President Joe Biden has vowed to take “common-sense steps” to crack down on firearms following two mass shootings in the US in less than a week. He renewed his call to ban assault weapons and high-capacity magazines and urged Congress to pass bills that would end loopholes in background checks.

Mr Biden was speaking a day after 10 people were shot dead in a Colorado grocery store. Eight people were killed inside spas in Georgia last week. But the president has an uphill task. The right to bear arms is protected by the Second Amendment to the US Constitution. While Democrats have called for stricter gun control measures in the aftermath of mass shootings, many conservatives, including former President Donald Trump, see any restrictions as infringing on this constitutional right. “I don’t need to wait another minute, let alone an hour, to take common-sense steps that will save the lives in the future, and to urge my colleagues in the House and Senate to act,” Mr Biden said at the White House on Tuesday. He pointed to the fact that, as a senator, he helped bring in a ban on assault weapons in 1994, which expired a decade later. “It brought down these mass killings. We should do it again,” he said.

A seven-year-old girl has been shot dead in Myanmar, becoming the youngest known victim in the crackdown following last month’s military coup. Khin Myo Chit’s family told the BBC she was killed by police while she ran towards her father, during a raid on their home in the city of Mandalay. Myanmar’s military has been increasing its use of force as protests continue.  Rights group Save the Children says more than 20 children are among dozens of people who have been killed. In total, the military says 164 people have been killed in protests, while the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners (AAPP) activist group puts the death toll at at least 261.

The military on Tuesday expressed sadness at the death of protesters, while blaming them for bringing anarchy and violence to the country. But security forces have used live rounds against protesters, and there have been multiple eyewitness reports of people being beaten and sometimes shot as the military conducts house raids to arrest activists and protesters.(BBC)…[+]

A giant container ship the length of four football pitches has become wedged across Egypt’s Suez Canal, blocking traffic in one of the world’s busiest trade routes. Dozens of vessels are stuck, waiting for rescue boats to free the 400m-long (1,312ft) ship, which was knocked off course by strong winds. Egypt has reopened the canal’s older channel to divert some traffic until the grounded ship can move again. The mishap has created long tailbacks. About 12% of global trade passes through the Suez Canal, which connects the Mediterranean to the Red Sea and provides the shortest sea link between Asia and Europe. The Ever Given, registered in Panama, was bound for the port city of Rotterdam in the Netherlands from China and was passing northwards through the canal on its way to the Mediterranean. The 200,000 tonne ship, built in 2018 and operated by Taiwanese transport company Evergreen Marine, ran aground and became lodged sideways across the waterway at about 07:40 local time (05:40 GMT) on Tuesday. At 400m long and 59m wide, the ship has blocked the path of other vessels which are now trapped in lines in both directions.(BBC)…[+]