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A Pakistani neuroscientist who was convicted of trying to kill American soldiers and FBI agents in Afghanistan was sentenced to 86 years in prison Thursday in U.S. District Court in Manhattan.
Obama presses Chinese prime minister to let currency rise
UNITED NATIONS — President Barack Obama increased pressure on China on Thursday to immediately revalue its currency, devoting most of a two-hour meeting with China’s prime minister to the issue and sending the message, according to one of his top aides, that if “the Chinese don’t take actions, we have other means of protecting U.S. interests.”
Summertime in autumn
Although today is officially the second day of autumn, it will feel more like summer, with temperatures in the 80s (°F) for the next two days. A warm front associated with a low pressure system currently located west of the Great Lakes will bring warm air from our south today, making it feel more like late August than late September. High temperatures will continue through the end of tomorrow afternoon, after which a cold front will pass through, knocking temperatures back down to more seasonable levels in time for Sunday and the beginning of next week.
No hurricanes this week!
For today, New England will enjoy beautiful weather. Highs should top out near 70°F with a light breeze from the west. These conditions are complements of an area of high pressure moving eastward from the Great Lakes region.
Short of repeal, Republicans will chip away at health care
WASHINGTON — Republicans are serious. Hopeful of picking up substantial numbers of seats in the congressional elections, they are developing plans to try to repeal or roll back President Barack Obama’s new health care law.
As news organizations go silent, <br />a Mexican paper speaks out
MEXICO CITY — It was at turns defiant and deferential, part plea and part plaint, a message as much to the drug gangs with a firm grip on Ciudad Juarez, the bloodiest city in Mexico’s drug battles, as to the authorities and their perceived helplessness.
Shorts (left)
ALBANY, N.Y. <i>— </i>Nationally, student loan debt recently surpassed credit card debt, according to Mark Kantrowitz, director of FinAid.org, a financial advice website. Americans are now saddled with $830 billion in private and federal student loans, compared to $827 billion in credit card debt, the Wall Street Journal recently reported.
Poverty rate jumped sharply<br />in 2009, census reports
The percentage of Americans struggling below the poverty line in 2009 was the highest it has been in 15 years, the Census Bureau reported Thursday, and interviews with poverty experts and aid groups said the increase appeared to be continuing this year.
Once wary, now President Obama relies on Petraeus
WASHINGTON — When President Barack Obama descended into the White House Situation Room on Monday for his monthly update on Afghanistan and Pakistan, the new top U.S. military commander, Gen. David H. Petraeus, ticked off signs of progress.
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In a discovery that sheds new light on the history of AIDS, scientists have found evidence that the ancestor to the virus that causes the disease has been in monkeys and apes for at least 32,000 years — not just a few hundred years, as had been previously thought.
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WICHITA, Kan. — Judge Wesley E. Brown’s mere presence in his courtroom is seen as something of a daily miracle. His diminished frame is nearly lost behind the bench. A tube under his nose feeds him oxygen during hearings. And he warns lawyers preparing for lengthy court battles that he may not live to see the cases to completion, adding the old saying, “At this age, I’m not even buying green bananas.”
Igor, Julia, and Karl, oh my!
The active hurricane season continues in the Atlantic, with three hurricanes occurring simultaneously (a fairly rare occurrence in the Atlantic). As of 5 p.m. yesterday, Igor had sustained winds of 125 mph, Julia had sustained winds of 85 mph, and Karl had sustained winds of 80 mph. Igor has maintained its Category 4 intensity for several days, and is expected to continue to be a powerful hurricane before gradually weakening as he moves over colder waters while curving towards Bermuda. Julia was a Category 4 hurricane on Wednesday, before weakening due to less favorable environmental conditions, including interaction with Igor’s outflow, and is forecast to continue to dissipate. Neither Igor nor Julia forecasted tracks indicate that they will impact the U.S. Karl actually intensified to hurricane status after making landfall in Belize as a tropical storm and crossing over the Yucatan peninsula into the Gulf of Mexico, and is expected to make a second landfall in eastern Mexico this afternoon.
In California, a showdown on greenhouse gas emissions
LOS ANGELES — A ballot initiative to suspend a milestone California law curbing greenhouse gas emissions is drawing a wave of contributions from out-of-state oil companies, raising concerns among conservationists as it emerges as a test of public support for potentially costly environmental measures during tough economic times.
Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (START) with Russia approved
WASHINGTON — President Barack Obama’s arms control treaty with Russia advanced to the Senate floor with bipartisan support Thursday, giving it a major boost toward ratification despite the election-year polarization that has divided the parties over so many other issues.
A technology sets inventors free to dream
SAN FRANCISCO — Businesses in the South Park district of San Francisco generally sell either Web technology or sandwiches and burritos. Bespoke Innovations plans to sell designer body parts.
Turkish constitutional changes pass by a wide margin
ISTANBUL — Turkish voters approved a sweeping package of constitutional reforms by a wide margin on Sunday, handing a major victory to the Islamist-rooted government that continued the country’s inexorable shift in power away from the secular Westernized elite that has governed modern Turkey for most of its history.
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The European Commission significantly raised its growth forecast for the region on Monday because of strong output data during the second quarter, and said that the recovery was starting to broaden across sectors.
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MEXICO CITY — In perhaps the clearest sign yet that economic change is gathering pace in Cuba, the government plans to lay off more than half a million people from the public sector in the expectation that they will move into private businesses, Cuba’s labor federation said Monday.
Clinton says deal is possible on settlements in West Bank
SHANNON, Ireland — Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton said Monday that she believed that the Israelis and Palestinians could work out a deal on Jewish settlements, leaving open the possibility that their fledgling peace talks could go forward even without an extension of Israel’s moratorium on settlement construction.
Igor, Julia churn in Atlantic
While relatively calm weather continues here in New England, a major hurricane is currently producing very strong winds in the Atlantic Ocean. Located about 700 miles (1,127 km) east of the Leeward Islands, Hurricane Igor was a Category 4 hurricane with maximum sustained winds of 150 mph (241 km/h) as of 5 p.m. yesterday. Igor is the ninth named tropical cyclone, the fourth hurricane, and the third major hurricane in the Atlantic basin this year, and while it is too soon to say whether it will directly impact the United States, Igor could reach Bermuda by this weekend.