Peruvian Mario Vargas Llosa wins Nobel Prize for Literature
Peruvian writer Mario Vargas Llosa, whose deeply political work vividly examines the perils of power and corruption in Latin America, won the 2010 Nobel Prize in Literature on Thursday.
New and diminished chapter for children’s picture books
Picture books are so unpopular these days at the Children’s Book Shop in Brookline, Mass., that employees there are used to placing new copies on the shelves, watching them languish and then returning them to the publisher.
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CHICAGO — President Barack Obama used twin campaign appearances Thursday to lash out at the private money that has filtered into Republican coffers for the November election campaign, suggesting that some of it came from abroad. He urged the Democratic Party faithful to symbolically drown out the cash with their “millions of voices.”
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WASHINGTON — With wounds still raw from the chaotic U.N. climate conference in Copenhagen, Denmark, last December, negotiators are making final preparations for next month’s meeting in Cancun, Mexico, in a surly mood.
Recent suicides highlight stresses on gay teens
FRESNO, Calif. — When Seth Walsh was in the sixth grade, he told his mother he had something to say.
Jury begins deliberations in murders of mother and two daughters
NEW HAVEN, Conn. — After hearing weeks of often gruesome testimony, and with more than 200 pieces of trial exhibits to sift through, jurors on Monday began deliberating the charges against a parolee accused in a home invasion in Cheshire, Conn., that left a mother and her two daughters dead.
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WASHINGTON — A coalition of Hispanic groups on Monday applauded the Senate’s confirmation of two Latino presidential appointees, but urged lawmakers to push through a backlog of nominations when it returns after the Nov. 2 midterm elections.
Papers find recession relief in marijuana advertisements
COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. — When it hit the streets here last week, the latest issue of <i>ReLeaf</i>, a pullout supplement to <i>The Colorado Springs Independent</i> devoted to medical marijuana, landed with a satisfying thud.
Militants torch NATO oil tankers off Pakistani coast
ISLAMABAD — More than a dozen oil tankers carrying fuel for NATO troops in Afghanistan were torched in Rawalpindi early Monday, not far from Pakistan’s capital and the headquarters of the military, police officials said.
In Haiti, pressure rising for displaced to vacate church
PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti — As tent camps go, the one on the 28-acre Church of God property overlooking the Valley of Bourdon is almost bucolic, with hundreds of canvas-draped shelters under leafy shade trees and a cohesiveness among residents. But panic is building there.
UNTITLED
JERUSALEM — Arsonists suspected of being radical Israeli settlers damaged part of a Palestinian mosque early Monday in a village near the West Bank city of Hebron, setting fire to rugs and copies of the Quran and scrawling the word “revenge” in Hebrew on a wall, police officials and witnesses said.
Shorts (left)
JERUSALEM — Arsonists suspected of being radical Israeli settlers damaged part of a Palestinian mosque early Monday in a village near the West Bank city of Hebron, setting fire to rugs and copies of the Quran and scrawling the word “revenge” in Hebrew on a wall, police officials and witnesses said.
A wet and windy week
A large low pressure system currently situated off the Mid-Atlantic coast will drift slowly northward this week, bringing more cloudy, windy, and rainy conditions to our area. The slow, meandering track of this storm means that these unfavorable conditions will persist for the majority of the week. While rain and drizzle will hang around for most of the day today, Wednesday will likely be the worst day of the week, with winds increasing and rain becoming heavy at times. The system will gradually move out on Thursday, with rain tapering off.
Student’s online musings show<br />state of mind before a suicide
It started with a Twitter message Sept. 19: “Roommate asked for the room till midnight. I went into molly’s room and turned on my webcam. I saw him making out with a dude. Yay.”
Wet & muggy today, clearing for weekend
Make sure you have a poncho as heavy rain will dominate the weather for most of today. An umbrella might not work since winds will also be gusts approaching 40 mph. Some flooding may also be possible in low lying areas, along with ponding of water on most roads. Today’s high humidity and rainfall is the result of low pressure riding northward along the East Coast. Temperatures should not reach 80°F like on previous days, but it will remain muggy until a cold front finally pushes through tonight, ushering in cooler and drier air. In response to the front, the weekend looks perfect with highs in the 60s°F and sunny skies. Good luck staying dry today!
U.S. presses Israelis on<br />renewal of settlement freeze
WASHINGTON — The Obama administration is trying to cajole the Israeli government into a 60-day renewal of the freeze on Jewish settlement building by offering it security guarantees, ranging from military hardware to support for a long-term Israeli presence in the strategically sensitive Jordan Valley, according to lawmakers and other officials briefed on the proposals.
20 light-years away, planet may be able to nurture life
It might be a place that only a lichen or pond scum could love, but astronomers said Wednesday that they had found a very distant planet capable of harboring water on its surface, thus potentially making it a home for plant or animal life.
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The MBTA is to release real-time data Friday telling riders where subway trains are located and how long it will take for the next train to arrive.
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In many ways, it had the makings of the kind of classic late-campaign political dust-up that happens so regularly in high-profile California campaigns: the celebrity lawyer, the illegal immigrant, a welter of conflicting allegations and conspiracy charges, a candidate willing to take a lie-detector test and the scene of reporters clustered in a swanky lawyer’s office overlooking the Hollywood Hills. News conferences were streamed live on TMZ.com, the scandal-chasing Hollywood website that has become a force in politics and celebrity in this town.
North Korea offers peek at leader’s presumed heir
North Korean state media released a photograph on Thursday of Kim Jong-un, the son and presumed heir of the ailing dictator, Kim Jong-il, the first verified image of the young man as an adult.