Catherine O’Hara, Schitt’s Creek and Home Alone star, dead at 71

Catherine O’Hara, the beloved Canadian comedic actor, has died. She was 71.

Although she played a wide variety of characters in a career that spanned five decades, she was perhaps best known for playing mothers. She played Macaulay Culkin’s character Kevin’s mother, Kate McCallister, in the first two Home Alone films — spawning the viral “Kevin!” meme — before going on to play matriarch Moira Rose in hit TV series Schitt’s Creek.

She died Friday in Los Angeles following a brief illness, her manager told Variety. A cause of death has not been reported.

Culkin was among those leading the tributes to his late co-star, writing on Instagram: “Mama. I thought we had time. I wanted more.”

Also paying his respects was Pedro Pascal, who worked with O’Hara in The Last of Us. He wrote: “Oh, genius to be near you. Eternally grateful. There is less light in my world, this lucky world that had you, will keep you, always.”

O’Hara recently earned Emmy nominations for her work on The Last of Us and The Studio — the ninth and tenth of her career.

Born in Toronto on March 4, 1954, O’Hara was the sixth of seven children. In 1974 she joined the cast of The Second City in Toronto, the improv comedy troupe that also helped launch the careers of John Candy, Dan Aykroyd and Gilda Radner.

In 1976, the company launched SCTV, a televised sketch comedy show, and O’Hara became a regular performer. After the show was picked up by NBC for broadcast in the U.S. it became known as SCTV Network 90, and O’Hara won her first Emmy in 1982 for Outstanding Writing on an episode titled “Moral Majority Show”.

During the 1980s, she landed a number of supporting roles in films including Martin Scorsese’s After Hours in 1985 and Tim Burton’s Beetlejuice in 1988. Decades later she reprised her role as Delia Deetz, mother to Winona Ryder’s Lydia Deetz, in the 2024 sequel Beetlejuice Beetlejuice.

In 1990, she appeared in Home Alone, the blockbuster comedy that has become a perennial festive favorite. She returned two years later for Home Alone 2: Lost in New York.

In 1996, she was part of the ensemble cast of Christopher Guest’s improvised mockumentary Waiting for Guffman. The film, which also starred Guest, Eugene Levy, Fred Willard and Parker Posey among others, was critically acclaimed and won a cult following. She reunited with Guest and the rest of the cast for follow-ups including Best in Show (2000), A Mighty Wind (2003) and For Your Consideration (2006).

Along with her film career, O’Hara also appeared in guest roles in a variety of television shows including Committed, Six Feet Under, Curb Your Enthusiasm, Glenn Martin DDS, 30 Rock, and Modern Family.

In 2015, O’Hara made her debut as eccentric former TV star Moira Rose on Schitt’s Creek. For 80 episodes alongside cast members Dan and Eugene Levy and Annie Murphy, O’Hara would win over a new generation of fans — and win her second Emmy in 2020.

During her Emmys acceptance speech, held during the Covid-19 pandemic O’Hara said: “I will forever be grateful to Eugene and Daniel Levy for bestowing upon me the opportunity to play a woman of a certain age, my age, who gets to fully be her ridiculous self.”

In an interview with New York magazine in 2019, she reflected on how her early years at Second City had taught her to how to use everyday life to inspire her performance, and to fuel her social critique. “You’re kind of gathering all these little bits of information. And it’s all laughing at ourselves,” she said. “Not just others, but ourselves. Just behavior that human beings can’t help. We are ridiculous and great and lovely and sweet and innocent and scary.”

O’Hara met her husband, production designer Bo Welch, on the set of Beetlejuice in 1987. Welch is known for his collaborations with Tim Burton, dating back to Edward Scissorhands. They couple married in 1992.

O’Hara is survived by Welch and their two sons, Matthew and Luke.

Trump calls Pretti ‘agitator’ in latest post defending ICE officer

Protests against the Trump administration’s immigration crackdown have erupted nationwide as Bruce Springsteen performed at a fundraiser in Minneapolis for Renee Good and Alex Pretti.

With the words “Arrest the President” on his guitar, Springsteen played his new song, “Streets of Minneapolis,” which is a protest against immigration enforcement in the city, per The New York Times.

