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President Obama and first lady Michelle Obama are greeted by San Bernardino County Third District Supervisor James Ramos (L) and San Bernardino Mayor Carey Davis (2L) at San Bernardino International Airport. (AFP/Getty/Brendan Smialowski)
HONOLULU — President Obama will meet with Attorney General Loretta E. Lynch on Monday to finalize a set of executive actions on guns that he will unveil next week, according to several individuals briefed on the matter.
White House officials declined to comment on Obama’s plans beyond releasing his weekly radio address on Friday, a day earlier than usual. But according to those familiar with the proposal, who asked for anonymity because it was not yet public, the president will expand new background-check requirements for buyers who purchase weapons from high-volume gun dealers.
The president will also use his executive authority in several other areas, these individuals said, but the overall package has not yet been finalized.
In the radio address, Obama said he was moving unilaterally because Congress had failed to address the growing problem of gun violence.
In a New Year's Day message, President Obama said his resolution for 2016 was to complete "unfinished business," adding that tackling gun violence was at the top of the list. (Reuters)
“A few months ago, I directed my team at the White House to look into any new actions I can take to help reduce gun violence,” he said in the recorded address. “And on Monday, I’ll meet with our Attorney General, Loretta Lynch, to discuss our options.”
“Because I get too many letters from parents, and teachers, and kids, to sit around and do nothing,” Obama continued. “I get letters from responsible gun owners who grieve with us every time these tragedies happen; who share my belief that the Second Amendment guarantees a right to bear arms; and who share my belief we can protect that right while keeping an irresponsible, dangerous few from inflicting harm on a massive scale.”
[President Obama on current level of U.S. gun violence: 'This is not normal.']
Obama began examining how he could tighten the nation’s gun rules after October’s mass shooting at Umpqua Community College in Roseburg, Ore., but administration lawyers have spent months reviewing any proposals to ensure they can withstand legal scrutiny. The idea of requiring informal gun dealers to obtain a license from the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives and perform background checks on potential buyers first came up two years ago, but was shelved over legal concerns.
The current federal statute dictates that those who are “engaged in the business” of dealing firearms need to obtain a federal license — and, therefore, conduct background checks — but exempts anyone “who makes occasional sales, exchanges, or purchases of firearms for the enhancement of a personal collection or for a hobby, or who sells all or part of his personal collection of firearms.”
Gun control advocates — including former Rep. Gabrielle Giffords (D-Ariz.), who was gravely injured in a 2011 mass shooting, and former New York City mayor Michael R. Bloomberg — have met personally with Obama over the past month to push for the background checks expansion and other measures.
Everytown spokeswoman Erika Soto Lamb, whose group was founded with Bloomberg’s support, said the current interpretation of what it means to be “engaged in the business” of selling firearms is “a hazy definition that allows high-volume sellers to transfer thousands of guns without background checks, no questions asked.”
[This is what the White House wants to do on guns]
Other proposals the administration has been weighing include requiring federally-licensed gun dealers to report any lost and stolen guns to the National Crime Information Center; publishing aggregate background check denial data for guns sold by unlicensed sellers; clarifying that convicted abusers are prohibited from having guns regardless of their marital status; and instructing federal law enforcement to identify and arrest criminals who attempt to buy illegal guns.
Any action by the president is sure to trigger a major backlash from gun rights activists, and Republican lawmakers who have blocked legislative action in the past. On Thursday, the National Rifle Association’s Institute for Legislative Action launched the first in a video seriesattacking gun control advocates.
The first ad targets Democratic presidential hopeful Hillary Clinton, who revived the plan to expand background checks in the wake of the Roseburg shooting by proposing it on the campaign trail. The ad is labeled “New Year’s Resolutions of the Rich and Anti-Gun (Actually, Just Hillary Clinton),” and it shows a woman outlining her plans on Clinton’s campaign stationary beside a photo of the president and his former Secretary of State as “Auld Lang Syne” blares in the background.
