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Al Jazeera

Trump administration invites Putin to attend G20 summit in Miami

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio says summit would be opportunity for Russian president to engage with global leaders.United States President Donald Trump has invited his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin to the upcoming G20 summit in Miami, Florida, the latest step meant to build ties between the two countries amid Russia’s ongoing invasion of Ukraine.US Secretary of State Marco Rubio told reporters on Wednesday that Putin had been invited to travel to the summit in December, saying that he hopes the Russian leader will take the opportunity to meet with global leaders.“In order to solve problems, you have to meet with the people that you disagree with or the people that you might have some issues with,” Rubio said. “So we’ve invited President Putin to the G20.”“We think it’s an opportunity for him to engage not just with the president, but with other world leaders. We hope that’s an invitation he’ll accept,” Rubio said.Rubio’s remarks followed a meeting with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA), currently convening in New York City.During a speech to the UNGA on Wednesday, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy called on the world to place more financial pressure on Russia.“When someone gives Russia more money through trade, they give this war more time. And that is exactly why we insist on limiting trade with the aggressor, and why we are burning Russia’s revenues ourselves,” he said, adding that he is sceptical that Russia is sincerely interested in taking steps that could end the war.Trump has searched in vain for an agreement between Russia and Ukraine to end the war sparked by Russia’s full-scale invasion in 2022.Ukrainian officials have called for a pause on strikes targeting energy infrastructure and for steps to facilitate shipping for the Black Sea. Russia has given little sign that it is interested in such an arrangement.“We are not going to have a pause in our special military operation,” Lavrov told the UN Security Council on Wednesday, accusing Europe of wanting to pause the fighting in order to “pump the Kyiv regime with weapons”.Rubio, however, continued to express optimism about the possibility of a temporary ceasefire.“I think both sides have expressed an interest in some limited ceasefire that involves grain and energy,” he said. “Obviously, you know, that won’t be easy, either.”Zelenskyy told reporters that Kyiv remains open to a maritime truce in the Black Sea.“We are waiting for Russia’s response,” he said, adding that his country is ready “to ensure safe shipping and food security in the Black Sea if Russia is ready to take real steps towards de-escalation, too”.The International Criminal Court (ICC) issued an arrest warrant for Putin in 2023 for the alleged war crime of deportation of Ukrainian children to Russian territory. The arrest warrant obliges member states to arrest Putin if he travels to their countries, but the court has no enforcement mechanism for this. The US is not a member of the ICC.

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Google News — Technology

Get Your Splat On: Insta360 Adds 360-to-3D Spatial Capture to Its Newer Cameras

Get Your Splat On: Insta360 Adds 360-to-3D Spatial Capture to Its Newer Cameras CNETInsta360’s New Spatial Video Update Launches in the US Soon PhandroidInsta360’s New Spatial Capture Turns a 360 Video Into a Walkable 3D Scene joesdaily.comInsta360's new feature will soon let you create 3D scenes out of your videos NotebookcheckInsta360 X6 turns 360 video into explorable 3D scenes by Jose Antunes

