For Obama and team, calm, not crisis, in fiscal battle
WASHINGTON — President Barack Obama is just seven days away from the first significant test of his second term as deep spending cuts loom, yet inside the White House a clear sense of confidence stands in contrast to the air of crisis that surrounded previous fiscal showdowns with Republicans.
Scandal darkens doorstep of Spain’s royal family
MADRID — The website of the Spanish royal family features pictures of the king, Juan Carlos I, in a blue sash, his bejeweled wife, Queen Sofia, and the couple’s three glamorous children. But most of the photographs of the dashing Duke of Palma, the king’s son-in-law, were scrubbed from the site last month.
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SAN FRANCISCO — Hewlett-Packard might have gained running room, but it remains unclear whether it can leap successfully to technology’s new post-PC world.
Coastal storm to bring a weekend rain/snow mix
Today’s clear skies will transition to a wet and soggy weekend as an area of precipitation over the southeast U.S. spins into a low pressure system. The system will move northeast along the coast and quickly deepen once it moves out over the ocean and passes New Jersey Saturday night. Rain will begin late Saturday afternoon, and should mix with snow after nightfall. Greater Boston could receive around an inch of snow, if a relatively cold period sets up early Sunday. However, western Massachusetts and southern New Hampshire will receive 6–12 inches of snow, since colder temperatures will remain more inland. Winds will strengthen into Sunday across the whole region, but should only be around 20–30 mph.
Business, labor leaders urge visa system for low-skilled
WASHINGTON — In an effort to avert the bitter and public feuding between business and labor organizations that helped kill a broad immigration overhaul in 2007, representatives of the two groups released a statement on Thursday outlining shared goals designed to show that, at least for now, they could reach a basic level of compromise.
GOP Senators urge Hagel withdrawal as Democrats move to vote
WASHINGTON — A group of 15 Republican senators insisted Thursday that President Barack Obama withdraw the nomination of Chuck Hagel to be defense secretary, the latest move in a contentious battle to block the confirmation of their former colleague.
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President Barack Obama’s chief of staff said Sunday that the White House had “grave concern” that national security was at risk, given the Senate Republicans’ delaying tactics in confirming both a new Pentagon chief and a director of the Central Intelligence Agency.
Obama plan sets up long wait for citizenship for illegal immigrants
WASHINGTON — A plan by President Barack Obama for an overhaul of the immigration system would put illegal immigrants on a path to citizenship that could begin after about eight years and would require them to go to the back of the line behind legal applicants, according to a draft of the legislation that the White House has circulated within the administration.
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JERUSALEM — His foreign minister had to resign after being accused of fraud. He was sharply criticized for his government’s handling of Prisoner X, who committed suicide in prison. And now this, which made front-page news in Israel this weekend: Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu stands accused of dipping into state coffers for an ice cream budget of $2,700 a year.
Pipeline call gives Obama new problems either way
WASHINGTON — President Barack Obama faces a knotty decision in whether to approve the much-delayed Keystone oil pipeline: a choice between alienating environmental advocates who overwhelmingly supported his candidacy or causing a deep and perhaps lasting rift with Canada.
As Assad holds firm, Obama could revisit arms policy
WASHINGTON — When President Barack Obama rebuffed four of his top national security officials who wanted to arm the rebels in Syria last fall, it put an end to a debate of several months over how aggressively Washington should respond to the strife there that has now left nearly 70,000 dead.
When being unemployed is a barrier to finding a job
NEW YORK — The sign outside the diner said help wanted. But when Albert Mango said he was out of work, he was told there was no opening there.
Violent television affects children’s behavior, study says
Experts have long known that children imitate many of the deeds — good and bad — that they see on television. But it has rarely been shown that changing a young child’s viewing habits at home can lead to improved behavior.
Rain tonight, followed by a dry week
The Boston area received a quick blast of winter weather on Sunday, when Logan Airport recorded 5.1 inches of snow. The fresh snow on top of the ice-coated snow remaining from the previous weekend’s snow storm made for slippery conditions. The cold temperatures of Sunday and Monday will make way for highs today in upper 40°Fs, as a warm front associated with a low pressure system in the Great Lakes rotates through our region. It will bring with it showers (mostly rain) this afternoon and evening. Following the passage of the associated cold front tonight, Wednesday and Thursday will be slightly colder than normal with blustery winds. The weather will moderate somewhat on Friday before our next chance for precipitation on the weekend. Five days out, there is still uncertainty, but at the moment it looks like a mix of rain and snow.
More winter weather approaching
A few days of relative warmth and sun started melting the snow that piled up from last weekend’s blizzard. However, winter weather will return by the end of this weekend, with light snowfall possible on Saturday and an Arctic air mass moving in on Saturday night. On Saturday, expect temperatures around freezing, with cloudy skies and a chance of rain and snow in the afternoon and evening. Sunday and Monday will bring crisp, clear mornings with windchill in the single digits. Only 14 more days until meteorological spring begins!
South Korea shows military muscle in sparring with North
SEOUL, South Korea — South Korea flexed its military muscle Thursday by staging large military drills and disclosing a new cruise missile capable of hitting any target in North Korea, as the North became increasingly candid about its intentions to build intercontinental ballistic missiles tipped with nuclear warheads.
Russia seeks arrest of Georgian politician Givi Targamadze
MOSCOW — Russian authorities issued an arrest warrant for a Georgian politician, Givi Targamadze, on Thursday, charging that he had incited riots in Russia, in particular by helping to organize an anti-government march in May that culminated in a confrontation between protesters and the riot police.
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WASHINGTON — Florida’s growing history of flawed elections regained national attention Tuesday when President Obama used the story of a 102-year-old former Belle Glade farmworker who waited hours to vote to highlight a new nonpartisan voting commission.
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HOUSTON — A federal judge in New Orleans approved on Thursday Transocean’s agreement with prosecutors to plead guilty to a misdemeanor charge and pay $400 million in criminal penalties for its role in the 2010 Gulf of Mexico oil well blowout that left 11 workers dead and resulted in a yearlong moratorium on deepwater drilling.