England slump to new Six Nations low as Italy secure historic win

England suffered a historic first defeat to Italy with a 23-18 collapse at the Stadio Olimpico raising the grim prospect of falling to their worst Six Nations finish.

An 18-10 lead built through tries from Tommy Freeman and Tom Roebuck and the boot of Fin Smith crumbled in the third quarter when Paolo Garbisi turned the tide by landing two penalties.

Italy then took advantage of Sam Underhill and Maro Itoje being sent to the sin-bin to strike the decisive blow when Leonardo Marin finished a thrilling try down the left touchline.

The Azzurri found the killer touch when it mattered most, condemning England to a third consecutive mauling that intensifies the scrutiny on Steve Borthwick‘s regime.

It was a maiden defeat in 32 meetings with the Azzurri in a fixture dating back to 1992 and should they also come up short against France in Paris on Saturday, they will end the Six Nations with just one victory for the first time.

Scotland and France opened the day with a 13-try romp at Murrayfield, but over in an unbearably tense Rome it was dogfight right from the start

England were forced to regroup from the loss of Tom Curry to injury during the warm-up and they did so by making multiple visits to the home 22 and winning the aerial exchanges with Cadan Murley prominent.

But in a familiar failing they did not manage any points, with the decision to turn down a kickable penalty to launch a line-out attack backfiring.

A series of mistakes followed, including at the breakdown and scrum, that enabled Italy to build field position and as the first quarter ended they registered the first points through a Garbisi penalty.

Smith was charged down and he then dropped a pass, but he eased his jitters by orchestrating a try for Freeman that was made in Northampton with Alex Coles also involved.

It was a slick score by England that finally saw an attack produce some points, but in the 34th minute they were carved open by Tommaso Menoncello with Underhill and Joe Heyes unable to lay a hand on him as he was sent charging through a gap.

Error-prone England continued to shoot themselves in the foot but with uncertainty also creeping into Italy’s game, they remained in the fight with Ben Earl and Roebuck influential.

The home defence fragmented at times and with the interval imminent, Smith delivered a pinpoint crossfield kick to the right wing where Roebuck caught and finished by cutting inside.

The conversion and two penalties nudged England 18-10 ahead and with Giacomo Nicotera sent to the sin-bin, the outlook was looking up for the visitors.

But Underhill was show a yellow card for dangerous tackle and then Garbisi landed two penalties himself, before another blow had to be absorbed when Itoje was sin-binned for illegally slapping the ball away at a maul.

With Itoje still off the field, Italy crafted a wonderful try down the left with Leonardo Marin crossing after Menoncello had marauded through the England defence and it was all over for Borthwick’s team.

PA

John Hunt gives emotional interview after murder of wife and daughters

BBC sports commentator John Hunt said he is developing “confidence that I can cope” after his wife and two daughters were brutally murdered.

Mr Hunt’s wife, Carol, was killed alongside their daughters, Louise and Hannah, by Louise’s ex-partner Kyle Clifford in July 2024.

Clifford, 26, had become “enraged” when Louise ended their relationship and committed the murders in a “violent, sexual act of spite”, a court heard.

Mr Hunt has spoken to The Telegraph about how he manages his grief, telling the paper: “It writes its own rules, it’s the strangest thing. You can wake up at half past seven one morning and think, ‘I feel quite bright today.’ And then, for no reason at all, come half past eight, you’re on your knees again.”

Despite the waves of shock and grief that come back to him, Mr Hunt said: “The next time it hits, you know that the intensity won’t be quite the same in an hour’s time. You develop a confidence that you can cope, even though nothing changes.”

He explained that he has been increasingly immersing himself in music and reading in the time that has passed since the horrendous acts against his loved ones.

Mr Hunt said a line from Man’s Search for Meaning by Viktor Frankl, an Austrian psychiatrist who was sent to Nazi concentration camps with his family, has resonated with him as he considers how to live life without Carol, Hannah and Louise.

In the book, Mr Frankl argues: “Between stimulus and response, there is a space. In that space is our power to choose our response. In our response lies our growth and our freedom.”