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The Straits Times

Trump to raise detainees with Xi, but other rights issues may not come up

WASHINGTON, Sept 23 - President Donald Trump is expected to press Chinese leader Xi Jinping to free two US citizens held by China, but it is not clear whether other human-rights issues will get similar attention during this week's summit.In a preview of Xi's visit last Friday, a US official said Trump is likely to bring up cases of people wrongfully detained in China with Xi. However, the White House has not said whether Trump will directly raise broader rights issues related to Tibet, the Uyghur Muslim minority group, and the country's new "ethnic unity" law.Trump has made winning freedom for Americans held overseas a priority, including in China, advocates say.But the Republican leader has largely avoided talking about China's rights record, and has not publicly brought up rights issues when meeting other world leaders like Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi.Trump will ask Xi to free Youlin Chen, a Chinese-born expert on North Korean nuclear tests who has been imprisoned since late 2024, and Min Zin, a scholar arrested in June, according to Chen's wife, Yufang Rong. Both are US citizens. Trump raised Chen's case when he met Xi in Beijing in May but nothing has happened since then, she said."We hope to see Dr. Chen and Zin come home after this meeting," said Elizabeth Richards, research director of the James Foley Foundation, a hostage advocacy group.Human rights groups and Democratic lawmakers say Trump must also press Xi on China's treatment of Tibetans and Uyghurs and speak up for Hong Kong pro-democracy protesters.Democrats in Congress say Trump is soft-pedaling human rights concerns and taking a transactional approach to international affairs."We cannot abandon human rights in our foreign policy," Democratic Representative Jim McGovern of Massachusetts said on Wednesday. "China's record is beyond debate and it is atrocious."Beijing has signaled that the topic will be off limits. The country's ambassador to the US warned on Wednesday that democracy and human rights are "red lines" that cannot be crossed.Human rights groups say China has detained Uyghurs on the pretext of countering extremism and confined them in re-education camps. US secretaries of state from both parties have labeled the treatment of Uyghurs as genocide."Xi's visit to Washington is a strategic moment to move beyond words of condemnation on the Uyghur genocide," World Uyghur Congress President Turgunjan Alawdun said.China's embassy in Washington did not respond to a request for comment. Beijing says it has established "vocational training centers" to curb extremism and denies abuse allegations.Rights groups and exiles also routinely describe China's rule in Tibet as "oppressive," an accusation that Beijing rejects. China has exerted greater control over the region since Xi became chief of the Communist Party in 2012.Beijing says Washington should stop using "Tibet-related issues to interfere in China's internal affairs."The International Campaign for Tibet called on Trump to ask Xi "to resume substantive dialogue without preconditions" with the Dalai Lama, the spiritual head of Tibetan Buddhists and a Nobel Peace Prize laureate. The State Department reiterated calls for such dialogue when a Tibetan American died after setting himself on fire in July.China passed a law this year to create a shared national identity among the country's 55 ethnic minority groups, which includes penalties for people outside the country for "inciting ethnic separatism."The State Department calls the law problematic. Katie LaRoque, director for policy and advocacy at Freedom House, urged Trump to condemn the legislation himself."President Trump must make clear that Beijing’s domestic law has no jurisdiction over those exercising their fundamental freedoms on US soil," she said. REUTERS

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Citizen Digital

Eriksen to return to Denmark after parting ways with Wolfsburg

Wolfsburg, who were relegated from the top flight at the end of last season, announced Eriksen was ending his contract, due to run out next year, early "by mutual consent". Denmark's and Ukraine's players accompany Christian Eriksen to a waiting ambulance during the football international match between Denmark and Ukraine at Odense Stadium on Sunday, June 7, 2026. (Photo: Bo Amstrup/Ritzau Scanpix) (Photo by BO AMSTRUP / Ritzau Scanpix / Ritzau Scanpix via AFP)Former Tottenham, Inter Milan and Manchester United midfielder Christian Eriksen will return to his native Denmark after leaving Bundesliga 2 side Wolfsburg on Wednesday.Wolfsburg, who were relegated from the top flight at the end of last season, announced Eriksen was ending his contract, due to run out next year, early "by mutual consent".The 34-year-old has been recovering from suffering an on-pitch collapse in June during a friendly between Denmark and Ukraine which forced the match to be abandoned.He was able to leave the pitch of his own accord after treatment.Eriksen suffered a cardiac arrest and needed to be resuscitated on the pitch during a Euro 2020 match against Finland.He was out for six months after that collapse five years ago and has played the remainder of his career with a pacemaker fitted."Right now, it's important for me to be close to my family in Denmark," Eriksen said in a statement.The Dane made 34...

