Great Britain’s Josh Kerr wins gold in the men’s 3000m at the World Indoor Athletics Championships, with Cole Hocker taking silver for USA and and France’s yann Schrub taking bronze in Poland.
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WASHINGTON — A federal arts commission on Thursday approved the final design for a 24-karat gold commemorative coin bearing President Trump’s image to help celebrate America’s 250th birthday on July 4.
The vote by the U.S. Commission of Fine Arts, whose members are supporters of the Republican president and were appointed by him earlier this year, was without objection. It clears the way for the U.S. Mint to begin production on the coin, whose size and denomination are still under discussion.
“As we approach our 250th birthday, we are thrilled to prepare coins that represent the enduring spirit of our country and democracy, and there is no profile more emblematic for the front of such coins than that of our serving President, Donald J. Trump,” U.S. Treasurer Brandon Beach said in a statement.
The unprecedented move marks yet another example of Trump and his allies circumventing conventional past presidential practices — and even the law — to get what he wants. It’s the latest instance of Trump putting his name and likeness in the historical archive, following his renaming of the U.S. Institute of Peace, the Kennedy Center performing arts venue and a new class of battleships, among other tributes.
Federal law says no living president can appear on U.S. currency. But Megan Sullivan, the acting chief of the Office of Design Management at the Mint, said the Treasury secretary has authority to authorize the minting and issuance of new 24-karat gold coins, which Scott Bessent has used to get around that prohibition and put Trump on a coin.
She presented the coin’s final design at the commission’s March meeting on Thursday and said Trump had approved it.
“It is my understanding that the secretary of the Treasury presented this design, as well as others, to the president and these were his selection,” Sullivan said.
The White House and the Mint did not immediately respond to electronic and telephone requests for comment.
The front of the coin features an image of Trump in a suit and tie and with a stern look on his face. His fists rest on top of what is supposed to be a desk as he leans forward. Lettering on the top half of the coin spells “LIBERTY” in a slight arc. Directly underneath that are the dates 1776-2026. The words “IN GOD WE TRUST” are at the bottom, with seven stars on one side of the coin and six stars on the other side.
The reverse side depicts a bald eagle midflight with “UNITED STATES OF AMERICA” on the right side and “E PLURIBUS UNUM” on the left side.
“I know it’s a very strong and a very tough image of him, and I think it’s fitting to have a current sitting president who’s presiding over the country over the 250th year on a commemorative coin for said year,” said Commissioner Chamberlain Harris, a top White House aide to Trump.
The coin will be part of a “very limited production run,” Sullivan said, but the number has not been determined. The size and denomination of the coin also have not yet been decided, she said. Some commissioners noted Trump’s fondness for big things as they advocated for the largest size coin.
The Mint, which is part of the Treasury Department, has looked at a size for the Trump coin that is larger than its 1-ounce gold coin, which is about 1.3 inches in diameter, Sullivan said.
Its largest coin is 3 inches, “so we’re looking somewhere in there,” she said.
“I think the president likes big things,” said Commissioner James McCrery II, who was the architect on Trump’s design proposal for a 90,000-square-foot ballroom addition to the White House. The fine arts commission approved that proposal at its February meeting.
Harris told McCrery she agreed with him. She works in the White House as a special assistant to the president and deputy director of the Oval Office.
“I think the larger the better. The largest of that circulation, I think, would be his preference,” Harris said, speaking of Trump.
Superville writes for the Associated Press.
The United States Commission of Fine Arts, a federal agency, has approved plans for a commemorative gold coin that features one of Donald Trump’s recent presidential portraits.
The commission, made up of Trump appointees, voted unanimously in favour of minting the coin on Thursday. But the legality of such efforts has been repeatedly questioned.
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Federal law prohibits the depiction of living presidents on US currency. Thursday’s coin, however, may sidestep the rule, as it is intended as a commemorative item, not for circulation as currency.
Still, the Trump administration has advanced other plans to put the president’s face on a $1 coin, in addition to the commemorative gold coin.
Critics denounced both initiatives as unlawful and inappropriate for a sitting leader.
“Monarchs and dictators put their faces on coins, not leaders of a democracy,” Senator Jeff Merkley told the news agency Reuters.
The Citizens Coinage Advisory Committee, a bipartisan federal panel, has previously pushed back against efforts to mint Trump-themed coins.
One of its members, Donald Scarinci, said that the panel and the Commission of Fine Arts are both supposed to approve such designs.
“But we still fully expect them to plough ahead and mint both coins,” Scarinci said of the commission.
The gold coin is set to feature a bald eagle on one side, and Trump on the other, leaning with both fists on the table and staring straight ahead.
The image is a facsimile of a black-and-white image of Trump taken by photographer Daniel Torok and featured in the National Portrait Gallery in Washington, DC.
“I know it’s a very strong and a very tough image of him,” said Chamberlain Harris, a Trump aide who was appointed to arts commission earlier this year.
Harris indicated that the Trump gold coin would be as large as possible. The US Mint currently produces coins as large as 7.6 centimetres, or three inches, which is what Harris said the Trump administration would aim for.
“I think the larger the better. The largest of that circulation, I think, would be his preference,” Harris said, referencing her discussions with the president.
Megan Sullivan, the acting chief at the Office of Design Management at the US Mint, also indicated that Trump had given the design his approval.
“It is my understanding that the secretary of the Treasury presented this design, as well as others, to the president, and these were his selection,” Sullivan said.
Since taking office for a second term, Trump has pushed to leave his mark on the federal government.
In addition to the gold coin and $1 coin that are slated to bear his image, he has placed his name on the US Institute of Peace and the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts.
Both efforts are the subject of ongoing lawsuits. An act of Congress gave the Kennedy Center its name, designating it as a living memorial to the late John F Kennedy, a president who was assassinated in office in 1963.
Likewise, the US Institute of Peace was established by Congress as an independent think tank dedicated to conflict resolution.
It was the subject of a standoff between its leadership and members of Trump’s Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) last March, culminating in its employees being forcibly evicted.
Trump has also placed his face on government buildings around Washington, DC, in the form of long banners.
Even the architecture of the city is changing to reflect his tastes: Last October, he tore down the White House’s East Wing in order to build a massive ballroom, and he has plans to build a triumphal arch in the capital, similar to the one in Paris, France.
