Primary points

December 09, 2015 - Daily News Briefing

The protracted contest for the US presidency is starting to distort public policy toward refugees.

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Donald Trump is rejecting criticism that his proposal to ban Muslims from entering the US is un-American and has critics comparing him to Adolf Hitler. Trump said Tuesday that what he's proposing is "no different" than President Franklin Roosevelt — "who was highly respected by all" despite his wartime measures that included putting Japanese-Americans in internment camps in the US. Trump told ABC's "Good Morning America" that banning Muslims is warranted because the US is essentially at war with Muslim extremists who have launched attacks, including last week's mass shootings in San Bernardino, California, that killed 14.

A Syrian refugee family arrived in their new home in Dallas on Monday amid controversy over the resettlement of Syrian refugees in Texas. The International Rescue Committee (IRC) resettled the family of six, despite objections by Republican Gov. Greg Abbott. Last week, the Texas Health and Human Services Commission, which oversees refugee resettlement for the state, had moved to stop resettlement of refugees fleeing Syria citing “reasonable concerns about the safety and security of the citizenry of the state.” But on Friday, Texas revered course, and stopped trying to block the Syrian refugees scheduled to arrive this week from coming, but vowed to continue their legal fight to block others from doing the same.

The woman involved in last Wednesday's shooting in San Bernardino, Calif., entered the United States with a K-1 visa – also known as a "fiancé visa," raising questions on whether the vetting process is extensive enough to detect people who might be harboring anti-American sentiments. Programs for welcoming foreign nationals into the country have been under heightened scrutiny following the deaths of 130 people in the Nov. 13 terrorist attacks in Paris. Refugee settlement programs and the US visa waiver program have become particular focal points for politicians and law makers looking to seal up holes in the immigration process that could allow entry to potential terrorists. But the FBI's announcement that the shooters who killed 14 people after storming a health department Christmas party at a facility for developmentally disabled individuals had been radicalized for "quite some time" has prompted officials to take a critical look at the K-1 visa program as well.

A judge on Tuesday let Oscar Pistorius remain under house arrest at his uncle's mansion and set an April sentencing date, five days after an appeals court convicted the double-amputee Olympian of murdering his girlfriend. In the meantime, Pistorius' legal team plans to appeal his murder conviction in South Africa's Constitutional Court, defense lawyer Barry Roux said. In convicting Pistorius last week of murdering Reeva Steenkamp, the Supreme Court of Appeal threw out a lower court's lesser manslaughter conviction. The appeals court said Pistorius should be sentenced by the lower court.

America’s busiest airports are experiencing staffing shortages among fully qualified air traffic controllers, a crisis that demands "urgent attention," a government watchdog told lawmakers on Tuesday. Matthew Hampton, a Department of Transportation assistant inspector general, told members of the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee's aviation subcommittee that the number of certified controllers are "below the minimum staffing requirements" the Federal Aviation Administration has set for the facilities. The situation is worst in thirteen of the nation's busiest air traffic control facilities including New York, Dallas, Denver, and Chicago, according to Hampton.

The global carbon dioxide emissions from fossil fuels and industry for this year are projected to show a slow down, or even decline, in the global warming-inducing greenhouse gas emissions. Researchers found that carbon emissions may show a decline by 0.6 percent for 2015, a marked departure from the annual increase of 2.4 percent seen in the past decade, according to new research published Monday in the journal Nature Climate Change. China's new emissions policies seem to be the driving force of this progress. The nation is moving away from coal as a fuel source and toward more renewable options.

Pope Francis formally opened the door to his Holy Year of Mercy when he pushed open the bronze doors of St. Peter’s Basilica Tuesday. Once the basilica’s Holy Door was open, Francis crossed the threshold, taking the first steps of what will be a yearlong pilgrimage of the faithful. Some 10 million people are expected to pass through the Holy Door over the next year in a rite symbolizing crossing the threshold to salvation. Francis was followed by his predecessor, Emeritus Pope Benedict XVI. The octogenarian appeared thin and frail, using a cane and a helping hand from his longtime assistant to step over the threshold.

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