Severe storms sweep southern states
Spring is the peak season for severe weather in the southern United States, and that fact has been quite apparent over the past week. Last Thursday, a deep low pressure system over the southern Great Plains began to spawn severe thunderstorms and tornadoes in that region. As the storm tracked eastward over the next two days, a major tornado outbreak occurred, with at least 138 tornadoes touching down in 15 states. Forty-three people were killed as a result of tornadoes and high winds associated with thunderstorms during this outbreak.
Ensign, facing ethics inquiry, resigns from US Senate
WASHINGTON — Sen. John Ensign of Nevada, the subject of an ethics investigation related to his affair with the wife of a former top aide, announced Thursday evening that he was resigning, effectively ending the high-profile Senate inquiry that had already ruined his once-promising political career.
Inquiries grow over Apple’s iPhone, iPad data collection practices
The controversy surrounding the security of Apple’s iPhone and iPad escalated Thursday as some European governments said they would investigate whether the company had violated privacy laws by collecting and storing users’ geographic location data.
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SAN FRANCISCO — Along with big-wave surfing and high-altitude ultramarathons, eating is an extreme sport here. Which explains why, on a recent Saturday night, Tipay Corpuz, 21, a technology specialist for Apple, took a break from blogging about her obsession with fried chicken-and-waffles to join 2,500 fellow food geeks at the Underground Night Market.
Consumer groups call for the breakup of CVS Caremark
CVS Caremark is coming under increasing pressure from consumer groups and shareholders to split up, at the same time that federal and state regulators are looking into accusations of anti-competitive behavior by the merged company.
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WASHINGTON — It should have been a moment of victory for Speaker John Boehner and fellow members of a House Republican leadership team. Instead, it felt a little like defeat.
Libyan port city brims with migrants desperate to flee siege
MISRATA, Libya — The man pressed close, patting the pockets of a foreigner, repeating a single word: “Food. Food. Food.”
Three colleagues rebuke Gaza report author’s essay
JERUSALEM — Three members of the United Nations panel that investigated Israel’s Gaza war two years ago rejected on Thursday an essay written by the fourth, the former chairman Richard Goldstone, in which he retracted the panel’s key conclusions, especially that Israel had deliberately made civilians targets.
Long weekend of reasonable weather ahead
Severe weather has been striking our nation and looks likely to continue over Patriots’ Day weekend. Significant thunderstorms, tornadoes, large hail, and blizzards are making their way across the Midwest and South. This time of year always seems to have wild weather — on this day in 1921, Silver Lake, Colo., received 76 inches of snow in 24 hours, while New Orleans was drenched in 14.01 inches of rain in 1927!
Head of air traffic controllers Henry P. Krakowski resigns
The official in charge of air traffic controllers for the Federal Aviation Administration resigned Thursday after a series of episodes in which controllers across the country slept as airplanes landed.
House and Senate approve compromise 2011 federal budget
WASHINGTON — Congress voted Thursday to keep the government financed through September, putting an end to a raucous first skirmish in this year’s showdown between Democrats and Republicans over federal spending while presaging bigger ones to come.
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TOKYO — Japan has decided to raise its assessment of the accident at the crippled Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant from 5 to the worst rating of 7 on an international scale, putting the disaster on par with the 1986 Chernobyl meltdown, the Japanese nuclear regulatory agency said on Tuesday.
Budget cuts raise doubt on course of recovery
WASHINGTON — The budget deal struck last week amounts to a bet by the Obama administration that the loss of $38 billion in federal spending will not be the straw that breaks the back of a fragile economic recovery.
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Pro-democracy protests in Syria spread for the first time to a university campus and were violently suppressed on Monday, a day after the government of President Bashar Assad acknowledged that it was using force against protesters.
Blast kills at least 11 at subway station in Belarus capital
MOSCOW — An explosion believed to have been caused by a bomb ripped through a subway station next to the office of Belarus’ authoritarian president on Monday evening, killing at least 11 people, wounding more than 100, and worsening an already tense political situation there.
Level 3 pays $3 billion for Internet service provider Global Crossing
More than a decade after the dot-com bust, two fallen Internet stars hope to regain some of their glory with a $3 billion deal that could prompt similar transactions.
April showers
The weather gods cooperated with MIT this past weekend, providing sunny skies and warmth for CPW and the convocation celebrating MIT’s 150th anniversary. Temperatures over the weekend were 5–10°F above normal, while yesterday’s high of 72°F was only 6°F shy of the record high (78°F) and 18°F above the climatological value of 54°F. The weather the next few days will be a bit less pleasant, however. A cold front stalled to our south will cause cloudy skies and the chance of scattered rain showers for tomorrow. The real action will be late tonight and tomorrow, as a coastal low impacts our region.
Former leader’s arrest in Ivory Coast ends four-month deadly standoff
ABIDJAN, Ivory Coast — The strongman of Ivory Coast, Laurent Gbagbo, was captured and taken into custody by his rival Monday, ending a four-month standoff that left hundreds dead in this once-prosperous West African nation, put international diplomacy to a severe test, and ultimately dragged the country back into civil war.
Vote on GOP plan for Medicare could shape 2012 races
WASHINGTON — Just four months into their new majority, House Republicans face a potentially defining Medicare vote this week that is sure to become a centerpiece of Democratic efforts to recapture the House in 2012 and spill into the presidential and Senate campaigns as well.
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Little more than a year after General Motors engineered a sale that saved Saab from oblivion, the carmaker is facing a fresh bout of financial troubles that threaten to spread pain across Sweden.