Mamdani slams alleged Trump-Cuomo ties in NYC mayoral race
Mamdani also took it to his account on X to comment about the alleged coordination between Cuomo and Trump. Today we learned Andrew Cuomo is directly coordinating with Donald Trump, even as this President sends masked agents to rip our neighbors off the streets and guts the social services so many New Yorkers rely on.It's disqualifying and a betrayal of our city. pic.twitter.com/5MXXDoV9ll— Zohran Kwame Mamdani (@ZohranKMamdani) August 6, 2025Mamdani intensified his criticism of alleged ties between New York mayoral candidates and President Trump, declaring, 'New Yorkers do not want a mayor who is working in tandem with the president to subvert the will of the people of New York City.'Positioning himself as the only viable choice for deep-blue NYC, Mamdani pointed to Mayor Eric Adams, whom he claims is compromised by the Justice Department's decision to drop his federal case, and GOP nominee Curtis Sliwa.'The fact is, the president has three candidates in this race,' Mamdani said. 'One that he's directly been in touch with, another that he bailed out of legal trouble and now functionally controls and the final one literally being a member of the same Republican Party.'TRUMP AND CUOMO DENY CLAIMS Sources say White House officials have been reaching out to New York lawmakers and political insiders this week to assess whether Trump should intervene in the race, as polling shows Mamdani leading the field. According to a Wednesday report by The New York Times, Trump and Cuomo allegedly spoke by phone 'in recent weeks,' though both have denied the claim.Pressed by reporters, Trump responded, 'No, I haven't,' when asked if he had spoken with Cuomo. Cuomo's team also rejected the report, with spokesman Rich Azzopardi stating in a prepared comment, 'As far as I know, they have not discussed the race.'Zohran Mamdani, who defeated Cuomo in the Democratic primary for New York City mayor, now faces him as an independent candidate in the general election.- EndsTune InMust Watch
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The Hindu
2 minutes ago
- The Hindu
Moscow warns of 'titanic efforts' to disrupt Putin-Trump meeting
Certain countries will make "titanic efforts" to disrupt the meeting U.S. President Donald Trump announced on Friday (August 8, 2025) with Russian President Vladimir Putin for August 15, Russia's investment envoy Kirill Dmitriev said on Saturday (August 9, 2025). Mr. Trump had said earlier that Russia and Ukraine were close to a ceasefire deal that could resolve the three-and-a-half-year conflict. The contents of the deal have yet to be announced, but it could require Ukraine to surrender significant territory - an outcome many European nations oppose. Mr. Dmitriev accused unnamed countries of seeking to prolong the war. "Undoubtedly, a number of countries interested in continuing the conflict will make titanic efforts to disrupt the planned meeting between President Putin and President Trump," he said in a post in his Telegram account, specifying that by efforts he meant "provocations and disinformation". Mr. Dmitriev did not specify which countries he was referring to or what kind of "provocations" they might undertake. The Kremlin earlier confirmed the summit. The two leaders will "focus on discussing options for achieving a long-term peaceful resolution to the Ukrainian crisis," Mr. Putin aide Yuri Ushakov said, adding: "This will evidently be a challenging process, but we will engage in it actively and energetically."
Mint
2 minutes ago
- Mint
Inside the Trump administration's strong-arm trade negotiations
After a faltering start to his effort to remake global trade, President Trump wanted deals, and he wanted them quickly. To deliver for their boss, senior administration officials embarked on an aggressive campaign beginning this spring to pressure trading partners into agreements that would allow Trump to declare victory. On trips to Europe, a top economic adviser, Stephen Miran, delivered a warning to his counterparts: If they didn't start seriously negotiating and find a way to come to a deal with the US, then their countries would face high tariffs. Miran conveyed the message in May to France and Germany, and later in June to officials in Brussels, where the European Union's executive arm is based, according to a senior administration official. The behind the scenes campaign was launched after Trump paused a wave of tariffs he announced in April, according to people familiar with the matter. He had pulled the plug on his large-scale reciprocal tariff plans that were initially announced on 'Liberation Day" as global markets faltered. The effort has resulted in a tariff truce with China and deals with some of the country's largest trading partners, including the EU, Japan and South Korea, as well the highest overall US tariffs since the Great Depression. On Thursday, higher tariffs on nearly 100 nations went into effect. The private negotiations since the pause were largely led by Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick and US Trade Representative Jamieson Greer. All three men used their own methods of trying to set up Trump with trade deals featuring enormous investment promises in the U.S. by trading partners and a range of Trump's beloved tariffs. 'President Trump has assembled the best and most experienced trade and economic team in modern history, and their full court efforts have delivered one historic trade deal after another to level the playing field for American industries and workers." said White House spokesman Kush Desai. Trump's deals with the EU and others highlight a new type of accelerated negotiation strategy used by the administration with allies and adversaries alike. Instead of months or years of talks that arrive at extensive, legally binding trade agreements, Trump's team has sought broad, fast-tracked trade agreements in which enforcement relies on Trump's personal interpretation of emergency economic powers, rather than typical dispute-settlement processes that often involve neutral arbitrators. 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In the days leading up to Trump and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen's announcement of a deal in July in Scotland, Lutnick personally called French President Emmanuel Macron, Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni and other leaders in the EU, according to U.S. officials. Lutnick was concerned that von der Leyen couldn't make a deal with Trump on her own authority without the backing of key European leaders, these people explained. When Lutnick got on the phone with Macron, the French president pushed back on a larger agreement with the EU. Trump had threatened in July that it might include zero tariffs on the U.S. and potentially up to a 30% tariff on Europe. Lutnick warned Macron that if he wanted the pharmaceutical giant Sanofi to remain based in France, he shouldn't put up too much of a fight, the people said. 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Mint
