First was the killing of a Muslim man from Afghanistan late last year. Then came two more slayings in the last two weeks — men from Pakistan who attended the same mosque in Albuquerque, New Mexico.
Those deaths were followed Friday by the city’s fourth homicide of a Muslim man in nine months. Together the killings have sent ripples of fear through Islamic communities in New Mexico and beyond and fueled a race to find who was responsible.
Authorities on Monday identified the latest victim as they sought help searching for a vehicle believed to be connected to the slayings. The common elements were the victims’ race and religion, officials said.
Naeem Hussain was killed Friday night, and the three other men died in ambush shootings. Police in New Mexico’s largest city are trying to determine if the deaths are linked.
“The fact the suspect remains at large is terrifying,” Debbie Almontaser, a Muslim community leader in New York, wrote on Twitter. “Who is next?!”
In a phone interview, Almontaser said that a female friend who lives in Michigan and wears the hijab head covering shared with her over the weekend just how rattled she was. “She’s like, ‘This is so terrifying. I’m so scared. I travel alone,’” Almontaser said.
Hussain, 25, was from Pakistan. His death came just days after those of Muhammad Afzaal Hussain, 27, and Aftab Hussein, 41, who were also from Pakistan and members of the same mosque.
The earliest case involves the November killing of Mohammad Ahmadi, 62, from Afghanistan.
Aneela Abad, general secretary at the Islamic Center of New Mexico, described a community reeling from the killings, its grief compounded by confusion and fear of what may follow.
“We are just completely shocked and still trying to comprehend and understand what happened, how and why,” she said.
Some people have avoided going out unless “absolutely necessary,” and some Muslim university students have been wondering whether it is safe for them to stay in the city, she said. The center has also beefed up its security.
Police said the same vehicle is suspected of being used in all four homicides — a dark gray or silver four-door Volkswagen that appears to be a Jetta or Passat with dark tinted windows. Authorities released photos hoping people could help identify the car and offered a $20,000 reward for information leading to an arrest.
Investigators did not say where the images were taken or what led them to suspect the car was involved in the slayings. Police spokesperson Gilbert Gallegos said in an email Monday that the agency has received tips regarding the car but did not elaborate.
“We have a very, very strong link,” Albuquerque Mayor Tim Keller said Sunday. “We have a vehicle of interest … We have got to find this vehicle.”
Gallegos said he could not comment on what kind of gun was used in the shootings, or whether police know how many suspects were involved in the violence.
President Joe Biden said he was “angered and saddened” by the killings and that his administration “stands strongly with the Muslim community.”
“These hateful attacks have no place in America,” Biden said Sunday in a tweet.
The conversation about safety has also dominated WhatsApp and email groups that Almontaser is on.
“What we’ve seen happen in New Mexico is very chilling for us as a Muslim minority community in the United States that has endured so much backlash and discrimination” since the 9/11 attacks, she said. “It’s frightening.”
Few anti-Muslim hate crimes have been recorded in Albuquerque over the last five years, according to FBI data cited by Brian Levin, director of the Center for the Study of Hate and Extremism and a professor of criminal justice at California State University at San Bernardino.
From 2017 through 2020, there was one anti-Muslim hate crime a year. The highest recent number was in 2016, when Albuquerque police recorded six out of a total of 25 hate crimes.
That largely tracks with national trends, which hit the lowest numbers in a decade in 2020, only to increase by 45 percent in 2021 in a dozen cities and states, Levin said.
Albuquerque authorities say they cannot determine if the slayings were hate crimes until they have identified a suspect and a motive.
Louis Schlesinger, a forensic psychology professor at John Jay College of Criminal Justice in New York, said bias killings are often perpetrated by a small group of people, typically young white men. A lone perpetrator is rare.
“These are basically total losers by every dimension, whether it’s social, economic, psychological, what have you,” he said. “They’re filled with hatred for one reason or another and target a particular group that they see, in their mind, to blame for all their problems in life.”
It was not clear whether the victims knew their attacker or attackers.
The most recent victim was found dead after police received a call of a shooting. Authorities declined to say whether the killing was carried out in a way similar to the other deaths.
Islamic communities fearful after 4 killings in Albuquerque
https://arab.news/vxcvs
Islamic communities fearful after 4 killings in Albuquerque
- Killings have sent ripples of fear through Islamic communities in New Mexico and beyond and fueled a race to find who was responsible
On Java, Indonesian Muslims celebrate Eid with time-honored royal tradition
- Procession involving local harvest is at least 400 years old, historian says
- Tradition can be traced back to Demak Sultanate, first Islamic kingdom in Java
JAKARTA:Indonesia’s historic royal capital of Solo will celebrate Eid Al-Adha with a royal procession on Saturday, in which “mountains” of local harvest are paraded and distributed as a symbol of gratitude and a reminder of the role of leaders in looking after the people’s welfare.
Grebeg, which roughly translates to ‘mass celebration,’ is a public ceremony held three times a year on the island of Java to mark Islamic holidays, including Eid Al-Fitr and the birthday of the Prophet Muhammad.
