PM Says New Zealand Has Duty to Support Muslim Community

Temel Atacocugu (R), a survivor of the twin mosque shootings, reacts as he speaks during a national remembrance service in Christchurch on March 13, 2021, to mark two years since the Christchurch mosque attacks. (Photo by Kai Schwoerer / POOL / AFP)
Temel Atacocugu (R), a survivor of the twin mosque shootings, reacts as he speaks during a national remembrance service in Christchurch on March 13, 2021, to mark two years since the Christchurch mosque attacks. (Photo by Kai Schwoerer / POOL / AFP)
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PM Says New Zealand Has Duty to Support Muslim Community

Temel Atacocugu (R), a survivor of the twin mosque shootings, reacts as he speaks during a national remembrance service in Christchurch on March 13, 2021, to mark two years since the Christchurch mosque attacks. (Photo by Kai Schwoerer / POOL / AFP)
Temel Atacocugu (R), a survivor of the twin mosque shootings, reacts as he speaks during a national remembrance service in Christchurch on March 13, 2021, to mark two years since the Christchurch mosque attacks. (Photo by Kai Schwoerer / POOL / AFP)

New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern told an emotional memorial service marking two years since the deadly Christchurch mosque attacks that the country had "a duty" to support its Muslim community.

Hundreds of people turned out for the service at the Christchurch Arena, held amid tight security, to remember the 51 people killed and dozens wounded when a heavily armed gunman opened fire in two mosques on March 15, 2019.

The remembrance service was also livestreamed. A similar service planned for last year was canceled at short notice due to the sudden spread of the coronavirus.

Temel Atacocugu, who was shot nine times in the face, arms and legs, wept as he recalled waiting to be treated with the father of three-year-old Mucaad Ibrahim when they learned the toddler had died.

"Suddenly, my pain seemed insignificant," he said.

Ardern, who was widely praised for the compassion shown to survivors and the families of the victims of the shooting and her swift move to tighten firearms control in New Zealand, said words "despite their healing power" would never change what happened.

"Men, women and children ... were taken in an act of terror. Words will not remove the fear that descended over the Muslim community," she said, adding the legacy should be "a more inclusive nation, one that stands proud of our diversity and embraces it and, if called to, defends it staunchly."

Atacocugu said it was a miracle he was still alive.

"I have since had seven major surgeries and there are more to come. I will carry lots of shrapnel in my body for the rest of my life. Every time I have an X-ray it lights up like a Christmas tree."

Kiran Munir, whose husband Shaheed Haroon Mahmood was killed in the attack, told the service that the best revenge was to "not be like the enemy. We are learning to rise up again with dignity and move forward as best we can."

During the service, the names of each of the 51 people who were killed were read out. The efforts of first responders, including police and medics, were also acknowledged.

The gunman, self-proclaimed white supremacist Brenton Tarrant, was arrested minutes after the attacks on the Al Noor mosque and Linwood Islamic Center.

The Australian pleaded guilty to 51 charges of murder, 40 of attempted murder and one of terrorism, and was sentenced last year to life imprisonment without parole, the first time a whole life term has been handed down in New Zealand.

Last week, police arrested a 27-year-old man in Christchurch and charged him with threatening to kill following online threats to the same two mosques.

During the memorial service, armed police were stationed outside the venue and a sniffer dog checked the bags of people entering the building.



UN Says 14 Million Children Did Not Receive a Single Vaccine in 2024

A mother holds her baby receiving a new malaria vaccine as part of a trial at the Walter Reed Project Research Center in Kombewa in Western Kenya on Oct. 30, 2009. (AP)
A mother holds her baby receiving a new malaria vaccine as part of a trial at the Walter Reed Project Research Center in Kombewa in Western Kenya on Oct. 30, 2009. (AP)
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UN Says 14 Million Children Did Not Receive a Single Vaccine in 2024

A mother holds her baby receiving a new malaria vaccine as part of a trial at the Walter Reed Project Research Center in Kombewa in Western Kenya on Oct. 30, 2009. (AP)
A mother holds her baby receiving a new malaria vaccine as part of a trial at the Walter Reed Project Research Center in Kombewa in Western Kenya on Oct. 30, 2009. (AP)

More than 14 million children did not receive a single vaccine last year — about the same number as the year before — according to UN health officials. Nine countries accounted for more than half of those unprotected children.

In their annual estimate of global vaccine coverage, released Tuesday, the World Health Organization and UNICEF said about 89% of children under one year old got a first dose of the diphtheria, tetanus and whooping cough vaccine in 2024, the same as in 2023. About 85% completed the three-dose series, up from 84% in 2023.

Officials acknowledged, however, that the collapse of international aid this year will make it more difficult to reduce the number of unprotected children.

In January, US President Trump withdrew the country from the WHO, froze nearly all humanitarian aid and later moved to close the US AID Agency. And last month, Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. said it was pulling the billions of dollars the US had previously pledged to the vaccines alliance Gavi, saying the group had “ignored the science.”

Kennedy, a longtime vaccine skeptic, has previously raised questions the diphtheria, tetanus and whooping cough vaccine, which has proven to be safe and effective after years of study and real-world use. Vaccines prevent 3.5 million to 5 million deaths a year, according to UN estimates.

“Drastic cuts in aid, coupled with misinformation about the safety of vaccines, threaten to unwind decades of progress,” said WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus.

UN experts said that access to vaccines remained “deeply unequal” and that conflict and humanitarian crises quickly unraveled progress; Sudan had the lowest reported coverage against diphtheria, tetanus and whooping cough.

The data showed that nine countries accounted for 52% of all children who missed out on immunizations entirely: Nigeria, India, Sudan, Congo, Ethiopia, Indonesia, Yemen, Afghanistan and Angola.

WHO and UNICEF said that coverage against measles rose slightly, with 76% of children worldwide receiving both vaccine doses. But experts say measles vaccine rates need to reach 95% to prevent outbreaks of the extremely contagious disease. WHO noted that 60 countries reported big measles outbreaks last year.

The US is now having its worst measles outbreak in more than three decades, while the disease has also surged across Europe, with 125,000 cases in 2024 — twice as many as the previous year, according to WHO.

Last week, British authorities reported a child died of measles in a Liverpool hospital. Health officials said that despite years of efforts to raise awareness, only about 84% of children in the UK are protected.

“It is hugely concerning, but not at all surprising, that we are continuing to see outbreaks of measles,” said Helen Bradford, a professor of children’s health at University College London.

“The only way to stop measles spreading is with vaccination,” she said in a statement. “It is never too late to be vaccinated — even as an adult.”