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A reward poster for information leading to the arrest of the suspect is seen on the Upper West Side, Manhattan.
Hard Numbers: Police ID Thompson murder suspect, A Ghanaian comeback, DRC’s deadly mystery, Trump gets big crypto boost
60,000: “The net is tightening,” NYC Mayor Eric Adams said this weekend about the search for UnitedHealth CEO Brian Thompson’s suspected murderer. New images of the suspect have been released, and Adams says authorities have identified the man but are withholding his name. Meanwhile, the Big Apple’s police department is offering a $10,000 reward, and the FBI is offering $50,000, for information leading to an arrest.
53: Donald Trump isn’t the only comeback kid this year. Ghana’s former President John Dramani Mahama will also return to power following Sunday’s presidential election. Mahama blamed his rival, Vice President Mahamudu Bawumia, for policies that have left Ghana in an economic crisis. Bawumia conceded after provisional results showed Mahama securing over 53% of the vote, compared to his 45.16%.
80: Viral or bacterial? Authorities in the Democratic Republic of Congo still aren’t sure, but they do know that they’ve seen 376 cases of a flu-like syndrome that has killed nearly 80 people. Children with pre-existing health conditions appear to be more vulnerable to it. Epidemiologists are being sent to investigate the situation.
30,000,000: Chinese cryptocurrency billionaire Justin Sun — the guy who bought that pricey banana art and ate it — has invested a whopping $30 million in President-elect Donald Trump’s cryptocurrency venture World Liberty Financial. The investment makes Sun, who is notably being sued by the US Securities and Exchange Commission for allegedly defrauding investors, its largest investor. Trump’s company only launched in October, and it had been struggling — but Sun’s investment means it could soon profit more than $15 million.
New York City mayor charged with corruption
The indictment follows a three-year investigation of Adams and top officials that focused in particular on whether he had accepted money and gifts from Turkey in exchange for furthering Ankara’s interests in New York.
Adams, a Democrat and former police officer elected on a law-and-order platform in 2021, says the charges are “false” and that he won’t step down, despite rising calls to do so — in particular from local Democrats eyeing next year’s mayoral election. New York Gov. Kathy Hochul, who is empowered to remove him, says she is weighing a decision.
Scandal-plagued and unable to master twin crises of public disorder and a rapidly growing migrant population, Adams is deeply unpopular at home. He has also clashed with the Biden administration over immigration, criticizing the White House for not doing more to secure the border and help cities manage the influx.
If he’s ousted: Public Advocate Jumaane Williams, a progressive Democrat who has sharply criticized Adams, would take over, with 90 days to call a special election.New York City Mayor Eric Adams attends a ceremony in New York City on Nov. 20, 2023.
NYC Mayor Eric Adams indicted on federal charges
There aren’t many things left to happen for the first time in New York City, but on Wednesday night Eric Adams became the first sitting New York mayor to be indicted on federal criminal charges.
The details aren’t yet public, but they’re believed to stem from a corruption investigation that has focused at least in part on improper relations with the Turkish government.
A former cop who grew up in a poor neighborhood, Adams, a Democrat, was elected as the city’s second black mayor in 2021, pledging to be tough on crime, to right the city after the pandemic, and to win the city’s endless war on rats.
He has been mired in scandal for much of that time. There are at least four ongoing federal probes of Adams or his top officials. This month alone, those investigations have led to the resignations of the police commissioner and the chancellor of New York City’s public school system.
Adams says he is innocent, but he is already facing calls to resign, including from New York Democratic Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez.
As details emerge, we’ll be watching to see if this unprecedented corruption scandal in America’s largest city bleeds into the national conversation as the Presidential election approaches.
A demonstrator is holding a banner during an antigovernment protest in Lisbon, Portugal, on August 4, 2024. Venezuelans in Lisbon are gathering in Praca do Comercio to protest and express their disagreement with the election results in Venezuela and to support opposition leader Maria Corina Machado and opposition candidate Edmundo Gonzalez.
Venezuela’s neighbors brace for a fresh exodus
A new poll shows more than 40% of Venezuela’s population — roughly 7 million people — might flee the country in the wake of strongman President Nicolás Maduro’s apparently successful bid to steal the July 28 election.
According to research by local pollster Meganalisis, nearly a million of those people are planning to leave by the end of the year. If that happens, it will exacerbate what is already the world’s worst external refugee crisis.
Since 2014, nearly 8 million Venezuelans have fled their country’s political and humanitarian chaos, surpassing the numbers from Ukraine (6 million) and Syria (5.5 million). Three million went to Colombia, and 1.5 million are in Peru. Brazil, Chile, Ecuador, Spain, and the US are home to half a million each.
Their arrival has stretched the capacity of governments and societies to absorb newcomers, especially during the difficult climb out of the pandemic. Anti-immigrant sentiment has grown across the region. As far away as New York City, Mayor Eric Adams says the presence of 150,000 refugees, many from Venezuela, would “destroy the city.”
