Putin Begins Visit to Turkmenistan for Forum with Regional Leaders, Including Iran

In this pool photograph distributed by the Russian state agency Sputnik, Russia's President Vladimir Putin chairs a meeting on a social infrastructure facilities via videoconference in Moscow on September 30, 2024. (Photo by Mikhail METZEL / POOL / AFP)
In this pool photograph distributed by the Russian state agency Sputnik, Russia's President Vladimir Putin chairs a meeting on a social infrastructure facilities via videoconference in Moscow on September 30, 2024. (Photo by Mikhail METZEL / POOL / AFP)
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Putin Begins Visit to Turkmenistan for Forum with Regional Leaders, Including Iran

In this pool photograph distributed by the Russian state agency Sputnik, Russia's President Vladimir Putin chairs a meeting on a social infrastructure facilities via videoconference in Moscow on September 30, 2024. (Photo by Mikhail METZEL / POOL / AFP)
In this pool photograph distributed by the Russian state agency Sputnik, Russia's President Vladimir Putin chairs a meeting on a social infrastructure facilities via videoconference in Moscow on September 30, 2024. (Photo by Mikhail METZEL / POOL / AFP)

President Vladimir Putin began a visit to Turkmenistan Friday, speaking at an international forum with Central Asian leaders and the president of Iran.
The Kremlin said Putin will discuss the situation in the Middle East with Iranian president Masoud Pezeshkian on the sidelines of the conference in the Turkmen capital, Ashgabat.
Moscow and Tehran signed a $1.7 billion deal for Iran to export drones to Russia after Putin invaded Ukraine in 2022, and the US also believes it has transferred short-range ballistic missiles.
The conference is being attended by other regional leaders including Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari and the heads of the other Central Asian nations, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan.
In his opening remarks at the forum, Putin repeated again that he wants to build “a new world order” with Russia's friends and partners, according to a video shared by the Kremlin.
As well as meeting the Iranian leader, Putin is expected to hold talks with the Turkmen president, Serdar Berdymukhamedov.
Berdymukhamedov, 43, was elected in March 2022 to succeed his father, Gurbanguly, who had run the gas-rich country since 2006.
Turkmenistan has remained largely isolated under autocratic rulers since it became independent following the 1991 collapse of the Soviet Union.
 



Florida Man Shot Israeli Visitors Thinking They Were Palestinians, Police Say

 Relatives and supporters of Israelis held hostage by Hamas in Gaza mark 500 days of their captivity by spreading a massive Israeli flag depicting an hourglass in the Mediterranean Sea, in Tel Aviv, Israel, Monday, Feb. 17, 2025. Hebrew of the flag reads "Without the abductees, Israel runs out". (AP)
Relatives and supporters of Israelis held hostage by Hamas in Gaza mark 500 days of their captivity by spreading a massive Israeli flag depicting an hourglass in the Mediterranean Sea, in Tel Aviv, Israel, Monday, Feb. 17, 2025. Hebrew of the flag reads "Without the abductees, Israel runs out". (AP)
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Florida Man Shot Israeli Visitors Thinking They Were Palestinians, Police Say

 Relatives and supporters of Israelis held hostage by Hamas in Gaza mark 500 days of their captivity by spreading a massive Israeli flag depicting an hourglass in the Mediterranean Sea, in Tel Aviv, Israel, Monday, Feb. 17, 2025. Hebrew of the flag reads "Without the abductees, Israel runs out". (AP)
Relatives and supporters of Israelis held hostage by Hamas in Gaza mark 500 days of their captivity by spreading a massive Israeli flag depicting an hourglass in the Mediterranean Sea, in Tel Aviv, Israel, Monday, Feb. 17, 2025. Hebrew of the flag reads "Without the abductees, Israel runs out". (AP)

A Florida man was arrested and charged with two counts of attempted murder after shooting at a vehicle with two men who he thought were Palestinians but turned out to be Israeli visitors, local authorities and media reports said.

The website of Miami-Dade County Corrections says the suspect, 27-year-old Mordechai Brafman, was charged with two counts of attempted murder and booked on Sunday for the shooting on Saturday.

A police official confirmed earlier reports from local media that Brafman said in an interview with police that while he was driving his truck in Miami Beach, he saw two people he thought were Palestinian. He stopped, shot at and killed them.

However, the victims survived. One was shot in the shoulder and the other had a wounded forearm. They turned out to be Israeli visitors and not Palestinians, police said.

A representative or lawyer for Brafman could not be immediately identified by Reuters.

Human rights advocates say there has been a rise in anti-Muslim, anti-Palestinian and antisemitic hate in the United States since the start of US ally Israel's war in Gaza following an Oct. 7, 2023, attack by Palestinian group Hamas.