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New York City – For Jessica Dejesus, deciding who to vote for as the next mayor of New York City came down to the final minutes.

The 40-year-old resident of the Mott Haven neighbourhood in the Bronx admittedly had not been following the race closely, but planned to vote for former Governor Andrew Cuomo. She recalled his near-nightly television appearances when he was governor of New York State amid the ravages of the COVID-19 pandemic.

“He was our guy during the pandemic,” she reflected.

But a day before the election, Dejesus saw a video on TikTok detailing US President Donald Trump’s endorsement of Cuomo.

While her feelings towards the candidates in the mayoral race may be ho-hum, Dejesus knows she is no fan of Trump. The nod made her give upstart candidate Social Zohran Mamdani, a democratic socialist, a closer look.

“We can’t have that. I don’t disagree with everything Trump does, but he cut back on food stamps, and that affects a lot of people,” she said, referring to restrictions on US Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) benefits in a bill passed by Trump and Republicans earlier this year.

“I understand you have to stop bad people coming over the border, but there are a lot of good immigrants here as well,” she said, referring to Trump’s mass deportation drive.

Walking into her voting site, she told Al Jazeera she still had not made up her mind. “I’ll have to wait until that paper’s in front of me,” she said.

Moments later, she emerged: “I voted for Mamdani!” she said.

‘You really have no choice’

A neighbourhood like Mott Haven, which was solidly mixed during the June primary in its turnout for Mamdani and Cuomo, shows just how reactive Trump’s endorsement could be to the race: a poison pill for some and a final nail in the coffin for others.

Trump, meanwhile, hoped his endorsement, soon followed by that of billionaire Elon Musk, would help rally conservative New Yorkers who came out in atypically large numbers in the city’s 2024 presidential election.

“Whether you personally like Andrew Cuomo or not, you really have no choice,” Trump said in a social media post on Monday.

“You must vote for him and hope he does a fantastic job. He is capable of it, Mamdani is not!”

Cuomo has also been explicitly reaching out to Republicans, hoping to court their votes. About 11 percent of New York’s 4.7 million voters were registered with the Republican Party in 2024.

Recent polls have shown Republican candidate Curtis Sliwa carrying about 14 percent of the vote – not a huge amount, but potentially enough to close Mamdani’s lead over the former governor.

It remained unclear how successful the action from Trump – who has also threatened to target city funding if Mamdani was elected – would be. But for some staunch supporters of Sliwa, Trump’s intervention did little to change their minds.

“[Trump’s endorsement] doesn’t change my vote. Sliwa is for the people and I have faith in that,” said Artemio Figuero, a 59-year-old city street cleaner, who spoke to Al Jazeera in Jackson Heights, Queens.

“He was a protector of the neighbourhood,” Figuero added, referring to Sliwa’s stewardship of the vigilante anti-crime Guardian Angels group.

Other Republicans who had long grown accustomed to voting outside of their party in the liberal-dominated local elections saw Trump’s support as a positive development, if not a game-changer.

“I like that Trump endorsed him,” Lola Ferguson, a 53-year-old social worker and registered Republican who was already planning to vote for Cuomo, told Al Jazeera in Mott Haven.

“He knows that [Cuomo’s] the better match for the city,” she said.

Cuomo, for his part, has denied Trump’s endorsement counts, noting that Trump had referred to him as a “bad Democrat” compared to Mamdani, whom he falsely called a “communist”.

Still, for Mamdani supporters, Trump’s move was not unexpected. Cuomo has been supported by an array of the city’s wealthiest residents, including billionaires like Bill Ackman and Miriam Adelson, who have also backed Trump.

“Birds of a feather flock together,” said Andre Augustine, a 33-year-old who works at a college access nonprofit, who voted for Mamdani.

“I feel like the signs were already there. All the folks that were financing Trump’s campaign were also financing Cuomo’s, and I feel like [Cuomo] just wouldn’t be honest about it,” he said.

For others, Trump’s endorsement was the feather that broke the camel’s back.

Dominique Witter, 39, a healthcare tech consultant, respected Cuomo’s handling of the COVID-19 pandemic in the city, but had been gradually shifting towards Mamdani.