Trump has pitched many of the changes as part of the country’s 250th anniversary celebrations, which culminate this July.
At Thursday’s meeting to discuss the gold coin, his officials repeated the argument that celebrating Trump was a good way to mark the anniversary.
“I think it’s fitting to have a current sitting president who’s presiding over the country over the 250th year on a commemorative coin for said year,” said Harris.
U.S. hockey star Jack Hughes might have lost more than a couple of teeth during the gold-medal-winning victory against Canada at the Milan-Cortina Olympics last month.
The puck that Hughes smacked into the net in overtime to give the United States its first men’s Olympic hockey gold since the 1980 “Miracle on Ice” was seemingly forgotten amid the raucous celebration.
But this week, the Hockey Hall of Fame began displaying that puck along with the one Megan Keller knocked into the net in overtime to give the U.S. women’s team gold in Milan. The International Ice Hockey Federation apparently secured the frozen vulcanized rubber disks immediately after the games and handed them to the Hall of Fame located in Toronto.
Hughes is happy “his” puck surfaced but believes he is the rightful owner of a piece of memorabilia that David Kohler, president of SCP Auctions, estimated might be worth $1 million.
“I don’t see why Megan Keller or I shouldn’t have those pucks,” Hughes told ESPN. “I’m trying to get it. Like, that’s [B.S.] that the Hockey Hall of Fame has it, in my opinion. Why would they have that puck?”
Hughes might not like the answer. The provenance of the puck is similar to that of a basketball or football used in a notable moment. It is dissimilar to a historic home run because a baseball leaves the field of play, and the owner becomes the fortunate fan.
“Because of the increasing value of memorabilia, ownership of items has become standardized over the last decade or so,” said an expert who agreed to speak anonymously because they work in the acquisition of such items. “Whoever purchased the puck owns it. Jerseys belong to the team, shoes and gloves to the player, the puck to whoever supplied it to the Olympics.”
That would be the International Ice Hockey Federation, the governing body of the Olympics hockey tournament. The IIHF employees who immediately secured those precious pucks amid gold-medal bedlam apparently did their job well.
“The puck was designated for archival preservation with the Hockey Hall of Fame to ensure its long-term safekeeping and historical recognition,” an IIHF spokesperson said.
The pucks are featured in an “Olympics ‘26” display that also contains a hockey stick used by Brady Tkachuk of the U.S. team and a U.S. jersey worn by four-time Olympian Hilary Knight.
It might strike some as odd that the display is in Canada, where fans are mourning the loss to the United States, but that’s been the location of the Hall of Fame since it was established in 1943. HOF president Jamie Dinsmore said in a statement that the display contains “donated items,” although it is unclear whether the IIHF has donated or merely loaned the pucks to the HOF.
“The Olympics ’26 display will help ensure that these unforgettable Olympic moments are preserved for our guests from around the world to experience,” Dinsmore said.
Meanwhile, Hughes told ESPN he wants the puck to become the property of one particular fan — his father, who collects memorabilia for him and his brothers Quinn and Luke. All three play in the NHL.
“I wouldn’t even want it for myself. I’d want it for my dad. I know he’d just love, love having it,” Hughes said. “When I look back in my career, I don’t collect too many things for myself, but my dad’s a monster collector for the three of us. I know he would have a special place for it.”
Or it could be sold at auction, where certainly it would pay for any dental work Hughes needs after getting teeth knocked out during the gold-medal game. Various auction houses have estimated the value of the puck to be from $40,000 to $1 million.
Should he acquire the puck, though, Hughes might not even consider selling it. The first pick of the 2019 NHL draft, he signed an eight-year, $64 million contract extension with the New Jersey Devils four years ago.
From “sticking a pen in a couple” while having a youthful flutter to owning a King George VI Chase winner and potential Cheltenham Gold Cup victor, Harry Redknapp has come a long way in horse racing.
The FA Cup-winning football manager’s love of the sport can be traced back to his grandmother Maggie Brown, who was a bookmaker’s runner in London’s East End, at a time when betting shops and off-course betting were illegal.
On Friday, his horse Jukebox Man will attempt to add the Cheltenham showpiece to his King George win in December.
The King George VI Chase is considered the biggest jumps race of the season before the Cheltenham Festival, while the Gold Cup is described by the Jockey Club as the most prestigious steeplechase in the world.
After claiming a photo-finish victory at Kempton Park on Boxing Day to topple 2024 King George winner Banbridge and 9-4 joint-favourite Gaelic Warrior, Redknapp said: “We’ve come into the Champions League today.”
But can he win jump racing’s equivalent of the Champions League?
“We have a chance, but it is a tough race,” Redknapp told BBC Radio 5 Live:
Among those standing in his way are Gaelic Warrior, Jango Baie, Haiti Couleur and last year’s winner Inothewayurthinkin.
Redknapp said: “Just to have a runner in the Gold Cup is a dream come true.
“We have had so much fun with Jukebox Man, which won the King George on Boxing Day, which is one of the most iconic races in the racing calendar.
“To go to the Gold Cup and to have a runner with a bit of a chance is great.”
Victory would be the crowning moment of a 70-year love affair with the sport that began during childhood.
“My nan would take the bets,” he said. “I’d come out for my school dinner when I’m eight or nine and she was getting put in the back of a police van and taken to Poplar police station.”
Redknapp’s nan would tell him to “stick a pen in a couple“ that would be her bets for the day.
Despite his love of the sport, he has never been tempted to ride – “not for all the money in the world”.
”They get injured, these jump jockeys, and then they come back about three weeks later, he said.
“They’re not like footballers, are they?”
Redknapp owns shares in 26 horses.
“You’re not always successful,” he said.
“For every Shakem Up’arry and Jukebox Man and Taurus Bay, there’s lots of others that never really did anything.”
Adicoff, from Sun Valley, Idaho, has been skiing since childhood – dabbling in both alpine and Nordic skiing before alpine was deemed too dangerous.
He competed against sighted rivals at junior level. After being selected for the US Para-Nordic team in 2013, he went to the 2014 Games in Sochi while still a high school student.
A first Paralympic medal came four years later in Pyeongchang when he finished second behind Canadian Paralympic legend Brian McKeever in the 10km classic event, but he retired after the Games before returning for the 2022 Beijing Games.
