Starmer faces PMQs as Commons speaker says he passed Mandelson information to police – UK politics live

Sir Lindsay Hoyle said he told police he had heard that former US ambassador was planning to leave the country

The Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs has published figures showing that local authorities in England dealt with 1.26m flytipping incidents in 2024/25 – 9% increase on the previous year.

And there was an 11% increase in incidents involving a “tipper lorry load” amount of rubbish. There were 52,000 of these, up from 47,000 in 2023/24. Defra said these alone cost councils £19.3m.

These figures show the equivalent of 142 monster landfills a day took place, confirming what communities across the country know all too well – our beautiful countryside is being used by criminal gangs as their personal landfill.

For far too long, waste gangs have pocketed millions in illegal earning, poisoning our environment and our health without consequence. The Liberal Democrats are demanding an end to this environmental vandalism.

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.

Takeaways from Trump's State of the Union. And, House rejects aviation safety bill

Trump's State of the Union underplayed the economic problems that voters are concerned about. And, the House rejected a bipartisan aviation safety bill after the Pentagon abruptly withdrew support.

Here are all the awards Trump announced during his State of the Union

During his State of the Union, President Trump honored several service members and an Olympic athlete with awards that included the Purple Heart, the Congressional Medal of Honor, the Legion of Merit and the Medal of Freedom.

Ukraine-US talks in Geneva on Thursday ‘preparation for trilateral meeting with Russia’, Zelenskyy says – Europe live

Ukrainian president says trilateral meeting with with Russia expected in early March

President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said that Ukraine was looking to repair the Druzhba oil pipeline but “it was not so fast,” Reuters reported.

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.

‘I really believe in revivals of Black work’: why a director brought back Chadwick Boseman’s play Deep Azure

The late actor’s writing was overshadowed by roles in blockbusters. Now, Tristan Fynn-Aiduenu is giving his play about grief the audience it deserves

• Don’t get The Long Wave delivered to your inbox? Sign up here

Hello and welcome to The Long Wave. Last week I went to watch the play Deep Azure, written by the late actor Chadwick Boseman, at the Sam Wanamaker Playhouse, part of the Globe theatre in London. It’s a show full of verve, poetry powered by hip-hop, Jacobean verse and beautifully choreographed movement. I spoke to Tristan Fynn-Aiduenu, the play’s director, about the importance of reviving Black work and the responsibility of not only honouring Boseman’s memory but also showcasing the full spectrum of the Black experience globally.

US man deported from Bali after 11 years in prison for ‘suitcase murder’ of then girlfriend’s mother

Tommy Schaefer released early from 18-year sentence for 2014 murder of Sheila von Wiese-Mack during luxury holiday

Indonesia has freed and deported a US man after he spent 11 years in prison for the premeditated murder of his then girlfriend’s mother on the tourist island of Bali.

Tommy Schaefer was sentenced to 18 years in prison for the 2014 murder of Sheila von Wiese-Mack, the mother of Heather Mack, during a luxury holiday in a case that became known as the Bali suitcase murder.

Macron appoints new head of crisis-hit Louvre after jewellery heist

Christophe Leribault, most recently Versailles director, will be tasked with improving security and ‘restoring climate of trust’

France has appointed Christophe Leribault as the new head of the Louvre, bringing in the director of the Palace of Versailles to turn around the world’s most-visited museum after a humiliating jewellery heist and staff strikes.

Leribault, who was chosen by the French president, Emmanuel Macron, will succeed Laurence des Cars, who resigned on Tuesday.

Reality bites: why the wildest TV shows of the 2000s are haunting us now

A string of documentaries are taking aim at problematic millennial hits such as The Biggest Loser and America’s Next Top Model – but who’s to blame?

Caution: the 2000s have become a crime scene. The reality television my generation once watched as escapist comfort – built hastily and clumsily, before anyone quite knew the rules – is now being dusted for fingerprints by a younger cohort fluent in the language of harm, certain that cruelty was the point. The past six months have brought a spate of brooding postmortems revisiting The Biggest Loser, To Catch a Predator and America’s Next Top Model – dodgy network TV experiments that monetized humiliation at scale.

And while the critiques are frequently justified, they’re also conveniently calibrated for a judgmental media landscape where retrospective outrage doubles as a growth strategy. “Gen Z wants to get in a time machine and fix the errors of 20 years ago,” says Kristen Warner, a Cornell University media studies professor. “There was no roadmap. Reality TV was a wild west, and people were just doing the most outlandish things to keep it going.”

A Hollywood ‘heir’ levied horrific abuse claims against four industry titans. How did he end up in prison?

Rovier Carrington thought his cases against MTV and Paramount executives should have been the biggest of the #MeToo era. Instead, they raised unsettling questions about victimhood

One unseasonably warm afternoon in February 2023, in a very brown New York City courtroom, Rovier Carrington did the inconceivable: he admitted to a lie. On that day, the aspiring screenwriter told a federal judge that he had altered evidence to support his legal claim of being systematically raped and blacklisted by a bevy of Hollywood powerbrokers.

His 11th-hour capitulation came as a shock.

Meta’s AI sending ‘junk’ tips to DoJ, US child abuse investigators say

Officers say flood of low-quality reports is draining resources and slowing cases amid New Mexico lawsuit

Meta’s use of artificial intelligence software to moderate its social media platforms is generating large volumes of useless reports about cases of child sexual abuse, which are draining resources and hindering investigations, said officers from the US Internet Crimes Against Children (ICAC) taskforce.

“We get a lot of tips from Meta that are just kind of junk,” Benjamin Zwiebel, a special agent with the ICAC taskforce in New Mexico, said last week during his testimony in the state’s trial against Meta. The state’s attorney general alleges the company’s platforms are putting profits over child safety. Meta disputes these allegations, citing changes it has introduced on its platforms, such as teen accounts with default protections. The ICAC taskforce is a nationwide network of law enforcement agencies coordinated with the US Department of Justice (DoJ) to investigate and prosecute online child exploitation and abuse cases.

