By Thomas Kaplan and Danny Hakim, New York Times, Jan 14/15, 2013

ALBANY — Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo and lawmakers agreed on Monday to a broad package of changes to gun laws that would expand the state’s ban on assault weapons and would include new measures to keep guns away from the mentally ill.

The state Senate, controlled by a coalition of Republicans and a handful of Democrats, approved the legislative package just after 11 p.m. by a lopsided vote of 43 to 18. The Assembly, where Democrats who have been strongly supportive of gun control have an overwhelming majority, planned to vote on the measure Tuesday [....]

Senator Malcolm A. Smith, an independent Democrat from Queens, said provisions of the measure could be dedicated to the family members of New Yorkers who had been victims of gun violence.

“I think today we are setting the mark for the rest of the country,” he said. [....]

Most of the senators who voted against the bill did not speak. [....]

By Anne Barnard, New York Times, Jan. 14/15, 2013

BEIRUT, Lebanon — Syrian warplanes have killed dozens of civilians, including more than 20 children, in an intensifying campaign of anti-insurgency airstrikes across the country over the past few days, bombing some targets as families were congregating outside to enjoy a sunny break from prolonged winter storms, activists and international medical aid workers said Monday.

Their version of events was disputed by the Syrian government, which said through the official news agency that the airstrikes had made great progress against what it called armed terrorists fighting against President Bashar al-Asad.

But the activist accounts were buttressed, at least in one case, by an unusually detailed description from the group Doctors Without Borders, which has been operating quietly in Syrian areas near the Turkish border, where the insurgency is relatively entrenched. “We could not keep silent,” Shinjiro Murata, the head of Doctors Without Borders mission, said in a telephone interview from Aleppo Province. “We are sure that civilians were deliberately targeted.” [.....]

Perhaps public pressure will force the gun industry to diversify.

Addressing the contradiction, Jodie Foster comes out, in her own way, by encouraging privacy. Being accepted includes the choice or non-choice of not having to come out at all. Maybe her best Oscar moment?

Inducing the Iranians to concede is not just a matter of hurting them more. They already are hurting a lot, from the economic consequences of international sanctions. What is missing from the negotiations is any reason for them to believe that the hurt will be eased if they make concessions.

By Anemona Hartocollis, New York Times, Jan 11/12, 2013

In a bold experiment in performance pay, complaints from patients at New York City’s public hospitals and other measures of their care — like how long before they are discharged and how they fare afterward — will be reflected in doctors’ paychecks under a plan being negotiated by the physicians and their hospitals.

The proposal represents a broad national push away from the traditional model of rewarding doctors for the volume of services they order, a system that has been criticized for promoting unnecessary treatment. In the wake of changes laid out in the Affordable Care Act, public and private hospitals are already preparing to have their income tied partly to patient outcomes and cost containment, but the city’s plan extends that financial incentive to the front line, the doctors directly responsible for treatment. It also shows how the new law could change longstanding relationships, giving more power to some of the poorest and most vulnerable patients over doctors who run their care. [....]

Al Jazeera, Jan 12, 2013

Thousands of Sunni Iraqis have taken to the streets of Baghdad and other parts of the country to decry the alleged targeting of their minority, in rallies hardening opposition to the country's Shia leader.

Counter-demonstrations were held on Friday in predominantly Shia areas of southern Iraq calling for authorities to resist demands to reform anti-terror laws or consider a wide-ranging prisoner release, both key demands in majority-Sunni areas.  The protests have worsened a political crisis, pitting Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki against his erstwhile government partners, with the premier facing accusations of authoritarianism and sectarianism ahead of key provincial polls [....]

See, I told you Obama is coming for our guns! Well, the state of Tennessee is, anyway. Poetic justice.

By Afua Hirsch, west Africa correspondent, guardian.co.uk, 11 Jan. 2013

French troops have arrived in Mali amid a rapid escalation of international efforts to intervene in the country, where Islamist groups are continuing to clash with the army for control of the desert north.

The French president, François Hollande, announced on Friday night that French armed forces had come to the aid of Mali troops on the ground. He said the operation would last as long as necessary and the French parliament would sit to debate the move on Monday [....]

Hollande's announcement marked a radical departure from recent agreements that limited the role of French and other international forces to providing Mali's army with training and logistical support. [....]

The New York Times rediscovers its teeth in a ferocious critique of the government's mortgage relief program:

Federal banking regulators are trumpeting an $8.5 billion settlement this week with 10 banks as quick justice for aggrieved homeowners, but the deal is actually a way to quietly paper over a deeply flawed review of foreclosed loans across America, according to current and former regulators and consultants.

To avoid criticism as the review stalled and consultants collected more than $1 billion in fees, the regulators, led by the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, abandoned the effort after examining a sliver of nearly four million loans in foreclosure, the regulators and consultants said.

By Juan de Onis, Foreign Affairs, Jan. 9, 2013

The Supreme Court's Crusade Against Corruption -- And the Citizens Who Love It

Article Summary and Author Biography:

In November, former Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva's closest adviser was sentenced to ten years in jail for corruption. Now, the highest court seems determined to go after Lula himself. Whatever the final result, the judges' campaign has convinced Brazil's taxpaying middle class that it is time to stop tolerating graft.

JUAN DE ONIS is a former correspondent for The New York Times and the Los Angeles Times who lives in Brazil. He is the author of The Green Cathedral: Sustainable Development of Amazonia.

Al Jazeera,  Jan. 10, 2013

More than 85 people have been killed and scores wounded in a series of multiple attacks across Pakistan.

Bomb explosions and violent deaths rocked Quetta, in the country's southwest; Swat valley in the northwest; and the port city of Karachi on Thursday.

At least 55 people were killed and 150 others wounded in four separate explosions in Quetta, the capital of Balochistan province. [....]

Also see:

"Deadly Day in Pakistan," Dawn.com, Jan. 10, 2013:

Quetta blasts leave 70 people dead, 120 others injured

• Two suicide bombers blew themselves up at a crowded snooker club leaving at least 70 people dead and 120 others injured.

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