President Trump's 2026 State of the Union Address and the Democratic response

President Trump delivers the longest State of the Union address in recent history, followed by the Democratic response from Virginia Governor Abigail Spanberger.

2/25: CBS Evening News

4 killed aboard U.S. speedboat that entered Cuban waters and opened fire, Cuba says; Moving crew helps rescue abducted toddler by blocking truck

Cuba says border guards killed four people on US-registered speedboat

Rare clash off island’s coast took place amid oil embargo and heightened tensions between two countries

Cuba’s government claims it thwarted an attempt by gunmen to infiltrate from the US, after its coastguard fired on a Florida-registered speedboat in an exchange of fire near its shores, killing four people and wounding six.

The interior ministry claimed people arrested after the firefight on Wednesday said they “intended to carry out an infiltration for the purposes of terrorism”.

Mayor touts Baltimore as a changed city despite Trump's criticisms

Since 2019, when Baltimore's murder rate hit an all-time high, something has changed, and data points to the city showing major improvement.

‘Rest in power, Power’: Wu-Tang Clan collaborator Oliver ‘Power’ Grant dead at 52

Wu-Tang members pay tribute to Grant with GZA saying ‘His passing is a profound loss’ and Method Man posting ‘I am not okay’

Oliver “Power” Grant, a close affiliate and early backer of the hip-hop collective Wu-Tang Clan who had a hand in many of the group’s albums and business ventures, has died aged 52.

The death was confirmed by Wu-Tang Clan. “Rest in power, Power,” the collective wrote on social media. A cause of death was not revealed.

Ukraine war briefing: Kyiv to accelerate placement of anti-drone nets across frontline

Defence minister says pace has already increased but more nets needed amid Russian attacks; Zelenskyy says Ukrainian delegation to meet Trump envoys. What we know on day 1,464

Ukraine will speed up the placement of anti-drone nets over roads in frontline areas, aiming to cover 4,000km of roads by the end of this year, the defence minister has said. A growing number of nets have been installed over the past year but more were needed, Mykhailo Fedorov said, adding that an additional 1.6bn hryvnias ($37m) had been allocated from the budget to bolster protection measures and counter Russian drones. Moscow has been targeting military supply routes and rear bases deeper and deeper into Ukraine with the remotely piloted aircraft and drones have also struck hospitals, infrastructure and civilian traffic. Nets can snag propellers and prevent drones from reaching their targets. “In just one month, we increased the speed [of coverage] from 5km per day in January to 12km in February,” Fedorov said on Telegram on Wednesday. “This significantly improved the safety of military movements and ensured stable functioning of frontline communities. In March, we plan to close 20km of roads per day.”

A Ukrainian delegation will meet Donald Trump’s envoys on Thursday in the run-up to another round of trilateral talks with Russia, Volodymyr Zelenskyy said. Rustem Umerov, the secretary of Ukraine’s National Security and Defence Council, is due to hold talks with Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner in Geneva, the Ukrainian president told reporters on Wednesday. Thursday’s meeting will include addressing details of a possible postwar recovery plan for Ukraine, Zelenskyy said, adding that he had also tasked Umerov with discussing a possible prisoner exchange. Ukraine expected the US-brokered talks with Russia to take place next week, Zelenskyy said. Meanwhile, the Kremlin’s economic affairs envoy Kirill Dmitriev planned to travel to Geneva on Thursday to meet US negotiators for talks, the Russian state news agency Tass reported. A US push for peace has already brought Russia and Ukraine to the table in Abu Dhabi and Geneva this year but the talks produced no breakthrough as the war enters its fifth year.

Repairs to the Druzhba pipeline that carries Russian oil to eastern Europe cannot be completed quickly despite requests from the EU and protests by Hungary, Zelenskyy said on Wednesday. “Firstly, it’s not that fast,” he told reporters, adding that Russian strikes had destroyed the pipeline linking the Black Sea port of Odesa with Druzhba. “This is not their first strike, and they continue to hit the energy sector.” Shipments of Russian oil to Hungary and Slovakia have been cut off since 27 January, when Kyiv says a Russian strike hit pipeline equipment in western Ukraine, and Slovakia and Hungary say Ukraine is to blame for the prolonged outage. The European Commission president, Ursula von der Leyen, said during a visit to Kyiv on Tuesday to mark the war’s fourth anniversary that the EU was asking Ukraine to speed up repairs. Zelenskyy said: “They advise us to repair it, but they know that there have already been attacks on Druzhba. Our people were injured so that it would work.”

The first Ukrainian drone production plant has started its operations in Britain, Ukraine’s ambassador said on Wednesday. Valerii Zaluzhnyi, a former commander of the Ukrainian armed forces, said the producer, Ukrspecsystems, founded in 2014, had proved the efficiency of its drones on the frontline. “Ukraine is fighting a war amid constant missile strikes, infrastructure destruction and threats to production facilities,” he said on Telegram. “Therefore, the launch of production in the UK has a deep strategic logic.”

Switzerland’s government announced that the purchase and import of Russian liquefied natural gas would be completely banned from 25 April, as the country aligns itself with the latest round of EU sanctions. It added that in the case of pre-existing long-term supply contracts, a transition period would apply until the end of the year.

Christina Applegate reveals she is largely confined to bed due to multiple sclerosis

Actor, who was diagnosed with MS in 2021, says taking her 15-year-old daughter to school has become her ‘favourite thing to do’

Christina Applegate has revealed that she is now largely confined to her bed, five years after she was diagnosed as having multiple sclerosis.

In an interview with People magazine before the release of her memoir, the 54-year-old actor said she spends a lot of her days in bed due to the pain that comes with movement.

The Guardian will run an extract from Christina Applegate’s memoir, You With the Sad Eyes, on 28 February

Salesforce shares sink on mixed guidance as company commits $50 billion for buybacks

Salesforce posted accelerating growth and pushed up its long-range revenue target thanks to a recent acquisition.

