Biden signs landmark gun measure, says ‘lives will be saved’

US President Joe Biden prepares to sign S. 2938: Bipartisan Safer Communities Act into law from the Roosevelt Room at the White House, in Washington on Saturday. (Reuters)
Short Url
Updated 27 June 2022
Follow

Biden signs landmark gun measure, says ‘lives will be saved’

  • "Time is of the essence. Lives will be saved,” Biden said in the Roosevelt Room of the White House
  • Citing the families of shooting victims he has met, the president said, "Their message to us was, ‘Do something’”

WASHINGTON: President Joe Biden on Saturday signed the most sweeping gun violence bill in decades, a bipartisan compromise that seemed unimaginable until a recent series of mass shootings, including the massacre of 19 students and two teachers at a Texas elementary school.
“Time is of the essence. Lives will be saved,” he said in the Roosevelt Room of the White House. Citing the families of shooting victims he has met, the president said, “Their message to us was, ‘Do something.’ How many times did we hear that? ‘Just do something. For God’s sake, just do something.’ Today we did.”
The House gave final approval Friday, following Senate passage Thursday, and Biden acted just before leaving Washington for two summits in Europe.
“Today we say, ‘More than enough,’” Biden said. “It’s time, when it seems impossible to get anything done in Washington, we are doing something consequential.”
The legislation will toughen background checks for the youngest gun buyers, keep firearms from more domestic violence offenders and help states put in place red flag laws that make it easier for authorities to take weapons from people adjudged to be dangerous.
The president called it “a historic achievement.”

Most of its $13 billion cost will help bolster mental health programs and aid schools, which have been targeted in Newtown, Connecticut, and Parkland, Florida, and elsewhere in mass shootings.
Biden said the compromise hammered out by a bipartisan group of senators from both parties “doesn’t do everything I want” but “it does include actions I’ve long called for that are going to save lives.”
“I know there’s much more work to do, and I’m never going to give up, but this is a monumental day,” said the president, who was joined by his wife, Jill, a teacher, for the signing.
After sitting to sign the bill, Biden sat reflectively for a moment, then murmured, “God willing, this is gonna save a lot of lives.”
He also said they will host an event on July 11 for lawmakers and families affected by gun violence. The president spoke of families “who lost their souls to an epidemic of gun violence. They lost their child, their husband, their wife. Nothing is going to fill that void in their hearts. But they led the way so other families will not have the experience and the pain and trauma that they had to live through.”
Biden signed the measure two days after the Supreme Court’s ruling Thursday striking down a New York law that restricted peoples’ ability to carry concealed weapons. And Saturday’s ceremony came less than 24 hours after the high court overturned the Roe v. Wade decision, which had legalized abortion nationwide for nearly five decades.
“Yesterday, I spoke about the Supreme Court’s shocking decision striking down Roe v. Wade,” Biden said. “Jill and I know how painful and devastating the decision is for so many Americans. I mean so many Americans.”
He noted that the abortion ruling leaves enforcement up to the states, some of which have already moved to ban abortion or will soon do so. Biden said his administration will “focus on how they administer it and whether or not they violate other laws, like deciding to not allow people to cross state lines to get health services.”
Asked by reporters about whether the Supreme Court was broken, Biden said, “I think the Supreme Court has made some terrible decisions.” He walked away without answering more questions, noting, ” “I have a helicopter waiting for me to take off.”
While the new gun law does not include tougher restrictions long championed by Democrats, such as a ban on assault-style weapons and background checks for all firearm transactions, it is the most impactful gun violence measure produced by Congress since enactment a long-expired assault weapons ban in 1993.
Enough congressional Republicans joined Democrats in supporting the steps after recent rampages in Buffalo, New York and Uvalde, Texas. It took weeks of closed-door talks but senators emerged with a compromise.
Biden signed the bill just before departing Washington for a summit of the Group of Seven leading economic powers — the United States, Britain, Canada, France, Germany, Italy and Japan — in Germany. He will travel later to Spain for a NATO meeting.


