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New Yorkers have a stark choice for their new mayor at the polls on Tuesday: a young leftist, a scandal-tainted former governor, and a Republican outsider.AFP looks at each candidate vying to run the most populous US city ahead of a vote being closely watched by President Donald Trump. – Zohran Mamdani: surprise favorite – The 34-year-old Zohran Mamdani was barely known to the public before his shock victory in the Democratic primary in June, which made him a firm favorite to become mayor. A self-proclaimed democratic socialist from an elite family, Mamdani was born in Uganda to parents of Indian descent and has lived in the United States since he was seven, becoming a naturalized US citizen in 2018. He would be New York’s first-ever Muslim mayor if elected.Mamdani boasts a strong base of young and immigrant voters thanks largely to a campaign focused on the soaring cost of living in the city of some 8.5 million residents.He has promised more rent control, free day care and buses, and city-run neighborhood grocery stores. Mamdani has attracted scorn from President Donald Trump, who calls him a “little communist,” but the New York State assemblyman has brushed off the criticism.He is a long-standing supporter of the Palestinian cause but has also made a point of vocally denouncing antisemitism in recent months.Before entering politics, Mamdani had a brief venture into the world of rap: performing under the alias “Young Cardamom.” – Andrew Cuomo: old hand -A former governor of New York state, Andrew Cuomo is hoping for a comeback from sexual harassment allegations that led to his resignation in 2021. The 67-year-old Democrat running as an independent, has led a centrist campaign for mayor drawing on his decades of experience in politics — including a stint as New York attorney general and in president Bill Clinton’s administration. He has prioritized public safety with a pledge to hire 5,000 new officers for the New York Police Department. Cuomo has also proposed building new housing for residents of differing income levels, smaller classroom sizes and more access to affordable health care. Many New Yorkers will recall his ten-year spell as governor which covered the Covid-19 pandemic, during which his leadership was initially praised before he faced criticism for understating the number of deaths in state nursing homes.Cuomo was married to Kerry Kennedy, a scion of the famed US political family.- Curtis Sliwa: the outsider – As a Republican running in an avowedly Democratic megacity, Curtis Sliwa has virtually no chance of winning the mayoral seat. But the 71-year-old could still tip ballots for Mamdani or Cuomo given his sway with a small but significant proportion of voters. Sliwa — once a night manager of a McDonald’s restaurant in New York — made his name with the Guardian Angels subway patrol group, which still sees him routinely sport a red beret. He ran for mayor in 2021 but lost to the incumbent Eric Adams, who is not seeking reelection. Despite being the Republican nominee, Sliwa has refused to fall in line with Trump and has opposed elements of  the US president’s immigration crackdown. This year his campaign has focused on the cost of living, dismantling bureaucracy, more safety in public spaces, as well as support for the homeless and even animal welfare. Sliwa is reported to share his home with 16 cats. 

