This afternoon's temperature has been bouncing up and down as the sun struggles to come out behind the cruddy clouds. This morning's clouds were leftover from a bit of convective activity to our south last night. A line of showers is approaching the city from the west. Some of those showers may be intense, as they hit the city later this afternoon and into the evening. more ›

A Bronx man who moved to London has been feared dead ever since Thursday's bomb blasts. Michael Matsushita, who lived with his fiancee, usually took the Picadilly Circus line, but he did not show up at work. The Daily News said that Matsushita left New York because he was depressed over September 11, but the NY Times says a friend told the media that he left NYC in February 2001. Matsushita had moved to Australia as an IT recruiter, later becoming a tour guide in South Asia, and falling in love with another tour guide, Rosie Cowen, his fiancee. Matsushita moved back to her native town of London recently. more ›

Yesterday, President Bush pledged $350 million to the tsunami relief efforts in South Asia; this is a huge increase from the last aid commitment of $35 million, which had been increased from an initial $15 million right after the disaster. Whether or not putting the aid package in the hundreds of millions is a way for President Bush to deflect criticism that the U.S. was being "stingy" or to show that the U.S. is interested in other countries' welfares, Gothamist is glad that the U.S. is finally stepping up. We were amused that White House spokesman Trent Duffy had to say the funds are "not coming from Iraq money, if that's what you're asking," because it shows that even a force of nature can't get our President to budge. more ›

Who the hell are these idiots? Some drunken idiots beat up a Sikh cab driver and his family in Woodside, Queens, outside their apartment. The thugs yelled at the turbaned cabbie, "Get out of here, bin Laden, go back to your country or we'll kill you." Passing pizza deliveryman Gregory Hodge yelled at the drunks to stop; Hodge tells the Post, "You see this a lot in this neighborhood. You get a few drunk guys and they get beer muscles." more ›