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An Afghan citizen accused of shooting two National Guard members will be charged with first-degree murder, a US official said Friday, after one of the soldiers died of her wounds as President Donald Trump pledged to suspend migration from “third world countries.”The announcement marks an escalation in charges facing the assailant, identified as 29-year-old Rahmanullah Lakanwal, who allegedly opened fire on the guardsmen just a few blocks from the White House on Wednesday, the eve of the Thanksgiving holiday.”There are certainly many more charges to come, but we are upgrading the initial charges of assault to murder in the first degree,” Jeanine Pirro, the US attorney for Washington DC, told the Fox News program Fox & Friends.”It is a premeditated murder. There was an ambush with a gun toward people who didn’t know what was coming.”Pirro’s announcement comes after Attorney General Pam Bondi pledged on Thursday to seek the death penalty against Lakanwal, describing him as a “monster.”US media said Lakanwal was part of the “Zero Units” — a CIA-backed Afghan paramilitary force — and entered the United States as part of a resettlement program following the American military withdrawal from Afghanistan in 2021.Sarah Beckstrom, a 20-year-old West Virginia National Guard member deployed in the US capital as part of what Trump called a crackdown on crime, died from her wounds, the president said on Thursday.He said the other soldier wounded in the attack, 24-year-old Andrew Wolfe, was “fighting for his life.””We still have hope,” Pirro said of Wolfe.”He’s still in critical condition.”Lakanwal, who was also wounded and in custody, was said to have opened fire with a .357 Smith and Wesson revolver.The shooting has brought together three politically explosive issues: Trump’s controversial use of the military on American soil, immigration, and the lingering legacy of the 20-year conflict in Afghanistan — America’s longest war.- ‘Great fear’ -Late Thursday Trump pledged on Truth Social to “permanently pause” migration from “all Third World Countries” and threatened to reverse “millions” of admissions granted under his predecessor Joe Biden, in a new escalation of his anti-immigration stance.When asked which specific nationalities would be affected, the US Department of Homeland Security pointed AFP to a list of 19 countries — including Afghanistan, Cuba, Haiti, Iran and Myanmar — facing US travel restrictions under an order from Trump in June.Separately, Joseph Edlow, Trump’s director of US Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS), said on Thursday he had ordered a “full-scale, rigorous reexamination of every Green Card for every alien from every country of concern.”When asked to specify the countries, the USCIS referred AFP to the same list of 19 nations.More than 1.6 million US green card holders, roughly 12 percent of the total permanent resident population, were born in the countries listed, according to the latest immigration data available on the agency’s “Eligible to Naturalize Dashboard” analyzed by AFP.Afghanistan, which has over 116,000 green card holders, is also affected by a total halt of immigration application processing, ordered by the Trump administration after the recent shooting.Afghans across the United States were feeling “great fear” as Trump escalates his anti-immigration rhetoric, said Shawn VanDiver, president of AfghanEvac, a group that helped resettle Afghans in the country after the military withdrawal.”They’re worried that the president and his team are going to use this deranged man’s actions as a cudgel to kick them out of a place that they’ve spent their entire lives serving,” VanDiver told CNN. “That’s an awful feeling.”CIA director John Ratcliffe said Lakanwal entered the United States as part of a program to evacuate Afghans allied with the agency after the Taliban toppled the American-backed government in 2021.Lakanwal had been living in the western state of Washington with his family and drove across the country to the capital, officials said.The heads of the FBI, CIA and Homeland Security and other senior Trump appointees all insisted that Lakanwal had been granted unvetted access to the US because of what they called lax asylum policies after the chaotic US withdrawal from Afghanistan under former president Biden.However, AfghanEvac said they had undergone “some of the most extensive security vetting” of any migrants. It added that Lakanwal applied for asylum under Biden but received it later, under Trump.