Tech legend Stewart Brand on Musk, Bezos and his extraordinary life: ‘We don’t need to passively accept our fate’

He was at the heart of 1960s counterculture, then paved the way for the libertarian mindset of Silicon Valley. At 87, Brand is still keen to ensure the world is maintained properly – not just today, but for the next 10,000 years

Stewart Brand thinks big and long. He thinks on a planetary scale – as suggested by the title of his celebrated Whole Earth Catalog – and on the longest of timeframes, as with his Long Now Foundation, which looks forward to the next 10,000 years of human civilisation. He has had a lifelong fascination with the future, and anything that could get us there faster, from space travel to psychedelic drugs to computing. In fact, he was arguably the bridge between the San Francisco counterculture of the 60s and present-day Silicon Valley: in his commencement speech at Stanford University in 2005, Steve Jobs eulogised the Whole Earth Catalog and Brand’s philosophy, and echoed its farewell mantra: “Stay hungry. Stay foolish.”

You could say that Brand has also lived big and long. He is now 87 years old, in the final chapters of an eventful and adventurous life that has crossed paths with some of the most consequential events and figures of his era. He has been a writer, an editor, a publisher, a soldier, a photojournalist, an LSD evangelist, an events organiser, a future-planning consultant, even a government adviser (to the California governor Jerry Brown in the late 70s). “There was a time when people asked me, ‘What do you do?’ I said, ‘I find things and I found things,’” says Brand, as in he is a founder. He is speaking from a library where he likes to work in Petaluma, California, not far from his houseboat in Sausalito. “I’m always searching for good stuff to recommend, and good people.”

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.

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 dropped as well, as they continue to struggle with affordability.

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.

Bodø/Glimt bask in ‘crazy’ Champions League victory over shellshocked Inter

Italian giants were well beaten by side who dazzled despite Norway’s domestic season not starting until next month

There was a moment after the final whistle at San Siro on Tuesday night when the head coaches, Bodø/Glimt’s Kjetil Knutsen and Inter’s Cristian Chivu, stood chatting, seemingly discussing some tactical element of the game that had just finished.

Chivu appeared genuinely interested in what Knutsen had to say, smiling politely, but above all he looked utterly bemused. What the hell had just happened? His Inter team, top of Serie A by 10 points and undefeated in the league since 23 November, had not only lost the home leg of their Champions League playoff against the Norwegian side but been well beaten: 2-1 on the night and 5-2 on aggregate.

‘I hurt so much for years but now feel proud’: John Quansah on the pain of a football career ruined by injury

Quansah left Ghana for Ajax as a boy but injury ended his career before it started. He now earns £5 a day as a builder and strives to find a new purpose in life

By The Blizzard

John Quansah looks at a glass display case hanging on the wall of his living room in Obuasi, Ghana. Inside are three trophies from his days as a youth player at Ajax. For years, they lay tucked away in the back of a cupboard, but two years ago, that changed. “I’m an adult now,” John says. “It’s time to look at the past differently. When I look at the trophies now, I don’t just feel pain. I am grateful too – for those beautiful years.”

Of course, he didn’t fulfil his big dream. But not everyone can say they have played for Ajax. He has every reason to be proud, to look back at that time with satisfaction. During a move, he finds the trophies again and decides to mount a display case on the wall of his new living room. Inside, he places three trophies. One for the best player at a youth tournament in Belgium. Next to that, one from another competition, and one he received for sportsmanship, also awarded in Belgium.

Tourette syndrome activist John Davidson says Bafta told him ‘any swearing would be edited out of the broadcast’

Davidson said he ‘can’t begin to explain how upset and distraught I have been’ over slurs he shouted during the award ceremony

• With N-word incident, Bafta has shot itself in the foot
• Why the Baftas must pivot to broadcasting live

John Davidson, the Tourette syndrome (TS) activist at the centre of the Baftas N-word controversy, says that Bafta and the BBC “should have been aware of what to expect” from TS, and that he had been told that any offensive words would be removed.

In an interview with Variety, Davidson said that Bafta had told him “that any swearing would be edited out of the broadcast”. He said: “I have made four documentaries with the BBC in the past, and feel that they should have been aware of what to expect from Tourette’s and worked harder to prevent anything that I said – which, after all, was some 40 rows back from the stage – from being included in the broadcast.” I Swear’s backers StudioCanal confirmed to the Guardian they had also been told swearing would be removed.

Trump touts ‘drill, baby, drill’ agenda – but no mention of climate crisis

President derided Biden’s ‘green new scam’ during State of the Union address, and hailed the rise in US oil production

Trump didn’t say the words “climate change” during the State of the Union, but it loomed large over his 108-minute speech as he touted his “drill, baby, drill” agenda and derided Joe Biden’s “green new scam”.

Toward the beginning of his address, the president discussed last year’s flooding at Camp Mystic in Texas, saying they were “one of the worst things I’ve ever seen”.

‘A rushed execution’: the case of the woman convicted of child murder that shocked Somalia

The speed at which Hodan Mohamud Diiriye was executed has raised questions about the fairness of her trial

On 12 November last year, Hodan Mohamud Diiriye called her husband to tell him that his 14-year-old great niece, Saabirin Saylaan, who had been living in their house for two months, was unconscious. Together, they took Saabirin to the hospital in Galkayo, in central Somalia, where medical staff pronounced her dead and called the police.

Diiriye, a 34-year-old mother of more than 10 children, was arrested. Less than three months later, on 3 February, she was executed by a firing squad for murder.

Among the gangsters, gamblers and high rollers: a master bookie’s life in Las Vegas

In his new memoir, Art Manteris recalls raucous times in Nevada, and explains why the explosion of sports betting in the US presents serious risks

Forty years ago, the New England Patriots played in their first Super Bowl. It ended disastrously for New England, who lost 46-10 to the Chicago Bears. The Bears’ mammoth defensive tackle, William “The Refrigerator” Perry, even got involved in the scoring with a touchdown.