Judge rules Trump policy for "third-country" deportations is unlawful

U.S. District Judge Brian Murphy ruled that the Trump administration's policy for swiftly deporting migrants to third countries violates federal immigration law and the Constitution.

Moving crew helps rescue abducted toddler by blocking truck

Quick-thinking movers stepped in to block a truck at a convenience store in Arizona after spotting an abducted child from an Amber alert. Tony Dokoupil has the story.

U.S. women's hockey star reiterates team missed SOTU over logistical challenges

"I know, like, later on, there'll be a full invite for all Team USA athletes to go to the White House like there has been in the past," decorated U.S. women's hockey veteran Kelly Pannek told CBS News.

Baltimore mayor discusses how city is addressing crime, cleaning up city

In 2019, Baltimore's murder rate hit an all-time high and ranked among the worst in the nation, but since then, something has changed. Murders hit a nearly 50-year low in 2024 and the population is growing. Tony Dokoupil spoke to Baltimore Mayor Brandon Scott about the comeback.

ICE arrested 261 DACA recipients over 10 months last year, document shows

Federal immigration agents arrested 261 DACA recipients during the first 10 months of the second Trump administration, according to statistics shared with Congress.

U.S. hockey teams navigate viral controversy after winning gold

For the first time in history, both the men and women's USA hockey teams took home Olympic gold. As Jonah Kaplan reports, they had very different homecomings.

Larry Summers resigning from Harvard over Epstein ties

Former Treasury Secretary Larry Summers will resign from his remaining roles at Harvard over his ties to Jeffrey Epstein, the university confirmed to CBS News.

Larry Summers and Bill Gates face fallout over Epstein files

Former Treasury Secretary Larry Summers will resign from his remaining roles at Harvard University over his ties to Jeffrey Epstein, the school announced. Meanwhile, Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates has apologized to staff at his philanthropic foundation. Scott MacFarlane reports.

Jacinda Ardern living and working in Australia after move from US

Exclusive: Former New Zealand PM ‘based out of Australia’, according to spokesperson, after rumours she was looking for houses in Sydney

The former New Zealand prime minister Jacinda Ardern is living in Australia with her family, a spokesperson has confirmed.

“The family has been travelling for a few years now,” her office told the Guardian.

Millions of people still digging out from historic blizzard face another onslaught

Days after a historic blizzard hits the Northeast, people are still digging out all the snow, and some areas are getting hit with more snow. Rob Marciano has the latest.

Vance says Minnesota’s Medicaid funds halted as part of Trump’s ‘war on fraud’

Vice-president makes announcement with Mehmet Oz, who says other states will be next after Minnesota

JD Vance announced on Wednesday that the Trump administration would “temporarily halt” more than a quarter-billion dollars in Medicaid reimbursements to the state of Minnesota, escalating Donald Trump’s newly announced “war on fraud”.

Vance said the action was to ensure Minnesota was “a good steward of the American people’s tax money”, part of its crackdown on the state following a fraud scandal linked to residents of the Somali community in Minneapolis, which prompted the administration to send thousands of federal immigration agents into Minneapolis and that resulted in the deaths of two US citizens and widespread protests.

Nvidia reports earnings and guidance beat as AI boom pushes data center revenue up 75%

Nvidia has been the best performer on Wall Street this year among tech's megacap companies.

NHS maternity units often cover up harmful errors in childbirth, report finds

Damning inquiry into services in England reveals falsification of medical records after ‘negligent’ care

• What is the national maternity and neonatal investigation and why was it launched?

• Cruel comments, racism and cover-ups: key findings from England’s maternity care report

Hospitals that cause harm and injury to women and babies during childbirth often resort to a “cover-up” of their mistakes, falsify medical records and deny bereaved parents answers, a damning report has found.

“Negligent” care has devastating emotional and psychological consequences for families, disputes between maternity staff have a “disastrous” impact on mothers, and ethnic minority and poorer women have worse outcomes because of racism and discrimination, Lady Amos said.

Banning families from being involved in investigations into the mistakes they encountered.

Conducting inquiries into errors which families think are poor quality and do not properly reflect what occurred.

Driving distressed families to instigate legal action as a way of getting at the truth after they were “denied openness and honesty in the aftermath of harm and bereavement”.

Failing to treat families who have lost a baby with compassion.

‘These books are pushing boundaries’: winners of £30,000 Inclusive Books for Children awards announced

Supa Nova by Chanté Timothy, a graphic novel about a young Black girl with a love for science, won the children’s fiction category and inaugural children’s choice prize

Six female authors have been crowned winners of the 2026 Inclusive Books for Children (IBC) awards.

The literacy charity’s prizes celebrate the best UK-published inclusive titles for children aged one to nine. This year marks the second time that all the winners have been women since the prizes were launched in 2023.

Iran enters critical nuclear talks with US insisting deal is within reach

Tehran insists deal is possible if Trump abides by preconditions agreed with Witkoff and Kushner

Iran enters critical talks on its nuclear programme with the US on Thursday, insisting a deal is in reach as long as Washington sticks by its willingness to concede Iran’s symbolic right to enrich uranium, allow Tehran to dilute its stockpile of highly enriched uranium, and not to impose controls on Iran’s ballistic missile programme.

The three preconditions for success are seen as critical by Iranian diplomats, but it remains unclear whether Trump accepts these parameters.

Trump administration meets with UK far-right activist Tommy Robinson

Agitator whose real name is Stephen Yaxley-Lennon was hosted by senior adviser at US state department

The far-right activist Tommy Robinson has been hosted by the Trump administration for a meeting at the state department in Washington.

Robinson, 43, whose real name is Stephen Yaxley-Lennon, was hosted by Joe Rittenhouse, a senior adviser at the state department.

Grand jury rejects indictment over federal officer’s shooting of US citizen

Killing of Ruben Ray Martinez on 15 March 2025 in Texas was not disclosed by the department until media reported it

A grand jury on Wednesday rejected indictments over the fatal shooting last year of a US citizen by a federal immigration agent during a traffic encounter in Texas, prosecutors said.

