Clinton Unveils New Proposal For Universal Health Insurance
Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton unveiled a plan on Monday to guarantee health insurance to all Americans, but in a way carefully designed to avoid nearly every major political flaw in her failed proposal of 1993–94.
Antitrust Ruling Against Microsoft May Bode Ill For Other Companies
Europe’s second-highest court delivered a stinging rebuke to Microsoft on Monday, but the impact of the decision upholding an earlier antitrust ruling may extend well beyond the world’s largest software maker to other high-technology companies.
Aug. Fires Change Outlook For Greek Parliamentary Elections
Just a month ago, Prime Minister Kostas Karamanlis called for early parliamentary elections, when his center-right New Democracy party seemed a shoo-in for victory.
Two More Earthquakes Hit Indonesia; Strongest Shock Was 8.4 in Magnitude
Two more strong earthquakes shook the coast of the Indonesian island of Sumatra on Thursday, after the powerful quake that hit on Wednesday, but the area escaped a major tsunami like the one that devastated the region in 2004.
Success Allows Limited Troop Cuts, Bush Says in Nat’l Address
President Bush contended on Thursday night that his plan to begin withdrawing some troops from Iraq gradually was based on a principle he called “return on success,” saying that progress made so far could be squandered by the deeper and speedier reductions that the war’s opponents have demanded.
Shorts (left)
Though President Bush said he would withdraw five Army combat brigades and several Marine units from Iraq by next summer, as the top commander in Iraq had recommended, the White House was careful Thursday not to be pinned down on just how many soldiers would remain.
Shorts (right)
The group whose $10 million prize spurred privately financed rocketeers to send a small piloted craft to the cusp of space in 2004 has issued a new challenge: an unmanned moon shot.
Fifteen Pakistani Commandos Killed in Apparent Suicide Blast
At least 15 soldiers from an elite commando unit were killed Thursday evening when a blast, apparently set off by a suicide bomber, tore through the dining hall of a military installation in northwestern Pakistan, military officials said.
Sunni Sheik Who Backed U.S. In Iraq Killed in Bomb Attack
A high-profile Sunni Arab sheik who collaborated with the American military in the fight against jihadist militants in western Iraq was killed in a bomb attack on Thursday near his desert compound. The attack appeared to be a precisely planned assassination meant to undermine one of the Bush administration’s trumpeted achievements in the war.
Pleasant Weather to Continue
September is typically one of the most comfortable (and easy to forecast) months in the New England year. Last year, the warmest days during September were in the low 80s°F while the coolest were generally in the mid 60s°F. In addition, nearly two-thirds of the days featured sunshine. By contrast, this month we have already experienced two days with highs in the mid 90s°F. However, those days were quite anomalous and most likely we are done with such hot weather for 2007. Already the fall march of cool Canadian high pressure areas towards the south has begun, with the first hard freeze since the spring being felt in the Upper Midwest earlier this week. This time of year marks the peak of Atlantic Hurricane season and there are two systems currently of note. After making landfall in east Texas Wednesday, the remains of Hurricane Humberto may add some moisture to a cold front for us over the weekend, and Tropical Depression 8 east of the Virgin Islands bears watching.
So Long Summer
Although technically not yet autumn, temperatures over the foreseeable future will certainly make it feel like the fall season. Contrast this to just a few days ago when Logan tied a record high of 95°F, previously set way back in 1872. A cold front moved through early Sunday morning, bringing substantially cooler and somewhat drier air with its passage. The weekend also saw a weak Tropical Storm Gabrielle brush the North Carolina coast with mainly light rain and some gusty winds. Cape Hatteras recorded a top wind speed of 53 mph. Now a tropical depression, Gabrielle is currently racing off to the northeast and passed about 200 miles south of Nantucket last night.
U.S. Citizen Sentenced 24 Years Prison Time For Crimes Related to Terrorism
A California man convicted last year of aiding terrorists and lying to the FBI was sentenced on Monday to 24 years in prison.
Top U.S. Commander Warns Against Hurried Iraq Pullout
Gen. David H. Petraeus, the senior U.S. commander in Iraq, warned in stark terms against the kind of rapid pullback favored by the Democratic majorities in the House and Senate, in a day of testimony that drove home the continuing inability of the Democrats to force a change in strategy in Iraq.
Sept. 11 Commemoration Moved Away From Ground Zero to Park
The planning for Tuesday’s commemoration of the 2001 terror attacks had become a seemingly familiar standoff. On one side was a vocal core of victims’ relatives threatening to hold their own event because the ceremony would, for the first time, take place not at ground zero but across the street, at Zuccotti Park. On the other, Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg, accused by the relatives of insensitivity, was holding firm that it was unsafe to allow mourners at what was now an active construction site.
Petraeus in Support of ProposalReducing No. of U.S. Troops in Iraq
Under the timetable embraced on Monday by Gen. David H. Petraeus, the number of American combat brigades would decline by one-fourth by next summer, from 20 now to 15 in July, with the prospect of deeper, if as yet unscheduled, reductions to come.
Shorts (left)
The government’s ability to eavesdrop on suspected terrorists overseas allowed the United States to obtain information that led to the arrests last week of three Islamic militants accused of planning bomb attacks in Germany, said Mike McConnell, the director of national intelligence.
Shorts (right)
Li Runsen, the powerful technology director of China’s ministry of public security, is best known for leading Project Golden Shield, China’s intensive effort to strengthen police control over the Internet.
Suicide Bomber in Afghanistan Kills Afghan Civilians, Policemen
In one of the deadliest suicide attacks in Afghanistan this year, at least one suicide bomber killed at least 26 Afghans, half of them civilians, in a crowded market in southern Afghanistan on Monday night, Afghan officials said.
NIH Funds Local Mass. Teams For Daring Scientific Research
Boston researchers are about to begin a bold experiment that, if it works, could help solve the organ shortage and provide other replacement parts for worn-out humans: They will try to grow heart valves, and parts of a pancreas and a tooth, from scratch in the lab.
Petraeus, Viewing Gains as Fragile, Is Wary of Pullbacks
Gen. David H. Petraeus, the top U.S. commander in Iraq, has told President Bush that he wants to maintain heightened troop levels in Iraq well into next year to reduce the risk of military setbacks, but could accept the pullback of an initial brigade beginning in January, according to senior administration and military officials.