Clearing skies just in time for the weekend
MIT students had to deal with more than just Psets and exams this week. A potent low pressure system formed just off the coast of New England, bringing gusty winds and heavy rain to the area. Since Monday, Boston has picked up over 3 inches of rain and winds have gusted to as high as 60 mph!
South Korea tears down Christmas tower on border
SEOUL, South Korea — South Korean marines have dismantled a 43-year-old Christmas tower on the border with North Korea that the North had threatened to attack with artillery, officials here said Wednesday.
Germany is sending a military training mission to northern Iraq
BAKU, Azerbaijan — Germany is sending a mission to northern Iraq to examine whether its military, and possibly those of other European nations, can expand the training of Kurdish forces battling jihadists there, Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier said Thursday.
Canada worries as extremism lures more abroad
In January 2013, strewn amid the rubble and debris left after a terrorist attack on a gas plant in the Algerian desert were the remains of two men who had traveled far from home to wage what they viewed as a holy war.
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AMMAN, Jordan — Air and missile strikes in Syria by the United States and its allies during the past month have killed more than 500 extremist fighters as well as at least 32 civilians, a Syrian monitoring group said Thursday.
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Nine people in Connecticut who may have been exposed to the Ebola virus have been told to stay at home and are being monitored by local health authorities for symptoms, a spokesman for the State Public Health Department said Wednesday.
Dozens are killed in attacks on Shiite targets in Iraq
BAGHDAD — Militants unleashed a flurry of deadly attacks against Shiite targets in Iraq on Monday, including a quadruple car bombing near two of the holiest shrines in Shiite Islam, and a suicide attack inside a mosque, officials said.
Texas officials clear 43 people after Ebola monitoring
DALLAS — More than three dozen people who were monitored for the past three weeks for possible contact with the Ebola virus were cleared Monday to return to work or school, leaving 133 others still being watched for symptoms of the disease, Dallas County officials said.
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SAN FRANCISCO — Apple’s biggest cash cow, the iPhone, is gaining weight.
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GENEVA — The World Health Organization declared Nigeria, Africa’s most populous nation, officially free of Ebola infections on Monday, calling the outcome the triumphal result of “world class epidemiological detective work.”
Hong Kong leader reaffirms tough stance on elections
HONG KONG — The Beijing-appointed leader of Hong Kong, Leung Chun-ying, said Monday that allowing his successors to be chosen in open elections based on who won the greatest number of votes was unacceptable in part because it risked giving poorer residents a dominant voice in politics.
Gene variant may protect Hispanic women from cancer
A genetic variant that is particularly common in some Hispanic women with indigenous American ancestry appears to protect against breast cancer, a new study found.
Break out the umbrellas!
It was a cool start to the week this week thanks to the passage of a cold front on Saturday evening. Boston’s low temperature early Monday morning was a chilly 39°F (4°C), the coldest it’s been in the city since April 21!
Amid a shift in strategy. IBM reports weak earnings
After IBM reported surprisingly weak quarterly profits and sales Monday morning, Virginia M. Rometty did something most unusual for an IBM chief executive. She joined the conference call with analysts, and forcefully made the case for investing heavily in new fields that promise growth in the future, despite a near-term financial setback.
Hong Kong leader open to talks with protesters
HONG KONG — Hong Kong’s leader said Thursday that the city government hoped to meet with student protest leaders as soon as possible, as authorities struggled to remove pro-democracy demonstrators who have occupied some of the city’s most important thoroughfares for nearly three weeks.
Goldman stock falls on worries over sustainable returns
Goldman Sachs on Thursday reported strong third-quarter results, but investors and analysts expressed concerns that the performance might not be sustainable over time.
Calls to use a proposed nuclear site, now deemed safe
The Nuclear Regulatory Commission on Thursday released a long-delayed report on the suitability of Yucca Mountain as a disposal spot for nuclear waste, finding that the design met the commission’s requirements, laying the groundwork to restart the project if control of the Senate changes hands in the elections next month.
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WASHINGTON — The director of the FBI, James B. Comey, said Thursday that federal laws should be changed to require telecommunications companies to give law enforcement agencies access to the encrypted communications of individuals suspected of crimes.
Unseasonable warmth to end over weekend
The warm weather of the past few days is likely to end overnight on Saturday as cold air is brought down behind a Low passing across the Eastern Canadian provinces. Today and Saturday are likely to have warm highs in the lower 70s (°F) before Sunday’s colder high in the lower to mid 50s (°F). There is a chance that Cambridge will see showers on Saturday afternoon, but nothing like the rainfall from yesterday.
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Google is still pulling in money hand over fist, but in its latest earnings report Thursday there were signs that its ultra-profitable business in search advertising was starting to slow.