KYIV: Ukraine and its European allies scrambled Saturday to come up with counter-proposals after US President Donald Trump gave Kyiv a tight deadline to approve a deal to end the war that accepts some of Russia&#39;s hardline demands.&nbsp;President Volodymyr Zelensky has pushed back against the 28-point US plan. Russian leader Vladimir Putin has welcomed the proposal, which would force Ukraine to give up land, cut its army and pledge never to join NATO.&nbsp;French President Emmanuel Macron, German Chancellor Friedrich Merz and UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer met Saturday on the the sidelines of a G20 summit in South Africa, the French presidency said.&nbsp;The huddle was held ahead of a wider meeting on the same topic that would include other European leaders, the presidency said.&nbsp;Starmer had earlier said the aim was to &quot;look at how we can strengthen this plan for the next phase of negotiations&quot;.&nbsp;European Commission chief Ursula von der Leyen said the allies should make it clear &quot;that there should be nothing about Ukraine without Ukraine.&quot;&nbsp;US Vice President JD Vance reacted to the criticism of the plan, saying it &quot;either misunderstands the framework or misstates some critical reality on the ground.&quot;&nbsp;&quot;There is a fantasy that if we just give more money, more weapons, or more sanctions, victory is at hand,&quot; he added.&nbsp;Ukraine faces one of the most challenging moments in its history, Zelensky said in an address to the nation, adding that he would propose alternatives to Trump&#39;s proposal.&nbsp;A top Ukrainian official on Saturday said Kyiv would launch talks with the US in Switzerland to discuss ways to end the war. The delegation will be led by Zelensky&#39;s top aide Andriy Yermak.&nbsp;Better equipped and larger in numbers, the Russian army is slowly but steadily gaining ground across the lengthy front line.&nbsp;Ukrainians were meanwhile facing one of the toughest winters since the war began, as Moscow carried out a brutal bombing campaign against energy infrastructure.&nbsp;This comes as a sweeping corruption probe that unveiled graft in the energy sector was unravelling in Kyiv, sparking public outcry.&nbsp;US President Donald Trump has given Ukraine less than a week to sign. Zelensky pledged to work to ensure any deal would not &quot;betray&quot; Ukraine&#39;s interests, acknowledging he risked losing Washington as an ally.

Europe

Ukraine and its European partners hurried to prepare alternative proposals after US President Donald Trump set a strict deadline for Kyiv to accept a peace deal including some of Russia's tough conditions.

Ukraine, Europe scramble to respond to US plan to end war

LONDON: The BBC lost more than &pound;1.1 billion in revenues in 2024-2025 as UK citizens dodged the licence fees and fewer homes said they needed one, a parliamentary committee report said Friday, urging greater controls.&nbsp;The report comes as Britain&#39;s under-pressure public service broadcaster faces a possible hefty lawsuit, after it admitted to a misleading edit of a speech by US President Donald Trump.&nbsp;Trump has said he could claim up to $5 billion in damages for alleged defamation over the edit, which spliced together his words to give the impression that he was directly calling for &quot;violent action&quot; during the January 2021 march on the US Congress.&nbsp;A sizeable proportion of the BBC&#39;s income comes from the licence fee, which is payable by all UK households with a television, or whose occupants watch live screening online.&nbsp;&quot;Evasion rose to 12.5 percent or about 1 in 8 users of the BBC not paying to use BBC services. Combined, household declarations and evasion represent over &pound;1.1 billion in lost income,&quot; the parliamentary public accounts committee said in a report.&nbsp;Currently standing at &pound;174.50 ($228) a year, the fee is expected to rise to &pound;180 in 2026.&nbsp;Income from fees brought in &pound;3.8 billion for the corporation last year from some 23 million households.&nbsp;But 3.6 million households declared they did not need a licence, which funds the BBC&#39;s television, radio and online services.&nbsp;The report concluded that the BBC had not done enough to enforce licence fee collection and recommended it should modernise the system.&nbsp;The row over the Trump edit comes at a politically sensitive time for the BBC, which is due to renegotiate the Royal Charter that outlines the corporation&#39;s governance. Its current charter will end in 2027.&nbsp;&quot;The BBC increased visits to unlicensed households by 50 percent in 2024&ndash;25, yet this has not translated into higher licence sales or more prosecutions,&quot; the report said.&nbsp;It also found that while the BBC remained &quot;a trusted institution&quot;, it was struggling to retain its foothold in the evolving media landscape.&nbsp;&quot;Younger people use the BBC less than older audiences and perceive it as less relevant to their interests,&quot; it said.&nbsp;&quot;The BBC&#39;s ability to serve all audiences, a core part of its public mission, is under pressure,&quot; it warned.