Paris court will deliver the verdict in Kim Kardashian jewelry heist trial

Updated 3 sec ago
Follow

Paris court will deliver the verdict in Kim Kardashian jewelry heist trial

  • At the heart of the trial is Aomar Aït Khedache, a veteran of Paris’ criminal underworld
  • Prosecutors have asked for a 10-year sentence, the loot was never found
PARIS: A decade after robbers stormed Kim Kardashian’s luxury residence and tied her up at gunpoint, a Paris court is set Friday to decide the verdict in one of the most audacious celebrity heists in modern French history.
Nine men and a woman stand accused of carrying out — or aiding — the crime during the 2016 Paris Fashion Week, when masked men dressed as police entered Kardashian’s Paris home, bound her with zip-ties and vanished with $6 million in jewels.
At the heart of the trial is 70-year-old Aomar Aït Khedache, a veteran of Paris’ criminal underworld. Prosecutors have asked for a 10-year sentence. His DNA, found on the zip-ties used to bind Kardashian, cracked open the case. Wiretaps captured him giving orders, recruiting accomplices, and arranging to sell the diamonds in Belgium. The loot was never found.
Khedache claims he was only a foot soldier. He blamed a mysterious “X” or “Ben” — someone prosecutors say never existed.
The accused became known in France as “les papys braqueurs” — the grandpa robbers. Some arrived in court in orthopedic shoes and one leaned on a cane. Some read the proceedings from a screen, hard of hearing and nearly mute. But prosecutors warned observers not to be seduced by soft appearances.
The trial is being heard by a panel of three judges and six jurors, who will need a majority vote to reach a verdict.
The defendants face charges including armed robbery, kidnapping and gang association. If convicted, they could face life in prison.
Kardashian’s testimony earlier this month was the emotional high point. In a packed courtroom, she recounted how she was thrown onto a bed, zip-tied, and had a gun pressed to her on the night of Oct. 2, 2016.
“I absolutely did think I was going to die,” she said. “I have babies. I have to make it home. They can take everything. I just have to make it home.”
She was dragged into a marble bathroom and told to stay silent. When the robbers fled, she freed herself by scraping the tape on her wrists off against the sink, then she hid with her friend, shaking and barefoot.
She said Paris had once been her sanctuary — a city she would wander at 3 a.m., window shopping, stopping for hot chocolate. That illusion was shattered.
The robbery echoed far beyond the City of Light. It forced a recalibration of celebrity behavior in the digital age. For years, Kardashian had curated her life like a showroom: geo-tagged, diamond-lit, public by design. But this was the moment the showroom turned into a crime scene. In her words, “People were watching… They knew where I was.”
Afterward, she stopped posting her location in real time. She stripped her social media feed of lavish gifts and vanished from Paris for years. Other stars followed suit. Privacy became luxury.
Defense attorneys have asked the court for leniency, citing the defendants’ age and health. But prosecutors insist that criminal experience, not frailty, defined the gang.
On Friday morning, the accused will speak one final time before the court withdraws to deliberate.
Even for France’s painstakingly thorough legal system, observers commented about how long it took for the case to be tried.
Kardashian, who once said “this experience really changed everything,” hopes the verdict will offer a measure of closure.

Guests died of organ failure after toxic mushroom lunch, Australian court hears

Updated 1 min 14 sec ago
Follow

Guests died of organ failure after toxic mushroom lunch, Australian court hears

  • Erin Patterson is charged with murdering the parents and aunt of her estranged husband in 202
  • Patterson served them a hearty lunch laced with lethal death cap mushrooms