Though Indonesians joined Muslims in other parts of the globe in starting Eid celebrations on Friday, the centuries-old Javanese tradition will take place on the second day of Eid.
“Grebeg tradition started about 200 years ago at the Surakarta Royal Palace, this is a continuation from the same tradition that began in the Demak Sultanate,” Kanjeng Gusti Pangeran Haryo Adipati Dipokusumo, chief administrator of the Surakarta Royal Palace, told Arab News.
Demak Sultanate, which was located in the present-day city of Demak, was the first Islamic state in Java, while Surakarta is another name for Solo, once the capital of the Mataram Sultanate — the last major independent Islamic state in Java before it was colonized by the Dutch.
Grebeg involves an elaborate arrangement of local produce — including long beans, chili, and cassava — assembled in a decorated, mountain-like form and paraded from the palace to the nearby Great Mosque for a blessing, before it is brought to the public square for distribution.
“First and foremost, the palace began this tradition as a way to spread Islamic teachings,” Dipokusumo said. “It is symbolic of values taught by Islamic prophets. The values of sincerity, patience, belief and trust, which also cover the importance of faith, intention, and gratitude.”
Eid Al-Adha, the second of the two main holidays observed in Islam, commemorates the Prophet Ibrahim’s test of faith when he was commanded by God to sacrifice his son. To reflect his readiness to do so, Muslims around the world slaughter an animal, usually a goat, sheep or cow, and distribute the meat among relatives and the poor.
The grebeg staged at Eid Al-Adha is known as Great Grebeg and incorporates the animal sacrifice aspect of the holiday. On Saturday, more than 500 people are expected to participate.
Historically, the tradition also functions as a barometer of the local economy and welfare, he added, as the quality of the local harvest will be on display for the ceremony.
“If there is some kind of issue with the production or distribution, it will be visible, prompting questions as to why it is happening. Let’s say maybe there is some kind of pest going around,” he said. “It will then prompt the palace to send an officer to investigate.”
According to Ody Dwicahyo, an historian at the Gadjah Mada University in Yogyakarta, the tradition is between 400 and 500 years old.
Today, it is observed not only in Solo but also at the royal palace in Yogyakarta, another Javanese city.
People will usually try to get an item from the mountain of produce to take home, Dwicahyo told Arab News.
“Javanese people believe that produce from the king is symbolic, that it is blessed and far more special than food items they buy in the markets or harvest from their own farms,” he said.
“Grebeg is mainly about Earth’s harvest, but when it is conducted during Eid Al-Adha, there’s the additional aspect of meat distribution from the ritual sacrifice presented by the king.”
As Javanese people are “big believers in symbolic gestures,” grebeg served as an important occasion where the king gives something back to the people in return for their loyalty, and also a symbol of “how leaders must ensure the people’s welfare,” Dwicahyo said.
Today, the palaces in Solo and Yogyakarta function as “cultural keepers” for this time-honored tradition.
“Though times and people become more modern, this annual event is still routinely organized so people will still be aware of its function,” he said.
“Maybe people won’t participate directly, but it’s actually a symbol that is applicable for leaders anywhere in the world: that a leader must ensure the welfare of his people.”
Trump has no plans to call Musk, White House says after feud
- Trump lobbed fresh insults at the South African-born Musk a day after the fiery implosion of their unlikely political marriage
- “The president does not intend to speak to Musk today,” a senior White House official told AFP
WASHINGTON: The White House squashed speculation that Donald Trump and Elon Musk would patch up their stunning public feud, saying the US president had no plans to call his billionaire former aide Friday.
Trump lobbed fresh insults at the South African-born Musk a day after the fiery implosion of their unlikely political marriage, saying the tech tycoon had “lost his mind.”
In a telling symbol of how their relationship had deteriorated, the president was even considering selling or giving away a Tesla he had bought to show support for Musk amid protests against the company.
The row exploded on Thursday when Trump said he was “very disappointed” by Musk and threatened to end his government contracts, after his ex-aide criticized the president’s flagship budget bill as an “abomination.”
Reports had emerged that Musk and Trump would speak by phone on Friday in a bid to patch up the damaging public row, but the White House scotched such speculation.
“The president does not intend to speak to Musk today,” a senior White House official told AFP on condition of anonymity when asked if the feuding pair planned to speak.
Trump told broadcaster ABC in a phone call earlier Friday that he was “not particularly interested” in talking to Musk.
“You mean the man who has lost his mind?” ABC quoted Trump as saying.
Trump, who once called Musk a “genius,” branded him “crazy” on social media on Thursday.
The row could have major political and economic fallout, as shares in Musk’s Tesla car company seesaw and the SpaceX boss vowed that he would end a critical US spaceship program.
The White House called a special meeting on Thursday to discuss how to handle the crisis with Musk, a government source told AFP on condition of anonymity.
Trump meanwhile may ditch the red Tesla that he bought from Musk’s firm at the height of their relationship. The electric vehicle was still parked on the White House grounds on Friday.
