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Subway, soccer and spats: New York’s Mamdani a UN week attraction

2026-09-25T17:35:47.621Z / Reuters

[1/3]New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani and Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, exchange soccer jerseys while speaking to reporters after meeting in New York, US, September 21, 2026. Dave Sanders/Pool via REUTERS/File Photo Purchase Licensing Rights, opens new tab

• Summary

• Mayor becomes an unexpected draw during UN week
• Trump praises Mamdani despite political differences
• Netanyahu turns mayor into target in UN address

UNITED NATIONS, Sept 25 (Reuters) – The United Nations wasn’t the only New York attraction for visiting world leaders this week – Mayor Zohran Mamdani emerged as a popular draw for like-minded politicians and a target for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

The 34-year-old former state lawmaker, who took office on January 1 in New York City, rode the subway with Ireland’s Prime Minister Micheal Martin, exchanged soccer jerseys with Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, and talked to students with Norwegian Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Store about artificial intelligence.

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“In a year when the main sentiment around the UN is existential gloom about the state of the world, a perky young politico was what we all needed,” said Richard Gowan, director of global issues and institutions at the International Crisis Group.

“Of course a meeting with Mamdani is pretty politically low-risk for most leaders. You spend some time on the subway and with school kids. Nobody is going to ask you to solve the North Korea nuclear problem,” he added.

The New York mayor was also a focus of Netanyahu’s Thursday address to the 193-member UN General Assembly in which he berated Mamdani for calling him a war criminal over Israel’s actions in Gaza.

Mamdani discussed “Building an Economy for the Many” over breakfast with Spain’s President Pedro Sánchez, Barbados Prime Minister Mia Mottley and European Council President António Costa, and met LGBTQ+ youth with Dutch Prime Minister Rob Jetten.

Costa, a former mayor of Lisbon, told Mamdani at the event on Tuesday: “You have the best job that a politician can do – I miss the ability mayors sometimes have of identifying a problem in the morning and having it solved by the end of the day.”

Austrian President Alexander Van der Bellen and British Foreign Secretary Ed Miliband also had meetings with Mamdani.

WAR OF WORDS WITH NETANYAHU

While Democrat Mamdani’s meetings were largely with world leaders of similar political leanings, there was one notable exception: Republican US President Donald Trump.

As Trump’s ally Netanyahu escalated a war of words with New York’s first Muslim mayor, Trump met with Mamdani at Gracie Mansion, the mayor’s official residence.

“I want him to be a great mayor, and he’s certainly got potential, got great potential,” Trump said at a joint press conference with Mamdani after their meeting on Monday.

Netanyahu’s address on Thursday was a stark contrast.

“You tried to stop me from coming here. You tried. You tried to silence me. Well, you can’t silence me. You can’t silence the truth,” Netanyahu, Israel’s longest-serving leader, said of Mamdani.

Mamdani campaigned for office on a promise to have Netanyahu arrested for alleged war crimes should he visit the largest US city, but later said he determined he lacked the legal authority to do so. This week, Mamdani described Netanyahu as “the architect of a horrific genocide against Palestinians.”

The evening before Netanyahu’s arrival, Mamdani posted a video on social media of him planting an olive tree at Gracie Mansion with Palestinian families from Gaza with the caption: “May peace be our future.”

Making his first visit to New York on Thursday since Mamdani took office, Netanyahu told the General Assembly: “Israel didn’t commit genocide. Israel prevented genocide.”

In response, Mamdani accused Netanyahu of using his UN speech “to repeat baseless lies meant to sanitize his genocide of Palestinians,” adding: “Yet no lie can change the fact that he remains the subject of an International Criminal Court arrest warrant alleging war crimes and crimes against humanity.”

Israel rejects genocide allegations and says its military campaign targets Hamas, not Gaza’s civilian population. It says it takes steps to minimize civilian harm and says Hamas fighters embed among civilians.

Additional reporting by John Irish, editing by Don Durfee and Howard Goller

Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

Tasia Fortune’s hanging was “staged” after her death, Mississippi police say

2026-09-25 15:48:39 EDT / CBS News

Investigators believe Tasia Fortune was already dead before the Black woman’s body was hanged from a tree behind an abandoned home in the Mississippi capital this summer, a detective testified Friday.