Global stocks mostly rose Friday, extending a positive winning streak based in part on expectations that the Federal Reserve will cut interest rates again next month.US indices completed a week of gains in a lightly traded half-session following Thursday’s Thanksgiving holiday. Stocks rose all four days the market was open.”Stocks have erased November’s losses during today’s shortened trading session, as confidence of a December rate cut coincide with favorable seasonals for markets,” said a note from Interactive Brokers’ Jose Torres that highlighted the possibility of further gains in December.Earlier Friday, European bourses also pushed higher.Without direction overnight from New York, Asian markets moved with little conviction.While investors have been preoccupied at times in November with worry about excessive valuations for artificial intelligence stocks, that sentiment has been countered by growing confidence in further Fed rate cuts.Attention now turns to data releases over the next week or so that could play a role in the bank’s final decision, with private hiring, services activity and personal consumption expenditure — the Fed’s preferred gauge of inflation.With the recent government shutdown postponing or cancelling the release of some key data, closely watched non-farm payrolls figures are now due in mid-December, after the Fed’s policy decision.Markets see around an 87-percent chance of a cut next month and three more in 2026.Trading on the Chicago Mercantile Exchange, one of the world’s major operators, was halted by a technical outage first reported at 0240 GMT Friday.”Due to a cooling issue at CyrusOne data centers, our markets are currently halted,” the CME said in a statement.”All CME Group markets are open and trading,” it said in a later statement.Market participants rely heavily on CME platforms to manage risk through futures contracts tied, for example, to stock indices, interest rates and currencies.- Key figures at around 2030 GMT -New York – Dow: UP 0.6 percent at 47,716.42 (close)New York – S&P 500: UP 0.5 percent at 6,849.09 (close)New York – Nasdaq Composite: UP 0.7 percent at 23,365.69 (close)London – FTSE 100: UP 0.3 percent at 9,720.51 (close)Paris – CAC 40: UP 0.3 percent at 8,122.71 (close)Frankfurt – DAX: UP 0.3 percent at 23,836.79 (close)Tokyo – Nikkei 225: UP 0.2 percent at 50,253.91 (close) Hong Kong – Hang Seng Index: DOWN 0.3 percent at 25,858.89 (close)Shanghai – Composite: UP 0.3 percent at 3,888.60 (close)Euro/dollar: UP at $1.1604 from $1.1596 on ThursdayPound/dollar: UP at $1.3245 from $1.3240Dollar/yen: DOWN at 156.10 yen from 156.31 yenEuro/pound: UP at 87.60 pence from 87.58 penceBrent North Sea Crude: DOWN 0.2 percent at $63.20 per barrelWest Texas Intermediate: DOWN 0.2 percent at $58.55 per barrelburs-jmb/des

The annual “Black Friday” kickoff to the US holiday shopping season drew crowds Friday as millions of Americans seized on the time-tested custom at physical stores and through e-commerce.A preliminary retailer assessment of the big shopping day — which falls the day after the Thanksgiving holiday — won’t be available until next week.But images from Boston, Houston and elsewhere showed the event still attracted hordes of bargain hunters, even if it has lost some luster compared with yesteryear.Consumers lured to the Big Apple for Black Friday were met with cool temperatures but a bright sun as stores of varying size and price point pulled out the stops.There were few takers early Friday morning at Target’s big-box store near Yankee Stadium in the Bronx, where shoppers seemed to be outnumbered by staff who were rearranging merchandise and affixing signs boasting of 40 percent discounts.Foot traffic was heavier outside Macy’s Manhattan flagship store, where window displays featured scenes from Barbie and Lego in which characters bobbed and weaved.Windows with interactive features drew the most interest, including one that beamed out the viewer’s face in a giant star on Broadway.”We were here because we were in the city already,” said Michelle Stotts-Gillespie, after playing a game-like display on the 34th Street side of the giant department store.More glitzy features awaited customers inside Macy’s, the biggest department store in the country, with merchandise spread over 10 floors.Some moved purposely towards choice brands, while others plunked themselves in the middle of the walkway, comparing prices in the store with those on their smartphones.While Stotts-Gillespie, who lives in Florida, was thrilled by the Thursday’s Thanksgiving Day parade, she wasn’t planning to shop the day after.”In the past, Black Friday used be a big deal but now it’s kind of not because they have all the sales beforehand,” she said.