OSAKA — Russian President Vladimir Putin fired a new broadside against Western liberalism at the Group of 20 summit in Japan, saying that policies such as welcoming migrants have hurt people’s interests.

Speaking after the summit in Osaka concluded on Saturday, Putin charged that Donald Trump’s victory in the 2016 U.S. presidential election and a drop of popularity of traditional parties in Europe have been rooted in growing public dismay with mainstream liberal policies.

He said Trump’s election victory was driven by growing disenchantment with liberal policies.

“The liberal idea has started eating itself,” Putin said at a news conference. “Millions of people live their lives, and those who propagate those ideas are separate from them.”

He also charged that the influx of migrants to Europe has infringed on people’s rights. “People live in their own country, according to their own traditions, why should it happen to them?” Putin said.

The Russian leader added that while “liberal ideas remain attractive as a whole,” election results show that people want change.

Putin hailed his meeting with Trump on Friday on the sidelines of the G-20 summit as “business-like and pragmatic.”

“We addressed almost the entire list of issues of mutual concern,” he said. “Of course, we talked about the situation in various parts of the world. Overall, these consultations were useful.”

He said the claims of Russian meddling in the U.S. election were part of the agenda of his talk with Trump.

At the start of Friday’s meeting, the Russian leader laughed when a reporter shouted about Trump warning Putin “not to meddle” in the 2020 presidential election.

Asked Saturday whether the issue was discussed during the meeting, Putin said that “we talked about it,” but didn’t elaborate.

He said he believes it’s necessary to “turn the page” in relations with the U.S., which have plunged to the lowest level since the Cold War era.

In November, Trump abruptly canceled a scheduled round of talks with Putin on the sidelines of the G-20 summit in Argentina over Russia’s seizure of Ukrainian navy ships and their crews. Russia has kept the seamen in custody pending trial.

Putin said that Trump raised the issue during Friday’s meeting and made it a priority.

The Russian leader said the naval incident was a provocation staged by the former Ukrainian president, and signaled that the Ukrainian seamen could be released after their trial is over.

“We should wait until it’s over and then could deal with it,” he said. “They were only fulfilling an order, but they violated the Russian law.”

Putin said he and Trump agreed that the nations’ top diplomats should continue discussions on a possible extension of the New Start nuclear arms reduction treaty that expires in 2021.

They also talked about the need to encourage the development of bilateral economic ties, Putin said.

He also responded to criticism from singer Elton John, who accused Putin of duplicity after he offered a critical view of the Western emphasis on LGBT rights.

“I deeply respect him, he is a musical genius and we all love his performance, but I believe he’s mistaken,” Putin said.

John and the filmmakers of his biopic “Rocketman” have sharply criticized a Russian distributor’s decision to censor scenes from the new movie featuring gay sex and drug use.

Putin argued that Russia’s ban on “propaganda” of LGBT culture among children is aimed at protecting them from aggressive proselytizing by the LGBT community.

“Let a person grow up first before making a choice,” Putin said. “Let the children in peace.”

He said that “our attitude to the LGBT community is absolutely calm and unbiased,” but added that “this part of community aggressively enforces its point of view on others.”

International human rights groups have said that Russia’s “gay propaganda” law has exacerbated hostility toward LGBT people in the country and stifled access to LGBT-inclusive education and support services.

They also strongly protested a 2017 crackdown on gays in the mostly Muslim republic of Chechnya, where more than 100 gay men were arrested and subjected to torture, with some of them killed, according to activists.

Earlier this year, rights activists in Russia reported a new crackdown on gays in Chechnya in which at least two people have died and about 40 people have been detained. Authorities in Chechnya have denied the claims.

Story: Vladimir Isachenkov

PANMUNJOM — With wide grins and a historic handshake, President Donald Trump and North Korea’s Kim Jong Un met at the heavily fortified Demilitarized Zone on Sunday and agreed to revive talks on the pariah nation’s nuclear program. Trump, pressing his bid for a legacy-defining deal, became the first sitting American leader to step into North Korea.

What was intended to be an impromptu exchange of pleasantries turned into a 50-minute meeting, another historic first in the yearlong rapprochement between the two technically warring nations. It marked a return to face-to-face contact between the leaders after talks broke down during a summit in Vietnam in February. Significant doubts remain, though, about the future of the negotiations and the North’s willingness to give up its stockpile of nuclear weapons.

The border encounter was a made-for television moment. The men strode toward one another from opposite sides of the Joint Security Area and shook hands over the raised patch of concrete at the Military Demarcation Line as cameras clicked and photographers jostled to capture the scene.

After asking if Kim wanted him to cross, Trump took 10 steps into the North with Kim at his side, then escorted Kim back to the South for talks at Freedom House, where they agreed to revive the stalled negotiations.

The spectacle marked the latest milestone in two years of roller-coaster diplomacy between the two nations. Personal taunts of “Little Rocket Man” (by Trump) and “mentally deranged U.S. dotard” (by Kim) and threats to destroy one other have given way to on-again, off-again talks, professions of love and flowery letters.

