The Winter Olympics got off to an embarrassing start for the organisers as the lights went out 10 minutes into the curling as two British hopes were forced to wait

The Winter Olympics in Milano Cortina was only 10 minutes old when a power cut struck and bought a halt to proceedings. The Games got underway with the curling, but those competing were forced to wait when the lights went out.

Despite the Opening Ceremony at the San Siro not taking place until Friday some of the events have begun. The curling started with the first mixed doubles round robin matches, but they were forced to pause due to a power failure at the Olympic Ice Stadium.

Play was halted by officials with Britain’s Bruce Mouat and Jen Dodds in the first end of their match against Norway. The British curlers seemed to be in good spirits despite the delay, with Dodds seen laughing at the disruption while an official was communicating with staff in the venue.

BBC commentator Steve Cram, who couldn’t help but laugh at the disruption, said: “We have had a power cut here at the stadium. Not a great start for the organisers here. I think play has been paused, because the scoring screens have gone off. Most of the lights on the ice seem to be still on, but certainly most has gone.”

The crowd saw the funny side as they cheered after the lights flickered back into life in the arena to allow competition to resume following a delay of around five minutes.

READ MORE: Team GB launch appeal over ‘illegal’ Winter Olympics equipment as ban harms medal hopesREAD MORE: 7 British Winter Olympic medal hopes and when you can watch them in action

Dodds and Maout would ultimately earn an 8-6 win to start the round robin phase impressively – the latter making light of the unexpected disruption. “It was a great atmosphere, the venue is amazing and the ice is really good,” he said. “I didn’t really mind the lights going off, it was a bit of a dance and a boogie, a rave, nightclub you know.”

Britain’s best medal haul from a Winter Games is five – that coming at Sochi 2014 and Pyeongchang 2018 – but UK Sport says up to eight medals could be won following continued investment.

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Funding through the National Lottery and government, UK Sport has invested more than £32.5m across the current four-year cycle for the Winter Olympics and Paralympics with an “ambition for the UK to become an ever-greater force” in winter sports.

Eve Muirhead OBE is a gold medal winner from the last Games at Beijing 2022. She has since retired from elite sport, but stepped straight into a senior leadership role within Team GB, leading them as Chef de Mission for Milan-Cortina 2026.

She has said: “The potential within this team is exceptionally high, and while we don’t always benefit from the same ease of access to snow and ice as some of our rivals, when I look at the class of 2026, I see a real opportunity to challenge the status quo.”

Mitchell recived the award in 2018

Calls have been made for Belfast City Council to revoke George Mitchell’s Freedom of the City.

US President Bill Clinton and Senator George J Mitchell were made Freemen of the City of Belfast in a joint ceremony at the Ulster Hall in April 2018, in recognition of their services to peace-building in Northern Ireland.

A bust of Mitchell, a former United States senator who played a crucial role in Northern Ireland’s peace process, and who was the Queen’s University Belfast chancellor for 10 years, was removed from the grounds in front of the Lanyon building on Tuesday (February 3). The bust, installed in 2023, cost around £35,000.

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The university has given up all attachments to the former senator over his links with convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, and allegations from victim Virginia Giuffre. Mitchell denies any contact with Giuffre or any underage women trafficked by Epstein.

A spokesperson for the former Senator said he “profoundly regrets ever having known Jeffrey Epstein and condemns, without reservation, the horrific harm Epstein inflicted on so many women.” Earlier this week the US-Ireland Alliance said the George J Mitchell Scholarship Program would have its name changed.

The Freedom of the City tradition dates back to the early thirteenth century, and while in earlier times there were many privileges and benefits connected to the title, today it is purely honorary. Many well-known figures have been made a Freeman of the City including Queen Elizabeth II, Kenneth Branagh, Van Morrison and Dame Mary Peters.

Belfast DUP Councillor Sarah Bunting said there are “serious concerns in relation to links between Senator Mitchell and Jeffrey Epstein, and the expectations of the people of Belfast as to recipients of this highest civic honour should be to the fore in any decision.”