The shooting of Ruben Ray Martinez on 15 March 2025 by a Homeland Security investigations agent wasn’t publicly disclosed by the Department of Homeland Security until the Associated Press and other media outlets reported it last week.

FBI's head of congressional affairs stepping down, sources say

Marshall Yates also served on a "weaponization" working group tasked with carrying out Trump's quest for retribution.

Championship roundup: Coventry battle back to see off Sheffield United

• Haji Wright and Jack Rudoni seal 2-1 comeback win

• Millwall beat Birmingham to keep up promotion push

Coventry extended their lead at the top of the Championship to five points after coming from behind to win 2-1 at Sheffield United, while Millwall went third by beating Birmingham City 3-0 on Wednesday.

After a run of two wins in eight games caused Frank Lampard’s men to blow a comfortable advantage in the race for promotion to the Premier League, Coventry have bounced back with three consecutive wins.

Decades after being blocked from the Little League World Series, a Black team is honored

A Black little league team that got invited to the 1963 Little League World Series but never got to go because of segregation is finally getting recognition.

Supreme Court appears split in tax foreclosure case

At issue is whether a county can seize homeowners' residence for unpaid property taxes and sell the house at auction for less than the homeowners would get if they put their home on the market themselves. 

Champions League roundup: Atalanta oust Dortmund, Galatasaray thwart Juventus fightback

• Serie A side win 4-3 on aggregate after 4-1 victory

• Istanbul giants fend off 10-man Juve in extra time

Lazar Samardzic slotted home a stoppage-time penalty to complete a dramatic 4-1 victory for Atalanta against Borussia Dortmund on Wednesday, sending the Italian side into the Champions League’s last 16 with a comeback 4-3 aggregate triumph.

Dortmund’s Ramy Bensebaini was sent off after his studs caught the head of Atalanta’s Nikola Krstovic in the penalty area and Samardzic converted the spot kick in the 98th minute to send the Italians through. Atalanta will now face either Arsenal or Bayern Munich in the round of 16, with the draw on Friday.

House Dems project midterm optimism at annual policy retreat following State of the Union

House Democrats hammered home economic concerns ahead of 2026 elections at their annual policy conference, the day after President Trump's State of the Union.

Epstein files: Larry Summers to resign as Harvard professor as fallout continues

Larry Summers last fall said, "I am deeply ashamed of my actions and recognize the pain they have caused," after his emails with Jeffrey Epstein came to light.

Vinícius has last word as Real Madrid wrap up victory over Benfica

Vinícius Júnior ran to the corner and danced again, just as he had done in Lisbon a week ago, but this time all around him there was celebration. There was also relief. With 10 minutes left on a nervous night at the Santiago Bernabéu, he had been set free to put the ball past Anatoliy Trubin and Real Madrid into the last 16 of the Champions League.

Victory was his, 2-1 here, 3-1 on aggregate and well beyond that too, so he set off and shook his hips before the flag the same way he had eight days earlier, fans released from their fears, applauding, a point proved and passage secured. “I’m happy for him: he deserved it,” the Real head coach, Álvaro Arbeloa, said.

Nvidia quarterly earnings show immunity to AI bubble fears as it cashes in on data center boom

Chipmaker’s quarterly earnings surpassed Wall Street’s expectations every quarter for multiple years now

Nvidia released its quarterly earnings on Wednesday, with the chipmaker revealing higher than expected revenues and extending its yearslong streak of surpassing Wall Street’s sky-high expectations.

The company receives the vast majority of its revenue from its data center business, which has been buoyed by the tech industry’s immense investment into AI infrastructure. On Wednesday, Nvidia reported 75% year-over-year growth of this vertical to $62.3bn. The world’s most valuable publicly traded company, Nvidia has dominated the chip market as its processing units have become the backbone of the artificial intelligence boom. The company also posted an enormous total profit for the fiscal year: $120bn.

US hockey star Hilary Knight responds to Trump’s ‘distasteful joke’ about women’s team

• Captain says controversy overshadows Olympic gold win

• Trump quipped about inviting US women to White House

• Knight says there is respect and support with men’s team

Hilary Knight, the captain of the US women’s ice hockey team, has responded to comments made by Donald Trump after the Americans won gold at the Winter Olympics, calling the president’s quip a “distasteful joke”.

After the US men’s ice hockey team won gold on Sunday, Trump called into the locker-room celebration and invited the players to be his guests at Tuesday’s State of the Union address.

Top House Dem wants Justice Department to explain missing Trump-related Epstein files

After NPR reporting revealed dozens of pages of Epstein files related to President Trump appear to be missing from the public record, a top House Democrat wants to know why.

What to know about Trump's new plan to help people save for retirement

About 50 million workers lack access to employer-sponsored retirement plans, a hurdle to setting aside money for old age.

Kalshi fines and suspends MrBeast employee for insider trading

The prediction market said it suspended Artem Kaptur, an employee of the popular YouTuber MrBeast, for insider trading.

ICE won't be at polling places this year, a Trump DHS official promises

In a call with top state voting officials, a Department of Homeland Security official stated unequivocally that immigration agents would not be patrolling polling places during this year's midterms.

Death Valley erupts in wildflowers in sign of developing superbloom

Record rainfall in famously arid California park has caused a wildflower eruption nearing levels of a superbloom

Death Valley and parts of southern California have erupted in wildflowers thanks to record rain that helped deliver spectacular blooms.

In the famously arid national park, the rare display has covered miles of the landscape in vibrant shades of yellow and purple.

Cuba says boat from Florida opened fire on its soldiers, starting fight that killed 4

Cuba says the 10 passengers on a boat that opened fire on its soldiers were armed Cubans living in the U.S. who were trying to infiltrate the island and unleash terrorism. Secretary of State Marco Rubio says the U.S. is gathering its own information.

