Report indicates that US intelligence officials question effectiveness of strikes to produce regime change in Iran US government reviews of the war in Iran show that the Trump administration may be ill-equipped for a regime-change war, according to reports. The Washington Post reported on Saturday morning that a classified intelligence review found that the war in Iran is unlikely to oust the Iranian establishment, despite the Trump administration’s desire to continue its attacks. Continue reading...

Exclusive: Guardian study finds UK museums hold more than 260,000 items of remains, often in sacrilegious ways The vast number of overseas human remains held by UK museums is a shameful legacy of colonialism, with many items kept in ways that are sacrilegious, according to MPs and archaeologists. An investigation by the Guardian found that UK museums hold more than 263,000 items of human remains from around the world, including whole skeletons, preserved bodies, such as Egyptian mummies, skulls, bones, skin, teeth, nails, scalps and hair. Continue reading...

⚽ FA Cup updates from the 5.45pm GMT kick-off ⚽ Live scores and results | Follow us on BlueSky The last time Wrexham met Chelsea, in the old Division Two 44 years ago, Frank Carrodus scored the only goal to give the bottom club Wrexham an unlikely victory. The match was watched by 3,935 people at the Racecourse Ground; Dustin Hoffman, Jack Nicholson and Warren Beatty were not among their number. The most exotic names in the stadium that day were probably Chelsea winger Peter Rhoades-Brown and Wrexham keeper Eddie Niedzwecki. Times change, football changes and tonight the two teams will meet in a Hollywood-adjacent blockbuster: it’s being shown live on two different channels in the UK alone. It’s Wrexham’s biggest game since Ryan Reynolds and Rob McElhenney bought the club six years ago, a chance to take a major scalp and reach their first FA Cup quarter-final since 1997. Continue reading...

Teenage French sensation Paul Seixas finishes second Swiss wins women’s race in a thrilling finish Tadej Pogacar won a record fourth Strade Bianche title as he made a triumphant start to his 2026 season, with the teenage French sensation Paul Seixas second. The world champion made a typically devastating long-range break around 80km from the finish, after which it was a procession to the line in Siena for his third win in a row. In doing so, the four-time Tour de France winner proved once again that his appetite to triumph – and dominantly – has not diminished despite his myriad successes. One of the 27-year-old Slovenian’s main targets for this season comes in a week’s time at the Milan-San Remo one-day classic, one of only two of the five Monument races he is yet to win. Continue reading...

Scotland 50-40 France Teams share 13 tries and go into final weekend level at top So maybe France are not as good as we thought. Maybe England not as bad. But Scotland. Bloody hell. This was a rout of the Six Nations favourites, an absolute rout. The scoreline, outlandish though it may seem from the championship’s serial underachievers, in no way flatters Scotland. Indeed, it might be said to underestimate how comprehensive this win was. Scotland’s regret will be to have conceded four tries in the last 15 minutes. That denies Scotland top-of-the-table status going into the final round. France remain on course, just about. Their bonus point, ending up with six tries out of the game’s 13, keeps them ahead of Scotland on points difference. Such is that margin, the title remains France’s to lose. Continue reading...

As the US waives its ban on India buying Putin’s oil for 30 days, Europe must bolster its own measures, such as stopping the flow of luxury cars Donald Trump handed Vladimir Putin a financial lifeline last week when he waived a ban on India buying Russian oil for 30 days. Trump found himself in a furious row last year with Narendra Modi over his country’s oil deals with Moscow, only for fences to be partly mended when India’s biggest importer later capitulated. Continue reading...

Royal Navy readying HMS Prince of Wales so it can be quickly deployed if decision made to mobilise it to region Middle East crisis live: latest news updates The UK is preparing an aircraft carrier ahead of a possible deployment to the Middle East, the Ministry of Defence has said. Royal Navy workers in Portsmouth are readying HMS Prince of Wales, the navy’s flagship, meaning it could be deployed more quickly if a decision is made to mobilise it to the region. Continue reading...

Six Nations updates from Rome; kick-off 4.40pm GMT Sign up for the Breakdown | Mail Daniel From October 1991 until kick-off this afternoon, matches between England and Italy have been a forgone conclusion. The two nations have met 32 times and England have triumphed on every occasion. The average score is around 40 points to 13. There have been drubbings of 67-7 in 1999, 80-23 in 2001 and 57-14 in 2019. Things have been tighter recently, and the last match in Rome ended with a three point margin, but the story has followed a predictable plot for 35 years. Continue reading...

Commandos started digging up grave thought to be of Ron Arad, leading to gun fight with local residents and Hezbollah fighters Middle East crisis – live updates An Israeli operation in eastern Lebanon to locate the remains of a famous IDF pilot ended in failure overnight, when the commandoes were caught in a gunfight with Hezbollah and local residents, leading Israeli jets to pummel the area with airstrikes that killed dozens of people. The fighting left three Lebanese soldiers and 41 residents of the Bekaa valley dead, according to the Lebanese army and ministry of health. No injuries were reported among the Israeli soldiers. Continue reading...

