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Yaser Abdel Said: Man convicted in 2008 murders of his daughters sentenced to life in prison without parole

Yaser Abdel Said: Man convicted in 2008 murders of his daughters sentenced to life in prison without parole

On New Year’s Day 2008, Said took his two daughters for a ride in his taxi. Hours later, the girls’ lifeless bodies were found, with multiple gunshots wounds, in Said’s abandoned cab. Before she died, Sarah made a brief, desperate call for help. By the time the police located the cab, the sisters were dead, and Said had disappeared, along with his handgun and all of his savings, CNN previously reported.
Said remained a fugitive for more than 12 years, with six of those years being on the FBI’s Ten Most Wanted Fugitive List, before being captured without incident on August 26, 2020, in Justin, Texas, according to the release.

After six days of trial, a Dallas County jury deliberated for three hours before returning a verdict of guilty Tuesday, the release said.

“There is nothing honorable about what Yaser Said did on January 1, 2008. Dallas County has shown Mr. Said that there is no excuse for taking another human life. He must now spend the rest of his days confined to a prison cell living under the control of the Texas Department of Criminal Justice,” District Attorney Creuzot said. “While this verdict does not bring Sarah and Amina back, my office and this jury have done all that is in our power to see that justice is done.”

Said’s public defender, Bradley Lollar, told CNN, “We are disappointed in the verdict, but accept it. We are planning on appealing.”

Lollar added, “This was a case where there were no witnesses, no physical evidence of any kind, no surveillance videos, or confession. To the contrary, our client always maintained innocence of the crime.”

CNN’s Jennifer Henderson, Ed Lavandera, and Ashley Killough contributed to this report.

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Hours before the Albuquerque killings suspect was publicly identified, CNN reporters were inside his home. Here’s what happened

Hours before the Albuquerque killings suspect was publicly identified, CNN reporters were inside his home. Here's what happened

Hours before the announcement of the arrest, CNN had been allowed into Syed’s home and had spoken to his daughter as the family was still cleaning up after investigators, she said, executed a search warrant the prior night. Living room rugs were tossed around, and the contents of drawers had been strewn about. The flag of Afghanistan – from where Syed and his family moved several years ago – hung prominently in the living room.

In the home, authorities found firearms, along with information showing Syed may have known the victims “to some extent” and interpersonal conflict may have led to the killings, police said Tuesday.

One of the firearms recovered in his home has been linked to bullet casings found at the scenes of two of the killings, while casings for a handgun found in his car when he was stopped were linked to one of the scenes, according to the arrest affidavit .

Police haven’t yet determined a motive for the killings, they have said.

Syed denied any involvement in the killings during an interview with police on Tuesday, according to the arrest affidavit.

The daughter’s husband was friends with two of the men who were killed, Aftab Hussein and Naeem Hussain, she told CNN, which has chosen not to name her out of concern for her safety. Her father de ella was not happy when she got married in February 2018 but he had come to accept the union more recently, she said.

The woman, one of Syed’s six children, said her father was home during the shootings but could not offer proof.

“My father is not a person who can kill somebody. My father has always talked about peace. That’s why we are here in the United States. We came from Afghanistan, from fighting, from shooting,” she told CNN.

The daughter said her father, who works as a truck driver, also drives a gray Volkswagen Jetta. albuquerque police previously released images of a gray Volkswagen sedan, appearing to be a Jetta, that they called a “vehicle of interest” in the killings.

Syed left his home in his vehicle Monday night, telling his family he was going to Texas to find a place for them, fearful of the recent shootings that had taken place in the Muslim community, his daughter said.

Albuquerque Police Chief Harold Medina (left) is joined Tuesday by Mayor Tim Keller and Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham in announcing the suspect's arrest.

Authorities, acting on a tip from the public, had been preparing to execute a search warrant on Syed’s home Monday night when they saw him get into his car and followed him, deputy commander of the Albuquerque Police Department’s Criminal Investigations Division Kyle Hartsock said in a Tuesday news conference.

Syed was pulled over and detained near Santa Rosa, New Mexico, about 120 miles east of Albuquerque and roughly halfway to the Texas border.

Meanwhile, police executed the search warrant in Syed’s home and found multiple firearms, Hartsock said.