Despite high hopes of gold, Adicoff achieved two more individual silvers behind McKeever before anchoring the US team to relay gold for his first Paralympic title.
But it left Adicoff wanting more and with the retirement of 16-time Paralympic champion McKeever the division was wide open.
The American seized his chance to dominate, with World Cup and World Championship success ahead of the Games.
Unlike at Beijing, where supporters did not travel because of the pandemic, athletes at these Games have benefited from being able to be watched by friends and family and Adicoff’s entourage have been enjoying the experience.
Whether they are waving giant faces of Adicoff and his guides Reid Goble and Peter Wolter or wearing hats with his name on it, their presence has been felt at the Tesero Cross-Country Centre
Adicoff, who has another medal chance in Sunday’s 20km event and is also set to go in Saturday’s 4×2.5km mixed relay, may not be able to fully see them while he competes, but he has taken it all in and joined in the post-race celebrations.
“To have so many people that came out and supported us and are going to continue to support us throughout the week. It’s so nice having friends and family here,” he said.
“You see all those white hats up there? It’s so fun to have.
“I love skiing, love ski racing, so it makes finding the motivation kind of easy.”
The licence follows a push from US President Donald Trump to open Venezuela’s resource sector to international investment.
Published On 6 Mar 20266 Mar 2026
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The United States government has authorised a limited licence for the export of Venezuelan gold, following a high-level meeting to expand mining in the country.
On Friday, a notice appeared on the US Department of the Treasury’s website announcing the licence.
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It allows Venezuela’s state-run mining company Minerven and its subsidiaries to export, transport and sell Venezuelan gold to the US, within the parameters set out under US law.
Under the licence, however, no Venezuelan gold will be permitted to be exchanged with Cuba, North Korea, Iran or Russia.
The licence also requires payments to sanctioned individuals to flow through Treasury accounts known as Foreign Government Deposit Funds, the same system that has been used to store the proceeds from Venezuelan oil sales.
Minerven and other state-owned industries have faced US sanctions for years, as a penalty for the push to nationalise Venezuela’s resources under former President Hugo Chavez.
But the US has been pushing for inroads into Venezuela’s oil and mining sectors since January 3, when it launched an operation to abduct and imprison the country’s then-president, Nicolas Maduro.
The January 3 military operation has been condemned as a violation of international law, and critics argue that US President Donald Trump has since sought to exploit Venezuela’s natural resources for his country’s gain.
Trump and his allies maintain that Venezuela’s oil resources were stolen from the US, citing the expropriation of assets from US businesses in 2007.
But international law guarantees that countries have permanent sovereignty over their own natural resources, which cannot be exploited by foreign powers without consent.
So far, the government of interim Venezuelan President Delcy Rodriguez has complied with Trump’s requests to surrender oil to the US and open the country’s oil and mining sectors to foreign investment.
Just this week, Rodriguez agreed to send a mining reform law to the country’s National Assembly, following a two-day visit from Trump’s Interior Secretary Doug Burgum.
And in late January, Rodriguez signed into law a separate reform that allowed for the expansion of private investment from abroad in Venezuela’s oil sector and lowered taxes on the industry.
Venezuela’s economy has struggled under tightening US sanctions and government mismanagement, forcing millions of citizens from the South American country to flee its borders over the last decade.
Proponents of the reforms say outside investment can help revive Venezuela’s ailing economy and fund upgrades to its outdated mining infrastructure.
On Friday, Venezuela’s central bank released its first inflation statistics since November 2024, showing that inflation skyrocketed to 475 percent in 2025, when the US placed an embargo on Venezuelan oil exports.
Gold production from Venezuela in 2025 amounted to nearly 9.5 tonnes, according to the government, and the country sits on some of the largest oil deposits in the world.
Rodríguez and Burgum gave a joint press conference in Miraflores Palace. (AFP)
Caracas, March 5, 2026 (venezuelanalysis.com) – Venezuelan Acting President Delcy Rodríguez met Wednesday with US Interior Secretary Doug Burgum at the Miraflores Presidential Palace in Caracas to discuss a bilateral agenda focused on energy and mining.
Senior officials from both countries also attended a closed-door meeting, including US Chargé d’Affaires Laura Dogu and Venezuelan Interior Minister Diosdado Cabello. Rodríguez and Burgum later gave a joint press conference.
“We welcomed Burgum to address important aspects related to metallic, non-metallic, strategic and non-strategic minerals,” the acting president told reporters. “We want the Venezuelan people to see the advantage of having good relations with the world and with the United States.”
Rodríguez said that her economic team will soon present a proposal to the National Assembly to “expand” Venezuela’s Mining Law, urging lawmakers to reform it “swiftly” in order to showcase “investment and development opportunities in the mining sector” to both domestic and international business groups.
Venezuela’s current mining legislation was approved in 1999. Rodríguez noted that the government intends to replicate the “win-win formula” of the recent hydrocarbon reform approved on January 29, which introduced wide-reaching benefits for foreign capital in the oil sector.
Under the overhauled legislation, private operators get expanded control over operations, with limited parliamentary oversight and a reduced tax burden.
Rodríguez also thanked US President Donald Trump for a social media post praising the Venezuelan acting president for “doing a great job.” The Venezuelan leader highlighted the US government’s “kind disposition” to work on a “mutually beneficial” cooperation agenda.
For his part, Burgum said that Venezuela is “an extraordinarily rich nation” in oil, gas, and critical minerals, adding that the opportunities for collaboration between the two countries “have no limits.” He serves as chair of the US National Energy Dominance Council as well.
According to the senior White House official, who holds the natural resources portfolio, the potential cooperation could deliver something “truly remarkable” for both the Venezuelan and American people. Burgum’s delegation included representatives from over 20 US and Canadian mining companies, some of them with a past presence in Venezuela.
“These companies are ready to begin,” he said. “I know that [Acting President] Rodríguez, like President Trump, wants to cut bureaucratic red tape so this capital investment can start flowing.”
Among the companies represented in the visit were US firms Peabody Energy—the world’s largest private coal company—Hartree Partners, Orion CMC, Paulson & Co., and Caterpillar Inc., along with Canada’s Lundin Mining Corp and Singapore-based commodities trader Trafigura.
