TASK DEFINITION: Given a document, generate a short title of the document. The title should convey the main idea/event/topic about which the document is being written. Note that URLs in the text have been replaced with [Link].
PROBLEM: "Petrocaribe will be strengthened -- independent of the international situation  independent of the price of oil " Venezuela President Hugo Chavez said as he arrived Friday in St. Kitts.
 His country's state Bolivarian News Agency said Petrocaribe leaders meet "with the expectation of its expansion  as well as new programs of cooperation and attention to a world increasingly thirsty for fuel."
 During the meeting  Chavez called the pact a geopolitical and social "offensive for unity " and said Venezuela is open to accepting other nations. "If some countries want to join  the doors are open " he said.
 The plan promotes Chavez's vision of regional independence from the United States  and the lure of cheap oil has drawn countries friendly to Washington as well as his leftist allies.

SOLUTION: Cuba ' s energy woes in focus at oil partners

PROBLEM: What now? Mrs Merkel will meet with Frank-Walter Steinmeier  Germanyâs federal president  this morning to discuss next steps. Four possible outcomes present themselves. The FDP might be coaxed back to the negotiating table by plausible concessions from the CDU  CSU and Greens. But do not count on it. Mr Lindnerâs language was ominously final. And the Greens (seemingly the main target of FDP recrimination) declared that they had reached their âpain thresholdâ and could not budge another centimetre.
The second possibility is a new âgrand coalitionâ marrying the CDU/CSU and the centre-left Social Democrats (SDP)  who together have a workable majority in the Bundestag. But the SPD has strenuously ruled out the option. Having lost distinctiveness and votes in partnership with  Mrs Merkel    its  leaders and activists fear another spin with the chancellor could do their party terminal damage. Perhaps  just perhaps   Mrs Merkel   the media and Germanyâs European partners can persuade them to take the risk. But months after its worst election result in post-war German history  the SPD will most probably reject the overtures.
In the absence of a viable majority government   Mrs Merkel  could form a minority one  concocting vote-by-vote majorities in the Bundestag. This might combine the CDU/CSU with the FDP  its traditional governing partner (together they would be 29 seats short of a majority). But a more natural fit would now be a black-green coalition with the Greens (42 seats short of a majority). Last night each side found generous words for the other  and they were as one in their contempt for the FDP. At federal level post-war Germany has witnessed no minority administrations  though one ran North-Rhine Westphalia  the countryâs largest state  from 2010 to 2012. Such governments are alien both to the stable  long-termist ways of the German state and to  Mrs Merkelâs  plodding leadership style. How long one would even last in the current circumstances is unclear.
That leaves the fourth  most drastic option: new elections. The route is not as simple as it sounds. Unlike some other European parliaments  the Bundestag cannot just dissolve itself (a legacy of Weimar-era instability) and as  Mrs Merkel  has not yet been reinstalled as chancellor  she  cannot call a straight confidence vote. Instead Mr Steinmeier must nominate a candidate for the job. If  Mrs Merkel  (for  it  would be  she ) failed to win an absolute majority in two successive Bundestag votes  which can be separated by two weeks   she  would go to a third vote at which a simple majority would suffice. Only then could Mr Steinmeier dissolve the Bundestag  triggering a new election within 60 days.
If possible  Germanyâs establishmentâincluding  Mrs Merkel  and Mr Steinmeierâwill seek to avoid new elections. These could most benefit the far-right Alternative for Germany and would not necessarily rupture the deadlock  current polls putting the main parties very close to the results they obtained at the September election. In  her  comments last night  Mrs Merkel  emphasised that  her  party would âtake responsibility for this country  even in difficult timesâ.  She  is determined  in other words  to make the best of the hand the German people dealt  her  in September. Precisely how  she  plans to proceed should become clearer today.
In recent years Germany has been a pillar of stable government in Europe and  Mrs Merkel  a seemingly permanent feature of the landscape (consider that  her  international counterparts when  she  first took office were Jacques Chirac  Tony Blair and George W. Bush). Both of those truths are now  if not dead  then slipping away. The next German government will take months more to emerge and will be distinctly fragile in comparison with its predecessors. The end of the Merkel era has surely begun  though whether it has weeks  months or a short number of years to run is anyoneâs guess. Last nightâs events confirmed Emmanuel Macron as Europeâs top leader while making the French presidentâs grand plans for euro-zone reformâfor which he needs a confident and outward-looking Germanyâyet harder to achieve. The ripples of Mr Lindnerâs doubtful decision will travel far beyond his countryâs borders.

SOLUTION: Germanyâs preliminary coalition talks collapse

PROBLEM: Alabama defensive lineman Raekwon Davis (99) sacks Clemson quarterback Kelly Bryant (2) in the first half of the Sugar Bowl semi-final playoff game for the NCAA college football national championship  in New Orleans  Monday  Jan. 1  2018. (AP Photo/Butch Dill) (Photo: The Associated Press)
NEW ORLEANS (AP) — For Clemson quarterback  Kelly Bryant   replacing Deshaun Watson was never going to be easy.
 Bryant  played well enough to get Clemson to a third straight College Football Playoff meeting with Alabama — and then it all went wrong.
 He  was intercepted twice — with both turnovers leading to Alabama touchdowns — and was sacked a season-high five times in a 24-6 loss in the Sugar Bowl on Monday night.
This season  they met in a CFP semifinal with  Bryant  hoping to lead the ACC champs past an Alabama squad that made it this far despite finishing second to Auburn in the Southeastern Conference's West Division.
Coming in   Bryant  had accounted for 3 504 yards and 24 touchdowns from scrimmage this season: 2 678 yards and 13 TDs through the air  and 826 yards and 11 TDs on the ground.
 "Kelly Bryant   I think  he  is actually a little more athletic than Deshaun Watson.  He 's definitely faster and  he  likes to run " Alabama defensive back Anthony Averett said. "We disguised very well and confused  him  a little bit and I think that made a difference."
 Bryant  finished with 18 completions on 36 passes for 124 yards.  He  also was held to 19 yards rushing against Alabama  whose swarming defense unsettled  him  much of the night.
"It was just us making critical errors and shooting ourselves in the foot "  Bryant  said. "We had great play calls but everybody wasn't on the same page. We'll learn from it."
Both of  Bryant 's interceptions occurred on altered or tipped passes.
The first came when Jennings hit  Bryant 's arm as he released the ball. The errant pass fluttered to Payne  who returned his interception 21 yards — 2 yards more than  Bryant 's longest completion of the game.
Later   Bryant 's pass intended for Deon Cain was tipped by Levi Wallace and intercepted by middle linebacker Mack Wilson  who ran it back 18 yards to make it 24-6 in the third quarter.
 Bryant  was nearly intercepted again  one play after Jennings had taken the QB down for the fifth time in the game.  Bryant 's pass under duress almost looked as if it were intended for Alabama's Wilson  who saw a chance for his second interception of the game bounce off his hands.
 Bryant 's New Orleans nightmare ended with a fourth-down incompletion from the Alabama 5-yard line with 1:43 to go. But even if he had finally gotten the Tigers in the end zone  it would have been far too late.

SOLUTION:
First