Suspect in 4 New Mexico killings left trail of violence
Police and court records show the main suspect in the slaying of four Muslim men in Albuquerque has committed regular acts of violence in the six years since he resettled in the United States. Police believe 51-year-old Afghan refugee Muhammad Syed tracked the movements of his victims before ambushing them late at night, motivated seemingly by interpersonal conflicts. He is charged in the deaths of two men and is the primary suspect in the slayings of two others. Syed has denied involvement in the killings. Members of Albuquerque’s small, close-knit Muslim community are coming to terms with the idea that maybe they never really knew Syed.
What’s that sound? It’s likely a meteor over Salt Lake City.
It was the boom that had everyone from meteorologists to the Utah governor wondering — was it thunder or maybe an earthquake? Thunderstorms swept through the area around 6 a.m. local time but cleared out by sunrise. Around 8:30 a.m. there was a distinctive “boom” heard throughout Salt Lake City, prompting people to take to social media and share footage of the noise they had heard. Within a few hours, forecasters at the National Weather Service said It was simply a meteor hurtling through the air. The meteor spotting coincided with the peak of the Perseid meteor shower, which peaked Thursday night into early Friday morning.
What takes years and costs $20K? A San Francisco trash can
What takes years to make and costs more than $20,000? A trash can in San Francisco. The pricey, boxy bin is one of three custom-made trash cans the city is testing this summer as part of its yearslong search for another tool to use against its dirty streets. San Francisco began its search for the perfect trash can in 2018 when officials decided it was time to replace the more than 3,000 round public bins that have been on the streets for nearly 20 years. What trash can the city gets will depend in part on the feedback from residents. The city promises the new bins will be in place by the end of 2023 and will cost a maximum of $3,000 each.
Russian shelling heavy in east; Ukraine strikes key bridge
Ukrainian officials say Russia’s military shelled residential areas across Ukraine. They also say their own fighters have damaged the last working bridge over a river in occupied southern Ukraine, hurting Russia’s ability to resupply its military. The mayor of the eastern city of Kramatorsk said a Russian rocket attack killed three people and wounded 13 others Friday night. Further west, a governor reported more Russian shelling of a city not far from Europe’s largest nuclear power plant. Ukrainian military intelligence alleged that Russian troops have shelled the nuclear plant. The Russian Defense Ministry, meanwhile, claimed Saturday its forces had taken control of a village on the outskirts of the eastern city of Donetsk.
As US weighs Guantánamo options, Saudi center may offer solution
A Saudi Arabia program grew from a counterterrorism campaign that began in 2004 to reeducate citizens who had made their way home from jihadi training camps in Afghanistan and others influenced by them. About 6,000 men have gone through some form of the program, among them 137 former detainees of the U.S. military prison at Guantánamo Bay. As the Biden administration looks for places to safely send cleared Guantánamo detainees who cannot go home, the question is whether and how the Saudi program might fit into President Joe Biden’s efforts to close the prison at Guantánamo, which opened to hold terrorism suspects seized around the globe after 9/11.
American lawyer is released from detention in UAE
Asim Ghafoor, an American lawyer detained in the United Arab Emirates since mid-July, was released Saturday, concluding an effort by members of U.S. Congress and Muslim advocacy groups to free him. They had raised concerns he was being politically targeted because of his ties to Jamal Khashoggi, a murdered Saudi journalist. The UAE had convicted Ghafoor of money laundering and tax evasion. His sentence was three years, to be followed by deportation, in addition to a fine of $1.36 million and confiscation of the money the court said he had transferred illegally through the country: about $4.9 million. But an Emirati court revoked his jail term Wednesday after Ghafoor appealed.
Italy’s Lake Garda shrinks to near-historic low amid drought
Italy’s worst drought in decades has reduced the country’s largest lake to near its lowest level ever recorded. Tourists flocking to Lake Garda on Friday for the start of a long weekend found a vastly different landscape than in past years. An expansive stretch of bleached rock extended far from the normal shoreline. Northern Italy hasn’t seen significant rainfall for months, and snowfall this year was down 70%. With rivers that farmers use to irrigate crops drying up, authorities allowed more water from Lake Garda to flow out to local waterways. The lake’s temperature, meanwhile, has been above average for August.
8 Israelis wounded in Jerusalem shooting
Israeli police and medics say a gunman opened fire at a bus near Jerusalem’s Old City, wounding eight Israelis in a suspected Palestinian attack that came a week after violence flared up between Israel and militants in Gaza. Two of the victims were in serious condition after the attack early Sunday. The shooting took place as the bus waited in a parking lot near the Western Wall, which is considered the holiest site where Jews can pray. The attack in Jerusalem follows a tense week between Israel and the Palestinians, including three days of fighting in Gaza after Israel killed Islamic Jihad commanders there and the killing of three Palestinian militants in the occupied West Bank.