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programme, presented by Gavin Esler, covers the following stories:

Poverty

Tackling child poverty has been one of the Labour government’s top priorities. But now, just weeks from an expected general election, the government looks like it will fail to meet its own target. New figures also reveal the true extent to which Treasury taxes have hit our pockets - average incomes fell in 2003/04, the first annual drop since the recession of the early 1990s. Not exactly the news Labour need in the run up to an election expected to be fought on tax and spend issues.

Sudan

The death toll from Sudan’s Darfur crisis has been grossly underestimated, according to a report issued by MPs today. The United Nations says it believes thousands have died - but the MPs say it’s closer to three hundred thousand. It said that the world’s response had been ” ineffective” and that the UN suffered from an “avoidable leadership vacuum”. This comes on the day the UN Security Council votes to send those suspected of war crimes in the region to the International Criminal Court. But is this yet another example of strong words following impotence?

Bird flu

Anyone for raw duck’s blood soup? Andrew Harding reports on the threat of a global pandemic of bird flu. The bloody Vietnamese delicacy could be one way the virus is passed from birds to human, but more worryingly scientists now believe the flu’s ability to spread from person to person like regular flu could herald a major global catastrophe. Andrew travels to farms, hospitals and in Thailand, Hong Kong and Vietnam to learn more about what many scientists consider to be the gravest danger facing the world today.

EU blues

And we have an interview with the French MP who is to take a British foreign minister to court over his allegedly blue language.

Newsnight turned 25 on 30 January 2005. You can visit our special anniversary website to find out more about the programme’s history and watch the first Newsnight ever broadcast.