World in brief: Sept. 17

America’s third Democratic debate ahead of the 2020 presidential nomination took place on Sept. 12, in Houston, Texas. Frontrunners Joe Biden, Elizabeth Warren, and Bernie Sanders featured among the top 10 candidates.
According to Reuters, access to better health care fuelled a heated conversation for the most part of the debate, alongside gun control. The latter topic resulted in one of the best moments of the evening, as candidate Beto O’Rourke shouted to the dynamic crowd “Hell yes, we’re going to take your AR-15, your AK-47. We’re not going to allow it to be used against our fellow Americans anymore.”

Still no lull in sight in the Hong Kong protests, as the 15th weekend of mass protests demands more autonomy from the Beijing government. The past months have seen the great capital crumble under tear gas and violent riots. Also known as the Anti-Extradition Bill protests, it erupted after the government introduced a bill that would make it possible for Hong Kong’s citizens to be deported to mainland China, where critics say they could face human right violations, reported the BBC. Even though the bill was withdrawn earlier this month, the protests are now calling for greater democracy and investigation into police brutality.

West African leaders announced an investment of a 1$ billion plan to fight armed groups and the Islamist threat in the Sahel region. According to Al Jazeera, the pledge was made on Sept.14, at the end of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) summit in Ouagadougou. The plan is to combat rising insecurity and terrorism, especially in Burkina Faso and Mali. During the Summit, Burkina Faso’s President Roch Marc Christian Kabore argued that “threats transcend borders. No country is safe,” and that “the escalation of violence has led to an unprecedented humanitarian crisis” in the Sahel.

 

Graphic by @sundaeghost

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