Mr Hunt told The Telegraph: “It took me a lot of hard work to run with it, but I realised, ‘I have choices here’. I have Frankl’s words with me all the time,” adding: “While Kyle Clifford had taken just about everything from me, he didn’t have control over my future, or how I choose to live.”

Mr Hunt’s surviving daughter, Amy, has this weekend been named on The Independent’s influence list for International Women’s Day. She has bravely spoken out about women’s safety and domestic abuse, and alongside her father, launched the Hunt Family Fund which raised over £250,000 for nationwide charities combating violence against women.

Clifford, who has been given a whole-life term for the horrific crimes, gained access to the family home in Bushey, Hertfordshire, by deceiving 61-year-old Carol before stabbing her and then lying in wait for Louise, 25, to enter the property.

Clifford restrained Louise, raped her and shot her with a crossbow, before killing her 28-year-old sister Hannah when she returned from work.

Mr Hunt, who has returned to work covering horse racing and other sport for the BBC, explained later: “Even though my life is completely upside down, I still get to live my version of it.”

He believes he was spared from becoming the fourth victim of Clifford’s attack only by the quick thinking of Hannah, who managed to call her boyfriend and ask him to call the police in the moments before she was killed.

Michelle Obama raises eyebrows again by skipping Jackson memorial

Former first lady Michelle Obama did not appear to attend the Chicago memorial service for civil rights icon Rev. Jesse Jackson on Friday, despite the Obamas’ longstanding ties with the late activist.

The ceremony, which took place in a church on the South Side of the Obamas’ hometown of Chicago, featured numerous dignitaries, including former presidents Joe Biden, Barack Obama, and Bill Clinton; former Vice President Kamala Harris; former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton; and former first lady Dr. Jill Biden. California Gov. Gavin Newsom was also present.

“President Donald Trump is unable to attend Jackson’s funeral due to scheduling and ongoing events, and has recorded a video message in tribute,” a White House official told The Independent.

The Independent has contacted the office of Barack and Michelle Obama for comment.

In a statement after Jackson’s passing in February at age 84, which followed years of health struggles, the Obamas spoke of their admiration and personal relationship with the leader, who was a protege of Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr.

“Reverend Jackson also created opportunities for generations of African Americans and inspired countless more, including us,” the statement reads. “Michelle got her first glimpse of political organizing at the Jacksons’ kitchen table when she was a teenager. And in his two historic runs for president, he laid the foundation for my own campaign to the highest office of the land.”

Though the Obamas occasionally had their differences with Jackson — the activist was caught on a hot mic in 2008 criticizing Barack Obama for the way he addressed the Black community — they have described him as a key influence.

“The message he sent to a 22-year-old child of a single mother with a funny name, an outsider, was that maybe there wasn’t any place or any room where we didn’t belong,” Barack Obama said during Friday’s service. “He paved the road for so many others to follow.”

Later in 2008, when Obama won the presidential election, Jackson was famously seen with tears in his eyes as he watched the candidate make his acceptance speech in Chicago.

The former first lady’s apparent absence from the Jackson funeral is the latest in a string of high-profile ceremonies she has missed, including Trump’s inauguration and former President Jimmy Carter’s funeral, both of which took place last year.

These moments, coupled with less frequent public sightings of the Obamas together, fueled speculation they may be getting a divorce, though the former first lady has dismissed such claims.

She has explained that in recent times she has made an intentional decision to be less in the public eye.

“One of the major decisions I made this year was to stay put and not attend funerals and inaugurations and all the things that I’m supposed to attend,” she told NPR last year. “That was a part of me using my ambition to say, ‘Let me define what I want to do, apart from what I’m supposed to do, what the world expects of me.’ And I have to own that. Those are my choices.”

“The fact that people don’t see me going out on a date with my husband sparks rumors of the end of our marriage,” she said elsewhere in the interview. “It’s like, OK, so we don’t Instagram every minute of our lives. We are 60. We’re 60, y’all. You just are not gonna know what we’re doing every minute of the day.”

