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Republicans Push to Strip NY Mayor Mamdani of U.S Citizenship

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New York City mayoral election, becoming the city’s first Muslim and first South Asian mayor-elect, Republican detractors in Washington, DC, said they would try to stop him from taking office.

President Donald Trump, who threatened to withhold federal funds to New York City if Mamdani won, lent credence to misleading questions about Mamdani’s citizenship and falsely accused the Ugandan-born 34-year-old of being a communist.

Some Republican lawmakers requested investigations into Mamdani’s naturalisation process and have called for stripping him of his United States citizenship and deporting him, accusing him without evidence of embracing communist and “terrorist” activities.

“If Mamdani lied on his naturalisation documents, he doesn’t get to be a citizen, and he certainly doesn’t get to run for mayor of New York City. A great American city is on the precipice of being run by a communist who has publicly embraced a terroristic ideology,” Representative Andy Ogles from the Republican party said in an October 29 news release, after asking US Attorney General Pam Bondi to investigate Mamdani.

“The American naturalisation system REQUIRES any alignments with communism or terrorist activities to be disclosed. I’m doubtful he disclosed them. If this is confirmed, put him on the first flight back to Uganda.”

Randy Fine, the Republican representative from Florida, misrepresented Mamdani’s time in the US when he said on October 27 on Newsmax: “The barbarians are no longer at the gate, they’re inside. … And Mamdani, having just moved here eight years ago, is a great example of that, becoming a citizen. Look, it is clear with much of what I have read that he did not meet the definition to gain citizenship.”

PolitiFact found no credible evidence that Mamdani lied on his citizenship application.

Born in Uganda, Mamdani moved to the US in 1998, when he was seven years old, and became a US citizen in 2018. For adults to become US citizens, they generally must have lived continuously in the country as a lawful permanent resident for five years, or three years if married to a US citizen.

Denaturalisation, the process of revoking a person’s citizenship, can be done only by judicial order. It’s been used sparingly, such as for removing Nazis who fled to the US after World War II or people convicted of or associated with “terrorism”.

Immigration law experts said they have seen no evidence to support Ogles and Fine’s assertions about Mamdani’s application.

“Denaturalisation is an extreme, rare remedy that requires the government to prove either illegal procurement or a willful, material lie – at a minimum, clear, unequivocal and convincing evidence that the fact would have changed the outcome at the time of naturalisation,” said immigration lawyer Jeremy McKinney. “I’ve seen no credible proof he was ineligible when he took the oath or that any omission was material.”

Ogles and Fine did not respond to PolitiFact’s requests for comment by publication.

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Trump Declares Trade War on Nations Imposing Digital Tax on US Tech Firms

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U.S. President, Donald Trump, has threatened to impose a 100 per cent tariff on imports from any country that introduces a digital services tax (DST) targeting American technology companies.

In a statement posted on his Truth Social platform on Friday, Trump warned that countries introducing or maintaining digital services taxes on U.S. tech firms would face immediate retaliatory tariffs on all goods exported to the United States.

“Any country that imposes such a Tax will immediately be met with a 100% TARIFF on any Goods sent to the United States of America,” Trump declared, insisting that digital services taxes unfairly single out American businesses and undermine U.S. economic interests.

The latest warning is aimed primarily at several European countries that have adopted or are considering digital services taxes on multinational technology companies such as Apple, Google, Meta, Amazon, and Microsoft.

Washington has long argued that such taxes disproportionately target U.S.-based firms while discriminating against American innovation.

Trump also asserted that the proposed 100 per cent tariff would supersede existing and future trade agreements, signalling a more confrontational trade policy if countries proceed with taxing revenues generated by U.S. technology giants within their borders.

France became the first major economy to introduce a digital services tax in 2019, prompting repeated threats of retaliatory tariffs from Washington.

Other countries, including the United Kingdom, Italy, Spain, Austria, and Canada, have either implemented or proposed similar measures while negotiations continue under the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) to establish a global framework for taxing multinational corporations.

The OECD’s two-pillar international tax agreement was designed to reduce unilateral digital taxes by allocating a greater share of multinational profits to countries where earnings are earned while establishing a global minimum corporate tax.

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US Govt Releases Names of Terrorism Financiers Amid Growing Insecurity

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A fresh spotlight was cast on terrorism financing and security threats on Tuesday as the United States sanctioned a Lagos-based alleged ISIS (Islamic State of Iraq and Syria) financier.

This came as troops neutralised suspected ISWAP (Islamic State West Africa Province) operatives and the Federal Government deepened counterterrorism cooperation with international partners.

The United States imposed sanctions on Mukhtar Adamu Muhammad and three bureaux de change linked to him over accusations of facilitating funds for the terrorist group.

The sanctions, announced under Executive Order 13224, form part of a broader action targeting ISIS financial networks operating across Europe, the Middle East and West Africa.

Muhammad, 35, also known as Adamu Mukhtar and Muhammad Mukhtar, was identified as a key facilitator for ISIS-West Africa. He was listed with an address in Agege, Lagos State.

