Biden hopes for a Gaza ceasefire soon

And New Zealand is set to scrap its world-first tobacco ban.

Sign up for Reuters newsletters Daily Briefing Biden says Israel has agreed to halt its Gaza attacks for Ramadan, France's Macron does not rule out Europeans sending troops to Ukraine, and New Zealand will repeal a world-first law banning tobacco sales for future generations.   Plus, astronomers observe a scar on a white dwarf 'cannibal' star.   By Kate Turton Today's Top News An Israeli tank returns from the southern Gaza strip. February 26, 2024. REUTERS/Amir Cohen MIDDLE EAST Israel has agreed to halt its Gaza attacks for the Muslim holy month of Ramadan, US President Joe Biden said, adding that he hoped a temporary ceasefire will take hold next week as Hamas reviewed a truce deal that includes a prisoner-hostage swap. Listen to Middle East Editor Edmund Blair weigh in with the latest on the Reuters World News daily podcast. Here is a timeline of the war in Gaza. IN OTHER NEWS French President Emmanuel Macron refused to rule out the possibility that European nations could send troops to Ukraine, although he warned that there was no consensus at this stage. The US cautioned Pacific Islands nations against assistance from Chinese security forces after Reuters reported that Chinese police are working in the remote atoll nation of Kiribati, a neighbor of Hawaii. New Zealand will repeal a world-first law banning tobacco sales for future generations, the government said, even while researchers and campaigners warned of the risk that people could die as a result. The number of babies born in Japan fell for an eighth straight year to a fresh record low in 2023, preliminary data showed, underscoring the daunting task the country faces in trying to stem depopulation. South Africa recorded 499 rhinos poached in 2023, 51 more than the previous year, despite efforts to protect the animals. The country is home to nearly half of the critically-endangered black rhino population in Africa. Prosecutors have asked a judge for a gag order to restrict Donald Trump from making public comments about witnesses or exposing the identities of jurors in the former president's New York trial involving hush money paid to a porn star, court filings showed. Business & Markets In the Market: Banks are finally signing up for a US Federal Reserve funding backstop that has been lying nearly dormant for more than two years, putting them in a stronger position to deal with any stress. But it is unclear whether they will want to use it in a crisis. Bitcoin hit a two-year high on signs of large players buying the cryptocurrency, while smaller rival ether topped $3,200. ETF correspondent Suzanne McGee tells the Reuters World News daily podcast how the approval of Bitcoin exchange traded funds has investors eyeing other opportunities. European private lending activity has rebounded to levels last seen in mid-2022, new data from Deloitte showed, in a sign investors are piling in to risky corporate debt as they anticipate European Central Bank interest rate cuts this year. Japan's core consumer inflation slowed for a third straight month in January but beat forecasts and held at the central bank's 2% target, keeping alive expectations it will end negative interest rates by April. Alphabet's Google Cloud ramped up its criticism of Microsoft's cloud computing practices, saying its rival is seeking a monopoly that would harm the development of emerging technologies such as generative artificial intelligence. Russia ordered a six-month ban on gasoline exports from March 1 to keep prices stable amid rising demand from consumers and farmers and to allow for maintenance of refineries in the world's second largest oil exporter. Asylum-seekers risk lives to cross Rio Grande into US Migrants link arms with each other as they wade into the Rio Grande River. February 24, 2024. REUTERS/Cheney Orr A Reuters photo essay shows how migrants in search of asylum in the United States risk everything to cross the Rio Grande into Texas. And Finally... Artist's impression shows the magnetic white dwarf WD 0816-310. European Southern Observatory/L. Calcada/Handout via REUTERS A slowly cooling stellar ember called a white dwarf with a scar on its face is providing new insight into the behavior of certain "cannibal" stars at the end of their life cycle.   Using the European Southern Observatory's Chile-based Very Large Telescope, researchers studied a white dwarf located about 63 light years from Earth. A light year is the distance light travels in a year, 5.9 trillion miles. Like all white dwarfs, it is incredibly dense, packing about 70% of the sun's mass into an Earth-sized object. 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