“I was proud to step over the line,” Trump told Kim as they met in on the South Korean side of the truce village of Panmunjom. “It is a great day for the world.”

Kim hailed the moment, saying of Trump, “I believe this is an expression of his willingness to eliminate all the unfortunate past and open a new future.” Kim added that he was “surprised” when Trump issued an unorthodox meeting invitation by tweet on Saturday.

As he left South Korea on his flight to Washington, Trump tweeted that he had “a wonderful meeting” with Kim. “Stood on the soil of North Korea, an important statement for all, and a great honor!”

Trump had predicted the two would greet one another for about “two minutes,” but they ended up spending more than an hour together. The president was joined in the Freedom House conversation with Kim by his daughter and son-in-law, Ivanka Trump and Jared Kushner, both senior White House advisers.

Substantive talks between the countries had largely broken down after the last Trump-Kim summit in Hanoi, which ended early when the leaders hit an impasse.

The North has balked at Trump’s insistence that it give up its weapons before it sees relief from crushing international sanctions. The U.S. has said the North must submit to “complete, verifiable and irreversible denuclearization” before sanctions are lifted.

As he announced the resumptions of talks, Trump told reporters “we’re not looking for speed. We’re looking to get it right.”

He added that economic sanctions on the North would remain. But he seemed to move off the administration’s previous rejection of scaling back sanctions in return for piecemeal North Korean concessions, saying, “At some point during the negotiation things can happen.”

Peering into North Korea from atop Observation Post Ouellette, Trump told reporters before he greeted Kim that there had been “tremendous” improvement since his first meeting with the North’s leader in Singapore last year.

Trump claimed the situation used to be marked by “tremendous danger” but “after our first summit, all of the danger went away.”

But the North has yet to provide an accounting of its nuclear stockpile, let alone begin the process of dismantling its arsenal.

The latest meeting, with the U.S. president coming to Kim, represented a striking acknowledgement by Trump of the authoritarian Kim’s legitimacy over a nation with an abysmal human rights record. Kim is suspected of having ordered the killing of his half brother through a plot using a nerve agent at a Malaysian airport in 2017. Meantime, the United Nations said in May that about 10 million people in North Korea are suffering from “severe food shortages” after the North had one of the worst harvests in a decade.

Trump told reporters he invited the North Korean leader to the United States, and potentially even to the White House.

“I would invite him right now,” Trump said, standing next to Kim. Speaking through a translator, Kim responded that it would be an “honor” to invite Trump to the North Korean capital of Pyongyang “at the right time.”

North Korea’s state media later described the meeting as “an amazing event.”

Trump became the first sitting U.S. president to meet with the leader of the isolated nation last year when they signed an agreement in Singapore to bring the North toward denuclearization.

In the midst of the DMZ gathering, Trump repeatedly complained that he was not receiving more praise for de-escalating tensions on the Korean Peninsula through his personal diplomacy with Kim. Critics say Trump had actually inflamed tensions with his threats to rain “fire and fury” on North Korea, before embracing a diplomatic approach.

North Korea’s nuclear threat has not been contained, according to Richard Haas, president of the New York-based Council on Foreign Relations. He tweeted Sunday that the threat of conflict has subsided only because the Trump administration has decided it can live with North Korea’s “nuclear program while it pursues the chimera of denuclearization.”

Every president since Ronald Reagan has visited the 1953 armistice line, except for George H.W. Bush, who visited when he was vice president. The show of bravado and support for South Korea, one of America’s closest military allies, has evolved over the years to include binoculars and bomber jackets.

While North Korea has not recently tested a long-range missile that could reach the U.S., last month it fired off a series of short-range missiles. Trump has brushed off the significance of those tests, even as his own national security adviser, John Bolton, has said they violated U.N. Security Council resolutions.

Story: Zeke Miller and Jonathan Lemire. Jill Colvin and Darlene Superville in Washington contributed to this report.

KHARTOUM — Tens of thousands of protesters took to the streets in Sudan’s capital and elsewhere in the country Sunday calling for civilian rule nearly three months after the army forced out long-ruling autocrat Omar al-Bashir.

A government official said at least seven people had been killed and nearly 200 injured during the demonstrations.

The protests came amid a weekslong standoff between the ruling military council and protest leaders. Talks between the two sides over a power-sharing agreement collapsed earlier this month when security forces violently broke up a protest camp in Khartoum.

The ensuing clampdown resulted in at least 128 people killed across Sudan, according to protest organizers. Authorities put the death toll at 61, including three security forces.

Soliman Abdel-Gabar, acting undersecretary of health, reported Sunday night that at least seven people died during the day’s disturbances. He said 181 people were injured, including 27 with bullet wounds.

The marches, the first since the June 3 crackdown, also mark the 30th anniversary of the Islamist-backed coup that brought al-Bashir to power in 1989, toppling Sudan’s last elected government. The military removed al-Bashir in April amid mass protests against his rule.

