Shorts (left)
Europe, which once hoped to avoid major fallout from the summer’s credit crisis, is now feeling an autumn chill of slackening economies and warnings of further market upheaval.
Bush Makes California Visit; Wildfire Fatality Count Rises
President Bush toured Southern California on Thursday as investigators got down to the work of determining how one sunny fall day last weekend erupted into a 16-fire storm now in its fifth day.
Bush Says U.S. Will Not Invade Iran Despite Recent Sanctions
In announcing new sanctions against an elite unit of Iran’s Revolutionary Guard Corps, Bush administration officials took pains Thursday to offer assurances on that at least for now, the United States is not going to war with Iran.
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New commercial satellite photos show that a Syrian site Israel bombed in September no longer bears any obvious traces of what analysts said appeared to have been a partly built nuclear reactor.
Shorts (right)
More women with breast cancer are choosing to have their healthy breast surgically removed along with their affected breast, a new study has found. Almost 5 percent of patients decided to have the radical procedure in 2003, up from just under 2 percent in 1998.
Microsoft Drops Fight Against Antitrust Regulators in Europe
Microsoft has given up its nine-year fight against antitrust regulators in Europe, saying Monday that it would not challenge a court judgment from last month and would share technical information with rivals on terms the software giant had long resisted.
Senator Received Donations From Phone Company Execs
Executives at the two biggest phone companies contributed more than $42,000 in political donations to Sen. Jay Rockefeller, D-W.Va., this year while seeking his support for legal immunity for businesses participating in National Security Agency eavesdropping.
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Energy experts convened by the world’s scientific academies Monday urged nations to shift swiftly away from coal and other fuels that are the main source of climate-warming greenhouse gases and to provide new energy options for the two billion people who still mostly cook in the dark on wood or dung fires.
Thousands of Evacuees Flee Fires, Find Safety in Chargers’ Stadium
At Qualcomm Stadium, to which thousands of evacuees fled throughout the day Monday to escape approaching fires, the hazy and acrid air pinched the throat. Despite those reminders of the nearby inferno, the stadium seemed an oasis of order.
Hoping to Continue Funding the War, Bush Asks Congress for $196 Billion
President Bush asked Congress on Monday to approve $196 billion to pay for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and other national security programs, setting the stage for a new confrontation with Democrats over the administration’s handling of Iraq.
Conflict Simmers on a Second Kurdish Front in Northern Iraq
Deadly raids into Turkey by Kurdish militants holed up in northern Iraq are the focus of urgent diplomacy, with Turkey threatening invasion of Iraq and the United States begging for restraint while expressing solidarity with Turkish anger.
June or October?
Yesterday’s highs approached, and in some cases surpassed, the 80 degree mark yet again. Logan reached 81 degrees, nearly tying its record of 83 set in 1979. In fact, October to date has averaged more than 5 degrees above normal. Yesterday’s warm readings were typical of late June; our average highs should be near 60°F for late October, with average lows in the mid 40s°F. You can thank the unusual warmth of late on a persistent high pressure pattern that has been advecting the warm air into the Northeast. The warm air advection will be suppressed today by the passage of a cold front, bringing us a period of showers late this afternoon and evening. Expect the rest of the week to be more seasonable and pleasant. Our next chance of rain comes this weekend as a slow-moving system currently in the southern Plains moves our way.
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It was the longest-running and most successful show in the Bronx in decades, running from 1996 through 2007 and stretching into October every season. By the end, it was playing to sold-out crowds almost nightly, and there were moments of magic that may never be repeated.
Shorts (right)
James D. Watson, who shared the 1962 Nobel prize for deciphering the double-helix of DNA, apologized “unreservedly” on Thursday for comments reported this week suggesting that black people, overall, are not as intelligent as whites.
Presidential Veto Stands; Child Health Insurance Fails in House
The House on Thursday upheld President Bush’s veto of a bill to provide health insurance to 10 million children, but Democrats vowed to send it back to him next month, with minor changes, in the belief that they could ultimately prevail.
Returning Opposition Leader Met With Bombs in Pakistan
Two bombs exploded Thursday just seconds apart and feet from a truck carrying the returning opposition leader Benazir Bhutto, narrowly missing her but killing scores of people and bloodying a triumphal homecoming after eight years in exile.
Contractors Injure Three Iraqis Protecting American Employees
A man lost his eye and two other people were wounded when private security contractors fired into a crowded taxi as it approached their convoy of sport utility vehicles in northern Iraq on Thursday.
Deadly Staph Infections Prompt Concern in American Classrooms
When the football players here at Sherwood High School were not getting the message about washing their uniforms and using only their own jerseys, the school nurse paid a surprise visit to the locker room.
Nominee for Attorney General Faces Difficult Questions on Interrogations
President Bush’s nominee for attorney general, Michael B. Mukasey, declined Thursday to say if he considered harsh interrogation techniques like waterboarding, which simulates drowning, to constitute torture or to be illegal if used on terrorism suspects.
October Never Felt So Good
Just when you thought fall had arrived in the form of cool daytime temperatures and downright chilly nights, the thermostat is getting bumped up again. To recap, this month started off very much above normal, followed by a period of nearly normal highs and lows. Now a second surge of warmth looks to cement October 2007 as quite an anomalously warm time in Boston. Specific to the next several days, a southerly wind flow will bring our weather from the warm southeast United States, an area that has been baked dry this year. Speaking generally though, there is just not much cool air available in any direction right now. Air coming straight from Canada the last week or so has only served to cool temperatures to climatologically average levels. Looking even farther north, temperatures are running about 10 degrees above average in regions like Alaska.