“He’s thinking about it, yes,” the senior White House official told AFP when asked if Trump would sell or give away the Tesla.
Trump and Musk had posed inside the car at a bizarre event in March, when the US president turned the White House into a pop-up Tesla showroom after protests against Musk’s government role tanked the firm shares.
Speculation had long swirled that a relationship between two big egos like the president and the tycoon could not last long — but the speed of the meltdown took Washington by surprise.
Trump said in a televised Oval Office diatribe on Thursday that he was “very disappointed” after his former top donor criticized his “big, beautiful” spending bill before Congress.
The pair then hurled insults at each other on social media — with Musk even posting, without proof, that Trump was referenced in government documents on disgraced financier and sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.
US citizen Joseph Tater leaves Russia after detention and psychiatric treatment, TASS says
- Tater was sentenced to 15 days in jail last August for “petty hooliganism“
- He was also being investigated on a more serious charge of assaulting a police officer
MOSCOW: US citizen Joseph Tater, who was detained in Moscow last August and later sent for compulsory psychiatric treatment, has left Russia, the state news agency TASS said on Friday.
Tater, who according to a Kremlin source last month was one of nine Americans being held in Russia that Washington wanted returned in a prisoner exchange, was sentenced to 15 days in jail last August for “petty hooliganism” after being accused of abusing staff at a Moscow hotel, something he denied.
Russian state news agencies later said he was also being investigated on a more serious charge of assaulting a police officer, which carries up to five years in prison.
But on April 6 a court ordered Tater be removed from pre-trial detention, saying he was not criminally responsible for his actions after doctors diagnosed him with a mental disorder, according to state media.
TASS reported on Friday that Tater had been discharged from the psychiatric clinic where he was being treated. It cited unnamed medical sources as saying that the clinic had no grounds to keep him there and had let him leave for outpatient treatment.
TASS cited a law enforcement source as saying Tater’s current whereabouts were unknown, but that he had left Russia.
Germany’s Munich Re withdraws from climate initiatives
- The groups all aim to help financial giants reach net-zero carbon emissions
- “Climate related disclosures and associated administrative requirements have become very complex for international corporations,” said the firm
FRANFURT: German reinsurance giant Munich Re said on Friday it had withdrawn from several climate alliances but insisted that it would keep pursuing green targets independently.
It is the latest sign that major firms are going cold on such initiatives, amid concerns about their effectiveness and growing political opposition in the United States and elsewhere.
Munich Re said it had pulled out of the UN-backed Net Zero Asset Owner Alliance, the Net Zero Asset Managers Initiative, Climate Action 100+ and the Institutional Investors Group on Climate Change.
The groups all aim to help financial giants reach net-zero carbon emissions.
“Climate related disclosures and associated administrative requirements have become very complex for international corporations,” said the firm, which acts as an insurer for insurers.
“Moreover, they are disproportionate to the impact achieved in terms of climate protection.”
It also said there was an “increasing ambiguity in assessing private initiatives under the legal and regulatory regimes across various jurisdictions.”
The group, which last year booked a net profit of 5.7 billion euros ($6.5 billion), said it believed that it could pursue its climate targets “in a more focused and targeted manner on our own.”
“Climate protection remains an urgent priority for Munich Re,” it said.
“We continue to pursue our goal of contributing to the achievement of the Paris climate targets.”
The 2015 Paris climate accords aimed to limit global warming to well below two degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels — and to 1.5 if possible.
The group said it had achieved or exceeded the interim targets that it had set itself for 2025.
Taiwan accuses China of carrying out ‘provocative’ military patrol near island
- Taiwan, which China views as its own territory, has complained of repeated Chinese military drills and patrols nearby
- Taiwan’s defense ministry said that starting mid-afternoon Friday, it had detected 21 Chinese military aircraft
TAIPEI: Taiwan accused China on Friday of raising tensions in the region with a “provocative” military patrol involving warplanes and warships near the island, an unusual public rebuke in what are typically routine accounts of Chinese military activity.
Taiwan, which China views as its own territory, has complained of repeated Chinese military drills and patrols nearby. Since President Lai Ching-te took office last year China has held three major rounds of war games.
Taiwan’s defense ministry said that starting mid-afternoon Friday, it had detected 21 Chinese military aircraft, including J-16 fighters, operating with warships to carry out “so-called joint combat readiness patrols” and “harass the airspace and seas around us.”
“The Ministry of National Defense stresses that these acts are highly provocative, fail to pay proper attention to the maritime rights of other countries, bring anxiety and threat to the region, and blatantly undermine the status quo in the region,” it said.
Taiwan regularly reports such Chinese “combat patrols,” but does not generally attach such commentary to its statements.
China’s defense ministry did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
China says democratically governed Taiwan is its “sacred territory” — a position the government in Taipei strongly rejects — and that it has a right to carry out drills in Chinese territory.
Lai, who last month marked a year in office, is hated by Beijing, which calls him a separatist and has rebuffed his repeated offers for talks.
Lai says only Taiwan’s people can decide their future. China has never renounced the use of force to bring Taiwan under its control.
