New Yorkers, including the city’s mayor, and several national US organizations, on Wednesday strongly condemned the attack of a taxi driver believed to have been targeted because he is a Muslim.
The attacker, a 21-year-old man who was reportedly drunk at the time of the incident, has been arrested and charged with attempted murder as a hate crime after he attacked Ahmed Sharif on Tuesday evening.
The man was 43-year-old Sharif’s first fare of the night, the Taxi Workers Alliance said in a statement. As the cab headed for Times Square, the passenger began a friendly conversation with Sharif about his religion, asking him if he was fasting in observance of the Muslim month of Ramadan.
After a few moments of silence, the man “suddenly started cursing and screaming,” the statement said.
“He yelled ‘Assalamu Alaikum. Consider this a checkpoint,’ and then slashed Mr Sharif across the neck. As Mr Sharif went to knock the knife out, the perpetrator, continuing to scream loudly, cut the taxi driver in the face [from nose to upper lip], arm and hand,” the alliance said.
New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg said he had spoken to Sharif and “assured him that ethnic or religious bias has no place in our city.”
“This attack runs counter to everything that New Yorkers believe, no matter what God we may pray to,” Bloomberg said.
The Taxi Workers Alliance linked the attack on Sharif to the controversy surrounding plans for Islamic cultural center near in New York’s Ground Zero.
Meanwhile, three teenagers who admitted targeting Hispanics for violence were sentenced on Wednesday to seven-year prison terms for their roles in the 2008 killing of an Ecuadorean immigrant, and a fourth teen who had met the others on the night of the killing received a six-year sentence.
The killing focused the national debate over immigration on New York’s Suffolk County.
A feud has broken out between the top leaders of the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) party on whether to maintain close ties with Russia. The AfD leader Alice Weidel this week slammed planned visits to Russia by some party lawmakers, while coleader Tino Chrupalla voiced a defense of Russian President Vladimir Putin. The unusual split comes at a time when mainstream politicians have accused the anti-immigration AfD of acting as stooges for the Kremlin and even spying for Russia. The row has also erupted in a year in which the AfD is flying high, often polling above the record 20 percent it
Ecuadorans are today to vote on whether to allow the return of foreign military bases and the drafting of a new constitution that could give the country’s president more power. Voters are to decide on the presence of foreign military bases, which have been banned on Ecuadoran soil since 2008. A “yes” vote would likely bring the return of the US military to the Manta air base on the Pacific coast — once a hub for US anti-drug operations. Other questions concern ending public funding for political parties, reducing the number of lawmakers and creating an elected body that would
The latest batch from convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein’s e-mails illustrates the extraordinary scope of his contacts with powerful people, ranging from a top Trump adviser to Britain’s ex-prince Andrew. The US House of Representatives is expected to vote this week on trying to force release of evidence gathered on Epstein by law enforcement over the years — including the identities of the men suspected of participating in his alleged sex trafficking ring. However, a slew of e-mails released this week have already opened new windows to the extent of Epstein’s network. These include multiple references to US President Donald
CHARGES: The former president, who maintains his innocence, was sentenced to 27 years and three months in prison for a failed coup bid, as well as an assassination plot Far-right former Brazilian president Jair Bolsonaro is running out of options to avoid prison, after judges on Friday rejected his appeal against a 27-year sentence for a botched coup bid. Bolsonaro lost the 2022 elections and was convicted in September for his efforts to prevent Brazlian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva from taking power after the polls. Prosecutors said the scheme — which included plans to assassinate Lula and a top Brazilian Supreme Court judge — failed only due to a lack of support from military top brass. A panel of Supreme Court judges weighing Bolsonaro’s appeal all voted to uphold
RSS