Panama preparing to free most of freighter’s North Korean crew
The authorities in Panama said Monday that they would release 33 of the 35 North Korean crew members of a rusting freighter that was impounded more than three months ago for carrying a secret stash of Soviet-era Cuban military gear hidden under bags of brown sugar.
US official: Al-Qaida affiliate weakening Syria peace efforts
PARIS — A senior State Department official said Monday that an al-Qaida-affiliated rebel group was undermining the chances for a successful international effort to end the war in Syria.
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MOSCOW — A suicide bomber attacked a bus in Volgograd, Russia, on Monday, killing at least five people and wounding more than 25, officials said, a case in which the violence of the turbulent North Caucasus apparently spilled into the Russian heartland.
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J. Michael Evans, a Goldman Sachs executive once seen as a possible candidate to succeed Lloyd C. Blankfein as chief executive, is leaving the Wall Street firm.
Student kills math teacher, then himself, at Nevada middle school
A Nevada middle school student shot and killed a math teacher on Monday, then fatally shot himself in front of children who were gathering for class at the beginning of the school day, the authorities said.
Medicaid expansion is set for Ohioans
COLUMBUS, Ohio — As a Republican chairman of the House Budget Committee in the 1990s, John R. Kasich wielded a ferocious budget ax. On Monday, as Ohio’s governor, Kasich defied his party’s majorities in the state Legislature to push through a multibillion-dollar expansion of Medicaid under President Barack Obama’s health care law.
Chilly weather finally arrives
This October has been characterized by incredible autumn weather. It has been warm, sunny, and dry. To date, Boston has recieved only 0.50 inches of precipitation, which is over 2 inches below normal. Additionally, much of October saw high temperatures above average, except for October 9-14, which saw high temperatures right around average. The overall monthly average temperature through Oct. 20 is 60.5°F, which is 4.8°F above the climatological average.
Keystone pipeline opponents plan widespread civil disobedience
PITTSBURGH — Opponents of the Keystone XL oil pipeline outlined new plans for persuading President Barack Obama to reject the project at a conference for young climate activists here over the weekend. And while most organizers continued to express optimism that the administration would not allow TransCanada to complete the 1,700-mile pipeline from Alberta’s oil sands to Gulf Coast refineries, they are preparing for the likelihood that the project will win approval.
Seasonable sunshine in store
A mostly sunny, seasonable weekend is in store after two consecutive days of above-average temperatures. Yesterday’s high temperature at MIT was 73°F, well above the mean value of 61°F normally recorded at nearby Logan Airport. Likewise, southerly winds will keep a warm, moist air mass in place early this morning, allowing temperatures to approach the 70-degree mark for the second day in a row. This time, however, a cold front will pass through the area during the morning hours, resulting in increased windiness, a drop in humidity, and the arrival of cooler air from our north and west. That cooler air mass will continue to move in over the next couple of days, creating the a more seasonable weather pattern, with highs near 60°F and lows around 45°F by the beginning of next week.
Israel-Turkey ties strained by reports of spy exposure
JERUSALEM — Persistently strained relations between Israel and Turkey have not been helped by a report that, last year, Turkey revealed to Iran the identities of up to 10 Iranians who had spied for Israel.
Snowden says he took no secret files to Russia
WASHINGTON — Edward J. Snowden, the former National Security Agency contractor, said in an extensive interview this month that he did not take any secret NSA documents with him to Russia when he fled there in June, assuring that Russian intelligence officials could not get access to them.
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Among Goldman Sachs employees, the chatter started months ago that 2013 was going to be a good bonus year. The Wall Street bank began the year strong, and despite concerns about the economy, its profit doubled over year-ago levels in the second quarter.
Oil companies are sued in waste of natural gas
HOUSTON — In the sharpest challenge yet to the surge in flaring of natural gas in the Bakken shale oil field, North Dakota mineral owners this week filed 10 class-action lawsuits seeking millions of dollars in lost royalties from some of the nation’s largest oil companies.
Shutdown over, government slowly gets back to normal
WASHINGTON — The U.S. government sputtered back to life Thursday after President Barack Obama and Congress ended a 16-day shutdown, clearing the way for federal agencies to again deliver services, reopen public facilities, and welcome hundreds of thousands of furloughed employees back to work.
Google results top Wall Street expectations
SAN FRANCISCO — For more than a decade, Google’s search ad business has seemed almost magical in its ability to mint money.
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European Union lawmakers voted narrowly Wednesday to force energy companies to carry out in-depth environmental audits before they deploy a technique known as “fracking” to recover natural gas from shale rock.
Cool weather, mix of sun and clouds
We will see cool but pleasant conditions in Boston as we head into the long weekend, with highs generally in the low 60s°F and lows in the low 50s°F. Overnight lows in the next two days may even dip into the upper 40s°F. Today and tomorrow, we will see some clouds and wind due to a coastal low-pressure system affecting the region from Virginia through New York and southern New England. This nor’easter will linger over the mid-Atlantic for several days.
Observers differ on fairness of election in Azerbaijan
BAKU, Azerbaijan — A prominent delegation of international election observers on Thursday sharply criticized Azerbaijan’s presidential election as unfair and rife with fraud, amid aggressive efforts by the Azerbaijani government and its allies to portray the vote as legitimate.
Abductors briefly seize Libyan prime minister
CAIRO — Libya’s prime minister, Ali Zeidan, was briefly kidnapped from a Tripoli hotel Thursday in an apparent act of retaliation for his supposed consent to the capture of a suspected al-Qaida leader by American Special Forces.