WASHINGTON (AP) — An annual meeting of the nation’s governors that has long served as a rare bipartisan gathering is unraveling after President Donald Trump excluded Democratic governors from White House events.

The National Governors Association said it will no longer hold a formal meeting with Trump when governors are scheduled to convene in Washington later this month, after the White House planned to invite only Republican governors. On Tuesday, 18 Democratic governors also announced they would boycott a traditional dinner at the White House.

“If the reports are true that not all governors are invited to these events, which have historically been productive and bipartisan opportunities for collaboration, we will not be attending the White House dinner this year,” the Democrats wrote. “Democratic governors remain united and will never stop fighting to protect and make life better for people in our states.”

Signs of partisan tensions emerged at the White House meeting last year, when Trump and Maine’s Gov. Janet Mills traded barbs.

Trump singled out the Democratic governor over his push to bar transgender athletes from competing in girls’ and women’s sports, threatening to withhold federal funding from the state if she did not comply. Mills responded, “We’ll see you in court.”

Trump then predicted that Mills’ political career would be over for opposing the order. She is now running for U.S. Senate.

The back-and-forth had a lasting impact on last year’s conference and some Democratic governors did not renew their dues last year to the bipartisan group.

___

Peoples reported from New York.

Saturday Kitchen star Matt Tebbutt joins Marcus Wareing and Monica Galetti as new judge on MasterChef The Professionals series 18

MasterChef has made its comeback with a fresh series of spin-off The Professionals, and audiences have shared their thoughts on the latest judge.

The much-loved culinary contest kicked off its 18th season this evening (Tuesday 10 February) with a recognisable BBC personality taking charge.

Saturday Kitchen host Matt Tebbutt has teamed up with cooking icon Marcus Wareing and celebrated chef Monica Galetti in the kitchen, much to fans’ delight.

Matt has taken over following John Torode and Gregg Wallace’s departures from the programme after a BBC controversy last year.

MasterChef faced turmoil following accusations against Wallace, who was dismissed after 45 of 83 complaints were substantiated against him, whilst Torode has also been axed by the BBC after he was alleged to have used “an extremely offensive racist term”, reports Wales Online.

In a public statement, Torode said he had “no recollection” of the allegation, and that the most recent series of Celebrity MasterChef would be his final appearance, as it was pre-recorded alongside Grace Dent, who is amongst the new presenters of the civilian version of MasterChef.

Launching tonight’s programme, Marcus announced: “Good to see you both, new competition, new kitchen and we have a new judge, welcome Matt!”

The Saturday Kitchen presenter responded: “Thank you very much, great to be here, great to be a part of the MasterChef family.”

He continued: “I’d like to see myself as the nice guy of the outfit, I’ve run kitchens before, run my own, I know the pressure that these guys are under.”

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Marcus cautioned: “Strap yourself in Matt, this is going to be a journey.”

Viewers have already expressed their approval of his judging debut, with one commenting: “I think Matt Tebbutt will fit in nicely, he’s popular with viewers and he knows his craft.”

“Like Matt tbf think he’ll be good for this show,” another chimed in.

“Matt Tebbutt is a great addition to the kitchen,” praised another fan.

Another enthused: “Professional Masterchef is back and Matt is off and running! Excellent!”

The return of the show was also celebrated, with one viewer exclaiming: “It’s finally back!” while another echoed: “Masterchef The Professionals is back! Great telly.”

Ahead of the premiere, Matt shared his excitement: “I’m walking through the MasterChef doors for the first time myself and I cannot wait to see the cooking talent this year’s chefs are bringing into the kitchen.

“I want to be wowed from the off, but it will take some serious work to get through the competition that awaits them.”

When quizzed about his experience filming the series, he revealed: “It’s been a joy. I’ve loved every minute and these two next to me have been so supportive. I’ve become so invested in the chefs and their progress and how they’ve changed throughout the series.”

When asked what he would take away from the series, he continued: “”The thing that stood out for me was just how invested these chefs are and how much work goes into it for them outside of filming.

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“The chefs have got their family life, they’ve got their restaurant, or whatever their business is, so they’re dealing with that as well throughout.

“They’ve got to go away and practice their dishes and their skills on top of everything else. And then they have to come back and, you know, produce the goods in front of the three of us, or the critics and then some, once they progress.