Aidan Romain, 18, says he endured sexual, physical and racist abuse at famed California private school An 18-year-old Black water polo player filed a lawsuit against one of Los Angeles’s most elite private schools last week, alleging he was sexually assaulted and racially harassed by teammates for years while school staff failed to intervene. Aidan Romain is accusing Harvard-Westlake school in Studio City; its president, Richard Commons; the head of the boys’ water polo program, Jack Grover; and former teammate Lucca van der Woude of allowing a “culture of harassment” within the elite program. The lawsuit was filed on 27 February in Los Angeles superior court. Continue reading...

Masters wins 10th Paralympic gold in biathlon sprint Gretsch silver completes US one-two in sitting race Victory marks Masters’ 20th Paralympic medal Oksana Masters led a United States one-two finish in the women’s 7.5km sitting sprint on Saturday, winning gold to deliver the United States’ first medals of the Milano Cortina Winter Paralympics. Masters crossed the line in 21:21.3 at Val di Fiemme, coming in 16 seconds ahead of teammate Kendall Gretsch, who took silver. Both Americans shot a perfect 10-for-10 on the range, leaving the race to be decided on the snow. Masters proved fastest over the course, pulling away from Gretsch on the final lap to secure the 10th Paralympic gold medal of her career. Germany’s Anja Wicker claimed bronze. Continue reading...

Lions close to within a point of Boro with 3-1 away win Portsmouth and Blackburn draw after dramatic late goals Millwall moved five points clear of Hull in the Championship playoffs and closed the gap on second-placed Middlesbrough for 24 hours at least as second-half goals from substitute Mihailo Ivanovic and Josh Coburn earned their side a 3-1 win at the MKM Stadium. Ivanovic cashed in on the goalkeeper Ivor Pandur’s error in the 70th minute before Coburn’s fierce hit eight minutes later provided Alex Neil’s side with a victory that had looked highly unlikely after a one-sided first half. This story will be updated Continue reading...

England 2-0 Iceland Lionesses untroubled in victory at City Ground Goals from Lucy Bronze and Georgia Stanway made it two wins from two in England’s bid to qualify for the 2027 World Cup, with attention now turning to a hugely important game against Spain at Wembley in April. England’s aim of avoiding the playoffs by securing top spot in their World Cup qualifying group was never going to be derailed by Ukraine and Iceland. Ukraine was a straightforward affair, once they had found their rhythm in the second half to earn a 6-1 win, and at the City Ground in Nottingham, while Iceland are a higher ranked side than Ukraine, the Lionesses were still overwhelmingly comfortable. Continue reading...

The main stand at the oldest professional football ground in the world shook. It was the moment to ignite Mansfield Town dreams, a goal from the substitute Will Evans early in the second half to hint at something extraordinary. It ought to have been a mismatch. Quadruple-chasing Arsenal, the top team in England and Europe so far this season, against the one that sits 16th in League One. It was anything but and now Evans had cancelled out Noni Madueke’s first-half opener. Continue reading...

Air strikes have shaken the Middle East after the US and Israel launched an attack against Iran, killing the country's supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. The Guardian looks back at the seven days that ignited a war, which has already claimed the lives of more than 1,500 Seven days on, seven questions about the US-Israeli war on Iran Middle East crisis – live updates Continue reading...

California state superintendent says mother and sons arrested during ICE check-in and deported to Colombia California’s superintendent is calling for the return of a hearing-impaired six-year-old after he, his mother and his five-year-old sibling were detained on Tuesday while reporting for their check-in at an ICE office in San Francisco and deported to Colombia. Lesly Rodriguez Gutierrez and her sons were arrested during their visit to ICE’s Intensive Supervision Appearance Program (Isap), said Alameda County Immigration Legal and Education Partnership (ACILEP). A relative who was waiting outside for Gutierrez and her sons was unable to hand off the assistive devices necessary for the six-year-old, who is deaf and has a cochlear implant. Continue reading...

Tech policy professor who served in US air force explains how a feud between an AI startup and the US military illuminates ethical fault lines Anthropic’s ongoing fight with the Department of Defense over what safety restrictions it can put on its artificial intelligence models has captivated the tech industry, acting as a test of how AI may be used in war and the government’s power to coerce companies to meet its demands. The negotiations have revolved around Anthropic’s refusal to allow the federal government to use its Claude AI for domestic mass surveillance or autonomous weapons systems, but the dispute also reflects the messy nature of what happens when tech companies have their products integrated into conflict. The Pentagon this week declared Anthropic a supply chain risk for its refusal to agree to the government’s terms, while Anthropic has vowed to challenge the designation in court. Continue reading...

