What is a polar vortex?
The weather has been a major news story this week across much of the United States, as extraordinarily cold weather has swept the central and eastern parts of the country. Temperatures well below 0°F combined with blustery winds to create dangerous conditions, forcing the closings of schools and businesses as people were advised to stay indoors. Many recent news reports have attributed the extreme cold to a “polar vortex”— but what exactly does that mean?
Hundreds of police officers are reassigned in Turkey
PARIS — About 350 police officers in Ankara, the Turkish capital, were removed from their posts overnight, Turkish news outlets reported Tuesday, the largest single purge of the police force since a corruption investigation plunged the government into crisis last month.
In about-face, Sudan denies talking with South about a joint force
KHARTOUM, Sudan — Sudan on Tuesday backed away from its assertion that it had held discussions with South Sudan about creating a joint force to safeguard oil fields in the South, an economic lifeblood for both countries that is being threatened by the fighting in South Sudan.
House and Senate reach compromise on Pentagon bill
WASHINGTON — House and Senate negotiators reached a final agreement Monday on a Pentagon policy bill that would strengthen protections for military victims of sexual assault and keep the prison facility at Guantánamo Bay open over President Barack Obama’s strenuous objections, as Congress rushed to wrap up work in its last full week of the year.
Thai premier calls for elections as opposition quits
BANGKOK — Facing volatile street protests and the mass resignation from Parliament of the main opposition party, Thailand’s prime minister on Monday called for fresh elections, the latest in a series of attempts to defuse anger against her political party and her powerful family.
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BAGHDAD — Iraqi forces battled gunmen trying to infiltrate the country from neighboring Syria on Monday, while attacks in Baghdad and north of the capital killed more than 20 people, officials said.
Arctic front to bring temperature plunge
Yesterday, we at Cambridge witnessed our first lasting snow of the winter, more than one month later than the time of our first lasting snow last year. Temperatures over the last few days frequently oscillated above and below freezing, as is typical in Bostonian December.
Philippines and Muslim rebels move closer to final peace deal
MANILA, Philippines — The Philippines has moved a step closer to a landmark peace deal with the country’s largest Muslim insurgent group, but significant obstacles to an end to violence remain.
Israel, Jordan, and Palestinians sign water project deal
JERUSALEM — In a rare display of regional cooperation, representatives of Israel, Jordan and the Palestinian Authority signed an agreement Monday to build a Red Sea-Dead Sea water project that is meant to benefit all three parties.
Israel agrees to allow building materials into Gaza
JERUSALEM — Under pressure from the United Nations amid a mounting economic and humanitarian crisis in the Gaza Strip, Israel has agreed to restart the transfer of construction materials to Gaza on Tuesday after an eight-week hiatus.
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Harvard College is facing a new round of disapproval, and even ridicule, from some educators following news that the most common grade awarded is an A, more than a decade after professors pledged to combat grade inflation.
Before IPO, Twitter adds first woman to its board
SAN FRANCISCO — Twitter announced Thursday that it had added the former publishing executive Marjorie M. Scardino to its board of directors — the first woman to serve in a such a role at the social networking company.
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Saudi Aramco, a company that last year produced an average of 9.5 million barrels of crude oil a day, on Wednesday opened a research center in Cambridge, the first of three new US research facilities the global energy giant will set up by the end of next year.
Florida State QB will not be charged with sexual battery
A Florida prosecutor Thursday announced that Florida State University star quarterback Jameis Winston will not face charges of sexual battery.
Frontal passages produce precipitation
A range of precipitation types is expected to fall at the Institute over the next few days as two cold fronts pass through the area. The first of these cold fronts will pass through during the day today, meaning that this morning’s unseasonably warm air is not long for our area. People enjoying temperatures in the mid 50s°F this at the start of their day may not be pleased to discover temperatures falling through the 40s°F in the afternoon and evening. Meanwhile, rain showers will intensify and become steady overnight, possibly changing over to snow before ending tomorrow morning.
US charges dozens of Russian diplomats with Medicaid fraud
NEW YORK — Federal law enforcement authorities have charged nearly 50 past or present Russian diplomats and their spouses in a $1.5 million Medicaid fraud scheme, an unusual twist in what has become a familiar criminal story line in New York.
House passes bill that raises the bar for lawsuits over patents
WASHINGTON — The House on Thursday overwhelmingly passed a bill protecting technology companies and their customers from nuisance patent-infringement lawsuits by shell companies that exist merely to gather dormant patents and threaten lawsuits against suspected violators.
Two companies aim to treat allergies with pills or drops
For much of her adult life, Shirley Hickey received two injections a week in an effort to tame severe allergies that caused frequent sore throats and sinus infections. Now she uses a less painful method.
Insurgents strike in major Nigerian city
LONDON — Authorities in northeastern Nigeria imposed a 24-hour curfew around the region’s main city on Monday after Islamic militants staged an audacious attack apparently aimed at a government air base, news reports said, describing the assault as among the most dramatic in the insurgents’ campaign to create an Islamic state.