HOT POINT

Ahead of the 2026 NFL Scouting Combine, Field Level Media draft analysts ranked the top prospects at every position.

Offensive linemen arrive in Indianapolis on Thursday to conduct interviews by request with teams and participate in medical exams.

Workouts begin Sunday, March 1, following media availability on Saturday, Feb. 28.

The top center prospects entering the combine are outlined below.

1. Connor Lew, Auburn

Lew is a technician, natural leader and has pro-level awareness. He started 25 consecutive games before an ACL injury in October 2025.

2. Brian Parker II, Duke

Transitioned from tackle to center. Polished blocker with easy movement in all directions. Has mental acuity and technical precision to become a great pro.

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3. Jake Slaughter, Florida

A multi-year starter and team captain with elite football IQ, refined technique and natural pass protection skills.

4. Logan Jones, Iowa

Very good athlete with movement skills to thrive in a zone-blocking scheme.

5. Matt Gulbin, Michigan State

Already 25 years old and average athletically, Gulbin is versatile with starts at guard and center.

--Field Level Media

For the first time ever this year, the NCAA will host a national championship for women's wrestling. For hundreds of women across the country, the road to securing a national title begins this weekend.

Before the national championship gets underway at Xtream Arena in Coralville, Iowa, next month, wrestlers will be sent to six regionals this weekend. Regional tournaments will be held Friday through Sunday in Elmira, New York; West Liberty, West Virginia; Franklin Springs, Georgia; Tiffin, Ohio; Indianola, Iowa; and Saint Charles, Missouri.

From each regional, 30 wrestlers — the top three in each of the 10 weight classes — will move on to Coralville to wrestle for a national title. There, each division will have an 18-woman bracket to determine its champion. The NCAA championship will be streamed live on ESPN+ March 6 and 7, and the finals will be reaired on ESPNU on March 8.

Ryan Tressel is the director of championships for the NCAA and he said designing the first women's wrestling tournament began about a year ago. After it graduated from the NCAA's Emerging Sports for Women program last January and became the 91st championship sport, women's wrestling formed a committee made up of six people from Division I, II and III to help shape the inaugural tournament.

Before women's wrestling was granted NCAA championship status, Xtream Arena had hosted the National Collegiate Women's Wrestling Championships — a non-NCAA-affiliated tournament. In preparation for this competition, Tressel and others from the NCAA went to last year's NCWWC and were impressed.

"Xtream did a tremendous job last year and it was like, let's build on that," Tressel told USA Today Sports. "It was a place where we could be confident they're going to do some great work and a great job there.

"It's just the right size for what we're going to be doing."

Combined divisions, for now

Iowa is one of six Division I teams that competes in women's wrestling at the varsity level, the only program in the Power 4. The Hawkeyes enter regionals as the No. 1 ranked team in the country. In the 145 weight class, Iowa's Reese Larramendy leads the nation in technical falls with 145. The Hawkeyes also feature Olympic silver medalist Kennedy Blades in the 160 weight class.

This season, more than 112 programs across all NCAA divisions compete in women's wrestling at the varsity level. For this year and next, the national tournament will be a combined one, featuring wrestlers from across all divisions.

In 2028, that will change. A good chunk of the NCAA programs that sponsor women's wrestling come from Division III — 55 of them this season — and they will have their own tournament. The change was approved at the NCAA convention in January, but organizers still have time to figure it out.

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"How that looks, that's what we're talking about now. Is there a way we can adjust, figure out the schedules where they're all in one spot still and they're handing out multiple trophies? We do that with rowing, for instance. Those are some of the questions that will come up," Tressel said. "For this year and for next year, we'll be all together, one big happy family."

What to watch

In addition to powerhouse Iowa, the other Division I schools competing in women's wrestling this year are Lehigh, Presbyterian, Delaware State, Lindenwood and Sacred Heart. Kent State and Mercyhurst will add teams in the coming seasons, and Oklahoma State is among those with a club team.

Lehigh has the top-ranked wrestler in the 110 weight class in Audrey Jimenez, who is 13-0 this season and won a gold medal at the 2025 Pan American Championships.