Scotland shatter France’s grand slam dream on greatest Six Nations day

Scotland put themselves in contention for a first-ever Six Nations title with a sensational seven-try 50-40 victory over France at Murrayfield.

Les Bleus arrived in Edinburgh knowing a bonus-point win over Gregor Townsend’s men would have sealed them a second consecutive championship and teed them up for a first grand slam since 2022.

But it was the rampant Scots who produced one of their greatest-ever performances to blow Fabien Galthie’s team away.

Wings Darcy Graham and Kyle Steyn both scored doubles, while Pierre Schoeman, Ben White and substitute Tom Jordan also crossed.

The only blemish for the Scots, who led 47-14 at one point, was that they allowed the French to score four tries in the final quarter of an hour to make the scoreline more respectable.

The French remain top of the table on points difference ahead of their showdown with England in Paris next Saturday night, but the second-placed Scots will head to Ireland with a chance of making history if Steve Borthwick’s men can do them a favour.

Scotland made the perfect start when Graham was fed by Finn Russell and darted through a gap to score on the right in the fifth minute. Russell converted.

The try was Graham’s 36th at Test level, edging him ahead of Edinburgh teammate Duhan van der Merwe at the top of the national team’s all-time scoring charts.

It was the first time France had found themselves behind on the scoreboard in this year’s championship. After weathering some further Scottish pressure, Les Bleus drew level in the 18th minute.

Scotland captain Sione Tuipulotu had the ball ripped from his grasp by Antoine Dupont and the French worked it out to the left where Matthieu Jalibert slipped in the lethal Louis Bielle-Biarrey to score. Thomas Ramos converted.

Things looked ominous for the hosts when the visitors went ahead with their second try in the space of four minutes as Bielle-Biarrey’s grubber kick sent fellow wing Theo Attissogbe bounding over, with Ramos again adding the extras.

But Scotland stemmed the tide and got themselves back into it when George Turner flipped the ball into the hands of Steyn, who hit a delightful inside line to the left corner. Russell was off target with his conversion.

Scottish tails were up again and, after a sustained spell of pressure in front of the French line, Schoeman pushed over on the right. There was further reason for cheer among the home support as Jalibert was yellow-carded for going offside, with the French penalised for persistent infringements. Russell was on point with the conversion.

The Scots were unable to increase their five-point lead while Jalibert was in the sin-bin, but they did notch again within seconds of the French stand-off’s return to the field as White scored with a classic scrum-half snipe, converted by Russell.

The rampant hosts tightened their grip in the 51st minute when France captain Dupont, under pressure from White, threw the ball straight to Steyn, who sprinted clear on the left.

Graham then wriggled free for his second of the match just before the hour, with French replacement Lenni Nouchi sin-binned for jumping offside. This time, the Scots made the extra man count as substitute Jordan clattered over the line just inside the post in the 64th minute.

As it stood at that point, Scotland were heading top of the table, but just as they looked to be coasting towards the ideal result, it all got a bit ragged for Townsend’s men.

France scored four tries in the closing stages, through Dupont, Ramos (twice) and Pierre Louis Barassi, to secure an all-important bonus point and keep their noses in front ahead of a mouth-watering Super Saturday shootout for the title between Les Bleus, Scotland and Ireland.

PA

Why Khamenei’s death sparked protests in India – and how they could spread

Mourners dressed in black gathered at mosques and public squares in India to pray, light candles, and remember Ayatollah Ali Khamenei as protests against the assassination of Iran’s supreme leader spread across several Indian cities last week.

Khamenei was killed on 28 February, aged 86, in airstrikes by Israel and the US that pulverised his central Tehran compound, as decades of efforts to resolve the dispute over Iran’s nuclear programme diplomatically failed.

During his three-decade reign, Khamenei built Iran into a powerful anti-US force, spreading its military sway across the Middle East, while using an iron fist to crush repeated unrest at home. His death sparked mixed reactions around the world, with some celebrating the end of a rule marked by alleged atrocities against women and a crackdown on dissenting voices.