Organizers of the mass protests Friday had called for a “national shutdown” where people would skip work and school and refuse to shop. Thousands, if not tens of thousands, of people took to the streets of Minneapolis in protest, as observed by The Independent’s Bel Trew.

Good and Pretti were fatally shot by federal immigration agents in two separate incidents in Minneapolis this month.

President Donald Trump labeled Pretti an “agitator” and “perhaps, insurrectionist” in a furious Truth Social post early Friday morning.

Former CNN anchor Don Lemon and Emmy Award-winning reporter Georgia Fort were arrested Friday in connection with a protest against ICE activities at a Minnesota church that they both covered.

Also Friday, Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche announced a federal investigation into Pretti’s shooting, which he said was “standard” procedure.

Starmer brushes off Trump’s comments on UK doing business with China

Sir Keir Starmer has brushed off Donald Trump’s warning that doing business with China will be “very dangerous”, as the prime minister continues his efforts to bolster economic ties during his controversial trip to the country.

The prime minister met Chinese president Xi Jinping in Beijing on Thursday as he pushed to create a “more sophisticated” trading relationship between the UK and China.

But hours after the landmark meeting, US president Donald Trump expressed his disapproval of the UK’s efforts to do business with China – despite the US president planning his own visit to the country in April.

Asked by reporters early on Friday about the visit, he said: “Well, it’s very dangerous for them to do that, and it’s even more dangerous, I think, for Canada to get into business with China.”

He added that Canada was doing “poorly” and said “you can’t look at China as the answer”.

But speaking to broadcasters in Shanghai, Sir Keir appeared unfazed by the warning from the US president, telling Sky News: “I’ve seen President Trump’s comments. I think, to be fair, he was probably talking more about Canada than the United Kingdom.”

Adding that the US and UK remained “very close allies”, he said his visit to China had been discussed with Mr Trump’s team beforehand and pointed to the president’s upcoming visit to the country in April.

Sir Keir and President Xi have already struck deals on Scotch whisky tariffs, which are set to be halved to 5 per cent, and visa-free travel to China for British tourists and businesses. President Xi also agreed to lift Chinese sanctions on British MPs and peers, which included a travel ban, after the talks with Sir Keir.

Mr Trump threatened Canada with a 100 per cent tariff on exports earlier in January after Canadian prime minister Mark Carney sealed closer economic ties on his own visit to China.

UK officials insisted the US was aware of Sir Keir’s trip and his objectives in advance, and pointed to Mr Trump’s own visit to China, expected to take place in April.

Mr Trump’s comments were rebuked by trade minister Sir Chris Bryant on Friday, who said his remarks on the UK’s trade prospects were “wrong”.

Asked by BBC Breakfast if the US president was wrong in his remarks, trade minister Sir Chris Bryant said: “Yes, he is wrong, and I say this precisely because, apart from anything else, he himself said in his own statement that he is a friend with President Xi, and as I understand it, President Trump is going to China himself in April.”

He added it would be “absolutely bonkers” for the UK not to engage with China.

“I agree that … of course you have to go into your relationship with China with your eyes wide open,” he told Sky News.

“You have to challenge China on the issues where we disagree with them, but you have to face the fact that China is a major power in the world.

“It’s the second largest economy in the world, and it’s our fourth largest export market. So it would be absolutely bonkers for the UK not to engage with China.”

The US president’s comments came ahead of Sir Keir’s arrival in Shanghai, a massive financial hub, for the next leg of his trip.

His visit to China’s biggest city and global financial hub will cap a controversial trip during which the prime minister’s political opponents accused him of “kowtowing” to Mr Xi.

Sir Keir stressed the financial benefits of an improved relationship with China, which is a major part of global supply chains, in his meeting with Mr Xi.

The government has been attempting to balance its relations between China and the US, amid demands from the US president to reduce reliance on Chinese trade.

Ahead of his trip, Sir Keir told Bloomberg he would not choose between Washington and Beijing: “I’m often invited to simply choose between countries. I don’t do that,” he said.

“We’ve got very close relations with the US, of course we want to and we will maintain that business, alongside security and defence.

