Influential Shiite cleric among 47 executed in Saudi Arabia
RIYADH, Saudi Arabia — Saudi Arabia’s execution Saturday of 47 prisoners, including an influential Shiite cleric, threatened to further damage Sunni-Shiite relations in a regional struggle playing out across the Middle East between the kingdom and its regional foe Iran.
Shiite leaders across the region swiftly condemned Riyadh and warned of sectarian backlash as Saudi Arabia insisted the executions were part of a justified war on terrorism. Also executed Saturday were al-Qaida detainees who were convicted on launching a spate of attacks against foreigners and security forces a decade ago.
The execution now becomes another focal point for sectarian and political wrangling between Saudi Arabia and Iran. The two regional rivals back opposing sides in civil wars in Yemen and in Syria. Saudi Arabia was also a vocal critic of the recent Iranian agreement with world powers that ends international economic sanctions in exchange for limits on the Iranian nuclear program.
Iranian politicians warned that the Saudi monarchy would pay a heavy price for the death of Sheikh Nimr al-Nimr. The Iranian Foreign Ministry summoned the Saudi envoy in Tehran to protest, and parliament speaker Ali Larijani said the execution would prompt “a maelstrom” in Saudi Arabia.
Al-Nimr’s execution could also antagonize the Shiite-led government in Iraq, which has close relations with Tehran. The Saudi embassy in Baghdad, which had been closed for nearly 25 years, was reopened on Friday. An influential Shiite militia in Iraq, known as Asaib Ahl Al-Haq, called on the government Saturday to close down the embassy.
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Saudi execution of Shiite leader stokes tensions
DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — Saudi Arabia’s execution Saturday of 47 prisoners, including an influential Shiite cleric, has prompted a wave of condemnation from Shiite leaders around the region and threatens to further damage Sunni-Shiite relations across the Middle East. Hundreds of Sheikh Nimr al-Nimr’s supporters protested his execution in his hometown in eastern Saudi Arabia, in neighboring Bahrain and as far away as northern India.
Al-Nimr, who was in his 50s, was a widely revered Shiite Muslim cleric from eastern Saudi Arabia who was convicted in Oct. 2014 of sedition and other charges and sentenced to death. He was an outspoken government critic and a key leader of Shiite protests in eastern Saudi Arabia in 2011. He was also a critic of the government of Bahrain, where a Sunni-led monarchy suppressed protests by Shiites who make up the majority of the tiny island nation. Saudi Arabia sent troops to help Bahrain crush the uprising, concerned it would spread and destabilize other Arab Gulf countries.
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India air force base attack leaves 4 gunmen, 2 troops dead
PATHANKOT, India — Suspected militants infiltrated an Indian air force base near the border with Pakistan on Saturday and exchanged fire with security forces for hours, leaving at least four gunmen and two Indian troops dead, officials and news reports said.
Although it was unclear who staged the attack, it was being seen as a possible attempt to undo recent progress made in relations between archrivals India and Pakistan, coming just a week after the first visit to Pakistan in 12 years by an Indian prime minister.
The attack at the Pathankot air force base in Punjab state began a couple of hours before dawn, and by late morning it appeared that the violence had ended with the killing of the gunmen by Indian forces. But two hours later, more gunfire erupted and an air force helicopter was seen firing at an area of the base, a major installation located about 267 miles north of New Delhi.
Air force spokeswoman Rochelle D’Silva said Saturday night that troops were combing the entire base to fully secure it. She said that the combing operation was expected to continue through the night, and that the full number of casualties would be clear once the base was completely secured.
By 9 p.m., no gunfire had been heard around the base for more than three hours.
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St. Louis area residents face massive cleanup, recovery
As the Mississippi River and its tributaries retreated Saturday from historic winter levels that flooded towns, forced evacuations and killed two dozen people, residents in the St. Louis area were facing a massive cleanup and recovery effort that will likely last weeks.
“The healing process, the restoration process has begun,” said Chris Greenhagen, pastor of the Central Baptist Church in Eureka, one of the communities hit by flooding along the Meramec River earlier this week.
The flood, fueled by more than 10 inches of rain over a three-day period that began last weekend, is blamed for 24 deaths.
Water from the Mississippi, Meramec and Missouri rivers largely began receding Friday in the St. Louis area. Two major highways — Interstate 44 and Interstate 55 — reopened south of St. Louis on Friday and some evacuees were also allowed then to return home.
On Saturday, while residents took stock of the ruin, Missouri Gov. Jay Nixon said he has asked for a federal emergency declaration to help speed cleanup of the flood debris in the St. Louis area. If the federal emergency declaration is approved, the Missouri National Guard would manage the debris cleanup program at the state level and coordinate with federal and local governments.
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Cities look at subsidized housing to stem teacher shortages
SAN FRANCISCO — As the days get shorter, first grade teacher Esmeralda Jiménez watches the dimming afternoon sky outside her classroom window the way her pupils watch the clock at dismissal time.
The studio apartment Jiménez rents for $1,783 a month, or 43 percent of her salary, is located in one of San Francisco’s sketchiest neighborhoods. Getting home involves running a gauntlet of feces-strewn sidewalks, popping crack pipes, discarded needles and menacing comments — daily irritants that become more daunting after dark.
