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BEIJING — They are exemplars from folklore that are familiar to Chinese schoolchildren. There is the Confucian disciple who subsisted on wild grass while traveling with sacks of rice to give to his parents. There is the man who worshipped wooden effigies of his parents.
Snowden said to claim US is attempting intimidation
Edward J. Snowden, the fugitive former U.S. security contractor, appeared to break his silence Monday for the first time since he flew to Moscow eight days ago. WikiLeaks, the anti-secrecy group, issued a statement attributed to Snowden that denounced President Barack Obama for revoking his passport, opposing his asylum requests and leaving him a “stateless person.”
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MOSCOW — An unmanned rocket carrying Russian satellites veered off course and crashed a few seconds after liftoff early Tuesday, sending a cloud of highly toxic orange fumes toward the Kazakh city of Baikonur only 50 miles away.
Kerry, meeting with Russian counterpart, seeks Syria talks soon
BANDAR SERI BEGAWAN, Brunei — U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry said Tuesday that the United States and Russia were still working toward holding an international peace conference on Syria and agreed that it should take place “sooner rather than later.”
Beijing increases security in Xinjiang after two clashes last week
BEIJING — Chinese authorities tightened their grip Tuesday on the far western region of Xinjiang, where two clashes left dozens dead last week, by confiscating knives and offering rewards for information about possible separatist attacks, according to state media.
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NEW YORK - Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg proposed major changes to New York City’s building code on Thursday, saying Hurricane Sandy showed that both commercial and residential properties needed additional safeguards to withstand severe weather.
A rare June Nor’easter
A Nor’easter, the type of weather system that usually brings snowstorms to New England in the wintertime, will make a rare June appearance today, creating breezy conditions and drenching rain. This is the same storm system that brought severe weather, including a large complex of thunderstorms known as a derecho, to the Midwest on Wednesday evening. Having moved through the Mid-Atlantic states on Thursday, the storm system moved offshore overnight and underwent a process called cyclogenesis, forming a strong low pressure center. That low will move northeastward (hence the name) past the tip of Cape Cod today, bringing the aforementioned rain and wind to our area.
Greek state broadcaster shut down, prompting worker strikes in protest
ATHENS, Greece - Thousands of Greeks walked off the job Thursday in the third general strike of the year, this time called by labor unions to protest a surprise decision by the conservative-led government to close the state broadcaster and put about 2,900 employees out of work.
NSA chief to release details on surveillance program
WASHINGTON - The director of the National Security Agency said Thursday that he would release more information about the top secret programs that sweep up vast quantities of communications data on people here and abroad, and vowed to clear up what he said were inaccuracies and misperceptions about how the programs work.
Secret-court ruling in 2008 put tech firms in legal data bind
SAN FRANCISCO - In a secret court in Washington, Yahoo’s top lawyers made their case. The government had sought help in spying on certain foreign users, without a warrant, and Yahoo had refused, saying the broad requests were unconstitutional.
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The International Criminal Court in The Hague has decided not to investigate or prosecute the former pope and other leaders of the Roman Catholic Church on allegations of covering up the sexual abuse of children by priests.
Inspector commits suicide after Philly building collapses, killing six
PHILADELPHIA - A city building inspector was found dead of an apparently self-inflicted gunshot wound late Wednesday, a week after a building collapsed at a site he had inspected in central Philadelphia, killing six people.
Bill Clinton’s dissent on Syrian action puts White House on the spot
WASHINGTON - A day after former President Bill Clinton endorsed a more robust U.S. intervention in Syria, the White House pushed back Thursday on an issue that has Clinton aligning himself with Sen. John McCain, who has faulted President Barack Obama for his reluctance to get entangled in the bloody civil war there.
A rainy Commencement?
A rather complicated forecast situation has set up for Friday. While we all had hoped that the high pressure (which brought us gorgeous weather on Tuesday and Wednesday) would stick around for Commencement, Mother Nature has other plans in mind. A low pressure system moving from the Ohio River Valley into our regions brings the first threat of rain today. Complicating this though, is a tropical system, which as of 6 p.m. Wednesday was classified as the first tropical storm of the 2013 Atlantic hurricane season; Tropical Storm Andrea. This system will interact with the low pressure from the Ohio River Valley as well as with an upper level trough to bring heavy rain today and tomorrow. With abundant tropical moisture, we could receive several inches of rain. As of this writing, there is still significant forecast uncertainty regarding the track of this system, the timing of its arrival in the Northeast, and the location of the heaviest precipitation. It seems that the heaviest precipitation will not be until tonight, but there is, unfortunately, a chance of rain during this mornings Commencement ceremony. As the system heads out to sea tomorrow, the rain should taper, with dry weather expected on Sunday.
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WASHINGTON — The International Monetary Fund released an internal report Wednesday that sharply criticizes its first bailout program for Greece, the latest in a series of partial mea culpas as the fund reassesses the austerity that it has insisted on for ailing, debt-plagued economies.
In Syrian victory, Hezbollah risks a broader fight
BEIRUT — In the final days the outgunned Syrian rebels, deprived of reinforcements, ammunition and sleep, were surviving on olives and canned beans. They were hiding in the concrete shells of destroyed houses and underground tunnels near the besieged rebel stronghold of Qusair, unable to help their trapped colleagues and civilians dying of treatable wounds, as Syrian government forces and their Hezbollah allies from Lebanon assaulted the town by land and air.
US and Venezuelan diplomats agree to work toward talks
CARACAS, Venezuela — After months of tensions between the United States and Venezuela, Secretary of State John Kerry met on Wednesday with the Venezuelan foreign minister, Elías Jaua, in Antigua, Guatemala, and announced the start of talks aimed at improving relations between the two countries.
Cyprus gets first tranche of bailout funds
PARIS — After striking an unprecedented deal in March to make many bank depositors help pay for an international bailout, Cyprus on Monday received 2 billion euros, the first installment of that money, aimed at buttressing the economy after the near-collapse of its banking sector.
After a cool start, week warms up
It has been a cool start to the week, with high temperatures yesterday barely making it to 60°F, a trend that will continue today. It may get a few degrees warmer than yesterday, but we are still looking at the low 60°Fs, but that could be knocked down with the development of an afternoon seabreeze. Temperatures tonight will also be chilly, with lows in the low 40°Fs. Last night, in fact, the National Weather Service put out frost advisories because away from the coast, low temperature were expected to drop into the 30°Fs. Luckily for the warm weather lovers, milder air will work its way into the region for the end of the week, with highs Thursday and Friday expected to be in the mid to upper 70°Fs.
IRS focus on conservatives gives GOP issue to seize on
WASHINGTON — The Internal Revenue Service’s special scrutiny of small-government groups applying for tax-exempt status went beyond keyword hunts for organizations with “Tea Party” or “Patriot” in their names, to a more overtly ideological search for applicants seeking to “make America a better place to live” or “criticize how the country is being run,” according to part of a draft audit by the inspector general that has been given to Capitol Hill.