She did not decide on Mamdani until the final sprint of the race.

“It took me a while to get there, but I’m voting for Mamdani,” she told Al Jazeera as she prepared to vote in Mott Haven.

“I’m not gonna lie; the Trump endorsement did not help. Because that’s not what we want, right?” she said.

“Oh no, that’s not an endorsement you want.”

In November 2024, an empty field suddenly turned into a bustling scene. Women streamed in carrying baskets of tomatoes, while others unwrapped sacks of oranges. At the time, teenage girls hawked in the crowd with trays of boiled groundnuts balanced on their heads. Along the roadside, two trailers lined up a few metres away as young men tossed heavy sacks of maize into one and rice into the other.

This was the Tumba Ra Ngabili market.

For a trader like Asmau Abubakar, she never imagined a market like this could exist, especially when she reflects on the years when the Boko Haram insurgency was at its peak. She says her fear grew the first time she heard the insurgents had arrived in Madagali in 2014, a few towns away from Michika, her hometown, both in Adamawa State, northeastern Nigeria.

When rumours spread at the time that the insurgents would not harm women, Asmau urged her husband to flee while she stayed behind with the children. But he refused, insisting the family remain together.

Then came the news that the insurgents were unleashing violence in Gulak. And knowing Gulak was close, Asmau’s family fled to Uba, a neighbouring town, where they passed the night before returning home the next morning.

But the fear never left Asmau. Soon again, word spread that Michika itself would be attacked on a Sunday.

“Before they came, on that Sunday at dawn, my husband got us a car that took us to Yola [the Adamawa State capital] while he fled on foot, passing several villages to reach Gombi,” Asmau recalled. “We were at Mararraban Mubi when I heard the insurgents had entered Michika.”

Many families, like Asmau’s, fled for safety. But that Sunday in September 2014 carried the memory of gunfire echoing in the air, houses burning in flames, and, of course, the lives taken in cold blood. The insurgents did not only stop at attacking Michika, they in fact seized the town and spread into nearby villages, inflicting fear and hardship on the locals. It was a period when they were expanding across northeastern Nigeria in their bid to carve out an Islamic caliphate.

Boko Haram’s violent campaign had started five years earlier in 2009, first as an uprising in Maiduguri, the Borno State capital, before spreading across the region. In its wake, families mourned their loved ones, schools and markets were left destroyed, and dozens of communities were turned to ruins, with over a million people uprooted from their homes.

Michika was soon trapped in this same cycle of bloodshed and chaos that forced people across Borno, Adamawa, and Yobe to live with fear as part of daily life. Meanwhile, the insurgents held the town captive for months until January 2015, when Nigeria’s military finally drove them out. So, as locals began to return, they discovered that what awaited them were wrecked houses and the loss of nearly everything they owned.

“The walls of my house were riddled with bullets,” Asmau told HumAngle. “They destroyed doors and windows and looted some of our belongings.”

Even as Asmau and other families in Michika began to rebuild and piece their lives back together, they realised that the insurgency had sown deep distrust between Christians and Muslims. The divide between the two faiths grew so intense that, according to locals HumAngle spoke with, it spread into the main Michika market, where Christians chose Saturdays to sell their farm produce and Muslims traded on Sundays when most Christians were in church.

Asmau has not forgetten that period when she moved between the main Michika market and those in Bazza and Lassa to buy and sell bags of maize, beans, and groundnuts.

“Relations between us Muslims and the Christians became strained,” she explained. “They thought the majority of Muslims were Boko Haram.”

HumAngle also learned that, at the time, Muslims said their children could not have relationships with children from Christian families, and Christians equally insisted their children would not relate to Muslim families.

Rebuilding Trust

This situation persisted in Tumba Ra Ngabili, Asmau’s community, until 2020, when the British Council, in partnership with the Women and Youth Economic Advancement and Health Initiative (WYEAHI), brought women from the area into its Managing Conflict in Nigeria (MCN) programme.

About 200 women from Christian and Muslim households received training in peacebuilding, conflict management, and Early Warning and Early Response (EWER).