“Equally, just sticking your head in the sand and ignoring China, when it’s the second biggest economy in the world and there are business opportunities, wouldn’t be sensible.”

No 10 also left the door open to a future visit to the UK by Mr Xi, whose last state visit to Britain was in October 2015.

The prime minister’s trip to China is the first by a UK premier since 2018. Sir Keir has faced calls to raise the jailing of Hong Kong pro-democracy campaigner Jimmy Lai and the treatment of the Uyghur minority with the Chinese leadership.

He said they had a “respectful discussion” on those issues and that this was “part and parcel of the reason to engage”.

Downing Street declined to be drawn on details of discussions on contentious issues, including Mr Lai, the Uyghur community, MPs sanctioned by China and Beijing’s purchase of Russian oil, which has been hit by Western sanctions in a bid to cripple its war effort in Ukraine.

His official spokesperson would not say whether Sir Keir told the Chinese president that Mr Lai should be released, but said the government’s position calling for his immediate release has not changed.

According to Mr Lai’s son, the 78-year-old British national has spent five years in solitary confinement in treatment, which amounts to “torture” under Hong Kong’s new national security law.

Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor set to close last remaining businesses

Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor is due to mark another phase in his retreat from public life as one of his last companies closes down.

The disgraced royal’s start-up Pitch@Palace is due to be struck off from Companies House on Tuesday 3 February, less than a decade after the former Duke of York established it in 2017.

In October, Buckingham Palace announced that Andrew would have his royal titles stripped due to the ongoing controversy over his friendship with the late paedophile financier Jeffrey Epstein.

While his Pitch@Palace business, which was inspired by Dragons’ Den, managed to survive the initial fallout in 2019, the UK branch closed in 2021, and it is now being dissolved.

The scheme had initially won Andrew praise for helping young people get into the business world, as it encouraged entrepreneurs to pitch their ideas to potential investors and compete for funding.

In a document filed with Companies House signed off by Arthur Lancaster, the firm’s sole director, the company filed an application to be “struck off and dissolved”.

Companies House lists Prince Andrew of Royal Lodge, Windsor, as having “significant influence or control” over the business.

Andrew resigned from his role with Pitch@Palace in 2019 after the backlash that followed the interview he gave to the BBC’s Newsnight programme, in which he was quizzed over his ties to Epstein. The former duke has vehemently denied any wrongdoing.

The latest set of accounts showed it had £10,965 in cash at the end of March, down from £220,990 the year before.

The business was mired in controversy last year when it emerged that the founder-partner of Pitch@Palace China was an alleged spy. Yang Tengbo, who is said to have become a close confidant of Andrew, was banned from the UK by the Home Office.

While Andrew stepped down from royal duties in 2019 after his disastrous Newsnight interview, the publication of Virginia Giuffre’s posthumous memoir, and the US government’s release of documents from Epstein’s estate, brought more scrutiny over his relationship with the financier.

The King took action by stripping his younger brother of his birthright to be a prince and his dukedom over his “serious lapses of judgment”.

He is set to move from Royal Lodge in Windsor Great Park, which it emerged he had only paid peppercorn rent on for more than two decades, sometime this year to the King’s private Sandringham estate.

The former prince has for many years been dogged by allegations he sexually abused Giuffre after she was trafficked by Epstein, claims Andrew had repeatedly denied.

It also emerged before Christmas that he had emailed Epstein in 2011 saying “we’re in this together”, three months after he claimed he had broken all contact with the convicted paedophile.

He paid millions to Giuffre, a woman he has claimed never to have met, to settle a civil sexual assault claim in 2022.

Fresh rain warnings in parts of UK hit by Storm Chandra flooding

The Met Office has issued fresh weather warnings for rain in southwest England after the region was hit by flooding during Storm Chandra earlier this week.

Further rainfall is expected on Monday and Tuesday across Cornwall and Devon, less than a week after schools were forced to close and transport was disrupted due to the adverse weather.

A yellow weather warning is in place from midday on 2 February until 9am the following day, with the forecaster warning that there is a small chance homes and businesses could be flooded, while deep floodwater could cause danger to life.

