Gains made, but Arizona fire still threatens electric grid
PINETOP, Ariz. — The gusty winds that have been fueling a vast wildfire in eastern Arizona slowed somewhat Thursday, allowing firefighters to make some headway against the blaze, which has turned much of the lush green pine forest here to black soot and sent thousands of residents fleeing for their lives.
Gingrich campaign staff quits en masse, citing conflicts
WASHINGTON — Newt Gingrich’s presidential campaign imploded Thursday as his top advisers banded together and resigned, setting off a further exodus of aides and supporters and battering his hopes of a political comeback.
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WASHINGTON — Michael E. Leiter, head of the nation’s main counterterrorism center, is resigning after nearly four years in a job that has increasingly focused on detecting and thwarting smaller and more diverse terrorist plots.
Weekend cool-down
The National Weather Service has confirmed the intensities of the three tornados that struck western Massachusetts last Wednesday, June 1. The strongest left a path of devastation 39 miles long, from Westfield to Charlton, and was half a mile wide at some points. That tornado was classified as an EF-3, the third-highest rating on the scale with estimated maximum winds of 160 mph — a rarity for this part of the country. Two shorter-lived EF-1 tornadoes were confirmed in Wilbraham and North Brimfield.
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TOKYO — Japan underestimated the danger of tsunamis and failed to prepare adequate backup systems at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant, a team of inspectors from an international nuclear regulator said Wednesday in a critical report that came as the Japanese prime minister prepared to face a no-confidence vote in Parliament.
Fighting spreads in Yemen, raising fear of civil war
SANAA, Yemen — Yemen edged closer to civil war Wednesday as fighting spread to new parts of the country and government troops waged increasingly bloody street battles with opposition tribesmen for control of crucial areas in the capital.
Tornadoes hit Mass.
Those of you staying in the Boston area after Commencement can look forward to a great weekend, with highs around 70°F and lots of sun. The work week might bring some worse weather, with a 30 percent chance of showers on Monday.
Multiple tornadoes touch down in Massachusetts, causing fatalities
BOSTON — At least four people were killed when tornadoes touched down Wednesday in Springfield, Mass., and a number of nearby towns. The twisters flipped vehicles, collapsed buildings and stunned residents who are not used to such violent storms.
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PARIS — The U.N. refugee agency has urged the crews of ships in the Mediterranean to keep watch for unseaworthy vessels carrying migrants from war-torn Libya after a report that a ship with 600 people on board broke up just off the port of Tripoli on Friday.
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DEPEW, N.Y. — This village of strip malls, car dealerships and working-class neighborhoods is an unlikely stage for a battle between the two major parties in Washington.
Deaths, injuries reported in Yemeni protest march
Security forces and government supporters opened fire on protesters in the Yemeni city of Taiz on Monday, witnesses said, while a doctor confirmed that four people were killed and scores injured after almost a month of stalled negotiations over how and when President Ali Abdullah Saleh would leave office.
Bigger Osama bin Laden raid unit braced for fight with Pakistanis
WASHINGTON — President Barack Obama insisted that the assault force hunting down Osama bin Laden last week be large enough to fight its way out of Pakistan if confronted by hostile local police officers and troops, senior administration and military officials said Monday.
Record flooding continues
With the warming weather, melting snow has combined with spring rain to raise river levels well beyond flood stage throughout the nation. The hardest-hit areas lie along the Mississippi River from Illinois to Louisiana. In Memphis, the Mississippi has risen to 47.8 feet — just shy of the 48.7 feet record set in 1937.
Syrian official hopes seven-week protests are near an end
DAMASCUS, Syria — The Syrian government has gained the upper hand over a seven-week uprising against the rule of President Bashar Assad, a senior official declared Monday, in the clearest sign yet that the leadership believes its crackdown will crush protests that have begun to falter in the face of hundreds of deaths and mass arrests.
House leader Boehner outlines demands on debt limit fight
WASHINGTON — House Speaker John A. Boehner said Monday that Republicans would insist on trillions of dollars in federal spending cuts in exchange for their support of an increase in the federal debt limit sought by the Obama administration to prevent a government default later this year.
US seeks to financially aid Libyans in rebel areas with seized assets
ROME — The United States announced Thursday that it would try to release some of the more than $30 billion in assets seized from Libya’s leader, Moammar Gadhafi, as international officials said they would create a fund to give money directly to the Libyan rebels.
House Republicans are shelving bid to overhaul Medicare rules
WASHINGTON — House Republicans signaled Thursday that they were backing away from the centerpiece of their budget plan — a proposal to overhaul Medicare — in a decision that underscored both the difficulties and political perils of addressing the nation’s long-term fiscal problems.
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BAGHDAD — A suicide bomber attacked a police training center Thursday in the predominantly Shiite city of Hilla, south of Baghdad, killing 25 people and wounding at least 75 in the second major bombing in Iraq this week.
Bin Laden raid account, hastily told, proves fluid
WASHINGTON — On Monday, the Obama administration said Osama bin Laden had been killed after a firefight with Navy SEAL commandos, and that he had used his wife as a human shield. On Tuesday, the administration said that bin Laden was not armed at all, and that his wife had not been a shield but had rushed her husband’s assaulter and was shot in the leg.
Data gathered in raid connects bin Laden to terror plot
WASHINGTON — After reviewing computer files and documents seized at the compound where Osama bin Laden was killed, U.S. intelligence analysts have concluded that the chief of al-Qaida played a direct role for years in plotting terror attacks from his hideout in Abbottabad, Pakistan, U.S. officials said Thursday.