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WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump on Friday met the man who had proudly proclaimed himself “Donald Trump’s worst nightmare,” but he seemed to find the opposite.

The Republican president and New York City’s Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani were warm and friendly, speaking repeatedly of their shared goals to help Trump’s hometown rather than their combustible differences.

Trump, who had in the past called Mamdani a “100% Communist Lunatic” and a “total nut job,” spoke openly of how impressed he was with the man who had called his administration “authoritarian.”

Trump said he was surprised by their “great” meeting and said of the democratic socialist, “I think he is going to surprise some conservative people, actually.”

Mamdani and Trump said they discussed housing affordability and the cost of groceries and utilities, as Mamdani successfully used frustration over inflation to get elected, just as the president did in the 2024 election.

“We’re going to be helping him, to make everybody’s dream come true, having a strong and very safe New York,” the president told reporters with Mamdani beside him in the Oval Office.

“What I really appreciate about the president is that the meeting that we had focused not on places of disagreement, which there are many, and also focused on the shared purpose that we have in serving New Yorkers,” Mamdani said.

The president brushed aside Mamdani’s criticisms of him over his administration’s deportation raids and claims that Trump was behaving like a despot. Instead, Trump said the responsibility of holding an executive position in the government causes a person to change, saying that had been the case for him.

He seemed at times even protective of Mamdani, jumping in on his behalf at several points when reporters asked him tough questions.

For example, when reporters asked Mamdani to clarify his past statements indicating that he thought the president was acting like a fascist, Trump said, “I’ve been called much worse than a despot.”

When a reporter asked if Mamdani stood by his comments that Trump is a fascist, Trump interjected before the mayor-elect could fully answer the question.

“That’s OK. You can just say yes. OK?” Trump said. “It’s easier. It’s easier than explaining it. I don’t mind.”

Trump jumped in again when a reporter asked Mamdani why he flew to Washington instead of taking transportation that used less fossil fuels.

“I’ll stick up for you,” Trump said.

READ: New York’s incoming leftist mayor to face off with Trump

All about affordability

Mamdani, who takes office in January, said he sought the meeting with Trump to talk about ways to make New York City more affordable. Trump has said he may want to help him out — although he has also falsely labeled Mamdani as a “communist” and threatened to yank federal funds from his hometown.

But Trump on Friday didn’t sling that at the mayor. He acknowledged that he had said he had been prepared to cut off funding or make it harder for New York City to access federal resources if the two had failed to “get along.”

But the president pulled back from those threats, saying: “We don’t want that to happen. I don’t think that’s going to happen.”

Trump loomed large over the mayoral race this year, and on the eve of the election, endorsed independent candidate and former Democratic Gov. Andrew Cuomo, predicting the city has “ZERO chance of success, or even survival” if Mamdani won. He also questioned the citizenship of Mamdani, who was born in Uganda and became a naturalized American citizen after graduating from college, and said he’d have him arrested if he followed through on threats not to cooperate with immigration agents in the city.

Mamdani beat back a challenge from Cuomo, painting him as a “puppet” for the president, and said he would be “a mayor who can stand up to Donald Trump and actually deliver.” He declared during one primary debate, “I am Donald Trump’s worst nightmare, as a progressive Muslim immigrant who actually fights for the things that I believe in.”

The president, who has long used political opponents to fire up his backers, predicted Mamdani “will prove to be one of the best things to ever happen to our great Republican Party.” As Mamdani upended the Democratic establishment by defeating Cuomo and his far-left progressive policies provoked infighting, Trump repeatedly has cast Mamdani as the face of Democratic Party.

For Mamdani, a sit-down with the president of the United States offered the state lawmaker who until recently was relatively unknown the chance to go head-to-head with the most powerful person in the world.

The meeting gave Trump a high-profile chance to talk about affordability at a time when he’s under increasing political pressure to show he’s addressing voter concerns about the cost of living.

“Some of his ideas are really the same ideas that I have,” the president said of Mamdani about inflationary issues.

Some had expected fireworks in the Oval Office meeting

The president has had some dramatic public Oval Office face-offs this year, including an infamously heated exchange with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy in March. In May, Trump dimmed the lights while meeting with South African President Cyril Ramaphosa and played a four-minute video making widely rejected claims that South Africa is violently persecuting the country’s white Afrikaner minority farmers.

A senior Trump administration official who spoke on condition of anonymity to describe internal discussions said Trump had not put a lot of thought into planning the meeting with the incoming mayor — but said Trump’s threats to block federal dollars from flowing to New York remained on the table.