That moment looked like it would cause serious problems for Art Manteris, who at the time ran the sportsbook at Caesars Palace in Las Vegas. Under Manteris, Caesars had offered odds on whether Perry would score during the game – and, as fans scrambled to back the popular player, the house stood to lose a significant sum if he did. When Perry ran into the end zone, gamblers collected handsomely, to the tune of $250,000. The next day, Manteris was summoned to meet the boss of Caesars, Henry Gluck.

Mauricio Pochettino suddenly has a glut of USMNT options as the World Cup looms

Timing and luck often dictate a team’s success at tournaments. And the co-hosts have players coming into form at just the right time

Bruce Arena once said that if his United States men’s national team had contested the 2006 World Cup a year earlier, the Americans would have done much better than the joyless, winless group stage elimination they suffered through. That team, he felt, had peaked during qualifiers and were past their best – despite being ranked an absurd fourth in the world by Fifa – when the World Cup kicked off.

Four years earlier, when the USMNT stunned the 2002 World Cup by nearly reaching the semi-finals, his side benefited from time’s relentless march, Arena argued. The Americans, cohesive and energized then, upset a golden Portugal generation that had already lost its sheen, 3-2, to spark their run.

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.

When a horse whinnies, there's more than meets the ear

A new study finds that horse whinnies are made of both a high and a low frequency, generated by different parts of the vocal tract. The two-tone sound may help horses convey more complex information.

Outrage in Austria after man ordered to pay female footballers €625 each for secretly filming dressing room

• Former official at Altach given suspended prison term

• Player says the sentence ‘leaves me speechless’

A man has been given a seven-month suspended prison sentence and fined €1,200 (£1,046) after being found guilty of taking secret videos and photographs from the changing room, gym and showers of the Altach women’s football team. He was also told to pay the victims €625 each in compensation.

The sentence was handed out in the regional court in Feldkirch, Austria, with the judge saying that it made a huge difference “if one looks at pictures or actually creates them oneself”. The defendant accepted the sentence but the prosecutor may appeal.

Trump claims host of successes and attacks old foes in longest State of the Union

President hails ‘turnaround for the ages’ but offers few policy pledges and repeats jibes against ‘crazy’ Democrats

Donald Trump proclaimed his first year in office a success at the State of the Union address on Tuesday evening, even as his presidency is dogged by low public approval ratings before November’s midterm elections in which voters could hand control of Congress back to his Democratic opponents.

The annual address to a joint session of Congress came after months of turmoil for the Republican president, including a crackdown on immigrant communities in Minneapolis that resulted in the deaths of two US citizens, and faltering progress on his campaign promise of lowering the cost of living.

What to expect from the next round of U.S.-Iran talks as Trump threatens Tehran

The upcoming talks come as the U.S. continues to build up military forces in the region and as Trump warns of "bad things" if Iran doesn't agree to a deal.

Man arrested for entering Manchester mosque allegedly carrying weapon

Witness claims suspect entered mosque during Ramadan evening prayers armed with axe

Police in Manchester have arrested a suspect after he allegedly entered Manchester Central Mosque “acting suspiciously” and carrying an offensive weapon

A witness said the suspect, whom he described to be in his late 40s, entered the mosque on Tuesday evening armed with an axe. Four people quickly restrained the suspect and hit him with a fire extinguisher, he said.

‘A partisan and politician’: Abraham Lincoln and the art of the deal

New book Boss Lincoln takes a fresh look at a well-studied political figure, showing him to be a master of party politics

Some historians are wary of discussing their work in light of modern events, comparing subjects to current political players. Not Matthew Pinsker of Dickinson College, the author of both a major new book, Boss Lincoln: The Partisan Life of Abraham Lincoln, and the Substack What Would Lincoln Do?.

“I’m not running away from it, that’s for sure,” Pinsker said from Carlisle, Pennsylvania.

The Spin | Zimbabwean breakout at T20 World Cup has fans rejoicing renaissance

Swelling fanbase has been in dreamland this past month as Zimbabwe have defied all expectations in the competition

Dean du Plessis could tell that Zimbabwean cricket had turned a corner by the noise of the crowd. The veteran broadcaster, who was born blind, has forged a remarkable career as a commentator by distinguishing the game’s almost imperceptible audio shifts. He can tell a slower ball has been bowled by the fractional delay before ball meets bat. He can tell if a batter has pressed forward or back by the scratch of spikes against the hard pitch. And he could tell, in 2018, that the sport he loved would never be the same again.

“When I was a teenager, cricket in Zimbabwe was almost exclusively played and supported by white people,” Du Plessis says. “And besides the accents and topics of conversation, you could tell this by the way they would applaud and chant. It had a particular energy. The most animated fans were usually the ones who had too much beer and hurled abuse at the players on the boundary.”

This is an extract from the Guardian’s weekly cricket email, The Spin. To subscribe, just visit this page and follow the instructions

Rescuer who jumped into icy Chicago lake to save baby: ‘All I did was a human act’

Lio Cundiff, who is trans, told the Guardian he hopes the act shows everyone how ‘human we are – because all I did was a human act’

A Chicagoan who recently jumped into a perilously cold lake to help rescue a baby whose stroller was blown into the water by a wind gust has implored everyone in the US to “just take care of one another”.

In an interview Tuesday, Lio Cundiff, who is a trans man, said of himself: “All I did was a human act. I’m just a human who did the most human thing you could do – which is save someone who can’t save themselves.”

The rise of rejection sensitive dysphoria: ‘My chest feels like it’s collapsing’

It makes rejection, teasing or criticism feel unbearable, often prompting a strong physical reaction. Sufferers describe life with a condition that is only just starting to be understood

Jenna Turnbull’s chest is tightening. The 36-year-old civil servant, who lives in Cardiff, can picture herself as she speaks: an 11-year-old in her PE kit waiting with the other kids for her lesson to start. “We were outside by the courts waiting to play netball,” she says. “Somebody commented that I had hairy arms, one of the boys.” Her voice wobbles. The incident was clearly juvenile; rationally, she knows that. Yet 25 years on, her embarrassment is still visceral, with the power to cause instant physical discomfort.

