The World in Brief from The Economist

America’s economy added 130,000 jobs in January, almost double the number that analysts had been expecting, indicating that the labour market might have picked up after months of apparent stagnation.

A shooter killed at least nine people at a school and related residence in the Canadian province of British Columbia. Also, Iran’s president said the country is ready to have its nuclear programme inspected and reiterated that it was not building an atomic weapon.

Paramount, a film and TV giant, sweetened its offer for Warner Bros Discovery as part of its attempt to derail a competing acquisition of Warner by Netflix, which values the former at $83bn.

Paramount, a film and TV giant, sweetened its offer for Warner Bros Discovery as part of attempts to derail a competing acquisition of Warner by Netflix, which values the former at $83bn.

Sir Keir Starmer held on to his job—for now—after defending his record in front of disgruntled Labour MPs. Also, American forces struck a vessel suspected of carrying drugs in the Pacific Ocean, killing two people.

Sir Keir Starmer told MPs he was “not prepared to walk away”, hours after Anas Sarwar, the Scottish Labour leader, urged him to resign.

Anas Sarwar, the Scottish Labour leader, urged Sir Keir Starmer to resign.

The leader of the Liberal Democratic Party, who became prime minister a few months ago, secured a two-thirds supermajority in the lower house. Also, Jimmy Lai, one of Hong Kong’s most famous pro-democracy advocates, was sentenced to a total of 20 years in prison.

Takaichi Sanae won a landslide victory in Japan’s snap election.