Monday 9th February 2026. Japan, Thailand, Portugal elections. Korea crypto accident. US Trump video. Italy medals. Expensive foot...

Good morning. This is Send 7 World News in 7 minutes. I'm Stephen Devanchancy. Today is Monday 9 February 2026. Starting in Asia today, in Japan, the Liberal Democratic Party of Prime Minister Sanai Takaiichi won a landslide victory in general elections yesterday. Early results appear to show that the LDP has 1,316 seats, more than 2/3 of the 465 seats in Japan's House of Representatives, and the most seats ever won by a single party in Japan's history. Takaiichi became the first ever female Prime Minister of Japan in October when she was chosen by the LDP as their leader. In Thailand, there were also elections yesterday, at the time of recording this podcast. About 90% of votes have been counted, and it appeared that the conservative Bumjai Thai Party had won the most seats, but probably not with a majority. In Pakistan, there was a mass funeral on Saturday for 32 people killed in a suicide bombing at a Shiite mosque in the capital Islamabad on Friday. Daesh, the Islamic State, has claimed responsibility. Shia Muslims make up about 10% of Pakistan's population, and are often targeted by Islamist jihadists. In South Korea, cryptocurrency exchange BitThum accidentally gave away over 40 billion dollars of Bitcoin to its customers this weekend. BitThum has said that there was no cybercrime involved, and it was just a mistake, and that it had recovered 99.7% of what was accidentally given away. In India, at least 27 people have died in an explosion at an illegal coal mine in Meghalaya State. Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced financial compensation for the victims, and Meghalaya Chief Minister Conrad Sangama said that whoever was financing the mine would be brought to justice. America's United States President Donald Trump has been widely criticized, including by some Republicans, for posting a video on social media, which shows former President Barack Obama and his wife Michelle Obama as "apes." Tim Scott, who is the only Black Republican senator, said, "It's the most racist thing I've seen out of this White House." The post was later deleted, and Trump claimed that he hadn't seen the whole video, and that one of his staff had posted it, rather than him. I looked at it, I saw it, and I just looked at the first part, it was about voter fraud in some light-storageing. There was a lot of voter fraud, 2020 voter fraud, and I didn't see the whole thing. I guess during the end of it, there was some kind of a picture that people don't like. I wouldn't like it either, but I didn't see it. I looked at the first part, and it was really about voter fraud in the machines. I've looked at it as disgusting it is. Then I gave it to the people, to generally look at the whole thing, but I guess somebody did. In Venezuela, the opposition politician Juan Pablo Juanipa has been freed from prison, according to his son. Juanipa is an ally of opposition leader María Corina Machado, since the United States military entered Venezuela and removed President Nicolas Maduro a month ago, the interim government has released many prisoners that are generally considered political prisoners, like Juanipa. Africa in Malawi, thousands of businesses are remaining closed in protest against tax policy changes. Tens of thousands of people have signed petitions against the new electronic invoicing system that business owners say will harm their shops and other businesses. In Sudan, a doctors group has said that a drone attack killed 24 displaced people on Saturday in North Kordafan province. The doctors group blamed the rapid support forces paramilitary group, which has been fighting the Sudanese army since the start of the Civil War in 2023. Control of North Kordafan is split between the army and the RSF. Europe in Portugal, the centre-left socialist party candidate Antonio Seguro has won the presidential election. In this second round of voting, Seguro received almost double the votes of Far-right candidate Andrei Ventura. Ukrainian President Bolotomé Zelensky has said that the United States is trying to get Russia and Ukraine to agree to a peace deal by the summer and said that Russia and Ukraine had been invited to hold more talks in the United States next week, after holding talks in the United Arab Emirates last week. Russia attacked Ukraine's energy infrastructure again this weekend using missiles and drones. In Italy, the first medals have been awarded in the Winter Olympics, in some skiing, snowboarding and skating events, as well as in Biaflon, which is a sport that combines skiing with shooting rifles, as of Sunday evening Norway has won the most gold medals with three, and Italy has won the most total medals with nine. And a small sketch of a foot drawn over 500 years ago by the Italian Renaissance artist Michelangelo has sold for over 27 million dollars. The sketch was made in Red Chalk during the painting of the Sistine Chapel's Seeding, which Michelangelo painted between 1508 and 1512. A big thank you to Adelina in Spain, Alain, in France, and Sabine in Germany for becoming our newest supporters. Are incredible supporters keep this podcast going, and they have access to all of our transcripts, vocabulary lists, worksheets, and world news quizzes. You can become a supporter at send7.org. We give 10% of our profit to highly effective charities. Tomorrow you'll be with Nile Moore. Have a great day.