Trump announces two-year closure of Kennedy Center, citing construction needs – key US politics stories from 1 February 2026 Donald Trump, who remains embroiled in tensions surrounding ICE’s presence in Minnesota, as well as scrutiny over the justice department’s latest release of the Jeffrey Epstein files, has made another announcement on Sunday evening: the temporary closure of the John F Kennedy Center in Washington DC. Trump, who overhauled the center’s leadership at the start of his second term and renamed it to include his own name, described the center as “tired, broken, and dilapidated,” adding that it has been in “bad condition, both financially and structurally for many years”. Continue reading...

DC arts venue, which has seen wave of canceled events after Trump’s takeover, will start renovations in July The John F Kennedy Center, a world-class venue for the performing arts in Washington DC, will halt entertainment events for two years starting on 4 July during renovations, Donald Trump posted on Sunday on Truth Social. The Kennedy Center, which has seen a wave of performers cancel events in recent months as well as the lowest ticket sales in years, has been in turmoil since the president orchestrated a leadership overhaul in the beginning of his term. Continue reading...

Tonight has already seen wins for Lady Gaga and Bad Bunny with major performances and big awards still to come Grammy awards 2026: list of winners Grammy awards 2026: nominations in major categories Since there are roughly 4000 Grammy categories, the majority of awards are handed out before the televised ceremony (which is essentially a long concert with a few awards on the side). Here are some of tonight’s big winners already: Continue reading...

Dyson’s latest hard-floor vacuum is an expensive indulgence you probably don’t need – but might still want • The best cordless vacuum cleaners, tested With the best vacuum cleaners perfectly capable of cleaning both carpet and hard floors, investing in a second device that specialises in one or the other might seem like an unnecessary luxury. While Dyson’s £429.99 PencilVac Fluffycones looks positively affordable next to its £749.99 V16 Piston Animal, it’s a hard-floor specialist that can’t tackle carpets or particularly big cleans, and it won’t replace your existing vacuum. However, indulge me for a moment, because if you have any hard floor that needs regular sweeping for dust, hair and crumbs, it’s an accessible, flexible and friendly little cleaner. The PencilVac is small for a Dyson and comes with a free-standing charging dock rather than the usual wall mount. It’s clearly designed to sit in the corner of a kitchen or dining area and be brought out for a quick sweep-up whenever needed. It’s also handy for a quick nip around a pet’s favourite hangouts, or for a sweep of your bathroom floor. Continue reading...

Almeida theatre, London In a bloody, brilliant, full circle Rupert Goold bows out as artistic director of the Almeida with a timely revival of the musical he first staged here in 2013 The term “yuppie” conjures visions of shoulder pads, Filofaxes and liquid lunches. This is the world Patrick Bateman inhabits and Bret Easton Ellis’s narcissistic banker is every inch the embodiment of it – a creature of Wall Street’s hedonistic heyday, blinging in designer-wear as he swings his axe at high-end escorts and the homeless. So Rupert Goold’s decision to resurrect this musical adaptation of Ellis’s ghastly 1991 masterpiece is not without risk. Don’t these singing yuppies seem ridiculously passé now in their boxy suits and Ralph Lauren underwear? The satire is amped to 10, licking its lips, it seems, as it sends up the 1980s. But it never spirals into kitsch and our contemporary world of toxic masculinity, Trumpian capitalism and Insta-fuelled solipsism slowly, chillingly, creeps out of it. Continue reading...

Social media platform says there are still ‘real technical limitations to accurate and dependable age verification’ Follow our Australia news live blog for latest updates Get our breaking news email, free app or daily news podcast The accounts of more than 415,000 users in Australia identified as being under 16 were locked or disabled by Snapchat as part of its compliance with the under-16s social media ban. The company announced in a blog post on Monday that, as of the end of January, it had disabled or locked more than 415,000 Snapchat accounts in Australia belonging to users who either declared an age under 16 or the platform believes to be under 16 based on age detection technology. Continue reading...

