Winter, Act III
The bitterly cold President's Day earlier this week appears to be the final gasp of the cold weather regime we had been stuck in for almost five weeks. During that period the mean temperature in Boston was 6.6°F (3.7°C) below the climatological average. This cold regime was preceded by a warm regime of just over five weeks, in which the mean temperature was 10.0°F (5.6°C) above the climatological average. Now, it appears that we are settling into a flow pattern conducive to temperature variations about the climatological average, rather than persistent warmth or cold.
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More than two years after a pepper-spray pellet fired from a police officer's gun killed a college student as a crowd gathered outside Fenway Park to celebrate a Red Sox victory, the Boston Police Department has said it will destroy the pellet weapons.
Microsoft Loses Patent Dispute Over MP3 Digital File Format
Microsoft was ordered by a federal jury Thursday to pay $1.52 billion in a patent dispute over the MP3 digital file format, the technology at the heart of the digital music boom.
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Dr. Manto Tshabalala-Msimang, the South African minister of health whose promotion of garlic and beetroot as protection against AIDS came to symbolize her nation's slow response to the HIV epidemic, is in a Johannesburg hospital with severe anemia and a lung infection, the government said Thursday.
Iran Expands Nuclear Effort In Defiance of United Nations
In open defiance of the United Nations, Iran is steadily expanding its efforts to enrich uranium, the International Atomic Energy Agency reported Thursday.
Suicide Bombers Attack American Combat Outpost, Killing Soldiers
In a coordinated assault on an American combat outpost north of Baghdad on Monday, suicide bombers drove three cars laden with explosives into the base, killing two American soldiers and wounding at least 17 more, according to witnesses and the American military.
Guinean Government Enacts Martial Law to Quell Uproar
For most Guineans, the last straw came two months ago.
India, Pakistan Vow That Train Blast Will Not Affect Relations
A day after two homemade bombs killed at least 66 people on a train traveling to Pakistan from India, the governments of both countries on Monday condemned the attack and pledged that it would not deter their aim of reducing longstanding hostilities on the subcontinent.
Talks Between Israeli and Palestinian Leaders Show Little Promise of Peace
An American-sponsored meeting between Israeli and Palestinian leaders meant to start a new peace initiative after six years ended Monday with little more concrete than a promise to meet again.
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Taliban insurgents seized control of a district in southwestern Afghanistan on Monday as the Afghan police abandoned their post and fled, officials said. The district is the second to fall into Taliban hands this month, and its capture underlines the precarious hold of the government and NATO troops in the remote districts of southern Afghanistan.
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Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton told an audience of black voters on Monday that they would be “breaking barriers” if they supported her for president in 2008 — deliberately signaling that they could still take pride in making history if they chose a woman over one of their own, Sen. Barack Obama of Illinois.
Giant Frogs! Giant Frogs!
In the midst of several cold spells that have brought temperatures around 10°F cooler than climatology, as well as the first major snowstorm of the year, we are looking at some incoming precipitation that presents a bit of a challenge.
Violent Algerian Group Plans to Unite North African Extremists
The plan, hatched for months in the arid mountains of North Africa, was to attack the U.S. and British embassies here. It ended in a series of gunbattles in January that killed a dozen militants and left two Tunisian security officers dead.
Federal Authorities Investigate Payments to Nevada Governor
Federal authorities are investigating gifts and payments that Gov. Jim Gibbons of Nevada received as a congressman from an executive of a software company that got millions of dollars in federal contracts, government officials said Thursday.
A Thousand Dogs and Cats Killed After Disease Outbreak at Shelter
An outbreak of disease that national experts say was of an unprecedented magnitude prompted a weeklong closing of the region's main animal shelter and the killing of about 1,000 dogs and cats.
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President Vladimir V. Putin on Thursday added intrigue to the unsettled but widely debated question of who might succeed him as Russia's leader in 2008 when he promoted his minister of defense in an unexpected Cabinet tinkering.
Iraqi Cleric al-Sadr's Location Questioned, Said to be in Iran
Questions and accusations continued to swirl about the whereabouts of the militant Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr on Thursday, and American and Iraqi forces deepened their security push in Baghdad.
Democrats Gamble They Can Finish Senate's Squabbling on Iraq Debate
As the House prepared to pass a symbolic resolution denouncing President Bush's war policy, Senate Democratic leaders on Thursday abruptly scheduled a weekend debate on Iraq in an effort to break a stalemate and avoid impressions that partisan bickering was weighing down deliberations over the war.
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A federal bankruptcy judge on Thursday ordered Bear Stearns to pay nearly $160 million to investors in a hedge fund for failing to properly monitor the activities of the fund before it collapsed in early 2000.
President Warns of Expected Confrontation in Afghanistan
President Bush warned on Thursday that he expected "fierce fighting" to flare in Afghanistan this spring, and he pressed NATO allies to provide a bigger and more aggressive force to guard against a resurgence by the Taliban and al-Qaida that could threaten the fragile Afghan nation.