Colo. House passes gun-control measures

DENVER (AP) — Limits on the size of ammunition magazines and universal background checks passed the Colorado House on Monday, during a second day of emotional debates that has drawn attention from the White House as lawmakers try to address recentmass shootings.

The bills were among four that the Democratic-controlled House passed amid strong resistance from Republicans, who were joined by a few Democrats to make some of the votes close.

The proposed ammunition restrictions limit magazines to 15 rounds for firearms, and eight for shotguns. Three Democrats joined all Republicans voting no on the bill, but the proposal passed 34-31.

"Enough is enough. I'm sick and tired of bloodshed," saidDemocratic Rep. Rhonda Fields, a sponsor of the bill and representative of the district where the shootings at an Aurora theater happened last summer. Fields' son was also fatally shot in 2005.

Republicans argued that the proposals restrict Second Amendment rights and won't prevent mass shootings like the ones in Aurora and a Connecticut elementary school.

"This bill will never keep evil people from doing evil things," said Republican Rep. Jerry Sonnenberg.

The House also approved a bill requiring background checks on all gun purchases, including those between private sellers and firearms bought online.

Other proposals would ban concealed firearms at colleges and stadiums, and another requires that gun purchasers pay for their own background checks. Democrats eked out the closest vote on the background check measure, which passed on a 33-32 vote.

Democratic Rep. Ed Vigil, who represents rural southern Colorado, voted against the four bills, saying his decision was rooted in the state's rugged history.

"This is part of our heritage. This is part of what it took to settle this land. I cannot turn my back on that," he said.

But even though a few Democrats joined Republicans in voting no for the bills, the Democrats' 37-28 advantage in the House gave them enough leeway.

The Senate still needs to consider the proposals. Democrats will need to be more unified in their support there because their advantage is only 20-15. That means Republicans need only three Democrats to join them to defeat the bills.

House lawmakers began debating the bills Friday. Lawmakers debated for 12 hours before giving initial approval to the bills, setting up the final recorded votes Monday. During the debate Friday,Vice President Joe Biden called four Democrats, including two in moderate districts, to solidify support for the measures.

Democratic Rep. Dominick Moreno, who represents a district in suburban Denver, was among the four lawmakers. He said Biden "emphasized the importance of Colorado's role in shaping national policy around this issue."

Castle Rock Republican Rep. Carole Murray brought up Biden's calls during Monday's debate, saying she didn't appreciate "East-coast politicians" trying to influence Colorado legislators.

Democratic Gov. John Hickenlooper supports the expanded background checks, and thinks gun buyers should pay for them. He also said he may support limits on the size of magazines, if lawmakers agree to a number between 15 and 20. He said he hasn't decided whether to support banning concealed firearms on campuses and stadiums.

Republicans say students should have the right to defend themselves.

"Do not disarm our young adults in general and our young women in particular on our college campuses in the name of a gun-free zone," Republican Rep. Jim Wilson said.

The gun debate highlights a fundamental philosophical difference between many Democrats and Republicans.

"I resent the implication that unless we all arm ourselves we will not be adequately protected," said Dickey Lee Hullinghorst, the Democrats' leader in the House.

Republican Rep. Christ Holbert became emotional while explaining his opposition to the bills. He said he understood Fields cares about the bills, because of her district and because her son was shot and killed in 2005.

"But I care passionately about the United States Constitution and the constitution of this state, and the oath that we have taken," Holbert said.

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Israeli Ethiopian birth control ignites debate

JERUSALEM (AP) — Accusations that Israel deliberately tried to curb birth rates among Ethiopian immigrants have reopened a debate over discrimination against the group — highlighting the state's uneasy relationship with a community that has yet to fully settle into the Israeli mainstream.

Women's activists and a series of media reports contend that Ethiopian women who immigrated to Israel over the past two decades were coerced into taking a controversial birth control drug without being properly informed of its side effects or being offered alternative contraceptives.

While the allegations have been strongly denied by the government, it remains unclear why so many Ethiopian women were receiving Depo-Provera, a long-acting birth control injection that is rarely prescribed to other Israelis.

Israel's Health Ministry has denied any wrongdoing and ruled out an investigation. Nonetheless, last month it ordered the country's HMOs to stop prescribing the drug to Ethiopians unless they are fully aware of the potential side effects, which can include decreased bone mineral density and difficulty getting pregnant for up to two years after the injections stop.

The controversy has shined a fresh light on the Ethiopian community and its place in modern Israel. Believed to be descendants of the lost Israelite tribe of Dan, Ethiopian Jews spent millennia isolated from the rest of the Jewish world. Israel began rescuing groups of Ethiopian Jews from war and famine in clandestine operations in the 1980s, and larger numbers followed in the 1990s.

Today, some 120,000 people of Ethiopian descent live in Israel. Yet two decades after first arriving, Israel's Ethiopian population continues to struggle. Many work in low-paying menial jobs as security guards and cleaners, and roughly 41 percent of Ethiopian families live in poverty.

