Putin, Anwar to Hold Talks on Bilateral Ties and Regional Issues
Russian President Vladimir Putin at the Kremlin in Moscow, Russia May 11, 2025. Sergey Bobylev/Host agency RIA Novosti/Handout via REUTERS
MOSCOW, May 14 (Bernama-TASS) -- Russian President Vladimir Putin is scheduled to hold talks on Wednesday with Malaysian Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim, TASS news agency reported.
According to the Kremlin press service, the two leaders will discuss key areas of bilateral cooperation, particularly in politics, trade, and the economy. They are also expected to outline further steps to strengthen ties between their countries.
Putin and Anwar will additionally exchange views on pressing international and regional developments.
bootstrap slideshow
The two leaders last met in September 2024 on the sidelines of the Eastern Economic Forum (EEF) in Vladivostok.
Russia and Malaysia share similar positions on various regional and global issues.
Both countries cooperate actively through platforms such as the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) and the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC).
In January 2025, Malaysia became an official BRICS partner state.
Currently, Russia and Malaysia have signed 20 cooperation agreements.
According to Russian Ambassador to Malaysia Nail Latypov, bilateral trade reached approximately US$2.5 billion by the end of 2024.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
The Star
an hour ago
- The Star
Austrians endure shock, horror after gunman kills 10 at school
People light candles in the main square following a deadly school shooting in Graz, Austria, June 10, 2025. REUTERS/Borut Zivulovic GRAZ, Austria (Reuters) -Austrians were dumbfounded by grief and horror after a 21-year-old gunman killed 10 people in a high school shooting spree on Tuesday morning, unleashing a new kind of violence to the Alpine country unaccustomed to such slayings. Parents of pupils, top government officials and local residents in the southern city of Graz were lost for words after the young man, who has not been named, opened fire at the school where he had recently been a pupil. "Terrible. There's nothing else to make of it, is there?" said Monika Leiner, a 55-year-old IT consultant who lives near the school. "I'm a bit older, and I've seen quite a few things but I can't remember (a shooting with) so many deaths." Police have given no motive for the killings though Austrian newspaper Kronen Zeitung said officers found a farewell letter during a search of the suspect's home. Authorities said the man did not graduate from the school and Austrian media published unconfirmed reports he had suffered from bullying. Hundreds of police rushed to the scene after shots rang out at around 10 a.m. Shortly afterwards the perpetrator was dead, having shot himself in a toilet, authorities said. The killings were the worst Austrian school shooting on record. The government declared three days of national mourning and political parties cancelled upcoming events. In the afternoon, people arrived to leave flowers and candles by the school. President Alexander Van der Bellen said it was hard to express what the country was feeling. "This horror cannot be put into words," he said. Long queues also formed outside a blood donation centre in Graz. "Today is a hard day for all of us in Graz. I'm here to (donate) my blood to help other people who need it," 25-year-old Stephanie Koenig told Reuters. Police cordoned off the school and few parents of pupils there have so far made their feelings public. The mother of one pupil told state broadcaster ORF that her son had called her during the shooting. "It's impossible to grasp," said the woman, who was not named by the broadcaster. "I was just happy that he was on the phone and that I could hear him. But now I keep thinking about how others are doing." "He just told me that he had to run out and that he'd hidden in the garden. Everything else is too much for me now, including everything else he said," she added. Nola, a 21-year-old student and local resident, told Reuters a friend of one of her friends was among the victims. "A friend of mine goes to that school. She found out that a friend of hers died," she said. "She called me immediately afterwards in tears and said 'Hannah is dead! Hannah is dead!' and her parents were also beside themselves." (Reporting by Francois Murphy; Additional reporting by Alexandra Schwarz-Goerlich and Paul Arnold; Writing by Dave Graham; Editing by Sandra Maler)
The Star
2 hours ago
- The Star
US Justice Department 'weaponization' reviews spark calls to drop prosecutions
WASHINGTON (Reuters) -As the federal public corruption prosecution of former Tennessee House Speaker Glen Casada neared trial this spring, his lawyers made one last effort to kill the case, by petitioning senior Justice Department officials that it was "weaponization," according to three people familiar with the matter. Under President Donald Trump, the department in February created a "Weaponization Working Group" meant to identify improper politically motivated cases, a response to what the Republican says without evidence was the misuse of prosecutorial resources against him under his Democratic predecessor, Joe Biden. In court filings, prosecutors said that Casada's lawyers met with a senior Justice Department official on March 24, where they alleged the "Deep State" had initiated a "weaponized" prosecution and they sought dismissal of the charges. The plan almost worked, according to three people familiar with the matter. With the Deputy Attorney General's office poised to kill the case, prosecutors in the Justice Department's Public