SYDNEY — Tougher hate speech and gun control laws proposed by Australia’s center-left Labor government in the aftermath of the Bondi Beach mass shooting were criticized by conservative opposition parties on Thursday. 

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has recalled Parliament from its summer break to sit next Monday and Tuesday with the hope that a combined bill that authorizes a gun buyback and lowers the bar for hate speech prosecutions can be passed. 

On Thursday, Liberal Party leader Sussan Ley said the bill was “unsalvageable” after prominent conservative lawmakers said it threatened free speech and religious freedom.

The Dec. 14 shooting in Sydney that killed 15 people at a Hanukkah celebration sparked nationwide calls to tackle antisemitism. Police say the alleged gunmen were inspired by the Islamic State militant group.

Ms. Ley criticized the bill for not targeting “radical Islamic extremist hate preaching without impinging on free speech.”

The bill exempts preachers who quote from or discuss religious texts, which the Executive Council of Australian Jewry said could pose a loophole that allows antisemitism.

The National Party, which partners with the Liberals in a conservative coalition, has also criticized the government for combining gun control measures, which it opposed, and hate speech in the same bill.

“This should have been a moment of national unity,” Mr. Albanese said in an Australian Broadcasting Corporation radio interview on Thursday.

The government is prepared to consider amendments to the bill, he added.

Labor holds a majority in the lower house of Parliament and is likely to negotiate with the Greens party for support for the bill in the Senate.

Home Affairs Minister Tony Burke said since the draft law was released, a neo-Nazi group that was flagged as a concern by intelligence agencies disbanded this week to avoid prosecution, which he said showed the effectiveness of the bill. In addition, a Muslim prayer hall in Sydney linked to a cleric who was found by a court to have made intimidating statements about Jewish people said it would shut down.

An expert in constitutional law, Anne Twomey, said the proposed law could be challenged in the High Court for impinging on political communication.

The proposed offense of promoting racial hatred carries a five-year prison sentence.

Daniel Aghion, president of the Executive Council of Australian Jewry, said the reform would make it easier to prosecute hate crimes because incitement of an audience would no longer need to be proved in court.

In a statement, the council said the bill should be passed, even though it had “serious shortcomings.” — Reuters

PARIS — President Emmanuel Macron convened an emergency defense cabinet in Paris on Thursday to discuss US President Donald’s Trump’s stated intent to acquire Greenland and the forceful crackdown on nationwide protests in Iran.

In an overnight message on X, Mr. Macron said a first group of French military personnel were already headed to Greenland to participate in an exercise organized by Denmark and Greenland, an overseas Danish territory.

The crisis meeting, confirmed by a French official, was scheduled to begin at 0700 GMT.

Allied nations including Germany, Norway, and Sweden have begun deploying troops to Greenland in a show of support to Copenhagen and Nuuk.

The deployment follows a high-stakes meeting between US, Danish, and Greenlandic officials, indicated that there were still fundamental, if not intractable, differences between how Washington, Copenhagen, and Nuuk see the island’s future.

“At Denmark’s request, I have decided that France will participate in the joint exercises organized by Denmark in Greenland,” Macron said in his X post. “The first French military elements are already en route. Others will follow.”

Those deploying to Greenland were mountain specialists, Olivier Poivre d’Arvor, France’s ambassador to the Poles told France Info. The first batch numbered about 15 and were helping prepare the exercise dubbed Operation Arctic Endurance, he said.

Mr. Macron is due to deliver a New Year’s address to the armed forces later on Thursday. — Reuters

BANGKOK — A crane collapsed onto a road near Thailand’s capital on Thursday, crushing two vehicles and killing two people a day after a similar accident in the northeast caused the derailing of a train and the deaths of 32 passengers.

Thailand’s transport minister said construction firm Italian-Thai Development, whose crane fell onto the train in northeastern Nakhon Ratchasima province a day earlier, was also involved in the crane accident near Bangkok.