SYDNEY: Three Australians died of organ failure after eating a beef Wellington dish laced with toxic mushrooms, a medical specialist said Friday during a triple-murder trial sparked by the deaths.
Erin Patterson, 50, is charged with murdering the parents and aunt of her estranged husband in 2023 by serving them a hearty lunch laced with lethal death cap mushrooms.
She is also accused of attempting to murder her husband’s uncle, who survived the meal after a long stay in hospital.
Patterson has pleaded not guilty to all charges in a trial that has drawn intense interest from around the world.
Intensive care specialist Stephen Warrillow told the high-profile trial on Friday how doctors had scrambled to save the lunch guests.
But as the toxins coursed through their bodies, causing multiple organs to shut down, there was little they could do.
“It was very apparent that this was not survivable,” Warrillow said, talking about one of the victims he treated.
Another victim got “relentlessly worse” even after receiving a liver transplant, he said.
“We had no other treatments to offer, no other therapies. He was dying,” the doctor said.
Warrillow was asked if the organ failure was caused by mushroom poisoning.
“That’s correct, yes,” he told the court.
Patterson was estranged from her husband Simon, who turned down the invitation to the July 2023 lunch.
But his parents, Don and Gail, died days after eating the beef-and-pastry dish.
Simon’s aunt Heather Wilkinson also died, while her husband Ian fell seriously ill but later recovered.
The court earlier heard how Erin Patterson had sent messages to a Facebook group chat in December 2022, several months prior to the lunch, saying she wanted “nothing to do” with her in-laws.
Patterson and estranged husband Simon were at odds over finances and child support, the court heard, and she had sought help from his parents, who refused to intervene.
“I’m sick of this shit I want nothing to do with them,” Patterson wrote in one message.
The prosecution alleges Patterson deliberately poisoned her lunch guests and took care that she did not consume the deadly mushrooms herself.
Her defense says it was “a terrible accident” and that Patterson ate the same meal as the others but did not fall as sick.
The trial is expected to last another two weeks.


Music talent agent among dead after jet crashes into San Diego neighborhood

Updated 3 min 32 sec ago
Follow

Music talent agent among dead after jet crashes into San Diego neighborhood

  • The music agency says the dead include Dave Shapiro, the agency’s co-founder. Shapiro is listed as the owner of the plane and has a pilot’s license
  • Sound Talent Group has represented artists including Hanson, Sum 41 and Vanessa Carlton