She searches for another example of her acute reaction to teasing and recalls a trip to the pub with her friends six years ago. Amid the loud conversation and laughter, a quip was made in the group about her being untidy at home. Or that’s how she perceived it. “About me not keeping on top of the house,” she recalls. The person “was having a laugh. It was just something that was said off the cuff.” Yet while the memory and detail is hazy, the shame she feels about it is not. “That comment still haunts me,” she says. After that pub outing, she started cleaning her house obsessively – to such an extreme that it became one of the symptoms leading to her diagnosis of obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD). “I’ve been known to spend four or five hours cleaning my bathroom,” she says.

Chronic ocean heating fuels ‘staggering’ loss of marine life, study finds

Fish levels fall by 7.2% with as little as 0.1C of warming per decade, northern hemisphere research shows

Chronic ocean heating is fuelling a “staggering and deeply concerning” loss of marine life, a study has found, with fish levels falling by 7.2% from as little as 0.1C of warming per decade.

Researchers examined the year-to-year change of 33,000 populations in the northern hemisphere between 1993 and 2021, and isolated the effect of the decadal rate of seabed warming from short shifts such as marine heatwaves. They found the drop in biomass from chronic heating to be as high as 19.8% in a single year.

Trump's many tariff tools mean consumer prices won't go down, analysts say

The Supreme Court struck down President Trump's signature tariffs. But the president has other tariff tools, and consumers shouldn't expect cheaper prices anytime soon, economists say.

Hundreds of American nurses choose Canada over the U.S. under Trump

More than 1,000 American nurses have successfully applied for licensure in British Columbia since April, a massive increase over prior years.

Pakistan players will not be excluded from Hundred, insist ECB and all teams

• Cricket board and eight franchises issue joint statement

• ECB sent email to teams warning against discrimination

The England and Wales Cricket Board and all eight of the Hundred teams have jointly insisted the competition is “inclusive and open to all” amid claims Pakistan players could be frozen out by the Indian-owned franchises.

It had been reported by the BBC that Manchester Super Giants, MI London, Southern Brave and Sunrisers Leeds would not consider any Pakistan cricketers at the Hundred auction in March.

Highlights from Trump's 2026 State of the Union speech

President Trump defended his first year back in office in his 2026 State of the Union address, touting his record on immigration, the economy, tariffs and more.

British dual nationals: have you been prevented from travelling to the UK?

We’d like to hear from British dual nationals who have been prevented from boarding a flight, ferry or train because they did not have a British passport or certificate of entitlement

Have you been prevented boarding a flight, ferry or train because you did not have a British passport or certificate of entitlement proving your right to enter the UK?

From 25 February the Home Office says “international carriers will check all passengers for valid permission or status to travel to the UK – just as they currently do for visa nationals.

Marty Supreme’s ping-pong thrills grip but the theatre plot really smashes it | Chris Wiegand

In Josh Safdie’s film, the worlds of sport and stage are aligned – with the stakes higher for Gwyneth Paltrow’s former screen star, now on Broadway, than Timothée Chalamet’s hotshot

• This article contains spoilers about Marty Supreme

Josh Safdie’s ping-pong nerve-jangler Marty Supreme races through ambition, vanity, humiliation, deception, soaring glory, crushing failure and the deathless allure of an 11th-hour comeback. All of this I recognise from hours of playing table tennis in our local park. But I recognise it, too, from nights at the theatre – not so much the plays themselves, perhaps, rather the stage as a crucible for the careers of those involved. The film’s subplot, about a Broadway play’s fraught opening, becomes an inspired parallel to Marty’s frantic story and Safdie’s wired style matches not just the adrenalised world of a tournament but also the sensation of stepping out on the stage. I’m a sucker for theatre scenes in films and Safdie’s are brief but certainly supreme.

Halfway into the movie, Timothée Chalamet’s Marty Mauser sneaks into New York’s Morosco theatre. That’s a real playhouse – or was, until it got demolished in the 80s. The film is set in 1952, the year that Terence Rattigan’s The Deep Blue Sea was put on at the Morosco, which would soon have a hit with the premiere of Tennessee Williams’ Cat on a Hot Tin Roof. Those plays about failing marriages find a counterpart in the film’s story of Kay Stone (Gwyneth Paltrow), a silver-screen star of the 30s who is now making a risky return to acting in an overheated play bankrolled by her husband, Milton Rockwell.

Tax credits for solar panels are available, but the catch is you can't own them

Rooftop solar installers are steering customers toward leases instead of purchases. Federal tax credits for purchased systems have ended but are still available for leased ones.

5 takeaways from Trump's State of the Union address

President Trump hit familiar notes on immigration and culture in his speech Tuesday night, but he largely underplayed the economic problems that voters say they are most concerned about.

Mary Earps says she ‘learned some tough lessons’ from book backlash

• Former England keeper has met with Sarina Wiegman

• She adds: ‘I’m human. I’m not perfect, I’m still learning’

Mary Earps said she has “learned some tough lessons” and understands why there was such strong condemnation of comments made in her autobiography last year.

The former England goalkeeper told the Guardian the “last thing she wanted to do” was hurt Sarina Wiegman and she is grateful to have had a chance to meet up with the Lionesses head coach and have a “really positive conversation” since the release of her book in November, which led to a huge backlash.

Student loan crisis in England and Wales is a scam on graduates, say angry MPs

Debate to take place in Westminster as some backbench Labour members join calls for a shake-up of the system

Angry backbench Labour MPs have attacked ministers over the student loans crisis, claiming graduates are being “outrageously scammed”.

Ahead of a Commons Westminster Hall debate on Wednesday morning, some Labour MPs joined calls for an urgent shake-up of the current “unfair” system.