I wonder how Naveed will navigate his own path – and how much I must nurture and how much I must learn to let go “Schools are finally re-opening, mate,” my volleyball friend Sardar announced, grinning with unmistakable relief. It clearly had nothing to do with how we played that evening – we lost badly. This joy was about classrooms, routines, teachers and the quiet order that schools bring back into families’ lives. For us, it also meant something else entirely: my youngest, Naveed, is starting school for the first time. Continue reading...

Jesus Ochoa and Raymundo Gutierrez are both officers with Customs and Border Protection, ProPublica reports Government documents have identified the two federal officers who fatally shot Alex Pretti in Minneapolis as Jesus Ochoa, a border patrol agent, and Raymundo Gutierrez, an officer with Customs and Border Protection (CBP), according to ProPublica. According to those records, Ochoa, 43, and Gutierrez, 35, were the agents who fired their weapons during the confrontation last weekend that resulted in Pretti’s death. The shooting sparked widespread demonstrations and renewed demands for criminal inquiries into federal immigration enforcement actions. Immediately following Pretti’s killing, the Trump administration repeatedly pushed false claims about the shooting. Continue reading...

About 150m faced cold weather advisories along eastern US, and two in North Carolina died in storm-related conditions A bomb cyclone produced freezing temperatures across a large portion of the US from the Gulf coast to New England, bringing heavy snow to North Carolina where two were killed in storm-related conditions, and setting records in Florida, where officials warned of ice and falling iguanas. About 150 million people were under cold weather advisories and extreme cold warnings in the eastern portion of the US, with wind chills near zero to single digits in the south and the coldest air mass seen in south Florida since December 1989, said Peter Mullinax, a meteorologist with the weather prediction center in College Park, Maryland. Continue reading...

There are estimated to be a million undiscovered geniuses in the UK, and this show is out to find one. It’s a stressful, heartwarming, shocking watch – which raises big questions about the UK This, then, is what Alan Carr did next. Fresh from his victory as the last traitor standing in The Celebrity Traitors, and elevation to national treasure status, the Chatty Man is co-presenting Secret Genius with Countdown’s dictionary-botherer, the lexicographer and author Susie Dent. On second thoughts, given the lead times for these things, this is probably better billed as “What Alan Carr was contracted to do next” but no matter. We are here to have fun and fun we shall! Though, this being a reality-competition show in which people take part in regional heats to find out who among them is “one of the estimated million undiscovered geniuses” in the UK (no definition of the term given – Dent, you had ONE JOB), it comes with a buffet of sob stories, a side order of stress and a hefty dollop of whatever the word is for that patented mix of schadenfreude and voyeurism on which the genre depends. We begin with a dozen participants drawn from north-west England and Northern Ireland. They have either nominated themselves or – more often – been nominated by friends and family who know them as the cleverclogses of their circles. All will compete in the first round: eight will reach the second. Continue reading...

Without a weighty le Carré novel behind it, there were fears the steamy, stylish spy series would feel phoned in. We needn’t have worried – it’s been a delight This article contains spoilers for the season finale of The Night Manager What a pleasure it is to be seduced – and The Night Manager is just about the most seductive show on television. The palatial houses and swish hotels; the expensive suits and crisp shirts (does anyone wear a button-up better than Tom Hiddleston?); all the beautiful people with their beautiful faces, elegantly stabbing one another in the back. The first season aired 10 years ago – an entirely different world – so when it was announced that a second season was coming, my first thought was: oh no, lightning doesn’t strike twice. Delightfully, I was wrong. If you haven’t revisited The Night Manager since 2016, here are the pertinent points: Jonathan Pine (Hiddleston), a night manager in a Cairo hotel, weaseled his way into the rarefied world of arms dealer Richard Onslow Roper (Hugh Laurie), AKA “the worst man in the world”, under the direction of Angela Burr (Olivia Colman), who ran a British intelligence operation. As a supposedly loyal henchman, Pine beguiled Roper, shtupped his girlfriend, imploded his arms deal and made off with a cool $300m, as Roper was dragged off screaming to a violent fate by unhappy customers. Continue reading...