- Worth waiting for -But some shoppers still view Black Friday as “that time to just get it,” Tranay Robinson explained after exiting a shop on 125th Street in Harlem. “Black Friday is a humongous day for me.”An inveterate coupon-clipper, Robinson said the discounts on Black Friday dwarf those throughout the year and are worth waiting for.Not that Robinson’s philosophy always results in brick-and-mortar purchases. Rather, her strategy is to check store prices against online offers before pulling the trigger.The approach for the 2025 holiday season is “fewer gifts but more expensive,” said Robinson, who works two jobs. “We’re doing alright.”A block or so away, Jordan Williams and his family expressed contentment with their take from the morning, which included a pair of Air Jordan sneakers, perfume and items for two young children. Williams expects to spend more this holiday season compared with last year, having relocated from Texas to New York in search of better professional opportunity.”In Texas, it was just so slow,” said Williams, who works as a bartender. “Here it’s work after work after work.”

Colombia’s spymaster on Friday told AFP that intelligence-sharing with the CIA and other US agencies is “completely fluid” despite an angry public spat between the country’s two leaders.  “They are collaborating a lot, and so are we,” Jorge Lemus, head of the National Intelligence Directorate, said in a rare interview, seeking to scotch talk of a rupture with the US spy agency.Decades of close security cooperation between Colombia and the United States were upended last month when Washington slapped sanctions on Gustavo Petro, accusing the guerrilla-turned leftist president of aiding drug traffickers.Petro responded by lambasting Donald Trump’s “murder” of alleged traffickers in the Caribbean Sea and declaring that Colombia would no longer share intelligence with the United States.  That threat was later rowed back by Petro’s aides. But Lemus’s comments are the first high-level confirmation that intelligence cooperation continues unabated despite the diplomatic rancor. Lemus said Colombia had destroyed 10,000 cocaine labs this year and operations are still being carried out “many times together with them, hand in hand with them.”Experts had warned that a break in intelligence cooperation could spark a surge in cocaine exports to the United States and strengthen the hand of cartels.  Several Colombian ex-military and intelligence bosses had told AFP Petro’s threat to cut intelligence sharing was “absurd” and “makes no sense.”One former US intelligence official said information gleaned from human sources by Colombian officers was often vital in supporting American eavesdropping and satellite intelligence.Lemus insisted that cooperation continues “not only with the CIA, but with all agencies, they have various. With all of the US intelligence agencies, it remains completely fluid,” he said.  “We continue exactly as before,” he added.  “At the end of the day, we are both fighting against drug trafficking”.  – No CIA leak -Lemus, himself a former guerrilla, was appointed by Petro earlier this year.In recent weeks, his powerful agency has been rocked by accusations that a senior spy colluded with guerrilla groups, helping them to buy arms and evade detection.  Lemus told AFP that the operative in question, Wilmar Mejia, had been suspended from duty pending investigation.  At the same time, he argued that Mejia had been an excellent spy who had rose quickly through the ranks and that the evidence against him may have been “staged.”Local media have published alleged chats between Mejia, an army general, and a guerrilla commander of a FARC splinter group that opposed the 2016 peace process.  The Caracol TV report alleged that Mejia worked with the rebels to set up a security company that allowed them to travel undetected in armored vehicles and carry weapons.  Petro has claimed the information is false, accusing the CIA of being behind the leak.Lemus denied the CIA was involved and said the president had “perhaps received incorrect information.”  “No, we don’t support it [this accusation], and the president also knows that the issue comes from other sources.”  

