Obama campaign embraces Affordable Care Act
The Affordable Care Act doesn’t poll particularly well. On the campaign trail, saying “I’m going to end Obamacare” is an easy applause line for Republican presidential candidates. It ignites social conservatives like the Catholic bishop of Oakland, who will be protesting its contraception coverage provisions Friday in San Francisco.
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The Suffolk jury charged with deciding the case against two men accused in the 2010 Mattapan killings twice told a Superior Court Judge that it was deadlocked, but then voted unanimously to continue deliberating, a highly unusual decision, according to legal specialists.
Senate passes startups bill, with amendments
WASHINGTON — Depending on who is speaking, a bill approved by the Senate on Thursday to make it easier for small companies to raise money will either improve the economy by creating jobs or cause unwitting investors to get swindled.
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WASHINGTON — In a rebuff to President Barack Obama, the Republican-controlled House passed a bill Thursday to abolish a Medicare cost control board created by the new health care law.
Chinese lawyers chafe at new oath to communist party
BEIJING — China’s Justice Ministry has issued a requirement that new lawyers and those reapplying for licenses swear an oath of loyalty to the Communist Party, another step in a campaign to rein in lawyers who continue to challenge the political and legal systems by which the party maintains power.
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TOULOUSE, France — French authorities were searching Monday for a man suspected in a string of methodical killings that have terrorized this city and the surrounding area in southwestern France, following an attack outside a Jewish school Monday morning that killed four people, including three young children.
US war game sees dire results of Israeli attack on Iran
WASHINGTON — A classified war simulation exercise held this month to assess the U.S. military’s capabilities to respond to an Israeli attack on Iran forecast that the strike would lead to a wider regional war, which could draw in the United States and leave hundreds of Americans dead, according to U.S. officials.
Official raises death toll in Yemen conflict to over 2,000
At least 2,000 Yemenis were killed during the year of political unrest after popular protests broke out seeking the ouster of the entrenched authoritarian president, Ali Abdullah Saleh, Yemen’s minister of human rights announced in a speech to the United Nations.
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Apple announced Monday that it would at last return some of its cash pile to shareholders in the form of dividends and stock buybacks, at a cost of more than $10 billion a year for the next three years. But it is attracting so much cash — $1 billion a week in the last holiday season alone — that the move will not put a dent in Apple’s coffers.
US completes sale of $225 billion in mortgage-backed securities
WASHINGTON — The Treasury Department announced Monday that it had finished selling the $225 billion in mortgage-backed securities it bought to help stabilize the markets during the worst of the financial crisis.
Publicity push as health law’s court date nears
WASHINGTON — Republicans on Capitol Hill have put together a highly coordinated two-week renewed assault on the health care law, seizing on the legislation’s second anniversary and the next week’s oral arguments before the Supreme Court concerning its constitutionality.
Temperatures 25°F-35°F above average to continue
This past Sunday, temperatures soared into the mid seventies in the Boston area. Logan airport recorded a record high temperature of 74°F, besting the previous high mark of 70°F. This was 27°F above the average high of 47°F for this time of year. Sunday’s impressive performance was repeated on Monday with another record high of 74°F. Although temperatures are forecast to remain warm throughout the week, the record streak is in danger as record highs for March 20 and 21 at Logan are 79°F and 83°F, respectively. These values are a few degrees higher than the current forecast.
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BEIJING — A deep vein of intrigue has always pulsed through the messy process of sorting out power in China’s Communist Party.
European officials see progress, but urge Greece to do more
ATHENS — Greece has made progress in raising much needed revenue, impressively overshooting its tax collection targets, but more needs to be done to ensure that money gets to the country’s languishing economy, the head of the European Commission’s task force on Greece said Thursday.
Backlash aside, charities see lessons in a web video
It has galvanized young Americans, inspired a flood of donations and stirred a backlash from critics. But for some in the nonprofit world, the reaction to the unprecedented success of an advocacy video about the murderous African warlord Joseph Kony can be summed up in a word: envy.
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LARGO, Md. — In what has become a weekly ritual, President Barack Obama on Thursday defended his administration’s energy policy, in the face of relentlessly rising gasoline prices, to an American public that believes he can do more to ease the pain at the pump.
Senators issue warning about use of the Patriot Act
WASHINGTON — For more than two years, a handful of Democrats on the Senate intelligence committee have warned that the government is secretly interpreting its surveillance powers under the Patriot Act in a way that would be alarming if the public — or even others in Congress — knew about it.
High pressure system to bring more warm weather
After two days of clouds and chilly temperatures, sunshine and unusually warm weather are expected to make a comeback this weekend in association with a broad high pressure system. Earlier this week, temperatures repeatedly exceeded their climatological normals by upwards of 20°F. In fact, Monday’s high temperature of 71°F at Logan Airport broke the 110-year-old record high of 69°F.
Report details inner workings of senator’s ethics trial
WASHINGTON — At least two federal prosecutors involved in the botched ethics trial of the late Sen. Ted Stevens “intentionally withheld and concealed” significant evidence from the defense team that could have resulted in his acquittal, a court-appointed investigator has concluded.
Taliban release two Swiss hostages in Pakistan after 18 months
ISLAMABAD — An eight-month ordeal for two Swiss citizens held hostage in northwestern Pakistan ended early Thursday when their Taliban captors set them free, Pakistani security officials said.