Miami

WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. — President Trump said he will be extending invitations to next year’s U.S.-hosted Group of 20 summit to Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan as the Republican administration looks to deepen its relationship with the Central Asian nations.

Trump announced the plan on Tuesday after holding separate phone calls with Kazakhstan President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev and Uzbekistan President Shavkat Mirziyoyev.

Neither country is a member of the G20, but the host country of the annual leaders’ gathering of major economies often invites non-members to attend the summit. The 2026 gathering is planned for Trump’s golf club in Doral, Fla., near Miami.

“The relationship with both Countries is spectacular,” Trump said in a social media post about the calls. Trump is currently on vacation at his Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida.

The Kazakh and Uzbek leaders visited Washington last month along with the leaders of Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, and Turkmenistan for talks with Trump.

The administration is giving greater attention to Central Asia, which holds deep reserves of minerals and produces roughly half the world’s uranium, as it intensifies the hunt for rare earth metals needed for high-tech devices, including smartphones, electric vehicles and fighter jets.

Central Asia’s critical mineral exports have long tilted toward China and Russia.

During last month’s visit, Tokayev announced that his Muslim-majority country will join the Abraham Accords, the Trump administration effort to strengthen ties between Israel and Arab and Muslim majority countries.

The largely symbolic move came as the administration is trying to revive an initiative that was the signature foreign policy achievement of Trump’s first term, when his administration forged diplomatic and commercial ties between Israel and the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain and Morocco.

Trump last month announced that he is barring South Africa from participating in next year’s summit at his Miami-area club and will stop all payments and subsidies to the country over its treatment of a U.S. government representative at this year’s meeting.

Trump chose not to have an American government delegation attend this year’s summit hosted by South Africa, saying he did so because its white Afrikaners were being violently persecuted. It is a claim that South Africa, which was mired for decades in racial apartheid, has rejected as baseless.

Madhani writes for the Associated Press.

US Special Envoy Steve Witkoff has hailed talks on ending Moscow’s war in Ukraine as “productive and constructive”, after holding separate meetings with Ukrainian, European and Russian negotiators in the state of Florida.

The talks in Miami on Sunday were the latest in a series of meetings between the US, Russia and Ukraine on a 20-point plan touted by US President Donald Trump to end the nearly four-year-old war.

Despite the optimism from the US, there have been no clear signals of imminent resolutions to key hurdles, including on the issue of the territory Russia has seized during the conflict.

Witkoff, who met with Russian President Vladimir Putin’s special envoy Kirill Dmitriev on Saturday, held talks on Sunday with officials from Ukraine and Europe. He then held separate talks with the Ukrainian delegation, led by senior official Rustem Umerov.

Trump’s son-in-law, Jared Kushner, also joined the meetings.

Witkoff, in a joint statement with Umerov, called Sunday’s talks “productive and constructive”, saying they focused on a “shared strategic approach between Ukraine, the United States and Europe”.

“Particular attention was given to discussing timelines and the sequencing of next steps,” they said.

Witkoff and Umerov said that bilateral discussions between Ukrainian and US officials on Sunday focused on developing and aligning positions on four key documents: the 20-point plan, a “multilateral security guarantee framework,” a “US Security guarantee framework for Ukraine”, and an “economic & prosperity plan”.

In a separate X post that ‍used some of ⁠the same language, Witkoff said his talks with Dmitriev were also “productive and constructive”.

“Russia remains fully committed to achieving peace in Ukraine,” Witkoff said in the post. “Russia highly values the efforts and support of the United States to resolve the Ukrainian conflict and re-establish global security.”

Earlier on Sunday, Putin’s top foreign policy aide, Yury Ushakov, said that the changes requested by Ukraine and its European allies to the framework put forth by the US were not improving prospects for peace.

Ushakov said that Dmitriev was due to return to Moscow on Monday and would report to Putin on the outcome of his talks.

“After that, we will formulate the position with which we will proceed, including in our contacts with the Americans,” he said.

Russia, which launched a full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, sees Europe as “pro-war” and argues that its participation in the talks only hinders them.

Separately on Sunday, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said that Putin was ready to talk with his French counterpart, Emmanuel Macron, after the latter said Europe should reach out to the Russian president to end the war.

Putin has “expressed readiness to engage in dialogue with Macron”, Peskov told Russian state news agency RIA Novosti. “Therefore, if there is mutual political will, then this can only be assessed positively.”

Macron’s office welcomed the Russian statement.