Venezuela’s opposition – which won the election, according to independent counts – is still in the streets, demanding a transition of power. But with Maduro now doubling down, millions may soon vote again – this time with their feet.
For more: Watch GZERO’s special report about the non-profits helping to welcome and resettle thousands of refugees amid New York City’s “broken” immigration system.
New York City Mayor Eric Adams (D) speaking at a press conference at City Hall in New York City.
NYC Mayor takes on Texas migrant buses
New York City Mayor Eric Adams, the one-man unwelcome wagon, has issued an executive order requiring bus companies carrying migrants to provide the city with 32 hours of notice before arriving, which is now only permitted at limited times. Adams aims to instill order on the migrant crisis that is overwhelming city services, with more than 150,000 migrants arriving over the last year and a half.
The executive order is aimed squarely at Texas governor Greg Abbott, who has sent 70,000 migrants to Democrat-run cities since this summer. Backed by the threat of jail time and hefty fines, the order is an attempt to get bus operators to stop participating in Governor Abbott’s actions.
New York has spent $12 billion taking care of migrants, particularly due to the right to shelter law requiring the city to provide temporary shelter to anyone who needs it. Mayor Adams – who has slashed city services to make up for the deficit – went to court to suspend the law, and has said that whether migrants will be sleeping on the streets is not a question of if, but when. Opponents accuse the mayor of scapegoating migrants in order to enforce draconian budget cuts that he hoped to pass anyway.
The executive order comes on the heels of Texas passing the nation’s strictest border control bill. These city and state level actions are juxtaposed against President Joe Biden’s inability to pass a bill to increase spending for border patrol, amplifying accusations from both sides of the aisle that he is not doing enough to control the flow of migrants to the country.New York City Mayor Eric Adams
NYC mayor in hot water over Turkey
The mayor of America’s largest city is now ensnared in a scandal involving one of America’s ficklest allies.
Federal agents are currently investigating whether New York Mayor Eric Adams’ campaign violated financing rules during his 2021 run for office – the feds are reportedly focusing on alleged contributions from a Turkish-owned construction company.
The plot thickens: Did Adams, before taking office, pressure local Fire Department officials to rush approvals for a new consulate building in Manhattan that Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan was eager to unveil during United Nations General Assembly week in 2021? Thus far, Adams hasn’t been accused of any wrongdoing.
Adams, a centrist Democrat, is an eccentric former police officer who styles himself, variously, as a homeopath, crimefighter, bon vivant, and rat killer. Elected as the city’s second-ever Black mayor in 2021, he has faced criticism over the city’s sluggish post-pandemic recovery and has clashed with Washington over responsibility for absorbing the more than 100,000 asylum-seekers who have arrived in the city since 2022.
Turkey, of course, is one of Washington’s great frenemies. A NATO member, yes, but one that maintains especially warm ties with Moscow, has attacked US-backed Kurdish fighters in Syria, and has sought to complicate NATO accession for Sweden.
Asylum seekers fill the sidewalk outside of the Roosevelt hotel in midtown Manhattan, New York City.
“This will destroy New York City”: What the Big Apple’s immigration crisis tells us about the 2024 elections
Immigration has long been a hot button issue in US politics, typically pitting Republicans, who advocate for tougher crackdowns on undocumented migrants, against Democrats, usually more open to asylum seekers. But New York City is currently flipping the script on that.
This week, New York City Mayor Eric Adams – a Democrat – gave a scathing address about the influx of migrants who’ve entered the city over the past year, around 100,000 in total. Many have been bused in from Republican-run states.
Adams said that another six buses carrying migrants arrived in the city on Wednesday, and blasted the White House’s immigration policy. This will “destroy New York City,” he said.
(Read more about the factors leading to an uptick in migration to the US here and here.)
A recap. Over the past year, Republican governors in Texas and Florida have sent busloads of migrants to Democrat-run “sanctuary cities” that have a range of policies that aim to protect undocumented migrants’ rights. Cynical GOP ploy? Maybe. But the strategy has brought into renewed focus the argument that traditionally pro-migrant Democratic states on the coasts don’t appreciate the systemic pressures facing border states.
It isn’t just the mayor. Adams, an unpredictable politician who’s also a former cop and a former Republican, isn’t the only New York Democrat calling out the Biden administration. Gov. Kathy Huchul, a party stalwart broadly regarded as a Biden ally and a pragmatist, has also taken aim at the White House for the current crisis, which has seen around 10,000 migrants enter the state per month, putting immense pressure on local budgets that need to fork out funds for housing, schooling, and meals.
Adams says the governor has been too slow to dole out state funds to help the city cope and that the federal government should be doing more both to slow the flow of migrants and to support the city’s ability to absorb those who make it through.
