Entertainment
Long-shot socialist and Trump foe: Who is Zohran Mamdani?
Zohran Mamdani’s election as New York mayor caps an extraordinary rise for the leftist local lawmaker who emerged from relative obscurity to lead a supercharged campaign for the US megacity’s top job.
Since his surprise victory in the Democratic Party primary in June, New Yorkers have become used to seeing his bearded, smiling face on television — and on badges proudly worn by his supporters.
The 34-year-old election winner was born in Uganda to a family of Indian origin and has lived in the United States since he was seven, becoming a naturalized US citizen in 2018.
He is the son of filmmaker Mira Nair (“Monsoon Wedding,” “Mississippi Masala”) and Mahmood Mamdani, a professor and respected Africa expert — leading some of his detractors to call him a “nepo baby.”
He followed a path paved by other youngsters from elite liberal families, attending the elite Bronx High School of Science followed by Bowdoin College in Maine, a university seen as a bastion of progressive thought.
Under the alias “Young Cardamom,” he ventured into the world of rap in 2015, influenced by hip-hop group “Das Racist,” which had two members of Indian origin who played with references and tropes from the subcontinent.
Mamdani’s attempt to break into the competitive world of professional music did not last, with the performer-turned-politician calling himself a second-rate artist.
He took an interest into politics when he learned that rapper Himanshu Suri, who performed under the alias Heems, was supporting a candidate for city council — and joined that campaign as an activist.
Mamdani went on to become a foreclosure prevention counselor, helping financially struggling homeowners avoid losing their homes.
He was elected in 2018 as a lawmaker from Queens, a melting pot of predominantly poor and migrant communities, representing the area in the New York State Assembly.
‘Disaffected voters’
The self-proclaimed socialist, who has been re-elected three times, put the goal of making the city affordable for everyone who are not wealthy, the majority of its approximately 8.5 million residents, at the heart of his campaign.
He has promised more rent control, free day care and buses, and city-run neighborhood grocery stores.
Mamdani is also a long-standing supporter of the Palestinian cause, although his positions on Israel — which he has called an “apartheid regime” while branding the war in Gaza a “genocide” — have drawn the ire of some in the Jewish community.
In recent months he has made a point of vocally denouncing antisemitism — as well as the Islamophobia he has suffered.
Playing the race card, President Donald Trump, who calls Mamdani a “little communist,” denounced him as a “a proven and self professed JEW HATER” Tuesday as New Yorkers were heading to the polls.
Mamdani is something of an establishment “outsider,” according to Costas Panagopoulos, a political science professor at Northeastern University.
“He has managed to galvanize support from disaffected voters and others in New York City who are dissatisfied with the status quo and with an establishment that they perceive to be overlooking their needs and policy preferences,” he said.
Mamdani, a keen soccer and cricket fan, recently married US illustrator Rama Duwaji, and put his experience of activism to work in a strategically coordinated canvassing and leaflet campaign that he has paired with an extensive and often humorous use of social media.
“He really is a kind of an hybrid of a great 1970s campaign and a great 2025 campaign,” said Lincoln Mitchell, a Columbia University professor.
Entertainment
Nelson Peltz offers his stance amid Brooklyn Beckham’s bombshell claims
Nicola Peltz’s billionaire father, Nelson, has weighed in on the Beckham feud.
Nelson’s son-in-law Brooklyn, 26, released a bombshell statement last week in which he criticised his parents, Sir David 51, and Lady Victoria Beckham 50, and accused them of mistreating his wife, 30.
Now, the business magnate, 83, who was previously reported to give his daughter $1 million a-month allowance spoke about the family drama during a Q and A at WSJD’s Invest Live in West Beach event on Tuesday.
Nelson said: ‘My daughter and the Beckhams are a whole other story and that’s not for coverage here today. But I’ll tell you my daughter is great, my son-in-law Brooklyn is great and I look forward to them having a long, happy marriage together.’
Nelson was also asked if he gave the couple advice in how to navigate a difficult situation.
He replied: ‘I do. Sometimes they give me advice.’
For context, Nicola’s father is a businessman with an estimated net worth of $1.6billion, compared with the Beckhams’ reported $680million.
Meanwhile, Brooklyn’s family have maintained silence since the aspiring chef penned his frustrations about his parents, sharing his reasons for cutting ties with them.
Brooklyn’s parents Sir David and Victoria and his siblings Romeo, 23, Cruz, 20, and Harper, 14, instead put on their own show of unity at Haute Couture Fashion Week last week.
