“It is clear that this can now only be described as a terrorist attack,” she said. “From what we know, it does appear to have been well planned.”

“Two explosive devices attached to suspect vehicles have now been found and they have been disarmed,” she added.

Meanwhile Australia’s Prime Minister Scott Morrison said the gunman who killed numerous worshippers in a ew Zealand mosque on Friday was a right-wing extremist with Australian citizenship.

Morrison said the shooting in Christchurch was carried out by “an extremist, right-wing, violent terrorist” who was an Australian-born citizen.

He declined to provide further details, saying the investigation was being led by New Zealand authorities.

Witnesses spoke of seeing bloodied bodies, with children also believed to be among the dead, and police warned of “extremely distressing footage” of the incident circulating on the internet.

Police said four people — three men and a woman — had been taken into custody, and that they had found and neutralised a number of IEDS (improved explosive devices).

A Palestinian man who was in one of the mosques said he saw someone being shot in the head.

“I heard three quick shots then after about 10 seconds it started again. It must have been an automatic — no one could pull a trigger that quick,” the man, who did not wish to be named, told AFP.

“Then people started running out. Some were covered in blood,” he said, adding that he joined the fleeing crowd and managed to escape the scene.

Local media reported at least nine people were dead and the South Island city was placed under lockdown. Police said that armed officers were attending a number of scenes.

“This is an evolving incident and we are working to confirm the facts, however we can confirm there have been a number of fatalities,” police commissioner Mike Bush said.

“Police are responding with its full capability to manage the situation, but the risk environment remains extremely high,” Bush said.

New Zealand police said in a tweet that they were aware of “extremely distressing footage relating to the incident in Christchurch circulating online.”

“We would strongly urge that the link not be shared. We are working to have any footage removed.”

– ‘Darkest days’ –

An ashen-faced Ardern said she was unable to confirm the number of fatalities, with events still unfolding.

“It is clear that this is one of New Zealand’s darkest days,” she told reporters. “Clearly, what has happened here is an extraordinary and unprecedented act of violence.”

The Masjid al Noor in central Christchurch was filled with worshippers when the attack happened, as was the second mosque in suburban Linwood.

One witness told stuff.co.nz he was praying when he heard shooting — and then saw his wife lying dead on the footpath outside when he fled.

Another man said he saw children being shot.

“There were bodies all over,” he said.

An eyewitness told Radio New Zealand that he heard shots fired and four people were lying on the ground, with “blood everywhere”.

Police said they had put the entire city on lockdown including schools, and told residents to stay off the streets.

They also warned Muslims all over the country not to visit mosques “anywhere in New Zealand”. Friday is Islam’s holy day.

Christchurch city council offered a helpline for parents looking for kids attending a mass climate change rally nearby.

“Please do not try and come and collect your children until police say it is safe for people to come into the central city,” they said.

The Bangladesh cricket team — which had been in Christchurch for a test match against New Zealand that was later cancelled — all escaped without injury.

A spokesman said the attack happened as some of players got off a team bus and were about to enter the mosque.

“They are safe. But they are mentally shocked. We have asked the team to stay confined in the hotel,” he told AFP.

Mass shootings are rare in New Zealand, which tightened its gun laws to restrict access to semi-automatic rifles in 1992, two years after a mentally disturbed man shot dead 13 people in the South Island town of Aramoana.

However, anyone over 16 can apply for a standard firearms licence after doing a safety course, which allows them to purchase and use a shotgun unsupervised.

Christchurch, a relatively small city in the south of New Zealand, hit global headlines in 2011 when it was struck by a deadly earthquake.

Dozens of people died and the city’s historic cathedral was toppled in the disaster.

The team was in Rakhine from March 4-13 and is expected to finish its report this month.

The Association of Southeast Asian Nations will then decide whether to send the team back for a comprehensive assessment in the near future, ministry spokesperson Busadee Santipitaks said.

She termed the mission a “good signal” for Asean to enhance its role in resolving the problems in Rakhine state.

Foreign Minister Don Pramudwinai, representing Thailand as this year’s chair of Asean, was in Jakarta on Tuesday and Wednesday to discuss the issue with Indonesian President Joko Widodo, his Indonesian counterpart Retno Marsudi and Asean Secretary General Lim Jock Hoi.

The ERAT is made up of experts from several member-states and officials of the Asean Coordinating Centre for Humanitarian Assistance on Disaster Management and Asean Secretariat.