Officials plan to charge Syed with two homicides — the killings of Aftab Hussein and Muhammad Afzaal Hussain — they said, and are working with the district attorney on potential charges for the August 5 killing of Naeem Hussain and the November killing of Mohammad Zaher Ahmadi , Hartsock said.

4 Muslim men were killed in Albuquerque. Here's what we know about them

There is evidence “strong enough that” authorities are continuing to view Syed as the “most likely person of interest or suspect” in those killings as well, Hartsock said.

The family has been in the US for roughly six years, the daughter said.

Hartsock confirmed Syed is from Afghanistan, saying he had “a few minor misdemeanor arrests (from the Albuquerque Police Department) from domestic violence” in the last several years and some other incidents, adding, “That’s our only known history with him locally.”

All three previous domestic violence charges Syed faced were dismissed, Hartsock said.

The four Muslim men were killed in Albuquerque between November and this month — the latest three within a span of two weeks. All victims were of South Asian descent, and an arrest affidavit obtained Tuesday by CNN affiliate KOAT provided more details on two of the killings.

Aftab Hussein was found July 26 with multiple gunshot wounds, lying next to a car, according to police. Detectives learned the gunman had waited behind a bush near the driveway where the victim usually parked his vehicle, then fired through the bush multiple times when Hussein got out of his vehicle, according to the complaint.

On August 1, police got a call about a drive-by shooting and found Muhammud Afzaal Hussain with multiple gunshot wounds, the complaint states.

Ashley Killough and Ed Lavandera reported from Albuquerque, New Mexico. Christina Maxouris wrote from Atlanta.

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Around 4,000 beagles rescued from Virginia breeding facility looking for new homes

Around 4,000 beagles rescued from Virginia breeding facility looking for new homes

“It’s going to take 60 days to get all of these animals out, and working with our shelter and rescue partners across the country, working with them to get these dogs into eventually into ever-loving home,” said Kitty Block, president and chief executive of the US Humane Society.

Shelters from South Elgin, Illinois to Pittsburgh have begun receiving the dogs, which will get medical exams, vaccinations and other treatments before becoming available for adoption.

4,000 beagles will be rescued from a Virginia breeding facility

In May, the US Department of Justice sued Envigo RMS LLC alleging Animal Welfare Act violations at the facility in Cumberland, Virginia. In June, parent company Inotiv Inc. said it would close the facility. In July, Envigo settled with the government, without paying any ends.

Inotiv did not respond to a request for comment.

Government inspectors found beagles there were being killed instead of receiving care for easily treated conditions; nursing mother beagles were denied food; the food they received contained maggots, mold and feces; and over an eight-week period, 25 beagle puppies died from cold exposure, the Humane Society said in a statement. Some were injured when attacked by other dogs in overcrowded conditions, it was added.

The beagle rescue effort began much earlier, according to Bill Stanley, a Republican state senator for Virginia. “I tried to shut them down in 2019, but was not successful. But over the years, we never stopped fighting.”

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One man is suspected in the killings of Muslim men in Albuquerque. Police arrested him after hundreds of tips came in

Albuquerque police are trying to piece together what led up to the killings of 4 Muslim men as anxiety spreads within the community

Though authorities are still searching for a motive and working to confirm whether they’re all related, police have arrested 51-year-old Muhammad Syed, describing him as the “primary suspect.”

Tips pointed investigators toward Syed, who police believe was in possession of at least two firearms that matched evidence from two of the crime scenes, according to Kyle Hartsock, deputy commander of the city police department’s criminal investigations division.

One of the firearms recovered in his home has been linked to bullet casings found at the scenes of two of the killings, while casings from a handgun found in his car were linked to one of the scenes, according to the arrest affidavit.

The killings took place between November 2021 and August of this year, with the latest three occurring within the span of two weeks.

Police said that three of the victims — Muhammad Afzaal Hussain, 27, Aftab Hussein, 41, and Mohammad Zaher Ahmadi, 62 — were “ambushed with no warning, fired on and killed.” A fourth man, 25-year-old Naeem Hussain, was shot and killed after attending a funeral for Hussain and Hussein.

Suspect detained in Albuquerque killings
A criminal complaint obtained by CNN affiliate KOAT sheds more light on two of the killings.

