Obama, Hu questioned on human rights
WASHINGTON, Jan. 19 (UPI) -- Chinese President Hu Jintao acknowledged in Washington Wednesday "a lot still needs to be done in China in terms of human rights."
Addressing reporters at a joint news conference with U.S. President Barack Obama, Hu said China has made "enormous progress" in the area of human rights but added it "is a developing country with a huge population and also a developing country in a crucial stage of reform."
"China recognizes and also respects the universality of human rights," Hu said. "And at the same time, we do believe that we also need to take into account the different national circumstances when it comes to the universal value of human rights.
"In this context, China still faces many challenges in economic and social development, and a lot still needs to be done in China in terms of human rights."
Hu said China will pursue efforts to improve the lives of its people and to promote democracy and the rule of law.
"At the same time, we are also willing to continue to have exchanges and dialogue with other countries in terms of human rights, and we're also going to -- we're also willing to learn from each other in terms of the good practices," he said.
Obama said he had reaffirmed with Hu the U.S. commitment to universal human rights, including in Tibet, and pushed for further dialogue between the government of China and the representatives of the Dalai Lama "to resolve concerns and differences, including the preservation of the religious and cultural identity of the Tibetan people."
"China has a different political system than we do. China is at a different stage of development than we are. We come from very different cultures and with very different histories," Obama said. "But as I've said before, and I repeated to President Hu, we have some core views as Americans about the universality of certain rights -- freedom of speech, freedom of religion, freedom of assembly -- that we think are very important and that transcend cultures."
Obama acknowledged human rights issues have been a source of tension between the two governments, but said he has seen a positive evolution in China during the past three decades.
Hu followed by saying while there are disagreements between the two countries on human rights issues, "China is willing to engage in dialogue and exchanges with the United States on the basis of mutual respect and the principle of non-interference in each other's internal affairs.
"In this way, we will be able to further increase our mutual understanding, reduce our disagreements, and expand our common ground," he said.
Healthcare repeal passes House
WASHINGTON, Jan. 19 (UPI) -- Republicans in the U.S. House of Representatives Wednesday unanimously passed a bill to repeal healthcare reform legislation enacted during the last Congress.
In a 245 to 189 vote, only three Democrats voted for the repeal -- fewer than the GOP once predicted, Politico reported. The bill --formally known as the Repealing the Job-Killing Health Care Law Act -- heads to the Senate, where Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., has said he will block it.
During floor debate, Reps. Frank Pallone, D-N.J., and Cliff Stearns, R-Fla., agreed that the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act creates jobs, but disagreed on those jobs' merits.
"It's creating 150 new government agencies. And these are all government jobs. When we talk about job creation here, that's government jobs," Stearns said.
"It's time for those who support repeal to give up the federal health benefits they currently enjoy as Members of Congress -- the same benefits and protections they are voting to take away from millions of Americans," a House Democratic leadership aide said of GOP House members. "Americans have a right to know that those who support repeal are willing to live without the same benefits they are denying their constituents."
House Majority Leader Eric Cantor, R-Va., challenged Democrats to bring the bill up for a vote in the Senate, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported.
"Not only would repeal not pass, but (a weekend opinion poll indicated) three out of four people don't want it to," Reid spokesman Zac Petkanas told the Las Vegas Sun. "Why? Because full repeal means raising taxes on small business, reopening the Medicare donut hole and putting insurance companies back in charge of your health care."
Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius released a report Tuesday saying without the new law's protections, as many as 129 million Americans under age 65 could be denied health insurance coverage due to pre-existing medical conditions.
Loughner indicted in Giffords shooting
TUCSON, Jan. 19 (UPI) -- A federal grand jury in Tucson Wednesday indicted Jared Lee Loughner on charges of attempting to kill U.S. Rep. Gabrielle Giffords, D-Ariz.
The grand jury also indicted Loughner, 22, on two counts of attempted murder in the shooting of two federal employees, Ron Barber and Pamela Simon, who are on Giffords' congressional staff, the Arizona Daily Star reported.
Loughner is accused of killing six people and wounding 13 others, including Giffords, during a Jan. 8 shooting outside a grocery store in Tucson. U.S. Attorney Dennis Burke said the case "involves potential death-penalty charges" and the charges brought Wednesday "are just the beginning of our legal action."
Federal charges were brought last week against Loughner in the death of U.S. District Judge John Roll and Giffords aide Gabe Zimmerman.
Surveillance videos of the Tucson supermarket shooting clearly show who the gunman was, officials said. The videos from nearly two dozen cameras posted around the Safeway parking lot are "very, very clear," one federal law-enforcement official told the Los Angeles Times.
"It's so clear, you can even tell the sequence of who got shot when and where," the official said. "And it's not the grainy kind of typical fast-food or mini-mart robbery tape. It is so clear it leaves no issue about who was doing the shooting."
A video shows Giffords being shot first, from 2 to 3 feet away, officials told The Washington Post. A bullet from a 9mm Glock pistol entered Giffords' head just above her left eye and exited from the back of her skull, officials describing the video told the Post.
A video then shows U.S. District Judge John M. Roll being shot, the officials told the Times. Roll, 63, was standing near Giffords and was killed in the shooting.
"You see him shot in the chest," the official told the newspaper. "He tried to get up. He started to get up but then fell back down again. He didn't make it."
Loughner was arrested at the scene and faces five federal counts of murder and attempted murder for the federal employees who were killed and injured.
Loughner fired 32 shots in about 15 seconds, officials told the Post.
Giffords stands on own two feet
TUCSON, Jan. 19 (UPI) -- U.S. Rep. Gabrielle Giffords stood on her own two feet Wednesday for the first time since she was shot in the head at point-blank range Jan. 8, her doctor said.
Dr. Peter Rhee of University Medical Center told KVOA-TV, Tucson, Giffords' feat is the result of "aggressive rehab" and said she also was able to sit in a chair in her hospital room and look at the Catalina Mountains.
Giffords' mother, Gloria Giffords, said Tuesday the congresswoman will be moved Friday from UMC to a rehabilitation facility in Houston. Hospital spokeswoman Darci Slaten declined to confirm the transfer date.
In an e-mail message to family friends obtained by CNN, Gloria Giffords wrote: "There is a team of medical specialists involved ... including military surgeons who specialize in bullet wounds to the head. They want to start aggressive rehab immediately."
Gloria Giffords wrote her daughter is improving every day "and shows higher levels of comprehension and complex actions."
When Gabrielle Giffords' husband, Mark Kelly, returned to the hospital after speaking at her aide's memorial service, she "untied his tie and undid the top button to his shirt," her mother wrote.
Gloria Giffords said Kelly gave his wife cards from schoolchildren and a large-print Harry Potter book to read, and Gabrielle Giffords gave him "a 20-minute neck and back rub."
Gabrielle Giffords remains in serious condition.
Kelly said she will recover and probably return to the supermarket where she was shot.
"I can almost guarantee you what her first event will be," he told the Tucson Sentinel. "I'd be shocked if the first thing she does is not 'Congress on Your Corner' at that Safeway."
