Daily Briefing

US pushes for U.N. to support a temporary Gaza ceasefire, Russia's Yulia Navalnaya is out to avenge her husband's death, and China slashes mortgage reference rates to revive the property market.

Plus, Elon Musk says Neuralink's first human patient is able to control a mouse using their thoughts.

By Kate Turton

Today's Top News

Palestinians carry bags of flour they grabbed from an aid truck near an Israeli checkpoint. February 19, 2024. REUTERS/Kosay Al Nemer/File Photo

The US has proposed a rival draft U.N. Security Council resolution calling for a temporary ceasefire in the Israel-Hamas war and opposing a major ground offensive by its ally Israel in Rafah, according to the text seen by Reuters.
Yulia Navalnaya - Aleksei Navalny's widow - has vowed to take up her husband's mantle and continue his fight for a "free Russia." Listen to Russia Chief Political Correspondent Andrew Osborn weigh in on what's next.
WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange begins what could be his last chance to stop his extradition from Britain to the US after more than 13 years battling the authorities in the English courts.
El Salvador's election authority announced that President Nayib Bukele's ruling New Ideas party would control a super majority in the next legislature with 54 out of 60 seats, following a hand count of votes.
Greek farmers were expected to drive into Athens with tractors to protest outside parliament over the impact of rising energy costs, competition from abroad and recent flooding.

UNITED STATES

Backers of Nikki Haley's quest for the Republican presidential nomination are pouring money into states that hold early March nominating contests in a bid to keep her candidacy alive, regulatory filings and pro-Haley political operatives said.
Donald Trump, who drew criticism as US president for his praise of Russian leader Vladimir Putin made his first public comment on the death of Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny in a social media post that cast no blame but alluded to his own legal woes.

Business & Markets

China announced its biggest ever reduction in the benchmark mortgage rate, as authorities sought to prop up the struggling property market and broader economy.
The first human patient implanted with a brain-chip from Neuralink appears to have fully recovered and is able to control a computer mouse using their thoughts , the startup's founder Elon Musk said. Elsewhere, Musk's SpaceX was boosted in Indonesia by a Chinese rocket failure.
Chipmaker Nvidia is replacing Tesla as Wall Street's most traded stock, adding to its prominence after becoming the third-most valuable US company and showing more evidence of how central AI-related bets have become to investors.
Warren Buffett-backed US consumer bank Capital One plans to acquire US credit card issuer Discover Financial Services in an all-stock transaction valued at $35.3 billion to create a global payments giant, the companies said.
Goldman Sachs and Macquarie as well as some hedge funds are positioning themselves to reap the benefits of a newly buoyant uranium sector as prices of the nuclear fuel ingredient spike.
India will invite private firms to invest about $26 billion in its nuclear energy sector to increase the amount of electricity from sources that don't produce carbon dioxide emissions, two government sources told Reuters.
Singapore kicked off Asia's biggest aviation gathering with orders for China's COMAC and Boeing planes as the industry grapples with a rebound in post-pandemic travel demand in the face of severe supply constraints.

Fentanyl use spreads deeper into Mexico, worrying authorities

Activist Julian Rojas from the NGO Programa Companeros shows a vial of Naloxone in Ciudad Juarez, Mexico July 24, 2023. REUTERS/Jose Luis Gonzalez

The teenager who arrived at Jose de Jesus Lopez's drug rehab clinic in the industrial Mexican city of Monterrey in December had unusual symptoms.

The boy's symptoms looked more like opioid withdrawal, even though Monterrey lies hundreds of miles to the southeast of Mexico's few heroin and fentanyl hotspots in northwestern border cities like Tijuana and Nogales

Lopez administered a urine test. It came back positive for fentanyl.

Although Mexico is a major trafficking hub for the highly potent synthetic opioid, it has so far avoided a consumption epidemic within its own borders.

Now, the use of the drug is creeping further into Mexico.

And Finally...

Emma Stone and Emily Blunt at the Royal Festival Hall, London. REUTERS/Isabel Infantes

This weekend celebrities showed up for two major award shows, the 49th People's Choice Awards in Santa Monica, California, and the British Academy Film awards (BAFTAs) from the Royal Festival Hall in London.

"Oppenheimer" was the big winner in London, with "Barbie" shut out, while the People's Choice Awards included five awards for Greta Gerwig's blockbuster, including female movie star for Margot Robbie.

See our galleries for the best fashion from the BAFTAs and People's Choice Awards.

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