Editor Brian Harrod Provides Comprehensive up-to-date news coverage, with aggregated news from sources all over the world from the Roundup Newswires Network
In the wake of the worst mass killing in the nation’s history, New Zealanders have rallied around the shocked community
In the silence that wrapped Christchurch after a day of sirens, many struggled to find the language for what had happened to the city.
At a cordon several metres from the mosques where the deadly rampage unfolded on Friday, people came, one by one, to pay their respects. A few shed quiet tears or spoke in hushed tones, but mostly, they just stood and watched.
How is it right that in our parliament it is OK to call Islam a ‘disease’, it is OK to refer to a ‘final solution’, it is OK to ridicule our religious attire?
I am an Australian Muslim woman. I am highly educated and hold a professional job. In fact, I spend a great deal of my working life with the Australian legal system. I am a wife. I am a mother. And tonight I am frightened, anxious and so very sad.
The tragedy that has occurred in Christchurch has pierced a hole in my heart that I cannot actually close. The grief is deep – these innocent people were simply praying when massacred by a man who had a deep disdain and hatred for them, not because they said or did anything but simply because they were Muslim.
Watching the images and hearing the eyewitness accounts is beyond traumatic. We have shed tears and expressed our hurt, but most of us have something in common – as hard as it is to say this, we are not surprised or shocked.
Why? Because we have lived with this fear for a long time now. Genuine fear that our lives are at risk simply because we are Muslim.
Messages of support and solidarity delivered in New Zealand, Australia, Britain, America and Canada
Mosques in New Zealand and around the world have been inundated with floral tributes and messages of support after a massacre in Christchurch that killed 49 Muslims.
Independent channel says decision by Rupert Murdoch’s company to show ‘distressing’ footage of terror attack is behind move
Sky New Zealand has pulled fellow broadcaster Sky News Australia off air until the channel stops broadcasting clips from the Christchurch mosque shooter’s Facebook live stream.
In a tweet posted on Saturday morning, Sky New Zealand, an independently-owned broadcaster, said it had decided to remove the Australian 24-hour news channel from its platform because of the distressing footage.
President downplays hate surge after white supremacist, who mentioned Trump in a manifesto, attacked New Zealand mosques
Donald Trump said he did not view white nationalism as a rising threat around the world, as New Zealand is reeling from a white supremacist attack on two mosques that killed 49 people.
Asked by a reporter on Friday if he saw an increase globally in the threat of white nationalism, the US president responded: “I don’t really. I think it’s a small group of people that have very, very serious problems. I guess, if you look at what happened in New Zealand, perhaps that’s a case. I don’t know enough about it yet.”
The Christchurch mosque attacks have challenged the complacency of the ‘Kiwi way’
New Zealand has never been the perfect country you might imagine from afar, from the quirky stories about lovelorn gannets and avocado heists, but it is generally safe, and stable, apart from the earthquakes. In these times, that makes it an idyll. It is telling that three days ago, the greatest threat in the island nation – the headline news – was an outbreak of measles.
Then, in a matter of hours on Friday, 49 people were shot dead in attacks on two mosques in Christchurch, the largest city in the South Island, their deaths livestreamed on Facebook. Explosive devices were found attached to cars, and the city was put on lockdown. There was no creeping threat, no public debate: New Zealand’s terror-risk level went from a perceived zero to an unequivocal high.
The suspect in the attack on two mosques in Christchurch opened fire on worshippers using rifles covered in white-supremacist graffiti after listening to a song glorifying a Bosnian Serb war criminal.
The gunman, who identified himself as Brenton Tarrant, a 28-year-old born in Australia, streamed footage live on social media before and during the massacre. It showed him driving to the first mosque while listening to a song idolising Radovan Karadzic, who was jailed for genocide and other war crimes against Bosnian Muslims.
Nearly NZ $500,000 (£257,500) has already been raised for the victims of Christchurch terror attack. More than 7,400 people have now donated to the crowdfunding page on Givealittle, which was set up by the New Zealand Council of Victim Support Groups, the country’s primary support provider for people affected by homicide.
Another campaign, spearheaded by a coalition of New Zealand Islamic groups, has raised nearly NZ $350,000 NZ
If you're moved to donate to help those impacted in the Christchurch terror attack, here's 2 funding drives. Victim Support is an NZ org working with victims: https://t.co/pISPWj32F2 And there's a campaign by a coalition of NZ Islamic groups: https://t.co/kqtMwkuOF0
The terrorist attack in New Zealand has focused attention once more on the acute threat posed by rightwing extremists.