“It is welcome that the Kremlin has publicly agreed to this approach. We will decide in the coming days on the best way to proceed,” it said.

Trump first shared his plan consisting of 28 points to end the war in Ukraine last month, triggering immediate criticism from European leaders who said it echoed the Kremlin’s demands.

Zelenskyy has since said that Ukraine and its European allies have shared their own version of a 20-point plan, which was based on the initial plan put forward by the White House.

One of the key sticking points between Russia and Ukraine remains Russia’s demand to retain some of the land it has captured in Ukraine since launching its full-scale invasion after years of fighting in Ukraine’s east.

Zelenskyy has described the talks as “constructive” and said they were “moving at a fairly rapid pace”. He nevertheless cautioned that “much depends on whether Russia feels the need to end the war for real”.

He also hailed this week as “historic” for Ukraine, thanking Europe for pledging $100bn of funding over the next two years.

US and Ukrainian envoys say “productive and constructive” talks have taken place in Miami, but there still appears to be no major breakthrough in efforts to end Ukraine’s war with Russia.

Donald Trump’s special envoy, Steve Witkoff, issued a joint statement with the top Ukrainian negotiator, Rustem Umerov, after three days of meetings with European allies.

The pair said the meeting focused on aligning positions on a 20-point plan, a “multilateral security guarantee framework”, a “US Security guarantee framework for Ukraine” and an “economic & prosperity plan”.

Separate talks have been taking place in Miami between the US and the Russian envoy, Kirill Dmitriev.

“Our shared priority is to stop the killing, ensure guaranteed security, and create conditions for Ukraine’s recovery, stability, and long-term prosperity,” Witkoff and Umerov said in a statement.

The meetings are the latest step in weeks of diplomatic activity, sparked by the leaking of a 28-point US peace plan which shocked Ukraine and its European allies for appearing to favour Russia, which launched a full-scale invasion of Ukraine nearly four years ago.

Witkoff said representatives from Russia had met himself and other US officials in southern Florida, including Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner.

Witkoff said the meetings with Russian envoy Dmitriev were also “productive and constructive” and that “Russia remains fully committed to achieving peace in Ukraine”.

Trump has been pushing Ukraine and Russia to come to an agreement on ending the war, but so far the two countries have been unable to agree on major issues, including Moscow’s demand to keep land it has already seized.

US intelligence reports continue to warn that Russian President Vladimir Putin still wants to capture all of Ukraine and reclaim parts of Europe that belonged to the former Soviet empire, six sources familiar with US intelligence told the Reuters news agency.

This comes says after Putin told the BBC’s Steve Rosenberg that there will be no more wars after Ukraine, if Russia is treated with respect.

“There won’t be any operations if you treat us with respect, if you respect our interests just as we’ve always tried to respect yours,” he said.

Meanwhile, a Ukrainian drone attack damaged two vessels and two piers in Russia’s southern Krasnodar region, Russian officials said on Monday.

The damage led to a big fire, but Russian authorities say all crew were safely evacuated. Some reports say oil infrastructure was targeted.

Negotiators from Russia and the United States have met in the US city of Miami as Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy urged Washington to ramp up the pressure on Moscow to end its war on Ukraine.

The meeting on Saturday took place between Russian President Vladimir Putin’s special envoy, Kirill Dmitriev, and US President Donald Trump’s special envoy, Steve Witkoff, and his son-in-law, Jared Kushner.

Dmitriev told the reporters the talks were positive and would continue on Sunday.

“The discussions are proceeding constructively,” said Dmitriev. “They began earlier and will continue today, and will also continue tomorrow.”

Earlier, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio had said that he may also join the talks in Miami. He said that progress has been made in discussions to end the war, but there is still a way to go.

“The role we’re trying to play is a role of figuring out whether there’s any overlap here that they can agree to, and that’s what we’ve invested a lot of time and energy [on], and continue to do so,” Rubio said. “That may not be possible. I hope it is. I hope it can get done this month, before the end of the year.”

Trump’s envoys have for weeks been negotiating a 20-point peace plan with Ukrainian, Russian and European officials.

While US ​officials say they have made progress, major differences remain on the issues of territory and possible security guarantees that Kyiv says are essential for any agreement.

Russia has shown few signs that it is willing to give up its expansive territorial demands in Ukraine, which it believes it is well-positioned to secure as the war grinds on and political fractures emerge among Ukraine’s European allies.

In Kyiv, Zelenskyy said he remains supportive of a US-led negotiations process, but that diplomacy needs to be accompanied by greater pressure on Russia.

