Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz’s (PML-N) senior leader and former PM Nawaz Sharif’s daughter, Maryam Nawaz, was elected as the Chief Minister of Pakistan’s Punjab province on Monday. With this, she became the first-ever woman CM of a Pakistani province. Maryam secured victory by winning 220 out of the total 371 seats in the Punjab Assembly.
On Monday, the first group of civilians arrived in the Maldives to replace the Indian troops stationed to operate and handle the helicopter donated by India for medical purposes. The Maldivian Ministry of Defence announced that the civilian crew will replace the Indian troops currently stationed in Seenu Gan (Addu city). Malé has asked New Delhi to replace its more than 80 military personnel in the island nation with civilians in two phases — by 10 March and 10 May.
Iran demands that the entire global stockpile of nuclear weapons should be eliminated as it constitutes the biggest threat to humanity, Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian said on Monday at the Conference on Disarmament. “A total elimination of nuclear weapons is the only effective and reliable way to prevent the repetition of tragedies, similar to Hiroshima and Nagasaki,” the minister stated. “In the circumstances, when the international security situation deteriorates, nuclear disarmament is a necessity, not a choice,” Abdollahian remarked.
US President Joe Biden told reporters that he hoped a ceasefire in Gaza could be reached by next Monday. “My national security advisor tells me that we’re close, we’re close, we’re not done yet. My hope is by next Monday we’ll have a ceasefire,” Biden said. According to reports, the Biden Administration is making serious efforts to negotiate a hostage deal that might result in a six-week break in fighting in Gaza before Ramadan begins in two weeks.
On Monday, five Chinese Coast Guard vessels entered forbidden waters near Taiwan’s Kinmen islands but departed after warnings, according to Taiwan’s Ocean Affairs Council (TOAC). Kuan Bi-ling, head of TOAC, highlighted the political significance, describing it as a significant declaration of sovereignty. Tensions have escalated following China’s increased patrols near Kinmen, prompted by an incident wherein two Chinese nationals died trying to flee Taiwan’s coast guard in restricted waters.
Japan’s inaugural lunar lander responded to a signal from Earth, indicating its unexpected survival through a second frigid lunar night, Japan’s space agency reported on Monday. JAXA termed the signal a “miracle,” as the Smart Lander for Investigating Moon (SLIM) was not engineered for lunar night conditions when temperatures can drop as low as minus 170 degrees Celsius. SLIM achieved a precise landing on 20 January, making Japan the fifth nation to successfully deploy a probe on the moon.