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The Straits Times

Ethiopia has shown restraint despite interference, president says

UNITED NATIONS, Sept 23 - Ethiopia has "exercised immense restraint" and achieved notable progress with its neighbors in spite of "reckless external actors," Ethiopian President Taye Atske-Selassie Amde told world leaders at the UN General Assembly on Wednesday.He spoke to the 193-member world body hours after renewed fighting between the Tigray People's Liberation Front (TPLF) and the federal government shattered a four-year-old peace deal.The new hostilities follow months of growing animosity between the two sides threatening a wider regional conflict."Despite continued interference in our internal affairs by adversarial elements, we have exercised immense restraint," Selassie Amde said."Our message to forces of destruction and mayhem is loud and clear. We urge them to respect the sacred right of the people of the Horn of Africa to live in peace and prosperity."Forces from the northern Ethiopian region of Tigray launched a major offensive against the federal government on Wednesday. Tigray's leaders said they had entered a defensive war to counter aggression by the federal government. REUTERS

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The Straits Times

Russian envoy Dmitriev is heading to US for talks with Trump administration, sources say

Sept 23 - Russian presidential envoy Kirill Dmitriev is heading to the US on Wednesday, where he will meet with Trump administration representatives Steve Witkoff, Jared Kushner and others, two sources familiar with preparations for the talks told Reuters.The sources said Dmitriev's visit to the US, which was agreed upon with Russian President Vladimir Putin, will take place in New York during the UN General Assembly and will follow up on a meeting between Putin and US representatives at the Kremlin earlier this month.One source said that the aim of the visit is to keep the Russia-US dialogue and the peacemaking effort going.The source added that economic cooperation between Russia and the US, as well as energy issues, and a peaceful settlement in Ukraine will be on the agenda of Dmitriev's talks in New York.After meeting with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio told reporters that both Russia and Ukraine had expressed interest in a limited ceasefire involving grain and energy and that he hoped Putin would accept an invitation to attend the G20 summit in the US.Putin met the US representatives alongside his foreign policy aide, Yuri Ushakov, and Dmitriev, who also had a three-hour talk over lunch with Witkoff and Kushner prior to the meeting on September 5.Dmitriev, a US-educated investment banker who worked at Goldman Sachs and consulting firm McKinsey, is viewed in Russia as the most US-friendly negotiator.During his previous contacts with Witkoff and Kushner, Dmitriev negotiated a sanctions waiver for seaborne Russian oil aimed at stabilizing the global energy markets as well as several prisoner exchanges between Russia and the US. REUTERS

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Al Jazeera

Harvey Weinstein sentenced to 15 years in New York sexual assault retrial

The ruling seals six years of legal battles after Weinstein’s initial conviction for sexually assaulting TV assistant.Harvey Weinstein, the disgraced movie mogul, has been sentenced in Manhattan to 15 years in prison for a felony sex crime in another #MeToo reckoning.Weinstein’s sentencing on Wednesday for sexually assaulting one-time TV production assistant Miriam Haley followed a legal odyssey spanning more than six years, when New York’s highest court overturned his 2020 conviction. A second jury found Weinstein guilty again at a retrial last year.Once among the most powerful figures in the entertainment industry, Weinstein was an Oscar-winning producer whose hits included “Shakespeare in Love,” “Pulp Fiction” and “Chocolat.” But his downfall came quickly after sexual assault allegations in 2017 set off the #MeToo movement.Weinstein, 74, is expected to appeal and maintains that he never raped or sexually assaulted anyone. He is now likely to remain behind bars well into his 80s. Seated in a wheelchair, he was quickly moved out of the courtroom after the sentencing, while some of his accusers hugged and brushed away tears.Haley, 49, appeared in court on Wednesday morning and delivered a victim impact statement in which she talked about enduring seven years of public smear campaigns and humiliation orchestrated by Weinstein, his legal team and allegedly paid podcasters aiming to sour her image.Haley added that her experience following the assault had “already been a life sentence” for her, and implored the judge to take all of this into consideration.Owing to a cycle of retrials, appeals and judicial proceedings, Weinstein has remained incarcerated since his 2018 arrest and is now serving time in a prison medical ward.Weinstein, first publicly accused of wrongdoing in 2017, was detained a year later. In 2024, New York’s highest court overturned the original 2020 conviction that had sentenced the former Hollywood producer to 23 years in prison, ruling that the inclusion of extraneous, non-indicted testimony had compromised the equity of the trial.Prosecutors attempted to retry the case last June, but it ended in a split verdict after the jury foreperson refused to return to deliberate amid a jury room feud. Weinstein was convicted of a first-degree criminal sex act on a separate count at the time, again.

