- Wall Street leaders concerned about Mamdani’s policies impacting NYC competitiveness
- Some finance heavyweights including Ackman oppose Mamdani
- Mamdani has engaged with business leaders
World
Haley’s campaign a giant step for GOP women, but bigger still for Trump
With polls showing Nikki Haley trailing Donald Trump by a wide margin heading into this weekend’s South Carolina Republican primary, many political analysts characterise the vote as Haley’s last stand in her quixotic bid to win the party’s 2024 presidential nomination.
Regardless of the result, however, scholars have said that Haley’s campaign is a historic one. By outdistancing a field dominated by men to effectively challenge the immensely popular Trump, she has moved women one step closer to political parity in electoral politics.
Polls indicate that Trump is leading Haley by as many as 36 percentage points heading into Saturday’s South Carolina primary, even though Haley is a native and former governor of the Palmetto State. And while winning the South Carolina primary would open the door for Trump to capture the party’s nomination outright when 15 states hold their primaries simultaneously next month, Haley’s campaign has, at least in theory, charted a path to remain in the race until Super Tuesday, which could give the former United Nations ambassador an advantage in the 2028 presidential ballot.
Haley, for her part, has pledged to remain in the race despite the odds. Speaking at her alma mater, Clemson University, on Tuesday, she said, “Some of you — perhaps a few of you in the media — came here today to see if I’m dropping out of the race,” she said. “Well, I’m not. Far from it.”
Haley’s emergence as the last woman standing in what was a crowded race stands in stark contrast to candidates like former New Jersey Governor Chris Christie and ex-Arkansas Governor Asa Hutchinson, who styled themselves as “anti-Trump” candidates. Conversely, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis hewed close to Trump in both style and substance before dropping out in January, after failing to distinguish himself from the frontrunner and presumptive nominee.
Haley, on the other hand, has staked out a middle ground, portraying herself as a would-be “accountant” in the White House, and consequently a calming alternative to Trump’s four years of “chaos”.
Initially circumspect in her criticism, Haley has turned up the heat as the GOP field has narrowed, attacking Trump’s efforts to insert loyalists in the Republican National Convention, highlighting his rising stack of legal troubles, and taking more direct aim at Trump’s “insecurity” and temper tantrums.
Her policy proposals, however, are not substantively different from her former boss, and as recently as this month, Haley told reporters in South Carolina that her campaign is not an “anti-Trump movement”, according to the Washington Post.
Part of Haley’s strategy is to walk a tightrope when it comes to addressing her gender and Indian ancestry in a modern Republican party that is slow to change, Kelly Dittmar, director of research at the Center for American Women and Politics at Rutgers University, told Al Jazeera.
For instance, Dittmar said that Haley has, in many ways, leaned into her role as the rare woman in a Republican presidential race, but she has not necessarily portrayed gender as a “point of merit”, underscoring the conservative “idea that somehow hearing about gender and racial identity is anti-meritocratic … and [Republicans] don’t play into identity politics.”
“If you go back to Hillary Clinton in 2016, she used to say, ‘I’m not asking you to vote for me because I’m a woman, I’m asking you to vote for me on the merits. But one of those merits is I’m a woman,’” Dittmar said.
In contrast, Haley has used gendered imagery to boost “masculine credentials” and an image of male toughness that still resonates in the party, repeatedly referring to her high-heeled shoes as “ammunition”. In the advertisement launching her campaign, she proclaimed, “When you kick back, it hurts them more if you’re wearing heels.”
Moreover, on the issue of race, Haley has tacked to the right, consistent with Trump’s own views, sparking controversy by failing to cite slavery as a reason for the US Civil War. And she has repeated a regular Republican line, most recently in an interview in late January. “I don’t think America’s racist,” she said. “I think we have racism in America.”
A historical benchmark
In turn, Trump’s attacks on Haley suggest that there remains a tolerance – if not appetite – for racism and sexism among his supporters, Dittmar said. In January, Trump referred to Haley as “birdbrained” and “not presidential timber”.
Trump has amplified the conspiracy that Haley, who is of Indian descent, was not born in the US, redolent of a tactic known as “birtherism” which he championed during Barack Obama’s 2008 presidential campaign, falsely alleging that the nation’s first African American president was born in Kenya, and was therefore ineligible to run for president.
The former president has also referred to Haley as “Nimbra”, an apparent debasement of her first name, Nimarata (Nikki, the name she uses, is her middle name).
