Warm Weather on Hold for Now
The calendar says it’s spring and the sun is high in the sky, so why you say are 30s°F and 40s F in the forecast? No it’s (probably) not some cruel weather modification prank for campus preview weekend, but instead an inescapable characteristic of spring-time in coastal southern New England. After a long winter, water temperatures near Boston are still only in the upper 30s F (water has a high heat capacity). High pressure areas to our north (with clockwise wind circulation) or low pressure areas to our south (vice-versa) can both orient wind from the Atlantic which subsequently cools down all of New England. The latter is expected for this weekend, the low pressure also bringing rain and leaving the first two Sox-Yanks games in doubt.
Bush Signals No Early Troop Reductions for Iraq Forces
President Bush said Thursday that the senior U.S. commander in Iraq could “have all the time he needs” before reducing U.S. forces there any further, but he promised shorter tours for troops and longer breaks for them at home.
New Fight for Sadr City Becomes Proving Ground for Iraqi Military
The Iraqi soldiers pushed their way up a main thoroughfare in Sadr City over the past week, but the militias who still prowl the Shiite enclave were sniping at them from the alleyways.
Top Olympic Committee Official Makes Rare Criticism of China
China faced rare criticism of its human rights record from the head of the International Olympics Committee on Thursday, even as calls for a boycott of the opening ceremony of the games grew louder in Europe and the United States.
Clinton’s Poverty Policy Brings Back Memories of Rift in 1996 Campaign
In the summer of 1996, President Bill Clinton delivered on his pledge to “end welfare as we know it.” Despite howls of protest from some liberals, he signed into law a bill forcing recipients to work and imposing a five-year limit on cash assistance.
Thousands Struggle With Mass Cancellations of Airline Flights
On Monday, Karin Peyregne was in Mobile, Ala., kissing her husband and two young sons goodbye, on her way to a base near Chicago for basic training in the Navy.
Shorts (left)
Portions of the sky above, the water around, and streets all over New York will be sealed off next week when Pope Benedict XVI arrives in the city.
Shorts (right)
In the midst of yet another controversy about whether vaccines cause autism, the federal government will hold its first ever public meeting on Friday to discuss a government-wide research agenda to explore the safety of vaccines.
As Olympic Torch Reaches Paris, Protests And Scuffles Follow
China dubbed its Olympic torch relay the “Journey of Harmony,” a 21-nation promotional tour for the most expensive Games the world has seen and for a host nation eager to showcase its rising wealth and diplomatic clout.
Shorts (right)
The head of California’s health department said Monday that the agency planned to sanction the University of California, Los Angeles, Medical Center after hospital workers improperly viewed the records of more than 60 patients, including the actress Farrah Fawcett and the state’s first lady, Maria Shriver.
Shorts (left)
The Washington Post won six Pulitzer Prizes on Monday, the second most that any newspaper has won in a year, including awards for reporting that helped define much of the national political dialogue in 2007.
Inflation in Asia Pressures Prices for Western Consumers
The free ride for American consumers is ending. For two generations, Americans have imported goods produced ever more cheaply from a succession of low-wage countries — first Japan and Korea, then China and now increasingly places like Vietnam and India.
Go Out and Enjoy
The presence of a high off the New England coast will dominate weather over the next couple of days. As the high moves towards the east, the southerly flow will bring relatively warm temperatures and clear skies that are, at this time of the year, modulated by the relatively cool ocean temperatures (about 40 F). As the air in near contact with the ocean follows the ocean temperature, a pressure gradient across the coast builds up, making a steady and moist sea breeze possible along coastal regions. This “sea breeze” was mostly responsible for the stratocumulus clouds and heavy drizzle observed during the last few days. With a stronger southerly flow, we could expect this low level influence to be less important, specially during Wednesday and Thursday, where temperatures will rise to about 60 F.
Pres. Candidates Converge As Iraq War Enters Spotlight
Three presidential candidates and two very different views of Iraq will be on full display on Tuesday as Gen. David H. Petraeus, the top American commander in Baghdad, testifies before the Senate in a marathon session of war and White House ambitions.
In One Law, Congress Grants Power to Trump Many Others
Securing the nation’s borders is so important, Congress says, that Michael Chertoff, the homeland security secretary, must have the power to ignore any laws that stand in the way of building a border fence. Any laws at all.
Youth Voters Supporting Sen. Obama Exhort Their Elders to Follow
The daily phone calls. The midnight e-mails. And when college lets out, those dinner table declamations? Oh, please.
Shorts (right)
North Korea’s rising tensions with South Korea and the United States, coupled with soaring international grain prices and flood damage from last year, will probably take a heavy toll among famine-threatened people in the isolated country, relief experts said Thursday.
Appeals Court Panel Throws Out Class Action Over ‘Light’ Cigarettes
In a victory for the tobacco industry, a federal appeals court threw out on Thursday an $800 billion class-action lawsuit on behalf of smokers who said they had been misled that light cigarettes were safer than regular ones.
Americans Voice Serious Concern Over U.S. Future
Americans are more dissatisfied with the country’s direction than at any time since the New York Times/CBS News poll began asking about the subject in the 1990s, according to the latest poll.
Testimony Offers Details of Bear Stearns Takeover
Three weeks after the market crisis that forced the rescue of Bear Stearns, federal officials and senior Wall Street executives offered their first public account on Thursday of the harrowing four days of negotiations that led to a deal to sell the investment bank to JPMorgan Chase.