WELLINGTON: New Zealand’s government will overhaul the tighter gun laws introduced after a deadly mass shooting by a white supremacist five years ago, because they put excessive burdens on gun owners who feel vilified by law enforcement and the public, the lawmaker leading the changes said.
“What’s happened is a massive change with massive penalties and targets on people who didn’t do anything wrong,” Associate Justice Minister Nicole McKee — a lobbyist for gun owners before she entered Parliament in 2020 — told The Associated Press in an interview this week. Every part of the law will be scrutinized, including the restrictions that bar all but a few hundred New Zealanders from firing banned semiautomatic weapons, she said.
McKee’s pledge of a wide-ranging review — following an earlier announcement that she would ease rules for gun clubs — was applauded by groups representing the country’s 250,000 license holders and decried by survivors of the 2019 attack at two Christchurch mosques where an Australian man opened fire on Muslim worshippers, killing 51 people.
“It makes me scared for our futures,” Temel Ataçocuğu — who was shot nine times in the attack and fears an erosion of the assault weapon ban — told the AP. “What have the past five years been for? How are they going to prevent this from happening again?”
New Zealand drew global admiration when its then-Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern said six days after the massacre that her government would outlaw all semiautomatic weapons. The change was approved by 119 lawmakers with only one opposed, and sweeping reforms followed: bolstered licensing requirements, more rules for gun clubs, and the creation of a firearms registry.
The changes introduced “onerous regulatory compliance,” said McKee, whose political party, Act, campaigned for New Zealand’s 2023 election on a platform for reversing many of them. Now in government as part of a center-right coalition, McKee pledged to update the law before the next election in 2026.
Her bloc has enough lawmakers to easily pass any reforms in the face of any resistance from the parliamentary opposition.
“The changes we made off the back of March 15 took military-style semi-automatic weapons off the street and made our communities safer,” said Ginny Andersen, a lawmaker for Labour — the largest opposition party, previously led by Ardern. “Making those guns more accessible will take New Zealand backwards.”
McKee’s consultation was a “box ticking exercise, with a select group and a very short time for responses,” Andersen said in her emailed statement.
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon, whose party is in government with McKee’s, did not answer AP’s requests for comment.
McKee said she would consult with the public before deciding specific measures and that her personal views would not direct the overhaul. Critics rejected that.
“She was elected as a gun lobbyist, that was her role,” said Chris Cahill, president of the Police Association, a group representing most New Zealand officers. “She’s got a loyalty to the gun lobby groups.”
The review was “without a doubt, a backdoor into giving people access to semiautomatic assault rifles again,” Cahill said.
At the time of the ban, McKee denounced it as “knee-jerk.” As a minister she is more guarded, but told the AP that New Zealand had not been entirely rid of such weapons; several hundred people have permits to use them for pest control in rural areas, while others can own but not fire them.
“If we extend the access, what are the possible controls around the use of the extension? And would society be happy with what those controls mean?” McKee said she would ask during the review.
“It’s about how do we find the balance with protecting people but not going over the top with a regulatory regime,” she said. Any concerns raised by opponents should be “realistic,” McKee added. “It cannot be anecdotal.”
New Zealand’s gun laws were safer before the 2019 reforms, the minister said, citing the dozens of pages of information now required for a gun license as an example of changes that could deter gun owners’ compliance.
“That’s absolute rubbish,” said Cahill. Gun laws were “loose” before the attack, he added, and the scrutiny reported by owners in the years since reflected the proper administration of the law after an injection of government funds.
McKee will begin by examining the gun registry created after the attacks; some gun owners want it shrunk to only the highest-powered weapons, rather than all guns. She will also explore removing from police oversight the new agency that administers gun licenses and registrations.
Gun crime has increased in New Zealand since 2019, according to analysis of official crime figures by New Zealand news outlets. Supporters of the tighter restrictions say they will take time to have an impact, and that a burgeoning problem with violent gang crime is fueling the rise. McKee, and groups representing gun owners, say scrutiny since the attack has fallen on law-abiding license holders at the expense of criminals, who are not captured by the stricter rules.