In 2022, Khamenei gave his full backing to security forces confronting protests ignited by the death of Mahsa Amini, who died after being detained by Iran’s morality police for allegedly not wearing her hijab in accordance with government rules. Protests had also spread across Iran since 28 December 2025, beginning in response to soaring inflation, and quickly turning political with protesters demanding an end to clerical rule.

Rights groups say thousands of people were killed in a crackdown on the protests, the worst domestic unrest in Iran since the era of its 1979 Islamic Revolution.

But for many in India, Khamenei’s assassination has cast a dark shadow over upcoming Eid celebrations at the end of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan. Condolence gatherings drew thousands of people from India’s Shia Muslim community from the northern Himalayan region of Kashmir to the city of Hyderabad in the south.

“I will not celebrate Eid because we would be mourning the death of Ayatollah Ali Khamenei,” Rajab Ali, a 58-year-old electrician, tells The Independent.

“He was our rahbar (guide). One celebrates Eid when they are happy. How can we celebrate it now? We won’t call guests, we won’t wear new clothes.”

While the US-Israeli war on Iran is unravelling in the Middle East and west Asia, its tremors are being felt all the way to India – the impact ranges from its energy and labour dependence on the Gulf to strategic turmoil, leaving Delhi with limited options.

India imports close to 50 per cent of its oil through the narrow Gulf chokepoint of the Strait of Hormuz. This year, it imported an average of 2.6 million barrels a day, underlining its dependence on the region. Additionally, India imports 90 per cent of its total oil and now faces the risk of inflation.

India’s economic links to the Middle East run just as deep. According to brokerage firm Jefferies, about 10 million Indians live and work across the Gulf, sending record remittances, according to the BBC.

A widening war could, therefore, hit India on several fronts, even as the conflict inches closer to its borders.

On Wednesday, Iranian warship Iris Dena, returning from India after participating in a multilateral naval exercise, was torpedoed by a US submarine, just 44 nautical miles off southern Sri Lanka in the Indian Ocean. Yet the Indian authorities took more than a day to formally acknowledge the incident.

The acknowledgement came after a furious Iran noted its warship had been “a guest of India’s navy” and was returning home after completing the exercise to which it had been invited to attend by Delhi.

According to Sri Lankan officials involved in the rescue operations, 87 bodies were recovered and 32 people were rescued. At least 180 people were believed to be on board when Iris Dena sank on Wednesday.

But while the Indian Navy acknowledged receiving distress signals from the Iranian ship, neither the force nor prime minister Narendra Modi’s government condemned the decision by the US to attack the warship. Critics have called this incident a “strategic embarrassment” for the Modi administration.

C Uday Bhaskar, a retired navy officer told Al Jazeera that the incident weakened Delhi’s credibility in the Indian Ocean, while the government’s silence about it meant the country’s moral standing “takes a beating”.

Mr Modi has also been tight-lipped about Khamenei’s assassination.

On Thursday, four days after the supreme leader’s death, India sent its condolences to Tehran. Foreign secretary Vikram Misri met the Iranian ambassador in Delhi and signed the condolence book for Khamenei’s death “on behalf of the people and the government of India”, according to Randhir Jaiswal, spokesperson for the Indian foreign ministry.

Iran, however, continues to value its close relationship with India and hopes the partnership will deepen further, according to a representative of the slain supreme leader.

Speaking to The Independent, the Iranian representative, Dr Abdul Majid Hakeem Elahi, described relations between the two countries as strong and longstanding, both at the governmental and people-to-people level.

He was responding to a question about the absence of direct condemnation from Modi. “We have till now very good relationship with India. Whether it is with the people or the government. It is very tight. During the last decades, our relationship has increased and we hope that will also continue our relationship and friendship. And other countries cannot break our relationship and friendship,” he said.

He added that Iran’s leadership had consistently encouraged stronger engagement with India across multiple sectors. “And even Ayatollah Khamenei, I heard from him so often, he was insistent on establishing very very tight and good relationship with India. He advised, the Iranian government that India is your priority and you have to establish your relationship tightly. You make it wider in different fields, including economics, technology. In every field.”

But the grief of those mourning Khamenei’s killing in India is not punctuated by the financial and strategic worries bothering the Indian leadership. For his supporters, the slain supreme leader was not just a political figure but a religious guide whose influence extended well beyond Iran.