For the latest showbiz, TV, movie and streaming news, go to the new **Everything Gossip** website

“Their commitment was clear and it was also clear to see how much they changed from week one to week seven – the progression was enormous. Their commitment was clear and it was also clear to see how much they changed from week one to week seven – the progression was, was enormous.

“You could easily think of MasterChef that, yes, it’s just a TV show. But for these chefs, it’s so much more than that. There’s a lot at stake. And they take it very, very seriously. And it’s really good to see!”

MasterChef: The Professionals continues on Wednesday at 8pm on BBC One and iPlayer.

Renee Kenna was last seen on Monday, February 9

Police have issued an appeal to find a missing teenage girl from Newry.

Renee Kenna, 15, was last seen at around 2.45pm on Monday, February 9, by her family in the Newry area and police are now asking anyone who may have information regarding her whereabouts to contact them.

Renee has been described as being of a slim build, 5 feet 2 inches in height with blue eyes and long blonde hair. She is believed to be wearing grey tracksuit bottoms, a black jacket, multicoloured T-shirt and white sliders on her feet.

READ MORE: Tackling removal of illegal flags ‘must be collaborative’ amid new PSNI guidanceREAD MORE: Belfast man put ex into bath and dangled electric toaster over water, court told

A PSNI spokesperson said: “We are appealing for information to help locate Renee Kenna 15 years old.

“Renee is slim build, 5 feet 2 inches in height, Blue eyes, long Blonde hair and is believed to be wearing Grey tracksuit bottoms, Black jacket, multicoloured T-shirt and White sliders on her feet.

“Renee was last seen 09/02/26 by her family in the Newry area at approximately 245pm.

“If you have any information you feel may assist police in locating Renee, please call us on 101, quoting reference 1465 of 09/02/26.

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

Norwegian biathlete Sturla Holm Laegreid reflects on his decision to confess on live television to having cheated on his girlfriend, moments after winning bronze in the Winter Olympics.

READ MORE: Laegreid wins bronze then confesses to affair on TV

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ATLANTA (AP) — The FBI obtained a search warrant to seize hundreds of boxes of ballots from election offices in Fulton County, Georgia, as part of a criminal investigation into possible “deficiencies or defects” in the vote count in the 2020 contest lost by President Donald Trump, according to an affidavit unsealed Tuesday.

The affidavit provides the first public justification for an FBI search last month that targeted a county that Trump and allies have long seen as central to their false claim that the 2020 election was stolen.

But the allegations outlined in the affidavit are largely based on claims that have long been made by people who assert that there was fraud in the 2020 election. Audits, state officials, courts and Trump’s own former attorney general have rejected the idea that there was widespread fraud in the 2020 election that could have altered the outcome.

Among the “deficiencies or defects” investigators are looking at is Fulton County’s admission that it does not have scanned images of all the ballots counted during the original count or the recount, according to the affidavit. Fulton County has also confirmed that some ballots were scanned multiple times during the recount, the affidavit says.

“If these deficiencies were the result of intentional action, it would be a violation of federal law regardless of whether the failure to retain records or the deprivation of a fair tabulation of a vote was outcome determinative for any particular election or race,” the document says.

The affidavit says seizures of the election records was necessary to determine whether election records were destroyed and or the tabulation of votes included materially false votes.” It cites potential violations of a law regarding the preservation and retention of election records, a misdemeanor. It also cites a law that makes it a crime to “knowingly and willfully” deprive residents of a “fair and impartially conducted election process,” which is a felony.

There was no reaction but we know Prince William and his team at least heard the shout, even if they didn’t hear the full question.

As William walked off a football pitch on the outskirts of Riyadh, where he is on an official visit, a reporter asked the prince: “Sir, to what extent do you think the Royal Family has done enough around the Andrew and Epstein issue?”

The palace is trying to keep this trip to Saudi on track, with no cancellations or obvious adjustments to engagements.

They want to remind us that William is used to navigating difficult times and takes his role seriously. If nothing else, they hope the heir and his family show the monarchy has got a positive future, at a time when they really need it, as they continue to compete against the seemingly uncontrollable noise around Andrew and Epstein.

It’s clear from the statements released on Monday that something has shifted over the past few days.

William and Kate publicly addressed the Epstein scandal for the first time, with Kensington Palace saying they were “deeply concerned” at the “continued revelations” and that their thoughts “remain focused on the victims”.

