NATO may take over some US responsibilities for Ukraine aid.
The death toll for the concert hall attack in Russia has surpassed 130 people (Putin continues to suggest Ukraine is responsible, though none of the data backs that assertion).
Russia’s substantial bombing of Ukrainian cities continues, and there’s a broadening consensus in Eastern Europe that Putin needs to be defeated, not just held off.
Ukraine is struggling with an ongoing troop shortage (which is caused by population numbers, but which will also likely impact population numbers in the future):
Japan raises interest rates for first time in 17 years (the country is entering a new economic era, by some estimates).
The US and Japan are substantially upgrading their military alliance (including changes to their regional military commander structure).
All of which is meant to counter China’s ambitions in the area, which remain ambitious, and which include countering similar efforts by the Philippines in the South China Sea.
Hong Kong has passed a more hardcore security law, bringing it even more in line with laws in mainland China.
China blocks use of Intel and AMD chips in government computers.
The US has claimed more seabed territory (about two-Californias-worth) for possible mineral-extraction purposes, and to defend undersea internet cables, and Russia and China don’t like it.
Ecuador's youngest mayor has been found shot to death alongside one of her staffers (the mayor was only 27-years-old, and this is of a kind with other recent violence and assassinations in the country).
Court jails first person convicted of cyberflashing in England.
Despite bans in some states, more than a million abortions were provided in the US in 2023:
TikTok ban in US has become uncertain, the momentum behind it slowing substantially (and though many social networks have given up on news, LinkedIn is supposedly keen to double-down on journalism).
Simon Harris set to become Ireland's youngest prime minister after party election.
Trump’s financial troubles have been diminished somewhat by new court decisions (and possibly a new stock listing), though a criminal case he faces now has a firm court date of April 15.
100 days of Milei.