Australian citizen Brenton Tarrant, 28, faces an additional 51 charges of murder and 40 of attempted murder for the March attack which was New Zealand's worst mass shooting in modern history, New Zealand police said in a statement Tuesday.
A Turkish citizen died in hospital earlier this month, bringing the total death toll to 51.
Tarrant, who allegedly wrote an anti-immigrant, anti-Muslim manifesto, also faces one charge under the Terrorism Suppression Act 2002, the first time anyone has been prosecuted under the act, a police spokesperson confirmed to CNN.
The charge of committing a terrorist act carries a possible life sentence.
Andrew Geddis, a law professor at New Zealand's Otago University, said that if Tarrant was convicted, the additional terrorism charge wouldn't result in a heavier punishment. Instead, the charge was about labeling the alleged shooter's action as terrorism.
"It's using the legal process to send a message," he said.
Following the shooting on March 15, New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern said: "It is clear that this can only be described as a terrorist attack."
New Zealand's terrorism law was introduced in 2002 in the wake of the 9/11 attacks.
Police referred to the Act in search warrants for 2007 raids in the Te Urewera ranges, a rugged, sparsely populated area of the North Island where police believed Maori terrorists were running military-style training camps as part of a plot to bomb Parliament.
Ultimately none of the people arrested in the raid faced charges under the act as the Solicitor-General found the evidence was insufficient.
AMIENS, France (Reuters) - In Emmanuel Macron’s hometown of Amiens, it’s hard to find enthusiasm for either the French president or the European Union, less than a week before European parliament elections.
A woman walks past official European election posters in a street in Amiens, France, May 16, 2019. Picture taken May 16, 2019. REUTERS/Pascal Rossignol
Blue-collar workers on its outskirts are tempted by protest votes, while a disillusioned, conservative middle-class in its pretty center is contemplating other right-leaning candidates or not even voting at all, spelling bad news for the president in his battle against the far-right.
“We’ve been abandoned,” Antonio Abrunhosa, 49, a former welder, told Reuters on the deserted parking lot of the former Whirlpool tumble-dryer factory.
It was at the plant in the 2017 presidential election campaign that Macron tried to convince workers angered about the plant’s relocation to Poland that far-right leader Marine Le Pen’s protectionist, Eurosceptic views were misguided.
Two years on, only a fraction of the former workers have been taken on by the plant’s new owner, and resentment at both the European Union and Macron is building.
Abrunhosa, a unionist who was born in Portugal, says the European project was a good thing, but that competition with low-paid eastern European workers was killing what’s left of France’s industrial heritage.
“That’s what Europe has become. Even the dumbest of idiots can understand it’s better to hire in Poland than here. It’s going haywire,” said Abrunhosa, whose job application was declined by the new buyer because he was “too qualified”.
With five days to go before French voters elect their representatives for the 751-seat European parliament, the election is becoming both a referendum on Macron’s first two years in power and a vote of confidence in the EU.
A fervent Europhile, Macron is hoping to convince the French he can reform the EU into a bloc that better protects its workers, its borders and the environment, though he has had to dilute his ambition on matters such as euro zone reform.
SHATTERED HOPE
But even in the pretty city center of his hometown, where concerns abound over closing factories on the outskirts and public sector job cuts, the argument is falling flat.
Many middle-class voters feel Macron did not live up to his promise of re-energising the economy and cleaning up politics.
The ‘yellow vest’ crisis, which started as a revolt against high fuel prices and turned into a broader challenge to his presidency, has dented his appeal among center-right voters who hoped he would mark a clear break from years of stagnation.
“We had hope in Macron, like a lot of people here. He was young, dynamic and he wasn’t a career politician,” said Frederic Dupont, a 41-year-old government worker who identifies as right-wing.
“With the yellow vests, his whole program was derailed, he’s more reacting than acting now,” he said, adding that he and his wife Marie-Christine would not bother voting this time.
