Israeli officials stress readiness for lone strike on Iran
JERUSALEM — With Chuck Hagel scheduled to begin his first visit to Israel as secretary of defense on Sunday, Israeli defense and military officials issued explicit warnings this week that Israel was prepared and had the capability to carry out a lone military strike against Iran’s nuclear facilities.
Warm and windy weather precedes overnight shower
The same frontal system that spawned several tornadoes in Texas and Oklahoma on Wednesday and brought significant flooding to Chicago yesterday will be approaching our area from the west today. As the cold front draws closer, cloud cover will increase, and a tightening pressure gradient will result in strong southerly winds. These winds will advect warm air from the south, possibly causing the temperature to top the 70 degree mark for only the second time in 2013.
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ISTANBUL — Turkish police said Thursday that they found evidence of an al-Qaida-linked plot to bomb the U.S. Embassy in Ankara, a synagogue in Istanbul and other targets, during a raid on two houses in February.
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A report on three of the first patients in China to contract a new strain of avian flu paints a grim portrait of severe pneumonia, septic shock and other complications that damaged the brain, kidney and other organs. All three died.
Unsettled weather today, but dry weekend
A potent storm system over the Midwest will continue traveling toward the Atlantic. The storm is responsible for numerous reports of severe weather across the eastern U.S. over the past two days. Most of these reports involved damaging winds on Wednesday, as a series of squall lines propagated eastward. Not surprisingly, given that tornadoes mostly occur in the spring, several tornadoes were also spotted closer to the Gulf. Since much of the atmospheric instability is confined to the southeastern U.S., we will only see a cool, steady rain today rather than thunderstorms. Some of the cool Canadian air mass will reach us because the approaching storm will actually split into two weaker low pressure areas. As this occurs, winds will partially blow from the north through tonight and keep temperatures near 40°F (4°C) for today. We may even see sleet mix in with the rain if the air above is sufficiently cold.
US blacklists Iranian business over sanction breach
The United States blacklisted an affluent Iranian business executive and what it described as his multibillion-dollar money laundering network Thursday, accusing them of selling oil for Iran in violation of the Western economic sanctions imposed over Iran’s disputed nuclear program.
Kerry heads to Asia to reassure allies of US support
MANAS, Kyrgyzstan — With tensions on high in the Korean Peninsula, Secretary of State John Kerry arrives in South Korea on Friday in an attempt to reassure U.S. allies in the region that the United States remains committed to their defense.
Pentagon finds nuclear strides by North Korea
WASHINGTON — A new assessment by the Pentagon’s intelligence arm has concluded for the first time, with “moderate confidence,” North Korea has learned how to make a nuclear weapon small enough to be delivered by a ballistic missile.
Unsafe practices found at compounding pharmacies
After a crash inspection program, federal regulators said Thursday that they had found numerous unsafe practices at about 30 compounding pharmacies, the same type of facility responsible for the tainted drug that caused a deadly meningitis outbreak last year.
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BRUSSELS — Jacob J. Lew, the U.S. Treasury secretary, urged European officials to adopt more growth-friendly policies on Monday. But there was little indication that the recession-plagued European Union was moving away from the austerity path it has pursued to deal with the debts and imbalances that emerged in the financial crisis of 2008-09.
Unsettled weather for the rest of the week
Yesterday’s weather was glorious, with temperatures at the weather station on the roof of the Green Building reaching 65.1°F. We also experienced a common Boston spring and summertime phenomenon for one of the first times this year — the sea breeze. Around 4 p.m., the winds shifted from northwest to east. With the winds now coming off the ocean (with sea surface temperatures still in the 40°Fs), the temperature at the Green Building plummeted by 10°F in a little more than an hour.
Port authority fined for lapses in airport rescue, fire safety training
NEW YORK — The operator of the major airports in the New York metropolitan region has agreed to pay $3.5 million for failing to train its police officers to perform rescues and fight fires, under a settlement agreement announced Monday by the Federal Aviation Administration.
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For the academic elite — tenured professors at private research universities — average pay this year is $167,118, while at public research universities such professors earn $123,393, according to the annual report by the American Association of University Professors.
North Korea suspends work at shared factory site in border town
SEOUL, South Korea — North Korea said Monday that it was withdrawing all of its 53,000 workers from the industrial park it runs with South Korea, suggesting that the North was seeking to portray itself as willing to subordinate financial gains to political and military priorities as it increased tensions on the Korean Peninsula.
Wary of events in China, foreign investors take money to Cambodia
Tiffany & Co. is quietly building a diamond-polishing factory in Cambodia, a country popularly associated more with killing fields and land mines than baubles.
South Korea warns of possible missile launch by North this week
SEOUL, South Korea — The South Korean government warned on Sunday that the North might launch a missile later this week, while a top military leader postponed a scheduled trip to Washington, citing escalating tensions on the peninsula.
Top Cypriot bankers cited in report
LONDON — Two of the most senior executives at Bank of Cyprus may have deleted crucial email documents last year relating to what proved to be a disastrous decision to invest heavily in Greek government bonds just before Greece’s international bailout in 2010, according to an investigative report commissioned by the central bank of Cyprus.
North Korea moves missile to east coast, but limited threat seen
SEOUL, South Korea — South Korea’s defense chief said Thursday that North Korea had moved to its east coast a missile with a “considerable” range, but that it was not capable of reaching the United States. The disclosure came as the Communist North’s military warned that it was ready to strike U.S. military forces with “cutting-edge smaller, lighter and diversified nuclear strike means.”
White House seeks to change international food aid: buy local
WASHINGTON — An Obama administration plan to change the way the United States distributes its international food aid has touched off an intense lobbying campaign by a coalition of shipping companies, agribusiness and charitable groups who say the change will harm the nation’s economy and hamper efforts to fight global hunger.
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MOSCOW — The Irish Bank Resolution Co. is working with one of Russia’s largest banks to help find and seize assets in the former Soviet Union that belong to Sean Quinn, a bankrupt Irish billionaire who was once Ireland’s richest man.