News Wrap: Ala. chief justice urges halt on same-sex marriage licenses

JUDY WOODRUFF:

And in the day's other news, the chief justice of Alabama's highest court urged local officials to deny marriage licenses to same-sex couples. That's despite the U.S. Supreme Court's decision in June to legalize gay marriage nationwide.

State Chief Justice Roy Moore said the Supreme Court decision is at odds with his court's earlier rulings and is causing — quote — "confusion and uncertainty." Moore stopped short of directly ordering Alabama officials not to issue licenses.

GWEN IFILL:

For the 62nd time, the Republican-led House has voted to repeal President Obama's health care law. But this time, it's going all the way to his desk. House Speaker Paul Ryan conceded Congress won't be able to override a promised veto, but he said it's worth the effort anyway.

REP. PAUL RYAN, Speaker of the House: We are confronting the president with the hard, honest truth: Obamacare doesn't work. Higher premiums and fewer choices and restricted access, these are not signs of success. Obamacare is not successful. They are signs of failure, and the American people deserve better.

GWEN IFILL:

The Senate already passed the repeal measure, which also cuts funding for Planned Parenthood. But Massachusetts Congressman Jim McGovern and other Democrats said it's wrong-headed and a waste of time.

REP. JIM MCGOVERN, D-Mass.:

I can't understand how you can get up every morning and go to work and that's your mission, to make it more difficult for people in this country, to throw 22 million people off the health insurance rolls, to make it more difficult for vulnerable women to get preventative care at Planned Parenthood. That's the mission. That's how we're beginning this new year.

GWEN IFILL:

The bill would eliminate the requirement that most people obtain health coverage, and it would curb the expansion of Medicaid, as well as the taxes imposed to pay for the law.

JUDY WOODRUFF:

The man who bought the rifles used in the San Bernardino shootings pleaded not guilty today in a federal court in California. Enrique Marquez is accused of conspiring to aid terrorists, among other charges. His friend Syed Farook and Farook's wife, Tashfeen Malik, shot 14 people to death at a holiday party in December. Marquez goes on trial next month.

GWEN IFILL:

There's evidence today that years of drug violence in Mexico has actually cut life expectancy in the last decade. Research in the journal "Health Affairs" finds the projected life span of Mexican men fell by more than seven months between 2005 and 2010; 50,000 people died during that period in Mexico's war with drug cartels.

JUDY WOODRUFF:

Iraq is offering to mediate the diplomatic dispute between Saudi Arabia and Iran. The Saudis' Sunni regime cut off relations with Shiite Iran last weekend, after attacks on Saudi diplomatic sites in Tehran and elsewhere. That followed Riyadh's execution of a top Shiite cleric.

In Tehran today, Iraq's foreign minister, Ibrahim Al-Jaafari, met with his Iranian counterpart and talked of finding a way to restore calm.

IBRAHIM AL-JAAFARI, Foreign Minister, Iraq (through interpreter):

Iraq is at the heart of the region, and we have sought to use our broad relations with Arab countries and other countries so that Iraq can play its role and alleviate tensions between Iran and Saudi Arabia. We have been active from the early moments to prevent a disaster from happening that could affect the entire region.

JUDY WOODRUFF:

Iraq's Shiite-led government has relied on Iran for help fighting Islamic State forces. Separately today, the White House said President Obama spoke by phone with Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi on their — quote — "mutual concern" about the situation.

GWEN IFILL:

Germany now says a record 1.1 million people sought asylum there last year. About two-thirds of the migrants came from Syria, Afghanistan and Iraq.

As the numbers came out, German Chancellor Angela Merkel told reporters — quote — "It is very important that we achieve both a noticeable reduction in the flow of refugees and maintain open borders inside Europe."

JUDY WOODRUFF:

Back in this country, Republican presidential candidate Ted Cruz dismissed questions from rival Donald Trump about his being born in Canada. The Texas senator said it's settled law that having at least one American parent makes you a U.S. citizen, even if you are born abroad. Cruz's mother is American, his father Cuban.

GWEN IFILL:

A Texas grand jury has indicted a state trooper in the Sandra Bland case, the woman who died in jail after a traffic stop in July. Brian Encinia will face misdemeanor county of perjury for allegedly lying about how he removed Bland from her car. The grand jury declined to charge anyone with Bland's death.

A major federal assessment finds a leading class of insecticides can be harmful to honeybees in some crops. The Environmental Protection Agency says neonicotinoids pose a significant risk to honeybees on cotton and citrus crops, but not on corn and berries. Today's report is the first of four planned by the EPA as it decides whether to ban the insecticide.

JUDY WOODRUFF:

And the bears were back in charge today on Wall Street after oil prices plunged again and worries built about China's slowdown, as well as North Korea's weapons test. The Dow Jones industrial average lost 252 points to close at 16906. The Nasdaq fell 55, and the S&P 500 dropped 26.