Russian drone attack kills a father and 3 children in Ukraine

KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — A Russian drone has struck a home in Ukraine’s Kharkiv region in an attack that killed a father and his three small children. Ukrainian officials said Wednesday that the family’s pregnant mother was wounded but survived. The attack destroyed the house and trapped the family under rubble. The drone was identified as a Russian-made Geran-2. Ukraine’s air force reported that Russia launched 129 long-range drones at Ukraine last night. Meanwhile, a Ukrainian drone attack caused a fire at an industrial plant in the Russian city of Volgograd. Officials said that eight Russian airports briefly suspended flights because of drone attacks.

Police identify suspect in Canada school shooting as 18-year-old

VANCOUVER, British Columbia (AP) — Police have identified the suspect in a school shooting in Canada as an 18-year-old who had prior mental health calls to her home. Authorities shared Jesse Van Rootselaar’s name at a news conference Wednesday, a day after seven people were killed at a school in remote British Columbia and two others were killed at a nearby home in one of the country’s deadliest mass shootings. Royal Canadian Mounted Police Deputy Commissioner Dwayne McDonald said Van Rootselaar, who was found dead, had a history of mental health contact with police, and that the suspect’s mother and stepbrother were also found dead.

Iran commemorates 1979 revolution as nation is squeezed by anger

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — Iran marks the 47th anniversary of its 1979 Islamic Revolution as leaders face pressure from the U.S. and anger at home. On Wednesday, state TV shows huge pro-government rallies with chants against America. Witnesses in Tehran also report shouts of “Death to the dictator” from homes. President Masoud Pezeshkian says Iran is ready to negotiate and accept verification on its nuclear program. The U.N. nuclear watchdog still cannot inspect Iran’s stockpile. Pezeshkian also says a recent crackdown has caused “great sorrow.” A senior Iranian official has met Qatar’s foreign minister as talks with the U.S. remain uncertain.

Russia says it will stick to New START’s nuclear arms limits as long as the US does

MOSCOW (AP) — Russia’s top diplomat says that Moscow will observe the limits of the last nuclear arms pact with the United States that expired last week as long as it sees that Washington does the same. The New START treaty expired Feb. 5, leaving no restrictions on the two largest atomic arsenals for the first time in more than a half-century and fueling fears of an unconstrained nuclear arms race. Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said Wednesday that even though the U.S. hasn’t responded to President Vladimir Putin’s offer to maintain New START’s caps for another year, Moscow will respect the treaty’s limits if the U.S. observes them too.