The hanging of Tasia Fortune’s body, which was found on Aug. 3, was “staged,” Jackson police Det. Samuel Dukes testified, citing the medical examiner’s opinion.

Authorities haven’t disclosed the exact cause of Fortune’s death, but they did rule it a homicide and have arrested two men, both of them Black, on murder charges and issued a warrant for the arrest of a third person.

Dukes also testified that the motive for the killing appears to have been a drug dispute. He said interviews with others revealed that Fortune fought hard before she was killed.

The case has attracted widespread attention because the scene recalled lynchings in the Southern state, which has a long and troubled history of racial violence.

Authorities haven’t said why they believe the defendants hanged Fortune’s body after she was already dead.

Dukes testified at a hearing for Jarques Ratliff, 51, who was the first person arrested in the case earlier this month. Ratliff, who has pleaded not guilty, remains in custody in the Hinds County jail without bond.

The purpose of the hearing, which will resume Sept. 30, is to determine if there’s enough evidence to send the case to a grand jury for a possible indictment.

Police arrested the second defendant, 25-year-old Earnest Lloyd Jr., this week.

During Friday’s hearing, Ratliff said that Fortune had been a friend of his.

Fortune’s mother, Christy Spivey, has said her daughter, who had four children, struggled with homelessness in recent years, and that she wasn’t sure where Fortune was living at the time of her death. She said Fortune had talked about starting a cleaning business and was trying to get her life in order.

Federal illegal voting arrest becomes latest flashpoint in Sherrill’s battles with Trump administration

September 25, 2026 2:53pm EDT / Fox News

Sanata Coulibaly, a Senegalese national, allegedly cast ballots in three general elections while not a US citizen

By Charles Creitz, Fox News

DOJ launches investigation into New Jersey non-citizen voting

Fox News correspondent Eric Shawn reports on the Department of Justice launching an investigation into New Jersey voter roll software errors that registered 6,600 non-citizens to vote. Gov. Mikie Sherrill acknowledged that as many as 400 registered non-citizens cast ballots in state elections under former Gov. Phil Murphy. Department of Homeland Security Sec. Markwayne Mullin warned that up to 35,000 non-citizens may remain registered on New Jersey voter rolls.

Federal law enforcement arrested a Senegalese immigrant in New Jersey accused of illegally voting in multiple elections, injecting a new flashpoint into Democratic Gov. Mikie Sherrill’s escalating fights with Washington over immigration enforcement and election integrity.

The case comes as Washington and Trenton battle over immigration enforcement and election administration, with the Trump administration challenging Sherrill over state policies affecting federal law enforcement while also pressing New Jersey for access to its voter rolls.

Sanata Coulibaly, a Senegalese national, was arrested when DHS and FBI agents jointly executed a criminal warrant in Hudson County, which stretches from West New York to Bayonne across the Hudson River from Manhattan.

FOUR NONCITIZENS CHARGED WITH ILLEGALLY VOTING IN 2020, 2022 AND 2024 FEDERAL ELECTIONS IN NEW JERSEY

https://www.foxnews.com/video/6402033940112

“This alien from Senegal has been charged with procurement of citizenship or naturalization unlawfully and voting by an alien after allegedly voting in three general elections in New Jersey,” DHS Secretary Markwayne Mullin said.

“Sanctuary politicians can try to claim that this kind of voter fraud isn’t happening, but it’s very real and is a serious threat to our country.”

WATCH: TRUMP DOJ VOWS TO PURSUE ‘EVERY SINGLE’ VOTING VIOLATION AFTER NJ ROLL SHOCKER

New Jersey Gov. Mikie Sherrill signed Executive Order 12 restricting certain immigration enforcement activities on state property shortly after taking office in January.(Eduardo Munoz Alvarez/Getty Images)

Mullin said DHS and the Trump administration would continue efforts to protect election integrity.