The Council of Licensed Firearms Owners said members had lost or couldn’t obtain licenses because of malicious reports from past partners — who must be interviewed as part of a person’s application — or because they had divulged depression to their doctors. Areas of flexibility should be introduced to applications, spokesperson Hugh Devereux-Mack said.
“Every single New Zealander who is not convicted of a serious criminal offense and has no sort of problematic behaviors or serious mental health conditions is eligible to own a firearm,” Devereux-Mack said.
The gunman serving a life sentence for the Christchurch attack, Brenton Tarrant, moved to New Zealand from Australia, acquired a gun license and amassed a cache of assault weapons, all legally, without drawing the attention of law enforcement until he committed the massacre.
The police were censured by an inquiry that found Tarrant was incorrectly allowed to nominate a character reference who barely knew him because he did not have relatives in New Zealand who could be interviewed.
McKee said the rules that followed have made the system rigid and unwieldy. She would prefer a licensing regime “that looked at the individual,” she said — without prompting the same disregard of rules that had allowed Tarrant to receive a license.
Devereux-Mack said his group might support an additional practical testing component to gun licensing, and a tiered system with more freedoms for longtime license holders.
“New Zealand won’t be safer if it becomes easier to get a gun,” Ataçocuğu said. “I have to have an eye test every time I renew my drivers’ license. Gun owners should have similar background and mental health checks every few years to make sure they’re still safe to have guns.”
An ex-gun lobbyist is revising New Zealand’s gun laws, tightened after the 2019 mosque attack
https://arab.news/g5845
An ex-gun lobbyist is revising New Zealand’s gun laws, tightened after the 2019 mosque attack
- McKee, a former gun lobbyist, says she will examine all parts of the law, including restrictions on semiautomatic guns
From staff cuts to aid reductions, UN humanitarian agencies scramble in wake of US funding freeze
- Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has lamented the “severe cuts” and cited some fallout last week
- Here’s what some leading UN organizations have said about the impacts of the US foreign aid freeze and their response to it — so far
Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has lamented the “severe cuts” and cited some fallout last week: Over 9 million people in Afghanistan will miss out on health and protection services; cash allocations that helped 1 million people in Ukraine last year have been suspended; funding for programs for people fleeing Sudan have run out, among other things.
Many independent NGOs — some that work with the United Nations — have cited many project closures because of the US administration’s decision to eliminate more than 90 percent of foreign aid contracts, cut some $60 billion in funding, and terminate some 10,000 contracts worldwide involving the US Agency for International Development, USAID.
For their part, UN agencies have been scrambling to revise their operations, make strategic cuts, seek funding elsewhere, and appeal to the administration to restore US support. Some hope federal court rulings will salvage some US foreign aid outlays.
Here’s what some UN organizations say about the impact of the US funding freezes and their response to them — so far.
Less UN help for people on the move: Refugees and Migrants
UNHCR : The UN refugee agency, which got over 40 percent of its nearly $5 billion budget last year from the United States, told The Associated Press on Wednesday the pause in US funding allocations have affected operations and its “first cost saving efforts” will involve cutting $300 million in planned activities.
Some partners — UN organizations often rely on and fund outside groups — have pulled back or halted some activities that, for example, have led to suspended services for nearly 180,000 forcibly displaced women in girls in Central African Republic, Uganda and South Sudan. In Ethiopia, 200,000 forcibly displaced women and girls will be affected by the closure of services, it said.
“If new funding is not forthcoming soon, more cuts in direct life-saving assistance will be inevitable,” spokesman Matthew Saltmarsh said.
IOM: The International Organization for Migration, which is run by Amy Pope of the United States and got more than 40 percent of its $3.4 billion budget in 2023 from the US, said it was “acting accordingly” in response to the US order to pause foreign assistance funding that was affecting staff, operations and beneficiaries.
