A selection committee from the Babiito royal clan announced on Wednesday that Prince Edward Rukidi Kijanangoma, a UBC news anchor and cousin of the late king, had been chosen as his successor.

The decision was challenged by King Oyo's sister, Princess Ruth Komuntale, who produced what she said was a 2022 will naming "a biological son" of the late king as heir. She did not identify the alleged son, whose existence reportedly came as a surprise to members of the Tooro elite.

The selection committee excluded the alleged son from consideration, while the dispute prompted public debate over the succession.

On Thursday, Queen Mother Best Kemigisa said troops had removed the royal guards without notice and surrounded the palace.

"We cannot leave or receive people freely. We are under house arrest," she said.

However, beyond the polished showrooms of Beijing, another very real scene—this one in Hangzhou—still lingers in my mind. On the rooftop of Unitree Robotics’ office building, employees had built a robot testing ground filled with various terrain obstacles. There, I saw the very same robot dogs and humanoid robots that nimbly vaulted over barriers in promotional videos struggling to navigate complex, real-world environments without an engineer holding a remote control. Compared to the flawless performances of humanoid robots in staged settings, this stark contrast with reality left me with a sense of the embodied intelligence industry’s awkwardness on the eve of full commercialisation.

Fast forward to this year. In just one year, Unitree Robotics successfully went public, surrounded by a dazzling aura. Yet, at the recently concluded 2026 World Robot Conference in Beijing, Unitree’s founder, Wang Xingxing, poured cold water on an enthusiastic audience of practitioners and investors under the spotlight of the main forum. He bluntly pointed out that humanoid robots have not yet truly entered the stage of large-scale application, and their biggest shortcoming remains a lack of general-purpose capability. In his view, the true "ChatGPT moment" for embodied intelligence—when a robot can enter a completely unfamiliar home environment and autonomously complete about 80% of daily tasks using only voice commands—is still some distance away: 2 to 3 years in an ideal scenario, or perhaps 5 to 10 years if one is more pessimistic.

Wang’s remarks stand in sharp contrast to the numerous " social media trending topics" generated by two recent robotics conferences in Beijing. After the hype surrounding these events, I can’t help but wonder: how far are we really from the "ChatGPT moment" for embodied intelligence?

The 'Robot Olympics'

In late August, the 2026 World Robot Conference and the Second World Humanoid Robot Games were held back-to-back in Beijing. Thousands of domestic and foreign robots competed on the same stage, comprehensively showcasing the latest development achievements of the global robotics industry. Whether you were at the venue or just scrolling through short videos on your phone, you couldn't help but be infected by the feverish atmosphere, which felt like a sci-fi movie coming to life.

At the Second World Humanoid Robot Games, the humanoid robot "Tiangong Ultra" ran the 100-meter dash final in 8.64 seconds, nearly one second faster than the human world record held by Jamaican athlete Usain Bolt. In the standing high jump, a humanoid robot cleared a height of 2.88 meters, far exceeding the 0.96-meter best mark set at the inaugural games last year, and shattering the human high jump world record of 2.45 meters set by Cuban athlete Javier Sotomayor in 1993. In addition, humanoid robots made a strong impression and dominated trending topics with outstanding performances in the 400 meters, gymnastics, boxing, and other events. It is worth mentioning the globally viral "shy face-covering run" robot, which topped social media trending lists worldwide for its unique posture. This running style was not deliberately mimicked or designed by humans; rather, it was the optimal solution the robot autonomously evolved through data iteration in a virtual simulation environment.

The World Robot Conference held in Yizhuang also drew significant attention. This year’s conference unveiled 44 new technologies and solutions, attracting 557,000 attendees and inviting over 10,000 foreign guests to view the exhibition. The exhibition area exceeded 60,000 square meters, with 373 participating companies, a substantial year-on-year increase of 69%. In this feast of steel and code, over 3,000 exhibits were displayed, and an unprecedented 311 new products made their debut, setting records for the largest scale and the most new product launches in the conference's history. The topic garnered 730 million views on short video platforms, up 62% from the previous session.

Red-hot.

That was the visceral feeling surrounding the robotics industry at the end of August.

The 2026 Humanoid Robot Industry Development Report noted that in the first half of the year, China's humanoid robot shipments exceeded 40,000 units, capturing an astonishing 97% global market share.

