Japan held a snap election on Saturday, while US news anchor Savannah Guthrie pleaded for the safe return of her missing mother, and France launched an investigation into former minister Jack Lang over his links to Jeffrey Epstein. Meanwhile, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky announced the US is pushing for peace talks with Russia to end the war by June.
Japanese citizens braved snowy conditions to vote in the snap election called by Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi, according to BBC World. The election, the first mid-winter poll in 36 years, was called shortly after Takaichi won the party's leadership race. Polls suggested Takaichi's Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) coalition with the Japanese Innovation Party could secure up to 300 of the 465 seats in the Lower House.
In the United States, Savannah Guthrie and her family released a video pleading for the safe return of her mother, who disappeared from her home in Tucson, Arizona. "We received your message, and we understand," Guthrie said in the video, adding, "We beg you now to return our mother to us so that we can celebrate with her." Guthrie also stated, "This is very valuable to us. And we will pay." The video did not provide details about the message they referenced.
France initiated a preliminary inquiry into former Culture Minister Jack Lang over his connections to Jeffrey Epstein, as reported by BBC World. The investigation, focusing on suspected "laundering of tax fraud proceeds," followed the release of Epstein files by the US Department of Justice, which documented links between the Lang family and the late American sex offender. Lang, 86, denied any wrongdoing, describing the allegations as "baseless." He told AFP the investigation "will bring much light on to the accusations that are questioning my probity and."
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky revealed that the US aims for the war with Russia to conclude by June, according to BBC World. He stated that both Ukrainian and Russian negotiating teams had been invited to meet in the United States, possibly in Miami, next week. "America proposed for the first time that the two negotiating teams Ukraine and Russia meet in the United States of America, probably in Miami, in a week. We confirmed our participation," he said. There was no immediate comment from Washington or Moscow.
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