Canadian miner Gold Reserve also announced plans to return to the Caribbean nation and disclosed a 30-day US Treasury license to negotiate with Caracas.
According to Axios, US officials additionally negotiated a multimillion-dollar agreement with Venezuela’s state mining company Minerven to sell up to one metric ton of gold to the US market, currently valued at roughly $165 million.
The deal would require Minerven to supply between 650 and 1,000 kilograms of doré gold bars—a crude alloy of gold and silver with 50 to 90 percent purity—to Trafigura, which would transport the metal to US refineries. The transaction details were not disclosed, including whether Trafigura will deposit payment in US-run accounts in an arrangement similar to the one the Trump administration has imposed for Venezuelan oil exports.
Burgum is the fourth senior US official to visit Venezuela since the January 3 US military strikes and kidnapping of President Nicolás Maduro and his wife, National Assembly deputy Cilia Flores.
Earlier visits included US Southern Command chief Francis Donovan, CIA Director John Ratcliffe, and US Energy Secretary Chris Wright.
Venezuela possesses vast unexplored and proven mineral reserves, including significant gold, iron, bauxite, diamonds, nickel, and copper deposits. Coltan reserves have likewise been touted in recent years.
According to the International Center for Productive Investment (CIIP)—an agency attached to the Venezuelan vice presidency—the country holds the eighth-largest iron reserves in the world, estimated at 14.7 billion metric tons, as well as more than 321 million tons of bauxite, the raw material used to produce aluminum.
Regarding gold, the CIIP estimates that Venezuela may hold between 2,200 and 8,000 metric tons, which would place the country among the largest gold reserves globally.
Analysts have also highlighted the possibility of finding rare earth deposits in the South American country. The 17 elements have diverse applications in cutting-edge technology and advanced weapons systems. Washington is currently highly dependent on rare earth imports from China.
Edited by Ricardo Vaz in Caracas.
When President Trump announced the initial wave of US and Israeli strikes on Iran at 8:30 a.m. CET on Saturday 28 February, marking the start of Operation Epic Fury, all traditional financial markets were closed.
Most markets operate Monday to Friday only, meaning weekend developments, however significant, cannot be priced in until trading resumes on Monday morning, creating a bottleneck of reaction at the open.
US equities, futures, major foreign-exchange platforms, commodity markets, Asian and European bourses were all closed on Saturday.
Middle Eastern exchanges, such as those in Saudi Arabia and Qatar, opened on the second day of the conflict, as they trade Sunday to Thursday, but these attract fewer Western participants and, consequently, lack liquidity.
In the past, investors facing such a major geopolitical shock on a Saturday would have been forced to wait until US futures reopened Sunday evening to start pricing in an expectedly chaotic Monday.
This time, however, they had a genuine alternative — crypto-based platforms that trade 24 hours a day, 7 days a week and 365 days a year, are globally accessible and settle transactions almost instantly.
The standout choice was Hyperliquid, a decentralised perpetuals exchange that offers contracts not only on cryptocurrencies but also on real-world assets including crude oil.
According to on-chain data, trading volume on the platform spiked sharply, reaching peaks near $200mn (€172mn) in a single 24-hour period on Saturday.
The oil-linked perpetual contracts on Hyperliquid, such as OIL/USDH and USOIL/USDH, rose more than 5% almost immediately after the US-Israeli strikes were announced, providing one of the first real-time price signals before traditional markets reopened.
Hyperliquid contracts were not the only instruments drawing attention.
Tether’s XAUT, a token fully backed by physical gold held in vaults, saw its 24-hour trading volume exceed $300mn (€258mn) — a remarkable figure for a weekend.
Prediction markets such as Kalshi and Polymarket also posted massive volumes, while Bitcoin, Ethereum and other crypto tokens were sold off as proxy assets for broader negative risk sentiment.
For the first time in many observers’ memories, crypto markets were effectively “the market” during the weekend.
In a memo published on Tuesday, Matt Hougan, chief investment officer at Bitwise, described it as “the weekend that changed finance”.
Critics will point out that crypto markets remain smaller and more volatile than their traditional counterparts, and that regulatory and operational risks persist.
However, the events of the past weekend showed that on-chain finance is moving from the fringes to the core of global capital markets far faster than most forecasts anticipated even six months ago.
The success of crypto platforms during the Iran conflict adds to the pressure already felt by legacy financial institutions to follow suit and provide perpetually open markets.
The New York Stock Exchange, owned by Intercontinental Exchange, is actively developing a blockchain-based alternative trading system for tokenised equities and exchange-traded funds that would enable genuine 24/7 trading with instant settlement.
Announced in early 2026 and still subject to regulatory approval, the platform would combine NYSE’s existing matching engine with private blockchain networks for post-trade processing.
Trades could be funded and settled in real time using stablecoins, bypassing the T+1 settlement cycle, which dictates the transfer of securities and the corresponding payment must be completed by the next business day and still governs equity markets.
The tokenised venue has a potential launch window as early as the second quarter of 2026, with broader 22 to 23-hour weekday trading on NYSE targeted for later in the year or early 2027, subject to coordination with the SEC, DTCC and market-data providers.
Nasdaq has filed similar proposals to extend US equities trading to 23 hours a day, five days a week, with an anticipated rollout in the second half of 2026.
These moves represent a direct response to the competitive pressure exerted by always-on crypto venues and the growing frequency of market-moving events that occur outside traditional hours.
The Iran weekend served as a vivid case study.
With hedge funds and proprietary traders already active on Hyperliquid and other decentralised platforms, established exchanges recognise that failing to offer comparable access risks losing order flow permanently.
Tokenisation provides the technological bridge, allowing continuous trading while preserving existing regulatory safeguards around custody, dividends and shareholder rights.
While the crypto infrastructure demonstrated its resilience over the weekend, progress on the legislative front remains frustratingly slow.
The Digital Asset Market Clarity Act of 2025, known as the CLARITY Act, passed in the US Congress last year with strong bipartisan support but has since become bogged down in the Senate.
The primary sticking point is friction between the banking and crypto sectors over the treatment of stablecoin yields under the separate GENIUS Act, which established the first federal framework for stablecoin issuers.
Banks argue that yield-bearing stablecoins could drain deposits, and they have lobbied to close perceived loopholes.