New Yorkers will pick a new mayor on Tuesday after an unpredictable race that has drawn attention from far beyond the largest city in the United States, with President Donald Trump branding frontrunner Zohran Mamdani “a communist.” Breakout Democratic Party candidate Mamdani, a naturalized Muslim American who represents Queens in the state legislature, leads former governor and sex assault-accused Andrew Cuomo, running as an independent after losing his party’s primary contest to Mamdani.The Republican party candidate polling in third place is Curtis Sliwa, 71, who has a colorful past as founder of the Guardian Angels vigilante group, a prolific broadcaster and cat lover.The latest Quinnipiac University poll conducted October 23 to 27 gives Mamdani 43 percent of the vote, followed by Cuomo on 33 percent and Sliwa on 14 percent.The race has centered on cost of living, crime and how each candidate would handle Trump, who has threatened to withhold federal funds from the city.”Mamdani is an unusual political figure and really captures the spirit of the moment. This is a moment where a loud anti-Trump voice in America’s biggest city is going to get news,” Lincoln Mitchell, a politics professor at Columbia University, told AFP.”Frankly, a Muslim candidate for mayor of New York is an enormous story.”Mamdani, 34, has attacked his opponents for Islamophobic rhetoric and smears, calling out both Republicans and Democrats for “anti-Muslim sentiment that has grown so endemic in our city.”NYC Board of Elections data showed 275,006 registered Democrats had cast ballots, as had 46,115 Republicans, along with 42,383 voters unaffiliated with any party in the first five days of early voting, which ends November 2.Mamdani’s ascent has highlighted the gulf between the left and center-right of the Democratic Party.New York’s state governor Kathy Hochul, a centrist, appeared at a Mamdani rally on October 26 but was drowned out by “tax the rich” chants, an AFP correspondent saw.Hochul has been critical of Mamdani’s proposals to impose a two-percent income tax on New Yorkers making more than $1 million.- Mamdani’s rise -Mamdani’s unlikely ascent has been fired by young New Yorkers canvassing for him, with his campaign claiming 90,000 people have volunteered.”It really comes back to people speaking to other New Yorkers about the city that we all love,” Mamdani told The Daily Show.Teenager Abid Mahdi, a Queens native who leads canvasses for Mamdani, told AFP that “when I think of Zohran, I think of what Bernie Sanders was to many Americans in 2016 and 2020. He is my Bernie Sanders in a lot of ways.”Mamdani appeared with leftist standard-bearer Senator Bernie Sanders at a Queens rally on October 26.”I’m 15 right now, I’ll be an adult and paying taxes at 18, right? The majority of laws will apply to me in about three years. So, why should I start caring then?” added Mahdi.Underscoring the importance of older voters who typically turn out in greater numbers than youngsters, Mamdani attended a “paint and pour” session at an elder care home in Brooklyn Thursday.Torrential rain at the end of the week slowed canvassing, with the three leading candidates touring TV studios in a final push to woo wavering voters.Ahead of the vote, Sliwa appeared in a surreal conservative rap video wearing a suit and his signature red beret.Cuomo, 67, sought Thursday to court Black and Muslim voters, campaigning in Harlem with current mayor Eric Adams, a corruption-accused Democrat who bowed out, eventually endorsing his former foe Cuomo.There was a stir in the week when a British newspaper published what claimed to be an interview with former mayor and Mamdani backer Bill de Blasio in which he appeared to question the affordability of the Democratic socialist’s spending plans.But the article was removed after the former mayor denied speaking to the journalist.

US Vice President JD Vance has defended saying that he hopes his wife Usha — who was raised as a Hindu — converts to Christianity.A fervent Catholic who himself converted in 2019, Vance said on Friday that pushback against his remarks reeks of “anti-Christian bigotry.”The 41-year-old was asked about raising their three children in an interfaith marriage at a Turning Point USA event honoring assassinated right-wing activist Charlie Kirk at the University of Mississippi on Wednesday.”Do I hope eventually that she is somehow moved by the same thing that I was moved in by church? Yeah, I honestly do wish that,” he said. “But if she doesn’t, then God says everybody has free will, and so that doesn’t cause a problem for me.”Vance, who has been tipped by President Donald Trump as a likely candidate in the 2028 US election, then responded to criticism of his remarks on social media.Replying to one critic who accused him on X of throwing the Second Lady’s religion “under the bus” to placate right-wingers, Vance replied: “What a disgusting comment, and it’s hardly been the only one along these lines.””She is not a Christian and has no plans to convert, but like many people in an interfaith marriage — or any interfaith relationship — I hope she may one day see things as I do,” Vance wrote.Usha Vance was born in San Diego to parents who emigrated from India. She told Fox News in 2024 that her parents’ Hindu religion helped make them “really good people.”Vance was raised as an evangelical in a chaotic and sometimes deprived upbringing that he described in his memoir “Hillbilly Elegy.”The couple met at Yale Law School and married in 2014.Since Vance’s conversion to Catholicism five years later, he has frequently spoken about how his faith has informed his conservative political views.

