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U.K. Police Designate Fatal Stabbing of MP a Terrorist Incident; Lebanon in Crisis; Bow-and-Arrow Attack Suspect Charged in Norway. Aired 2-2:40a ET
Aired October 16, 2021 - 02:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
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ROBYN CURNOW, CNN ANCHOR (voice-over): Hi, I'm Robyn Curnow, you are watching CNN.
Just ahead, a British lawmaker stabbed to death inside a church while meeting with constituents. What authorities are now saying about his links to terrorism?
Also, Shiites targeted again in Afghanistan. Dozens are dead after a bomb blast inside a mosque.
Plus, Lebanon on edge, arrests and funerals following its worst street violence in more than a decade.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE (voice-over): Live from CNN Center, this is CNN NEWSROOM with Robyn Curnow.
CURNOW: We begin this hour in the U.K., where police say the fatal stabbing of a member of Parliament on Friday was an act of terrorism. Longtime Conservative MP Sir David Amess was killed as he met with constituents in the coastal town of Leigh-on-Sea. He is the second member of Parliament to be murdered in just five years.
Police quickly arrested a 25-year-old man on suspicion of murder. He's believed to be a British national of Somali heritage. Police later said they were searching two addresses in London as part of the investigation.
David Amess was known as a generous politician, a family man and a devout Catholic. Dozens of mourners turned out as a mass was held at a local church. Nada Bashir joins us now.
What is the latest as people wake up to the news, that people are calling this a terrorist attack?
NADA BASHIR, CNN CORRESPONDENT: People in this local community will be shocked, that this investigation is now being treated as a terror incident. We know from the Metropolitan Police that early evidence suggests that the motive may have been linked to Islamist extremism.
The 25-year-old man has been arrested on suspicion of murder, a British national believed to be of Somali heritage. But the police are still appealing for more information as the investigation continues.
They're asking local residents, who may have CCTV footage or dashcam footage, that it may be of some usage as they piece together the incident, which took place just 50 meters away.
There are still police cordons just behind me, police officers just outside the church, just down the road behind me.
And we have seen residents coming to pay their respects to Sir David Amess, leaving flowers and notes behind in his memory. They say he was a much-valued member of the community, someone who was really engaged with the local residents here and who cared about important causes important to them.
And he represented them in Parliament. He was a long-standing parliamentarian, with more than 30 years of experience in Parliament. He will not only be missed by these local residents but of course, by his colleagues in Parliament.
Flags are flown at half-mast yesterday outside the palace of Westminster. Messages of condolences shared by his colleagues. The prime minister himself speaking yesterday, describing him as one of the kindest, nicest and most gentle people in politics -- Robyn.
CURNOW: Nada, talk us through the mood with lawmakers, many of them feeling threatened. David himself had raised the issue of feeling threatened.
BASHIR: Absolutely, Robyn. There is concern now over the safety of lawmakers in the U.K. This comes five years after the death of Jo Cox, a Labour MP, by far-right extremists. So, there are some serious concerns over the situation faced by lawmakers.
David Amess was just carrying out a surgery, a sort of open forum for his constituents, to come and speak to him, express their grievances or concerns, a crucial part of democracy in the U.K., something that lawmakers carry out on a regular basis.
So, there are some serious concerns. And David Amess raised this himself recently, writing on the murder of Jo Cox, that such attacks have spoiled the great British tradition of openly meeting their elected politicians.
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BASHIR: He said that he himself has had experienced what he described as nuisances from residents in his community. So, there is some real questions here as to what should be done here, going forward, to protect lawmakers in the U.K. -- Robyn.
CURNOW: Thanks, Nada Bashir there, on the ground.
Flags at Parliament have been lowered to half-staff in response to his killing. The Speaker of the House of Commons tweeted out this earlier, saying he is praying for the slain lawmaker's family, friends and colleagues. Well condolences for David Amess are pouring in. British prime
minister Boris Johnson recalling the fellow Conservative as both a warm-hearted man and a public servant. Cyril Vanier is outside 10 Downing Street with more.