2 minutes ago
- Mint
Climate Change and You: Donald Trump is laying the groundwork to pollute more
NEW DELHI : Climate Change & You is a fortnightly newsletter written by Bibek Bhattacharya and Sayantan Bera. Subscribe to Mint's newsletters to get them directly in your inbox. Dear reader, Today, we begin with an outrageous event unfolding in the US. Under President Donald Trump, the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is claiming that greenhouse gases are not harmful to the planet and its inhabitants. The fact that greenhouse gases such as carbon dioxide and methane trap heat in the atmosphere and cause global warming is the very foundation of the science and action around climate change. Why is the EPA doing this? The Trump administration wants to do away with the past government's 'endangerment finding'—according to which polluting greenhouse gases could be regulated under the Clean Air Act. This is to give a free run to the fossil-fuel lobby and undo emission norms for most industries, including auto and power plants. When this ludicrous proposal was floated in March, EPA administrator Lee Zeldin had said: 'We are driving a dagger straight into the heart of the climate change religion to drive down cost of living for American families, unleash American energy, bring auto jobs back to the US and more." To call climate change a 'religion' is classic ostrich syndrome: Burying one's head in the sand to avoid uncomfortable truths. More so, when it comes from the world's second-largest carbon emitter. As part of its effort to end the authority to regulate greenhouse gases, the Trump administration released a new report on 29 July. The report, defying scientific consensus on climate change, concludes that carbon dioxide-induced warming appears to be less damaging economically than commonly believed. It further said that aggressive mitigation strategies could be more harmful than beneficial. This seems not just a denial of years of scientific research and international efforts to mitigate the climate crisis, but also laying the groundwork to keep on polluting. STATE OF THE CLIMATE The monsoon has been vigorous this year. India receives 75% of its annual rain during the June-September south-west monsoon season. Halfway through, as on 4 August, 29 out of 36 states and Union territories have received normal to excess rains (compared to the long period or 50-year average). Rains were 21% above normal in the north-west and 15% above normal in central India. But east and north-east have seen a deficit of 19% while the deficit was 6% in the south peninsula region. In addition to loss of lives and property in multiple states, major cities are battling waterlogging and floods. As this Long Story in Mint points out, drains and stormwater channels in most cities are perennially blocked by discarded solid waste and debris. This leads to waterlogging and floods during intense rains. If you are held up by the rains and wondering what to do, I have a book suggestion. Chasing the Monsoon by Alexander Frater is written like a pilgrim's tribute. Every year, the monsoon makes landfall in Kerala in early June and then gradually moves northwards and westwards, covering the entire country in a wide embrace. Could you run with it? Chase it, as it moves? Yes, Frater did. So can you. THE NEWS IN BRIEF KNOW YOUR JARGON Critical minerals The shift from polluting fossil fuel to cleaner sources of energy like wind and solar power is dependent on the extraction and processing of minerals like lithium, cobalt, copper, nickel and rare-earth elements. These are collectively called critical minerals. Their use is now widespread, from batteries in electric vehicles to wind turbines, solar panels, and electronics. With growing uptake of renewable energy, demand for critical minerals is expected to rise sharply. According to one estimate, demand is set to double by 2030 if countries were to meet their current climate pledges. Currently, India is heavily reliant on imports, but as this report from Forum for the Future points out, it also has an opportunity to position itself as an alternative to China, which dominates the supply chain. The transition to clean energy and growing demand for critical minerals can also have disastrous consequences—so a just transition is critical. Here is a report on how the EV rush brought a surge of Chinese investments into Zimbabwe's lithium mines, pushing locals to the wrong side of a resource curse. PRIME NUMBER 94 Since the onset of monsoon, the hill state of Himachal Pradesh has suffered losses estimated at ₹1,539 crore. At least 94 have died and 36 are missing due to flash floods and rain-related calamities. This tragedy is comparable in scale to the devastating Texas floods. But Himachal has received little attention. While hearing a hotelier's plea on construction in designated green zones, the Supreme Court lamented that 'the day is not far when the entire state of Himachal Pradesh may vanish". The apex court went on to list multiple concerns, which ranged from deforestation, hydropower projects causing water shortages and landslides, to unchecked tourism and the relentless construction of four-lane roads disturbing the states' ecological balance. MOVIE OF THE MONTH Parenthood, a new five-part series by David Attenborough, explores the strategies and sacrifices of animal parents to give their young a head start—a wild ride that is rife with risks and rewards. Every habitat has a unique set of challenges, and every parent has a unique strategy. The stakes are high because success, for all parents, ensures the future of life on this planet. But some species take 'providing' to extremes. For example, an African spider spews a kind of milk made from dissolved body parts to feed her young. When her babies need more, she offers herself. That's it with this issue of Climate Change & You, dear reader. Bibek Bhattacharya will be back with the next instalment in a fortnight.
