WELLINGTON, New Zealand (AP) — New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern said that she and French President Emmanuel Macron will host a meeting in Paris next month seeking to eliminate acts of violent extremism and terrorism from being shown online.
Ardern said she and Macron will ask world leaders and chief executives of technology companies to agree to a pledge called the “Christchurch Call,” named after the New Zealand city where dozens of people were killed in attacks on mosques last month. Ardern didn’t release any details of the pledge, saying they were still being developed. She said she’d been talking with representatives from companies including Facebook, Twitter, Microsoft and Google along with world leaders and felt they could reach a consensus by keeping the pledge tightly focused.
“This isn’t about freedom of speech,” Ardern said. “It’s specifically focused on eradicating those extreme acts of terrorism online.”
The man accused of fatally shooting 50 people in two Christchurch mosques on March 15 livestreamed the attack on Facebook after mounting a camera on his helmet. The chilling 17-minute video was copied and viewed widely on the internet even as tech companies scrambled to remove it.
Ardern said the shooter had used social media in an unprecedented way to promote an act of terrorism and hate. She said nobody would argue that a terrorist had the right to livestream the murder of 50 people.
SUNNYVALE, Calif. (AP) — A California man who authorities said drove into a crosswalk in a quiet Silicon Valley suburb, injuring eight people, is an Iraqi war veteran who suffers from post-traumatic stress disorder, his mother told The Associated Press.
The Sunnyvale Police Department said in a tweet that the suspect is Isaiah Joel Peoples, a 34-year-old resident of Sunnyvale. He was arrested after speeding through an intersection and crashing his Toyota Corolla into a tree. The conditions of the injured, who included a 13-year-old girl, were not immediately disclosed.
Peoples’ mother, Leevell Peoples of Sacramento, California, said that she couldn’t fathom any situation in which her timid son would deliberately crash into innocent people, other than something related to the PTSD he experienced after serving as an Army sharpshooter in Iraq, she said.
“Unless the car malfunctioned, he would not have done that. He’s like the perfect, model citizen,” she said. “He’s an Army vet, he’s a good kid, never been arrested. I promise you, It was not deliberate. If anything, it was that Army.”
Peoples, who is an auditor for the Department of Defense in Mountain View, received inpatient treatment for PTSD in 2015.
The crash occurred at a large intersection in an area of commercial strip malls in Sunnyvale, which residents describe as a quiet suburb.
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump renewed his threat to send more troops to the U.S.-Mexico border following an incident in which Mexican soldiers confronted U.S. personnel. Mexico blamed the incident on confusion, and said it was not looking for confrontation with the U.S.
In morning tweets, Trump said, “Mexico’s Soldiers recently pulled guns on our National Guard Soldiers,” claiming, without evidence, that it was done “probably as a diversionary tactic for drug smugglers on the Border.”
“Better not happen again!” he added. “We are now sending ARMED SOLDIERS to the Border. Mexico is not doing nearly enough in apprehending & returning!”
Trump last year dispatched U.S. troops to the border to assist border personnel in response to several caravans of Central American migrants traveling through Mexico in hopes of reaching the U.S. Many are already armed.
Earlier this month, two U.S. soldiers in a remote area of Texas were confronted by Mexican soldiers who thought the Americans had crossed into Mexico. The Mexican troops reportedly removed a weapon from one of the American soldiers. U.S. Northern Command, which manages military support for Customs and Border Protection, said the Americans were in a CBP vehicle in a remote area of U.S. territory south of the border wall but north of the actual border.