SAN DIEGO: A private jet carrying a music talent agent and five others hit a power line in foggy weather early Thursday and crashed into a San Diego neighborhood, slamming into a home and killing multiple people on the flight.
With the home engulfed in flames and jet fuel rolling down the streets, half a dozen vehicles ignited while residents in the neighborhood of US Navy-owned housing were shaken awake just before 4 a.m. by the thunderous crash and subsequent explosions. Out their windows, they saw a wall of fire.
“I can’t quite put words to describe what the scene looks like, but with the jet fuel going down the street, and everything on fire all at once, it was pretty horrific to see,” San Diego Police Chief Scott Wahl said.
No one in the neighborhood died, but eight were taken to the hospital for smoke inhalation and injuries that were not life-threatening, including a person who was hurt climbing out a window, police officer Anthony Carrasco said.
Dave Shapiro, co-founder of Sound Talent Group, and two employees were among those killed, the music agency said in a statement. Sound Talent Group has represented artists including American pop band Hanson, American singer-songwriter Vanessa Carlton and the Canadian rock group Sum 41. Hanson is perhaps best known for its earworm 1990s pop hit, “MMMBop.” Shapiro also owned Velocity Records.
“We are devastated by the loss of our co-founder, colleagues and friends. Our hearts go out to their families and to everyone impacted by today’s tragedy,” the agency said.
Six people were on board the plane, according to the Federal Aviation Administration. Authorities were still combing the scene and recovering the bodies before releasing an official number and identifying the dead, though there were not believed to be any survivors aboard the flight.
Daniel Williams, former drummer for metal band The Devil Wears Prada, posted on his Instagram on Wednesday afternoon that he was boarding the plane with Shapiro. The band posted a tribute to Williams on their Instagram page.
“No words. We owe you everything. Love you forever,” the band wrote.
A representative for the band referred to their social post when asked about Williams’ death.
Parts of Shapiro’s 1985 Cessna 550 Citation littered a large area, including fragments under the power lines and a section of wing on a road behind the homes, said Elliot Simpson of the National Transportation Safety Board.
Neighborhood hit hard
The home that was struck was destroyed, with its front heavily burned and its roof partially collapsed, and about 10 others were damaged in Murphy Canyon, the largest neighborhood of Navy-owned housing in the country, officials said.
Ben McCarty and his wife, who live in the home that was hit, said they felt heat all around them.
“My wife was screaming, and she’s like, ‘There’s a fire,’” McCarty, who has served in the Navy for 13 years, told local ABC affiliate KGTV.
When he walked toward the front of the house, he saw that the roof had fallen off and flames blocked their exit. They grabbed their children and dogs and ran to the back, where their neighbors helped them climb over the fence to escape.
The plane also hit both of the couple’s vehicles, which burned.
“It put my truck into our living room,” McCarty said.
Other vehicles along the block were melted and scorched into burned shells. One stubborn car fire sent smoke billowing up for hours.
Ariya Waterworth said she woke up to a “whooshing sound” and then saw a giant fireball outside. She screamed for help as firefighters arrived and helped her get out with her two children and their family dog.
One of the family’s cars was “completely disintegrated,” and the other had extensive damage. Her yard was littered with plane parts, broken glass and debris.
“I definitely do feel blessed, because we’ve been spared,” she said.
At least 100 residents were evacuated. Hours after the crash, jet fuel rolled down Salmon Street. The smell of fumes lingered throughout the day, and officials said it was unclear when it would be safe for people to return.
“We have jet fuel all over the place,” Assistant San Diego Fire Department Chief Dan Eddy said.
Eddy added that the fog was so thick in the morning that “you could barely see in front of you.”
The plane originated from a small Ne
w Jersey airport
The flight took off from Teterboro, New Jersey, near Manhattan, at about 11:15 p.m. Wednesday and made a fuel stop in Wichita, Kansas, before continuing on to San Diego, according to Simpson.
Based on the flight path, it was bound for Montgomery-Gibbs Executive Airport when it struck power lines about 2 miles (3.2 kilometers) southeast of the airfield, Simpson said.
Audio recorded by www.liveATC.net includes a brief transmission from the pilot saying he was on final approach to the airport and was about 3 miles (4.8 kilometers) out at 3:45 a.m.
NTSB investigators planned to spend Thursday and Friday at the scene gathering evidence, Simpson said. He welcomed video or other details from any witnesses.
The plane was attempting t
o land in foggy weather
At that hour and in foggy weather, the plane was likely operating on an instrument flight rules plan, which is typically used during reduced visibility, said Barry Newman, a board-certified aviation attorney.
However, for that airport, once an aircraft reaches 673 feet (205 meters), the pilot also has to rely on sight.
“If a pilot descends to that level and he can’t see the runway, he has to call for a missed approach or divert to another airport,” Newman said.
In October 2021 a twin-engine plane plowed into a San Diego suburb, killing the pilot and a UPS delivery driver on the ground and burning homes. It was preparing to land at the airport.
And in December 2008, a Marine Corps fighter jet slammed into a house in San Diego’s University City neighborhood, causing an explosion that killed four people inside. The Marine Corps blamed the crash on mechanical failure and human error.


US judge blocks Trump’s mass layoffs in blow to government overhaul

Updated 46 min 52 sec ago
Follow

US judge blocks Trump’s mass layoffs in blow to government overhaul

  • US District Judge Susan Illston barred agencies from mass layoffs, a key piece of Trump’s plans to downsize or eliminate many federal agencies
  • The Trump administration has asked the US Supreme Court to pause Illston’s temporary ruling

