Newshour

Survivors of Jeffrey Epstein's abuse, campaigners, and politicians are heading to Washington today to press for a change in law around time limits on seeking compensation.
This comes after US lawmakers say files related to convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein were improperly redacted ahead of their release by the Department of Justice (DOJ).
Also in the programme: The UN warns that Tigray in northern Ethiopia may be about to tip back into all-out conflict; we'll hear why the French president is concerned about whether Europe can stand up to American and Chinese muscle; and we'll look at what nature can do for a person's state of mind.
(Photo shows a file photo of the House Chamber of the US Capitol in Washington DC, USA on 4 March 2025. Jim Lo Scalzo/EPA)

Keir Starmer's judgment is being questioned over his past appointment as ambassador to the United States of Peter Mandelson, a British peer with deep personal connections to the convicted paedophile Jeffrey Epstein. Can he survive as prime minister? We hear the latest from our reporter in parliament. And as Epstein's accomplice Ghislaine Maxwell invokes the Fifth Amendment, declining to answer questions before the US House Oversight Committee, we catch up with the political reaction.
Also in the programme: American tech giants Meta and Google go on trial in California - they're accused of harming children by knowingly creating addictive social media platforms. And the French government sends letters to every 29-year-old in the country, exhorting them to have babies while their biological clocks are still ticking.
(Photo: Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer leaving 10 Downing Street, London. Credit: James Manning/PA Wire)

Jimmy Lai, a pro-democracy media tycoon in Hong Kong, has been jailed for 20 years for colluding with foreign forces under the city's controversial national security law.
Rights groups called it a death sentence for the 78-year-old, whose family has raised concerns about his health, but Hong Kong's leader said it was "deeply gratifying". We'll hear from Mr Lai's son about his father's situation.
Also in the programme: We'll be reflecting on a historic election victory for the Japanese prime minister Sanae Takaichi with a member of the governing Liberal Democratic Party; how the DNA of identical twinas is complicating a murder trial in France; and we'll get the reaction to last night's half-time Superbowl show by the Puerto Rican artist Bad Bunny, which has been criticised by President Trump.
(Photo shows Jimmy Lai walking to a prison van to head to court in Hong Kong, China on 12 December 2020. Credit: Tyrone Siu/Reuters/File Photo]

Japan's governing coalition led by Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi, is projected to have won two-thirds of the seats in the House of Representatives. Ms Takaichi sought and got a clear public mandate in a general election she called just four months after becoming leader of the Liberal Democratic Party.
Also, the Iranian Nobel peace laureate, Narges Mohammadi, has received another prison sentence - for what the court said was "collusion to commit crimes"; And we speak to one of the Epstein survivors who had a relationship with him for two years.
(Photo of Japan's prime minister Sanae Takaichi, who appeared at the LDP headquarters on Sunday night for the vote count. Credit: Franck Robichon/Reuters)

Japan's first female prime minister, Sanae Takaichi, is projected to win in the snap election, while in Thailand a party calling for liberal change is challenging for power again. We report live from Tokyo and Bangkok.
Also in the programme: a Russian soldier who fought in Ukraine, fled to Kazakhstan and now faces possible deportation back to Russia, tells us why he deserted; the chief executive of The Washington Post steps down after sacking 300 journalists; and sixty years after the Monkees were formed to rival the Beatles, we hear from the last surviving member, Micky Dolenz.
(IMAGE: TV staff gesture in the direction of the cameras as Japan's Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi, leader of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party (LDP), gives an interview at the LDP headquarters on general election day in Tokyo, Japan, February 8, 2026 / CREDIT: Kim Kyung-Hoon/POOL/EPA/Shutterstock (16528062x))