“We learned that due to the insurgency, these women lost their livelihoods. So we felt it would be good that after the training, we should also empower them,” said Aishatu Margima, WYEAHI’s Executive Director.

The women were organised into groups of 20, with each member receiving ₦30,000 to start a business or support an existing one.

“I was happy when my name made it to the list of women selected for the training and even more when I got empowered with ₦30,000,” shared Asmau, recalling it was a time when her business was struggling due to low capital and disruptions from the COVID-19 pandemic, which restricted movements and closed markets.

The micro-funding and training also transformed Christiana Emma’s life. She had lived in Tumba Ra Ngabili for 20 years and fled to Yola only when the insurgency struck. Though she lost her house and belongings, she returned after Michika was liberated because the feeling that it was her home did not leave her.

“We started rebuilding with my husband through the grace of God, and to support him, I was selling tomatoes, bananas, and oranges,” Christiana said. She would travel to Besso and Kirchinga villages in Michika and Madagali to collect goods on loan, sell them, repay the loan, and keep the profit.

“The ₦30,000 I got helped me grow my business. I later built a capital of ₦150,000 that allows me to buy goods upfront without taking loans,” she noted. “Today, the proceeds help me cover my family’s bills, from education to feeding and healthcare.”

Restoring peace through trade

In their 20-member group, 16 were Christians and 4 were Muslims. The training enlightened them on love and peaceful coexistence.

The group began holding weekly meetings every Sunday to strengthen relationships and discuss business challenges. And in one of those meetings, they decided to establish a market in Tumba Ra Ngabili.

The women approached the community chief, Lawan Yakubu, who, after consulting with his council members, approved their request and allocated land a few metres from his house for the market.

They believed the local market would make it easier to run their businesses and improve their earnings without the need to travel to nearby villages or the main Michika market. At the same time, they wanted the market to serve as a space for unity where people from all faiths could trade freely.

At first, the women traded in an open field until the Danish Refugee Council, an international humanitarian organisation, while implementing a different project in the community, learned about the market and decided to support and expand the women’s efforts by constructing a block of 16 roofed tents where traders could display their goods.

In the two years since it opened, the Tumba Ra Ngabili market has transformed both business and relationships in the community, especially with Christian and Muslim women trading side by side.

Blessing John, a widow and member of the group who now sells Gwanjo (second-hand clothes), remembers how isolated she once felt and how difficult it was to keep her business running or get help when challenges came.

“Now, I know I can turn to any member of the group, whether at the market or at home, whether a Christian or a Muslim, and get support,” said the 40-something-year-old mother of eight.

Blessing explained that to make it convenient for everyone, the women agreed that the market would mainly operate on Sundays immediately after morning church services. 

“The market also opens on Wednesdays, but Sunday has become the main trading day,” she told HumAngle.

Traders troop into the market, mostly during the harvest period, to buy bags of food crops ranging from maize, rice, beans, groundnuts, and even tomatoes, which are then transported in big lorries to Mubi, Maiduguri, and other parts of the country.

Each trader at the market pays ₦50 to the local government as tax on every market day.

Saving together

The women have also started an Adashe (savings pool) system. Every Sunday evening, after trading, they gather to repeat sessions on “maintaining peaceful coexistence with one another,” and each member contributes ₦1,000. 

The collected ₦20,000 is kept in a wooden box made by a local carpenter. The box has four keys, each held by a team of four members, and it can only be opened when all group members are present. If a member is sick or unavoidably absent, a representative from her family or relations can stand in to ensure the box can be opened.

After collecting the contributions, any member needing a loan can borrow from the pool and repay it with 10 per cent interest within a month. For example, if a member borrows ₦10,000, she will repay ₦11,000. In the early days of the system, Asmau often borrowed from the pool to strengthen her business capital.

“It helps me make more profit since the capital is much larger when I combine my initial empowerment money with the loaned amount,” Asmau said. From the profit, she buys foodstuffs each market day and contributes to the savings pool.

“I have children and pay their school fees with a part of the profit,” she added.

When no one needs a loan, the wooden box is locked and kept by the group’s treasurer, Manga Musa, who shared that the group also has a social fund, to which each member deposits ₦50 weekly.

