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Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa arrived at the UN General Assembly with war, reconstruction and diplomacy on his agenda. But while Türkiye’s Recep Tayyip Erdogan was addressing world leaders, a viral clip appeared to catch the Syrian leader doing something considerably more ordinary: scrolling through Instagram Reels.

The footage, which spread rapidly across social media on Tuesday, shows al-Sharaa looking down at his phone and moving through what appears to be Instagram’s short-video feed. Some reports say he was also sharing Reels, although the footage itself does not establish who he was messaging or what he was watching.

The timing made...

Russian stocks climbed above a closely watched threshold on Tuesday as investors turned their attention to diplomacy around the UN General Assembly meeting this week. The MOEX index moved above 2,300 points, and Gazprom shares crossed 100 roubles, according to Finam’s market update.

Presidents Donald Trump and Volodymyr Zelenskyy are due to meet in New York on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly, with de-escalation and energy infrastructure expected to feature prominently in their talks, according to Axios.

Even a small glimmer of diplomacy can matter for Moscow-listed stocks, as sanctions...

Donald Trump’s latest feud with CNN, Politico and MS NOW is already a legal and political story. The language the US president has used to describe what he believes is wrong with the American press tells volumes about his true stance on the media.

Over the past year Trump has described parts of the media as a national security threat, questioned why outlets that are consistently negative should have White House access, suggested broadcasters could be subject to scrutiny of their licences and pushed to end federal funding for NPR and PBS.

The rhetoric has been especially hot recently. Here...

Trade within Central Asia rose 25.4% to $8.1 billion in the first seven months of 2026, but the regional boom is becoming increasingly concentrated around Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan.

The region’s two flagship economies accounted for 80.6% of all intra-regional exports and roughly 90% of the increase, according to analysis by the Uzbek think tank Centre for Economic Research and Reforms (CERR), seen by Kursiv Uzbekistan.

Kazakhstan remained by far the largest regional seller, with exports to its neighbours rising by 26.8% to $4.5 billion. Uzbekistan showed lower readings in absolute terms but grew faster: its regional exports jumped 34.5% to...

England chose to bat after winning the toss in the first of three ODIs against Sri Lanka at Chester-le-Street, just days after sweeping the visitors 3-0 in the T20s.

Sri Lanka is under more pressure as their T20 campaign ended with a third successive defeat, and England is back at No. 1 in the world T20 rankings, leaving the visitors requiring a far more competitive start in the 50-over format.

Meanwhile, England are using the series as yet another stepping stone to the 2027 World Cup. The side want to keep playing at high intensity, captain...

Internet Explorer has survived one of technology’s stranger afterlives. Microsoft abandoned the browser years ago, but a bit of it still lives on inside Edge , and businesses have until at least the end of 2029 to stop relying on it.

Microsoft has reminded administrators that IE mode in Microsoft Edge will remain supported through at least 2029, with at least one year’s notice before it is finally retired. This is not a fresh extension: Microsoft says the timetable was first announced back in 2021.

Some organisations still run old internal websites and business applications that...

A new Samsung Galaxy phone shouldn’t require a charger by mid-afternoon. If it does, the issue may not be battery size but what the phone is doing in the background. Here are simple steps to improve your Galaxy’s battery life.

Samsung already builds several battery-saving controls into One UI, including adaptive charging, sleeping apps and automatic optimisation. None will magically double endurance, but together they can cut unnecessary drain and reduce the time your battery spends sitting at 100% charge. Samsung itself says brightness, weak signal, background activity and location services are among the biggest...

Genshin Impact Version 7.1 is expected to go live at 03:00 UTC on Wednesday, 23 September, once HoYoverse completes its scheduled five-hour maintenance. That means 11pm EDT on Tuesday in New York, 4am BST in the UK, 8.30am IST in India and 8am in Uzbekistan.

HoYoverse has scheduled downtime from 06:00 UTC+8 on 23 September, equivalent to 22:00 UTC on Tuesday, and is offering at least 300 Primogems in compensation to eligible players. Pre-installation is already available and requires roughly 10GB on PC and 4GB on mobile, although the final size can vary with installed voice packs.