The arrest comes after Sherrill revealed in July that a software error in New Jersey’s motor vehicle system had improperly registered roughly 6,600 people who identified themselves as noncitizens. The state later determined that fewer than 400 of those newly registered because of the error had voted.

After that revelation, New Jersey resisted federal demands to turn over voter rolls while pursuing its own investigation.

Fox News Digital reached out to Sherrill for comment.

According to the criminal complaint, Coulibaly cast ballots in the November 2018 midterm election, the July 2020 primary, the November 2020 general election and the 2024 general election while she was not a U.S. citizen.

Coulibaly registered through a paper application submitted to the Hudson County superintendent of elections in Jersey City, falsely certifying that she was a U.S. citizen, the complaint said.

She first came to the U.S. from Senegal on a B-1 nonimmigrant visa in approximately 1993 and later became a lawful permanent resident, according to the Justice Department.

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A DHS agent, left, participates in the arrest of Sanata Coulibaly, right.(DHS Handout)

Prosecutors allege Coulibaly later applied for U.S. citizenship and falsely stated on her N-400 naturalization application that she had never registered to vote or voted in a federal election.

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Coulibaly’s case is part of a broader federal election-integrity push, with the Justice Department announcing election-related charges against 16 people across several states this month.

How worried are Republicans about the midterms? GOP Senators demand Congress stay in town for a vote on affordability

2026-09-25T18:46:06.781Z / CNN Politics

By Phil Mattingly and Sarah Ferris, CNN

Published 2:46 PM EDT, Fri September 25, 2026

How worried are Republicans about the midterms? GOP Senators demand Congress stay in town for a vote on affordability

Inside Politics

The “Inside Politics” panel discusses new CNN reporting on Senate Republicans’ plan to take up a bill aimed at preventing electricity price hikes amid voters’ frustration with high prices. “Senate Majority Leader John Thune is reading those same internal polls. So this is the first sign that we’ve seen that anxiety is real and it’s trickling into the agenda,” Sarah Ferris tells Phil Mattingly.

3:09 • Source: CNN

https://www.cnn.com/2026/09/25/politics/video/cnn-report-gop-senate-affordability-vote-midterms-ip

A U.S. doctor survived a deadly strike in Gaza. He still plans to return: “Somebody’s got to go do this”

September 25, 2026 / 3:55 PM EDT / CBS News

The reality of being a trauma surgeon in a war zone came crashing down on Dr. Feroze Sidhwa when the surgical unit where he was working in Gaza was hit by an Israeli airstrike.

“I got scared that day, that’s for sure,” Sidhwa said, recalling the March 23, 2025, strike that hit the Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis.

“The ICU has those like saloon-type swinging doors. As I walked out, the door came back and hit me in the face and I was like, ‘What the heck was that?’” he said. “That was a bomb that hit the hospital and the Palestinians all recognized it immediately and, like, jumped on me to try and keep me safe.”

The blast killed two people, including, Sidhwa says, one of his patients. Sources told CBS News that Ismail Barhoum, a political Hamas member and spokesperson who was being treated there, was the target.

Sidhwa, based in California, has traveled to the Dominican Republic, Haiti, Ghana, Burkina Faso, Ukraine and most recently Gaza to render aid.

He said he hopes to go back to Gaza early next year, but his mother worries about his safety.

“For the first time in probably 40 years, maybe 30 years, she just broke down crying, screamed at me on the phone: ‘They almost killed you last time you were there. Why are you going back?’” Sidhwa said.

He said he told her, “I’m sorry, Mom. Somebody’s got to go do this.”

Rising danger for aid workers

More than 1,000 aid workers have been killed over the past three years, according to the United Nations. Violent incidents affecting aid workers have grown by more than 1,500% since 2000, according to the Aid Worker Security Database from the independent research organization Humanitarian Outcomes.

Last year, Gaza, Sudan, South Sudan and the Democratic Republic of Congo accounted for the majority of incidents and killings, the organization’s Aid Worker Security Report said.

So far, there have been at least 160 major attacks this year, according to the database.

