Harry Maguire has been unfairly treated over his Manchester United career and deserves a new contract, believes an iconic former Red Devils centre-back.

Maguire’s current deal at Old Trafford expires at the end of this season, with a decision yet to be made on his future.

The 64-cap England international turns 33 next month, so is much closer to the end of his career than the beginning, but has been in good form in recent weeks.

Interim manager Michael Carrick has leant on Maguire’s experience since taking charge, with the former Leicester City man starting all six games under the current boss and performing impressively.

With Lisandro Martinez struggling to stay fit and Matthijs de Ligt still sidelined with injury, Maguire has been a key figure in the Red Devils’ upturn in results under Carrick.

The BBC reported this week that there are ‘positive’ signs over a new deal being agreed for Maguire to stay at the club for at least one more season.

However, an agreement has not been reached and the possibility remains that Maguire could end his seven-year stay at Manchester United.

Red Devils hero Steve Bruce feels the defender has earned a new deal and has been unfairly criticised at times during his time at Old Trafford.

Maguire’s spell at the club, which began in 2019, has not been a classic period in Manchester United’s history, but Bruce feels the centre-back has been made a scapegoat for the team and club’s failings.

‘I believe Harry has been made the whipping boy for too long,’ Bruce told the Daily Mail. ‘I don’t think he’s ever let Man United down. In that fact, he’s never let England down either.

‘As I said, I think he became a whipping boy for what was going on around him. I wouldn’t be surprised if he gets offered a new deal. Why wouldn’t you? I think centre-halves get better with age.

‘I wouldn’t be surprised if he went to the World Cup either. He’s got good experience, he’s played at the highest level, he’s never let England down either. And he’s given a reminder of just what he’s about over the last five, six weeks in particular, if he ever needed to.’

The Red Devils are looking to trim the wage bill

Maguire’s future could ultimately come down to money, with Manchester United reportedly happy to offer him a new deal but on reduced terms.

The Sun report that he earns around £200,000-a-week, but this would have to be significantly cut for him to stay at Old Trafford.

There could be the chance to earn more elsewhere, not necessarily in wages, but a signing-on fee would be available given he would be moving on a free transfer.

AC Milan and Napoli have been touted as possible destinations, as has Saudi side Al-Qadsiah, managed by his former Leicester boss Brendan Rodgers.

The Red Devils are looking to significantly trim the wage bill this summer, with Casemiro, Jadon Sancho and Tyrell Malacia leaving the club on free transfers, while Marcus Rashford is also expected to make his loan move to Barcelona permanent.

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The guidance, published by the Department for Environment, Food & Rural Affairs, comes as new figures reveal there were 1.26 million fly-tipping incidents last year.

For the first time, councils are being given comprehensive instructions on how to search, seize and dispose of vehicles involved in illegal dumping – and how to pursue owners through the courts to secure convictions.

Circular Economy Minister Mary Creagh said the move would send a clear warning to offenders.

“We are empowering local authorities to clamp down on waste cowboys and restore pride in our local areas,” she said.

“I share the public’s fury at seeing our streets, parks and fields used as dumping grounds.

“Fly-tippers should know – if you use your van to trash our countryside, don’t be surprised when it ends up on the scrapheap.”

1/2 posts

Annual fly-tipping stats announced today….utterly shocking:

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1.26 million fly-tips in 2025
9% increase on previous year
1 prosecution for every 915 fly-tips pic.twitter.com/GT0fMLdMFQ

— Clean Up Britain (@cleanupbritain) February 25, 2026

The guidance encourages councils not only to seize vehicles but also to publicise enforcement action by “naming and shaming” offenders on social media. Authorities are advised to share images and videos of crushed vehicles to maximise deterrence and community awareness.

Overt and covert surveillance techniques – including CCTV, drones and Automatic Number Plate Recognition – are also recommended to catch criminals in the act.

Although councils already have powers to seize vehicles, new case studies are intended to provide a clearer model for enforcement. In 2024/25, enforcement officers from 41 councils seized 139 vehicles linked to fly-tipping.

The Government is also urging councils to share intelligence with the police, the Environment Agency and National Trading Standards to build stronger cases and carry out joint operations.

Latest data show local authorities carried out 572,000 enforcement actions in 2024/25 – up 8% on the previous year. This included 69,000 fixed penalty notices, a 9% increase year-on-year.