“Stop trying to ban guns,” she writes as her first point, in black marker, followed by, “Read the Constitution.”
“Meet an actual gun owner,” the Clinton impersonator scribbles, before adding, “In Person!”
At that point the woman crosses out all three points, crumples up the paper and throws it aside, as Clinton’s laugh is heard in the background.
Groups such as MoveOn.org, however, have begun to mobilize firearm owners to support expanded background checks and other measures aimed at curbing gun violence. David Mark Williams, a farmer in Halfway, Ore., described guns as “a tool. If you’re hunting or living a rural lifestyle, you’re going to have a firearm.”
But Williams, who came to Washington this fall with MoveOn.org to meet with members of both parties, said he resigned his NRA membership after its president opposed stricter gun laws in the aftermath of the 2012 mass shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School.
“I’m also a supporter of rational reasonable gun control measures,” he said.
Advocates from groups such as the Metro Industrial Association said the president could do much more to curb the nearly 90 gun-related deaths that take place each day in the U.S., by not coming to the aid of gun manufacturers who are being sued for negligence; providing additional funding for the development of “smart gun” technology; and failing to use the federal government’s purchasing power to pressure gun manufacturers to take more responsibility for reducing gun violence.
But Arkadi Gerney, a senior fellow at the liberal think tank Center for American Progress, said in an email Thursday it was “extremely encouraging that the president appears poised” to enhance the enforcement of existing gun laws given congressional resistance to such measures.
“Along with progress in state legislatures and actions taken by governors and attorneys general, the steps the White House is considering would make it somewhat less likely that guns will end up in the wrong hands,” Gerney said. “And, with gunfire claiming the lives of 33,000 American a year, even incremental steps can have life-saving impact."
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www.ft.com
Petrol may still be cheaper than bottled water in Saudi Arabia but the hiking of fuel prices by two-thirds this week is nonetheless a radical departure in a country that for decades has traded economic handouts for political loyalty.
Saudis rushed to petrol stations across the kingdom hours after the government unveiled a radical austerity programme on Monday, hoping to fill their tanks before prices rose. Higher quality 95-octane petrol increased by 50 per cent to Sr0.90 ($0.24) and lower-quality 91 grade jumped by two-thirds to Sr0.75 a litre the following day.
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Government officials said a five-year plan to reform energy subsidies is part of a broader programme to create a more efficient, productive economy, as oil prices have hit 11-year lows and the country’s deficit ballooned to 15 per cent of GDP this year.
“This is not just about energy, it is a commitment to seize the moment and take the right decisions to change our economy,” Adel al-Fakih, economy and planning minister, told the Financial Times.
The kingdom, which is trying to reduce the budget deficit to 11 per cent next year, has also pledged to rein in public sector wages, which account for half of all budgetary spending, and is to launch a privatisation programme.
It is also planning to implement some new taxes. The finance minister, Ibrahim al-Assaf, told pan-Arab daily Al-Hayat that the government was expected to introduce a Gulf-wide sales tax of around 5 per cent within two years.
Saudi Arabia, which spent around $107bn, or 13.2 per cent of gross domestic product, on energy subsidies in 2014, is one of the world’s biggest consumers of energy, with rock-bottom prices fostering excessive consumption.
“Subsidies have long been a fiscal drag on the state and have been unreasonably high even by global standards,” said John Sfakianakis, a Riyadh-based economist. “Subsidy reform is essential if the economy is to be in turn more efficient and eventually more productive.”
But while most Saudis recognise the need to reduce consumption, many are already worried about the rising cost of living and know their pockets will be hit.
“No one is happy about these increases,” said one executive.
Ali al-Naimi, the veteran oil minister, last month raised doubts about the energy price increases, saying there was no “dire need” for the kingdom to withdraw direct assistance to its population.