A few steps from the chocolatier owned by Brigitte Macron’s family, a couple of pensioners said they were still hesitating whether to vote for Macron or another candidate. “We don’t know yet - we’ll decide at the last minute,” said Bernard Lemaire.
Whether these conservative voters, in mid-size cities such as Amiens, Reims or Angers targeted by Macron to expand his centrist base, turn out to vote, abstain, or opt for another candidate, will be pivotal to the vote’s outcome, analysts say.
Few of these will vote for Le Pen’s National Rally party, which can count on a strong core of working-class voters but is struggling to make inroads with wealthier ones. But the candidate for the traditional center-right party, Francois-Xavier Bellamy of The Republicans, is proving tougher competition than expected for Macron’s Republic On the Move.
The candidate Macron picked as his campaign flagbearer, European affairs minister Nathalie Loiseau, whose conservative background was meant to attract the center-right, also made a series of gaffes that have weighed in the polls.
“This issue will decide who comes first. With a strong showing by the Republicans, the Republic On the Move cannot possibly come first,” Bernard Sananes of the Elabe pollster said.
HIGH STAKES
Although mid-term disillusion with government and protest votes are normal in France, the stakes are now high for Macron.
If he comes second to Le Pen’s party, as polls suggest, it will hurt his ambitions both at home and on the European stage.
In France, second place could pressure Macron to reverse his reform agenda, already derailed by the yellow vest crisis.
Slideshow (11 Images)
But it could also cost the French president influence over policymaking affecting some 427 million people and credibility with other EU leaders, just as they negotiate the next top jobs in Brussels, including the European Commission president.
Seeking to drum up support, Macron has not downplayed what is at stake, a gamble that may prove risky.
“I’m not of those who think it’s no problem if the National Rally is once again the big winner of these elections,” he told reporters in Biarritz last week. “The more the French rally behind the candidates of the presidential majority, the more they strengthen France’s ability to influence Europe.”
Reporting by Michel Rose; editing by Richard Lough, William Maclean
On Monday, he laid a wreath at a monument dedicated to the Long March, a fabled retreat during the Chinese civil war which helped cement Mao Zedong's rise to power. Could this be a sign that a similar protracted struggle will be needed in the expanding trade war with the the US?
Perhaps not. But the correct interpretation of another of Xi's actions was much clearer, spelled out for all by state media.
In Jiangxi province, in southeastern China, Xi visited a company which specializes in rare earth minerals. Such elements are vital to the production of high-tech devices including smartphones, lasers, missile systems, superconductors and a whole host of others.
China accounted for 80% of all rare earth minerals imported by the US between 2014 and 2017, according to the United States Geological Survey, and they were among the few items not hit by US tariffs in Washington's most recent trade war escalation.
Xi was accompanied in his visit to Jiangxi by Liu He, the vice premier who has led trade negotiations. And while China's Ministry of Foreign Affairs has tried to downplay the symbolism of the pair's visit, analysts and state media were in little doubt what message was being conveyed.
Global Times, a nationalist tabloid, said Xi's visit had "offered huge support to the critical industry that has been widely viewed as a form of leverage for China in the trade war with the US."
In a piece last week, the paper went further, saying US demands for rare earth minerals were "an ace in Beijing's hand."
"It will take many years if the US wants to rebuild its rare-earth industry and increase its domestic supply to reduce its dependence on China's minerals," Global Times said. "That's long enough for China to win a trade war against the US, during which time China's monopoly on the production of rare earths will help Beijing control the lifeblood of the US high-technology sector."
But while rare earths could prove a potential pain point for Washington, they may not be the advantage some in China think.
Phantasmal weapon?
We've been down this road before.
In 2010, following a dispute with Japan over contested islands during which a Chinese fishing boat captain was detained by Tokyo, China cut off rare earth exports to that country. Japan quickly released the captain in what was described as a "humiliating retreat."
