News In Brief

New Zealand gun owners stage protest over tighter controls
Reuters, Melbourne
A group of about 50 New Zealand firearm owners protested further gun reforms on Saturday, sounding a note of discord over the tightening of the country’s gun laws after the mass shooting in Christchurch in March that killed 51 Muslim worshippers.
Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern’s efforts on gun control have gained global praise, but at home – with a general election next scheduled for year – she has faced resistance from the federal opposition National Party, gun lobby groups and ordinary citizens over planned legislation introduced in September.

Malta PM expected to resign over
journalist murder
Reuters, Valletta
Malta’s Prime Minister Joseph Muscat has told associates he plans to resign over the political and legal crisis stemming from the murder of journalist Daphne Caruana Galizia, the Times of Malta reported on Friday.
Muscat’s spokesman would neither confirm nor deny the report. His Labour Party cancelled an event scheduled for Sunday at which Muscat was set to speak.

Taliban wants to start peace talks with US
Reuters, Kabul
The Taliban said on Friday they were ready to restart peace talks with the United States, a day after President Donald Trump visited US troops in Afghanistan and said he believed the radical group would agree to a ceasefire.
Trump’s surprise Thanksgiving Day visit was his first to Afghanistan since becoming president and came a week after a prisoner swap between Washington and Kabul that raised hopes for a long elusive peace deal to end the 18-year war.

Israeli army kills Gaza teen
AP, Gaza City
Israeli troops shot dead a Palestinian teen Friday near the Gaza-Israel frontier and Palestinian militants fired a rocket into southern Israel in the evening, apparently in response to the fatal shooting.
The Israeli military said a projectile had been fired from Gaza but there were no reports of casualties or damage. In response, Israeli aircraft struck a vacant training site for Hamas, the militant Islamic group ruling Gaza.