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CYRIL VANIER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Shock and sadness, the mood in Westminster on Friday evening. Sir David Amess had been a lawmaker for almost four decades. He was a fixture of the Conservative Party, of parliamentary life and had many friends across the political spectrum. Boris Johnson paying tribute to his character and kindness.
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BORIS JOHNSON, U.K. PRIME MINISTER: The reason I think people are so shocked and saddened is, above all, he was one of the kindest, nicest, most gentle people in politics. And he also had an outstanding record of passing laws to help the most vulnerable. We have lost today a fine public servant and a much-loved friend and colleague.
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VANIER: And that really is something that stands out from the many tributes from politicians today. Sir David, knighted in 2015, for his life of public service, is being remembered as a genuinely nice person; a lovely, lovely man, wrote the British foreign secretary; someone who showed charity and compassion to all, according to secretary of state Michael Gove.
Or this quote, from the secretary of state for Northern Ireland, quote, "One of life's truly nice people, always ready to give his help."
A part of Sir David's legacy clearly, in addition to his politics and the many laws that he helped pass, his humanity and generosity of spirit. But beyond the tributes and the emotion, Boris Johnson was asked about security, security for members of Parliament, given this tragic reality that Sir David is the second lawmaker to be killed by a member of the general public in five years, after the murder of Jo Cox, in 2016.
On that topic, which will inevitably be and arguably is already front and center of the conversation, the prime minister would not let himself be drawn -- Cyril Vanier, CNN, Downing Street.
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CURNOW: Now turning to terrorism in U.K. to Afghanistan, for the second week in a row, dozens of people have been killed at a Shia mosque. The ISIS-K affiliate has claimed responsibility. A warning, many parts of this report by Nick Paton Walsh are graphic.
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NICK PATON WALSH, CNN INTERNATIONAL SECURITY EDITOR (voice-over): The victims came here to worship during Friday prayers at a Shia mosque in Afghanistan, an act faith that, for two weeks in a row, has been the target of suicide bombers.
Witnesses say multiple attackers entered a packed Shia mosque in Kandahar on Friday, setting off a series of blasts and killing dozens of worshippers.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE (through translator): The firing started after we ended the prayers. Then two or three explosions took place. We were thrown toward the window. Many people murdered or wounded were laying there.
WALSH (voice-over): The blast comes just a week after a similar suicide bombing at a Shia mosque in Kunduz, in which 46 people were killed. ISIS-K, the Islamic State's affiliate in Afghanistan, claimed responsibility.
The back-to-back attacks, just fuel for escalating fears that ISIS-K, enemies to both the Taliban and the West, are growing in strength in this new, troubled Afghanistan. They are threatening to undermine the Taliban's one key pledge to their new subjects: peace and stability.
The Taliban says it has ordered its fighters to arrest those responsible for this latest attack, not only to protect the minorities it now governs but also because any attack on Kandahar, the birthplace of the Taliban, is, for this new administration, just to close to home -- Nick Paton Walsh, CNN, London.
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CURNOW: And the Pentagon says it held a meeting about potential compensation payments for the relatives of the Afghans mistakenly killed in a U.S. drone strike.
The talks were held at the head of the charity that employed the civilian the U.S. mistook for an ISIS-K member. He was killed in August, along with nine members of his family, most of them children.
Possible relocation to the United States for surviving family members was also discussed. A Pentagon official says no formal agreement has been reached.
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CURNOW: And memories of civil war are being stirred in Lebanon after this week's violence, the worst in years. We will take you to the streets of Beirut, where some say the situation is a powder keg.
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CURNOW: Rescue efforts are underway in Bali after a 4.8 earthquake struck the Indonesian island. Authorities say several buildings have been damaged and some people are still trapped; at least three people have died.
And funerals have been held in Beirut following the worst street violence in Lebanon in more than a decade. That's when someone opened fire on Shia protesters who demanded the dismissal of a judge investigating the Beirut port explosion.
The shootings led to street battles; at least 7 people were killed, more than 30 injured. And it ignited fears that the nation could slide into another civil war. Ben Wedeman is standing by in Beirut.