It was the first time Asean had dispatched a mission to Rakhine since violence erupted there in August 2017, eventually forcing more than 700,000 Rohingya to flee their homes and seek refuge in neighbouring Bangladesh.

The United Nations, United States and other western countries have characterised atrocities inflicted on the Rohingya, including arson, torture, murder, gang rape and massacre, as constituting genocide.

Attempts are being made to refer the matter to the International Criminal Court or a similar tribunal.

Several senior military officers have been accused by name as bearing responsibility for what the Myanmar government dubbed a “clearance operation” aimed at rooting out militant Muslim terrorists among the Rohingya population.

Myanmar and Bangladesh last year reached an agreement on repatriating thousands of Rohingya. The initial group was supposed to return on November 15 but refused to move until their safety could be guaranteed.

Asean at its summit last year in Singapore agreed to help Myanmar end the crisis and repatriate thousands of refugees.

Secretary General Lim, who visited Myanmar from December 16-18 to establish terms of reference for the ERAT mission, told Asean foreign ministers meeting informally in Chiang Mai in mid-January that the mission could not yet proceed due to safety risks.

The emergency order was issued in the afternoon by the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), which had said for days that the Boeing 737 Max planes were airworthy despite the crash of an Ethiopian Airlines flight of the Max 8 model, even as regulators around the world grounded the aircraft or banned it from their airspace altogether.

The FAA said its order was prompted by new evidence from the Ethiopian Airlines crash site gathered on Wednesday which, together with newly-refined satellite data of the aircraft’s flight path, indicated similarities with the Lion Air flight which killed all 189 people on board on Oct 29 last year. That aircraft was also a Max 8.

America’s emergency order was made independently of other countries, FAA acting administrator Daniel Elwell told CNBC in an interview.

The initial data the US had received had been incomplete and raw, but the fresh data on Wednesday showed that the Ethiopian Airlines flight track had been similar enough to the Lion Air flight to warrant the grounding of the airplanes, he said.

Asked why the FAA was the last to act, Mr Elwell said: “We were certainly aware of what was going on around the world, but we didn’t feel global pressure. We are a data-driven, action-oriented agency, and we don’t make decision about grounding aircraft…without actionable data.

“In this case, the actionable data didn’t arrive until today. I can’t speak to the motivations of other countries but for us, it was an independent decision,” he added.

Canada had made the same decision to ground Boeing 737 Max aircraft hours before the US, citing the fresh evidence as well.

Both President Donald Trump and Boeing separately characterised the grounding of the aircraft as a precaution that acknowledged travellers’ fears.

“We didn’t have to make this decision today. We could’ve delayed it. We maybe didn’t have to make it at all, but I felt it was important both psychologically and a lot of other ways,” Trump told reporters in the White House.

“The safety of the American people and all people is our paramount concern,” he added.

Boeing said it had recommended to the FAA the temporary suspension of operations of its entire global fleet of 737 Max aircraft, after consulting with the FAA, US National Transportation Safety Board, and aviation authorities and customers around the world.

The decision was made “out of an abundance of caution and in order to reassure the flying public of the aircraft’s safety”, said Boeing in a statement on its website on Wednesday.

Following the US move, Brazil also grounded the Max planes, becoming the first major Latin American nation to do so in the wake of the Ethiopian Airlines disaster.

In a statement, Brazilian air travel regulator ANAC said it made its decision after consulting with US authorities, Boeing, and local carriers.

Across America, passengers on cancelled flights queued at airport counters, called customer service hotlines or went onto airline websites and were re-booked on different flights or put on other planes.

Southwest passengers, for instance, were allowed to reschedule their flights within 14 days of their original travel date at no additional cost.

Other jittery passengers, who had already cancelled or re-booked their flights in the days before the grounding to avoid flying on a 737 Max aircraft, also took to social media to ask for their fare difference to be refunded.

But few disruptions overall were reported, given the small proportion of Boeing 737 Max 8 and 9 aircraft in American fleets.

Southwest Airlines has 34 Boeing 737 Max 8 planes which account for under 5 per cent of its daily flights, while American Airlines has 24 Max 8 planes, which operate 85 flights out of its 6,700 departures per day.

United Airlines has 14 of the larger Boeing 737 Max 9 planes, which were also grounded. Canadian carriers Air Canada and WestJet also grounded their 737 Max aircraft earlier on Wednesday.