An Afghan national accused of shooting two National Guard members will be charged with first-degree murder, a US official said Friday, after one of the soldiers died of her wounds as President Donald Trump pledged to suspend migration from “third world countries.”The announcement marks an escalation in charges facing the assailant, identified as 29-year-old Rahmanullah Lakanwal, who opened fire on the guardsmen just a few blocks from the White House on Wednesday, the eve of the Thanksgiving holiday.”There are certainly many more charges to come, but we are upgrading the initial charges of assault to murder in the first degree,” Jeanine Pirro, the attorney for Washington DC, told the Fox News program Fox & Friends.”It is a premeditated murder. There was an ambush with a gun toward people who didn’t know what was coming.”Pirro’s announcement comes after Attorney General Pam Bondi pledged on Thursday to seek the death penalty against Lakanwal, describing him as a “monster.”US media said Lakanwal was part of the “Zero Units” — a CIA-backed Afghan paramilitary force — and entered the United States as part of a resettlement program following the American military withdrawal from Afghanistan in 2021.Sarah Beckstrom, a 20-year-old West Virginia National Guard member deployed in the US capital as part of Trump’s crackdown on crime, died from her wounds, the president said on Thursday.He said the other soldier wounded in the attack, 24-year-old Andrew Wolfe, was “fighting for his life.””We still have hope,” Pirro said of Wolfe.”He’s still in critical condition. We are doing everything we can to assist his family.”Lakanwal, who was also wounded and is in custody, was said to have opened fire with a .357 Smith and Wesson revolver.The shooting has brought together three politically explosive issues: Trump’s controversial use of the military on American soil, immigration, and the lingering legacy of the 20-year conflict in Afghanistan — America’s longest war.- ‘Rigorous reexamination’ -Late Thursday Trump pledged on Truth Social to “permanently pause” migration from “all Third World Countries” and threatened to reverse “millions” of admissions granted under his predecessor Joe Biden, in a new escalation in his anti-immigration stance.When asked which specific nationalities would be affected, the US Department of Homeland Security, pointed AFP to a list of 19 countries — including Afghanistan, Cuba, Haiti, Iran and Myanmar — facing US travel restrictions under an order from Trump in June.Separately, Joseph Edlow, Trump’s director of US Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS), said on Thursday he had ordered a “full-scale, rigorous reexamination of every Green Card for every alien from every country of concern.”When asked to specify the countries, the USCIS referred AFP to the same list of 19 nations.More than 1.6 million US green card holders, roughly 12 percent of the total permanent resident population, were born in the countries listed, according to the latest immigration data available on the agency’s “Eligible to Naturalize Dashboard” analyzed by AFP.Afghanistan, which has over 116,000 green card holders, is also affected by a total halt of immigration application processing, ordered by the Trump administration after the recent shooting.CIA director John Ratcliffe said Lakanwal had been part of a US “partner force” fighting the Taliban in Afghanistan. He added that Lakanwal had been brought to the United States as part of a program to evacuate Afghans allied with the agency after the Taliban toppled the American-backed government in 2021.Lakanwal had been living in the western state of Washington with his family and drove across the country to the capital, officials said.The heads of the FBI, CIA and Homeland Security and other senior Trump appointees all insisted that Lakanwal had been granted unvetted access to the US because of what they called lax asylum policies in the wake of the chaotic final US withdrawal from Afghanistan under former president Biden.However, AfghanEvac, a group that helped resettle Afghans in the US after the military withdrawal, said they had undergone “some of the most extensive security vetting” of any migrants. It said Lakanwal applied for asylum under Biden but received it later, under Trump.”This individual’s isolated and violent act should not be used as an excuse to define or diminish an entire community,” AfghanEvac wrote on the platform X, drawing a barrage of hateful comments.