On July 26, police responded to Rhode Island Street, where they found Aftab Hussein with multiple gunshot wounds, lying next to a car. Detectives learned that the gunman had waited behind a bush near the driveway where the victim usually parked his vehicle and fired through the bush multiple times when Hussein got out of his vehicle, according to the complaint.

On August 1, police got a call about a drive-by shooting near the intersection of Cornell Drive and Garfield Avenue. They found Muhammad Afzaal Hussain with multiple gunshot wounds, the complaint states.

The suspect, Syed, is being charged with two of the homicides: the July 26 killing of Aftab Hussein and the August 1 killing of Muhammad Afzaal Hussain, according to the police.

As for the two other killings, police said there is evidence that Syed as the “most likely person of interest or suspect” in those as well, Hartsock said.

According to the complaint, Syed denied any involvement in the killings during an interview with police on Tuesday.

How the investigation unfolded

Police first noticed similarities between the deaths of Aftab Hussein and Muhammad Afzaal Hussain, which took place just days apart.

“We were able to relate the casings found on both the scenes that are likely fired from the same firearm,” Hartsock said. “We quickly started looking at other cases that could be similar and identify that there might be a really active public threat.”

The shootings spurred police to examine whether they were connected to a killing that happened November 7, 2021. That day, officers found an Afghan man, Mohammad Ahmadi, with a gunshot wound in the parking lot behind the business he ran with his brother.

As the investigation unfolded, another killing happened just before midnight on August 5 in the area of ​​Truman Street and Grand Avenue where police found Naeem Hussain dead from a gunshot wound.

Police increased patrols near mosques and other areas and the governor sent state police to the city.

Police released images of a “vehicle of interest” that they said may be tied to the shootings. They asked for the public’s help tracking down the silver sedan.

4 Muslims were gunned down in Albuquerque. Now some families are afraid to sit outside or go get food

The city’s Muslim community was on edge. Some stopped going to their local mosques or going out late at night, and some even avoided going out to shop for food.

At the same time, scores of tips began rolling in to law enforcement.

“We’ve had a total of about 230 tips,” FBI Special Agent in Charge Raul Bujanda said Tuesday.

Residents also began voluntarily uploading surveillance videos from their homes to an online portal that was set up specifically for the investigation. Police sifting through the footage ended up finding video that captured the gunshots and vehicles leaving the scene, according to Hartsock.

A tip from the community eventually came in that led investigators to identify Syed as a suspect and track down the car.

Hours before the Albuquerque killings suspect was publicly identified, CNN reporters were inside his home. Here's what happened

Albuquerque police and the FBI got multiple tips about Syed and his vehicle, a Volkswagen Jetta, according to the complaint.

As police were waiting to execute a search warrant at the suspect’s home, they saw him get into what they believed to be the same vehicle that had been linked to the homicides.

Officers stopped the vehicle and detained Syed near Santa Rosa, New Mexico. That’s when they saw firearms inside the vehicle, according to Hartsock.

Police executing the search warrant at Syed’s home found more weapons, according to police.

“Multiple firearms were recovered from that home that are continually being tested. But right now we believe that at least one of them inside the home and one of them inside the car that was pulled over, are matching… two crime scenes on Rhode Island and Cornell, and that is the basis of the charges that are going forward today,” Hartsock added.

According to the complaint, Syed told police “he was driving to Texas to find a new place for his family to live because the situation in Albuquerque was bad. Muhammad then referenced the shooting of Muslims on the news.”

Ahead of the suspect’s arrest, police found records of Syed and one of his sons purchasing firearms and gun accessories from different shops in Albuquerque. Those purchases included a 9mm pistol bought on January 28, 2021, a scope for an AK-47 bought on August 1, and 7.62×39 caliber pistol and rifle bought on July 15, according to the complaint.

The document also notes that both 7.62×39 and 9mm “were the two calibers of weapon used in the above-mentioned homicides.”

While searching the Jetta, police said they found a 9mm casing between the windshield and the hood of the car, and two 7.62×39 casings inside the vehicle, in addition to a 9mm handgun.

The 9mm casing found in the windshield matched with a casing found at the August 1 crime scene, according to the complaint.

