• Women's NCAA tournament second round play continues Monday, March 23, with eight games scheduled across ESPN and ESPN2, featuring matchups including Alabama at Louisville (noon ET) and Virginia at Iowa (2 p.m. ET).
• Additional second round games include Notre Dame at Ohio State, Kentucky at West Virginia, Syracuse at UConn, Illinois at Vanderbilt, Southern Cal at South Carolina, and Oklahoma State at UCLA.
• The women's tournament second round concludes Monday's schedule, with the most successful teams advancing to regional play in subsequent rounds.
In today’s newsletter: Off Duty revisits the conviction of Alexander Villa, raising troubling questions about how it was builtGood morning. On the evening of 29 December 2011, Clifton Lewis – an off-duty Chicago police officer working as a security guard at a minimart on the city’s west side – was shot dead during a robbery. The killing prompted a huge manhunt and an intensive investigation by the Chicago police department. Years later, prosecutors said they had their man, and in 2019 Alexander Villa was convicted of Lewis’s murder and sentenced to life in prison.But the case against Lewis has long been contested – and as the Guardian’s new investigative podcast series, Off Duty, explores, there are troubling questions about how that conviction was secured, from confessions that were later recanted to evidence that appears shaky or missing. And it revolves around a justice system that, once it settled on a suspect, seemed unwilling to reconsider.Iran | The global energy crisis caused by the war in Iran is equivalent to the combined force of the twin oil shocks of the 1970s and the fallout of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, the head of the International Energy Agency has warned.UK news | Four ambulances belonging to the Jewish community ambulance service have been set on fire in Golders Green, with police saying they were treating the incident as an “antisemitic hate crime”.Technology | Palantir is to be granted access to a trove of highly sensitive UK financial regulation data, in a deal that has prompted fresh concerns about the US AI company’s deepening reach into the British state, the Guardian can reveal.UK news | An undercover police officer has admitted he was exposed as an infiltrator by his own blunder, which has been described by activists as worthy of Inspector Clouseau, the spycops public inquiry has heard.Business | Several porridge products in the UK have been recalled over a possible mice contamination at their manufacturing site. Continue reading...
Trump and border czar Tom Homan confirm plan to assist TSA agents amid partial government shutdown standoffDonald Trump and his border czar, Tom Homan, have confirmed that the president’s administration is sending Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents to US airports beginning Monday to assist with security amid extremely long lines – and to help airport security agents who have been working without pay since 14 February because of a partial government shutdown.Homan will lead the effort, Trump said on Sunday. Continue reading...
• U.S. secondary-level economic statistics including construction indicators and business activity assessments will provide key signals for market sentiment early in the week.
• Investors are preparing for a busier trading week with March flash PMI surveys from major economies, inflation data from Japan and UK, and U.S. consumer indicators due for release.
• Market focus has shifted from traditional macro releases to monitoring oil prices, bond yields, and geopolitical developments, with these factors now setting the primary tone for equity sector rotations.
Commuters on Craigieburn, Upfield, Ballarat and Seymour lines will be first to test tap-and-go technologyGet our breaking news email, free app or daily news podcastMelbourne is finally poised to join other Australian cities in the tap-and-go era, with the state government confirming public trials for contactless credit and debit card payments will launch for suburban rail commuters on Monday.Commuters on the Craigieburn, Upfield, Ballarat and Seymour lines will be the first to test the technology, allowing them to bypass the physical Myki card in favour of paying via a debit or credit card, smartphone or smartwatch. Continue reading...
