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US President Joe Biden said Tuesday he believes his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin is a normally rational actor who badly misjudged his prospects of occupying Ukraine.

The president spoke out in a rare televised interview as his administration looks for what he has described as an “off-ramp” for Putin to deescalate his invasion of Ukraine before he resorts to weapons of mass destruction.

“I think he is a rational actor who has miscalculated significantly,” Biden told CNN after Moscow’s shelling of civilian targets across its neighbor marked an escalation in the seven-month conflict.

Biden warned last week that the world risks “Armageddon” in unusually direct remarks about the dangers from Putin’s thinly veiled threats to use nuclear weapons to assist Russia’s faltering attempt to take over swaths of Ukraine.

Putin’s state of mind has been the subject of much debate after the Russian president suffered a series of recent military set-backs in the invasion, which he launched in February.

Biden told CNN that while he believed Putin was rational, he had underestimated the ferocity of Ukrainian defiance.

“I think… he thought he was going to be welcomed with open arms, that this was the home of Mother Russia in Kyiv, and that where he was going to be welcomed, and I think he just totally miscalculated,” Biden said.

The president even left open the possibility of talks with his Russian counterpart on the sidelines of the meeting of G20 nations in Bali scheduled for November — although he was clear there are no plans for talks on Ukraine. 

“Look, I have no intention of meeting with him,” Biden told CNN, adding that he would however see Putin if the Russian leader wanted negotiations over releasing detained US basketball star Brittney Griner. 

“If he came to me at the G20 and said ‘I want to talk about the release of Griner,’ I’d meet with him. I mean, it would depend,” he said.

– ‘Further escalation’ –

Kyiv’s forces have in recent weeks been pushing back against Russian soldiers across the front lines in the south and in the east.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said Friday his troops had recaptured nearly 965 square miles (2,500 square kilometers) in the counter-offensive that began late last month.

But the Ukrainian defense ministry said Monday that Russia had retaliated with a massive bombardment of its neighbor, hitting the Ukrainian capital Kyiv for the first time in months, as well as other cities across the country. 

Biden spoke to CNN hours after meeting virtually with members of the Group of 7 industrialized nations, who heard from Zelensky on the need for intensified efforts to “create an air shield for Ukraine” amid the barrage of Russian cruise missile and drone attacks.

Zelensky told the G7 “millions of people would be grateful” for help fending off attacks from the sky, and he warned Russia “still has room for further escalation.”

Washington pledged after Monday’s bloody salvos that it would up shipments of air defenses to Ukraine, while Germany promised delivery “in the coming days” of the first Iris-T missile shield reportedly capable of protecting a city.

– No neutrality –

Meanwhile, the United States was leading an all-out offensive to rally as many countries as possible to adopt a resolution at the UN condemning Moscow’s annexation of Ukrainian regions. 

“We believe the time has long passed for neutrality. There is no such thing as neutrality in a situation like this,” said State Department spokesman Ned Price. 

UN countries are debating a resolution introduced to the General Assembly by Ukraine, which the West hopes will demonstrate the isolation of Putin’s Russia on the international stage, with a vote likely on Wednesday or Thursday.

Biden frequently takes questions from the media, but he has held few press conferences or one-to-one televised interviews.

NASA on Tuesday celebrated exceeding expectations during a mission to deflect a distant asteroid, in a sci-fi like test of humanity’s ability to stop an incoming cosmic object from devastating life on Earth.

The fridge-sized Double Asteroid Redirection Test (DART) impactor deliberately smashed into the moonlet asteroid Dimorphos on September 26, pushing it into a smaller, faster orbit around its big brother Didymos, NASA chief Bill Nelson announced.

That changed its orbital period by four percent, or 32 minutes — from 11 hour 55 minutes to 11 hours 23 minutes, bettering an expectation of 10 minutes.

“At some point in the future, if we find an asteroid that is threatening to hit Earth, and would be large enough to really do some damage, thank goodness that we will have had this successful test,” Nelson told AFP.

The asteroid pair loop together around our Sun every 2.1 years, and pose no threat to our planet.

But they are ideal for studying the “kinetic impact” method of planetary defense.

DART’s success as a proof-of-concept has made a reality what was once science fiction — notably films such as “Armageddon,” “Deep Impact,” and “Don’t Look Up.”

Never actually photographed before, Dimorphos, which is 530 feet (160 meters) in diameter or roughly the size of a big Egyptian pyramid, appeared as a speck of light around an hour before impact.

Its egg-like shape and craggy, boulder-dotted surface finally came into clear view in the last few moments, as DART raced toward it at roughly 14,500 miles (23,500 kilometers) per hour.

