Obama Moves to Quell Fury Over AIG Bonuses
President Barack Obama and his top economic advisers scrambled to calm a nationwide furor on Monday over bonuses paid at American International Group, even as administration officials acknowledged they had known about the issue for months.
Shorts (left)
The state of California made its case Monday to regain control of health care in its prisons, telling a federal judge that “dramatic improvements” have occurred since the judge blamed the health system for killing one inmate per week and assigned an overseer to make changes.
Stimulus Puts ‘Clean’ Coal Projects on Faster Track
Near the middle of a dusty construction site here stands a patch of land, about the size of two football fields, notable because it is empty.
An Autism Surge Alarms Minneapolis Somalis
Ayub Abdi is a cute 5-year-old with a smile that might be called shy if not for the empty look in his eyes. He does not speak. When he was 2, he could say “Dad,” “Mom,” “give me” and “need water,” but he has lost all that.
A Sunny St. Patrick’s Day
Today is St. Patrick’s Day, and, perhaps as the luck of the Irish would have it, the weather will remain calm and mostly sunny. Temperatures here will reach around 45°F (7°C), making for a relatively fine day by New England standards. In fact, today’s weather in the Boston area will be somewhat similar to today’s weather in Dublin, Ireland, where temperatures will reach the low 50s°F (11°C) under partly sunny skies. While today’s weather won’t quite reach the spring-like conditions we experienced over the weekend, today’s warming will carry over into tomorrow, and spring’s arrival isn’t far away.
Shorts (right)
Israel’s prime minister-designate, Benjamin Netanyahu ’75, forged ahead on Monday with negotiations toward a probable narrow, hawkish government after his conservative Likud party initialed its first coalition agreement with the nationalist Yisrael Beitenu party led by Avigdor Lieberman.
Investors See Glimmer of Hope, Send Shares Higher
A few clues that the U.S. economy’s downward spiral might be slowing galvanized Wall Street on Thursday and sent the stock market soaring for the second time this week.
U.S. Tries to Ease Tensions in Pakistan
In an effort to defuse the Pakistani political crisis, the U.S. ambassador, Anne W. Patterson, traveled to see the opposition leader Nawaz Sharif on Thursday morning and urged him to reconcile with Pakistan’s president, Sharif said.
In Powerhouse India, Child Hunger Abounds
Small, sick, listless children have long been India’s scourge — “a national shame,” in the words of its prime minister, Manmohan Singh.
In Interview, Gop Chairman Strays From Party on Abortion
This was supposed to be the week that Michael Steele, the beleaguered new national Republican Party chairman, got his groove on, as he might put it: From filling vacancies left by the mass-firing he conducted upon taking office to issuing 100-day plans on how to make the Republican Party competitive on everything from fundraising to the Internet.
Shorts (left)
Tariq Aziz, the senior aide to Saddam Hussein who gained international renown as the public face of Iraq during the Persian Gulf War in 1991, was sentenced to 15 years in prison on Wednesday for crimes against humanity.
Shorts (right)
The letter released Thursday in which Pope Benedict XVI admitted that the Vatican had made “mistakes” in handling the case of a Holocaust-denying bishop was unprecedented in its directness, its humanity and its acknowledgment of papal fallibility.
Obama’s Afghan Plan Focuses On Pakistan Aid to Militants
The emerging outlines of President Barack Obama’s plan for Afghanistan include proposals to shift more U.S. efforts toward problems in neighboring Pakistan and to seek some kind of political reconciliation with the vast majority of insurgents in the region, according to administration officials.
Rite of Spring
While our weather in New England can be cruel at times, Mother Nature’s most impressive display of sound and fury is reserved for the Midwest during the spring months. This time of year, the jet stream begins its slow drift northward, sending storms through the Rockies into the nation’s heartland. Particularly strong storms are able to tap in to plentiful amounts of warm, moist air from the Gulf of Mexico, sending a torrent of energy laden air out ahead of the storm.
Madagascar Crisis Worsens After Mutiny by Soldiers
A mutiny within the military has intensified the political crisis in Madagascar, an impoverished island nation off the southeastern coast of Africa that has suffered turmoil most of this year.
Shorts (right)
What could be worse than graduating from an American business school this year with an interest in banking?
Obama Vows Sparing Use of Signing Statements
Calling into question the legitimacy of all the signing statements that former President George W. Bush used to challenge new laws, President Barack Obama on Monday ordered executive officials to consult Attorney General Eric H. Holder Jr. before relying on any of them to bypass a statute.
The Factory’s Closed, But the Workers Keep Showing Up
What do you do when your employer announces that your company has shut down and that you no longer have a job, effective immediately?
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The commander of a secretive branch of America’s Special Operations forces in February ordered a halt to most commando missions in Afghanistan, reflecting a growing concern that civilian deaths caused by U.S. firepower are jeopardizing broader goals there.
China Harassed U.S. Ship, The Pentagon Says
The United States has lodged a formal protest with the government in Beijing, saying five Chinese ships harassed a U.S. surveillance vessel in international waters, in actions the Pentagon described as illegal, unprofessional and dangerous.