There are stars in other divisions too, like Division III North Central's Bella Mir. The daughter of former UFC heavyweight champion Frank Mir, she was named USA Wrestling Athlete of the Week earlier this month after posting a 10-0 tech fall 43 seconds into her match in a dual against Wartburg.

One difference between men's and women's wrestling at the NCAA level is that the women compete in freestyle wrestling, which matches the Olympics. The men compete in folkstyle. In women's freestyle, points are not awarded for escapes. They can earn a point for a step-out, when one wrestler pushes another out of the competition circle.

A path for other women's sports

With this being the first NCAA Tournament for women's wrestling, Tressel and his team will be watching the competition closely to find ways to improve.

"The student-athlete experience is our biggest thing," Tressel said. "How can we make that better? That's No. 1. And then there's other things operationally — how we're managing the mats and floor control and access and things like that."

Women's wrestling was added to the NCAA Emerging Sports for Women program in 2020. By 2023, more than 40 schools sponsored the sport and it was awarded championship status in 2025.

That timeline could be similar for flag football,which was added to the NCAA Emerging Sports for Women programthis year.

"(NCAA President Charlie Baker) is really excited about this. It's starting this excitement, which is what I've felt," Tressel said. "You know, what's the future hold for other emerging sports out there too, with women's flag football coming on? There's a lot of great opportunities coming up for women's sports in the next number of years."

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY:2026 NCAA Women's Wrestling Tournament: Everything to know

Philadelphia Eagles right tackle Lane Johnson is returning for the 2026 season, his 14th in the NFL,The Philadelphia Inquirer's Jeff McLanereported Thursday.

Johnson, 35, missed the final eight games of his injury-riddled 2025 campaign, including the Eagles' wild-card playoff loss to the San Francisco 49ers,because of a Lisfranc foot injury.

The 2013 No. 4 overall pick is a six-time Pro Bowler and five-time All-Pro who has helped Philly reach three Super Bowls and win its first two rings in franchise history.

Johnson is a cornerstone of the Eagles' offensive line and will offer valuable continuity up front as the team transitions to a new offenseunder 33-year-old coordinator Sean Mannion.

Longtime O-Line coachJeff Stoutland resigned earlier this month, and Chris Kuper — a former Denver Broncos guard who most recently coached with the Minnesota Vikings — will serve as his replacement.

With the scheme expected to change, and a new voice in the O-Line room, Johnson coming back is significant, particularly during an offseasonthat's also reportedly included 27-year-old left guard Landon Dickerson mulling retirementafter weathering a slew of injuries in his young career.

Johnson isn't just a locker room pillar, but he's likely a future Pro Football Hall of Famer as well.

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Consistently one of the NFL's best right tackles, Johnson has allowed just six total sacks since the start of the 2019 season, playoffs included, according to Pro Football Focus. He's a force in the run-blocking department, too, and played a role in Eagles running backs LeSean McCoy (1,607 rushing yards) and Saquon Barkley (2,005 rushing yards) leading the league on the ground in 2013 and 2024, respectively.

Barkley, of course, became the ninth back in NFL history to pile up more than 2,000 rushing yards in a single season.

This past season, though, Philadelphia's vaunted offensive line wasn't as dominant as usual. Injuries were certainly a factor, and so was a predictable offensethat then-OC Kevin Patullo called.

Barkley averaged just 4.1 yards per carry — 1.7 fewer than the previous season — and the Eagles plummeted from second in the NFL in rushing yards per game (179.3) in 2024 to 18th (116.9 per game) in 2025.

Johnson sustained his Lisfranc injury during a Week 11 "Sunday Night Football" win over the Detroit Lions. In Week 10, he injured his ankleamid the Eagles' "Monday Night Football"victory over the Green Bay Packers. All the way back in Week 3 against the Los Angeles Rams, he left the game with a stinger.

Johnson's presence makes a difference.

The Eagles were 8-2 in games he played in last season and just 3-5 in his absence,according to The Athletic, which reported that, since 2016, Philadelphia is 96-41-1 with Johnson on the field and a mere 15-28 when he doesn't play.