Mamdani said Thursday that he was not concerned about the president potentially trying to use the meeting to publicly embarrass him and said he saw it as a chance to make his case, even while acknowledging “many disagreements with the president.”

Instead, both men avoided a public confrontation in a remarkably calm and cordial series of comments in front of news reporters.

Mamdani, who lives in Queens — where Trump was raised — has shown a cutthroat streak just as Trump has as a candidate. During his campaign, he appeared to borrow from Trump’s playbook when he noted during a televised debate with Cuomo that one of the women who had accused the former governor of sexual harassment was in the audience. Cuomo has denied wrongdoing.

But the tensions were subdued Friday as Trump seemed sympathetic to Mamdani’s policies to want to build more housing.

“People would be shocked, but I want to see the same thing,” the president said.

BELEM, Brazil — Negotiators pushed into overtime Friday to salvage UN climate talks in Brazil as a bitter fight over whether to mention fossil fuels threatened to derail a final agreement.

At stake at COP30 is securing a deal that paves the way for faster cuts to planet-warming emissions that are driving ever more extreme weather — and proving that international cooperation can still function in a fractured world.

After nearly two weeks of negotiations in the Amazonian city of Belem, a new draft agreement unveiled by COP30 host Brazil made no mention of “fossil fuels” or the word “roadmap” that President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva had himself publicly supported.

European Union climate commissioner Wopke Hoekstra said the text was “unacceptable” and that the summit risked ending without an agreement.

“I am saying it with a heavy heart, but what is now on the table is clearly no deal,” Hoekstra told reporters as negotiators huddled again in efforts to reach a compromise.

READ: Fire stalls final stretch of COP30 climate talks

Consensus required

Thirty-six countries — including wealthy nations, emerging economies and small island states — had warned in a letter to Brazil that they would reject any deal that did not include a plan to move away from fossil fuels.

France’s ecological transition minister, Monique Barbut, told AFP that oil-rich Russia and Saudi Arabia, along with coal producer India and “many” emerging countries, were blocking a deal on fossil fuels.

Arunabha Ghosh, a special envoy for South Asia at the talks, shot back against “finger pointing.”

“To assume that one side cares about the planet and the other side, because they are unhappy with the formulation, does not care about the planet does grievous harm to the spirit of negotiations,” he told AFP.

Ghosh also defended the exclusion of the fossil fuel phaseout roadmap, arguing developing countries needed to ensure energy security for their countries and a transition for workers dependent on the sector.

Consensus is needed among the nearly 200 nations to land an agreement at the UN climate conference, which this year is taking place without the United States as President Donald Trump shunned the event.

The head of COP30, Brazilian diplomat Andre Correa do Lago, said ruefully that those who doubt that cooperation is the best way forward for climate change “are going to be absolutely delighted to see that we cannot reach an agreement between us.”

The conference, which was disrupted for several hours by a fire at the site on Thursday, was supposed to end on Friday evening at 6:00 pm (2100 GMT) — a time that came and went, as is often the case at such summits.

Money fight

The push for a phaseout of oil, coal and gas — the main drivers of global warming — grew out of frustration over a lack of follow-through on the COP28 agreement in Dubai in 2023 to transition away from fossil fuels.

Divisions also remain over trade measures and finance for poorer nations to adapt to the impacts of climate change, such as floods and droughts, and move to a low-carbon future.

The rejected draft said there was a need for a “manyfold increase” in financial support for developing countries. It also called for “efforts to triple adaptation finance” by 2030 compared to 2025 levels.

“The EU is stuck with a much earlier tripling of adaptation finance than they’re comfortable with and in exchange they got nothing,” said Jake Schmidt, senior strategic director at the Natural Resources Defense Council, an advocacy group.

“It’s a tough pill to swallow,” Schmidt told AFP.

Hoekstra said the EU was “willing to be ambitious on adaptation” but that “any language on finance should squarely be within the commitment reached last year” at COP29 in Baku, where developed nations agreed to provide $300 billion in annual climate finance by 2035.

The EU is also fighting resistance led by China and India to its “carbon tax” on imports such as steel, aluminum, cement and fertilizers — measures Britain and Canada are also preparing to adopt.

MANILA< Philippines — An air patrol by the Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources (BFAR) faced 40 radio challenges from Chinese ships and aircraft at Panatag (Scarborough) Shoal on Friday.