Uzbek racing driver Ismail Akhmedkhodjaev has won his class at Spa-Francorchamps, giving Rossa Racing its second Ultimate Cup success with the 21-year-old behind the wheel.

Akhmedkhodjaev won the UCS2 class in the second Ultimate GT Sprint Cup race, completing 13 laps in 36 minutes and 56.391 seconds. Two faster UCS1 cars finished ahead of him overall, meaning his victory was a class win rather than an outright one.

Previously, Kursiv Uzbekistan reported that Rossa Racing also secured two pole positions during the Belgian weekend.

The result came at a significant venue. The...

Uzbekistan‘s Chess Olympiad success is spilling over into prediction markets. Prediction service Polymarket suggests that the Uzbek hosts have a 56% chance of winning the Open tournament, far ahead of China, India, and the United States.

The market snapshot that Kursiv Uzbekistan saw on Tuesday afternoon puts China at 15%, India at 10%, the US at 8% and Germany at 4%. Uzbekistan’s price had jumped by about 31 percentage points as the hosts moved from one of several pre-tournament contenders to the outright leaders.

Polymarket prices move as users buy and sell contracts, meaning a 56-cent «Yes» price corresponds roughly...

The Voice is back for Season 30 with two familiar winners, two first-time coaches and a voting system designed to make the live shows feel genuinely live again. Adam Levine and Kelly Clarkson return to face Queen Latifah and country star Riley Green, while viewers will eventually decide eliminations in real time through text messages and TikTok.

Levine arrives with momentum as his artist Alexia Jayy won Season 29, giving the Maroon 5 frontman his fourth victory as a coach, while Clarkson has also won the competition four times and remains one of its most successful mentors.

The winner is...

Uzbekistan have taken outright control of the Open section at the Chess Olympiad in Samarkand after beating defending champions India 2.5–1.5. It is the hosts’ first Olympiad victory over India and leaves them alone at the top with a perfect 12 match points from six rounds.

The decisive result came on board three, where Nodirbek Yakubboev beat Nihal Sarin after the Indian grandmaster blundered his queen in a sharp tactical sequence. Yakubboev converted the advantage to improve his personal score to 4.5/5.

The other three boards were drawn. Nodirbek Abdusattorov split the point with R Praggnanandhaa...

Granit Xhaka, Switzerland‘s captain, admitted to obtaining a fake Covid vaccination certificate in 2022, calling the decision a “mistake.” The Sunderland midfielder has withdrawn from Switzerland’s upcoming Nations League camp as prosecutors decide whether to initiate criminal proceedings.

Xhaka said he had been deeply distrustful of the vaccine at the time and chose to obtain a certificate rather than resolve his concerns through official channels. He said he regretted the decision and was cooperating with the authorities.

The Lucerne prosecutor’s office is examining whether there was possible fraudulent procurement of a false...

Bitcoin has surpassed $85,000 for the first time in eight months on Monday, extending a rally that has gained more than 30% since 19 August. The most surprising aspect is what the cryptocurrency has managed to ignore on its way up.

The US Federal Reserve recently raised interest rates by 25 basis points, which is typically bad news for highly speculative assets, and the US Senate failed to advance the Clarity Act, which was expected to provide a clearer regulatory framework for the crypto industry. Bitcoin initially stumbled in response to both developments but then resumed its upward trend.

The...

Sky News premiered The Wargame, a four-part experiment that imagines how Britain would respond to a major military conflict in Europe, on the International Day of Peace. It is the third recent production, following Finland’s Konflikti and France’s Jupiter, to investigate what happens when NATO deterrence and political (mis)judgement are put to an ultimate test.

None of the three is a prediction, but together they reflect a real shift in European public debate: governments are talking more openly about defence readiness, hybrid threats, the reliability of alliances and what greater European responsibility for security might actually mean.

The Wargame...

The ruling United Russia party has won the nationwide parliamentary elections, having secured over 57% of votes. Outside Russia, a pro-business, declaratively moderate New People party appeared to win almost two dozen expat constituencies. Who are they? 

An overseas exit poll by independent civic movements Vesna and Progress collected 9,157 responses at 18 polling locations. New People led in all locations where results were published, with support ranging from 29% in Oslo, Norway, and 32% in Seoul, South Korea, to 56% in Yerevan, Armenia, 57% in The Hague, The Netherlands, and...