Devex, a news organization focusing on global development, reported last month that IOM sent dismissal notices to some 3,000 employees who had been working on a US resettlement program following the funding freezes. The agency declined to comment to the AP.
UN health agencies sound the alarm
WHO: The Trump administration has been especially tough with the World Health Organization. One of his earliest executive orders announced a US pullout from the UN health agency, which can’t take full effect until next January, as well as a recall of US staff working with WHO and funding pauses.
WHO says a global measles and rubella lab network is “at risk of collapse” because its cost of about $8 million a year is entirely funded by the US The funding cuts have affected the global response to mpox, and WHO has tapped its own emergency funds to fill gaps left in the response to Ebola in Uganda.
On Wednesday, WHO said US cuts in bilateral funding to fight tuberculosis will have a “devastating response on TB programs” — which the United States has generally contributed $200-$250 million to every year over the last decade.
UNAIDS : The AIDS-fighting agency said Wednesday that US funding has “served as the backbone” for HIV prevention in many countries hit hard by the virus. US funding amounts to 55 percent of the total AIDS budget in Uganda, and the funding freeze has led to the closure of drop-in centers and service points that provide antiretroviral therapy.
It said a rapid assessment estimated that 750,000 people in Haiti are affected by the US freeze, and 70 percent of the 181 total sites funded through the US President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief, or PEPFAR, had closed: “Patients have flooded the remaining sites, which are unable to meet the increased demand.”
A “large portion” of PEPFAR-funded staff working on HIV response in South Africa will be affected because dozens of USAID implementing partners received termination letters last week, UNAIDS said.
At a regular briefing Thursday, UN spokesman Stephane Dujarric highlighted the impact of funding cuts on Afghanistan alone, saying more than 200 health facilities have closed — depriving 1.8 million people from essential health services in the country.
Unlocking aid from UN coffers
OCHA: The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs said Thursday it was releasing $110 million from its emergency response fund to help address underfunded crises in Africa, Asia and Latin America.
Tom Fletcher, the UN humanitarian chief who heads the office, told the Security Council on Thursday the US funding cuts to foreign aid amounted to “body blow to our work to save lives.”
He said he had asked partners to provide lists of areas where they have to cut back.
“It is of course for individual countries to decide how to spend their money. But it is the pace at which so much vital work has been shut down that adds to the perfect storm that we face,” Fletcher said.
Russian strikes kill 12 in eastern Ukraine
- A Russian assault hit the center of Dobropillia in Ukraine’s Donetsk region late Friday, killing 11 people and wounding 30
- Russia’s defense ministry confirmed earlier Friday it had carried out “precision” strikes on energy facilities
KYIV: Russian strikes overnight had killed at least 12 people in eastern Ukraine as of Saturday morning, the country’s emergency service said, days ahead of talks in Saudi Arabia between US and Ukrainian negotiators aimed at a truce.
A Russian assault hit the center of Dobropillia in Ukraine’s Donetsk region late Friday, killing 11 people and wounding 30, according to the emergency service.
Separately, one person was killed in a drone attack and seven others wounded early Saturday in the city of Bogodukhiv, said Kharkiv region military head Oleg Synegubov.
The overnight air raids come after US President Donald Trump threatened new sanctions and tariffs on Russia but said it may be “easier” to work with Moscow than Kyiv on efforts to end the three-year war.
After Trump publicly berated Ukrainian leader Volodymyr Zelensky during a White House meeting and suspended US aid to Kyiv in a stated bid to encourage diplomacy, the US president told reporters Friday that he trusted Russian President Vladimir Putin.
“I’m finding it more difficult frankly to deal with Ukraine and they don’t have the cards,” Trump said. “It may be easier dealing with Russia.”
