New Zealand was unable to keep supermarket attacker locked up: PM Ardern - The Straits Times

WELLINGTON (AFP) - The radical responsible for a supermarket knife rampage in New Zealand was watched for five years and jailed for three before the authorities exhausted all avenues to keep him detained, Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern revealed on Saturday (Sept 4).

The 32-year-old Sri Lankan, who was inspired by the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria extremist group, was freed only in July and had been under police surveillance since.

On Friday, he grabbed a knife off a supermarket shelf in Auckland and attacked seven people, leaving three critically wounded, before he was shot and killed by the armed police officers tasked with tailing him.

Court suppression orders meant Ms Ardern could not explain why the terrorist had not been deported, but she said measures were already under way to strengthen New Zealand's terrorism suppression laws.

The man, who arrived in New Zealand on a student visa in 2011, came to the attention of police in 2016 after expressing sympathy on Facebook for terrorist attacks.

He was arrested in 2018 on charges of possessing a knife and objectionable material, and was considered to be planning a "lone wolf" knife attack.

While in custody, he was further charged with assaulting guards, but attempts to have him charged under New Zealand's Terrorism Suppression Act were unsuccessful.

Although the man was found guilty on some charges, by then he had spent three years in prison on remand and "all avenues to continue his detention had been exhausted", Ms Ardern said, although "risk mitigation was already under way".

Ms Ardern added that changes to New Zealand's counter-terrorism legislation were expected to be approved by Parliament before the end of the month.

"In late August, officials, including the commissioner of police, raised the possibility of expediting the amendments," she said.

Many details about Friday's attacker, including his name, were suppressed in an earlier court ruling.

Although this was lifted by a judge late on Friday night, his family members have been given at least 24 hours to appeal "the release of certain information", Ms Ardern said.

"So while I can provide details concerning the individual's criminal history, there are issues relating to his immigration status, and actions taken by Immigration New Zealand, in particular, which I cannot share just yet."

Commissioner of Police Andrew Coster said there had been nothing unusual about the man's actions in the lead-up to the attack, and he had appeared to be doing normal grocery shopping.

As the man had a "high level of paranoia" around surveillance, Mr Coster said the police kept their distance, and it took more than two minutes to reach the man and shoot him after he started his frenzied stabbing spree.

"We have had no legal grounds to detain this subject. Monitoring his actions has been entirely dependent on the surveillance teams being able to maintain their cover as they watched him over an extended period," the police chief said.

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2021-09-04 06:20:53Z
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No exams, no tuition - will Chinese kids be stress-free? - The Straits Times

As part of efforts aimed at relieving pressure on children and parents, China has announced a slew of measures such as banning exams for young kids and prohibiting private tuition as it looks to reform its hyper-competitive education system. India is also reforming its system. Asian Insider looks at how feasible the changes are.

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Less tuition and no exams? Chinese children and parents grapple with education reforms

Eight-year-old Wang Baofeng has been able to sleep in a little more after the new school term started on Wednesday (Sept 1).

The Primary 2 pupil now goes to school at 8.20am, half an hour later than before.

New school timings are part of sweeping reforms to China's education system announced by the government.

Described as historical changes, they target everything from after-school tuition classes to changes in syllabus to even the amount of time students should spend on eye exercises.

READ MORE HERE

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Online gaming takes another hit as Beijing acts to protect China's youth

Ahead of the new school year, Beijing issued a series of guidelines recommending that mobile gaming companies limit the amount of screen time for children under 18 to no more than three hours a week.

The stricter guidelines are the latest move in a decades-long effort to tackle gaming addiction.

On Monday (Aug 30), the National Press and Publication Administration, the regulatory body for video games in China, announced that minors should be restricted to mobile-phone gaming for only an hour on Fridays, weekends and public holidays - from 8pm to 9pm.

It is a significant tightening of guidelines introduced in 2019 that allowed up to 13.5 hours of gaming a week.

READ MORE HERE

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New policies affecting students in China

China has ordered sweeping reforms to level the playing field in education and to prevent individuals from turning learning into a business.

Here are some of the changes.

READ MORE HERE

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Changes in India education system to lower students' exam stress

India is in the process of rolling out its most comprehensive education reforms in recent years to reduce the stress on students and move away from rote learning.

The National Education Policy (NEP) 2020 was introduced last year to reform a highly competitive education system that puts extreme exam pressure on children and has led to a proliferation of coaching institutions.

Changes will include introducing exams for pupils in Class 3 - which covers seven- to nine-year-olds - to gauge their development of language and numeracy skills.