Saudi social media users resorted to humour to discuss the price hikes — open dissent is avoided after a crackdown on freedom of expression in the wake of the 2011 Arab uprisings.
“Men are worried about the price of petrol,” tweeted one user. “By God, someone tell them the price of Mac rouge?”, referring to a popular makeup brand. Others circulated articles listing 18 methods to improve vehicle fuel efficiency.
Officials, keen to pre-empt any popular backlash, point out that Saudis are still paying much less than some of their other Gulf peers. In the neighbouring United Arab Emirates, for example, the price of petrol is 60 per cent higher, said Mr Fakih, who is overseeing the subsidy reform programme. The UAE, a wealthier state with more expatriates, increased the price of petrol significantly earlier this year with minimal public opposition.
Riyadh’s increase in electricity tariffs is also geared towards a minority of wealthy Saudis who consume large quantities of power. Some 87 per cent of bills will not change, Mr Fakih said.
He added that while the government will monitor the impact of the reforms, especially on inflation, for the time being there were no plans to introduce schemes to compensate poor Saudis for the higher prices.
“Only after we assess the situation will we consider our next steps,” he said. “This is just the first step; over the next few years expect more changes.”
The private sector, as well as consumers, will be hit by the subsidy reductions. Gas prices for local power generation increased on Tuesday from $0.75 per million British thermal units to $1.25 mbtu and ethane, the main feedstock for petrochemicals, rose more than 100 per cent to $1.75 per mbtu from $0.75 per mbtu.
Some investors are concerned that increasing domestic energy prices will undermine the main selling point for investors in energy-intensive industry, but analysts say the higher prices will promote efficiency.
“Businesses have to become more efficient,” said Mr Sfakianakis. “They will have to become more competitive by using technology rather simply relying on [cheap] ex-pat labour and capital.”
Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2016. You may share using our article tools. Please don't cut articles from FT.com and redistribute by email or post to the web.
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nymag.com
This week Donald Trump pulled off yet another remarkable political feat: While several of his rivals have tried and failedto turn Bill Clinton's decades-old sex scandals into a 2016 campaign issue, Trump is actually making it happen. After his complaint about Hillary calling him "ISIS's best recruiter" morphed into adebate about sexism just before Christmas, Trump changed the conversation again, tweeting on Monday "If Hillary thinks she can unleash her husband, with his terrible record of women abuse, while playing the women's card on me, she's wrong!" Tuesday on theToday show, he added, "there certainly were a lot of abuse of women, you look at whether it's Monica Lewinsky or Paula Jones, or any of them, and that certainly will be fair game."
Now with the former president set to begin campaigning for his wife in New Hampshire on Monday, other Republican candidates, including Carly Fiorina and Ben Carson, are joining in the discussion of Clinton's past sexual improprieties. The question now is whether their attacks on Bill Clinton can damage his wife's campaign, while years ago they only boosted the first lady's popularity.
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As the New York Times notes, in some ways Trump is "an imperfect messenger on the issue of fidelity," considering that his marital issues were documented in the tabloids for many years, and he was onceaccused of marital rape (Ivana Trump subsequently walked back her claim). And aside from his own spotty marital history, Trump has a long history of attempting to curry favor with the Clintons and dismissing the allegations against the former president. Over the years, Trump invited the Clintons to his wedding, donated to their foundation, called Bill his favorite president, and declared Hillary would be a "great president or vice-president."
He also defended the president against the "moralists" and hypocrites pursuing the Lewinsky scandal many times, saying Clinton would have been "everybody's hero" if he'd cheated with a supermodel, and "if the Clinton affair proves anything it is that the American people don’t care about the private lives and personal of our political leaders so long as they are doing the job."
While pulling a 180 on the Clintons might destroy another candidate, Trump is spinning his reversal as more proof of his business acumen. "As a world-class businessman, you have to get along with everybody," Trump toldreporters on Tuesday. "I was able to get along with Clinton, I was able to get along with virtually every politician you can imagine ... When I went to Washington and I needed something, I got it." And of course, his willingness to accuse the former president of abusing women even as CNN's Don Lemon shut down a conservative commentator for making that same point reinforces the idea that Trump is willing to speak his mind.
