In Brief | Nation & World | 1-7-16

Trooper in Sandra Bland traffic stop indicted, fired

HEMPSTEAD, Texas — A Texas state trooper who arrested Sandra Bland after a contentious traffic stop last summer was fired Wednesday after being charged with perjury for allegedly lying about his confrontation with the black woman who died three days later in jail.

Trooper Brian Encinia claimed in an affidavit that Bland was “combative and uncooperative” after he pulled her over and ordered her out of her car. The grand jury identified that affidavit in charging Encinia with perjury, special prosecutor Shawn McDonald said Wednesday night.

Hours after the indictment, the Texas Department of Public Safety said it would “begin termination proceedings” against Encinia, who has been on paid desk duty since Bland was found dead in her cell.

Bland’s arrest and death — which authorities ruled a suicide — provoked national outrage and drew the attention of the Black Lives Matter movement. Protesters linked Bland to other black suspects who were killed in confrontations with police or died in police custody, including Michael Brown in Ferguson, Missouri, and Freddie Gray in Baltimore.

Video of the stop shows Encinia drawing his stun gun and telling Bland, “I will light you up!” She can later be heard off-camera screaming that he’s about to break her wrists and complaining that he knocked her head into the ground.

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Iraq offers to mediate between Saudi Arabia, Iran

TEHRAN, Iran — Iraq on Wednesday offered to mediate between Saudi Arabia and Iran after tensions soared following the kingdom’s execution of a Shiite cleric and attacks on two Saudi diplomatic posts in the Islamic Republic.

The standoff has seen Saudi Arabia sever diplomatic ties with its longtime regional rival and could hinder efforts to resolve the conflicts in Syria and Yemen, where Riyadh and Tehran back opposite sides, as well as affect the implementation of the Iran nuclear deal.

Iraqi Foreign Minister Ibrahim al-Jaafari proposed mediation during a news conference in Tehran, but also referred to the execution of Sheikh Nimr al-Nimr as a “crime.” Saudi Arabia and its allies say al-Nimr was found guilty of terrorism charges, and that condemnations of the execution amount to meddling in Riyadh’s internal affairs.

Iraq has undertaken a delicate balancing act amid the latest regional turmoil. The Shiite-led government in Baghdad relies on Iranian help to battle the extremist Islamic State group, but is also trying to repair ties to oil-rich Saudi Arabia, which last week sent an ambassador to Baghdad for the first time in 25 years.

Speaking alongside Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif, al-Jaafari said Iraq’s place in the heart of the Middle East allows it to play a role in trying to “alleviate tensions.”

House Votes to Send Bill to Repeal Health Law to Obama’s Desk

WASHINGTON — As its opening move in the newly convened Congress, the House voted Wednesday to repeal the Affordable Care Act, the 62nd such vote but the first time that a bill will make it to President Barack Obama’s desk, forcing a rare veto to protect his signature domestic achievement.

The measure passed easily, 240-181.

While Democrats dismissed the bill — which would also remove funding for Planned Parenthood — as another ploy in the partisan drama that has played out in the Capitol since the law was enacted in 2010, the vote proved that a Republican congressional majority could deliver a measure that repeals the health law to a Republican president, even in the face of united opposition from Democrats.

It also shows that nearly six years after its enactment, the law remains a divisive political issue not only because it is associated with Obama, but because for much of the middle class, it is at least perceived as costly and lessening consumer choice, polls show.

“This is a big deal,” said Bill Hoagland, senior vice president of the Bipartisan Policy Center in Washington and a former longtime Republican staff member on the Senate Budget Committee. “This vote sends the signal to the president and the American people there are changes that need to be made in this law.”

Even among Republicans, Hoagland said, “there is a recognition that you may not do away with a number of the provisions that are popular.” But, he added, “if you can push away the politics of it, you will find there are a number of provisions that Democrats would agree could be changed,” no matter who is president.

Obama’s promised veto, only the eighth of his presidency, will be the most consequential so far. Republicans do not have sufficient votes to override the president. The White House and its allies had long expected that the antipathy for the health care law would wane as coverage increased and other policy fights arose.

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California issues 605,000 driver’s licenses to immigrants

SACRAMENTO, Calif. — California issued more than a half-million driver’s licenses under a new law granting the identifying documents to immigrants who may be in the country illegally.

The Department of Motor Vehicles announced Wednesday that 605,000 licenses were issued since AB60 took effect last January. That’s out of 830,000 applications.

AB60 allows people who can’t prove they’re in the country legally to obtain driver’s licenses using identification from their home countries.

They also must prove California residency and pass written and driving tests.

Supporters pushed for the law as a safety measure, arguing that many immigrants already get behind the wheel but lack the training and testing required of other drivers and may not carry insurance.

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The latest in gadgets: Spotting stars — some faded — at CES

LAS VEGAS — The latest developments surrounding the consumer-electronics show in Las Vegas known as CES (all times local):

5:00 p.m.

In an event as large and sprawling as CES, sometimes it takes star power to attract attention — the type of star power that Las Vegas and Hollywood understand so well.

Repeat celebrity CES attendees include former basketball star Shaquille O’Neal, comedian and television host Nick Cannon and radio/TV personality Ryan Seacrest. Shaq is here for Monster, the audio equipment maker; Seacrest has represented iHeartRadio and his own mobile keyboard company in the past. This year, both he and Nick Cannon, who was the event’s “entertainment matters ambassador” last year, are leading sessions on tech.

