Shorts (left)
A number of U.S. banks, including JPMorgan Chase and at least four others, were struck by hackers in a series of coordinated attacks this month, according to four people briefed on a continuing investigation into the crimes.
Videos show mass killing the Islamic state in Syria
BAGHDAD — Fighters from the Islamic State stripped more than 100 captured Syrian soldiers down to their underwear and marched them through the desert to a patch of sand, where they were lined up and gunned down, according to video images posted online Thursday and a fighter from the group who was reached through the Internet.
As new cease-fire holds, dazed Gazans get to work
JERUSALEM — Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel and Ismail Haniya, the Gaza-based political leader of Hamas, both declared a decisive victory on Wednesday as residents on both sides of the border grappled with the death and destruction wrought in a 50-day battle that ended in a limited cease-fire agreement the night before.
Food safety is crucial in China deal for baby milk
HONG KONG — Six years ago, when tainted infant formula sickened 300,000 babies in China and killed six, one of the biggest foreign investors in the sector was caught by surprise.
Shorts (right)
The U.S. economy grew faster than first thought last quarter, the Commerce Department said Thursday, the latest in a series of signals that suggest a period of sustainable growth lies ahead.
Committee on Shut Lanes seeks records about texts
The New Jersey legislative committee investigating the mysterious closing of access lanes to the George Washington Bridge last September has subpoenaed a cellphone carrier in an effort to uncover text messages exchanged by Gov. Chris Christie and a top aide as the governor’s administration sought to contain the fallout from the ensuing scandal.
Cooler temps today, then a summery weekend
We had a summery first half of Orientation Week thanks to a high pressure system situated over the northeastern U.S. that brought clear skies and light winds to Cambridge. Temperatures topped out at 91 °F (33 °C) on Wednesday as southwesterly winds ushered in warm, moist air ahead of an approaching cold front. On Wednesday night, this cold front passed through Cambridge accompanied by light showers — if you were listening closely, you may have even heard a few rumbles of thunder!
Ebola could eventually afflict more than 20,000, WHO says
GENEVA — As the tally of deaths from the worst known outbreak of the Ebola virus continued its seemingly inexorable rise, the World Health Organization said Thursday that the epidemic was still accelerating and could afflict more than 20,000 people — almost seven times the current number of reported cases — before it could be brought under control.
Election panel enacts policy by not acting
WASHINGTON — The three Republican and three Democratic appointees of the Federal Election Commission had reached yet another deadlock: They would issue no advisory opinion on whether the Conservative Action Fund could accept contributions of bitcoin, the online currency created to be untraceable.
U.S. says it told Qatar not to pay a ransom for Peter Curtis
WASHINGTON — The Obama administration said Monday that it brought the family of the American hostage Peter Theo Curtis together with the government of Qatar in an effort to secure his release, but insisted that it told the Qataris not to pay a ransom for the captured journalist.
French cabinet is dissolved, a victim of austerity battles
PARIS — The collapse of the French government Monday exposed widening divisions both within France’s leadership, and Europe more broadly, over austerity policies that many now fault for threatening to tip the eurozone back into recession.
Shorts (right)
WASHINGTON — President Barack Obama has authorized surveillance flights over Syria, a precursor to potential airstrikes there, but a mounting concern for the White House is how to target the Sunni extremists without helping President Bashar Assad.
Cristobal forms as hurricane season reaches peak
Tropical Storm Cristobal formed on Sunday in the Atlantic Ocean, just to the northwest of the Bahamas. Cristobal is the third named tropical cyclone of the 2014 Atlantic hurricane season, and like Hurricanes Arthur and Bertha before it, Cristobal is forecast to attain hurricane strength later this week. Although the storm is forecast to become a hurricane, it will not pose a threat to the United States, as strong mid-level westerly winds are forecast to sweep the storm out to sea.
Syria declares its readiness in efforts to fight jihadists
BAGHDAD — Syria’s foreign minister said Monday that his government was ready to cooperate with international efforts to fight the extremists of the Islamic State. But in a nod to the possibility of expanded U.S. airstrikes, he warned that any action inside Syria without the government’s approval would be considered “aggression.”
Strikes in Libya broaden fight for Arab power
CAIRO — Twice in the last seven days, Egypt and the United Arab Emirates have secretly launched airstrikes against Islamist-allied militias battling for control of Tripoli, Libya, four senior U.S. officials said, in a major escalation of a regional power struggle set off by Arab Spring revolts.
Shorts (left)
LONDON — After years of complaints about declining standards for high school exams, the British government has made them harder to pass: The latest results show the first drop in the passing rate in three decades. And in a nation where education has long been a political battleground between progressives and traditionalists, the changes are an emphatic victory for the old school.
On Ferguson unrest, poll shows sharp racial divide
A poll taken since a white police officer in Missouri shot dead an unarmed black teenager shows blacks and whites sharply divided on how fairly the police deal with each group, along with a rising feeling, especially among whites, that race relations in the country are troubled.
Secretary allows reprieve on test-based teacher ratings
Education Secretary Arne Duncan announced Thursday that states could delay the use of test results in teacher-performance ratings by another year, an acknowledgment, in effect, of the enormous pressures mounting on the nation’s teachers because of new academic standards and more rigorous standardized testing.
Shorts (right)
With everyone from former President George W. Bush to Justin Bieber and Shakira posting online videos of themselves dumping buckets of ice over their heads in the name of charity, the viral “Ice Bucket Challenge” continues to dominate social media and has now raised more than $41.8 million for amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, commonly known as Lou Gehrig’s disease.