Ministers say they are backing the crackdown with additional resources, including a more than 50% increase in the Environment Agency’s enforcement budget to £15.6 million and extra officers for the Joint Unit for Waste Crime.

One high-profile case highlighted in the guidance involved the London Borough of Croydon, where repeat offender George Smith was jailed for 52 weeks after multiple fly-tipping incidents across London and Surrey. Three of his vehicles were seized and destroyed, and CCTV footage of his activities was released publicly to underline the consequences of waste crime.

Recommended reading:

What is fly-tipping?

Fly-tipping – the illegal dumping of waste on land or in water – is a specific form of waste crime, often driven by attempts to avoid legitimate disposal costs. Convicted offenders can face unlimited fines, community sentences or imprisonment, with courts able to order cost recovery for affected landowners.

While councils are responsible for clearing waste from public land, ministers are urging landowners to secure private land and report incidents promptly.

The Government has said it does not generally compensate victims of non-violent crime, warning that compensation could create a “perverse incentive” for further dumping.

Alongside tougher enforcement, ministers are consulting on reforms to the waste carrier regime and introducing mandatory digital waste tracking to make it harder for rogue operators to operate undetected.

With over a million incidents recorded in a single year, ministers say the message is clear: use your vehicle to dump waste illegally, and you risk losing it for good.

Ms Ferullo has been giving talks over the last two weeks at the museum on Brontemania, the literary pilgrimages to the sisters’ home in Haworth which began in the late 19th century even when the sisters’ father, the Reverend Patrick Bronte, who outlived them, was still living in the building.

Donald Trump’s approval ratings have hit an all-time low, with 60% of Americans disapproving of his leadership.

The dismal ratings were released right before his lengthy State of the Union address on Tuesday, in which the President rambled for almost two hours about how America was entering its ‘golden age’.

But in one speaking event, Trump appeared to offer a bizarre reason for why so many Americans aren’t publicly supporting him.

‘It just amazes me that there’s not more support out there,’ he said.

‘We actually have a silent support… that’s probably how I won [the election],’ Trump said.

The numbers have even been reported by one of Trump’s most favourable media organisations, Fox.

The poll, conducted by the Washington Post, ABC and Ipsos, found that just 39% of Americans approve of Trump’s leadership, with a whopping 60% saying they didn’t.

The lowest ever Presidential approval rating was Harry Truman, who had only 22% of Americans approve of his leadership in 1952, due to the Korean War, firing a popular general and economic issues.

Trump’s approval rating could be tanking for any number of reasons, but immigration appears to be a major one.

58% of those surveyed said they don’t approve of how Trump is dealing with illegal immigration, with 57% saying they disagree with his economic deals.

Trump’s popularity began to tank in late November, when the US Leader ranked negatively in every single poll for the first time.

One catalyst for that shift in approval could be the Jeffrey Epstein files – an issue which Trump campaigned on, promising to release them in full, before calling the matter ‘pretty boring stuff’.

The files were eventually released, but Attorney General Pam Bondi’s handling of the matter has been under scrutiny as well.

Even Republican lawmakers, many of whom were staunch MAGA supporters before, have soured a bit.

In September, the number of Trump voters who believed the USA was not on the right track jumped from 17% to 22%.

The Epstein drama, Charlie Kirk’s murder in September, tariffs, and a press conference claiming paracetamol was linked to autism in children also sowed seeds of doubt in Trump’s followers.

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Hospitality has the highest rates of low pay of any industry in Northern Ireland,

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Northern Ireland has the second-highest rate of low pay in the UK, a report has found.

Low pay in the region was increasing, despite some overall falls, according to analysis of the ONS’ Annual Survey of Hours and Earnings (ASHE) by the Living Wage Foundation.

Overall rates of below real living wage pay fell to 17.3% from 20.1% in 2024, but Northern Ireland continues to have one of the highest rates of low pay, second only to the north-east of England.

The real living wage is independently calculated based on the cost of living and is £13.85 across the UK and £14.80 in London, slightly higher than the Government’s legal minimum (national living wage) of £12.21.

Hospitality has the highest rates of low pay of any industry in Northern Ireland, with nearly three in four (72%) jobs paid below the real living wage, up 11.7 percentage points from 2024 and higher than the UK average of 53%.

Wholesale and retail have the highest number of low-paid jobs of any industry in the region, with 62,000 paid below the real living wage, up 7% on 2024.

Young people in Northern Ireland are more likely to be low paid than any other age group.

