Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan says 2.5 percent of coffeehouse owners and 3.5 percent of their customers have quit smoking since Turkey extended a ban on indoor public smoking to bars, restaurants and coffeehouses a year ago.
Erdogan says 33 percent of the owners and 25 percent of the customers also have reported lighting up less frequently since the ban was introduced …
Boys and girls in Roxbury now have an expanded and renovated club for after-school activities. The Boys & Girls Club has completed an $8 million renovation that provides accommodations for 30 percent more than the 2,600 youths it currently serves. The newly designed facility includes a teen education center, a conference room, a fitness center, a computer room, an auditorium and a number of other amenities.
In any bricks and mortar project undertaken by a nonprofit organization, the most difficult donation to land is for the naming rights, which will usually cover one-third or more of the cost. The Roxbury Boys & Girls Club project was made possible because of a $3 million …
UPCOMING COVERAGE FOR SUNDAY, JAN. 6:
VATICAN-POPE
VATICAN CITY _ Pope presides over Epiphany service. 0900 GMT.
UPCOMING COVERAGE FOR MONDAY, JAN. 7:
WAR CRIMES-TAYLOR
THE HAGUE, Netherlands _ Resumption of war crimes trial of former Liberian President Charles Taylor, more than six months after its chaotic adjournment.
BRITAIN-DIANA
LONDON _ Resumption of inquest into the deaths of Princess Diana and Dodi Al Fayed. 0900 GMT.
CHINA IN AFRICA
JOHANNESBURG, South Africa _ Chinese Foreign Minister Yang Jiechi begins a tour of Africa that also will take him to Congo, Burundi and …
The typical person who buys a $200,000 home or refinances that amount starting on Jan. 1 would have to pay roughly $17 more a month for their mortgage, thanks to a fee increase included in the payroll tax cut bill that the Senate passed Saturday. The White House said the fee increases would be phased in gradually.
The legislation provides a two-month extension of a payroll tax cut and long-term unemployment benefits that would otherwise expire on Jan. 1. It would …
Bill Ward
Executive Director of the Regional Employment Board of Hampden County
Woody Allen once joked, "I'm not afraid to die ... I just don't want to be there when it happens."
The quote has been borrowed and bastardized in countless ways over the years, mostly by people addressing the subjects of death and dying.
Bill Ward, executive director of the Regional Employment Board of Hampden County, has put it to a different use.
He summons it when he talks with people about confronting business and societal matters that maybe they don't want to confront, but must- It takes a definite lack of fear - and generous amounts of determination - to prevail in such …
A sprawling crackdown on the violent underworld in one of China's biggest cities that riveted the country with tales of gangland corruption has been a success, the city's mayor said Tuesday.
The crackdown in the southwestern city of Chongqing exposed deep links between government officials and police officers who provided cover for crime syndicates. The trail led as high as the former director of the city's judicial department, who was executed after convictions on a number of corruption charges.
The campaign in the city of 32 million began last year and has led to thousands of arrests and trials that have captivated the public with lurid testimony about sex, corruption and gangland violence.
"We strictly enforced the law, and we achieved great success," Mayor Huang Qifan told reporters Tuesday. The campaign "effectively improved the stability and safety in Chongqing."
Huang said about 530 people were prosecuted and 370 sentenced, while more than 500 murder cases were investigated. He said more than 100 government officials were investigated, including police, prosecutors and members of the court.
The focus on officials had "effectively punished the protective umbrellas, or shields for gangsters," he said.
In late July, authorities announced the arrest of a former deputy of Chongqing's legislative body, Wang Neng, on charges of assault, possession of guns, extortion and organizing a gang. More than 20 alleged members of his gang also were arrested or detained.
Earlier this month, the former director of the Chongqing Municipal Judicial Bureau, Wen Qiang, was executed after conviction on charges involving bribery, rape, extortion and gang-related activities.
Wen was also accused of protecting the gang operations masterminded by his sister-in-law, Xie Caiping, known as the "godmother" of the Chongqing underworld. Xie was sentenced to 18 years in prison in November for running illegal casinos and bribing government officials.
Despite the progress made in busting gangsters, Huang said there is still work to be done.
"There will be new cases emerging in the future, so there is no way to say that our efforts are over," he said.
Terry Twist's latest and most serious run-in with the law ended indisappointment Thursday, as the 26-year-old left federal courtshaking his head and carrying a 28-month prison term for hooking upwith a batch of teens in a botched bank heist.
The affable Aurora man, whose nine other convictions ofteninvolved excessive boozing, has already been in jail for about 13months and hoped his sentence Thursday would come close to equalingtime served.
But U.S. District Judge Rebecca R. Pallmeyer refused to give Twisttwo significant sentencing breaks Thursday.
"I'm on your side," Pallmeyer assured Twist after imposing thesentence. "There's nobody in here who doesn't want to see you comeout of this in a positive way."
Twist_whose other convictions include possessing drugs at aGrateful Dead concert, driving under the influence and under-agedrinking_pleaded guilty in January to conspiracy to commit banklarceny. While working as a bank supervisor in 1999, Twist helpedstage a nearly $90,000 heist at the TCF branch where he worked insidea Naperville grocery store. Several area teens also were recruitedinto the scheme.
Twist was once accused as the mastermind, but two othersupervisors are now charged as ringleaders. Twist helped authoritiesbuild charges against the two women. Both have pleaded not guilty.
"He's obviously disappointed," Twist's lawyer, Jim Tunick, saidafter Twist was taken back to the Metropolitan Correctional Center."He learned his lesson . . . and he doesn't want to spend any moretime in prison."