In February, there were four incidents within 10 days in Sudan that resulted in World Food Programme partners or contractors getting killed or injured while delivering food. In Ukraine, which Russia invaded in 2022, World Food Programme assets, including awarehouse, trucks and marked armored vehicles, have often been targeted by drone attacks.

“A critical need”

Trauma surgeon Dr. Michael Samotowka travels to Ukraine six to 10 times a year.

“There’s not a million people who do what I do. There’s not a million nurses. So if you bomb a hospital or a healthcare provider or a medic, you’re taking out somebody that’s providing a critical need,” he said.

Samotowka said he and his colleagues have an evacuation plan and security team with them. But in December 2023, a missile struck an operating room that he had been working in two months prior.

“There’s a psychological aspect to it. It’s demoralizing,” he said.

Still, he said there is nothing that would keep him from going back.

“I really feel very passionately that what I’m doing is important,” he said.

Samotowka said nations at war need to respect the Geneva Conventions, international treaties that protect civilians, medics, aid workers and others.

“There needs to be some form of punishment for those who violate the law,” Samotowka said.

Sidhwa agrees and goes a step further, encouraging Americans to call their members of Congress.

“One very practical way of protecting people is just saying that if you go out and kill doctors and nurses, then you’re not going to get weapons from the United States anymore,” he said.

The State Department declined an interview request from CBS News. It said in a statement that the U.S. favors accountability to anyone who attacks aid workers and hospitals and it condemns this type of violence.

https://www.cbsnews.com/video/an-inside-look-at-the-new-dangers-humanitarian-aid-workers-are-seeing-in-combat-zones/

An inside look at the rising danger humanitarian aid workers see in combat zones

(05:21)

Evan Gershkovich says his arrest in Russia was carefully planned FSB sting

2026-09-25T13:24:43.158Z / Reuters

U.S. journalist Evan Gershkovich, who was released from detention in Russia, waves upon his arrival at Joint Base Andrews in Maryland, U.S., August 1, 2024. REUTERS/Nathan Howard

• Summary

• Reporter arrested in 2023 while meeting source in restaurant
• Source gave him documents purporting to show tank production
• Gershkovich says he knew of risks but was entrapped by FSB

LONDON, Sept 25 (Reuters) – US reporter Evan Gershkovich, in his first detailed published account of his arrest ​in Russia in 2023, says he was the victim of an elaborate sting operation by the FSB security ‌service.

In an extract from his book “This Cursed Beautiful Land”, Gershkovich says that while working on a story for the Wall Street Journal about Russian military production, he held two meetings with the union boss of a factory in Yekaterinburg, a major defence-industry hub.

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At their second encounter, in a steakhouse, the source produced papers ​with hand-copied tables of figures, telling the reporter that they related to the production of tanks.

As he jotted down notes, ​Gershkovich said, he heard the sound of marching feet and looked up to see a group of ⁠masked men approaching their table.

“A pang of guilt ripped through me: Had I compromised a source? But panic immediately replaced that thought. ​Instinct took over, my hands moving to hide the papers in the gap between the bench and the wall,” he wrote in the ​book extract, published by the Journal on Friday.

“The men quickly descended on us. An arm was yanking my neck, pulling me off the couch… Someone shouted: ‘You are under arrest by the Federal Security Service of the Russian Federation.’”

A LONG SENTENCE, THEN A PRISONER SWAP

Gershkovich, then 31, became the first US reporter ​arrested on espionage charges in Russia since the Cold War. He was later sentenced to 16 years in prison before being freed in ​an East-West prisoner swap in August 2024.

He writes that he and his editors had considered the risks of the reporting trip and agreed that the ‌source should ⁠not bring any documents to the meeting; if he did so, Gershkovich should not accept anything from him.

But at the meeting, the source had “thrust the papers into my hands”.

Although he had reported on the arrests of other Americans in Russia, and on the targeting and even murder of Russian journalists, Gershkovich writes that the “unspoken rule” was that foreign correspondents enjoyed a degree of immunity: they might be expelled, ​but not arrested.

Reeling with shock, he ​was handcuffed, had a black ⁠sack placed over his head and was whisked into a van where he was placed in a chokehold and punched in the abdomen while being questioned, he writes.