Integrity Section pushed back, reviewing their evidence with the higher-ups, the sources said, adding that the Nashville U.S. Attorney's office and the Criminal Division also supported the case. The request was rejected the next week, according to court filings. Both Casada and the DOJ declined to comment. The case is among at least seven Reuters identified where defense attorneys or Justice Department officials have sought to have prosecutions reviewed for possible dismissal, citing Trump's "weaponization" argument or making other arguments about weaknesses in the cases. In a Tuesday speech, Acting Assistant Attorney General Matthew Galeotti urged defense attorneys to be "conscientious about what, when and how" they appeal prosecutors' decisions. "Seeking premature relief, mischaracterizing prosecutorial conduct, or otherwise failing to be an honest broker actively undermines our system," Galeotti said. The increase in lobbying started not long after the Weaponization Working Group was created, and after the department's February decision to dismiss criminal corruption charges against New York City Mayor Eric Adams, six sources familiar with the dynamic told Reuters. To date, the Adams case is the only one to be dismissed over 'weaponization,' three of those sources told Reuters. The lobbying wave comes as the Trump administration has dramatically scaled back the Justice Department's Public Integrity Section, reduced the size of its foreign bribery unit and advised department attorneys that tax enforcement is "not a priority," two of the people familiar with the matter said. A department spokesman said the DOJ will "continue to enforce our nation's tax laws." Trump has said the changes are necessary to root out Justice Department lawyers he derides as 'hacks and radicals' for prosecuting him and some supporters while he was out of power. NEW GROUP HAS BROAD REMIT The working group is empowered to review any 'civil or criminal enforcement authority of the United States' exercised under Biden. A lawyer for Robert Burke, a former Navy admiral who was convicted in May on bribery charges, wrote to the department ahead of trial raising concerns about witness credibility, which failed to convince prosecutors to drop the case. Now the lawyer, Tim Parlatore -- a former Trump defense lawyer -- plans to seek a pardon. "I would be crazy not to at least inquire about a pardon," Parlatore said. Another example is a case involving billionaire Britannia Financial Group founder Julio Martín Herrera-Velutini, who is facing an August trial alongside Puerto Rico's former governor on bribery charges. Herrera-Velutini is represented by former Trump defense attorney Chris Kise, who has sought to convince the Justice Department to dismiss or reduce the charges, though the outcome of such efforts is unclear, three people familiar with the case told Reuters. Kise did not return requests for comment, and Reuters could not determine what arguments he has made to the department about the case. WEAPONIZATION REVIEW While many of the reviews of cases are spurred by aggressive lobbying, some requests are coming from within the DOJ. In early February, prosecutors in the department's Tax Division were ordered by senior Justice Department officials to write a memo explaining why the prosecution of Paul Walczak was not an example of "weaponization," two of the people familiar with the matter told Reuters. Walczak, of Florida, pleaded guilty in November to not paying employment taxes and not filing his individual income tax returns, and the trial team was preparing for his sentencing. Prosecutors were baffled, the people said, and only discovered after a few Google searches that Walczak's mother Elizabeth Fago was a Trump donor who, according to a New York Times report, hosted a political fundraiser where portions of a diary written by Biden's daughter Ashley were circulated. The department let the case proceed, and Walczak was sentenced to 18 months in prison. Trump in April spared him any prison with a pardon, which according to the New York Times, was handed down shortly after Fago attended a $1 million fundraising dinner for Trump. The White House did not respond to a request for comment on the pardon. An attorney for Walczak said he was unaware of any interactions by the defense team with the Weaponization Working Group. In a statement, the Fago and Walczak families said media reports have painted an "incomplete and inaccurate" picture of the pardon application, and that Trump had "ample grounds to grant the pardon on the merits." Although no criminal prosecutions have been dismissed, prosecutors are bracing for impact since Trump in May named Ed Martin, a supporter of Trump's false claims that his 2020 election defeat was the result of fraud, to lead the working group and serve as pardon attorney. Martin has already successfully encouraged Trump to approve pardons for some of the president's supporters, according to his social media posts. Casada, who was convicted at trial in May on multiple counts of fraud, money laundering and bribery, is now expected to seek a pardon, a person familiar with the matter said. "We've also been getting more folks coming forward within the government as well as outside, saying, 'Can you look at this? Can you look at that?'" Martin recently told reporters. "It's a problem that seems to be growing faster than we can capture it." (Reporting by Sarah N. Lynch and Peter Eisler in Washington and Ned Parker in New York, additional reporting by Andrew Goudsward; Editing by Scott Malone and Deepa Babington)
The Star
2 hours ago
- The Star
Factbox-What are the 'less lethal' weapons used by law enforcement in Los Angeles protests?