CNN was at the suspect’s home

Hours before police announced Syed was a suspect, CNN was inside his home and spoke to his daughter, who offered insight on her father and what happened when they last saw each other, which was before his arrest and before authorities executed a search warrant on their family’s home.

The daughter, one of Syed’s six children, spoke to CNN Tuesday morning, while the family was still cleaning up the mess left behind by investigators who had pored over the contents of the house the night before. CNN has chosen not to name her daughter out of concern for her safety.

“My father is not a person who can kill somebody. My father has always talked about peace. That’s why we are here in the United States. We came from Afghanistan, from fighting, from shooting,” she told CNN.

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Afghan Muslim arrested for killings that shook New Mexico’s Islamic community

Afghan Muslim arrested for killings that shook New Mexico's Islamic community

ALBUQUERQUE, NM, Aug 9 (Reuters) – A Muslim immigrant from Afghanistan has been arrested as the prime suspect in the serial killings of four Muslim men that rattled the Islamic community of New Mexico’s largest city, police said on Tuesday.

After days bolstering security around Albuquerque-area mosques, seeking to allay fears of a shooter driven by anti-Muslim hate, police said on Tuesday they had arrested 51-year-old Muhammad Syed, one among the city’s Islamic immigrant community.

Authorities said the killings may have been rooted in a personal grudge, possibly with intra-Muslim sectarian overtones.

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All four victims were of Afghan or Pakistani descent. One was killed in November, and the other three in the last two weeks.

A search of the suspect’s Albuquerque home uncovered “evidence that shows the offender knew the victims to some extent, and an inter-personal conflict may have led to the shootings,” police said in a statement announcing the arrest.

Investigators are still piecing together motives for the killings of the four men, Deputy Commander Kyle Hartsock of the Albuquerque Police Department said at a news conference.

In response to reporters’ questions, Hartsock said sectarian animus by the suspect toward his fellow Muslim victims may have played a role in the violence. “But we’re not really clear if that was the actual motive, or if it was part of a motive, or if there is just a bigger picture that we’re missing,” he said.

Syed has a record of criminal misdemeanors in the United States, including a case of domestic violence, over the last three or four years, Hartsock said.

Police credited scores of tips from the public in helping investigators locate a car that detectives believed was used in at least one of the killings and ultimately track down the man they called their “primary suspect” in all four slayings.

Syed was formally charged with two of the homicides: those of Aftab Hussein, 41, and Muhammed Afzaal Hussain, 27, killed on July 26 and Aug. 1, respectively, Albuquerque Police Chief Harold Medina told the briefing.

Participants in an interfaith memorial ceremony enter the New Mexico Islamic Center mosque to commemorate four murdered Muslim men, hours after police said they had arrested a prime suspect in the killings, in Albuquerque, New Mexico, US August 9, 2022. REUTERS/Andrew Hay

The latest victim, Nayeem Hussain, 25, a truck driver who became a US citizen on July 8, was killed on Friday, hours after attending the burial of the two men slain in July and August, both of them of Pakistani descent.

The three most recent victims all attended the Islamic Center of New Mexico, Albuquerque’s largest mosque. They were all shot near Central Avenue in southeastern Albuquerque.

The first known victim, Mohammad Ahmadi, 62, a native of Afghanistan, was killed on Nov. 7, 2021, while smoking a cigarette outside a grocery store and cafe that he ran with his brother in the southeastern part of the city.

BULLET CASINGS

Police said the two killings with which Syed was initially charged were tied together based on bullet casings found at the two murder scenes, and the gun used in those shootings was later found in his home.

According to police, detectives were preparing to search Syed’s residence in southeastern Albuquerque on Monday when he drove from the residence in the car that investigators had identified to the public a day earlier as a “vehicle of interest.”

Albuquerque and state authorities have been working to provide extra police presence at mosques during times of prayer as the investigation proceeded in the city, home to as many as 5,000 Muslims out of a total population of 565,000.

The ambush-style shootings of the men have terrified Albuquerque’s Muslim community. Families went into hiding in their homes, and some Pakistani students at the University of New Mexico left town out of fear.

Imtiaz Hussain, whose brother worked as a city planning director and was killed on Aug. 1, said news of the arrest reassured many in the Muslim community.