Still, some Clinton supporters insist that Trump's focus on old sexual-misconduct allegations will only hurt Trump. "Why would he even bring Bill up? What good would that do? That’s not what America is really worried about right now," Bob Withington, who came to hear Hillary Clinton speak in New Hampshire on Tuesday, told the Boston Herald. "I don’t think people in this country are going to pay attention to that one bit."
Writing in the Hill, former Democratic congressional aide Brent Budowsky argued that taking on one of the greatest living politicians isn't a very smart move on Trump's part. "My advice to Trump, which he will regret not taking, is don't mess with Bill Clinton, who will bury him with a wink of his eye and a smile on his face," he said.
But this week, Washington Post columnist Ruth Marcus said that while it may be hard for Clinton supporters to admit, "in the larger scheme of things, Bill Clinton’s conduct toward women is far worse than any of the offensive things that Trump has said." She continued:
Which leads to the next question: What is the relevance of Bill Clinton’s conduct for Hillary Clinton’s campaign? Ordinarily, I would argue that the sins of the husband should not be visited on the wife. What Bill Clinton did counts against him, not her, and I would include in that her decision to stick with him. What happens inside a marriage is the couple’s business, and no one else’s, even when both halves crave the presidency.
But Hillary Clinton has made two moves that lead me, gulp, to agree with Trump on the “fair game” front. She is (smartly) using her husband as a campaign surrogate, and simultaneously (correctly) calling Trump sexist.
A Wall Street Journal opinion piece echoed her point, saying President Clinton "was a genuine sexual harasser in the classic definition of exploiting his power as a workplace superior, and the Clinton entourage worked hard to smear and discredit his many women accusers." It goes on to recount how Clinton adviser Sidney Blumenthal, who remains a friend of the couple, smeared Monica Lewinsky, and says this reflects on the "standards that would prevail in another Clinton Presidency."
So far the Clintons have remained mostlysilent on the new round of accusations, but with Trump vowing to keep up his counterattacks, we'll soon see if the Clinton sex scandals are a serious campaign liability, or just a holiday distraction. "She's got a major problem, it happens to be right in her house," Trump said of Hillary's sexism allegations on Tuesday. "If she wants to do that we're going to go right after the president, the ex-president, and we'll see how it all comes out."
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LAS VEGAS (AP) -- The FBI is offering a $5,000 reward for information that helps them find the person who put raw bacon on the door handles of a Las Vegas mosque.
The FBI said in a statement Wednesday that agents are trying to find the man seen in a surveillance video putting the meat on the entrances of the Masjid-e-Tawheed mosque. Authorities call it a desecration of the Islamic worship center.
The Quran, the holy book of Islam, prohibits Muslims from eating pork, and pigs have been used to taunt or offend Muslims.
Both the FBI and Las Vegas police say they're investigating the case as a possible hate crime.
Las Vegas police spokesman Larry Hadfield said the bacon was wrapped on the door knobs, and was also found on the ground and fences.
Officials at the mosque couldn't immediately be reached for comment.
The FBI said the incident happened about 3:15 a.m. Dec. 27. The culprit is described as a white man wearing a dark blue hat, jacket and black-framed glasses. He had black or dark brown hair with long, thin sideburns.
The site west of the Las Vegas Strip wasn't damaged, and no one was hurt. The mosque was empty at the time, and the case was reported by members who came to worship later that morning.
Several threatening incidents at mosques have been reported in recent weeks. A Molotov cocktail went off at an Islamic center in Tracy, California, days ago, and a severed pig's head was found outside a Philadelphia worship site earlier this month.
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www.washingtontimes.com
The State Department broke a judge's order on the number of former Secretary Hillary Rodham Clinton's emails it was supposed to release Thursday, blaming the holiday season for throwing it off track.
