Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on February 7 rejected a proposal for a Gaza war truce by Hamas, saying victory was within reach and only total defeat of the movement that rules the blockaded strip would ensure Israel's security.

The United Nations Committee on the Rights of the Child has urged Russia to end the forcible transfer of children from occupied areas of Ukraine and return them to their families. Last month, a panel of 18 independent experts pressed Russia on deportation allegations while reviewing its record.

Russia, which launched a full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, has argued that “placements for evacuated children are arranged, first and foremost, at their request and with their consent.”

Millions of Pakistanis voted on February 8 in an election marred by rigging allegations, with authorities suspending mobile phone services throughout the day and the country's most popular politician in jail.

Pollsters predicted a low turnout from the country's 128 million eligible voters following a lacklustre campaign overshadowed by the jailing of former prime minister Imran Khan, and the hobbling of his Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf party by the military-led establishment.

A Thai court has handed suspended sentences to former prime ministerial hopeful Pita Limjaroenrat and seven other political figures for holding an unlawful rally in 2019.

The case adds to the legal trouble facing the opposition Move Forward Party after the country’s constitutional court last week ruled that the party has undermined the monarchy and national security amid its campaign to amend a law protecting the monarchy from criticism.

Fireworks erupted in El Salvador's capital on February 4 as gang-busting President Nayib Bukele claimed to have won reelection with more than 85 percent of votes cast: "a record in the entire democratic history of the world."

Bukele, 42, polls as Latin America's most popular leader, possibly the world, on the back of a war on gangs that has slashed homicide rates in the violence-weary country.

Senegal's parliament on February 5 voted to hold a postponed presidential election on December 15 in the face of public outcry that led some opposition lawmakers to blockade proceedings until security forces intervened.

The move follows President Macky Sall's unprecedented announcement of a postponement on February 3 that pitched the West African nation into uncharted constitutional waters and threatens to further tarnish its reputation as a bastion of democratic stability in a region swept by coups.

This briefing paper examines the Tunisian Truth and Dignity Commission’s approach to investigating Ben Ali dictatorship-era corruption crimes and identifying responsible institutions and individuals, and whether it laid the foundation for accountability and reparation. While it fell short in some aspects of its mandate, it succeeded in connecting corruption to political repression and to the dictatorship’s neoliberal economic policies that marginalized the country’s poorest regions, where the revolution and Arab Spring began.

United Nations experts have condemned the deadly attacks on journalists and media workers in Gaza, calling on Israel to allow journalists to enter the besieged territory and to ensure their protection.

At least 17,000 children in the Gaza Strip have been left unaccompanied or separated from their families nearly four months into Israel’s assault on the enclave, the United Nations children’s agency estimates.

Nearly all children in the strip also require mental health support, UNICEF said on February 2. Before the assault erupted, UNICEF estimated that more than 500,000 children in Gaza needed mental health and psycho-social support.

Roughly 600 protesters on February 6 marched to where New Zealand’s founding document was signed in the town of Waitangi, as official celebrations competed with protests against proposed government policies that threaten Indigenous rights. The gathering is the biggest in at least 30 years.

Demonstrators were protesting New Zealand's centre-right coalition's promises to undo policies that promoted the official use of the Maori language and sought to enhance Indigenous living standards and rights.