Middle East

• It sounds like Israel and Hamas are close to a temporary ceasefire deal after both relented on concessions they'd previously refused to consider. Pres. Biden said he's hopeful a deal will close within a week.
• Hamas had demanded a permanent ceasefire but is now said to be open to a temporary one with the possibility it could become permanent: Israel reportedly offered to pause fighting in Gaza for Ramadan, which is expected to last from March 10/11 through April 9.
• Israel has apparently considered releasing high-profile Palestinians convicted of terrorism, and also flexed its openness to the West Bank's Palestinian Authority (PA) running Gaza post-war - and after a major overhaul. As part of that overhaul, the PA's PM and cabinet offered their resignations for PA President Mahmoud Abbas to consider.
• Meanwhile, Israel's defense minister vowed to escalate its strikes on Hamas's fellow Iran-backed militancy, Hezbollah, regardless of what happens in ongoing ceasefire negotiations with Hamas. Israeli jets struck Hezbollah targets "deep inside Lebanon" - near the northeastern city of Baalbek - for the first time. Israel also claimed it killed senior Hezbollah commander Hassan Hussein Salami in a separate airstrike in southern Lebanon.

Russia

• Allies of late Kremlin critic Alexey Navalny shared a sensational claim about his death in a Siberian prison earlier this month: they claim ongoing negotiations were on the verge of seeing Navalny and two jailed U.S. nationals freed in exchange for the release of Vadim Krasikov, a Russian FSB agent jailed for life in Germany for assassinating a Chechen separatist in Berlin, and Pres. Putin had Navalny killed on the eve of his release to scupper the deal...because he's "a mad mafioso," in the words of one close Navalny ally.
• More cautious reports like the NYT's suggest there were indeed some ongoing discussions about swapping Navalny - and perhaps WSJ reporter Evan Gershkovich and ex-U.S. Marine Paul Whelan too - for Krasikov, but they were in very early stages and Navalny was not on the verge of being released as his supporters suggested.

Ukraine

• After a meeting of EU leaders on Ukraine, France's Pres. Macron surprised reporters by refusing to rule out the idea of sending French troops there to fight: "anything is possible if it is useful to reach our goal." That would be a bold move in contrast with wavering U.S. support for sending more funding to Ukraine.
• Though overt U.S. support for Ukraine is becoming politically contentious, the NYT reported two bombshells revealing bold covert U.S. support for Ukraine: first, that CIA Director Burns paid another secret visit to Ukraine last week - his tenth since the start of the war - and second, that the CIA mans 12 secret bases in Ukraine along the border with Russia.

Sahel

• Suspected Islamist militants massacred Muslims during early morning prayer at a mosque on the same day as dozens of Catholics were killed at a church in the same village of Natiaboani in eastern Burkina Faso. Early reports speculated that the two attacks were coordinated.