Entertainment
NY mayoral hopefuls clash in high-stakes debate
- Mamdani attacks Cuomo for his alleged sexual misconduct.
- Mamdani pulls off stunning upset in Democratic primary.
- Second debate will be held on October 22.
A socialist, an accused molester and a vigilante all hoping to be New York’s next mayor clashed in a debate with “high levels of testosterone” Thursday as the unpredictable campaign enters the homestretch.
Democratic candidate and frontrunner Zohran Mamdani, independent former New York governor Andrew Cuomo and Republican Curtis Sliwa pitched to voters in the first of two televised debates ahead of the November 4 election.
Early voting begins on October 25.
Mamdani attacked Cuomo for his alleged sexual misconduct and controversial governing record “sending seniors to their death in nursing homes” during the Covid pandemic.
“Thank God I’m not a professional politician because they have created the crime crisis in this city,” Sliwa said, gesturing at his two rivals.
“There’s high levels of testosterone in this room,” he said later.
Mamdani pulled off a stunning upset in the Democratic Party primary, defeating political scion Cuomo who had been the favorite for weeks, becoming the party’s official nominee.
Mamdani has promised free bus services, rent freezes and city-run supermarkets, which Cuomo has panned as fanciful and unaffordable government overreach.
The race to govern the city’s 8.5 million people was again upended when sitting Mayor Eric Adams, who has been engulfed in corruption allegations, quit the race without endorsing another candidate.
Cuomo, 67, was the state governor from 2011 until 2021, when he resigned over sexual assault allegations.
Mamdani, 33, is a state lawmaker for the city borough of Queens and has run an insurgent grass-roots campaign that has motivated young New Yorkers at a high rate.
‘Take on Trump’
Trump has threatened to withhold federal funds from Mamdani’s administration if he is elected, calling him a “communist.”
But Mamdani said “I would make it clear to the president that I am willing to not only speak to him, but to work with him, if it means delivering on lowering the cost of living for New York.”
Cuomo warned “Trump will take over New York City, and it will be Mayor Trump” if Mamdani won — mirroring the takeover of much of the administration of the capital Washington.
Trump said Wednesday he had “terminated” the $16 billion Hudson Gateway tunnel linking New York to New Jersey, a years-long megaproject.
Asked in the debate for his dream news headline, Mamdani said it would be “Mamdani continues to take on Trump.”
Quinnipiac University polling suggests most voters will not have their minds changed by the TV debate with just 18% of Mamdani and Cuomo’s supporters “not likely” to alter their pick, compared to 24% of Sliwa’s backers.
In the latest polling Sliwa, a 71-year-old who founded the Guardian Angels vigilante group in 1979, is trailing a distant third with 15% in the most recent poll, behind Cuomo’s 33% and Mamdani’s 46%.
Sliwa insisted he would not bow to inducements he alleged were arranged by Cuomo — who denies the claim — to quit the race, like lucrative jobs with fat salaries and a driver.
“I said, ‘Hey, this is not only unethical, it’s bribery, and it could be criminal,” Sliwa told AFP ahead of the showdown.
A second debate will be held on October 22.
Stranger Things fans have once again zeroed in on continuity errors—this time in the newly released first volume of the show’s fifth and final season.
Viewers quickly noticed a discrepancy involving Will Byers’ childhood memory in episode 4, Sorcerer.
In the scene, Will (Noah Schnapp) flashes back to a bright, sunny day when he and his brother Jonathan (Charlie Heaton) built Castle Byers. But the moment doesn’t line up with how Jonathan previously described that day in season 2’s The Mindflayer.
At the time, Jonathan said, “We stayed up all night building Castle Byers… just the way you drew it. And it took so long because you were so bad at hammering. You’d miss the nail every time.” He also recalled that it started raining and they both got sick but refused to stop.
“We just had to finish it, didn’t we? We just had to.”
Fans pointed out that the two versions of events don’t match, though some note the difference could be attributed to the way trauma distorts memory—especially since it happened shortly after their father left.
The flashback isn’t the only continuity slip viewers caught. In episode 6, The Turnbow Trap, Joyce (Winona Ryder) says Will was 11 when he was taken into the Upside Down, despite earlier missing posters listing his age as 12.
This echoes a previous oversight from season 4, when the show failed to acknowledge Will’s birthday. At the time, creators Matt and Ross Duffer admitted the mistake, telling Variety, “It was obviously a mistake, and we’re sorry. We apologize to the fans.”
They joked about possibly doing a “George Lucas” fix in the future, though it hasn’t happened.
Volume 2 of the final season arrives December 25.
Madelyn Cline has opened about her experience of working with the two big names of Hollywood; Johnny Depp and Penelope Cruz.
The American actress and model will be starring in the upcoming film Day Drinker alongside Depp and Cruz.
Cline has recently shared her feedback about how she felt working with the two.
She added, “That was a really emotionally intense one. I actually just heard some really wonderful feedback about it, so that’s exciting.”
Madelyn feels lucky to have an opportunity to work with the legends. She believes that learning from them priceless.
The Knives Out actress told Interview magazine, “It’s a crime thriller, but it also exists in its own world. It’s Penelope and Johnny, and Marc Webb. The opportunity to be in another situation where I’m watching these legends work and learning from them is absolutely priceless.”
Day Drinker is going to be an action thriller directed by Marc Webb. The film will also mark as the comeback of Depp following his viral legal battle with ex Amber Heard.
The makers dropped the first look of the Pirates of the Caribbean actor from the film in which he looked completely unrecognizable.
- Pakistan, PLA commence joint Warrior-IX exercise: ISPR.
- Says exercise focuses on counterterrorism operations.
- Adds drill aims to enhance interoperability and skills.
The Pakistan Army and the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) of China have commenced the joint military exercise “Warrior-IX”, the ninth edition in the series of bilateral counterterrorism exercises conducted annually between the two iron-clad brothers, said the Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) in a statement on Tuesday.
The military’s media wing said that the exercise began on December 1, focusing on counterterrorism operations, with the aim of enhancing interoperability, refining professional skills, and exchanging best practices in modern warfare.
Pakistan and China enjoy a longstanding, time-tested defence cooperation rooted in mutual trust and strategic partnership.
Exercise Warrior-IX stands as a testament to the robust military-to-military relations between the two countries and reaffirms their shared commitment to regional peace, stability, and security, the ISPR statement read.
“Mangla Corps Commander, Major General Bian Xiaoming, Deputy Chief of Staff, Western Theatre Command, PLA, and other senior military officials from both Pakistan and China attended the opening ceremony of the exercise that was held at the National Counter Terrorism Centre (NCTC), Pabbi,” it added.
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