The United States will not send any top officials to the COP30 climate talks in Brazil later this month, a White House official said Saturday, as President Donald Trump instead works to boost fossil fuels.Trump, who withdrew from the Paris climate agreement for a second time upon his return to the White House in January, had not been expected to attend a leaders’ summit ahead of the annual UN climate conference in Belem.But it now appears he will not dispatch any top negotiators to the talks, to be held from November 10 to 21, either.”The US is not sending any high level representatives to COP30,” a White House official said on condition of anonymity. “The president is directly engaging with leaders around the world on energy issues, which you can see from the historic trade deals and peace deals that all have a significant focus on energy partnerships.”Brazil said Friday that fewer than 60 world leaders have confirmed they will attend the climate summit on November 6-7 — held separately this year to ease accommodation pressures.The leaders of France, Germany, the United Kingdom, the Netherlands, Norway, Colombia, Chile, Cape Verde and Liberia will attend, their governments have confirmed to AFP.China has said Vice Premier Ding Xuexiang will represent President Xi Jinping.While Trump also exited the Paris deal in his first term, his administration has gone further this time, exerting its clout to boost fossil fuels globally. This includes, for example, threatening countries with retaliatory measures if they agreed to a carbon pricing system by the UN’s International Maritime Organization, effectively curtailing its implementation.Climate advocates fear the administration could seek to withdraw from the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change — the treaty that underpins the Paris Agreement.Doing so could prevent future administrations from re-entering the deal, but it is not clear if the executive branch has the legal authority to undo a Senate-ratified treaty.- Lower level participation -While Trump’s administration appears to be ignoring the summit, more than 100 state and local US leaders — including governors and mayors — are still expected to join the talks.”We are showing up in force,” Gina McCarthy, co-chair of the “America Is All In” coalition, told reporters on a call Thursday.McCarthy formerly served as the head of the Environmental Protection Agency under former president Barack Obama and as a climate advisor to Trump’s predecessor Joe Biden.She said the group heading to Brazil represented “two-thirds of the US population and three quarters of the US GDP, and more than 50 percent of US emissions.””We’ll deliver on the promises we made to the American people and our international colleagues,” she said. “Local leaders here have authority to act on their own behalf, to take climate action at home and abroad.”In all, 170 delegations are accredited for the main COP30 conference, taking place at a time of global political turmoil that many fear will overshadow the climate crisis.

Trinidad and Tobago put its military on alert Friday and recalled all personnel to their bases amid a deepening row between the United States and Venezuela and a deadly US military buildup in the Caribbean.Trinidadian forces have been placed on “STATE ONE ALERT LEVEL” and have been ordered to report to base, according to a message sent by the army seen by AFP. Police said that “all leave is restricted” until further notice.The island nation of Trinidad and Tobago is located just off Venezuela’s coast, and the mobilization comes after the United States carried out airstrikes on at least 15 alleged drug-trafficking boats in the Caribbean and the Pacific, killing 62.The alert caused panic in Port of Spain, where locals rushed to buy food and fuel, as witnessed by AFP reporters.Officials urged calm, and said “the Government of Trinidad and Tobago is in active contact with the Embassy of the United States of America in Port of Spain.”In the name of curbing drug trafficking, Washington has deployed a massive military force, with eight US Navy ships to the Caribbean,  F-35 stealth warplanes to Puerto Rico, and an aircraft carrier strike group is en route to the region.Venezuelan leader Nicolas Maduro, who faces indictment on drug charges in the United States, accused Washington of using drug trafficking as a pretext for “imposing regime change” in Caracas to seize Venezuelan oil.But US President Donald Trump said Friday he was not considering strikes against Venezuela, dialing back previous posturing.”No,” Trump responded when asked by a journalist aboard Air Force One about reports that he was considering such strikes.US Secretary of State Marco Rubio delivered the same message, lambasting an article in the Miami Herald that said Washington’s forces were poised to hit Venezuela.

