NZ shooting suspect faces 50 murder counts
The Australian man accused of carrying out the terrorist attack at two mosques in Christchurch, New Zealand, last month will be charged with 50 counts of murder in a court appearance on Friday, the police said.
The new charges come as no surprise. The suspect, Brenton Harrison Tarrant, 28, had been held on a single count of murder while the authorities carried out their investigation of the March 15 killings, which left 50 people dead and many others wounded.
Mr. Tarrant also will be charged with 39 counts of attempted murder, according to the statement from the New Zealand Police, which did not identify him by name.
If Mr. Tarrant is found guilty, he could be sentenced to life in prison without parole. No one in New Zealand has ever received that sentence, but judges have the right to impose it for particularly heinous murders. New Zealand does not have the death penalty.
Trump tables summit
Despite hopes that a U.S.China trade deal is at hand, President Donald Trump said Thursday that some key issues have yet to be resolved and that they are not close enough for him to announce a summit with Chinese President Xi Jinping.
Mr. Trump said that he should know “over the next four weeks” whether there is a summit or not, quelling speculation throughout the day that he was ready to name the date of a meeting with Mr. Xi.
“If we have a deal, we’ll have a summit,” he said. Now a summit could come closer to the end of May, or possibly June, when Mr. Trump and Mr. Xi are expected to attend a global leaders’ summit in Japan.
The president spoke during an Oval Office meeting with Chinese Vice Premier Liu He and the Chinese delegation that arrived this week for the latest round of talks.
The two sides met last week in Beijing, and negotiations have picked up recently amid indications that they are making solid progress in an effort to end a yearlong trade conflict between the world’s two biggest economies.
Brunei outcry grows
A growing call to boycott luxury hotels owned by the kingdom of Brunei has led the hotels to hide their social media accounts.
The public outcry comes in response to the implementation of new Islamic laws that make gay sex and adultery punishable by stoning to death. Actor George Clooney condemned the measures in a recent opinion piece and highlighted the hotels’ ties to the Brunei Investment Agency, which the Sultan of Brunei owns.
The hotels are operated under the Dorchester Collection brand.
Venezuela relief funds
The Trump administration is preparing an economic relief package for Venezuela that would put U.S. dollars directly into the hands of Venezuelans in the event that the government of President Nicolas Maduro falls.
Larry Kudlow, the director of the White House’s National Economic Council, disclosed the outlines of the plan as he called on Mr. Maduro to step aside and allow Juan Guaido, the opposition leader the United States recognizes as Venezuela’s interim president, to take office.
Plans for a comprehensive aid package for Venezuela come as President Donald Trump is cutting aid to other countries, including Guatemala, Honduras and El Salvador, out of frustration over the way those nations have handled their migration policies. Mr. Trump has also threatened to cut funding to Puerto Rico, a U.S. territory, over its handling of federal hurricane relief funds.