Morning Report - Trump calls Zelenskyy a dictator

today's archaeology story

Tomb of pharaoh found in 'remarkable discovery'

What happened
A tomb of an Egyptian pharaoh has been found for the first time since Tutankhamun was discovered in 1922.

A joint Egyptian-British archaeological mission identified the tomb as belonging to King Thutmose II, an ancient Egyptian king who reigned sometime between 2000 and 1001 BC.

Who said what
Officials described the discovery as "remarkable". Mohamed Ismail Khaled, the secretary general of Egypt's Supreme Court of Antiquities, said in a statement that the find was "one of the most significant archaeological breakthroughs in recent years".

Thutmose II is historically interesting because he was the "husband as well as the half-brother of Hatshepsut, one of Egypt’s greatest pharaohs and one of the few women to rule in her own right", said The Guardian. He was also the father of Thutmose III, who is considered one of the most towering rulers of ancient Egypt due to his military conquests.

What next?
Dr Piers Litherland, the head of the British side of the excavation mission, said the team would "continue its work to uncover more secrets of the area".

Today's politics story

Left-wing activists 'less likely to work with rivals'

What happened
Left-wing activists are less likely to co-operate with their opponents than other voting blocs, a study by polling group More in Common has suggested.

The research classified about 8% of the population as "progressive activists", the most left-wing of the seven "tribes" among British voters. It found that they held starkly different views from the other blocs and were more likely to criticise those that disagreed with them.

Who said what
Progressive activists have "often been the drivers of social change in the UK", said Luke Tryl, the study's co-author. But their outlook "makes them outliers from much of the wider public".

Their tendency to "impose purity tests on those they will campaign with, overestimate how many people share their views and use language that is inaccessible to the wider public is potentially driving a backlash against progressive causes".

What next?
"If the liberal left is going to get back on the front foot it will require a much more deliberate approach to meeting people where they are," said Tryl.

It's not all bad

Clean energy contributed a record 10% of China's GDP last year, surpassing real estate sales with investments worth 13.6 trillion yuan (£1.5 trillion), an analysis has found. Led by solar power, electric vehicles and batteries, the sector's rapid growth strengthens China's energy security and reduces its reliance on oil imports. Analysts say the expansion is strategic, financially driven and unlikely to slow, with China committed to clean-tech leadership regardless of global political shifts.

under the radar

Milei paying a price for memecoin scandal

The president of Argentina is facing legal action and calls for his impeachment after he promoted cryptocurrency on social media.

Javier Milei's controversial post "caused a political firestorm", said The New York Times, with opponents describing him as a "crypto scammer".

On Friday Milei, a former private sector economist, posted on X about the $LIBRA coin, which he promised would help fund small businesses and start-ups.

He shared a link to buy it, causing its price to "shoot up", said the BBC, but within a few hours he had deleted the post and the cryptocurrency "nosedived" in value, meaning investors lost most of their money.

He's been accused of a "rug pull" – where promoters of a cryptocurrency deliberately "draw in buyers", only to stop trading activity and "make off with the money raised from sales", said the broadcaster.

"Few Argentines" were financially affected by the currency's crash, said the Financial Times, because analysis of X posts suggested that most $LIBRA buyers were in the US and Asia, but the episode has still caused a headache for him at home.

His opponents "appear unlikely" to secure the two-thirds majority needed in congress to impeach him because centrist blocs said they wouldn't support the proposal, but analysts believe that investigations into the president could "nonetheless weigh on his approval ratings", added the Financial Times.

The "most interesting lesson" of the scandal, according to Milei, is that "I need to put up more filters", and that "it can't be so easy for people to reach me". So the president, who is "reported to spend hours a day on X", might be "forced to become a little quieter", said The Spectator.

on this day

20 February 1939

More than 20,000 people attended a Nazi rally at New York City's Madison Square Garden arena, billed by the German American Bund as a "pro-Americanism" event. Donald Trump's decision to hold a "Make America Great Again" rally at the present-day version of that famous venue (it was moved and rebuilt in the 1960s) before last year's US election was considered highly controversial.

Today's newspapers

'Shameful'

Donald Trump's latest attack on Volodymyr Zelenskyy is one of the most shameful remarks ever made by any US president, critics tell the Daily Express. Trump has "appalled the world", says the Daily Mail and he's described by the Daily Star as "Putin's poodle". Keir Starmer "rebuked" Trump over the remark, says The Times. Meanwhile, "heard the one about comedy on the NHS?" asks Metro, leading on trials to see if "comedy on prescription" can help improve people's mental health.

See the newspaper front pages

tall tale

Detour de force

Organisers of a 10km race in Glasgow have admitted that a prankster sent some runners on a lengthy detour. Acorn Trails said someone moved a route arrow and impersonated a race organiser to send about 30 competitors on a 2.5km (1.5 mile) detour. Several runners reported that they were pointed away from the course by a person as they approached one section that was officially unmarshalled. A motive for the mischief is yet to be determined.

Trump calls Zelenskyy a dictator