Optimism in Washington, Pessimism on Wall Street
President Barack Obama took office Tuesday urging Americans to choose hope over fear, but on Wall Street, fear was making a comeback.
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Some 300 women held at immigration detention centers in Arizona face dangerous delays in health care and widespread mistreatment, according to a new study by the University of Arizona, the latest report to criticize conditions at such centers throughout the United States.
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Kara Neumann, 11, had grown so weak she could not walk or speak. Her parents, who believe that God alone has the ability to heal the sick, prayed for her recovery but did not take her to a doctor.
Obama Is Sworn in as the Forty-Fourth President
Barack Hussein Obama became the 44th president of the United States on Tuesday before a massive crowd reveling in a moment of profound racial significance, and called on Americans to confront together an economic crisis that he said was caused by “our collective failure to make hard choices.”
Speech Spanned History But Tiptoed Around Bush
Though couched in indirect terms, Barack Obama’s inaugural address was a stark repudiation of the era of George W. Bush and a vow to drive the United States into “a new age” by reclaiming the values of an older one.
Few Israelis Near Gaza Feel War Achieved Much
The wheat and potato fields of this kibbutz, or communal farm, in southern Israel stretch right up to the Gaza border fence. In almost surreal proximity on the other side rise the apartment buildings, water towers and minarets of the Palestinian village of Abasan.
A Break From the Snow, But Not From the Cold
After receiving 12.4 inches of snow at Logan Airport this past Sunday and Monday, Boston could use a break from the snow. Luckily, the weather looks free of precipitation over the next week. Friday will be the warmest day in two weeks, with the high temperature looking to reach 40°F (4°C). Otherwise, temperatures will remain below freezing, not giving the snow already on the ground any chance to melt. Another shot of cold air invades us on Sunday, with a forecasted high of around 10°F (-12°C).
Clinton Pledges to Revive International Accords
Senator Hillary Clinton pledged Tuesday that as secretary of state she would revitalize US leadership by embracing a host of treaties on arms control and climate change that the Bush administration has been reluctant to endorse.
Ethiopians Withdraw From Bases in Somalia
Ethiopian troops pulled out from crucial bases in Mogadishu on Tuesday, leaving a power vacuum that was quickly filled by Islamist fighters who seized their positions.
Japan’s Governing Party Is Plunging in Polls
Is this the beginning of the end for Japan’s long-governing Liberal Democratic Party?
Stimulus Also Requires Stability, Bernanke Says
The chairman of the Federal Reserve, Ben S. Bernanke, warned Tuesday that the highly unpopular job of using taxpayer money to bail out financial institutions in the United States and other countries was far from over.
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Staggered by losses despite two federal rescues, Citigroup is accelerating moves to dismantle parts of its troubled financial empire in an effort to placate regulators and investors.
Shiver Me Timbers
After a seemingly benign start to the winter, the snow started flying just before Christmas and has really piled up around these parts. The shivering and shoveling will continue as another storm arrives on our doorstep tomorrow afternoon. Albeit, this storm will minor compared to its predecessors as it will move through fast and contribute at most a couple more inches to the snowpack.
Criticism of Ex-Official in Hiring at Justice Department
A former senior official at the Justice Department routinely hired Republicans, Federalist Society members and “RTA’s” — “Right-Thinking Americans” — for what were supposed to be nonpolitical posts and gave them plum assignments on civil rights cases, an internal department report released Tuesday found.
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Allergan, the company that turned an obscure muscle paralyzer for eyelid spasms, Botox, into a blockbuster wrinkle smoother, hopes to perform cosmetic alchemy yet again. At the end of the month, the company plans to introduce Latisse, the first federally approved prescription drug for growing longer, lusher lashes.
Russia Cuts Gas And Europe Shivers
Gazprom, the Russian gas monopoly, halted nearly all its natural gas exports to Europe on Tuesday, sharply escalating its pricing dispute with neighboring Ukraine. The cutoff led to immediate shortages from France to Turkey and underscored Moscow’s increasingly confrontational posture toward the West.
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Former Gov. Jeb Bush of Florida said Tuesday that he would not run in 2010 for the Senate seat being vacated by Mel Martinez, ending speculation about whether he could renew the Bush brand in Congress.
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The advertisement on the bus was fairly mild, just a passage from the Bible and the address of a Christian Web site. But when Ariane Sherine, a comedy writer, looked on the Web site in June, she was startled to learn that she and her nonbelieving friends were headed straight to hell, to “spend all eternity in torment.”
Obama Seeks Support for His Plan for the Economy
Two weeks before assuming power, President-elect Barack Obama took his economic recovery package to Capitol Hill on Monday and worked to build a bipartisan coalition to endorse his plan of tax cuts and new spending with an urgent appeal “to break the momentum of this recession.”
Anomalously Snowy Winter?
With both winter and 2009 barely underway, Boston has already accumulated over 25 inches of snow. We are well ahead of a normal winter season’s pace of 9 inches up to this point. Interestingly, the 2007-08 winter season started at a similar pace, with about 28 inches reported by early January. That winter tallied over 50 inches, compared to the 40-inch average.