Fitness trackers, of course, demand solid athletic endorsements, which is why sports stars such as football quarterback Tony Romo, Olympic swimmer Michael Phelps and baseball hall of famer Cal Ripken Jr. are making booth appearances. All three are representing Under Armour, which announced a new fitness tracker Tuesday.

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Oregon tribe: Armed group ‘desecrating’ their land

BURNS, Ore. — The leader of an American Indian tribe that regards an Oregon nature preserve as sacred issued a rebuke Wednesday to the armed men who are occupying the property, saying they are not welcome at the snowy bird sanctuary and must leave.

The Burns Paiute tribe was the latest group to speak out against the men, who have taken several buildings at the preserve to protest policies governing the use of federal land in the West.

“The protesters have no right to this land. It belongs to the native people who live here,” tribal leader Charlotte Rodrique said.

She spoke at a news conference at the tribe’s cultural center, about a half-hour drive from Malheur National Wildlife Refuge, which is being occupied by some 20 men led by Ammon Bundy, whose father Cliven was at the center of a standoff in Nevada with federal officials in 2014 over use of public lands.

Ammon Bundy is demanding that the refuge be handed over to locals.

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Cologne divided over who to blame for New Year’s assaults

COLOGNE, Germany— Amid widespread shock over a string of sexual assaults in this cosmopolitan German city on New Year’s Eve, the response was divided Wednesday: blame the police or chide the victims, deport criminal foreigners or prevent migrants from entering the country in the first place.

The reaction in Cologne reflects a broader debate as Germany struggles to reconcile law and order with its new-found role as a haven for those seeking a better life.

Police descriptions of the perpetrators as of “Arab or North African origin” were seized on by those calling for an end to Chancellor Angela Merkel’s open-door policy toward people fleeing violence and persecution — even as authorities warned they don’t know if any of the culprits are refugees.

Adding to the controversy were remarks by Cologne’s mayor, Henriette Reker, suggesting that women can protect themselves from strange men on the streets by keeping them “more than an arm’s length” away — words that were widely ridiculed on social media Wednesday for putting the onus on the victims.

At least 106 women have come forward to file criminal complaints of sexual assault and robbery during the New Year’s Eve festivities, authorities said, including two accounts of rape.

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LA tries to cope with rain in a place where rain is rare

LOS ANGELES — When it rains in Los Angeles, the hardest thing to find can often be an umbrella.

Those who own one can’t remember where they put it, and stores quickly see their stocks cleared out.

So while this week’s El Nino-triggered storms have brought welcome rain — too much of it in some places — they have created the usual angst among a population more used to greeting each day with sunglasses.

“People in Los Angeles are always unprepared, even when they know it’s going to rain,” Morana Mendez said with a smile and a shake of her head as she looked at an empty bin in her convenience store that just hours before had been filled with umbrellas. A similar bin at a downtown store across the street was also empty.

“Even my co-worker, she came to work this morning without an umbrella,” Mendez added.

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A Cruz, Rubio battle over undecided Iowans intensifies

CEDAR RAPIDS, Iowa — Marco Rubio and Ted Cruz are fighting for the favor of many of the same undecided voters across Iowa, where even some of the most attentive Republicans say they can’t make up their minds less than four weeks before voting begins.

That was so among Iowans who gathered before sunrise to hear Rubio at a town-hall-style meeting in Cedar Rapids. The Florida senator impressed the crowd but few left having decided if he would get their vote.

“I haven’t settled on one candidate 100 percent,” said Mike Grover, a 65-year-old Cedar Rapids man who is among the thousands of “persuadable voters” still up for grabs.

In small towns from Cherokee to Sioux Center, an overwhelming number of would-be voters said both Cruz and Rubio are in contention for their support. Their policies, personalities and presumed ability to defeat the Democratic nominee in the fall are all under close examination. Donald Trump comes up often as well, as do retired neurosurgeon Ben Carson and New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie.

At 44 and 45, respectively, Rubio and Cruz are the youngest candidates in the 2016 field and the only Hispanics.

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China holds key to pressing North Korea on nuclear weapons

WASHINGTON — Diplomatic engagement has failed to stop North Korea’s nuclear weapons program. Sanctions have been tightened with little result. And military force could be catastrophic. So what can the world do to bring Kim Jong Un’s renegade government into line? The answer may rest with China.

While Beijing’s influence over North Korea appears to have diminished since Kim came to power in 2012, it remains its key trading partner. Experts say China could do more to restrict North Korea’s use of Chinese banks and limit supplies of food and fuel that provide an economic lifeline to Pyongyang.

Wednesday’s purported hydrogen bomb test will intensify pressure on China to tighten the screws on Kim. It has been leery of taking such steps because of fears that a collapse of North Korea’s socialist government could cause an influx of refugees and lead to a pro-American, unified Korean nation on China’s doorstep.

China immediately made plain its displeasure with Pyongyang, saying it “firmly opposed” the test. “North Korea should stop taking any actions which would worsen the situation on the Korean Peninsula,” Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying told reporters in Beijing.

China’s U.S. ambassador met at the White House on Wednesday with President Barack Obama’s national security adviser, Susan Rice, and China joined the U.S. in supporting a U.N. Security Council statement that strongly condemned the test and pledged to pursue new sanctions.