FSB ‘BACKUP PLAN’

Gershkovich said that since his ​release he had learned of evidence that the FSB had a “backup plan” to arrest him on ​another of his planned ⁠reporting trips, to Siberia, if the Yekaterinburg operation had failed.

He said he believes the two meetings with the source in Yekaterinburg were designed to help the FSB persuade President Vladimir Putin that he was a spy and secure approval for his arrest at the second meeting.

“Putin, it seems ⁠to me, ​fully bought into this narrative,” he said.

The Kremlin did not immediately respond to ​a request for comment.

Putin said in a February 2024 interview with US television host Tucker Carlson that Gershkovich had been “caught red-handed” while collecting confidential information.

The journalist, his newspaper ​and the US government all strongly deny the allegation that Gershkovich was a spy.

Reporting by Mark Trevelyan in London; Editing by Ros Russell

No English content available

头号种子米拉意外落马 莱拉闯WTA新加坡网球赛四强

2026年9月25日 23:36 / 联合早报

加拿大球员莱拉（图）再次在硬地赛场战胜米拉，本赛季首次晋级半决赛。 （法新社）

在星期五（9月25日）展开的WTA新加坡网球公开赛八强争夺中，赛会六号种子莱拉·费尔南德斯（Leylah Fernandez）以6比2、7比5击败头号种子俄罗斯好手米拉·安德列娃（Mirra Andreeva），本赛季首次晋级半决赛。

这场胜利是莱拉本赛季至今取得的最重要胜利，也是她职业生涯中第九次击败世界排名前10的球员。这名加拿大好手也延续了自己在硬地赛场对阵米拉的统治力，她曾在2023年香港站和今年8月的多伦多站两次硬地交锋中取胜。

米拉（图）未能适应新加坡公开赛的硬地赛场，仅抵抗了1小时32分钟便败下阵来。（法新社）

莱拉首盘比赛以6比2轻松取胜后，次盘继续利用米拉的失误占据上风，率先取得5比2的领先。米拉随后展开反击，一度将比分追至5比5重燃逆转希望，但莱拉在第12局再次破发，最终以7比5结束这场耗时1小时32分钟的对决。

莱拉将在星期六（26日）的半决赛，首次迎战赛会五号种子玛雅·赫瓦林斯卡（Maja Chwalinska）。曾获法网亚军的玛雅以两局6比2击败上届冠军兼四号种子比利时的埃莉斯·梅尔滕斯（Elise Mertens），成功晋级四强。

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rynRcxsDncY

这不仅是玛雅继6月以资格赛球员身份闯入法网决赛以来，职业生涯第二次跻身巡回赛半决赛，还收获了对阵世界前20球员的首场胜利。这名波兰球员本周已出战三场，总共仅丢掉11局，可谓势不可挡。

延伸阅读

王欣瑜挺进新加坡网球公开赛八强 汤千慧徐一璠爆冷掀翻头号女双种子

WTA新加坡网球赛：玛雅速胜闯八强 葛蓝乔安娜谢淑薇双打爆冷晋级

王欣瑜先盛后衰遭逆转

同样晋级半决赛的还有俄罗斯的塔季扬娜·普罗佐罗娃（Tatyana Prozorova），她在先失一盘的情况下实现逆转，以3比6、7比5、6比4击败中国的王欣瑜，职业生涯首次闯入WTA巡回赛级别的半决赛。

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jAsCiJVZjiw

塔季扬娜将迎战澳大利亚球员塔莉娅·吉布森（Talia Gibson），后者以6比1、4比6、6比2战胜七号种子、希腊名将玛利亚·萨卡里（Maria Sakkari）。

双打方面，由澳洲球员艾伦·佩雷斯（Ellen Perez）和日本球员加藤未唯组成的跨国组合，以7比5拿下首盘。两人在次盘以5比2领先之际，对手俄罗斯搭档索菲娅·兰谢列（Sofya Lansere）／塔季扬娜·普罗佐罗娃（Tatiana Prozorova）突然退赛，得以晋级半决赛。