Top US body-camera maker reports record revenue amid Trump immigration crackdown

Axon sees ‘major opportunities’ as Congress proposes $20m for ICE body cameras but data privacy experts warn of risks

The largest body-camera maker in the US celebrated its latest financial results on Tuesday – reporting record revenue and forecasting major growth – as it prepares to cash in on the Department of Homeland Security’s planned rapid acquisition and deployment of these devices nationwide.

In Tuesday’s earnings presentation, body-camera maker Axon, which also makes the well-known Taser device, announced that it blew past Wall Street expectations with $797m in revenue, up 39% year-over-year.

Yosemite worker fired for hanging trans pride flag on El Capitan files lawsuit

A Yosemite park ranger was fired last year after helping to display a transgender pride flag from El Capitan.

Netflix CEO Ted Sarandos to visit White House for talks on WBD deal, report says

The reported visit is scheduled just days after President Donald Trump demanded that Netflix immediately fire one of its board members, Susan Rice.

Saracens’ salary cap penalty under scrutiny over conflict of interest claims

• Saffery Champness alleged to have been auditor for Sale

• Saracens were fined £5.36m and relegated in 2020

Saracens will consider their position over an alleged undeclared conflict of interest at the centre of the disciplinary process into the 2019 salary cap scandal. The club were fined an unprecedented £5.36m for salary cap breaches over the previous three seasons and were relegated to the Championship, but the punishment has come under fresh scrutiny with these new allegations.

Saracens point to an allegation made about the accounting firm Saffery Champness and claims that the level of fine handed down was “largely based upon advice provided to PRL”.

Fed's Goolsbee calls for a hold on cuts as current rate of inflation is 'not good enough'

The Chicago Fed president said Tuesday that cuts aren't appropriate until there's more evidence that inflation is on its way down.

Bill Gates reportedly apologizes, admits to two affairs in candid town hall

Bill Gates "took responsibility for his actions" in a meeting with employees of the Gates Foundation, which had held fundraising discussions with Epstein.

Zero hour: Corbyn and Sultana duke it out in battle for the soul of Your Party

After months of rows between factions with ‘fundamentally differing visions’, results of leadership election are at hand

An increasingly bloody battle for the soul of the leftwing Your Party set up by Jeremy Corbyn and Zarah Sultana will come to a conclusion on Thursday, when the results of its leadership election will be announced.

After almost eight months of public spats, rows over money, accusations of sexism and rifts over policy and direction, Your Party is hoping to turn a page on the manifold misfortunes that have beset it since its launch last year.

Tipped workers expect tax boon this year, but not a long-term fix

In his State of the Union address on Tuesday night, President Trump once again touted new tax benefits for tipped workers, who like many Americans are feeling the pinch of higher prices.

Will banning big home investors lower prices? Experts are skeptical.

The president reiterated a plan to ban big investors from buying single-family homes, but some experts say bigger remedies are needed.

Met apologises to Commons speaker for sharing tipoff with Mandelson’s lawyers

Exclusive: Police meet Lindsay Hoyle to explain error after Hoyle shared tip that Mandelson planned to flee UK

The Metropolitan police has apologised to the Commons speaker, Lindsay Hoyle, for accidentally revealing he was the source of a tipoff that Peter Mandelson supposedly planned to flee the UK, prompting officers to arrest the former ambassador.

In yet another twist to the saga of Mandelson’s departure from his post and the Met’s investigation into allegations he fed secret government information to Jeffrey Epstein, Hoyle told MPs on Wednesday that he passed the information to police.

Israel responsible for two-thirds of record 129 press killings in 2025, says CPJ

Committee to Protect Journalists report says Israel also to blame for 81% of ‘intentionally targeted’ journalist killings

• The deadly toll on journalists in the Gaza war

A record 129 journalists and media workers were killed in the course of their work in 2025, two-thirds of them by Israeli forces, according to the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ).

It was the second consecutive year in which killings of members of the press reached unprecedented levels, and the second year running in which Israel was responsible for roughly two-thirds of the total, the New York-based independent organisation, which documents attacks on journalists worldwide, said in its annual report published on Wednesday.

Maria Grazia Chiuri brings a radical spirit to Fendi debut

Eight months after departing Dior, Chiuri’s return to fashion’s front bench was stamped with her identity and values

A big name designer’s first catwalk show in a new job is a drumroll moment of pure ego: Maria Grazia Chiuri, who joins Fendi after leaving Dior, is a headline-making hire with main character energy.

The first surprise, as Milan fashion week began, was a catwalk painted with the motto: “Less I, more us.”

Tropical plants flowering months earlier or later because of climate crisis – study

Changes threaten ecosystems as flowering falls out of sync with fruit-eating, seed-dispersing animals and pollinators

Tropical flowers are blooming months earlier or later than they used to because of climate breakdown, with potentially “cascading impacts across ecosystems”, according to a study of 8,000 plants dating back 200 years.

Researchers looked at flowers from a range of countries, including Brazil, Ecuador, Ghana and Thailand, home to the most biodiverse ecosystems on Earth, but also the most understudied.

Top earners are more afraid for their employment than lower income as AI threat increases

The prospect of being replaced by artificial intelligence is helping to scare higher-income workers.

Surgeon general nominee Means questioned about vaccines, birth control and financial conflicts

During a confirmation hearing, senators asked Dr. Casey Means about her current positions and her past statements on a range of public health issues.

Subscribing to digital apps has gotten a lot pricier, new data shows

Consumers today can easily spend more than $1,000 a year for streaming TV, music and other widely used apps, new analysis finds.

English cricket’s hunger for Indian money has led it into a moral and legal minefield | Barney Ronay

Potential exclusion of Pakistan players in the Hundred could breach UK laws on discrimination and leave the ECB exposed

The thing about inviting a tiger round for tea is, for all the excitement, the fur, the teeth, the muscles, they do tend to walk off with your dinner and drink all the water in the taps. The thing about saying yes to the person with the biggest stick is, in the end, you don’t get to say yes, or no, or anything at all. And that person still has a very big stick.

