ANKARA, Dec 24 (Reuters) - A private jet carrying the chief of staff of Libya’s army reported an electrical failure and requested an emergency landing shortly before crashing near Ankara, Turkey’s head of communications said on Wednesday.

The Dassault Falcon 50 jet took off from Ankara’s Esenboga Airport at 1717 GMT on Tuesday en route to Tripoli and at 1733 GMT it informed air traffic control of an emergency caused by an electrical malfunction, Burhanettin Duran said in a statement.

By Renju Jose

SYDNEY, Dec 24 (Reuters) - Australia's most populous state on Wednesday passed sweeping new gun and anti-terror laws following the recent mass shooting on Bondi Beach, tightening firearm ownership, banning public display of terrorist symbols and strengthening police power to curb protests.

The New South Wales state parliament passed the terrorism and other legislation amendment bill early morning after the upper house approved the bill by 18 votes to eight.

ANKARA, Dec 23 (Reuters) - The Libyan army's chief of staff, Mohammed Ali Ahmed Al-Haddad, died in a plane crash on Tuesday after leaving Turkey's capital Ankara, the prime minister of Libya's internationally recognised government said, adding that four others were on the jet as well.

"This followed a tragic and painful incident while they were returning from an official trip from the Turkish city of Ankara. This grave loss is a great loss for the nation, for the military institution, and for all the people," Libyan Prime Minister Abdulhamid Dbeibah said in a statement.

The head of Libya's armed forces and four other high ranking military officials died late Tuesday when their business jet crashed shortly after taking off from Ankara, officials in Turkey's capital and Tripoli said.

The wreckage of their Falcon 50 aircraft was located by Turkish security personnel in the Haymana district near Ankara, Turkish Interior Minister Ali Yerlikaya said. Three crew members were also killed.

Dec 23 (Reuters) - The United States and Iran traded barbs at the United Nations Security Council on Tuesday over conditions for reviving nuclear talks, with the U.S. saying it remains ready for direct negotiations and Iran rejecting Washington's terms.

The two countries held five rounds of nuclear talks prior to a 12-day war between Iran and Israel in June, which Washington joined by striking Iranian nuclear sites.

BELGRADE, Dec 23 (Reuters) - Montenegro on Tuesday revoked its decision to insist on visas for Turkish citizens and reintroduced a visa-free regime but for a shortened duration, citing improved cooperation with Turkish authorities.

Following violence triggered by the stabbing of a Montenegrin man in the capital Podgorica by a group of Turks, Montenegro in October suspended a regime that had allowed visa-free stays of up to 90 days for Turkish nationals.

London police on Tuesday arrested Swedish activist Greta Thunberg at a demonstration in support of pro-Palestinian hunger strikers, Palestinian campaign groups said.

Thunberg's arrest makes her the highest profile person to be detained by police since the government banned the Palestine Action group under anti-terror laws.

Prisoners for Palestine, which organised the protest, said in a statement that Thunberg was arrested under the UK Terrorism Act.

Thunberg, 22, was holding a sign reading: "I support the Palestine Action prisoners. I oppose genocide."

By Sam Tobin and Andy Bruce

LONDON, Dec 23 (Reuters) - Two men were found guilty on Tuesday of plotting to kill hundreds in an Islamic State-inspired gun rampage against the Jewish community in England, a planned attack investigators say demonstrates the resurgent risk posed by the militant group.

CAIRO, Dec 23 (Reuters) - Two vessels from CMA CGM, the world's third-largest container shipping line, have travelled through the Suez Canal, the authority that runs the waterway said on Tuesday, in a sign the disruptions linked to the Gaza war could be easing.

While the Suez Canal provides the fastest link between Asia and Europe, since November 2023, shipping companies have had to take much longer routes because Yemen's Iran-aligned Houthi militants attacked commercial vessels, saying they were acting in solidarity with Palestinians during warfare in Gaza.

Dec 23 (Reuters) - The Trump administration is not satisfied with the Rwanda-backed M23's withdrawal from a strategic town in eastern Congo, a senior U.S. official told Reuters, as residents reported persistent clashes nearby on Tuesday.

M23 seized the town of Uvira, near the border with Burundi, on December 10, days after Congolese President Felix Tshisekedi and Rwandan leader Paul Kagame met President Donald Trump in Washington and reaffirmed a U.S.-brokered peace deal.