1. Russian opposition politician Alexei Navalny was close to being freed in a prisoner swap at the time of his death, said Maria Pevchikh, a Navalny ally. Meanwhile Moscow shrugged off the latest round of Western sanctions, saying that Russia's economy had adapted to restrictions.

2. Palestinian Prime Minister Mohammad Shtayyeh said he was resigning to allow for the formation of a broad consensus among Palestinians. Israel and Palestinian Territories bureau chief James McKenzie speaks to the Reuters World News podcast about the resignation.

3. United Nations chief Antonio Guterres deplored how the UN Security Council had failed to respond adequately to the Israel-Hamas conflict in Gaza and Russia's invasion of Ukraine, saying the conflicts had "perhaps fatally" undermined its authority.

4. Denmark said it had dropped its investigation into the explosions in 2022 on the Nord Stream pipelines carrying Russian gas to Germany, becoming the second nation to do so after neighboring Sweden closed its own inquiry.

5. Satellite images of the hotly disputed Scarborough Shoal in the South China Sea show a new floating barrier across its entrance, near where Philippine ships and China coast guard vessels have had frequent run-ins.

6. South Korea's government told young doctors they had until the end of February to return to work or risk being punished for staging a week-long protest that has disrupted services for patients at several major hospitals.

7. Facebook owner Meta will set up a team to tackle disinformation and the abuse of generative artificial intelligence in the run-up to European Parliament elections in June amid concerns about election interference and misleading AI-generated content.

Source: Reuters
=FRESH NEWS