While the younger generation has made some gains, it is still struggling compared to other Israelis and many say they still face discrimination. The latest birth control controversy has taken these grievances to new heights.

"This story reeks of racism," said Itzik Dasa, the head of Tebeka, an Ethiopian legal aid group that along with five other rights organizations is collecting testimonies from dozens of Ethiopian women, with the aim of taking the matter to court.

Dasa doesn't think Israel necessarily imposed a policy aimed at reducing birth rates among Ethiopian women, but rather that underlying racist sentiment allowed the matter to perpetuate unchecked.

Shlomo Molla, a former Israeli lawmaker and Ethiopian immigrant, said he believes the Health Ministry continued to give the women the injections, which were first administered in Ethiopian transit camps, once they arrived in Israel out of negligence.

"It was a failure of the Health Ministry. It shouldn't have given the women what they received in Ethiopia automatically," he said.

Depo-Provera has been used under controversial circumstances in the past. Testing and use was limited almost exclusively to women in developing countries and poor women in the United States, leading to charges that the test subjects were coerced or ill-informed.

The accusations in Israel first emerged in 2008, when the Yediot Ahronot newspaper published a report showing a disproportionate number of Ethiopian women were receiving injections of Depo-Provera, which is administered once every three months instead of as a daily pill.

The issue resurfaced in December when an investigative TV report claimed that Ethiopian women were told before they immigrated that raising children in Israel is expensive and that they should use birth control to ease the transition. The TV report interviewed more than 30 women, some of whom said they feared they wouldn't be allowed to immigrate if they didn't take the drug.

Some said they were not offered any other form of contraceptive and were not told its side effects. The report, broadcast on the state-run educational channel, concluded there was a deliberate plan to keep down Ethiopian birthrates.

One immigrant, speaking to The Associated Press, said she was offered both the pill and Depo Provera injections by employees of the Joint Distribution Committee, a Jewish humanitarian organization that runs a clinic in the Ethiopian city of Gondar. She said she felt pressured to take a contraceptive — and chose the injection because she thought the pill would be more expensive.

The 42-year-old Jerusalem resident, who works as a cleaner at an assisted living center for seniors, said she switched to the pill once the side effects became unpleasant, about three years after she started the injections. Today, she and two other women are suing their HMO, alleging they were not informed about side effects. She spoke on condition of anonymity because the issue is sensitive within her family and community.

Dr. Rick Hodes, who runs the JDC clinic in Gondar, said the group offers family planning as part of the U.N.'s Millennium Development Goals, one of which is universal access to reproductive health.

"I do not know why offering family planning would be considered negative or even controversial, especially since our JDC program is 100 percent voluntary," he said in an email. The clinic, like others in Africa that are internationally funded, offers both the pill and the injection.

Israeli officials deny there was ever a plan to reduce the Ethiopian birth rate. Yet critics say the Health Ministry directive last month ordering HMOs to stop prescribing the injection to Ethiopian women was an admission of guilt.

"There was a clear trend to give these women Depo-Provera," said Hedva Eyal, who wrote a 2009 report on the matter for the women's activist group Isha L'Isha. "The result is control over their fertility, which means fewer children."

Eyal and others point to official figures that show the Ethiopian birth rate plummeted from 4.6 children in 1996 to 2.5 in 2011 — lower than the Israeli average of 2.9.

Molla, the Ethiopian immigrant and former legislator, said the decline is likely due to the realities of everyday life in Israel, where it can be difficult to have as many children as in Ethiopia.

The Depo-Provera affair is just the latest clash Israel has had with its Ethiopian community.

Last year, Israel's rabbis began working to phase out the community's clergy, whose religious practices are at odds with the rabbinate's Orthodox Judaism, sparking large protests. In the late 1990s, it was discovered that Israel's health services were throwing out Ethiopian-Israelis' blood donations over fears of diseases contracted in Africa.

Dasa hopes his group's investigation will provide answers — and lessons for the future.

"We as a state should be learning from the mistakes of the past," he said, "and shouldn't make the same ones again."

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Pakistan orders operation after deadly bombing

An elderly Pakistani man holds a banner while taking part in a protest condemning the bombing attack that took place in Quetta last Saturday, in Islamabad, Pakistan, Monday, Feb. 18, 2013. The families of scores of victims of the bombing in Quetta have refused to bury their relatives until authorities take action against the militants who were responsible. (AP Photo/Muhammed Muheisen)

A Pakistani Shiite girl takes part in a sit-in protest with others to condemn the Saturday bombing which killed scores of people, in Quetta, Pakistan on Monday, Feb. 18, 2013. The families of the bombing victims have refused to bury their loved ones until authorities take action against the militants who were responsible. Mispelled and partially shown writing reads, "don't kill me. I am Shia." (AP Photo/Arshad Butt)

ISLAMABAD (AP) — Pakistan on Tuesday ordered an operation in the southwestern city of Quetta following a weekend bombing targeting minority Shiite Muslims that killed 89 people there, and replaced the top police officer in the surrounding Baluchistan province.

