A Genial Conservative for New York City’s Archdiocese
For a few deeply unpleasant days, the Rev. David Cooper found himself in the crosshairs of the Roman Catholic hierarchy.
As It Falters, East Europe Raises Risks
Since the fall of the Berlin Wall, the countries of Eastern Europe have emerged as critical allies of the United States in the region, embracing American-style capitalism and borrowing heavily from Western European banks to fund their rise.
Shorts (left)
In 2004, Shanghai Automotive Industry Corp., China’s largest carmaker, took a small hop across the Yellow Sea and bought a controlling stake in Ssangyong Motor of South Korea.
Not Quite New Orleans Weather
Today is the day of the famous annual Mardi Gras festival in New Orleans, Louisiana. Also known as Fat Tuesday, the carnival features a day of parades and celebrations on the day before the Christian holiday Ash Wednesday. While New Orleans temperatures are expected to be balmy today, reaching close to 70°F (21°C), here in the Boston area temperatures will hover around the freezing mark this afternoon.
Obama Visits Canada in Bid to Improve Relations
President Barack Obama charted a delicate course with Canada on Thursday, using the first foreign trip of his presidency to ease tensions over trade policy, climate change and the war in Afghanistan — all the while basking in his celebrity status in a nation where his approval ratings are so high that a local bakery named a pastry after him.
Newly Poor Swell Lines At America’s Food Banks
Once a crutch for the most needy, food pantries have responded to the deepening recession by opening their doors to what Rosemary Gilmartin, who runs the Interfaith Food Pantry here, described as “the next layer of people” — a rapidly expanding roster of child-care workers, nurse’s aides, real estate agents and secretaries facing a financial crisis for the first time.
Lending Locked, U.S. Tries Trillion-Dollar Key
Credit cards, home equity lines, student loans, car financing: None come cheaply or easily in these credit-tight times. The banks, the refrain goes, just will not lend money.
Shorts (right)
On the same day last month that a federal judge in St. Paul threw out hundreds of lawsuits against the maker of a faulty heart device, a man entered a nearby hospital to have one of those flawed products surgically removed.
Shorts (left)
It may be the longest train delay in history: More than 40 years after the first bullet trains began zipping through Japan, the United States still lacks true high-speed rail. And despite the record $8 billion investment in high-speed rail added at the last minute to the new economic stimulus package, that may not change any time soon.
U.N. Says Iran Enriched More Uranium Than Reported
In their first appraisal of Iran’s nuclear program since President Obama took office, atomic inspectors have found that Iran recently understated by a third how much uranium it has enriched, UN officials said Thursday.
In Budget Deal, California Shuts $42 Billion Gap
Take-home pay for Californians is about to shrink. Jeans, hammers, burgers and fries will cost more. Public school children will make due with old textbooks and find more classmates sitting next to them. Parents will receive fewer tax benefits, and state university students will pay 9 percent more in tuition.
Only a Month Until Spring!
By now, the semester has hit you like a bus; we’re three weeks into term and the problem sets are stacking up. You’re probably starting to get stressed with the first round of tests and chilly weather isn’t helping. “When’s winter going to end?” a Texan friend asked as it was snowing this Wednesday night. But never fear, spring’s almost here! The daily highs are increasing, slowly but certainly. The normal high for today is 40˚F (4˚C), and the low 25˚F (-4˚C). By next week, climatology for Boston shows highs increasing to 41˚F (5˚C) by next Friday, but by the following Friday (March 6th) we could be seeing temperatures reaching from 43˚F (6˚C) to 29˚F (-2˚C). And a month from now, we’ll be seeing an average high of 48˚F (9˚C), and the average low will finally be above freezing.
As Clinton Lands in Asia, North Korea Threatens Missile Test
As Hillary Rodham Clinton arrived in Japan on Monday, her first foreign visit as secretary of state, North Korea threatened to test what its neighbors believe is a ballistic missile capable of reaching the United States.
Revelations by Senator from Illinois Cause Concern
Several Democratic lawmakers from Illinois said Monday that they were troubled by revelations about Roland W. Burris, the state’s newest senator and a fellow Democrat. And at least one called for Burris to come before the state Legislature and explain himself.
In Vatican Controversies, Questions of Pope’s Focus
Close on the heels of the pope’s rehabilitation of a group of schismatic bishops, including one who denied the Holocaust, a second scandal has compounded a searching debate within the church over whether Pope Benedict XVI’s focus on doctrine and perceived insensitivity to political tone are alienating mainstream Catholics and undermining the church’s moral authority.
Shorts (left)
The U.S. Justice Department’s ethics office is in the final stages of a report that sharply criticizes Bush administration lawyers who wrote legal opinions justifying waterboarding and other harsh interrogation methods, according to department and congressional officials.
Eastern All Stars
Although the Western Conference may have bested the Eastern Conference in Sunday’s NBA All Star Game, the weather bragging rights are clearly in the East. It didn’t seem possible, but much of the ice and snow that fell in the prior month has vanished in recent days. Although temperatures haven’t been far from the climatological average, daily high temperatures have consistently climbed above freezing. This, combined with a few bouts of rain in lieu of additional snow storms, has laid waste to the deep snow pack Mother Nature had built up last month. However, we’re still in the depths of winter and the risk of snow returning spontaneously is still in the cards. Thankfully, this week does not feature a return to the ice cavern of January.
Shorts (right)
The fireball that streaked across the Texas sky and appeared to dive toward earth over the weekend remained a mystery on Monday after the military said the event had nothing to do with a collision of satellites last week and did not seem to involve an artificial satellite coming down.
France and Britain Disclose Collision of 2 Submarines
In a freak accident, two submarines carrying nuclear weapons, one French and the other British, collided while submerged on operational patrols in the Atlantic earlier this month, the British and French defense ministries said Monday.
First on Cambodia’s Docket: A Man Linked to 14,000 Killings
The first trial of a senior Khmer Rouge cadre opened Tuesday, 30 years after the end of the brutal communist regime that took the lives of as much as one fourth of Cambodia’s population.