A US-European rift over the future of Ukraine is set to overshadow a G20 summit starting in South Africa on Saturday further marked by Donald Trump’s pointed absence. The Johannesburg gathering is being attended by a host of world leaders including French President Emmanuel Macron, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Chinese Premier Li Qiang, Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.But Trump is boycotting, with his government saying South Africa’s priorities — notably boosting global cooperation on trade and climate action — run counter to US policy.The US president nevertheless loomed large at the event, the first summit of the group of major economies to be held in Africa, after producing a surprise unilateral US plan to end the war in Ukraine largely in line with Russia’s goals.Following an urgent call with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, Macron, German Chancellor Friedrich Merz and UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer stressed that any such plan needed the “joint support and consensus of European partners and NATO allies”.On Saturday, European leaders are to meet on the sidelines of the summit to make it clear “that there should be nothing about Ukraine without Ukraine”, European Commission chief Ursula von der Leyen said.She said a follow-up meeting would be held at an EU-Africa Union summit in Angola on Monday and Tuesday.Trump has warned Ukraine it has a limited window to accept his administration’s 28-point plan, telling Fox News Radio that “Thursday is, we think, an appropriate time”.- Climate impasse -Another issue dogging the G20 summit was a deadlock at COP30 climate negotiations taking place in Brazil.Friday was meant to be the last day of those talks, which had gone on for nearly two weeks. But they threatened to drag on because petro-states were accused of resisting any reference to a fossil fuel phaseout in the final text.Despite the headwinds, host South Africa was projecting optimism that it would get backing for its G20 aims to reduce economic inequalities, shrink debt for low-income countries, secure help for clean-energy transitions and establish a critical minerals pact.”As South Africa, we are hoping that we will have the leaders’ declaration adopted, which will set a new and continuing agenda for the world, particularly the G20,” President Cyril Ramaphosa said late Friday.Political negotiators from the participating countries finalised on Friday a final draft joint text for the leaders to agree on, sources told AFP. They were not authorised to divulge the draft’s contents.It was uncertain the document would be a traditional summit statement, given the US boycott and a warning from Washington that no declaration in the name of the G20 should be issued.Ramaphosa, who has bristled at the US absence and the Trump government’s unfounded allegations of a “white genocide” in South Africa, has been joined by other leaders in stressing that the G20 was an important platform for multilateral cooperation. “Multilateralism is our best, maybe our only defence against disruption, violence and chaos. And South Africa put multilateralism to work,” Antonio Costa, European Council president, told a pre-summit press conference. The US boycott echoes Trump’s decision not to send an official delegation to the COP30.Washington has said it would send its charge d’affaires from its embassy at the end of the Johannesburg meeting only for a handover ceremony, as the United States will host next year’s G20 summit at a golf club owned by Trump in Florida.The G20 is a grouping of 19 countries plus the European Union and the African Union. It represents 85 percent of global GDP and around two-thirds of the world’s population.

Months of sniping melted away Friday as New York’s incoming leftist mayor Zohran Mamdani and President Donald Trump were all smiles at a White House meeting — promising to set aside their feud and cooperate on the city’s future.Mamdani, a 34-year-old political insurgent who rocketed from obscurity to win City Hall earlier this month, had taken on Trump in a bruising war of words, likening the Republican to “bad landlords… taking advantage of their tenants.”Washington watchers were bracing for sparks to fly when the self-described Democratic socialist met the Republican leader who has in turn branded the mayor-elect a “communist” and suggested the Ugandan-born New Yorker should be deported.But the Oval Office summit was instead the embodiment of civility as a beaming Trump, 79, praised Mamdani’s historic election win, said he could do a “great job,” and called him a “man who really wants to see New York be great again.””We’re going to be helping him to make everybody’s dream come true: having a strong and very safe New York,” Trump said. Mamdani described the face-to-face as “very productive” and spoke of the leaders’ “shared admiration and love” for America’s financial capital and largest city.By dinnertime, Trump had shared multiple photographs of the White House meeting on his Truth Social platform, gushing that “It was a Great Honor meeting Zohran Mamdani, the new Mayor of New York City!”The about-face caused some conservative figures to recoil, with prominent far-right activist Laura Loomer framing the unexpected cordiality as a harbinger of political disaster.”The Democrats will have a land slide in the midterms after today,” she wrote on X. “How will the GOP campaign ahead of 2026 if Mamdani and his policies are now considered rational?”Both men hail from the Queens borough of New York City and both are masters of political theater — but their styles couldn’t be more different, with Trump thriving on bombast and grievance as Mamdani pitches affordability and inclusion.Oval Office encounters with the brash billionaire often turn into ambush theater — a lesson absorbed by Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky, who endured a public dressing-down by Trump and Vice President JD Vance. Political analysts had warned that Mamdani could be walking into a Zelensky-like situation. For weeks they had traded barbs, with Trump threatening to make life difficult for the young political upstart.- Political lightning strike -But Trump repeatedly offered his support for Mamdani — even telling reporters it was “OK” for the younger politician to have called him a “despot.””I’ve been called much worse than a despot. So it’s not that insulting. Maybe he’ll change his mind after we get to working together,” a conciliatory Trump said, adding that he hoped Mamdani would be “a really great mayor.” For his part, Mamdani noted that many New Yorkers had backed Trump in the 2024 presidential election “because of that focus on cost of living.” “And I’m looking forward to working together to deliver on that affordability,” he said.It was all a far cry from the barbs the pair had exchanged in the run-up to the meeting.Beyond mocking Mamdani’s South Asian name, the president has dangled cuts to federal funding and even National Guard deployments — a tactic he used against other Democratic cities.Mamdani’s rise has been nothing short of electric. Virtually unknown a year ago, he stormed the political barricades with a campaign promising rent freezes, free buses, and city-run grocery stores — while flooding social media with upbeat videos and dialed-up charisma.He didn’t just win — he shattered records, pulling in more than one million votes, the first New York mayoral candidate to do so since 1969.Yet the firebrand progressive set to become New York’s first Muslim mayor has shown flashes of pragmatism, soothing centrists wary of a radical shake-up.He reappointed incumbent police commissioner Jessica Tisch, a steady hand popular with rank-and-file officers, and named veteran bureaucrat Dean Fuleihan as his first deputy mayor — signs of continuity amid his promised revolution.On the campaign trail, Mamdani cast himself as part of the anti-Trump resistance, but he has since stressed his desire to work with the president on the “national crisis of affordability.”