Suspect named in ‘serial’ killings of four Albuquerque Muslims

Ahmad Assed, president of the Islamic Center of New Mexico, left, speaks at a news conference to announce the arrest of Muhammad Syed as Albuquerque Mayor Tim Keller listens. (The Albuquerque Journal via AP)
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Updated 10 August 2022
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Suspect named in ‘serial’ killings of four Albuquerque Muslims

  • Muhammad Syed was arrested on Monday after a traffic stop more than 160 kilometers away from his home in Albuquerque

CHICAGO: A 51-year-old man, Mohammed Syed, was named Tuesday as the primary suspect, and has been charged, with the shooting and killing of two of four Muslim men in Albuquerque, New Mexico, over the past 10 months.

Police said they are continuing to investigate whether Syed, himself Muslim, is connected to the other two victims in the apparent serial murder case, although no motive was released.

The possible connection between the murders surfaced on Aug. 1 after the body of Muhammad Afzaal Hussain, 27, was discovered. Police determined evidence in his murder was similar to the fatal shooting of two other Muslims, Aftab Hussein, 41, on July 26, 2022, and Mohammad Amir Ahmadi, 62, on Nov. 7, 2021.

“All were ambushed with no warning, fired on and killed. All of the killings appeared to be of a similar nature,” Albuquerque Police Chief Harold Medina said during a special press conference Tuesday afternoon.

“We tracked down the vehicle believed to be involved in a recent murder of a Muslim man in Albuquerque. The driver was detained and he is our primary suspect for the murders.”

A fourth Muslim man, Naeem Hussain, 25, was found dead hours after attending an Islamic service held for Muhammad Afzaal Hussain and Aftab Hussein. Police said they are investigating if Naeem Hussain’s death is tied to the shooting of the other three.




Muhammad Syed was taken into custody on Aug. 8, 2022, in connection with the killings of four Muslim men in Albuquerque, New Mexico. (Albuquerque Police Department via AP)

Syed, an immigrant from Afghanistan, has had several misdemeanor arrests in New Mexico, police said, although they did not provide details of those crimes. He has lived in Albuquerque at least five years, police said.

Syed is charged with the murder of Aftab Hussein and Muhammad Afzaal Hussain.

“We are working with the District Attorney’s office on potential charges of murder of two other Muslim men, Naeem Hussain and Mohammad Amir Ahmadi,” Medina said, praising support that he received from the US Attorney, FBI, ATF or Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, and even President Joe Biden.

“We knew Albuquerque would step up and someone would find and identify that vehicle for us which is exactly what happened. It is the city of Albuquerque and its residents and in particular the members of the Muslim community who stepped forward, had faith in the department and trusted us, and gave us the information needed so that we could follow through and make the arrest that we made yesterday (Monday).”

“To the Muslim community, a big thank you,” Medina said, noting he has worked with them during the past year to create an “ambassador program” to allow the city to “hear their voice.”

Syed was arrested after police released a photo of a vehicle on Sunday, Aug. 7, which they said had been identified as being used by the then unknown suspect. Medina said tips came from “members of the Muslim community” who recognized the suspect’s car, a Volkswagen Jetta. During the search of the car and Syed’s home, police said they discovered other evidence that allegedly tied him to the two murders.

“The tip was as a result of reaching out to the community. It came directly from the Muslim community and we explored it. It pointed us in the direction of the Syed family,” Medina said.

Police caught Syed while he was driving his car in Santa Rosa in southeastern Albuquerque when he was pulled over and arrested late Monday. A firearm was found in the vehicle. Police said they believe Syed knows at least one of the victims personally.

Medina emphasized they are continuing to investigate the killings of the two other Muslim victims to determine whether the suspect was involved.

Medina said he was asked repeatedly if this was a “hate crime” or a “serial” murder. He said he resisted jumping to conclusions, explaining: “We don’t have (any) indication that either of these labels or topics are appropriate.”

Rumors have been circulating in the community that the killings may have involved a family quarrel over an engagement, although the police declined to provide any details.

“Right now, we are charging only one person,” a police official stressed, adding the door has not been closed on possible accomplices who helped Syed, who was described as “the mostly likely suspect in these cases.”


Indonesia’s Health Ministry issues warning over COVID-19 surge in Asia

Updated 6 sec ago
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Indonesia’s Health Ministry issues warning over COVID-19 surge in Asia

  • Indonesia was among hardest-hit in the region during the pandemic
  • Local cases have so far remained relatively low amid the latest wave

JAKARTA: Indonesia’s government has urged healthcare facilities to step up COVID-19 surveillance, as a more transmissible omicron subvariant drives a surge in cases across Asia.

Parts of Asia have been reporting a new wave of infections since last month, especially Thailand, Hong Kong, Malaysia and Singapore.

