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December 04, 2013 | | Undetectable As the anniversary of the Newtown shootings approaches, the Republican-controlled House of Representatives on Tuesday passed a 10-year extension of the Undetectable Firearms Act, also known as the plastic-gun ban. The law mandates that all guns include metal parts that can be detected by screeners. But gun-control advocates shouldn't be cheering yet: the law ignores the technological advances that allow the creation of plastic guns that have a touch of metal that could be easily removed. This is not the science-fiction future, writes The Daily Beast's Eleanor Clift, but something that is happening right now. ASSASSINATION Hassan al-Laqis, one of the founding members and a senior commander of Hezbollah in Lebanon, was shot and killed Wednesday outside his home in Beirut. To confirm the killing, Lebanon's state news agency released a photograph of al-Laqis, showing a man in his mid-forties with black hair and a graying beard. Hezbollah immediately blamed Israel for the killing, although Israel denied any involvement. Israel and Hezbollah have fought several wars, and al-Laqis's son died fighting Israel in 2006. Hezbollah's leader, Hassan Nasrallah, has been rarely seen in public since 2006. DIPLOMACY Joe Biden's gaffes are apparently known all around the world. The vice president arrived in Beijing on Wednesday amid tensions over China's new air-defense zone—and the country's state-run media warned him not to make any "erroneous remarks." Nice. While in Tokyo this week, Biden said he would address Beijing's new policy with "great specificity" during his trip. Last month, China declared a new Air Defense Identification Zone, which included several Japanese islands, and said all land within that zone must follow Chinese laws. On Friday, China scrambled fighter jets to monitor U.S. and Japanese planes flying in the region. The state-run newspaper China Daily claimed Biden had "obviously taken Japan's side," although several papers did emphasize that Biden had not issued a joint statement with Japan about the zone. FOCUS President Obama will link the Affordable Care Act to better economic stability for all Americans in a speech Wednesday in one of Washington, D.C.'s most hard-hit neighborhoods. Obama will focus on the link between government programs and economic benefits in a town-hall-style meeting in Anacostia, in southeast D.C. The White House said Obama will "provide a window into where the president will focus his energies over the next three years." His speech is expected to mention the efforts of three Republican giants: Abraham Lincoln, Theodore Roosevelt, and Dwight Eisenhower. Obama defended the Affordable Care Act Tuesday at an event at the White House, in a preview of Wednesday's speech. RED FLAG China's new proposal to build a broadband wireless network in South Korea may not be as simple as it seems. In fact, it might actually be a way to spy on the U.S., writes The Daily Beast's Eli Lake. South Korea houses thousands of U.S. troops, and at least two senators have voiced concern that the new system could actually be used to spy. "They can pump out a software update and you have no idea what is in the software," said intelligence expert James Lewis.
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