Israeli attack on Damascus, Iran promises a response

Today's news: Pakistani court suspends sentence against former premier Imran Khan; Southeast Asians would rather side with China than the US; Pyongyang launches another missile towards the coast; King of Malaysia signals the end of 'honeymoon' for head of Anti-Corruption Commission; In Kazakhstan this year's floods were the most disastrous in three decades.

ISRAEL – IRAN

Iran has promised a response to the allegedly Israeli attack on the Iranian consulate in Damascus that killed seven people, including Mohammad Reza Zahedi, commander of the Islamic Revolutionary Guards' Quds special forces, and Mohammad Hadi Hajriahimi, his deputy . The Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesperson said that Iran "reserves the right to carry out a reaction and will decide the type of response and punishment against the attacker."

PAKISTAN

The Islamabad High Court has accepted former Prime Minister Imran Khan's appeal against a corruption conviction and suspended the 14-year prison sentence handed down to him a week before the February 8 parliamentary elections. However, Khan will remain in custody due to numerous other charges against him.

ASEAN – CHINA

50.5% of Southeast Asians would prefer to side with China rather than the United States if the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) was forced to choose between the two powers. This is according to the State of Southeast Asia 2024 survey, compiled by the ISEAS-Yusof Ishak Institute, a think tank based in Singapore. It is the first time since 2020 that Beijing has received more preferences than Washington.

MALAYSIA

The king of Malaysia, Ibrahim Iskandar, after two months in power has made it known that the "honeymoon" phase of his reign is over and to reiterate this he gave a jar of honey to the head of the Anti-Corruption Commission, Azam Baki, during a meeting held this morning at the royal palace. The monarch reiterated that the fight against corruption will be one of his priorities.

NORTH KOREA

Pyongyang launched what appears to have been an intermediate-range ballistic missile towards the east coast, South Korea said, while Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida condemned the launch. North Korea recently said it had no interest in a summit with Japan and tested a new type of hypersonic missile powered by a solid fuel engine.

RUSSIA

According to data released by the Federal Revenue Service of Russia, the number of bank accounts of Russians abroad has increased by 164% from 2022 to today, up to one million and 800 thousand, according to the exchange of information with foreign agencies of 85 states (over 100 do not communicate with Russians), and the holders of these accounts exceed half a million people.

KAZAKHSTAN

The President of Kazakhstan, Kasym-Žomart Tokaev, chaired the coordination meeting of all the institutions involved in combating floods and solving related problems, recalling that this year's floods have exceeded the records of 2012 and 2017, the most disastrous in the last 30 years, "the forecasting system did not work due to a lack of specialists", and local administrations were also lacking.

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