Obama factor looms large as lobbying for 2016 Olympics heats up COPENHAGEN (Reuters) - The four cities bidding for the prize honor of hosting the 2016 Summer Olympics began three intensive days of lobbying on Tuesday with the Obama factor looming large ahead of Friday's vote by the IOC. Bomb kills 2 Spanish police officers on Mallorca PALMA DE MALLORCA, Balearic Islands - A powerful bomb on the Spanish resort island of Mallorca killed two police officers in their patrol vehicle Thursday, the second attack blamed on Basque separatist group ETA in two days. Unhappy ending in Cannes, best film hard to call CANNES, France (Reuters) - The Cannes film festival opened 12 days ago with the crowd-pleasing Disney animation "Up", but a string of critical duds toward the close means its ending has been decidedly downbeat.
'Avatar', 'The Hurt Locker' top Oscar nominations BEVERLY HILLS, California (AFP) - Science-fiction epic "Avatar" and gritty Iraq war drama "The Hurt Locker" will battle for supremacy at the Oscars after topping the nominations with nine nods each here Tuesday.