Reuters World News - Super Bowl, Jimmy Lai, Starmer and Trump voters

Episode Date: February 9, 2026

A big night for the Seattle Seahawks and Bad Bunny at the Super Bowl. Hong Kong pro-democracy figure Jimmy Lai has been sentenced to 20 years in prison. UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s top aide quits. And as U.S. President Donald Trump’s presidency enters its second year, Reuters checks in with 20 of his voters for their latest takes on his second term.  Listen to the Morning Bid podcast ⁠⁠here⁠⁠. Sign up for the Reuters Econ World newsletter ⁠⁠here⁠⁠. Listen to the Reuters Econ World podcast ⁠⁠here⁠⁠. Find the Recommended Read here. Visit the Thomson Reuters Privacy Statement for information on our privacy and data protection practices. You may also visit megaphone.fm/adchoices to opt out of targeted advertising. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Hi, I'm Carmel Crimmons in Dublin. It's Monday, February 9th. Today, the Super Bowl, Seattle Seahawks, Bad Bunny and Lady Gaga. Hong Kong pro-democracy figure Jimmy Lai is sentenced to 20 years. Britain's Prime Minister is under mounting pressure over the Epstein scandal. And we check in with the 20 Trump voters Roiders is tracking through his second term. This is Reuters World News, bringing you everything you need to know from the front lines in 10 minutes, seven days a week. They waited 11 years, but revenge is eventually theirs.

The Seattle Seahawks, with their relentless defense, beat the New England Patriots 2913 in the Super Bowl, denying the Pats and NFL record seventh championship, and a history-making halftime show too. With Bad Bunny transforming Levi's Stadium into a vibrant homage to Puerto Rico, featuring a surprise appearance from Lady Gaga with a salsa version of Die With a Smile.

It marked a historic moment for Latin music on America's biggest stage, and not everyone loved it. US President Donald Trump saying on social media that the show was absolutely terrible, but for Seahawks fan, Pilar Carillo, the show made the win even sweeter. His performance about love and unity

really, like, spoke to a lot of people. Hong Kong pro-democracy campaigner Jimmy Lai has been sentenced to 20 years in jail. It comes at the end of a lengthy trial of the media tycoon and vocal China critic. Lai, a British citizen, has denied conspiring with foreign forces and publishing seditious materials. But judges called him the mastermind of the conspiracies. James Pomfretz covering the story in Hong Kong. So there was a lot of evidence that they prosecutor presented in court on how Jimmy, Eli was sort of reaching out to US politicians, how he was teaming up with activists abroad

and funding some of these initiatives to basically highlight in their minds the need for intervention by foreign governments on this perceived crackdown in Hong Kong by Beijing. They sort of added some additional penalties on top of it, given what they said was his key role in everything. His age is something that is very much under the spotlight. He's 78 now. So by giving him a 20-year sentence, it's not likely that he'll be able to survive this sentence.

So a lot of critics have come out since, you know, the decision this morning to say that it's essentially a death sentence. And James says diplomatic efforts in the US and UK to free lie are now likely to be intensified. This kind of push, it's being led by the Americans. President Trump, he's said that he's going to do his utmost to try to get Lai out. The British prime ministers also weighed in. We expect a flurry of sort of diplomacy now, but we've also seen very strong statements from the Chinese main representative office in Hong Kong after the sentencing, saying it's completely deserved.

and, you know, Lai is an evil person who did horrible things to Hong Kong. So this is justified, basically. And in Japan, Prime Minister Saniai Takeichi's historic election win clears the way for her to deliver tax cuts and bold spending plans. That prospect is lifting Japanese shares to record highs and the yen and bonds are keeping their cool. Mike Dolan from our sister markets podcast MorningBid is here to tell us why investors are taking things in their stride

after weeks of volatility. Yeah, a huge jump in Japanese stocks. But the areas of the market that were most worried about this election in the last weeks and months were the yen and the long-dated Japanese government bonds. And they're relatively stable. Basic calculations that we know Takayichi's plan now. We have a long period of political stability ahead. We also expect the Bank of Japan to push ahead with interest rate rises.

And so the short-dated Japanese government bond yields have jumped indeed. But the end is holding steady and that's where everyone's watching. Thanks, Mike. You can catch morning bid wherever you get your podcasts. And meanwhile, in Thailand's general election, incumbent Anutan Chan V. Raccoon has won with a sizable lead and coalition talks are expected in the coming days. His victory signals approval of his conservative Boomtri Thai party, which capitalised on nationalist sentiment from the recent border conflict with Cambodia.

Analysts were surprised by the scale of the victory and pointed to his strategy of winning over politicians from rival parties in rural areas. UK Prime Minister Kier Starmor's chief of staff has quit, saying he takes full responsibility for advising his boss to appoint Peter Mandelson as ambassador to the US. Morgan Maxweeney's departure follows the latest batch of Epstein emails, which underline the extent of Mandelson's relationship with the convicted sex offender. It's a major blow for Starmor who's under mounting pressure. UK political editor Elizabeth Piper has more.

had pushed for Morgan McSweeney to go. They felt that he had badly advised the Prime Minister, and they also thought that that might be a way of keeping the Prime Minister in place. But a lot of them said yesterday, it all felt a little too late. This blew up on Wednesday and Thursday, and he waited several days before tendering his resignation. So for a lot of Labour lawmakers, it still feels, as one put it, end of days. Kirstama is under incredible pressure at the moment and that will only increase. He would like to say that the government has been doing a lot of good for the country, but his tenure in power has been dominated by U-turns, by messy policy decisions,

and also by quite a lot of churn in his Downing Street office. This latest resignation of possibly his plurring. closest political advisor for many, many years, just makes the operation look even more unstable. Our reporter Julia Hart has been checking in monthly with 20 Trump voters to track what they want from his presidency. As we enter his second year, almost all still back him, but they have some notes. Julia explains. So the headline is that mostly these 20 Trump voters are happy with what he's done to date. To break it down by the numbers, six of them have. have virtually no criticism of his presidency.

Three were highly dissatisfied with his performance last year, and the remaining 11 are more mixed in their appraisals. But it should be noted, none of them say they regret their vote. The most common things that they want him to pursue in the coming year are immigration reform, basically establishing a clearer pathway to legal status for law-abiding immigrants who are already contributing to the U.S. economy. And then other domestic issues, health care reform, cutting fraud and waste, lowering the national debt. They don't like generally his rhetoric about annexing foreign countries.

14 said that they were disappointed by that as well as his tendency to inflame divisions through social media posts. When Trump's out of office, I'm sorry, I can't vote Democratic generally, but if there's a Democrat that talks more sense than Trump's doing, then I'll probably vote for him. So one of the voters in the group, his name is Steve Egan. He's in Tampa, Florida. He's a promotional product distributor. So Trump's tariffs really hit his business hard. He's been quite sour on the president, basically from our first conversation. While Trump's handling of immigration has been sinking in the polls, this group still backs them, but do want to see some reforms. It's been really interesting, actually, the degree to which

they have not changed their views of the ICE immigration crackdown. based on the events of the last few weeks. But alongside their support for ICE, there is this large support for an easier way that, again, law-abiding, productive immigrants can gain legal status. And for our recommended read today, all our latest reporting from the Winter Olympics,

from the latest results to top news stories like the Lindsay Vaughn crash and dramatic photos and videos from the event. You can see more by following the link on the pod description. For more on any of the stories from today, check out Reuters.com or the Reuters app. Don't forget to follow us on your favourite podcast player. If you're listening on a smart speaker,

just ask for the latest news from Reuters, seven days a week. We'll be back tomorrow with our daily headline show.