China's apparent ability to force concessions through its rare earths monopoly was greeted with widespread alarm, including in Washington, where a Congressional hearing was held to discuss "China's monopoly on rare earths: Implications for US foreign and security policy."
In the decade since, however, experts have questioned whether this alarm was misplaced. China secured the release of its citizen but the disputed Senkaku islands (known as the Diaoyu islands in Chinese) remain in Japanese control.
As Eugene Gholz, who has advised the US government on rare earths, wrote in a report for the Council on Foreign Relations, at no point was China's leverage over the rare earths market greater than in 2010, "but even with such apparently favorable circumstances, market power and political leverage proved fleeting and difficult to exploit."
"The broad lesson is that policymakers should not succumb to pressure to act too quickly or too expansively in the face of raw materials threats. Not all such threats are like that posed by the historical precedent that is typically invoked: the 1973 oil crisis," Gholz wrote, referencing the oil embargo imposed by Arab members of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) in retaliation for Washington's decision to help supply the Israeli military during the 1973 Arab-Israeli War.
"Caution about overstating raw materials threats is particularly advisable because where foreign policy or intelligence analysts see a potential for dangerous market concentration and economic coercion, some businesses are also likely to see an opportunity to introduce competition and make a profit, ameliorating risks," added Gholz.
Weakness in strength
Despite their name, rare earths are not that rare. They are difficult and often environmentally devastating to extract and refine, but some so-called rare earth elements are actually among the most abundant on Earth.
Unlike oil and other raw materials, the need for a large and constant supply of many rare earth materials is also less important. Many products which use rare earths only require tiny amounts -- they have been described as "the vitamins of modern technology" -- and therefore it will take time for them to be impacted by tariffs. The US also maintains stockpiles of many key rare earth materials, not least those used in the defense industry.
China's monopoly on rare earths is also not what it seems. While it plays a major role in current global trade, this is largely due to relatively lax environmental regulations in the past which made extraction and refinement in China cheaper and easier than other countries. That advantage, if it could be described as such, has shrunk in recent years as Beijing has cracked down on domestic companies and illegal extractors.
China holds around one-third of remaining reserves, roughly equivalent to those of Brazil and Vietnam combined, but is also one of the leading consumers of rare earths in order to fuel its own technology industry. By 2025, China is expected to be net importer of rare earths, a factor that may lead Beijing to hesitate to drive up global prices or set a precedent of using rare earths as a political tool.
Major rare earth reserves have been found in Japan, southeast Asia, Australia, and parts of southern and eastern Africa. Companies have also begun to innovate how they use rare earths: Apple said in a recent environmental responsibility report that it has begun recycling rare earth materials from old iPhones and other products.
His motivation for scaling the Paris landmark was unclear.
Officials closed the tower and began evacuating visitors after the man was first spotted.
Pictures and videos of the individual climbing up the tower, which is 324 meters (1,062 feet) tall, were also circulating online.
"The Eiffel Tower has been closed and is in the process of being evacuated because a person is scaling it," a spokeswoman for the landmark said earlier in the day.
Firefighters are at the scene and have established contact with the man climbing the tower, a spokesman for the fire brigade said.
Irish tourist Claire Murphy, who is on vacation in Paris, told CNN that the lockdown began at 2:15 p.m. (8:15 a.m. ET) and that she was still stuck on the tower's top floor.
Almost 7 million people visit the Eiffel Tower every year. Completed in 1889, it was designed and built by Gustave Eiffel as part of a "Universal Exposition" marking the centenary of the French Revolution. It celebrated its 130th anniversary last week.
This isn't the first time someone has tried to scale the tower. Three people were spotted climbing the landmark in 2015. It was also evacuated twice in 2010 due to bomb threats, once in 2013 over security concerns and was closed for two days following the terror attacks in Paris in 2015.