The Martini Shot review – Matthew Modine and a cast to die for can’t fathom an unholy mess

Modine plays a dying director shooting his final film – alongside Derek Jacobi, John Cleese and Stuart Townsend – in this baffling existential drama

Shot in Ireland, so at least the landscapes look pretty, this cuckoo-bananas drama stars Matthew Modine – rocking a white mop of hair and a bushy brush of fake beard – an American film director called Steve who is facing the end of his life. Or maybe he is God himself, casting souls in some indie-budget nonsense about a film director named Steve who looks just like him – or a deluded mortal who thinks he’s God who is fantasising all this on his death bed, or all those things at once.

Like the concept of the Holy Trinity, this is not easy for mere mortals to comprehend, but it has to be said that this is a mostly annoying and only fitfully interesting film. To give The Martini Shot the barest minimum of dues, it at least has a few fine actors in the cast, like Modine himself, Derek Jacobi, John Cleese, Stuart Townsend and, weirdly, Morgana Robinson (so great as Pippa Middleton in The Windsors). They help ease the tedium of waiting for this waffly, “spiritual” self-indulgent nonsense to finish.

Russian firms have routed $8bn of trade through British island territories since invasion of Ukraine

Anti-corruption group Transparency International has catalogued ‘sanctions circumvention’ channelled through ‘unaccountable jurisdictions’

Russian companies have used Britain’s secretive island territories to conduct $8bn (£5.9bn) of trade since the invasion of Ukraine, according to a report that highlights the flow of goods ranging from oil-drilling equipment to luxury yachts linked to Moscow’s political elite.

The analysis, published a day after the fourth anniversary of Russia’s assault on its neighbour, raises questions over the role played by the British overseas territories in enforcing sanctions designed to turn the screw on the Kremlin.

Yachts linked to allies of Vladimir Putin.

Drilling kit for Kremlin-backed oil projects.

Coal linked to Ukraine’s pro-Russian ex-president.

A jet linked to the Chechen warlord Ramzan Kadyrov.

Onana intent on reclaiming place in Manchester United team next season

• Goalkeeper currently on loan at Trabzonspor

• Onana faces hard task due to form of Lammens

André Onana wants to fight to re-establish himself as Manchester United’s No 1 when his season’s loan at Trabzonspor finishes in May and believes he will be given a chance to do so.

The 29-year-old signed for the Turkish club on 11 September after his erratic form moved United to sign Senne Lammens from Royal Antwerp for £18m. He is due to report for pre-season training at United.

I was at the Baftas – and while hearing the N-word was unsettling, all anger should be aimed at the BBC | Jason Okundaye

By failing to remove John Davidson’s tic from the broadcast, editors let down both black and disabled people

I attended the Bafta awards on Sunday. And I arrived early enough to hear the Tourette syndrome (TS) campaigner John Davidson, on whom the biographical film I Swear is based, be introduced. He stood up to wave and take in the applause, and we were told that due to his TS, we might expect to hear involuntary vocal outbursts, known as tics, and that we should understand that the Baftas are an inclusive space in which all people are welcome.

Perhaps half the people were listening, others would have been on their phones or engaged in mild chatter. But the tics were instantly audible. When the host, Alan Cumming, was on stage we heard “boring” and there was laughter. When the outgoing chair of Bafta, Sara Putt, was speaking, we heard “shut the fuck up” and there was a mix of knowing silence and confusion. But, as you all now know, it was when Sinners actors Michael B Jordan and Delroy Lindo presented an award that the tics transmuted from things that would be read as benignly antisocial to more outright offensive, as we heard the N-word. There were gasps and whispers of “did he just say … ?”

Jason Okundaye is an assistant Opinion editor at the Guardian

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.

Why Chile is the latest LATAM country to be caught in a U.S.-China power struggle

The spat comes just days before a Latin American leader's summit in Miami and two weeks before Chile's incoming right-wing government takes over in Santiago.

5 takeaways from Trump's State of Union address

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

CBS News: The State of the Union Address

President Trump delivers the 2026 State of the Union to a joint session of Congress.

Palestine Comedy Club review – roving performance collective finds light in darkness

This portrait of a multi-ethnic comic troupe could do with more unpicking, but its reflections on the grind of war, life on the road and the reactive nature of comedy are insightful

It must surely, sometimes, seem to everyone involved that the name should be Palestine Tragedy Club – but this theatre collective, founded by Alaa Shehada from Jenin in the north of the West Bank, and Sam Beale from the UK, is all about laughter. They are exploring the nature of comedy and standup as a response to being a Palestinian now. This documentary follows the group as they attempt to put together a national tour, with shows in Ramallah, Nablus, Haifa, Nazareth and Jerusalem. In so doing, they encounter the basic problem of struggling through roadblocks, and sheer dismay and horror at the wholesale destruction of the war between Israel and Hamas.

We also see how members of the company find themselves, in effect, in exile in Amsterdam and Berlin and experiencing the existential pain of loneliness and homesickness. Things are further complicated at one stage, by being in London – the seat of empire – for a particular show, making it clear that the British are the imperial villains of all this (it is Britain, not Israel, that is singled out for explicit criticism on stage). I would have liked to see more of the Palestine Comedy Club’s actual show, and more of the way the material is developed and performed, but we do get a very entertaining bit from Shehada as he says that over here, he gets solemn and supportive “mmmm”s instead of laughs – the audiences mulling over it, perhaps laughing later when they’ve had time to think.

Rolling hills, rich heritage and great pubs: a car-free break in Leicestershire

This picturesque corner of the East Midlands is a well-kept secret and it’s great for exploring by public transport

Fallow deer are grazing under ruined brick walls in the house where Lady Jane Grey was born. It’s a moody spring day at Bradgate Park in Leicestershire and there are few visitors. Instead, there are fieldfares in the hedges and skylarks singing in the mist. I’m walking, through bracken and craggy outcrops, towards Old John Tower, a folly that looks like a giant beer mug on the hill ahead.

