AP News in Brief at 10:48 p.m. EST
House votes to curb Syrian refugees, snubbing veto threat
WASHINGTON (AP) - Responding swiftly to the terror in Paris, the U.S. House voted overwhelmingly Thursday to erect high hurdles for Syrian and Iraqi refugees coming to American shores, dividing the president's own party as lawmakers reflected the anxiety of voters back home.
The vote was 289-137, enough to override a threatened White House veto of the legislation, which was hurriedly drafted in response to the carnage in the streets of Paris. Forty-seven Democrats voted for the bill, despite President Barack Obama's biting criticism of its proposed limits.
The bill would require new FBI background checks and individual sign-offs from three high-ranking U.S. officials before any refugee could come to the U.S. from Iraq or Syria, where the Islamic State group that has claimed credit for the attacks has flourished.
Republicans said it was simply prudent to place new controls on the refugee system, without ending it entirely or requiring religious tests as some in the GOP, including presidential candidates, have demanded.
"This is an urgent matter and that is why we're dealing with this urgently," declared new House Speaker Paul Ryan of Wisconsin. "It just is common sense that we pause, re-evaluate and make sure that we have the proper standards in place to make sure something like what happened in Paris doesn't happen here."
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Syrian refugees are put through years of screening
DETROIT (AP) - Over and over, Nedal Al-Hayk and his wife traveled up to three hours by bus from their temporary home in Jordan to an office where U.S. Homeland Security officials put them in separate rooms and asked them many questions in many different ways: Where were you born? Where were your parents born? Were you part of a rebel group? Were you politically outspoken?
Finally, nearly three years after the Syrian couple fled their war-ravaged homeland, they and their two young children arrived in the Detroit suburb of Bloomfield Hills, ready to start a promising new life in a new country.
"I came here to succeed and have a quality of life, not to be a hindrance to the government and the citizens of America," the 28-year-old Al-Hayk said through a translator. He is working at a factory and studying English with hopes of pursuing the agricultural engineering degree he started in Syria. "Even if I need to start over, I'll start over."
As some governors, lawmakers and presidential candidates vow to block the resettlement of more Syrian refugees in the U.S. for fear that terrorists will slip into the country and carry out Paris-style attacks, those who have made it here describe an arduous screening process that they would not have undergone if they didn't want to make America their permanent home.
"They are human beings and human beings with no home," said Al-Hayk, who arrived in the U.S. seven months ago. "They ache to come to a country like America because they know the kinds of opportunities it grants to people."
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10 Things to Know for Friday
Your daily look at late-breaking news, upcoming events and the stories that will be talked about Friday:
1. HOUSE OKS CURBS ON SYRIAN REFUGEES
The vote is 289-137, enough to override a threatened White House veto of the legislation erecting high hurdles for entry into the U.S.
2. HOW AUTHORITIES TRACKED ALLEGED RINGLEADER OF PARIS ATTACKS
A discarded cellphone led them to his cousin, and then to a suburban Paris apartment where both died in a hail of bullets and explosions.
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Discarded cell phone led to Paris attacks ringleader
PARIS (AP) - French investigators tracked down the alleged ringleader of last week's Paris bloodshed after receiving a startling tipoff: The Islamic militant wasn't in Syria but in Europe, plotting yet another attack. A discarded cellphone found near a bloodied concert hall led them to his cousin, and then to a suburban Paris apartment where both died in a hail of bullets and explosions.
As a manhunt intensified Thursday for a fugitive connected to the carnage, details emerged about the intelligence operation that allowed authorities to zero in on Abdelhamid Abaaoud, the Belgian-Moroccan extremist they say orchestrated the attacks in Paris and four plots thwarted earlier this year.
The narrative provided by French officials raised questions about how a wanted militant suspected of involvement in multiple plots could slip into Europe undetected.
Investigators quickly identified Abaaoud as the architect of the deadly attacks in Paris, but they believed he had coordinated the assaults against a soccer stadium, cafes and a rock concert from the battlefields of Syria.
That situation changed profoundly on Monday, when France received a tip from a non-European country that Abaaoud had slipped into Europe through Greece, Interior Minister Bernard Cazeneuve said.
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Study finds more Mexicans leaving the US than coming
SAN DIEGO (AP) - More Mexicans are leaving than moving into the United States, reversing the flow of a half-century of mass migration, according to a study published Thursday.
The Pew Research Center found that slightly more than 1 million Mexicans and their families, including American-born children, left the U.S. for Mexico from 2009 to 2014. During the same five years, 870,000 Mexicans came to the U.S., resulting in a net flow to Mexico of 140,000.
The desire to reunite families is the main reason more Mexicans are moving south than north, Pew found. The sluggish U.S. economic recovery and tougher border enforcement are other key factors.
The era of mass migration from Mexico is "at an end," declared Mark Hugo Lopez, Pew's director of Hispanic research.