“My kids asked me, ‘Can we sit on our balcony now?’ and I said, ‘Yes,’ and they said, ‘Can we go out and play now?’ and I said, ‘Yes,'” he said.

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Reporting by Andrew Hay in Albuquerque, New Mexico and Steve Gorman in Los Angeles; Additional reporting by Rami Ayyub in Washington; Tyler Clifford in New York and Dan Whitcomb in Los Angeles; Editing by Jonathan Oatis, Cynthia Osterman, Daniel Wallis and Raju Gopalakrishnan

Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

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Missing teen Kiely Rodni may have been abducted after a party in California, authorities say

Missing teen Kiely Rodni may have been abducted after a party in California, authorities say

Kiely was at the Prosser Family Campground on Friday night and was last seen around 12:30 am Saturday, the Placer County Sheriff’s Office said.

“We are treating her disappearance as an abduction right now because we have not been able to locate her vehicle,” sheriff’s spokesperson Angela Musallam said.

Officials are looking for Kiely’s silver 2013 Honda CRV and say her phone has been out of service since the party. Kiely is White, 5’7″ and about 118 pounds. She has blond hair, hazel eyes and a nose ring. Kiely was last seen wearing a black tank top and Dickies brand pants.

There were 200-300 juveniles at the party, which was in a wooded area, Musallam said in a news conference Tuesday, and “someone knows something.”

“We are pleading, we are urging anyone who was at that party to please come forward,” she said.

Kiely’s loved ones are wondering how no one saw the teen leave, CNN affiliate KCRA reported.

“I can’t believe it. There has to have been one person — there were people sitting in cars, there were people everywhere around this place,” Kiely’s friend Sammi Smith told KCRA.

The grounds are about 17 miles north of Lake Tahoe and 36 miles from Reno, Nevada.

Black kids go missing at a higher rate than white kids. Here's why we don't hear about them

About 150 law enforcement officers, including the FBI, search and rescue, canines and more than 100 volunteers are combing the area around where Rodni was last seen.

“There is no evidence that supports an abduction, but we are not ruling anything out,” said Placer County Sheriff Troy Sander Tuesday. “We won’t rule anything out. This is a missing persons case, a search and rescue case.”

On Monday, the Placer County Sheriff’s Office flew a search helicopter over the area.

“Despite the numerous resources we have utilized, Kiely and her vehicle are still missing,” the sheriff’s office said. “We are currently coordinating with the California Highway Patrol, Truckee Police, FBI, and the Nevada County Sheriff’s Office as we continue our search for Kiely.”

Kiely’s mother, Lindsey Rodni-Nieman, said the wait has been grueling.

“My head is all over the place and I’m terrified. Bad thoughts are very strong and hard to keep at bay,” Rodni-Nieman told KCRA. “But I’m trying to hold out hope, you know, that we’ll find her, that she’ll come home.”

Friends and family have set up a website, FindKiely.com, to help with the search. And a GoFundMe account has been established to fund a reward for information leading to Kiely’s safe return.

CNN’s Cheri Mossburg contributed to this report.

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Biden signs documents of US support for Sweden, Finland to join NATO

Biden signs documents of US support for Sweden, Finland to join NATO

WASHINGTON, Aug 9 (Reuters) – US President Joe Biden on Tuesday signed documents endorsing Finland and Sweden’s accession to NATO, the most significant expansion of the military alliance since the 1990s as it responds to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

Biden signed the US “instrument of ratification” welcoming the two countries, the final step for their endorsement by the United States.

“It was and is a watershed moment I believe in the alliance and for the greater security and stability not only of Europe and the United States but of the world,” he said of their entry into the post World War Two alliance.

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The US Senate backed the expansion by an overwhelming 95-1 last week, a rare display of bipartisan unity in a bitterly divided Washington. Both Democratic and Republican Senators strongly approved membership for the two Nordic countries, describing them as important allies whose modern militaries already worked closely with NATO. read more

The vote was a sharp contrast with some rhetoric in Washington during the administration of former Republican President Donald Trump, who pursued an “America First” foreign policy and criticized NATO allies who failed to reach defense spending targets.