Crypto proponents counter that such rewards are essential for customer retention and innovation.
On Tuesday, President Trump weighed in directly via Truth Social.
“The Genius Act is being threatened and undermined by the banks, and that is unacceptable — we are not going to allow it. The U.S. needs to get market structure done, asap.”
Moreover, President Trump further sided with the crypto sector by stating that “The banks are hitting record profits, and we are not going to allow them to undermine our powerful crypto agenda that will end up going to China, and other countries, if we don’t get the Clarity Act taken care of.”
Despite the presidential intervention and earlier White House meetings between the two industries, no resolution has been reached.
The Senate Banking and Agriculture committees continue to advance differing drafts, and a full vote remains elusive.
With the bill effectively stalled, market participants are left without the regulatory certainty many had hoped would arrive before the end of the first quarter.
The irony is not lost on observers. While crypto markets proved their worth during a real-world crisis, the very legislation designed to integrate them safely into the traditional system remains hostage to lobbying battles.
Until a resolution is achieved, the speed of innovation will continue to outstrip the pace of rulemaking — a dynamic the Iran weekend has only made more apparent.
U.S. women’s hockey star Hilary Knight wasn’t a fan of a comment that President Trump made about her team days after it claimed Olympic gold at the Milan-Cortina Games.
“I thought it was sort of a distasteful joke, and unfortunately, that is overshadowing a lot of the success of just women at the Olympics carrying for Team USA and having amazing gold medal feats,” Knight said Wednesday during an appearance on ESPN’s “SportsCenter.”
On Feb. 19, the U.S. defeated Canada 2-1 in overtime for a third gold medal in women’s hockey; the team won gold in 1998 and 2018. Three days later, the U.S. men’s hockey team also won gold by defeating Canada 2-1 in overtime.
After the men’s game, Trump addressed the U.S. players by phone in the locker room, extending an invitation for them to attend his State of the Union address two days later and adding a seemingly dismissive comment about the women’s team.
“I must tell you, we’re gonna have to bring the women’s team, you do know that,” Trump said during the call. By not inviting the other American gold medal hockey team, the president said, “I do believe I’d probably be impeached.”
Trump’s comment was met with loud laughter in the locker room. But Knight said she and her teammates aren’t spending much time thinking about the remark.
“We’re just trying to focus on celebrating the women in our room, the extraordinary efforts and continue to celebrate three gold medals in program history, as well as the double gold for both men’s and women’s at the same time and really not detract from that with a distasteful joke,” Knight, who has won two gold medals and three silvers in five Olympics with the U.S. team, said.
“It was unfortunate, but yeah, I think really focusing on celebrating all great things that have come out of the Olympics and feeling the love and the support and getting back in our respective communities and sharing this journey with them, that’s what it’s all about and that’s what makes this moment super special.”
The majority of the men’s team met with Trump at the White House on Tuesday before being honored at the State of the Union address, where they received a bipartisan standing ovation lasting about two minutes. During his address, Trump announced that goalie Connor Hellebuyck will receive the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the nation’s highest civilian honor.
The women’s team confirmed in a statement Monday that it declined an invitation to attend the State of the Union address “due to the timing and previously scheduled academic and professional commitments following the Games.” Trump said during the address that the women’s team would be visiting the White House “very soon.”
Amid the controversy over Trump’s locker room comment, hip-hop legend Flavor Flav invited the women’s hockey team to a special event celebrating their achievement in Las Vegas. He later extended the invitation to “ALL Female US Olympians and Paralympian medalists” for the “She’s Got Game Weekend” from July 16-19.
“It was definitely super special, after everything that’s been going around online, to have someone step up like that and really go to bat for us,” forward Alex Carpenter said of Flav’s invitation during a Seattle Torrent news conference on Wednesday. “I think we’re fully gonna take advantage of that and go have some fun and celebrate like we deserve to.”
U.S.men’s team member Jeremy Swayman told reporters at Boston Bruins practice Wednesday that the laughter heard in the locker room following Trump’s comment does not reflect how the players feel about the women’s team and its accomplishments.
“Yeah, we should have reacted differently,” Swayman said. “We are so excited for the women’s team, we have so much respect for the women’s team, and to share that gold medal with them is something that we’re forever grateful for. And now that we’re home we get to share that together forever and see the incredible support we have from the USA and share in this incredible gold medal.”
Jack Hughes, who scored the winning goal for the U.S. men against Canada, said the men’s players were caught “in the moment” during the president’s call that came during the middle of their victory celebration.
“Obviously it is what it is now, but we have so much respect for the women’s team and they have so much respect for us,” Hughes told reporters after his New Jersey Devils’ 2-1 loss to the Buffalo Sabres on Wednesday night. “We’re all just proud Americans and we’re happy that we both swept the Olympics.”
Knight said she thinks there is “a genuine level of support and respect” between the U.S. men’s and women’s players and called the moment a “sort of a quick lapse” by the men’s players.
“I think the guys were in a tough spot,” Knight said. “So it’s a shame that this storyline and narrative is kind of blown up and overshadowing that connection and genuine interest in one another and cheering one another on.
“I think this is just a really good learning point to really focus on, you know, how we talk about women, not only in sport, but in industry.”
Discussion about the call wasn’t the only criticism of the White House from the world of Team USA hockey.
On Thursday, men’s player Brady Tkachuk said he was unhappy that the White House shared a video on TikTok that made it appear he disparaged Canadians while using profanity. The video, which also features hockey footage and part of an interview with Hughes, carries a note saying it “contains AI-generated media.”
“It’s clearly fake because it’s not my voice and not my lips moving. … I know that those words would never come out of my mouth,” Tkachuk told reporters.
He added: “I would never say that. That’s not who I am.”
The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment from the Associated Press.
Tkachuk also denied being the voice heard shouting “close the northern border” during the team’s call with Trump.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
U.S. figure skater Alysa Liu made quite an impression at the Milan-Cortina Olympics with her unique style, her compelling backstory and, of course, her gold medals in the women’s singles competition — the first for an American woman since 2002 — and in the team event.
Her feats captured the attention of local artist Gustavo Zermeño Jr. He wanted to be sure to capture all of it in his new mural paying tribute to the 20-year-old athlete in Gardena.