An Afghan national accused of shooting two National Guard members will be charged with first-degree murder, a US official said Friday, in an escalation of charges following the incident that left one Guardsman dead.The US attorney for Washington DC, Jeanine Pirro has identified the assailant as Rahmanullah Lakanwal, a 29-year-old Afghan national who the US media described as a member of the “Zero Units” — a CIA-backed counterterrorism group.”There are certainly many more charges to come, but we are upgrading the initial charges of assault to murder in the first degree,” Jeanine Pirro, the attorney for Washington DC, told the Fox News program Fox & Friends.”It is a premeditated murder. There was an ambush with a gun toward people who didn’t know what was coming.”President Donald Trump has said that Sarah Beckstrom, a 20-year-old West Virginia National Guard member deployed in the US capital as part of his crackdown on crime, died from her wounds.He said the other soldier wounded in Wednesday’s attack just blocks from the White House, 24-year-old Andrew Wolfe, was “fighting for his life.””We still have hope,” Pirro said of Wolfe.”He’s still in critical condition. We are doing everything we can to assist his family.”Pirro said earlier Lakanwal opened fire with a .357 Smith and Wesson revolver on a group of guardsmen on patrol near the White House.He had been living in the western state of Washington and had driven across the country to the capital, she said.The shooting on the eve of the Thanksgiving holiday has brought together three politically explosive issues: Trump’s controversial use of the military at home, immigration, and the legacy of the US war in Afghanistan.Following the shooting, Trump pledged to suspend migration from what he called “third world countries” and threatened to reverse “millions” of admissions granted under his predecessor Joe Biden, in a new escalation in his anti-migration stance.The heads of the FBI, CIA and Homeland Security and other senior Trump appointees all insisted that Lakanwal had been granted unvetted access to the US because of lax asylum policies in the wake of the chaotic final US withdrawal from Afghanistan under former president Biden.However, AfghanEvac, a group that helped resettle Afghans in the US after the military withdrawal, said they had undergone “some of the most extensive security vetting” of any migrants.

US President Donald Trump said on Thursday he would suspend migration from what he called “third world countries”, a day after an Afghan national allegedly shot two National Guard soldiers in Washington, killing one.His social media post, which also threatened to reverse “millions” of admissions granted under his predecessor Joe Biden, marked a new escalation in the anti-migration stance.Trump said earlier that Sarah Beckstrom, a 20-year-old West Virginia National Guard member deployed in Washington as part of his crackdown on crime, had died from her wounds.The FBI has launched an international terror investigation as new details emerged about the alleged gunman, a 29-year-old Afghan national who was a member of the “Zero Units” — a CIA-backed counterterrorism group, according to multiple US media reports.The shooting on Wednesday, which officials described as an “ambush-style” attack, has brought together three politically explosive issues: Trump’s controversial use of the military at home, immigration, and the legacy of the US war in Afghanistan.”I will permanently pause migration from all Third World Countries to allow the U.S. system to fully recover,” Trump wrote on social media.He linked the shooting and his decision to send hundreds of National Guard troops to the city. “If they weren’t effective, you probably wouldn’t have had this done,” Trump said. “Maybe this man was upset because he couldn’t practice crime.”Joseph Edlow, Trump’s director of US Citizenship and Immigration Services, said on Thursday he had ordered a “full-scale, rigorous reexamination of every Green Card for every alien from every country of concern.”His agency later pointed to a list of 19 countries — including Afghanistan, Cuba, Haiti, Iran and Myanmar — facing US travel restrictions under a previous order from Trump in June.More than 1.6 million US green card holders, roughly 12 percent of the total permanent resident population, were born in the countries listed, according to the latest immigration data available on the agency’s “Eligible to Naturalize Dashboard” analyzed by AFP.Cuba accounts for the largest share, with about 560,000 green card holders, followed by Haiti (235,000) and Venezuela (153,000).Afghanistan, which has over 116,000 green card holders, is also affected by a total halt of immigration application processing, ordered by the Trump administration after the shooting.