Christopher Nolan was still sleeping when his film, "Oppenheimer," landed a leading 13 Academy Awards nominations Tuesday. Emma Thomas, Nolan's wife and producing partner, roused him after a flurry of congratulatory messages came through on her phone.

"Don't take it as being blase," Nolan told The Associated Press, laughing. "We just didn't want to jinx anything. Watching the nominations was more than our nerves could take so we just had a restless night and slept through."

Comedian Jon Stewart is rewinding the clock, returning to "The Daily Show" as a weekly host and executive producing through the 2024 U.S. elections cycle.

Comedy Central on Wednesday said Stewart will host the topical TV show, the perch he ruled for 16 years starting in 1999, every Monday starting Feb. 12. A rotating lineup of show regulars are on tap for the rest of the week.

A look at notable facts, figures and curiosities from Tuesday's nominations for the 96th Academy Awards, which saw "Oppenheimer" lead with 13 Oscar nominations, with "Poor Things" and "Killers of the Flower Moon" also running up big numbers.

FOSTERING THE OSCARS

Human-induced global warming, and not El Niño, was the primary driver of last year's severe drought in the Amazon that sent rivers to record lows, required deliveries of food and drinking water to hundreds of river communities and killed dozens of endangered dolphins, researchers said Wednesday.

Both climate change and El Niño contributed about equally to a reduction in rainfall. But higher global temperatures were the biggest reason for the drought, according to World Weather Attribution, an initiative that brings together climate scientists to rapidly analyze extreme events and their possible connections to climate change.

After sullying his nation's Women's World Cup victory, former Spanish soccer president Luis Rubiales will face trial for kissing forward Jenni Hermoso without her consent at the final.

Investigative judge Francisco de Jorge ruled on Thursday that Rubiales' kiss was "unconsented and carried out unilaterally and in a surprising fashion," the court said.

The chances for Xavi Hernández to salvage Barcelona's season — and likely his own job — are quickly fading.

Barcelona has seen its best two chances of getting a title in this campaign evaporate. Xavi's side exited the Copa del Rey quarterfinals after losing in added time at Athletic Bilbao 4-2 on Wednesday, a loss that came two weeks after Barcelona was dismantled by Real Madrid in the Spanish Super Cup.

A Russian court on Thursday sentenced a woman to 27 years in prison for a cafe blast that killed a prominent pro-war blogger after he was given a bust of himself that later exploded.

In a separate proceeding, a Moscow court convicted a former leader of separatist rebels in Ukraine who called President Vladimir Putin a coward of extremism and sentenced him to four years.

North Korea said Thursday it conducted its first flight test of a new cruise missile, as it expands its military capabilities in the face of deepening tensions with the United States and neighbors.

The report in state media came a day after South Korea's military said it detected the North firing several cruise missiles into waters off its western coast. It didn't immediately provide more details about the numbers of missiles fired or their flight characteristics.

A rhinoceros was impregnated through embryo transfer in the first successful use of a method that conservationists said might later make it possible to save the nearly extinct northern white rhino subspecies.

In testing with another subspecies, the researchers created a southern white rhino embryo in a lab from an egg and sperm that had been previously collected from other rhinos and transferred it into a southern white rhino surrogate mother at the Ol-Pejeta Conservancy in Kenya.

A Japanese court sentenced a man to death after finding him guilty of murder and other crimes Thursday for carrying out an arson attack on an anime studio in Kyoto that killed 36 people.

The Kyoto District Court said it found the defendant, Shinji Aoba, mentally capable to face punishment for his crimes and announced the sentence of capital punishment after a recess in a two-part session on Thursday.