Honolulu, Hawaii (CNN) -- In a marked shift from previous positions, senior Obama administration officials now say they are starting to see an al Qaeda connection to the attempted terror attack on a U.S.-bound airliner.
In the days after the failed attempt on Christmas Day, administration officials steadfastly shied away from linking the incident to the terror group and, in some cases, said there was no evidence of such a connection.
But one senior administration officials said late Tuesday that "some of the new information that we developed overnight does suggest that there was some linkage there" with al Qaeda.
The senior administration official was referring to intelligence that White House officials obtained late Monday night and then briefed President Obama about on Tuesday in a secure conference call.
British hostage Peter Moore has been freed after being held captive in Iraq since May 2007, British Foreign Secretary David Miliband announced Wednesday. Moore was in good health, Miliband said at a news conference, adding that he had spoken with the former hostage.
Oil-rich Ecuador will be making money off its oil reserves by keeping some of its oil in the ground, under the terms of a new approach crafted in December at the 2009 United Nations Climate Change Conference in Copenhagen.
The program is aimed at reducing carbon dioxide emissions by asking the developed world to pay a price for its longstanding "climate debt."
Under terms of the accord, a multi-donor trust fund will be set up to pay Ecuador what it would have earned in oil revenue if it had extracted the oil from the Amazon rainforest of its Yasuni National Park, according to news reports. In exchange for leaving nearly one billion barrels of oil in the ground, Ecuador is asking for compensation of $350 million a year for 10 years.
The United Nations Development Program is to administer the Yasuni Trust Fund.
So far, the governments of Germany and Spain have committed money to support the project. Ecuador also has launched an in-country campaign to raise funds from small donors.
Ecuador's leftist president, Rafael Correa, recently elected to a second term in office, first came up with the idea in 2007. It's a project that packs plenty of punch.
Not only does Ecuador get money, it also becomes a green leader. Leaving the oil untapped will reduce carbon dioxide emissions -- and leave trees standing that would have been cut for drilling. Experts say that the program could reduce harmful carbon dioxide by between 407 to 547 million tons.
The plan also strikes a blow on behalf of its indigenous populations. The homelands of one of the world's last uncontacted indigenous tribes, the Taromenane, are located in the Yasuni Park, in the Ecuadorian Amazon Basin, reports Mongabay.com. Together with the Tagaeri they make up the two last known indigenous groups living in voluntary isolation in Ecuador.
The rainforest also is home to threatened monkeys, pumas and jaguars.
The project has reinvigorated the government in its support for other indigenous populations, which are still fighting Texaco, now Chevron, in a $27 billion lawsuit in the United States for damaging their environment and their health while drilling for oil.
The Ecuadoran government recently asked a U.S. judge to stop Chevron from pursing a claim for international arbitration in the 16-year-old legal action, Reuters reported.
The British government condemned China's execution of a British national Tuesday on drug smuggling charges. "I ... am appalled and disappointed that our persistent requests for clemency have not been granted," Prime Minister Gordon Brown said. "I am particularly concerned that no mental health assessment was undertaken."
Akmal Shaikh was convicted of carrying up to 4 kilograms (8.8 pounds) of heroin at the Urumqi Airport in September 2007. According to Chinese law, 50 grams (1.76 ounces) is the threshold for the death penalty.
China defended the execution in a statement issued by the Chinese Embassy in London.
"Drug trafficking is a grave crime worldwide," the statement said. "The concerns of the British side have been duly noted and taken into consideration by the Chinese judicial authorities in the legal process, and Mr. Shaikh's rights and interests under Chinese law are properly respected and guaranteed."
The 53-year-old is the first European executed in China in 50 years, according to the British legal group Reprieve.
"The family express their grief at the Chinese decision to refuse mercy," a statement released by Reprieve said, thanking "all those who tried hard to bring about a different result."
His family and the British government had asked Chinese leaders for clemency. His supporters argued that Shaikh was mentally ill, and that Chinese officials did not take his mental condition into account when trying him. Shaikh's advocates say he suffered from a bipolar disorder and that he was tricked into carrying heroin into China with promises of a career as a pop singer.
Jose Maria di Bello, left, and Alex Freyre were married Monday in the state of Tierra del Fuego.
Less than one month after a Buenos Aires court derailed the marriage of Alex Freyre and Jose Maria di Bello, the couple wed Monday at the southern tip of Argentina, making it the first same-sex marriage in Latin America. "As a couple, we dreamed of marrying for a long time," Freyre told the state-run Telam news agency.
Their marriage was hailed as a victory by gay rights groups in Argentina, though it was unknown whether the legality of their marriage would face any challenges.
After a legal battle earlier this year, a court in the capital, Buenos Aires, ruled that a ban on same-sex marriage was illegal and ordered the proper authorities to grant the couple a marriage license if they applied for one.
On the eve of their December 1 wedding, however, another court filed an injunction, putting the brakes on the nuptials.
In Argentina, the issue of same-sex marriage is decided on the local and state level.
So Freyre and di Bello went to the southernmost state of Tierra del Fuego, where a pro-gay marriage governor welcomed the event, Telam reported. well, what's your take on these? is it that there are no more ladies in argentina that marrying your sex is in vouge?
Honolulu, Hawaii (CNN) -- In a marked shift from previous positions, senior Obama administration officials now say they are starting to see an al Qaeda connection to the attempted terror attack on a U.S.-bound airliner.