- ‘Brazen, targeted’ attack -The other soldier wounded in Wednesday’s attack, 24-year-old Andrew Wolfe, was “fighting for his life”, Trump said. The suspected shooter was also in serious condition.The US attorney for Washington DC, Jeanine Pirro, said the suspected assailant, identified as Rahmanullah Lakanwal, had been living in the western state of Washington and had driven across the country to the capital.In what she called a “brazen and targeted” attack, Pirro said the gunman opened fire with a .357 Smith and Wesson revolver on a group of guardsmen on patrol just a few blocks from the White House.Officials said they still had no clear understanding of the motive behind the shooting.- Afghan legacy -CIA director John Ratcliffe said the suspect had been part of a CIA-backed “partner force” fighting the Taliban in Afghanistan, and had been brought to the US as part of a program to evacuate Afghans who had worked with the agency.The heads of the FBI, CIA and Homeland Security and other senior Trump appointees all insisted that Lakanwal had been granted unvetted access to the US because of lax asylum policies in the wake of the chaotic final US withdrawal from Afghanistan under former president Biden.However, AfghanEvac, a group that helped resettle Afghans in the US after the military withdrawal, said they had undergone “some of the most extensive security vetting” of any migrants.Pentagon chief Pete Hegseth said in the wake of Wednesday’s shooting that 500 more troops would deploy to Washington, bringing the total to 2,500.Trump has deployed troops to several cities, all run by Democrats, including Washington, Los Angeles and Memphis. The move has prompted multiple lawsuits and allegations of authoritarian overreach by the White House.

Donald Trump said Thursday he would suspend migration from what the US leader called “third world countries”, a day after an Afghan national allegedly shot two National Guard soldiers in Washington, killing one. His social media post, which also threatened to reverse “millions” of admissions granted under his predecessor Joe Biden, marked a new escalation in the anti-migration stance of a second term that has been dominated by Trump’s mass deportation campaign.Trump had earlier announced that Sarah Beckstrom, a 20-year-old West Virginia National Guard member deployed in Washington as part of his crackdown on crime, had died from her wounds.The FBI has launched an international terror investigation as new details emerged about the alleged gunman, a 29-year-old Afghan national who worked with a CIA counterterrorism unit in Afghanistan, according to multiple US media reports.The shooting on Wednesday, which officials described as an “ambush-style” attack, has brought together three politically explosive issues: Trump’s controversial use of the military at home, immigration, and the legacy of the US war in Afghanistan.”I will permanently pause migration from all Third World Countries to allow the U.S. system to fully recover,” Trump wrote on social media.He also threatened to reverse “millions” of admissions granted under Biden, and to “remove anyone who is not a net asset to the United States.”In a Thanksgiving video call with US troops the Republican leader said: “I want to express the anguish and the horror of our entire nation at the terrorist attack yesterday in our nation’s capital.”Trump linked the shooting and his decision to send hundreds of National Guard troops to the city. “If they weren’t effective, you probably wouldn’t have had this done,” he said, adding: “Maybe this man was upset because he couldn’t practice crime.”Joseph Edlow, Trump’s director of US Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS), said Thursday that he had ordered a “full scale, rigorous reexamination of every Green Card for every alien from every country of concern.”His agency later pointed to a list of 19 countries — including Afghanistan, Cuba, Haiti, Iran and Myanmar — facing US travel restrictions under a previous order from Trump in June.The Trump administration had earlier ordered an immediate halt to the processing of immigration applications from Afghanistan.- Gunned down in ‘brazen’ attack -The other soldier wounded in Wednesday’s attack, 24-year-old Andrew Wolfe, was “fighting for his life” Thursday, Trump said. The suspected shooter was also in a serious condition. The US attorney for Washington DC, Jeanine Pirro, said the suspected assailant — identified as Rahmanullah Lakanwal — had been living in the western state of Washington and had driven across the country to the nation’s capital.In what she called a “brazen and targeted” attack, Pirro said the gunman opened fire with a .357 Smith and Wesson revolver on a group of guardsmen on patrol just a few blocks from the White House.The suspect was charged with three counts of assault with intent to kill — charges that Pirro said would immediately be upgraded to first-degree murder if any of the guardsmen died.Officials said they still had no clear understanding of the motive behind the shooting.