Lawmakers to unveil new assault weapons ban

Posted by Ed O'Keefe

Democratic lawmakers plan to formally reintroduce a bill Thursday that would ban military-style assault weapons and high-capacity ammunition magazines, the most ambitious — and politically risky — element of proposals unveiled by President Obama to limit gun violence.

The “Assault Weapons Ban of 2013″ is similar to one passed in 1994 that expired with little protest in 2004. The measure will be unveiled Thursday morning by a slate of Democratic co-sponsors, led by longtime gun control advocates Sen. Dianne Feinstein (Calif.) and Rep. Carolyn McCarthy (N.Y.), who have pushed for the ban before in part because of their personal histories with gun violence.

The bill is a far-reaching attempt to rein in the use of such weapons by prohibiting the sale, transfer and manufacturing of more than 100 specific weapons, including certain semiautomatic rifles, handguns and shotguns that can hold detachable magazines or hold more than 10 rounds of ammunition. Aides said Wednesday that sponsors were still sorting out specific details of the bill to make the package as politically tenable as possible.

Netanyahu's Gov't Coalition Could Take A ‘Step to the Right’

By Chana Ya'ar

Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu could form a coalition that is more right-wing than centrist, if he so chooses -- but it will require somefancy footwork.  If all three religious parties presented a united coalition, the sum of the bloc’s seats would nearly equal those of Likud-Beytenu (31), automatically creating a religious-right coalition government. 

Including what has become the country's second-largest party, centrist Yair Lapid's "Yesh Atid" (There is a Future) would of course seal the deal, with the 19 seats Lapid won Tuesday night, and also give Netanyahu much more room to maneuver with the fractious religious factions.

The three religious parties – Jewish Home (11), the hareidi-religious Sephardic Shas party (11), and the Ashkenazi hareidi-religious United Torah Judaism (7) – see eye-to-eye on few issues. Nevertheless, they appear to agree on foundational issues that relate to the Land of Israel, the status of Jerusalem, the importance of ensuring that Israeli families get what they need, and security.

Not all the votes have yet been counted: another 250,000 ballots from soldiers in the field, and votes from people in hospitals and inmates from prisons around the countryhave yet to be added to the final tally, expected Thursday.

Dubbed “double envelope votes,” these ballots are listed in the army base or hospital as well as in the voter’s home town. The Central Elections Committee must double-check to ensure the voter did not cast his ballot twice, hence the “double envelope vote” appellation, and the delay in calculating the polls.

It is possible that these numbers may yet change the picture, and could bring Otzma L’Yisrael (Strong Israel), led by MK Michael Ben Ari, back into the Knesset, or add a seat for Kadima, led by former IDF Chief of Staff-turned-MK Shaul Mofaz.  

The ballots add up to a total of six or seven seats in the Knesset to various parties, but are counted a day later than the official tally, which came Wednesday night.
http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/164525#.UQD8Gx2IG85

David Cameron's Europe speech – the key points

Andrew Sparrow

• Cameron said that if the Conservatives won the next election they would hold an in-out referendum on Britain's membership of the EU before the end of 2017. He had been dropping strong hints about including a referendum in the 2015 manifesto for some months, but his speech officially confirmed that, as well as details about the timing and a clarification that it would be an in-out referendum on membership, not just a referendum on whether or not to approve the new terms of membership.

• He set out his broad aims but avoided going into details about what he would demand as part of the planned "new settlement" with the EU. He did suggest, however, that the working time directive should be abandoned.

• He called for a full EU treaty renegotiation. But he said that if this did not happen he would seek to achieve the reforms he wanted through other means.

• He sidestepped questions about whether he would be willing to recommend a no vote in the referendum if he failed to achieved what he wanted in the renegotiation.

• He implied that, if the Tories had to form another coalition after the election, he would make a referendum an essential condition of a coalition agreement. There would be a referendum if he were prime minister, he said.

• He said he hoped a referendum would settle the issue of Britain's relationship with the Europe for at least a generation. There was a parallel with the need to have a referendum in Scotland to settle the independence question, he said.

• He insisted that Europe as a whole, and not just Britain, would benefit from the EU being reformed.

• He said the EU should abandon the commitment to "ever-closer union" included in its founding treaty.

• He dismissed the idea that Britain would do better being outside the EU, like Norway or Switzerland.

• He said "much more" needed to be done to make the European court of human rights more acceptable to Britain.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/2013/jan/23/david-camerons-europe-speech-points?intcmp=239

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Tepid Vote for Netanyahu in Israel Is Seen as Rebuke

By JODI RUDOREN

TEL AVIV — A weakened Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahuemerged Wednesday from Israel’s national election likely to serve a third term, according to preliminary results and political analysts, after voters on Tuesday gave a surprising second place to a new centrist party founded by a television celebrity who emphasized kitchen-table issues like class size and apartment prices.

For Mr. Netanyahu, who entered the race an overwhelming favorite with no obvious challenger, the outcome was a humbling rebuke as his ticket lost seats in the new Parliament. Over all, his conservative team came in first, but it was the center, led by the political novice Yair Lapid, 49, that emerged newly invigorated, suggesting that at the very least Israel’s rightward tilt may be stalled.

Mr. Lapid, a telegenic celebrity whose father made a splash with his own short-lived centrist party a decade ago, ran a campaign that resonated with the middle class. His signature issue is a call to integrate the ultra-Orthodox into the army and the work force.

Perhaps as important, he also avoided antagonizing the right, having not emphasized traditional issues of the left, like the peace process. Like a large majority of the Israeli public, he supports a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, but is skeptical of the Palestinianleadership’s willingness to negotiate seriously; he has called for a return to peace talks but has not made it a priority.

President Obama takes second oath of office at inauguration

Ricky Carioti/Washington Post

And then there was Stonewall, a reference to 1969 riots in New York City that were considered the spark that created the modern gay-rights movement. The Stonewall Inn was a bar made famous by a police raid. Obama seemed to be saying that this unlikely place belongs among the hallowed spots of American history.

“Our journey is not complete until our gay brothers and sisters are treated like anyone else under the law,” Obama said. “For if we are truly created equal, then surely the love we commit to one another must be equal as well.”

Sitting in a reviewing stand near the White House was Jody Huckaby, the executive director of the activist group Parents, Families and Friends of Lesbians and Gays. “It’s monumental. It’s historic,” he said afterward. The message, as he saw it: “The American promise . . . this administration is serious about it for everyone.”

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