It's unclear whether the actions will appease thousands of Shiitesprotesting for a third day in Quetta, the provincial capital. The protesters have refused to bury the bombing victims until the army takes control of the city and launches a targeted operation against sectarian militants attacking them.

A statement issued by Prime Minister Raja Pervaiz Ashraf's office that announced the operation provided no details about who would carry it out or who would be targeted. Shiites have criticized police and paramilitary forces under control of the Interior Ministry in Quetta for failing to protect the minority sect, which makes up about 20 percent of the country's population of 180 million.

Radical Sunni militants have stepped up attacks against Shiites over the past year because they do not consider them to be real Muslims. Violence has been especially bad in Baluchistan province, which has the highest concentration of Shiites in the country. A double bombing at a billiards hall in January in Quetta killed 86 people.

The bomb that ripped through a produce market on Saturday, killing 89 people, was hidden in a water tank that was pulled into the market by a tractor. The militant group Lashkar-e-Jhangvi has claimed responsibility for the attack, as well as the one against the billiards hall in January.

The prime minister's order did not specify whether Lashkar-e-Jhangvi would be the target of the upcoming operation. Shiite leaders in Quetta have also demanded the army go after another banned sectarian group, Sipah-e-Sahaba, which has also targeted Shiites.

The order simply stated that the prime minister has ordered a "targeted operation aimed at eliminating those responsible for playing with lives of innocent civilians and restoring peace and security in Quetta."

Pakistan has launched numerous military operations against militants in recent years, but the focus has been on the Pakistani Taliban, who have been waging a bloody insurgency against the state that has killed thousands of people.

Rights organizations have criticized the government for not doing enough to target militant groups attacking Shiites. They explain this apathy by pointing to past connections between the country's military and anti-Shiite militants, and also allege the sectarian groups are seen as less of a threat than the Taliban because they are not targeting the state. Political parties have also relied on banned sectarian groups to deliver votes in elections.

Last year was the bloodiest in history for Pakistan's Shiites, according to Human Rights Watch. Over 400 were killed in targeted attacks across the country, at least 125 of whom were died in Baluchistan.

With two massive bombings targeting Shiites in as many months this year already, 2013 looks like it could be even worse.

The government promised to take action against sectarian militants following protests in January against the billiards hall bombing. Shiites brought the bodies of the victims into the street at the time and refused to bury them unless the government took steps to protect them.

After four days, Islamabad decided to dissolve the provincial government and put a federally-appointed governor in charge. The government said paramilitary forces would receive police powers and launch an operation against the militants behind the billiards hall attack. But officials refused to put the army in control of the city, as the current protesters are once again demanding.

This time around the government decided to replace Baluchistan's top police officer and replace him with an official from central Punjab province, said Fayaz Sumbal, deputy police chief in Quetta. Sumbal has also been ordered to replace the chief of police operations in Quetta, he said.

The government is also sending a group of lawmakers to Quetta to assess the situation and meet with Shiite leaders to hear their demands, the prime minister's office said in a statement.

Around 15,000 Shiites once again took to the streets to protest on Tuesday near the site of the recent attack. Others stayed beside the bodies of the bombing victims inside a nearby mosque. Some chanted "God is great." Others held placards that said "Stop killing Shiites."

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Sattar reported from Quetta, Pakistan. Associated Press writers Munir Ahmed and Sebastian Abbot in Islamabad contributed to this report.

European Union slaps more sanctions on North Korea

North Korean soldiers ride an escalator past a model of their country's Unha Rocket as they enter an exhibition in Pyongyang on Sunday, Feb. 17, 2013 where Kimjongilia flowers, named after the late North Korean leader Kim Jong Il, were on display. (AP Photo/David Guttenfelder)

BRUSSELS (AP) — The European Union imposed trade andeconomic sanctions on North Korea while condemning "in the strongest terms" the nation's latest nuclear test.

The 27 EU finance ministers also demanded North Korea abstain from further tests and urged it to sign the Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty without delay. The statement came as the ministers met Monday in Brussels.

Their action brings the number of North Koreans subject to a travel ban and an asset freeze to 26, and the number of sanctioned companies to 33. The ministers also banned the export of components for ballistic missiles, such as certain types of aluminum, and prohibited trade in new public bonds from North Korea.

The United States is currently negotiating in the Security Council for stronger U.N. sanctions against Pyongyang after the council quickly condemned the Feb. 12 atomic blast, the third conducted by the North since 2006.

North Korea says its nuclear program is a response to what it called a U.S. threat and has warned of further, unspecified measures of "greater intensity" if Washington remains hostile — possibly signaling it would conduct further tests if sanctions are tightened further.