## New York Mayor Mamdani Applauded for Closing $12 Billion Budget Deficit Without Austerity Measures

Authored by commondreams.org

"He inherited a huge budget deficit, brought it down to zero, and still invested in childcare, housing, and city infrastructure.".

"We didn’t close the gap on the backs of working people," said Mamdani.

"Many said the only way out of this was slashing services and passing an austerity budget," said Mamdani in a video his office posted on social media.

When we came into office, we uncovered a $12 billion budget deficit.

We closed it while funding parks, libraries, safer streets and making historic investments in public… pic.twitter.com/TbNu6fhvjs. — Mayor Zohran Kwame Mamdani (@NYCMayor) May 12, 2026.

"Mayor Mamdani was always going to have to contend with the gaping $12 billion hole that Eric Adams left in our city budget," said Leirer.

"This commitment is exactly why New Yorkers voted Mamdani into office last fall," she added, "For real, commonsense solutions to alleviate our city’s cost-of-living crisis. »

### France confines more than 1,700 people to cruise ship after suspected norovirus outbreak

Authored by theguardian.com

French authorities have confined more than 1,700 passengers and crew members to a cruise ship docked in Bordeaux after a suspected norovirus outbreak, officials have said.

The vessel, Ambition, which is carrying 1,233 passengers, most of them British or Irish nationals, arrived in Bordeaux on Tuesday.

Ambassador confirmed there were 48 active gastrointestinal illness cases among the passengers and one among the crew on the vessel, which was on a 14-night cruise. »

### More than 1,000 passengers held on cruise after gastrointestinal illness outbreak

Authored by bbc.co.uk

Ambassador Cruise Line said in a separate statement that as of 11:00 BST on Wednesday, 48 passengers were displaying symptoms consistent with gastrointestinal illness, as well as one crew member.

The cruise ship set sail from Belfast on 8 May, before heading to Liverpool the next day.

It said "a number of guests and crew onboard Ambition have displayed or are displaying symptoms consistent with gastrointestinal illness". »

### Trump’s military cheerleader who is learning about war the hard way

Authored by inews.co.uk

And in his second term, Trump has found the perfect dance partner to brand this philosophy into the US military: “War” Secretary Pete Hegseth.

Less explosively, but just as importantly, Hegseth seemed to lack the sort of high-level managerial experience required to competently oversee America’s sprawling military bureaucracies.

His ham-fisted attempts to root “wokeness” out of the military, including anti-“DEI” scrubs of the curricula of military colleges and military-history databases. »

### Foreign investors pull out of India at record pace

Authored by yahoo.com

Foreign investors have pulled $21 billion out of Indian stocks in the last two months, putting 2026 on track to be the worst year for outflows since the markets opened to overseas investment in 1993.

Investors are instead looking to South Korea and Taiwan, where stocks are booming on the back of AI chip demand.

India has also been hit especially hard by the ripple effects of the Iran war, with New Delhi recently urging Indians to travel less and stop buying gold. »

## In pictures

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