Shorts (left)
MOSCOW — A passenger plane crashed in heavy fog outside of Kazakhstan’s largest city Tuesday, killing 21 people, Kazakh emergency officials said. The crash was the second aviation disaster in the country in a month.
Activists seek repeal of New York’s new gun-control laws
ALBANY, N.Y. — More than 100,000 people have signed online petitions denouncing New York’s new gun laws. Gun owners are contemplating civil disobedience, vowing to ignore a requirement to register guns they own that are now classified as assault weapons. And some are even calling for the impeachment of Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo.
Both sides in Syria trade blame for killings in suburb
BEIRUT — Scores of muddied and waterlogged gunshot victims, most of them men in their 20s and 30s, were found dead in a suburb of Syria’s contested northern city of Aleppo on Tuesday. Insurgents and the government accused each other of carrying out the killings in what appeared to be the latest civil war atrocity.
FDA approval for genetic drug to treat a rare inherited disorder
The Food and Drug Administration approved a new drug Tuesday that not only treats a rare inherited disorder that causes extremely high cholesterol levels and heart attacks by age 30 but does so using a long-sought technology that can shut off specific genes that cause disease.
Judge approves BP criminal settlement
HOUSTON — A federal judge in New Orleans on Tuesday approved an agreement between BP and the Justice Department for the company to plead guilty to manslaughter and pay $4 billion in criminal penalties for the 2010 oil well blowout and spill in the Gulf of Mexico that left 11 workers dead.
Active weather is in store for the eastern U.S.
Unseasonably warm temperatures will arrive in New England today ahead of a large, powerful cold front. Before the front pushes through the area late tonight, heavy rain and even some rumbles of thunder will move in this evening and overnight. At the same time, a rapidly deepening low pressure entering southern Quebec will induce strong winds over our area tonight. Southerly wind gusts near 50 mph are not out of the question, lasting through Thursday morning and slowly diminishing later that day. Further south, along the eastern seaboard toward the Carolinas, some severe thunderstorms will fire ahead of the same front through tonight.
In seeking distance from EU, Britain may lose influence
LONDON — Last year, Prime Minister David Cameron of Britain used his appearance at the World Economic Forum to vent frustration with the European Union, listing some of the policies he would ditch if he could throw off Europe’s regulatory shackles.
France and Germany mark a milestone
BERLIN — France and Germany recently issued a joint postage stamp as part of a yearlong celebration of the 50th anniversary of the Elysee Treaty, the landmark agreement between the two former enemies.
Shorts (right)
The Securities and Exchange Commission said Tuesday that Egan-Jones, the upstart credit ratings firm run by Sean Egan, was barred for 18 months from issuing certain government-recognized ratings after the firm made misstatements on an application with the government.
Shorts (left)
WASHINGTON — A Defense Department inquiry into potentially inappropriate emails between the U.S. commander in Afghanistan and a socialite in Tampa, Fla., has cleared the officer, Gen. John R. Allen, of wrongdoing, senior officials disclosed Tuesday.
Four more years, but it’s the first one that really counts
WASHINGTON — The Constitution may promise President Barack Obama another four years in the White House, but political reality calls for a far shorter time frame: he has perhaps as little as a year to accomplish his big-ticket goals for a second term.
Frigid weather next two days
After weeks of above average temperatures, it appears that winter has finally arrived. The main story this week is the frigid temperatures across a large portion of the U.S. With yesterday’s high temperature in Boston only reaching 25°F, and temperatures today and tomorrow forecast to struggle to make it to 20°F, we are experiencing the coldest weather of the winter thus far. Today and tomorrow will be particularly frigid, as strong west/northwest winds will combine with the bitterly cold air to produce wind chills down to -12°F. The temperatures should moderate somewhat over the weekend, but are still expected to be below freezing.
Venus and Serena Williams lose in doubles
MELBOURNE, Australia — As heavily favored as Serena Williams is to win the women’s singles title at the 2013 Australian Open, she was an even heavier favorite to win with her sister Venus at her side.
India warns Kashmiris to prepare for nuclear war
NEW DELHI — Indian officials are advising residents of strife-torn Kashmir to prepare for a possible nuclear war by building bombproof basements and stockpiling food and water, adding to tensions between India and Pakistan, both nuclear powers, after deadly cross-border skirmishes in recent weeks.
In debt game, an early move from Obama regarding negotiations
In a high-stakes negotiation, the most important moves often come not in the end game but at the very start, when one side or the other prevails in defining what is on the table. If you listened closely, you might have heard President Barack Obama try to do just that in his news conference on Monday, when he suggested that Washington will have tamed the government’s debt problems if the two parties can agree on another $1.5 trillion or so in spending cuts and tax increases.
Mali Islamists dig in for a long military struggle
BAMAKO, Mali — In the face of fierce, all-night bombardment by the French military, Mali’s Islamist insurgents have hunkered down to fight again.
Meeting in Cuba roils in Venezuelan opposition while Chavez absent
CARACAS, Venezuela — With the president absent and ailing, the country on edge and the government eager to portray a sturdy sense of continuity, there might be nothing unusual about the most powerful officials in Venezuela meeting over the weekend, except for the location they chose for the sit-down: Havana.
Shorts (left)
FRANKFURT, Germany — The economic stagnation in Europe has taken a significant toll on Germany, with government figures released Tuesday showing that the Continent’s flagship economy contracted in the fourth quarter of last year.
Snow turns to rain today
A weakly organized winter storm will move through the Northeastern United States today, bringing a mixture of snow and rain to the Boston area. Precipitation is likely to begin as snow in the early morning hours and intensify as the morning progresses.
More than 50 killed as explosions hit Syrian University
At least two devastating explosions, possibly caused by aircraft missiles or bombs, struck the campus of Aleppo University on Tuesday as students were taking exams, a major escalation of the violent struggle for control of Syria’s largest city in the ongoing conflict. The opposition and government blamed each other for the blasts, and opposition sympathizers said more than 50 people were killed.