US completes sale of $225 billion in mortgage-backed securities
WASHINGTON — The Treasury Department announced Monday that it had finished selling the $225 billion in mortgage-backed securities it bought to help stabilize the markets during the worst of the financial crisis.
Publicity push as health law’s court date nears
WASHINGTON — Republicans on Capitol Hill have put together a highly coordinated two-week renewed assault on the health care law, seizing on the legislation’s second anniversary and the next week’s oral arguments before the Supreme Court concerning its constitutionality.
Temperatures 25°F-35°F above average to continue
This past Sunday, temperatures soared into the mid seventies in the Boston area. Logan airport recorded a record high temperature of 74°F, besting the previous high mark of 70°F. This was 27°F above the average high of 47°F for this time of year. Sunday’s impressive performance was repeated on Monday with another record high of 74°F. Although temperatures are forecast to remain warm throughout the week, the record streak is in danger as record highs for March 20 and 21 at Logan are 79°F and 83°F, respectively. These values are a few degrees higher than the current forecast.
Shorts (right)
BEIJING — A deep vein of intrigue has always pulsed through the messy process of sorting out power in China’s Communist Party.
European officials see progress, but urge Greece to do more
ATHENS — Greece has made progress in raising much needed revenue, impressively overshooting its tax collection targets, but more needs to be done to ensure that money gets to the country’s languishing economy, the head of the European Commission’s task force on Greece said Thursday.
Backlash aside, charities see lessons in a web video
It has galvanized young Americans, inspired a flood of donations and stirred a backlash from critics. But for some in the nonprofit world, the reaction to the unprecedented success of an advocacy video about the murderous African warlord Joseph Kony can be summed up in a word: envy.
Shorts (left)
LARGO, Md. — In what has become a weekly ritual, President Barack Obama on Thursday defended his administration’s energy policy, in the face of relentlessly rising gasoline prices, to an American public that believes he can do more to ease the pain at the pump.
Senators issue warning about use of the Patriot Act
WASHINGTON — For more than two years, a handful of Democrats on the Senate intelligence committee have warned that the government is secretly interpreting its surveillance powers under the Patriot Act in a way that would be alarming if the public — or even others in Congress — knew about it.
High pressure system to bring more warm weather
After two days of clouds and chilly temperatures, sunshine and unusually warm weather are expected to make a comeback this weekend in association with a broad high pressure system. Earlier this week, temperatures repeatedly exceeded their climatological normals by upwards of 20°F. In fact, Monday’s high temperature of 71°F at Logan Airport broke the 110-year-old record high of 69°F.
Report details inner workings of senator’s ethics trial
WASHINGTON — At least two federal prosecutors involved in the botched ethics trial of the late Sen. Ted Stevens “intentionally withheld and concealed” significant evidence from the defense team that could have resulted in his acquittal, a court-appointed investigator has concluded.
Taliban release two Swiss hostages in Pakistan after 18 months
ISLAMABAD — An eight-month ordeal for two Swiss citizens held hostage in northwestern Pakistan ended early Thursday when their Taliban captors set them free, Pakistani security officials said.
Shorts (right)
The Asahi Kasei Corp. of Japan agreed Monday to buy Zoll Medical, a health care equipment maker in the United States, for $2.2 billion, becoming the latest Japanese company to expand abroad.
Santorum’s delegate math looks different from Romney’s
WASHINGTON — Rick Santorum’s campaign has begun to argue forcefully that Mitt Romney will fail to win the 1,144 delegates needed to clinch the Republican nomination for president, leaving the decision to a wide-open national convention in Tampa, Fla., this summer.
Shorts (left)
BAGHDAD — A recent spate of killings and intimidation aimed at gay Iraqis and teenagers who dress in brash Western fashions is sending waves of fear through Iraq’s secular circles while casting doubt on the government’s will to protect some of its most vulnerable citizens.
Britain taking steps toward legalization of euthanasia
LONDON — A British stroke victim paralyzed from the neck down and suffering from so-called locked-in syndrome won the right Monday to seek changes in a law that would enable a doctor to end what he has called an “intolerable life” without risking murder charges.
Unseasonably warm weather will continue
NOAA’s National Climatic Data Center just confirmed that the past winter was the fourth warmest on record in the mainland United States; it certainly felt like it in Cambridge! A variety of factors combined to set the stage for this warmth, including La Niña conditions in the Pacific, positive phases in the North Atlantic Oscillation, and potentially Earth’s upward trend in global average temperatures (although one must be careful not to confuse climate — which is defined as the long-run average of weather — with weather, which consists of short-scale variations).
China hints at easing monetary policy, adjusting reserve ratio
BEIJING — As China seeks a soft landing for its bubble-prone economy, senior economic officials said Monday that they might encourage bank lending, while also hinting that the country’s currency might not appreciate as fast as it has in recent years — a hot-button issue in the U.S. presidential election this year.
House Republicans split over a bid to revise the budget deal
WASHINGTON — The House is bracing for a rancorous showdown over a 2013 budget plan that has already divided Republicans because of a push by conservatives to cut spending below the level both parties agreed to in last year’s deal to raise the federal deficit.
Shorts (right)
BEIJING — China moved on Thursday to enhance the rights of suspects and defendants in criminal cases, recommending that its handpicked national legislature adopt a series of Western-style safeguards in the most sweeping revisions to its criminal procedure code in 15 years.
Iran pressed on access for nuclear inspectors
The six world powers that have agreed to resume negotiations with Iran over its disputed nuclear program issued a blunt request Thursday that the Iranians allow international inspectors unfettered access, most notably to Parchin, a large restricted military complex that the inspectors suspect may house a testing chamber for explosives used in atomic weapons triggers.