The thing about closing your eyes and just taking the money is: money passes only in exchange for something of value, and full payment will be taken. Welcome to English cricket in full blind, groping crisis mode, and the first small tremor of what lies in store whatever happens in the next few weeks.

Steve Borthwick turns to 2003 World Cup heroes for Six Nations inspiration

• Blow as scrum-half Alex Mitchell is ruled out of campaign

• Johnson, Dallaglio, Leonard and co to dine with players

Steve Borthwick has turned to England’s 2003 World Cup winners to arrest his side’s drastic decline after enduring another setback with the scrum‑half Alex Mitchell ruled out for the rest of the Six Nations.

Borthwick’s squad were due on Wednesday night to have dinner with members of the 2003 team, including the captain Martin Johnson, the Test centurion Jason Leonard and Lewis Moody, who revealed in October that he had been diagnosed with motor neurone disease.

Nancy Guthrie's family offering $1 million reward for her whereabouts

Savannah Guthrie said in a new video that the family is offering an additional reward of up to $1 million for information about their mother Nancy Guthrie's whereabouts.

New legislation in House would ban taxpayer money from going to Jan. 6 rioters

The bill would ban distribution of taxpayer money for any "January 6th compensation fund" and any further refund of damage payments made by convicted Capitol rioters.

Restaurant reservation wars heat up as DoorDash enters the arena with Resy, OpenTable

The still-simmering reservation wars of the last decade could fully reignite this year, as a shifting tech landscape pits the biggest players against each other.

5 takeaways from Trump's State of the Union address

Democrats are nipping at the heels of the incumbent Republicans for control of Congress in the 2026 midterms.

Larry Summers to resign from Harvard after Epstein files revelations

News of former Harvard president’s resignation comes ‘in connection with ongoing review’ of Epstein files

• Sign up for the Breaking News US email to get newsletter alerts in your inbox

Larry Summers, former president of Harvard University, will resign from teaching at the end of the academic year, a spokesperson confirmed to the Guardian.

The news of his formal resignation comes “in connection with the ongoing review by the University of documents related to Jeffrey Epstein that were recently released by the government”, a Harvard spokesperson, Jason Newton, said in a statement.

Breakaway union stands behind Tara Moore’s $20m legal battle against WTA

• Former British doubles No 1 has same legal firm as PTPA

• The 33-year-old doubles star has always denied doping

The breakaway players’ union that is suing the tours and grand slam tournaments has thrown its weight behind Tara Moore’s $20m (£14.7m) legal battle against the Women’s ­Tennis Association in a new front in the sport’s civil war.

The Guardian has learnt that Moore, a former British No 1 doubles player who this week brought a legal action for negligence against the WTA after being handed a four‑year ban for doping, is using lawyers from the Professional Tennis ­Players Association’s legal partner, King & Spalding.

Epstein files: Nobel winner Axel quits Columbia U. brain institute over friendship with predator

Dr. Richard Axel, a longtime Columbia University professor, is mentioned repeatedly in the Jeffrey Epstein files released by the Department of Justice.

Brazilian politician brothers convicted of ordering murder of Rio city councillor

João Francisco Inácio Brazão and Domingos Inácio Brazão sentenced for murder of Marielle Franco, a gay Black woman and rising political star

Two influential Brazilian politician brothers have been convicted by Brazil’s supreme court of ordering the murder of Marielle Franco, the Rio de Janeiro city councillor, nearly eight years ago.

João Francisco Inácio Brazão, the former congressman known as Chiquinho, and the former adviser to Rio’s court of auditors Domingos Inácio Brazão were sentenced to 76 years and three months in prison for the murders of Franco, 38, and her driver, Anderson Gomes, 39.

Trump delivered the longest State of the Union in history … and ran out of steam | Ted Widmer

The State of the Union address has been in decline for decade as a TV spectacle, and Trump probably hastened that trend

In fulfillment of clause 1 of section 3 in article II of the US constitution, Donald Trump duly gave Congress “Information of the State of the Union” last night.

Information … and more information. At an hour and 47 minutes, this was the longest State of the Union address in history. As he has so often done in the past, Trump bobbed and weaved impressively (“the weave” is his own term for his meandering speaking style). He zigged and zagged, taunting Democrats for much of the speech (he called Zohran Mamdani a “communist” and took pot shots at Democrats throughout the night), while claiming to be a unifier when the mood struck.

BBC backlash grows after Bafta racial slur - The Latest

The BBC is under fire over its failure to remove a racial slur shouted by John Davidson, who has Tourette syndrome, from its broadcast of the Bafta awards. Davidson was heard shouting the N-word while two stars of the film Sinners, Delroy Lindo and Michael B Jordan, were on stage. He said controversy over the incident had left him “distraught” and that he had been assured any offensive words would be edited out. The BBC has apologised for the error and said producers overseeing the coverage did not hear the slur. Lucy Hough is joined by the Guardian’s assistant opinion editor Jason Okundaye – watch on YouTube

US to offer passport services to citizens in illegal West Bank settlements

Israel welcomes move described by Palestinian Authority as undermining possibility of an independent state

The US will provide on-site consular services in two Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank for the first time, breaking with previous policy, in a move that has been criticised by Palestinian officials as “a clear violation of international law”.

In a post on X, the US embassy in Jerusalem said that as part of an initiative to mark the 250th anniversary of US independence, it would provide Americans with routine passport services in the West Bank settlement of Efrat on Friday “for one day only”.

Source close to Rolling Stones disputes Melania producer’s claim Mick Jagger ‘gave his blessing’ to use song

Spokesperson for Rolling Stones tells Guardian band did not liaise with Marc Beckman and his team on use of Gimme Shelter in first lady documentary

A source close to Mick Jagger has cast doubt on a claim by Melania producer Marc Beckman that his team was closely involved with the singer over the use of a Rolling Stones song in the film.