It sometimes feels as though England’s much-photographed beauty spots get more booked up and overpriced every day. But there are scenic corners of the country that still fly under the insta-radar and Charnwood, around Loughborough, is one of these. The largest borough in Leicestershire, Charnwood is the area between Leicester and the Nottinghamshire border. Its gentle wooded hills and well-kept villages offer country walks to gourmet pubs and cafes. It’s like a cheaper, quieter Cotswolds with better transport links.

Homeschooled by Stefan Merrill Block review – a true ‘Misery’ memoir

A compelling and fitfully harrowing child’s-eye account of a mother’s unravelling

Stefan Merrill Block was nine when his mother pulled him out of school. It was the early 1990s and the family had recently moved from Indianapolis to Plano, Texas, where Block’s father had started a new job. While Block and his older brother, Aaron, had been wrenched away from their schoolmates, their mother had left behind work, a social life and her best friend, and found herself isolated and rudderless. But then she discovered a new purpose: taking charge of her son’s education.

Homeschooled reveals how Block ended up spending five years deprived of the company of his peers (including Aaron, who continued going to school) and at the mercy of his mother’s unpredictable moods. She had decided school was stifling her younger son’s creativity and that mainstream education wasn’t right for a boy of his sensitivities.

Nadiya Hussain on food, faith and finding her voice: ‘I get paid less than the white version of me’

After a decade at the top, the Bake Off winner is reclaiming her career and refusing to soften her edges. She discusses racism, gaslighting – and why comfort food is more important than ever

In a food world where the trend is for protein and weight-loss injections and sugar is the supervillain, Nadiya’s Quick Comforts seems somewhat contrary. There are golden syrup dumplings. There is a chapter devoted to deep frying, with cheese balls and ingenious deep-fried cannelloni.

“If I could write an entire book on deep frying, I absolutely would,” says Hussain with a laugh. “This is how I cook, this is how I eat, this is how I show love to my family. Everything in there is stuff that my kids absolutely love.” It’s about balance, she says – there are also lovely recipes for soothing plant-based dal and delicious noodles – because “I think anything that’s an extreme version of itself is dangerous”.

China restricts exports to 40 Japanese entities with ties to military

China on Tuesday restricted exports to 40 Japanese entities it says are contributing to Japan's "remilitarization," in the latest escalation of tensions with Tokyo.

Signs, silence, skipping: How Democrats protested Trump's State of the Union

The pushback comes as Democrats enter a midterm year in which they hope to make gains in the House and Senate.

Trump has lost the ability to entertain. Sadly, he hasn't lost the ability to offend | Moira Donegan

Throughout the speech, Trump seemed tired. He had difficulty reading from his teleprompter; he gripped the podium with a tightness bordering on desperation

It is one of Donald Trump’s unique talents that he reveals the absurd obsolescence of long-held traditions. In presidential election years, is screaming bloviations on stage make the exercise of gathering the candidates together seem futile. In power, when he divorces facts from policymaking and relies instead on myth and grift to guide his decisions, he renders useless and impotent vast fields of expertise.

When he lies in public, and insists that his fantasies and distortions will dictate the course of government action, he makes those of us in the news business wonder if there’s any point, any more, in gathering and printing the truth.

Moira Donegan is a Guardian US columnist

2/24: CBS Evening News

What to expect in Trump's State of the Union address; Russian strikes on power grid have turned winter into weapon against Ukraine

Read Trump's 2026 State of the Union address

Read President Trump's State of the Union delivered on Feb. 24.

Group expands legal claim over South West Water sewage pollution

Thousands more people across Devon and Cornwall could join case against water firm

A group legal claim against South West Water alleging sewage pollution into coastal waters is harming businesses and individuals has been expanded across Devon and Cornwall.

Thousands more individuals could now join the first environmental community group legal action against a water company over the impact of sewage pollution.

Rogan josh and keema pau: Aktar Islam’s recipes for cooking with mutton

A traditional Kashmiri curry and spicy street food bring the best out of this flavourful meat

Mutton rarely gets the attention it deserves. It’s a mature meat, so is naturally sustainable, and it has a depth and richness that younger cuts simply cannot offer. That robustness is exactly what makes it so rewarding to cook with. Mutton’s bold character stands up beautifully to spices, aromatics and slow cooking, so it’s ideal for curries, stews and braises; on the grill, meanwhile, it takes on smoke in a way that enhances its complexity, rather than overwhelming it. You’re unlikely to find mutton in the supermarket, so you’ll need to make a trip to the butcher’s (many halal ones sell it) or order online.

From Trump’s Maga to Farage’s Reform, they’re all following Putin’s nationalism playbook | Rafael Behr

Reform is promising a ‘patriotic school curriculum’ – but what does that mean? In the end it comes down to submission to the leader

In September 2022, seven months into an all-out war in Ukraine that was only supposed to last a few weeks, Russian schoolchildren started compulsory patriotism lessons. Since then, Monday mornings have been set aside for “conversations about what is important” – a class on the glories of national history; western perfidy; the virtue of self-sacrifice for the Motherland; Vladimir Putin’s wise leadership.

Authoritarian regimes never trust people to love their country spontaneously. Organic national identity, the kind that grows without state cultivation, contains stories of dissent and cultural idiosyncrasy. Variety is subversive.

Rafael Behr is a Guardian columnist

Guardian Newsroom: Can Labour come back from the brink?
On Monday 30 April, ahead of the May elections, join Gaby Hinsliff, Zoe Williams, Polly Toynbee and Rafael Behr as they discuss how much of a threat Labour is under from both the Green party and Reform and whether Keir Starmer can survive as leader of the party. Book tickets here

Japan to deploy missiles to island near Taiwan by 2031, says defence minister

Surface-to-air missiles, which are capable of shooting down aircraft and ballistic missiles, will be located on Yonaguni, Japan’s westernmost island

Japan will deploy missiles to a tiny island near Taiwan within five years, its defence minister has said, in a move that is likely to inflame tensions with China.

