Christchurch

A planned movie built around the response of Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern to a gunman’s slaughter of Muslim worshippers drew criticism in New Zealand on Friday for displaying “white saviorism” while ignoring the victims.

WELLINGTON, New Zealand (AP) – New Zealand authorities said Saturday their country will be a safer place after owners handed in more than 50,000 guns during a buyback program following a ban on assault weapons. But critics say the process was flawed and many owners have illegally stashed their firearms.

A gang in Birmingham, England, has been convicted for luring homosexuals to a public park using the Grindr app, where they were robbed, urinated on, and in one case told they deserved to be victimised for being a “white man responsible for attacks on Muslims in New Zealand.”

Grammy-winning singer John Legend appeared to place blame for the string of deadly mass shootings across the country in the past 24 hours at the feet of President Donald Trump, saying Sunday “he is a part of the problem.”

A businessman from Christchurch, New Zealand, who shared video footage of the deadly New Zealand mosque shooting last March, received a 21-month prison sentence on Tuesday. The judge who delivered the sentence said that the defendant’s offense “glorifies and encourages” the mass murder being carried out over “religious and racial hatred.”

An Australian reporter has been charged with multiple offences after he allegedly tried to lure Christians to his house to attack them with a sword.

A New Zealand citizen faces a maximum sentence of 14 years in prison for sharing the video of the Christchurch mosque shooting on Instagram.

Officials from other nations are disputing, or at least declining to support, Sri Lankan Defense Minister Ruwan Wijewardene’s contention that the Easter Sunday terrorist bombings in his country, which killed 359 people as of the latest count, were intended as retaliation for the shootings at mosques in Christchurch, New Zealand, in March.

The Islamic State issued a statement on Tuesday morning claiming responsibility for the Easter Sunday bombings in Sri Lanka.

Obama, Clinton, and other Democrats — including 2020 presidential contender Julián Castro — could not bring themselves to identify the victims of the attacks as “Christians,” calling them “Easter worshippers” instead in eerily similar responses.

The Chinese government took its latest swing at justifying re-education camps for Muslims, and aggressive efforts to subdue all religious faith, in a letter to the Wall Street Journal published Tuesday.

Democrats overlooked the gun control failures leading up to the March 15, 2019, New Zealand mosque attacks, choosing instead to push bans and confiscations as the next step of an incremental gun control push.

New Zealand’s top government-appointed privacy official has described Facebook as “morally bankrupt” and urged his country to follow Australia’s lead by enacting laws that could jail social media executives for allowing live streaming of violence such as was seen during the Christchurch mosque attack last month.

Australia’s parliament on Wednesday passed a strict new social media law that could fine tech companies, or even jail their executives, if they allow violent material to be posted on their sites or fail to remove it quickly enough after complaints are filed. An op-ed at Sky News on Thursday conceded that China might have had the right idea all along about censoring and controlling the Internet.

Mongrel Mob leader Sonny Fatu is making it clear his gang will not be surrendering their guns as mandated by the New Zealand government. 

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan proposed converting the fabled Hagia Sophia into a mosque on Sunday. The Greek government responded with anger on Monday, pointing out that the Hagia Sophia was the seat of Greek Orthodox Christianity for centuries and has been designated a World Heritage Site by the United Nations.

New Zealand has banned possession of the Christchurch mosque shooter’s manifesto, and ordered citizens to destroy any copies they may possess. The Country’s “Chief Censor” says the manifesto “promotes murder and terrorism.”

DUNEDIN, New Zealand (AP) – New Zealanders are debating the limits of free speech after their chief censor banned a 74-page manifesto written by the man accused of slaughtering 50 people at two mosques in the city of Christchurch.

An Islamic preacher in Prague has come under severe criticism after telling Muslims they should equip themselves with weapons following the Christchurch attack in New Zealand.

New Zealand is commemorating the victims of the Christchurch mosque shootings by broadcasting the Islamic call to prayer nationwide during a minutes’ silence, with the Prime Minister and many other non-Muslims donning veils for the occasion. 

Some of Hollywood’s biggest stars took to social media en masse to praise the gun ban New Zealand enacted after the tragic Christchurch shooting.

Facebook has rejected calls for a time delay feature on Facebook Live videos, after the Christchurch mosque massacre was livestreamed on the platform.

Facebook reportedly used experimental audio technology to find and remove videos of the New Zealand mosque shooting that the company’s A.I. missed.

Prime Minster Jacinda Ardern announced Thursday that New Zealand has officially banned “military-style” semiautomatic rifles and “high-capacity” magazines.

The Washington Post on Tuesday allowed Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, one of the world’s leading authoritarian jailers of journalists, to write an op-ed about the Christchurch shooting. In the piece, Erdogan praised Turkey’s ostensible hospitality to minority groups and railed against widespread “Islamophobia” in the Western world.

While not releasing details of any pending gun controls New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern is encouraging gun owners to surrender their firearms.

New Zealand ISPs are banning websites which host the Christchurch mosque shooter’s video of the massacre. In New Zealand, sharing the video is a criminal offense, and one 22-year-old reportedly faces at least ten years in prison for sharing it online. The Internet companies are not taking action against Facebook, where the video was originally livestreamed.

Comedy Central host Trevor Noah said that while he doesn’t directly blame President Donald Trump for the mass shooting in New Zealand, he thinks that the shooter and Trump are “inspired by the same things,” namely “white supremacy.”

Hollywood director and left-wing activist Rob Reiner targeted President Donald Trump’s supporters in a new social media post, calling them an “insidious cult” who condone white supremacy.

In the wake of the heinous Christchurch, NZ, attacks, Newsweek is citing three examples to prove New Zealand gun owners are voluntarily handing over their semiautomatic rifles and other firearms.

Grammy and Oscar-winning singer John Legend said President Donald Trump “rhetoric of violence” and hating Muslims is “inspiring” the kind of violence carried out by a white supremacist in New Zealand.

Turkey’s Islamist president Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has been inflaming his supporters by showing footage of the suspected far-right terror attack in Christchurch, New Zealand, at political rallies — a move which potentially “imperils the future and safety of the New Zealand people and our people abroad”, according to the Pacific country’s foreign minister.

Greater Manchester Police have arrested four people for comments made in person and online about the mass shooting in Christchurch, New Zealand.

While there are myriad lessons that can be drawn fromthe heinous attack in Christchurch, the one at the forefront of my mind is that being armed is part of being prepared. 

CHRISTCHURCH, New Zealand (AP) – A few hundred demonstrators have protested the New Zealand mosque shootings outside Istanbul’s Hagia Sophia – a Byzantine-era cathedral that was turned into a mosque and now serves as a museum.

BELGRADE, Serbia (AP) – The white supremacist suspected in the mosque shootings that left at least 49 people dead in New Zealand had travelled to the Balkans in the past three years, where he toured historic sites and apparently studied battles between Christians and the Ottoman empire.