Amidst these boiling statistics and social media revelry, it is easy to succumb to the illusion that we have already stepped half a foot into a new era of universal robot popularisation. However, when the tide of traffic gradually recedes, beyond recognising the rapid development of the robotics industry, we also need to have a more sober understanding and reflection on the hopes we pin on it: China's robotics industry is striving to move past mere flashy demonstrations and accelerating toward real production and daily life scenarios. But when will we truly be able to bring robots into our everyday lives?

From Leg-Focused Flash to Hand-Focused Precision

At robotics exhibitions over the past few years, companies were most eager to show off the capabilities of their robots’ lower limbs: backflips, resisting kicks, and parkour. These highly visually impactful actions were the "hard currency" for attracting venture capital. At this year’s conference, while combat and boxing remained popular crowd-pullers, the narrative logic of core companies has shifted; "operational metrics" have become the new standard of competition. Industry media even dubbed 2026 as the "Year One of Embodied Intelligence Tactile Sensation." In this inaugural year, electronic skin and tactile sensors debuted on a massive scale, and the speed of cost reduction in the supply chain was even more shocking. Tactile sensors, which once relied heavily on imports and sold for over 100,000 RMB (or 15,000 USD) per unit, now have a starting price of just 199 RMB (or 30 USD) for domestically produced alternatives. This cliff-like drop in hardware costs has made it possible to endow robots with "human-level touch."

Simultaneously, the operational capabilities of robots in real-world scenarios are being quantified. Xiaomi’s new generation of humanoid robots has quietly begun an "internship" at an actual part-loading station in Xiaomi's car factory. Data shows its success rate in bilateral operations has reached 98%, just 1 percentage point shy of a skilled human worker. Galbot's home service demonstration was equally impressive; when faced with interference deliberately created by staff moving items randomly on site, the robot could adjust dynamically in real-time by re-perceiving its environment, without relying on a pre-set script. In the logistics sector, Robotera's logistics sorting robot has achieved a practical sorting efficiency of 1,200 pieces per hour and has partnered with giants like China Post and SF Express to realise regular operation in over a dozen logistics centres across five provinces.

An official from the industry department of the Beijing Economic-Technological Development Area stated that as the focus of the embodied intelligence robotics industry shifts from technological breakthroughs to large-scale applications, Beijing Yizhuang will accelerate the construction of a national innovation hub for the embodied intelligence industry.

The invisible bottleneck

Although China's robotics industry is developing rapidly, industry leaders remain clear-eyed about the current challenges. Zhao Tongyang, founder of EngineAI, highlighted a cruel reality at the conference: in industrial and commercial scenarios, a 99% task success rate is still far from sufficient; it must be raised to 99.99%.

If hardware precision can be compensated for over time through supply chain iteration, then the true Achilles' heel restricting embodied intelligence from reaching its "ChatGPT moment" is invisible: "data." Zhao Qinping, an academician of the Chinese Academy of Engineering, along with several experts, clearly pointed out that the current "chokepoint" problem facing embodied intelligence technology, while existing at the model level, is a far deeper crisis concerning data.

Experts state that the core pain point hindering the continuous iteration of model systems is a severe scarcity of high-quality, real-world physical data. In virtual simulation software, the deformation process of objects, complex tactile feedback, and unpredictable environmental disturbances are extremely difficult to replicate with complete fidelity. Without a massive amount of high-quality data from the real physical world to support it, virtual simulation can never truly approximate reality, leading to a massive "reality gap" between simulation training and physical deployment.

Even more headache-inducing for companies is the severe lack of cross-platform data standards and reusability. Xie Shaofeng, Chairman of the OpenAtom Foundation and Chairman of the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology's Humanoid Robot and Embodied Intelligence Standardisation Technical Committee, noted that robots currently on the market operate in silos regarding sensor configurations, action space dimensions, task definition methods, and data structures. Consequently, the data collected by companies at a high cost is often limited to a single model of equipment and a single type of task. The entire industry is engaging in duplicated collection, duplicated labelling, and duplicated adaptation, causing massive resource waste.

It is precisely this industry-wide thirst for high-quality physical data that has birthed an entirely new business model. At this year’s conference, for the first time, data shed its status as an internal means of production and debuted en masse as a "commodity." According to a report by the Financial Times, at least 90 data collection and training centres for humanoid robots are currently in operation or under construction in China. Capital flows confirm this trend: the collection, cleaning, open-sourcing, and evaluation of data are being stripped from the internal processes of complete machine enterprises and turning into an independent business. For the first time in the industry chain, a specialised "data mining segment" has emerged.