The new spread of the coronavirus that brought the world to a standstill a few years ago has been linked to JN.1, a highly transmissible variant of the omicron strain of COVID-19.

It emerged in late 2023 and spread globally through early 2024, becoming one of the dominant variants in many countries.

Indonesian Health Minister Budi Gunadi Sadikin met with President Prabowo Subianto on Tuesday to report on the country’s COVID-19 situation.

“Cases are indeed increasing, but the rise is caused by variants that are relatively less deadly,” Sadikin told reporters after the meeting.

His statement comes after Indonesia’s Health Ministry issued a circular last week instructing regional agencies, hospitals, community centers and other medical service facilities across the country to monitor case trends and report unusual conditions.

Health quarantine facilities are also instructed to “step up surveillance on people, transportation and items coming from abroad, especially those from countries that are reporting surges in COVID-19 cases,” the circular stated.

Indonesia has confirmed 72 COVID-19 cases and reported no deaths in 2025, the latest data from the Health Ministry showed. The caseload was at seven from last week alone, with the positive rate declining to 2.05 percent from a peak of 3.62 percent the previous week.

Indonesia was among the hardest-hit countries in Asia during the COVID-19 pandemic. With a cumulative death toll of around 162,000, it has the second-highest number in the region, after 533,000 recorded in India.


Top Philippine senator to seek dismissal of Duterte impeachment case 

Updated 47 min 6 sec ago
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Top Philippine senator to seek dismissal of Duterte impeachment case 

  • Resolution was drafted by Senator Ronald dela Rosa, a staunch ally of Duterte and a former police chief under her father’s 2016-2022 presidency
  • The Senate’s current session ends next week, which the draft resolution said was insufficient time to act on the impeachment case

MANILA: A top Philippine senator has drafted a resolution seeking to dismiss an impeachment case against Vice President Sara Duterte, his office said on Wednesday, which could boost her chances of political survival after an acrimonious fallout with the president. The lower house in February impeached Duterte, the daughter of former President Rodrigo Duterte, on accusations that included budget anomalies, amassing unusual wealth and an alleged threat to the lives of President Ferdinand Marcos Jr., the first lady, and the house speaker.

Sara Duterte faces a lifetime ban from office if convicted in a Senate trial. She has repeatedly denied wrongdoing.

The resolution was drafted, according to his office, by Senator Ronald dela Rosa, a staunch ally of Duterte and a former police chief under her father’s 2016-2022 presidency. A Senate source, who declined to be identified, confirmed the draft was circulating among senators.

The draft seen by Reuters says the Senate did not act promptly to begin proceedings upon receipt of the impeachment article, so the case was “de facto dismissed” as 100 days had already passed.

It was not immediately clear when the resolution would be filed or how much support it would have. If it succeeds, it could intensify an escalating battle for power between Marcos and former ally Duterte ahead of a 2028 presidential election that she is widely expected to contest, with Marcos limited to a single term and unable to run again.

At stake is the legacy and future influence of Marcos, who has waged a decades-long campaign to defend his family’s name from what he says are false historical narratives of plunder and brutality during the 1970s and 1980s rule of his strongman father and namesake. The effort to dismiss the case comes after a stronger-than-expected showing for allies of Duterte in last month’s midterm elections, demonstrating her popularity and unswerving influence, despite the row with Marcos, humiliating legislative enquiries and the arrest and transfer to the International Criminal Court of her father in March.

The Senate’s current session ends next week, which the draft resolution said was insufficient time to act on the impeachment case. A new Senate will convene in late July.

“The matter cannot cross over to the incoming 20th Congress,” the draft said.

Marcos has called for unity among all political camps and has distanced himself from the impeachment of Duterte, which was backed overwhelmingly by a lower house controlled by his allies. His office did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Dela Rosa’s proposed resolution.


Ukraine invited to Hague NATO summit, Zelensky attendance unclear

Updated 55 min 24 sec ago
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Ukraine invited to Hague NATO summit, Zelensky attendance unclear

  • NATO chief: ‘I invited Ukraine to the summit. We will as soon as possible bring out the program with more details’

BRUSSELS: Ukraine has been invited to a NATO summit in The Hague this month, Mark Rutte, the military bloc’s chief, said on Wednesday, without specifying whether this meant Ukranian President Volodymyr Zelensky would attend.

“I invited Ukraine to the summit. We will as soon as possible bring out the program with more details,” Rutte told reporters before a meeting with defense ministers in Brussels.

Asked whether Zelensky personally had been invited, Rutte only said the program would be published in due course.


