• A joint U.S.-Ecuador military strike on March 6 targeting an alleged narco-terrorist training camp actually destroyed a dairy farm in the remote Ecuadorian village of San Martín in the Amazon jungle, according to a New York Times investigation.
• Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth posted video of the strike online claiming the U.S. was "bombing Narco Terrorists on land," but local residents reported Ecuadorian soldiers had arrived three days earlier by helicopter, interrogated and beat farmworkers, and set fire to structures before the bombing occurred.
• The Alliance for Human Rights, an Ecuadorian coalition, filed a 13-page complaint with Ecuadorian authorities and the United Nations over the incident, raising serious questions about civilian casualties and military conduct in the operation.
• Rising sea levels are creating 'ghost forests' of dead trees along the eastern US coast, where saltwater intrusion drowns vibrant ecosystems, as presented at ACS Spring 2026 meeting in Atlanta on March 26.
• Undergraduate Samantha Chittakone's team studies water cycling through these dying stands to predict coastal forest responses to climate change.
• Findings could inform preservation strategies amid accelerating sea level rise threatening US shorelines.
• An NIH-funded mouse study shows chronic colitis induces long-lasting epigenetic changes in gut stem cells, boosting AP-1 transcription factor activity and tumor growth potential.
• Researchers analyzed over 52,000 cells, finding damage memories persist more than 100 days after inflammation ends, heritable across new cells.
• The findings from Broad Institute scientists explain how sustained inflammation elevates colorectal cancer risk through dynamic epigenome alterations.
• Peer-reviewed research in Science Advances identifies 155,000 uncounted COVID-19 deaths in 2020-2021, raising official U.S. toll from 840,000 to nearly 1 million that period.
• AI analysis of mortality data shows 16% undercount, totaling 1.2 million U.S. COVID deaths over six years.
• Undercounts disproportionately affect Hispanic and communities of color, often from non-hospital deaths, impacting public health policy accuracy.
State legislation due to be introduced on Tuesday will give authorities powers to seize high-powered e-motorbikes. Follow today’s news liveGet our breaking news email, free app or daily news podcastGood morning and welcome to our live politics blog. I’m Martin Farrer with the top overnight stories and then it will be Krishani Dhanji with the main action.International Energy Agency chief Fatih Birol told 7.30 last night that the “world is facing the greatest global energy security threat in its history” and Australians are feeling the pain at the petrol pump. We’ll have more coming up. Continue reading...
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...
• Scientists resolved a 12,800-year-old climate puzzle from Greenland's GISP2 ice core, identifying the source of an unusual platinum spike initially linked to a possible meteorite or comet impact.
• The spike showed high platinum but low iridium levels, not matching typical space rocks or volcanic materials, sparking debate since its 2013 discovery.
• New analysis rules out extraterrestrial or volcanic origins, offering fresh understanding of ancient atmospheric events and Younger Dryas climate shifts.
In today’s newsletter: Bereaved families say the latest findings confirm long-standing concerns about capacity, care and political choicesGood morning. Yesterday lunchtime the UK Covid-19 inquiry published its latest findings – this time on how the NHS, its staff and patients were affected during the pandemic. It delivered a stark verdict: the health service “teetered on the brink of collapse” and only avoided it through the “almost superhuman efforts” of staff.Heather Hallett, the inquiry chair, said healthcare systems “coped, but only just” – and rejected the claim made by Conservative ministers at the time that the NHS had not been overwhelmed. For bereaved families, that language matters.Middle East | Iran said it would show “zero restraint” if its energy infrastructure was targeted again as Qatar revealed that almost a fifth of its liquefied natural gas export capacity had been knocked out in an Iranian strike.Health | Meningitis vaccination has been expanded in Kent after cases linked to a Canterbury nightclub rose to 27. Two people have died, and officials say the outbreak is being contained.Politics | Muslim leaders have condemned Nigel Farage’s call to ban public prayer by Muslims in the UK as bigoted and warned of a “growing tide of hate” after Kemi Badenoch questioned whether the events fitted “within the norms of British culture”.EU | EU leaders have pledged to stand behind Cyprus as it seeks “an open and frank discussion” on the future of the British bases on the island, which have become a target after the outbreak of the latest Middle East crisis.Immigration | A 16-year-old schoolgirl is stranded in Denmark after she was not allowed to board a flight to the UK due to new border rules on dual nationals. Continue reading...
• A new KFF survey from February-March 2026 shows 23 million ACA marketplace enrollees facing higher premiums after failed bipartisan subsidy extensions, forcing cuts to necessities.
• Orlando resident Priscilla Brown, 48, rations Type 2 diabetes insulin to half or third doses or skips it entirely to manage costs despite insurance.
• 75% worry about affording emergency care or hospitalization; 70% blame insurers 'a lot,' over half fault Republicans, Trump, and pharma companies.
• Researchers using AI analyzed death certificates and estimated 155,000 additional unrecognized COVID-19 deaths outside hospitals in 2020-2021, raising the official toll of 840,000 by 16%.
• The study compared symptomology of hospital deaths with those outside care, highlighting dramatic disparities in uncounted fatalities nationwide.
• This undercounting underscores ongoing challenges in pandemic mortality tracking and public health surveillance across the U.S.
