have been able to build their tombs in this area."

Hawass also mentioned "evidence" indicating that the wealthy families of Upper Egypt and the Nile Delta provided the workers with 11 calves and 23 sheep daily in return for tax exemption.

He believes the number of workers who built the Cheops pyramid did not exceed 10,000.

World car sales to pick up sharply in 2010: Scotiabank

MONTREAL — New car sales around the world will gain momentum in 2010 after an initial recovery this year, likely setting the stage for record sales in 2011, the research arm of Scotiabank said Tuesday in a report.

The emerging markets of China, India and Brazil will take the lead, but "the key US market" will not be far behind with an expected double-digit, 10 percent growth in auto sales, Scotia Economics said in its Global Auto Report.

"Global car sales will continue to be buoyed by the ongoing massive and synchronized monetary and fiscal stimulus," said Carlos Gomes, senior economist of Scotia Economics.

The stimulus "has generated a global economic recovery, including improving auto lending across the globe," he added.

The report said better access to credit and the return to three percent growth in the world economy will enable 2010 car sales to recover half the ground lost over the past two years, setting the stage for record volumes in 2011.

In the United States, car sales stopped declining by mid-year and have resumed normal annual growth rates since August as the economy experienced a "nascent" recovery, the report said.

In 2009, China surpassed the United States as the world's biggest car market, with sales surging by more than 40 percent to 7.3 million units in 2009, with an additional 20 percent growth expected in 2010 to almost nine million vehicles.

In India, car sales also reached a record 1.4 million units in 2009, with gains accelerating sharply in the second half of 2009 and credit availability improved, Scotia Economics said.

Google plans Android event in January

WASHINGTON — Google announced plans on Tuesday to hold a press event next month about its Android mobile phone operating system amid speculation the Internet giant plans to release its own smartphone.

Google invited reporters to attend an "Android press gathering" on January 5 at the company's Mountain View, California, headquarters.

"With the launch of the first Android-powered device just over a year ago, we've seen how a powerful, open platform can spur mobile product innovation," the invitation said. "And this is just the beginning of what's possible."

The invitation provided no further details about the event.

But it comes amid reports Google is preparing to release a Google-branded smartphone known as "Nexus One" which would be sold directly to consumers and would not be tied to any one telecom carrier.

Google employees have been testing the device internally.

A growing number of US telecom carriers and manufacturers have been adopting Google's open-source Android software in bids to challenge the Apple iPhone and Blackberry from Research in Motion.

Although Android's share of the US smartphone market is relatively small, it has doubled in the past year to 3.5 percent in October, according to comScore.

The timing of the Google event appears to be an attempt to upstage the annual Consumer Electronics Show which opens in Las Vegas on January 7.

Holocaust jibe sparks outrage at UN climate talks

COPENHAGEN — Fury erupted at the Copenhagen climate talks Saturday over a draft accord agreed by a select group of leaders, with some delegates comparing it to the Nazi Holocaust and Biblical betrayal.

"It is asking Africa to sign a suicide pact, an incineration pact in order to maintain the economic dependence of a few countries," said Lumumba Stanislas Dia-ping of Sudan, chairing the Group of 77 and China bloc of 130 poor nations.

"It's a solution based on values that funnelled six million people in Europe into furnaces."

Dia-ping's comments triggered a storm of protests from the floor, with Sweden calling them "absolutely despicable".

Ed Miliband, Britain's climate minister, condemned the "disgusting comparison" which he said "should offend people across this conference whatever background they come from."

Tensions crackled over the draft agreement that was crafted after talks between around two dozen leaders on the sidelines of a summit on Friday, including US President Barack Obama and China's Premier Wen Jiabao.

The agreement contains a commitment to limit global warming to two degrees Celsius (3.6 Fahrenheit), but did not spell out the important stepping stones -- global emissions targets for 2020 or 2050 -- for getting there.

Tuvalu's Ian Fry, whose country is one of the most at risk from global warming, said the agreement amounted to Biblical betrayal.

"It looks like we are being offered 30 pieces of silver to betray our people and our future," he said to applause in the chamber which sat through the night.

"Our future is not for sale. I regret to inform you that Tuvalu cannot accept this document."

But after an adjournment lasting several hours, the accord then cleared a major hurdle when the climate conference agreed to "take note" of the accord, a move that analysts said would allow the pact to take effect.

Much of the anger was directed towards Danish Prime Minister Lars Loekke Rasmussen, the conference's chairman, who was accused of overseeing a stitch-up.

Venezuela's representative Claudia Salerno Caldera said that Rasmussen was "going to endorse this coup d'etat against the United Nations".

"Those of us who wish to speak have to make a point of order by cutting our hands and drawing blood," she added, before opening a red-stained palm.

Rasmussen, looking uneasy in his chair, faced a barrage of criticism during the highly charged session which was convened several hours after Obama said he had reached a political agreement with around two dozen fellow leaders, including from China and India.

Cuba accused Obama of "behaving like an emperor," adding that the Havana government would not accept the draft declaration.

The plenary session was temporarily suspended after Costa Rica demanded explanations for key text that had disappeared from a draft resolution while the leaders' wrangling had unfolded.

That text said countries would strive for a "legally binding" agreement in Mexico City at the end of 2010 -- a position supported especially by Russia, Canada and Japan in order to lock the United States into a treaty.

Green activists said they suspected the vital words had been deleted as a quid pro quo to placate the United States.

Obama flew out of Copenhagen late Friday before any decision among the 194 members of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) on whether to accept the draft agreement.

Three die as Cyclone hits Fiji

At least three people have been killed and thousands of villagers fled to shelters as a tropical cyclone battered the Fijian islands.

Cyclone Mick, Fiji's first this summer season, ripped through the most populated island of Viti Levu and is now heading toward Tonga, which has been placed on alert.

Fiji's National Disaster Management Office said the death and injury toll was reduced by people heeding the cyclone warning and flocking to emergency shelters ahead of the storm.

"People took evasive action... took the warning seriously and moved to shelters because their homes were not strong enough and also because they feared the flood waters," said the agency's principal officer Patiliai Dobui.

Some 3,000 people had sought shelter ahead of the damaging winds and torrential rains, but most have now returned to their homes, he said.

Fiji's Meteorological Service said winds gusting up to 95 miles an hour were recorded close to the Category 2 cyclone's epicentre, with winds averaging 60 to 70 miles an hour. Category 1 is the lowest cyclone rating, Category 5 the highest.

Mick was a "very vicious" cyclone with damaging gale force winds that struck up to six hours earlier than expected, said Tim Sutton, of the United Nations Children's Fund (Unicef), who is based in Suva.

"There's a lot of damage. Lots of trees down, power lines down everywhere, all the roads around Viti Levu are still closed with flooding and landslides," he told New Zealand's National Radio.

On the west coast of Viti Levu, two people were swept away in the Sigatoka River, while a student from Drala village in the Nadarivatu highlands died instantly when a tree fell on him.

Mr Dobui said the disaster management office had still not heard from some small outer islands after contact was lost during the storm.