United Kingdom

A UK parliamentary report says BBC lost over £1.1 billion in 2024–25 due to license fee evasion and households claiming exemptions. It urges stronger enforcement as the broadcaster faces a lawsuit, shifting audiences, and charter renewal pressures.

License fee dodgers cost BBC over £1bn in lost income

Web Desk

ISLAMABAD: Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman said Riyadh wants to join the Abraham Accords but only with a &ldquo;clear path of two-state solution,&rdquo; placing the Israeli-Palestinian issue at the forefront of his White House meeting with US President Donald Trump. Speaking alongside Trump in the Oval Office, the crown prince said, &ldquo;We want to be part of the Abraham Accords. But we want also to be sure that we secure a clear path of two-state solution.&rdquo; He added, &ldquo;We&rsquo;re going to work on that, to be sure that we can prepare the right situation as soon as possible.&rdquo; Trump said he had pressed the prince to pursue normalization with Israel as part of the regional agreements launched during his first term. The renewed diplomatic push came during a lavish welcome for the Saudi leader, whom Trump greeted with cannon fire, a horseback parade, and a military flypast featuring F-35 jets that he said the United States would &ldquo;soon sell to Riyadh.&rdquo; Inside the Oval Office, Trump praised the crown prince as an &ldquo;incredible&rdquo; partner, while bin Salman announced a dramatic expansion of Saudi investments in the United States. &ldquo;We can announce that we are going to increase that $600 billion to almost $1 trillion for investment,&rdquo; the prince said. Trump, grinning, asked him to confirm the figure. The crown prince responded: &ldquo;Definitely.&rdquo; The show of warmth reflects Trump&rsquo;s efforts to strengthen ties with the Gulf kingdom as he seeks to transform the Gaza ceasefire into a broader regional peace process. Saudi crown prince&rsquo;s insistence on securing a two-state framework, however, places the Palestinian question at the center of any future Saudi&ndash;Israeli normalization efforts.

Americas

In a meeting with US President Donald Trump, the Saudi crown prince says Israel normalization requires a clear two-state path, while also announcing plans to boost Saudi investment to nearly $1 trillion.

Saudi crown prince says two-state solution key to Israel normalization talks

LONDON: Accused of being biased by some, defended as a champion of impartiality by others, the BBC is once again the subject of a thorny debate about the role of a publicly funded broadcaster in an increasingly polarized landscape.&nbsp;The BBC is regularly used as political football, with the organization facing flak for how it chooses to cover issues from climate change to Brexit.&nbsp;Now it is under greater scrutiny than ever before, following the revelation that a documentary it aired last year misleadingly edited a speech by US President Donald Trump.&nbsp;Trump has issued an unprecedented threat to sue over the documentary, which was broadcast before the US presidential ballot and examined why US voters were prepared to re-elect a convicted felon.&nbsp;In the former constituency of ex-prime minister Boris Johnson, a vocal critic of the BBC, one pensioner questioned by AFP appeared torn between her attachment to the BBC and its struggles sometimes to fulfil its public service duty when it comes to the news.&nbsp;&quot;I don&#39;t want to get rid of the BBC... but I think they have been biased on a lot of things,&quot; said Sandra Madden, a resident of Uxbridge, west London.&nbsp;The octogenarian retiree said the editing of Trump&#39;s speech -- which gave the impression he made a direct call for violence before his supporters attacked the Capitol in January 2021 -- was &quot;really the straw that broke the camel&#39;s back&quot;.&nbsp;It showed that the BBC was &quot;too left-wing&quot;, she concluded.&nbsp;The public broadcaster nevertheless remains the most popular UK news source, according to the latest figures published by media watchdog Ofcom.&nbsp;WeaponizedAround half of Britons have a positive opinion of the BBC, compared to 29 percent who hold a negative view, according to a YouGov poll published this week.&nbsp;While 31 percent said it was too left-wing, 19 percent said it was too right-wing.&nbsp;BBC chairman Samir Shah this week defended the organization&rsquo;s &quot;sacred job&quot; of upholding impartiality and the truth.&nbsp;On hot-button issues like immigration, transgender rights, Gaza or the rise of the far-right, the BBC finds itself caught in the crossfire of different ideological camps.&nbsp;The BBC &quot;has been weaponized by people who want to use it as an example (in their view) of the world going too far in one direction&quot;, said Lee Edwards, professor at the Department of Media and Communications at London School of Economics (LSE).