“America must clearly say, if not diplomacy, then there will be full pressure… Putin does not yet feel the kind of pressure that should exist,” he said.

The Ukrainian leader said Washington has also proposed a new format for talks with Russia, comprised of three-way talks at the level of national security advisers from Ukraine, Russia, and the US.

Zelenskyy expressed scepticism that the talks would result in “anything new”, but said he would support trilateral discussions if they led to progress in areas such as prisoner swaps or a meeting of national leaders.

“If such a ‍meeting could be ⁠held now to allow for swaps of prisoners of war, or if a meeting of national security advisers achieves agreement on a leaders’ meeting… I cannot be opposed. We would support such a US proposal. Let’s see how things go,” he said.

The last time Ukrainian and Russian envoys held official direct talks was in July in Istanbul, which led to prisoner swaps but little else.

The talks in Miami come after Putin promised to press ahead with his military offensive in Ukraine, hailing Moscow’s battlefield gains in an annual news conference on Friday.

Putin, however, suggested that Russia could pause its devastating strikes on the country to allow Ukraine to hold a presidential ballot, a prospect that Zelenskyy rejected.

Meanwhile, the death toll in Ukraine’s Black Sea Odesa region from an overnight Russian ballistic missile strike on port infrastructure rose to eight, with 30 people wounded.

A civilian bus was struck in the attack, Ukrainian Prime Minister Yulia Svyrydenko said.

The Russian attacks on the coastline region have wrought havoc in recent weeks, hitting bridges and cutting electricity and heating for hundreds of thousands in freezing temperatures.

Moscow earlier said it would expand strikes on Ukrainian ports as retaliation for targeting its sanctions-busting oil tankers.

On Saturday, Ukraine claimed to have destroyed two Russian fighter jets at an airfield in Moscow-occupied Crimea, according to the security service SBU. Kyiv’s army said it struck a Russian oil rig in the Caspian Sea as well as a patrol ship nearby.

Putin described Russia’s initial full-scale invasion of Ukraine as a “special military operation” to “demilitarise” the country and prevent the expansion of NATO.

Kyiv and its European allies say the war, the largest and deadliest on European soil since World War II, is an unprovoked and illegal land grab that has resulted in a tidal wave of violence and destruction.

MIAMI — Democrat Eileen Higgins won the Miami mayor’s race on Tuesday, defeating a Republican endorsed by President Trump to end her party’s nearly three-decade losing streak and give Democrats a boost in one of the last electoral battles ahead of the 2026 midterms.

Higgins, 61, will be the first woman to lead the city of Miami. She spoke frequently in the Hispanic-majority city about Trump’s immigration crackdown, saying she has heard of many people in Miami who were worried about family members being detained. She campaigned as a proud Democrat despite the race being officially nonpartisan and beat Trump-backed candidate Emilio Gonzalez, a former city manager, who said he called Higgins to congratulate her.

“We are facing rhetoric from elected officials that is so dehumanizing and cruel, especially against immigrant populations,” Higgins told The Associated Press after her victory speech. “The residents of Miami were ready to be done with that.”

With nearly all votes counted Tuesday, Higgins led the Republican by about 19 percentage points.

The local race is not predictive of what may happen at the polls next year. But it drew attention from the two major national political parties and their leaders. The victory provides Democrats with some momentum heading into a high-stakes midterm election when the GOP is looking to keep its grip in Florida, including in a Hispanic-majority district in Miami-Dade County. The area has shifted increasingly rightward politically in recent years, and the city may become the home of Trump’s presidential library.

“Tonight’s result is yet another warning sign to Republicans that voters are fed up with their out-of-touch agenda that is raising costs,” said Ken Martin, the chair of the Democratic National Committee, in a statement.

Some nationally recognized Democrats supported Higgins, including former Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg. U.S. Sen. Ruben Gallego and former Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel traveled to Miami on Sunday and Monday to rally voters for the Democrat who served as a Miami-Dade county commissioner for seven years.

Higgins, who speaks Spanish, represented a district that leans conservative and includes the Cuban neighborhood of Little Havana. When she first entered politics in 2018, she chose to present herself to voters as “La Gringa,” a term Spanish speakers use for white Americans, because many people did not known how to pronounce her name.

“It just helps people understand who I am, and you know what? I am a ‘gringa,’ so, what am I going to do, deny it?” she told the AP.

Republicans’ anxiety grows

Republicans in Florida have found strong support from voters with heritage from Cuba, Venezuela and Nicaragua, because they likened some members of the Democratic party’s progressive wing with politicians from the governments they fled. Trump and other GOP members have tapped into those sentiments over the past eight years.