The attorney general faces a subpoena over the Epstein files. She won’t say much – but Democrats are calling for her ouster After spending $220m of taxpayer money on an advertising campaign in which she demanded migrants self-deport, Kristi Noem is now being forced to make a hasty exit of her own. On Thursday, Donald Trump announced that his luxury-jet-loving homeland security secretary was being shipped off to become special envoy for “the Shield of the Americas”, a new “security” summit that Trump has dreamed up. Markwayne Mullin, a former mixed-martial artist and Republican senator, will replace her. Noem’s ouster was a long time coming. But it’s worth stressing that she doesn’t seem to have lost her job because of the many controversies that have plagued her tenure, including the killing of two US citizens by immigration agents. Rather, she committed the cardinal sin of making Trump look stupid. Which, to be fair, isn’t hard. Arwa Mahdawi is a Guardian columnist Continue reading...

The Guardian spoke to adults now in their 20s, 30s, and 40s to reflect on the lasting impact of family separation in the US Jesús usually came home from school to a raucous scene: the family TV blaring, his mom loudly cooking dinner and his two young sisters fighting about nothing in particular. When his dad came home from work, they’d all gather around the kitchen table for dinner. But this day was different. Continue reading...

Defence minister urges ‘serious politics’ after Tory leader criticises prime minister’s stance at spring conference Middle East crisis live: latest news updates Labour has accused Kemi Badenoch of scoring “cheap political points” after the Conservative party leader said Keir Starmer was “too scared” to join strikes on Iran. Al Carns, the defence minister, said “serious politics” was required in response to Badenoch’s speech at the party’s spring conference where she criticised the prime minister’s stance on the US-Israel strikes on Iran a week ago. Continue reading...

Six Nations updates from the 2.10pm (GMT) kick-off Sign up for The Breakdown newsletter | And mail Lee It’s been a “to you, to me” type of tournament so far in terms of form and results, unless you are France (or Wales, at the other end of the spectrum). Les Bleus bring their victorious mix of dazzle and confusion to Edinburgh in the hopes of continuing the Grand Slam quest, and throwing a stick in the spokes of Scotland’s improving fortunes. This is a game to get everyone leaning forwards in their seats. Scotland, with their willingness to play, return to the scene of their dismembering of England a few weeks ago to take on a France team who have been ludicrous in their ability to turn loose ball or counter-attack into a boatload of points. France’s average score in the three victories so far is 41-11, so it’s fair to say that they are likely to get up near 30 today. Continue reading...

Voronchikhina medal is country’s first in 12 years Bugaev later claims another bronze in men’s event Russia has won its first Winter Paralympic medals since 2014 as Varvara Voronchikhina and Aleksei Bugaev claimed bronze in the women’s and men’s downhill standing events in Cortina on Saturday morning. Vorinchikhina, whose success means Russia will appear on an international medal table for the first time in 12 years, spoke of her pride at being able to compete under her own flag. “It’s a really long time when we were without the flag, and I’m really glad [now],” she said. “All my country and all my teammates, we [are] glad. I’m very happy because it’s [the] first medal for me. It was a bronze, but I’m really happy.” Continue reading...

Takeshi Ebisawa, sentenced to 20 years in prison last week, believed he was selling weapons-grade plutonium to Iran A plot to supply Iran’s nuclear weapons program, heroin from the Golden Triangle, Burmese ethnic insurgents and rocket launchers were the subject in courtroom 24A in New York’s federal courthouse last week when a man described as a leader in Japan’s Yakuza organized crime syndicate was sentenced to 20 years in prison. The transnational plot, which the US Drug Enforcement Administration had been investigating since 2019, involved Japanese organised crime leader Takeshi Ebisawa, who along with three Thai men, had been arrested in New York in 2022. Continue reading...

Hampshire business seems to have benefited from ‘phoenixism’, which costs the taxpayer about £800m a year A UK recruitment business has been acquired out of administration for a third time in four years as part of a succession of deals that left some of the former management team in place and millions of pounds owed to the public purse. The chain of insolvencies appears to contain more examples of phoenixism – a process when companies are liquidated and directors are able to rise from the ashes with a new entity, free of debts. Continue reading...

These squishy, bouncy potatoey pillows are suppertime favourites, but which will float your boat and which will leave you with that synthetic, sinking feeling? • The best supermarket pesto Gnocchi are a godsend – my children love them – but I was shocked by the quality on offer here. Of the products I tested, 80% were made from reconstituted dried potato flakes, emulsifiers (mono- and diglycerides of fatty acids), stabilisers (diphosphates) and preservatives (sodium metabisulphate). Most came in non-recyclable packaging, too – that’s simply not real food, and unnecessary when you consider that similar long-life products are made with real potato and few preservatives. I’m going to be very cautious about buying gnocchi from now on. Gnocchi are generally slathered in sauce, so I’d never tried them plain before, but doing so revealed their true nature, as did studying the ingredients labels. Also, I was taught to cook gnocchi until they floated, which usually takes only a minute when you make them from scratch, but most manufacturers advise boiling them for two or three minutes, not until they floated, which left me wondering whether they were even cooked at all. Continue reading...