– Pseudo-comet –

In the days that followed, astronomers rejoiced in stunning images of matter spreading out thousands of miles — pictures collected by Earth and space telescopes, as well as a tiny companion satellite that traveled to the zone with DART.

Thanks to its temporary new tail, Dimorphos has turned into a man-made comet.

But quantifying just how well the test worked required an analysis of light patterns from ground telescopes, which took a few weeks to become apparent.

The binary asteroid system, which was around 6.8 million miles (11 million kilometers) from Earth at impact, is visible only as a single dot from the ground.

The dot’s brightness changes as Dimorphos passes in front of Didymos, which is significantly bigger at half-a-mile wide.

Four optical telescopes were involved in measuring the orbital period — all in Chile and South Africa — while two US based radar telescopes helped confirm the finding, said NASA planetary scientist Nancy Chabot.

The test also showed scientists that the asteroid is less like a solid rock, and more like a “rubbish pile” of boulders bound by mutual gravity.

If an asteroid is more solid, the momentum imparted by a spaceship will be limited. But if significant mass is pushed at high velocity in the opposite direction to impact, there will be an additional boost.

“It looks like the recoil from the ejecta blast off the surface was a substantial contributor to the overall push given to the asteroid,” said NASA scientist Tom Statler at a briefing.

The test will serve as an “anchor point” for simulations and calculations about the outcome of future impacts, he added.

– Mass extinction –

No known asteroid larger than 140 meters (460 feet) in size — big enough to devastate a city — has a significant chance to hit Earth for the next 100 years, according to NASA.

But wait long enough, and it will happen.

The geological record shows, for example, that a six-mile wide asteroid struck Earth 66 million years ago, plunging the world into a long winter that led to the mass extinction of the dinosaurs along with 75 percent of all species.

The agency plans to launch in 2026 a telescope called the Near-Earth Object (NEO) Surveyor to better characterize potentially hazardous 140-meter asteroids and comets that come within 30 million miles. 

So far, less than half of the estimated 25,000 NEOs of 140 meters have been discovered.

Kinetic impact with a spaceship is just one way to defend the planet, albeit the only method possible with current technology.

Should an approaching object be detected early, a spaceship could be sent to fly alongside it for long enough to divert its path via using the ship’s gravitational pull, creating a so-called gravity tractor.

Another option would be launching nuclear explosives to redirect or destroy an asteroid.

NASA believes the best way to deploy such weapons would be at a distance, to impart force without blowing the asteroid to smithereens, which could further imperil Earth.

Joy Womack built herself a fairytale life in Russia’s notoriously tough world of classical dance after becoming the first American to graduate from the Bolshoi Ballet Academy.

But a career that inspired a Hollywood film exploded as Moscow’s first bombs rained down on Ukraine, and she became one of dozens of dancers who fled Vladimir Putin’s war.

“I mourned because it was the end of knowing what was next. And for me, it felt almost in some ways like the end of my career,” Womack told AFP in California.

As Russian troops rolled into Ukraine in February, the Texan was in Poland choreographing “Joika.” 

The film, starring Diane Kruger, tells the story of Womack’s life: from arrival in Moscow at the age of 15, not speaking a word of Russian, to a lead role in the Kremlin Ballet. 

Womack knew at that moment that she could not return to Russia, and must leave behind her belongings, her friends and the years of sacrifice that had helped her to succeed in one of the world’s most competitive ballet environments.  

“I was building a future in Russia. I was trying to walk both lines being a ballerina from America, but also working in Russia.

“And my career and my education in Russia led to an international career in the West. So for me, it’s really hard to say goodbye to that chapter,” she says, pulling off her shoes to reveal feet scarred by her trade.

 – ‘Fear and sadness’ – 

Dozens of foreign and domestic dancers had already fled Russia for fear of being called to the frontlines, before Putin ordered a mass mobilization of 300,000 people to bolster his flagging war effort.

But even without a call-up, the drumbeat of conflict was crowding out the cultural spaces, says Ilya Jivoy. 

A native of St. Petersburg with a 26-year career, Jivoy left Russia with his Ukrainian wife as war broke out.

They did not know what they would do, or where they would go, but he remains convinced it was the best decision.  

“We couldn’t work normally since it all started,” he says. 

“I think now to work in the cultural space in Russia… it may be impossible. 

“It’s not about the art. It’s just about fear and about sadness.”

Now exiles in the United States, Womack and Jivoy know they are comparatively lucky because they were able to leave.

Others were not.

“I have a beautiful partner that I used to work with last year,” Womack said.

“He was served papers. He’s a ballet dancer, not in the army, and it’s the end of his career.”