US President Joe Biden delivers remarks and signs documents endorsing Finland’s and Sweden’s accession to NATO, in the East Room of the White House, in Washington, US, August 9, 2022. REUTERS/Evelyn Hockstein

Sweden and Finland applied for NATO membership in response to Russia’s Feb. 24 invasion of Ukraine. Moscow has repeatedly warned both countries against joining the alliance.

Putin is getting “exactly what he did not want,” with the two countries entering the alliance, Biden said.

NATO’s 30 allies signed the accession protocol for Sweden and Finland last month, allowing them to join the nuclear-armed alliance once all member states ratify the decision. read more

The accession must be ratified by the parliaments of all 30 North Atlantic Treaty Organization members before Finland and Sweden can be protected by Article Five, the defense clause stating that an attack on one ally is an attack on all.

Ratification could take up to a year, although the accession has already been approved by a few countries including Canada, Germany and Italy.

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Reporting by Patricia Zengerle and Jeff Mason Editing by Mark Heinrich and Grant McCool

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Trump solicits donations after FBI search of his Mar-a-Lago home

Trump solicits donations after FBI search of his Mar-a-Lago home

WASHINGTON, Aug 9 (Reuters) – Former US President Donald Trump on Tuesday tried to turn the news that the FBI had searched his Florida estate to his benefit, citing the investigation in text messages and emails soliciting political donations from his supporters.

The unprecedented search marked a significant escalation of the federal investigation continues into whether Trump illegally removed records from the White House as he was leaving office in January 2021. Trump to publicly flirt with running again for president in 2024 but has not said clearly whether he will do so

Trump tried to paint the search of his Mar-a-Lago club in Palm Beach as a politically motivated move by President Joe Biden’s administration even as the former president plays a key role in Republican primaries ahead of the November midterm elections that will determine control of the US Congress.

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“They are trying to stop the Republican Party and me once more,” Trump said in a fundraising email on Tuesday. “The lawlessness, political persecution, and Witch Hunt, must be exposed and stopped.”

Trump launched his Save America political action committee days after losing the 2020 election to Biden. It has more than $100 million in the bank, a formidable war chest. read more

His Republican allies in Congress vowed to launch an investigation of the search itself if they recapture control of the House or Senate in November. House Republicans including Representative Jim Banks were set to meet with Trump at his Bedminster, New Jersey, golf club on Tuesday. read more

The Justice Department and FBI have declined to comment on or even confirm the search, which Trump disclosed in a statement on Monday.

‘WITHERING SCRUTINY’

The FBI could not have conducted the search without the approval of a judge who confirmed there was probable cause. The request almost certainly also would be approved by FBI Director Christopher Wray, a Trump appointee, and his boss, Attorney General Merrick Garland, who was appointed by Biden.

A White House official said Biden was not given advance notice of the search.

“This search warrant in my estimation probably underwent more withering scrutiny than any search warrant in the history of the Department of Justice,” said David Laufman, a former Justice Department official who oversaw prosecutions of national security offenses.

A view of former US President Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago home after Trump said that FBI agents raided it, in Palm Beach, Florida, US August 9, 2022. REUTERS/Marco Bello

The FBI earlier this year visited Trump’s property to investigate boxes in a locked storage room, according to a person familiar with the visit. FBI agents and a Trump lawyer, Evan Corcoran, spent a day reviewing materials, the source said.

Corcoran did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

The search is only an investigative step and does not mean that Trump will face automatically criminal charges, or that he would be found guilty of any wrongdoing.

It is a criminal offense to conceal or destroy government records. Any person convicted of violating a US law called the Government Records Act would be barred from holding federal office and would face a prison term of up to three years.

Legal experts said it is unclear if the disqualification provision is constitutional. The US Constitution sets forth the qualifications for being a president, senator or US representative. Previous Supreme Court rulings have held that Congress cannot limit the list of eligible officeholders.

That means if Trump were to be convicted, he would likely challenge any attempt to disqualify him from serving in office again, perhaps to a US Supreme Court whose 6-3 conservative majority includes three justices he appointed.

“It is not certain that the bar set forth in the Government Records Act is constitutional,” said Mitchell Epner, a lawyer at the firm Rottenberg Lipman Rich and former federal prosecutor. “It is absolutely there and it would be in all likelihood something that would end up being litigated.”