Mourners in black clothing – traditionally worn during periods of mourning in Shia Islam – arrived in small groups at an evening gathering outside a mosque in Delhi. Large portraits of Khamenei hung on the walls behind the speakers. A group of men sang a song in his memory while prayers were read aloud. Some women wept quietly, while others sat silently at the back, declining to speak.

Among those attending was Dr Muhammad Ali, a retired horticulture researcher in Delhi. “I felt as if I had been orphaned again,” Ali says. “The last time I felt that way was when my parents died. Now it feels as if all Shias have been orphaned.”

“Khamenei sa’ab has been martyred,” he says, adding that the timing of his death deepened the sense of shock among many believers. “It happened during the holy month of Ramadan.

“Even in times of conflict, this is considered a sacred time and wars are stopped,” Ali says.

Syed Javed Zaheer, a 62-year-old man from Muzaffarpur in the eastern state of Bihar, says many in the community were still struggling to come to terms with the news.

He says the teachings of Iran’s clerical leadership shaped how many Shia Muslims view their relationship with the countries in which they lived. “They taught us to love our nation.”

“There are many Muslim countries,” he says. “But for us, Iran is the only Islamic country.”

Dr Muddassir Quamar, an associate professor at the prestigious Jawaharlal Nehru University in India’s capital city, says the position of Iran’s supreme leader is rooted in a theological concept known as the Velayat-e-Faqih or the “guardianship of the jurist” in Twelver Shi’ism.

Twelver Shi’ism, the largest branch of Shia Islam, believes in twelve divinely appointed leaders, known as Imams, as the rightful spiritual and political successors to the Prophet Muhammad.

The idea of Velayat-e-Faqih, he explains, is that a senior Islamic cleric should guide both the religious and political life of the country. In Iran’s system, this means the supreme leader – known as the Rahbar-e-Azam – is both the highest religious authority and the most powerful political figure in the Islamic Republic.

Quamar says the concept of Velayat-e-Faqih emerged as a way for senior clerics to guide the community in the Imam’s absence, which is why Iran’s supreme leader holds both religious and political authority.

Because of this dual authority, Quamar says the position carries influence far beyond Iran. “Twelver Shias across Arab and Islamic world including in South Asia consider him as a spiritual and political leader, and look up to the Supreme Leader to lead the Shiite and Islamic world.”

“Also, the sense of anti-imperialism and anti-Americanism is embedded in the revolutionary ideals of the Islamic Republic, and since the current supreme leader was killed in the US-Israel strike, it has further fueled protests across the world.”

In Pakistan, with the world’s second-largest Shi’ite Muslim community after Iran, at least 26 people were killed as protesters clashed with police following news of the death of Khamenei. In Karachi, US Marines fired on protesters who breached the walls of the consulate, two US officials said. Senior Shia clerics in Pakistan announced days of mourning and warned that more protests would follow, ​which could lead to bursts of instability in its main cities, analysts said.

Khamenei’s “death has not weakened the Shi’ites but united them with a new spirit of revolution and independence from the slavery of ​the US and its allies,” Shia cleric Sajid Ali Naqvi told Reuters. Shias make up about one-fifth of Pakistan’s 240 million people. The vast majority of Pakistan’s people are Sunni Muslims.

In India, however, the demonstrations are likely to remain limited.

“Yes, it is mostly located in the areas with significant Shia population. In my view, these are localised and sporadic and is unlikely to develop into a bigger organised movement,” Quamar says.

He adds the protests are driven largely by religious solidarity.

“It is unlikely to spread further, and would settle down, although it would also depend on the situation in Iran and the direction of the ongoing war.”

In Srinagar, protesters gathered at the city’s landmark Lal Chowk and climbed the clock tower. Several others sang eulogies and wept. There were gatherings in surrounding districts, including Budgam and Bandipora.

Authorities later sealed the clock tower and imposed restrictions across several parts of the valley. Curbs on movement and assembly remained in place for three consecutive days, particularly in areas with large Shia populations.