Panning for technology gold

Today, the shakeup of the robotics industry has quietly begun. According to statistics, approximately 38 companies in the robotics industry chain are sprinting toward IPOs on the A-share STAR Market and ChiNext board. Yet, simultaneously, the clearing out of tail-end enterprises is also occurring; the significant drop in exhibition and rental prices is a clear signal that the market is returning to rationality. In such a phase where heat and cold coexist, it is easy for unrealistic bubbles to form, but it is also the easiest time to sift out the true gold that can withstand the test.

The development of China's robotics industry has transitioned from technological "exhibits" to market "commodities," and from isolated breakthroughs to a new stage of systematic advancement. Policy support, a manufacturing foundation, and a complete industrial chain are collectively driving technological iteration. According to Counterpoint's latest statistics, Agibot and Unitree together account for about 75% of global shipments, having already secured an international first-mover advantage. I have also interacted with robotics companies like UBTECH and Galaxea AI, and their products left a deep impression on me. From an international horizontal perspective, China's robotics industry is booming; however, from a vertical development perspective, it still requires calm, rational observation and continued technological breakthroughs.

From the "manual remote control" on that Hangzhou rooftop a year ago to the "autonomous operations" striving to break the 99% success rate on today’s exhibition stands, China's robotics industry is entering a sober phase after the initial excitement, returning to the most hardcore technological breakthrough stage of manufacturing. Before the true "ChatGPT moment" for embodied intelligence arrives, the Chinese robotics industry will inevitably undergo brutal technological and commercial trials. And who has the last laugh will be closely tied to the sprint in these crucial next few years.

Du Yubin is a CGTN journalist, producer, and chief editor. Having been stationed in Washington, D.C., and London for six years, he focuses on Sino-US and Sino-European relations, with over 16 years of experience in international communication and new media. This article solely represents the author's personal views.

Premier League clubs once again dominated football's transfer market in the 2026 summer window , spending billions on new players and leaving Europe's other major leagues far behind.

The graphic puts Premier League spending at $4.71 billion, compared with $1.29 billion for Italy's Serie A, $866 million for Spain's La Liga, $855 million for Germany's Bundesliga and $673 million for France's Ligue 1.

FootballTransfers, which reports its figures in euros, calculated spending by English top-flight clubs at a record €4.07 billion (£3.49 billion) during the window, which ran from June 15 to September 1. Differences between that figure and the graphic's $4.71 billion largely reflect the currency used.

That means Premier League clubs collectively spent more than three times as much as Serie A, the next-highest league shown on the map.

English clubs drove the spending surge

The scale of the spending was not driven by just one club. Manchester City, Chelsea, Tottenham, Newcastle, Aston Villa, Liverpool and Arsenal were all among the summer's biggest spenders.

Sky Sports reported that Manchester City's spending reached £440 million, while Chelsea spent £342 million and Tottenham exceeded £300 million. It described the summer as the most expensive transfer window in Premier League history.

Sofascore's figures tell a similar story. It ranked Manchester City first among individual clubs with €526.2 million spent, followed by Chelsea at €406.7 million and Tottenham at €366.4 million. Eight of the 10 highest-spending clubs in its ranking were from the Premier League.

Several huge individual transfers helped push the numbers higher. Manchester City signed Enzo Fernández from Chelsea for £125 million, while Chelsea paid £117 million for Morgan Rogers from Aston Villa. Tottenham also spent £100 million on Sandro Tonali from Newcastle, according to Sky Sports.

The spending gap highlights the financial strength of English football. Premier League clubs benefit from enormous domestic and international broadcasting income, allowing teams throughout the division — not only those competing for the title — to spend heavily.

The Championship also appears sixth in the graphic at $454 million, just ahead of Turkey's Süper Lig at $448 million and Saudi Arabia's Pro League at $439 million. That means England has two competitions among the eight highest-spending leagues shown.

Twenty-five years after the September 11 attacks, American students are still learning about the event very differently depending on where they go to school.

An Associated Press review of all 50 states found no single nationwide approach to teaching 9/11. Some states explicitly require the attacks and their aftermath to be covered in public-school history or social studies courses. Others recommend the subject or leave the decision largely to individual schools and districts.

The differences are significant because today's schoolchildren were all born after the attacks. Even many teachers are too young to have clear memories of September 11, 2001, when al-Qaeda hijackers seized four passenger planes, killing nearly 3,000 people in New York, at the Pentagon and in Pennsylvania.