The film, which follows the first lady in the 20 days leading up to Donald Trump’s second inauguration in January 2025, opens with a sequence in Mar-a-Lago soundtracked to the Rolling Stones’ Gimme Shelter. Despite being owned by music company ABKCO, Beckman told Variety that Jagger “was actually involved” and “gave us his blessing”.

‘Nobel prize for fiction’: Trump’s State of the Union provokes polarized reactions

Democrats accuse president’s address of litany of lies as Republicans hail his bullish claims about year back in office

Congressional Democrats lined up on Tuesday night to call Donald Trump a liar and Republicans said America had never been greater. The country’s longest-ever State of the Union address had ended, and the two parties had, again, watched entirely different speeches.

Trump’s address ran for nearly two hours, with the president touching on tariffs, border security, military recruitment and energy production, among other topics. He told the country the economy was booming, inflation was under control and a golden age was at hand, but Democrats were not persuaded.

Panera Bread releases first-ever value menu with 'Mix & Match' deals

Panera Bread is in the early stages of a turnaround, and affordability is a key part of CEO Paul Carbone's strategy for Panera.

Stephen Lillie on Donald Trump’s State of the Union address – cartoon

Continue reading...

Moves to pave way for Chagos handover paused, minister tells MPs

But officials say Hamish Falconer misspoke in saying UK ‘pausing for discussions with our American counterparts’

Moves to pave the way for the handover of the Chagos Islands have been paused, a minister has told MPs, amid continuing discussions with the US over the controversial deal.

The comments by Hamish Falconer, a Foreign Office minister and former diplomat, were swiftly played down by government sources who said he had misspoken. But opposition parties said they appeared to describe the reality of the UK’s position as the deal comes under increasing pressure from Donald Trump.

Table for one: is eating lunch at work on your own a bad thing?

In France, they think it is, alarmed by more and more young people choosing to do so. They should see how many eat alone in the UK …

Name: The lonely lunch.

Age: Recent, but growing.

‘We’re a pub friendship – with songs attached’: deadpan dazzlers Black Box Recorder return, thanks to Billie Eilish

Their unnerving songs about car crashes and suburban ennui, sung in a sparkling yet unemotional RP, stood out from the Britpop bloat. Now, thanks to a certain singer taking their streams stratospheric, the band are back

John Moore, the guitarist in Black Box Recorder, adopts a weary tone as he tells this story. “Our daughter said to us, ‘Have you heard of Billie Eilish?’” His response was not what she was expecting. “Yes,” he said. “She’s fucked up our retirement.” This spring, he, Luke Haines and vocalist Sarah Nixey (the mother of said daughter, though she and Moore are long separated) will return to the stage for the first time since 2009, in part thanks to their streaming numbers going stratospheric after Eilish posted videos of herself listening to their 1998 debut single Child Psychology.

The song, about a disruptive girl who has refused to speak, been expelled from school and fallen out with her family, is typical of Black Box Recorder’s obsession with psychological breakdown in a peculiarly English, often suburban and middle-class setting: stories related by Nixey in her sparkling yet deadpan vocals. It’s a mix that later broke Black Box Recorder into the UK Top 20 with 2000 single The Facts of Life, and produced three albums that still stand apart from the rest of British pop.

Kalshi reveals insider trading case against editor for MrBeast

With prediction markets booming, so have concerns about insider trading. Now, Kalshi has disclosed its first public actions against accounts suspected of trading on confidential information.

Nobody believed that Putin would invade Ukraine. Four years on, has Europe learned from the failures of 2022?

I looked back to discover the untold story of how western intelligence was misread, even in Kyiv. The conclusion offers a stark warning for the future

Tuesday marked the fourth anniversary of Vladimir Putin’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, and at this time of year it’s hard not to recall memories of the morning of 24 February 2022, when the fate of Ukraine and the history of Europe were irrevocably changed by the decision of the man in the Kremlin.

Around 9pm the evening before, I had received a message from a colleague at another news outlet. It was an unequivocal warning from an intelligence source that the war would start that night. We discussed it among the Guardian’s Ukraine reporting team and international editors. My colleague Emma Graham-Harrison, who was on an overnight train from Kyiv towards the frontline city of Mariupol, decided she would get off halfway, in the middle of the night, and beg a spot on the first train heading back to Kyiv. It turned out to be a wise move: Mariupol was soon under siege and the scene of much of the worst carnage of the war. Emma remained in Kyiv, part of our team covering the initial Russian attack on the capital.

Two skinheads counting the takings from a neo-Nazi gig: Leo Regan’s best photograph

‘These guys wanted to leave the chaos and fighting of a neo-Nazi skinhead band playing a school hall – and causing horror. “We’re using your car to count up the takings,” one told me. “As long as I can take a photo,” I said’

In 1990, I was working in photojournalism but doing music photography on the side to make money. At the time there was a rise in neo-Nazi music, with bands such as Skrewdriver and the Blood and Honour movement. I was initially going to do a magazine piece on it but it grew into a much bigger project and I ended up spending two years following these people around the country. It led to a book and a documentary.

It was a difficult project and there were moral and ethical challenges as well as dangerous ones, but that was part of the attraction. The people were suspicious of me but I was honest about what I wanted to do. They knew I didn’t agree with their politics but that I didn’t have an agenda.

Mortgage rates hit lowest level in nearly 4 years, but homebuyers are still stuck on the sidelines

Mortgage rates dropped to the lowest level since 2022 last week, but demand from homebuyers declined as well, as they continue to struggle with affordability.

Germany accused of ditching climate targets as it scraps renewables mandate

Coalition government agrees to remove parts of controversial law and allow homes to rely on fossil fuels

Germany’s coalition government has been accused of abandoning its climate targets after agreeing to scrap parts of a contentious heating law mandating the use of renewables in favour of a draft law allowing homeowners to rely on fossil fuels.

While the previous law required most newly installed heating systems to use at least 65% renewable energy, often with a heat pump, the amended legislation will allow households to keep using oil and gas.

