What to know about a mass shooter’s bid to undo his guilty pleas for the Christchurch mosque murders.


WELLINGTON, New Zealand — When the white supremacist who committed New Zealand’s deadliest mass shooting pleaded guilty six years ago, it was a relief for his victims and a justice system bracing for a high-profile trial that many feared could provide a platform for his racist views.

Many New Zealanders were determined to forget the face and name of Brenton Tarrant, who murdered 51 Muslim worshippers at two mosques in Christchurch in 2019. But he returned to national headlines this week with a bid in New Zealand’s Court of Appeal to recant his guilty pleas.

In the aftermath of Tarrant’s hate-fueled massacre, New Zealand sought to curb his influence by banning his racist manifesto and a video of the slaughter that he livestreamed on Facebook in an apparent attempt to perform the hateful crime for an online audience.

Tarrant previously expressed a desire to spread his ideology through the legal process, so it was a surprise in 2020 when he quietly admitted to all of the terrorism, murder and attempted murder charges he faced. Months later he accepted, without opposition, a record sentence of life in prison with no chance of parole.

Now his lawyers argue he made the admissions during a nervous breakdown induced by oppressive prison conditions, which made him temporarily doubt his identity and ideology.

If his bid to discard the guilty pleas is successful, the man described by one of his lawyers Thursday as “the most reviled person in New Zealand” would return to court for a full trial. The prospect is dreaded by his victims and a country that has tried to limit his notoriety.
Killer says his identity collapsed

Appearing from prison by video conference, Tarrant told the appeals court in Wellington he was “irrational” when he pleaded guilty and relinquished the opportunity for a trial at which he apparently wanted to mount a racist defense that was invalid under New Zealand law.

His former lawyers say his eventual acceptance that no judge would allow a jury to hear such a defense, combined with the overwhelming evidence against him, meant guilty pleas were inevitable.

Tarrant’s current lawyers reject that, saying he intended to represent himself at a trial and first entered not guilty pleas before changing his mind repeatedly, on his guilt and other legal matters, due to his mental health. The Australian, who migrated to New Zealand with a plan to amass semiautomatic weapons and carry out the killings, has not denied committing the attack.

But he now claims to have been “so eroded by the extreme conditions” in prison that he “lost his sense of self,” one of his lawyers told the court Thursday. The name of the lawyer has been suppressed because they said representing Tarrant could endanger their safety.

Tarrant’s claims of severe mental illness weren’t supported by evidence from mental health experts, his former lawyers or prison staff. The 35-year-old says he deliberately hid his symptoms.

Tarrant’s lawyers say his unusually lengthy isolation induced a state that made him feel unable to engage in the court process and willing to plead guilty in the hope of easing restrictions he faced.
Lawyers blame prison conditions

One of the shooter’s current lawyers said the “shocking and unprecedented” nature of his crimes, which included cold-blooded and racist murders of men, women and children as young as 3, resulted in Tarrant facing the harshest conditions of any prisoner in New Zealand’s modern history.

Tarrant admitted his crimes during the first year of incarceration spent entirely in solitary confinement, which is normally only permitted for up to two weeks at a time under New Zealand law. Tarrant experienced sleep and sensory deprivation and was given few clothes and little to occupy him, the lawyers said.

Prison standards, they added, must apply to everyone.

Those who survived Tarrant’s massacre took a dim view of such arguments.

“He got what he deserved,” Temel Ataçocuğu, who was shot nine times by Tarrant, told reporters outside a Christchurch courthouse where the bereaved and injured watched a livestream of this week’s hearing. “He has to deal with it as a man.”

Tarrant now resides in a facility built specifically to house him, which was lambasted in a 2024 prison watchdog report as falling short of New Zealand legal standards. But his lawyers said the unit, which houses other high-risk prisoners too, was an improvement on where Tarrant was kept earlier when he made the guilty pleas.
Security is strict for the hearing

Tarrant appeared pale, shaven-headed and bespectacled when he gave video evidence. Fears lingered that he might try to use the weeklong appeals court process as a political stage. But topics were limited during his questioning and courthouse security was so strict that almost nobody saw his evidence.

Crown lawyers were due to make their case Friday about why Tarrant shouldn’t be permitted to recant his pleas. Earlier, they put to the killer that he had many opportunities to raise concerns about his mental health or seek a trial postponement.

The three-judge panel is expected to release a decision later. If they deny Tarrant’s bid to discard his guilty pleas, another hearing will be scheduled to hear his request to appeal the life sentence.