Many have said that Trump’s remarks are hardly surprising for a candidate who had previously bragged about sexually assaulting women, derided his 2016 Democratic opponent Hillary Clinton as a “nasty woman” who did not look presidential and suggested in 2015 that a female debate moderator had “blood coming out of her whatever”.
While such attacks have come to be seen as part and parcel of a Trump campaign, Dittmar noted that studies have regularly indicated high measures of “hostile sexism” and “racial resentment” among his supporters.
“It is not surprising that Trump would use sexist or racist language or strategies, because that’s actually been beneficial for him to mobilise a lot of these voters,” Dittmar told Al Jazeera. “[Nikki Haley] brings that out, but perhaps to his advantage, at least among his base”.
Haley has fought back, launching the National Women for Nikki Coalition, a 50-state effort that many see as a last-ditch effort to energise the voting bloc.
And while it may ultimately be a matter of too little, too late, Haley’s staying power in the race represents a historical benchmark for a political party that has traditionally been dominated by white men. And both voters, donors and the media appear to hold her in much higher regard than Sarah Palin, the former Alaska governor and self-proclaimed “hockey mom” who was often ridiculed by stand-up comedians and late-night talk show hosts.
“It is notable to recognise and to give Haley credit for pushing the envelope on the Republican side for at least more seriously taking a woman candidate as a potential nominee,” Dittmar said.
“In the modern context, she will have gotten farther than any other Republican woman, and I do think that that’s something worth pointing out, regardless of what happens.”
Electoral vulnerabilities
While a resounding defeat in South Carolina seems likely, Haley’s race has, if nothing else, taken the temperature of the modern Republican Party and the existential crisis represented by Trump’s enduring hold, according to politics watchers.
Perhaps most illuminating during Haley’s run has been just how difficult it has been for Haley – or any of the now departed Republican candidates – to find any purchase in attacks on Trump, a heterodox politician who has continued to polarise members of the party.
In 2020, a movement against Trump largely coalesced under the “Never Trump” banner. While that effort has been less vocal this election cycle, there is a “minority, but a significant kind of disaffected Republican voter still looking for an alternative to Trump,” according to Aaron Kall, an elections expert at the University of Michigan.
“That shows that if Trump is the nominee, which is still likely, that he does have some general election vulnerabilities,” he said.
He pointed to several prominent donors who have continued to provide the funds Haley needs to stay in the race, many hailing from the more traditional conservative old guard of the Republican Party. Haley’s campaign said she raised $16.5m in January – nearly a third of the $42m in campaign cash raised by Trump last month – which Haley described as her largest monthly haul since entering the race.
Before the South Carolina primary, Haley also attended a Texas fundraiser co-hosted by real estate magnate Harlan Crow and oil tycoon Ray Lee Hunt, among others, according to Fortune magazine.
Enduring hold
Some have viewed Haley’s persistence as an effort to position herself as the natural successor to Trump in the event that he is unable to be the party’s nominee.
Trump is the first candidate in US history to face one criminal indictment – let alone four – during his campaign, creating an unprecedented situation that could potentially find the former president behind bars come November, raising the question of electability.
“We have empirical evidence to show that MAGA [Trump’s “Make America Great Again” movement] has been dwindling in size, not growing in influence in the party,” Rina Shah, a political strategist, told Al Jazeera.
She pointed to the 2022 midterm elections in which Trump-endorsed candidates underperformed, resulting in a predicted red wave turning into a ripple.
Shah said she believes Haley’s losses in Iowa and New Hampshire, and recent polls, have not reflected the extent to which Trump has turned off some segments of the Republican Party, particularly suburban women.
“The general election of 2024 is going to be determined by independently minded voters in swing states,” Shah told Al Al Jazeera. “That is who I believe Trump cannot bring in in this election because he lost them in 2020 in a big way.”
Still, the former president has demonstrated an ability to mobilise his enthusiastic base, something that his Democratic opponent, President Joe Biden, has not been able to do so far this election season. The irony, Shah said, is that while Haley’s campaign has raised the bar for women running for high political office, it has paradoxically shown that Trump is a political juggernaut.
Even when Trump is “hardly campaigning, when he’s under all these legal challenges”, Shah pointed out that “his base’s loyalty to him is just so much deeper than we have seen with other candidates”.
In sum, Haley’s run has shown the Republican Party “is still a cult of personality” – for Trump.
NEW YORK, Oct 31 (Reuters) – Wall Street and the finance industry have broad misgivings about the prospect of frontrunner Zohran Mamdani becoming New York City’s mayor, but many are hopeful he moderates his positions as they prepare to try and work alongside him.