Five ways Trump could try to tilt the midterm elections in his favor

With Republicans facing grim poll figures, Trump promised action to influence the vote citing debunked fraud claims

Donald Trump once again railed against imagined fraud in America’s elections on Tuesday during the State of the Union address.

“They want to cheat,” he said of Democrats. “They have cheated. And their policy is so bad that their only way to get elected is to cheat. And we’re going to stop it.”

Fact checking Trump's 2026 State of the Union address and Democratic response

CBS News fact checked President Trump's 2026 State of the Union address, and Virginia Gov. Abigail Spanberger's Democratic response.

How did Epstein ensnare so many rich men? By knowing they were entitled and insecure | Emma Brockes

The sex offender could exploit these masters of the universe ​because, despite their privilege, ​they still felt short-changed by life

One of the things that has been frequently puzzled over as the effluent of the Epstein story flows on, is how a college dropout who thought it was cool to do typos managed to persuade the world’s most powerful into his lair. What, precisely, was the nature of his “genius”? Was it blackmail? Was it the social pyramid scheme of using one big name to reel in another? Nothing has come close to explaining it until, with the latest crop of details from the Epstein files, something has become suddenly clear: that it wasn’t the trafficked girls and women who Jeffrey Epstein groomed. The man’s real talent, if we want to call it that, was in the grooming of his cohort of associates.

This isn’t to say, of course, that the men and occasional woman who threw in their lot with a man we must straight-facedly refer to as “the dead paedophile” weren’t culpable. Nonetheless, if you study the huge amount of Epstein-related material, from the New York Times’s deep dive into his finances to the vast cache of correspondence contained in the files, a picture emerges of a man who did the kind of number on his peers that you would more commonly see directed at victims. While multiple survivor testimonies indicate that Epstein regarded the girls and women he trafficked as of such low consequence he didn’t even need to bother to groom them – per Virginia Giuffre’s account, Epstein raped her the first time they met – all of his resources, via a variety of tactics, went into capturing the allegiances of powerful men.

Emma Brockes is a Guardian columnist

Do you have an opinion on the issues raised in this article? If you would like to submit a response of up to 300 words by email to be considered for publication in our letters section, please click here.

Footballers are calling out racism because they have had enough. Those with power must act | Samuel Okafor

The leadership shown by four Premier League players in highlighting racism last weekend must be replicated, and addressing representation is part of that

Recent incidents involving Sir Jim Ratcliffe and Vinícius Júnior have offered a new layer to the question Kick It Out is often asked when discrimination occurs: is it getting worse or are more people reporting it?

The question has been posed again this week after four Premier League players highlighted racist abuse sent to them on social media after matches last weekend.

Why food justice isn’t being served in America | Hanna Garth

Advocates often assume communities of color just don’t know any better when it comes to eating healthy

I met the man I’ll call Randy Johnson 13 years ago, as I began research in South Central Los Angeles. I’m an anthropologist who explores how people think about food and use food in their everyday lives. As executive director of a large food justice organization focused on K-12 education throughout the city, Randy was a key source. He talked to me about South Central’s status as a food desert, where its majority Latinx and Black residents had little access to groceries or healthy food. A middle-aged white man, Randy told me of his work in South Central, which centered around encouraging school-age children to eat more fresh vegetables.

He described South Central as a wasteland of sorts. “There is just nothing there,” he said, pointing to the common but false idea that there were no grocery stores there. He then pivoted to talking about the residents. “I see them having almost zero education when it comes to [making healthy eating choices]. They don’t know that what they’re eating is destroying them slowly. It’s just that we, as a society, have failed our citizens to educate them that they shouldn’t be buying the fries every day.”

Hanna Garth is assistant professor of anthropology at Princeton University

In the Blink of an Eye review – Pixar director’s long-delayed sci-fi epic falls flat

The director of Finding Nemo and Wall-E has made an ambitious yet entirely baffling mess with the help of Rashida Jones and Kate McKinnon

In the first few minutes of In the Blink of an Eye, director Andrew Stanton’s long-gestating, epoch-spanning sci-fi epic, a Neanderthal man (Jorge Vargas) explores a perilously rocky beach 45,000 years ago. For some reason, he decides to climb one of the larger, steeper rocks – for food? For a view? But he loses his grip and falls backward, landing on the sharp stones below with a sickening, visceral squelch.

That moment is, I think, supposed to convey the fragility of early human existence – one second you’re foraging, the next you’re impaled and/or imperiled – though I couldn’t help but think of the film’s own cursed journey. Shot all the way back in 2023, In the Blink of an Eye is just now arriving on Hulu about three years later after many delays – not unheard of in the relatively glacial world of movie production, though never a good sign, especially considering that Stanton is the creative force behind such sentimental juggernauts as Wall-E and Finding Nemo (as well as several other Pixar movies, plus John Carter). The protracted timeline suggested that it was either going to be tricky and ambitious, a hard-fought journey of space and time, or, more likely, a complete mess.

Indian state of Kerala to be renamed Keralam to reflect local pronunciation

Proposal approved by Modi government will bring official English name into line with Malayalam language

The Indian state of Kerala, known as “God’s own country” for its golden beaches and lush tea plantations, is to be given a new name.

Narendra Modi’s cabinet has approved a proposal to change the southern coastal state’s name from Kerala to Keralam. The move will bring the official English name into line with how it is pronounced in Malayalam, the primary language spoken by the state’s estimated population of 35 million.

Greetings from Jordan's Wadi Rum desert, where patches of green emerge after winter rains

Wadi Rum's otherworldly landscape is where Star Wars movies and The Martian were filmed. In late winter, plants emerge in this desert — but some are toxic to camels, so their herders must protect them.

Rock & Roll Hall of Fame unveils "diverse list" of 2026 nominees

The Rock & Roll Hall of Fame has announced its 2026 list of nominees, including Phil Collins, Mariah Carey, Wu-Tang Clan and more.