A yellow rain alert is currently in place for Devon and Cornwall on Friday, lasting to 6am on Saturday for an area stretching from Land’s End to Exeter.

Met Office chief forecaster Rebekah Hicks said: “Over the next few days we’ll see more rain into areas of the country which have already been hit by flooding, and the saturated ground contributes to the ongoing likelihood of some disruption caused by the coming rain.

“The totals we’re expecting aren’t comparable to Storm Chandra, but with around 25mm possible each day in parts of the yellow warning areas, it could be sufficient to lead to difficult travel conditions and further flooding in places.”

Meanwhile, the RNLI is warning people to be vigilant near the coast in Devon and Cornwall due to the potential of 15ft waves surging up exposed beaches and topping over sea fronts and harbour walls.

Steve Instance, from the charity, said: “Current forecasts for Friday are predicting wave heights between 10ft and 15ft, which isn’t unusual for this time of year, however, what makes this particularly worrying is the long lull, or swell period between the waves.

“Surf forecasts are predicting a 17-second swell period. What this looks like is a gap between sets of very large, very powerful waves of up to 15 minutes.

“This could mean, particularly close to high tide in the middle of the day, people walking on beaches or along sea fronts will be faced with a sudden surging set of waves racing 200 metres to 300 metres up the beach, or topping over sea or harbour walls.

“There is a risk this could catch walkers out and in the worst case sweep them off their feet into the sea.”

On Wednesday, Somerset Council said an estimated 50 properties had been affected by flooding across Ilminster, West Coker, Taunton, Mudford and West Camel.

The Flooding on the Levels Action Group (Flag), which has long campaigned for improvements to drainage and flood alleviation on the Somerset Levels, is calling for the pumping station at Northmoor to be upgraded.

Meanwhile, status yellow rainfall warnings are in place for seven counties in the Republic and for all counties in Northern Ireland.

Met Eireann extended the rainfall warning as it will come into effect from noon for counties Dublin, Carlow, Kilkenny, Louth, Waterford, Wexford, and Wicklow until midnight.

In Northern Ireland, there is a yellow-level warning for rain in place until 6pm on Friday, bringing a risk of further flooding and travel disruption.

Today:

Rather cloudy and breezy with rain moving northwards, giving snow over some northern hills. Briefly brighter in the south, though heavier rain and strong winds developing from the south and west during the afternoon. Feeling rather cold in the north.

Tonight:

Bands of rain or showers affecting many areas of the country, some heavy bursts across the southwest. Some drier spells, especially towards the northwest where a local frost is possible.

Saturday:

Often cloudy, perhaps with a few brighter spells in the east. Outbreaks of light rain and drizzle possible almost anywhere. Heavier rain and showers in the southwest edging slowly northwards.

Outlook for Sunday to Tuesday:

Remaining unsettled on Sunday and to start next week. Showers or longer spells of heavy rain affecting most areas, coupled with brisk winds at times. Further snow on northern hills.

More follows…

The smart moment to get ahead of your business budget

For businesses large and small, late January is when reality bites. For some, it’s the first chance to take a breath after the festive rush and early January sales. For others, it’s an opportunity to look at things afresh after time away from the office. Either way, it’s the moment when plans need to move off the page and into practice.

In a challenging business environment, budgets must work harder, workflows need to be optimised and spending requires clear oversight. This is where Amazon Business can make a tangible difference: helping teams start the year organised, keep costs under control and simplify everyday purchasing across essential business categories.

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Buy smarter, stay stocked

Feeling organised starts with knowing you have what you need. Amazon Business supports this by offering bulk buying options that help improve budget efficiency. From pallet-sized orders of cleaning products to everyday office supplies, buying in volume ensures businesses are paying the best possible price.

Registered Amazon Business customers also benefit from exclusive business-only pricing, alongside the fast and flexible delivery Amazon is known for. In some circumstances, same-day delivery is available, allowing businesses to stay agile and responsive without overstocking.

One platform, less paperwork

Switching to Amazon Business can also significantly reduce administrative burden. Rather than sourcing cleaning supplies from one provider, office technology from another and stationery from a third, Amazon Business acts as a one-stop shop for procurement.