Meanwhile, Buckingham Palace said the King had “profound concern” over claims about Andrew and it would support police if contacted.

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Prince William’s trip overshadowed by Epstein?

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Silence was not an option, with the questions about what information Andrew was sharing during his time as trade envoy going right to the heart of the Royal Family’s public purpose and what they’re meant to be about.

Andrew has denied any wrongdoing in relation to Epstein.

Neither William nor the King have spoken about it on camera – not really a surprise – and William wasn’t going to do it here in Saudi.

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‘Bring justice to me and my husband’

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But it doesn’t help quell the voices of those who say they want to hear more from them – visible proof, you might say, of the “concerns” they have written about.

William will also no doubt have seen the calls for the King to encourage Andrew to voluntarily speak to the police and authorities in America. We know that even on official trips, he monitors the news back home.

Read more:
Timing of palace’s Andrew statement is extraordinary
Poll: Most people think King should encourage Andrew to testify

But here in Saudi there was a new global audience for him to think about – one that wasn’t going to ask him about Epstein.

William and Kate’s social media accounts feature a stream of photos of him meeting and greeting, and especially focusing on the time he spent with children and women.

For the palace, it was a day meant to be about important future relationships as headlines in the UK continue to dwell on the past.

Father of the year Howard Lutnick has been rumbled over his relations with Jeffrey Epstein.

Donald Trump’s Commerce Secretary is facing calls to quit after lying about his relationship with Epstein after released files showed that he visited the billonaire’s so-called ‘paedophile island’ for lunch with his wife, friends and their eight children.

Lutnick admitted that he had met with Epstein twice after his conviction for soliciting prostitution from a child, reversing his bullish insistence on podcasts that he would ‘never be in the same room’ with the ‘disgusting’ paedophile billionaire after 2005.

Lutnick again downplayed his relationship with the disgraced financier who was once his neighbour in New York City as he was questioned by Democrats during a subcommittee hearing of the Senate Appropriations Committee.

He described their contact as a handful of emails and a pair of meetings that were years apart.

‘I did not have any relationship with him. I barely had anything to do with him,’ Lutnick told lawmakers.

But he quickly folded after the latest batch of emails were released. He admitted: ‘I did have lunch with him as I was on a boat going across on a family vacation. My wife was with me, as were my four children and nannies. I had another couple with – they were there as well with their children, and we had lunch on the island.

‘That is true  — for an hour. And we left with all of my children, with my nannies and my wife all together.  

‘We were on family vacation. We were not a part — to suggest there was anything untoward about that in 2012. I don’t recall why we did it but we did.’

White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt abruptly cut short a press conference after she was asked questions about Lutnick’s appearance.

She replied that Trump ‘fully supports’ Lutnick and described him as ‘a very important member of President Trump’s team.’

It came as Congressman Ro Khanna named the six high-profile men that are included in the unredacted version of the documents relating to Jeffrey Epstein.

Khanna named, US businessman Leslie Wexner of Victoria’s Secret, Abercrombie & Fitch and Bath & Body Works fame; Emirati businessman Sultan Ahmed bin Sulayem; and Salvatore Nuara, Zurab Mikeladze, Leonic Leonov, and Nicola Caputo.

‘If we found six men that they were hiding in two hours, imagine how many men they are covering up for in those 3 million files,’ Khanna said. ‘Why are they protecting these rich and powerful men? People I call part of the ‘Epstein class’.

‘Why are we in a country where there is no elite accountability for people who do the most heinous things?’

MORE: Prince William challenged over whether royals had done enough about Andrew

MORE: Irish man detained by ICE for five months is sharing a cell with 70 men

MORE: Justice is failing the young victims of sexual abuse, here and in the US

It is little exaggeration to brand this as Spurs’ biggest game since the Europa League final. Unthinkable even a few weeks ago, but Thomas Frank’s side now find themselves in a relegation battle, and a tricky fixture list provides few opportunities, on paper at least, to pick up points. Tonight is one Spurs simply must win.

NEW YORK (AP) — Shoppers unexpectedly paused their spending in December from November, closing out the holiday shopping season and the year on a lackluster tone.

The report, issued by the Commerce Department on Tuesday, surprised economists who were looking for growth despite mounting concerns about slowing job growth, uncertainty about President Donald Trump’s tariffs and other economic headwinds. And it raised questions about shoppers’ ability to spend after they have remained resilient for months despite souring consumer confidence, economists said.