Thousands of adrenaline junkies including BASE jumpers are flocking to California’s Yosemite National Park, as the US government shutdown leaves the few rangers on duty struggling to cope at the popular climbing destination.The shutdown, which began on October 1 due to a budget impasse in Congress, has sent personnel levels plummeting at the park — which is home to the imposing 3,000-foot (915-meter) granite wall known as El Capitan.”We’re challenged,” a park ranger told AFP, on condition of anonymity.”A lot of rangers have been furloughed” and those still working have had to contend with “an increase in illegal activity,” he said.Yosemite typically draws four million visitors a year.Personnel now absent from the national park include scientists, researchers, and the workers who run the entry gates, where ticket booths are now closed.Even so, the park’s campsites are at full capacity. The restrooms are open, as are restaurants and souvenir shops, which are privately run.One couple even held their wedding at Glacier Point, a stunningly scenic spot.But violations are proliferating, such as camping without permits and climbing on restricted routes.Peter Zabrok, a 66-year-old Canadian who has climbed El Capitan dozens of times, said he recently spotted eight BASE jumpers hurl themselves off the mountain in a single morning.BASE jumping — an extremely dangerous sport in which participants leap from cliffs and manmade structures using a parachute — is illegal in Yosemite, though it is not unprecedented.Even in normal times, the national park’s dizzying heights and picturesque remote valleys are irresistible to enthusiasts, who make clandestine jumps at dawn or dusk.But rarely have so many taken the risk, and in broad daylight to boot. “Never have I seen so many,” said Zabrok.Videos of daring skydivers have gone viral on social media.Three people were convicted and fined for illegal BASE jumping in Yosemite earlier this summer, before the shutdown began.- ‘Really scary’ -Alex Honnold, the record-breaking American climber whose feats were the subject of Oscar-winning 2018 documentary “Free Solo,” told AFP “there are always people trying to skirt rules in Yosemite.””Government shutdown or no government shutdown… there’s just always some degree of illegal activity in the park, but I think it’s pretty minor,” he said.For mountaineers like Honnold, the bigger threat posed by the shutdown is the potential damage to long-term conservation efforts, and emergency rescue programs.”Deferred maintenance and cuts to law enforcement and all those kinds of things… no one’s taking care of the infrastructure,” he warned.In particular, Honnold — who famously climbed El Capitan with no ropes — pointed to “cuts to search and rescue,” which could mean that climbers involved in accidents are left stranded.Fellow climber Julia Lackey, who has worked in Yosemite for the past two seasons, agreed the situation is “really scary.””You see a lot of resources being spread thin, and at this time, they’re just spread that much thinner,” she said.- ‘Challenging’- For some visitors, the absence of staff collecting entrance fees was a great motivation to visit Yosemite.But for others, it seems incomprehensible that the personnel who have been furloughed to save money are the staff who would otherwise be collecting funds to maintain the park.The park is essentially “providing all of the services without collecting fees, so they’re losing money, which seems bad,” said 29-year-old mountaineer Jack Taylor.”Morale is down as far as park service employees, which I think you can sense a little bit in the park,” said fellow climber Robbie Brown.”I’m sure it’s very challenging… not knowing what’s going to happen next.”

