Of politics and time

November 07, 2013 - Daily News Briefing

Americans made local decisions this week that may or may not have national implications. Election 2016 is 156 weeks from now. That’s a lot of eternities.

Subscribe Now to read this post!

To read this post and thousands more articles, subscribe today!

Bombs targeting the entrance of a landmark Ottoman railway building in Damascus and a feared security agency in Syria’s southeast killed at least 16 people on Wednesday, activists reported. There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the attacks, but rebels tied to Al Qaeda have previously claimed bombings of security institutions and have also targeted the center of the capital, trying to take the war to the heart of President Bashar al-Assad’s power.

Americans who passed part, but not all, of the General Educational Development test are rushing to finish the high school equivalency exam before a new version rolls out in January and their previous scores are wiped out. About 1 million people could be affected. With the new version, test takers must use a computer instead of paper and pencil. The test itself will be more rigorous and cost more – at $120, the price in some states will be significantly higher than previous versions. Some places may subsidize all or part of the cost.

A day before the European Central Bank meets to decide whether to cut interest rates, further evidence emerged Wednesday to indicate the economic recovery in Europe is muted. Eurostat, the EU’s statistics office, said Wednesday that retail sales across the 17-country eurozone fell 0.6 percent in September from the month before. The fall offset the previous month’s 0.5 percent rise and was just below market expectations for a more modest 0.4 percent decline. September is the final month of the third quarter, so the drop may alter expectations about how much the eurozone grew during the period.

Services across Greece shut down Wednesday as unions staged a 24-hour general strike and held peaceful demonstrations to protest further austerity cuts in the cash-strapped country. The strike disrupted public transport, halted ferry and train services, shut down courts and state-run schools, and left state hospitals and the ambulance service functioning with emergency staff. Dozens of flights were canceled or rescheduled as air-traffic controllers walked off the job for three hours in support of the labor action.

An Israeli court on Wednesday found former Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman innocent of all charges in a graft trial, clearing the way for one of Israel’s most powerful and polarizing figures to return to his post as the nation’s top diplomat and raising his clout in a bitterly divided government. The decision handed Lieberman a resounding victory in a case that had threatened to derail his political career and reshape the makeup of the coalition government. Instead, he could return to the political arena stronger than ever.

A series of small explosions killed one person and injured eight others Wednesday outside the provincial headquarters of the ruling Communist Party in the northern Chinese city of Taiyuan, officials said. Officials gave no word on the target or perpetrators of the blasts, which state media said were caused by homemade bombs.

Compiled from wire service reports

“The object of the Monitor is to injure no man, but to bless all mankind.” – Mary Baker Eddy

The Daily News Briefing is published Monday through Friday by The Christian Science Publishing Society in Boston, Massachusetts.

Compiled from wire service reports

“The object of the Monitor is to injure no man, but to bless all mankind.” – Mary Baker Eddy

The Daily News Briefing is published Monday through Friday by The Christian Science Publishing Society in Boston, Massachusetts.

Subscribe Now to read this post!

Are you sure?

Forgot to add folder?

Tags Error