READ MORE HERE

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2021-09-03 21:00:00Z
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New Zealand terror attack: Police kill "extremist" who stabbed 6 people in supermarket - CNA

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2021-09-03 12:23:27Z
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Taliban battle for final holdout province of Panjshir - CNA

FIGHTING BRAVADO

Panjshir fighters - and their media-savvy leaders - are full of fighting bravado.

"We are ready to defeat them, if they dare to invade," one Panjshir fighter said.

But despite their confidence, the odds seem increasingly stacked against them.

Geography at least is on the side of the Panjshir's fighters, said Motwani, and while the Taliban claim to have blocked roads into the valley, that is "very different" from controlling all sides.

The 115km-long valley surrounded by jagged snow-capped peaks offers a natural military advantage, since defending units can use high positions to ambush attacking forces below.

But the conflict appears to be escalating, Martine van Bijlert, of the Afghanistan Analysts Network, warned.

"Taliban forces have been massing around the entrance to the valley but have been hit in ambushes and have sustained casualties," Van Bijlert wrote in a recent analysis.

"Whereas both sides mainly seemed to be trying to hurt each other in order to strengthen their hand in negotiations, without starting an all-out battle, according to the latest reports, the Taliban are now summoning forces from other provinces."

The Panjshir - mainly inhabited by ethnic Tajik people - has immense symbolic value in Afghanistan as the area that has resisted occupation by invaders in the past.

For Afghans opposed to the Taliban, the holdout province stands as a symbol to show that the hardline Islamists are not the welcome rulers of all of Afghanistan, Motwani said.

"It gives hope to those Afghans who have lost almost everything in a blink of an eye," he said. "It is somewhere where people can go outside Taliban rule."

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2021-09-03 11:54:14Z
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China's new stock exchange plans fuel fears of a bourse war - CNA

SHANGHAI : China's plans to launch a new exchange in Beijing, announced by President Xi Jinping on Thursday, boosted shares in Chinese brokerages but knocked down Shenzhen start-up board ChiNext and shares of Hong Kong's bourse amid fears of rising competition.

Although China's securities regulator said the planned Beijing stock exchange is based on the city's existing New Third Board, and complements Shanghai and Shenzhen bourses, some fear a rivalry for listing resources is inevitable.

"The Beijing stock exchange has equal footing with Shanghai and Shenzhen bourses. If it prospers, the three will share the market in tripartite confrontation," wrote Rock Jin, economist and CEO of investment adviser PopEton.

Although it was good news for the economy, it boded ill for the market in the short term because "after all, it diverts capital away from Shanghai and Shenzhen markets."

Xi unveiled plans for the new exchange in a video address at the opening of a conference late on Thursday. The bourse will serve innovative small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), and is part of a reform of Beijing's New Third Board.

Neither Xi nor the China Securities Regulatory Commission (CSRC) said if the Beijing stock exchange would attract overseas-listed firms. If that is the case, "it would increase the competition" in listings for the Hong Kong Exchanges and Clearing Ltd (HKEx), Jefferies said in a note.

HKEx shares dropped more than 2per cent on Friday and Shenzhen's ChiNext fell over 1per cent, both underperforming the broader market.

But shares of brokerages, including Northeast Securities Co, Dongxing Securities Co and Shenwan Hongyuan Group Co jumped, as investors bet they will benefit from more initial public offerings (IPOs).

"This is a step forward in capital market reforms, as it enhances the multi-layered capital market system and direct financing," Morgan Stanley said in a note.

The bank added that the implementation of a registration-based IPO mechanism on the Beijing exchange paves the way for the rollout of the listing system on China's main boards. Currently, only Shenzhen's ChiNext, and Shanghai's tech-focused STAR Market adopts the U.S.-style IPO system.

FUNDING DIFFICULTY

China is launching the new exchange as part of efforts to channel more household savings into the stock market to fund innovation and economic recovery, while reducing the economy's reliance on bank lending. It also comes as U.S.-listed Chinese companies face the risk of delisting amid Sino-U.S. tensions.

"Funding difficulty is the main challenge facing SMEs," wrote Liu Hui, fund manager at Invesco.

"Supporting SMEs with direct financing helps promote China's consumption, as SMEs employ most of the labour force in China."

CSRC said on Friday that the new exchange will be based on the current "select tier" of Beijing's New Third Board, meaning all the 66 companies listed in that tier will be transferred to the Beijing exchange.

CSRC also announced draft rules for share sales, trading and delisting on the new venue. Companies to be listed on the Beijing exchange are "smaller and newer" than those listed in Shanghai and Shenzhen, and eligible ones can also migrate to the other two bourses seamlessly, CSRC official Zhou Guihua told a press conference on Friday.

In addition, only qualified investors can trade on the Beijing exchange, which sets higher bar in line with the higher risks involved in investing in SMEs, he said.