States including Alabama, Arizona, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Iowa and West Virginia have specific requirements that ensure students encounter 9/11 in lessons. Florida, for example, requires at least 45 minutes of annual 9/11 instruction in certain middle and high school classes.

Alaska, Vermont, Washington and Montana have no statewide requirement specifically mandating 9/11 instruction. Schools may still teach the attacks as part of broader lessons on US history, terrorism, foreign policy or national security.

Where 9/11 is taught, students are often expected to learn much more than what happened that morning.

State standards can include the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, the Patriot Act, the creation of the Department of Homeland Security, terrorism and debates over national security and civil liberties .

New York, where the World Trade Centre was attacked, expects students at different grade levels to examine the attacks and their consequences. Older students study issues including government surveillance, the war on terror and controversial US policies that followed.

Virginia, where American Airlines Flight 77 struck the Pentagon, also requires the subject in middle and upper grades, while Pennsylvania provides schools with an optional 9/11 teaching toolkit.

Some states separately require or encourage schools to commemorate September 11, even where classroom instruction is not mandatory. New York, Pennsylvania, Texas and Wisconsin are among states with laws providing for moments of silence or other observances.

Presidential aide Kirill Dmitriev announced the agreements on Friday on the sidelines of the BRICS Business Forum in New Delhi.

"The instruments for co-operation are developing very rapidly. Today, the Russian Direct Investment Fund signed important agreements in the area of BRICS Pay - the BRICS payment system - as well as in education and support for our technology companies. For example, Innopraktika is actively developing technology hubs in India and other BRICS countries, allowing our startups to interact effectively and quickly, as well as helping our technology companies enter the markets of BRICS countries," he said.

Dmitriev said discussions were focused on "practical and clear instruments for co-operation" between BRICS members.

He also highlighted Russian President Vladimir Putin's position on the purpose of the alliance.

"Russian president [Vladimir Putin] said clearly today that the BRICS alliance is not against anyone. It is about ensuring that our businesses and companies develop and interact more with each other. Therefore, this is undoubtedly a very important summit precisely in terms of the practical implementation of the economic potential that exists between the BRICS countries," he continued.

Putin's visit to New Delhi runs from September 11-13. On Friday, he joined Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi for a visit to the INNOPROM exhibition.

INNOPROM.India is being held from September 9-11 at Bharat Mandapam in New Delhi. It brings together government representatives, manufacturers, technology companies, investors and industry organisations from Russia and India.

Putin and other leaders are scheduled to take part in a high-level BRICS Summit session on Saturday. They will then meet in an expanded format with partners and invitees before final documents are signed on Sunday.

The Russian president is also expected to hold several bilateral meetings.

Twenty-five years ago, 19 al-Qaeda terrorists hijacked four commercial passenger planes in a coordinated attack that killed 2,977 people in New York , at the Pentagon and in Pennsylvania.

The September 11, 2001 attacks unfolded in less than two hours , beginning when American Airlines Flight 11 struck the North Tower of the World Trade Centre at 8:46 a.m. United Airlines Flight 175 hit the South Tower just 17 minutes later, at 9:03 a.m.

A third aircraft, American Airlines Flight 77, crashed into the Pentagon in Arlington, Virginia, at 9:37 a.m. All 59 passengers and crew, along with the five hijackers, were killed, as were 125 people inside the Pentagon.

The fourth aircraft, United Airlines Flight 93, never reached its intended target. After learning through phone calls that other planes had been used in attacks, passengers and crew fought back against the hijackers. The aircraft crashed in a field near Shanksville, Pennsylvania, at 10:03 a.m., killing everyone aboard.

Who was aboard the four planes?

The four flights were travelling from the US East Coast to California , meaning they carried large amounts of fuel for their planned transcontinental journeys.

The 9/11 Memorial records 76 passengers and 11 crew members on Flight 11, excluding its five hijackers. Flight 175 carried 51 passengers and nine crew members, excluding five hijackers. Flight 77 had 53 passengers and six crew members, excluding five hijackers, while Flight 93 carried 33 passengers and seven crew members, excluding four hijackers.

The two World Trade Centre towers later collapsed. The South Tower fell at 9:59 a.m., 56 minutes after it was struck, while the North Tower collapsed at 10:28 a.m., 102 minutes after the first impact.

The attacks killed people from more than 90 countries and became the deadliest foreign attack on US soil. Twenty-five years later, ceremonies continue to honour the victims, with relatives gathering at the 9/11 Memorial in New York to read their names aloud.

