■ United States
Fuel program extended
Venezuela's controversial fuel subsidies for the US poor expanded into Connecticut on Monday. The assistance, described as "humanitarian aid" by Venezuela's embassy in Washington, deepens an ongoing spat between Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez and US President George W. Bush, who calls Chavez a threat to Latin America's democracy. Venezuela will provide 21.8 million liters of heating oil at a 40 percent discount to Connecticut households that qualify for state home heat assistance, state officials said. Connecticut is the seventh state to receive cheap oil from Venezuela.
■ Canada
Lawmakers grill nominee
The government took a small step on Monday toward the US-style practice of vetting nominees to the Supreme Court but the result was more of a love-in than a rigorous interrogation. As part of a desire by the new Conservative government to make the process of appointing top justices more open, a parliamentary committee was allowed, for the first time ever, to question nominee Marshall Rothstein. Legislators were warned they could not ask about his stance on controversial topics for fear this would compromise him once he made the top bench. The committee had no power to vote on the candidacy of Rothstein, 65, a veteran of the Federal Court of Appeal. The final decision will be taken by Prime Minister Stephen Harper.
■ United States
Playing around causes death
A Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, man has been charged with homicide and possession of drug paraphernalia after he allegedly dropped his girlfriend from a 23rd-story apartment window on Saturday night, killing her. Kevin Eckenrode and Rachel Kozlusky had been drinking in the hours before he allegedly dropped, police said on Monday. Eckenrode, 25, told police the couple was playing around when he dangled Kozlusky, 23, out the window and lost his grip on her arms, a city official said. Kozlusky died of massive head and internal injuries. "Even if his version is true, to be holding someone out on a 23rd-story window is beyond ridiculous. It's as reckless an act as I can imagine, if not malicious," said the Dauphin County district attorney.
■ United States
Trial opens for 1987 murder
Nineteen years after Georgia socialite Lita Sullivan was shot to death on her doorstep by a man carrying a dozen long-stemmed pink roses, her husband went on trial in Atlanta on Monday on charges he hired the hit man for US$25,000. Millionare James Sullivan, 64, was one of the FBI's most wanted fugitives until he was captured in Thailand in 2002. He is accused of paying triggerman Phillip Harwood to kill his 35-year-old wife in 1987.
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