Shorts (left)
MOGADISHU, Somalia — The al-Shabab militant group, which has already blocked many aid agencies from reaching starving people in Somalia’s famine zones, ordered 16 more aid agencies to shut down Monday. Heavily armed al-Shabab fighters then raided the offices of several aid groups, looted equipment and accused the aid workers of being spies.
Showers, then seasonable weather
Yesterday was an unseasonably warm day here in the Cambridge area. Logan Airport recorded a high of 67°F. This was 20 degrees warmer than the normal high, but well shy of the record of 74°F.
Democrats propose extended payroll tax cut
WASHINGTON — Senate Democrats introduced legislation Monday to extend and expand an expiring payroll tax cut, setting the stage for a showdown with Republicans who are almost certain to reject the Democrats’ proposal for paying for the cut.
Syria calls the Arab League’s sanctions ‘economic war’
DAMASCUS, Syria — The Arab League declared “economic war” on Syria when it leveled broad trade sanctions against it, Syria’s foreign minister, Walid al-Moallem, said Monday, warning that the country could use its strategic location to retaliate.
Obama sidestepped the deficit committee debacle
WASHINGTON — In remaining aloof from the special deficit committee in Congress even as it collapsed on Monday, President Barack Obama showed his calculation more clearly than ever before: Republicans will never agree to raise taxes on the wealthy to balance any spending cuts, so let the voters decide.
Shorts (right)
PHNOM PENH, Cambodia — Opening statements in the most significant stage of a U.N.-backed trial of Khmer Rouge leaders began Monday with a horrifying account of the atrocities of a regime that a prosecutor said was responsible for the deaths of one-fourth of the population during its four-year rule from 1975 to 1979.
Shorts (left)
HONG KONG — Solar panel makers in China plan to shift some of their production to South Korea, Taiwan and the United States in hopes of defusing a trade case pending against them in Washington, according to industry executives.
Syrian opposition meets with British officials
ISTANBUL — Syria’s political opposition widened its outreach Monday, sending representatives to Britain as the Syrian government withstood signs of further isolation over an uprising that is increasingly resembling a prolonged armed struggle to oust President Bashar Assad.
Arrest of top adviser to Iran’s president is reported
A simmering rivalry between Iran’s president and powerful adversaries within the conservative hierarchy spilled into the open Monday when judiciary forces briefly arrested his top media adviser, who also runs the official news agency and a leading newspaper, witnesses and Iranian news accounts said. The witnesses said the adviser, Ali Akbar Javanfekr, was handcuffed for an hour in a raid on his Tehran office and released only after President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad threatened to come personally and free him. The security forces used tear gas when they barged into the office, the witnesses said, and they arrested at least 32 other people. It was not clear whether the others had been released. Javanfekr is the chief executive of the official Islamic Republic News Agency, known by its acronym, IRNA, and the manager of IRNA’s print affiliate, Iran, the official daily newspaper. He is one of the most powerful figures in publicizing Iran’s government policies and messages to the outside world. Details on the exact circumstances of the raid were not clear. But the episode appeared to be the most dramatic instance in which the friction between Ahmadinejad and conservatives in the government emerged in the open; the president’s conservative critics have increasingly challenged him over what they regard as a “deviant current” of presidential advisers who want to subvert the authority of the Islamic clergy.
Egypt’s civilian government submits offer to resign
CAIRO — Egypt’s interim prime minister and cabinet offered to resign Monday in the face of a bloody third day of protests in Tahrir Square and elsewhere, adding to the crisis of legitimacy for the nation’s ruling military council.
Pleasant November weekend in Cambridge
The recent rain should move away for the weekend as a high pressure system takes hold of New England. Temperatures will gradually increase from Friday until Sunday, creating a pleasant mid-November weekend. Though it is too far away to predict with good certainty, it looks as though clear weather should dominate for much of Thanksgiving break as well.
New premier offers economic rescue plan for Italy
ROME — Mario Monti, the newly chosen prime minister of Italy, unveiled an ambitious growth-boosting program before the Italian Senate on Thursday, warning that Italy and Europe faced a moment of “serious emergency” and calling on lawmakers for national unity and responsibility.
Armed attacks on Syrian sites appear to rise
BEIRUT — Deserters from the Syrian army reportedly carried out attacks against the offices of the Syrian ruling Baath party in northwestern Syria on Thursday, a day after they claimed an assault on an intelligence base that Russia, Syria’s closest ally, said was bringing the country closer to civil war.
Shorts (left)
LOS ANGELES — The California Supreme Court ruled Thursday that proponents of Proposition 8 — which banned same-sex marriage in California — have legal standing to overturn the challenge of the law by a lower-court judge, after the state’s governor and attorney general refused to defend the proposition.
African Union considers sending Ethiopian troops to Somalia
NAIROBI, Kenya — The African Union is considering an ambitious plan to stabilize Somalia that could involve using thousands of Ethiopian troops to open a new front against the al-Shabab militant group, officials of the union said Thursday.
Shorts (right)
WASHINGTON — The bankruptcy of Solyndra, the solar power company that took $528 million in government loans, was “extremely unfortunate,” Secretary of Energy Steven Chu told lawmakers on Thursday. But he rejected a suggestion put forward by a Republican that he or his department should apologize.
Occupy protesters clash with police in New York City
NEW YORK — Nearly a thousand protesters took to the streets of Lower Manhattan on Thursday, clashing with the police and tossing aside metal barricades to converge again on Zuccotti Park after failing in an attempt to shut down the New York Stock Exchange.
Man charged with trying to assassinate President Obama
WASHINGTON — Federal authorities charged a 21-year-old Idaho man on Thursday with trying to assassinate President Barack Obama. They said he had told friends that he believed the president was “the Antichrist” and that he “needed to kill him,” according to a complaint filed in federal court.
In Egypt, Mubarak loyalists are ousted but still feared
MANSOURA, Egypt — Mortada Mansour, the man accused of directing the notorious Battle of the Camel during the Tahrir Square protests in February, came to a courtroom in this provincial city to defend the right of former regime stalwarts to run in the coming parliamentary elections.