Financial records became more useful once investigators knew who they were looking for. Bank accounts, ATM withdrawals and payments helped investigators identify addresses, locations and connections. After the attacks, the USA PATRIOT Act expanded requirements for identifying customers and sharing financial information, while the Financial Action Task Force expanded its work on terrorist financing. Attempts to create a financial profile that could identify future terrorists, however, failed because ordinary activities such as paying tuition, travelling or receiving international transfers could not reliably distinguish a suspect from anyone else.

The colourful display featured formations linked to Ethiopia’s national identity and aspirations. The drones formed the Ethiopian flag, a dove of peace and the Addis Ababa flower.

A maritime vessel was also displayed in the sky, carrying particular significance for landlocked Ethiopia.

Why Ethiopia Is Welcoming 2019

While much of the world is in 2026, Ethiopia welcomed 2019 on September 11 because the country follows the Ethiopian calendar.

The calendar is based on an ancient calendar system and differs from the widely used Gregorian calendar in its calculation of the year of Jesus Christ’s birth. This leaves the Ethiopian calendar roughly seven to eight years behind the Gregorian calendar.

Ethiopia’s 13-Month Calendar

Unlike the Gregorian calendar, which has 12 months, the Ethiopian calendar has 13.

The first 12 months each have 30 days. The final month, known as Pagume, has five days or six during a leap year.

Ethiopian New Year, known as Enkutatash, normally falls on September 11, or September 12 in certain years.

The celebration also coincides with the end of Ethiopia’s main rainy season and the beginning of a new season.

Why a Ship Appeared in the Sky

Among the formations displayed over Addis Ababa was a maritime vessel.

Ethiopia lost direct access to the Red Sea after Eritrea gained independence in 1993, leaving the country landlocked.

Since then, Ethiopia has relied heavily on neighbouring countries’ ports for international trade , giving the maritime-themed formation added significance during the New Year display.

“We believe BRICS will become a real force in the global economy when the results of our cooperation are reflected in contracts, factories, ports, and the economic lives of the peoples of our countries,” he said.

He called for greater use of national currencies in trade between member states, backed by mechanisms to manage currency risks and settlements.

Pezeshkian also urged the BRICS New Development Bank to expand local-currency financing for infrastructure and energy projects, while proposing a joint reinsurance company with initial capital of $10 billion to support major investments.

He called for streamlined customs procedures, fewer regulatory barriers and greater private-sector participation across the bloc.

The Iranian president said Iran was ready to use its energy resources and geographical position to strengthen BRICS food, energy and transport supply chains.

The United States on Friday, September 11, marked 25 years since the September 11 attacks , when hijacked passenger planes struck the World Trade Centre and the Pentagon, and another crashed in Pennsylvania, killing 2,977 people.

On September 11, 2001, 19 al-Qaeda hijackers seized four commercial aircraft. Two were flown into the North and South Towers of the World Trade Centre in New York , a third hit the Pentagon in Virginia, and a fourth, United Airlines Flight 93, crashed near Shanksville, Pennsylvania, after passengers and crew fought back.

The National September 11 Memorial & Museum records 2,753 deaths in New York, 184 at the Pentagon and 40 aboard Flight 93. Those figures exclude the 19 hijackers.

The attacks unfolded rapidly. American Airlines Flight 11 struck the North Tower at 8:46 a.m., and United Airlines Flight 175 hit the South Tower at 9:03 a.m. The South Tower collapsed at 9:59 a.m. and the North Tower at 10:28 a.m.

First responders suffered heavy losses

Hundreds of emergency workers died after entering the World Trade Centre complex to evacuate civilians and respond to the attacks.

The New York City Fire Department lost 343 members, while 37 Port Authority Police Department officers and 23 New York City Police Department officers were killed. The 9/11 Memorial says nearly 1,000 firefighters were deployed to the World Trade Centre that day.

The Port Authority says its police officers mobilised across the World Trade Centre complex, with additional officers arriving from other locations in New York and New Jersey. The loss of 37 PAPD officers remains the largest single-day loss of life for a police force in US history.

A quarter-century of remembrance

The attacks destroyed the Twin Towers and the other buildings in the original World Trade Centre complex. Rescue, recovery and clean-up operations continued for months, with about 1.8 million tonnes of material eventually removed from the site. The operation formally ended on May 30, 2002.