Xiaomi might have a pretty big answer to the usual flagship trade-off between battery life and camera quality. Tech reviewers suggest that the Xiaomi 18 Pro and Pro Max versions might have 7,000 mAh and 8,500 mAh batteries, respectively, ahead of their launches in China on 23 September.

The Chinese company claims that both new Pro models will use a Leica camera system based on two 200-megapixel sensors, describing it as its most advanced mobile camera setup to date. The exact focal lengths and sensor sizes have not been disclosed.

Xiaomi 17 Ultra already has a...

German grandmaster Frederik Svane inflicted the first defeat on the top-seed Americans at the FIDE Chess Olympiad in Samarkand, beating US star Hans Niemann. An upset by 2.5-1.5 leaves Germany level with Uzbekistan and India at the summit after five rounds.

«It’s very difficult to beat the USA – they have such a strong team,» Svane told Lichess afterwards. There are still six rounds to go so one victory is not that important, but it is still a great feeling. «I think it’s good to have that feeling for the next rounds...

Apple’s 20th-anniversary iPhone 20 may be edging closer to the «single slab of glass» design long associated with former company designer Jony Ive’s vision. A new display leak suggests Apple is testing a nearly 7-inch Pro Max with curved glass and almost invisible borders.

The latest claim points to a 6.96-inch Pro Max and a 6.41-inch Pro, both using glass that curves around all four sides. The trick seems less about physically wrapping the OLED around the phone and more about using optical refraction in the cover glass to make the bezels appear to disappear.

The...

Presley Gerber, the model son of supermodel Cindy Crawford and businessman Rande Gerber, has passed away at 27 on Monday. The cause of death has not been determined, but the county medical examiner said he died Sunday at a rehab in Los Angeles.

Gerber was more than just a name in a fashion dynasty. He signed with IMG Models at 15, walked for Moschino and Dolce & Gabbana, starred in campaigns for Calvin Klein and later leveraged his public profile to speak unusually openly about depression, addiction and recovery.

His family have requested privacy and described the moment as ‘very...

Apple’s longest-lasting iPhone has picked up an unusual side effect: its battery is now large enough to trigger extra shipping requirements. The iPhone 18 Pro Max therefore comes with a new Prepare to Ship setting that deliberately reduces its usable battery capacity before the phone is posted.

For owners, the important bit is simple: you don’t need to use it when flying with the phone. Apple says the battery is safe for normal use and air travel. The feature only applies when the handset itself is being shipped for a repair, trade-in, return, sale or gift.

If the battery is...

Billionaire London City Lionesses owner Michele Kang says the club’s new women-first training centre will be better than the facilities used by most men’s teams in the Premier League. The 28-acre Kent campus is expected to open within a year — and is being designed for female players rather than adapting a model built for men.

The club claims that Cobdown Park in Ditton is the world’s largest training centre for women and girls. After planning approval, the site will host a new performance building, academy facilities, a 3G pitch, and recovery and wellbeing spaces.

Renovation plans include childcare facilities...

US grandmaster Wesley So has named Uzbekistan’s Javokhir Sindarov as his favourite to win the Chess Olympiad in Samarkand. He pointed to the hosts’ strong line-up and home advantage as reasons they may be harder to beat than the top-seeded United States.

So made the assessment after his victory in round three, saying the US still have a powerful team but face a much tougher field than in previous Olympiads. He also noted the continued absence of Hikaru Nakamura, who has not represented the US at the event since 2018.

Uzbekistan entered the home Olympiad third...

Tashkent has surged 128 places in Oxford Economics’ global city ranking, with its construction, technology and financial sectors accelerating. The consultancy expects the Uzbek capital’s economy to grow by more than 7% a year on average between 2026 and 2030 — the fastest pace across Central Asia and Eastern Europe.

The capital now ranks 343rd among 1,000 cities in the 2026 Global Cities Index, up from 471st last year. Its biggest leap came in economics, where Tashkent moved from 558th to 188th and now ranks ahead of both Almaty and Astana.

Kazakhstan’s two biggest cities still lead Central Asia in...