- Afghan legacy -CIA director John Ratcliffe said the suspect had been part of a CIA-backed “partner force” fighting the Taliban in Afghanistan, and had been brought to the United States as part of a program to evacuate Afghans who had worked with the agency.The heads of the FBI, CIA and Homeland Security and other senior Trump appointees all insisted that Lakanwal had been granted unvetted access to the United States because of lax asylum policies in the wake of the chaotic final US withdrawal from Afghanistan under former president Biden.But AfghanEvac, a group that helped resettle Afghans in the United States after the military withdrawal, said they undergo “some of the most extensive security vetting” of any migrants.The group noted Lakanwal had been granted asylum in April 2025, under the Trump administration, and would be eligible to request permanent residency a year later.”This individual’s isolated and violent act should not be used as an excuse to define or diminish an entire community,” said its president, Shawn VanDiver.In the wake of Wednesday’s shooting, Pentagon chief Pete Hegseth announced 500 more troops would deploy to Washington, bringing the total to 2,500. Trump has deployed troops to several cities, all run by Democrats, including Washington, Los Angeles and Memphis. The move has prompted multiple lawsuits and allegations of authoritarian overreach by the White House.

New Yorkers struggling to afford food in the country’s biggest city — and often exorbitantly expensive financial capital — may finally get a break if the incoming socialist mayor’s daring new plan succeeds.Some 1.4 million residents in the Big Apple are food insecure, meaning they’re unable to regularly access affordable, healthy food. One in three use food banks.Democratic Socialist Zohran Mamdani won a stunning victory, in part on his promise to open affordable city-run supermarkets.The 34-year-old vows the stores will focus “on keeping prices low, not making a profit.”It’s a novel idea in a city more associated with Wall Street wealth.The stores would be exempt from rent and taxes, with savings passed to shoppers, while centralized warehousing and distribution would aim to reduce overheads.But Mamdani’s experimental plan to open five pilot stores on unused city land, as well as free buses and subsidized childcare, is still only small-scale — and not universally welcome.Nevin Cohen, an associate professor at CUNY’s Urban Food Policy Institute, said Mamdani’s plan remains “pretty vague” on basic points like location or even type of store.President Donald Trump, who hosted Mamdani for a surprisingly cordial visit at the White House earlier this month, has led many right-wingers branding the incoming mayor a “communist.”And private supermarket mogul John Catsimatidis, a Trump ally, is campaigning against Mamdani’s city groceries, asking “how do you compete against that?”- Affordability crisis -No one disputes the need for cheaper and better food.More than 40 percent of people in the poorest of New York’s five boroughs, the Bronx, eat neither fruits nor vegetables in an average week.Some 1.8 million New Yorkers are already dependent on federal food subsidies, a program briefly frozen during a row in Congress over government spending this month.Even Trump agreed with Mamdani at their meeting that “getting housing built and food and prices” should be priorities.”The new word is affordability. Another word is just groceries,” Trump said. New York has an existing city program to lure supermarkets to underserved areas called FRESH. It uses tax and planning incentives to entice developers and private store operators.At one outpost of the FRESH program in East New York, a deprived Brooklyn neighborhood, a Fine Fare supermarket opened under a new apartment building in 2023.Laura Smith, the NYC Department of City Planning’s deputy executive director, told AFP that FRESH helps “encourage more fresh food supermarkets across the city in areas where residents have a harder time reaching full line grocery stores.”In return for permission to build extra apartments, the developers of the store and 40 others were obliged to allocate space for a supermarket. Thirty-five more are in the pipeline. –  National solution?  -Mamdani is cool on the FRESH project, saying on his website that instead of “spending millions of dollars to subsidize private grocery store operators we should redirect public money to a real ‘public option.'”But Fine Fare is a hit locally.”I like it because it’s close by to where I live and they gave everything you need,” said retiree Ivette Bravo, 63shopping for the holidays.The scheme, started under mayor Mike Bloomberg in 2009, has survived two other mayors and is fixed in city law.The FRESH program had been “modestly successful” as it “helps people not have to travel further,” said Cohen, the policy expert.If Mamdani’s project is successful, it will add another option.But everything being done adds up to a drop in the bucket for a city with some 1,000 supermarkets in total.In the end, solving food insecurity isn’t something New York can do alone, whatever the innovations, Cohen said.”That actually requires national-level policy.”

