Shorts (left)
Many top colleges are misleading applicants about the paperwork needed to seek financial aid, possibly violating federal law and costing students extra money, a congressman said Monday.
Several inches of snow possible tomorrow
After temperatures got up to 55°F in Boston this past weekend, our area will see accumulating snowfall tomorrow for the second time in three days. While yesterday’s all-day snow event was relatively harmless — leaving behind less than an inch of accumulation — tomorrow’s event is expected to be more significant. At the time of this writing, the National Weather Service had issued a Winter Storm Watch for “late Tuesday night through Wednesday afternoon,” forecasting the possibility of 6 to 10 inches of snow accumulation.
Hacker group accuses Merkel government of helping to spy
MUNICH — The Chaos Computer Club, a leading hacker organization based in Germany, filed a criminal complaint against Chancellor Angela Merkel and members of her government Monday, accusing them of violating the law by helping U.S. and British intelligence agencies to spy on German citizens.
Shorts (right)
MOSCOW — A student opened fire in a high school in northern Moscow on Monday, killing a police officer and a teacher and holding two dozen other students hostage before being captured by police, a spokesman for Russia’s Interior Ministry said.
Putin is given cool reception at EU headquarters
BRUSSELS — President Vladimir Putin for years trumpeted Russia’s grand ambitions for improved relations with the European Union.
In State of the Union, Obama vows solo action on economy
WASHINGTON — After five years of fractious political combat, President Obama declared independence from Congress on Tuesday as he vowed to tackle economic disparity with a series of limited initiatives on jobs, wages and retirement that he will take without legislative approval.
Thai aristocrat sides with the poor
BANGKOK — With a buzzer installed in her house to summon her servants and a royal title that helps secure choice tables at Bangkok restaurants, Malinee Chakrabandhu is a bona fide member of the Thai aristocracy.
Shares of Yahoo fall after it reports drop in revenue
SAN FRANCISCO — Yahoo still lags far behind its major Internet competitors, but the company’s performance under Marissa Mayer continues to improve.
Shorts (left)
BEIRUT — Islamist rebels and extremist groups have seized control of most of Syria’s oil and gas resources, a rare generator of cash in the country’s war-battered economy, and are now using the proceeds to underwrite their fights against one another as well as President Bashar Assad, U.S. officials say.
House votes for tighter restrictions on federal payments for abortions
WASHINGTON — The House of Representatives voted Tuesday to impose tighter restrictions on federal payments for abortions, thrusting the issue of a woman’s right to terminate a pregnancy into the polarizing politics of an election year.
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DUBLIN — The European Court of Human Rights ruled Tuesday that a 48-year-old Irish woman was entitled to compensation for the government’s failure to protect her from sexual abuse as a child when she attended a publicly financed Roman Catholic primary school in the 1970s.
Chilly temperatures continue
Although we experienced a brief respite from the cold on Monday with afternoon temperatures reaching into the mid 40s°F, that relief did not last long thanks to another Arctic cold front sweeping across our area Monday evening. Behind the front, air temperatures in the teens combined with wind gusts of up to 28 mph led to bitterly cold wild chills below 0°F yesterday morning.
Shorts (right)
BANGUI, Central African Republic — Cheers broke out in the National Assembly building here Monday as representatives chose the mayor of this beleaguered capital to serve as the interim president of the Central African Republic, a country in the grip of a sectarian civil war.
Thai leaders declare emergency rule in response to protests
BANGKOK — The embattled government of Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra declared the imposition of emergency rule in Bangkok and surrounding areas on Tuesday, suggesting a more aggressive posture toward anti-government protesters who have occupied parts of the city during the past two months and are seeking to overthrow the government.
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Former Gov. Bob McDonnell of Virginia and his wife, Maureen, were indicted Tuesday by a federal grand jury on charges of accepting some $140,000 in loans and gifts in exchange for promoting the business of a political patron.
Snow, wind, brutal cold
With the arrival of another winter storm, another common meteorological term has entered the popular lexicon: bombogenesis. Bombogenesis refers to the rapid intensification of a mid-latitude cyclone (specifically, a surface pressure decrease of 24 hPa or more in 24 hour period). The system that brought snowfall to the Northeast beginning yesterday afternoon developed rapidly off the Virginia coast, prompting the use of the term bombogenesis in several media reports. A total of 8 to 14 inches of snow was expected across Eastern Massachusetts and Rhode Island, making for our first major snowfall since the 15.1 inches we received in the January 2-3 storm. While the snow may stop around midday today, it will still be brutally cold, thanks to temperatures in the teens and blustery north winds - combining to create wind chill values near or below 0°F. Quite a contrast from the mild temperatures of last week! Tomorrow and Friday the skies will clear, but it will remain chilly with daytime highs in the teens and lows in the single digits. The weekend should bring a return to temperatures in the 30°Fs.
Human Rights Watch criticizes inaction on Syria
BERLIN — The advocacy group Human Rights Watch sharply criticized international powers Tuesday for the way they are dealing with the civil war in Syria, saying that the desire to bring President Bashar Assad’s government to the negotiating table should not become a pretext for failing to protect civilians caught in the conflict, which has claimed more than 100,000 lives.
States cutting weeks of aid to the jobless
RIEGELWOOD, N.C. — Last July, North Carolina sharply cut its unemployment program, reducing the maximum number of weeks of benefits to 20 from 73 and reducing the maximum weekly benefit as well.
Same-sex newlyweds sue Utah after series of rulings
DENVER — The legal saga in Utah over same-sex marriage grew even more complicated Tuesday, as four couples who had married during the brief window that Utah permitted such weddings sued the state over its recent decision not to recognize their marriages or provide any new state benefits to same-sex newlyweds.
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WASHINGTON — House and Senate negotiators reached accord on a trillion-dollar spending plan that will finance the government through September, reversing some cuts to military veterans’ pensions that were included in a broader budget agreement last month and defeating efforts to rein in President Barack Obama’s health care law.