In 2017, a protective glass wall measuring 65 millimeters (about 2.5 inches) thick and resistant to bullets was erected around the base of the tower to provide increased security.
Dubai, United Arab Emirates -- President Trump warned Iran early on Monday not to threaten the United States again or it would face its "official end," shortly after a rocket landed near the U.S. Embassy in Baghdad overnight.
Mr. Trump's tweet came after he seemingly sought to soften his tone on Iran following days of heightened tension sparked by the sudden deployment by the U.S. of bombers and an aircraft carrier to the Persian Gulf over still-unspecified threats.
All the tensions are the culmination of Mr. Trump's decision a year ago to pull the U.S. out of Tehran's nuclear deal with world powers. And while both Washington and Tehran say they don't seek war, many worry any miscalculation at this fraught moment could spiral out of control.
Mr. Trump's tweet has already been met with reaction out of Tehran, with Iranian Foreign Minister Javad Zarif tweeting that the U.S. president hopes to achieve what "other aggressors" like violent Mongolian ruler Genghis Khan "failed to do."
Goaded by #B_Team, @realdonaldTrump hopes to achieve what Alexander, Genghis & other aggressors failed to do. Iranians have stood tall for millennia while aggressors all gone. #EconomicTerrorism & genocidal taunts won't "end Iran". #NeverThreatenAnIranian. Try respect—it works!
"Iranians have stood tall for millennia while aggressors all gone. Economic Terrorism & genocidal taunts won't 'end Iran,'" Zarif added.
Mr. Trump's early Monday tweet was posted just hours after a Katyusha rocket fell in Baghdad's heavily fortified Green Zone near the statue of the Unknown Soldier, less than a mile from the U.S. Embassy, causing no injuries. Iraqi military spokesman Brig. Gen. Yahya Rasoul told The Associated Press the rocket was believed to have been fired from east Baghdad. The area is home to Iran-backed Shiite militias.
Later, Iraqi forces said they recovered the rocket in front of the Technological university in Baghdad.
The Reuters news agency reported the blast was heard across central Baghdad and pointed out that the embassy and U.S. consulate in the Iraqi Kurdish regional capital of Erbil had already moved out non-emergency staffers "out of apparent concern about perceived threats from Iran."
Mr. Trump tweeted, "If Iran wants to fight, that will be the official end of Iran. Never threaten the United States again!" The president didn't elaborate, nor did the White House.
Hours later, two influential Shiite figures in Iraq warned about pulling their country into a war between the United States and Iran, saying it would turn Iraq into a battlefield and inflict much harm.
Iraq's populist Shiite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr said in a statement on Monday that any political party that would involve Iraq in a U.S.-Iran war "would be the enemy of the Iraqi people," and Qais al-Khazali, the leader of an Iranian-backed group, said he is opposed to operations that "give pretexts for war."
Trump ally Sen. Lindsey Graham meanwhile tweeted that he personally received a briefing from the president's National Security Advisor John Bolton about escalating tensions with Iran, remarking that "It is clear that over the last several weeks Iran has attacked pipelines and ships of other nations and created threat streams against American interests in Iraq."
Just received a briefing from National Security Advisor Bolton about escalating tensions with Iran.
It is clear that over the last several weeks Iran has attacked pipelines and ships of other nations and created threat streams against American interests in Iraq.
"The fault lies with the Iranians, not the United States or any other nation. If the Iranian threats against American personnel and interests are activated we must deliver an overwhelming military response. Stand firm Mr. President," Graham later encouraged the president.
Mr. Trump campaigned on pulling the U.S. from the 2015 nuclear accord, which saw Iran agree to limit its enrichment of uranium in exchange for the lifting of economic sanctions. Since the U.S. withdrawal, Washington has re-imposed previous sanctions and come up with new ones, as well as warned nations around the world they would be subject to sanctions as well if they import Iranian oil.