The planes will remain grounded until Boeing comes up with a solution, said Trump.

A joint statement by Singapore’s Foreign Minister Vivian Balakrishnan and his Malaysian counterpart Saifuddin Abdullah after their meeting on Thursday morning said they agreed to implement the suspension of overlapping port limits with immediate effect.

Singapore and Malaysia will instead apply their port limits in effect prior to Dec 6 and Oct 25 respectively, undoing the overlap, and work to start talks to delimit their maritime boundary in the area.

The measures, both ministers said, “demonstrate the commitment of both countries to work together to preserve a strong and positive bilateral relationship on the basis of equality and mutual respect, and to resolve bilateral issues amicably in accordance with international law”.

Malaysia had on Oct 25 gazetted an extension to Johor Baru port limits beyond territorial claims made in its 1979 map, and anchored government vessels in the area.

Singapore on Dec 6 extended its port limits to the extent of its territorial waters in response.

Thursday’s meeting at the Malaysian Foreign Ministry in Putrajaya followed one by the ministers in Singapore on Jan 8 to de-escalate the situation and find a way forward to resolve the matter.

The suspension of overlapping port limits was one of five recommendations agreed to by both countries at the Thursday meeting.

The other recommendations are:

– Both parties will suspend and not authorise any commercial activities in the area.

– Both sides will not anchor government vessels in the area.

– Singapore and Malaysia vessels will operate in the area “in accordance with international law including the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (Unclos)”.

“The relevant agencies on both sides will work out practical modalities to avoid untoward incidents in the area,” the statement said.

– A joint committee to delimit maritime boundaries will be set up to ensure these steps are implemented within a month. Negotiations for new boundaries to resolve the overlapping claims will commence within a month after that.

The committee will be headed by the Permanent Secretary of Singapore’s Foreign Ministry, Mr Chee Wee Kiong, and the Secretary General of Malaysia’s Foreign Ministry, Datuk Sri Muhammad Shahrul Ikram Yaakob, both of whom also led the bilateral working group that made these recommendations.

“Both Foreign Ministers agreed that these measures were vital to de-escalate the situation on the ground, and pave the way for maritime boundary delimitation of the area,” the statement said.

“In the event that the committee is unable to reach an amicable solution on delimitation, Malaysia and Singapore may mutually agree to resort to an appropriate international third-party dispute settlement procedure on terms to be mutually agreed by the parties,” it added.

The two ministers also stressed that “these measures taken by both countries shall be without prejudice to Malaysia’s and Singapore’s respective maritime boundary claims in the area”.

On Feb 9, a Greek ship collided with a Malaysian government vessel that was anchored in the disputed zone, following which Singapore’s Foreign Ministry repeated its call for the withdrawal of Malaysian assets from the waters as their presence “poses a threat to safety of navigation in the area”.

Both ministers also discussed the 1962 Water Agreement between Singapore and Malaysia.

They noted that both sides have differing views on the right to review the agreement, and that their attorneys-general will continue discussion on the matter with a view to finding an amicable way forward.

“We have proposed Greta Thunberg because if we do nothing to halt climate change it will be the cause of wars, conflict and refugees,” Norwegian Socialist MP Freddy Andre Ovstegard told AFP.

“Greta Thunberg has launched a mass movement which I see as a major contribution to peace,” he added.

Six months ago no one knew who Thunberg was when, as a 15-year-old, she camped outside Sweden’s parliament next to a hand-written sign: “SCHOOL STRIKE FOR CLIMATE”.

    Since then she has gone global, striking a chord with younger people disillusioned by the slow progress of the adult world in halting climate change.

On Friday, thousands of students are expected to demonstrate in more than 100 countries in what activists say could be a milestone moment in a grassroots campaign to push world leaders into doing more.

“We are only seeing the beginning,” Thunberg, now 16, tweeted recently.

“I think that change is on the horizon and the people will stand up for their future.”

    Yong Jun-hyung, 29, who is a member of boy band Highlight — formerly known as Beast — said he watched a video of singer Jung Joon-young having sex with women taken without their consent.

Jung, 30, was questioned by police on Thursday after admitting he shared the footage with other men, including mega K-pop star Seungri, who is also embroiled in a sex-for-investment criminal investigation.

Both Seungri — a member of boy band BIGBANG — and Jung, announced their retirement from show business earlier this week.