The Ulster Unionist Party said in a statement: “We would support reviewing and potentially stripping Mitchell of his 2018 Freedom of Belfast award to uphold its integrity, and we welcome any relevant committee action, prepared to propose or back a motion if needed.”

A Sinn Féin spokesperson said the party is “liaising with council officials on necessary actions that could be taken in relation to any recognition bestowed on George Mitchell by Belfast City Council.”

Belfast Alliance Councillor Michael Long has also said “it is no longer appropriate” to award Mitchell the Freedom of the City.

West Belfast People Before Profit MLA Gerry Carroll said: “George Mitchell’s horrendous association with Jeffrey Epstein should warrant the immediate revocation of his freedom of the city award.

“Mitchell and the Clintons have been lauded by the political establishment, north and south. The crimes exposed in the Epstein files are unforgivable. Belfast City Council must follow Queen’s lead and cut all ties with Mitchell.

“Belfast shouldn’t honour wealthy predators and their enablers, no matter how powerful they are.”

For all the latest news, visit the Belfast Live homepage here and sign up to our daily newsletter

Manchester City cruised into the final of the Carabao Cup to face rivals Arsenal despite another poor second-half performance

Brace yourselves, Pep Guardiola may really be off this time. Any more leaps like the one that accompanied Manchester City’s third goal and the manager’s back is going to decide his future for him.

As it is, the sight of the 55-year-old twirling around his technical area and shaking his fists in joy at his 21-year-old Uzbek centre-back was a welcome reminder of the energy that is still alive and well at the Etihad. If Guardiola isn’t to see out his contract until 2027 – and it remains a big if – he will leave a squad that is good enough to compete for trophies.

City saved their best performance of the season for the first leg of this semi-final, holding their nerve in the north-east and then producing two moments of quality to take a 2-0 advantage. After Sunday’s collapse at Spurs though, there were more nerves than there should have been for the visit of Eddie Howe’s side.

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Guardiola’s selection left room for more nerves, placing responsibility on Omar Marmoush up front and Phil Foden behind him to get the game won. Marmoush duly obliged inside six minutes, exchanging rapid passes with Tijjani Reijnders before seeing Dan Burn’s attempted clearance loop in off the Egyptian’s shin.

Newcastle looked like they had turned up to do their best impression of the 2024/25 version of City, and their midfield was easily played through every time the home side went forward. Kieran Tripper looked to test with a free-kick, but the Blues countered, and when Trippier could only kick Antoine Semenyo’s cross up into the path of Marmoush as he fell over trying to get back, the striker had an easy second.

That isn’t to say that City had it all their way – James Trafford had to make a number of excellent saves when Newcastle did carve City open. However, they were awful in the middle and when Reijnders slammed home a third before half-time the game and the tie were done.

There was of course the obligatory City wobble as soon as the second half started, with Yoane Wissa shooting horribly wide in the first 30 seconds when put clean through on goal after an error from Abdukodir Khusanov. Warning unheeded, Anthony Elanga waltzed past Tijjani Reijnders, Rayan Ait-Nouri and Nico O’Reilly far too easily to pull a goal back after an hour.

Having been delighted in the first half, Guardiola’s mood changed as he watched another below-par performance coming after the break. His triple substitution with 20 minutes to go to bring on Rayan Cherki, Rodri, and Erling Haaland summed up where this City team are at: they can take Blues from one end of the spectrum to the other in the same match.

That sort of inconsistency needs addressing and ironing out, but it takes a high level to be 90 minutes from one trophy and well in the hunt for three others after six months of the season just as it does to reach five League Cup finals in 10 years. If his team can rise to it, Guardiola still has plenty of celebrations left in him.

We’re about to enter a world without nuclear arms control.

The last remaining treaty capping the arsenals of Russia and the US will expire on Thursday.

It means, for the first time in more than half a century, there will be no legal limits on their missiles and warheads, and there are fears we are on the brink of a new arms race.

