World News Update, what you need to know

The Oscar nomination ceremony was filled with surprises and snubs, but the outcome was great for Australia with Cate Blanchett, Catherine Martin and a posse of other Aussies picking up invites to Hollywood's grandest night.

ELSEWHERE:

JAKARTA - A group of asylum seekers say they were given a boat by Australian authorities in which they were forced to return to Indonesia under their own steam after their own vessel's engine failed.

LOS ANGELES - An autopsy will be conducted on Australian soldier Captain Paul McKay after his body was found near the summit of New York's Scarface Mountain.

SANTIAGO, Chile - Chile's Supreme Court is asking Australia to extradite Adriana Rivas, a woman accused of involvement in torture and murder during Chile's 1973-1990 military dictatorship.

UNITED NATIONS, Geneva - The Vatican insists it is committed to stamping out sexual abuse by the clergy, as top Church officials were grilled before the UN's child rights watchdog.

LONDON - The growing gulf between the rich and the poor represents the biggest global risk this year, the World Economic Forum has declared ahead of this month's Davos summit.

WASHINGTON - Outgoing Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke says the US central bank is well-prepared to handle any risks from its stimulus, such as higher inflation and asset bubbles.

LUCASVILLE, Ohio - Condemned killer Dennis McGuire appeared to gasp several times and took more than 15 minutes to die as he was executed with a combination of drugs never before tried in the US.

PARIS - Actress Julie Gayet is suing Closer, the magazine that reported she had an affair with French President Francois Hollande.

LONDON - Bernie Ecclestone will step down as the head of Formula One's holding company pending the outcome of a bribery trial in Germany.