Today, the National September 11 Memorial stands where the Twin Towers once stood. Its two reflecting pools occupy the footprints of the towers, with the names of those killed inscribed around them. Each year on September 11, relatives read aloud the victims' names during the commemoration in Lower Manhattan.

For the 25th anniversary in 2026, the Port Authority has also installed permanent markings inside the World Trade Centre's Oculus tracing the path of sunlight between 8:46 a.m., when the North Tower was struck, and 10:28 a.m., when it collapsed. The installation is intended to preserve the memory of the attacks for future generations.

Trump had earlier pointed to "a little activity" at Pickaxe Mountain, a fortified site near Iran's damaged Natanz uranium enrichment facility, and threatened further US strikes if it continued.

Satellite imagery analysed by the Center for Strategic and International Studies shows increased construction at the site. Researchers, however, said the images could not confirm reports that centrifuges had been moved there and assessed that the facility did not yet appear capable of enriching uranium.

Iran is also reportedly rebuilding military capabilities damaged by US and Israeli strikes, including assembling ballistic missiles at underground facilities, although production remains below previous levels.

Netanyahu said Israel was continuing operations against what he called the "Iranian axis" in Gaza and Lebanon.

Footage released by the IDF shows operations conducted in "recent months", with troops crossing the Litani River and advancing towards Beaufort Castle and Ali al-Taher. Soldiers are also seen entering underground routes, seizing weapons and striking tunnel shafts.

Israeli forces had earlier seized Beaufort Castle, giving them control of another position overlooking the Litani River and surrounding areas.

According to the Israeli military, the underground network housed Hezbollah's "Badr" Unit and contained weapons and " living quarters" that allowed fighters to remain underground for "extended periods".

Israeli officials said more than 1,100 tonnes of explosives were used to destroy the complex, claiming the operation removed a strategic threat to northern Israel.

Lebanese media earlier reported a "massive explosion" and powerful tremors in the area on Thursday. The US Geological Survey recorded a magnitude 4.1 seismic event in southern Lebanon around the time of the demolition.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defence Minister Israel Katz described the tunnels as "strategic terrorist infrastructure that was built over two decades, with Iranian funding and planning".

Hezbollah has not independently confirmed the loss, and the Israeli claims could not be independently verified.

The Ali al-Taher Ridge is roughly 600 metres high, overlooks Nabatieh and sits about 15 kilometres from the Israeli border. The area has become a key battleground since Israeli forces pushed deeper into southern Lebanon earlier this year.

Fighting has continued despite a US-brokered ceasefire reached in June. A wider framework calls for Hezbollah to disarm and Israeli forces to withdraw from southern Lebanon. The process has stalled, with Hezbollah refusing to give up its weapons and Israel saying it will not withdraw until the group is disarmed.

Join the conversation:

The session will explore how crimes committed by al-Qaeda led to Muslims and people perceived to be Muslim being treated as a collective security threat.

FBI- recorded anti-Muslim incidents in the United States rose from 28 in 2000 to 481 in 2001. The US Justice Department subsequently investigated more than 800 cases involving violence, threats, vandalism and arson against Muslims and other communities targeted in the backlash.

The conversation will also examine mass detention, immigration profiling, mosque surveillance, workplace discrimination and the expansion of security powers under the Patriot Act. It will consider how news coverage and political rhetoric repeatedly connected Islam with terrorism, forcing many Muslims to defend their identities and demonstrate their loyalty.

Akwei, an international journalist and founding editor of Global South World, will be joined by Mahmud, the chief executive of Pakistani digital publication ProPakistani. Their discussion will bring perspectives from Africa and South Asia into a debate often framed mainly through American and European experiences.

Twenty-five years after the attacks, the consequences remain visible. A 2026 Pew Research Centre survey found that 59% of Muslim Americans believed there was “a lot” of discrimination against Muslims in the United States. 

The initiative seeks to coordinate regional efforts against criminal organisations and transnational threats. Fujimori said the growing reach of criminal groups required countries to work together across borders.

"This criminality does not respect borders, and hence the need to join efforts with other countries," she said.

Rubio said Washington viewed the expansion of criminal organisations as a threat to security across the hemisphere and pledged US support for participating countries.

"We are going to help you in every way possible ... because it is also in our national interest not to have criminal gangs operating with impunity across the hemisphere," Rubio said.

He described the Shield of the Americas as an alliance aimed at confronting criminal and terrorist groups, some of which he said had acquired resources and capabilities exceeding those of national armed forces. Rubio said 14 countries were currently participating and expected the initiative to expand.