India’s Modi to visit Kashmir to unveil strategic railway

Updated 04 June 2025
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India’s Modi to visit Kashmir to unveil strategic railway

  • The Muslim-majority Himalayan region of Kashmir is at the center of a bitter rivalry between India and Pakistan
  • Indian leader set to visit on Friday to open the Chenab Bridge, a 1,315-meter-long steel and concrete span that connects two mountains

SRINAGAR, India: Prime Minister Narendra Modi is to make his first visit to contested Kashmir since a conflict between India and Pakistan last month, inaugurating a strategic railway to the mountainous region, his office said Wednesday.

The Muslim-majority Himalayan region of Kashmir is at the center of a bitter rivalry between India and Pakistan, divided between them since independence from British rule in 1947.

Modi is set to visit on Friday to open the Chenab Bridge, a 1,315-meter-long (4,314-foot-long) steel and concrete span that connects two mountains with an arch 359 meters above the river below.

“The project establishes all-weather, seamless rail connectivity between the Kashmir Valley and the rest of the country,” the Prime Minister’s Office said in a statement.

Modi is expected to flag off a special train.

Last month, nuclear-armed India and Pakistan fought an intense four-day conflict, their worst standoff since 1999, before a ceasefire was agreed on May 10.

More than 70 people were killed in missile, drone and artillery fire on both sides.

The conflict was triggered by an April 22 attack on civilians in Indian-administered Kashmir that New Delhi accused Pakistan of backing – a charge Islamabad denies.

Rebel groups in Indian-run Kashmir have waged a 35-year-long insurgency demanding independence for the territory or its merger with Pakistan.

The 272-kilometer (169-mile) Udhampur-Srinagar-Baramulla railway – with 36 tunnels and 943 bridges – has been constructed “aiming to transform regional mobility and driving socio-economic integration,” the statement added.

Its dramatic centerpiece is the Chenab Bridge, which India calls the “world’s highest railway arch bridge.”

While several road and pipeline bridges are higher, Guinness World Records confirmed that Chenab trumps the previous highest railway bridge, the Najiehe in China.

Indian Railways calls the $24-million bridge “arguably the biggest civil engineering challenge faced by any railway project in India in recent history.”

The bridge will facilitate the movement of people and goods – as well as troops – that was previously possible only via treacherous mountain roads and air.

The train line could slash travel time between the town of Katra and Srinagar, the region’s key city, by half, taking around three hours.

The bridge will also revolutionize logistics in Ladakh, the icy region in India bordering China.

India and China, the world’s two most populous nations, are intense rivals competing for strategic influence across South Asia.

Their troops clashed in 2020, killing at least 20 Indian and four Chinese soldiers, and forces from both sides today face off across contested high-altitude borderlands.

The railway begins in the garrison city of Udhampur, headquarters of the army’s northern command, and runs north to Srinagar.


Trump administration rescinds Biden-era guidance on emergency abortions

Updated 04 June 2025
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Trump administration rescinds Biden-era guidance on emergency abortions

  • The Biden-era memo was issued in July 2022, weeks after the US Supreme Court struck down the constitutionally enshrined right to abortion

WASHINGTON: The Trump administration has revoked a Biden-era health guideline that protected emergency abortions when medically required, even in states that ban the procedure.

The Biden-era memo was issued in July 2022, weeks after the US Supreme Court struck down the constitutionally enshrined right to abortion.

As health providers suddenly found themselves embroiled in legal uncertainty over abortion, the memo provided an interpretation of the 1986 Emergency Medical Treatment and Active Labor Act (EMTALA), arguing it supersedes state abortion laws when needed to stabilize a pregnant patient.

The directive was fiercely contested by anti-abortion advocates.

In a letter Tuesday, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services said the EMTALA guidance did not reflect the current administration’s policy.

“CMS is rescinding this memo ... effective May 29, 2025, consistent with Administration policy,” it said.

Offering its own interpretation, CMS said EMTALA provides the right for any hospital patient to receive “either stabilizing treatment or an appropriate transfer to another hospital.”

It said the US Health and Human Services would no longer enforce the Biden-era guidance.

The pro-abortion Guttmacher Institute said the Trump administration’s revocation of the EMTALA guidelines showed “callous disregard for the law and people’s lives.”

Lawrence O. Gostin, a health law expert at Georgetown University, wrote in the New York Times that the CMS letter “basically gives a bright green light to hospitals in red states to turn away pregnant women who are in peril.”

According to Guttmacher, 13 US states, mostly in the south and east of the country, have “a total abortion ban” as of May 28.

While these states generally provide narrow exceptions in the event of a threat to the mother’s life, it is unclear what constitutes a life-threatening condition in the eyes of the law.

Since returning to office, US President Donald Trump has taken a series of moves to restrict abortion access.

In his first week back in the White House, Trump revoked two executive orders protecting access to a pill widely used to terminate pregnancies and the ability to travel to states where the procedure is not banned.