The West Philippine Sea Transparency Office of the Philippine Coast Guard (PCG) said the BFAR plane conducted the maritime domain awareness (MDA) over the shoal.

The aircraft, a Cessna Caravan, received 34 radio challenges from a People’s Liberation Army Navy (PLA-N) vessel and six from a Chinese military aircraft, the PCG said, adding that the pilot responded professionally even as he emphasized to the encroaching Chinese that they were in Philippine waters.

Floating barriers

Panatag Shoal, also known as Bajo de Masinloc, is located some 220 kilometers away from Luzon in the West Philippine Sea, well within the country’s exclusive economic zone.

Much of that area remains occupied by Beijing after a 2012 standoff with the Philippine Navy.

The BFAR plane also observed several Chinese Coast Guard ships operating as close as one nautical mile into the shoal, and three buoys illegally installed in those waters, one in the northwest.

In October, the PCG found a yellow buoy installed at the northern tip of the shoal during an MDA flight at that time. The Philippine Navy also spotted floating barriers near the shoal during a maritime inspection.

Rear Adm. Roy Vincent Trinidad, Navy spokesperson for the West Philippine Sea, said then that China placed floating barriers in areas where it found a high number of Filipino fishermen and Philippine vessels.

‘Focus on our jobs’

A Chinese fighter jet flew near the southeastern approach, while an unidentified PLA-N helicopter was seen west of the shoal. PLA-N warships 553 and 165 were spotted further south.

BFAR said the air patrol was completed safely.

Commodore Jay Tarriela, PCG spokesperson for the West Philippine Sea, told reporters on Friday: “We are still focusing our attention on this patriotic duty. With regard to the domestic politics, it’s not something that we need to meddle in.”

“For us, this is our sworn duty so we are just going to focus on our jobs,” he said.

MANILA, Philippines — A 39-year-old man in Quezon Province was arrested for allegedly blackmailing a 16-year-old girl by threatening to expose a video of him appearing to rape her, the Philippine National Police Anti-Cybercrime Group (ACG) said on Friday.

The suspect—identified as “Noli,” who serves as a helper in his family’s thrift shop in Tayabas City—was arrested on Wednesday night in an entrapment operation, ACG Director Brig. Gen. Wilson Asueta said in an interview in Camp Crame.

According to Asueta, the suspect and the victim, a resident of Sariaya town, became acquainted last September through social media.

On Sept. 15, the suspect asked her to meet him at his apartment, also in that town, promising to give her P200 and “other gifts.”

“When she entered his apartment, she was threatened and taken advantage of. The young [girl] didn’t know she was being recorded on video,” Asueta said.

“The suspect told her he had a gun,” the police official said, but later noted that the police found no gun from Noli.

The victim did not immediately report the incident, according to Asueta.

When asked how P200 and “other gifts” were enough to lure the victim, he said,

“You know kids these days, even a small [sum], as long as they could use [that money]. There may also be some small items that the girl wanted to buy with P200, so she became encouraged.”

Asueta said the suspect resurfaced on Tuesday when he sent the video of the victim to one of her friends.

“He was forcing the victim to return to his home and have sex (makipagtalik) with him, or else he would spread her video,” the police official said.

MANILA, Philippines — Alice Guo may still be deported to China if she shows good behavior while doing time in a Philippine jail, a senator said, quoting the Department of Justice (DOJ).

Guo, the dismissed mayor of Bamban, Tarlac, was sentenced to life imprisonment after the Pasig City Regional Trial Court Branch 167 found her guilty of qualified trafficking in connection with her ties to a Philippine offshore gaming operation (Pogo) hub in Bamban.

Earlier in June, a Manila court had established Guo to be a Chinese citizen. Sen. Sherwin Gatchalian, citing the DOJ, said Guo could still reduce her sentence since she is eligible for good conduct time allowance.

Crime committed in PH

“Her sentence could be potentially shortened because if she shows good behavior, it may be reduced. That is the only basis on which we can say that she may be deported,” Gatchalian, who defended the DOJ’s proposed budget proposal for 2026, said in response to questions by Sen. Robinhood Padilla.

Since Guo had committed her crime in the Philippines,  she must also serve her time in a jail here, Gatchalian stressed.

Following its ruling, the Pasig court ordered Guo’s immediate transfer from the Pasig City Jail to the Correctional Institute for Women (CIW) in Mandaluyong City.

Padilla had asked if Guo could still be extradited, considering that Branch 34 of the Manila Regional Trial Court had already ruled that she is “undoubtedly a Chinese citizen.”

