Israeli military intelligence warned that Hamas will survive the Gaza war,the US and its Middle Eastern allies were reported to be working on an Israel-Palestine peace plan,and Tel Aviv decided not to send officials back to Cairoafter hostage deal talks were hosted there on Wednesday.Meanwhile, the ICJ ruled there was no need for additional measures in Gaza after Israel responded to South Africa's "urgent request" in its ICJ genocide case,Macron said recognizing a Palestinian state is "not a taboo" for France,France announced sanctions on 28 Israeli settlers,and a Dutch court halted the sale of F-35 parts to Israel.This comes as Israel freed two hostages from Rafah,and asked the UNRWA chief to quit over a Hamas "tunnel" under its Gaza HQ.Elsewhere, Ukraine decided to withdraw troops from Avdiivka on Saturday,despite having sent reinforcements to the city earlier in the week,Russia launched a wave of missiles across Ukraine on Thursday,and a report contradicted America's account of the dismissal of a top Ukrainian general. In other news, dozens of civilians were allegedly killed by Ethiopian forces in Amhara,al-shabab claimed a deadly attack on a military base in Somalia,and the US claimed Russia is developing a space-based nuclear weapon.This comes as NATO's chief said there's been an "unprecedented rise" in member defense spendingafter Donald Trump said he'd "encourage" Russia to attack NATO allies who don't pay,and global defense spending was reported to have jumped to a record $2.2T in 2023.

Russian opposition politician Alexei Navalny died in prison,former Thai PM Thaksin Shinawatra was granted parole,protesters targeted Western embassies in the Congo,and Venezuela detained an activist over an alleged plot to kill Pres. Nicolas Maduro.Meanwhile, Senegal's president pledged to hold an election "as soon as possible,"Prabowo Subianto claimed victory in Indonesia's presidential electionafter the outgoing president was accused of election interference,Pakistan's coalition government nominated Shehbaz Sharif as prime minister,Britain's Labour Party won big in a special election,Alexander Stubb won Finland's presidential election,and Hungary's president resigned over a sex abuse pardon scandal.This comes as India's Supreme Court struck down a controversial election funding scheme,Turkish Pres. Recep Erdogan visited Egypt's Abdel al-Sisi to mend ties,and the leader of ECOWAS postponed a planned meeting with Senegal's president.

An FBI informant was charged with lying about Biden bribe claims,the US Senate passed a $95B foreign aid package,the US House voted to impeach Alejandro Mayorkas,the US Border Patrol's second in command was suspended for alleged misconduct,and a US agency considered releasing migrants over a budget shortfall.Meanwhile, Trump was fined $355M in his civil fraud case, the former president's Stormy Daniels hush-money trial was set for March,DA Fani Willis denied misconduct in Trump's Georgia case,after a judge [ said she could be disqualified,Trump requested a Supreme Court stay on his immunity ruling,and US agencies reportedly asked allies to spy on Trump's 2016 campaign.In other news, Democrat Tom Suozzi won a US House special election in New York,RFK Jr. apologized to his family for a super bowl ad,Joe Biden's campaign joined TikTok,and US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin was hospitalized again.

Greece legalized same-sex marriage,an Indian state passed a law banning polygamy,Australian politicians demanded the release of Julian Assange,Indian farmers paused their protest march as government talks continued ”after police blocked roads ahead of a farmers' march to New Delhi ”and a parliamentary report said the UK's Rwanda bill is incompatible with human rights.In other news, France said it will rescind birthright citizenship for Mayotte,an NGO found that over 75% of journalists killed in 2023 died in Gaza,and a report claimed "safety failures" led to 344 federal inmate deaths in the US.

One person was killed and several injured in a Super Bowl parade shooting,one was killed and two others wounded in a Houston megachurch shooting,and Madagascar passed a controversial sex offender law..

Tech giants pledged to fight AI election interference,OpenAI launched a new AI video-creation tool,Microsoft accused Russia and China of using OpenAI for hacking,and Google pledged $25M to boost Europe's AI skills.Meanwhile, 18 Chinese genetics papers were retracted over human rights concerns,a private space company in Florida launched to the Moon,and scientists developed the first beef-rice hybrid..

Japan andthe UK both slipped into recessions,and US inflation remained higher than expected in January.Meanwhile, US and UK ride app drivers held a Valentine's day strike.

Putin claimed Russia is close to creating a cancer vaccine,a study found a rheumatoid arthritis drug to have preventative benefits,another study found proteins may predict dementia years in advance,and a new prosthetic hand lets amputees sense temperature. In other news, the CDC said it will end its five-day COVID isolation rule.

Climate protesters threw red powder at the US Constitution,Google joined a mission to monitor methane emissions from space,and an oil spill in Trinidad and Tobago sparked a national emergency.

Kelvin Kiptum, the marathon world-record holder, died in a crash.