‘A very dangerous person’: alarm as Pete Hegseth revels in carnage of Iran war
Critics say brash, bombastic Fox News host out of his depth to guide US military through murky new Middle East conflict
David Smith in Washington
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026/mar/08/pete-hegseth-pentagon-trump-iran

White House worries as gas prices jump amid ongoing US-Israel war on Iran
Debbie Carlson
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2026/mar/08/us-drivers-oil-prices-iran

‘End of an era’: death of Khamenei seen as Iran’s Berlin Wall moment
Iran experts believe the symbolism of Ayatollah Ali Khamenei’s death is overwhelming and that the regime will struggle to fill the power vacuum
Robert Tait
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2026/mar/08/death-of-khamenei-seen-as-irans-berlin-wall-moment

From Bush Sr to Trump: the risks, lessons and legacy of US interference in the Middle East
Patrick Wintour Diplomatic editor
https://www.theguardian.com/world/ng-interactive/2026/mar/08/us-interference-middle-east-iraq-iran-conflict-legacy-lessons

Court records reveal gutting of DHS oversight: ‘Incredibly dangerous’
White House claims watchdogs perform ‘all required functions’, but number of deaths in custody at 20-year high
José Olivares
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026/mar/08/dhs-oversight-court-record-review

Stormy space weather may be garbling messages from aliens, new research suggests
Researchers who listen for signs of non-human life say signals ‘can slip below detection thresholds, even if it’s there’
Richard Luscombe
https://www.theguardian.com/science/2026/mar/08/stormy-space-weather-messages-aliens

Sex and the sea snail: how a plucky marine lab brought a mollusk back from the brink
Hard to see what’s going on here, but something with layers and in many shades of brown, with a cord of yellow and another of red.
A white abalone, seen at the Bodega marine laboratory run by the University of California at Davis on 6 February.
Photograph: Christie Hemm Klok/The Guardian

Once abundant in California, the white abalone had all but vanished. Now, thanks to an innovative breeding program, it’s staged a remarkable comeback
Joy Lanzendorfer in Bodega Bay with photographs by Christie Hemm Klok
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/ng-interactive/2026/mar/08/white-abalone-breeding-program-california