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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

Conviction of Kyran Smith for 2022 incident raises questions about firm’s security processes, says letter More than 20 MPs have demanded an urgent meeting with the CEO of Travelodge after a woman was sexually assaulted by a man who had been given her room number and a key card by hotel staff. The MPs said the case of Kyran Smith, 29, who was jailed for seven-and-a-half years last month, raised “deeply concerning” questions. He attacked the woman after a party in December 2022. Continue reading...

Many of the Bulgarian seer’s predictions were never recorded, yet her name bolsters conspiracy theories and geopolitical narratives In some corners of the internet, the Bulgarian mystic Baba Vanga has taken on mythical proportions. Social media and tabloids across the globe credit her with predicting the 9/11 terrorist attacks, the Covid-19 pandemic and the war in Ukraine. Last week, some headlines went further, asking: “Did she foresee the Israel-Iran war, US interference, missiles and airspace shutdowns?” An earlier article mused on her “predictions for 2026”, which purportedly included the start of world war three and humanity’s first contact with aliens. Continue reading...

Impression of ‘casual operation couldn’t be further from truth’ Head coach hails captain Harry Brook’s ‘amazing job’ Brendon McCullum has defended his record as head coach after England’s elimination from the T20 World Cup, insisting the white-ball side will “achieve some special stuff”, but only if their talent is “harnessed the right way”. The Guardian revealed on Friday that McCullum is to remain in his post despite the disappointment of a 4-1 Ashes series defeat, England’s semi-finals exit and widespread criticism of the New Zealander’s methods. Continue reading...

Charities warn estates of victims who died before the scheme began are losing hundreds of thousands in financial loss payments Families of victims of the infected blood scandal have criticised the government for imposing a “penalty for dying” in its compensation scheme, which has seen them lose out on hundreds of thousands of pounds. The scheme awards payouts to living victims and the families of those who have died after being infected with HIV or hepatitis as a result of being given contaminated blood products by the NHS. Continue reading...

Is there something different about people born between 1997 and 2012 or is it all just marketing nonsense and hysteria? In just a few days, research has shown that gen Z like binge drinking, hold more traditional gender views, have started Chinamaxxing, prefer solo dining and believe environmental values are as important as physical attraction. A search for the term on Google brings up millions of articles meticulously documenting every aspect of gen Z behaviour – from their finances and mental health, to their food habits and hobbies. Continue reading...

Veteran striker who played in 2019 final brings experience to League One club in fifth round for first time in 30 years There is no shortage of FA Cup pedigree at Port Vale. Emblazoned on plaques and walls around Vale Park are memories of their 1996 victory against Everton under the legendary manager John Rudge. That 2-1 victory, in a fourth-round replay having held the Cup holders at Goodison Park, was the last time Vale had reached the fifth round until Tuesday’s extra-time win over Bristol City. Now Sunderland await at Vale Park on Sunday – another chance to make history. “It’s been 30 years since we’ve been to this stage – but it’s now about putting in a performance that can be memorable,” said their head coach, Jon Brady. “You want to put in performances they can go home talking about, and that they can be proud of. You want to see smiles on faces and people feeling really upbeat about the team. You want to create special memories that will live long, and the other night will live long in the players’ and fans’ memories.” Continue reading...

For many veterans of post-9/11 wars, the strikes on Iran bring troubling echoes of the 2003 invasion of Iraq Nearly two decades after his second tour, Nathan Wendland is still troubled by his experiences in Iraq. Like 700,000 other Iraq and Afghanistan veterans, the 46-year-old former US army staff sergeant receives compensation for post-traumatic stress disorder. Last January, Wendland checked himself into a psychiatric emergency room because he was worried he would kill himself. He was on the mend, but then Donald Trump ordered a sustained campaign of airstrikes on Iran. All those memories came flooding back. Continue reading...

The administration has been accused of failing to comply with hundreds of orders. The courts must not be paper tigers Late last month, a Minnesota federal court judge, Patrick Schiltz, issued an opinion detailing hundreds of instances in which the Trump administration has failed to comply with court orders. He threatened to find it in contempt and to impose penalties. Schiltz and other federal judges have made such threats before, but they have not followed through. It is time they did, lest they turn their courts into paper tigers. Continue reading...

Since the Gorton and Denton victory, I have travelled the UK and seen the energy that result unleashed. More will follow This week, I sat in the gallery of the House of Commons and watched a historic moment unfold: Hannah Spencer was sworn in as the MP for Gorton and Denton, making her the first female plumber to sit in parliament, and the first ever Green MP in the north of England. It marked the start of a new era: for Gorton and Denton, for the Green party and for British politics across the board. It’s not hyperbole to say that our win – in a seat that was 127th on our target list – has changed everything. Zack Polanski is leader of the Green party Continue reading...