Feb 19 (Reuters) - The Washington Supreme Court ruled unanimously on Thursday ‌that Amazon.com must face ‌lawsuits brought by families with relatives who took ​their own lives by consuming sodium nitrite they bought on the online retailer's platform.

It rejected a lower ‌court's ruling ⁠that the families could not pursue negligence claims under ⁠a Washington state product liability law, because suicide was a superseding ​cause of ​their relatives' ​deaths.

Four families accused ‌Amazon of promoting the sale of sodium nitrite on its website alongside other products that could assist people in carrying out suicides.

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They said ‌the Seattle-based retailer ​has known of the ​link between ​sodium nitrite and suicide ‌for years yet continued ​to sell ​the product without restrictions.

Amazon and its lawyers did not immediately ​respond to ‌requests for comment.

(Reporting by Jonathan ​Stempel in New York; Editing ​by Joe Bavier)

The Taliban has passed a law that allows men to beat their wives as long as it does not cause "broken bones or open wounds".

The Telegraph obtained the 60-page penal code – signed by Hibatullah Akhundzada, the Taliban supreme leader, and distributed to courts across Afghanistan – which classifies spousal beatings as "ta'zir" – discretionary punishment – rather than a criminal act.

A husband may strike his wife and children freely, provided the violence does not leave visible bone fractures or open wounds.

Even where serious injury can be proven, the maximum sentence is 15 days in prison.

The law is written to ensure that the bar is almost never met.

To pursue a complaint, a woman must present her wounds in person to a male judge while remaining fully veiled and accompanied by a male guardian.

In the majority of domestic violence cases, that guardian is the husband who committed the beating.

There is no provision in the code prohibiting physical, psychological or sexual violenceagainst women.

For those who do attempt to flee, thelaw offers another trap.

Article 34 says that a woman who goes to her parents' home without her husband's permission – even to escape violence – faces up to three months in prison. Family members who shelter her face the same sentence.

The code dismantles the legal framework established under Afghanistan's previous government, including a 2009 law that criminalised forced marriage, rape and gender-based violence and imposed sentences of between three months and one year for domestic abuse.

Working-class Afghans at the bottom of the hierarchy face imprisonment and corporal punishment.

The code explicitly distinguishes between"free" citizensand "slaves."

The requirement to bring a male chaperone to court – where that chaperone is, in most cases, the abuser – makes justice structurally impossible.

The criminalisation of fleeing to a parent's home makes escape structurally impossible.

The Taliban has since ruled that discussing the penal code is itself a criminal offence.

Narges, a former university student in western Herat, told The Telegraph: "The world has always shown its unjust side to us. I do not feel like I am living, and this feeling is shared by everyone I know."

She added: "Our life is more like a constant resistance against everything out there. No one sees us.No one cares about us.

"This new law is not just a law – it is making our bodies their field of control.No one would see our painunless our bones are broken. They are legalising fear. We are living in fear and silence."

Article 59 criminalises dancing – performing it and watching it – without providing any legal definition of what dancing constitutes.

"Dance for boys and girls, and those who play music for them, or the people who watch (attend) the show, are all criminals. The judge shall sentence each one of them to two months' imprisonment."

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The new law also criminalises thought. Criticising any action banned by the Taliban leadership is itself a criminal offence, including criticism of the ban on girls' education, which Taliban courts now classify as a lawful restriction.

Under Article 23, insulting Taliban leaders carries 20 lashes and six months in prison.

Any Afghan who witnesses opposition activity and fails to report it to Taliban authorities faces two years in prison.

There is no right to a lawyer anywhere in the legal document.

The entire edifice of fair trial has been stripped out and replaced with the discretion of Taliban judges, operating without oversight, without appeal, and now with the force of signed, distributed, enacted law.

Religious minorities face their own specific jeopardy.

Article 2 designates followers of non-Hanafi Islamic schools – including Shia Muslims, Ismailis, Salafis and Ahl-e-Hadith, roughly 15 per cent of the population – as "innovators" or apostates.