The remarks followed Trump earlier Friday threatening new sanctions and tariffs on Russia over its bombardments of Ukraine — his warning coming just hours after Moscow launched a “massive” drone and missile attack on Ukrainian energy facilities.
“Based on the fact that Russia is absolutely ‘pounding’ Ukraine on the battlefield right now, I am strongly considering large scale Banking Sanctions, Sanctions, and Tariffs on Russia until a Cease Fire and FINAL SETTLEMENT AGREEMENT ON PEACE IS REACHED,” Trump wrote on his Truth Social platform.
“To Russia and Ukraine, get to the table right now, before it is too late,” he added.
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio also spoke with his Ukrainian counterpart, Andrii Sybiha, on the phone Friday.
On the call, Rubio underscored Trump’s goal of ending the three-year war quickly, and emphasized that “all sides must take steps to secure a sustainable peace,” State Department spokesperson Tammy Bruce said in a statement.
’Interested in peace’
Zelensky is due to land in Saudi Arabia on Monday for talks with Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman.
The meeting is a day before Ukrainian officials are expected to hold fresh talks with their US counterparts on Tuesday in the kingdom.
After his meeting with Prince Mohammed, Zelensky said his team “will remain in Saudi Arabia to work with our American partners.”
“Ukraine is most interested in peace,” he added.
Earlier on Friday, he renewed calls for a mutual halt to aerial attacks on critical infrastructure following the recent Russian barrage.
The Ukrainian leader said the first steps to establishing real peace should be stopping both Russian and Ukrainian aerial and naval attacks.
This latest proposal builds on growing rhetoric from Kyiv, Washington and Moscow on halting the war.
The Kremlin has previously ruled out a temporary ceasefire in Ukraine.
Moscow’s defense ministry said Saturday its air defense systems destroyed 31 Ukrainian drones over the past night, with most over the territory of Krasnodar Krai.
A Ukrainian drone attack also targeted Russia’s Kirishi oil refinery, with air defense forces shooting down one drone on approach and another over the territory of the facility, Leningrad governor Aleksandr Drozdenko wrote in a post, adding that the “external structure of one of the reservoirs was damaged by falling debris.”
A civilian was wounded by a drone attack in Belgorod district near the border, Belgorod governor Vyacheslav Gladkov wrote on Telegram.
Talks on track
Russia’s defense ministry confirmed earlier Friday it had carried out “precision” strikes on energy facilities.
The Ukrainian air force said it had deployed French Mirage fighter jets — delivered to Ukraine last month — for the first time to repel the aerial onslaught.
DTEK, the largest private energy supplier in Ukraine, said its facilities in the Black Sea region of Odesa had been targeted for a fourth night.
Its gas facilities in the central Poltava region had “ceased operations” after being struck in the overnight attack, it added.
State gas company Naftogaz said its production facilities had been damaged.
Ukraine’s energy minister German Galushchenko said Russia was trying to “hurt ordinary Ukrainians by shelling energy and gas production facilities.”
The latest air raids came after EU leaders, shaken by the prospect of US disengagement, agreed to boost the bloc’s defenses.
Washington, however, has said talks with Kyiv were back on track to secure a ceasefire with Moscow — after the public falling out between Trump and Zelensky.
US envoy Steve Witkoff said he would speak to Ukrainian negotiators about an “initial ceasefire” with Russia and a “framework” for a longer agreement at the talks in Saudi Arabia.
A resort entirely staffed and run by women in Sri Lanka seeks to break gender barriers
- The resort opened in January and has been seen as a move unlocking women’s potential and driving the tourism economy in the debt-stricken nation
DAMBULLA: After leaving school, Jeewanthi Adikari was determined to pursue her studies in accounting. But her life took a different path when she began a three-month training program in hospitality.
She has since worked in different hotels in a career spanning over two decades. Now 42, she is in charge of Sri Lanka’s first resort fully operated and managed by women. It’s an attempt to address gender disparities in a male-dominated tourism sector crucial for the country’s economic recovery after a major crisis.