According to the U.S. Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC), Muhammad allegedly served as a conduit for ISIS financing through bureaux de change operating in Lagos and Kano states.

The three businesses sanctioned alongside him are Generation Currency Bureau De Change Limited and Nine to Nine Exchange Bureau De Change Limited, both based in Lagos State, as well as Manhattan Bureau De Change Limited in Kano State.

The U.S. authorities said the sanctions targeted a network spanning France, Turkiye, Syria and Nigeria that allegedly supports ISIS operations, finances attacks and assists the group’s affiliates.

According to OFAC, the network includes a France-based facilitator accused of providing information on explosives to ISIS supporters and a Syria-based operator who allegedly used cryptocurrency to transfer funds to ISIS associates in several countries, including the United States.

Announcing the sanctions, U.S. State Department spokesperson Thomas “Tommy” Pigott said the measures were aimed at disrupting the terrorist group’s financial operations worldwide.

“Under the leadership of President Trump, the United States is dismantling ISIS’s ability to finance terrorism around the world.

“We are cutting off the financial lifelines that enable ISIS to fund attacks, support its regional affiliates, and threaten civilians, including religious minorities,” Pigott said.

He added that the actions reflected sustained U.S. efforts to weaken ISIS, which he said had increasingly decentralised its operations and relied on financial intermediaries to sustain its global network.

The U.S. government also reaffirmed its security partnership with Nigeria, citing Abuja’s role in the May 16, 2026, operation that resulted in the killing of Abu-Bilal al-Minuki, described as the second-highest-ranking ISIS official.

Washington pledged to continue deploying diplomatic and legal measures against ISIS and its supporters.

“We will continue to use every diplomatic and legal tool available to hold ISIS and its supporters accountable wherever they operate and however they move money.

“We remain fully committed to protecting American lives, defending religious minorities, and working with international partners to eliminate the threat that ISIS poses to global peace and security,” the Department said.

The sanctioned individuals and entities have been added to OFAC’s Specially Designated Nationals list, a designation that freezes any assets under U.S. jurisdiction and prohibits American individuals and organisations from conducting transactions with them.

ISIS was designated a Specially Designated Global Terrorist organisation in 2004 and was later classified as a Foreign Terrorist Organisation by the United States in the same year.

The Guardian

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US Will Not ‘Rush into a Deal’ with Iran, Trump Declares

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President Donald Trump said on Sunday that he has told US negotiators “not to rush into a deal” with Iran, amid anticipation — and mounting criticism — of an agreement to end the war in the Middle East.

“The negotiations are proceeding in an orderly and constructive manner, and I have informed my representatives not to rush into a deal in that time is on our side,” Trump wrote on his Truth Social account.

“The Blockade will remain in full force and effect until an agreement is reached, certified, and signed.”

The United States has imposed a blockade of Iranian ports since April 13 after Tehran virtually halted traffic through the economically vital Strait of Hormuz in response to the US-Israeli attacks on Iran that began February 28.

“Both sides must take their time and get it right,” Trump wrote in the same Truth Social post, while slamming the 2015 nuclear deal that former president Barack Obama agreed with Iran.

“Our relationship with Iran is becoming a much more professional and productive one. They must understand, however, that they cannot develop or procure a Nuclear Weapon or Bomb,” Trump wrote.

While the White House has not released aspects of the deal, Iran Foreign Ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baqaei said Saturday on state television that the two sides were nearing a “a memorandum of understanding, a kind of framework agreement composed of 14 clauses,” in “a trend toward rapprochement.”

Several voices, notably among Republican lawmakers close to Trump, expressed fears of an agreement favorable to Iran as supposed aspects of the deal that began to leak.

According to news outlet Axios, a possible agreement would extend the current ceasefire by 60 days, during which the Strait of Hormuz would be reopened, Iran would freely sell oil, and negotiations would be held on Iran’s nuclear program.

The top Republican senator overseeing defense policy, Roger Wicker, said that agreeing to a “rumored 60-day ceasefire” with Iran would mean, “everything accomplished by Operation Epic Fury would be for naught!”

Fellow Republican senators Ted Cruz and Lindsey Graham also voiced opposition to Iran soon gaining benefits such as the ability to sell its oil freely.

“If the result of all that is to be an Iranian regime — still run by Islamists who chant ‘death to America’ — now receiving billions of dollars, being able to enrich uranium & develop nuclear weapons, and having effective control over the Strait of Hormuz, then that outcome would be a disastrous mistake,” Cruz, a Republican from Texas, wrote on X.

Thom Tillis, a Republican senator from North Carolina, said the deal “doesn’t make sense to me.”

“We were told about 11 weeks ago by (Secretary of Defense Pete) Hegseth and the Department of Defense that they had obliterated Iran’s defenses, and it was just a matter of time before we had the nuclear material. Now we’re talking about a posture where we may accept the nuclear material remaining in Iran. How does that make sense at all?” Tillis said on CNN’s “State of the Union” morning program.

AFP

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