However, some local Republicans are growing increasingly frustrated since November’s elections when Democrats scored wins in New Jersey and Virginia, where both winning gubernatorial candidates performed strongly with nonwhite voters.

The results from those races were perceived as a reflection of concerns over rising prices and the Trump administration’s aggressive immigration policies.

U.S. Rep. Maria Elvira Salazar, a Republican whose district is being targeted by Democrats and includes the city of Miami, called the elections elsewhere a “wake-up call.” She said Hispanics also want a secure border and a healthy economy but some relief for “those who have been here for years and do not have a criminal record.”

“The Hispanic vote is not guaranteed,” Salazar said in a video posted on X last month. “Hispanics married President Trump, but they are only dating the GOP.”

David Jolly, who is running to represent Democrats in the Florida governor’s race next year, said the mayoral election was good news for Democrats in what used to be a battleground state.

“Change is here. It’s sweeping the nation, and it’s sweeping Florida,” Jolly said.

Miami mayor-elect gains national platform

The mayoral position in Miami is more ceremonial, but Higgins promised to execute it like a full-time job.

The city is part of Miami-Dade County, which Trump flipped last year, a dramatic improvement from his 30 percentage point loss to Democrat Hillary Clinton in 2016.

As Florida’s second-largest city, Miami is considered the gateway to Latin America and attracts millions of tourists. Its global prominence gives Higgins a significant stage as mayor.

Her pitch to voters included finding city-owned land that could be turned into affordable housing and cutting unnecessary spending.

Licon writes for the Associated Press.

Busta Rhymes got a young TikTok creator all in check over the weekend after he boldly and incorrectly identified the rapper as “Saturday Night Live” alum Tracy Morgan.

The “Woo-Hah!! Got You All in Check” and “Calm Down” rap veteran, 53, sternly set the record straight for the social media troll during an exchange Sunday at Art Basel in Miami Beach. In video of the interaction, published Monday by TMZ, the musician poses with a supposed fan for a photo op. “Get the video of this, it’s Tracy Morgan out here,” the jokester, wearing a black hoodie and baggy jeans, seems to say as he points to Rhymes.

The remark immediately elicited confusion from the rapper and the surrounding crowd. “Wait, what’d you say?,” the Grammy-nominated musician asks, according to the video. “What did you just say?”

For reference, Rhymes is a longtime hip-hop star who first rose to prominence in the late 1980s and is also known for songs “Put Your Hands Where My Eyes Can See” and Chris Brown’s “Look at Me Now.” Over the years he has collaborated with Notorious B.I.G., Janet Jackson, Mariah Carey, Pharrell, T-Pain, Missy Elliott and Ye (formerly Kanye West), among others. Morgan, on the other hand, is an Emmy-nominated comedy veteran who was part of the “Saturday Night Live” cast from 1996 to 2003 before pivoting to comedy series including “30 Rock”, “The Last O.G.” and most recently, “Crutch.”

Both Rhymes and Morgan are Black men.

The video continues with Rhymes — real name Trevor Smith Jr. — requesting an onlooker put down their camera and asking the alleged fan to explain himself. “I’m trying to understand,” he can be heard saying, patting the Tiktoker on the shoulder.

“I’m asking you a question, I ain’t calling you out,” he says, later adding, “I was taking a picture to show you love, but you trying to be funny?”

“I’m not trying to be funny at all,” the young man replied.

“What [do] you mean, ‘Tracy, my boy?’”

As Busta Rhymes continues scolding the troll, the TMZ video pans over to the crowd and identifies Kenny Brooks, an internet personality known as Funny Salesman. While it’s unclear if Brooks played a part in the viral interaction, he shared videos and coverage of the exchange to his Instagram stories on Monday.

“You don’t play with a grown man, little boy — that’s how people get f— up,” Rhymes reportedly told the young man, who can be seen walking away from the scene alongside Funny Salesman at the end of the video. Brooks attempted to distance himself from the exchange, calling out TMZ in a TikTok posted Monday: “I don’t know what happened. I wasn’t there,” he said, despite video evidence pointing to the contrary.

“I’m not Shaggy, it wasn’t me. I don’t know what’s going on. I was like Stevie Wonder, I ain’t see nothing,” Brooks said, adding he was trying to get his own video with Rhymes.

He ended his post with a nod to Rhymes’ music: “I’m trying to put my hands where my eyes can see.”