Charlotte Graham-mclay, The Associated Press

Check your blood pressure medication after Health Canada announces recall.

A blood pressure medication mix-up has led to a nationwide recall.

According to Health Canada, two lots of MAR-Amlodipine 5 mg tablets are being recalled as some bottles may contain the wrong the drug.

MAR-Amlodipine is typically used to treat high blood pressure and chest pain. Health Canada says manufacturer Marcan Pharmaceuticals Inc. inadvertently put medication to treat low pressure in some MAR-Amlodipine bottles.

Finding out if you’ve been given the wrong medication is simple. The correct MAR-Amlodipine tablets have eight sides, are white to off-white and have the numbers “210” and “5” printed on them.

Midodrine 2.5 mg tablets, which were mistakenly put in the bottles, are round in shape and are marked with “M2.”

If you have high blood pressure, Health Canada warns that unintentionally taking midodrine could lead to serious side effects such as a dangerous increase in blood pressure, dizziness, fainting and even organ damage.

If your bottle of MAR-Amlodipine contains any round or unusual tablets, do not take them and return them to your pharmacy.

If you accidentally took the wrong medication, see a health-care professional or call 911 if you feel dizzy, have unusually high blood pressure or a slow heartbeat. Also seek immediate medical attention if you are experiencing chest pain, a sudden headache, impaired speech or are unable to move or feel part of your body.

What Trump’s aspiration to conquer #Greenland means for Canada.

NUUK — Canada’s closest physical neighbours are in an escalating dispute that risks breaking the military alliance that has protected the nations of the North Atlantic for decades.

U.S. President Donald Trump keeps talking about annexing Greenland, the Danish territory where Canada is about to open a diplomatic mission.

Here’s a look at why diplomacy, climate change and natural resources have put Greenland in the global spotlight — and what this war of words could mean for Canadian security.
Why is Greenland Danish?

Greenland is a mineral-rich island, 80 per cent of which lies above the Arctic Circle. It’s home to about 56,000 people, mostly Inuit. The island has a measure of autonomy within the Kingdom of Denmark, which handles its foreign policy.

Missionaries colonized the land mass in the 1700s when Denmark and Norway had a single monarch, and Greenland became Danish territory when the monarchy broke apart in 1814. It is a self-governing territory of Denmark — a longtime U.S. ally that has repeatedly rejected Trump’s talk of purchasing or even annexing the territory.

Greenland’s own government also opposes U.S. designs on the island, saying the people of Greenland will decide their own future.

In 2015, the Arctic Human Development Report found social issues in Greenland similar to those in Nunavut, such as a wide gap in health outcomes.
Why is Greenland strategic?

Greenland has been critical to the defence of North America since the Second World War, when the U.S. occupied the territory to ensure it didn’t fall into the hands of Nazi Germany. It’s also vital territory for the protection of North Atlantic shipping lanes.

Greenland guards part of what is known as the GIUK Gap, the area between Greenland, Iceland and the U.K. where NATO monitors Russian naval movements in the North Atlantic. Analysts have described the area as strategically important for shipping and an outer line of defence against threats to the U.S.

The U.S. Department of Defence operates the remote Pituffik Space Base in northwestern Greenland, which was built after the U.S. and Denmark signed the Defence of Greenland Treaty in 1951. The base supports U.S. and NATO missile warning, missile defence and space surveillance operations.

Thomas Crosbie, an associate professor of military operations at the Royal Danish Defence College, said an American takeover wouldn’t improve upon Washington’s current security strategy.

“There (are) no benefits to them because they already enjoy all of the advantages they want,” he told The Associated Press.

“If there’s any specific security access that they want to improve American security, they’ll be given it as a matter of course, as a trusted ally. So this has nothing to do with improving national security for the United States.”

Details of federal firearm buyback program to be announced Saturday,

#OTTAWA — The Liberal #government plans to announce details of its national program to compensate owners of banned firearms at a briefing in Montreal on Saturday.

Public Safety Minister Gary Anandasangaree, Québec Public Security Minister Ian Lafrenière and police representatives are set to take part.

Liberal MP and secretary of state for nature Nathalie Provost, who was shot by a gunman during a 1989 rampage, is also expected to be at the announcement.

Since May 2020, Ottawa has outlawed about 2,500 types of guns on the basis they belong only on the battlefield.

The federal government says the national buyback program, which could cost more than $700 million, will provide owners fair compensation for outlawed firearms.

