In brief: Japan working to release Islamic State’s hostage

TOKYO – Japan was working today to coordinate efforts with Jordan and other countries to save a hostage held by the extremist Islamic State group.

“We all have one unchanged goal and we will absolutely not give up until the end. And with that faith, we will try our utmost to reach that goal. That’s how it is,” said Yasuhide Nakayama, a Japanese deputy foreign minister sent to Amman, Jordan, to work on the crisis.

Back in Tokyo, government spokesman Yoshihide Suga told reporters that the government was still analyzing a video posted online that purported to show another hostage, Haruna Yukawa, had been killed.

The government has been in crisis mode since the Islamic State group said in an online video on Jan. 20 that it had two Japanese hostages and would kill them within 72 hours unless it paid $200 million. That deadline passed Friday.

Asked if the government had concluded the latest video was authentic, Suga said, “We cannot deny that the likelihood is high.”

Attention was focused on trying to save Kenji Goto, a 47-year-old journalist who was shown in the video, holding the photo of Yukawa. The still picture included a recording of a voice claiming to be Goto, saying his captors were no longer demanding ransom but wanted a prisoner exchange.

The Associated Press could not verify the contents of the video message, which differed from earlier videos released by the Islamic State group, which now holds a third of both Syria and Iraq.

Missing journalist’s body found, suspect confesses

VERACRUZ, Mexico – The body of a journalist who was abducted by armed men three weeks ago has been found in eastern Mexico, authorities said Sunday, adding that a former police officer has confessed to carrying out the crime allegedly at the request of the town’s mayor.

The Jan. 2 disappearance of Moises Sanchez had sparked protests in Veracruz state, where at least 11 journalists have been killed since December 2010, making it one of the most dangerous states in Mexico for reporters.

Sanchez was a social activist and journalist in the town of Medellin de Bravo who published a weekly, “La Union,” which covered local government corruption and violent deaths, as well as printing citizen complaints. Sanchez’s relatives said he received threats and had pointed to Mayor Omar Cruz, a frequent target of the journalist’s reports, as the main suspect in his disappearance.

On Sunday, Veracruz state prosecutor Luis Angel Bravo announced that Sanchez’s body was found the previous day on the outskirts of Medellin de Bravo.

Protesters, police clash in Egypt, at least 15 killed

CAIRO – Anti-government protesters fought street battles with police in Cairo and other cities on Sunday, the fourth anniversary of the country’s 2011 uprising, as clashes left at least 15 people dead and dozens injured. Another two people died when an explosive device they were planting under a high-voltage tower in the Nile Delta exploded prematurely, according to security officials.

Most of the deaths took place in Cairo’s eastern Matariyah district – an Islamist stronghold where police used tear gas and birdshots to disperse supporters of the outlawed Muslim Brotherhood group armed with firebombs and rocks. At least nine protesters and one police conscript were killed in the clashes there, the officials said.

Two other protesters and two policemen were killed elsewhere in Cairo on Sunday, and one in the Mediterranean port city of Alexandria, said the officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak to the media.

The violence underscored the continued turmoil roiling the Arab world’s most populous nation four years after the 18-day uprising that toppled autocrat Hosni Mubarak.

Although small and scattered, Sunday’s violence is likely to impact Egypt’s image as it prepares to host an international donors’ conference in March and in which President Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi’s government has high hopes for the ailing economy.

Fifteen killed when bombs hit Iraqi commercial area

BAGHDAD – A string of bombings ripped mainly through commercial areas in Iraq’s capital Sunday, killing at least 15 people and wounding dozens, officials said.

The deadliest attack took place in Baghdad’s Bab al-Sharji area, where a bomb went off outside a small restaurant, killing seven civilians and wounding 22, a police officer said. Another bombing in the central Sibaa area killed three civilians and wounded 11, he said.

Vatican substitutes balloons for doves in peace ceremony

VATICAN CITY – Dove lovers, rejoice.

Balloons, not doves, were released as a gesture of peace Sunday in St. Peter’s Square, a year after an attack by a seagull and a crow on the symbolic birds sparked protests by animal protection groups.

For years children, flanking the pope at a window of the papal studio overlooking the square, set free a pair of doves on the last Sunday in January. The Catholic Church traditionally dedicates January to peace themes.

“Here’s the balloons that mean, ‘peace,’ ” said Francis when children in the square let go of their balloons.

The Vatican didn’t mention last year’s flap when it said in a statement Sunday that children would release balloons, including a hot-air balloon containing messages of peace. One of the children at the window read a speech about peace.