“Obviously her winning gold was the main factor” in his choosing to paint Liu, Zermeño said.
But once the Mexican-American artist learned more about the Chinese-American skater, he found inspiration in other aspects of her life as well. That includes the Oakland native’s two-year retirement from the sport starting at age 16, her enrollment at UCLA and her decision to express herself in her own way.
“She’s first-generation American, just like myself,” Zermeño said. “So I feel like that tie, her going to UCLA, her stopping skating for awhile and then jumping back in and more being herself — you know, growing up in Venice, I feel like that’s what kind of made me an artist. Venice allowed me to be myself, be wacky on the boardwalk, artists, performers, stuff like that.
U.S. figure skater Alysa Liu poses with the gold medal she won in the women’s singles Feb. 19 at the Milano-Cortina Winter Olympics.
(Matthew Stockman / Getty Images)
“So I feel like there were a lot of connections beyond her just winning the gold medal. But ultimately, I think she just deserves her flowers, man. She accomplished something, and I feel like her personality is what’s really garnering all this support from people.”
Zermeño was driving to get dinner near his home earlier this week and noticed a wall he thought would be perfect for his Liu-inspired project outside the Coe’s Glass & Mirror building at 15532 Crenshaw Blvd. It turned out that Zermeño casually knew the business owner, although Alex Lopez said he never realized his former next-door neighbor was a mural artist.
Still, Lopez approved the project immediately upon seeing samples of Zermeño’s work and a digitally created version of his idea for the Liu painting.
“I mean, I probably should have gone up the chain of command and asked the landlord’s permission, but I knew it was going to come out amazing,” Lopez said. “I just said, ‘Let’s go for it.’ The landlord came by this morning and loved the piece. He was really glad that we did it.”
Artist Gustavo Zermeno Jr. said he was inspired to paint a mural dedicated to U.S. skater Alysa Liu for reasons ‘beyond her just winning the gold medal.’
(Ronaldo Bolanos / Los Angeles Times)
Zermeño started painting Tuesday and hopes to be finished early next week. The mural will feature three images of Liu, including two of her skating, but the centerpiece is a larger-than-life headshot of her from the women’s singles medal ceremony.
In it, the halo-haired athlete smiles broadly as she pretends to take a bite out of her gold medal, putting on full display her now-famous “smiley” piercing in the tissue connecting her upper lip to her gums.
‘I think it really represents her personality and where she’s from, the Bay Area,’ artist Gustavo Zermeño Jr. said of his mural dedicated to U.S. skater and Oakland native Alysa Liu.
(Ronaldo Bolanos / Los Angeles Times)
“I like that it’s a little rough around the edges, but beautiful at the same time,” Zermeño said of the portrait. “I think it really represents her personality and where she’s from, the Bay Area. And so I feel like it just looks, you know, a little hood but at the same time, her being a figure skater, has that softness to it. And that’s kind of what I wanted.”
Lopez added: “I love it. Just her in general, as a person, I think she’s great. What she was able to accomplish in the Olympics is amazing for the United States and just for California. I’m honored to have her mural here. I feel like it represents the community and our business really well.”
MILAN — Talk about a closing ceremony.
The final medals of the Milan-Cortina Games were handed out Sunday and these Olympics truly saved the best for last, with the U.S. men’s hockey game grabbing the last gold with a 2-1 overtime win over Canada.
Of course it went to overtime. How else should a U.S.-Canada final end?
Jack Hughes, left alone on the left wing, provided the winning goal 1:41 into overtime, beating Canadian goalie Jordan Binnington cleanly and setting off a wild celebration that left the ice littered with U.S. gloves, sticks and helmets. The Canadian players watched from the bench, many with their heads in their gloves hands.
The other goals came from Matt Boldy, who gave the U.S. a lead early in the first period, and Cale Makar, who evened things for Canada late in the second.
The medal was the 33rd of these Games for the U.S. and the 12th gold, most by an American team in the Winter Olympics. They finished second to Norway, which won a record 41 medals, 18 of them gold.
The title was the Americans’ first in men’s hockey since 1980 and it came on the 46th anniversary of the “Miracle On Ice” win over the mighty Soviets, in what was essentially a semifinal in the Lake Placid Games.
The Canadian team the U.S. beat Sunday was no less mighty. It scored 27 times on its unbeaten run to the final, with Connor McDavid getting 13 points, a record for an Olympic tournament featuring NHL players. And with the NHL players returning to the Winter Games for the first time in 12 years, Canada may have had more elite-level marquee players than any team in Olympic history.
U.S. players celebrate immediately after beating Canada in overtime for the gold medal at the Milan-Cortina Olympic Games on Sunday.
(David J. Phillip / Associated Press)
But it was the U.S. that drew first blood, scoring in the sixth minute on a brilliant individual effort from Boldy. The play started with Toronto Maples Leafs captain Auston Matthews digging the puck out along the boards in the U.S. end. He then fed Boldy, a Minnesota Wild forward, who flipped the puck ahead of him as he entered the Canadian zone.
Boldy had Makar and Devon Toews to beat, which he did by skating between them before backhanding the puck by Binnington for his second goal of the tournament.
Back in the Catman Cafe in Mansfield, Mass., where Boldy’s mom Jen works as a bartender, the crowd came to its feet and cheered. It was the third time in as many elimination games that Canada trailed entering the second period.
The turning point in regulation came in a three-minute span in the middle of the second period. First, U.S. goalie Connor Hellebuyck stopped McDavid at the end of a breakaway it. Then less than a minute later, the U.S. took two penalties 28 seconds apart, giving Canada a five-on-three power play.
U.S. goaltender Connor Hellebuyck blocks a shot by Canada’s Macklin Celebrini during the third period Sunday.
(Carolyn Kaster / Associated Press)
With the crowd chanting “USA! USA!,” Hellebuyck, who stopped 41 shots in a phenomenal effort, came up big again and the Americans killed both penalties. The U.S. was 18 for 18 on the penalty kill in the tournament.
Makar, however, wouldn’t be denied later in the period, sending a blistering wrister from the center of the right circle just over Hellebuyck’s arm 84 seconds before the intermission. The score stayed that way until Hughes’ goal.