Zhou also vowed to crack down on insider trading, stock manipulation and false disclosures, in order to promote long-term, rational investing on the new board.

The New Third Board, which was set up in 2013, currently houses a total of 7,299 SMEs, mostly in the "base tier" and "innovation tier".

The board once attracted more than 10,000 companies listed in 2013-16, but the market has suffered from poor liquidity since China's spectacular 2015 market boom and bust.

Economist Jin said it was a big question mark whether the new exchange would thrive, as "the city of Beijing doesn't have the right culture for an exchange."

(Reporting by Samuel Shen and Andrew Galbraith; Editing by Stephen Coates and David Evans)

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2021-09-03 09:52:25Z
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Desperate and short of options, Suga had no choice but to quit as Japan's prime minister - The Straits Times

TOKYO - Japan is a nation with many superstitions, and as Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga calls time on his year-long tenure as its leader, he will no doubt be aware of the two jinxes that ruined his political career.

First, no premier has survived in a year when Japan hosted the Olympics - in the 1964 Tokyo Games, the 1972 Sapporo Winter Games or the 1998 Nagano Winter Games - even if they all resigned for different reasons.

Second, a period of political stability is followed by a revolving door of prime ministers. Until Mr Shinzo Abe took office in 2012, there were six prime ministers in as many years after Mr Junichiro Koizumi stepped down after five years in power. And before that, there were 10 leaders over 14 years after Mr Yasuhiro Nakasone, who was in office from 1982 to 1987.

Even the pro-government Yomiuri newspaper headlined a story on Friday (Sept 3) with "Desperate Japanese prime minister has few options in bid to save his job".

Sophia University political scientist Koichi Nakano told The Straits Times: "Suga appears like King Lear, desperately clinging to power, but it has become increasingly apparent that he was completely pushed to the corner and he has exhausted every available option.

"Each time he tried something new, he was finding himself more and more isolated. I think he intended to stay on, but it was against heavy odds."

Mr Suga came to power in September last year as the antithesis to tradition within the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP), scoring high approval ratings for his rise to the pinnacle despite a humble background as the son of Akita strawberry farmers, and despite not belonging to any party faction.

But he quickly fell out of favour with the public over what was perceived as a blundering response to Covid-19. Mr Suga's poor approval ratings of around 30 per cent led to unease within the party, and this was compounded by his inability to coalesce a solid party base during his year in office.

Dr Nakano pointed out that this meant he was subject to the headwinds of an intense political rivalry between LDP secretary-general Toshihiro Nikai on one end, and Mr Abe and Finance Minister Taro Aso on the other.

"He's a general without his own troops," Dr Nakano said.

To make matters worse, some of Mr Suga's closest allies have been tainted by corruption scandals, including former justice minister Katsuyuki Kawai and former trade minister Isshu Sugawara, who were both indicted.

"He was left at the mercy of these political headwinds with nobody to protect him, nor did he come up with any effective measures to fight back," Dr Nakano added.

Dr Mikitaka Masuyama of the National Graduate Institute for Policy Studies in Tokyo told ST that it was "incomprehensible" for a prime minister responsible for the current policies to be quitting at this stage.

"I think he has realised the changing mood inside the party over the last few days," Dr Masuyama said.

Mr Suga scrambled to find a way to save his job this week. Yet his efforts only incurred a backlash within the LDP.

He mooted dissolving the Lower House next week for a snap election to win a popular mandate, which would have pushed back the calendar for the LDP presidential election.

But Mr Suga's reputation among the public, according to opinion polls, had become so noxious that many junior LDP lawmakers feared fighting an election with him as their leader.

He was then put on the back foot by his key rival, former foreign minister Fumio Kishida, who said he would freshen up the party image if he were elected by booting out Mr Nikai, the 82-year-old party secretary-general.

Former Japanese foreign minister Fumio Kishida delivering a policy speech in Tokyo on Sept 2, 2021. PHOTO: EPA-EFE

Mr Suga followed suit by saying that he would reshuffle the LDP leadership positions, and possibly the Cabinet, next week. But he was unable to settle on a combination that would please everybody.

Yet his decision to force out Mr Nikai - while seen positively by Mr Abe and Mr Aso - alienated the Nikai faction that had propelled him to office.

He then thought of appointing former defence chief Shigeru Ishiba as secretary-general to help freshen up the party image. Mr Ishiba ranks among the top in media surveys of the public's choice for next prime minister.

Mr Ishiba, though, is deeply unpopular among influential LDP party brass, including Mr Abe and Mr Aso.

