Syria unleashes assault to take an unbowed city
BEIRUT — The Syrian government has launched a bloody assault to retake Homs, the country’s third-largest city, facing armed defectors who have prevented the government’s forces from seizing it as they did other restive locales this summer, in what may stand as one of the most violent episodes in an eight-month uprising.
Shorts (right)
WASHINGTON — The State Department’s inspector general will conduct a special investigation of the handling of the pending decision on the proposed Keystone XL pipeline in response to reports of improper pressure on policy makers and possible conflicts of interest, according to documents released Monday.
Wall Street bonuses are projected to drop up to 30%
Wall Street bonuses are set to fall by an average of 20 to 30 percent this year from a year ago, according to a closely watched compensation survey — the weakest bonus season since the financial crisis and a reflection of the leaner times confronting the industry.
Unseasonably warm in first half of week
A high pressure system is in control for the first half of the week, bringing beautiful weather conditions to the Boston area. Similar to yesterday, today and tomorrow should be sunny with unseasonably warm temperatures. Normal high temperatures for this time of year are around 55°F, but we may experience temperatures over 10°F higher than that. Enjoy the nice weather while at lasts, because a coastal low will approach the region on Thursday. With plenty of moisture associated with that system, there is a potential for heavy rain Thursday afternoon and evening. The low will exit Friday morning, with clouds dissipating as a high pressure moves in from the southwest. The temperatures on Friday will be more seasonal, as northwest winds behind the exiting low advect colder air into the region.
Europe, US market anxiety grows over Italy
When Italy issued 3 billion euros in bonds last week at an interest rate of more than 6 percent, it was about 1.5 percentage points higher than it had to pay as recently as last summer — and the most expensive 10-year money it had borrowed since joining the euro a decade ago.
Shorts (left)
WASHINGTON — One of the women who accused Republican presidential candidate Herman Cain of sexual harassment while working for him at the National Restaurant Association in the late 1990s said that the workplace turned hostile after she complained about advances he made toward her, several people familiar with her account at the time said in interviews.
Study finds big spike in poorest in the US
WASHINGTON — The number of people living in neighborhoods of extreme poverty grew substantially, by one third, over the past decade, according to a new report, erasing most of the gains from the 1990s when concentrated poverty declined. More than 10 percent of America’s poor now live in such neighborhoods, up from 9.1 percent in the beginning of the decade, an addition of more than 2 million people, according to the report by the Brookings Institution, an independent research group.
Shorts (right)
SAN FRANCISCO — Acknowledging that some searches were giving people stale results, Google revised its methods Thursday to make the answers timelier. It is one of the biggest tweaks ever to Google’s search algorithm, affecting about 35 percent of all searches.
Greek leader calls off referendum on bailout plan
ATHENS, Greece — In a tumultuous day of political gamesmanship, Prime Minister George A. Papandreou on Thursday called off a referendum on Greece’s new debt deal with the eurozone after winning a measure of support from his opposition and managed to repair, at least for a day, a major rupture in relations with Europe.
FDA officials point to increased drug approvals
Federal drug officials Thursday claimed credit for an increase in the approval of new drugs and argued that the results demonstrated the need for legislation to continue financing the current drug approval system.
Palestinians’ UN bid moves closer to rejection
The Palestinian bid for membership at the United Nations, which was doomed from the start by the threat of a U.S. veto, moved another notch closer to rejection on Thursday at the Security Council, diplomats said.
Sunny weather may wake you from extra hour of sleep
Hundreds of thousands of people in the Northeast remain without electricity after an early Nor’Easter dumped heavy snow that downed trees and power lines on Sept. 29. Thankfully, temperatures have increased and no further precipitation is expected for the next few days. This should help enable utility crews to restore power lines as well as keep people without emergency generators from suffering too much from cold.
Shorts (right)
BISHKEK, Kyrgyzstan — The people of this strategically important Central Asian nation voted in a presidential election Sunday, seeking an end to years of political turmoil, though some fear the vote could expose the regional and ethnic divisions that nearly tore the country apart last year.
Shorts (left)
TRIPOLI, Libya — Libya’s provisional leaders named an engineer as the new prime minister Monday, taking the first step toward assembling a new transitional government after the killing of Moammar Gadhafi and the formal end to the uprising that ended his nearly 42 years in power.
In China, political outsiders turn to microblog campaigns
BEIJING — For at least some candidates seeking parliamentary seats in local Chinese elections this year, the winning formula is the very antithesis of what works in the United States.
Despite US pressure, Pakistan unlikely to take on Haqqanis
Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton and other senior administration officials visited Pakistan in October to demand that Pakistan’s spy agency either deliver the Haqqani network, a virulent part of the insurgency fighting U.S. forces in Afghanistan, to the negotiating table or help fight them in their stronghold in Pakistan’s rugged tribal areas.
76 arrested in drug ring traced to US from Mexico
PHOENIX — Law enforcement officials on Monday announced the breakup of a massive drug-smuggling ring that used lookouts on hilltops in southern Arizona to move huge quantities of marijuana and other drugs across the Mexican border to users throughout the United States.
Greece plans referendum on latest Europe aid deal
ATHENS, Greece — In a surprise move that jolted Europe and put his political future in play, Prime Minister George Papandreou announced Monday that his government would hold a referendum on a new aid package for Greece, putting austerity measures — and potentially membership in the eurozone — to a popular vote for the first time.
Storm leaves nine dead, over three million without power
It was a storm of record consequence, disrupting large swaths of the Northeast in ways large and small: Towns were buried in dense snowfalls, closing down streets, schools, and even, in some cases, Halloween celebrations.
Wild weather winding down
A historic winterlike storm over the weekend brought massive amounts of precipitation and high winds across the Northeast. Some parts of western Massachusetts received the most snow, with totals reaching just above 30 inches! In addition, out of all records at the National Weather Service, New York’s Central Park received 2.9 inches of snow, its highest amount ever recorded in October. The low pressure system that brought the wild weather moved up along the coast over the weekend. It exited very quickly by Sunday, allowing for high pressure to take over the region. Maybe a Santa Claus costume would have worked for trick-or-treating in the Northeast yesterday.