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Al Jazeera

As major powers act unilaterally, experts say UN faces crisis in New York

Experts warn the UN faces crises of funding, relevance, and Security Council gridlock.As world leaders gather in New York for the 81st United Nations General Assembly (UNGA), experts say the institution is battling an existential crisis of funding, relevance and Security Council gridlock.Major conflicts appear intractable, and powers like the United States and Russia can bend the UN’s Security Council to their will; member states are looking for new mechanisms to bring accountability to the venue and for a new secretary-general to voice their concerns. The body has been accused of failing to stop what its own experts have said is a genocide in Gaza.World leaders are not under any illusion that the UNGA is in good health, said Daniel Forti, head of UN Affairs at the International Crisis Group. Yet many still understand the venue’s power.“The vast majority of leaders, from small states, from middle powers, and even a few from major powers, recognise the importance of a UN that is a global conversation platform,” Forti said.The UN is juggling multiple conflicts – from high-profile wars involving Iran to the often overlooked catastrophes in Sudan and Myanmar.In the Ukraine war, the UN says more civilians were killed in the first eight months of 2026 than in the whole of 2025, and even NATO powers now say they worry about spillover into their countries.Russia has repeatedly vetoed Security Council resolutions, but Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has continued to appear before the UNGA to urge member states to help stop Moscow.On Wednesday, Zelenskyy spoke for the fifth time before the assembly since Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, urging leaders to further tighten economic measures meant to punish Moscow despite its vetoes of Security Council resolutions.“Many of you here have seen more than once how the abuse of the veto at the UN weakens the world and pushes peace further away,” Zelenskyy said.In the Israeli war on Gaza, the UN has labelled Israel’s conduct there a genocide, but it has struggled to exercise real agency. Security Council resolutions have been repeatedly vetoed, and UN relief agencies have been targeted by Israel without any accountability.The ongoing war between the US, Israel and Iran is having economic impacts across the globe and threatens to plunge Yemen back into a civil war.“From Ukraine, to Gaza, and Sudan, and also with what’s happening now in Iran, the veto problem leaves the UN hamstrung,” said Alanna O’Malley, professor and chair of Global Governance and Wealth and head of the Department of History at Erasmus University.UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres told Al Jazeera’s James Bays this week that these conflicts were having real humanitarian impacts worldwide, including reduced food access, rising fuel prices, and global inflation.The UNGA will allow the opportunity for some discussions for parties involved in these kinds of conflicts, but it is unlikely they can reach major agreements, said Forti.But the assembly is still the only forum where all 193 member states are equal, and nations have tried to invoke new procedures and reach back into historical mechanisms to try and mitigate the veto deadlocks, O’Malley said.A 1950 resolution, dating from a deadlock over the Korean War, has allowed the UNGA to debate issues vetoed in the Security Council. And in 2022, an impasse over Ukraine generated a new mechanism forcing any permanent council representative – China, France, Russia, the UK, and the US, often called the P5 – to come before the UNGA and explain when it uses the veto.“The idea is to build more accountability into the system for the P5, to make the veto not just harder to use, but also ensure it uses a lot of political capital,” O’Malley said.Calls for reforms have only increased since 2023 and Israel’s war on Gaza, O’Malley said, with “unprecedented” majority votes in the UNGA challenging the Security Council.Perhaps the greatest challenge facing the UNGA, though, is remaining relevant as major global powers go their own way.The administration of US President Trump has pushed through its own Board of Peace, a body that has accomplished few of its goals but has secured Security Council approval and claims to take on responsibilities previously handled by UN agencies, like distributing aid or managing refugees.Unhappy with the UN, Trump has also imposed sanctions on the body’s special rapporteurs, as well as organisations like the International Criminal Court.Washington, though, may not be the only government looking to strike out on its own.Chinese President Xi Jinping is in the US this week, but he will not be attending the UNGA. He last addressed the body in 2021 via video, but this year he will skip it altogether, opting instead for one-on-one talks with US President Trump. China has positive views of the UN, often using the Security Council to weigh in on global issues, Forti said, but it is also looking for alternatives, through venues like BRICS and the SCO, to strengthen multilateralism.

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