Number 10 will be nursing its whiplash this evening as Donald Trump once again throws a diplomatic hand grenade into the UK’s Chagos deal with Mauritius.

Posting on Truth Social, Donald Trump implored Sir Keir Starmer to scrap the deal, saying: “DO NOT GIVE AWAY DIEGO GARCIA!”

In his long post online, the US president claimed the prime minister is “losing control” of the military base in the Indian Ocean, and that the deal would be “a blight” on the UK.

It came just a day after the US government released a statement in which it said it “supports the decision of the United Kingdom to proceed with its agreement with Mauritius concerning the Chagos archipelago”.

Number 10 and the Foreign Office will be asking itself what has changed in the space of 24 hours.

UK government backs ‘crucial’ deal

Pushing back on Trump’s latest change of heart, a Foreign Office spokesperson said: “The deal to secure the joint UK-US military base on Diego Garcia military is crucial to the security of the UK and our key allies, and to keeping the British people safe.

“The agreement we have reached is the only way to guarantee the long-term future of this vital military base.”

So what now?

The government clearly did not see this latest Trump intervention coming, but leaders are often judged not by the events that happen on their watch but how they deal with such events.

Interestingly, only last night Starmer and Trump held a bilateral phone call – but when Number 10 released a readout of that meeting, there was no mention of the Chagos deal.

‘Utter humiliation’

Opposition parties on the right are celebrating Trump’s comments as a win for their campaigning.

Shadow foreign secretary Priti Patel called this “an utter humiliation” for the prime minister, arguing the deal is undermining the UK’s relationship with the US and must be junked.

And the Tory leader Kemi Badenoch mirrored previous comments made last month by the US president, calling the deal an “act of stupidity” and self-sabotage.

Reform UK’s leader Nigel Farage claims the deal negotiated by the government risks alienating the US and has also called for the deal to be scrapped.

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Meanwhile, the Liberal Democrat leader Sir Ed Davey used the fallout as an opportunity to continue his attacks on Trump, insisting the US is no longer an ally the UK can rely on, and we must cosy up to our neighbours in Europe.

Rather awkwardly the foreign secretary, Yvette Cooper, is in the US this week and will be having meetings with Trump’s top team in Washington DC.

Despite being blindsided by the persistent flip-flopping of the US administration’s position on the Chagos deal, it could be a fortuitous opportunity to plead the UK government’s case directly to her counterpart Marco Rubio.

The Conservatives and Reform will be hoping Trump’s latest intervention may be able to push the prime minister into rethinking this deal, or at least cause him enough political difficulty that the deal is ratified under a dark cloud.

Starmer will need to bring the US president back from the brink, or we could be seeing U-turn number 16 from Labour.

The Trump Justice Department on Wednesday launched investigations into three Michigan public school districts over gender-related classroom instruction and sought to intervene in a federal lawsuit challenging a race-based admission and funding program in Los Angeles — intensifying the administration’s push into school policy disputes nationwide.

The Civil Rights Division said it is examining whether the Detroit Public Schools Community District, Godfrey-Lee Public Schools and the Lansing School District included “sexual orientation and gender ideology (SOGI) content in any class for grades pre-K-12.”

If such instruction is provided, investigators will assess whether parents were notified of their right to opt their children out and whether the districts “limit access to single-sex intimate spaces, such as bathrooms and locker rooms, based on biological sex.”

Assistant Attorney General Harmeet Dhillon said the department is focused on enforcing parental rights and Title IX.

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“This Department of Justice is fiercely committed to ending the growing trend of local school authorities embedding sexuality and gender ideology in every aspect of public education,” Dhillon said.

She added that “Supreme Court precedent is clear: parents have the right to direct the religious upbringing of their children,” including exempting them from instruction that conflicts with their beliefs.

Dhillon also said Title IX requires protecting “the safety, dignity, and innocence of our youngest citizens… by ensuring that they have unfettered access to bathrooms and locker rooms of their biological sex.”

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The department noted the Michigan districts receive “hundreds of thousands of dollars of taxpayer funding” and said investigators will evaluate compliance with Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972 and the Supreme Court’s 2025 decision in Mahmoud v. Taylor. Officials emphasized the Civil Rights Division “has not reached any conclusions about the subject matter of the investigations.”

In a separate action, the Justice Department said it is seeking to intervene in a lawsuit filed by the nonprofit 1776 Project Foundation challenging the Los Angeles Unified School District’s Predominately Hispanic, Black, Asian, and Other (PHBAO) Program.

According to the department’s proposed complaint, the program categorizes students by race and neighborhood demographics for funding and magnet school admissions, separating students into “Anglo,” meaning White, and other racial categories. Neighborhoods with fewer than 30% White residents are designated as disadvantaged, and certain schools receive additional funding, a reduced student-teacher ratio by 5.5 students, and magnet admissions preferences.

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The complaint states LAUSD treats attending school with non-White students “as a disadvantage equal to attending an overcrowded school.”

Attorney General Pam Bondi said the federal government is intervening to enforce equal protection guarantees.

“Treating Americans equally is not a suggestion — it is a core constitutional guarantee that educational institutions must follow,” Bondi said.

Dhillon said students “should never be classified or treated differently because of their race,” adding that “Racial discrimination is unlawful and un-American.”

First Assistant U.S. Attorney Bill Essayli said LAUSD’s desegregation program has “outlived its usefulness to the point of being unconstitutional.”

