New Zealand government to announce gun reforms within 10 days

New Zealand prime minister Jacinda Ardern says gun law reforms will be announced within 10 days following the Christchurch shootings that killed 50 people.

She said Cabinet ministers had met and made an in-principle decision to tighten gun ownership but details still need to be worked out. Ardern also announced an inquiry into the country’s intelligence services.

The Australian white supremacist charged in the massacre wasn’t detected before his well-planned attack on two mosques and there have been concerns intelligence agencies were overly focused on the Muslim community in detecting and preventing security risks.

Australia is making public grants available to help places of worship bolster security after an Australian white supremacist was accused of a terror attack in New Zealand.

READ: New Zealand Citizens Open To Gun Reform After Massacre

Aussie Prime Minister Scott Morrison says 55 million Australian dollars ($39 million) in total will be made available to add security video, fencing, lighting and alarms.

Morrison says religious freedom has to start with the right to worship and meet safely without fear of violence.

Australian Brenton Tarrant was charged with murder over the shootings at two mosques in Christchurch in which 50 people were killed. He grew up in the New South Wales town of Grafton and had lived in New Zealand in recent years.

Australian police have raided two homes in New South Wales state as part of the investigation into the New Zealand mosque shootings. Australian Brenton Tarrant has been charged with murder over the shootings in Christchurch on Friday, March 15.

Families of the 50 people killed in the Christchurch mosque shootings are enduring an increasingly agonizing wait for the bodies of victims to be released as New Zealand reels from the unprecedented tragedy.

Three days after Friday’s attack, New Zealand’s deadliest shooting in modern history, relatives were anxiously waiting for word on when they can bury their loved ones. Islamic tradition calls for bodies to be cleansed and buried as soon as possible after death.

Authorities say they hope to release all the bodies by Wednesday, March 20.