The documents probe is one of several investigations that have focused on Trump since he left office, weeks after his supporters stormed the US Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, in an unsuccessful bid to overturn his election loss. Trump continues to falsely claim that the election was stolen through widespread voting fraud. read more

Trump remains the Republican Party’s most influential voice, though recent polling shows Florida Governor Ron DeSantis rising in stature as a potential 2024 candidate.

But Trump has weathered many political scandals and observers said this FBI search could bolster his standing with Republican voters.

“The Biden administration is only adding rocket fuel to Trump’s campaign prospects and energizing his supporters who want him to run again,” said Ron Bonjean, a Republican strategist in Washington. “There should be more transparency around the decision to have this FBI raid because it looks overly political and allows Trump to say he’s being unfairly attacked.”

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Reporting by Sarah N. Lynch in Washington and Karen Freifeld in New York, additional reporting by Brian Ellsworth, Jim Oliphant, Luc Cohen, David Morgan and Steve Holland; Editing by Scott Malone, Will Dunham and Alistair Bell

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No change in US assessment on China timeline for Taiwan, official says

No change in US assessment on China timeline for Taiwan, official says

WASHINGTON, Aug 8 (Reuters) – Washington has not changed its assessment on China’s timeline for potentially taking Taiwan militarily, a senior Pentagon official said on Monday, sticking by previous statements that Beijing would not try to take it in the next two years.

China announced new military drills around Taiwan on Monday, drawing concern from US President Joe Biden, a day after the scheduled end of Beijing’s largest military exercises in the area to protest last week’s visit to the island by US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi.

Asked if the Pentagon’s assessment that China would not try to retake Taiwan militarily in the next two years had changed since Pelosi’s trip, Under Secretary of Defense for Policy Colin Kahl said: “No.”

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“Clearly the PRC (People’s Republic of China) is trying to coerce Taiwan, clearly they’re trying to coerce the international community and all I’ll say is we’re not going to take the bait and it’s not going to work,” Kahl said.

In November, the top US general said China was unlikely to try to militarily seize Taiwan in the next couple of years, even as its military develops capabilities that would enable forcibly retaking the self-ruled island.

Officials have privately said that they do not believe China will even be militarily ready to fully take Taiwan by 2027.

“Clearly what they’re trying to do is salami slice their way into a new status quo,” Kahl said.

Pelosi’s visit infuriated China, which responded with test launches of ballistic missiles over Taipei for the first time, as well as by ditching some lines of dialogue with Washington, including on military and climate change issues.

Taiwan’s foreign ministry said China, which claims the self-ruled island as its own, was deliberately creating crises. It demanded Beijing “pull back from the edge.”

Kahl said the US military would carry out passages through the Taiwan Strait in the coming weeks.

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Reporting by Idrees Ali and Christopher Gallagher; Editing by Chris Gallagher, John Stonestreet and David Gregorio

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Idrees Ali

Thomson Reuters

National security correspondent focusing on the Pentagon in Washington DC Reports on US military activity and operations throughout the world and the impact they have. You have reported from over two dozen countries to include Iraq, Afghanistan, and much of the Middle East, Asia and Europe. From Karachi, Pakistan.

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Albuquerque police are trying to piece together what led up to the killings of 4 Muslim men as anxiety spreads within the community

Albuquerque police are trying to piece together what led up to the killings of 4 Muslim men as anxiety spreads within the community

While police have not provided details on exactly how the killings unfolded, they have said three of the victims — Muhammad Afzaal Hussain, 27, Aftab Hussein, 41, and Mohammad Ahmadi, 62 — were “ambushed with no warning, fired on and killed.”

Then, after community members marked a somber Friday prayer followed by a funeral for two of the victims, a fourth man — 25-year-old Naeem Hussain — was found dead, hours after attending the service. He became the third Muslim man killed in the city within two weeks and the fourth since November.

While police have not definitively said all four attacks are connected, they have said they are looking into whether that is the case. With no one in custody, police have not commented on any possible motive or whether any of the shootings are being investigated as hate crimes.

However, it is “deeply troubling” that the victims were Muslim and of similar descent, Kyle Hartsock, deputy commander of the city police department’s criminal investigations division, has said.

