United States President Donald Trump has dismissed a threat from New York Mayor Zohran Mamdani to arrest Israel’s Prime Minister for war crimes should he visit the city.

Trump insisted that Benjamin Netanyahu “will not be arrested, in any way, shape, or form” while in the US.

The president made the pledge on Monday in a social media post that did not name Mamdani directly but credited Israel with helping the US in its war on Iran.

Mamdani earlier said his administration is still considering whether to arrest Netanyahu should he attend the United Nations General Assembly in New York this September.

“I believe that Prime Minister Netanyahu belongs in The Hague,” Mamdani said in an interview published on Saturday.

The International Criminal Court issued an arrest warrant for Netanyahu in 2024, charging him with committing war crimes during Israel’s genocidal war on Gaza.

“He’s a war criminal who has been charged by the International Criminal Court,” Mamdani added, saying that his view is shared by many, given the actions the Israeli PM has “wrought over these last many years”.

Mamdani said he remains uncertain whether he has the legal authority to direct the police department, which he oversees, to detain a foreign leader and that he is in “an active conversation” with the city’s Law Department.

“Whatever the law allows me to do in New York City, that’s what we will do, but we won’t be writing our own laws to that end,” he said.

During his mayoral campaign, Mamdani warned that he would order police to arrest Netanyahu if he set foot in the city, framing it as enforcement of the ICC warrant.

Netanyahu typically travels to New York each September for the UN gathering.

Posting on X, Israel dismissed Mamdani’s remarks, calling the ICC a “kangaroo court” and its warrant “bogus”, while accusing him of trying to divert attention from his own troubles.

The ICC, established in 2002 to prosecute genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes, has jurisdiction which Israel rejects; neither Israel nor the United States is a member of the court.

The Trump administration has launched a campaign to try to disable the ICC, imposing sanctions on judges, prosecutors and groups that seek rulings against Israel over allegations of human rights violations. (Al Jazeera)

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Two men face charges of providing material support to a terrorist organization and using a weapon of mass destruction after a pair of homemade bombs were tossed during protests near New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s home Saturday, court documents show.

Emir Balat, 18, and Ibrahim Kayumi, 19, also face charges of transportation of explosive materials; unlawful possession of destructive devices; and interstate transportation and receipt of explosives, according to a criminal complaint filed in federal court.

Body-worn camera footage cited in the complaint shows that as Kayumi was being placed into an NYPD vehicle following his arrest on Saturday, “a person in the crowd asked why he’d done this,” and Kayumi responded with “ISIS,” NYPD Commissioner Jessica Tisch said at a Monday afternoon news conference.

After waiving his Miranda rights, Kayumi said he had “watched ISIS propaganda on his phone and that his actions that day were partly inspired by ISIS,” Tisch said.

Balat made statements while inside a police car and without being questioned by officers and said, “This isn’t a religion that just stands when people talk about the blessed name of the Prophet. We take action … If I didn’t do it someone else will come and do it,” Tisch added.

Balat also told authorities that he had pledged allegiance to the extremist group, the court document said.

Readmore : https://edition.cnn.com/2026/03/09/us/explosive-device-mayor-mamdani-home-fbi-terrorism-hnk?Date=20260309&Profile=cnnbrk&utm_content=1773080495&utm_medium=social&utm_source=twitter (CNN)

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New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani is gaining attention among Sri Lankan social media users following a recent Instagram and TikTok video in which he engaged in a casual street-side conversation with a Sri Lankan comedian.

In the video, Mamdani is seen walking alongside New York-based Sri Lankan comedian Shenuque in a casual conversation.

During the exchange, Shenuque quizzed the mayor, saying, “My mom wants to know how can I be a good Sri Lankan boy?” Shenuque noted that many South Asian parents are now comparing their children to Mamdani, who became the city’s youngest mayor at age 34, since 1892, as well as the city’s first Indian American and Muslim mayor.

In response, Mamdani referenced Sri Lanka’s former cricketer Muttiah Muralitharan and his signature delivery, the “doosra,” which appears to spin in one direction before sharply turning the other.

“You know the phrase, ‘Never let them know your first move’? I would argue that has Sri Lankan roots,” Mamdani said. “Because Muttiah Muralitharan, the famous spin bowler from Sri Lanka, had a doosra — you think it’s going one way, it’s going the other.”

He added that what he learned from the Sri Lankan community is the importance of being prepared and not revealing one’s next move.

