CHRISTCHURCH: New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern said the government would announce new gun laws within a few days.

PM Ardern said so after 50 people died in mass shootings at two mosques in Christchurch last week.

Brenton Tarrant, an Australian, and a suspected white supremacist, has been charged with murder. Tarrant, 28, was remanded without a plea.

PM Ardern said within 10 days of the horrific act of terrorism, the government will have announced reforms which will make the community safer. (Agencies)

NEW ZEALAND: The death toll in the mosque shootings in the country has reached 40 after 10 more people were reported to have been killed in another mosque on Friday.

According to a Daily Mail report,  30 people were killed while 50 others sustained critical injuries an Australian national went on   a shooting spree  at Al Noor Mosque in Christchurch in New Zealand. Similarly, 10 people died at a gunshot incident at Linwood Mosque.

The culprit is identified as 28 years old Brenton Tarrant from Grafton, New South Wales. Police have taken him under control. It is not yet known whether the same assailant was involved in the gunshot incident at Linwood Mosque, too.

The incident occurred at 1:30 pm (according to local time) during prayer time at the mosque. The culprit is believed to have been inspired by the racist motive of white supremacy.

Incidents of gunshots had been reported at Linwood Mosque and a Hospital outside of Christchurch.

NEW ZEALAND: Several people have been feared dead after shootings at two mosques in the city of Christchurch, police in New Zealand have confirmed.

Police commissioner Mike Bush confirmed that one person is in custody, but said it was unclear if others were involved.

Witnesses told local media they ran for their lives, and saw people bleeding on the ground outside the Al Noor mosque.

Authorities advised all mosques to shut down until further notice. All Christchurch schools are on lockdown.

In a statement to the nation, Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern said details were not yet clear, “but I can tell you now – this will be one of New Zealand’s darkest days”.

Mohan Ibrahim, who was in the area of the Al Noor mosque, told the New Zealand Herald: “At first we thought it was an electric shock but then all these people started running.

“I still have friends inside.

“I have been calling my friends but there are many I haven’t heard from. I am scared for my friends lives.”

It is not yet known how many shooters there were, but the Herald reports that one gunman is believed to be an Australian who has written a manifesto outlining his intentions. In it, he espouses far-right ideology and anti-immigrant ideology.

Unverified footage purportedly taken by the shooter has emerged, suggesting he filmed as he shot victims.

Just 1% of New Zealand’s population of almost five million are Muslim, according to government statistics, less than 50,000 people in 2013.

“Muslims are the most rapidly growing religious group in New Zealand with the population increasing six-fold between 1991 and 2006,” according to Victoria University of Wellington research.

In comparison, New Zealand has a much higher population of Christians, including Catholics, Anglicans and Presbyterians, as well as Hindu and Buddhist citizens.

3/5 We urge New Zealanders to stay vigilant and report any suspicious behaviour immediately to 111. We are mobilising resources nationally and support is being brought into the District. We are still working to resolve this incident and we continue to urge Christchurch…

— New Zealand Police (@nzpolice) March 15, 2019

(Agencies)

KATHMANDU: The Australian Embassy in Nepal has suggested the students studying at the Australia Institute of Business and Technology (AIBT) to continue to attend class and remain enrolled at the college until it stops operating.

Issuing a statement here today, the Embassy has advised that students studying with AIBT should remain enrolled and continue to attend classes. “This is to ensure that the conditions of their visa are met and their recourse to the Tuition Protection Service is assured should the provider cease delivering its courses,” it said.

According to the Australian Embassy in Kathmandu, Australia’s Department of Home Affairs would also allow a grace period of at least 28 days and up to three months for students to transfer to alternate providers before it would consider visa cancellation.

The statement also maintained that if the AIBT does stop operating, the college would be responsible to find students an alternative course or pay them a refund of their unspent tuition fees.

According to the Australian Embassy in Kathmandu, Australia’s Department of Home Affairs would also allow a grace period of at least 28 days and up to three months for students to transfer to alternate providers before it would consider visa cancellation.

The Brighton Pacific Ltd Pty, the statement said, can seek to have ASQA’s cancellation decision stayed while the Administrative Appeals Tribunal (AAT) determines the review. Brighton Pacific Pty Ltd’s registration was cancelled by the Australian Skills Quality Authority (ASQA) on February 19.

“Unless Brighton Pacific Pty Ltd seeks a review and is granted a stay of ASQA’s decision, the cancellation decision will take effect from 26 March 2019,” the statement said adding that until the review is determined, the institute is permitted to continue operating, including conducting classes.

WELLINGTON: Thousands of people are forced to leave their homes in the Pigeon Valley of South Island in New Zealand after strong winds fan forest fires that have been burning for a week through the area.

The fire has covered around 5,700 acres of land, according to the officials. No casualties have been reported so far.

It has been reported that around 155 firefighters are battling the blaze on the ground and 23 helicopters and 3 fixed-wing planes for aerial support, which is believed to be the largest of its kind in the country’s history.

SYDNEY: January was Australia’s hottest month on record, with the country’s mean temperature exceeding 30C for the first time since records began in 1910. The Bureau of Meteorology released its climate summary for January on Friday and said the widespread heatwave conditions and daily extremes were “unprecedented”.

“There’s been so many records it’s really hard to count,” said Andrew Watkins, a senior climatologist at the Bom. Adelaide breaks its all-time heat record, hitting 46.6C, in extreme Australia heatwave January was Australia’s warmest month for mean, maximum and minimum temperatures. Large parts of Australia received only 20% of their normal rainfall, particularly throughout the south-east in Victoria and parts of New South Wales and South Australia.

Tasmania, which has been battling bushfires throughout the past month, had its driest ever January. Watkins said Borrona Downs in north-west NSW broke the record for hottest minimum temperature, registering one night at 36.6C.

Port Augusta recorded the country’s highest temperature in January, reaching 49.5C. We’ve also seen records in many states set including places like Victoria where Swan Hill and Kerang got up over 47.5C,” Watkins said.

Menindee in far-west NSW, the site of December and January’s mass fish kills, had four days in a row of temperatures above 47C. In parts of western Queensland and western NSW, there have been long strings of more than 40 days of temperatures above 40C. Cloncurry had 43 days in a row that exceeded 40C.

Birdsville in the state’s west had 16 days in January of temperatures higher than 45C and 10 of those days were in a row. What happened to our electricity system in the heat? Coal and gas plants failed.

Bom said a persistent high-pressure system in the Tasman Sea that blocked cold fronts and cooler air from reaching the country’s south, and a delayed monsoon in the north, contributed to the heatwave. “The warming trend which has seen Australian temperatures increase by more than 1C in the last 100 years also contributed to the unusually warm conditions,” Watkins said. New South Wales, the Australian Capital Territory, Victoria and the Northern Territory all had their warmest January on record.

(Agencies)