Today's Top News

US Navy's Nimitz-class aircraft carrier USS Abraham Lincoln leads its strike group during a photo exercise in the Arabian Sea. US Navy via REUTERS

US-brokered talks

The US and Iran are holding indirect talks in Geneva today aimed at resolving their long-running nuclear dispute, with little clear indication of compromise.
With much of Asia shut for Lunar New Year holidays, all eyes are on the Middle East in hopes that talks between the US and Iran will de-escalate geopolitical tensions.
Russia pounded Ukrainian power infrastructure before a new round of peace talks, also in Geneva today, killing three energy workers. The Kremlin said the US-mediated peace talks are likely to focus on land.
A close ally of Russian President Vladimir Putin said Russia could deploy its navy to prevent European powers from seizing its vessels and may retaliate against European shipping if Russian ships are seized.
The Reuters World News podcast unpacks both diplomatic efforts on today's episode.

In other news

New Mexico lawmakers passed legislation to launch what they said was the first full investigation into what happened at Zorro Ranch, where Jeffrey Epstein is accused of trafficking and sexually assaulting girls and women.
The Spanish government has ordered prosecutors to investigate social media platforms X, Meta and TikTok for allegedly spreading AI-generated child sexual abuse material.
Imran Khan's sons say they fear for their father's deteriorating health in a Pakistani jail and are seeking permission to visit the former prime minister, urging authorities to grant access after more than two years apart.
US civil rights leader Jesse Jackson, an eloquent Baptist minister and two-time Democratic presidential nominee, has died at age 84.
Anderson Cooper is leaving CBS News' "60 Minutes" program after nearly two decades. Cooper is the latest high-profile journalist to cut ties with CBS News since the arrival of Bari Weiss as the network's new editor-in-chief.

Business & Markets

Royal Challengers Bengaluru's Virat Kohli in action. Amit Dave/REUTERS.

Global private equity investors have a new investment hotspot in India: cricket. The Indian Premier League, the world's richest cricket league, counts Bollywood stars and Indian tycoons among its backers, but is now attracting major private equity firms.
Pressure on the US currency from a range of factors such as the euro's rally, expectations for Federal Reserve interest rate cuts and the uncertainty caused by Trump's trade and fiscal policies has relented for now, analysts say.
Britain's labor market weakened again with the jobless rate at its highest since 2015, excluding the pandemic period, and wage growth slowing again.
Adani Enterprises said that the group will invest $100 billion to build renewable energy-powered AI-ready data centers by 2035, as it seeks to create the world's largest integrated data center platform and establish India as a leader in the global AI race.
As luxury companies struggle to recover from a two-year slowdown, they are navigating increasingly sharp share price swings stoked by hedge fund bets and investor nerves over AI-rattled markets.
The EU opened a formal investigation into Chinese online retailer Shein over illegal products and concerns about the platform's potentially addictive design, stepping up scrutiny under the bloc's strict Digital Services Act.

'Hell and back': mass rape survivor Gisele Pelicot recounts her ordeal

Gisele Pelicot, the victim of a mass rape orchestrated by her then-husband, Dominique Pelicot. Manon Cruz/REUTERS

Gisele Pelicot, the French woman whose husband was convicted of inviting dozens of men to rape her unconscious body, has released her memoir, recounting the horrors she endured and why she chose to go public in a trial that shocked the world.

"A Hymn to Life" retraces the 2024 mass-rape case that turned Pelicot, 73, into a global symbol in the fight against sexual violence – and which spurred France to revamp its rape law.

Explaining her decision to waive her right to anonymity, she wrote: "No one would ever know what they had done to me... No one beyond those involved in the trial would see their faces, look them up and down and wonder how to pick out the rapists among their neighbors and colleagues."

Read more

And Finally...

Ssireum wrestlers compete during a Lunar New Year Ssireum championship. Kim Soo-hyeon/ REUTERS

As South Korea's global cultural influence expands in areas such as music, film and television, one form of entertainment struggling to attract attention even at home is Korea's traditional style of wrestling, known as ssireum. "I once tried to imagine my life if I hadn’t done ssireum," ssireum wrestler Lee Eun-soo said. "I don’t think I could live without it."