Retail sales were flat in December from November, when business was up 0.6%, according to the Commerce Department. Economists were expecting a 0.4% increase for December.

The report was delayed because of the 43-day government shutdown.

Sales in October fell 0.1%, rose 0.1% in September, but jumped 0.6% in July and August and 1% in June, according to the Commerce Department.

The retail sales figures, which are not adjusted for inflation, showed that many types of businesses posted declines including furniture and home furnishings stores and electronics and appliance retailers.

Among the few bright spots: building materials and garden stores, which posted a solid sales increase. Gas stations and food and beverage stores saw small sales gains.

The snapshot offers only a partial look at consumer spending and doesn’t include many services, including travel and hotel lodges. But the lone services category – restaurants – registered a dip of 0.1%.

The data comes as U.S. consumer confidence has been souring for months. In fact, confidence declined sharply in January, hitting the lowest level since 2014 as Americans grow increasingly concerned about their financial prospects.

“Consumer spending has finally caught up with consumer sentiment, and not in a good way,” Chris Zaccarelli, chief investment officer for Northlight Asset Management in Charlotte, North Carolina, wrote in a report published Tuesday.

He noted that consumer confidence numbers have been disappointing for months, and shoppers have been complaining about the cost of everything – and yet they kept spending.

But he added, “This month’s data show that consumers are no longer relentlessly increasing their level of spending.”

Thomas Ryan, North America economist at Capital Economics, also noted the report was worrisome, but given expected stimulus from the bigger tax refund checks, he thinks that consumption at the end of the first quarter of this year “may turn out to be a lot stronger than it currently looks at the start.”

Economists will be closely monitoring a slew of economic reports on jobs and prices due out later this week.

But the economy is in a confusing place.

Growth is robust: Gross domestic product — the nation’s output of goods and services — advanced from July through September at the fastest pace in two years. But the job market is lackluster: Employers have added just 28,000 jobs a month since December.

In the 2021-2023 hiring boom that followed COVID-19 lockdowns, by contrast, they were creating 400,000 jobs a month.

When the agency releases hiring and unemployment numbers for January on Wednesday, they are expected to show that businesses, government agencies and nonprofits added about 80,000 jobs last month — modest but up from 50,000 in December.

Analysts will also be studying consumer price report, to be released Friday. In December, consumer prices matched the 0.3% increase in November. If inflation cools in the coming months, it could increase the likelihood the Federal Reserve will reduce its key interest rate later this year, economists say.

Against this backdrop, some chains like Walmart, whose everyday low prices have pulled in shoppers from rivals, are thriving but others struggle.

A growing number of retailers are closing stores as companies reorganize under bankruptcy protection or pare down their operations to focus on profitable operations.

On Monday, the operator of roughly 180 Eddie Bauer stores across the U.S. and Canada filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection, blaming declining sales and a litany of other industry headwinds.

Last month, the parent company of Saks Fifth Avenue said it was seeking bankruptcy protection, buffeted by rising competition and the massive debt it took on to buy its rival in the luxury sector, Neiman Marcus, just over a year ago. A few days later, the parent company said it was closing most of its Saks Off 5th stores.

Amazon said earlier this month that it was closing almost all of its Amazon Go and Amazon Fresh locations within days as it narrows its focus on food delivery and its grocery chain, Whole Foods Market.

Suggestions that Peter Mandelson may have shared government information with Jeffrey Epstein amid the fallout of the global financial crisis are being investigated by police.

Emails between Mandelson and the disgraced financier, released by the US Department of Justice, are said to include market-sensitive details. This was at a time when Mandelson was in government and ministers around him were scrambling to keep the UK economy afloat.

Now, the 2008 global financial crisis belongs to a different political generation, with almost all of the leading players having left the world stage. But the ripple effect of the credit crunch can still be felt in our politics and in our pockets.

This surely makes the allegations against Mandelson, some of which date to his time as UK business secretary, even more awful. The anaemic UK economy, its weakened public finances and the divisive nature of UK politics can all trace their ways back to the crisis.

This catastrophic event, where developed economies were brought to the brink of collapse, came at the end of a long period of prosperity. It put paid to a belief, embraced by Gordon Brown when he was chancellor, that the UK had achieved a “Goldilocks economy” – not too hot and not too cold. This was supposedly a triumphant end to the boom and bust of the past.

