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The US National Rifle Association (NRA) has said it does not support any gun ban following a shooting in a Florida school that left 17 people dead.

The NRA’s comments appear to go against President Donald Trump’s proposals to tighten gun controls.

Since the 14 February attack on the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School the NRA has become a target of a campaign for tougher gun laws.

On Sunday, some students returned to the school for the first time. Accompanied by their parents, they were back for what the authorities in Parkland described as “orientation”. A variety of support services were available at the campus.

Students are preparing to return full-time to their classrooms on Wednesday.

Dana Loesch, a spokeswoman for the influential gun lobby group, told ABC News: “The NRA doesn’t back any ban.” She said the massacres like that in Florida were not caused by the NRA.

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Israel helped avert an alleged terror plot in Australia to bring down a plane last year, both nations have confirmed.

Last July, Australian police charged two brothers over an alleged plan to blow up an Etihad Airways flight travelling from Sydney to Abu Dhabi.

In a speech in Jerusalem on Wednesday, Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu credited his nation’s intelligence agencies with preventing “an unimaginable slaughter”. Authorities have said the alleged plot was linked to the Islamic State group.

At the time, Australian police said a home-made bomb, hidden inside a meat-grinder, was due to be carried on to a flight on 15 July but did not make it past security after the plan was aborted for an unknown reason.

Police said that when the bomb plot failed, the two suspects started on a second plot which involved creating an improvised chemical device designed to release hydrogen sulphide, or “rotten egg gas”.

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There has been an explosion at the US embassy in Montenegro, officials say.

An attacker threw an explosive device into the compound in the capital Podgorica at around midnight (23:00 GMT), before killing himself, the government announced.

Local media have named a Serbian-born local resident as a suspect, but this is unconfirmed by authorities.

The government said the device thrown was likely a hand grenade. No other injuries have been reported. The US embassy said all staff were safe following the incident. No-one has said what the motive could be.

Many people in the Balkans still have weapons like the hand grenade said to have been used in the attack – a legacy of the wars in the 1990s. The embassy and surrounding streets remain closed. But people working nearby say the police presence is small and the overall atmosphere in the city is calm.

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A letter sent to St James’s Palace containing a substance is being investigated by police.

The Met Police tested it and said it was not harmful. No arrests have been made and inquiries are ongoing.

The Evening Standard reports the letter was addressed to Prince Harry and his fiancée, Meghan Markle.

It was received on February 12 – the day before a package containing white powder was sent to the Palace of Westminster.

It is alleged the substance sent to St James’s Palace was also white powder. Officers are looking into whether or not the two packages are linked.

Police are also investigating an allegation of malicious communications in relation to the letter.

A doctor working in the Syrian rebel enclave of the Eastern Ghouta says the situation is “catastrophic” – and he believes the international community has abandoned the people living there.

“We don’t have anything – no food, no medicine, no shelter,” Dr Bassam said. “We don’t have bread. We don’t have anything.” “Maybe every minute we have 10 or 20 air strikes,” Dr Bassam said.

Three days of bombing in the area has reportedly killed nearly 300 people.

The Syrian military says it is trying to liberate the area from terrorists – but it has also been accused of targeting civilians. “They targeted everything: shops, markets, hospitals, schools, mosques, everything,” Dr Bassam said. “I will treat someone – and after a day or two they come again, injured again.” “Where is the international community, where is (the UN) Security Council… they abandoned us. They leave us to be killed,” he said.

Pro-government forces – backed by Russia – intensified their efforts to retake the last major rebel stronghold on Sunday night.

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