Shorts (right)
PARIS — Unemployment in the eurozone hovered at a record 11.4 percent in August, according to data released Monday, underscoring the pain inflicted by the slowing world economy and the financial problems plaguing many of the countries that share the euro.
Greek government proposes deep cuts to foreign lenders
ATHENS, Greece — Greece’s government submitted its 2013 draft budget Monday, outlining enormous spending cuts as the country’s foreign lenders returned to resume talks over a broader austerity package in exchange for the rescue money the country needs to meet expenses.
Fighting spreads through Aleppo as city services vanish
BEIRUT — Chaos continued to spread in Syria’s largest city, Aleppo, on Monday, as rebels attacked the towering municipality building with rockets, sending civil servants fleeing from one of the few government buildings still functioning as dozens of soldiers defended the city center.
Chinese Communist Party still unsettled over charges
BEIJING — With only six weeks to go before the formal unveiling of a new set of leaders for China, Communist Party elders and senior officials are still working to finalize decisions on who will ascend to the top ruling bodies and what policy direction they will adopt for the new team, political insiders and analysts say.
Weather will alternate between rain and sun
This week’s weather will alternate between pleasant and rainy as a series of disturbances sweeps across the region. Tuesday will be on the pleasant end of the spectrum, with partial sunshine and light winds accompanying comfortable temperatures in the mid 70s (°F). However, the possibility of rain showers will arrive on Wednesday and Thursday as we experience the remnants of a system that brought heavy rains to the Gulf Coast over the weekend.
Romney broadens attacks against Obama beyond the economy
From the very start, Mitt Romney’s campaign was premised on the belief that the economy’s struggles would make President Barack Obama politically vulnerable. Grim economic statistics, the assumption went, would make Romney’s argument for him.
US advises states to expand Medicaid or risk losing funds
WASHINGTON — The Obama administration is putting pressure on states to expand Medicaid, telling them they may lose federal money if they delay.
Sudan and South Sudan sign cooperation deal
KAMPALA, Uganda — The presidents of Sudan and South Sudan signed a long-awaited cooperation agreement on Thursday, paving the way for the resumption of oil exports and casting their ailing economies a desperately needed lifeline. But several analysts said the deal came up far short.
Shorts (left)
SALT LAKE CITY — One desk, clean and empty, suggested a recently retired employee. The other, piled high with brown folders wrapped in rubber bands and bristling with color-coded tabs, screamed “backlog.”
Iranian spokesman assaulted by exile group near UN
NEW YORK — Iranian exiles and the Iranian government can make for a combustible combination, as a spokesman for the Iranian Foreign Ministry discovered after an address by the country’s president to the United Nations during this week’s General Assembly.
Reversing course, Soros to give to a pro-Obama ‘super PAC’
Billionaire George Soros is committing $1 million to Priorities USA Action, the “super PAC” supporting President Barack Obama, two people with knowledge of the matter said Thursday, a significant donation that could help spur further contributions to the group in the closing weeks of the election campaign.
Data point to further gloom in eurozone
PARIS — The outlook for the eurozone remained unsettled Thursday, as data showed that confidence among European businesses and consumers continued to fall in September and the Spanish government prepared to unveil a plan to restore its finances next year.
Cool, wet weather approaching this weekend
As a low pressure system moves over the region, Cambridge will experience damp, cloudy conditions with intermittent precipitation. Temperatures will remain seasonable, with highs in the 60°s for the next several days.
Shorts (right)
LOS ANGELES — The man thought to have been behind the crude anti-Islam video that set off deadly protests across the Muslim world in recent weeks was arrested Thursday for violating terms of his probation in a 2010 bank fraud case.
Mixed returns for endowments at largest universities
An uneven economic year yielded uneven results for the largest university endowments, with reports released through Thursday revealing a range of results, from a fractional loss on investments for Harvard to a healthy gain for MIT.
New rules upend House re-election races in California
PLEASANTON, Calif. — Running against the Vietnam War, Rep. Pete Stark entered Congress the year that Richard M. Nixon was re-elected president. Since then, ensconced in Democratic strongholds here in the Bay Area, Stark was easily re-elected 19 times. But Stark, 80, the dean of California’s congressional delegation, is facing a serious challenge for the first time. That is because Eric Swalwell, a fellow Democrat who became a city councilman less than two years ago in Dublin, his hometown near here, came just a few points behind Stark in the primary. Now Swalwell gets to carry the fight into November — thanks to a new primary system in California under which the top two vote getters advance to the general election, regardless of party affiliation.
Shorts (left)
WASHINGTON — Lawyers for three men who have been imprisoned by the U.S. military in Afghanistan without trial for nearly a decade are renewing their quest for hearings in U.S. courts. They say new information has emerged that undermines an appeals court ruling against them two years ago.
Shorts (right)
TBILISI, Georgia — Georgian officials tried Monday to take control of a week-old prison abuse scandal, arresting three activists from an opposition party, Georgian Dream, and releasing video clips that purported to show them offering the police money to stage scenes of horrific abuse.
Attack against US in Libya was major blow to CIA effort
WASHINGTON — The attack in Benghazi, Libya, that killed Ambassador J. Christopher Stevens and three other Americans has dealt the Central Intelligence Agency a major setback in its intelligence-gathering efforts at a time of increasing instability in the North African nation.
Administration warns hospitals on Medicare billing
Saying there are “troubling signs” of abuse in the way hospitals use electronic records to bill for Medicare and Medicaid reimbursement, the administration of President Barack Obama warned in a letter to hospital associations Monday that it would not tolerate what it called attempts to “game the system” and vowed to vigorously prosecute doctors and hospitals implicated in fraud.