U.N. voices worry over excessive force in Venezuela
CARACAS, Venezuela — A group of U.N. human rights experts voiced concern Thursday over reports of excessive use of force against protesters and journalists during the recent wave of anti-government demonstrations that has spread across the country.
European Central Bank holds rates steady
FRANKFURT, Germany — Mario Draghi, the president of the European Central Bank, offered a spirited defense of the wisdom of doing nothing Thursday. That was after he and his fellow policymakers dashed expectations for an interest-rate cut or other action to stimulate the still ailing eurozone economy.
Libyan rioters charge parliament building
CAIRO — Dozens of armed rioters stormed into the Libyan Parliament in Tripoli on Sunday, setting fire to the grounds, looting furniture and wounding a prominent lawmaker in a spasm of anger at the clotted and chaotic transition after the ouster of Moammar Gadhafi.
Shorts (left)
WASHINGTON — The familiar, piercing tone of an emergency alert jolted television viewers to attention. Then came the frightening images: the White House surrounded by terrorists, landmarks in flames in the nation’s capital and military convoys patrolling the city. “THIS IS NOT A TEST,” read the on-screen advisory.
MITx raises big questions about how information is used
CAMBRIDGE, Mass. — With the success of its free open online course system, called MITx, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology finds itself sitting on a wealth of student data that researchers might use to compare the efficacy of virtual teaching methods, and perhaps advance the field of Web-based instruction.
Winter clings on before arrival of spring
Although this winter featured no particularly notable blizzard in Boston like last year’s did, it does care very much to keep it cold for as long as it can. Highs will remain below freezing for much of this week, although it is now less than a month before this becomes unusual.
Shorts (right)
NEW DELHI — Hoping to clean a trash-strewn pathway to the world’s highest peak, Nepal’s tourism authority declared Monday that those climbing Mount Everest must return from the trip with an extra 18 pounds of garbage.
North Korean officials expel Australian evangelist
SEOUL, South Korea — North Korea on Monday said it had decided to expel an Australian Christian missionary it arrested last month after he apologized for violating North Korean laws.
Mutation found that kills off gene responsible for diabetes
A new study based on genetic testing of 150,000 people has found a rare mutation that protects even fat people from getting Type 2 diabetes. The effect is so pronounced — the mutation reduces risk by two-thirds — that it provides a promising new target for developing a drug to mimic the mutation’s effect.
Merkel warns Britain not to expect too much from the E.U.
LONDON — Given red-carpet treatment in London, Chancellor Angela Merkel of Germany responded Thursday with warm words, but few hard promises to Prime Minister David Cameron, who is counting on her support in his efforts to loosen British ties to the European Union.
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More than 8 in 10 Democrats say they want Hillary Rodham Clinton to run for president in 2016, showing a level of interest in her that no other potential candidates — Democrat or Republican — come close to matching among their party’s voters, according to a New York Times/CBS News Poll.
China announces new cybersecurity push
SHANGHAI — President Xi Jinping is presiding over a new working group on cybersecurity and information security, China announced Thursday, a sign that the Communist Party views the issue as one of the country’s most pressing strategic concerns.
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Children born to middle-aged men are more likely than those born to younger fathers to develop any of a range of mental difficulties, including attention deficits, bipolar disorder, autism
Federal judge strikes down Texas’ ban on same-sex marriage
HOUSTON — A federal judge in Texas struck down the state’s ban on same-sex marriage Wednesday, ruling that the laws restricting marriage to a man and a woman violated the U
Continued cold temperatures ahead
Due to a strong high-pressure system settling in over the Northeast, the cold temperatures we experienced this past week will persist for at least a few more days. This high-pressure system brings a mass of cold Arctic air, and as a result, the high today will be only in the low 20°Fs. With winds of 15 mph during the day, the wind chill today may be as low as -5°F! Like today, Saturday will be sunny, but it will be slightly warmer.
North Korea displays another captured missionary
SEOUL, South Korea — A South Korean Baptist missionary held in North Korea appeared in a government-arranged news conference in Pyongyang on Thursday, saying that he had plotted to build underground churches in the isolated country to help undermine its government.
Punished by data breach, profit at Target declines 46 percent
The widespread theft of Target customer data had a significant impact on the company’s profit, which fell more than 40 percent in the fourth quarter, the retailer reported Wednesday.
Thai general urges protestors to ‘compose yourselves’
BANGKOK — The head of Thailand’s army, one of the most powerful institutions in the country, appeared to distance himself from the goals of anti-government protesters in a nationally televised speech on Monday that analysts said was a signal to the Thai public.
On Ukraine, a wary stance from Obama
WASHINGTON — Televisions around the White House were aglow with pictures of Ukrainians in the streets, demanding to be heard and toppling a government aligned with Russia. It was an invigorating moment, and it spurred the president and his staff to rethink their approach to the world.
Obama worried about effects of waging cyberwar in Syria
WASHINGTON — Not long after the uprising in Syria turned bloody late in the spring of 2011, the Pentagon and the National Security Agency developed a battle plan that featured a sophisticated cyberattack on the Syrian military and President Bashar Assad’s command structure.