Kampala (AFP) – Ugandans express their pride at the news that one of their countrymen, Zohran Mamdani, has been elected mayor of New York. Mamdani, a staunch leftist, was born in Uganda to a family of Indian origin and has lived in the US since he was seven years of age. “Uganda is invisible to the rest of the world, but seeing him up there makes me feel so proud of my country,” psychologist Anthony Kirabo tells AFP on the streets of Kampala.
Caracas (AFP) – Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro jokes that he is “more famous” than artists Taylor Swift and Bad Bunny because of the media coverage he receives in the United States over its military deployment in the Caribbean, which he claims is intended to overthrow him. “I am amazed to see my photo and my image on Fox News and CNN, and I say, ‘Damn, how far you’ve come, Nico!'”, he says on Venezuelan state TV.
New York (AFP) – Supporters of leftist Zohran Mamdani, packed in the Brooklyn Paramount Theater, dance and hug each other after their candidate wins the New York mayoral elections. “As a South Asian, but also as a New Yorker… I feel so proud to be part of a movement across class, across culture,” one volunteer tells AFP.
New York (AFP) – New York’s mayor elect Zohran Mamdani says his decisive victory shows a way to defeat US President Donald Trump, who has been a fierce critic of the young Muslim’s Democratic socialist policies. “If anyone can show a nation betrayed by Donald Trump how to defeat him, it is the city that gave rise to him,” Mamdani tells a cheering crowd in New York.
Cedros (Trinidad and Tobago) (AFP) – A stone’s throw from Venezuela, in the eye of a political storm fueled by a US naval deployment, fishermen from the archipelago of Trinidad and Tobago fear getting caught up in the tumult. [EXTRA RUSHES VIDI82KB8NQ_EN]
Tehran (AFP) – With replicas of missiles on display and effigies of Donald Trump and Benjamin Netanyahu hanging from a crane, thousands of Iranians commemorate the 1979 storming of the US embassy in Tehran. Five months after a brief war with Israel that saw the US join in with strikes on key nuclear facilities, demonstrators chant “Death to America, death to Israel!” and sing revolutionary songs in a particularly charged outing for the annual event.
Brussels (Belgium) (AFP) – The EU enlargement commissioner reaffirms support for Ukraine’s EU membership, saying that the country has “demonstrated its commitments to its EU path”. Meanwhile she accuses Georgia of “backsliding on the fundamentals” of the EU membership process, adding that the commission now considers the South Caucasus nation a “candidate in name only”. The announcements come as Brussels unveils its annual scorecard for countries seeking to join.
Dubai (AFP) – Selling for nearly $1,000 a cup, a cafe in Dubai is offering the world’s most expensive coffee, brewed from Panamanian beans sold at a premium price. Located in an industrial neighbourhood that has become a hotspot for coffee lovers, the cafe plans to serve “around 400 cups” of the precious beverage, Serkan Sagsoz, owner of Julith Café, tells AFP.
New York (AFP) – Democrat Zohran Mamdani accuses the Trump administration of “trying to intimidate voters with baseless allegations of voter fraud” after casting his vote in the city’s mayoral election. The comments come after a barrage of attacks from Trump on the frontrunner, who called Mamdani “a little communist”, threatened to withdraw federal funding for New York if he wins and told the city’s Jews not to vote for him, accusing him of anti-Semitism.
Tengréla (Ivory Coast) (AFP) – Dozens of Malian truck drivers risk their lives every day to supply the capital, Bamako, with fuel as a blockade by Al-Qaeda-linked group JNIM creates chronic shortages. “You never know if you’ll come back alive,” says tanker driver Baba. The strategy of “economic jihad” aims to choke off Bamako and the ruling military junta, which seized power in back-to-back coups in 2020 and 2021.
Doha (AFP) – United Nations secretary-general Antonio Guterres calls for a halt to the violence in Sudan and warns that the crisis caused by the country’s civil war is rapidly worsening. Addressing reporters on the sidelines of the Second World Summit for Social Development in Doha, the UN chief also warns against “the continued violations” of the ceasefire in Gaza that halted two years of devastating war in the Palestinian territory.
Abuja (AFP) – US President Donald Trump has threatened military intervention in Nigeria over the killing of Christians in the country, a move that has sparked controversy among citizens across the religious spectrum.