“That’s how you can be a good Sri Lankan boy,” Mamdani said in the video, which has since been widely shared among Sri Lankan social media users. (Newswire)

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Zohran Mamdani, the 34-year-old socialist who delivered a thumping victory in November’s mayoral election, was officially sworn in during a midnight ceremony held in a subway station in New York.

“Our campaign was built around listening to the people of New York, and we will govern in the same way,” Mamdani wrote on X hours before the ceremony.

“Tomorrow, we get to work.”

The private, underground oath was the first of two ceremonies planned to mark Mamdani’s swearing in, with a public block party outside City Hall expected to attract thousands.

Subway swearing-in

In New York, mayoral terms begin on January 1 after elections.

In a bid to avoid any ambiguity about who oversees America’s most populous city, it has become something of a tradition to hold a small midnight swearing-in.

Mamdani chose the Old City Hall subway stop as the site of his midnight oath.

The station was decommissioned in 1945 and is accessible only a few times a year through guided tours.

Although no longer in use, the station boasts stunning architecture featuring tiled arches.

According to Mamdani’s office, the station reflects his “commitment to the working people who keep our city running every day”.

Mamdani said the station represented an era when New York invested in infrastructure meant to improve people’s lives, an ambition he said his administration aimed to carry forward.

Mamdani is the city’s first Muslim mayor.

In the midnight ceremony, Mamdani placed his hands on copies of the Quran as he took the oath of office, marking the first time a New York mayor had used Islam’s holy text to be sworn in.

The Qurans will also be used in the second swearing-in ceremony.

New York Attorney General Letitia James, a political ally and notable foe of President Donald Trump, administered the oath of office.

Grant Reeher, a Syracuse University political science professor, said James’s role in the swearing-in sent a message to core supporters that Mamdani was “going to be independent of the president”. (abc.au)

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US President Donald Trump on Tuesday night responded to the Democratic Party’s dominant performance, where they swept all of the night’s big races, in the first big election since his return to the White House.

Trump suggested that the Republican Party’s poor performance was a result of his name not appearing on the ballot and the prolonged government shutdown.

“‘TRUMP WASN’T ON THE BALLOT, AND SHUTDOWN, WERE THE TWO REASONS THAT REPUBLICANS LOST ELECTIONS TONIGHT,’ according to Pollsters,” Trump wrote in a post on his Truth Social platform.

Trump didn’t specify which “pollsters” he was citing in the post, but many of the candidates who lost key races on Tuesday night had been endorsed by the president, including the GOP’s New Jersey gubernatorial candidate, Jack Ciattarelli, and New York Mayoral candidate Andrew Cuomo.

The president also doubled down on his demand that Republicans in the Senate should “TERMINATE THE FILIBUSTER! GET BACK TO PASSING LEGISLATION AND VOTER REFORM.”

Last week, Trump had said GOP could end the shutdown by using the “nuclear option” and getting rid of the filibuster

In a follow-up post, Trump clarified what he meant by voter report, writing: “Pass Voter Reform, Voter ID, No Mail-In Ballots. Save our Supreme Court from ‘Packing,’ No Two State addition, etc.”

The president made another cryptic post a short while later, saying: “…AND SO IT BEGINS!” 

In a lengthy post made on Tuesday morning, Trump reiterated his complaints about the filibuster, and said: “The Democrats are far more likely to win the Midterms, and the next Presidential Election, if we don’t do the Termination of the Filibuster (The Nuclear Option!), because it will be impossible for Republicans to get Common Sense Policies done with these Crazed Democrat Lunatics being able to block everything by withholding their votes.” The post then echoed many of the claims he made last week, saying the Democrats wanted to end the filibuster when they were in power, as they knew it would give them “tremendous strength.” Trump noted they were blocked from doing so by former Sens. Joe Manchin, D-W.Va, and Kyrsten Sinema, D-Ariz., and added “Well, now WE are in power, and if we did what we should be doing,” Trump suggested that by getting rid of the filibuster, the Republicans could end the government shutdown.

In his victory speech on Tuesday night, New York Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani directly called out the president, saying: “Donald Trump, since I know you’re watching, I have four words for you: turn the volume up.” He then added: “New York will remain a city of immigrants, a city built by immigrants, powered by immigrants, and as of tonight led by an immigrant…So hear me, President Trump, when I say this: to get to any of us, you will have to get through all of us.” After the result of the California redistricting ballot measure was called, Governor Gavin Newsom said, “We’re proud of the work the people of California did today to send a powerful message to a historic president. Donald Trump is a historic president; he is the most historically unpopular president in modern history.” (Forbes)

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Zohran Mamdani, the 34-year-old democratic socialist whose focus on working-class issues and personal magnetism attracted a diverse coalition of volunteers and supporters to propel a once-underdog campaign, will win New York City’s general election race for mayor, CNN projects.

