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deadly unrest that have paralyzed much of the country.
• President Nicolas Maduro on Thursday said he was willing to sit down with the opposition under the watch of an outside observer. He floated the name of Vatican Secretary of State Cardinal Pietro Parolin, who served as the Holy See's ambassador to Venezuela before being called to Rome last year.
• The Vatican spokesman, the Rev. Federico Lombardi, told The Associated Press Friday the Holy See and Parolin were "certainly willing and desirous to do whatever is possible for the good and serenity of the country." He said Parolin, in particular, "knows and loves" Venezuela. But he added that the Vatican needed to understand the expectations of its intervention and whether it could bring about a "desired outcome." Such a study is underway, he added.
• Catholicism is a touchstone for critics of Maduro's socialist administration, and opposition leaders Leopoldo Lopez and Henrique Capriles, both known to sport rosaries, have been pressing the Vatican to take up the cause. Maduro also heaped praise on Pope Francis after meeting with the first Latin American pontiff last year.
• Although the church may be an acceptable go-between, the road to compromise in this deeply polarized nation is a long one. Hardliners on both sides continue to reject compromise even with at least 32 people killed and hundreds more injured, many of them during clashes between protesters and security forces sometimes joined by pro-government militias.
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• NEW YORK (AP) -- Sometimes satire isn't made for Twitter's 140-character world.
• Comedy Central deleted a message Thursday from its "Colbert Report" Twitter feed showing a still from Wednesday night's show where Stephen Colbert joked about starting a "Ching-Chong Ding-Dong Foundation for Sensitivity to Orientals or Whatever."
• The joke was part of a skit in which Colbert talked about the Washington Redskins' owner buying things for Native Americans upset with the team's name.
• A (hash)CancelColbert hashtag then appeared on Twitter, igniting a debate over what is funny and what is offensive.
• Comedy Central deleted the tweet and made clear the feed was not controlled by the show. On his personal Twitter feed, Colbert said of (hash)CancelColbert that "I share your rage."
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