Ben, you've reported so long from the streets of Lebanon.
What have the last few days been like on the ground?
BEN WEDEMAN, CNN SR. INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: It's been a roller coaster, really, for many people, Robyn, who, of course, have been struggling now for two years with the collapse of the Lebanese state and its economy and now having to deal with a vivid reminder of the civil war.
In fact we are coming to you from Martyrs' Square, in downtown Beirut, very much the frontline during the 15-year Lebanese civil war.
So the violence of Thursday, the worst Beirut has seen since 2008, was a vivid reminder of what can happen when all the various political factions and militias go too close to the brink.
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WEDEMAN (voice-over): They fire round after round into the air, supporters of the Shia Amal movement, after the funerals for those killed in Thursday's violence, the worst the Lebanese capital has seen in more than a dozen years.
All the dead were from the Shia sect, including members of the two main Shia parties, Hezbollah and Amal. Their leaders have accused the Lebanese Forces, a Christian party, of the killings. The Lebanese Forces reject the accusation.
Here in the neighborhood of Shia, the men with guns aim in one direction, at about a 45-degree angle up the street, at the adjacent district, the predominately Christian neighborhood of (INAUDIBLE).
And what goes up must come down. It was on the road that divides the two neighborhoods that the Lebanese civil war began in April 1975 and, for many, there is a fear Lebanon is going full circle.
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WEDEMAN (voice-over): "Of course we hope this isn't going to lead to a civil war," says Hassan.
WEDEMAN: This may not be the start of what some say is a civil war. But what this does show is that there is no shortage of weapons in this country. WEDEMAN (voice-over): State authority, however, is in short supply.
Soldiers stand guard just a few blocks away but don't intervene, while gunman spray bullets into the sky.
Erez Ibrahim (ph) lives on the other side of the old dividing line.
"Here, the entire neighborhood was reminded of the events of civil war," she tells me.
It's hard to ignore the echoes.
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WEDEMAN: And of course, Thursday's violence was all about the investigation into the 4th of August, 2020, Beirut port blast, that port, right behind me. And that investigation does seem to be the source of continued tension here in Lebanon.
The protest was against the judge investigating the blast. It's the second judge that Lebanon has had. The first one was dismissed because some of the politicians who were under investigation were negligent in the blast, complaining that, because his apartment was damaged in the blast, that that judge was not going to be fair.
The current judge, they are trying to have him dismissed as well. He has been accused by Hezbollah, Amal and other politicians of political bias.
And we had an odd twist overnight in the case, where the spokesman for the group that represents the families of the victims from the blast came out and said that the judge should be dismissed. Oddly enough, however, that video posted on Twitter looked a bit like a hostage video -- Robyn.
CURNOW: Ben Wedeman, thanks so much for that.
So let's take a look at the bigger picture here and what led to the crisis in Lebanon. We are joined now by Karim Merhej, a writer and researcher for "The Public Source," an independent media organization covering social and political issues in Lebanon.
Karim, good to have you on the show. We heard Ben Wedeman talk about the fallout from the port explosion in many ways, being the trigger point for some of the violence we have seen in the past few days. But that's not all.
KARIM MERHEJ, WRITER AND RESEARCHER, "THE PUBLIC SOURCE": Well, yes, what we have to bear in mind is that Lebanon is experiencing an unprecedented socioeconomic collapse. The structures that have underpinned the current political system and the economy since the end of the civil war in the early 1990s, they have collapsed.
And what this essentially means is that Lebanon is entering a new phase of its history and the political class and their allies in the banking sector are holding firm. They don't want to see the system collapse. They want to maintain the status quo which has been very lucrative to them, a status quo through which they have managed to plunder public funds and they have managed to lead us to this catastrophe.
In a nutshell, this is what is currently the case, they are trying to maintain the status quo and make sure that any form of accountability is never even considered.
And now, as we have seen, even if one judge tries to or even has the courage to go after the big shots, the big figures, such as former ministers or current members of parliament, they are willing to go through every single avenue to block his way. And at last resort, they will resort to civil strife, which only benefits them, the political class and their allies in the banks at the expense of society as a whole.
