Power outage reported throughout much of Venezuela

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Power outage reported throughout much of Venezuela

2019-03-08 08:28 Last Updated At：08:30

A power outage left much of Venezuela in the dark early Thursday evening in what appeared to be one of the largest blackouts yet in a country where power failures have become increasingly common.

Crowds of commuters in capital city Caracas were walking home after metro service ground to a halt and traffic snarled as cars struggled to navigate intersections where stoplights were out.

State-owned electricity operator Corpoelec blamed the outage on an "attack" on the Guri Dam, one of the world's largest hydroelectric projects and the cornerstone of Venezuela's electrical grid.

"We've been targeted again in the power war," Maj. Gen. Luis Motta, President Nicolas Maduro's minister of electrical power, said in remarks aired on state television.

Pro-government officials frequently blame outages on Venezuela's opposition, accusing them of attacking power substations with Molotov cocktails, though rarely providing evidence.

Motta did not indicate how much of the nation is engulfed in the outage, though local media reported that nearly all of Venezuela was experiencing a blackout. Motto said it would take "approximately three hours" for service to be restored, though patience was already running thin Thursday evening.

In one Caracas neighborhood, residents threw up their windows and began banging on pot and pans in a sign of protest while others shouted out expletives and Maduro's name.

The outage comes as Venezuela is in the throes of a power struggle between Maduro and opposition leader Juan Guaido, who is recognized by about 50 nations as Venezuela's rightful president. The opposition is blaming Maduro for the country's soaring hyperinflation, food and medical shortages, while the embattled leader accuses Guaido of conspiring with the Trump administration to overthrow him from power.

Venezuela's electrical system was once the envy of Latin America but it has fallen into a state of disrepair amid years of poor maintenance and mismanagement. High-ranking officials have been accused in U.S. court proceedings of looting investments earmarked for the electrical system.

The government keeps home power bills exceptionally low — just a couple dollars a month — relying heavily on subsidies.

Conan O'Brien kicks off 98th Academy Awards, first award goes to Amy Madigan

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Conan O'Brien launched the 98th Academy Awards with a “Sabotage”-scored sprint through the nominees, dressed as Amy Madigan's character in “Weapons,” and a plea for what he called “that rarest of qualities today: optimism.”

O'Brien, hosting for the second time, alluded to “chaotic and frightening times” in his opening monologue at the Dolby Theatre. But he argued that the current geopolitical climate made the Oscars all the more resonate as a globally unifying force.

O'Brien also joked, though, that the night could get political. As an alternative, like the Super Bowl halftime show, he said Kid Rock would be hosting an alterative Oscars at Dave & Busters.

Some of O'Brien's best digs came for the streamers. Netflix chief Ted Sarandos, he joked, was in a theater for the first time. O'Brien also lamented the lack of nominees for Amazon MGM: “Why isn't the website I order toilet paper from winning more Oscars?”

“I’m honored to be the last human host of the Academy Awards,” said O'Brien. "Next year it’s going to be a Waymo in a tux.”

Minutes after a faux-Madigan kicked off the broadcast, the real Madigan won the night’s first award, best supporting actress, for her performance in the horror thriller “Weapons.” The 75-year-old actor’s win came 40 years after her first Oscar nomination, in 1986 for “Twice in a Lifetime.”

Letting out a giant laugh as she hit the stage, Madigan exclaimed, “This is great!”

The 98th Academy Awards were steering toward a coronation for either Paul Thomas Anderson or Ryan Coogler. Most would call that a win-win.

Anderson’s “One Battle After Another” is the favorite heading into the ceremony at the Dolby Theatre in Los Angeles. But Coogler’s “Sinners” comes in the lead nominee with a record 16 nominations. Both filmmakers are poised to leave with their first Oscar.

But little else is assured at an Academy Awards where Michael B. Jordan or Timothée Chalamet (despite the ballet diss heard 'round the world) could win their first Academy Award in a too-close-to-call best actor race.

The telecast is airing live on ABC and streaming on Hulu. (YouTube will be the new home of the Oscars beginning in 2029.) The official red carpet preshow begins on ABC and Hulu at 6:30 p.m. EDT, while E! will kick off its red-carpet broadcast at 4 p.m.

Despite the war in Iran and expanding geopolitical turmoil, O’Brien has pledged an entertaining show in the mold of hosts like Bob Hope and Johnny Carson. “Let’s have fun with it, is my attitude,” O’Brien told reporters earlier in the week.

Still, the already high security will be even greater this year at an Oscars, taking place two weeks after the United States and President Donald Trump launched the war with Iran. Some attendees wore pins reading “Artists for cease fire.”

“Of course, every year we monitor what’s going on in the world,” Raj Kapoor, executive producer of the show, said earlier in the week. “We have the support of the FBI and the LAPD, and it’s a close collaboration.”

Two of the five best song nominees will be performed: “I Lied to You,” from “Sinners,” with Miles Caton, Raphael Saadiq and others; and “Golden” from “KPop Demon Hunters.”

“KPop Demon Hunters,” a Sony Pictures production that was sold to Netflix, was the most-watched movie of 2025. (It has 325 million views and counting, making it Netflix's most-streamed movie ever.) But it seems all but certain that the night’s final award won’t go to a streaming release; Apple's “CODA” remains the only streaming film to achieve that. Instead best picture is likely to go to an anomaly in today’s movie industry: big-budget original films from a personal vision.

“Sinners” and “One Battle After Another” were both theatrical releases shot on film. And both came from Warner Bros., the legacy studio that’s agreed to merge with David Ellison’s new media colossus, Paramount Skydance. The $111 billion deal, which awaits regulatory approval, has rattled an industry already reconciling itself to the acquisitions of MGM (by Amazon) and 20th Century Fox (by The Walt Disney Co.).

Elegy may mark Sunday’s Oscars. The in memoriam segment is expected to include, among many others, remembrances of Robert Redford, Diane Keaton and Robert Duvall. O’Brien, who had hosted a party attended by Rob and Michele Reiner the night before their deaths, has promised a “very powerful” tribute.

New this year is a best casting category. Another innovation is a requirement that Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences members watch all nominees before voting. On the academy’s streaming platform — even Oscar voting is streamed — voters had to check a box attesting to having watched each nominee before voting in a category.

Though the Oscars often feel largely removed from their times, a crop of nominees that explicitly grapple with the current political moment will be center stage. That includes not just “One Battle After Another,” which opens with a raid on an immigration detention facility, but movies like Kleber Mendonça Filho’s Brazilian political thriller “The Secret Agent” and Jafar Panahi’s Iranian revenge drama “It Was Just an Accident.”

The war in Iran has particular meaning to Panahi, whose film is nominated for best international feature and for best screenplay. The esteemed Iranian filmmaker and last year's Palme d'Or winner has made films clandestinely in his native Iran despite repeated imprisonment, travel ban and even home arrest. While promoting the film, Panahi was sentenced to a year in prison. At least one of his cowriter nominees, Mehdi Mahmoudian, was unable to leave Iran to attend Sunday’s awards.

Twenty three years ago, the Academy Awards were also held amid war in the Middle East. The 2003 Oscars took place just three days before the Iraq War began. Many in Hollywood protested the war. “Chicago” won best picture.

For more coverage of the Oscars, visit https://apnews.com/hub/academy-awards.