Candidates Blitz States As Key Super Tuesday Votes Approach
The presidential candidates from both parties campaigned frenetically on Monday, making their final pushes with a series of rallies and blitzes of television commercials for a last bout of November-style campaigning before more than 20 states vote in Tuesday’s virtual national primary.
The Day After Tomorrow
It always rains on the loser’s day parade. Storms are sweeping in like defensive linemen swarming after a scrambling quarterback. Relatively warm temperatures will peak around fifty degrees Fahrenheit before cooler air and precipitation sneak in like slot receivers on a third down slant route. The high pressure system responsible for our recent spate of clement weather is slipping away like dreams of a perfect season and a Super Bowl victory.
Warm vs. Cold
As is frequent this time of the year, there can be a considerable difference in temperature over a short distance, i.e. a large temperature gradient. Fronts are usually responsible for these gradients, while the fronts are associated with low-pressure systems. One such low-pressure system located over the northern Great Lakes region yesterday sent a cold front plunging down into the Plains and Midwest. On the east side of the front, temperatures were generally in the 50s and 60s°F (10–20°C), whereas on the back side temperatures plunged as low as -30°F (-35°C)!
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This spring, Bostjan Troha and 50 of his friends from across the former Yugoslavia plan to celebrate the official 116th birthday of the former dictator Josip Broz Tito with a pilgrimage in boxy Yugoslav-era Fico cars to Tito’s Croatian birthplace and his marble tomb in Belgrade.
McCain Beats Out Romney in Florida, Giuliani Distant Third
Sen. John McCain edged out Mitt Romney to win the delegate-rich Florida primary on Tuesday night, solidifying his transformation from left-for-dead candidate to a front-runner and dealing a devastating blow to the presidential hopes of Rudolph W. Giuliani, whose distant finish here threatened to doom his candidacy.
China Cracks Down on Dissidents As 2008 Olympic Games Approach
When state security agents burst into his apartment on Dec. 27, Hu Jia was chatting on Skype, the Internet-based telephone system. Hu’s computer was his most potent tool. He disseminated information about human rights cases, peasant protests, and other politically touchy topics even though he often lived under de facto house arrest.
White House Reconsiders Plan To Reduce Troop Levels in Iraq
Four months after announcing troop reductions in Iraq, President Bush is now sending signals that the cuts may not continue past this summer, a development likely to infuriate Democrats and renew concerns among military planners about strains on the force.
In Bipartisan Move, Economic Stimulus Deal Passed in House
The House on Tuesday voted to approve a $146 billion fiscal stimulus package, hoping to seal a fast-paced deal with President Bush on a combination of tax rebates and business incentives aimed at jolting the economy with new spending.
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Senior politicians here increased calls for the resignation of top executives at Societe Generale, ahead of the board’s regular meeting, scheduled for early Wednesday.
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Russia added Serbia’s oil monopoly to its recent string of energy acquisitions in a deal that will also allow Moscow to send more natural gas to Europe through its South Stream pipeline, it was announced Tuesday.
Fed Lowers Rates in Reaction To Monday’s Market Turmoil
The Federal Reserve, confronted by deepening panic in global financial markets about a possible recession in the United States, struck back on Tuesday morning with the biggest one-day reduction of interest rates on record and at least temporarily stopped a vertigo-inducing plunge in stock prices.
Padilla Sentenced to Lenient 17 Years for Role in Conspiracy
Jose Padilla, the Brooklyn-born convert to Islam whom the government once accused of plotting to detonate a “dirty bomb” in the United States, was sentenced Tuesday to 17 years and four months in prison for his role in a conspiracy to help Islamic jihadist fighters abroad.
World Powers Agree on Sanctions Against Iranian Nuclear Program
The world’s leading powers agreed Tuesday on a new set of sanctions against Iran to present as a draft resolution to the U.N. Security Council, but they did not announce details of the sanctions, which are intended to induce Tehran to give up its nuclear program.
Facing Wide Criticism, Israel Opens Fuel Lines to Gaza Strip Temporarily
After widespread criticism of its decision to cut off supplies of industrial diesel oil required to run a power station that serves Gaza City and its hospitals, Israel resumed fuel shipments on Tuesday on what it said would be a temporary basis.
Thompson Drops Out of Race; Candidates Seek His Supporters
Fred D. Thompson, the former senator from Tennessee, dropped out of the Republican race for president Tuesday after a third-place primary showing Saturday in South Carolina, a state he had hoped to win when he entered the race riding a wave of optimism among conservatives looking for a strong general election candidate.
(Un)Comfortably Numb
Arctic air will continue to be the rule for the next several days, making this the coldest week so far of the winter. Invasions of cold, dry air from the north are an inevitable result of the radiation deficit at high latitudes this time of year, but that doesn’t mean I have to like it. I find everything to be uncomfortable after an Arctic front blows through, whether I’m freezing outside or sitting in the extreme low humidity of a heated building. Thankfully the air masses don’t usually last more than a few days at our latitude, and the fresh batch of Arctic air late this week will be no different.
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Heath Ledger, the Australian-born actor whose breakthrough role as a gay cowboy in the 2005 movie “Brokeback Mountain” earned him a nomination for an Academy Award and comparisons to the likes of Marlon Brando, was found dead Tuesday in an apartment in Manhattan with prescription pills near his body, the police said.
Romney Obtains Crucial Win Over McCain in Mich. Primary
Mitt Romney, the former Massachusetts governor who ran as a son of Michigan though he left the state nearly 40 years ago, won the Republican primary here with a message aimed at voters deeply anxious about the state’s economy and their own financial prospects.
Bush Tells Saudi Leaders That High Cost of Oil Hurts American Economy
President Bush on Tuesday urged Saudi Arabia and other members of OPEC to consider the strain the high cost of oil was having on the American economy, addressing an issue that has begun to color the last year of his presidency and dominate the presidential election campaign.
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Justice Department officials have told Congress that they face serious legal difficulties in pursuing criminal prosecutions of Blackwater security guards involved in a September shooting that left at least 17 Iraqis dead.