Antarctica sea ice reaches alarming low for third year in a row (www.theguardian.com)
The extent of ice floating around the continent has contracted to below 2m sq km for three years in a row, indicating an ‘abrupt critical transition’...
Putin Fears Navalny Funeral Could Trigger Mass Demonstrations, Khodorkovsky Says (www.rferl.org)
The government of Russian President Vladimir Putin is likely refusing to release the body of opposition leader Aleksei Navalny, who died suspiciously in prison on February 16, because it fears a massive outpouring of grief and support just ahead of the March presidential election, Mikhail Khodorkovsky, a leading Russian...
Panda diplomacy? China to send pandas to the San Diego Zoo for the first time in years (www.latimes.com)
China could soon be sending giant pandas to the U.S. for the first time in years, reigniting “panda diplomacy” between the two countries....
Why relations between DR Congo and Rwanda are deteriorating (www.semafor.com)
Tensions are escalating between Rwanda and the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) following the advance of M23 rebel forces in recent weeks towards the city of Goma in eastern DRC....
U.S. Finds Some Israeli Claims on U.N. Staff Likely, Others Not (www.wsj.com)
More than half the world faces high measles risk, WHO says (www.reuters.com)
More than half the world’s countries will be at high or very high risk of measles outbreaks by the end of the year unless urgent preventative measures are taken, the World Health Organization warned on Tuesday....
US again vetoes UN action in Israel-Hamas war, blocks ceasefire call (www.reuters.com)
Ursula von der Leyen is seeking a second term as head of the EU's powerful Commission (apnews.com)
Germany’s Ursula von der Leyen will seek a second term as head of the European Union’s powerful Commission in a move that could make her the most significant politician representing the bloc’s 450 million citizens in over a generation....
Israel has gone ‘beyond self-defence’ in Gaza, says Labour’s Streeting (www.theguardian.com)
Netanyahu Says He Won’t Bow to Pressure to Call Off Rafah Invasion (www.nytimes.com)
Gazan youth shot dead by Hamas police over attempted aid theft, sparking fiery protests (www.ynetnews.com)
Prominent Black Church Leaders Call for End of U.S. Aid to Israel
Prominent Black Church Leaders Call for End of U.S. Aid to Israel www.nytimes.com/…/ame-church-us-israel-aid.html?s…
Gaza and the End of the Rules-Based Order (www.foreignaffairs.com)
Putin urges Russians to have more kids, says ethnic survival at stake - Reuters (news.yahoo.com)
(Reuters) - Russian families must produce at least two children for the sake of the nation’s ethnic survival, and three or more if it is to develop and thrive, President Vladimir Putin said on Thursday....
U.S. Disrupts Hacking Operation Led by Russian Intelligence (www.nytimes.com)
The F.B.I., working with other countries, disrupted a Russian hacking operation that infiltrated more than 1,000 home and small-business internet routers in the United States and around the world, the Justice Department announced on Thursday....
California legislature makes a second attempt to require human drivers in AV trucks (www.supplychainquarterly.com)
At least 11 injured, homes, infrastructure damaged in morning Russian missile attack on Ukraine (kyivindependent.com)
Russia launched another mass missile attack against multiple Ukrainian regions in the early hours of Feb. 15, injuring at least 11 people as well as damaging homes and civilian infrastructure, regional officials reported....
Israel orders an evacuation of the largest hospital in Khan Younis (www.nytimes.com)
As explosions sounded nearby, Israeli forces on Tuesday ordered the evacuation of one of the last functioning hospitals in the Gaza Strip, according to two doctors and the Gazan health ministry, raising fears that troops would attempt to storm a facility crowded with patients and displaced people....
Knesset advances bill to allow ban of Al Jazeera, would also require political will (www.timesofisrael.com)
French security experts identify Moscow-based disinformation network (www.theguardian.com)
French military and cybersecurity experts say they have identified a Moscow-based network spreading propaganda and disinformation in western Europe....
Yemen’s Houthi rebels fire missiles at ship bound for Iran, their main supporter (apnews.com)
Israeli Analysts Say Rafah Invasion Is Unlikely to Be Imminent (www.nytimes.com)
Israeli leaders have framed an invasion of the southern Gaza city of Rafah as an imperative to achieve its goal of eliminating Hamas. But it’s a strategy that is fraught with complexity and is generating criticism over the potentially catastrophic impact such an operation would have on the more than 1 million Gazans sheltering...
Finland votes: Stubb wins presidency (yle.fi)
Egypt threatens to suspend key peace treaty if Israel pushes into Rafah on its border, officials say (apnews.com)
The threat to suspend the Camp David Accords came after Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said sending troops into Rafah was necessary to win the war against Hamas.
Biden urged to include politicians in sanctions on violent Israeli settlers (www.theguardian.com)
There are growing calls for Joe Biden to use his new executive order sanctioning violent Israeli settlers to also target political leaders, including government ministers, responsible for driving attacks against Palestinians....
