LONDON (AP) — British lawmakers voted by a wide margin Wednesday to join the international campaign of airstrikes against the Islamic State group in Syria, after Prime Minister David Cameron asserted that bombing the "medieval monsters" in their heartland would make Britain safer.
The 397-223 vote in the House of Commons means Royal Air Force fighter jets — already operating against IS in Iraq from a base in Cyprus — could be flying over Syria within hours. Foreign Secretary Philip Hammond told Channel 4 news that the strikes would begin "very quickly … probably not tonight but it could be tomorrow night."
BOSTON – Drivers west of Route 128 will still have to pay to use the Massachusetts Turnpike where all-electronic infrastructure will replace tollbooths next October, though switching from human collectors to machines won't cut costs as much as originally forecast, Transportation Secretary Stephanie Pollack told lawmakers on Wednesday.
Saying the nearly $300 million in western Turnpike bonds from two decades ago will be paid off in January 2017, Pollack said the highway is "far" from a state of good repair and while the state will hold hearings the plan will be to "leave the tolls up."