The BBC faces criticism and praise amid political polarization, including backlash over a misleading Trump documentary, yet remains Britain’s most popular news source, with debates over bias and impartiality ongoing.

BBC caught in crossfire of polarized political and media landscape

BEIJING: China suspended an export ban to the United States that had targeted gallium, germanium and antimony, metals crucial for modern technology, including semiconductors, Beijing&#39;s commerce ministry announced Sunday. The restrictions banned the export of so-called &quot;dual-use&quot; goods, materials that can have both civilian and military applications. Imposed in December 2024, the ban will now be suspended until November 27, 2026, Beijing&#39;s commerce ministry said in a statement. The announcement comes after leaders Xi Jinping and Donald Trump met on October 30 in South Korea and agreed to walk back some punitive measures imposed during their tit-for-tat tariff escalation. At one point, duties on both sides reached prohibitive triple-digit levels, hampering trade between the world&#39;s two largest economies and snarling global supply chains. Throughout the trade war, China has sought to leverage its chokehold over the critical minerals underpinning everything from smartphones to advanced military technology.

China

The announcement comes after leaders Xi Jinping and Donald Trump met on October 30 in South Korea and agreed to walk back some punitive measures imposed during their tit-for-tat tariff escalation.

China halts export ban to US of some 'dual use' materials: ministry

WASHINGTON: Syria&#39;s President Ahmed al-Sharaa arrived in the United States on Saturday for a landmark official visit, his country&#39;s state news agency reported, a day after Washington removed him from a terrorism blacklist.&nbsp;Sharaa, whose rebel forces ousted longtime ruler Bashar al-Assad late last year, is due to meet US President Donald Trump at the White House on Monday.&nbsp;It&#39;s the first such visit by a Syrian president since the country&#39;s independence in 1946, according to analysts.&nbsp;The interim leader met Trump for the first time in Riyadh during the US president&#39;s regional tour in May.&nbsp;US envoy to Syria Tom Barrack said earlier this month that Sharaa would &quot;hopefully&quot; sign an agreement to join the international US-led alliance against the Islamic State (IS).&nbsp;The United States plans to establish a military base near Damascus &quot;to coordinate humanitarian aid and observe developments between Syria and Israel,&quot; a diplomatic source in Syria told AFP.&nbsp;The State Department&#39;s decision Friday to remove Sharaa from the blacklist was widely expected.&nbsp;State Department spokesman Tommy Pigott said Sharaa&#39;s government had been meeting US demands including on working to find missing Americans and on eliminating any remaining chemical weapons.&nbsp;&quot;These actions are being taken in recognition of the progress demonstrated by the Syrian leadership after the departure of Bashar al-Assad and more than 50 years of repression under the Assad regime,&quot; Pigott said.&nbsp;The spokesman added that the US delisting would promote &quot;regional security and stability as well as an inclusive, Syrian-led and Syrian-owned political process.&quot;&nbsp;Transformation Sharaa&#39;s Washington trip comes after his landmark visit to the United Nations in September &mdash; his first time on US soil &mdash; where the ex-jihadist became the first Syrian president in decades to address the UN General Assembly in New York.&nbsp;On Thursday, Washington led a vote by the Security Council to remove UN sanctions against him.&nbsp;Formerly affiliated with Al-Qaeda, Sharaa&#39;s group, Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), was delisted as a terrorist group by Washington as recently as July.&nbsp;Since taking power, Syria&#39;s new leaders have sought to break from their violent past and present a moderate image more tolerable to ordinary Syrians and foreign powers.&nbsp;The White House visit &quot;is further testament to the US commitment to the new Syria and a hugely symbolic moment for the country&#39;s new leader, who thus marks another step in his astonishing transformation from militant leader to global statesman,&quot; International Crisis Group US program director Michael Hanna said.&nbsp;Sharaa is expected to seek funds for Syria, which faces significant challenges in rebuilding after 13 years of brutal civil war.&nbsp;In October, the World Bank put a &quot;conservative best estimate&quot; of the cost of rebuilding Syria at $216 billion.

Middle East

Sharaa, whose rebel forces ousted longtime ruler Bashar al-Assad late last year, is due to meet US President Donald Trump at the White House on Monday.