Educational institutions were closed until 7 March as a precaution, while mobile internet speed was throttled. Police and paramilitary Central Reserve Police Force personnel were deployed across the city, with barricades and concertina wire placed at key intersections.

Protests were also reported in the federal territory of Ladakh, including in Leh and Kargil, where men and women dressed in black marched carrying portraits of Khamenei. In Lucknow, hundreds gathered at the historic Rumi Gate holding black flags and photographs of the Iranian leader. Authorities say the gatherings were largely peaceful.

Kashmir’s lieutenant governor Manoj Sinha chaired a security review meeting and appealed for calm, saying peace was a shared responsibility. Chief minister Omar Abdullah also urged residents to avoid actions that could create tension.

Idyllic beaches and vivid sunsets: Relaxing Spanish island escapes

Pink forced to cancel two shows on tour due to ‘an unforeseen event’

Two Pink concerts in Mexico City have been canceled due to “an unforeseen event affecting the event’s logistics,” organizers said.

The singer, 46, whose real name is Alecia Beth Moore-Hart, was scheduled to play at the GNP Seguros Stadium in the Mexican capital on April 26 and 27.

However, in a statement shared on X, promoter Ocesa said Friday: “PINK IMPORTANT NOTICE.

“We regret to inform the public in Mexico City that, due to complications arising from an unforeseen event affecting the event’s logistics and beyond the control of the artist, promoter, and venue, PINK’s shows scheduled for April 26 and 27 at Estadio GNP Seguros will not take place.

“We understand the excitement of attending these concerts and deeply appreciate the understanding of our fans.

“If you made your purchase online, a full refund, including Ticketmaster service fees, will be automatically credited to the card used for the purchase, according to your bank’s processing times.

“If you purchased your tickets at the box office, you can request a refund at the same location where you made the purchase in the coming days.”

Pink has yet to comment on the shows’ cancellations.

The news comes after the singer shut down reports about her divorcing her husband of 20 years, Carey Hart.

The rumors originated from People magazine, which cited an unnamed source in an exclusive report titled, “Pink Separates from Carey Hart for Second Time After 20 Years of Marriage: Source (Exclusive).”

Shortly after the story broke, the “Just Give Me A Reason” singer took to her official Instagram account to address the speculation directly. In a video, she sarcastically thanked the publications for the “alert.”

“I was just alerted to the fact that I’m separated from my husband. I didn’t know. Thank you People Magazine. Thank you US Weekly. Thank you for letting me know,” she stated in the clip. “I was wondering, would you also like to tell our children? My 14-year-old and 9-year-old are also unaware. Or do you want to talk about some real news?”

Pink, born Alecia Moore, met Carey Hart at the 2001 X Games in Philadelphia. The couple had an on-and-off relationship until they got engaged in 2005. The two tied the knot in Costa Rica in 2006.

The couple separated in 2008 and announced their reconciliation in 2009. They have two children: Willow Sage Hart, 14, and Jameson Moon Hart, 9.

Ukraine sounds nationwide alert after Russian attack kills seven

At least seven people, including two children, were killed and 10 injured in Kharkiv after Russia attacked Ukraine with ballistic missiles and drones overnight, officials said.

A countrywide air raid alert was issued at around 3am local time to warn people against incoming Russian projectiles.

Kharkiv oblast governor Oleh Syniehubov said fires were reported as a result of a ballistic missile attack, which killed four civilians and injured 10, including two children.

Explosions were first reported in Kyiv at around 1.30am local time, the Kyiv Independent reported, followed by more blasts at around 1.40am local time.

The attack came hours after Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky said he had visited the eastern front on Friday.

Zelensky said he gave awards to soldiers defending positions near Druzhkivka and Kostiantynivka in the eastern Donetsk region where Russian forces were concentrated in preparation for a spring offensive.

Ukraine’s foreign ministry, meanwhile, said ⁠it had summoned Hungary‘s acting ⁠charge ​d’affaires ⁠in Kyiv following the detention ​of ⁠Ukrainian nationals ‌transporting a cash-and-gold haul in Budapest.