Teachers are permitted to beat children in their care, with only the most extreme injuries – broken bones, torn skin, heavy bruising – defined as excess.

Other physical violence, all psychological violence, all sexual violence against children are not prohibited.

Article 48 explicitly permits fathers to physically punish sons from the age of 10. The code frames this as acting in the child's interest.

Article 9 divides Afghan society into four formal tiers: religious scholars, elites, middle class, lower class.

The same crime committed by a scholar earns advice. Committed by an elite, it earns a court summons. If committed by a middle-class Afghan, the punishment is prison. And if committed by a working-class Afghan, the result is prison and corporal punishment.

Article 17 criminalises "mockery" of Islamic rulings with two years in prison, with no definition of what mockery means, leaving judges to decide arbitrarily.

Since returning to power in August 2021, the Taliban has systematically curbed women's rights in Afghanistan.

The restrictionsaffect their daily lives, ranging from preventing them from showing their faces in public or driving a car, to forbidding conversations with men and restricting how they dress.

Women have already been ordered to cover their faces "to avoid temptation and tempting others" and refrain from speaking in the presence of unfamiliar men who are not husbands or close relatives.

Afghan women have also been ordered not to speak loudly inside their homes, to prevent their voices from being heard outside.

Women who defy the new rules will be arrested and sent to prison, the Taliban said.

In July 2024, a United Nations report said the ministry for promoting virtue and preventing vice was contributing to a climate of fear and intimidation among Afghans through its edicts and the methods used to enforce them.

However, in recent months, there have been increasing signs of discord from within the ranks of the Taliban as it tries to transform itself from a guerrilla force to a functioning government.

Try full access to The Telegraph free today. Unlock their award-winning website and essential news app, plus useful tools and expert guides for your money, health and holidays.

By Trevor Hunnicutt, Simon Lewis and Steve Holland

Inaugural meeting of the Board of Peace, in Washington

WASHINGTON, Feb 19 (Reuters) - U.S. President Donald Trump told the first meeting of his Board of Peace on Thursday that nations had contributed $7 billion to a Gaza reconstruction fund that aims to rebuild the enclave once Hamas disarms, an objective that is far from becoming a reality.

The disarmament of Hamas militants and accompanying withdrawal of Israeli troops, ‌the size of the reconstruction fund and the flow of humanitarian aid to the war-battered populace of Gaza are among the major questions likely to test the effectiveness of the board in the months ‌ahead.

The meeting in Washington came amid a broader push by Trump to build a reputation as a peacemaker. It also took place as the United States threatens war against Iran and has embarked on a massive military buildup in the region in case Tehran refuses to give up ​its nuclear program.

The Board's founding membership does not include some key U.S. Western allies concerned about the scope of the initiative.

In a flurry of announcements at the end of a long, winding speech to representatives from 47 nations, Trump said the United States will contribute $10 billion to the Board of Peace. He did not say where the money would come from or whether he would seek it from the U.S. Congress.

MOSTLY MIDDLE EASTERN MEMBERSHIP

Trump said contributing nations had raised $7 billion as an initial down payment for Gaza reconstruction. Contributors included Kazakhstan, Azerbaijan, United Arab Emirates, Morocco, Bahrain, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Uzbekistan, and Kuwait, he said. The membership is mostly made up of Middle Eastern countries, plus leaders from outside the region who may ‌be looking to gain favor with Trump.

Estimates for rebuilding Gaza, which was reduced ⁠to rubble after two years of war, range up to $70 billion.

Trump proposed the board in September when he announced his plan to end Israel's war in Gaza. He later made clear the board's remit would expand beyond Gaza to tackle other conflicts worldwide, a point he reiterated on Wednesday by saying it would look into "hotspots" around the world.

Trump said FIFA will ⁠raise $75 million for soccer-related projects in Gaza and that the United Nations will chip in $2 billion for humanitarian assistance.

The Board of Peace includes Israel but not Palestinian representatives. Trump's suggestion that the Board could eventually address challenges beyond Gaza has stirred anxiety that it could undermine the U.N.'s role as the main platform for global diplomacy and conflict resolution.