In 2025, nearly three in four workers aged 18-21 were paid less than the real living wage.

Causeway Coast and Glens, where 29% of jobs are paid below the real living wage, is the council area with the highest rate of low pay in Northern Ireland and has the 15th highest rate across the whole of the UK.

To date, 211 businesses in Northern Ireland have signed up to pay the real living wage, uplifting the salaries of more than 5,000 workers.

Mary McManus, Living Wage NI regional manager, said the overall reduction in low-paid jobs was encouraging but “the reality is stark: we still have the second-highest rate of low-paid jobs in the UK”.

Fiona Magee, interim chief executive, Advice NI, said her organisation sees “every day the impact low pay has on people in work who are still struggling to meet basic costs, turning to advice services for support with debt, housing and making ends meet”.

“Low pay is a key driver of financial stress and in-work poverty. While the rate of low pay in Northern Ireland has fallen slightly, we still have too many people on low pay,” she said.

In 2024, Advice NI launched Living Wage NI, a partnership with the Living Wage Foundation funded by the Department for the Economy NI.

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Kevin Miller, 70, admitted causing death by careless driving after mum-of-one Rebecca Ableman, 30, was struck by unsecured equipment

A lorry driver has pleaded guilty to causing death by careless driving after a mother pushing a pram was fatally struck by crane equipment hanging from a trailer.

Rebecca Ableman, 30, was out with her two-year-old daughter, Autumn in Willingham, Cambridgeshire, in September 2022 when she was struck on the head.

Kevin Miller, 70, had been driving the vehicle with its equipment inadequately secured, meaning it was “plainly potentially lethal”, a jury was told at a trial last year, which had to be abandoned due to insufficient time for witnesses.

Miller was due to stand trial again today for causing death by dangerous driving, however the prosecution accepted an alternative charge of causing death by careless driving.

He responded: “Guilty”, when presented with the new charge, which had been raised as a possibility the previous day, said the prosecution. “We considered this with obviously the police, with the expert witnesses who were to have to give evidence, and with, of course, Miss Ableman’s family,” said Prosecutor William Carter, reported the Mail.

“I had a meeting this morning with the CPS. It has been decided, after a great deal of consideration with everyone, that that plea is acceptable.”

Judge Matthew Lowe reportedly told Peterborough Crown Court that sentencing would be adjourned until April 14 to allow a report to be prepared by the Probation Service, with Miller released on unconditional baill, reports the Mirror. However, the judge cautioned him to expect a custodial sentence, stating: “The custody threshold is met in this case.”

Mr Miller had been transporting scrap metal from King’s Lynn docks to two Network Rail depots in Leigh-on-Sea, Essex and March, Cambridgeshire on September 22, Mr Carter had informed the trial the previous year.

The court heard that the loose, unsecured crane equipment shifted from its original position, hanging over the edge of both the trailer and the footpath in Willingham.

Ms Ableman had just left a farm shop in Station Road with her daughter Autumn when she was struck by the moving lorry at just before 11.15am.

The NHS healthcare assistant sustained “very serious head and brain injuries”, Mr Carter stated on the opening day of the trial. Ms Ableman died three weeks later on October 16 from a traumatic brain injury whilst in the Neuro ICU at Addenbrooke’s Hospital.

She had been planning to marry her partner Chris Tuczemskyi, Autumn’s father, who spoke of his devastation in the wake of the tragedy. Chris said: “We planned to get married but life got in the way. It’s tough, especially with Autumn. They were so close.”

GENEVA (AP) — Iran and the United States prepared to meet Thursday in Geneva for nuclear negotiations viewed as a last chance for diplomacy as America has gathered a fleet of aircraft and warships to the Middle East to pressure Tehran into a deal.

U.S. President Donald Trump wants a deal to constrain Iran’s nuclear program, and he sees an opportunity while the country is struggling at home with growing dissent following nationwide protests last month. Iran meanwhile has maintained it wants to continue to enrich uranium even as its program sits in ruins, following Trump ordering an attack in June on three of the Islamic Republic’s nuclear sites, part of a bruising 12-day war last year.

If an American attack happens, Iran has said all U.S. military bases in the Mideast would be considered legitimate targets, putting at risk tens of thousands of American service members. Iran has also threatened to attack Israel, meaning a regional war again could erupt across the Middle East.

“There would be no victory for anybody — it would be a devastating war,” Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi told India Today in an interview filmed Wednesday just before he flew to Geneva.