The crowds gathered at several points across the capital and its sister city of Omdurman before marching toward the homes of those killed since the uprising began.

“This is a very important day for the Sudanese people,” protester Hamdi Karamallah said.

The protest movement erupted in December, triggered by an economic crisis. The protesters remained in the streets after al-Bashir was overthrown and jailed, fearing that the military would cling to power or preserve much of his regime.

Osman Mirghani, a Sudanese analyst and the editor of the daily newspaper al-Tayar, said the marches “changed the equation” in favor of the Forces for Declaration of Freedom and Change, which represents the protesters.

“Now, all pressure cards are in the hands of the FDFC. The marches corrected the situation,” he said.

On Sunday, protesters chanted anti-military slogans like “Burhan’s council, just fall”, according to video clips circulated online. Gen. Abdel-Fattah Burhan is head of the military council.

Video clips showed protesters running away from security forces in the streets of Khartoum and seeking shelter from clouds of tear gas.

On a highway leading to Khartoum’s international airport, a convoy of troops and riot police allowed some demonstrators to pass through as they headed toward the house of a protester who was killed earlier this month.

The protester’s mother was standing outside and joined the demonstration. They waved Sudanese flags and chanted slogans calling for civilian rule.

Mohammed Yousef al-Mustafa, a spokesman for the Sudanese Professionals’ Association, a leading protest organization, told The Associated Press that security forces used tear gas to disperse protesters in Omdurman and the district of Bahri in the capital.

He said protests also erupted in Atbara, a railway city north of the capital and the birthplace of the uprising that led to al-Bashir’s ouster.

The Sudan Doctors Committee, the medical arm of the SPA, said a protester in his 20s was shot dead in Atbara. Nazim Sirraj, a prominent activist, said at least four people were killed in Omdurman.

The SPA later called on protesters to march on the Nile-side presidential palace in Khartoum, as security forces closed off roads and bridges leading to the palace. The groups later said security forces barred the protesters from reaching their destination.

The FDFC called on protesters to head to other squares in Khartoum and Omdurman.

Gen. Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, deputy head of the military council, said the generals want to reach an “urgent and comprehensive agreement with no exclusion.”

“We in the military council are totally neutral. We are the guardians of the revolution. We do not want to be part of the dispute,” he told a gathering of army supporters.

He said three troops from the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces were wounded during the protests in Khartoum. Dagalo, better known as Hemedti, is the leader of the Rapid Support Forces.

“Our mission is to protect people and any peaceful revolution,” he said.

The previous day, the military council said it did not oppose the demonstrations but warned protest leaders that they would be held responsible for any vandalism or violence during the marches.

The African Union and Ethiopia have meanwhile stepped up their efforts to mediate an end to the crisis and reach a deal over setting up a new transitional government.

Earlier this week the AU and Ethiopia extended a joint proposal. The generals and the protesters voiced their approval but did not immediately restart negotiations.

The military council said in a statement that it submitted its response to the envoys, and that the generals are ready to resume negotiations on Sunday based on the AU and Ethiopian proposal. Lt. Gen. Shams Eddin Kabashi, a spokesman for the council, said it was hoping to reach a “comprehensive political solution” under the umbrella of the AU.

However, the Forces for Declaration of Freedom and Change, which represents the protesters, said talks could only begin once the military has officially ratified the AU-Ethiopian proposal. Al-Mustafa said talks would resume “directly after the military council signs the proposal.”

Story: Hussein Malla and Samy Magdy.

PORTLAND — Competing demonstrations spilled into the streets of downtown Portland on Saturday, with fights breaking out in places as marchers clashed.

At least three groups had planned rallies or demonstrations at different sites in the city, including members of the so-called Proud Boys and anti-fascist groups that include “antifa,” and the fights occurred when participants of the opposing groups met, according to The Oregonian/OregonLive.

In a statement Saturday night, the Portland Police Bureau said three people were arrested on assault and harassment charges in connection with the protests. Police said medics treated eight people, including three police officers, at the scene. Three people were taken to hospitals after they were attacked, police said.

Andy Ngo, who describes himself as an editor at the conservative website Quillette and says he is “hated by antifa,” said on his Twitter feed that he was attacked by anti-fascist protesters and had to be taken to the hospital to treat injuries to his face and head. Ngo also said the attackers took his camera equipment.

Protesters also clashed with police, throwing water bottles and eggs at officers. In separate social media posts later in the day, police declared the situation to be a civil disturbance and warned participants faced arrest.

The Portland Police Bureau on Twitter asked for the public’s help in investigating violent assaults. The bureau also said that it has received reports that some of the milkshakes thrown by protesters contained quick-drying cement.

“Demonstration events are very fluid in nature and the management of these events is complex,” Assistant Chief Chris Davis said in a statement. “There are hundreds of peaceful free speech events in the City in a given year that do not result in violence. Unfortunately, today some community members and officers were injured. We are actively investigating these incidents to hold those responsible accountable.”