– Reunited – 

Some exiled dancers have now reunited with one-time colleagues from the Russian stage for a single performance near Los Angeles next month.

The Segerstrom Center for the Arts, a state-of-the-art cultural center in the small town of Costa Mesa, will host “Reunited in Dance.” 

The one-night-only performance will showcase choreography and recreate some of the repertoire that has wowed Moscow audiences.

The performance’s artistic director is Xander Parish, a Briton who lived and worked in Moscow for 12 years, including at the Mariinsky Theater.

Parish, who trained at the Royal Ballet in Britain, recounts the emotional weight of the uprooting these dancers have endured. 

“The theater becomes your family. You work with these people, you dance with them, you get to know them very intimately, working in such close proximity. Your coaches are like your parents,” he said.

During rehearsals that AFP watched, the camaraderie is evident, as the cast slips in and out of Russian and English, discussing how each minute of the performance should work.

The November 12 show could, Parish thinks, be the springboard for something bigger: a more permanent ballet company that would have space for these talents in exile.

“That’s going to take a long time to sort out. But I mean, that’d be my dream, if we can build that in the future,” he says.

“These are the first small steps, the foundations, that bring us together.”

United States labor officials proposed a rule change Tuesday that could make it easier for gig workers such as Uber drivers to be reclassified as employees entitled to benefits.

The move by President Joe Biden’s Labor Department would lower a bar set by his predecessor regarding when someone is considered an employee instead of a contract worker.

It also comes as “gig economy” companies from rideshare platforms to food delivery services strive to maintain the status quo.

The new formula includes factors such as how long a person works for a company and the degree of control over the worker, as well as whether what they do is “integral” to a business, according to the proposed rule.

“We believe the proposed regulation would better protect workers from misclassification while at the same time providing a consistent approach for those businesses that engage or wish to engage with independent contractors,” Jessica Looman of the US Department of Labor said at a press briefing.

Being classified as employees would entitle workers to sick leave, overtime, medical coverage and other benefits, driving up costs for companies such as Uber, Lyft and DoorDash that rely on gig workers.

The proposed rule change is subject to a 45-day public comment period, meaning there is no immediate impact, but share prices took a hit on the news.

Uber and Lyft shares ended the formal day down more than 10 percent, while DoorDash was down nearly six percent.

“It’s a clear blow to the gig economy and a near-term concern for the likes of Uber and Lyft,” despite uncertainty about how the new rule might be interpreted across the country, Wedbush analyst Dan Ives said in a note to investors.

“With ride sharing and other gig economy players depending on the contractor business model, a classification to employees would essentially throw the business model upside down and cause some major structural changes if this holds.”

Uber and Lyft have consistently argued that their drivers want independence, provided benefits are added to the mix.

In California, the cradle of the gig economy, voters in late 2020 approved a referendum backed by firms such as Uber that preserved keeping drivers classified as independent contractors.

The measure effectively overturned a state law that would require the ride-hailing firms and others to reclassify their drivers and provide employee benefits.

The vote came after a contentious campaign with labor groups claiming the initiative would erode worker rights and benefits, and with backers arguing for a new, flexible economic model.

A year after it rebranded itself in the name of building a metaverse, Meta on Tuesday unveiled a new version of its virtual reality headset tailored for working professionals.

The $1,500 Meta Quest Pro features a number of new features that are meant to improve users’ perception of truly being in the presence of other people.

The headset makes it possible to view not only virtual worlds but also the real environment of the user, thanks to high-resolution outward-facing cameras.

“The moment that they begin to break into a smile or when they raise their eyebrow… your avatar should be able to express all of that and more,” Meta chief Mark Zuckerberg said at Meta Connect, the company’s giant’s annual conference focused on virtual reality.

Customers can begin ordering the Quest Pro starting Tuesday, and the device will ship at the end of the month.

Meta said it is partnering with Microsoft and others to tune popular business and productivity software to virtual worlds using Quest Pro. 

Capabilities being worked on include using Quest Pro during virtual meetings on the Microsoft Teams platform, according to the two companies.

“At Microsoft, we’re incredibly excited about the metaverse and how digital and physical worlds are coming together,” Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella said during the presentation.

Facebook renamed itself Meta in October 2021 to signal a pivot to building its vision for an interactive virtual and augmented reality world that it sees as the future.

The move came as the company was facing a backlash after a whistleblower leaked documents suggesting the social media giant put profits over safety.

Meta is undergoing a difficult period financially due to dropping advertising revenues and fierce competition from other platforms such as TikTok, whose popularity has exploded.

About a third of the apps in the Quest app store brought in millions of dollars in revenue since launching there, according to Meta chief technology officer Andrew “Boz” Bosworth.