“It’s the savings we use in case any of us gets sick. We can then support the person without asking for repayment,” she said.

And by December each year, a week before Christmas, the group gathers to share all the money in the savings pool before taking a break and returning in January for the new year. 

“We buy Christmas food and clothes for our children in December after sharing the earnings,” noted Christiana. “For Muslims, during their festive seasons, if they need to borrow money from the pool, we give it to them.”

The struggle to thrive

However, despite their success stories, some challenges raise questions about how sustainable the women’s efforts are without institutionalised support. 

During the rainy season, the market does not come alive like it does in the dry months. When HumAngle visited on a Wednesday, the tents were empty. And even on Sunday, the main market day, only a few items, such as vegetables, fruits, and small household goods, were on display. There were no food crops. 

Locals told HumAngle that this is because most traders are occupied with farming at this time of the year and do not come to the market as often.

Last year, the community suffered a flood, and most traders whose farmlands were flooded did not harvest many food crops that could be brought to the market.

Still, the poor roads leading to Tumba Ra Ngabili, along with a river that traders from distant villages must cross, also limit the amount of produce that reaches the market.

On the other hand, Blessing admitted that business has slowed in recent months. “People focus more on looking for what to eat than buying clothes,” she explained.

Manga said the women’s savings pool is directly tied to market activity. When sales drop, some members struggle to make their weekly contributions, which sometimes delays their cycle of lending and repayment.

Even with the gaps, Blessing dreams of opening a shop to stock clothes instead of pushing them around in a wheelbarrow. Others hope to see the Tumba Ra Ngabili market upgraded into a standard marketplace with proper shops and storage facilities. 

Together, the women want their savings pool to grow strong enough to sustain members and extend support to other women in the community.

Now, what remains uncertain is whether the peace they have built can withstand the challenges that still surround them.

This story was produced under the HumAngle Foundation’s Advancing Peace and Security through Journalism project, supported by the National Endowment for Democracy (NED).

Dubai, United Arab Emirates – When cricketers from India and Pakistan step onto the field for their Asia Cup 2025 match on Sunday, a lot more than two points will be on the line, according to cricket fans and experts.

The match at the Dubai International Cricket Stadium will be played under the cloud of lingering hostility after their intense four-day conflict in May.

While an all-out war between the two cross-border nations was prevented after an internationally brokered ceasefire, a sense of bitterness remains.

“People in India have been very angry about the match ever since this fixture was confirmed,” Kudip Lal, an Indian cricket writer, told Al Jazeera.

“They feel that it’s not right to play this match while the overall relationship between both countries is so strained,” he explained.

“It’s the worst time for an India-Pakistan match.”

‘Why play cricket in the aftermath of war?’

Lal said that fans in India see the fixture as a money-making avenue for the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI), whom they blame for trying to cash in on the profit generated by these high-profile clashes.

Lal believes the BCCI, widely regarded as the most wealthy and powerful cricket board in the world, could have “easily skipped” the match.

“If the Indian government has stopped issuing visas to Pakistanis, if the diplomatic ties are suspended and Pakistanis visiting India have been sent back, then why have the cricketers been asked to play this match in the aftermath of a war?” Lal questioned.

He expressed fears of a backlash in case India lose the Group A fixture.

Whenever India and Pakistan play, emotions run high and a loss is not taken well by fans on either side of the border.

In the past decades, players’ homes have been torched, their family members have been threatened, and effigy-burning protests have been carried out on the streets.

The current political climate between India and Pakistan is worse than it has been in several decades.

Shared laughs and ‘bromance’ of the past

Despite the political deadlock between the nuclear-armed neighbours, the recent on-and-off-field exchanges between players have been fairly cheerful.

When India last played Pakistan in the Asia Cup in September 2023, the two key talking points were Virat Kohli’s utter dominance of Pakistani bowlers and the countless feel-good moments shared between both teams.

The match was played in the middle of the monsoon season in Sri Lanka, where fans cheered for both teams regardless of their allegiances and danced away their worries during the countless rain delays.

