26, November 2017
Thousands rally in Europe to decry slavery in Libya 0
Thousands of protesters have taken to the streets in different European capitals for a second day to express anger at the practice of slavery in Libya.
People in the Swedish capital of, Stockholm, gathered in Sergels Torg Square on Saturday to demand an immediate end to slavery, holding signs reading “Stop the slavery, now, now, now” and “Human rights for all,” as they chanted slogans.
More than 50 people were arrested during similar protests in Brussels, the Belgian capital. Violence erupted in that protest when a group of protesters broke away and attacked police, also ransacking shops and hurling projectiles at police, who responded by using water cannon.
Meanwhile, hundreds of members of the African community in the German capital of Berlin rallied outside the Libyan Embassy to express their anger. The demonstrators demanded an end to the enslavement, torture, rape, and murder of black people in the North African country.
An Ethiopian demonstrator, Gizaw, said, “To stop this situation German [sic] has to intervene, EU has to intervene, England, Britain has to intervene and stop financing these criminals in Libya.”
The protests came a day after demonstrators in Paris and Rome held rallies in front of the Libyan embassies in those cities.
The French demonstrators denounced their country’s military role in the Libyan uprising in 2011, when the then-French president Nicolas Sarkozy pushed for military strikes in Libya.
The protests was prompted by a CNN video report, released last week, which showed sub-Saharan Africans being sold at slave auctions for as little as $400.
After widespread outrage, Libyan Deputy Prime Minister Ahmed Metig vowed, in a statement posted on Facebook, that his UN-backed Government of National Accord (GNA) would investigate the “slave market” allegations in the North African country.
Libya has faced a power vacuum since a NATO military intervention resulted in the downfall of its longtime dictator, Muammar Gaddafi in 2011. Since then, the country has been grappling with chaos and the emergence of numerous militant groups, including the Daesh terrorist group.
(Source: Agencies)
26, November 2017
Americans set record for gun checks on Black Friday at more than 200,000 0
The US Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) has received over 200,000 background check requests from gun dealers across America on Black Friday, the highest demand for guns on a single day since 1998.
Overall there were 203,086 requests were submitted to the bureau, a sizable increase over single-day highs from past years such as 185,713 in 2016, and 185,345 in 2015.
The real number of the guns purchased on Friday is likely higher as multiple firearms can be purchased in just one transaction.
The checks, conducted by the FBI when a gun is purchased from a federally licensed dealer, reveal a person’s record of arrest on the National Instant Criminal Background Check system (NICS).
However, pro-gun activists claim it fails to specify whether an arrest was dismissed or resulted in a conviction.
According to the NICS, five of the top 10 single-day highs have occurred on a Black Friday over the last five years.
The report comes amid heated debates over the need for a more effective background check system following several high-profile mass killings across the US over the past weeks.
In early October, a heavily armed gunman killed 59 and injured more than 500 people at a music concert in Las Vegas, Nevada, which has some of the most lax gun laws in the country.
The shooter, Stephen Paddock, purchased 33 automatic weapons in the last year. Police found a total of 47 guns in the hotel room and house of 64-year-old, who rained down a barrage of bullets from the 32nd floor of the Mandalay Bay Hotel towards an open-air concert.
In early November, Devin Patrick Kelley, a former US airman, attacked a small church outside San Antonio, Texas, killing 26 people.
The US Air Force admitted later on that it had failed to enter Kelley’s criminal record into the NICS.
According to a new study published in the journal Health Affairs, more than 100,000 Americans were shot each year from 2006 to 2014, as a result of assaults, accidental shootings or suicide.
Trump’s 2016 election campaign was heavily funded by the NRA. In response, the billionaire had pledged to protect the American gun owners’ right to keep and bear arms, assuring them that they now have a “true friend” in the White House.
Source: Presstv