For a time it worked. Britain experienced 16 years of quarter-on-quarter economic growth, emerging from the aftermath of “Black Wednesday” in 1992 when sterling fell out of the European Exchange Rate Mechanism.

The cracks first started to appear in 2007 as US lenders specialising in sub-prime mortgages (typically sold to high-risk borrowers) started to collapse. This was at the heart of what would become a global catastrophe. To meet market demand, lenders bundled together thousands of everyday home loans into “mortgage-backed securities”. These were then sold as low-risk debt to investors.

You can see the attraction: safe and steady repayments over the long term, underpinned by bricks and mortar. Only it was a deception, because that debt was not all safe. As house prices kept rising, banks increasingly agreed loans with customers who did not have the capacity to repay them. And the loans were made against property that had been overvalued.

Then the housing market weakened. Credit markets seized up, since holders of securitised debt found they couldn’t unwind their positions (put simply, they were unable to sell them on) – it was impossible to tell which parts of their holdings were sound and which were toxic. The result was that institutions stopped lending, interest rates on corporate borrowing jumped, investment ground to a near halt and stock markets plummeted.

Banks, big as well as small, started to fail. While the collapse of US giant Lehman Brothers in September 2008 marked the start of the global crisis, in the UK it was the liquidity emergency of Northern Rock that brought things into focus. Savers, having lost confidence, queued up outside branches in September 2007 to withdraw their money, marking the first run on a UK bank since the 19th century. But worse still, banks had lost trust in each other.

Banks are not just any business; they are the arteries of a functioning economy. Policymakers around the world judged that these banks were simply too big to fail. Governments responded with unprecedented interventions, including bank rescues, capital injections, fiscal stimulus and major regulatory reforms.

In Britain, this included nationalising Northern Rock in February 2008, recapitalising Royal Bank of Scotland and Lloyds, and launching wide-ranging guarantee and liquidity schemes. It meant containing the crisis, recapitalising the system, and restructuring the sector – all paid for by government borrowing.

In December 2008, Brown – by now prime minister – claimed he had “saved the world”. But what followed was the longest and deepest recession since the Great Depression of the 1930s. And that sharp downturn, in contrast to the previous decade, hit the young and the unskilled hardest as unemployment rose. For those in work, pay growth stalled.

It was during this period that Mandelson is suspected of sharing sensitive government information with Epstein. In June 2009, an email appears to show the then-business secretary forwarding details of proposals to sell off UK government assets to raise money for the public purse.

The crisis had blown a hole in the UK’s public finances as the Treasury grappled with falling tax receipts and increased demands on spending on public services and welfare. Added to this, bank rescues had of course piled up public debt.

Meanwhile, other emails in late 2009 appear to show Mandelson and Epstein discussing ways to push back against UK government plans for a “supertax” on bankers’ bonuses. These proposals were a bid to recoup some of the public money pumped into the sector.

For all the successes, perhaps the “Goldilocks economy” wasn’t entirely built on responsible policymaking. While inflation targets were hit, Bank of England experts had all but failed to notice the massive asset bubble. And then there were the “light-touch” banking controls, which even the regulator blamed for its failure to spot the storm brewing.

The long tail of the crisis

While economies eventually stabilised, not least because of Brown’s leadership and that of the subsequent coalition government, the consequences of the crisis play out to this day. In contrast to the optimism of the previous period, the years since the financial crisis have seen weak economic output, derisory productivity growth as well as slow improvements in pay.

Those were the years of austerity policies, with increasing distrust of institutions and a backlash against “elites”. All of this fuelled populism on the left and right.

Many felt left behind by the globalisation that had driven the economy from the mid-1990s, or were hit hard as low-skilled work became more precarious and public services squeezed, or felt taken for granted by the political class. When it came to their vote, Brexit was an opportunity to express their frustration and disrupt a system that they no longer believed worked for them.

And so it is impossible to understand the fractious nature of politics today, or the relatively feeble state of the UK economy, without understanding the huge challenge that the financial crisis posed to a generation of politicians. Although Mandelson is understood to deny any criminality, his alleged betrayal came at the peak of this jeopardy. We are all still paying the cost of bringing the global economy back from the brink.