CURNOW: The World Bank said that the economic collapse, the social collapse we are seeing there in Lebanon, is one of the worst in recent history. It is stunning, the way this state has almost failed.
How does that benefit these militias that we have seen, obviously, come out on the streets and play into this increasing power vacuum?
MERHEJ: We have to bear in mind that the political class and the banks are two sides of the same coin. If you look at the shareholders of the major banks, it's the same people. And what happened is that now, we know, that in late 2019, after the national currency started devaluating, losing its value, billions of dollars were siphoned off abroad, by the big depositors.
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MERHEJ: Small depositors had capital controls placed on them. And they couldn't retrieve their money in dollars. Instead, they had to retrieve their money in our national currency, which has lost its value.
So by allowing civil strife, the ruling class, these feudal lords and warlords, who became the ministers and prime ministers in the postwar era, they are restamping their authority, effectively telling everyone that there is no alternative.
And they are, if you want, by reinforcing the sectarian rhetoric, the sectarian cleavages between different components of our society, they are reestablishing their power and stamping their authority on the ground.
CURNOW: As we have heard, seen in images and also from Ben Wedeman's reporting, there is a lot of ammunition. You heard the rounds behind Ben, a lot of weapons.
What does that mean, that the amplification of violence seems to be occurring?
Is there a concern of a return to civil war?
MERHEJ: We have parliamentary elections that are meant to take place soon, either in March or May of next year, we are not entirely sure when. These elections will be a chance for the ruling class to gain some form of lost legitimacy.
This will allow them to tell all their domestic constituents and international audiences, we are still here. We still have a lot of support. So personally, I don't think there is a fear of civil war as there was in 1975, because the situation is completely different.
And these kinds of skirmishes that we saw a few days ago are an event for the ruling class to, as I mentioned, reembolden sectarian divisions, sectarian cleavages and ready their constituents, their supporters for the upcoming elections and to try to regain the sense of lost legitimacy, the legitimacy that they have lost in the last 2.5 years of the socioeconomic collapse.
CURNOW: Karim Merhej, thank you for joining us, great to get your perspective, appreciate it.
MERHEJ: Thank you.
CURNOW: You are watching CNN. New details about the mental health of the man suspected of killing five people in a bow and arrow attack in Norway.
Plus, for many in Taiwan, it's business as usual, despite Beijing ramping up aggression toward the self-governing island. Why one person says the global attention may be a good thing.
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CURNOW: The suspect in the deadly bow and arrow attack in Norway has been charged with five counts of murder. Police say the 37-year old is being held in a secure health unit rather than a prison. And investigators now believe mental illness may be behind the rampage, which left five people dead, three wounded. Our correspondent Melissa Bell has more on the investigation -- Melissa.
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MELISSA BELL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: A chilling warning posted to Facebook in 2017.
ESPEN ANDERSEN BRATHEN, ALLEGED MURDERER: I come with a warning.
BELL (voice-over): Espen Andersen Brathen, saying those who wanted to make amends still could.
Fast forward four years.
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BELL (voice-over): And Wednesday night, just after 6 pm, Brathen, a Danish and Muslim convert, began his rampage here inside the supermarket. An off duty police officer was wounded before he went off, carrying a bow, his arrows and two other weapons, although police will not say what kind.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He's tired and mentally ill. So he can't be doing more now. so he's in an institution with police.
BELL (voice-over): Shortly after leaving the supermarket, Brathen was intercepted by police but escaped after shooting arrows in their direction. Only after that did the killings begin.
BELL: It was on this street more than half an hour after his rampage began that Brathen was finally apprehended. He's now been charged with five counts of murder.
BELL (voice-over): Brathen who was known to authorities for his radicalization, has now been sectioned in a secure health care unit. There is much that is idyllic about Kongsberg, a quiet, affluent suburban town, just over 50 miles outside of Oslo.
And in this town, where everyone pretty much knows everyone else, people are now waiting for those killed on Wednesday to be officially identified.