The vehicle of interest in the recent killings of four Muslim men in Albuquerque, New Mexico.

Police have not come out with any descriptions of a suspect or suspects in the killings. They have, however, said they are seeking “a vehicle of interest,” which may be connected to the four killings. The vehicle is a dark silver sedan that police say may be a Volkswagen Jetta.

But it remains unclear whom the car belongs to, or where it was in the photos released by the department. Police said the vehicle “is suspected as being used as a conveyance in recent homicides of 4 Muslim men.”

“Everyone believes that that vehicle is very key to what happened in at least two of the shootings,” Maj. Timothy Keller told CNN on Monday. “We also have shell casings that we’re able to tie together through the national database. So that is giving us some confidence. But we may have a long way to go.”

A $20,000 reward is being offered for information leading to an arrest or arrests in the killings. Authorities have also set up an online portal for residents to upload videos and images that could help investigators.

The ambush-style killings

The three most recent killings claimed the lives of men from Pakistan, and the spate of shootings directed investigators’ attention to an unsolved killing of an Afghan man reported in 2021.

The latest killing happened just before midnight on August 5 in the area of ​​Truman Street and Grand Avenue. Police responded to reports of a shooting and found Naeem Hussain dead from a gunshot wound.

He had attended the funeral of two other victims that same day and expressed concern about the shootings, according to a spokesman with a mosque in Albuquerque.

On August 1, officers found Muhammad Afzaal Hussain on a sidewalk around 9:19 pm in the area of ​​Cornell Street and Lead Avenue. He had been shot and died as a result of his wounds, police said.

On July 26, officers found Aftab Hussein with apparent gunshot wounds in the 400 block of Rhode Island at 10:30 pm He also died as a result of his wounds, according to police.

The August 1 and July 26 shootings got police looking into whether they may be connected to another killing that happened November 7. That day, officers found an Afghan man, Mohammad Ahmadi, with a gunshot wound in the parking lot behind the business he ran with his brother.

4 Muslim men were killed in Albuquerque. Here's what we know about them

“Our homicide detectives and our investigators currently believe there is a strong possibility that the same individual committed all three of these crimes,” Hartsock said last week, referring to the shootings of Muhammad Afzaal Hussain, Aftab Hussein and Mohammad Ahmadi. “While we won’t go into why we think that, there’s one strong commonality in all of our victims — their race and religion.

“We are taking this very serious and we want the public’s help in identifying this cowardly individual who in all three cases ambushed their victims with no warning, fired shots and killed them,” Hartsock added.

Albuquerque’s Muslim community living in fear

The killings have put the city’s Muslim community on edge, with some too afraid to go to the mosque, shop for food or sit outside, according to Ahmad Assed, president of the Islamic Center of New Mexico.

Assed said he too is now among the many Muslims in New Mexico grappling with fear every day.

3 Muslim men in Albuquerque were murdered. Police are investigating possible ties to same killer

“I get in the car, and I’m watching every which way possible. I’m watching my side mirror. I’m looking in the back. I’m looking out for any sign of anything out of the ordinary,” he said.

The city is now increasing police presence at mosques, Muslim-affiliated schools and the University of New Mexico. Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham also announced sending additional state police to Albuquerque.

“We’ve got extra police patrols at every mosque during prayer time. We’re delivering meals to folks afraid to come out of their homes. We’re providing trauma services for folks also in their home or at their mosque for what they’ you’re going through,” Keller said. “Right now these are very, very trying times for this community and our city.”

Who the victims were

Naeem Hussain migrated as a refugee from Pakistan in 2016 — fleeing persecution as a Shia Muslim — and had just become a US citizen last month, according to his brother-in-law, Ehsan Shahalami.

The young man, who owned a trucking business, was described as a kind, generous and hardworking person.

Muhammad Afzaal Hussain worked on the planning team for the city of Española. He had studied law and human resource management at the University of Punjab in Pakistan before receiving both master’s and bachelor degrees in community and regional planning from the University of New Mexico, according to a news release from the mayor.

“Muhammad was soft-spoken and kind, and quick to laugh,” Spanish Major John Ramon Vigil said. “He was well-respected and well-liked by his coworkers and members of the community.”

Few details have been released about the two other victims.

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