Christchurch again in the headlines: legal appeals around the mosque shooting case; council tax tweaks spark debate amid NZ storms. NZ's biggest South Island city.
New Zealand's Court of Appeal has rejected Brenton Tarrant's bid to overturn his March 2020 guilty pleas for the 2019 Christchurch mosque attacks, finding his claim that harsh prison conditions forced those pleas to be "utterly devoid of merit." The decision preserves his life sentence without parole and avoids a retrial, relieving victims' families.
Australia has moved to ban the National Socialist Network, now renamed, under a new law allowing designated hate groups to be outlawed. The move follows the Bondi Beach antisemitic attack that killed 15 people. The ban criminalizes support, funding, training, recruitment and directing the group, with penalties up to 15 years’ imprisonment. The government says the measure targets the group’s ability to organise and grow, amid ongoing legal challenges.
Endangered Japanese crested ibises have been released from cages in Hakui, marking a major boost for a species thought extinct on Honshu since the 1970s. A ceremony witnessed by Crown Prince Akishino celebrated the eight birds released, with conservation successes credited to a long-running concerted breeding program supported by international partners. Another 10 birds await release.
New studies show tectonic stress on San Andreas and San Jacinto faults is at levels not seen in a millennium. Cajon Pass could act as a gate for ruptures, potentially spanning multiple faults and threatening millions of residents from Los Angeles to the Coachella Valley. While predictions remain uncertain, researchers argue this underscores the need for preparedness and infrastructure planning.