“It’s a serious situation,” Vasily Kashin, a research fellow at Moscow’s Higher School of Economics, told Sky News.

“Probably now we can witness a lot of developments, especially in the US nuclear policy, and the situation will be quite unpredictable.

“There is a real danger of a nuclear arms race in the coming years.”

The first agreement on arms control between the world’s nuclear superpowers was in 1972, signed by US president Richard Nixon and Soviet leader Leonid Brezhnev.

The aim was to slow the arms race and prevent a catastrophic misunderstanding.

Even at the height of the Cold War, these two rivals could agree on that.

In 1991, as the Soviet Union fell, George Bush senior and Mikhail Gorbachev signed the START treaty.

It was the first time both sides had to reduce their arsenals and it marked the start of an inspection framework, so that each side could check the other was complying with the limits.

The most recent treaty – the New START – was signed in 2010, by Barack Obama and Dmitry Medvedev, before being extended for five years in 2021.

On each side, the number of deployed strategic warheads are capped at 1,550, and the number of delivery vehicles are limited to 700.

That’s more than enough for Russia and the US to destroy each other but it’s a cap nonetheless.

And when this treaty expires on Thursday, that cap will no longer exist, ending decades of arms control cooperation.

So how have we reached this point?

The Kremlin’s invasion of Ukraine in 2022 saw a breakdown in Russia-US relations, to the point where talks to negotiate a new treaty were never even scheduled.

The terms of the current treaty allow only for one formal extension.

Vladimir Putin has proposed an informal rollover for 12 months, but Donald Trump so far hasn’t agreed.

Some believe he’s crazy not to, fearing the US will be the one that loses out if there is an arms race.

Read more: Doomsday Clock closer to midnight than ever

But others believe it’s a good move, leaving America free to compete with the nuclear build-up of other countries like China.

And China’s clearly on the US president’s mind – he says he wants a new trilateral treaty that includes Beijing.

But those who’ve worked on these things warn that it’s wishful thinking.

“We never tried trilateral [talks] actually,” Nikolai Sokov, a former Soviet and Russian arms control negotiator, told Sky News.

“Who says it’s going to be trilateral? The official Russian position and the official Chinese position is that negotiations can be bilateral between the United States and Russia, or they can be five-party, including the United Kingdom and France.”

So barring any last-minute deal, we’re entering unchartered territory and who knows for how long.

The strategic stability won’t change overnight but the absence of any agreement shows how far US-Russia relations have fallen.

And it could make the world a much more dangerous place.

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Supreme Court on Wednesday allowed California to use a new voter-approved congressional map that is favorable to Democrats in this year’s elections, rejecting a last-ditch plea from state Republicans and the Trump administration.

No justices dissented from the brief order denying the appeal without explanation, which is common on the court’s emergency docket.

The justices had previously allowed Texas’ Republican-friendly map to be used in 2026, despite a lower-court ruling that it likely discriminates on the basis of race.

Conservative Justice Samuel Alito wrote in December that it appeared both states had adopted new maps for political advantage, which the high court has previously ruled cannot be a basis for a federal lawsuit.

Republicans, joined by the Trump administration, claimed the California map improperly relied on race as well. But a lower court disagreed by a 2-1 vote. The Justice Department and White House did not immediately respond to messages seeking comment.

The justices’ unsigned order keeps in place districts that are designed to flip up to five seats now held by Republicans, part of a tit-for-tat nationwide redistricting battle spurred by President Donald Trump, with control of Congress on the line in midterm elections.

Last year, at Trump’s behest, Texas Republicans redid the state’s congressional districts with an eye on gaining five seats.

California Gov. Gavin Newsom, a Democrat who is eyeing a 2028 presidential run, pledged to respond in kind, though he had to win over voters, not just lawmakers, to do so.

Newsom celebrated the court’s decision, saying on social media that Trump had “started this redistricting war” and would end up losing out in the November midterms, when control of Congress is at stake.

California’s attorney general, Democrat Rob Bonta, said the decision was “good news not only for Californians, but for our democracy.”

