By Tarek Amara

TUNIS, Dec 17 (Reuters) - Tunisian President Kais Saied's ​supporters rallied in the capital on ​Wednesday calling the opposition "traitors", following mounting street protests in recent ⁠weeks that have highlighted widening political divisions.

The rival rallies come amid a deepening economic crisis marked by high inflation, ​shortages of some basic goods and poor public ‍services, which have fuelled public ​anger.

By Michael Georgy

DUBAI, Dec 17 (Reuters) - The shooting attack at a Jewish Hanukkah event at Sydney's Bondi Beach put ​the spotlight on Islamic State, which police said appeared to ​inspire the gunmen.

The men accused of carrying out Australia’s worst mass shooting in nearly 30 years had spent time in the Philippines, ⁠where Islamic State-linked networks are known to operate.

WHAT IS ISLAMIC STATE?

The Sunni Muslim group emerged in Iraq and Syria and quickly created a "caliphate", declaring its rule over all Muslims and largely displacing al Qaeda.

By Byron Kaye

SYDNEY, Dec 17 (Reuters) - After Australia's deadliest mass shooting in 1996, the country rushed in some of the world's toughest gun laws, including mandatory licensing and background checks, as well as registration of ​every firearm.

But a winding back of those laws, failure to update them with the internet age and growing ​complacency with background checks may have made it easier for two suspects behind Sunday's shooting during a Hanukkah celebration at Sydney's Bondi Beach to acquire weapons, gun safety experts said.

SYDNEY, Dec ​17 (Reuters) - ​Police ⁠in Australia said on ​Wednesday ‍they had ​charged a man ⁠who allegedly opened fire on a ​Jewish ⁠event ⁠on Sydney's Bondi Beach ‌with 59 ​offences, including a terror ‍charge.

(Reporting by ‌Alasdair ‌Pal in Sydney; Editing by ⁠Jacqueline Wong)

SYDNEY, Dec ​17 (Reuters) - ​The Australian ⁠state parliament of New ​South ‍Wales will ​reconvene next week to ⁠discuss urgent legislation on gun control in ​the wake ⁠of ⁠the deadly Bondi shootings ‌and consider ​protest reforms, Premier Chris Minns ‍said on Wednesday.

(Reporting ‌by ‌Christine Chen in Sydney; Editing by ⁠Jacqueline Wong)

The Eurovision Song Contest heads into its 70th anniversary edition next year mired in its biggest-ever political boycott, with five countries staying away over Israel's participation.

Eurovision organisers announced Monday that 35 countries would take part in the world's biggest live televised music event in May -- the fewest since entry was expanded in 2004.

The number would have been even lower, but for Bulgaria, Romania and Moldova rejoining the glitzy annual extravaganza.

Once the lights go up in Vienna, Eurovision 2026 may look very much like a regular edition.

Dec 17 (Reuters) - Among the 15 victims of a mass shooting at Australia's Bondi Beach targeting an event for the Jewish festival of Hanukkah were two who tried to thwart the attack, and others who ​died shielding friends and family, according to family members, officials and local media reports.

By Asif Shahzad and Ariba Shahid

ISLAMABAD, Dec 17 (Reuters) - Pakistan's most powerful military chief in decades faces the toughest test of his newly ​amassed powers as Washington pushes Islamabad to contribute troops to the ​Gaza stabilisation force, a move analysts say could spark domestic backlash.

Field Marshal Asim Munir is expected to fly to Washington to meet President Donald Trump in ⁠the coming weeks for a third meeting in six months that will likely focus on the Gaza force, two sources told Reuters, one of them a key player in the general's economic diplomacy.

US President Donald Trump on Tuesday sharply expanded a travel ban by barring people from seven more countries including Syria, as well as Palestinian Authority passport holders, from entering the United States.

The latest move brings to nearly 40 the number of countries whose citizens face restrictions in coming to the United States solely by virtue of nationality, with Trump also tightening rules for routine travel from Western nations.

Six members of Canada's parliament travelling from Jordan were denied entry to the occupied West Bank on Tuesday by Israeli authorities who accused the delegation of being sponsored by "a terror entity."

Jenny Kwan, an opposition lawmaker with Canada's left-wing New Democratic Party, told AFP that one MP, Iqra Khalid of Prime Minister Mark Carney's Liberal Party, was "pushed multiple times" by an Israeli border officer.

The lawmakers were on a trip sponsored by Canadian-Muslim Vote, a charity group.