TORIE ERHTEN (PH), LONGSBERG RESIDENT: It's surrealistic. Yes. We live in a safe, small community and it's hard to believe that someone can be so disturbed.
BELL: But that shock and grief is being felt well beyond the limits of this town. As the Norwegian king, King Harald put it, Norway is a pretty small country and when Kongsberg is hit, the entire nation is with it -- Melissa Bell, CNN, Kongsberg.
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CURNOW: U.S. lawmakers are pushing president Joe Biden to get tougher on China. But many on the self governed island seem unfazed.
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WILL RIPLEY, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): For an island living under the constant threat of a Chinese invasion, life in Taipei feels surprisingly normal. These grandmas get together at the park every week. They have a lot of things to talk about. War with China is not one of them.
GRANDMA HUANG, TAIPEI RESIDENT (through translator): We don't worry about it all. The threat has always been there and there's nothing to worry about. If it was going to happen, it would have happened a long time ago.
RIPLEY (voice-over): Taiwan's senior citizens lived through decades of hostility with no travel, trade or communication between Taiwan and China. In the 1990s, cross-strait tensions got better. Now, they're getting worse. As the U.S. and Taiwan grow closer, China is getting more agitated.
Beijing released video of a training exercise targeting Taiwan independence and interference by external forces like the U.S., a warning for President Joe Biden and other U.S. allies.
LIU TING-TING, MILITARY REPORTER, TVBS NEWS: When Biden first came to power, no doubt there has been concerns whether there may be a reverse on foreign policy in regards to Taiwan. But I think people here actually see that Biden might have a harder stance against China.
RIPLEY (voice-over): U.S.-Taiwan arms sales skyrocketed during the Trump years. But some worry Washington's closer ties to Taipei may be provoking Beijing, pushing Taiwan and the U.S. into dangerous territory if a military conflict breaks out.
As Taiwan and the U.S. deepen economic and military cooperation, Taiwan is spending billions of dollars on new weapons. Taiwan's defense minister says China could launch a full-scale war on Taiwan by 2025. He says military tensions are the worst in more than 40 years. The mainland's massive army pauses a growing threat to the world's only Chinese-speaking democracy.
A threat you don't feel on the ground. When China was flying warplanes in record numbers near Taiwan this month, the story was barely mentioned in the Taiwanese media.
LIU: I think one thing is that the Taiwanese has been very used to incursions, day in and day out, daily, over the years.
RIPLEY (voice-over): Liu covers this story day in and day out, even when China's actions don't make global headlines.
LIU: Because I think we need to have more attention on Taiwan and there is something that has not been seen previously. More global attention that might actually keep Taiwan safer.
RIPLEY (voice-over): Many here say they already feel safe no matter what may be coming across the Taiwan Strait -- Will Ripley, CNN, Taipei.
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CURNOW: A British politician killed in a brazen knife attack inside a church. Police are calling it terrorism. We will explain why, just ahead.
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CURNOW: British police now say the fatal stabbing of a member of Parliament on Friday was an act of terrorism. Longtime Conservative MP David Amess was killed as he met with constituents in the coastal town of Leigh-on-Sea.
He's the second member of Parliament to be murdered in five years. Police quickly arrested a 25-year-old man on suspicion of murder, believed to be a British national of Somali heritage. Police said they were searching two addresses in London as part of the investigation. For more now, here is Nic Robertson.
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NIC ROBERTSON, CNN INTERNATIONAL DIPLOMATIC EDITOR (voice-over): Known as a kind and gentle man, 69-year-old Sir David Amess had been a member of Parliament for more than half his life, his brutal killing shocking the nation, from the prime minster --
BORIS JOHNSON, U.K. PRIME MINISTER: All our hearts are full of shock and sadness. He was one of the kindest, nicest, most gentle people in politics. And he also had an outstanding record of passing laws to help the most vulnerable.
ROBERTSON (voice-over): -- to Amess' constituents --
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Everyone was just speechless. It was just awful. It was just -- he's such a kind, gentle soul, witty, quite quirky and liked people. It was just shocking. Absolutely shocking.
