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BENGHAZI, Libya — Moammar Gadhafi’s forces struck back on three fronts on Monday, using fighter jets, special forces units, and regular army troops in an escalation of hostilities that brought Libya closer to civil war.
UN refugee agency declares Libya a humanitarian crisis
PARIS — Almost 100,000 people have fled Libya’s fighting to neighboring Egypt and Tunisia, the U.N. refugee agency said, in what it called a humanitarian emergency.
Academy Awards less popular than last year, ratings are poor
LOS ANGELES — The Oscars tripped in their transition to a hipper, younger, media-mad future, attracting 12 percent fewer viewers than last year in the important 18-to-49 age bracket.
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WASHINGTON — President Barack Obama told the nation’s governors Monday that he was willing to amend his landmark health care law to give states the ability to opt out of its most controversial requirements right from the start, including the mandate that most people buy insurance.
Digital music services such as Pandora gather new investors
Since it emerged in the 1990s, digital music has been hugely popular with fans, but for online music companies and their investors, it has almost never been profitable.
Another week of ups and downs
This week will again be a bit of a weather roller coaster as a few passing weather systems impact New England. After Sunday’s four-inch snow accumulation was washed away by over half an inch of rain on Monday, the remainder of the week will bring a few more weather extremes. After a relatively normal day today, gusty winds from the southwest will bring warm air to the area tomorrow. However, a cold front tomorrow night will then immediately knock temperatures into the mid-teens (°F).
Two popular Iranian opposition leaders are mysteriously missing
CAIRO — The mystery over the whereabouts of the two main Iranian opposition leaders, Mir Hussein Moussavi and Mehdi Karroubi, deepened Monday with contradictory reports over whether they had been jailed on the eve of a nationwide protest or remained under extreme house arrest, completely cut off from the outside world.
Libyan rebels repel Colonel Gadhafi’s forces near Tripoli
BENGHAZI, Libya — Rebels seeking to overturn the 40-year rule of Col. Moammar Gadhafi repelled a concerted assault by his forces Thursday on cities close to the capital, removing any doubt that Libya’s patchwork of protests had evolved into an increasingly well-armed revolutionary movement.
Gay marriage seems to wane as conservative issue
WASHINGTON — President Barack Obama’s decision to abandon his legal support for the Defense of Marriage Act has generated only mild rebukes from the Republicans hoping to succeed him in 2012, evidence of a shifting political climate in which social issues are being crowded out by economic concerns.
General said to order effort to sway U.S. lawmakers
WASHINGTON — The American commander in Afghanistan will order an investigation into accusations that military personnel deployed to win Afghan hearts and minds were instructed over their own objections to carry out “psychological operations” to help convince visiting members of Congress to increase support for the training mission there, military officials said Thursday.
Discovery space shuttle leaves Earth for the last time
KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, Fla. — With seconds to spare after a last-minute glitch, the repaired shuttle Discovery, grounded since November because of vexing fuel tank cracks, rocketed into orbit Thursday on its 39th and final flight, setting off for the International Space Station to deliver supplies, equipment and a final American storage module.
Resurgent General Motors posts 2010 profit of $4.7 billion dollars
DETROIT — General Motors, which nearly collapsed from the weight of its debts two years ago before reorganizing in a government-sponsored bankruptcy, said Thursday that it earned $4.7 billion in 2010, the most in more than a decade.
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Responding to criticism that tenure gives even poor teachers a job for life, Randi Weingarten, the president of the American Federation of Teachers, announced a plan Thursday to overhaul how teachers are evaluated and dismissed.
Active Weather Ahead
The high pressure system that has brought us sunny, dry weather for the last week has finally moved off the coast, allowing a sequence of storms to impact our region over the next few days. The first system comes through today, bringing heavy rain and blustery conditions. The rain should taper off by the evening, but could be quite heavy at times this morning and this afternoon. We should receive 1.5–2 inches of rain. As for the wind, the southeast winds of the morning will weaken and shift as the low passes in the afternoon, before shifting to strong northwesterlies on the backside of the low. Gusts of up to 55 mph are possible tonight. Saturday will be mostly quiet before a shortwave trough brings a chance of snow showers on Sunday morning. The next major system moves in on Monday; right now it looks like it will be mostly rain, but some sleet and freezing rain could be mixed in.
Gadhafi’s forces strike with fury as Libyan unrest grows
CAIRO — The faltering government of the Libyan strongman Colonel Moammar Gadhafi struck back at mounting protests against his 40-year rule, as security forces and militiamen backed by helicopters and warplanes besieged parts of the capital Monday, according to witnesses and news reports from Tripoli.
Zimbabwe arrests 46 for watching uprisings on TV
JOHANNESBURG — Dozens of students, trade unionists and political activists who gathered to watch Al-Jazeera and BBC news reports on the uprisings that brought down autocrats in Tunisia and Egypt have been arrested on suspicion of plotting to oust President Robert Mugabe of Zimbabwe.
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Blockbuster, the bankrupt video rental company, said on Monday that it had agreed to sell itself to a group of creditors for about $290 million as a way to jump-start an auction process that could yield a higher bid.
In Wisconsin, back to work in the Senate — minus a party
MADISON, Wis. — With the Capitol braced for another week of protests and deadlock over a budget bill that would severely restrict public employees’ unions here, the top Republican in the State Senate announced that the body would resume consideration of other matters.
Egypt’s new leaders signal commitment to civilian rule
CAIRO — The military and civilian leadership controlling Egypt in the wake of a popular revolution took several high-profile steps Monday to reassure Egyptians that it shared their fervor for change and to signal to foreign leaders that the move to full civilian rule would be rapid.