Syrian president arrives in US for landmark visit

WASHINGTON: US President Donald Trump handed Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban a one-year exemption from sanctions for buying Russian oil and gas after the close right-wing allies held a chummy White House meeting on Friday.&nbsp;Trump slapped sanctions on Moscow&#39;s two largest oil companies in October after losing patience with Russian President Vladimir Putin over his refusal to end the nearly four-year-old invasion of Ukraine.&nbsp;But while Trump has pushed other European countries to stop buying oil that he says funds Moscow&#39;s war machine, Orban used his first trip to the White House since Trump&#39;s return to power to push for special treatment.&nbsp;As they heaped praise on each other, Trump said he was considering an exemption because landlocked Hungary had to rely on pipelines that made it dependent on Russian oil and gas.&nbsp;&quot;As you know they don&#39;t have the advantage of having sea,&quot; Trump told reporters.&nbsp;Hungarian Foreign Minister Peter Szijjarto said after the meeting that Washington had granted a &quot;full and unlimited exemption from sanctions on oil and gas.&quot;&nbsp;But a White House official told AFP that Hungary&#39;s exemption was only for one year.&nbsp;Hungary had meanwhile committed to purchasing US liquified natural gas worth around $600 million, the official said.&nbsp;MiracleThe Hungarian prime minister has maintained close ties with both Moscow and Washington, while often bucking the rest of the EU on pressuring Russia over its invasion of Ukraine.&nbsp;Orban offered to host a summit in Budapest between Trump and Putin, although the US leader called it off in October and hit Moscow with sanctions for the first time in his presidency.&nbsp;At the White House, Orban pressed his case that Russian energy was vital for Hungary. &quot;Pipeline is not an ideological or political issue. It&#39;s a physical reality because we don&#39;t have port(s),&quot; Orban said.&nbsp;Washington has given firms who work with Russian oil giants Rosneft and Lukoil one month to cut ties or face secondary sanctions, which would deny them access to US banks, traders, shippers and insurers.&nbsp;Orban also said it would take a &quot;miracle&quot; for Ukraine to beat Moscow, underscoring the gulf between him and other European leaders on the war.&nbsp;Respect HungaryTrump meanwhile wholeheartedly backed Orban on the touchstone issue of migration, saying that the Hungarian&#39;s European Union counterparts should show him more respect.&nbsp;Orban has long thumbed his nose at the EU over migration. He has also refused to send military aid to Ukraine and opposes Kyiv&#39;s EU bid, and has had frequent run-ins with Brussels on the rule of law and other issues.&nbsp;&quot;I think they should respect Hungary and respect this leader very, very strongly because he&#39;s been right on immigration,&quot; Trump told reporters.&nbsp;Trump, who has carried out a sweeping crackdown on immigration at home, again alleged a link between migrants and crime, which is not backed up by statistics in the United States.&nbsp;Orban visited his &quot;dear friend&quot; Trump at his Mar-a-Lago residence in Florida three times last year, but the US president&#39;s return to power has had a mixed effect on Hungary.&nbsp;Washington has withdrawn sanctions against top Orban aide Antal Rogan and restored the country&#39;s status in a visa waiver scheme.&nbsp;But Trump&#39;s tariffs against the European Union have hit Hungary&#39;s export-oriented car industry hard, contributing to an already weak economy.&nbsp;Experts said the meeting with the US president was expected to give at least a &quot;symbolic&quot; win to Orban, who faces an unprecedented challenge to his 15-year rule ahead of elections next spring amid economic stagnation.

US president says he is considering an exemption because landlocked Hungary has to rely on pipelines that make it dependent on Russian oil and gas.

Trump gives Hungary's Orban one-year Russia oil sanctions reprieve

WASHINGTON: Multiple people fell ill and an investigation was underway after a suspicious package was delivered to a military base near Washington on Thursday, US media reported.&nbsp;Joint Base Andrews confirmed in a statement that parts of the Maryland site were evacuated after the &quot;suspicious&quot; package was opened. The base is used regularly for presidential flights.&nbsp;&quot;As a precaution, the building and connecting building were evacuated,&quot; the statement said, according to broadcaster CNN.&nbsp;&quot;Joint Base Andrews first responders were dispatched to the scene, determined there were no immediate threats, and have turned the scene over to the Office of Special Investigations,&quot; it said.&nbsp;According to news site Axios, a military spokesman said in a statement that &quot;multiple individuals felt ill&quot; after the package was opened and received treatment before being released.&nbsp;A Joint Base Andrews spokesperson did not respond immediately to AFP&#39;s request for confirmation of the incident.&nbsp;CNN, citing two unidentified sources, said the package contained an &quot;unknown&quot; white powder and &quot;political propaganda&quot; that were being assessed by investigators.&nbsp;The base is a short drive from the US capital and is often used for flights by senior government officials.&nbsp;President Donald Trump landed at the facility as recently as Wednesday on an Air Force One flight returning him from a business forum in Florida.

