Secret-court ruling in 2008 put tech firms in legal data bind
SAN FRANCISCO - In a secret court in Washington, Yahoo’s top lawyers made their case. The government had sought help in spying on certain foreign users, without a warrant, and Yahoo had refused, saying the broad requests were unconstitutional.
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The International Criminal Court in The Hague has decided not to investigate or prosecute the former pope and other leaders of the Roman Catholic Church on allegations of covering up the sexual abuse of children by priests.
Inspector commits suicide after Philly building collapses, killing six
PHILADELPHIA - A city building inspector was found dead of an apparently self-inflicted gunshot wound late Wednesday, a week after a building collapsed at a site he had inspected in central Philadelphia, killing six people.
Bill Clinton’s dissent on Syrian action puts White House on the spot
WASHINGTON - A day after former President Bill Clinton endorsed a more robust U.S. intervention in Syria, the White House pushed back Thursday on an issue that has Clinton aligning himself with Sen. John McCain, who has faulted President Barack Obama for his reluctance to get entangled in the bloody civil war there.
A rainy Commencement?
A rather complicated forecast situation has set up for Friday. While we all had hoped that the high pressure (which brought us gorgeous weather on Tuesday and Wednesday) would stick around for Commencement, Mother Nature has other plans in mind. A low pressure system moving from the Ohio River Valley into our regions brings the first threat of rain today. Complicating this though, is a tropical system, which as of 6 p.m. Wednesday was classified as the first tropical storm of the 2013 Atlantic hurricane season; Tropical Storm Andrea. This system will interact with the low pressure from the Ohio River Valley as well as with an upper level trough to bring heavy rain today and tomorrow. With abundant tropical moisture, we could receive several inches of rain. As of this writing, there is still significant forecast uncertainty regarding the track of this system, the timing of its arrival in the Northeast, and the location of the heaviest precipitation. It seems that the heaviest precipitation will not be until tonight, but there is, unfortunately, a chance of rain during this mornings Commencement ceremony. As the system heads out to sea tomorrow, the rain should taper, with dry weather expected on Sunday.
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WASHINGTON — The International Monetary Fund released an internal report Wednesday that sharply criticizes its first bailout program for Greece, the latest in a series of partial mea culpas as the fund reassesses the austerity that it has insisted on for ailing, debt-plagued economies.
In Syrian victory, Hezbollah risks a broader fight
BEIRUT — In the final days the outgunned Syrian rebels, deprived of reinforcements, ammunition and sleep, were surviving on olives and canned beans. They were hiding in the concrete shells of destroyed houses and underground tunnels near the besieged rebel stronghold of Qusair, unable to help their trapped colleagues and civilians dying of treatable wounds, as Syrian government forces and their Hezbollah allies from Lebanon assaulted the town by land and air.
US and Venezuelan diplomats agree to work toward talks
CARACAS, Venezuela — After months of tensions between the United States and Venezuela, Secretary of State John Kerry met on Wednesday with the Venezuelan foreign minister, Elías Jaua, in Antigua, Guatemala, and announced the start of talks aimed at improving relations between the two countries.
Cyprus gets first tranche of bailout funds
PARIS — After striking an unprecedented deal in March to make many bank depositors help pay for an international bailout, Cyprus on Monday received 2 billion euros, the first installment of that money, aimed at buttressing the economy after the near-collapse of its banking sector.
After a cool start, week warms up
It has been a cool start to the week, with high temperatures yesterday barely making it to 60°F, a trend that will continue today. It may get a few degrees warmer than yesterday, but we are still looking at the low 60°Fs, but that could be knocked down with the development of an afternoon seabreeze. Temperatures tonight will also be chilly, with lows in the low 40°Fs. Last night, in fact, the National Weather Service put out frost advisories because away from the coast, low temperature were expected to drop into the 30°Fs. Luckily for the warm weather lovers, milder air will work its way into the region for the end of the week, with highs Thursday and Friday expected to be in the mid to upper 70°Fs.
IRS focus on conservatives gives GOP issue to seize on
WASHINGTON — The Internal Revenue Service’s special scrutiny of small-government groups applying for tax-exempt status went beyond keyword hunts for organizations with “Tea Party” or “Patriot” in their names, to a more overtly ideological search for applicants seeking to “make America a better place to live” or “criticize how the country is being run,” according to part of a draft audit by the inspector general that has been given to Capitol Hill.
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HONG KONG — The Chinese Communist Party has warned officials to combat “dangerous” Western values and other perceived ideological threats, according to accounts on Monday of a directive that analysts said reflects the top leader Xi Jinping’s determination to preserve top-down political control even as he considers economic liberalization.
Obama scoffs at Libya outcry but vows to act on IRS audits
WASHINGTON — An exasperated President Barack Obama on Monday called Republican criticism of his handling of the attacks in Benghazi, Libya, “a sideshow” and said that any accusation of a cover-up by his administration “defies logic.”
Firms brace for new European data privacy law
BERLIN — The effort in Europe to adopt the world’s strongest data protection law has drawn the attention of dozens of lobbyists from U.S. technology and advertising companies.
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In the 2011-12 fiscal year, the nation’s highest paid public university president was Graham B. Spanier, the president of Pennsylvania State University, who was forced out in November 2011 over his handling of a child sex abuse scandal involving a football coach.
European leaders grapple with youth unemployment
FRANKFURT, Germany — Record youth unemployment is emerging as the most urgent problem in the eurozone, if the political rhetoric of recent days is any measure. But leaders are struggling to come up with effective ways to prevent jobless young people in countries like Spain and Greece from becoming a lost generation and source of social upheaval.
Hezbollah threatens Israel over Syria strikes
BEIRUT — The leader of Hezbollah, the powerful Lebanese militant group, escalated tensions with Israel on Thursday over the recent Israeli airstrikes near Damascus, suggesting that the Syrian government would respond by providing Hezbollah fighters with the same weapons that Israel wants to keep out of their hands.
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LONDON — With the British economy showing feeble signs of resilience and a new central bank governor waiting in the wings, the Bank of England decided Thursday to keep its benchmark interest rate and its economic stimulus program unchanged.
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KABUL, Afghanistan — Afghanistan is ready to let the United States and its allies keep military bases here after the end of the NATO combat mission next year, President Hamid Karzai said Thursday, offering a concrete public signal that foreign troops would remain welcome in the coming years.
$8 million bail for Cleveland kidnapping suspect
CLEVELAND — A man accused of kidnapping and raping three women later found alive in his home after a decade of captivity was ordered held on $8 million bail Thursday.