throughout the programme. it s tuesday, the 9th of january. our main story. two formerjustice secretaries one conservative, the other labour are leading calls for the government to introduce legislation to quash the convictions of those caught up in the post office it scandal. the postal affairs minister, kevin hollinrake, said various options were being looked at to speed up appeals and compensate the victims. he said more talks would be held today and he hoped to announced a solution very shortly. here s our political correspondent, peter saull. i m the sub postmaster, so i m locked in and everyone else is locked out. so if you want to see my account. this is a scandal going back decades, and now a tv drama watched by millions has pushed it to the top of the political agenda. i know it s probably me because i m really rubbish with technology, but.| ve declared my cash, i ve declared my stock, i ve done it all three times and i still can t get it to balance. mr bates vs
welcome to the programme. we start in the middle east. iran s supreme leader says there ll be a harsh response, after at least 95 people were killed, by two explosions in the southeastern city of kerman. the blasts were near the saheb al zaman mosque, where thousands of people had gathered to mark the anniversary of the death of a senior general, who was killed in a us drone strike in 2020. caroline hawley reports. the roads leading to the cemetery were packed with people who had gone to qasem soleimani. officials say the bombs had been planted in bags and were apparently set off by remote control. whoever did this was clearly aiming to cause mass casualties. the iranian red crescent said their efforts to evacuate the injured were complicated by the size of the crowds. and a first bomb was followed swiftly by a second, more deadly explosion. it comes four years to the day since qasem soleimani was killed himself in an american drone attack while on a visit to iraq. general so
to the latest industry figures, with weak growth in sales in december. data from the british retail consortium says sales increase by 1% last month, significantly lower than the 6.9% for the same period last year. the group warns that shoppers and retailers face a challenging year ahead. insurance firm admiral says pothole related claims soared last year. customers made 40% more claims to the insurer for pothole damage in 2023, at an average cost of £3,070. higher tech vehicles and a general rise in the price of repairs is thought to be behind the spike. new court documents regarding the late sex offenderjeffrey epstein have been released, it mentions alleged sex tapes filmed by epstein of prince andrew, bill clinton, and sir richard branson. the three of them have denied any wrongdoing, and the person who made the allegations later said
and have not been charged with any criminal charges in relation to epstein. now, when miss ransome was asked about her claims again in 2019 by the new yorker, she said that she invented the story of the tapes to draw attention to epstein s behaviour and to make him believe that she had evidence that would come out if he harmed her. now, also released are documents that she provided to virginia giuffre s lawyers. a number of photos that show herself, young women, or girls, on epstein s private island. she also sent them a picture of ghislaine maxwell lounging on a chair at a time when maxwell claimed she wasn t there. and in her deposition, she said maxwell was like the mama bear, and the girls were afraid of her because she called the shots and she was epstein s right hand. she likened her time with epstein to a dungeon of sexual hell.
for agreeing not to sue any potential defendent connected to the disgraced sex offenderjeffrey epstein. here s our legal correspondent dominic casciani. a woman making the gravest of allegations. the unprecedented defendant, a prince of the realm. and now, a day of critical court hearings for both virginia giuffre and the duke of york. she says she was sexually exploited by the man on the right, jeffrey epstein. ms giuffre, then known as roberts, said epstein coerced the then teenager into abuse by prince andrew. alleged events 20 years ago, but today s new york hearing focuses on the 2009 legal document. back then, ms giuffre, seen here at court in new york, accepted $500,000 to end her original case against epstein. in the settlement, virginia giuffre agreed to release, acquit, satisfy, and forever discharge epstein from further claims. the wording goes on to cover any other person who could have been a potential defendant.