Iran just announced it would begin backing away from terms of the deal, setting a 60-day deadline for Europe to come up with new terms or it would begin enriching uranium closer to weapons-grade levels. Tehran long has insisted it does not seek nuclear weapons, though the West fears its program could enableit to build atomic bombs.
In an interview aired Sunday on the Fox News Channel, Mr. Trump called the nuclear deal a "horror show."
"I just don't want them to have nuclear weapons and they can't be threatening us," Mr. Trump said.
However, the nuclear deal had kept Iran from being able to acquire enough highly enriched uranium for a bomb. U.N. inspectors repeatedly certified that Iran was complying with the accord.
In Saudi Arabia, the kingdom's military said it intercepted two missiles fired by the Houthi rebels in neighboring Yemen. The missiles were intercepted over the city of Taif and the Red Sea port city of Jiddah, the Saudi-owned satellite channel Al-Arabiya reported.
The channel cited witnesses for its information. The Saudi government has yet to acknowledge the missile fire, which other Saudi media also reported. Hundreds of rockets, mortars and ballistic missiles have been fired into the kingdom since a Saudi-led coalition declared war on the Houthis in March 2015 to support Yemen's internationally recognized government.
Between the two targeted cities is Mecca, home to the cube-shaped Kaaba that Muslims pray toward five times a day. Many religious pilgrims are now in the city amid the Muslim holy fasting month of Ramadan.
Meanwhile, the U.S. Navy's 5th Fleet on Sunday announced it would begin "enhanced security patrols" in international waters with members of the Gulf Cooperation Council, which includes Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates.
Already, the USS Abraham Lincoln aircraft carrier, the amphibious assault ship USS Kearsarge and others are in the Arabian Sea, waters close to the Strait of Hormuz, the narrow mouth of the Persian Gulf through which a third of all oil traded at sea passes.
New Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy took his oath of office and delivered an inaugural speech in which he announced the dissolution of parliament in Kiev.
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Ukraine now has a new president, as Volodymyr Zelenskiy was sworn into office on Monday — and the famous comedian immediately said one of his first actions will be to dissolve parliament. Fulfilling a campaign promise, Zelenskiy announced a snap election to choose new lawmakers.
"Government is not the solution to our problem; government is the problem," Zelenskiy said in his inauguration speech, quoting Ronald Reagan — another actor-turned-president — from his 1981 inaugural address.
As Zelenskiy dismissed the Supreme Rada, he said new national elections will be held in two months — and that politicians should use that time to prove their worth. He called on legislators to adopt anti-corruption laws, including measures that would strip legislators of their immunity from prosecution and increase transparency.
"Glory to Ukraine!" Zelenskiy, 41, said after announcing he will dismiss parliament's current body.
While Zelenskiy quickly got to work, lawmakers were also busy, arranging new coalitions in a bid to block his move under parliamentary rules, according to the Kyiv Post newspaper. For the dissolution to become official, the president must first consult with lawmakers and issue a decree, according to the UNIAN news agency.
Despite those complications, a battle with opposition lawmakers could be the easiest item on the new president's to-do list. In addition to fighting corruption, Zelenskiy has pledged to end the bloody conflict in eastern Ukraine and broker the return of prisoners of war — without ceding any territory to Russian-backed separatists. On Monday, he also said Ukrainians are burdened by a lackluster economy, citing tariffs and low salaries.
Zelenskiy defeated incumbent Petro Poroshenko in a landslide 73% victory last month. It was a stunning result for the political novice, whose previous experience in government is almost entirely fictional: On Ukrainian TV, Zelenskiy is famous for playing a high school history teacher who is elected as Ukraine's president after a video of him ranting against the status quo goes viral.
In his inauguration address, Zelenskiy urged ministers and government officials to resign if they aren't willing to work for change. And he urged cabinet leaders and others not to put his portrait on their office walls.
"I really do not want my pictures in your offices, for the President is not an icon, an idol or a portrait," he said. "Hang your kids' photos instead, and look at them each time you are making a decision."
