Russian President Vladimir Putin has arrived in Turkmenistan’s capital for a two-day visit.

According to TASS, the presidential aircraft of the Rossiya Special Flight Detachment landed near the presidential terminal of Ashgabat International Airport, commonly referred to as the “small bird” for its distinctive design.

During his visit, Putin will attend an international forum titled “Peace and Trust: Unity of Goals for a Sustainable Future” and hold several bilateral meetings.

The Kremlin has confirmed talks with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, while the Iranian Embassy has announced that a meeting with President Masoud Pezeshkian is also planned.

The Ashgabat forum will also be attended by Turkmen President Serdar Berdymukhamedov, along with the presidents of Armenia, Iraq, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan and Tajikistan, as well as the prime ministers of Azerbaijan, Hungary, Georgia and Pakistan.

President Donald Trump’s administration officially launched his “Trump Gold Card” visa program on Wednesday to provide a pathway, with a steep price, for non-U.S. citizens to get expedited permission to live in the United States.

The website Trumpcard.gov, complete with an “apply now” button, allows interested applicants to pay a $15,000 fee to the Department of Homeland Security for speedy processing, Reuters reported.

After going through a background check or vetting process, applicants must then make a “contribution” — the website also calls it a “gift” — of $1 million to get the visa, similar to a “Green Card,” which allows them to live and work in the United States.

“Basically it’s a Green Card, but much better. Much more powerful, a much stronger path,” Trump told reporters at the White House. “A path is a big deal. Have to be great people.”

Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick said some 10,000 people have already signed up for the gold card during a pre-registration period and he expected many more to do so. “I would expect over time that we’d sell, you know, thousands of these cards and raise, you know, billions, billions of dollars,” Lutnick told Reuters in a brief interview.

Lutnick said the gold card program would bring people into the United States who would benefit the economy. He compared that to “average” Green Card holders, whom he said earned less money than average Americans and were more likely to be on or have family members on public assistance. He did not provide evidence for that assertion.

Trump’s administration has pursued a broad crackdown on immigration, deporting hundreds of thousands of people who were in the country illegally and also taking measures to discourage legal immigration.

The gold card program is the Trump version of a counter balance to that, designed to make money for the U.S. Treasury in the same way the president, a former New York businessman and reality television host, has said his tariff program has successfully done.

Lutnick noted that there was also a corporate version of the gold card that allowed companies to get expedited visas for employees they wanted to work in the United States, for a $2 million contribution per employee.

A shooting at Kentucky State University on Tuesday left one person dead and another in critical condition, according to police, who said the suspected assailant was taken into custody, Reuters reported.

Local police in Frankfort, the state capital, and county sheriff’s deputies made the arrest and secured the campus soon after reports of an active shooter, authorities said on social media. The Frankfort Police Department did not provide further details.

A spokesperson for Kentucky State University, a historically Black school, declined comment, but said the school – which had an enrollment of 1,700 students as of the fall of 2023 – would release a statement later on Tuesday.

The New York Times, citing a university spokesperson, reported that the suspect was not a student, but both victims were, and that the shooting had taken place outside of a residential dorm.