The game was arguably the most-anticipated event of the Milan-Cortina Games — in North America, if not in Italy. Hundreds of bars and restaurants in the U.S. and Canada were packed for early morning viewing parties. In Toronto, Scotiabank Arena, home to the Maple Leafs, opened its doors at 7 a.m. and sold $15 tickets to people to watch the game on TV. In Lake Placid, N.Y., the Olympic Center cafe opened to fans at 8 a.m. while in Milan, the 14,000 people packed into the Santa Giulia Arena were a sea of red Canadian jerseys and white American ones.
Six times the U.S. has finished second to Canada in an Olympic hockey tournament, the last in 2010 when Sidney Crosby’s goal in overtime gave Canada a record ninth gold medal. Crosby, Canada’s captain, did not dress for Sunday’s game after sustaining a lower-body injury earlier in the tournament.
United States players celebrate after defeating Canada for the gold medal at the Milan-Cortina Games on Sunday.
(Hassan Ammar / Associated Press)
That wasn’t the only sign this game would be different for the Americans. As the team was wrapping up its final practice in Milan on Saturday, a spider dropped from the ceiling. Don’t kill it, a local volunteer warned the players. In Italy, the appearance of a spider is considered a sign of coming good fortune.
With the U.S. beating Canada in overtime in the women’s gold-medal last Thursday, the Milan-Cortina Games marked the first time the Americans have beaten Canada in both hockey finals. Canada has swept the men’s and women’s gold three times, in 2002, 2010 and 2014.
But it is the coalescence of their personalities that amplifies all that sporting talent. And underpinning the team are two key things – total honesty and trust.
As McMillan puts it, “If one of us is in the wrong, the rest can say so”, while the more measured Mouat describes it as “knowing the different things to say to get the best out of each other”.
Individually, they are all very different.
Hype man McMillan is lively enough for all four of them; Hardie is the logic guy, an engineer by trade; Mouat is thoughtful, reflective and calm; Lammie is the quiet, reliable presence; and Waddell the experienced head in the background.
It might be labelled as ‘Team Mouat’ – as per the convention of naming a rink after its skip – but this is very much a collective. In fact, Mouat is keen to share the spotlight.
“Bruce is very different from a lot of skips,” explains BBC Sport pundit and 2022 gold medallist Vicky Wright. “A lot of them are clearly the leader but the GB team operates so well because they function on a level playing field.
“The dynamic they’ve got works because they all bring a different aspect to the table and they all respect that. That’s a massive part of why they’re so successful.”
It is instructive to see how comfortable they are in each other’s company and with the position in which they find themselves.
All five have been right in among it in Cortina these past couple of weeks, be it stopping for a chat in the street or in restaurants, meeting friends and relatives, watching other British athletes compete.
Or – in Mouat’s case – going pillowcase shopping and “spending far too much money” on the morning of the semi-final.
Even in the moments before the final, McMillan and Hardie were sharing a laugh with a journalist; Mouat was picking out familiar faces in the crowd for a smile and a wave, and Lammie and Waddell were casually studying the Canadians warming up.
This is their stage – but for how much longer?
Welcome to your daily review and preview of this year’s Milan-Cortina Olympics. My name is John Cherwa and I’m your tour director for the Games as the U.S. surpassed the gold total of its last five Winter Olympics early Saturday. The U.S. men’s hockey team could add to that mark.
It’s been two pretty good Olympic hockey tournaments. And the U.S. could win both of them. On Friday, the U.S. men beat Slovakia, 6-2, in the semifinals and will meet Canada for the gold on Sunday. The better game was Canada and Finland. Our once-friendly neighbor to the north fell behind 2-0, tied the game with 9½ minutes to go and then won with 35 seconds left. We’ll preview that game more tomorrow.
And, who can forget the U.S. women beating Canada, 2-1, in overtime in a gold-medal quality game.
The ninth gold for the U.S. was in the men’s freestyle halfpipe Friday when, as we predicted in yesterday’s newsletter, Alex Ferreira got the gold on his last run. It completed the lifetime gold, silver, bronze trifecta for the 31-year-old from Colorado. The U.S. also had the bronze until the last run when Nick Goepper was bumped to fourth.
The only other U.S. medal of the day was Corinne Stoddard’s bronze in the women’s 1,500 meters in short track speed skating. South Korea was first and second. The Netherlands won the men’s 5,000 relay. The U.S. did not make the finals.
It’s kind of a light day, so let’s do some random thoughts on the TV coverage.
Snoop Dogg attends mixed doubles curling in Cortina d’Ampezzo, Italy, on Feb. 6.
(Fatima Shbair / Associated Press)
U.S. forward Jack Eichel celebrates after scoring in the second period of a 6-2 win over Slovakia in the men’s hockey semifinals Friday at the Milan-Cortina Winter Olympic Games.
(Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times)
Times photographer Robert Gauthier is at the Winter Olympics. Each day, Times newsletter editor Houston Mitchell will select a favorite photo from the many Gauthier has taken.