The surface-to-air missiles, which are capable of shooting down aircraft and ballistic missiles, will be located on Yonaguni – Japan’s westernmost island – by March 2031, Shinjiro Koizumi said.

‘We did not hear the truth’: Spanberger criticizes Trump over cost of living

Virginia’s new governor gives State of the Union rebuttal while Alex Padilla echoes similar themes in Spanish response

• Democrats refuse to stand for Trump as Al Green ejected over ‘apes’ protest sign

Virginia governor Abigail Spanberger gave a crisp and pointed rebuttal to Donald Trump’s State of the Union address on Tuesday night, focusing on what she called the president’s failure to deliver costs, safety and humanity to the American people.

“We did not hear the truth from our president,” Spanberger said in the 12-minute speech on Tuesday night, asking voters to reflect on how Trump’s agenda has directly affected their lives. “So let’s speak plainly and honestly,” she said. “Is the president working for you?”

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

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

Trump honors gold medal-winning men's hockey team at State of the Union amid controversy

The celebration of the men's team comes after FBI Director Kash Patel's trip to the Games in Milan, and the president's comments about the U.S. women's team, have drawn scrutiny.

I suddenly went blind 2,000 miles from home – alone, penniless and confused

In 1990, Gary Williamson was 18, backpacking in Europe, when his vision began to fail. It was the start of a perilous journey

The first sign that something was wrong was the blurred text in the book Gary Williamson was reading. The problem with his vision had come on suddenly – the day before, it had been normal. Williamson thought perhaps he was tired, or run down. He was 18 and had arrived in Gibraltar after travelling through Europe for two weeks, sleeping rough and not eating or drinking properly. “I’ll go and get some water and something to eat. I thought: maybe it’s nothing. I’ll see how I am tomorrow. The next day, I woke up and it was bad again.” He remembers cautiously getting out his book to test his eyesight: “It’s actually getting worse. I can’t read it now. The lines were starting to blur.” He had relied on a map to get him that far. “I remember thinking: that’s going to become useless very soon. I need to work out what I’m doing.” He needed to get home.

It was 1990, and Williamson didn’t think to call home to ask for help. With no money left – he had made it to Gibraltar four days earlier with the intention to find work – he decided to hitch a lift, thinking a UK-bound lorry would be his best bet. He made it to the gates where the haulage lorries left the port, threw down his backpack by the side of the road and waited. None of the lorries stopped to pick him up. He was, he says, “panicking a little bit, thinking: what do I do? It was harder than I thought it was going to be.” Around 6pm, he gave up. He went back to where he had been sleeping, on a patch of sandy ground behind a sandwich stall over the Spanish border. Before he went to sleep, he wished that he would get a lift the next day, and that his eyesight wouldn’t be any worse. When he woke up, it was.

Four years ago, the world expected Ukraine to be crushed, but it has stood firm. So what now for Putin? | Rajan Menon

A quick landgrab has distorted into a complex geopolitical conflict – and even Trump’s fulminations can’t seem to make Ukrainians give in

Vladimir Putin’s war against Ukraine entered its fifth year on 24 February, with no end in sight despite Russia’s vast material superiority.

Most experts expected Ukraine’s defeat within days. Russia’s population is more than three times Ukraine’s, its GDP around 10 times bigger, its army far larger, its arsenal of tanks, artillery, missiles and warplanes greater. Russia’s leadership, Putin included, expected Ukrainians to capitulate, perhaps even to welcome Russian troops. US and British intelligence predicted the war early, but also projected a rapid Russian victory.

Rajan Menon is a professor emeritus of international relations at the City College of New York and a senior research scholar at Columbia University’s Saltzman Institute of War and Peace Studies

Ukrainian Lessons: Art in a time of war. On Wednesday 30 September, join Charlotte Higgins and acclaimed Ukrainian writers Olia Hercules, Sasha Dovzhyk and Olesya Khromeychuk as they reflect on the profound connections between war, art and life. Book tickets here or at guardian.live

Scotland’s new emissions strategy ‘too reliant on science fiction’, critics say

UK Climate Change Committee voices concern over Scotland’s progress on decarbonising buildings and reliance on unproved technologies

Scotland has finally produced realistic short-term plans on cutting its climate emissions, but there is “real concern” about the credibility of its overall strategy, the UK’s climate policy watchdog has found.

Nigel Topping, the chair of the UK Climate Change Committee, said there were “flashing amber lights” about the quality and seriousness of some of the Scottish government’s medium- and long-term proposals to reach net zero by 2045.

Watch Abigail Spanberger's Democratic response to Trump's 2026 State of the Union

Virginia Gov. Abigail Spanberger delivered the Democratic response to President Trump's State of the Union address Tuesday night as the party attempts to counter the president's message.

Marco Rubio briefs US lawmakers on Iran as Trump uses State of the Union to threaten nuclear programme

Secretary of state makes rare briefing to so-called ‘gang of eight’ as US deploys largest force of aircraft and warships to Middle East since 2003

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

Marco Rubio delivered a rare briefing to top US lawmakers on Iran, just a few hours before Donald Trump used his State of the Union address to say that Tehran would never be allowed to develop nuclear weapons.

Amid the largest deployment of aircraft and warships to the Middle East since the 2003 buildup to the Iraq war, Trump said he wanted to solve the confrontation with Iran through diplomatic means while claiming that Tehran was seeking to develop ballistic missiles that could reach the US, without providing further details.

3 charts highlight the affordability issues Americans worry about most

President Trump touted his work during his first year back in office, saying, "inflation is plummeting, incomes are rising fast, the roaring economy is roaring like never before."

U.S. hockey goalie Connor Hellebuyck will receive Presidential Medal of Freedom

Connor Hellebuyck stopped 41 of Team Canada's 42 shots in the Olympic gold medal match.