ROBERTSON (voice-over): -- Amess died while help his community, meeting face-to-face with voters, a so-called constituency surgery, answering queries, solving problems, listening to gripes.
ROBERTSON: Police say they received a call about a stabbing around noon. They were on the scene at the church within minutes but they say Amess had been stabbed multiple times and the emergency services couldn't save him.
ROBERTSON (voice-over): A knife was found at the scene and a 25-year- old man arrested. Police say they are not looking for anyone else at this time.
BEN-JULIAN HARRINGTON, CHIEF CONSTABLE, ESSEX POLICE: The investigation is in its very early stages and it's being led by officers from the specialist counterterrorism command.
ROBERTSON (voice-over): His killing is the first of a sitting MP since Labour's Jo Cox was shot and stabbed by a man with extreme right wing views five years ago.
Following her death, Amess wrote of his own concerns, saying that the increasing attacks rather spoiled the great British tradition of voters openly meeting with their politicians.
In March this year, Amess challenge PM Boris Johnson how to prevent senseless murders from knife crime.
SIR DAVID AMESS, BRITISH CONSERVATIVE MP: What more does my right honorable friend think that the police, society and Parliament can do to make sure that there never will in the future be such senseless murders again?
ROBERTSON (voice-over): From across the political spectrum and beyond, the outpouring of affection for Amess, a traditional Conservative --
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ROBERTSON (voice-over): -- with a love of animals and the environment, has been huge.
KEIR STARMER, U.K. LABOUR LEADER: Informed by his faith, Sir David had a profound sense of public duty. And he was highly respected and much liked across the Houses of Parliament on all sides and within the Christian community.
We now have to come together in response to this horrendous act and show that violence, intimidation and threats will never prevail over the tireless work of public servants like David, simply doing his job.
ROBERTSON (voice-over): He leaves a wife and five children. Sir David Amess, dead at 69. And British home secretary Priti Patel has asked all police forces to review security arrangements for all members of Parliament -- Nic Robertson, CNN, Leigh-on-Sea, England.
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CURNOW: For more, now, I'm joined by security and terrorism expert Glenn Schoen. He joins me from The Hague.
A priest bitterly saying he's paid the price for being an old school democratic MP. And the fact that this act of terror took place in the church, clearly, hitting home as well.
GLENN SCHOEN, TERRORISM EXPERT: Absolutely, this is horrendous and it's often the moderates that are being targeted, if we look at lawmakers and politicians in general, those representing the people, it's not just in the U.K. of course.
When you look at the United States, when you look at Germany, when you look at a number of nations around the world, we've seen lawmakers in various countries come under increased attacks. They're not alone; if we look at the whole COVID era, we've seen an increase, particularly on social media, of threats toward politicians but also journalists and virologists.
So it's definitely a profession which also, of course, has an inherent vulnerability. You need to reach out, have public engagement, be on campaign. So we're seeing that almost as a profession or a vocation, very much increased under threats in the past year or 1.5 years.
CURNOW: And in the U.K. there has been this conversation for five years, since Jo Cox, a previous MP, was also killed while doing work in her constituency. Even David here, called for more security or raised alarm.
There's a fine line between reaching out, isn't there, to the public and people who vote you in and also being wary of getting too close?
SCHOEN: Absolutely, this is unfortunately a danger inherent to the profession. When you look at sort of the security effort that's been put in and after Cox's murder, what happened was authorities in the U.K. were working on things in place from years ago due to IRA terrorism.
They look normally at the environment, the home of lawmakers, the workplace and then out in the public, the public domain. And, of course, with home alarms, the home aspect is being covered, Parliament, of course, has a special police director to take care of politicians while they are at work.
But then there's a whole public domain and the U.K. is not the only one struggling with this. There are several different aspects to security here that provide an extra challenge. One is the whole virtual demand the past few years, with social media attacks and the other component is that you need to leave a lot to the politicians themselves, how they behave, what rules they follow, advice you give them and whether or not they follow it.