Entertainment
Sheriff says ransom note being investigated in disappearance of Nancy Guthrie, Savannah Guthrie’s mother
A ransom note was sent to a local Arizona news station following the disappearance of “Today” show co-host Savannah Guthrie’s mother, Nancy Guthrie, the Pima County sheriff told CBS News.
The note, which the station received Monday and agreed not to report on, contained specific details about the home and what Nancy Guthrie was wearing that night, Pima County Sheriff Chris Nanos said, although he would not confirm the accuracy of that information or the legitimacy of the note.
“It’s like any piece of evidence,” Nanos told CBS News. “You give it to us, you give us a lead, we’re going to look at every aspect of that lead.”
Nanos did not specify which station the note was sent to, but CBS affiliate KOLD-TV reported Tuesday it had received an email that “appears to be one of the alleged ransom notes,” which it forwarded to the sheriff’s office.
Investigators have analyzed the note and are taking it seriously, Nanos said.
He said the FBI reviewed the note and made the decision to share it with Savannah Guthrie. Authorities had hoped to keep the information from becoming public, but the note was obtained by TMZ, which reported on it before contacting the sheriff’s office, Nanos said.
The Pima County Sheriff’s Department had earlier said on social media it was aware of “reports circulating about possible ransom note(s),” adding, “Anything that comes in, goes directly to our detectives who are coordinating with the FBI.”
Surveillance video from a home security system has yielded nothing so far, Nanos told CBS News. He said investigators believe the system may have been set to automatically delete footage after a short period of time, and they are now attempting to recover it through forensic means.
Nanos previously told CBS News that investigators believe the 84-year-old was abducted from her home in the middle of the night over the weekend, and he described it as “a crime scene.” Authorities have been searching for her since Sunday.
Nancy Guthrie was last seen at her home Saturday night, but no one knew she was missing until she didn’t show up for church the next morning, Nanos said.
The sheriff has repeatedly said Guthrie, who lives alone, could not have wandered away from her home because she has no cognitive issues and very limited mobility.
He also expressed concern that she needs access medication that she must take daily, telling CBS News, “The clock is literally ticking.”
“You’ve placed her in great jeopardy without giving her meds that are critical to her,” Nanos said. “Again, like I’ve said, could be fatal if she doesn’t get those meds.”
The sheriff has said it’s unclear how many people may have been involved in the apparent abduction.
“It could be one, it could’ve been more, I don’t know,” he said.
A little bit of blood was found inside Nancy Guthrie’s Tucson home, a law enforcement source familiar with the case told CBS News, and what appeared to be a small amount of dried blood was seen next to a doormat outside the front door of the home on Tuesday.
Entertainment
Christian Bale reflects on Frankenstein’s transformation in ‘The Bride!’
Christian Bale has opened up about the intense physical and emotional demands behind his transformation into Frankenstein’s monster for The Bride!, revealing that the process pushed him to some unusual coping methods just to get through the day.
In an interview with Entertainment Weekly, the actor said he spent six hours a day in the makeup chair while working on the film, a reimagining of the 1935 classic Bride of Frankenstein directed by Maggie Gyllenhaal.
Bale stars opposite Jessie Buckley, who plays the Bride and spent around an hour and a half in makeup for her own transformation.
Reflecting on the gruelling routine, Bale admitted the long hours of enforced stillness took a toll.
“I would scream like crazy, every day. Just to [release the] despair, all of that restraint that you have to display when you’re sitting still for that long,” he said, explaining how he stopped himself “from going insane” during the process.
Those screams, however, were carefully timed.
Bale said he avoided doing it on the way to work, worried it might distract him behind the wheel, and ruled out screaming alone because it could easily be misunderstood.
Instead, what began as a private release gradually became a shared ritual on set.
“Oh man, I’m telling you, the whole crew got involved by the end because people would hear us screaming,” Bale said.
“We would open the doors, and gradually, a bit like the Bride’s revolution, a few people were going, ‘Can we do it too?’ And then by the end, there were like 30 people who would hear us and run to the makeup trailer to be a part of it and scream as well.”
The role adds another extreme chapter to Bale’s long history of physical transformations.
Over the years, he has become known for radically altering his body for characters, from bulking up on a strict protein-heavy diet for American Psycho to shedding 60 pounds over four months to reach 120 pounds for The Mechanist.
For that film, his daily intake reportedly consisted of “water, an apple, and one cup of coffee per day.”
Not long after, Bale went in the opposite direction, gaining around 100 pounds of muscle in just six months to play Bruce Wayne in Christopher Nolan’s Batman Begins, cementing his reputation for total physical commitment.
The Bride! is set to open in cinemas on 6 March, distributed by Warner Bros.
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