Newshour

Japan's first female prime minister Sanae Takaichi is predicted to win in the snap elections, while in Thailand a party calling for liberal change is challenging for power again. We report live from Bangkok and Tokyo.
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; Jeff Bezos’s hatchet man at the Washington Post steps down after sacking three hundred journalists; and sixty years after the Monkees were formed to rival the Beatles, we hear from the last surviving member, Micky Dolenz.

US President Donald Trump has set a deadline for the end of the war in Ukraine - June. President Volodomyr Zelensky has said he will be sending a delegation to Miami for US-brokered talks in Miami.
We get a Ukrainian MP's reaction to the latest deadline and hear about life in Kyiv as Russia targets the country's energy infrastructure.
Also in the programme: the rush to get key AI components into outer space; and the small change in French rural life that could be fuelling the rise of the far-right.
(Photo: A person with a flashlight in a dark street during a power cut in Lviv, Ukraine. Credit: Mykola Tys, EPA/Shutterstock)

The UK’s former Labour Prime Minister Gordon Brown, who appointed Peter Mandelson as a cabinet minister, has called for an ethical shakeup in public life in the wake of the Epstein scandal. Mr Brown also defended Prime Minister Keir Starmer as a man of principle who could tackle the problem.
Also in the programme: Russia attacks more energy infrastructure in Ukraine; political analysis of President Trump’s racist Truth Social post; and will the Japanese prime minister's decision to call a snap election pay off?
(IMAGE: Former prime minister Gordon Brown speaks at a child poverty event, to mark the 60th anniversary of the Child Poverty Action Group (Cpag), at Somerset House, in central London, Thursday November 6, 2025 / CREDIT: James Manning/PA Wire)

Indirect talks between the US and Iran took place in Oman as the US seeks to curb Iran's nuclear and missile programmes. The talks were mainly procedural: was anything achieved? We hear from Iran nuclear expert Professor Sina Azodi, Director of the Middle East Studies Program at George Washington University.
Also in the programme: a deadly suicide attack on a Shia mosque in the Pakistani capital Islamabad; the EU orders TikTok to redesign its 'addictive' features; and the opening of the 25th Winter Olympics in northern Italy.
(Photo: Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi visits Oman ahead of Iran-US talks. Credit: OMANI MINISTRY OF INFORMATION/HANDOUT/EPA/Shutterstock)

President Trump is seeking to curb Tehran's nuclear and missile programme; he has threatened to use military force if Tehran doesn't make big concessions.
Also in the programme: Venezuela's parliament takes the next step towards an amnesty for political prisoners; and how babies can anticipate rhythmic surprises in music composed by Johann Sebastian Bach.
(Photo: Iran's Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi is welcomed by an Omani official upon his arrival in Muscat, Oman, on February 6, 2026. Credit: Iranian Foreign Ministry/WANA via REUTERS)