The Michigan investigations remain ongoing, and the LAUSD case is pending in federal court.

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Representatives for the Michigan districts did not immediately respond to Fox News Digital’s requests for comment.

“Because this matter involves pending litigation, we are unable to comment on the specifics,” LAUSD said in a statement. “However, Los Angeles Unified remains firmly committed to ensuring all students have meaningful access to services and enriching educational opportunities.”

Pubs will be allowed to stay open until 2am during the World Cup knockout stages this summer – but only if any of the home nations have got that far.

Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood has agreed to extend opening hours for the later rounds of the tournament, which is being hosted jointly by the US, Canada, and Mexico.

Pubs will also be able to apply for a temporary licence for any very late kick-offs that could finish beyond 2am, according to The Sun.

England and Scotland have already qualified for the competition, which runs from 11 June to 19 July, while either Wales or Northern Ireland could still join them via the playoffs.

Ms Mahmood said: “With later kick-offs at this year’s World Cup, we don’t want pubs to blow the final whistle before the winning goal.

“So we’re showing red tape the red card and taking pub hours to extra time, so fans can get another round in without missing a single kick.”

“Fans won’t need to go home, before football’s come home,” she added.

Read more: Everything you need to know about World Cup 2026

The home secretary is reported to have previously been considering only allowing pubs to open later if one of the home nations reached the quarter-finals of the tournament.

But she has now agreed to extend opening hours until 1am for most knockout games and 2am for those kicking off at 10pm.

The British Beer and Pub Association told The Sun the decision was “a win for pubs, jobs, and community spirit”.

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The 2026 World Cup is the first time three nations will jointly host the event and the first to feature 48 teams – up from 32 in the previous tournament in Qatar four years ago.

England have been drawn in alongside Croatia, Ghana and Panama in Group L, while Scotland, playing in their first men’s finals in 28 years, face Morocco, Haiti and five-time champions Brazil in Group C.

American speedskater Brittany Bowe will not leave the Milan Cortina Winter Olympics with a medal, but she will return home with a new ring. 

Team USA women’s hockey captain Hilary Knight proposed to Bowe at the 2026 Winter Games. The two first met while competing at the 2022 Beijing Olympics. Knight proposed on the eve of the women’s hockey gold medal clash between the U.S. and Canada.

Knight shared the moment on social media, captioning a video of the two athletes in matching Team USA gear, “Olympics brought us together. This one made us forever.”

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Bowe entered with two bronze medals, and Knight, a four-time Olympic medalist, will leave with a fifth — gold or silver — after Thursday’s rematch with Canada.

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Knight reflected on connecting with Bowe during the 2022 Beijing Games under COVID-19 protocols. 

“To have that human connection, even walking outside at a distance, it was really cool,” Knight told Olympics.com last week.

Bowe said she has come to know a different side of Knight beyond her superstar persona.

“Knowing her as a hockey player, it’s like this big, strong, powerful female,” Bowe said. “But then, when we got to know each other, she was soft, genuine, kind, almost shy. That really sparked my interest.”

Romance has been part of the story at this year’s Games, particularly for Valentine’s Day. Last week, American skier Breezy Johnson’s boyfriend proposed at the finish of her super-G run in Cortina d’Ampezzo.

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Johnson captured her first career Olympic gold medal in the women’s Alpine skiing downhill event.

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Therefore, every working day, all Police Commissioners, DMs and SSPs have been instructed to connect with the CM office through video conferencing at 9:45 am. In this regard, a letter has been sent by Sanjay Prasad, Additional Chief Secretary to the Chief Minister, to all the Police Commissioners, District Magistrates and Senior Superintendents of Police.

It has been said that the Chief Minister has expressed his displeasure over the lack of serious and appropriate action in the matters of public hearing and public darshan at the district level. Many such issues are found in the Chief Minister’s public philosophy, which should be resolved at the district level. This administrative negligence causes inconvenience to the public and tarnishes the image of the government.

The Supreme Court ordered the estranged husband and wife to appear before the judges along with their children on the next date of hearing. The bench remarked, ‘The husband has committed grave cruelty by separating the children of just six months from their mother. The welfare of children comes first. This is a grave insult to justice.

Six month old children cannot be separated from their mother: Supreme Court
The Supreme Court said that children younger than six months cannot be separated from their mother. This is extreme cruelty. The Supreme Court was hearing a petition by the estranged husband seeking transfer of the matrimonial cases initiated by the wife in Lucknow to Punjab.

The husband’s counsel said the court should not change the status quo with respect to the twins, as it would be harmful to them. The bench told the lawyer that no midwife or grandmother can take care of six-month-old children the way a mother can.

Husband said- she herself left the children
The husband’s lawyer claimed that she herself had left the marital home and had no interest in keeping the children with her. The bench told the lawyer that if she was not interested in keeping the custody of her twin children (boy and girl), she would not have fought the case till the Supreme Court.

Justice Mehta remarked, “She was actually thrown out of her in-laws house without her children. Her children were separated from her and she was beaten and subjected to extreme cruelty.” The woman’s lawyer told that the husband was an alcoholic and was not ready to show the children even on video call.

Supreme Court gave a big order
The husband’s lawyer said that the woman has filed several cases in Lucknow and he is demanding to transfer them. The bench noted that the woman was a teacher and the husband was a businessman and asked him how much maintenance he was paying to his estranged wife and how much he was willing to pay. The bench ordered that on the next date i.e. 26th February, you should be present in the court room along with both the children.

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