Lucid widely misses earnings expectations, forecasts slowing EV growth in 2026

For 2026, Lucid announced a vehicle production target of between 25,000 and 27,000 units, which would be a roughly 40% to 51% increase compared with last year.

Reflections in Kyiv and bread baking in Gaza: photos of the day – Wednesday

The Guardian’s picture editors select photographs from around the world

Jess Cartner-Morley on fashion: the quarter-zip is the breakout star of 2026 – and I think I know why

It was once reserved for office workers and Rishi Sunak, but now pop stars and supermodels can’t get enough of the preppy look

My favourite kind of fashion moment is not a Met Gala headline-maker or a Paris catwalk extravaganza. Nope. My favourite fashion moment is when one piece of clothing is suddenly everywhere for no obvious reason, which is what is happening right now with the quarter-zip sweater.

The jumper with a chin-to-breastbone zip, which has been around for ever, is the breakout main character of the 2026 wardrobe. At a Chanel catwalk show held in New York recently, a quarter-zip knit was the star of the show, worn with a fancy cocktail-hour skirt and diamond drop earrings. Charli xcx teamed a Saint Laurent one with sunglasses and shorts on her last trip to Paris fashion week. Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta wears stealth-wealth dark merino ones in the dugout, rapper Central Cee wears a cream Ralph Lauren one on TikTok – and the man opposite you on the train right now, taking a Zoom call on his AirPods while eating Pret porridge, is probably wearing one too.

Facial recognition error prompts police to arrest Asian man for burglary 100 miles away

Exclusive: Alvi Choudhury claiming damages against Thames Valley police after biased technology confused him with man looking ‘10 years younger’

Police arrested a man for a burglary in a city he had never visited after face scanning software deployed across the UK confused him with another person of south Asian heritage.

Alvi Choudhury, 26, a software engineer, was working at the home he shares with his parents in Southampton in January when police knocked on his door, handcuffed him and held him in custody for nearly 10 hours before releasing him at 2am.

The Taliban are burning musical instruments in the name of morality. It is an assault on all culture

The sounds of Afghan history are being erased to prevent music’s ‘moral corruption’ of the Afghan people. We can help keep Afghanistan’s music alive. Plus, Eliane Radigue’s deep listening, and the brilliance of Sinners’s score

The horrors of the Taliban’s rule in Afghanistan are all-encompassing. New laws that effectively legalise domestic abuse means that every woman in the country now lives with the threat of state-sanctioned violence. In the context of the twin tragedies of the Taliban’s fundamentalist zealotry, and the rest of the world’s silence in the face of their atrocities, the fate of Afghanistan’s cultural life might seem a smaller catastrophe. Yet it’s equivalently devastating.

The recent burning of hundreds of musical instruments and equipment – reported last week on Afghan National Television – is the latest stage of the Taliban morality police’s ongoing mission to destroy all these artefacts. Last week’s pyre included tablas and harmoniums, instruments that are the bedrocks of Afghanistan’s unique tradition of classical music, as well as keyboards and amplifiers.

How to use on-the-turn milk to make an Italian classic – recipe

Maiale al latte pairs tender pork with a creamy, caramelised sauce – and saves old milk from a down-the-sink fate

According to the Sustainable Food Trust, “the milk from 40,000 cows (300,000 tonnes) is tipped down the kitchen sink each year – a real slap in the face for the farmer”. Even though some supermarkets have now swapped use-by for best-before dates on their milk, those dates can still be confusing, so always do the sniff test before binning it: even if it’s a little sour, you can still cook with it.

‘We don’t take ourselves too seriously’: street style at London fashion week – in pictures

From a Lidl trolley bag to thrifted berets and a vintage Louis Vuitton bag, fans attending this year’s shows proved that fashion in the capital is all about experimentation, eccentricity and a sense humour

Why Xbox’s corporate shake-up matters for everyone who plays games

With ​i​ts longtime figureheads stepping aside, Microsoft’s gaming division faces a pivotal moment​, raising questions about whether ​i​t can still balance creative ambition with corporate strategy​ in the age of AI

• Don’t get Pushing Buttons delivered to your inbox? Sign up here

And so it’s all change at Xbox. Last Friday it was announced that the CEO of Microsoft’s gaming division, Phil Spencer, is to retire, while its president Sarah Bond is resigning. In their place, a new partnership: Xbox Game Studios head Matt Booty is promoted to chief content officer, while the new CEO is Asha Sharma, who moves from her post as president of Microsoft’s CoreAI product.

In a company-wide email, Spencer stated that he would stay on until the summer in an advisory role before, “starting the next chapter of my life”. For her part, Bond issued a statement on her LinkedIn account: “I’ve decided this is the right time for me to take my next step, both personally and professionally.” It was all extremely good natured, but its doubtful these airy missives tell the full tale.

‘People feel like they’re in on the joke’: the new wave of pseudo-biopics

It’s not about John Bishop, Anna Wintour or Bill Clinton, but … Screen stories about pop stars, actors, sporting heroes or politicians bend fact by steering close to the deeds, or misdeeds, of real celebrities. What’s behind their rise?

Any self-respecting cinemagoer will know the phrase by heart: “The characters and events portrayed in this film are fictitious.” It’s cinema’s ritual boilerplate disclaimer. “Any similarity to actual persons, living or dead, or to actual events is purely coincidental and unintentional.”

Lately, however, film-makers have been treating the fine print like a challenge. A clutch of recent releases has taken up a curious middle ground: not quite biography, not quite fiction, but something more slippery in between. Marty Supreme, for instance, spins 1950s table tennis wildcard Marty Reisman into Marty Mauser, borrowing Reisman’s forename and forehand while rewriting the rest. Bradley Cooper’s Is This Thing On? mines the early career of standup comic John Bishop, only to rebrand him as New Yorker Alex Novak. And later this year The Prince, directed by Cameron Van Hoy and written by David Mamet, will refract aspects of Hunter Biden’s life through proxy Parker Scott.