Some $1.5 billion has been spent overall on games and apps in the Quest store, and titles on the way to its virtual shelves include an “Iron Man” game set for release in November by Marvel Entertainment and Sony Interactive Entertainment, according to Meta executives.

Actress Angela Lansbury, who became a household name through her role as a writer-detective in “Murder, She Wrote,” died on Tuesday, her family announced. She was 96.

The British-born star, who found fame and fortune as one of television’s most memorable characters, was also a hugely successful and decorated stage and film actress.

“The children of Dame Angela Lansbury are sad to announce that their mother died peacefully in her sleep at home in Los Angeles… just five days shy of her 97th birthday,” a statement widely quoted in US media said.

Tributes came Tuesday from across the world, with Australian former prime minister Malcolm Turnbull posting a picture of the pair, who were cousins.

“Thank you Angela for the joy & love you have shared with all the world all your life,” Turnbull tweeted.

Meanwhile NASA posted what it called “a cosmic rose” — a deep space constellation — in memory of the actress.

Lansbury was nearly 60 years old when she netted the role that made her famous: the mystery writer and amateur sleuth in the smash television series “Murder, She Wrote.”

In a career spanning more than seven decades, she appeared in about 60 films and starred in some of Broadway’s biggest musicals. 

She snapped up six Golden Globes, five Tony Awards for her work in American theatre and, in 2013, an honorary lifetime Oscar.

But most remember her as the down-to-earth, middle-aged widow Jessica Fletcher who ferreted out criminals in the television series “Murder, She Wrote”, which ran from 1984 to 1996 on US television and was exported to dozens of countries, making her recognised the world over.

“I was amazed, almost everywhere in the world knew Jessica Fletcher. They treated me like a rock star,” Lansbury said in 2016.

The 264-episode series won her four of her Golden Globes, as well as a fortune: she garnered up to $300,000 per episode.

Even so, in 2017 at the age of 91, the still-lively actress spoke of her wish to play the role of Jessica Fletcher “just one more time”, British media reported.

– Teen screen debut –

Lansbury was born in London on October 16, 1925, to a family of politicians and actors.

Her grandfather, George Lansbury, was a leader of Britain’s Labour party in the 1930s and her mother, Moyna Macgill, was an Irish actress.

In 1940 she emigrated with her widowed mother to the United States, fleeing the World War II blitz.

Blonde with big, blue eyes, she studied acting in New York.

Her film breakthrough came at just 17 when she was cast as the conniving maid Nancy in the 1944 psychological thriller “Gaslight” with Ingrid Bergman, a role that won her an Oscar nomination for best supporting actress and led to a seven-year contract with MGM studios.

Another Oscar nomination quickly followed, for “The Picture of Dorian Gray” in 1946, while a third nomination came for “The Manchurian Candidate” in 1963, roles for which she picked up two Golden Globes.

However, Lansbury was often sidelined into secondary roles, playing characters older than herself.

“I was playing older parts when I was terribly young because I wasn’t a big screen beauty. I am a character actress,” she told BBC radio in 2014. 

In the 1961 musical comedy “Blue Hawaii”, for example, she was the mother of a dashing tour guide played by Elvis Presley, who was only 10 years her junior.

– From Hollywood to Broadway –

Frustrated with her slow career in Hollywood, Lansbury moved to theatre in Broadway in the late 1950s.

She became a star in the title role of the 1966 musical “Mame”, about rich New Yorkers during the Depression, for which she trod the boards more than 1,500 times and won her first Tony Award. “Gypsy” (1973-1975) and “Sweeney Todd” (1979) followed.

But she continued to pick up roles in cinema, gaining a younger audience as the witch in the hit Disney film “Bedknobs and Broomsticks” in 1971.

She won her fifth Tony award in 2009 for her Broadway role as dotty clairvoyant Madame Arcati in Noel Coward’s “Blithe Spirit.”

She reprised the part, in her late 80s, in London’s West end in 2014 — her first time on a London stage in 39 years, winning rave reviews. 

“She’s the utmost professional,” Michael Blakemore, who directed her in the play, was quoted as saying in The Guardian newspaper in 2015. 

“I think people such as her, who have been acting since they were teenagers, develop special gifts because they learn the basis of their craft when they are young and impressionable,” he said.

Lansbury was married for 53 years to her second husband Peter Shaw, who died in 2003.

Britain made Lansbury a dame in 2014.

“In addition to her three children, Anthony, Deirdre and David, she is survived by three grandchildren, Peter, Katherine and Ian, plus five great grandchildren and her brother, producer Edgar Lansbury,” the family statement said.

“A private family ceremony will be held at a date to be determined.”