AUGUST 08, 2022

In New Mexico, four South Asian Muslim Americans were killed – police are investigating this chain of attacks as a possible hate crime.

Over the past few months, Albequerque police found the bodies of three South Asian Muslim men in the area, with the most recent body discovered last Friday. Authorities are investigating the chain of attacks as a related homicide, urging the public to call in with any tips, if possible. The FBI are also assisting the investigation.

President Biden and the New Mexico Governor Michelle Lujan Grisham expressed outrage and condemned the killings.

Spotlight 💡
 

• High school student ​​Xiaolai “Shelley” Zheng, 17, is one of 15 students nationwide to receive a prestigious study abroad opportunity funded by the U.S. Department of State.

Race in America 🌎
 

• Maya Lin, one of the nation’s most sought after architects, is planning to install a sculpture at the Obama Presidential Center, titled “Seeing Through the Universe.” Her previous work is featured at the D.C. Vietnam Memorial and the Museum of Chinese in America.

• When Asians immigrate to the U.S., we’re taught to be grateful for our opportunities, work hard and succeed. While that gratitude helps with assimilation, we can’t help but ask: Can gratitude be enough? Is it bad to question that gratitude? 

In Other Asian News 🗞
 

• The Thai heir to the energy drink company Red Bull is caught up in a murder scandal, but, his chances of being charged are low. 

• What is going on in the Nagorno-Karabakh region between Armenia and Azerbaijan? Recent conflict has broken the 2020 ceasefire.

Books 📖
 

• The author of “Bullet Train,” Kotaro Isaka, wrote his newest novel, “Three Assassins,” which features three mercenaries coming to terms with the fact that, as hired guns that primarily serve the social elite, they’ve become corporate machines. 

• Wanting to avoid menial labor? Emi Yagi’s award-winning debut novel, “Diary of a Void,” tells the journey of a Japanese woman who fakes her own pregnancy to avoid work. But as time goes on and she carries her lie to full term, she reckons with an empty irony. 

What else is on our minds? 🧠
 

• Over the weekend, Israeli and Palestinian forces clashed and innocent civilians were once again caught in the middle. A ceasefire has been declared, but in Gaza, 44 Palestinians were killed, 14 of whom were children. 

• In Southern India, the coastal region of Karnataka is regarded as the epicenter of Hindu supremacist rhetoric.

• Iranian Samanid Epigraphic slipware dates back to the 10th century and is regarded with great delight as its minimalist design stood the test of time and style. 

• Southeast Asian countries are caught in the middle while trying to navigate a highly tense playing field as relations between China and Taiwan continue to worsen. 

• U.S. Secretary of State Anthony Blinken met with President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. of the Philippines to discuss and strengthen their ties.