Mamdani’s policies range from hiking taxes on New York City’s wealthiest, raising the corporation tax, freezing stabilized apartment rental rates and increasing publicly subsidized housing, raising worries among the finance community that the city’s competitiveness will suffer.
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“There are a whole bunch of ideas that are well-intentioned. What I agree with is that he has attracted real passion,” said Cromwell Coulson, chief executive at Manhattan-based markets data and trading platform OTC Markets Group. Still, Coulson cited concerns, saying that some people could be driven to leave the city if it becomes an unfriendly place for commerce.
“It won’t be day one, but you will see where our hiring footprints go,” said Coulson, who said he ultimately supports Mamdani’s top rival in the race, former Governor Andrew Cuomo, a moderate Democrat. Republican Curtis Sliwa is also on the ballot in the November 4 election.
Reuters spoke to more than half a dozen other members of the finance community, including executives or representatives of financial firms or industry sectors, who declined to be named talking about politics.
“If the election turns out the way the polls suggest, … let’s hope that the worst fears of what might occur thereafter are not realized and that the new mayor, whoever it might be, continues to realize the importance of the business community to the city,” Peter Orszag, CEO of financial advisory and asset management firm Lazard CEO, said on a recent earnings conference call. Orszag had served under Democratic former President Barack Obama as director of the Office of Management and Budget.
Some heavyweights in finance have poured money into efforts to defeat Mamdani. High-profile investor Bill Ackman posted on X on Sunday that Mamdani’s “anti-business policies including higher corporate taxes will kill NYC jobs and cause companies to flee.” Ackman has donated $1 million to Defend NYC, which describes itself as a “bipartisan group of New Yorkers united by a shared concern over the policies and record of Zohran Mamdani,” and $750,000 to Fix the City, which supports Cuomo, according to data on the New York City Campaign Finance Board website.
Billionaire investor Dan Loeb has donated $600,000 to Fix the City and $100,000 to Defend NYC. Representatives for both Ackman and Loeb declined comment.
Still, with betting website Polymarket having the odds of Mamdani winning at 95%, Wall Street leaders are increasingly focusing on how to work with him. Indeed, Mamdani has been engaged directly with business leaders. He spoke with CEOs in meetings organized by the Partnership for New York City, whose members include Wall Street banks, private equity firms and law firms, according to Kathryn Wylde, CEO of the organization. In the summer, he spoke by phone with JPMorgan Chase (JPM.N) CEO Jamie Dimon, who offered help if Mamdani becomes mayor, one of the sources said. Another of the sources said Mamdani has been engaged with the real estate industry.
The call with Dimon was previously reported by Bloomberg.
Yasser Salem, CEO of OneNYC, an independent expenditure committee that backs Mamdani, told Reuters in an interview that he is assembling an advisory council of business leaders to work with Mamdani if he prevails.
“We are highly focused on building specific instances and demonstrations of trust” with the business community, Salem said.
Representatives for Mamdani and Cuomo did not respond to requests for comment.
While the mayor of New York does not have direct oversight on Wall Street, the mayor sets the tone on whether the global heart of capitalism is perceived as business friendly. Governor Kathy Hochul in September endorsed Mamdani in an opinion piece in The New York Times, while saying that she wants to keep New York the center of the global economy.
Christina Greer, a political science professor at Fordham University in New York, noted that for tax hikes to be enacted Mamdani would have to work in conjunction with Albany, which must approve any city tax hikes.
“Whatever process will happen will be incredibly slow and may never actually affect” wealthy residents, said Greer.
RIPPLE EFFECTS THROUGH CITY
Real estate could see a ripple effect, with Mamdani pushing for a rent freeze on rent-stabilized apartments, a measure undertaken by former Mayor Bill de Blasio but reversed by the current outgoing mayor, Eric Adams.
A potential rent freeze has spooked many landlords and lenders, said Paul Rahimian, CEO of Parkview Financial, a Los Angeles real estate lender which has a New York City office. Rahimian said the firm was taking a “hold and see” attitude to extending new loans to real estate developers and projects in New York until after the election.
“There are a lot of landlords that are now no longer making money but whose properties are costing them money every year,” he said.
Isaac Toledano, founder and CEO of Miami-based real estate investment firm BH Group, said he anticipated that 2026 would be busy with relocations from New York to Florida if Mamdani wins.
“There are a lot of people that do not agree with what he’s going to do,” said Toledano.
Reporting by Anirban Sen, Tatiana Bautzer, Lananh Nguyen, Suzanne McGee; additional reporting by Maria Tsvetkova, Matt Tracy, Megan Davies; Writing by Megan Davies; Editing by Leslie Adler
Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.