“If I lived in a better area, I wouldn’t feel so scared going home and I would be able to stay at school a little longer,” Jiménez, 26, said. “You have so many things to do to prep for the next day, but it’s gotten to the point where even if I leave at a decent time I will walk three blocks out of my way to avoid some streets.”
It’s a scenario that has Jiménez wondering if she should find a profession that pays more, and public officials here and in other cities looking at housing as a tool to prevent the exodus of young educators like her.
Inspired by the success in the heart of the Silicon Valley of a 70-unit teachers-only apartment complex, school districts in high cost-of-living areas and rural communities that have long struggled to staff classrooms are considering buying or building rent-subsidized apartments as a way to attract and retain teachers amid concerns of a looming shortage.
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Somali extremists use Donald Trump clip to recruit followers
MOGADISHU, Somalia — Al-Qaida’s East African affiliate has released a recruitment video targeting American blacks and Muslims that includes a clip of presidential candidate Donald Trump calling for Muslims to be banned from entering the United States.
The 51-minute video by the Somalia based al-Shabab militant group presents the U.S. as a country of institutionalized racism against blacks that also persecutes Muslims. The video presents radical Islam as the solution.
The clip of Trump on the campaign trail consists of his infamous proposal for the “total and complete shutdown of Muslims entering the United States” to protect the country.
Presidential candidate Hillary Clinton had earlier claimed that the Islamic State group, another extremist organization, was using such quotes to recruit followers, prompting Trump to call her a “liar.”
The quotes from Trump are bracketed by a recorded speech from Yemeni-American cleric Anwar al-Awlaki, one of the most prominent English-language recruiters for al-Qaida who was killed by a U.S. drone strike in Yemen in 2011, warning that the U.S. would turn against its Muslims.
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Health care repeal vote to open a political year in Congress
WASHINGTON — It’s been like a long-delayed New Year’s resolution for Republicans. But 2016 will finally be the year when they put legislation on President Barack Obama’s desk repealing his health care law.
The bill undoing the president’s prized overhaul will be the first order of business when the House reconvenes this coming week, marking a sharply partisan start on Capitol Hill to a congressional year in which legislating may take a back seat to politics.
There are few areas of potential compromise between Obama and the GOP majority in the House and Senate in this election year, but plenty of opportunities for political haymaking during the presidential campaign season.
Obama will veto the health law repeal bill, which also would cut money for Planned Parenthood. The measure already has passed the Senate under special rules protecting it from Democratic obstruction. But that’s the point for Republicans, who intend to schedule a veto override vote for Jan. 22, when anti-abortion activists hold their annual march in Washington to mark the anniversary of the Supreme Court decision in 1973 that legalized abortion.
Despite dozens of past votes to repeal the health law in full or in part, Republicans never before have succeeded in sending a full repeal bill to the White House. They insist that doing so will fulfill promises to their constituents while highlighting the clear choice facing voters in the November presidential election.
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States plan renewed debate on LGBT rights, religious freedom
JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. — With same-sex marriage now legal nationwide, lawmakers in numerous states are preparing for a new round of battles in 2016 over whether to grant discrimination protections to LGBT people or religious exemptions to nonprofits and businesses that object to gay marriage.
The tussle over civil rights and religious freedoms is one of several hot-button issues that could drive states in opposite policy directions, as lawmakers seek to appeal to voters during a year in which more than 5,800 state legislative seats will be up for election.
Republicans hold majorities in two-thirds of the states’ legislative chambers, meaning they get to set the agenda. Those priorities could include attempts to exempt businesses from providing wedding-related services to gay couples, expand gun rights and further restrictions on abortions.
Democrats, meanwhile, will likely be pushing in the opposite direction.
“What we’ve got is division,” said William Pound, executive director of the National Conference of State Legislatures.
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France quarrels over revoking citizenship of terrorists
PARIS — The push by France’s Socialist government to revoke the citizenship of convicted terrorists with dual nationality after the Paris attacks has turned into a harsh political dispute, with the far right applauding the move while some on the left express indignation at what they call a divisive measure.
French President Francois Hollande submitted the proposal three days after the Nov. 13 attacks in Paris that left 130 dead, in a shift toward a hard line on security. The idea appears to have strong support in French public opinion. Several polls over the past week suggest that 80 to 90 percent of the French are in favor of the measure.
Under current French law, citizenship revocation can only be applied to people who have been naturalized, not if they are French-born, and the procedure is rarely implemented.
The new rules would extend it to all dual nationals, but cannot be applied to people who are only French citizens, as France’s obligations under international law prevent it from leaving a person stateless.
Opponents of the measure consider it would create two classes of citizens — dual nationals who could lose their citizenship and others who cannot — in opposition to the principle of equality set out in France’s constitution.
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‘Game of Thrones’ author blogs that he missed book deadline
NEW YORK — For fans of George R.R. Martin, winter is not coming — at least not right away.
The “Game of Thrones” author says he missed a Dec. 31 deadline to finish “The Winds of Winter,” the sixth book in his popular fantasy series. That means the next HBO season based on the novel will start airing in April, before the book is published.
The words “you won’t like it” appeared Saturday on Martin’s blog, reporting that “the book’s not done. … I tried, I promise you. I failed.”
Martin says he is working with HBO to ensure the show reflects the next installment of the “A Song of Ice and Fire” books — in which characters warn of impending doom with the phrase “Winter is coming.”
With hundreds of pages and dozens of chapters written, Martin said he estimates it will still take months more if the writing goes well.