It has been a day of joy in Israel, a day of dread in Gaza and a day of warnings in Washington. Israeli troops rescued two hostages from Hamas militants in Rafah in an operation that Palestinian authorities say killed more than 70. Israel is now threatening to assault Rafah, but President Biden warned that the displaced Palestinians there must be protected. Nick Schifrin reports.

Not long ago, professional sports avoided anything to do with gambling. But today in 2024, the Super Bowl is being played within sight of the Las Vegas Strip, and pro sports leagues and teams are raking in millions of dollars per year in partnership and ad revenue from sports betting companies. Andrew Brandt, director of the Moorad Center for the Study of Sports Law, joins John Yang to discuss.

The number of syphilis cases in the United States is the highest it’s been since the 1950s, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Dr. Philip Chan, chief medical officer for Open Door Health and an associate professor at Brown University, joins Ali Rogin to discuss what’s behind the surge and what public health officials are doing about it.

Curtis Chin spent a lot of his childhood at his family's Chinese restaurant in Detroit. At one point, he assumed that he, like his father and grandparents, would spend his life there. Instead, he became a writer and filmmaker. John Yang speaks with Chin about his memoir, “Everything I Learned, I Learned in a Chinese Restaurant,” and lessons from his family’s restaurant that shaped his worldview.

As 2024 election campaigns pick up steam, Meta announced this week that it would start labeling AI-generated images posted on Facebook, Instagram and Threads. In December, an advocacy group said Meta, YouTube and X have rolled back 17 policies intended to protect against hate speech and misinformation. John Yang speaks with Katie Harbath, former Facebook public policy director, to learn more.

For weeks, Germans have been flooding into streets, squares and parks, protesting the increasing influence of far-right parties. This comes as the leading far-right party in Germany suffered a narrow defeat in regional elections that were held in one of the party’s strongholds. POLITICO editor James Angelos joins Ali Rogin to discuss the impact of this increasingly tense political atmosphere.

With Valentine’s Day around the corner, love is on many people’s minds. For people with disabilities or chronic illnesses, navigating the dating world can come with many challenges. Stephanie Sy reports.

Award-winning author and producer Kwame Alexander just released his latest work. It's an anthology by Black poets called, "This Is the Honey." Amna Nawaz discussed the book with Alexander for our arts and culture series, CANVAS.

New York Times columnist David Brooks and Washington Post associate editor Jonathan Capehart join Amna Nawaz to discuss the week in politics, including the special counsel's report on President Biden’s handling of classified documents and comments about his mental fitness, the Supreme Court hearing on Trump's ballot eligibility and the collapse of the border deal in Congress.

The New Orleans community is mourning the loss of a 17-year-old Palestinian American killed last month. Tawfic Abdel Jabbar is one of the 94 children, and 370 Palestinians total, killed in the West Bank since Oct. 7. In late January, over a hundred cars formed a motorcade in his memory along a New Orleans highway. Amna Nawaz spoke with Hafeth Abdel Jabbar about his son's death.

A new federal food assistance program is aiming to reduce child hunger by giving low-income families money for summer groceries. But only those who live in certain states will have access to that relief. John Yang explains.

A long legal battle ended Thursday when a jury found that two conservative writers defamed the prominent climate scientist Michael Mann. William Brangham looks at what this verdict means and speaks with another renowned scientist who’s also endured this kind of vitriol, Dr. Peter Hotez.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu ordered the Israeli military to develop plans to evacuate Rafah, the southernmost city in Gaza. Its population before Oct. 7 was 100,000. Now, more than half of Gaza’s 2.3 million people have fled to the city. At the same time, there is progress on talks that would pause the fighting. Nick Schifrin reports.

On Thursday, special counsel Robert Hur’s report concluded that no criminal charges were warranted against President Biden for his handling of classified documents. However, the report made several references to Biden’s age and called his memory into question. White House Correspondent Laura Barrón-López reports on the president's response and what it may mean for the 2024 election.

In the last election, the city of St. Paul, Minnesota, did something it had never done before: elect an all-female city council. The state’s capital became one of the largest American cities to hold that distinction. Special correspondent Fred de Sam Lazaro reports.

The Justice Department declined to prosecute President Biden for his handling of classified Obama-era documents found in his former office and at home. In a 345-page report, special counsel Robert Hur wrote, “We conclude that no criminal charges are warranted in this matter.” Geoff Bennett discussed more with Oona Hathaway, a Yale Law School professor and former special counsel at the Pentagon.

The Supreme Court heard arguments in a landmark election case looking at whether Donald Trump’s actions on Jan. 6 should disqualify him from appearing on Colorado's ballot. The justices scrutinized an obscure provision in the 14th Amendment at the center of this case. Amna Nawaz discussed the hearing with William Brangham and Supreme Court analyst Marcia Coyle who both were at the court.

In our news wrap Thursday, Israel stepped up air strikes on Rafah, a city near the Egyptian border packed with refugees, Secretary of State Blinken is heading home from Israel after failing to make much headway toward a cease-fire and Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskyy announced a major military shakeup facing a stalemate in the war with Russia.

After days of stops and starts, the U.S. Senate moved toward giving Ukraine, Israel and other allies billions in aid. It's a major step but far from the final one and it unfolds as Ukraine is running out of supplies and time to fend off Russia's advances. Geoff Bennett broke it all down with Lisa Desjardins, Laura Barrón-López and Nick Schifrin.

One of the most brutal Russian attacks against Ukraine took place in Mariupol two years ago. Human Rights Watch, in collaboration with two other organizations, released a report detailing what happened and who in Russia was responsible. Nick Schifrin reports. And a warning, some images in this report are disturbing.