A suspicious package containing white powder and political material caused illness and evacuations at Joint Base Andrews near Washington. Multiple people were treated and released as investigators assessed the unknown substance.

Multiple people fall ill after 'suspicious' package opened at US base

WASHINGTON: A majority of US Supreme Court justices appeared deeply skeptical of the legality behind a swath of Donald Trump&#39;s tariffs as they heard a landmark case Wednesday that could uphold &mdash; or upend &mdash; the president&#39;s economic agenda.&nbsp;Billions of dollars in customs revenue and a key lever in Trump&#39;s trade wars are at stake as the conservative-dominated panel again grappled with the Republicans&#39; attempts to expand presidential powers.&nbsp;The high court&#39;s nine justices are considering Trump&#39;s use of emergency powers to impose &quot;reciprocal&quot; tariffs on nearly every US trade partner, as well as levies targeting Mexico, Canada, and China over their alleged roles in illicit drug flows.&nbsp;In a hearing lasting more than two-and-a-half hours, several conservative justices, along with the three liberals, questioned whether the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA) that Trump invoked confers the authority to impose tariffs.&nbsp;&quot;The statute doesn&#39;t use the word tariffs,&quot; said Chief Justice John Roberts, and imposing tariffs is equivalent to taxation, which has always been a &quot;core power of Congress.&quot;&nbsp;The justices sought to clarify whether Congress must provide explicit authorization for policies with significant economic or political consequences.&nbsp;Solicitor General John Sauer, arguing on behalf of the Trump administration, said this did not apply given the president&#39;s inherent, broad range of authorities.&nbsp;&quot;President Trump determined that our exploding trade deficits have brought us to the brink of an economic and national security catastrophe,&quot; Sauer said.&nbsp;Sauer sought to frame the issue as one involving the power to regulate foreign commerce &mdash; including the ability to impose tariffs &mdash;rather than the power to tax.&nbsp;Justice Sonia Sotomayor, a liberal, noted that the power to impose taxes is a &quot;congressional power, not a presidential power.&quot;&nbsp;&quot;You want to say tariffs are not taxes, but that&#39;s exactly what they are,&quot; Sotomayor said.&nbsp;Simply implausibleJustice Neil Gorsuch, a Trump appointee, questioned whether Congress could reclaim powers once it delegates them to the presidency, suggesting that &quot;as a practical matter in the real world, it can never get that power back.&quot;&nbsp;Neal Katyal, representing small businesses challenging Trump&#39;s tariffs, charged that it was &quot;simply implausible&quot; that in enacting IEEPA, Congress &quot;handed the president the power to overhaul the entire tariff system and the American economy in the process.&quot;&nbsp;He contended that the word &quot;regulate&quot; has also not been used to impose taxes.&nbsp;But there were questions, too, about refunds if Trump&#39;s tariffs were overturned, with Justice Amy Coney Barrett saying it could be &quot;a mess.&quot;&nbsp;The court&#39;s decision, which could take months to arrive, does not concern sector-specific tariffs Trump separately imposed, including on steel, aluminum, and automobiles.&nbsp;Trump has raised the average effective tariff rate to its highest level since the 1930s and has repeatedly warned of calamity if his duties are overturned.&nbsp;A lower court ruled in May that he had exceeded his authority, with the case ultimately making its way to the Supreme Court.&nbsp;Trump did not attend Wednesday&#39;s hearing, but several top officials did, including Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and US Trade Representative Jamieson Greer.&nbsp;&quot;In recent years, the court has been reluctant to overrule presidential decisions of this magnitude,&quot; ING analysts said.&nbsp;But the outcome is hard to predict, they added, as &quot;upholding Trump&#39;s tariffs would shift the balance of power from Congress to the President.&quot;&nbsp;Josh Lipsky of the Atlantic Council noted that even as justices were skeptical, they appeared concerned about fallout from overruling the tariffs.&nbsp;&quot;How do the refunds work?&quot; Lipsky asked. &quot;What does this mean for the president&#39;s foreign policy ability to negotiate deals?&quot;&nbsp;Although Trump&#39;s tariffs have not sparked widespread inflation, companies say they bear the brunt of higher import costs.&nbsp;Lawyers noted that if the top court finds Trump&#39;s global tariffs illegal, the government can tap other laws to temporarily impose up to 15% duties while pursuing pathways for more lasting levies.&nbsp;Countries that have already struck deals with Trump may therefore prefer not to reopen negotiations.