The finding follows a Pew study in 2012 that found net migration between the two countries was near zero, so this represents a turning point in one of the largest mass migrations in U.S. history. More than 16 million Mexicans moved to the United States from 1965 to 2015, more than from any other country.
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Ex-Subway pitchman Fogle gets more than 15 years in prison
INDIANAPOLIS (AP) - Jared Fogle emerged from obscurity to become the unlikely face of one of the nation's biggest restaurant chains, earning a small fortune by touting the benefits of a healthy lifestyle that included Subway sandwiches.
But his wholesome public image was only that, and on Thursday he was sentenced to more than 15 years in prison for trading in child pornography and having sex with underage prostitutes.
Fogle, 38, sought leniency, apologizing to his victims and telling the court in a tearful statement that he was raised with good values by a good family, but succumbed to self-centered "deception and lies." He said he wished he had realized long ago that he had a problem.
"I had become dependent on alcohol, pornography and prostitutes," he told the judge. "... I want to redeem my life. I want to become a good, decent person. I want to rebuild my life."
Judge Tanya Walton Pratt wasn't swayed, though, and gave him a harsher sentence than the 12ˆ½ years that prosecutors had sought. She also ordered him to submit to a lifetime of post-prison supervision and fined him $175,000.
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Trump says he would 'absolutely' implement Muslim database
NEWTON, Iowa (AP) - Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump voiced support Thursday evening for creating a mandatory database to track Muslims in the United States - the latest in an escalating series of responses following the deadly attacks in Paris.
"I would certainly implement that. Absolutely," Trump told an NBC News reporter between campaign events in Newton, Iowa, according to video posted on MSNBC.com.
He said Muslims would be signed up at "different places," adding: "It's all about management."
Asked whether registering would be mandatory, Trump responded: "They have to be."
The latest comments come less than a week after the deadly attacks on a concert hall, sports stadium and restaurants in Paris that have elevated fears of attacks in in the U.S. and prompted calls for new restrictions on Syrian refugees fleeing their war-torn country.
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Civil rights leaders, police differ over protest response
MINNEAPOLIS (AP) - Civil rights leaders appealed Thursday for Minneapolis police to exercise restraint but the head of the police union said officers should get tougher with protesters after a night of tense confrontations over the fatal shooting of a black man by an officer.
The contrasting responses showed the strong emotion surrounding the incident four days after Jamar Clark, 24, was shot in the head during a confrontation with two officers.
Police said he was a suspect in an assault and was interfering with paramedics trying to treat the victim. The state agency investigating the shooting, the Bureau of Criminal Apprehension, is looking into claims that Clark was handcuffed. The head of the Minneapolis police union said Thursday that Clark had his hands on an officer's gun. Authorities have said no other weapons were found at the scene.
Police used a chemical irritant against protesters Wednesday night outside a north Minneapolis police station where demonstrators have gathered since the shooting.
The public response Thursday included a tweet from U.S. Rep. Keith Ellison, whose son Jeremiah was shown in a Star Tribune photo that also included an officer in the background pointing a gun at a crowd of protesters.
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What's for dinner? Genetically engineered salmon OK'd by FDA
WASHINGTON (AP) - What's for dinner? Before long, it may well be genetically modified salmon, the first such altered animal cleared for human consumption in the United States.
Critics call it "frankenfish," but the Food and Drug Administration granted its approval on Thursday, saying the faster-growing salmon is safe to eat. It could be available in a couple of years.
"There are no biologically relevant differences in the nutritional profile of AquAdvantage Salmon compared to that of other farm-raised Atlantic salmon," the agency said.
The Obama administration had stalled in approving the salmon for more than five years amid consumer concerns about genetically modified foods. The fish grows twice as fast as normal salmon, so it reaches market size more quickly.
AquAdvantage Salmon is engineered by the Massachusetts-based company AquaBounty. Ron Stotish, the company's CEO, said in a statement that the fish is a "game changer that brings healthy and nutritious food to consumers in an environmentally responsible manner without damaging the ocean and other marine habitats."
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US set to release Jonathan Pollard, who spied for Israel
NEW YORK (AP) - Former spy Jonathan Pollard is set to be released from a federal prison in North Carolina on Friday, 30 years after he was caught selling American intelligence secrets to Israel. But he'll be on a short leash as he rebuilds his life as a free man.
Pollard, 61, was given a life sentence in 1987 in a case that has complicated diplomacy between the two countries.
He's expected to settle in the New York area while he spends at least the next five years on parole. He will be barred him from traveling outside the country, including to Israel, without permission. Many in Israel view him as a hero.
Both the Justice Department and Pollard's lawyers have so far declined to discuss his parole conditions, but one longtime supporter, Rabbi Pesach Lerner of New York, told a radio interviewer this month that Pollard would have to abide by a curfew and wear a GPS unit to track his movements.
He has also been ordered to stay off the Internet, Lerner said, which could complicate his ability to hold a job.