Gatchalian noted that many people were asking the same question since Guo’s birth certificate had already been canceled, while her passport had also been revoked.

He also noted that the former mayor had been charged with a crime committed in the Philippines and was, in fact, sentenced to serve a life term for qualified human trafficking.

Padilla then compared Guo’s case to foreigners he met in jail while he was detained for illegal possession of firearms. It will be recalled that Padilla was sentenced in 1994 to eight years in prison but was granted a conditional pardon only after four years by then-President Fidel Ramos.

With the help of their embassies, jailed foreigners are eventually deported to their home countries, Padilla said.

Fully prepared

Meanwhile, the Bureau of Corrections (BuCor) on Friday said it is “fully prepared” to accept Guo and other individuals who may be ordered by the court to be transferred to its custody.

BuCor said enhanced security measures are in place at the CIW upon the directive of Director General Gregorio Pio Catapang Jr. All personnel have also been placed on on-call status since Thursday.

“CIW Corrections Technical Superintendent, Marjorie Ann Sanidad informed Catapang that they already deployed additional Corrections Emergency Response Team to ensure peace and order within the facilities,” BuCor said in a statement.

Upon Guo’s admission to the CIW, she will undergo verification of her documents and belongings before being placed under quarantine for five days at the Reception and Diagnostic Center (RDC), during which she will be subject to a thorough medical examination.

Afterward, she will be transferred to the RDC regular dormitory for mandatory orientation, diagnostics and qualification.

“After completing the 60-day process at the RDC, she will be transferred to her assigned regular dormitory at the maximum security camp, considering that she is sentenced to life imprisonment,” Bucor said.

The two-month assessment period will help determine Guo’s psychological and physical needs, which will guide the CIW in creating an individualized treatment or rehabilitation program for her.

Guo, was found to be Chinese national named Guo Hua Ping and linked to criminal activities involving Pogos and sentenced to life imprisonment for organizing and directing a human trafficking network.

Compensation

In a 111-page decision, the Pasig City Regional Trial Court (RTC) found Guo guilty beyond reasonable doubt of qualified trafficking and ordered her and her coaccused to pay a P2-million fine each and compensate several trafficking victims who filed the complaints.

Also convicted were Jaimielyn Santos Cruz, Rachelle Malonzo Carreon and Walter Wong Rong for organizing trafficking activities inside the Baofu compound, where the raided Zun Yuan Technology Pogo hub was located. —WITH A REPORT FROM LUISA CABATO

The US government on Thursday released a new crash test dummy design that advocates believe will help make cars safer for women.

The Department of Transportation will consider using the dummy in the government’s vehicle crash test five star-ratings once a final rule is adopted, the agency said in a news release.

Women are 73-percent more likely to be injured in a head-on crash, and they are 17 percent more likely to be killed in a car crash, than men.

READ: Seoul begins self-driving shuttle service

The standard crash test dummy used in the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration five-star vehicle testing was developed in 1978 and was modeled after a 175-centimeter (5-foot-9), 78-kilogram (171-pound) man. The female dummy is smaller and has a rubber jacket to represent breasts. It’s routinely tested in the passenger or back seat but seldom in the driver’s seat, even though the majority of licensed drivers are women.

The new female dummy endorsed by the department more accurately reflects differences between men and women, including the shape of the neck, collarbone, pelvis, and legs. It is outfitted with more than 150 sensors, the department said.

Some American automakers have been skeptical, arguing the new model may exaggerate injury risks and undercut the value of some safety features, such as seat belts and airbags.

Legislation

Lawmakers and transportation secretaries from the past two presidential administrations have expressed support for new crash test rules and safety requirements but developments have been slow.

US Senators Deb Fischer, a Republican from Nebraska, and Tammy Duckworth, a Democrat from Illinois, both released statements welcoming the female crash test dummy announcement.

“Any progress here is good because there’s simply no good reason why women are more likely to be injured or die in car crashes,” Duckworth said.

Fischer introduced legislation, the She Drives Act, that would require the most advanced testing devices available, including a female crash test dummy. Duckworth is a cosponsor.

“It’s far past time to make these testing standards permanent, which will help save thousands of lives and make America’s roads safer for all drivers,” Fischer said.

The department said the new specifications will be available for manufacturers to build models and for the automotive industry to begin testing them in vehicles.

BELEM, Brazil—A fire broke out and briefly spread through the pavilions being used here for UN climate talks on Thursday, as delegates from more than 190 countries entered the final hours of tense negotiations.