"We're going to strengthen the United Nations," Trump said, trying to assuage his critics, even though the United States is in arrears on making payments.

Trump said Norway would ​host ​a Board of Peace event, but Norway clarified it was not joining the board.

IRAN SABER-RATTLING

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Even as he talked up himself as a ​man of peace, Trump rattled sabers against Iran.

Trump said he should know in 10 ‌days whether a deal is possible to end a standoff with Tehran. "We have to have a meaningful deal," he said.

Trump said several nations are planning to send thousands of troops to participate in an International Stabilization Force that will help keep the peace in Gaza when it eventually deploys.

Indonesian President Prabowo Subianto announced his country would contribute up to 8,000 troops to the force.

The plan for the force is to begin working in areas Israel controls in the absence of Hamas disarmament. The force, led by a U.S. general with an Indonesian deputy, will start in Israeli-controlled Rafah, an area that Israeli forces depopulated and demolished during the war. The aim is to train 12,000 police and have 20,000 troops.

HAMAS DISARMAMENT A KEY ISSUE

Hamas, fearful of Israeli reprisals, has been reluctant to hand over weaponry as part of Trump's 20-point Gaza plan that brought about a fragile ceasefire last October in the two-year Gaza war.

Trump said he ‌hoped the use of force to disarm Hamas would be unnecessary. He said Hamas had promised to disarm and it "looks like they're ​going to be doing that, but we'll have to find out."

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said in Israel that Hamas will be disarmed ​one way or the other. "Very soon, Hamas will face a dilemma - to disarm peacefully or disarmed forcefully," ​he said.

In Gaza, Hamas spokesperson Hazem Qassem said in a statement that the real test of the Board of Peace "lies in their ability to compel the occupation to halt its violations ‌of the ceasefire, to oblige it to meet its obligations, and to initiate a ​genuine relief effort and launch the reconstruction process."

The Board of ​Peace event had the feel of a Trump campaign rally, with music blaring from his eclectic playlist that included Elvis Presley and the Beach Boys. Participants received red Trump hats.

Hamas, which has resumed administration of the ruined enclave, says it is ready to hand over to a U.S.-backed committee of Palestinian technocrats led by Ali Shaath, but that Israel has not allowed the group into Gaza. Israel has yet to comment ​on those assertions.

Nickolay Mladenov, a Bulgarian with a senior role in the Board of ‌Peace, said at the meeting that 2,000 Palestinians have applied to join a new transitional Palestinian police force.

"We have to get this right. There is no plan B for Gaza. Plan B ​is going back to war. No one here wants that," said U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio.

(Reporting By Trevor Hunnicutt, Steve Holland, Simon Lewis, Samia Nakhoul, and Nidal al-Mughrabi; additional reporting by Steven ​Scheer and Omri Taasan in Jerusalem and Matt Spetalnick; Editing by Don Durfee, Ross Colvin, Philippa Fletcher, Rod Nickel)

LONDON (AP) — U.K. policearrested Andrew Mountbatten-Windsoron Thursday on suspicion of misconduct in public office.

The police force did not name Mountbatten-Windsor, as is normal under U.K. law. But when asked if he had been arrested, the force pointed to a statement saying that they had arrested a man in his 60s. Mountbatten-Windsor, who is the former Prince Andrew, is 66.

Here'sthe statementby the Thames Valley Police:

As part of the investigation, we have today (19/2) arrested a man in his sixties from Norfolk on suspicion of misconduct in public office and are carrying out searches at addresses in Berkshire and Norfolk.

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The man remains in police custody at this time.

We will not be naming the arrested man, as per national guidance. Please also remember that this case is now active so care should be taken with any publication to avoid being in contempt of court.

Assistant Chief Constable Oliver Wright said: "Following a thorough assessment, we have now opened an investigation into this allegation of misconduct in public office.

"It is important that we protect the integrity and objectivity of our investigation as we work with our partners to investigate this alleged offence.

"We understand the significant public interest in this case, and we will provide updates at the appropriate time."