“Since the Americans’ bases are scattered through different places in the region, then unfortunately perhaps the whole region would be engaged and be involved, so it is a very terrible scenario.”

Geneva talks will be the third meeting since June war

Araghchi again will sit across from Steve Witkoff, a billionaire real estate developer and friend of Trump who serves as a special Mideast envoy for the president. The two men held multiple rounds of talks last year that collapsed after Israel launched its war against Iran in June. These latest talks are again being mediated by Oman, a sultanate on the eastern edge of the Arabian Peninsula that’s long served as an interlocutor between Iran and the West.

Araghchi met Oman’s Foreign Minister Badr al-Busaidi after arriving in Geneva on Wednesday night. The men “reviewed the views and proposals that the Iranian side will present to reach an agreement on the Iranian nuclear program, based on the guiding principles agreed upon in the previous round of negotiations,” a report from the state-run Oman News Agency said. Al-Busaidi will pass on Iran’s offer to American officials on Thursday, it added.

An Associated Press journalist saw al-Busaidi after he met with the director-general of the International Atomic Energy Agency, the United Nations’ nuclear watchdog. The Omani diplomat flashed a thumbs up to a question about whether he was hopeful for the talks.

Al-Busaidi returned Thursday to the Omani diplomatic residence on the shores of Lake Geneva . A convoy believed to be carrying American diplomats later arrived to the compound, followed by another believed to be carrying Iranian diplomats.

In this round of negotiations after the June war, Trump has pushed to halt Iran’s enrichment of uranium entirely, as well as address Tehran’s ballistic missile program and its support of regional militant forces. Iran has maintained the talks must remain focused only on nuclear issues.

U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio told reporters Wednesday that Iran is “always trying to rebuild elements” of its nuclear program. He said that Tehran is not enriching uranium right now, “but they’re trying to get to the point where they ultimately can.”

Iran has said it hasn’t enriched since June, but it has blocked IAEA inspectors from visiting the sites America bombed. Satellite photos analyzed by The Associated Press also has shown activity at two of those sites, suggesting Iran is trying to assess and potentially recover material there.

The West and the IAEA say Iran had a nuclear weapons program until 2003. Before the June attack, it had been enriching uranium up to 60% purity — a short, technical step away from weapons-grade levels of 90%.

U.S. intelligence agencies assess that Iran has yet to restart a weapons program, but has “undertaken activities that better position it to produce a nuclear device, if it chooses to do so.” While insisting its program is peaceful, Iranian officials have threatened to pursue the bomb in recent years.

“The principle’s very simple: Iran cannot have a nuclear weapon,” U.S. Vice President JD Vance told reporters at the White House on Wednesday.

Vance said Trump is “sending those negotiators to try to address that problem” and “wants to address that problem diplomatically.”

“But, of course, the president has other options as well,” Vance added.

Threat of military action sparks war fears

If the talks fail, uncertainty hangs over the timing of any possible attack.

If the aim of potential military action is to pressure Iran to make concessions in nuclear negotiations, it’s not clear whether limited strikes would work. If the goal is to remove Iran’s leaders, that will likely commit the U.S. to a larger, longer military campaign. There has been no public sign of planning for what would come next, including the potential for chaos in Iran.

There is also uncertainty about what any military action could mean for the wider region. Tehran could retaliate against the American-allied nations of the Persian Gulf or Israel. Oil prices have risen in recent days in part due to those concerns, with benchmark Brent crude now about $70 a barrel. Iran in the last round of talks said it briefly halted traffic in the Strait of Hormuz, the narrow mouth of the Persian Gulf through which a fifth of all oil traded passes.

Satellite photos shot Tuesday and Wednesday by Planet Labs PBC and analyzed by the AP appeared to show that American vessels typically docked in Bahrain, the home of the U.S. Navy’s 5th Fleet, were all out at sea. The 5th Fleet referred questions to the U.S. military’s Central Command, which declined to comment. Before Iran’s attack on Qatar in June, the 5th Fleet similarly scattered its ships at sea to protect against a potential attack.

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Gambrell reported from Dubai, United Arab Emirates, and Melanie Lidman from Jerusalem. Associated Press writer Will Weissert in Washington contributed to this report.

Writing for the Daily Record, Joani Reid, the Labour MP for East Kilbride and Strathaven, paid tribute to the women who forced a u-turn by the SNP Government.

This marks a real turning point for the survivors of child sex abuse and exploitation in Scotland.