Chapter 1: What recent developments involve the Clintons and the Epstein investigation?
Live from NPR News, I'm Giles Snyder. House Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer of Kentucky is denying it was a partisan decision to compel Bill and Hillary Clinton to testify in the investigation into the late convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.
The Democrats voted to subpoena the Clintons. The Democrats voted with the Republicans to hold the Clintons in contempt. So the Democrats have just as many questions for the Clintons as the Republicans. So this isn't a partisan witch hunt.
Comer's committee is deposing the Clintons in their hometown in New York. Bill Clinton is scheduled to be questioned later today. During her testimony yesterday, Hillary Clinton said she told the panel that she has no knowledge of Jeffrey Epstein's crimes and does not recall ever meeting him.
President Trump's scheduled to head to Texas today, his first trip following his State of the Union address.
Chapter 2: What is the current status of U.S.-Iran nuclear talks?
He comes ahead of Tuesday's Senate primary election. Republican Senator John Cornyn is seeking a fifth term. He's being challenged for the nomination by State Attorney General Ken Paxton and Congressman Wesley Hunt. The U.S. and Iran have wrapped up the latest round of nuclear talks with a plan to hold further discussions next week. NPR's Greg Myrie reports that this comes with a large U.S.
military force now positioned for a possible military strike against Iran.
U.S. team, led by presidential advisors Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner, held several hours of negotiations with the Iranians in Geneva, Switzerland. Oman's foreign minister mediated and said afterward on social media there was, quote, significant progress, though he didn't offer specifics.
Chapter 3: How is the conflict between Pakistan and Afghanistan escalating?
He did say the sides agreed to hold technical talks next week in Vienna. The International Atomic Energy Agency, which has long monitored Iran's nuclear program, is based there. President Trump has ordered a large U.S. military buildup in the Middle East. It includes more than a dozen warships and perhaps a couple hundred warplanes. Greg Myrie, NPR News, Washington.
Pakistan's defense minister says his country is now in open war with Afghanistan. The comments on social media come after Pakistan launched airstrikes on multiple locations in Afghanistan overnight. In an escalation of a long-running border dispute, Betsy Joles has more from Islamabad.
Pakistan's Defense Minister Khwaja Asif said in a post on X that the country's patience had run out.
Chapter 4: What does the recent UK parliamentary by-election reveal about British politics?
His government claims its strikes killed 133 Afghan Taliban personnel and destroyed Taliban posts, tanks and artillery. In a post on X, the Taliban government's spokesperson confirmed airstrikes in three locations, including its capital, Kabul. The strikes were preceded by attacks on Pakistani troops by Afghan forces near the border.
It's the latest flare-up in a wider conflict between the neighbors. Pakistan also carried out strikes in Afghanistan's border regions last weekend in response to a series of bombings earlier this month. For NPR News, I'm Betsy Joles in Islamabad.
And a result indicative of a widening gap in British politics, a governing Labour Party has lost a parliamentary by-election in a former stronghold in northwest England. The vote was won by Green Party candidate Hannah Spencer, with the right-wing Reform UK pushing Labour into third place. Here's the BBC's Rob Watson reporting.
This is a seismic moment in British politics.
Chapter 5: What legal challenges are affecting President Trump's White House construction plans?
It's the first ever by-election victory by the Greens, meaning Labour has been beaten by a party to its left. The strong performance by the anti-immigration Reform Party confirms the threat posed to Britain's main parties from populists of both left and right.
Although the Greens have promised a new kind of hopeful politics, they have been accused of sectarianism with their emphasis on Gaza in areas of the constituency with large Muslim populations.
The BBC's Rob Watson reporting. A federal judge says construction on President Trump's White House ballroom can move forward for now. The judge Thursday rejected a request from the National Trust for Historic Preservation. The group wanted the judge to block construction, saying the president did not follow proper procedure in tearing down the east wing of the White House.
The judge, however, suggested that he could reconsider if the suit is amended. American hockey player Brady Tuchok is objecting to an AI-generated video posted on the White House TikTok account. He's calling the video clearly fake and says it falsely paints him as insulting Canadians.
Chapter 6: Why is an American hockey player objecting to a White House TikTok video?
Tuchok plays for the Ottawa Senators. He helped lead the U.S. men's hockey team to the gold medal over Canada at the Winter Olympics. This is NPR News.