NEW YORK: New York Governor Kathy Hochul has endorsed Zohran Mamdani in his run for mayor of New York City, a major boost for the rising Muslim politician.

“In the four years since I took office, one of my foundational beliefs has been the importance of the office of New York governor working hand in hand with the mayor of New York City for the betterment of the 8.3 million residents we both represent,” Hochul wrote in a New York Times opinion piece.

“The question of who will be the next mayor is one I take extremely seriously and to which I have devoted a great deal of thought. Tonight I am endorsing Assemblyman Zohran Mamdani.”

In a post on X linking to the column, she wrote: “New York City deserves a mayor who will stand up to (President) Donald Trump and make life more affordable for New Yorkers. “That’s @ZohranKMamdani.”

In response, Mamdani welcomed the endorsement in a post on X. “I’m grateful for the Governor’s support in unifying our party, her resolve in standing up to Trump, and her focus on making New York affordable. I look forward to the great work we will accomplish together. Our movement is only growing stronger,” he wrote.

Mamdani won the Democratic primary in June, defeating the establishment candidate, Andrew Cuomo, with progressive promises to freeze rent, introduce a $ 30-per-hour minimum wage, and increase taxes on the wealthiest New Yorkers.

With a message of change and a savvy social media presence, Mamdani turned out thousands of new voters, and polling on the mayoral election shows him comfortably ahead of Cuomo, a former governor of New York, who is now running as an independent candidate.

Mamdani also has a large lead over Eric Adams, the unpopular incumbent mayor who is also running as an independent, and the Republican Curtis Sliwa.

Yet, Hochul, the most powerful Democrat in New York, had resisted endorsing Mamdani or any other candidate for mayor, telling journalists in June: “Obviously, there are areas of difference in our positions.”

The governor appears to have come round, however, having met with Mamdani in recent weeks. Hochul, who is running for re-election next year, released her first campaign ad in late August, casting herself as a straight-talking “fighter” who will stand up to Donald Trump.

Mamdani’s victory has inspired more than 10,000 progressives to consider a run for office and earned big-name endorsements from progressive Democrats like Bernie Sanders and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, as well as Pakistan-born Senator Chris van Hollen during the campaign.

Yet the centre of the party has appeared wary. Senior Democratic figures in the state, including Senator Kirsten Gillibrand and the House minority leader Hakeem Jeffries, have yet to endorse anyone for mayor.

Chuck Schumer, the influential Senate majority leader who represents New York, has also yet to endorse in the race. Schumer is a staunch supporter of Israel, while Mamdani has repeatedly criticised the Israeli war on Gaza and described the situation there as a genocide, as have many human rights groups, including some from Israel.

Mamdani has also said that if elected, he would order the New York Police Department (NYPD) to arrest Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu if he sets foot in the city.

He said in an interview with The New York Times that Netanyahu was a war criminal who was committing genocide in the Gaza Strip. If the Israeli leader were to come to New York, Mamdani said, he would honour a warrant issued by the International Criminal Court for Netanyahu’s arrest by having him apprehended at the airport.

WASHINGTON: The man arrested over conservative influencer Charlie Kirk’s assassination was romantically involved with a transgender roommate and had “leftist ideology,” Utah’s governor said Sunday, confirming details likely to inflame the contentious national debate over the killing.

“Yes I can confirm that,” Governor Spencer Cox told CNN’s “State of the Union” talk show when asked about suspect Tyler Robinson’s reported relationship with a trans partner.

“The roommate was a romantic partner, a male transitioning to a female,” Cox said.

“This partner has been incredibly cooperative, had no idea that this was happening, and is working with investigators right now,” he added.

Cox, who said 22-year-old Robinson is expected to be formally charged Tuesday, went on to stress it was not yet clear whether the partner’s transitioning was part of the alleged shooter’s mindset to kill Kirk, a close ally of US President Donald Trump.

“Again, all of these things — we’re trying to figure out,” he said.

Cox, who has earned plaudits for urging Americans to lower the toxic political temperature, made the rounds of US networks Sunday and told NBC talk show “Meet the Press” that investigators believed Robinson had embraced leftist beliefs.

“There clearly was a leftist ideology with this — with this assassin,” Cox said.

He said such information about Robinson, who has not been cooperating, was told to investigators by “people around him, from his family members and friends.”

Several US media outlets on Saturday reported Robinson’s relationship with a transgender individual, sparking fury by far-right activists for whom gender identity issues have been a key focus in recent years.

Laura Loomer, a conservative influencer who has Trump’s ear, called Saturday “to designate the Trans movement as a terrorist movement,” while X-owner Elon Musk elevated multiple posts calling for gender treatment bans and denouncing leftist ideology.

On Saturday he went further, telling a London march organised by far-right activists that “the left is the party of murder.”

