Frigid weather next two days
After weeks of above average temperatures, it appears that winter has finally arrived. The main story this week is the frigid temperatures across a large portion of the U.S. With yesterday’s high temperature in Boston only reaching 25°F, and temperatures today and tomorrow forecast to struggle to make it to 20°F, we are experiencing the coldest weather of the winter thus far. Today and tomorrow will be particularly frigid, as strong west/northwest winds will combine with the bitterly cold air to produce wind chills down to -12°F. The temperatures should moderate somewhat over the weekend, but are still expected to be below freezing.
Venus and Serena Williams lose in doubles
MELBOURNE, Australia — As heavily favored as Serena Williams is to win the women’s singles title at the 2013 Australian Open, she was an even heavier favorite to win with her sister Venus at her side.
India warns Kashmiris to prepare for nuclear war
NEW DELHI — Indian officials are advising residents of strife-torn Kashmir to prepare for a possible nuclear war by building bombproof basements and stockpiling food and water, adding to tensions between India and Pakistan, both nuclear powers, after deadly cross-border skirmishes in recent weeks.
In debt game, an early move from Obama regarding negotiations
In a high-stakes negotiation, the most important moves often come not in the end game but at the very start, when one side or the other prevails in defining what is on the table. If you listened closely, you might have heard President Barack Obama try to do just that in his news conference on Monday, when he suggested that Washington will have tamed the government’s debt problems if the two parties can agree on another $1.5 trillion or so in spending cuts and tax increases.
Mali Islamists dig in for a long military struggle
BAMAKO, Mali — In the face of fierce, all-night bombardment by the French military, Mali’s Islamist insurgents have hunkered down to fight again.
Meeting in Cuba roils in Venezuelan opposition while Chavez absent
CARACAS, Venezuela — With the president absent and ailing, the country on edge and the government eager to portray a sturdy sense of continuity, there might be nothing unusual about the most powerful officials in Venezuela meeting over the weekend, except for the location they chose for the sit-down: Havana.
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FRANKFURT, Germany — The economic stagnation in Europe has taken a significant toll on Germany, with government figures released Tuesday showing that the Continent’s flagship economy contracted in the fourth quarter of last year.
Snow turns to rain today
A weakly organized winter storm will move through the Northeastern United States today, bringing a mixture of snow and rain to the Boston area. Precipitation is likely to begin as snow in the early morning hours and intensify as the morning progresses.
More than 50 killed as explosions hit Syrian University
At least two devastating explosions, possibly caused by aircraft missiles or bombs, struck the campus of Aleppo University on Tuesday as students were taking exams, a major escalation of the violent struggle for control of Syria’s largest city in the ongoing conflict. The opposition and government blamed each other for the blasts, and opposition sympathizers said more than 50 people were killed.
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Since the summer of 2011, the insurance giant American International Group has been battling Bank of America over claims that the bank packaged and sold it defective mortgages that dealt AIG billions of dollars in losses.
Renault to cut 7,500 jobs in France
PARIS — France’s ailing industrial sector took another blow Tuesday when Renault said it planned to cut 7,500 domestic jobs, or about 17 percent of its French labor force, by 2016 as it adjusted production capacity to the crushing downturn in the European car market.
It’s official: 2012 was the hottest year in US on record
The numbers are in: 2012, the year of a surreal March heat wave, a severe drought in the corn belt and a massive storm that caused broad devastation in the mid-Atlantic states, turns out to have been the hottest year recorded in the contiguous United States.
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WASHINGTON — The Supreme Court on Tuesday unanimously ruled that federal courts should not automatically suspend post
Judge limits a police stop-and-frisk program in the Bronx
NEW YORK — A federal judge ruled Tuesday that the New York Police Department’s practice of stopping people suspected of trespassing outside private buildings in the Bronx was unconstitutional.
Expert to testify on deviance of NYPD officer
NEW YORK — A prominent forensic psychiatrist who has consulted on behalf of local and federal prosecutors about such notorious serial killers as Jeffrey L. Dahmer and Theodore Kaczynski is now involved in the case of a New York police officer charged with plotting to kidnap, rape, cook
In fending off critics, Obama points to Hagel as war hero
WASHINGTON — In his effusive endorsement of Chuck Hagel as his choice for secretary of defense on Monday, President Barack Obama set in motion a White House campaign that officials predict will overcome weeks of accusations that the Republican former senator from Nebraska is anti-Israel, anti-gay and soft on Iran.
Cuomo to propose broader ban on assault weapons
ALBANY, N.Y. — Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo, pushing New York to become the first state to enact major new gun laws in the wake of the massacre in Newtown, Conn., plans on Wednesday to propose one of the country’s most restrictive bans on assault weapons.
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Boeing’s newest and most sophisticated jet, the 787 Dreamliner, suffered a new mishap on Tuesday when a fuel leak forced an aircraft to return to its gate minutes before taking off from Boston, a day after an electrical fire broke out on another plane.
Health insurance marketplace approved in six states
WASHINGTON — The Obama administration gave conditional approval on Monday to health insurance marketplaces being set up by six states led by Democratic governors eager to carry out President Barack Obama’s health care overhaul.
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WASHINGTON — The United States has formally designated the Al Nusra Front, the militant Syrian rebel group, as a foreign terrorist organization.