Shootings, murders in Chicago rose 50% in 2020

Agencies

January 4, 2021

Chicago, Jan 4: Shootings and murders in the US city of Chicago increased by more than 50 per cent in 2020, official figures revealed.

City officials attributed the rise in violence in 2020 to the prevailing coronavirus pandemic and the civil unrest that took place in the middle of the year against racism and police brutality, Xinhua news agency reported.

According to the final crime number released by the city police, there were 769 murders in 2020, up from 495 in 2019; and 3,261 shootings in 2020, up from 2,140 in 2019.

The number of shooting victims climbed from 2,598 in 2019 to 4,033 in 2020.

Cook County, where Chicago is located, reported more gun-related homicides in 2020 than any other year, surpassing the previous record set in 1994.

The county witnessed 875 gun-related homicides in 2020, exceeding the 838 recorded in 1994, according to a statement from the medical examiner's office.

The medical examiner's office handled 970 homicides in total in 2020, the most since 1996.

The figure represents a 40 per cent increase over 2019's homicide total of 675.

Most of the homicides took place in the city of Chicago, and the African-American community was disproportionately impacted, accounting for 78 per cent of the victims, the figures further revealed.

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In meeting with Zohran Mamdani, Trump repeats claim he stopped India-Pak war

Agencies

November 22,2025

New York/Washington: US President Donald Trump has again claimed to have solved the conflict between India and Pakistan, repeating his assertion during a meeting with New York City Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani in the Oval Office.

Mamdani flew to Washington DC for his first meeting with Trump in the White House on Friday. Trump said he “enjoyed” the meeting, which he described as “great.”

During remarks in the Oval Office, with Mamdani standing next to him, Trump repeated his claim that he solved the May conflict between India and Pakistan.

"I did eight peace deals of countries, including India and Pakistan,” he said.

On Wednesday, Trump had said he threatened to put 350 per cent tariffs on India and Pakistan if they did not end their conflict, repeating his claim that he solved the fighting between the nuclear-armed neighbours and that Prime Minister Narendra Modi had called him to say “we're not going to go to war.”

Since May 10, when Trump announced on social media that India and Pakistan had agreed to a “full and immediate” ceasefire after a “long night” of talks mediated by Washington, he has repeated his claim over 60 times that he “helped settle” the tensions between India and Pakistan.

India has consistently denied any third-party intervention. India launched Operation Sindoor on May 7, targeting terror infrastructure in Pakistan and Pakistan-occupied Kashmir in retaliation for the April 22 Pahalgam attack that killed 26 civilians. India and Pakistan reached an understanding on May 10 to end the conflict after four days of intense cross-border drone and missile strikes.

Mamdani emerged victorious in the closely-watched battle for New York City Mayor, becoming the first South Asian and Muslim to be elected to sit at the helm of the largest city in the US.

He had been the front-runner in the NYC Mayoral election for months and defeated Republican nominee Curtis Sliwa and political heavyweight former New York State Governor Andrew Cuomo, who ran as an independent candidate and was officially endorsed by Trump just hours before the elections.

Indian-descent Mamdani is the son of renowned filmmaker Mira Nair and Columbia University professor Mahmood Mamdani. He was born and raised in Kampala, Uganda and moved to New York City with his family when he was 7. Mamdani became a naturalised US citizen only recently, in 2018.

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