"Without his own power base within the LDP, Suga was utterly at the mercy of the five largest factions that put him as PM in the first place. But now, he cannot count on any of them to give him solid support," Dr Nakano said.

What complicates things for Mr Suga is the unique political circumstances he found himself in this year, as the LDP presidential race and the general election will be held within weeks of each other.

Dr Masuyama noted that the single-member district electoral system has made a party leader's popularity "significantly influential" in election results.

"Party leaders need to be appealing to floating voters," he said, adding that the LDP's forthcoming presidential election has taken on added significance since a new leader could have an outsized impact on the party's chances at the general election, which will likely be held next month.

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2021-09-03 06:51:19Z
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'Extremist' inspired by Islamic State stabs several people in Auckland mall, shot dead by police - CNA

WELLINGTON: New Zealand police on Friday (Sep 3) shot and killed a knife-wielding "extremist" who was known to authorities, Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern said, after he stabbed and wounded at least six people in a supermarket.

The attacker, a Sri Lankan national who had been in New Zealand for 10 years, was inspired by the Islamic State militant group and was being monitored constantly, Ardern said.

"A violent extremist undertook a terrorist attack on innocent New Zealanders," Ardern told a briefing.

"He obviously was a supporter of ISIS ideology," she said, referring to Islamic State.

The attacker, who was not identified, had been a "person of interest" for about five years, Ardern said, adding that he had been killed within 60 seconds of beginning his attack in the city of Auckland.

Police following the man thought he had gone into the New Lynn supermarket to do some shopping but picked up a knife from a display and started "running around like a lunatic" stabbing people, shopper Michelle Miller told the Stuff online news outlet.

"It literally happened in front of me. I was just buying stuff and walking toward the milk aisle and then suddenly I heard a person shouting loudly 'Allahu akbar' (God is greatest) and just running," a 34-year old witness told the New Zealand Herald.

"He had a knife, a pretty big knife - like I would say the size of his arm. It was very scary ... It was four or five steps away from me, and I had a clear path to run so I ran.

"While people were coming out I could see one lady wearing a white T-shirt completely bleeding and really panicking. People were trying to help her ... I saw another person bleeding from the shoulder really bad."

Police Commissioner Andrew Coster told the briefing the man was acting alone and police were confident there was no further threat to the public.

"We were doing absolutely everything possible to monitor him and indeed the fact that we were able to intervene so quickly, in roughly 60 seconds, shows just how closely we were watching him," Coster said.

New Zealand has been on alert for attacks since a white supremacist gunman killed 51 people at two mosques in the city of Christchurch on Mar 15, 2019.

Ardern, asked if the Friday attack could have been revenge for the 2019 mosque shootings, said it was not clear. The man alone who was responsible for the violence, not a faith, she said.

"It was hateful, it was wrong. It was carried out by an individual, not a faith," Ardern said. "It would be wrong to direct any frustration to anyone beyond this individual."

"SOMEBODY GOT STABBED"

A video posted on social media showed shoppers in the supermarket seconds after the attacker struck.

"There's someone here with a knife ... he's got a knife," a woman can be heard saying. "Somebody got stabbed."

Amit Nand, who was in the supermarket aisle where the stabbing took place, told Newshub that he had seen the attacker and, along with another man, told him to drop the knife.

"He went past us by the aisle. This undercover cop came to me ... I was going to hit him ... The cop is like 'get back' and he started shooting him, five times and killed him."

"(One woman's) head was pushed on the food so I had to put something on it because she didn't want to get up. I gave her something for her head. She was stabbed in her head and her stomach."

A guard asked people to leave the shopping mall shortly before about 10 quick shots rang out.

Ardern's compassionate response to the 2019 mosque shootings united her shocked country but the Friday violence is likely to lead to questions about why the attacker was allowed to remain free if the authorities had suspicions about him.

Ardern said the man had not committed offences that would have led to his arrest.

"If he had committed a criminal act that would have allowed him to be in prison, that's where he would have been. Unfortunately, he didn't ... instead he was being monitored constantly, constantly, and followed," she said.

She said she was "absolutely gutted" when she got news of the attack.

Of the six wounded people, three were in critical condition, one in serious condition and two were in moderate condition, the St John ambulance service said.

Another witness, Amit Nand, told the Newshub outlet he had seen the attacker and told him to drop the knife just before police arrived.

"This undercover cop came to me ... I was going to hit him .... The cop is like 'get back' and he started shooting him," Nand said.

Gamal Fouda, imam of the Al Noor mosque, the main target of the gunman in Christchurch in 2019, said both white nationalists and Islamic State stood for hate.

"We are broken hearted but we are not broken again ... We stand with the victims of the horrible incident," he said. 

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2021-09-03 04:57:00Z
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