Armed conflicts and attacks

• Israel–Hamas war
  • Rafah offensive
    • Israeli troops reach the outskirts of Rafah with Hamas saying that heavy fighting is underway. The Israeli military says it has "uncovered terrorist infrastructure", and killed a number of Hamas militants as it advances. (BBC News)
  • Humanitarian aid during the Israel–Hamas war
    • Israel reopens the Kerem Shalom border crossing, allowing humanitarian aid into Gaza. However, no aid has entered according to the UN. (AP)
• Russian invasion of Ukraine
  • Russian strikes against Ukrainian infrastructure
    • Russia launches missile and drone strikes across Ukraine, injuring three people and damaging critical infrastructure. Ukraine says that it shot down 39 of 55 missiles and 20 of 21 drones. (AP) (Bloomberg News)

Arts and culture

• A statue of the late African-American civil rights leader Daisy Bates is unveiled at the U.S. Capitol building. (Reuters)

Disasters and accidents

• 2024 Rio Grande do Sul floods
  • The death toll from the ongoing heavy flooding in southern Brazil increases to 100, with 128 people still missing and 163,000 displaced. (Reuters)

Health and environment

• COVID-19 pandemic
  • AstraZeneca withdraws its marketing authorizations in Europe and its COVID-19 vaccines worldwide due to low demand, after admitting its vaccines cause blood clots. (Reuters)

Law and crime

• Cannabis in Thailand
  • Thailand moves to recriminalise cannabis. (Reuters)

Politics and elections

• British Conservative MP Natalie Elphicke defects to the opposition Labour Party citing the government's failure to stop the English Channel migrant crisis. (Reuters)

Sports

• 2024 Summer Olympics
  • The ship carrying the Olympic torch from Greece arrives in Marseilles, France. (AP)

Science and technology

• Researchers at Google DeepMind developed AlphaFold 3, an AI model that can predict the structures of almost all biological molecules and modeling the interactions between them. (Time) (Nature)

Armed conflicts and attacks

• Russian invasion of Ukraine
  • Assassination attempts on Volodymyr Zelenskyy
    • The Security Service of Ukraine says that it detained two Ukrainian government protection unit colonels recruited by Russia's Federal Security Service who were planning an assassination of President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and other top Ukrainian officials. (Reuters)
  • Battle of Donbas
    • Ukrainian forces launch a missile strike on an oil terminal in Luhansk, causing a large fire and injuring at least five workers. (Reuters)
• Israel–Hamas war
  • Rafah offensive
    • Israeli forces enter Rafah in a "limited" operation, taking control of the Rafah Border Crossing on the Egypt–Gaza border. (Haaretz) (AP) (Reuters)
    • At least 27 people are killed by Israeli airstrikes in Rafah. (Al Jazeera) (AP)
• M23 offensive
  • The death toll from rocket strikes on an IDP camp in Goma, Democratic Republic of the Congo, increases to 18. (Reuters)

Arts and culture

• The Boy Scouts of America announces the renaming of the organization to Scouting America on February 8, 2025, in an effort to make girls feel more welcome. (AP)

Disasters and accidents

• 2024 Rio Grande do Sul floods
  • The death toll from ongoing heavy flooding in southern Brazil increases to 90, with more than 150,000 people left homeless. (Reuters) (Reuters 2)
• Tornadoes of 2024
  • A FedEx warehouse in Portage, Michigan, United States, is destroyed by a tornado. (Detroit Free Press)

Health and environment

• COVID-19 pandemic
  • COVID-19 vaccine
    • AstraZeneca says that it will withdraw their COVID-19 vaccine, which was used during COVID-19, citing a drop in demands. (Reuters)

International relations

• International recognition of the State of Palestine
  • The Bahamas formally recognizes Palestine as an independent nation. (Eyewitness News Bahamas)

Law and crime

• Russian undesirable organizations law
  • Russia declares American nonprofit organization Freedom House an "undesirable organization", effectively outlawing the group, after accusing the group of "discrediting the Russian Army" and advocating sanctions against Russia. (Reuters)
• Two people are killed and 21 others are injured in a mass stabbing at a hospital in Zhenxiong County, Yunnan, China. A suspect has been detained. (AP)
• TikTok and its parent company ByteDance sue the United States government over the Protecting Americans from Foreign Adversary Controlled Applications Act, alleging that the law is unconstitutional. (AP)

Politics and elections

• Israel–Hamas war protests
  • 2024 pro-Palestinian protests on university campuses
    • Dutch police end a pro-Palestinian occupation at the University of Amsterdam. (Reuters)
• Fifth inauguration of Vladimir Putin
  • Russian President Vladimir Putin is inaugurated for a fifth six-year term. (Reuters)
• Premiership of John Swinney
  • The Scottish Parliament votes to elect John Swinney as First Minister of Scotland with 64 votes in favour and seven abstentions from the Scottish Greens. (BBC News)