A federal judge extended on Thursday a temporary block on a bid by President Donald Trump’s administration to lay off hundreds of thousands of federal employees, saying he needed permission from Congress before restructuring the US government.
In her order, US District Judge Susan Illston barred agencies from mass layoffs, a key piece of Trump’s plans to downsize or eliminate many federal agencies, pending the outcome of a lawsuit by unions, nonprofits and municipalities.
On May 9, Illston had blocked about 20 agencies from making mass layoffs for two weeks and ordered the reinstatement of workers who had already lost their jobs.
In Thursday’s order, she largely continued the relief provided in the temporary restraining order, with some refinement.
The administration has asked the US Supreme Court to pause Illston’s temporary ruling, saying she improperly infringed on Trump’s constitutional powers to control the executive branch.
That bid is likely to be moot after Thursday’s ruling, which the Trump administration can immediately appeal.
Federal agencies have broad authority to implement large-scale layoffs government lawyer Andrew Bernie said at Thursday’s hearing.
Trump’s executive order merely asked agencies to determine what cuts can be made without calling for any concrete actions such as layoffs or office closures that plaintiffs could sue over at this point, he added.
“Those decisions will be disclosed when they are made, and when they are made, the plaintiffs can challenge them. Indeed, the plaintiffs have challenged individual decisions,” Bernie said, citing pending lawsuits over cuts at the departments of Education, Health and Human Services and Homeland Security.
Danielle Leonard, who represented the plaintiffs, said directives from Trump and other White House officials made clear that agencies had little say in whether to gut their workforces.
“They are saying what to cut, when to cut, where to cut, and all they’re asking the agencies to do is come forward with a plan,” she said.
The case involves the departments of agriculture, health and human services, treasury, commerce, state and veterans affairs, among others.
Trump has urged agencies to eliminate duplicative roles, unnecessary management layers, and non-critical jobs while automating routine tasks, closing regional offices and cutting back on outside contractors.
About 260,000 federal workers, most of whom have taken buyouts, have left or will leave by the end of September. And several agencies have been earmarked for deep cuts, such as more than 80,000 jobs at the Department of Veterans Affairs and 10,000 at the Department of Health and Human Services.
Dozens of lawsuits have challenged the administration’s efforts, and Illston’s earlier ruling this month was the broadest yet of its kind.
An appeals court has paused another judge’s March ruling requiring agencies to reinstate nearly 25,000 probationary employees, who typically have been in their current roles for less than a year or two.


G7 nations paper over differences on tariffs and Ukraine, agree to address ‘imbalances’

Updated 23 May 2025
Follow

G7 nations paper over differences on tariffs and Ukraine, agree to address ‘imbalances’

  • Statement condemned Russia’s continued brutal war against Ukraine,” yet that language was milder than last year’s
  • But they did agree that further sanctions on Russia could be imposed if no ceasefire with Ukraine is reached

BANFF, Alberta: Top finance officials from the world’s seven wealthiest democracies set aside stark differences on US tariffs after two days of talks and agreed to counter global “economic imbalances,” a swipe at China’s trade practices.
In a communiqué issued Thursday, the Group of Seven finance ministers and central bank governors, meeting in the Canadian Rockies, left out their traditional defense of free trade and toned down their references to Russia’s war in Ukraine, compared with last year. But they did agree that further sanctions on Russia could be imposed if the two countries don’t reach a ceasefire.
The communiqué said the G7 members would continue to monitor “nonmarket policies and practices” which contribute to imbalances in global trade. The statement did not mention China but nonmarket policies typically refer to that country’s export subsidies and currency policies that the Trump administration charges gives it an advantage in international trade.

Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent appears to have succeeded in steering the communiqué largely in the direction the Trump administration sought, particularly regarding China’s trade practices.
The high-profile gathering of officials from the United States, Canada, United Kingdom, Japan, Germany, France, and Italy also appeared to be more congenial than an earlier meeting of G7 foreign ministers in March. Yet that meeting, also in Canada, occurred as President Donald Trump was in the midst of threatening stiff tariffs on Canada and suggesting it could become the 51st state.
Canada is president of this year’s G7 and the sessions this week are intended to lay the groundwork for a meeting of the heads of state on June 15-17 in Kananaskis, Canada. The White House said Thursday that Trump will attend that gathering.
“Throughout our G7 presidency, the tone of the discussions has become progressively more constructive,” Tiff Macklem, governor of the Bank of Canada, said at a news conference at the conclusion of the summit.
Yet that unity appears to have been achieved by jettisoning many items that in the past had been agreed to by the G7 countries. In addition to leaving out any mention of trade, the communiqué dropped sections on combating climate change and cooperating on international tax policy, issues the Trump administration has dismissed.
“There will always be tension around tariffs,” said Francois-Philippe Champagne, Canada’s finance minister. “But there are also places where you find common ground. ... This year our focus was to return to the G7 core mission, restoring global growth and stability.”

