Top 5 at 5: US-Russia Talks Begin Without Ukraine
Benjamin Barton, Head of School of Politics and International Relations, University of Nottingham Malaysia
18-Feb-25 17:00

Embed Podcast
You can share this podcast by copying this HTML to your clipboard and pasting into your blog or web page.
Close
US-Russia peace talks have started in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. Neither Ukraine or Europe have been invited to the these talks, which has left EU leaders in a state of panic. They have said that this puts regional security and stability at risk. We unpack this with Benjamin Barton.
• Malaysian man on death row in Singapore: Pannir Selvam, a Malaysian man convicted in Singaporean court for trafficking 51.84 grams of diamorphone, is set to be executed this Thursday. Pannir's former lawyer, as well as civil society groups are saying that the only recourse now is for the Malaysian government to file an application at the International Court of Justice. We revisit a Bigger Picture interview from earlier, where they discussed this case with Dobby Chew, CEO of Hayat.
• Calls to rethink migrant worker's EPF scheme: Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim recently said that the EPF contributions for foreign workers is to be capped at 2%. NGO Tenaganita said this move would further marginalise foreign workers, and has suggesed the government consider a tiered EPF contribution system instead. It's executive director, Glorene Das, joins us to explain.
• Cat parks set to be the purr-fect playground: A new cat park called Catopia was officially unveiled in Shah Alam recently. This isn't the first of its kind, though there have been some in the past that have not been successful. We reached out to Ai Ling, a member of the Allergic Rescuers KL, an independent cat rescue group.
• Popek Popek Parlimen: One of the topics explored today was on Malaysia's efforts to independently launch its own satellites into space. Then, the MPs brought it back to the ground, with a discussion on the companies selected for vehicle inspection services, after the government's decision to end the monopoly of the Computerised Vehicle Inspection Centre.
Image Credit: shutterstock.com
Produced by: Sudais Ferhard, Alia Zefri, Dashran Yohan, Sneha Harikannan, Tee Shiao Eek
Presented by: Sharaad Kuttan, Kam Raslan
This and more than 60,000 other podcasts in your hand. Download the all new BFM mobile app.
Categories: politics, government, international, Law/Activism, environment, controversies, education
Tags: ukraine peace talks, death row case, migrant worker rights, cat parks, malaysian satellites, Computerised Vehicle Inspection Centre, Russia-Ukraine conflict, pannir selvam pranthanam, epf contribution, tenaganita, popek popek parlimen,