Dublin racing festival belatedly starts on Sunday Brighterdaysahead cut in betting for Cheltenham festival There was a full-throated roar from the stands as the 2026 Dublin racing festival finally got under way on Sunday and another as Lossiemouth, the favourite, went to post for the Irish Champion Hurdle later in the afternoon, but the cheers 10 minutes later were for her market rival, Brighterdaysahead, as Gordon Elliott’s mare convincingly reversed the form of the December Hurdle here last month to win the big race of the day. Lossiemouth and Brighterdaysahead were foaled within three weeks of each other in March 2019 but last month’s Grade One was the first time that the two mares had met on the track. Continue reading...

US president announces efforts being made to strike a deal having earlier threatened to stop island importing oil Washington is negotiating with Havana’s leadership to strike a deal, Donald Trump has said, days after threatening Cuba’s reeling economy with a virtual oil blockade. “Cuba is a failing nation. It has been for a long time but now it doesn’t have Venezuela to prop it up. So we’re talking to the people from Cuba, the highest people in Cuba, to see what happens,” Trump told reporters at his Mar-a-Lago estate in Palm Beach, Florida on Sunday. Continue reading...

Final: Arsenal 3-2 Corinthians (aet) Smith 15; Wubben-Moy 58; Foord 104; Zanotti 21, Albuquerque 90+6 pen The most decorated women’s club in England made more history at the Emirates stadium on Sunday night, Arsenal securing a 3-2 win over the Copa Libertadores champions Corinthians in extra time to see them crowned winners of the inaugural Fifa Women’s Champions Cup. They were made to work for their victory, the Brazilians twice coming from behind to force another 30 minutes of football, but it was somewhat of an inevitability. The Uefa Champions League winners benefited from being mid-season with players at full fitness, in contrast to Corinthians being in their pre-season and Concacaf Champions Cup winners Gotham FC in their off-season, and from the decision to hold the tournament in London, and play the final at the Emirates. This was a competition set up for European success and Arsenal delivered. They are officially the world’s best club and they have a nice trophy to prove it. The 13-point gap, albeit with a game in hand, between them and WSL leaders Manchester City though, says otherwise. Continue reading...

‘If it’s a central defender to a striker it’s a penalty, right?’ Thomas Frank says Spurs ‘going in the right direction’ Pep Guardiola was left frustrated once again by a refereeing decision as Manchester City lost ground in the Premier League title race after a ­chaotic 2-2 draw at Tottenham. The City manager complained that the Spurs goal for 2-1, which sparked an outlandish second-half comeback, should not have stood. Dominic Solanke kicked through the back of the City defender Marc Guéhi, the ball then going in but neither the referee nor the VAR felt there was enough in it for a foul to be given. Continue reading...

Rotterdam film festival The Repo Man director relocates Gogol’s surreal novella to the old west in what he says will be his final film English film-maker Alex Cox comes riding into town with this jauntily odd and surreal western which he has indicated will be his swansong, shot on the rugged plains of Almeria in Spain and also Arizona. Cox himself is the star – an elegant, dapper presence – and his co-writer is veteran spaghetti western actor Gianni Garko. The story has obvious relevance to contemporary America, and a flash-forward makes some of this clear. But it is also inspired by the classic novella of the same name by Nikolai Gogol, a mysterious parable of greed and vanity about a man who travels around offering to buy the souls of dead serfs on various estates in pre-revolutionary Russia so landowners can lower their tax bills, but plans to claim that they are still alive and therefore pass himself off as a wealthy man. Continue reading...

Government gives approval to compete in tournament Pakistan will not play India in Colombo on 15 February Pakistan will boycott their Twenty20 World Cup match against India on 15 February, the Pakistan government said on Sunday while approving the team’s participation in the tournament. “The government ... grants approval to the Pakistan cricket team to participate in the World T20, however, the Pakistan cricket team shall not take the field in the match against India,” the post on the government’s official X account said. Continue reading...

