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HONG KONG — The Chinese Communist Party has warned officials to combat “dangerous” Western values and other perceived ideological threats, according to accounts on Monday of a directive that analysts said reflects the top leader Xi Jinping’s determination to preserve top-down political control even as he considers economic liberalization.
Obama scoffs at Libya outcry but vows to act on IRS audits
WASHINGTON — An exasperated President Barack Obama on Monday called Republican criticism of his handling of the attacks in Benghazi, Libya, “a sideshow” and said that any accusation of a cover-up by his administration “defies logic.”
Firms brace for new European data privacy law
BERLIN — The effort in Europe to adopt the world’s strongest data protection law has drawn the attention of dozens of lobbyists from U.S. technology and advertising companies.
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In the 2011-12 fiscal year, the nation’s highest paid public university president was Graham B. Spanier, the president of Pennsylvania State University, who was forced out in November 2011 over his handling of a child sex abuse scandal involving a football coach.
European leaders grapple with youth unemployment
FRANKFURT, Germany — Record youth unemployment is emerging as the most urgent problem in the eurozone, if the political rhetoric of recent days is any measure. But leaders are struggling to come up with effective ways to prevent jobless young people in countries like Spain and Greece from becoming a lost generation and source of social upheaval.
Hezbollah threatens Israel over Syria strikes
BEIRUT — The leader of Hezbollah, the powerful Lebanese militant group, escalated tensions with Israel on Thursday over the recent Israeli airstrikes near Damascus, suggesting that the Syrian government would respond by providing Hezbollah fighters with the same weapons that Israel wants to keep out of their hands.
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LONDON — With the British economy showing feeble signs of resilience and a new central bank governor waiting in the wings, the Bank of England decided Thursday to keep its benchmark interest rate and its economic stimulus program unchanged.
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KABUL, Afghanistan — Afghanistan is ready to let the United States and its allies keep military bases here after the end of the NATO combat mission next year, President Hamid Karzai said Thursday, offering a concrete public signal that foreign troops would remain welcome in the coming years.
$8 million bail for Cleveland kidnapping suspect
CLEVELAND — A man accused of kidnapping and raping three women later found alive in his home after a decade of captivity was ordered held on $8 million bail Thursday.
Republicans block vote on nominee to lead EPA
WASHINGTON — Senate Republicans continued a campaign to delay confirmation of President Barack Obama’s second-term Cabinet-level nominees on Thursday, blocking a committee vote on Gina McCarthy, the president’s pick to lead the Environmental Protection Agency.
Unsettled weather this weekend
Today should be mostly clear and warm, with a high temperature near 80°F — time to install air conditioning! After today, the air will remain humid as the weather takes a turn for the worse. Expect rain showers and thunderstorms on Saturday, ahead of a cold front that will move in Saturday night. Sunday will be cooler and cloudy, with some rain possible. Such weather is not confined to New England; forecasts predict precipitation in 47 of the continental U.S. states in the next 36 hours.
Minnesota House approves same-sex marriage
The Minnesota House of Representatives on Thursday voted to permit same-sex marriage, clearing the way to add Minnesota to a string of states that have recently made it legal for gay and lesbian couples to wed.
Clouds and rain ahead
After a long stretch of clear, calm weather for our area, chances for rain will increase in the coming days. A broad high pressure parked offshore in the northern Atlantic will finally lose its grip and allow more unsettled weather to traverse New England. The high sustained a light easterly to southeasterly breeze during the past week, pushing in cool air off the Atlantic and limiting daytime maximum temperatures. This pattern will continue today, before a weak low pressure center to our south brings warmer and moister air. This low will be sluggish, producing occasional showers through this week and keeping skies cloudy. However it will provide a southerly flow that should allow temperatures to rise into the upper 60s°F (19–20°C).
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High school students will take the ACT college admissions exam by computer starting in the spring of 2015 — but at least for a while, the paper and pencil version will be available, too.
Slowdown in rise of health care costs may persist
WASHINGTON — One of the economic mysteries of the last few years has been the bigger-than-expected slowdown in health spending, a trend that promises to bolster wages and help close the wide federal deficit over the long term — but only if it persists.
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KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia — Though it held on to power in the election Sunday, the governing National Front coalition suffered an important loss: For the first time in 44 years, it failed to win more than 50 percent of the popular vote. Analysts said it left Prime Minister Najib Razak’s position far from secure.
Israel and Turkey negotiate compensation in flotilla raid
JERUSALEM — Talks here Monday between Israeli and Turkish officials over compensation for a deadly Israeli commando raid on a Gaza-bound flotilla almost three years ago demonstrated that while relations between the two countries are improving, they will not be as warm as they once were.
Iran warns Syrian rebels after report of shrine desecration
TEHRAN, Iran — Iran’s Shiite leaders warned of regional sectarian conflict after reports that Syrian rebels raided a Shiite shrine in a suburb of Damascus last week, destroying the site and making off with the remains of the revered Shiite figure buried there.
US is considering arming Syrian rebels, Hagel confirms
WASHINGTON — Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel confirmed Thursday that the Obama administration was rethinking its opposition to arming the rebels in Syria’s civil war, although he said that no decisions had been made.
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Overcoming years of resistance, Rhode Island on Thursday became the 10th state in the country and the last in New England to approve same-sex marriage.