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British Prime Minister Keir Starmer's chief of staff, Morgan McSweeney, quit on Sunday, saying he took responsibility for advising Starmer to name Peter Mandelson as ambassador to the U.S. despite his known links to Jeffrey Epstein, Reuters reported. 

After new files revealed the depth of the Labour veteran's relationship with the late sex offender, Starmer is facing what is widely seen as the gravest crisis of his 18 months in power over his decision to send Mandelson to Washington in 2024.

The loss of McSweeney, 48, a strategist who was instrumental in Starmer's rise to power, is the latest in a series of setbacks, less than two years after the Labour Party won one of the largest parliamentary majorities in modern British history, according to Reuters. 

Hong Kong's most prominent media tycoon Jimmy Lai was sentenced on Monday to a total of 20 years in jail on national security charges comprising two counts of conspiracy to collude with foreign forces and one of publishing seditious materials, Reuters reported. 

The sentence ends a legal saga spanning almost five years, and Hong Kong's most high-profile national security hearing. Lai, founder of the now-shuttered Apple Daily newspaper, was first arrested in August 2020 and convicted last year.

Lai's sentence of 20 years was within the most severe penalty "band" of 10 years to life imprisonment for offences of a "grave nature".

Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi's coalition swept to a historic electionwin on Sunday, paving the way for promised tax cuts that have spooked financial markets and military spending aimed at countering China, Reuters reported. 

The conservative Takaichi, Japan's first female leader who says she is inspired by Britain's "Iron Lady" Margaret Thatcher, delivered 316 seats of the 465 in parliament's lower house for her Liberal Democratic Party, its best ever result.

With coalition partner, the Japan Innovation Party, known as Ishin, Takaichi controls 352 seats and a supermajority of two-thirds of seats, easing her legislative agenda as she can override the upper chamber, where she does not have a majority, according to Reuters. 

The farmers in Myagdi district have grown oranges worth Rs 316 million this year. 

Orange is one of the major cash crops for the farmers in Myagdi.  

The Agricultural Development Office said that the district produced 4,515 metric tons of oranges from 430 hectares of land. 

Chief of Office, Sanjeev Bastola, shared that the farmers sold oranges worth Rs 316 million grown in 430 hectares of land as per the data collected from orange farms in different areas in the district. It is shared that the farmers in Myagdi district sold oranges at an average rate of Rs 70 per kilogram. 

However, the orange production and income in Myagdi district declined this year compared to last year. 

The farmers had earned Rs 340 million by selling 4,781 metric tonnes of oranges by growing oranges in 425 hectares of land last year. 

"The climate was favorable for orange production this year. Production was lowered though there was no disease and (natural) disasters this year," Office Chief Bastola said. 

He mentioned that this is a natural cycle that resulted in a decrease in the production of oranges.

Rakhu, Marek, Surkemela, Barangja, Bhedabari, Arman, Runma, Bim, Okharbot, Ghatan, Piple, Beg, Dowa, Dosalle, Bhurung Tatopani, Dana and Narchayang villages are the major orange growing areas in Myagdi.

The Election Commission (EC) has expedited the voter education program to raise voter awareness and reduce the number of invalid ballots ahead of the March 5 elections to the House of Representatives (HoR). 

The EC has created and circulated content through digital platforms, according to the EC. 

The EC has already approved the voter education related programs on February 2 for this purpose. 

The EC shared that volunteers would be mobilized to effectively disseminate messages on voter education.

A volunteer would be deputed at the ward level from the concerned Office of the Returning Officer. 

It is shared that the volunteers are going to be deputed in all 6743 wards of the country.

Child development facilitators, women health volunteers and community service centre operators would be appointed for voter education.

The EC has already signed the agreement with the state-owned media houses and regulatory body for the production of voter education content and effective mobilization. 

Moderate Socialist Antonio Jose Seguro appeared to be headed for a landslide victory in Portugal's presidential runoff on Sunday, with two exit polls putting him in the 67%-73% range, well ahead of his far-right, anti-establishment rival Andre Ventura, Reuters reported. 

The exit polls conducted for television channels RTP, SIC and TVI/CNN placed Ventura at 27%-33%, still a better result than the 22.8% his anti-immigration Chega party achieved in last year's general election.

Last year, Chega became the second-largest parliamentary force, overtaking the Socialists and landing behind the centre-right ruling alliance, which garnered 31.2%, according to Reuters. 

For years under former Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, Bangladesh’s opposition had little presence on the streets during elections, either boycotting polls or being sidelined by mass arrests of senior leaders. Now, ahead of Thursday’s vote, the roles have reversed, Reuters reported. 

Hasina’s Awami League is banned, but many young people who helped oust her government in a 2024 uprising say the upcoming vote will be the Muslim-majority nation's first competitive election since 2009, when she began a 15-year-rule.

The Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) is widely expected to win, although a coalition led by the Islamist Jamaat-e-Islami is putting up a strong challenge. A new party driven by Gen-Z activists under the age of 30 has aligned with Jamaat after failing to translate its anti-Hasina street mobilisation into an electoral base, according to Reuters. 

Nobel Peace Prize winner Narges Mohammadi has been handed further prison sentences of seven-and-a-half years by an Iranian court, her lawyer has said, BBC reported. 

The human rights activist was sentenced to six years for "gathering and collusion", and one-and-a-half years for "propaganda activities" by a court in the north-eastern city of Mashhad, Mostafa Nili announced on social media on Sunday.

Mohammadi was arrested in December for making "provocative remarks" at a memorial ceremony, Iranian authorities said at the time. Her family said she was taken to hospital after being beaten during the arrest, according to BBC.