“This is a place where women can realize their potential. They will not be inside the shell. Instead, they will come out and try to perform better,” said Adikari, who oversees the daily operations of Amba Yaalu, a resort located in Dambulla city that serves as a gateway to most of Sri Lanka’s tourist attractions.
Most Sri Lankan women don’t get a chance to work in the tourism industry, earn money and own a career. In a country where 52 percent of the 22 million people are women, they account for only about 10 percent of the 200,000-strong workforce in the hospitality sector.
Amba Yaalu wants to be the driver of change
Some 160 kilometers (100 miles) northeast of Colombo, the resort is nestled in a mango plantation and all work is managed by 75 women staff who garden, work in the kitchens, clean the facility, address the guests and provide security in form of seven ex-military members. The resort’s facilities also include training programs for women to develop their skills in different areas of hospitality.
The resort opened in January and has been seen as a move unlocking women’s potential and driving the tourism economy in the debt-stricken nation.
The idea was conceived by seasoned hotelier Chandra Wickramasinghe, who said he was “inspired by the power of women,” especially that of his mother who raised him and and his seven siblings as a single parent.
“I knew what these ladies can do. I got the idea and put my team to work on it. We got a strong team to run it and it worked very well,” said Wickramasinghe, adding that the resort would enable women to thrive as leaders.
Social stigma, language barrier, work-life balance, lack of training facilities and low salaries have long kept majority of Sri Lankan women away from the hospitality industry, especially those in the rural areas, said Suranga Silva, professor of tourism economics in the University of Colombo.
Much of this stems from a patriarchal structure and traditional gender roles deeply embedded in Sri Lanka’s society, even though many women have made their mark in the country’s politics and have held key positions in the government. The island nation’s current prime minister, Harini Amarasuriya, is a woman.
“Tourism industry can’t be isolated from women,” said Silva, adding that women employment in Sri Lanka’s tourism is very low compared to the global and regional levels.
Lack of women professionals
Sri Lanka’s tourism and hospitality sector contributed 2.3 percent to the country’s economy in 2023 — down from 5 percent in 2018 — and the industry has traditionally been the country’s third largest foreign exchange earner. But the shortage of skilled women and some of them leaving jobs after getting married have challenges faced by the industry since the 2019 Easter Sunday bombings and the coronavirus pandemic.
Kaushalya Batagoda, the executive chef at the resort, said the industry faces a shortage of female professionals to serve in the kitchen and as a result, most the staff recruited to the resort’s kitchen were freshers who are still in training.
“But, the new generation has a passion for working in the kitchen,” she said, adding that she gets a lot of applications from women seeking jobs in the kitchen.
The resort has been lauded by women rights activists who have long been concerned about limited career choices of women and their mobility in Sri Lanka.
Women rights activist Sepali Kottegoda said such business enterprises can “open up more safe employment opportunities for women.”
Silva, the professor, said that “a dramatic change” is taking place as more young women are eager to join the industry, but suggested that the government and the sector must jointly provide training programs for women to improve their skills and employability.
At Amba Yaalu resort, some of these concerns are already being tackled.
“This is purely to empower women,” Adikari said. “We invite women to come and join us, see whether they can perform better in the career, sharpen their capacities and skills and contribute to the industry.”
At least 12 injured in shooting at pub in Toronto, police says
- Suspect remained at large and police said they did not have a description shortly after the shooting
TORONTO: At least 12 people were injured in a shooting at a pub in Toronto and the suspect remained at large, police said early on Saturday.
Four victims had non-life-threatening injuries and the extent of injuries to the rest was not known, the police said in a post on X that did not describe the suspect.
“I am deeply troubled to hear reports of a shooting at a pub in Scarborough,” Toronto Mayor Olivia Chow posted on X, adding that the police chief had assured her “all necessary resources have been deployed.”
Toronto paramedics told Canada’s CP24 Media the injuries ranged from minor to critical.
