U.S. works to ween Caribbean off oil
MIAMI – A decade-long addiction to oil subsidized by Venezuela may be coming to an end for several Caribbean nations, with a nudge from the United States.
Fears that falling oil prices could knock the wheels off the already wobbly economy of oil-dependent Venezuela have sparked apparent interest in alternatives to Petrocaribe, a trade program created by the late President Hugo Chavez that has kept the region dependent on the South American country for energy.
Evidence of that interest will be on display Monday as Caribbean leaders converge in Washington for the first Caribbean Energy Security Summit.
The focus will be on exploring ways to help Caribbean countries convert diesel-powered energy plants to natural gas and increase use of other alternative energy sources.
Alabama overturns gay-marriage ban
MONTGOMERY, Ala. – The Alabama attorney general is asking a federal judge to stay a ruling that overturned on Friday Alabama’s ban on gay marriage, as advocates cheer what once seemed an improbable victory in the deeply conservative state.
Attorney General Luther Strange’s office asked a federal judge Friday to put the ruling on hold since the U.S. Supreme Court plans to take up the issue of gay marriage this term, “resolving the issues on a nationwide basis.”
Leftist party Syriza leads Greek polls
ATHENS, Greece – Syriza, the radical left-wing party that has vowed to rewrite the terms of the country’s international bailout and end harsh austerity measures, held the lead in the last polls released ahead of Sunday’s national election.
The last nine polls published Friday – the last day of campaigning – showed Syriza’s lead over the ruling New Democracy conservatives trending upward. Syriza led by anywhere from 2.8 to 6.7 percentage points. Syriza has taken advantage of widespread discontent over an economy that has shrunk by nearly a quarter and record-high unemployment.
The centrist party, To Potami, and the extreme right-wing Golden Dawn party were locked in a tight race for third place, according to the polls.
But the polls also indicated that around 10 percent of the nearly 10 million voters remain undecided.
There was no campaigning Saturday, a traditional “day of reflection” ahead of every election.
Did the Islamic State kill a hostage?
TOKYO – Prime Minister Shinzo Abe angrily demanded Sunday that the extremist Islamic State group release a Japanese journalist it is holding hostage after a new online video purported to show that another hostage had been killed.
While the Japanese government and others cast doubt on the authenticity of the video, President Barack Obama issued a statement condemning what he called “the brutal murder” of one of the hostages. His statement did not say how the United States knows that Haruna Yukawa, a 42-year-old adventurer, is dead, and the Japanese government still was trying to verify the video.
Obama said in his statement that the United States will stand “shoulder to shoulder” with Japan and called for the immediate release of the second Japanese hostage, journalist Kenji Goto. Obama’s statement was issued at Ramstein Air Base in Germany as the president was en route to India for a visit before diverting to Saudi Arabia to pay his respects after the death of King Abdullah and to meet with the nation’s new monarch, the White House said Saturday.
The Japanese government had no immediate comment on Obama’s statement. However, a statement issued by Abe in Arabic and English demanded the safe release only of Goto.
The message in the video seen Saturday demanded a prisoner exchange for the 47-year-old Goto. But the post was deleted quickly Saturday, and militants on a website affiliated with the Islamic State group questioned its veracity.
AirAsia fuselage falls to the ocean floor
PANGKALAN BUN, Indonesia – Indonesian rescuers lifted the fuselage of the crashed AirAsia jetliner nearly to the water’s surface before it sank to the ocean floor again when the lifting balloons deflated Saturday, a setback in the effort to recover more of the victims’ remains.
Four bodies were discovered, though, around the area where dozens of divers were struggling with strong current and poor visibility to prepare to retrieve the 30-meter-long wreckage, said Suryadi Bambang Supriyadi, the operations chief at the National Search and Rescue Agency.
Divers reached the fuselage section for the first time Friday and retrieved six bodies. A total of 69 bodies now have been recovered from AirAsia Flight 8501, which crashed Dec. 28 with 162 people on board while flying from Surabaya, Indonesia’s second largest city, to Singapore.
Authorities believe many of the other bodies still are inside the fuselage.
Associated Press