Both Hochul and Adams have called on the White House to expedite work authorizations for asylum seekers to ease pressure on the city and state. Biden, currently touring Asia, has stayed mostly mum.
Democrats in general have good reason to be worried about how this is playing. Last year’s midterm elections were disastrous for the New York branch of the party, with Republicans – who ran largely on an anti-crime agenda – making gains in suburban areas throughout the state.
With immigration a top concern for many US voters, and 82% of New Yorkers polled describing the migrant influx as a “serious problem,” the Democratic Party is in a difficult spot: Any efforts to slash funding for the 57,000 migrants currently in New York City’s care – which some Dems in vulnerable seats have backed – will ignite the left. But doing too much could create more backlash in more moderate or swing district areas of New York state that the party needs to win in order to take back the House of Representatives next year.
France's President Emmanuel Macron looks on during a joint press conference with Germany's Chancellor Olaf Scholz (not pictured) after an European Union (EU) summit at the European Council Building at the EU headquarters in Brussels, Belgium December 17, 2021.
France’s EU presidency, Kim Jong Un’s 2022 plans, NYC’s new mayor, Sudan’s PM steps down
France takes over EU presidency. France has assumed the EU's rotational presidency, which allows Paris to set the bloc’s agenda for the next six months at a very interesting time for both EU and French politics. French President Emmanuel Macron will want to make a big splash as he vies to become the bloc's de-facto leader after the departure of Angela Merkel. Macron's ambitious plans include reforming the EU's budget rules to allow member states to spend more than 60 percent of their annual GDP, which he’ll have a tough time selling to debt-averse Germany. He also will continue to push hard for the EU to develop a military capability independent from the US, and to embrace nuclear power as a green source of energy as Brussels just proposed. Also, in the run-up to the French presidential election in April, the centrist Macron will use the EU presidency to tell voters how France can benefit from a stronger Union led by France — particularly to fend off challenges from his right in fellow Europhile Valerie Pécresse, and his far right in Euroskeptics Marine Le Pen and Éric Zemmour. So far, Macron isn't off to a good start: he had to remove a giant EU flag perched on Paris’ Arc de Triomphe after his three main rivals called it an attack on French identity.
North Korea is in for a tough 2022. North Korea's Supreme Leader Kim Jong Un famously likes to drop bombshells in his New Year's Day speeches, like his 2018 nuclear button. But this time, he decided to write a letter telling his people that this year the regime will focus on rural development. Although boosting food production may not sound as exciting as Kim's trademark bombastic statements boasting about nukes or lashing out at South Korea and the US, the more urgent problem is to escape a looming famine. It won't be easy: North Korea's food production system is in the dumps due to decades of mismanagement, and more recently a severe economic crisis caused by the pandemic-related closure of the border with China, Pyongyang’s main economic lifeline. Kim, who recently marked his 10th anniversary as supreme leader, seems to be in survival mode for 2022, and both seeking a formal end to the 1950-1953 Korean War and restarting nuclear talks with Washington are low on his priority list as feeding his people takes precedent.
Gotham has a new boss. Minutes after New Yorkers rang in the new year, they also inaugurated a new mayor. Eric Adams, the city’s second Black mayor, faces big problems in the Big Apple: almost two years after the pandemic began, unemployment is double the US average, violent crime has skyrocketed, and pre-existing socioeconomic and racial inequalities have widened. But Adams says that under his watch, New York City will re-emerge bigger and better by luring back businesses, subway riders, and tourists. The former cop also promises to make America's largest city and urban economy safe again by being tough on crime while reforming the NYPD, which just got its first female commissioner. Beyond the city limits, how Adams performs could have an impact on the November midterms, where his Democratic Party faces very long odds to retain control of both houses of Congress. For moderate Dems, more candidates with messaging like NYC's centrist, club-hopping, vegan mayor is the antidote to Republicans appealing to moderate voters who don't want to defund the police. First, though, he has a lot of work to do to wake up the city that never sleeps.
Sudan’s PM resigns as the country spirals. Sudan’s embattled PM Abdalla Hamdok resigned Sunday, saying he made the decision because the country is at “a dangerous turning point.” How did we get here? In October, the Sudanese army deposed the country's joint civilian-military government, placing Hamdok under house arrest and arresting scores of political prisoners. Weeks later, Hamdok was released and reinstated in a shaky deal negotiated by Lt. Gen. Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, who led the coup. The military said that the civilian-military alliance would remain intact until fresh elections are held in 2023, but pro-democracy Sudanese aren’t buying it, saying the deal is a ruse for the army — formerly aligned with longtime dictator Omar al-Bashir — to cling on to power. This weekend several demonstrators were shot by security forces, prompting Hamdok to resign to try and lower the temperature. But it might be too late to rescue Sudan’s democratic dream: dozens of protesters have been killed by the army since the coup, while security forces have taken extreme measures to quash dissent, including censoring the press.