Gingrich tries to lure Tea Party support in Florida primary
SARASOTA, Fla. — As he moved to consolidate the conservative base behind him, Newt Gingrich on Tuesday waved the red cape of a former Florida governor who quit the Republican Party and lost to Tea Party favorite Marco Rubio — a line that got a big reaction from crowds who have not forgotten that act of moderate apostasy.
European central bankers criticize role of rating agencies
LONDON — Two European central bank chiefs are urging investors to pay less attention to credit rating agencies and to consider other factors in assessing what the region’s debt is worth.
Shorts (right)
LOS ANGELES — The Los Angeles City Council approved a mandate Tuesday requiring all actors in pornographic films to wear condoms during any filming that takes place within city limits. The law is the first of its kind, advocates said, and could have a significant impact on what some say is a $1 billion industry.
Few cities have regained jobs<br/>they lost, report finds
Less than a tenth of the nation’s metropolitan areas have regained the jobs they lost in the economic downturn, according to a report being released Wednesday by the nation’s mayors as they gather in Washington to express their exasperation that the federal government seems more intent on cutting aid to cities than on sending more.
More ship bodies found, new drama in capt. transcript
GIGLIO, Italy — Rescuers pulled five bodies clad in sodden life vests from the partly sunken cruise ship Costa Concordia on Tuesday, bringing the death toll in the disaster to at least 11, as Italian media published transcripts of a screaming match between the coast guard and the ship’s captain, who fled to a life boat after he smashed the vessel on a reef.
For Southern TV chef Deen, Type 2 diabetes leads to ‘I told you so’
For 10 years, wielding slabs of cream cheese and mounds of mayonnaise, Paula Deen has become television’s self-crowned queen of Southern cuisine and one of the country’s most popular chefs, with an empire built on layers of gooey butter cake, fried chicken and sheer force of personality.
Active Winter Weather Moving to New England
The tranquil weather pattern and above-average temperatures of this winter in the Northeast should slowly change through the rest of January. The cold temperatures last weekend, when Logan Airport reached 6°F (-14°C) Saturday night, serve as a good example of what’s probably coming later this month. The jet stream, or the main storm track, has been split between northern Canada and a path from the desert Southwest toward the northern Plains for most of winter. This pattern has “locked” the cold air within Canada, allowing for warm air to stream in with the relatively weak storms thus far across the lower 48.
Shorts (left)
BEIRUT — Adding to fears of a worsening political crisis in Yemen, a top government official hinted that presidential elections set for February that would mark the formal end of President Ali Abdullah Saleh’s 33-year rule could be delayed.
Opponents of Wisconsin governor deliver recall petitions
Critics of Gov. Scott Walker of Wisconsin submitted to the state on Tuesday more than 1 million signatures, nearly twice as many as required, on recall petitions against Walker to force a new election.
Shorts (left)
A judge in Belfast on Tuesday rejected an attempt by Sean Quinn, once considered Ireland’s richest man, to declare bankruptcy in Northern Ireland rather than in his home country, where terms are tougher.
A long shot for Geithner as he begins Beijing talks
BEIJING — Timothy F. Geithner, the U.S. Treasury secretary, came to Beijing on Tuesday hoping to persuade Chinese leaders to toughen their diplomatic stance toward Iran and soften their opposition to fiscal changes like a stronger renminbi that might help the U.S. economy.
Pakistani judges press prime minister to turn on president
ISLAMABAD — The political and legal crisis in Pakistan took a new turn on Tuesday when the Supreme Court threatened to dismiss Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani for failing to comply with court orders to reopen corruption cases against his political boss: President Asif Ali Zardari.
Israel braces for refugees after Syrian collapse
JERUSALEM — Israel’s military chief said on Tuesday that Jerusalem was preparing for a potential influx of refugees into the Golan Heights from Syria with the demise of the government of President Bashar Assad, which he said was inevitable.
Interactive tools used to assess the likelihood of death
To help prevent overtesting and overtreatment of older patients — or undertreatment for those who remain robust at advanced ages — medical guidelines increasingly call for doctors to consider life expectancy as a factor in their decision-making. But clinicians, research has shown, are notoriously poor at predicting how many years their patients have left.
Nor’easter to bring wintry mix tomorrow
This year, the Boston area has been experiencing a very anomalously mild winter. The brief snow showers that passed through the area on Monday night constituted our first measurable snowfall since October. This is rather extraordinary, considering that Boston normally records a total of over 10 inches of snow by the end of December. However, the winter is far from over, and the relative lack of snowfall so far does not necessarily mean that the rest of the season will be as mild.
Shorts (right)
WASHINGTON — The United States on Tuesday carried out its first drone strike in Pakistan’s restive tribal areas in nearly two months, ending a pause that was intended to avoid worsening relations between the countries after a U.S. airstrike in November killed two dozen Pakistani troops.
Weeks of indecision end for many New Hampshire primary voters
MANCHESTER, N.H. — Some cast votes grudgingly, others with utmost confidence in their choice, and many in New Hampshire’s famously late-breaking electorate voted in New Hampshire’s Republican primary on Tuesday after making up their minds at the last minute. Their decisions were based on economic concerns and, in many cases, pragmatism, with the aim of defeating President Barack Obama in November.
Hearing on terror suspect explores Miranda warning
Almost two years ago, a Federal Bureau of Investigation agent was in Nigeria to question an Eritrean man who was in custody on suspicion of supporting terrorism. The suspect, Mohamed Ibrahim Ahmed, had already been interrogated by other U.S. officials for intelligence-gathering purposes, without having been read his rights.
As Syria urges local voting, UN puts death toll at 5,000
BEIRUT — The Syrian government called Monday for voters to turn out for local elections that it portrayed as good-faith reform efforts, but activists said that most citizens, observing a second day of a general strike, rejected the polls as irrelevant to a country in such turmoil.
Bill would block food stamps, jobless pay for millionaires
WASHINGTON — It is an image many Americans would find rather upsetting: a recently laid-off millionaire, luxuriating next to the pool eating grapes bought with food stamps while waiting for an unemployment check to roll in.