This streamlined approach frees up valuable time, allowing business owners and teams to focus on delivering quality products and services, rather than managing multiple suppliers and invoices.

Control for leaders, autonomy for teams

Amazon Business combines the familiar Amazon interface with professional-grade tools designed specifically for organisations. Team members can order what they need quickly and intuitively – even without purchasing experience – all through a single, centralised account.

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The platform’s analytics tools also enable deeper trend analysis, supporting smarter decision-making now and more effective planning for the future. Amazon Business integrates with more than 300 e-procurement and expense management systems, including Coupa, Concur Expense and SAP Ariba, and makes it easy to manage delivery preferences across multiple locations within a single workflow.

From fitting seamlessly into existing systems to keeping spending accountable, Amazon Business helps companies start the year as they mean to go on: with smarter, simpler and more business-focused buying.

Sign up for a free Amazon Business account to streamline your purchasing and take advantage of quantity discounts.

HMRC to introduce new ‘penalty points’ system in 2026

HMRC is rolling out a new “penalty points” system this month that could land forgetful taxpayers with a £200 fine.

The new system. proposed by the tax authority in 2024, will first be tested on around 100 taxpayers, as part of the Making Tax Digital scheme.

Under the current rules, those who miss the 31 January self-assessment submission deadline get an automatic £100 fine. This can increase by £900 after three months (£10 a day), then another £300 after six months.

The new system will see many sole traders given quarterly deadlines to file updates, and then an end-of-year “final declaration” which will replace the current self-assessment tax return.

Each late quarterly submission will earn one penalty point instead of an automatic fine, with four points (or four missed quarterly deadlines) resulting in a £200 fine.

Meanwhile, each late annual submission will also result in one penalty point, but the threshold is lower, at two points (or two missed annual deadlines), which will also result in a £200 fine.

While this system will affect only a small number of people to begin with, it will begin to be rolled out fully from April for sole traders and landlords with annual self-employment and property income over £50,000. This threshold will be lowered each year, to £30,000 in 2027, and £20,000 in 2028.

The quarterly penalty points system will not apply in the first year of the scheme to give traders time to adapt.

HMRC explained in a paper on the changes: “The new penalty regime is simpler and fairer than the previous system. The new system will penalise those who persistently do not comply by missing filing and payment deadlines, while being more lenient on those who occasionally fail to meet obligations.”

An HMRC spokesperson told Sky News: “We’re committed to helping customers get their tax right to avoid fines altogether. Our fairer penalty points system for late returns will mean that only Making Tax Digital customers who persistently miss deadlines will incur a financial penalty.”

HMRC revealed last week that 3.3 million people still had yet to file their self-assessment tax return, with just a week to go until the 31 January deadline.

Why Iran is the wrong war for Trump to back

Chaotic, unprincipled and dangerously effective, Donald Trump’s latest foreign policy move in Ukraine may provide a brief respite from Russian bombing in plunging temperatures that have left civilians freezing in their homes.

The danger lies in what he expects to get in return for securing a week-long agreement from Vladimir Putin to hold off on tormenting Ukraine. The concession he will, no doubt, demand is that Kyiv give in to the Kremlin’s demands to hand over his most potent defensive lines and fortress cities without a shot being fired in return for a longer “ceasefire”.

Trump has been backing the wrong side in Ukraine, and may soon launch a war in Iran that he cannot control.

US negotiators have been trying to get Volodymyr Zelensky to agree to cede all of Donetsk and most of Zaporizhzhia and Kherson provinces as a reward for Russia’s bloody invasion that has, by many estimates, cost the country 1.2 million casualties.

The US administration has cut all military aid for Ukraine and allows only an intelligence feed to Kyiv’s forces, leaving its energy system so vulnerable to air attacks by Russia that most Ukrainians have no power in their homes.

Support from America for a Western democracy has collapsed under Trump.

But he has what he calls an “armada”, led by the Nimitz-class aircraft carrier USS Abraham Lincoln, that is threatening Iran.