Cox meanwhile reiterated a call for civility across the political spectrum, while attacking social media giants by comparing their addictive algorithms to the deadly drug fentanyl.

‘Trans delusion’

Kirk was shot Wednesday during a speaking event on a Utah university campus. He was the founder of the conservative youth political group Turning Point USA and was a strong critic of the transgender rights movement.

He wrote on X about what he called a “trans delusion death cult” in August, shortly after two children were killed and nine others wounded at a school church shooting in Minneapolis by an assailant authorities say was a 23-year-old man who claimed to be transgender.

Kirk’s provocations have stirred debate. He often invoked his Christian faith and criticised what he and others have called gender ideology.

In a video posted in 2023 by Right Wing Watch, Kirk is seen describing individuals being transgender to a church audience as “a throbbing middle finger to God.”

With debate raging over what inspired Kirk’s murder, a member of former president Joe Biden’s cabinet, Pete Buttigieg, stressed there was “not a consistent pattern of left versus right among the shooters” in recent high-profile attacks, noting that Minnesota Democratic lawmaker Melissa Hortman and her husband were killed in June.

“We have to reject anyone who would try to exploit political violence,” Buttigieg told NBC.

“The response to this cannot be for the government to crack down on individuals or groups because they challenge the government politically.”

Turning Point USA announced that a memorial service for Kirk will take place in a football stadium near Phoenix, Arizona on September 21, which Trump confirmed he will attend Sunday.

• Hami Nepal used Discord app to mobilise protests.
• Sudan Gurung and team propose cabinet changes.
• Protests against corruption lead to 72 deaths.

KATHMANDU: A former DJ and his obscure Nepalese non-profit used a social media app popular with video gamers to drive massive protests and become the unlikely power brokers in installing the country’s new interim leadership.

Sudan Gurung, the 36-year-old founder of Hami Nepal (We are Nepal), used the Discord messaging app and Instagram to mobilise massive demonstrations that forced Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli to resign, in the deadliest political crisis to hit the Himalayan nation in decades, a dozen people involved in the demonstrations said.

The group used VPNs to access banned platforms and issued calls to action that reached tens of thousands of young people, they added. Representatives for Oli could not be contacted for comment.

“I was invited to join a group on Discord where there were about 400 members. It asked us to join the protest march a few kilometres from the parliament,” 18-year-old student Karan Kulung Rai, who is not part of the group, told Reuters.

Hami Nepal’s early social media posts on Discord became so influential that they were referenced on national television.

As protests grew violent, the group also identified messages it termed “fake news” and shared hospital phone numbers.

Hami Nepal members, who asked not to be identified as they had used proxy names online for security reasons, said Gurung and the group’s other leaders have since become central to high-stakes decisions, including the appointment of the new interim leadership till elections are held on March 5.

They have already convinced the country’s president and army chief to appoint former Chief Justice Sushila Karki, known for her tough stance against corruption, as Nepal’s first woman prime minister in an interim capacity, three members of the group said.

“I will make sure that the power lies with the people and bring every corrupt politician to justice,” Gurung said in his first press conference since the protest on Thursday.

On Sunday, Gurung and his team were in meetings to decide key cabinet positions and were proposing that some government officials appointed by the previous administration be removed, members of Hami Nepal said.

“Meetings are ongoing between Karki and members of the group. We will finalise the cabinet soon,” one of the members said. Gurung and Karki did not immediately respond to questions sent to their mobile phones.

The “process is being carefully carried out, so that it consists of skilled and capable youth,” Hami Nepal said on Instagram.

From DJ to revolutionary

Monday’s protest by young adults loosely categorised as a “Gen Z” movement, as most participants were in their 20s, turned deadly within hours and rapidly brought down the government.

The protests were directed at perceived government corruption and took off following a ban on multiple social media platforms – a directive that was reversed. Protesters clashed with authorities on the streets, leaving at least 72 dead and over 1,300 injured.

Gurung, who is older than the Gen Z age bracket, and his team have vowed not to take up any cabinet positions but want to be part of the future decision-making.

“We don’t want to be politicians. Sudan Gurung was only helping the ‘Gen Z’ group and we are only the voice of the nation and not interested in taking leadership positions,” said Ronesh Pradhan, a 26-year-old volunteer for the group.

Gurung, who was a DJ before he founded Hami Nepal, organised civic relief when the worst earthquake in Nepal’s history killed over 9,000 people in 2015, and during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Team members running the Instagram account, whose followers have swelled to over 160,000, and Discord posts alongside Gurung include 24-year-old cafe owner Ojaswi Raj Thapa and law graduate Rehan Raj Dangal.

Thapa, who quickly emerged as a vocal protest movement leader, told Reuters in an interview that the judiciary was not independent and ensuring its freedom was a key priority once the interim government was put in place.

“We may need some changes to the constitution, but we don’t want to dissolve the constitution,” he said on Thursday.