World
Ex-Mossad chief behind Iran nuclear warehouse raid says Iran’s atomic sites ‘obliterated,’ credits Trump
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EXCLUSIVE: The former director of Mossad, Yossi Cohen, confirmed that the joint operation coordinated by the United States and Israel “obliterated” Iran’s nuclear sites, halting its uranium enrichment, and warned that Israel “can come again” if Tehran resumes its nuclear program.
Speaking on the sidelines of the Shurat HaDin conference at the Museum of Jewish Heritage in New York City this week, Cohen, who led Israel’s intelligence agency until 2021, described the operation as a turning point for Israel’s security and the region’s diplomatic future.
“For many years, everyone knew that Iran was our premier client — and my personal client,” he said, recalling his years as a Mossad operative. “That was the nation and the station in our workflow because of the threat Iran posed to Israel.”
TRUMP’S IRAN GAMBLE PAYS OFF AS WWIII DOOMSAYERS NOW PRAISE ISRAEL-HAMAS CEASEFIRE
Former Mossad Director Yossi Cohen and Shurat HaDin President Nitsana Darshan-Leitner attend an event on Oct. 28, 2025. (Ohad Kab)
“Since June 2025, Iran has been in a different position,” he said. “I can absolutely accept the president’s description that Iran’s nuclear sites were obliterated. I know for sure that Iran doesn’t enrich uranium these days, which is a great achievement. And more than that, Iran knows two things: first, that we can, and we did — with the U.S., in beautiful cooperation and coordination. And second, something even more important — we can come again.”
Cohen praised the Trump administration for its discreet coordination with Israel, the Mossad and the IDF that enabled the joint strike.
Map of US strikes on Iran. (Fox News)
“We destroyed their air-defense systems, their Revolutionary Guard sites, we chased their filthy terrorists in their own bedrooms and beds inside Tehran and other cities,” he said. “We destroyed the nuclear facilities that were threatening the State of Israel up to the level of an existential threat — and they know that we’ve done a beautiful job there.”
The day Israel stole Iran’s nuclear archive
In his newly released book, The Sword of Freedom, Cohen — who worked directly with three U.S. presidents — recalls how he warned President Barack Obama in 2015 that the Iran nuclear deal was dangerous.
“I told him it was risky,” Cohen writes. “He said, ‘Yossi, you are so wrong.’”
That conversation, he says, was a scene later repeated with President Donald Trump. “When Trump took office in 2016, I told him the deal was ‘so wrong’ in principle and practice. He replied, ‘You’re so right. It’s the worst deal ever.’”
INSIDE ISRAEL’S SECRET WAR IN IRAN: MOSSAD COMMANDOS, HIDDEN DRONES AND THE STRIKE THAT STUNNED TEHRAN
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu presents material on Iranian nuclear weapons development during a press conference in Tel Aviv, April 2018. (Sebastian Scheiner/AP)
“We love it when the weather is extreme — when everyone else stays indoors.”
A key turning point, Cohen said, was the 2018 Mossad operation to steal Iran’s nuclear archive — a mission that ultimately influenced the U.S. decision to withdraw from the deal.
On Jan. 31, 2018, Cohen watched a live video feed showing a 25-member Mossad squad infiltrating Tehran on a cold, snowy night. “In the Mossad, we love it when the weather is extreme — when everyone else stays indoors,” he said with a smile.
That night, agents stole 55,000 pages of classified documents and 183 compact discs, which they smuggled back to Israel — “not by UPS,” Cohen joked. The materials revealed that while Iran was negotiating with the U.S. and world powers, it was secretly continuing its nuclear weapons work.
Hostage deal and the “day after” in Gaza
Cohen also spoke about the recent Trump administration brokered hostage deal.
“I can’t thank them enough, together with our allies in the Middle East,” he said. “All living hostages are free, and I hope to receive the remaining bodies shortly, as Hamas has committed.”
People wave Israeli and American flags in Hostages Square during a rally supporting hostages and missing families following the Israel-Hamas peace deal. (Dana Reany/Hostages and Missing Families Forum)
He expressed optimism that the end of the war in Gaza could mark the beginning of a new diplomatic era.
“From now on, we will see a better Middle East when this war is practically over,” he said. “Maybe the reconstruction of our relationships in the region will start to resume.”
“More peace treaties will come”
Cohen predicted that renewed normalization efforts would extend beyond the Abraham Accords, which he helped establish during his tenure as Mossad chief.