Gun control advocates generally applaud the initiative, while Conservative MPs and some gun owners call it a wasteful plan that targets law-abiding citizens.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Jan. 16, 2026.

Jim Bronskill, The Canadian Press

#Orcas put on a show off Seattle. With breaches and tail slapping, a pod of orca whales put on a show near Seattle on Friday.

The close encounter attracted dozens of people to the shore of the West Seattle neighbourhood. #Whale watchers identified the pod as Bigg’s killer whales, a group that hunts sea mammals and lives in the Salish Sea. The pod was seemingly hunting.

Among the people watching from Alki beach was Summer Staley. She drove from across the city to catch the whales after seeing a post on the Orca Network’s Facebook page alerting of the pod’s arrival. The group tracks whales using reports from people on land and in the water.

Supreme Court Justice Sheilah Martin to retire May 30.

Martin says in a statement today she is deeply grateful for the opportunity to have served Canadians on the high court, calling it an honour and a highlight of her professional life.

Chief Justice Richard Wagner praised Martin as widely respected for the depth of her legal scholarship, commitment to fairness and principled approach to justice.

Martin, 69, was born and raised in Montreal and trained in both civil and common law before moving to Alberta to pursue work as an educator, lawyer and judge.

She served on the Court of Queen’s Bench of Alberta in Calgary until June 2016, when she was appointed as a judge of the Courts of Appeal of Alberta, the Northwest Territories and Nunavut.

She was named to the Supreme Court in 2017.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Jan. 13, 2026.

Jim Bronskill, The Canadian Press

JUST IN: 🇺🇸 President Trump says "I don't need international law."

"My own morality. My own mind. It's the only thing that can stop me."

2025 was one of three hottest #years on record, #scientists say.

Climate change worsened by human behavior made 2025 one of the three hottest years on record, scientists said.

It was also the first time that the three-year temperature average broke through the threshold set in the 2015 Paris Agreement of limiting warming to no more than 1.5 degrees Celsius (2.7 Fahrenheit) since preindustrial times. Experts say that keeping the Earth below that limit could save lives and prevent catastrophic environmental destruction around the globe.

The analysis from World Weather Attribution researchers, released Tuesday in Europe, came after a year when people around the world were slammed by the dangerous extremes brought on by a warming planet.

Temperatures remained high despite the presence of a La Nina, the occasional natural cooling of Pacific Ocean waters that influences weather worldwide. Researchers cited the continued burning of fossil fuels — oil, gas and coal — that send planet-warming greenhouse gases into the atmosphere.

“If we don’t stop burning fossil fuels very, very, quickly, very soon, it will be very hard to keep that goal” of warming, Friederike Otto, co-founder of World Weather Attribution and an Imperial College London climate scientist, told The Associated Press. “The science is increasingly clear.”
Extremes in 2025

Extreme weather events kill thousands of people and cost billions of dollars in damage annually.

WWA scientists identified 157 extreme weather events as most severe in 2025, meaning they met criteria such as causing more than 100 deaths, affecting more than half an area’s population or having a state of emergency declared. Of those, they closely analyzed 22.

That included dangerous heat waves, which the WWA said were the world’s deadliest extreme weather events in 2025. The researchers said some of the heat waves they studied in 2025 were 10 times more likely than they would have been a decade ago due to climate change.

“The heat waves we have observed this year are quite common events in our climate today, but they would have been almost impossible to occur without human-induced climate change,” Otto said. “It makes a huge difference.”

Meanwhile, prolonged drought contributed to wildfires that scorched Greece and Turkey. Torrential rains and flooding in Mexico killed dozens of people and left many more missing. Super Typhoon Fung-wong slammed the Philippines, forcing more than a million people to evacuate. Monsoon rains battered India with floods and landslides.

The WWA said the increasingly frequent and severe extremes threatened the ability of millions of people across the globe to respond and adapt to those events with enough warning, time and resources, what the scientists call “limits of adaptation.” The report pointed to Hurricane Melissa as an example: The storm intensified so quickly that it made forecasting and planning more difficult, and pummeled Jamaica, Cuba and Haiti so severely that it left the small island nations unable to respond to and handle its extreme losses and damage.
Global climate negotiations sputter out

This year’s United Nations climate talks in Brazil in November ended without any explicit plan to transition away from fossil fuels, and though more money was pledged to help countries adapt to climate change, they will take more time to do it.