Waves of terrorism follow a pattern: a long, unnoticed buildup followed by a massive and spectacular strike that often inflicts significant damage and casualties but focuses minds and eventually resources.
The most terrible livestream in history suggests online fascism is the most dangerous political current in the world today
Before the massacre in Christchurch, New Zealand, in which 49 people were murdered at Friday prayers at two mosques, a man who identified himself as Brenton Tarrant posted notice of his intention to live-stream an “attack” on 8chan,the notorious online messageboard.
It opened with jokey, ironic lingo. “Well lads, it’s time to stop shitposting and time to make a real life effort post … It’s been a long ride and despite all your rampant faggotry, fecklessness and degeneracy, you are all top blokes and the best bunch of cobbers a man could ask for.”
One or more gunmen attacked two mosques in Christchurch, the largest city in New Zealand’s South Island, killing 49 people during Friday prayers. Three people are in custody and one man has been charged with murder. Police also say they have found explosive devices.
The New Zealand international rugby player has sent his sympathies to those affected by the Christchurch mosque attack, which left at least 49 people dead. Williams played for the local Super Rugby team, the Crusaders, in 2011. He converted to Islam in 2009, and is the first Muslim to play for the All Blacks
Forty-nine people have been shot dead and 48 injured in attacks targeting Muslims at two mosques during Friday prayers in Christchurch, in the worst mass shooting in New Zealand’s history.
The prime minister, Jacinda Ardern, described the atrocity as a terrorist attack and said Friday had been “one of New Zealand’s darkest days”. Police commissioner Mike Bush said explosive devices in a car had been defused and urged all mosques across the country to close their doors for the time being.
New Zealand's prime minister has issued 'the strongest possible condemnation of the ideology of the people who did this' after mass shootings at two mosques. The country's terrorism threat level has been raised and flights in and out of Christchurch were cancelled as intelligence agencies worked to secure the city
Witnesses Farid Ahmed and Ramzan speak about their ordeal inside the Masjid Al Noor mosque near Hagley Park in Christchurch, New Zealand, after a gunman opened fire upon the hundreds of people gathered there.
Forty-nine people have been shot dead and 48 injured in attacks targeting Muslims at two mosques during Friday prayers, in the worst mass shooting in New Zealand’s history. A man in his late 20s has been arrested and charged with murder. He will appear in court on Saturday morning. Two other armed suspects are being held in custody. Police said they were trying to determine how they might be involved
PM Jacinda Ardern says access to politicians could be in doubt after James Shaw was assaulted on his way to Parliament House
The New Zealand climate change minister has been attacked while walking to Parliament House, the first physical assault on a politician in the country in more than 10 years.
James Shaw, who is also the joint leader of the Greens party, was outside the Botanic Gardens in the capital Wellington at 7.30am on Thursday when he was assaulted by an unknown man.
Environmentalists ‘stoked’ by expansion they say will protect blue duck, native kaka bird, bats and giant land snails
A national park in New Zealand has been expanded by 64,000 hectares – the largest gain for a national park in the country’s history.
Kahurangi national park is situated in the north-west corner of New Zealand’s South Island, and is already the second-largest national park in the country.
It’s a self-governing country with Polynesian heritage and a great seafaring history. So why is it named after British explorer?
Fifty-four years after independence, the Cook Islands, is considering a name change. Named after Captain Cook, the Pacific islands, located between New Zealand and Hawaii, comprise 15 Polynesian islands, each with their own pre-colonial names and histories and complicated dynamics in the present. They are not the colonial fantasies of remote island adventures or tropical sexualities, and more than tourist destinations.
If you thought decolonisation in the Pacific was a mid-20th-century moment that ended with political independence, you would be wrong. Decolonisation is a continuing undoing of the legacies of colonialism. It involves re-examining names and categories, but it is not always about going back to the past to claim some authentic identity. Hence, Danny Mataroa, chair of the Cook Islands name change committee, has suggested a name that encompasses Christian faith (which arrived after colonialism) and Māori heritage (which predates colonialism).
Beached hoodwinker sunfish, which is two metres long, baffles locals on California beach
A giant sunfish has washed up on a beach in California, the first time this particular species of the animal has been sighted in the northern hemisphere in 130 years.
The sunfish measuring 2.05 metres (6ft 8 in) and weighing several hundred kilograms, or more than 600lb, was found on the beach of the Coal Oil Point Reserve in California.