First Thing: ‘Promising signs of progress’ on Gaza hostage deal

Comments by Israel war cabinet member come as Israel continues to threaten ground invasion of Rafah. Plus, how monitoring nature from space could keep Earth healthy

Good morning.

Israeli war cabinet member Benny Gantz has said there are “promising early signs of progress” on a new deal to release hostages from Gaza amid regional talks to secure a pause in the war.

His comments came as US media reported that CIA chief William Burns was expected in Paris for hostage talks.

Meanwhile, the US has urged the international court of justice (ICJ) in The Hague not to issue a ruling calling for Israel’s immediate withdrawal from the occupied Palestinian territories, arguing that Israeli security had to be taken into account in any solution to the conflict.

“Any movement towards Israel’s withdrawal from the West Bank and Gaza requires consideration for Israel’s very real security needs,” Richard Visek, the state department’s acting legal adviser, told the ICJ judges.

• What’s happening in Gaza? New fighting and a deepening breakdown in public order in northern Gaza have derailed a humanitarian effort to avert a famine in parts of the battered territory, with senior aid officials describing an “incredible level of desperation” as food supplies run out.

• What happened in the UK’s parliament during a vote on a ceasefire in Gaza? The UK parliament had a fractious parliamentary debate on Gaza last night. Dozens of lawmakers stormed out with tempers flaring as the three biggest political parties sought to outmanoeuvre each other over a vote on a ceasefire in Gaza.

Videos show migrants stripped of clothing in freezing temperatures at Serbian border

Videos appearing to show groups of men stripped of their clothing in near-freezing temperatures and being forced back from the Serbian border into North Macedonia are evidence of escalating mistreatment of migrants at European borders, according to human rights groups.

Two videos shown to the Guardian by Legis, a North Macedonian NGO, show a line of semi-naked men on a stretch of road near the Serbian-North Macedonian border.

Legis says the videos were filmed by a local person near the village of Lojane, close to the Serbian border, and handed to them on 10 February. The Guardian has not independently verified the videos.

The NGO claims the incident was the second of two abusive and “degrading” pushbacks over a 24-hour period, when it claims more than 50 people were forced to strip naked or down to their underwear by the Serbian authorities before being forced back into North Macedonia.

• What has Dunja Mijatović, commissioner for human rights at the Council of Europe, said about the footage? Mijatović said the abuse that appeared to be happening on the North Macedonian border was indicative of mistreatment of vulnerable people on borders across Europe, calling the widespread phenomenon of illegal pushbacks an “urgent pan-European problem”.

Biden comments a disgrace, says Kremlin, after he calls Putin a ‘crazy SOB’

The Kremlin has accused Joe Biden of debasing himself and disgracing his country after the US president called Vladimir Putin a “crazy SOB” during a fundraiser in San Francisco.

Biden was talking about the climate crisis yesterday when he said: “We have a crazy SOB like Putin and others, and we always have to worry about nuclear conflict, but the existential threat to humanity is climate.”

The Kremlin said that Biden’s comments were a “disgrace for the United States”.

“The use of such language against the head of another state by the president of the United States is unlikely to infringe on our president, President Putin,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said. “But it debases those who use such vocabulary.”

• What did Biden say about Donald Trump’s comments about Alexei Navalny? “Some of the things that this fellow’s been saying, like he’s comparing himself to Navalny and saying that – because our country’s become a communist country, he was persecuted, just like Navalny was persecuted. I don’t know where the hell this comes from,” Biden said. “I mean, if I stood here 10, 15 years ago and said any of this, you’d all think I should be committed,” he said. “It astounds me.”

In other news …

• The former Brazil soccer star Dani Alves was found guilty of sexually assaulting a young woman and sentenced to four years, six months in prison today. The ruling by three-judge panel in a Barcelona court followed a three-day trial this month.

• The White House is considering using provisions of federal immigration law repeatedly tapped by Donald Trump to unilaterally enact a sweeping crackdown at the southern border, according to three people familiar with the deliberations.

• From forgetfulness to difficulties concentrating, many people who have long Covid experience “brain fog”. Now researchers say the symptom could be down to the blood-brain barrier becoming leaky. The barrier controls which substances or materials enter and exit the brain.

• A large Martin Luther King Jr memorial in Denver’s City park was vandalized, and police are trying to determine if racial bias was involved. Several pieces of the marble and bronze I Have a Dream memorial including a bronze torch and angel, as well as a bronze panel that depicted Black military veterans, were stolen sometime on Tuesday.

Don’t miss this: in the age of ‘toxicity’, are we walking away from friendships too quickly?

With more people living single and forgoing families, friendships – historically overlooked in favour of spouses and children – have been rightly recognised as vital lifelines, writes Elle Hunt. Dolly Alderton’s Everything I Know About Love, Big Friendship by Ann Friedman and Aminatou Sow, and television shows like Sex and the City and (of course) Friends celebrate friendship for being as nourishing and transformative as any love affair.

As with any relationship, there is need for periodic reassessment and even repair. But do we expect too much of our friendships?

Climate check: ‘Taking the pulse of the planet’ – how monitoring nature from space could keep Earth healthy

For the handful of people who get the chance to observe Earth from space, the impact is often profound. Called the “overview effect”, astronauts report being deeply moved by the experience. Now, scientists are proposing the creation of a new system that they hope will use the view from space to transform our understanding of Earth’s changing ecology and its complex systems.

By combining satellite data and imagery with on-the-ground technologies in every country on Earth, scientists say the creation of a new multibillion international scheme would allow countries to effectively track the health of the planet and safeguard food, water and material supplies for billions of people.

Last Thing: ‘I hope he got the extended warranty’ – US jokes about Russian car Putin gave to Kim Jong-un

A US spokesperson has mocked president Vladimir Putin’s gift of a Russian car to North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, as he accused Moscow of violating UN resolutions. North Korean state media said that Kim was presented with a car made in Russia by Vladimir Putin. Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov later confirmed the gift, saying it was an Aurus, a full-sized luxury sedan of the type used by Putin.

Asked about the gift, state department spokesperson Matthew Miller on Wednesday told reporters in Washington, “I actually, frankly, didn’t know there was such a thing as a Russian luxury car. I hope Kim got the extended warranty,” he joked. “I’m not sure if I was buying a luxury car Russia would be the place I would look.”

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