South Korea’s birthrate rises for second year with experts saying ‘echo boomers’ behind boost

Rebound in the country – which has been having demographic crisis – said to be partly because of 3.6 million born between 1991 and 1995 having children

South Korea recorded 254,500 births in 2025, the largest annual increase in 15 years, driven largely by a temporarily enlarged generation – known as “echo boomers” – now in their early thirties, alongside marriage rates recovering from Covid-era delays.

The country’s fertility rate – the average number of babies a woman is expected to have in her lifetime – rose to 0.80 from 0.75 last year, returning to the 0.8 range for the first time since 2021, according to provisional figures released by South Korea’s ministry of data and statistics on Wednesday.

Gold medal-winning men's hockey team honored at State of the Union

The U.S. men's hockey team also visited the White House on Tuesday following their gold medal win at the Winter Olympics.

Now everyone can come to the cottage as Heated Rivalry house listed on Airbnb

Giant glass box on the side of a lake the setting for Shane Hollander and Ilya Rozanov’s secret getaway

For Shane Hollander and Ilya Rozanov it became the safe house at the edge of the world.

Now Heated Rivalry fans can relive some of the hit television show’s steamiest moments in Barlochan Cottage, tucked away on the granite-edged shores of Ontario’s Lake Muskoka, which has just been listed on Airbnb.

4 people fatally stabbed outside home near Seattle, suspect shot dead by deputy

A man fatally stabbed four people before being shot dead by a sheriff's deputy outside a home northwest of Tacoma, Washington, authorities said.

Why some Democratic women are wearing white to Trump's State of the Union

The Democratic Women's Caucus wore pink to President Trump's address to Congress last year. This year, they're returning to white.

Tesla sues California DMV to reverse ruling that company engaged in false advertising on FSD

California's DMV previously ruled that Tesla falsely promoted its cars' self-driving capabilities.

Power outages reported, thousands of flights canceled as storm slams Northeast

More than 40 million people were under blizzard warnings along 700 miles of the East Coast from Maryland to Maine.

Airport crews working nonstop to get planes moving after massive snowstorm

At airports across the Northeast, crews worked around the clock, clearing feet of snow to get planes moving again after a massive snowstorm. Kris Van Cleave has more and Rob Marciano has the forecast.

DNA from Guthrie's house may not provide enough evidence to help, sources say

According to sources close to the investigation, there are concerns that DNA recovered from Nancy Guthrie's home may not yield a usable profile for comparison.

A timeline of Nancy Guthrie's disappearance as search stretches on

Savannah Guthrie's mom, Nancy Guthrie, was reported missing Feb. 1.

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.

Nancy Guthrie's family ups reward to $1 million: "We still believe in a miracle"

Savannah Guthrie and her family are offering an additional reward of up to $1 million for any information leading to the whereabouts of their mother, Nancy Guthrie. Jonathan Vigliotti has the latest.

Massive release of Epstein files includes 3 million documents and photos

The Justice Department released more new documents on Jan. 30 from the Jeffrey Epstein files, more than a month after the DOJ's original deadline to do so.

Software stocks rebound as Anthropic announces new partnerships

Cybersecurity and software names have sold off heavily in recent weeks as investors fretted about potential disruption from artificial intelligence.

Lucid widely misses earnings expectations, forecasts continued 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.

Floods and landslides in Brazil kill at least 30 after record rainfall

Firefighters search for 39 people missing in debris after river burst and houses were swept away

Three firefighters pulled a man’s body from the mud amid the rubble of houses swept away in a landslide in south-eastern Brazil, where 30 people died and 39 were still missing on Tuesday after torrential rains.

A river in the state of Minas Gerais burst its banks and streets became raging currents of brown water after an overnight downpour in a region that has seen record rain this month.

Anthropic joins OpenAI in flagging 'industrial-scale' distillation campaigns by Chinese AI firms

Anthropic accused three Chinese artificial intelligence enterprises of engaging in coordinated distillation campaigns, the latest American tech firm to do so.

Paramount Skydance raises bid for Warner Bros. Discover to $31 per share

Warner Bros. Discovery said it will engage with Paramount Skydance to assess if its latest offer is superior to Netflix's $83 billion bid.

Workday stock sinks on weak revenue guidance

The results come weeks after Workday said that CEO Carl Eschenbach is stepping down, with co-founder Aneel Bhusri replacing him.

Senate fails to advance DHS funding as ICE deal remains out of reach

The Senate failed to advance a measure to fund the Department of Homeland Security on Tuesday, 11 days into a partial government shutdown with no apparent end in sight.

4 military working dogs died due to "unsatisfactory" facilities, DoD watchdog finds

The Pentagon inspector general recommended the military reduce the number of military working dogs until there are enough caretakers to provide all dogs with satisfactory care.

College majors with the highest earnings potential and lowest jobless rates

A college degree still provides an edge when it comes to finding a good job, but a person's major may be just as important to career stability, research suggests.

Head of Amazon’s AGI lab is leaving the company

David Luan, the head of Amazon's artificial general intelligence lab, announced on Tuesday that he will be departing the company at the end of the week.

State of the Union: Trump to announce plans for new tax cuts through budget reconciliation

Advancing any legislation through this process is now significantly more challenging given House Speaker Mike Johnson's shrinking margin in the lower chamber.

Speaker Mike Johnson calls for "patience" on economy: "You don't flip a switch"

Hours before President Trump's State of the Union address, House Speaker Mike Johnson told CBS News the U.S. economy is on the right track — but inflation hasn't been "completely fixed yet."

US men’s hockey team visit White House as some players with Minnesota ties stay away

• Donald Trump invited team after Olympic gold

• Women’s team chose to skip event

The victorious US Olympic men’s ice hockey team visited the White House on Tuesday, although there were several notable absences.

Donald Trump invited the team to celebrate in Washington DC after they beat Canada in a dramatic Olympic final on Sunday. He also invited the US women’s team, who declined citing “timing and previously scheduled academic and professional commitments”.