Chapter 1: What is the main topic discussed in this episode?
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This is the Global News Podcast from the BBC World Service.
I'm Paul Moss, and at 4.30 GMT on February 9th, these are our main stories. Japan's prime minister has won a decisive parliamentary majority, increasing the chance she'll now change the country's constitution.
Chapter 2: What led to Japan's Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi's decisive election victory?
The pro-democracy media tycoon Jimmy Lai has been sentenced to 20 years in prison. And the Seattle Seahawks win the US Super Bowl, but Donald Trump has called Bad Bunny's halftime performance an affront to the nation.
Also in this podcast... Brendan Harrison Tarrant, you are separately in charges of 1 to 15 of the Crown Chargeless, charged that on the 15th day of March 2019 at Christchurch, you did murder. Yes, guilty. New Zealand's mass killer pleaded guilty, but now he wants to retract his guilty plea. When Senai Takeichi called a snap election in Japan, the move was widely described as a gamble.
After all, she was already the country's prime minister. She was just hoping to increase her party's showing in the country's parliament. And if that didn't work out, Ms Takeichi had said she would resign as leader of the Liberal Democrat Party. Well, if it was a gamble, then it looks like the Prime Minister has pretty much hit the jackpot, certainly as much as politicians ever do.
Results so far suggest she's won her party a majority, giving cautious optimism to her many supporters. I think Sanae Takeichi is very different from other politicians. I have high hopes. That's why I voted for her. With President Trump back in office... There are many challenges. National defence is one. But if we spend money on that, how does it help with people's livelihoods?
Our reporter Will Leonardo has been following the election campaign from Tokyo and says the result there has been considered astounding. It's the Liberal Democratic Party's best showing since the Second World War. And remember, they've governed more or less nonstop since then. It's won 316 seats. That's two thirds majority on its own.
Prime Minister Sanae Takeuchi, she's currently in a coalition with a populist party centered on Osaka called the Japan Innovation Party. They won another 36. She says that tie up will remain as it remains valuable to her in the upper house. The recently cobbled together centrist opposition coalition lost more than two thirds of seats. And consider this. Japan operates a hybrid voting system.
It's got constituencies and proportional lists. Candidates are often put up for both. Now, the LDP won so many seats in the constituency races that that in several parts of Japan it simply ran out of candidates in the proportional list and their votes were split among other parties. Japanese media are reporting that it could have won 14 more seats.
Word on turnout, Jiji, which is a reputable news agency here, estimates it to be around 55%. That's slightly higher than last time in 2024, which was held in much better weather conditions. Now, that size of that majority means that Ms. Takaichi can now do what she said and change the country's constitution. What's that actually going to mean in practice?
Yes, the two-thirds is a magic number to begin the process, although she needs two-thirds in both houses. Ms Takaichi, just like her mentor, the late former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, wants to tweak Japan's pacifist constitution, which was drafted by the US after the war.
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Chapter 3: What changes to Japan's constitution does Takaichi plan to pursue?
But he's been absolutely central to Sakhir Starmer's political operation for over six years now. He masterminded Sakhir winning the Labour leadership in 2020. He was the mastermind behind Sakhir Starmer and Labour's extraordinary landslide election victory just in 2024. So he's behind everything. He advises on policy, personnel, government communication.
So, you know, while on the one hand, Sakhir Starmer is hoping that sacrificing Morgan McSweeney will somehow change the political weather, it's going to come at a huge cost. I mean, even if that were to work, who's going to run policy? Who's going to be the one helping him to decide in what direction the government should go? So it's a tricky one for Sakhir Starmer either way.
Nagez Mohammadi had only been out of prison for a few weeks. Released temporarily for medical treatment, the Iranian Nobel Peace Prize winner was always expected to continue serving a 13-year sentence for propaganda activity against the state. However, it seems she's now been handed a new sentence by a court which found her guilty this time of collusion to commit crimes.
The Iranian journalist Omid Mamarian explained how this came about.
Nagas, on December 12th, attended the funeral of a lawyer in the northern city of Mashhad who died in his office very suspiciously. And so many civil society activists, lawyers and his colleagues, friends were suspicious about his death. Nagas had a very fiery speech at the funeral. Subsequently, she was arrested and she has been in prison since.
That speech received a lot of attention on social media in which she basically very harshly criticized the Islamic Republic. Iran, the government, has brought her seven more years in prison. The government has accused her in participating in an illegal gathering and spreading propaganda against the regime. There has been several arrests in the past 24 hours.
It seems that the Iranian government has started a severe crackdown among those political figures who are known. There are rumors circulating on social media among activists that people were getting ready to announce a silent protest at the 40th day of the killings in Iran. And that has made the government very agitated.
If that's true, it explains why the government wants to prevent people coming back to the streets. And even it's a silent protest for the Iranian government. It's just very tricky after what happened on the streets on January 8th and January 9th. The government has been accusing the enemy or the West or the agents of Mossad and others basically to justify the violence they have committed.
They want to keep their base intact. But, you know, when people start coming to the streets again for grievances that make sense to everybody, including many people in their base, we will see signs of crack. You can use aggression for some time for some people, but you cannot use aggression at all times for everyone in Iran.
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Chapter 4: How did Thailand's recent election results differ from expectations?
It's not about kite and thread, it's about tradition and my father and his father before him used to do it. The festival is centuries old, much loved, but the risks that come with the kites are real. Kite flying is more kite fighting. The aim to try to cut your opponent's string before they cut yours, entertaining the crowd.
It's led to sharper, stronger strings, some coated in powdered glass, others made of metal or chemicals. This is the chemical string. This is the chemical string. It stretches. It does not break easily. Faisal Kamran is deputy inspector general of your hall police. So why is that a danger? Because if it comes across, it comes in contact with human skin, it will not break away.
At high speed, if a motorcyclist is moving on the road, it does not break, it will cut his throat. Those threads are now banned and motorcyclists have been given metal rods sticking up between their handlebars to stop any from becoming tangled around their necks.
Police say they've increased surveillance to stop aerial firing and keep the city safe.
With only three days permitted to celebrate, it's a late night. So it's just gone midnight. Not that you would know that from walking through the walled city in Lahore. It is so packed and crowded and you can see on pretty much every single rooftop there are people still out flying kites and enjoying the sun.
No one seems ready to go home. Many have spent nearly two decades waiting for a night just like this.
Caroline Davies in Lahore. And that's all from us for now. If you want to get in touch, you can email us at globalpodcast at bbc.co.uk. You can also find us on X at BBC World Service. Use the hashtag hash global news pod. And don't forget our sister podcast, The Global Story, which goes in-depth and beyond the headlines on one big story. Available wherever you get your podcasts.
This edition of the Global News Podcast was mixed by Shalotta Hadroy-Tajimska and produced by Wendy Urquhart and Arian Kochi. The editor is Karen Martin. I'm Paul Moss. Until next time, goodbye. Motivation included.
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