FILE PHOTO: The 101 Freeway is reopened and littered with debris from yesterday's protest, including 40mm Flash Bang canisters, after it was closed down yesterday by protesters, after the California National Guard was deployed by U.S. President Donald Trump as a response to protests against federal immigration sweeps, in downtown Los Angeles, California, U.S., June 9, 2025. REUTERS/Jill Connelly/File Photo WASHINGTON (Reuters) -Law enforcement officials in Los Angeles began deploying "less lethal" munitions on Sunday as they clashed with crowds protesting federal immigration raids. "Less lethal" or "less-than-lethal" weapons are designed to cause pain and discomfort, normally to disperse hostile crowds, but have caused serious injury and death in the past. Here is a list of the less lethal weapons that have been deployed in Los Angeles in recent days, according to Reuters witnesses and the Los Angeles Police Department. SPONGE ROUNDS Media outlets, and a reporter hit in the leg by a projectile on Sunday, have said LAPD officers have been firing rubber bullets, a metal casing covered in rubber. In fact, the LAPD do not use rubber bullets, the department told Reuters. Instead, the LAPD uses foam rounds, a condensed sponge projectile that resembles a hard Nerf ball. One version, which has a plastic body with a hard foam nose, is fired from a 40mm launcher and usually aimed directly at a target. A second version, fired from a 37mm launcher, disperses five foam baton rounds toward the ground in front of a hostile crowd once an unlawful assembly has been declared, before bouncing up into the crowd. It is not to be fired directly at individuals, the LAPD said. Both are designed to cause pain on impact without penetrating the skin. Police are forbidden from aiming sponge rounds at the head, neck, groin, and spine. BEAN BAG ROUNDS Bean bag rounds are normally 37mm cloth bags filled with 1.4 oz of lead or rubber pellets. They are fired from shotguns and spread out as they fly toward the intended target. They are designed not to penetrate the skin but to cause an impact hard enough to render a target temporarily immobile. FLASH BANGS Flash bangs, otherwise known as "distraction devices" or "noise flash diversionary devices," produce an ear-piercing bang and bright light to disorient targets by temporarily disrupting their sight and hearing. They are often used to target protesters who have become violent in a section of a crowd, and also to allow police to enter a section of a crowd to extract offenders. One type of flash bang device that has been used in Los Angeles is the 40mm aerial flash bang. These are launched into the air and ignite above the heads of protesters. TEAR GAS Tear gas, one of the most common riot control tools, is designed to temporarily incapacitate people by causing excessive irritation to the eyes, nose, lungs, and skin. It can cause temporary blindness, streaming eyes and nose, coughing, chest tightness, and difficulty breathing. Tear gas canisters usually contain CS gas, a chemical compound, or OC gas, which stands for oleoresin capsicum, the active ingredient in pepper spray. PEPPER SPRAY Pepper spray, which has similar impacts as tear gas, is sprayed from a handheld canister and is often used when police come into close quarters with rioters or are engaged in hand-to-hand encounters. It mainly irritates the eyes, causing temporary blindness. PEPPER BALLS Pepper balls mirror the effects of pepper spray, but are delivered in a projectile similar to a paintball. On impact, it bursts open, releasing powdered OC into the air. Police often do not fire pepper balls directly at a person, but at street signs, onto buildings or into the ground to cause them to burst open. BATON Known as the oldest less lethal weapon, the baton has been used for crowd control for decades. Police officers have been using batons to push and strike protesters in recent days. (Reporting by Tim Reid in Washington, editing by Ross Colvin and Rod Nickel)