The department promised another release of emails next week to make up for its breach, and said even the emails it was releasing Thursday will not be fully processed and won't be able to be sorted by senders or recipients in the department's computer system.
"We have worked diligently to come as close to the goal as possible, but with the large number of documents involved and the holiday schedule we have not met the goal this month. To narrow that gap, the State Department will make another production of former Secretary Clinton's email sometime next week," the department said in a statement.
It's the latest embarrassment for the department, which has repeatedly struggled to handle the more than 30,000 emails Mrs. Clinton returned to the government nearly two years after she left office.
The department is under a federal court order to release emails every month since the summer, but broke the order by missing the first deadline under that order. It had caught up, but has now fallen behind again.
All told, some 5,500 pages of documents will be released later Thursday. It's not clear yet how many actual individual emails that works out to, since many of them span multiple pages.
Under the court order, the government is supposed to release 4,800 full emails this month. The final 5,400 emails are to be released near the end of next month — just days before Iowa voters hold the caucuses that kick off the primary season, deciding whether Mrs. Clinton will be Democrats' presidential nominee.
She belatedly returned her emails after the Obama administration, prodded by Congress's probe into the 2012 Benghazi terrorist attack, realized she had taken all of her messages with her when she left office. The administration then publicly revealed that Mrs. Clinton had refused to use a regular account on the State.gov email server, instead creating an account on a server she kept at her home in New York.
Hundreds of the messages she returned contain information that has now been deemed classified — though Mrs. Clinton insists it was not secret at the time she sent it. She says she didn't break any laws in keeping her own account.
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Iran's president orders stepped-up missile production
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TEHRAN, Iran (AP) -- President Hassan Rouhani on Thursday ordered the accelerated production of missiles in response to possible new U.S. sanctions.
In a letter to the defense minister published on the president's website, Rouhani said Iran won't accept any limitations on its missile program.
A senior U.S. official told the AP on Wednesday that America is considering designating a number of additional targets for sanctions related to Iran's ballistic missile program.
Both the U.S. and Iran insist the missile program is not part of a landmark agreement Tehran reached with world powers in July that is to lift international sanctions in exchange for Iran curbing its nuclear program.
"Apparently, the U.S. government ... is considering adding new individuals and institutions to the list of its previous oppressive sanctions," Rouhani said in the letter. "It's necessary to continue with greater speed and seriousness the plan for production of various missiles needed by the armed forces within the approved defense policies," he wrote.
Rouhani added that the "development and production of Iran's ballistic missiles, which have not been designed to carry nuclear warheads, are important conventional instruments to defend the country and will continue."
Iran had earlier denied U.S. accusations that it launched a provocative rocket test last week near Western warships in the Strait of Hormuz, dismissing the claim as "psychological warfare."
Gen. Ramezan Sharif, a Revolutionary Guard spokesman, said its forces did not carry out any drills in the key Persian Gulf waterway. Sharif said the security of the strategic Persian Gulf remains among Iran's top priorities. His comments were posted on the Guard's website.
Cmdr. Kyle Raines, a U.S. Central Command spokesman, said Wednesday that Guard vessels fired several unguided rockets about 1,370 meters (1,500 yards) from the USS Harry S. Truman aircraft carrier and other Western warships and commercial traffic last Saturday. Raines said the firing came 23 minutes after Iranians announced a live fire exercise over maritime radio.
While the rockets weren't fired in the direction of any ships, Raines said Iran's actions were "highly provocative."
"Firing weapons so close to passing coalition ships and commercial traffic within an internationally recognized maritime traffic lane is unsafe, unprofessional and inconsistent with international maritime law," he said.
Nearly a third of all oil traded by sea passes through the Strait of Hormuz, which has been the scene of past confrontations between America and Iran, including a one-day naval battle in 1988, during the Iran-Iraq war.
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