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City again needlessly threw points away but Solanke showed what Tottenham, with their long injury list, have been missing There are times when football is gloriously silly, times when the logic of your eyes and all your experience tells you one thing is happening, and then it turns out the reality is quite different. What seemed at the break as though it was going to be an easy away win unexpectedly became a draw and, as a result, both ends of the table looked quite different at the final whistle to how it appeared they were going to look at half-time. It was a case of multiple immutable but incompatible laws running into each other. On the one hand, Tottenham are terrible and have picked up just eight points at home this season. But on the other, City have developed a habit of needlessly squandering points and somehow always do worse than expected against Tottenham. The consequence was a game that simultaneously made very little sense but at the same time was predictable, at least in the way it remained true to those fundamental principles. Continue reading...

The Premiership Women’s Rugby defending champions stayed on course for a fourth consecutive title with a 45-26 win over Loughborough The English top-flight returned from a six-week break with impressive crowds continuing to benefit from the post-Rugby World Cup bounce and the battle for top four spots as tight as ever. While just six points separate third from sixth in the Women’s Premiership, reigning champions Gloucester-Hartpury once again proved their superiority with a seven-try 45-26 win over Loughborough that lifted them above Saracens at the top of the table. Gloucester are now five points clear of Saracens, who did not play like weekend, and 12 of the chasing pack as they continued their unbeaten run with their last league defeat coming in November 2024. The defending champions underlined their intent for a fourth consecutive title with a stunning home display. Wales international Nel Metcalfe was the star for the hosts with a 24-minute first-half hat-trick. Her performances will be giving Wales supporters a sprinkling of hope leading in to the Women’s Six Nations in two months’ time. Continue reading...

At the end of a truly wild occasion, this the definition of the game of two halves, it was difficult to state the case for Manchester City’s Premier League title-winning aspirations. The manner of their second-half capitulation saw to that. If they were impressive before the interval, they were so brittle thereafter, blown off course after Tottenham stirred. Pep Guardiola was beside himself with frustration on the touchline. Continue reading...

Patients missing out on effective new radiotherapies widely used in other countries, doctors warn Cancer patients are being denied access to cutting-edge treatments on the NHS because of a “deadly postcode lottery” in access, doctors have warned. Patients in England are missing out on two innovative forms of radiotherapy that are known to be effective against several forms of the disease and are widely available in other countries, due to “red tape” and lack of funding. Continue reading...

2nd T20i: England, 173-4, bt Sri Lanka, 189-5, by 6wkts DLS (method) Banton 54*, Brook smashes 36 off 12 balls as England take 2-0 series lead Numerous apologies, intense scrutiny but, still, he goes and does that. Harry Brook’s 12-ball 36 helped England chase down a revised target of 168 in the second Twenty20 international against Sri Lanka, securing the tourists’ second series victory of the week. England had initially been set 190, but a rain break prompted a change of equation; when Brook emerged England needed 87 from 7.5 overs in a reduced game. He put on an exhibition over extra cover to turn the chase his side’s way. While the captain’s knock was brief, Tom Banton made his case for a starting spot at the World Cup, putting aside his tough time in the field to stay the course with an excellent, unbeaten on 54. Continue reading...

Families allege Bright Horizons brushed concerns aside allowing Vincent Chan to commit dozens of offences Families of victims of a paedophile are taking legal action against a north London nursery where their children were abused, as they allege a “consistent culture of brushing concerns aside”. Vincent Chan, 45, is facing prison for molesting girls aged between two and four while working at the now-closed Bright Horizons nursery in Finchley Road, West Hampstead. Continue reading...

PM says Europe must ‘step up’ and signals he wants to work more closely with other states to build military capability The UK should consider re-entering talks for a defence pact with the EU, Keir Starmer has said, arguing that Europe needs to “step up and do more” to defend itself in uncertain times. The prime minister signalled that he wanted to work more collaboratively with other European countries to increase defence spending and build up military capability, and doing so through the EU’s scheme is one option available. Continue reading...