Shorts (right)
BEIRUT — Syria’s opposition coalition gave qualified backing Monday to its leader’s surprise offer last week for a dialogue with President Bashar Assad to end the civil war, pressing him to respond definitively and even offering the added inducement that he could avoid trial if he resigned and left the country.
Peace talks start between Myanmar and rebels
BANGKOK — China hosted peace talks between the Myanmar government and ethnic Kachin rebels Monday, as outside pressure grew on both sides to end the intense fighting of recent weeks.
French jets bomb Islamist militants in Mali’s north
PARIS — French warplanes bombed Islamist militant bases and depots deep into northern Mali to disrupt their supply routes, French officials said Monday, as secular Tuareg rebels in northern Mali said they had captured two Islamist commanders near the Algerian border.
States have varied responses to issue of gun violence
Although the debate over stemming gun violence after the massacre in Newtown, Conn., is breaking down mostly along partisan lines in the nation’s statehouses — with several Democratic governors calling for stricter gun laws as most Republicans urge tighter security or revamped mental health policies — the handful of exceptions show the political and geographical complexities of the issue.
Snow comes and goes this week
A series of relatively weak storms will skirt the Boston area this week, creating brief chances for light snowfall at various times. The first of these chances will come this morning, as a low pressure system passing to our south may spread some light flurries through southern New England. Next, another weak low will pass to our north overnight, bringing light snow or rain showers to the area through tomorrow afternoon. Finally, another weak disturbance will bring the chance of light snow or rain showers during the day on Friday.
US stepped in to halt Mexican general’s rise
As Mexico’s military staged its annual Independence Day parade in September, spectators filled the main square of Mexico City to cheer on the armed forces. Nearly 2,000 miles away in Washington, U.S. officials were also paying attention.
New Archbishop of Canterbury takes office
LONDON — On the eve of a divisive vote in Parliament on the legalization of same-sex marriage, Justin Welby, the former bishop of Durham, on Monday took over formally as the 105th archbishop of Canterbury, the spiritual head of the world’s 77 million Anglicans, saying he shares the Church of England’s opposition to marriage among people of the same gender.
Guantanamo defense lawyers seek 48-hour visits
FORT MEADE, Md. — Defense attorneys for Khalid Shaikh Mohammed and four other accused accomplices in the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, asked a military tribunal judge in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, on Tuesday to let them stay in prison with their clients for 48-hour periods every six months. But military prosecutors called that request unreasonable, saying the defense should be allowed to visit just once for two hours.
Shorts (right)
WASHINGTON — As Congress and the White House prepare to refight two epic policy battles from the past — a new agenda to stem gun violence and another to address the nation’s heavily criticized immigration system — political, demographic and economic shifts are propelling immigration changes forward as forcefully as they are pulling lawmakers away on guns.
Shorts (left)
MOSCOW — A passenger plane crashed in heavy fog outside of Kazakhstan’s largest city Tuesday, killing 21 people, Kazakh emergency officials said. The crash was the second aviation disaster in the country in a month.
Activists seek repeal of New York’s new gun-control laws
ALBANY, N.Y. — More than 100,000 people have signed online petitions denouncing New York’s new gun laws. Gun owners are contemplating civil disobedience, vowing to ignore a requirement to register guns they own that are now classified as assault weapons. And some are even calling for the impeachment of Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo.
Both sides in Syria trade blame for killings in suburb
BEIRUT — Scores of muddied and waterlogged gunshot victims, most of them men in their 20s and 30s, were found dead in a suburb of Syria’s contested northern city of Aleppo on Tuesday. Insurgents and the government accused each other of carrying out the killings in what appeared to be the latest civil war atrocity.
FDA approval for genetic drug to treat a rare inherited disorder
The Food and Drug Administration approved a new drug Tuesday that not only treats a rare inherited disorder that causes extremely high cholesterol levels and heart attacks by age 30 but does so using a long-sought technology that can shut off specific genes that cause disease.
Judge approves BP criminal settlement
HOUSTON — A federal judge in New Orleans on Tuesday approved an agreement between BP and the Justice Department for the company to plead guilty to manslaughter and pay $4 billion in criminal penalties for the 2010 oil well blowout and spill in the Gulf of Mexico that left 11 workers dead.
Active weather is in store for the eastern U.S.
Unseasonably warm temperatures will arrive in New England today ahead of a large, powerful cold front. Before the front pushes through the area late tonight, heavy rain and even some rumbles of thunder will move in this evening and overnight. At the same time, a rapidly deepening low pressure entering southern Quebec will induce strong winds over our area tonight. Southerly wind gusts near 50 mph are not out of the question, lasting through Thursday morning and slowly diminishing later that day. Further south, along the eastern seaboard toward the Carolinas, some severe thunderstorms will fire ahead of the same front through tonight.
In seeking distance from EU, Britain may lose influence
LONDON — Last year, Prime Minister David Cameron of Britain used his appearance at the World Economic Forum to vent frustration with the European Union, listing some of the policies he would ditch if he could throw off Europe’s regulatory shackles.
France and Germany mark a milestone
BERLIN — France and Germany recently issued a joint postage stamp as part of a yearlong celebration of the 50th anniversary of the Elysee Treaty, the landmark agreement between the two former enemies.
Shorts (right)
The Securities and Exchange Commission said Tuesday that Egan-Jones, the upstart credit ratings firm run by Sean Egan, was barred for 18 months from issuing certain government-recognized ratings after the firm made misstatements on an application with the government.
Shorts (left)
WASHINGTON — A Defense Department inquiry into potentially inappropriate emails between the U.S. commander in Afghanistan and a socialite in Tampa, Fla., has cleared the officer, Gen. John R. Allen, of wrongdoing, senior officials disclosed Tuesday.
Four more years, but it’s the first one that really counts
WASHINGTON — The Constitution may promise President Barack Obama another four years in the White House, but political reality calls for a far shorter time frame: he has perhaps as little as a year to accomplish his big-ticket goals for a second term.