AP, Washington
President Barack Obama announced new steps on Friday to help curb gun violence, including by identifying the requirements that “smart guns” would have to meet for law enforcement agencies to buy and use them as well as sharing mental health records with the federal background check system.
Smart guns use various technologies to prevent an accidental shooting or help track down a missing gun.
Fire ravages mosque in France
AFP, Ajaccio (France)
A Muslim prayer hall on the French island of Corsica was ravaged by fire on Saturday in what prosecutors said was probably a criminal attack.
The blaze occurred just months after the island, popular with tourists for its turquoise waters and picturesque mountains, was rocked by anti-Arab riots over Christmas.
The building, one of the largest prayer halls in the capital Ajaccio, suffered major damage in the fire, said Abdallah Zekri, the head of the National Observatory Against Islamophobia.
Norway copter crash kills 11
AP, Copenhagen
A rescue official says 11 bodies have been found after the crash of a helicopter on an island off the coast of western Norway. Two people are still missing.
Jon Sjursoe, a spokesman for Norway’s Joint Rescue Coordination Center, said there were 11 Norwegian nationals, one Briton and one Italian on the Eurocopter EC-225 helicopter that crashed Friday, but he didn’t know which were among the confirmed victims.
Libya unity govt vows to end jihadist ‘scourge’
AFP, Tripoli
The head of Libya’s unity government has announced plans for a concerted campaign to drive the Islamic State group out of the North African country, but without foreign intervention.
In remarks marking almost 30 days since his arrival in Tripoli to assert the authority of the UN-backed Government of National Accord (GNA), Fayez al-Sarraj also appealed for a united Libya.
