Italy and Northern Ireland meet in a high-stakes one‑off UEFA World Cup play-off semi‑final in Bergamo on 26 March 2026 with a place at the 2026 World Cup on the line. Gennaro Gattuso’s Azzurri, who finished second in qualifying behind Norway and have missed the last two tournaments, host Michael O’Neill’s young Northern Ireland side at Atalanta’s Gewiss (New Balance) Stadium. The winner will play either Wales or Bosnia and Herzegovina in the Path A final on 31 March for a spot in Group B in North America. Italy have picked a smaller venue in part to manage pressure and atmosphere; veteran Gianluigi Buffon is in the delegation. Gattuso says the match is the most important of his career and has minor fitness doubts over Alessandro Bastoni and Gianluca Scamacca. Northern Ireland, who have not been at a World Cup since 1986, will be without Premier League talents Conor Bradley and Dan Ballard but arrive confident after growth under O’Neill. Observers expect Italy to be favourites, but the tie’s single‑match format and NI’s direct, set‑piece threat make an upset possible.

Democrat Emily Gregory won a March special election to represent Florida’s 87th State House District — the district that includes President Donald Trump’s Mar‑a‑Lago estate — defeating Trump‑endorsed Republican Jon Maples by about 2.4 percentage points (roughly 797 votes). Gregory, a first‑time candidate and small‑business owner who campaigned on affordability, health care and insurance costs, will take a seat in a GOP‑dominated legislature but her victory is symbolic. Democrats also narrowly flipped a Tampa‑area state Senate seat (Brian Nathan) in the same round. The wins are the latest in a string of special and off‑cycle victories that analysts and Democratic organisers say total nearly 30 state legislative flips since early 2025, while Republicans have struggled to capture Democratic seats in this period. Republicans have largely brushed off the results as special‑election anomalies, but some GOP lawmakers privately warn that aggressive redistricting plans — including a Florida special session called by Gov. Ron DeSantis in April to redraw maps — could make some incumbent seats more vulnerable rather than safer.

Warner Bros. and New Line Cinema on March 25, 2026 announced that comedian and Tolkien superfan Stephen Colbert will co‑write a new Lord of the Rings motion picture, tentatively titled The Lord of the Rings: Shadow of the Past. Colbert will develop the project with his son, screenwriter Peter McGee, and franchise veteran Philippa Boyens; producer-director Peter Jackson introduced Colbert in a studio video. The film is described as adapting material from early chapters of J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Fellowship of the Ring (roughly chapters III–VIII) that were not used in the 2001 film, and its logline sets the story 14 years after Frodo’s passing as Sam, Merry and Pippin retrace their earlier journey while Sam’s daughter Elanor uncovers a long-buried secret. The project follows Andy Serkis’s Hunt for Gollum (due Dec. 2027) and has no release date yet. Colbert’s move into franchise filmmaking was announced as his late‑night show on CBS prepares to end on May 21, 2026; New Line and Warner Bros. executives reportedly approved the material.

On March 25, 2026, Dame Sarah Mullally was formally enthroned at Canterbury Cathedral as the Church of England’s first female Archbishop of Canterbury, becoming the 106th holder of a role that is also spiritual head of the global Anglican Communion. The 63-year-old former nurse and ex-chief nursing officer for England took her seat on the ancient Chair of St Augustine before about 2,000 guests including the Prince and Princess of Wales, Prime Minister Keir Starmer and senior faith leaders. The 90-minute service — which began with the traditional three knocks at the west door and included vows sworn on the St John’s Bible, multilingual readings and contributions from the “Africa Six” — mixed centuries-old ritual with intentional symbolism. Mullally acknowledged past safeguarding failures that precipitated her predecessor Justin Welby’s 2024 resignation and pledged commitment to victims, trauma-informed practice and justice. Her appointment has drawn both wide celebration and dissent from conservative provinces and groupings such as Gafcon and some African primates, underscoring ongoing tensions over women’s leadership and sexuality within the Communion.

NASA this week set live-coverage plans for Artemis II and unveiled a sweeping overhaul of its lunar and deep-space strategy. The agency published a schedule of briefings and livestreams ahead of a crewed Artemis II test flight targeted no earlier than April 1, 2026 (two-hour window opening 6:24 p.m. EDT, with opportunities through April 6). The four-person crew — Reid Wiseman, Victor Glover, Christina Koch and Canada’s Jeremy Hansen — will fly on an Orion spacecraft atop the Space Launch System for an ~10-day lunar flyby; prelaunch activity will stream on NASA+, YouTube and agency channels. Days earlier, at an “Ignition” event on March 24, NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman announced pausing the Lunar Gateway in favor of a $20 billion, three-phase surface Moon base program that repurposes Gateway hardware and seeks a faster cadence of landings (annual then twice-yearly after Artemis V). The agency also unveiled plans for Space Reactor-1 (SR-1) Freedom, a nuclear-electric spacecraft aimed at delivering Skyfall rotorcraft to Mars as early as 2028. The shift raises questions about international partner roles, contractor workloads and regulatory steps for space nuclear hardware.

Tiger Woods made his first competitive appearance in more than a year on March 24, 2026, playing for Jupiter Links in the TGL finals at the SoFi Center in Palm Beach Gardens, Florida, but could not prevent a 9-2 defeat to Los Angeles Golf Club. Woods was a late substitution for Kevin Kisner and opened positively with a long 3-wood, but a missed three-foot putt helped swing momentum to Los Angeles, who produced three consecutive eagles to close out the match. The result concluded the best-of-three final and handed LAGC the SoFi Cup and the top prize; Jupiter Links earned a reported $4.5 million. Woods, 50, who co-founded the tech-driven indoor league with Rory McIlroy, has been recovering from a ruptured Achilles and lumbar disk replacement last autumn and said the outing was “a step” as he pursues a possible return to Augusta National. He declined to confirm whether he will play the Masters (April 9–12), saying his body’s recovery will determine the decision. Woods attended the match with girlfriend Vanessa Trump, who was seen embracing him before play.