NZ Premier Ardern says mosque gunman will face 'full force of law'
CHRISTCHURCH, New Zealand (AFP) – Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern, vowing never to utter the name of the Australian gunman charged with the terror attack that killed 50 people, promised grieving New Zealanders Tuesday he will face the ''full force of the law''.
''He will face the full force of the law in New Zealand,'' Ardern told a special session of parliament.
''He sought many things from his act of terror, but one was notoriety -- that is why you will never hear me mention his name,'' she said. ''He is a terrorist. He is a criminal. He is an extremist. But he will, when I speak, be nameless.''
''I implore you: Speak the names of those who were lost rather than the name of the man who took them.''
Dressed in black, the 38-year-old leader opened her remarks in parliament with the symbolism of the greeting uttered across the Islamic world.
BEIJING (Reuters) – Chinese educators must respond to “false ideas and thoughts” when teaching political and ideological classes, President Xi Jinping said, in a sensitive year that marks the 30th anniversary of student-led protests around Tiananmen Square.
Beijing has campaigned against the spread of “Western values” in education, especially at universities, and the ruling Communist Party’s anticorruption watchdog has sent inspectors to monitor teachers for “improper” remarks in class.
''Wa alaikum salaam wa rahmatullahi wa barakatuh'' she said --'May the peace, mercy, and blessings of Allah be with you too.'
She closed her address by noting that ''on Friday, it will be a week since the attack, members of the Muslim community will gather for worship on that day. Let us acknowledge their grief as they do.''
Her comments came as dozens of relatives of the deceased began arriving from around the world ahead of expected funerals which have already been delayed far beyond the 24 hours after death usually observed under Islamic custom.
The slow process of identification and forensic documentation has so far made burials impossible, augmenting families' grief.
In the wake of the mass shooting, Ardern has promised to reform New Zealand gun laws that allowed the gunman to legally purchase the weapons he used in the attack on two Christchurch mosques, including semi-automatic rifles.
New Zealanders have already begun answering government appeals to hand in their weapons, including John Hart, a farmer in the North Island district of Masterton.
Ardern has said that details of the government's proposed law changes on gun ownership will be announced by next week, but she indicated that gun buybacks and a ban on some semi-automatic rifles were under consideration.
''As the Cabinet, we were absolutely unified and very clear: the terror attack in Christchurch on Friday was the worst act of terrorism on our shores, it was in fact one of the worst globally in recent times, it has exposed a range of weaknesses in New Zealand's gun laws,'' she said.