US President Donald Trump announced Thursday the death of one of two National Guard soldiers shot near the White House, as his government said it would respond by reviewing the permanent residency status of immigrants from 19 countries, including Afghanistan.The FBI meanwhile launched an international terrorism investigation as new details emerged about the alleged gunman, a 29-year-old Afghan national who had served with US troops in Afghanistan.The shooting on Wednesday, which officials described as an “ambush-style” attack, brings together three politically explosive issues: Trump’s controversial use of the military at home, immigration, and the legacy of the US war in Afghanistan.”I want to express the anguish and the horror of our entire nation at the terrorist attack yesterday in our nation’s capital,” Trump said in a Thanksgiving video call with US troops. He called the suspect a “savage monster” before announcing that Sarah Beckstrom, a 20-year-old West Virginia National Guard member deployed in Washington as part of Trump’s crackdown on crime, had died from her injuries.Trump linked the shooting and his decision to send hundreds of National Guard troops to the city. “If they weren’t effective, you probably wouldn’t have had this done,” he said, adding: “Maybe this man was upset because he couldn’t practice crime.”Joseph Edlow, Trump’s director of US Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS), said Thursday that he had ordered a “full scale, rigorous reexamination of every Green Card for every alien from every country of concern.”His agency later pointed to a list of 19 countries — including Afghanistan, Cuba, Haiti, Iran and Myanmar — facing US travel restrictions under a previous order from Trump in June.The Trump administration had earlier ordered an immediate halt to the processing of immigration applications from Afghanistan.- Gunned down in ‘brazen’ attack -The other soldier injured in Wednesday’s attack, 24-year-old Andrew Wolfe, was “fighting for his life” Thursday, Trump said. The suspected shooter was also in a serious condition. The US attorney for Washington DC, Jeanine Pirro, said the suspected assailant — identified as Rahmanullah Lakanwal — had been living in the western state of Washington and had driven across the country to the nation’s capital.In what she called a “brazen and targeted” attack, Pirro said the gunman opened fire with a .357 Smith and Wesson revolver on a group of guardsmen on patrol just a few blocks from the White House.The suspect was charged with three counts of assault with intent to kill — charges that Pirro said would immediately be upgraded to first-degree murder if any of the guardsmen died.Officials said they still had no clear understanding of the motive behind the shooting.- Afghan legacy -CIA director John Ratcliffe said the suspect had been part of a CIA-backed “partner force” fighting the Taliban in Afghanistan, and had been brought to the United States as part of a program to evacuate Afghans who had worked with the agency.The heads of the FBI, CIA and Homeland Security and other senior Trump appointees all insisted that Lakanwal had been granted unvetted access to the United States because of lax asylum policies in the wake of the chaotic final US withdrawal from Afghanistan under former president Joe Biden.But AfghanEvac, a group that helped resettle Afghans in the United States after the military withdrawal, said they undergo “some of the most extensive security vetting” of any migrants.The group noted Lakanwal had been granted asylum in April 2025, under the Trump administration, and would be eligible to request permanent residency a year later.”This individual’s isolated and violent act should not be used as an excuse to define or diminish an entire community,” said its president, Shawn VanDiver.In the wake of Wednesday’s shooting, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth announced 500 more troops would deploy to Washington, bringing the total to 2,500. Trump has deployed troops to several cities, all run by Democrats, including Washington, Los Angeles and Memphis. The move has prompted multiple lawsuits and allegations of authoritarian overreach by the White House.