The state Republican Party, which brought the case, did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

One longtime party strategist, Jon Fleishman, a former executive director of the California Republican Party, said in a post on X that the decision means “this year’s elections will take place on the new lines shrinking the already very small Republican delegation from California.”

Filing for congressional primaries in California begins on Monday.

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Associated Press writers Michael Blood in Los Angeles and Lindsay Whitehurst contributed to this report.

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Follow the AP’s coverage of the U.S. Supreme Court at https://apnews.com/hub/us-supreme-court.

The Greencroft Estate in Lanchester was set to become home to a 290-hectare forest with 600,000 trees after approval in early 2025.

A total of 31 different tree species including oak, birch, willow and hornbeam were set to be included in the development.

However, it has been revealed that Lanchester Properties Ltd has launched a legal challenge against the Forestry Commission for its approval of the Greencroft Forest scheme in County Durham, which will neighbour one of the company’s premises. 

Their complaints were initially thrown out in September, but following the request of an oral hearing, a judicial review will be carried out.

In the meantime, no works to bring the forest to life can take place.

Harry Humble, Chief Executive of developers True North Ltd, said: “We are understandably disappointed with the judge’s decision.

“This is a further costly delay to the planting of England’s largest contiguous commercial forest. We won’t be able to plant anything this spring, as the case will be locked up in the courts awaiting a decision, while the legal bill for the taxpayer continues to mount.

“Lanchester Wines claims strong environmental credentials, yet is challenging the Forestry Commission over a well-considered plan to plant a new forest that will help cut carbon and improve biodiversity.

“It is also protecting itself from costly legal bills by claiming legal dispensations. The delay will leave in the atmosphere the same amount of CO2 as produced by five fully loaded aeroplanes flying from London to New York.

He added: “This is merely delaying the inevitable. We are confident that the forest will be planted and that sense will prevail.

“The scheme is well considered and fully compliant meeting all the Government’s tree planting requirements.

“We expect the case to be granted in our favour at a later hearing, when the forest and planting will progress.

“We will continue to work alongside the Forestry Commission to obtain a timely decision. Nothing in this case warrants a judicial review.”

As previously reported, the forest is set to be tended and managed, with the first timber yield expected in 2045 and a total of 110,000 tonnes of homegrown timber produced in the first rotation. 

Policy experts have called for the DWP to scrap the mixed-age couples rule

The Department for Work and Pensions is facing calls to change the qualifying rules for a key benefit, as many are being missing out. Policy experts addressed a parliamentary committee to voice their apprehensions about the existing benefits framework and propose potential improvements.

Discussions covered enhanced data sharing and changes to eligibility requirements that could help struggling households obtain vital assistance.

Morgan Vine, director of policy, grants and influencing at the financial support charity Independent Age, highlighted a specific qualifying condition that prevents numerous people from accessing Pension Credit. The benefit becomes available upon reaching state pension age, supplementing income to £227.10 weekly for individuals and £346.60 for couples. Additional payments may be awarded based on personal circumstances.

If your partner hasn’t yet reached state pension age, you’re ineligible for the benefit, regardless of whether you have reached state pension age yourself. During testimony before the Work and Pensions Committee, Ms Vine argued that this eligibility requirement “is not a good policy and needs to be reversed”.

According to some projections, she noted, affected households could be missing out on as much as £5,000 or potentially £7,000 annually because of this rule, reports the Mirror. The expert suggested this would be an ideal time to abolish the policy, given other upcoming changes on the horizon.

She explained: “This is a good time to reverse it, as we’re looking at, in the context of the state pension age rising, the people that we support are going to have to wait even longer, if they are in a mixed age couple.”

The state pension age is set to increase from the current 66, rising gradually from April 2026 to reach 67 by April 2028. She said one of her organisation’s advisers recently assisted a 79-year-old whose partner is 59, meaning they cannot access the benefit. She said in this instance, the younger partner was unable to work due to suffering from long-term health conditions.

