Russian Missile Attack Hits Infrastructure in Kyiv 

A woman walks past a destroyed building in the small Ukrainian town of Borodyanka, some 60 km from the Ukrainian capital of Kyiv on January 12, 2023, amid Russian invasion of Ukraine. (AFP)
A woman walks past a destroyed building in the small Ukrainian town of Borodyanka, some 60 km from the Ukrainian capital of Kyiv on January 12, 2023, amid Russian invasion of Ukraine. (AFP)
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Russian Missile Attack Hits Infrastructure in Kyiv 

A woman walks past a destroyed building in the small Ukrainian town of Borodyanka, some 60 km from the Ukrainian capital of Kyiv on January 12, 2023, amid Russian invasion of Ukraine. (AFP)
A woman walks past a destroyed building in the small Ukrainian town of Borodyanka, some 60 km from the Ukrainian capital of Kyiv on January 12, 2023, amid Russian invasion of Ukraine. (AFP)

A Russian missile attack hit critical infrastructure in Kyiv on Saturday morning and explosions rang out in the Dniprovskiy district of the Ukrainian capital, a senior presidential official and other officials said. 

Reuters journalists heard a series of explosions in Kyiv before an air raid siren sounded in Kyiv. Officials told residents to take shelter. 

"Missile attack on critical infrastructure facilities. Details are being checked," said Kyrylo Tymoshenko, deputy head of the president's office. 

Kyiv's military administration said an infrastructure facility had been hit, but did not say which. 

"Explosions in Dniprovskiy district. All agencies heading to the site. Stay in your shelters!" Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko wrote on Telegram. 

He said the debris of a missile came down on a non-residential area in the Holosiivskiy district in the west of Kyiv. 

Russia has been pounding Ukraine's vital energy infrastructure with missiles and drones since October, causing sweeping blackouts and disruptions to central heating and running water as winter bites. 



Iran Pauses Process to Implement Stricter Headscarf Law for Women, Official Says

FILE - Iranian women, some without wearing their mandatory headscarves, walk in downtown Tehran, Iran, Saturday, Sept. 9, 2023. (AP Photo/Vahid Salemi, File)
FILE - Iranian women, some without wearing their mandatory headscarves, walk in downtown Tehran, Iran, Saturday, Sept. 9, 2023. (AP Photo/Vahid Salemi, File)
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Iran Pauses Process to Implement Stricter Headscarf Law for Women, Official Says

FILE - Iranian women, some without wearing their mandatory headscarves, walk in downtown Tehran, Iran, Saturday, Sept. 9, 2023. (AP Photo/Vahid Salemi, File)
FILE - Iranian women, some without wearing their mandatory headscarves, walk in downtown Tehran, Iran, Saturday, Sept. 9, 2023. (AP Photo/Vahid Salemi, File)

Iran has paused the process of implementing a new, stricter law on women’s mandatory headscarf, or hijab, an official said.

The controversial law, which was approved by the parliament in September 2023, will not be sent to the government as planned this week, according to one of the country's vice presidents. The development effectively means that Iran has halted enacting the legislation.

The law levies harsher punishments for women who refuse to wear the hijab and for businesses that serve them, penalties previously rejected by Iran’s reformist President Masoud Pezeshkian as he tries to restart talks with the West over sanctions imposed on Iran over its nuclear program.

“According to the discussions held, it was decided that this law will not be referred to the government by the parliament for now,” Shahram Dabiri, the vice president in charge of parliamentary affairs, was quoted as saying in an interview Monday with the pro-reform Ham Mihan daily.

The decision to halt the legislation — at least temporarily — was reached by top executive, legislative and judiciary bodies, The Associated Press quoted Dabiri as saying. At the moment, it is “not feasible to implement this bill,” he added, without elaborating.

Had the bill passed to the government, Iran's president would have had little room to maneuver. By law, he’s required to endorse the bill within five days, after which it would have taken effect in 15 days. The president has no authority to veto it.

Pezeshkian could try to convince Iran’s 85-year-old Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, who has final say on all matters of state, to halt the bill.

If the bill had been enacted, Pezeshkian could also refuse to act on it or urge police not to enforce it, setting up a potential constitutional crisis that hard-liners could try to exploit to weaken him.

The president had earlier described the law as having “many questions and ambiguities.”