Julia Roberts gives early birth to twins

Los Angeles (ap) — It’s a girl — and a boy — for actress Julia Roberts and her husband, cinematographer Daniel Moder.

Roberts gave birth to twins Hazel Patricia Moder and Phinnaeus Walter Moder on Sunday morning at a Southern California hospital, publicist Marcy Engelman said Sunday.

Roberts, 37, was confined to bed last month after experiencing a series of early contractions and wasn’t due until early January. Engelman said Sunday in a phone interview that “mother and babies are doing great,” but she didn’t release the twins’ weights or other details.

“I’m enormous,” Roberts recently said in a phone interview. “Let me tell you something, my babies weigh 6 pounds each. That’s 12 pounds of just baby in me right now.”

Roberts, who skyrocketed to fame with “Pretty Woman” in 1990, has two films coming out in early December — Mike Nichols’ “Closer” and “Ocean’s Twelve,” the Steven Soderbergh-directed sequel to 2001’s star-studded heist caper.

Roberts married Moder in July 2002 at her home near Taos, N.M. The twins are the first children for Roberts, who won the best actress Oscar in 2001 for “Erin Brockovich.”

Everybody wants to eat lunch with Martha Stewart

Denver — The food at the Federal Corrections Camp in Alderson, W.Va., apparently is nothing to write home about — unless one is eating it with Martha Stewart.

Roman Catholic nun Carol Gilbert, 57, who is serving time in the same prison as the famous homemaker, says she enjoys eating with Stewart, although the setting could be better.

“We’re not talking about a tea party,” Gilbert’s attorney, Sue Tyburski, told the Rocky Mountain News for a story in Saturday’s editions.

Gilbert is serving 33 months for her role in an anti-war protest at a missile silo in 2002.

Stewart was convicted on obstruction of justice in May.

Stewart, 63, is getting “kid-glove” treatment from the guards, Tyburski said.

“She’s in great demand for people to visit with at lunchtime,” she said.

GOP joke fodder

New York — Democratic Sen.-elect Barack Obama poked fun at the Illinois Republican Party when he appeared as a guest on the “Late Show with David Letterman.”

Obama told Letterman on Friday night’s show that after Republican challenger Jack Ryan dropped out of the race in June, the state’s GOP “couldn’t find anyone out of the 12 million people in Illinois to run against me.”

Instead, Illinois Republicans picked Alan Keyes, a conservative political commentator from Maryland, to replace Ryan on the November ballot.

Obama won 70 percent of the vote on Nov. 2.

Obama, who will be the fifth black U.S. senator in history, told Letterman he hoped his victory will help spur voters to elect more senators of different races.

No ‘Closer’ to the truth

Los Angeles — Director Mike Nichols likes to talk about what’s floating around in his head, but partner Diane Sawyer won’t always play that game.

Sawyer “doesn’t answer the infamous question, ‘Honey, what are you thinking?”‘ says the 73-year-old director.

Nichols told the Chicago Sun-Times for a Sunday story that Sawyer told him his new movie “Closer” is about the importance of lying, “or maybe I should say withholding what’s in a relationship.

“That’s why she doesn’t answer the ‘what are you thinking’ question. She wonders, ‘Do you have the right to know what’s in the other person’s head even if you love them?'”

In “Closer,” Julia Roberts stars as a photographer who is cheating on her not-so-nice doctor husband, played by Clive Owen.

‘National Treasure’ still No. 1

Los Angeles — “National Treasure” continued to strike box-office gold, taking in $33.1 million from Friday to Sunday to retain the No. 1 slot over the busy Thanksgiving weekend.

“The Incredibles” remained in second place with $24.1 million, while Tim Allen and Jamie Lee Curtis’ holiday comedy “Christmas With the Kranks” debuted at No. 3 with $22.7 million over the three-day weekend, according to studio estimates Sunday.

The weekend’s other new wide release, Oliver Stone’s historical epic “Alexander,” had a so-so debut of $13.4 million, coming in sixth behind two holdovers, “The Polar Express” (No. 4 with $20.1 million) and “The SpongeBob SquarePants Movie” (No. 5 with $17.8 million).