Jordan prepared to exchange prisoner for pilot held by Islamic State The U.S. and U.K. have urged their allies not to pay ransoms to Islamic State and other militant groups. But Spain and France are believed to have made payoffs of up to millions of dollars each for the release last year of citizens held by Islamic State, according to the militants and some Western diplomats. […]
Then and now: France, the French language and the holy land Twenty years ago, my research into French-speakers in Israel and Palestine seemed like an obscure topic to a lot of friends and colleagues. With the current uptick in terrorist-triggered emigration from France to Israel, it is anything but. There has long been an ambivalent relationship between France and the Holy Land, between French and the […]
Boston Herald T trains slated to get back on track MBTA trains will resume operation on a normal schedule today after being grounded for the duration of yesterday’s marathon blizzard — a move that Boston Mayor Martin J. Walsh hailed, but one critic suggested was complete overkill.
A long shot “It’s the nature of how elevated sports are in this country, even at the youth level,” said Dan Lebowitz, the executive director of Northeastern University’s Center for the Study of Sport in Society. “By the time a basketball or football player gets to Division I or Division II, they’ve already been a star in their […]
International Business Times The Holocaust ‘profoundly’ shapes Israel’s foreign policy, experts say The memory of the Holocaust continues to shape the policies and international relations of the country that came out of World War II as a homeland for Jews, experts say. “The Holocaust profoundly shapes Israeli foreign policy. I would describe it as being the original trauma — a trauma that cast a long shadow on […]
Boston Herald Blizzard to throw blanket over Bay State economy The monstrous blizzard that’s expected to bring much of the state to a standstill for the next two days will send a ripple effect through the economy, affecting everything from workers’ wages and business revenue to municipal budgets and the state deficit. The storm could create a “chain-reaction of potential negativity,” said Oscar Brookins, a […]
To rebuild the middle class, don’t stop with free community college In his State of the Union address last week, President Obama spoke eloquently of “middle-class economics,” or as he put it, policies to help “working families feel more secure in a world of constant change.” One of these is his proposal to make community college free for any student who maintains a minimum GPA. Students and […]
U.S. News & World Report Antibiotics gain resistance, researchers fight back Imagine a world where there is no cure for strep throat, pneumonia or a simple ear infection. Today, most bacterial infections can be treated with a trip to the doctor and a quick round of antibiotics—but experts say this won’t be the case if bacteria continue to build resistance. The majority of antibiotics come from […]
Meet the two new members of the Dorm Room Fund’s student investment team The Dorm Room Fund Boston is welcoming students back to campus by welcoming two new members to its investment team: Eric Sung, a first-year MBA student at Harvard Business School, and Kate Murdock, a sophomore studying at Northeastern University. Over the last year, the student-run investment arm of First Round Capital has poured $20,000 and […]
International Privacy Day: Protect your digital footprint According to a recent Northeastern University study, you may pay more when shopping online based on your web browsing history or even the kind of smartphone you use. Some consumers have seen their credit limits reduced because they shopped at stores frequented by cardholders with poor payment histories. It’s not inconceivable to think insurance companies […]
‘Equal pay for equal work’ isn’t so simple Last Tuesday, President Obama’s State of the Union address reiterated the statistic that working women in the United States “make 77 cents for every dollar a man earns” and went on to call for “equal pay for equal work.” Obama was promoting the Paycheck Fairness Act, which would require employers to prove that any wage […]
Economy class gets an upgrade…wait, make that a downgrade Harlan Platt, a finance professor at Northeastern University, says that, from a customer-experience point of view, the Delta remodeling is largely “cosmetic.” “They fail to touch on the big three concerns of most passengers: legroom, access to bins, and fair prices and fees,” he says. “Like most oligopolistic industries, this is what we can expect […]