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Adnan Syed’s murder conviction still stands after Maryland’s highest court ordered the hearing to be redone.

At the age of 17, in 2000, Syed was sentenced to life in prison for the murder of 17-year-old Hae Min Lee, his former girlfriend and classmate.

Ms Lee was strangled and buried in Baltimore Park in 1999.

Adnan Syed and his mother Shamim Rahman talking to reports in October last year. Pic: AP
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Adnan Syed and his mother Shamim Rahman talking to reporters in October last year. Pic: AP

However, the 43-year-old was released in October 2022 after the Baltimore City State Attorney said DNA evidence supported his innocence.

Syed has maintained his innocence throughout and often expressed concern for Ms Lee’s surviving relatives.

But on Friday, Maryland’s highest court ruled that earlier proceedings violated the rights of the victim’s family – marking just the latest twist in a lengthy legal saga that gained fame through the hit podcast “Serial”.

The 4-3 ruling upheld a court decision in March last year that reinstated Syed’s conviction.

Justices did say that Syed can remain free as the case heads to a new lower court judge to again consider whether his conviction should be thrown out.

During the latest proceedings, the court weighed the extent to which victims can participate in hearings where a conviction could be vacated.

The majority of judges concluded that, in an effort to remedy what they deemed an injustice to Syed, prosecutors and a lower court “worked an injustice” against Ms Lee’s brother.

The court ruled that Young Lee was not treated with “dignity, respect, and sensitivity,” as required under Maryland law, because he wasn’t given reasonable notice of the hearing that freed Syed.

The court hoped to correct these shortfalls leading up to the new hearing.

But, the exact next steps remain unclear, in part because Baltimore elected a new top prosecutor in 2022, which could change how that office handles the case.

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The state’s attorney Ivan Bates said his office is reviewing the ruling.

Justice Michele Hotten argued the issue was moot because the underlying charges no longer exist.

“This case exists as a procedural zombie. It has been reanimated, despite its expiration. The doctrine of mootness was designed to prevent such judicial necromancy,” Justice Hotten wrote.

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David Sanford, an attorney who represents the victim’s family, said the ruling “acknowledges what Hae Min Lee’s family has argued: crime victims have a right to be heard in court”.

The case has most recently pitted criminal justice reform efforts against the legal rights of victims and their families, whose voices are often at odds with a growing movement to acknowledge and correct systemic issues – including historic racism, police misconduct, and prosecutorial missteps.

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Second ICE detainee dies after attack on Dallas facility, family says

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Second ICE detainee dies after attack on Dallas facility, family says

The family of a Mexican man shot last week at an immigration and customs facility in Dallas say he’s died, becoming the second detainee to be killed in the attack.

Police previously said one person was killed and two critically injured after a gunman opened fire at an ICE field office in the Texas city last Wednesday.

A bullet engraved with the phrase “ANTI-ICE” was found at the scene, the FBI said, with the attack being investigated as an act of “targeted violence”.

Miguel Angel Garcia-Hernandez, 32, died from his injuries after being removed from life support, his family confirmed in a statement shared by the League of United Latin American Citizens.

He is understood to have been one of the two detainees left in a critical condition following the attack on 24 September.

Officials previously said the first man killed was Norlan Guzman-Fuentes.

One of the bullet casings was engraved with 'ANTI ICE'. Pic: Kash Patel/X
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One of the bullet casings was engraved with ‘ANTI ICE’. Pic: Kash Patel/X

A handwritten note was also recovered after the shooting detailing the suspect’s desire to inflict “real terror” on US immigration agents, the head of the FBI said.

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Joshua Jahn, 29, from Fairview in Texas, was found dead at the scene from a self-inflicted gunshot wound, said acting US attorney Nancy Larson.

“He very likely acted alone,” she added.

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FBI director Kash Patel said the agency had seized devices and had processed “writings” obtained at the scene and in the suspect’s home since the attack.

