$25 Billion Fund for Electric Cars Is Still Untouched
The future of the American auto industry is getting off to a slow start.
Shorts (left)
Twenty-eight members of a Shiite messianic cult responsible for brutal attacks on Shiite pilgrims in Iraq were sentenced to death on Thursday, said an official from the federal court in Dhi Qar province.
Shorts (right)
The Senate approved a bill Thursday to provide the nation’s capital with a voting representative in the House, but it came with a hitch. A controversial amendment was added that would repeal most of the city’s gun-control regulations.
A Cold Winter — Now What?
Sure the calendar doesn’t say winter is over until March 20th. But meteorologists are impatient; they don’t wait until that date to close the chapter on winter. Instead, they consider December, January, and February (DJF) the winter months. (Meteorologists are also so impatient that the hundreds of weather stations across the U.S. have been programmed to report the hourly meteorological conditions seven minutes before the top of the hour.) With February coming to an end tomorrow, was the DJF temperature in Boston below average? You don’t need me to tell you that the answer is yes, but not as much as you might think. Surprisingly, December and February were slightly above-normal, while January was a whopping four and a half degrees Fahrenheit colder than normal. Thus, as a whole, DJF will turn out to be one degree Fahrenheit below normal.
Palestinian Rivals Announce Steps to Healing Rift
Leaders of the rival Palestinian groups Hamas and Fatah declared Thursday a “historic day” at the conclusion of a meeting here aimed at healing a 20-month schism.
Iraq Museum That Was Looted Reopens, Far from Whole
Well over half the exhibition halls in Iraq’s National Museum are closed, darkened and in disrepair. And yet, the museum whose looting in 2003 became a symbol of the chaos that followed the U.S. invasion officially reopened on Monday.
Pressure Grows to Widen Bailout for Big Companies
The federal government faced mounting pressure on Monday to put billions more in some of America’s biggest banks, two of the biggest automakers and the biggest insurance company, despite the billions it has already committed to rescuing these ailing industries.
Fall of British Bank Echoes Across the Atlantic
Is partial nationalization the cure for America’s ailing banks?
Shorts (right)
The White House echoed on Monday with familiar expressions of determination to make tough decisions, as President Barack Obama used a “fiscal responsibility summit” to promise to do his part to move the nation’s balance sheet back toward balance.
A Genial Conservative for New York City’s Archdiocese
For a few deeply unpleasant days, the Rev. David Cooper found himself in the crosshairs of the Roman Catholic hierarchy.
As It Falters, East Europe Raises Risks
Since the fall of the Berlin Wall, the countries of Eastern Europe have emerged as critical allies of the United States in the region, embracing American-style capitalism and borrowing heavily from Western European banks to fund their rise.
Shorts (left)
In 2004, Shanghai Automotive Industry Corp., China’s largest carmaker, took a small hop across the Yellow Sea and bought a controlling stake in Ssangyong Motor of South Korea.
Not Quite New Orleans Weather
Today is the day of the famous annual Mardi Gras festival in New Orleans, Louisiana. Also known as Fat Tuesday, the carnival features a day of parades and celebrations on the day before the Christian holiday Ash Wednesday. While New Orleans temperatures are expected to be balmy today, reaching close to 70°F (21°C), here in the Boston area temperatures will hover around the freezing mark this afternoon.
Obama Visits Canada in Bid to Improve Relations
President Barack Obama charted a delicate course with Canada on Thursday, using the first foreign trip of his presidency to ease tensions over trade policy, climate change and the war in Afghanistan — all the while basking in his celebrity status in a nation where his approval ratings are so high that a local bakery named a pastry after him.
Newly Poor Swell Lines At America’s Food Banks
Once a crutch for the most needy, food pantries have responded to the deepening recession by opening their doors to what Rosemary Gilmartin, who runs the Interfaith Food Pantry here, described as “the next layer of people” — a rapidly expanding roster of child-care workers, nurse’s aides, real estate agents and secretaries facing a financial crisis for the first time.
Lending Locked, U.S. Tries Trillion-Dollar Key
Credit cards, home equity lines, student loans, car financing: None come cheaply or easily in these credit-tight times. The banks, the refrain goes, just will not lend money.
Shorts (right)
On the same day last month that a federal judge in St. Paul threw out hundreds of lawsuits against the maker of a faulty heart device, a man entered a nearby hospital to have one of those flawed products surgically removed.
Shorts (left)
It may be the longest train delay in history: More than 40 years after the first bullet trains began zipping through Japan, the United States still lacks true high-speed rail. And despite the record $8 billion investment in high-speed rail added at the last minute to the new economic stimulus package, that may not change any time soon.
U.N. Says Iran Enriched More Uranium Than Reported
In their first appraisal of Iran’s nuclear program since President Obama took office, atomic inspectors have found that Iran recently understated by a third how much uranium it has enriched, UN officials said Thursday.
In Budget Deal, California Shuts $42 Billion Gap
Take-home pay for Californians is about to shrink. Jeans, hammers, burgers and fries will cost more. Public school children will make due with old textbooks and find more classmates sitting next to them. Parents will receive fewer tax benefits, and state university students will pay 9 percent more in tuition.