Billions of dollars in customs revenue and a key lever in Trump's trade wars are at stake as the conservative-dominated panel again grappled with the Republican's attempts to expand presidential powers.

US Supreme Court appears skeptical of Trump tariff legality

ISLAMABAD: Former US President Donald Trump on Tuesday night posted a cryptic message, &ldquo;So, it begins!&rdquo;, on his social media platform Truth Social, shortly after Zohran Mamdani delivered his victory speech as New York City&rsquo;s new mayor, a post widely interpreted as a veiled threat toward the progressive politician.<div class="fr-embed"><iframe src="https://truthsocial.com/@realDonaldTrump/115495225031046506/embed" class="truthsocial-embed" style="max-width: 100%; border: 0" width="600" allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen"></iframe></div>Mamdani, the city&rsquo;s first Muslim and South Asian mayor, had directly challenged Trump in his remarks, saying, &ldquo;Donald Trump, since I know you&rsquo;re watching, I have four words for you: turn the volume up!&rdquo; &ldquo;In this moment of political darkness, New York will be the light,&rdquo; Mamdani declared to a cheering crowd. &ldquo;If anyone can show a nation betrayed by Donald Trump how to defeat him, it is the city that gave rise to him.&rdquo; The 33-year-old Democrat, known for his outspoken socialist stance, pledged to &ldquo;end the culture of corruption that has allowed billionaires like Donald Trump to evade taxation and exploit tax breaks.&rdquo; His economic plan includes raising the corporate tax rate to match New Jersey&rsquo;s 11.5 percent and imposing a 2 percent wealth tax on New Yorkers earning more than one million dollars annually. Mamdani also announced ambitious social policies, promising to freeze rents for all tenants in rent-stabilized apartments and to hold negligent landlords accountable. &ldquo;The Donald Trumps of our city have grown far too comfortable taking advantage of their tenants,&rdquo; he said. As part of his affordability agenda, Mamdani vowed to make city buses fare-free, describing public transport as &ldquo;a right, not a privilege.&rdquo; He said the initiative would be funded through increased taxes on corporations and the city&rsquo;s wealthiest residents. Trump&rsquo;s latest post, &ldquo;AND SO IT BEGINS,&rdquo; marked a continuation of his long-running hostility toward Mamdani. During the campaign, Trump had repeatedly attacked him, calling him &ldquo;a 100% communist lunatic&rdquo; and &ldquo;not very smart.&rdquo; In previous statements, Trump warned he would withhold federal funds from New York if Mamdani became mayor. &ldquo;If you have a communist running New York, all you&rsquo;re doing is wasting money sending it there,&rdquo; he said at a rally, urging voters to back Mamdani&rsquo;s rival, former Governor Andrew Cuomo. Trump has also mocked Mamdani&rsquo;s appearance and intelligence, once telling CBS&rsquo;s 60 Minutes that he was &ldquo;much better looking&rdquo; than the new mayor. When interviewer Norah O&rsquo;Donnell referred to Mamdani as a socialist, Trump interjected, &ldquo;Communist, not a socialist &mdash; he&rsquo;s far worse than a socialist.&rdquo; In his previous statements, Trump had warned that Mamdani could face arrest if he interfered with federal immigration operations. Responding to Mamdani&rsquo;s pledge to prevent masked Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents from &ldquo;deporting our neighbors,&rdquo; Trump said at a news conference, &ldquo;Well, then, we&rsquo;ll have to arrest him.&rdquo; Could the exchange signal an impending clash between Mamdani&rsquo;s left-wing populism and Trump&rsquo;s conservative resurgence ahead of the next presidential election cycle, setting the stage for a potentially volatile relationship between City Hall and Washington?

Trump's post comes after Mamdani directly challenged Trump in his remarks, saying, “If anyone can show a nation betrayed by Donald Trump how to defeat him, it is the city that gave rise to him.”

Articles tagged with "US President Donald Trump"