🇨🇳🇬🇧🇨🇦⚡️ — China will allow holders of UK and Canadian passports to be able to travel to mainland China without a visa for stays of up to 30 days from February 17 through December 31.

➡️ The temporary visa-free policy applies to visits for tourism, business, and family purposes.

🇪🇺🇭🇺⚡️ — The European Commission is toning down criticism of Prime Minister Viktor Orbán before Hungary’s April 12 election to avoid accusations of interference, as the opposition Tisza Party leads in polls, FT reports.

➡️ Brussels may release up to €2.4 billion in EU funds ahead of the vote, despite €17 billion still being frozen over rule-of-law concerns.

➡️ Orbán continues to claim EU meddling, while officials worry any move—or lack of one—will be politicized during the campaign.

🇬🇧🪖 — The UK government is considering whether to accelerate its defence spending plans and hit 3% of GDP by 2029, earlier than previously intended, according to the BBC.

➡️ Prime Minister Keir Starmer had pledged to raise defence spending to 2.5% of GDP by 2027 and aim for 3% in the following parliament, but aides are now considering reaching that 3% target within the current term.

➡️ The proposal was discussed in a recent strategy meeting focused on meeting defence commitments under the long-delayed defence investment plan.

➡️ No final decision has been made, and the Treasury remains cautious about the financial implications.

🇺🇸❗️ — A shooting at the Dennis M. Lynch Arena in Pawtucket, Rhode Island, left one dead and four others hospitalized, the mayor’s office said.

➡️ The suspected shooter is also dead.

🇺🇦🇷🇺⚡️ — Ukraine’s Ministry of Defense announced Russia fired 91 ballistic missiles at Ukraine in January — the highest monthly total during the war.

🇺🇸🇮🇷⚡️ — Two U.S. Air Force E-3B/C Sentry Airborne Early Warning and Control aircraft have departed Elmendorf AFB in Alaska heading to RAF Mildenhall as part of U.S. preparations for a potential attack on Iran.

🇺🇸🇮🇷⚡️ — U.S. officials do not have a clear plan for who would take power if Iran’s regime collapsed, CNN reports.

➡️ U.S. intelligence suggests the IRGC would likely fill any immediate leadership vacuum, but its internal hierarchy is not well understood, especially after the killing of Qasem Soleimani.

➡️ Unlike in Venezuela, the U.S. lacks detailed insight into potential successors. Some officials believe there was a brief window during peak protests when military action might have shifted momentum toward Iran’s opposition.

➡️ Sources familiar with the intelligence told CNN that they now wonder whether Trump “missed the moment" and question whether military strikes weeks later would accomplish what they could have last month.

🇺🇦❌🇷🇺 — WATCH: Footage shows Ukrainian Patriot air defenses intercepting two Russian Zircon hypersonic cruise missiles over Kyiv last night.

➡️ Two other Zircon hypersonic cruise missiles struck energy infrastructure in the Kyiv region overnight.

🇷🇺❌🇺🇦 — Three Tu-95MS strategic bombers have taken off from Olenya airbase in Russia's Murmansk region.

➡️ 60+ Geran-2 drones are currently flying in Ukrainian airspace.

🇺🇸🇨🇭⚡️ — U.S. Special Envoy Steve Witkoff and Trump's son-in-law have departed for Geneva, Switzerland, for tomorrow's nuclear talks with Iran and trilateral talks with Russia and Ukraine.