Friday negotiations between Worldwide Pants and the WGA wrapped without an agreement -- and without much details. Both sides said Friday that the talks would resume sometime next week, though it isn't clear whether that would happen Christmas Eve or the day after Christmas. It isn't likely to happen during the weekend and the negotiations might not have had the entire WGA negotiating committee in place.

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"We had a substantive discussion today with the WGA and look forward to continuing these talks next week," Worldwide Pants president and CEO Rob Burnett said Friday. Burnett had flown to Los Angeles to personally meet with the WGA negotiating committee. It wasn't clear whether the sides would meet again before Christmas. "A lively exchange of information took place," the WGA said in a terse statement. "The WGAW and WGAE will not comment further."

Science-fiction writer Arthur C. Clarke listed three wishes on his 90th birthday: for the world to embrace cleaner energy resources, for a lasting peace in his adopted home, Sri Lanka, and for evidence of extraterrestrial beings.

"I have always believed that we are not alone in this universe," Clarke said in a speech to a small gathering of scientists, astronauts and government officials Sunday in Colombo where he lives. Humans are waiting until extraterrestrial beings "call us or give us a sign," he said. "We have no way of guessing when this might happen. I hope sooner rather than later."

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"Sometimes I am asked how I would like to be remembered," Clarke said. "I have had a diverse career as a writer, underwater explorer and space promoter. Of all these I would like to be remembered as a writer."

The Vatican on Wednesday condemned the film "The Golden Compass," which some have called anti-Christian, saying it promotes a cold and hopeless world without God. In a long editorial, the Vatican newspaper l'Osservatore Romano, also slammed Philip Pullman, the bestselling author of the book on which the family fantasy movie is based.

It was the Vatican's most stinging broadside against an author and a film since it roundly condemned "The Da Vinci Code" in 2005 and 2006. "In Pullman's world, hope simply does not exist, because there is no salvation but only personal, individualistic capacity to control the situation and dominate events," the editorial said.

The film, which premiered earlier this month in the United States and stars Nicole Kidman and Daniel Craig, is an adaptation of Pullman's acclaimed novel "Northern Lights." The Vatican newspaper said "honest" viewers would find it "devoid of any particular emotion apart from a great chill."

Tough-guy actor and martial arts expert Chuck Norris sued publisher Penguin on Friday over a book he claims unfairly exploits his famous name, based on a satirical Internet list of "mythical facts" about him.

Penguin published "The Truth About Chuck Norris: 400 facts about the World's Greatest Human" in November. Author Ian Spector and two Web sites he runs to promote the book, including www.truthaboutchuck.com, are also named in the suit. The book capitalizes on "mythical facts" that have been circulating on the Internet since 2005 that poke fun at Norris' tough-guy image and super-human abilities, the suit said.

It includes such humorous "facts" as "Chuck Norris's tears cure cancer. Too bad he has never cried" and "Chuck Norris does not sleep. He waits," the suit said, as well as "Chuck Norris can charge a cell phone by rubbing it against his beard." "Some of the 'facts' in the book are racist, lewd or portray Mr. Norris as engaged in illegal activities," the lawsuit alleges.

GOP strategist Karl Rove has agreed to write about his years as an adviser to President Bush in a deal worth over $1.5 million with former colleague Mary Matalin's conservative imprint at Simon & Schuster, officials said Friday. Rove, the architect of Bush's 2000 and 2004 presidential campaigns and one of the most influential political advisers of his time, signed the deal with Threshold Editions, the imprint's publisher and executive vice president Louise Burke said.

"All of us at Threshold are thrilled to publish the book from the man who had the president's ear for two terms," Burke said. Rove's agent, attorney Robert Barnett, said Threshold was chosen over eight other bidding publishers. Threshold didn't say how much Rove would be paid, but the bidding reached at least $1.5 million, two publishing officials familiar with the bidding told The Associated Press. The official spoke on condition of anonymity, a standard industry practice. Rove said in a statement that the memoir would offer "a candid, careful look" at Bush's presidency and his role in it.

"It will tackle and shed light on important events and big controversies, spell out their implications for America and set the record straight," he said. Publishers earlier this year had expressed reservations after Rove announced he would write about his White House years, wondering how much he would reveal.

News Corp is not in discussions with Europe's biggest media company Bertelsmann AG BERT.UL or any other party on the sale of its book publisher HarperCollins, a News Corp source said, shooting down a published report. German business weekly publication manager magazin reported without quoting sources that Bertelsmann was interested in buying publisher HarperCollins for $1 billion, adding that Murdoch was demanding $2 billion.

Bertelsmann declined comment on Wednesday. News Corp said it does not comment on speculation. Speculation over the sale of the News Corp division that published Nobel prize winning novelist Doris Lessing has dogged the company for years. Bertelsmann's new chief executive, Hartmut Ostrowski, said last week that the company, Europe's biggest media firm, wants to spend up to 7 billion euros ($10.1 billion) to grow over the next five years.

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