The fire triggered a chaotic evacuation that further stalled efforts to seal an agreement on climate finance, adaptation targets and the measures needed to keep global warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius.

At least 21 people were treated for smoke inhalation. There were no immediate reports of individuals sustaining burn injuries, according to a statement issued by the Brazilian Ministry of Health.

READ: Southeast Asia protesters at COP30 highlight regional vulnerability

Organizers said the fire was controlled in about six minutes. Fire officials ordered the evacuation of the entire site for the conference, known as COP30, and it wasn’t clear when the talks would resume.

Video showed huge flames in one of the pavilions, which are reinforced canvas or fabric structures that typically have three walls and a floor.

Para state Gov. Helder Barbalho told local news outlet G1 that a generator failure or a short circuit in a booth may have started the fire.

‘World is watching Belem’

Earlier on Thursday, UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres appealed to all countries to “show willingness and flexibility to deliver results” at COP30.

“We are down to the wire, and the world is watching Belem. Communities on the front lines are watching too, counting flooded homes, failed harvests, lost livelihoods and asking how much more must we suffer? They have heard enough excuses. They demand results,” Guterres said at a press conference.

“After decades of denial and delay by many, science tells us that a temporary overshoot above 1.5 degrees, starting at the latest in the early 2030s, has become inevitable,” he said.

A key sticking point is the implementation of the 2015 Paris Agreement, which obliges rich countries to fund emissions cuts and adaptation measures in poorer countries, and to mobilize at least $300 billion per year with an overall climate financing target to reach at least $1.3 trillion by 2035.

The Adaptation Fund Report launched by the UN Environment Programme at COP30 estimated that the adaptation finance needs of developing countries could reach $310 to $365 billion per year by 3045. However, it noted that international funding from rich countries fell from $28 billion in 2022 to $26 billion in 2023.

For the Philippine negotiators and civil society groups, it was important to keep the negotiations going.

“We urgently need a global shift from higher ambition to stronger implementation. If we are to achieve transformative change grounded in justice and equity, we must not renegotiate principles, we must implement commitments,” said Environment Assistant Secretary Noralene Uy, who who heads the Philippine delegation.

The country remains committed to a climate action plan “that is anchored on fairness, equity and the principle of common but differentiated responsibilities,” Uy said.

PH poised to benefit, but . . .

While the Philippine government has yet to submit its updated plans, Uy said, it has pledged a 70-percent cut in emissions by 2030, covering energy, transport, forestry, industry and waste management.

The target is conditional or would depend on adequate finance, capacity building and technology transfer.

“Rich countries that have more resources should help countries that are suffering from the impacts of climate change so that we will be able to also cope and adapt to this crisis, especially the indigenous peoples,” said Joan Carling, Executive Director of the Indigenous Peoples Rights International.

The Philippine team at COP30 should keep pushing strongly for a loss and damage fund to address the inevitable impacts of climate change, including non-economic losses, Carling said.

“The country is poised to benefit from the loss and damage fund. However, it must also hold itself to higher standards of accountability. If corruption persists, the funds intended to support vulnerable communities may never reach the people who need them most,’’ she added.

READ: COP30: Malawi, Singapore to collaborate on carbon credits

While more than $700 million has been pledged and received under the Fund for Responding to Loss and Damage, COP30 made way to operationalize the release of $250 million for proposals to support countries at the front lines of climate change.

Vicente Paolo Yu, who leads the negotiation on loss and damage for the G77 and China, said a top priority to scale up finance and ensure that the fund can be used rapidly, with all developing countries given direct access.

“That is our long-standing call. You need to increase the amount of money that is in the fund … But some developed countries are opposing it,’’ Yu said.

He stressed the need to send “a strong message on loss and damage to make sure that the knowledge and the funding to implement the technical assistance can address the needs of countries.”

More than 80 countries also demand a clear transition roadmap away from oil, gas and coal, a move backed by ministers and civic movements from Africa, Asia, Latin America, European Union, United Kingdom and the Pacific.

Avril De Torres, deputy executive director of the Center for Energy, Ecology and Development, recalled that a historic decision was made during COP28 in Dubai in 2023 to move away from fossil fuels and triple renewables globally.

But continued reliance on fossil fuels still drove power sector emissions to an all-time high in 2024, De Torres said.

“Global leaders at COP30 cannot turn a blind eye to this fact, not when every second that coal, gas and oil keep burning takes away from meeting the 1.5-C goal and the very survival of vulnerable people across the world,” she said. —With a report from AP