US President Donald Trump’s administration on Friday banned reporters from accessing a core part of the White House press office without an appointment, citing the need to protect “sensitive material.”Journalists are now barred if they do not have prior approval to access the area in the West Wing known as Upper Press — which is where Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt’s office is located.White House Communications Director Steven Cheung defended the move, saying without providing evidence that reporters had been “ambushing” cabinet secretaries in the area and secretly recording video and audio.”This memorandum directs the prohibition of press passholders from accessing… ‘Upper Press,’ which is situated adjacent to the Oval Office, without an appointment,” said a memo from the White House National Security Council (NSC).The memo, addressed to Leavitt and Cheung, said the aim was “protecting sensitive material from unauthorized disclosure in Upper Press.”The policy comes amid wider restrictions on journalists by the Trump administration, including new rules at the Pentagon that major outlets including AFP refused to sign earlier this month.White House reporters have until now been able to freely visit the area, often wandering up to try to speak to Leavitt or senior press officers to seek information or confirm stories.Media are still allowed to access the area known as “Lower Press,” next to the famed White House briefing room, where more junior press officers have their desks, the memo said.- ‘Eavesdropping’ -The memo said the new restrictions were triggered by “recent structural changes to the National Security Council” that meant White House press officers were dealing with more sensitive material.Republican Trump has effectively absorbed the once powerful NSC into the White House, putting it under the control of Secretary of State Marco Rubio, after former National Security Advisor Mike Waltz was reassigned in May following a scandal over the use of the Signal app to plan strikes on Yemen.But Cheung later went further, saying on X that “some reporters have been caught secretly recording video and audio of our offices, along with pictures of sensitive info, without permission.””Cabinet Secretaries routinely come into our office for private meetings, only to be ambushed by reporters waiting outside our doors,” he added, also accusing reporters of “eavesdropping on private, closed-door meetings.”Cheung, a Trump veteran who is known for his combative social media approach, did not provide evidence for the claims. US media said Democratic president Bill Clinton’s administration also sought to limit access to the Upper Press area, before rescinding the decision.Trump’s administration has made a major shake-up to access rules for journalists since his return to power in January.Many mainstream outlets have seen their access to areas like the Oval Office and Air Force One reduced, while right-wing, Trump-friendly outlets have been given more prominence.The White House also banned the Associated Press news agency from key areas where Trump speaks after it refused to recognize his order changing the name of the Gulf of Mexico to the Gulf of America.

Knocking down the East Wing of the White House apparently wasn’t enough for Donald Trump.The US president unveiled yet another makeover to the storied residence on Friday, showing off a marble-and-gold renovation of the Lincoln Bathroom.The old version dating back some 80 years had pale green tiles and strip lights, according to a picture posted by Trump on his Truth Social network.But now, it has gold taps and mirrors, along with lavish white and gray marble walls, Trump revealed in more than two dozen photos in a string of posts.”I renovated the Lincoln Bathroom in the White House. It was renovated in the 1940s in an art deco green tile style, which was totally inappropriate for the Lincoln Era,” Trump wrote on Truth Social.”I did it in black and white polished Statuary marble. This was very appropriate for the time of Abraham Lincoln and, in fact, could be the marble that was originally there!”It comes just days after Trump sparked controversy by demolishing the entire East Wing of the White House in October to build a giant new $300 million ballroom.But the bathroom renovation is the first major work done on the executive mansion of the White House itself. The Lincoln Bathroom is near the Lincoln Bedroom, an ornate room on the second floor of the mansion where the US president lives.The Lincoln Bedroom used to be the late president’s office and cabinet room, and was renamed in 1945 when President Harry Truman ordered furnishings from the Lincoln era to be placed there, according to the White House Historical Association.Tesla and Space X tycoon Elon Musk said he slept in the Lincoln Bedroom on a number of occasions at Trump’s invitation when he was running Trump’s cost-cutting Department of Government Efficiency.Billionaire property developer Trump has enthusiastically embarked on a series of renovation and building projects since his return to power — which many critics have derided as tacky.He has covered the Oval Office with gold decor, paved over the grass of the Rose Garden with an outdoor patio and put two huge flagpoles on the White House’s north and south lawns.