    Yong “has watched the footage… and had an inappropriate conversation with (Jung),” the singer’s agency Around Us Entertainment said in a statement, adding Yong will leave the band Highlight on Thursday.

South Korea has been battling a growing epidemic of so-called “molka”, or spycam videos — mostly of women, secretly filmed by men.

As well as secretly filming women in schools, toilets and offices, “revenge porn” — videos men take of themselves having sex with their exes or partners filmed without the women’s consent — is believed to be equally widespread.

According to Han Sol, an activist at Flaming Feminist Action, such videos have long been watched and shared by South Korean men as a form of entertainment and a way to strengthen their “brotherly ties”.

Yong, who has also worked as a record producer and actor, previously denied allegations that he had been involved in the ongoing K-pop sex scandal.

For South Korean women’s activists, the scandal, including the latest revelation, is unsurprising.

Thousands of women protested in Seoul last year on several occasions against spycam and revenge porn videos, as part of the country’s ongoing #MeToo movement.

“This case just shows that male K-pop stars are no exception when it comes to being part of this very disturbing reality that exploits women,” women’s rights activist Bae Bok-ju told AFP.

The person, who is believed to be a Filipino in her 30s, was seen parading herself stark naked on the street. At one point, she climbs onto the roof of a car stuck in traffic and gestures lewdly.

Videos of her antics have since gone viral on social media.

It is believed that members of the public alerted the police, who then detained her and took her to the Hospital Kuala Lumpur for treatment.

At least four pilots made reports following the October crash of a Lion Air flight in Indonesia shortly after takeoff, all complaining that the aircraft suddenly pitched downward, according to documents reviewed by AFP on a flight safety database.

The incidents seem to involve the flight stabilization system designed to prevent the aircraft from stalling, the “MCAS,” which was implicated in the fatal accident in the Lion Air crash that killed 189 people shortly after takeoff.

After the latest accident Sunday of another 737 MAX 8 from Ethiopian Airlines, shortly after takeoff, killing 157, numerous airlines and governments around the world grounded the aircraft or banned it from their skies, including Canada which just took the step on Wednesday.

However, the Federal Aviation Administration on Tuesday said there was no reason as yet to ground the planes, even though it has mandated Boeing update its flight software and training on the aircraft.

The cause of the tragedy in Ethiopia has not been determined, although the black boxes with critical data and recordings of the pilot were retrieved Monday.

– ‘DONT SINK DONT SINK’ –

One pilot logged an incident in November 2018, just weeks after the Lion Air crash, saying the plane “pitched nose down” two to three seconds after engaging the autopilot following takeoff, according to the report on the Aviation Safety Reporting System, maintained by NASA.

“The captain immediately disconnected the autopilot and pitched into a climb,” the report said. “The rest of the flight was uneventful.”

The report said the flight crew reviewed the incident “at length… but can’t think of any reason the aircraft would pitch nose-down so aggressively.”

Another pilot on a flight in November said the crew discussed the concerns about the aircraft and “I mentioned I would engage the autopilot sooner than usual.”

But again once engaged, there was a quick automated warning of “DONT SINK DONT SINK!”

“I immediately disconnected the AP (autopilot) … and resumed climb,” the officer said. But after review, “frankly neither of us could find an inappropriate setup error.”

“With the concerns with the MAX 8 nose-down stuff, we both thought it appropriate to bring it to your attention.”

The Lion Air accident had focused attention on Angle of Attack (AOA) sensors connected to the Aircraft Stabilization System (MCAS).

A malfunction of these tools may erroneously correct the path by pitching the aircraft down due to a mistaken assessment that the aircraft is in stall.

The Ethiopian Airlines disaster took place shortly after takeoff and the aircraft experienced irregular climbs and descents just after taking off.

“We’re going to decline to comment on specific ASRS reports,” an FAA spokeswoman told AFP. “We are not aware of any verified reports of MCAS issues in the US.”

The ASRS is a voluntary system of reports that allows research to “lessen the likelihood of aviation accidents.”

Accompanying her were first runner-up Kanwara Kaewjin from Thailand, and second runner-up Yaya from China. Royale was crowned in beauty pageant held by Tiffany’s Show Pattaya on March 8. Other transgender beauties participating in the event came from 20 countries, including Laos, India, Indonesia, Nepal, Malaysia, Vietnam, Myanmar, Japan, South Korea, Ecuador, Nicaragua, Peru, Canada and Brazil.