During a call with Donald Trump, Vladimir Putin apparently rejected a 30-day ceasefire with Ukraine but agreed to halt attacks on Ukrainian energy infrastructure, according to the Kremlin. The White House said that fresh negotiations on ceasefire agreements and a permanent peace would start “immediately” in the Middle East—a “region of potential co-operation” for America and Russia.
Israel said it had launched “extensive strikes” on Hamas “terror targets” in Gaza, shattering a fragile ceasefire that began on January 19th and killing at least 400 people, according to Palestinian health officials. Hamas said that four government officials were among those killed. Israel said it had ordered the strikes following “Hamas’s repeated refusal to release our hostages” and its “rejection” of American ceasefire proposals.
Germany’s Bundestag passed a huge spending package proposed by Friedrich Merz, the probable next chancellor. The measure loosens the “debt brake”, a strict legal limit on federal-government borrowing. It creates a €500bn ($545bn) off-budget fund for infrastructure and exempts from the debt brake defence spending beyond 1% of GDP. The package still requires approval by the upper house of parliament.
America’s chief justice, John Roberts, criticised Donald Trump’s call for the impeachment of a district judge who tried to pause the deportation of more than 200 people to El Salvador. Mr Roberts said that impeachment was not an “appropriate response” to disagreement over a judge’s decision. The president referred to the judge concerned as a “Radical Left Lunatic”.
Britain’s Labour government said it would introduce large reforms to the benefits system with a view to cutting at least £5bn ($6.5bn) a year from the welfare budget by 2030. The plans include narrowing the eligibility criteria for the main disability benefit. Ministers argue the changes will help people return to the workforce. But the government faces a large rebellion on the issue from Labour MPs.
In a joint statement Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania and Poland said they will withdraw from an international convention banning the use of antipersonnel landmines. The countries said they needed the “flexibility and freedom of choice” to use such weapons to defend NATO’s eastern border with Russia. Europe is rushing to bolster its security as America pursues a rapprochement with the Kremlin.
The last of “the few” has died, at the age of 105. John Hemingway was a fighter pilot in the Battle of Britain, fought by the Royal Air Force to stave off an aerial assault by Nazi Germany in 1940. The then prime minister, Sir Winston Churchill, said of the British victory that “Never in the field of human conflict was so much owed by so many to so few”.
Figure of the day: 40%, the amount that American homelessness has risen by since 2018. Read the full story.
Donald Trump’s return to the presidency has brought exceptional changes to American politics—with consequences for the rest of the world, too. Read The US in brief, a daily update of the domestic political stories that matter. Sign up here to receive it as a newsletter, each weekday, in your inbox.