Officials, scientists, and analysts have conceded that Earth’s warming will overshoot 1.5 degrees Celsius (2.7 Fahrenheit), though some say reversing that trend remains possible.

Yet different nations are seeing varying levels of progress.

China is rapidly deploying renewable energies including solar and wind power — but it is also continuing to invest in coal. Though increasingly frequent extreme weather has spurred calls for climate action across Europe, some nations say that limits economic growth. Meanwhile, in the U.S., the Trump administration has steered the nation away from clean-energy policy in favor of measures that support coal, oil and gas.

“The geopolitical weather is very cloudy this year with a lot of policymakers very clearly making policies for the interest of the fossil fuel industry rather than for the populations of their countries,” Otto said. “And we have a huge amount of mis- and disinformation that people have to deal with.”

Andrew Kruczkiewicz, a senior researcher at the Columbia University Climate School who wasn’t involved in the WWA work, said places are seeing disasters they aren’t used to, extreme events are intensifying faster and they are becoming more complex. That requires earlier warnings and new approaches to response and recovery, he said.

“On a global scale, progress is being made,” he added, ”but we must do more.”

The Associated Press’ climate and environmental coverage receives financial support from multiple private foundations. AP is solely responsible for all content. Find AP’s standards for working with philanthropies, a list of supporters and funded coverage areas at AP.org.

Alexa St. John, The Associated Press

Significant increase in the circulation of counterfeit bills in retail stores.

MONTREAL — The Retail Council of Canada is sounding the alarm about the significant increase in circulation of fake $20, $50, and $100 bills since November.

The association reports that it has detected more counterfeit bills in one month than in the entire previous year.

Counterfeiters have refined their techniques to such an extent that it has become nearly impossible to detect these counterfeit bills, even for a trained eye, says Michel Rochette, president of the RCC’s Quebec division.

“We have seen a recent resurgence of very high-quality bills. They are extremely credible; you can’t tell them apart from the real thing. The hologram is really well done. This means that, as we have been saying for a long time, we are facing increasingly structured and organized criminals,“ he says.

It is no coincidence that this increase is occurring in the weeks leading up to Christmas.

“Unfortunately, it’s a great time to issue counterfeit bills because stores are very busy; it’s the most important time of the year. With so many people shopping at the same time, it’s more difficult to tell the difference and notice if something is wrong,” Rochette says.

He does not know the extent of the phenomenon.

“Obviously, it’s not easy to quantify. But there really is an explosion of counterfeit bills, to the point where even the Quebec provincial police has put up posters in certain places warning people to be careful,” he says.

Rochette urges both consumers and merchants to be vigilant.

“It reminds us how important it is to inform and educate as many merchants as possible. The more people who are aware, the more we can try to limit the spread of these counterfeit bills.”

He also urges politicians to give police forces more resources to tackle this scourge.

“We are asking the federal and provincial governments to show some teeth. Since we’re talking about organized and structured groups, this often involves violence. There is a real obligation to take this issue extremely seriously because anything that is left unaddressed will only get worse.”

However, Rochette welcomes the Carney government’s decision to grant new powers to the Royal Canadian Mounted Police to fight organized crime in the retail industry.

“This will give us a helping hand. Now, at the provincial level and in Quebec, it is absolutely essential that the government give police forces more resources to investigate and be on the ground.”

According to the latest national data, theft and fraud-related losses in businesses amount to $9 billion annually.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Dec. 21, 2025.

Sébastien Auger, The Canadian Press

Suicide car bomber, militants attack military post in northwest Pakistan, killing 4 soldiers.


The attack took place in North Waziristan, a former stronghold of the Pakistani Taliban and other militant groups in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province bordering Afghanistan, according to the Pakistani military and local police.

Police said the blast caused nearby homes to collapse, injuring civilians.

The military in a statement said all the attackers were killed by troops during the fighting. No group immediately claimed responsibility, but the military blamed the Pakistani Taliban for the assault.

It said the attackers initially tried to breach the post’s perimeter but were repelled. The militants then rammed an explosives-laden vehicle into the outer wall, it said.

The impact of the bombing damaged nearby homes and a mosque, it said.

The military said the attack was planned and directed from across the border in Afghanistan. There was no immediate comment from Kabul, which for years has insisted that it does not allow anyone to use Afghan soil to launch attacks against any country, including Pakistan.

The military said Pakistan expects Afghanistan’s Taliban rulers to prevent militants from using Afghan territory to launch attacks on Pakistan.

It added that #Pakistan reserves the right to pursue militants and their facilitators.