Thursday’s incident took place in Samut Sakhon province, where the crane, which was being used in building an elevated highway, fell onto the road beneath and crushed two cars, according to local police, who said two people were also injured.

SERIES OF FATAL CONSTRUCTION ACCIDENTS
It was the latest in a series of fatal accidents caused by construction projects in Thailand, several involving Italian-Thai, including the collapse of a partially-built Bangkok tower last year that killed at least 89 people during a 7.7-magnitude earthquake and led to charges of negligence against 23 people, its president among those.

Italian-Thai declined to immediately comment on the latest incident and did not immediately respond to an email seeking comment.

Images from the scene showed a mangled green crane and huge pieces of concrete that had crushed the vehicles below. Video from news outlet Thai Rath showed cars reversing to avoid the wreckage amid a cloud of dust from the collapsed concrete.

Thai Prime Minister Anutin Charnvirakul, who was once president of his family’s construction firm Sino-Thai Engineering & Construction, said two incidents showed it was time for more action to ensure safety.

“We have to fix the law,” said Mr. Anutin, who had visited the site of the train disaster in the northeast on Wednesday.

“Instead of telling agencies to do this or that, we have to have a meeting and we will have to do something.”

Thailand, Southeast Asia’s second-biggest economy, has been undergoing significant infrastructure development, from elevated highways and high-speed rail lines to major expansion of its elevated rail network in Bangkok.

‘OVER AND OVER AGAIN’
Transport Minister Phiphat Ratchakitprakarn said it was crucial to determine whether these were caused by accidents or other factors.

“The incident happened over and over again. It was caused by the same contractor,” he said during a talk show interview with Channel 3 television, referring to Italian-Thai.

“I am confused about what is happening to the company.”

Authorities said an investigation into Wednesday’s accident in the northeast was ongoing.

As well as the 32 fatalities, 66 of the 195 passengers on the train were also injured after a crane involved in building structures for an elevated high-speed rail project collapsed onto an existing train line below.

The cross-country high-speed rail project will connect to China through Laos. The government said last year that more than a third of construction had been completed in the segment connecting Bangkok to Nakhon Ratchasima, with the whole line to Nong Khai at the border with Laos ready by 2030.

Italian-Thai, a firm founded in 1958 by Italian and Thai partners, in a statement said it accepted responsibility for compensating families of those impacted by the train derailment. — Reuters

MOSCOW — Russia on Thursday expelled a British diplomat who it said was an undeclared officer in Britain’s intelligence services, and warned London that Moscow would not tolerate such espionage activities on its territory.

The FSB, the main successor to the Soviet-era KGB, named the British diplomat, a second secretary at the Moscow embassy, and said he was working undercover for Britain’s spy service. Russian media carried pictures of the diplomat.

Russia said he has been given two weeks to leave Russia. Britain’s Foreign Office did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Russia’s foreign ministry summoned Britain’s charge d’affaires in Russia, Danae Dholakia, to issue a formal protest about the situation.

“It was again stressed that Moscow would not tolerate the activities of undeclared British intelligence officers in Russia,” the foreign ministry said in a statement.

“A warning was also issued that if London escalates the situation, the Russian side will give a decisive ‘mirror’ response,” it said.

Protesters at the foreign ministry chanted anti-British slogans in front of the British diplomatic car carrying the charge d’affaires.

Amid the war in Ukraine, Russia and the West have repeatedly accused each other of unfurling espionage campaigns of an intensity not seen since the depths of the Cold War.

Russia says that the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), Britain’s Secret Intelligence Service, known as MI6, and France’s DGSE have all stepped up attempts to steal secrets, recruit Russians and sow discord inside Russia.

Western European spy chiefs say that the FSB, Russia’s SVR foreign intelligence service and the GRU military intelligence service have mounted major cyber attacks and sabotage campaigns across the Western world, something Moscow denies. — Reuters