Mamdani beat former New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo for a second time, shattering the political scion’s hopes of a comeback after his loss to Mamdani in the June Democratic primary. Also running in the general election was Republican Curtis Sliwa, who refused to end his campaign despite pressure from Cuomo and his supporters.

Mamdani’s win marks a victory for the progressive wing of the Democratic Party at a time when national Democrats are divided over how to counter President Donald Trump. The president is himself a native New Yorker who has falsely derided Mamdani as a “communist” and suggested he’d “take over” the city if he is elected.

The results are likely to echo far beyond New York City, elevating both Mamdani’s profile and platform, including his proposals to freeze the rent for New Yorkers living in rent-stabilized apartments, make public buses free to ride and provide universal childcare by taxing the wealthy.

Mamdani’s win completes a meteoric rise a year after the state assemblyman launched his bid for mayor, promising to make the most expensive city in the country affordable for its working class.

Who is Zohran Mamdani?

Mamdani is a three-term state assemblyman who entered the mayor’s race as one of several apparent also-rans to what appeared to be Cuomo’s race to lose.

Born in Uganda and first raised in Cape Town, South Africa, Mamdani moved to New York City when he was 7. He attended the prestigious Bronx High School of Science and graduated with a Bachelor of Arts degree from Bowdoin College. He is the son of Mahmood Mamdani, a professor at Columbia University, and Mira Nair, an Indian filmmaker whose credits include “Mississippi Masala” and “Monsoon Wedding.”

Before becoming an assemblyman, Mamdani was a housing counselor and self-described C-list rapper who went by the name “Mr. Cardamom.” His short-lived music career was sometimes front and center in his opponent’s attack ads.

The music video for “Nani,” a rap song where Mamdani pays homage to his grandma and New York City’s South Asian culture, also shows him shirtless, donning only an apron, looking directly at the camera while he rocks side to side. The image was plastered across anti-Mamdani campaign ads to poke fun at his past music career and his lack of governmental experience.

Andrew Epstein, a campaign aide, noted that Mamdani’s rapping career helped him indirectly in his campaign.

“An incredible asset for anybody seeking to run for office is bravery in the face of embarrassment and being able to push through the natural inclination many of us have not to kind of introduce themselves to strangers or do things in a kind of silly way in front of them,” Epstein told CNN.

But Mamdani made a steady climb in the mayor’s race by producing a constant stream of social media videos, including interviews with voters who had supported Trump in 2024 due to the high cost of living. He ran a groundbreaking digital campaign in which he spoke in multiple languages and connected with supporters with a message anchored to affordability.  During the campaign, Mamdani, who natively speaks Urdu, released campaign videos in Bangla, Spanish, and Arabic.

One of his most memorable viral videos tackled what the candidate referred to as “halal-flation.” He set out to interview street meat vendors about the high cost of running a street food business in New York City. With a mouthful of rice and halal meat, Mamdani detailed how an arcane permit system in the city is in part to blame for the prices of what should be cheap street food.

“This was one of the coldest nights of the year, bitterly cold,” Epstein recalled recently. “We were downtown by Zuccotti Park near Wall Street and Zohran just asking people on the street, ‘Would you rather pay $10 or $8 for halal?’ People were pushing through trying to get home, you know, it was rejection over and over and over and over again, but it never fazed him.”

Mamdani was cutting into Cuomo’s lead in public polling by the June primary. The city’s traditional power brokers, including the real estate and business sectors concerned with Mamdani’s democratic socialist identity, banded together in support of Cuomo and donated millions of dollars to anti-Mamdani super PACs. Business leaders argued Mamdani would drive wealthy New Yorkers out and discourage businesses from operating in the nation’s financial capital.

Their push ultimately helped Mamdani cast his campaign as a fight between working-class people and billionaires.

Still, his primary victory shocked much of the political world.

“I don’t think the line is so much between progressives and moderates. It’s between fighters and fakers,” said city comptroller Brad Lander, who ran against Mamdani but allied with him under the primary’s ranked-choice voting system. “What Zohran is showing is that it’s worth putting up big bold ideas for change, standing up and fighting for them, and that’s pretty hopeful. Yes, he’s a democratic socialist, but he had a bold vision for the future of the city and that excited people.” (CNN)

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