Congo refugees pour into Burundi, conditions dire, says UN
- Conditions extremely harsh at Rugombo stadium, UN says
- Pro-government fighters in Congo Pro-govt fighters kill 35 civilians
GENEVA: Conflict in Congo has sent 63,000 refugees fleeing to neighboring Burundi in its largest such influx in decades, with conditions dire at a crammed stadium camp and many stuck in fields outside, the UN said on Friday.
About 45,000 displaced people are sheltering in a crowded open-air stadium in Rugombo, a few km (miles) from the border with Democratic Republic of Congo where the Congolese army and M23 rebel group are fighting.
“The situation is absolutely dire. Conditions are extremely harsh,” Faith Kasina, the regional spokesperson for East and Horn of Africa and Great Lakes, told reporters in Geneva.
“The stadium is literally bursting at its seams and there is no additional space for shelter.”
Sanitary conditions inside the stadium are said to be poor with only 10 to 15 stalls of latrines for tens of thousands of people. Many families are being forced to camp in open fields nearby, according to the agency.
“Numbers keep swelling, it’s a race against time to try and save lives,” said Kasina, adding that the needs are fast outpacing the aid being provided.
The refugees include a large number of unaccompanied children separated from their families, the agency says.
On 21 February, UNHCR told a press briefing in Geneva that it would seek to move people from the stadium. However logistical challenges mean it takes six to eight hours to move large numbers of people to the Musenyi refugee site in southern Burundi. That site, which can host 10,000 people, is now 60 percent full, according to the agency.
The agency has urged countries to contribute to its emergency appeal for $40.4 million for lifesaving help to support the potential influx of 258,000 refugees into Burundi, Tanzania and Zambia.
The M23 advance is the gravest escalation in more than a decade of the long-running conflict in eastern Congo, rooted in the spillover of Rwanda’s 1994 genocide into Congo and the struggle for control of Congo’s vast mineral resources.
Rwanda rejects allegations by Congo, the United Nations and Western powers that it supports M23 with arms and troops. It says it is defending itself against the threat from a Hutu militia, which it says is fighting with the Congolese military.
Burundi has had its own soldiers in eastern Congo for years, initially to hunt down Burundian rebels there, but more recently, to aid in the fight against M23.
Pro-govt fighters kill 35 civilians
Meanwhile, at least 35 people were killed when pro-government militia attacked a village in the restive eastern DRC, local and security sources said on Friday.
The attack happened at about 3:00 am (0100 GMT) Thursday in the village of Tambi, in the Masisi area of North Kivu province controlled by the M23 armed group.
A security source told AFP that at least 35 people were killed in the attack, while local sources and an eyewitness put the death toll at more than 40.
A community leader and a medical source said villagers had recently returned to the area after having fled fighting between the M23 and the Congolese army and local militia.
“The ‘wazalendo’ (patriots in Swahili) militia went to attack Tambi where residents had started to return... they opened fire and civilians were killed,” said one community leader, who said 43 people died.
“They put some victims in a church and then shot them. Those who were in the fields were killed there.”
The community leader, a local health worker and a local resident said another group of civilians sought refuge in a house and died when the militia set it on fire.
“We counted 47 bodies in the morning,” the resident said, adding that they were buried in a communal grave.
Some of the victims were unable to be identified because of their burns, he added.
Different groups make up the militia, which has fought alongside the Congolese army against the M23. Their fighters are often accused of attacking civilians.
The M23, which according to UN experts is backed by some 4,000 Rwandan soldiers, is also accused of abuses.
The armed group resumed its fight against the government in Kinshasa in 2021 and has since seized swathes of territory in North Kivu, which borders Rwanda.
A lightning offensive in recent weeks has seen it capture the provincial capital, Goma, and Bukavu, the main city in the neighboring province of South Kivu.
The DRC’s mineral-rich east has been ravaged for three decades by conflict and atrocities.