MULTIPLE SPORTS
8 p.m. — “Primetime in Milan” (delay): Cross-country skiing, bobsled, figure skating, freestyle skiing and more. | NBC
BIATHLON
10:30 a.m. — 🏅Women’s 12.5-kilometer mass start (re-air) | USA
BOBSLED
8 a.m. — Four-man bobsled, runs 1-2 | USA
10 a.m. — Two-woman bobsled, Run 3 | NBC
12:05 p.m. — 🏅Two-woman bobsled, final run | Peacock
12:15 p.m. — 🏅Two-woman bobsled, final run (in progress) | NBC
2:15 p.m. — Two-woman bobsled, runs 3-4 (delay) | NBC
CROSS-COUNTRY SKIING
8:30 a.m. — 🏅Men’s 50-kilometer mass start classic (delay) | NBC
CURLING
🏅Women’s bronze-medal match
5:05 a.m. — U.S. vs. Canada | Peacock
7:20 a.m. — U.S. vs. Canada (delay) | USA
🏅Men’s gold-medal match
10:05 a.m. — Britain vs. Canada | CNBC
Women’s bronze-medal match
1 p.m. — U.S. vs. Canada (re-air) | CNBC
FIGURE SKATING
11 a.m. — Exhibition gala | Peacock
11:55 a.m. — Exhibition gala (in progress) | NBC
12:50 p.m. — Exhibition gala (in progress) | NBC
FREESTYLE SKIING
8:45 a.m. — 🏅Men’s skicross, finals (delay) | USA
9:15 a.m. — Mixed team aerials, final (re-air) | USA
10:30 a.m. — 🏅Women’s freeski halfpipe, final | NBC
1:30 p.m. — Mixed team aerials, final (re-air) | NBC
HOCKEY
🏅Men’s bronze-medal game
11:40 a.m. — Finland vs. Slovakia | USA
SPEEDSKATING
6 a.m. — 🏅Men’s and women’s mass start, semifinals and finals | Peacock
7 a.m. — 🏅Men’s and women’s mass start, semifinals and finals (in progress) | NBC
Check out the following Milan-Cortina Olympics dispatches from the L.A. Times team on the ground in Italy:
Winter Olympics Day 15 live updates: Klaebo wins record sixth gold medal
U.S. men rout Slovakia, will play Canada for hockey gold medal
After shedding pressure, American Alysa Liu rides wave of joy to Olympic gold medal
‘A magical moment.’ Hilary Knight caps off U.S. women’s hockey career with Olympic gold
Olympians Hilary Knight and Brittany Bowe get engaged before gold-medal hockey match
Jordan Stolz takes silver in Olympic 1,500 meters; China’s Ning Zhongyan wins gold
U.S. bobsledder Azaria Hill adding to her family’s rich Olympic Games legacy
That concludes today’s Sports Report Olympic Edition newsletter. If you have any feedback, ideas for improvement or things you’d like to see, email newsletter editor Houston Mitchell at houston.mitchell@latimes.com. To get this newsletter in your inbox, click here and select the Sports Report.
MILAN — She flipped her hair. She shrugged. She dusted her hands off.
Alysa Liu makes winning an Olympic gold medal look easy.
The 20-year-old became the first U.S. woman to win the Olympic singles title since 2002, electrifying the crowd at Milano Ice Skating Arena with her “MacArthur Park” program Thursday and overtaking Japanese rivals Kaori Sakamoto and Ami Nakai, who won second and third, respectively.
Liu scored a monster 150.20 points in her free skate, the highest mark for a women’s free skate all season in international competition to win by a total of 1.89 points. Her choreographer Massimo Scali’s jaw dropped when he heard the score read in Italian. A beat later when the screen caught up to the public address announcement in the stadium, Liu nodded confidently and cracked a subtle smirk.
American gold medalist Alysa Liu hugs Japanese bronze medalist Ami Nakai after their final scores were revealed at the Winter Olympics on Thursday in Milan.
(Jamie Squire / Getty Images)
She doesn’t care about the scores.
Liu, who grew up in Oakland, has floated through her second Olympics as if she had not a single care in the world. A two-year retirement during which she climbed Mt. Everest, got her driver’s license and started college at UCLA made skating feel inconsequential. Now so unbothered, Liu spent part of her six-minute warmup cheering on teammate Amber Glenn in the leader’s chair. Minutes before taking the ice, Liu snapped a selfie with her coaches. She gives her coaches a high-five right before taking her starting position.
“She’s not like us,” her coach Phillip Diguglielmo said. “The rest of us here would be like, ‘Oh my God, I’m nervous. Oh, I can’t do this. I have a million voices in my head.’ She has one voice in her head, and it says, ‘I got this.’”
The only emotions Liu felt during her program were “calm, happy and confident.” When she sees the faces in the crowd smile, Liu said she can’t help but smile, too. And there was a lot of smiling. Her Donna Summer disco program had fans clapping within the first minute. Diguglielmo and Scali held their hands overhead to join the roar. Liu’s pre-program message to the crowd on the video board was “Y’all better turn up!”
Liu, who won the 2025 world championship with the same crowd-pleasing program, returned to the sport in 2024 with the sole objective of sharing her art. She wanted to make as many programs as possible. Winning never seemed to matter. With the gold medal hanging around her neck, Liu stopped short of saying she even wanted it. She surely didn’t need it, she said.
“What I needed was the stage,” Liu said. “And I got that.”
Once Liu processed the final scores, she rose to her feet and turned toward Nakai, clapping for the 17-year-old. Nakai, skating in her first Olympics, was shocked. She held up three fingers to Liu, asking if she had finished on the podium. Overjoyed, they hugged. Liu picked Nakai, who had entered the free skate in first place, up off the ground.
Sakamoto was less than a point ahead of Liu entering Thursday’s free skate, but small mistakes from the three-time world champion, in addition to Liu’s strong technique and infectious energy made Liu the first U.S. woman to win the Olympic gold medal since Sarah Hughes in 2002. The United States’ 20-year drought without a medal — since Sasha Cohen took silver in 2006 — was the country’s longest.
Liu held her palms up in disbelief after finishing the program of her life that put her in the lead with two competitors remaining. She leaned into the camera and pointed to the piercing on the inside of her upper lip. She did it herself.
With blond horizontal stripes dyed in her dark brown hair, bold black eyeliner and the smiley lip piercing, Liu has cut an alternative path to the top of a sport that long valued a specific kind of femininity. But the slick back bun, classical music and balletic dress was not Liu’s brand.
Her brand is joy.
And now as just the second figure skater in history to win two Olympic gold medals at the same Olympic Games — joining U.S. star Nathan Chen — Liu has the stage, and the attention, to display her joy for the next generation of athletes.
“People will be able to see how she approaches the sport now versus before and see how much more successful it is now in a healthy way,” Glenn said. “And I’m hoping people can really learn from that.”
Glenn got redemption after the short program, putting up a season’s best 147.52 during her free skate that vaulted her from 13th to fifth with a 214.91 total score. The only blemish was when Glenn put one hand down on her final jump — the same triple loop that cost her in her short program. But as she held one leg behind her during a spiral in her last sequence, Glenn smiled as she looked into the crowd. After the program, she whipped her fist through the air triumphantly.
The performance put a positive punctuation mark on Glenn’s winding Olympic journey. She has faced intense scrutiny at the Games. The same pressure that consumed Glenn and teammate Ilia Malinin could not even touch Liu’s glowing aura.
When asked Thursday if she felt any “Olympic pressure,” Liu smiled.
“You would have to explain what Olympic pressure is,” she said.
Then she bounced away, the gold medal around her neck blending perfectly with her gold dress.
