In a landmark political moment, Democrat Zohran Mamdani has been elected as the new mayor of New York City, marking multiple historic firsts. At 34, Mamdani will become the city’s youngest mayor in over a century and the first Muslim and Indian-American of South Asian heritage to hold the office.

Historic victory for a new generation

Mamdani’s win, achieved against heavyweight contenders like former governor Andrew Cuomo and Republican Curtis Sliwa, represents a generational shift in New York politics. His progressive platform—focusing on affordable housing, public transport, and social equity—struck a chord with voters.

Born in Kampala, Uganda, on October 18, 1991, to Ugandan scholar Mahmood Mamdani and Indian filmmaker Mira Nair, Zohran Mamdani spent his early years in Uganda and South Africa before moving to New York. A graduate of Bowdoin College with a degree in Africana Studies, he co-founded a Students for Justice in Palestine chapter during his university years.

The campaign and vision ahead

Mamdani’s grassroots campaign called for a rent freeze on stabilised units, universal childcare, tuition-free education, and fare-free buses. He also proposed building two lakh public housing units and city-run grocery stores. His plan to raise the minimum wage to $30 by 2030, funded through higher taxes on millionaires and corporations, drew both praise and criticism.

Despite facing ideological opposition and being branded as “too radical” by his rivals, Mamdani’s authenticity and mass connect drove one of the highest voter turnouts in five decades, with over 2 million ballots cast.

Now, as he prepares to assume office on January 1, the young leader faces the challenge of transforming his ambitious promises into policy amid scrutiny from conservatives and the business community alike.

New tests of the US nuclear weapons system ordered up by US President Donald Trump will not include nuclear explosions, Energy Secretary Chris Wright has said.

It was the first clarity from the Trump administration since the president took to social media last week to say he had “instructed the Department of War to start testing our Nuclear Weapons on an equal basis”. Trump had said Russia, China, North Korea and Pakistan were still continuing to test nuclear weapons and saw no reason why the US should stick to following the no-nuclear test moratorium.

“I think the tests we’re talking about right now are system tests,” Wright said in an interview on Fox News’ “Sunday Briefing”. “These are not nuclear explosions. These are what we call noncritical explosions.”

Wright, whose agency is responsible for testing, added that the planned testing involves “all the other parts of a nuclear weapon to make sure they deliver the appropriate geometry and they set up the nuclear explosion.”

The confusion over Trump’s intention started minutes before he held a critical meeting in South Korea with Chinese President Xi Jinping.

Trump took to his Truth Social platform and appeared to suggest he was preparing to discard a decades-old US prohibition on testing the nation’s nuclear weapons.

Later that day, as he made his way back to Washington, Trump was coy on whether he really meant to say he was ordering the resumption of explosive testing of nuclear weapons — something only North Korea has undertaken this century — or calling for the testing of US systems that could deliver a nuclear weapon, which is far more routine.

He remained opaque on Friday when asked by reporters about whether he intended to resume underground nuclear detonation tests.

“You’ll find out very soon,” Trump told reporters aboard Air Force One on Friday, as he headed to Florida for a weekend stay.

The US military regularly tests its missiles that are capable of delivering a nuclear warhead, but it has not detonated the weapons since 1992.

The Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty, which the US signed but did not ratify, has been observed since its adoption by all countries possessing nuclear weapons, North Korea being the only exception.

Trump announced his plans for nuclear tests after Russia announced it had tested a new atomic-powered and nuclear-capable underwater drone and a new nuclear-powered cruise missile.

Russia responded to Trump’s nuclear testing comments by underscoring that it did not test its nuclear weapons and has abided by a global ban on nuclear testing.

The Kremlin warned though, that if the US resumes testing its weapons, Russia will as well — an intensification that would restart Cold War-era tensions.

—AP/PTI

Former Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina has said she will remain in India and not return to her country under any government formed after elections that exclude her party, the Awami League. Speaking from her exile in New Delhi, the 78-year-old leader described the ban on her party as “unjust and self-defeating”.

Hasina fled to India in August 2024 after a student-led uprising that resulted in her ouster. An interim government headed by Nobel laureate Muhammad Yunus has since been in charge, with general elections scheduled for February next year.

“The next government must have electoral legitimacy. Millions of people support the Awami League, so as things stand, they will not vote,” she said in written responses to media. “You cannot disenfranchise millions if you want a political system that works.”

Hope for Awami League’s return to polls

Bangladesh’s Election Commission suspended the Awami League’s registration in May, citing national security and ongoing war crimes investigations against senior party figures. The Nobel laureate-led government also banned all party activities earlier this year.

Hasina said her party is not asking supporters to vote for other parties and still hopes “common sense will prevail” so that the Awami League can contest the election. However, she did not reveal if any communication is ongoing with authorities in Dhaka regarding the issue.

The Awami League and the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) have dominated the country’s political landscape for decades. The BNP is expected to benefit from the ruling’s absence in the upcoming vote.

Hasina faces war crimes charges

Hasina, credited with driving Bangladesh’s economic growth but accused of human rights violations during her long tenure, is facing charges of crimes against humanity for the violent crackdown on protests in 2024. A verdict from Bangladesh’s International Crimes Tribunal is expected on November 13.

According to UN estimates, up to 1,400 people were killed and thousands injured during the unrest, primarily from gunfire by security forces. Prosecutors also allege she oversaw enforced disappearances and torture of opposition activists through secret detention centres.

Rejecting the allegations, Hasina said, “These proceedings are a politically motivated charade. They’ve been brought by kangaroo courts, with guilty verdicts a foregone conclusion.”

“I live freely in Delhi, but would love to return”

Despite her exile, Hasina remains hopeful that her party will play a role in Bangladesh’s future politics. “It’s not about me or my family,” she said, adding that her son Sajeeb Wazed, based in Washington, could lead if asked.

Hasina, who lost most of her family in the 1975 military coup, said she lives “freely in Delhi” but remains vigilant due to her family’s violent past. She was recently spotted taking a stroll in Lodhi Garden with her security team, acknowledging locals who recognised her.

“I would of course love to go home, so long as the government there was legitimate, the constitution was being upheld, and law and order genuinely prevailed,” she said.