President Gives U.S. Automakers a Short Lifeline
President Barack Obama delivered an ultimatum to General Motors and Chrysler on Monday, telling them to adopt radical changes in short order or face bankruptcy — a move that came after a series of somber discussions in which he concluded that a controlled bankruptcy might be the best way to reorganize the two ailing auto giants.
No April Fool’s Storm This Year
8 a.m., March 31, 1997: Rain began falling in Boston with temperatures in the low 40s°F (5°C). A Nor’easter was rapidly developing off the coast and slowly drifting northeastward. The rain changed to all snow in Boston by noon, and by sunset an all-out blizzard had overspread much of New England. Temperatures hovered slightly below freezing, and with heavy snow and winds gusting over 50 mph, visibilities were reduced to near zero. The blizzard conditions and incredible snowfall rates of up to four inches per hour pounded Boston until the early afternoon of April Fool’s Day. Clouds and winds quickly diminished during the afternoon, and the sun set vibrantly on a white landscape. Logan recorded a whopping 25.4” of snow, making this storm the third snowiest in recorded meteorological history, displaced only by storms during the Februarys of ‘69 and ‘78 (remember those?).
House Approves New Tax to Stem Wall St. Bonuses
The House of Representatives overwhelmingly approved on Thursday a near-total tax on bonuses paid this year to employees of the American International Group and other firms that have accepted large amounts of federal bailout funds, rattling Wall Street as lawmakers rushed to respond to populist anger.
A Leader Beyond Reproach Limits Possibilites for Libya
Step one block off almost any main road and the streets here are badly damaged or completely unpaved. There are problems with the schools, the health care system and the government bureaucracy, which is plagued by corruption and inefficiency. Untreated sewage is dumped right into the Mediterranean.
Shorts (left)
In the two months since Israel ended its military assault on Gaza, Palestinians and international rights groups have accused it of excessive force and wanton killing in that operation, but the Israeli military has said it followed high ethical standards and took great care to avoid civilian casualties.
Global Decline in Manufacturing Raises Fears
Since it was founded by his great-grandfather in 1880, Carl Martin Welcker’s company in Cologne, Germany, has mirrored the fortunes of manufacturing, not just in Europe but around the world.
Shorts (right)
Suicide bombers who stormed the Justice Ministry and a prison department building in the Afghan capital on Feb. 11 were trained in Pakistan’s lawless border region, Afghan intelligence officials have said.
A Load of Pressure
Did you feel like there’s been extra pressure on you? Maybe it was due to all of your professors conspiring to schedule their exams all on the same week? While that could be true, it could from the air column above you exerting extra pressure instead. There has been a slow-moving high pressure system that has dominated the eastern half of the US. Over the last seven days, the sea-level pressure in Boston has averaged about 1025 millibars — roughly one to two standard deviations above normal. That system has moved well off the coast, but another one has already moved in to take its place. For those graduate students, MIT athletes and others stuck at MIT during spring break, the good news is that this system too will also be a slow-mover, so another rain-free stretch of weather is expected over the next seven days.
Mugabe Is an Obstacle to More Donor Aid
On his first day as education minister in a government so broke that most schools were closed and millions of children idle, David Coltart said he got a startling invitation.
El Salvador’s Leftist President-Elect Has Conciliatory Tone
Almost as soon as Mauricio Funes won the presidency as the standard bearer for the party of El Salvador’s former leftist guerrillas, he set about trying to reassure his opponents.
China’s Stimulus Spending Sows A Surge in Growth
The global economic downturn, and efforts to reverse it, will probably make China an even stronger economic competitor than it was before the crisis.
Obama Moves to Quell Fury Over AIG Bonuses
President Barack Obama and his top economic advisers scrambled to calm a nationwide furor on Monday over bonuses paid at American International Group, even as administration officials acknowledged they had known about the issue for months.
Shorts (left)
The state of California made its case Monday to regain control of health care in its prisons, telling a federal judge that “dramatic improvements” have occurred since the judge blamed the health system for killing one inmate per week and assigned an overseer to make changes.
Stimulus Puts ‘Clean’ Coal Projects on Faster Track
Near the middle of a dusty construction site here stands a patch of land, about the size of two football fields, notable because it is empty.
An Autism Surge Alarms Minneapolis Somalis
Ayub Abdi is a cute 5-year-old with a smile that might be called shy if not for the empty look in his eyes. He does not speak. When he was 2, he could say “Dad,” “Mom,” “give me” and “need water,” but he has lost all that.
A Sunny St. Patrick’s Day
Today is St. Patrick’s Day, and, perhaps as the luck of the Irish would have it, the weather will remain calm and mostly sunny. Temperatures here will reach around 45°F (7°C), making for a relatively fine day by New England standards. In fact, today’s weather in the Boston area will be somewhat similar to today’s weather in Dublin, Ireland, where temperatures will reach the low 50s°F (11°C) under partly sunny skies. While today’s weather won’t quite reach the spring-like conditions we experienced over the weekend, today’s warming will carry over into tomorrow, and spring’s arrival isn’t far away.
Shorts (right)
Israel’s prime minister-designate, Benjamin Netanyahu ’75, forged ahead on Monday with negotiations toward a probable narrow, hawkish government after his conservative Likud party initialed its first coalition agreement with the nationalist Yisrael Beitenu party led by Avigdor Lieberman.
Investors See Glimmer of Hope, Send Shares Higher
A few clues that the U.S. economy’s downward spiral might be slowing galvanized Wall Street on Thursday and sent the stock market soaring for the second time this week.
U.S. Tries to Ease Tensions in Pakistan
In an effort to defuse the Pakistani political crisis, the U.S. ambassador, Anne W. Patterson, traveled to see the opposition leader Nawaz Sharif on Thursday morning and urged him to reconcile with Pakistan’s president, Sharif said.
In Powerhouse India, Child Hunger Abounds
Small, sick, listless children have long been India’s scourge — “a national shame,” in the words of its prime minister, Manmohan Singh.