This is an OZY Special Briefing, an extension of the Presidential Daily Brief. The Special Briefing tells you what you need to know about an important issue, individual or story that is making news. Each one serves up an interesting selection of facts, opinions, images and videos in order to catch you up and vault you ahead. WHAT TO KNOW What happened? In what Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern has called “one of New Zealand’s darkest days,” at least 49 people were gunned down during Friday prayers at two mosques in Christchurch, an eastern city of about 375,000. Dozens more were injured in the country’s worst-ever terror attack. Three suspects are in custody — they had not been on terror watch lists previously — and explosive devices found in their cars have been defused. One man in his late 20s has been charged with murder. Why does it matter? The shock of Friday’s attacks was amplified by the fact that it occurred in a country of 4.8 million otherwise mostly devoid of social, economic or political turmoil. Long considered a bastion of stability, New Zealand has come face-to-face with the kind of extremist violence that seems to have become distressingly common elsewhere. It poses a challenge not only for the fresh-faced Ardern — who’s been touted globally as a model of progressive leadership — but also quite possibly for the country more broadly. |