No English content available

Supreme Court restores Trump’s mass voter verification system

2026-09-25 15:34:26 UTC / Reuters

By John Kruzel

September 25, 2026 3:34 PM UTC Updated 4 mins ago

A general view of the U.S. Supreme Court in Washington, D.C., U.S., June 18, 2026. REUTERS/Elizabeth Frantz/File Photo Purchase Licensing Rights

• Summary

• Judge blocked Trump’s revamped immigration database
• Justice Department called judge’s order ‘indefensible’
• Trump has sought to boost federal role in elections
• Control of Congress at stake in November’s elections

WASHINGTON, Sept 25 (Reuters) – The U.S. Supreme Court revived on Friday an expanded immigration database that President Donald Trump’s administration said aims to combat voting by noncitizens ​but critics contend could disenfranchise eligible voters.

The justices granted the Justice Department’s request to block a judge’s order that had stopped ‌state officials from using Social Security numbers and other information to conduct sweeping checks of the citizenship status of registered voters against federal records.

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The administration’s data-sharing arrangement is one in a series of actions boosting the federal government’s involvement in voting ahead of November’s midterm elections in which Trump’s fellow Republicans seek to maintain control of Congress. The U.S. ​Constitution gives individual states the primary authority to run and administer elections.

The Department of Homeland Security last year redesigned a federal database ​known as the Systematic Alien Verification for Entitlements, or SAVE, used to verify a person’s citizenship and immigration status. ⁠The revamp allowed users to search many records at a time and to conduct searches using individuals’ Social Security numbers.

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Since then, several Republican-led states have ​compared their voter lists to the database, and some voters flagged as potential noncitizens have had their registrations canceled.

Critics say such election-related actions by Republicans ​are driven less by concerns over election security than by an attempt to gain political advantage by narrowing the electorate, risking the disenfranchisement of eligible, often Democratic-leaning voters.

Trump has carried out hardline policies toward immigration and has made false claims of widespread voting fraud including in his 2020 election loss to Democratic former President Joe Biden.

Advocacy groups that ​sued to block the revised SAVE system said that the new approach has resulted in people who were wrongfully identified as noncitizens being kicked ​off voter rolls. They have argued that SAVE can be outdated, meaning immigrants who have become naturalized U.S. citizens and are thus eligible to vote are sometimes labeled ‌as noncitizens.

blob:https://www.reuters.com/cb9f960b-b371-4b39-877b-4d6d657a1f99

The ⁠modified system’s overall error rate is not publicly known. The Department of Homeland Security and Justice Department did not provide that information when asked.

In their Supreme Court filing, the advocacy groups cited a Travis County, Texas, election official who said 25% of the system’s noncitizen matches there involved people who had already proven their U.S. citizenship, and news reports finding that at least 81% of the system’s responses in St. Louis County, Missouri, were erroneous.

The voting rights group League ​of Women Voters and privacy rights ​group Electronic Privacy Information Center sued ⁠in September 2025 to block the Trump administration’s modified system. They said that the revamp violated federal privacy and other U.S. laws.

In a June ruling blocking the revamped database, U.S. District Judge Sparkle Sooknanan in Washington, D.C., ​said the system was haphazardly assembled and contained unreliable citizenship data.

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“All in all, the federal government has knowingly ​trampled on the privacy ⁠rights of American citizens in a manner that threatens the sacred right to vote,” Sooknanan wrote. “This court cannot stand idly by while that happens.”

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit in a 2-1 ruling on September 4 declined to halt Sooknanan’s ruling, prompting the administration’s request to the Supreme ⁠Court.

In a ​Supreme Court filing, Justice Department lawyers called the judge’s order “indefensible,” arguing that it “threatens the integrity” ​of the midterm elections.

Texas, which intervened in the case in support of the administration, has disputed claims that the system is unreliable.

Due to separate litigation in Florida, the Trump administration has ​been able to continue using its modified SAVE system in the Republican-led states of Florida, Iowa, Indiana and Ohio.

Reporting by John Kruzel; Editing by Will Dunham

Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.