Ms Vine posed the question: “Why does it have to be on a working age household entitlement level, why can’t it be on a pensioner age household entitlement level? Because then, largely you’d be supporting somebody also in the most at-risk group, in their 50s to 60s, who has an older partner. It would be a double-win, because you’d also be helping them.

“If their income is low, which is why they’d be entitled to that benefit anyway, they’re not in work. If they were in work, neither of them would be entitled to it.”

She described how many elderly people consider this to be unjust. Ms Vine said: “We definitely think it’s something that should be looked at. For a lot of the people we support, they very much feel like they are being penalised for who they love, which isn’t something anyone wants to be in a situation of.”

The expert also noted that the most recent figures on how many people are impacted by this are considerably outdated, meaning the true scale of the issue remains unknown. The DWP was approached for comment and asked whether there are any plans to amend the policy.

A DWP spokesperson said: “Supporting pensioners is a top priority and our commitment to the triple lock means millions of older people will see their state pension rise by up to £2,100, with an extra 47,300 pensioner households awarded Pension Credit – worth on average £86 a week.

“Pension Credit is intended to aid pensioners who have left the labour market. A person of working age is entitled to different benefits which include employment support, such as Universal Credit.”

The state pension is expected to increase by up to £2,100 per year over the course of this Parliament due to the triple lock. The policy guarantees annual increases each April based on whichever is highest: 2.5 per cent, average earnings growth, or inflation.

Latest DWP data reveals that between November 2024 and November 2025, 179,455 Pension Credit claims were processed and granted – a 36 per cent jump, equating to 47,285 additional claims compared to the previous year’s figures.

When previously questioned by the committee regarding the mixed age qualifying rule, the Government responded: “There are no plans to change or explore the requirement for mixed-age couples to claim Universal Credit, or the conditionality requirements for the younger partner.

“This working age customer will receive the same labour market support as other Universal Credit claimants and any conditionality applied to them will take into account their individual circumstances.”

Savannah Guthrie’s replacement for Olympics coverage has been announced as she focuses on finding her missing mother.

NBC revealed that her co-host, Craig Melvin, is also canceling his trip to Italy.

Veteran Olympics broadcaster Mary Carillo will replace Guthrie as co-host on Friday’s telecast of the opening ceremonies for the Winter Games after Guthrie was forced to pull out of the gig to help search for her mother.

Melvin was due to host late-night Olympics broadcasts early next week, and he’ll be replaced in that role by Ahmed Fareed, NBC announced.

An NBC Sports spokesperson said in a statement shared with The Independent, “Savannah will not be joining us at the Olympics as she focuses on being with her family during this difficult time. Our hearts are with her and the entire Guthrie family as the search continues for their mother.”

The mystery of Nancy Guthrie’s disappearance has cast a pall over what was anticipated to be a giant week for the television network.

Investigators believe Nancy Guthrie was taken from her Arizona home against her will.

The Olympics is among the few events to still draw consistent, big audiences to broadcast television. Other notable draws include the Super Bowl, which NBC is due to televise this weekend.

Savannah Guthrie had been scheduled to co-host the opening ceremony with Terry Gannon, but NBC said she was no longer traveling to Italy because of her mother’s disappearance.

Carillo is a familiar face to people who watch the Olympics — these will be her 17th Olympic Games — and she will co-host with Gannon.

Carillo lived in Milan for two years as a child, NBC said. She has hosted closing ceremonies at three Olympic games — in Salt Lake City in 2002, Beijing in 2008 and Rio de Janeiro in 2016.

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NBC News has aggressively covered the story of Nancy Guthrie’s disappearance, but it hasn’t been alone. It was the lead story of ABC’s World News Tonight on Tuesday, too.

But in a message, released as part of the latest batch of the Epstein files, headed “draft statement” sent by a “G Maxwell” to Jeffrey Epstein in 2015, she wrote: “In 2001 I was in London when [redacted] met a number of friends of mine including Prince Andrew. A photograph was taken as I imagine she wanted to show it to friends and family.”

