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Daily Briefing

Palestinians hope Blinken's visit can deliver a Gaza truce before a Rafah assault, King Charles' cancer "caught early" and Chinese stocks rebound sharply on renewed talks of official support.

Plus, Madrid residents fight against evictions with a musical protest.

By Kate Turton

Today's Top News

Blinken and US Ambassador to Egypt Herro Mustafa Garg meet with Egyptian President Abdel Fattah Al-Sissi at Al-Ittihadiya Palace. Mark Schiefelbein/Pool via REUTERS

MIDDLE EAST

Israeli forces killed at least 14 Palestinians in airstrikes as they pressed their onslaught in Gaza's main southern city Khan Younis, while US Secretary of State Antony Blinken pursued a quest to broker a ceasefire in the four-month-old war.
Listen to correspondent Simon Lewis tell the Reuters World News podcast what the top US diplomat hopes to achieve on his visit.

US POLITICS

Nikki Haley, the last remaining rival to frontrunner Donald Trump for the Republican presidential nomination, is set to win Nevada's primary, but it will be a hollow victory. Here's what's at stake.
The lead Republican negotiator in a bipartisan Senate bill to toughen border security said his caucus should decide by Tuesday whether to open debate on the proposal, while his party's leaders in the House of Representatives urged scrapping the deal.
Trump, who has refused to debate any of his rivals for the Republican nomination, said he wanted to debate US President Joe Biden immediately. For more election news and analysis, sign up to On the Campaign Trail.

IN OTHER NEWS

King Charles' cancer was caught early and the whole country is hoping he can make a full recovery, British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak said, as messages of support for the 75-year-old monarch poured in from world leaders.
Russia is firing between 1,500 and 2,500 shells and rockets at Ukraine's war-ravaged Donetsk region every day and is targeting critical infrastructure to make it harder for people to remain there in winter, its governor told Reuters.
A deadly Pacific storm, the second "Pineapple Express" weather system to sweep the West Coast in less than a week, dumped torrential rain over Southern California, triggering street flooding and mudslides throughout the region.

Business & Markets

BP posted forecast-beating earnings of $3 billion in the fourth quarter while boosting share repurchases and vowing to make pragmatic investments, as its recently appointed CEO sought to allay investor concern over its energy transition strategy.
Battered Chinese stocks leapt to their largest one-day gain in two years and the yuan rose on a slew of signals that authorities are strengthening their resolve to support slumping markets.
UBS said it would restart share buybacks and lifted cost-cutting targets, saying the integration of fallen rival Credit Suisse was on track, but higher expenses made for underwhelming fourth-quarter results.
Drugmaker Novartis will acquire MorphoSys, a developer of cancer treatments, for $2.9 billion, adding a promising rare bone-marrow cancer treatment candidate to its portfolio. Meanwhile, Novo Nordisk's parent company announced it was buying Catalent, a key manufacturing subcontractor of Wegovy, for $16.5 billion.
Internet giant Google named what it said are some of the worst offenders in the surveillance software industry and called on the United States and its allies to do more to rein in the sale and misuse of spy tools.
China's Tencent has been working to adapt acclaimed action role-playing console game "Elden Ring" into a mobile version, three people familiar with the matter said, as it searches for a new hit to refresh its ageing stock of games.

Rubble in British railway town raises red flags for PM Sunak

A woman walks past a closed sign outside a former retail site in Crewe. REUTERS/Phil Noble

A grand project to help revitalize the railway town of Crewe lies buried under mounds of earth, serving as a bleak warning for Britain's Conservatives and their fight to retain power.

The large building site at the center of the town in northwest England was supposed to be transformed into a glossy retail and entertainment complex that would crown a bus terminal and car park already under construction.

That part of the plan has now been halted, with local officials citing the government's scrapping of the northern leg of the High Speed 2 (HS2) rail project as a factor.

Crewe is one of the northern constituencies expected to be crucial to the outcome of the election later this year

And Finally...

Artists perform during a protest in Madrid. REUTERS/Violeta Santos Moura

Hundreds of people crowded a central Madrid street as musicians regaled them with tunes from balconies above to support more than 50 families who face eviction from a building that activists say is being eyed for tourist accommodation.

The four-story complex in the multicultural Lavapies neighborhood on Saturday hosted performances of jazz, flamenco or poetry in each apartment, while protesters outside chanted: "Neighborhoods aren't for sale, they're to be protected."

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