That’s a staggering amount of firepower to back his demands that Tehran give up its shattered nuclear programme, its potent missile forces, and end support for proxy groups like Hamas in Gaza and Hezbollah in Lebanon and Iraq.

He has abandoned all talk of intervening in Iran for the reason of protecting protestors who are demanding an end to the regime that has ruled since 1979 – even though he encouraged them to take to the streets and promised that “help is coming”.

Bombing a country’s apparatus of oppression might have given him a principled edge. The US and its allies have intervened, sometimes with UN backing, in the past; notably in Somalia, the former Yugoslavia and even in Libya in the name of saving populations from extremism, warlords, or genocide.

That moment has passed in Iran. Yet he persists in his threat to attack a sovereign nation that, by any metric, is a force for bad across the Middle East, but with no plan for the day after.

The attraction for Trump is, perhaps, the hope that US oil companies can roll into the country once its theocracy has collapsed and exploit its fossil fuel reserves in the way that he hopes to see in Venezuela – where he decapitated the regime in Caracas but left its administration intact.

And he clearly believes that he would be doing Israel a favour since it has plenty to fear from the ideology of the ayatollahs, who’d like to see the Jewish state erased.

Iran poses almost no threat to the US.

Russia’s land grab in Ukraine and threats against other European allies of the US – notably the Baltic states as well as Poland – is a threat to American security because it is a threat to Nato members, to the democracy that the US has held dear for decades, and to US bases across Europe from which Washington is able to project military power – ironically, into the Middle East in particular.

An American attack that triggers the collapse of the Iranian regime could unleash centrifugal forces that America would not be able to control.

The vast security infrastructure there controls at least 50 per cent of the economy, but many of its personnel are true believers in the “Islamic revolution”.

Their experts transformed the insurgency against allied forces during the occupation of Iraq by organising its terror cells and training its militants in sophisticated bomb-making, including the use of shaped charges that could slice through heavy armour.

They have ready recruits for their anti-Western agenda after America supported Israel during its campaign in Gaza, in which at least 80,000 people were killed in what a UN commission has said “amounts to genocide”.

Iran itself may collapse into civil war in the wake of what Trump has promised could be “far worse” than last year’s Israeli-US 12-day campaign that targeted Iran’s nuclear industry and its leading nuclear officials.

And America’s allies would not be spared the return to global terror as part of revenge for further attacks on the country.

Besides, Trump has a more deserving realm for intervention: Ukraine, which could fight off Russian invaders and protect its airspace if Washington returned to giving Kyiv military support, especially air defence and long-range missiles.

Ukraine now has an army of a million with vast experience. Trump wants Europe to look after its own security interests and rely less on the American taxpayer to foot the bill for British and European complacency over defence.

Binding Kyiv into Europe and into Nato eventually, would represent a massive saving for the US. The Kiel Institute estimates that the costs of halting aid to Ukraine would be 10-20 times more than the 1 per cent of GDP it currently costs Germany.

Some 10.6 million Ukrainians have fled their homes – close to 6 million of them are refugees in Europe. If Trump is looking for a humanitarian imperative to use American weapons, at no risk to US personnel, it is in Ukraine, not Iran.

And, what is more, Ukraine is in no danger of falling apart nor joining a global terror alliance.

There would be no winners from an attack on Iran, but with some US help, Ukraine could be victorious.

“There seems to be a narrative that Ukraine is losing this war. I simply don’t buy that. We have enough information and intelligence to back this up as well. But it’s a Russian narrative which has also been floated a lot in the US,” Finnish president Alexander Stubb said recently at the Davos World Economic Forum.

Lt Gen Keith Kellogg, until recently Trump’s special envoy to Ukraine and a national security adviser in the White House, reinforced Stubbs’s argument in Davos.

“I understand what’s happening to Kyiv. I understand the temperatures. But I really do believe that if Ukraine gets through this winter, January, February, and you get into March and April, the advantage accrues to Ukraine, not to Russia,” he said.

“[Russia’s] frontline units have been mauled. They’ve lost over 20 general officers.”

Trump likes to back winners. Europe’s task now is to persuade him that backing Ukraine will be win-win for America.

Whether they succeed or fail, an attack on Iran is lose-lose.