Cambridge Biotech Firm Is Quietly Shutting Down
Another once-promising life sciences company has died.
Shorts (left)
A once-obscure accounting rule that infuriated banks, who blamed it for worsening the financial crisis, was changed Thursday to give banks more discretion in reporting the value of mortgage securities.
Early Alarm For Church On Abusers in The Clergy
The founder of a Roman Catholic religious order that ran retreat centers for troubled priests warned American bishops in forceful letters dating back to 1952 that pedophiles should be removed from the priesthood because they could not be cured.
April Showers, Rain, or Drizzle?
Meteorologists have many words for water falling from the sky. The most general term is precipitation, which includes liquid and solid water.
19-Count Indictment Alleges Corrupt Blagojevich ‘Enterprise’
Rod R. Blagojevich, the ousted Democratic governor of Illinois, used his chance to fill the Senate seat vacated by Barack Obama as one more money-making plan in what federal prosecutors described Thursday as “The Blagojevich Enterprise.”
Judge Says Some at Bagram Can Challenge Their Detention
A federal judge ruled Thursday that some prisoners held by the U.S. military in Afghanistan have a right to challenge their imprisonment, dealing a blow to government efforts to detain terrorism suspects for extended periods without court oversight.
Shorts (left)
They are an extremely odd couple — he is short and hyperactive, she is dour and shy. He believes in the power of the state and big interventions; she believes in a softer role for the state, guiding and prodding the market. Nicolas Sarkozy and Angela Merkel don’t even get along very well, aides to both leaders say. He has made fun of her accent in private meetings, the aides say, and she says he is self-centered and impetuous.
Shorts (right)
Facing fallen endowments and needier students, many colleges are looking more favorably on wealthier applicants as they make their admissions decisions this year.
First Khmer Rouge Trial Opens a Torture House Door
Testimony opened Monday at the first trial of a Khmer Rouge official, with a detailed description of the internal workings and methods of interrogation in the regime’s central torture house.
President Gives U.S. Automakers a Short Lifeline
President Barack Obama delivered an ultimatum to General Motors and Chrysler on Monday, telling them to adopt radical changes in short order or face bankruptcy — a move that came after a series of somber discussions in which he concluded that a controlled bankruptcy might be the best way to reorganize the two ailing auto giants.
No April Fool’s Storm This Year
8 a.m., March 31, 1997: Rain began falling in Boston with temperatures in the low 40s°F (5°C). A Nor’easter was rapidly developing off the coast and slowly drifting northeastward. The rain changed to all snow in Boston by noon, and by sunset an all-out blizzard had overspread much of New England. Temperatures hovered slightly below freezing, and with heavy snow and winds gusting over 50 mph, visibilities were reduced to near zero. The blizzard conditions and incredible snowfall rates of up to four inches per hour pounded Boston until the early afternoon of April Fool’s Day. Clouds and winds quickly diminished during the afternoon, and the sun set vibrantly on a white landscape. Logan recorded a whopping 25.4” of snow, making this storm the third snowiest in recorded meteorological history, displaced only by storms during the Februarys of ‘69 and ‘78 (remember those?).
House Approves New Tax to Stem Wall St. Bonuses
The House of Representatives overwhelmingly approved on Thursday a near-total tax on bonuses paid this year to employees of the American International Group and other firms that have accepted large amounts of federal bailout funds, rattling Wall Street as lawmakers rushed to respond to populist anger.
A Leader Beyond Reproach Limits Possibilites for Libya
Step one block off almost any main road and the streets here are badly damaged or completely unpaved. There are problems with the schools, the health care system and the government bureaucracy, which is plagued by corruption and inefficiency. Untreated sewage is dumped right into the Mediterranean.
Shorts (left)
In the two months since Israel ended its military assault on Gaza, Palestinians and international rights groups have accused it of excessive force and wanton killing in that operation, but the Israeli military has said it followed high ethical standards and took great care to avoid civilian casualties.
Global Decline in Manufacturing Raises Fears
Since it was founded by his great-grandfather in 1880, Carl Martin Welcker’s company in Cologne, Germany, has mirrored the fortunes of manufacturing, not just in Europe but around the world.
Shorts (right)
Suicide bombers who stormed the Justice Ministry and a prison department building in the Afghan capital on Feb. 11 were trained in Pakistan’s lawless border region, Afghan intelligence officials have said.
A Load of Pressure
Did you feel like there’s been extra pressure on you? Maybe it was due to all of your professors conspiring to schedule their exams all on the same week? While that could be true, it could from the air column above you exerting extra pressure instead. There has been a slow-moving high pressure system that has dominated the eastern half of the US. Over the last seven days, the sea-level pressure in Boston has averaged about 1025 millibars — roughly one to two standard deviations above normal. That system has moved well off the coast, but another one has already moved in to take its place. For those graduate students, MIT athletes and others stuck at MIT during spring break, the good news is that this system too will also be a slow-mover, so another rain-free stretch of weather is expected over the next seven days.
Mugabe Is an Obstacle to More Donor Aid
On his first day as education minister in a government so broke that most schools were closed and millions of children idle, David Coltart said he got a startling invitation.
El Salvador’s Leftist President-Elect Has Conciliatory Tone
Almost as soon as Mauricio Funes won the presidency as the standard bearer for the party of El Salvador’s former leftist guerrillas, he set about trying to reassure his opponents.
China’s Stimulus Spending Sows A Surge in Growth
The global economic downturn, and efforts to reverse it, will probably make China an even stronger economic competitor than it was before the crisis.