Ukraine's new president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, paused on the way to his inauguration to take a selfie with his supporters in Kiev.
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Zelenskiy arrived at his inauguration Monday after walking through Kiev's Mariinsky Park, where cheering supporters thronged barricades marking his path to the parliament building. Walking with a camera crew and a small security detail, he leaned over the railing at one point to take a selfie with a young fan, using the crowd as a backdrop.
Addressing the people of Ukraine, Zelenskiy finished his inaugural speech by saying, "All my life I tried to do all I could so that Ukrainians laughed. That was my mission. Now I will do all I can so that Ukrainians at least do not cry any more."
KIEV, Ukraine — Ukrainian TV star Volodymyr Zelenskiy has sought to capitalize on his huge popularity, dissolving the country’s parliament Monday minutes after he was sworn in as president.
The president’s bold move to dissolve the Supreme Rada followed the failure of a majority of lawmakers to use parliamentary ruses to hamper Zelenskiy’s plans.
Zelenskiy’s victory reflected Ukrainians’ exhaustion with widespread corruption and the country’s political elite. Even before he disbanded parliament, which had been one of his campaign promises, the 41-year-old Zelenskiy upended other Ukrainian political traditions on inauguration day.
He ditched the idea of a traditional motorcade to his inauguration, walking to the parliament Kiev through a park packed with people. Flanked by four bodyguards, the beaming president-elect gave high-fives to some spectators, even stopping to take a selfie with one of them.
After he was sworn in but before he moved to dissolve parliament, Zelenskiy asked the Supreme Rada to adopt a bill against illegal enrichment and support his motions to fire the country’s defense minister, the head of the Ukrainian Security Service and the Prosecutor General. All of them are allies of former President Petro Poroshenko, who lost the election to the comedian with no previous political experience but who played the Ukrainian president on a popular TV show for years.
In a feisty speech after his inauguration, Zelenskiy told the Rada that his main goal for the presidency is to bring peace to eastern Ukraine, where government troops have been fighting Russia-backed separatists for five years in a conflict that has left at least 13,000 dead.
“I’m ready to do everything so that our heroes don’t die there,” he said. “It wasn’t us who started that war. But we need to be the one to finish it.”
As ministers and lawmakers listened with dismay, Zelenskiy urged everyone in the cabinet to resign, asking them to “free the spot for people who will think about the future generations, not about the future elections.”
Defense Ministry Stepan Poltorak promptly published his letter of resignation on Facebook.
Zelenskiy is hoping to ride the wave of his electoral success to get his supporters into parliament.
Many lawmakers viewed Zelenskiy’s inauguration with apprehension. Political factions allied with Poroshenko and his party have been maneuvering for weeks, even collapsing the ruling coalition.
Volodymyr Fesenko, head of the Kiev-based think-tank Penta, said Zelenskiy’s announcement shows “political will for radical change.”
“The legally dubious decision to disband parliament will certainly be contested in court but Zelenskiy has shown that it is going to be him who will lay down the agenda and that he will dominate the political landscape.”
A representative of the Ukrainian Election Commission told the Ukrainian media that if a snap election is called, no court ruling can cancel it.
In a bid to deprive Zelenskiy of the opportunity to call an early election, a faction in the Rada announced its departure from the ruling coalition last week, technically collapsing Poroshenko’s government. The parliament’s rules envisage that it cannot be disbanded within 30 days following the announcement of a collapse of the ruling coalition.
Zelenskiy’s supporters argued, however, that the motion was legally void because the coalition had long ceased to exist and that the Constitution, unlike the Rada regulations, does not contain such a rule.
The new president wrapped up his speech at parliament by referring to his career as a comedian.
“Throughout all of my life, I tried to do everything to make Ukrainians laugh,” he said with a smile. “In the next five years I will do everything, Ukrainians, so that you don’t cry.”