So it's a very complex environment in which to put a security operation that could really be effective.
CURNOW: Was this a security failure by the British intelligence services or the British police?
Because we understand that this man was Somali in origin but a British national. And he seems to have been able to carry out this attack without any sense of warning.
SCHOEN: No, you certainly can't say that it is because we simply don't know the circumstances yet. As we saw with Norway, sometimes they sort of come out of left field, the investigation will have to point out if there were any indicators, MI-5 or the place or other intelligence services should've detected and whether or not they could make any sense of them, as to what might happen or who might be targeted.
So it's way too early for that. On the other hand it does tell you the value of doing that and having a good operation in place.
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SCHOEN: We have had incidents prevented, not just in the U.K. but in other nations as well, over the years, where people were being targeted and the whole apparatus is in place.
Right now, I think we're just short on information on the exact circumstances. And I think law enforcement in other countries, particularly counterterrorism authorities right now, are really looking to the United Kingdom to provide this information fairly fast, to see were there indicators, particular drivers, things that other countries should watch out for, such as some kind of signal that may have come in recent weeks from terrorist leaders, to start activating these kinds of attacks. CURNOW: You there in the Netherlands as, you pointed out across
Europe, politicians have been threatened or worse. This is not just limited to the U.K., particularly with such divisive politics at the moments and also amplified by social media and the frustrations of COVID as well.
Do you think that these sorts of incidents could perhaps get worse?
SCHOEN: Yes. I hate to be alarmist, but of course, we have seen clearly an increase in the level of threats, if not the level of actual incidents. A recent report by a parliamentary committee in Germany show that, over the year 2020, there was an increase in total of about 1,500 threats against German politicians.
It was, about evenly divided between unknown, right wing and left wing. We've seen in several countries now, the U.S. being a notable example worldwide, where actual incidents of plotting are being detected.
So clearly, particularly because of COVID-19, the right-wing extremist threat has increased but also the threat against scientists or those who believe in it.
And, of course, a lot of politicians stand for particular policies here. So they've been attacked because of their stance. Yes, the increasing threat level is pretty clear; whether or not that's going to translate into more incidents over this in the coming years, necessarily, let's hope not.
But it certainly is a concern. Of course, you are in the U.K.; this is a whole new concern if you will because the question here is whether this person was radicalized or whether there was a jihadi agenda behind the attack, in which case, we're looking at a concern that other people might see this as an example and someone to emulate.
CURNOW: That's a good point you make. Thanks so much. Always good to get your analysis, Glenn Schoen, appreciate it.
SCHOEN: Thank you.
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CURNOW: New Zealand is holding a super Saturday event to get people vaccinated against the coronavirus. The goal is to vaccinate one in 12 residents eligible for the shot in a single day.
Well-known Kiwis, like the prime minister, Jacinda Ardern, are taking part in the vaxathon to help build support. Right now just over 53 percent of New Zealand's population is fully vaccinated.
And vaccine advisers in the United States had said yes to the Johnson & Johnson COVID booster shot. The advisory committee voted to approve the booster -- at least 2 months after they got the Johnson & Johnson vaccine. The FDA will now consider the advice before it goes to the CDC for deliberation. And the U.S. is reopening its borders to fully vaccinated foreign
visitors, beginning on November the 8th. The White House says that this applies to those traveling by air and land.
The new policy replaces a series of bans and restrictions that have been in place since the start of the pandemic. All FDA authorized vaccines, as well as those with an emergency use listing from the WHO will be accepted.
And three Chinese astronauts have docked their capsule with the nation's space station. Take a look.
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CURNOW (voice-over): A blastoff from the Gobi Desert and Beijing's China space agency says it will be the country's longest manned mission with six months on board. One crew member is the first woman to board the station and will soon be the first Chinese woman to take a spacewalk.
The astronauts will do construction work on the station. China's goal is to have it completed by next year.
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CURNOW: Thanks so much for watching CNN, I'm Robyn Curnow, "MARKETPLACE AFRICA" starts after the break. You are watching CNN.