Pakistani fans were seen declaring their nation’s love for Kohli, and the festive atmosphere spilled over onto the pitch.

There were memorable player-to-player exchanges that were plucked right out of a social media manager’s dream.

Pakistan’s Shaheen Shah Afridi swapped his on-field aggression for off-field warmth as he handed India’s Jasprit Bumrah a gift hamper for his newborn son. Cue millions of retweets and shares on X and Instagram.

Social media was also flooded with reels highlighting the “bromance” between Kohli and Pakistan allrounder Shadab Khan.

This time, however, experts do not foresee similar public displays of goodwill and friendliness.

“The friendship and warmth seen in the past will not be on display because anything can be blown out of proportion by impassioned fans, and the smallest move can agitate the public,” Sami Ul Hasan, former head of the International Cricket Council’s (ICC) media and communications department, said ahead of the match.

When Pakistan beat India by 10 wickets at the ICC T20 World Cup 2021, Pakistan’s captain Babar Azam and wicketkeeper Mohammad Rizwan were warmly embraced by Kohli, and all three shared a hearty laugh while walking off the pitch.

“We can’t expect similar scenes to unfold on Sunday,” Hasan said.

“The interpretation and optics of an overtly friendly encounter could go very wrong, and things could blow up on either side of the border.”

Mixing cricket with politics

Hasan, who has worked with cricketers and cricket officials, said the players will attempt to bat away political questions by saying they are not meant to deal with political matters.

“Sports and politics can never be separated, but athletes aren’t politicians, so they can’t be expected to act like diplomats.”

Despite the heated atmosphere and tense build-up to the fixture, some fans believe the match can still be seen as just another India-Pakistan match.

“Politics shouldn’t be mixed with cricket, which has always helped ease the tensions, so why should it be used as an avenue to propagate politics?” Asad Khan, a Pakistani fan, said.

“When you bring political agendas into cricket, it ruins the game and causes unnecessary stress for the players.”

Khan urged fans to put aside the politically and religiously motivated chants at cricket stadiums and instead enjoy a now-rare India-Pakistan match.

Given the years-long halt in bilateral cricket series between India and Pakistan, their fixtures are limited to multination tournaments.

Cricket fans are hopeful that both teams will not give in to the politically-charged atmosphere and help lighten the mood.

“The players should do their jobs as cricketers and the fans should treat it as just another game,” Ali, a Pakistan fan, said, told Al Jazeera in Dubai.

“Why must the cricketers worry about what happened on the border four months ago,” Ali

But cricket expert Lal believes otherwise.

“When the two teams enter the field on Sunday, they can’t be expected to be completely detached from the conflict. It will play on their minds.”

A hot and humid September evening in Dubai cannot be blamed solely for turning the “Ring of Fire” stadium into a cauldron.

Come Sunday, the latest chapter in a decades-long bitter rivalry will have the players and fans on the edge.

Paramount on Friday sharply denounced a proposed boycott of Israeli film institutions by a group that calls itself Film Workers for Palestine and is supported by dozens of Hollywood luminaries.

Earlier this week, the group launched an open letter pledging to withhold support for Israeli film festivals, production companies and other organizations that the group said were involved in “genocide and apartheid against the Palestinian people.”

The letter has been signed by hundreds of individuals, including filmmakers Jonathan Glazer, Ava DuVernay, Yorgos Lanthimos, Emma Stone, Joaquin Phoenix, Rooney Mara, Olivia Colman and Mark Ruffalo.

“As filmmakers, actors, film industry workers, and institutions, we recognize the power of cinema to shape perceptions,” the group wrote. “In this urgent moment of crisis, where many of our governments are enabling the carnage in Gaza, we must do everything we can to address complicity in that unrelenting horror.”

The group pledged “not to screen films, appear at or otherwise work with Israeli film institutions — including festivals, cinemas, broadcasters and production companies,” which have been “implicated” in attacks on Palestinians. The group described its effort as being inspired by filmmakers joining the South African boycott over apartheid, a global campaign decades ago that proved influential in helping overturn the nation’s government.

Paramount, which was acquired last month by the Larry Ellison family and private equity firm RedBird Capital Partners, made clear its opposition to the filmmakers’ campaign.