Warning: This is a report of the inquest into the death of Darren Meah-Moore and contains evidence that may be distressing

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Police have used CCTV to piece together the final movements of a young man who ended up dead beneath cardboard boxes in a city centre laneway.

Darren Meah-Moore was also known as the drag queen, CC Quinn, Crystal Coutoure and Dolly Diamond in Cardiff. The video footage shows Meah-Moore engage with two men on the night, disappearing from sight but reappearing again. However, its after a third encounter with a man that he fails to reappear.

He was later found dead in a lane close to Windsor Place and Park Lane in Cardiff City centre on Sunday, January 22, 2023, reports Wales Online. The 39 year old lived in Newport but performed in venues across South Wales, England and abroad with his act that included jokes, funny stories and songs by Tina Turner and Amy Winehouse.

The CCTV video combined with witness statements show Mr Meah-Moore entering the lane where his body was found. The man that was with him cannot be named due to a reporting restriction made by the court.

The man gave evidence about a sexual encounter involving his pet dog on the second day of the inquest. South Wales Police detective superintendent Paul Raikes gave evidence the following day as he was the assumed senior investigating officer responsibility on duty on January 23.

He explained how there was “clearly concern and suspicion of the nature of the death” and it was a suspected potential homicide. Due to the location where Mr Meah-Moore was found, blood found at the scene, and cardboard covering his body was a “possible method of concealment.”

Mr Raikes explained how the investigation was focused on obtaining “hundreds of hours” of CCTV. This was obtained to track Mr Meah-Moore’s movements that Saturday evening.

The footage clearly showed him travelling on the train from his home in Newport to Cardiff and revealed that he visited some of the city’s LGBTQ+ venues including, the Golden Cross, the Cambrian Tap, Proud Marys, Main Stage and Popworld.

Mr Meah-Moore stood outside before engaging with an unknown man and vanishing out of view for 37 minutes. He then re-appeared on CCTV at 2:23am on his own before heading to Pulse where he stayed until 4:51am.

The inquest was told that he went into Park Lane with an unknown man before he disappeared out of sight for seven minutes. He then re-appeared with the same man before turning onto Queen Street and they walked in separate directions.

DS Raikes said that he could “confidently say” that Mr Meah-Moore looked to be uninjured and unharmed when he emerged from the lane. He then socialised for some time with others on Queen Street.

He is then seen engaging with another man, who cannot be named before entering the lane again. This time, as he disappears from view, he does not reappear. It was the last time he was seen before he was found dead.

It was originally thought that robbery could be a motive but DS Raikes reported that Mr Meah-Moore’s bag and belonging, which contained a mobile phone and £200 in cash were all present.

A pathological external examination carried out on Mr Meah-Moore at the scene, before his body was recovered and taken to mortuary for further investigation showed that there was a presence of semen. This was later confirmed to be both human and non-human through DNA sample.

The DNA sample was found to match a sample from the dog of the man who went down the lane. Mr Raikes said there were no signs of restraint and no injury to areas ordinarily associated with an assault.

He said, “His ears, nose, mouth, structure of the neck were not injured or damaged in any way. There were no defence injuries and no bruising present to hands that might suggest defence injury.”

Mr Meah-Moore had an allergy to dogs which may have cause some sensitivity and a potentially allergic reaction, the inquest heard. The man who entered the lane with him was considered a suspect following the incident which led to his arrest.

A further statement revealed that it had been discovered that Mr Meah-Moore had been in contact with a dog. Police are seeking expert advice from an animal behaviourist as part of the investigation through the National Crime Agency.

The inquest was told that the expert’s opinion was that it was “highly unlikely” this was the first time the dog had been used for this purpose. This was contrary to the evidence of his owner who said it was.

The man refused a police request to hand his dog over for examination. This had something that was considered a “cause for concern” for officers. Two mobile phones which had been taken from the man’s home were not examined which DS Raikes described as “unfortunate.”

The inquest continues.