9 Pakistanis killed in shooting in Iran
Tehran, Feb 11: Nine Pakistani nationals were killed in an armed attack in Sikran, located in Iran’s Sistan and Baluchistan province on Sunday, a provincial security source said, a media report said. The incident happened as three gunmen opened fire toward the Pakistani nationals, according to the province’s deputy governor, Alireza Marhamati, Alireza Marhamati, Mehr News reported. He added that three people were injured during the incident. Condemning the tragic incident, Marhamati expressed sympathy with the families of the victims and the Pakistani people. Iranian police forces were immediately dispatched to the scene but the gunmen managed to flee the scene of the incident. The details of the incident are being investigated. (IANS)
Hungarian Prez Katalin Novak resigns
Budapest, Feb 11: Hungarian President Katalin Novak has resigned from office, following a child abuse pardon scandal. “I am addressing you as President for the last time, I resign from the position of President of the Republic,” Novak said on national television channel M1 on Saturday. “I apologise to those I have offended and to all the victims who might have felt I did not stand by them. I have been, am, and will be in support of protecting children and families,” she added, Xinhua news agency reported. Novak pardoned Endre K., former deputy director of a children’s home, in April 2023. The pardon, revealed by local news site 444.hu, led to protests on Friday in Budapest demanding her resignation. Shortly following Novak’s resignation, Hungary’s former Justice Minister Judit Varga also resigned from public office. “I take political responsibility for countersigning the President’s decision. I am withdrawing from public life, resigning my parliamentary mandate, and stepping down as the head of the list for the European Parliament,” Varga said on her social media page. Varga was minister of justice when Novak signed the controversial pardon. (IANS)
Russia launches 45 drones over Ukraine
Kyiv, Feb 11: Russian forces launched 45 drones over Ukraine on Sunday in a five-and-a-half-hour barrage, officials said, as Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy continued the reshuffle of his war cabinet as the war enters its third year. In a statement, the Ukrainian air force said it had shot down 40 of the Iranian-made Shahed drones over nine different regions, including on the outskirts of the country’s capital, Kyiv. The five-and-a-half-hour attack targeted agricultural facilities and coastal infrastructure, officials for Ukraine’s southern defense forces wrote on Telegram. They said that a strike in the Mykolaiv region had injured one person, sparking a fire and damaging nearby buildings. Another person was injured in Ukraine’s Dnipropetrovsk region when a blaze broke out due to falling debris from a destroyed drone, said the head of the region’s military administration, Serhiy Lysak. The strikes come as Zelenskyy continues his shakeup of military commanders in a bid to maintain momentum against attacking Russian forces. Kyiv announced Sunday that former deputy defense minister Lt. Gen. Alexander Pavlyuk would become the new commander of Ukraine’s ground forces. The post was previously held by Col. Gen. Oleksandr Syrskyi, who was named on Thursday as the replacement for Ukraine’s outgoing military chief, Gen. Valerii Zaluzhnyi. (AP)