“We believe in the power of storytelling to connect and inspire people, promote mutual understanding, and preserve the moments, ideas, and events that shape the world we share,” said an emailed statement attributed to the company. “We do not agree with recent efforts to boycott Israeli filmmakers. Silencing individual creative artists based on their nationality does not promote better understanding or advance the cause of peace.”

Paramount is the first studio to state a position on the divisive issue. An insider who was not authorized to speak about the internal debate said Paramount Chief Executive David Ellison and the company’s leadership team felt strongly about the need to speak out in opposition, believing that individuals should not be boycotted based on their nationality.

“The global entertainment industry should be encouraging artists to tell their stories and share their ideas with audiences throughout the world,” Paramount said. “We need more engagement and communication — not less.”

Love Island viewers reacted to a scene involving Andrada Pop and Meg Moore on tonight’s episode of the ITV2, with the two islanders seen in a tense exchange in the villa

Love Island viewers were divided over an islander on the latest episode, with some suggesting that they had made a mark on the reality TV show. Others weren’t impressed though following tension in the villa after movie night.

The latest episode of the ITV2 show included the aftermath of Meg Moore having been given a glimpse into Dejon Noel-Williams’ relationship with Andrada Pop whilst he was in Casa Amor. The situation left Meg upset and she confronted Dejon, whom she recently became ‘exclusive’ with.

Later in the evening, Meg and Dejon were seen in a tense discussion inside the Love Island villa. Andrada, who is coupled-up with Ben Holbrough, appeared to be listening from a room nearby as she told some of her co-stars: “Shh shh.”

Meg later heard about it and confronted Andrada. She told her: “Don’t be in here saying ‘shush’ to hear my conversation with D.” Andrada was then seen saying: “Pipe down, who’d you think you’re shouting at?” Meg replied: “You!”

Andrada asked: “What’s wrong with you?” Meg reacted: “What is right with you?” She added: “Don’t be saying ‘shush’ to try and listen to my argument.” Andrada questioned: “Why is it a big deal that I said ‘shush’? Why are you so hurt by it?”

The pair continued to engage with each other, with Andrada saying at one point: “I don’t understand why you’re shouting at me.” Meg responded: “You’re shouting at me!” Meg went on to share her thoughts with Dejon, whilst away from Andrada, saying: “I just told her to mind her own business.”

As Meg walked into the bedroom, Andrada was talking to Tommy Bradley about having previously listened to the couple arguing. She: “I didn’t say anything bad.” Meg went on to tell her: “End of convo right now. You’re speaking to the whole f***ing villa!”

Andrada took issue with being hold by Meg to stop speaking about it. She added: “I don’t deserve for somebody to come scream at me for no f***ing reason. I didn’t say anything bad.” Meg, sat on the bed next to her, replied: “Hun, I’m here.” Andrada replied by saying that she wasn’t speaking to Meg though.

They resumed their disagreement and was seen in another tense exchange. Toni Laites said at one point: “Everyone shut the f*** up!” Andrada later said: “She’s going through it and she’s letting it out on other people.” Meg said: “Babe, you’re still talking in front of my face.” As they continued to bicker, Ben held Andrada back in bed as she told Meg: “Take a breather.”

Some fans suggested that Andrada was making compelling TV, with one writing on X: “Andrada is tv gold. keep her in the villa.” Another said: “Andarna u have entered the hall of fame.”

A third viewer wrote: “Whoever found Andrada dead a raise, non stop entertainment.” Another said: “Andrada is tv gold.” Sharing their thoughts, one fan said: “OMG … this episode is giving S3 days …Andrada was ready to SCRAP…Now this is what you call TV!”

Others however weren’t impressed by his behaviour. One said: “This is not entertainment, they are all being horrible to Meg and you need to sort those girls out. They are mean girls it’s utter disgraceful.” Another wrote: “Andrada doing WAY too much. we can see straight through you babe.”

Someone said: “Not sure this spin off series is working, think Argument Island is a one series wonder.” Another person wrote: “Andrada proving Ben right, minutes after their chat. She loves to be up in everyone’s business.”

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