Italy and Northern Ireland meet in a one-off World Cup play-off semi-final in Bergamo on 26 March 2026 with a place at the 48‑team tournament in North America at stake. Host nation Italy, coached by Gennaro Gattuso, are heavy favourites but carry the weight of two consecutive World Cup absences; Gattuso has described the tie as the most important match of his coaching career. Technical director Gianluigi Buffon urged respect for Northern Ireland, who qualified via the Nations League and arrive as underdogs but with momentum and a well‑drilled, direct style. Michael O’Neill’s young side are missing Premier League defenders Conor Bradley and Dan Ballard through injury, while Italy have fitness doubts over Alessandro Bastoni and Gianluca Scamacca. The winner will face either Wales or Bosnia‑Herzegovina in the Path A final on 31 March for a berth in Group B at the World Cup alongside hosts Canada, Switzerland and Qatar. The match is being broadcast live in the UK by the BBC and is part of a wider playoff window that will determine the final European and intercontinental qualifiers for the tournament.

Czechia host the Republic of Ireland in a one‑leg World Cup play‑off semi‑final at Prague’s Fortuna Arena on March 26, 2026, with the winner to face either Denmark or North Macedonia in a deciding home final at Dublin’s Aviva Stadium on March 31. Ireland arrive buoyed by November wins over Portugal and Hungary — Troy Parrott scored five goals across those games — and are led on the pitch by veteran Seamus Coleman despite limited club minutes this season. Heimir Hallgrímsson has kept faith with an experienced core and a largely unchanged approach. Czechia, managed by Miroslav Koubek in his international debut, have named a side anchored by Patrik Schick and newly appointed captain Ladislav Krejci; Tomas Soucek remains in the squad despite being stripped of the armband during the campaign. Around 6,000 Irish supporters have travelled to Prague though only about 1,024 away tickets were allocated, prompting warnings about fake resales. Broadcasters include RTÉ2 in Ireland and Amazon Prime in some markets. A tense, physical contest — and the possibility of extra time or penalties — looms for both teams.

In a high-profile late-March 2026 special election, Democrat Emily Gregory defeated Trump‑endorsed Republican Jon Maples to win Florida’s House District 87 — the seat that contains President Donald Trump’s Mar‑a‑Lago estate. With nearly all votes counted, Gregory led by roughly 2.4 percentage points, about 797 votes, a result the Associated Press and multiple outlets projected March 25. The victory came the same night as Democrat Brian Nathan claimed a narrow win in a Tampa‑area state Senate special election, part of a pattern in which Democrats have flipped roughly 30 state legislative seats since Trump returned to the White House in January 2025. Republicans privately warned that Governor Ron DeSantis’s planned April special session to redraw congressional maps could, if aggressive, weaken GOP incumbents and backfire amid rising Democratic enthusiasm. Reactions were mixed: House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries and the DNC hailed the wins as momentum for the 2026 midterms, while some GOP leaders downplayed special‑election trends. The results have already intensified debates inside the GOP over strategy, endorsements and the risks of redistricting.

Bayern Munich edged Manchester United 3-2 in the first leg of their UEFA Women’s Champions League quarter-final at Old Trafford on March 25, 2026. Pernille Harder put the visitors ahead inside two minutes and added a second after the interval, while substitute Momoko Tanikawa set up Harder and struck the late winner. United twice fought back through a Maya Le Tissier penalty and a Hanna Lundkvist header but could not find a third equaliser. Marc Skinner criticised the manner of the goals conceded and said Bayern’s more direct approach had exposed spaces in his defence, but he remained confident his side could overturn the deficit in the second leg at the Allianz Arena on April 1. The match, United’s first UWCL quarter-final at Old Trafford, attracted roughly 7,000–7,500 spectators and was broadcast on Disney+. United travel to a Manchester City league fixture before heading to Munich, with squad depth and recent international commitments — including players returning from the Asian Cup — factors Skinner said will test his team.

NASA has published full media coverage plans for Artemis II and unveiled a sweeping overhaul of its lunar and deep‑space strategy. The agency set a livestream schedule beginning with crew Q&As on March 27 ahead of a targeted launch window no earlier than April 1, 2026 (6:24 p.m. EDT) for the crewed Artemis II Orion flight carrying NASA astronauts Reid Wiseman, Victor Glover, Christina Koch and CSA astronaut Jeremy Hansen. Mission coverage will stream on NASA+, YouTube and other platforms with daily briefings during the roughly 10‑day lunar flyby. Separately, at an “Ignition” event NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman announced pausing the Lunar Gateway in its current form to redirect hardware and funding toward a $20 billion phased Moon base program and a push for more frequent lunar landings (eventually every six months). The agency also disclosed plans for Space Reactor‑1 Freedom, a nuclear‑electric propulsion demonstration intended to send robotic “Skyfall” helicopters to Mars by 2028. The changes raise questions about timelines, budgets and roles for international partners such as ESA, JAXA and CSA.

U.S. President Donald Trump and Chinese leader Xi Jinping will meet in Beijing on May 14-15, the White House announced after an earlier state visit planned for March 31–April 2 was postponed because of the war with Iran. The announcement, made by press secretary Karoline Leavitt and confirmed by Trump on Truth Social, said officials were finalising preparations and that Xi would be hosted in Washington later this year for a reciprocal visit. Leavitt said Xi “understood” the need to delay while the U.S. managed ongoing combat operations and reiterated White House estimates that operations could take roughly four to six weeks. Beijing has not publicly confirmed the dates. The summit is the first U.S. presidential visit to China in nearly a decade and comes as ties remain strained by trade disputes, recent U.S. tariff rulings, technology competition and regional security issues including Taiwan. The visit is also unfolding against a backdrop of disrupted Middle East shipping after strikes on Iran and closure of the Strait of Hormuz, which has roiled global energy markets and complicated diplomatic leverage ahead of the talks.