A handwritten recovered note read: “Hopefully this will give ICE agents real terror, to think: ‘Is there a sniper with AP rounds on that roof?'”

Mr Patel said on X: “While the investigation is ongoing, an initial review of the evidence shows an ideological motive behind this attack.”

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America’s military top brass assemble for unusual summit with ‘department of war’ chief

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America's military top brass assemble for unusual summit with 'department of war' chief

America’s military top brass have left their posts to attend a meeting with the US president and defence secretary about the “warrior ethos”.

Hundreds of officers travelled from around the world to attend the occasion at a marine corps base in Quantico, Virginia. It is a rare gathering of the US military’s top tier, all in the one place.

There has been much speculation about the substance of Tuesday’s meeting, given its scale and short notice with minimal explanation.

Donald Trump told NBC News, Sky’s US partner network, it is “really just a very nice meeting talking about how well we’re doing militarily, talking about being in great shape, talking about a lot of good, positive things”.

“We have some great people coming in, and it’s just an esprit de corps,” he said.

“You know the expression ‘esprit de corps?’ That’s all it’s about. We’re talking about what we’re doing, what they’re doing, and how we’re doing.”

Trump and Hegseth watch a US anniversary military parade in Washington in June. Pic: Reuters
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Trump and Hegseth watch a US anniversary military parade in Washington in June. Pic: Reuters

‘Department of War’

The officers were summoned by defence secretary Pete Hegseth, who has adopted the slogan “Make America Lethal Again”. Ahead of the meeting, he has said his intention is to outline a new vision for the military and restore what he calls the “warrior ethos”.

Hegseth is the former TV presenter picked by Trump to run the defence department, now rebranded the Department of War. He has a military background, serving as an infantry officer in the National Guard.

His audience in Quantico will number the country’s most senior generals and admirals. Over 800 of the rank of brigadier-general and above will be there, along with their navy equivalents.

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Since he started in post, Hegseth has fired a number of senior officers. In May, he ordered a 20% cut in the number of four-star generals and admirals, and he targeted flag and general officers with a 10% reduction.

A controversial figure, Hegseth has accused some members of senior rank of being responsible for a woke culture and, in the past, has questioned the role of women in the military.

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YouTube to settle lawsuit with Trump over account suspension

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YouTube to settle lawsuit with Trump over account suspension

YouTube has agreed to pay $24.5m (£18.1m) to settle a lawsuit brought by Donald Trump after it banned his account following the January 6 Capitol riot.

The US president was suspended from the Google-owned platform over his role in the insurrection, which saw his supporters attempt to stop Joe Biden’s 2020 election win from being ratified.

More than four years on from the violent scenes that left a police officer dead, court documents filed on Monday revealed that $22m (£16.3m) from the settlement will go towards a trust for Washington DC’s National Mall and the construction of a White House ballroom.

The remainder will be paid to other parties involved in the case, including the American Conservative Union.

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Google declined to comment on the reasons for the settlement, which does not constitute an admission of liability.

Mr Trump’s YouTube account has been back online since 2023.

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Google’s parent company Alphabet is the third tech firm to settle with Mr Trump over what he perceived as an illegitimate muzzling of him online following the riot.

He was also suspended from Meta’s platforms and Twitter, moves which saw him gravitate towards his own social media platform – Truth Social.

The president and his supporters have falsely maintained that the 2020 election was stolen.

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Meta – which owns Facebook and Instagram – agreed to pay $25m (£18.6m) to settle Mr Trump’s lawsuit, and X (what Twitter became after being bought by Elon Musk in 2022) settled for $10m (£7.4m).

Alphabet boss Sundar Pichai, Meta’s Mark Zuckerberg, and Mr Musk all attended Mr Trump’s inauguration this year, with the latter having been a key contributor to his 2024 election campaign.

He led the Trump administration’s cost-cutting DOGE unit during the early months of 2025.

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