Tiff Macklem (L), governor of the Bank of Canada, looks on as Fracois-Philippe Champagne, Canada's minister of finance and national revenue, speaks at their closing press conference during the G7 Finance Ministers and Central Bank Governors’ Meeting in Banff, Alberta, Canada on May 22, 2025. (AFP)

The shift comes as Trump has slapped widespread tariffs on imports, including a 10 percent global duty on all goods, even those from the other G7 allies. Trump has also imposed 25 percent tariffs on steel, aluminum, and cars, and on April 2 imposed much steeper tariffs on about 60 nations, which he then paused until early July.
Valdis Dombrovskis, European Union Trade Commissioner, said that trade was “obviously a difficult topic” during the negotiations. The EU, which participates in the G7 but doesn’t serve as one of the rotating presidents, pushed for stronger language that would have highlighted the economic harms from tariffs.
“The US administration is having a somewhat different view of the situation,” Dombrovskis told reporters. He added that details about US tariffs weren’t discussed because the G7 members are negotiating individually with the Trump administration about duties.
On Ukraine, the communiqué condemned “Russia’s continued brutal war against Ukraine,” yet that language was milder than last year’s, which referred to Russia’s “illegal, unjustifiable, and unprovoked full-scale invasion.” Trump officials in the past have pushed to avoid antagonizing Russia while seeking peace talks.
Champagne, however, called the invasion “illegal” in Thursday’s news conference.
Bessent also successfully included an agreement in the statement that “no country or entity” that supported Russia’s war efforts would be able to profit from Ukraine’s reconstruction, a restriction that would bar Chinese companies from participating.
Dombrovskis said the EU had proposed to lower the current price cap on Russian oil — previously agreed to as part of early sanctions slapped on Russia in the wake of its 2022 invasion — to $50, from $60, but the communiqué says little about specific measures.
Still, the EU was largely satisfied with the G7’s agreements on Ukraine, Dombrovskis said, including the willingness to impose more sanctions. The group also agreed to continue freezing Russia’s financial assets until they can be used to help pay for Ukraine’s reconstruction.
Mark Sobel, a former top Treasury Department official and senior adviser to the Center for Strategic and International Studies, criticized the communiqué as “feeble.”
The statement “closes its eyes to the elephants in the room — the word ‘tariffs’ or a reference to destructive US trade policies are nowhere to be found,” Sobel said.
“On Ukraine, the G7 will ‘explore options’ if a ceasefire isn’t reached when the time for action is now,” he added. “This risible communiqué cannot hide the fissures in the G7 and hardly bodes well for the larger fractures looming for the upcoming G7 leaders’ summit.”
Still, John Kirton, a political scientist at the University of Toronto and director of the G7 Research Group, said it was a positive sign that a communiqué had even been issued. “That was in considerable doubt to the very end,” he said.
Yet both Sobel and Kirton noted there was no reference to US budget deficits and their role in the “global imbalances” the ministers seek to combat. The federal budget deficit, by contributing to higher US demand, worsens the US trade deficit that the Trump administration seeks to reduce.
The communiqué said that “economic policy uncertainty has declined from its peak,” a view that Kirton said was “puzzling,” given that the US Congress is considering a tax and spending package that has unnerved financial markets this week, pushing up the interest rate on US Treasury securities.
“There’s great uncertainty out there in financial markets,” Kirton said. “The dollar is going down, and we don’t know when that will end.”
Bessent held several bilateral meetings on the sidelines of the G7, including with Champagne and Japan’s Finance Minister Katsunobu Kato.
Bessent and Kato discussed trade and currencies, the Treasury Department said, with both sides agreeing that “exchange rates should be market-determined.” The US has often criticized Japan in the past for intervening in currency markets to lower the yen’s value.
Yet the two sides “did not discuss foreign exchange levels,” Treasury said, a sign the US isn’t pressuring Japan about the yen’s current value.