“Not only will the Saudis be in line,” he said. “I know there are some rumors about Indonesia, I cherish that, of course, and I’m expecting other countries to come and sign peace treaties with the State of Israel.”
He noted that Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman is expected to visit Washington soon, calling it “an important visit not only for him, but for us in the region.”
TRUMP AND NETANYAHU CELEBRATE ‘HISTORIC VICTORY’ AGAINST IRAN, EYE FUTURE MIDDLE EAST PEACE
Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei is pictured sitting next to a senior military official in Iran. (Getty Images)
“In the spirit of the American president right now and his beautiful team — Steve Witkoff, Jared Kushner, Marco Rubio and others,” he added, “I’m expecting to see more peace treaties in the future.”
The Iranian regime and the road ahead
At the Shurat HaDin conference, Cohen also said he believes the overthrow of the Iranian regime is possible, though it may take years.
“The Iranian people suffer under a cruel regime — anyone who dares to protest is hanged or shot,” he said. “But I believe the time has come, and if the world supports it, it will happen.”
Shurat HaDin President Nitsana Darshan-Leitner, who hosted the event, warned of the ongoing political and legal threats facing Israel.
“The war is not yet over,” she said. “Political threats to establish a Palestinian state alongside Israel, and the aggressiveness of the International Criminal Court, are driving an unprecedented rise in anti-Israel sentiment and antisemitism. We must unite all forces working on this issue to fight back — on the battlefield, in the courts, and in the arena of global public opinion.”
Could Cohen one day replace Netanyahu as prime minister?
A file picture taken at the Israeli foreign ministry on October 15, 2015, shows Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu (L) sitting next to Yossi Cohen, who is currently the head of Israel’s National Security Council, and who was named as the 12th head of the Mossad intelligence agency by Netanyahu on Dec. 7, 2015. (GALI TIBBON/AFP via Getty Images)
In the Fox News Digital interview, Cohen also addressed speculation about his political ambitions, following Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s 2018 hint that he could one day be his successor.
“I’m not going into politics right now,” he said. “There’s a long, long way to go before I enter politics. I think the Israeli situation today is relatively stable, and nobody is going anywhere. Next year we’ll have elections for sure, and I don’t think I’ll join.”
However, he did not rule out future involvement in Israel’s foreign affairs.
“I’d love to do whatever it takes to support Israel’s relationships internationally,” he said. “We need better agreements, good ones, with as many countries as we can.”
Soldier reportedly killed in first-known attack in Nigeria by Jama’at Nusrat al-Islam wal-Muslimin, an armed group active in Mali and Burkina Faso.
Published On 31 Oct 2025
An al-Qaeda–linked armed group active in the Sahel has claimed responsibility for an attack that killed a soldier in central Nigeria this week, its first known attack in the country.
In a video posted on its Telegram channel late on Thursday, Jama’at Nusrat al-Islam wal-Muslimin (JNIM) said it launched the attack in Nigeria’s Kwara State in the early hours of Wednesday, killing a soldier and seizing ammunition and cash.
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A Nigerian military source confirmed to the Reuters news agency that JNIM had attacked soldiers on patrol, killing one soldier. But the army did not respond to an official request for comment.
JNIM is one of several armed groups operating in West Africa and the Sahel. It previously said it aims to establish an Islamic caliphate while expelling Western-influenced governments.
Formed in 2017, the group’s operations initially started in Mali before they spread to Burkina Faso and parts of Niger. JNIM has also launched attacks in the northernmost regions of Ghana, Ivory Coast, Benin and Togo.
Recently in Mali, JNIM declared a blockade on fuel imported from neighbouring countries. This has crippled parts of the country and forced schools and universities to shut.
In Burkina Faso in May, the group launched a major attack in the town of Djibo, killing about 200 soldiers, and last year it attacked the town of Barsalogho, killing 200 civilians.
The group’s apparent advance into Nigeria comes as Abuja’s government already battles a separate rebellion led by Boko Haram and Islamic State West Africa Province (ISWAP).
The years of fighting have killed tens of thousands of people and displaced more than two million more in the north of the country.
Last week, President Bola Tinubu appointed new service chiefs in a sweeping overhaul of the country’s military leadership, saying this was meant to strengthen national security.
On Thursday, without mentioning names, Tinubu told the new military leaders that he was concerned with the recent emergence of new armed groups in the north central, northwest and parts of southern Nigeria.
“We must not allow these new threats to fester. We must be decisive and proactive. Let us smash the new snakes right at the head,” Tinubu said.
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