The G7 announced two dozen new projects Friday aimed at reducing China’s dominance of critical mineral supply chains, as Canada’s energy minister vowed the alliance was “serious” about reforming the global market. The deals, announced as Group of Seven energy ministers concluded a meeting in Toronto, involve a range of metals essential to high-tech products, including the rare earth materials where China has built outsized control.The initial steps taken by the newly launched G7 Critical Minerals Production Alliance “sends the world a very clear message,” Canada’s Energy Minister Tim Hodgson told reporters.”We are serious about reducing market concentration and dependencies,” he said, referencing China. Ministers from Britain, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, and the United States met in Toronto after US President Donald Trump and China’s President Xi Jinping reached a deal that will see Beijing suspend certain rare earth export restrictions for at least one year.Rare earths are needed to make the magnets used in a range of sophisticated products, and the prospect of China limiting exports had rattled markets.China has overwhelming dominance in the processing of rare earths, and Hodgson conceded that broadening supply chains would take time. He said the goal was building systems that stretch from “from mine to magnet.””That doesn’t exist in the West today…It will take time,” he said. The 26 projects announced include partnerships across the G7 and its allies, but the United States has not initially signed on to a specific arrangement. – Non-market tactics -By US Energy Secretary Chris Wright, who attended the meeting, had earlier told reporters that Trump’s administration was in full alignment with G7 allies on countering China’s market influence. There was “no disagreement within the group,” Wright said. He also said the G7 will have to use “non-market” tactics to counter China’s position.”China, frankly, just used non-market practices to squish the rest of the world out of manufacturing those products, so it got strategic leverage. Everybody sees that now,” Wright told reporters.”We need to establish our own ability to mine, process, refine, and create the products that come out of rare earth elements,” Wright said.”We’re going to have to intervene and use some non-market forces.”Repeating a widely shared accusation made against Beijing, Wright said China had used its rare earth stockpiles to manipulate global prices.”As soon as you start to invest, someone floods the market and crushes the prices. (China has) chilled investments,” he said.

US President Donald Trump said Friday that Christians in Nigeria face an “existential threat,” as right-wing political allies including Senator Ted Cruz push claims of “Christian mass murder” that experts say are false.Narratives of “Christian genocide” and “persecution” in Nigeria have been bubbling up on social media in recent months, finding purchase among the American and European far right.Africa’s most populous country is embroiled in numerous conflicts that experts say have killed both Christians and Muslims without distinction.But according to Trump, “Christianity is facing an existential threat in Nigeria.””Thousands of Christians are being killed. Radical Islamists are responsible for this mass slaughter,” he said in a post on his Truth Social platform, without providing evidence to support his claims.Trump said he is naming Nigeria a “country of particular concern” — a State Department designation for nations “engaged in severe violations of religious freedom.”Claims of Christian persecution have also been pushed by some in Nigeria, where ethnic, religious and regional divisions have flared with deadly consequences in the past and still shape the country’s modern politics.Nigeria is almost evenly divided between a Muslim-majority north and largely Christian south.Its northeast has been in the grip of jihadist violence for more than 15 years by the Islamist Boko Haram group, which has claimed more than 40,000 lives and forced two million people from their homes.The northwest is rife with gangs known as “bandits” who attack villages, killing and kidnapping residents.Central Nigeria sees frequent clashes between mostly Muslim herders and mainly Christian farmers — giving the violence there an air of religious tension, in a region that has seen sectarian violence in the past.Experts say the conflict is primarily over land, which is being squeezed by expanding populations and climate change.- ‘Indiscriminate’ violence -Massad Boulos, Trump’s senior advisor for Arab and African affairs, said in mid-October that “Boko Haram and Islamic State “are killing more Muslims than Christians.”Ladd Serwat, a senior Africa analyst at the US-based monitoring group Armed Conflict Location and Event Data (ACLED), told AFP that jihadist violence in Nigeria is “indiscriminate.”According to ACLED data, 52,915 civilians have been killed through targeted political killings since 2009, including those carried out by Boko Haram, Islamic State West Africa Province, “ethnic/communal militias in the central and northern regions, violence by groups commonly described as ‘bandits,’ and self-defence militias.”The data also showed there have been at least 389 instances of violence targeted at Christians between 2020 and 2025, with at least 318 fatalities. There were 197 violent attacks against Muslims during the same period, with more than 400 deaths.Trump’s comments come as a lobbying effort is underway on behalf of Nigerian separatists.Moran Global Strategies, representing the Biafra Republic Government in Exile, wrote to US congressional staffers in March warning of the “persecution of Christians” in the country, according to documents disclosed as part of American foreign lobbying rules.Biafra was the name of a short-lived breakaway state that declared independence in 1967, sparking a brutal civil war that lasted until 1970.