The mayor of Newark, New Jersey, said an immigration raid in the city was done without a warrant, and led to the detainment of undocumented residents as well as citizens.

Newark mayor Ras Baraka said that Immigration and Customs Enforcement (Ice) had raided a local establishment. “Newark will not stand by idly while people are being unlawfully terrorized,” he wrote in a statement.

The mayor’s announcement came as major cities across the US braced for Ice raids, as promised by Donald Trump’s border czar Tom Homan, who has said the federal government will uphold Trump’s promise of “mass deportations”. Homan has signaled that so-called sanctuary cities – localities that have refused to hand over immigrants to federal authorities – would be early targets for raids.

Ice announced it has made a total of 538 arrests in a Thursday update. The agency did not immediately respond to the Guardian’s query about when and where in the US the arrests were made.

The numbers are not necessarily exceptional – the agency averaged more than 450 arrests a day in 2023, when Joe Biden was president, for instance. But the agency’s movements have drawn particular focus amid the Trump administration’s immigration crackdown. Since taking office on Monday, the president has unleashed a barrage of immigration orders and policy changes, including guidance that immigration officers will be allowed conduct enforcement at sensitive locations such as schools and churches.

Ice declined to provide details about the date and location of its raid in New Jersey. Baraka said that among the people detained there was a US military veteran, “who suffered the indignity of having the legitimacy of his military documentation questioned” by officers.

“This egregious act is in plain violation of the fourth amendment of the US constitution, which guarantees ‘the right of the people be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures’,” the mayor said.

Ice has said the agency “may encounter US citizens while conducting field work and may request identification to establish an individual’s identity as was the case during a targeted enforcement operation at a worksite today in Newark”.

The raids, and its effect on people with and without citizenship have drawn outrage and condemnation from several New Jersey lawmakers, including the US representative Bonnie Watson Coleman. “This is a disgrace,” she wrote in a statement. “This is what we expect from two-bit dictators in banana republics.”

LaMonica McIver, another representative, wrote: “Already, Trump’s attacks on immigrant communities are hitting home and we will not back down.”

The New Jersey Alliance for Immigrant Justice has urged residents to attend “know your rights” workshops it is arranging, to help residents understand their legal rights when they encounter immigration enforcement agents.

Advocates and local leaders in cities across the US have been similarly preparing for raids. In Chicago – where more than 50,000 people, mostly from Venezuela, have arrived in the past two years – the mayor Brandon Johnson said he has been working with community groups to educate residents about their rights.

A federal judge in Seattle blocked Donald Trump’s administration on Thursday from implementing an executive order curtailing the right to automatic birthright citizenship in the US, calling it “blatantly unconstitutional”.

US district judge John Coughenour at the urging of four Democratic-led states issued a temporary restraining order preventing the administration from enforcing the order, which the Republican president signed on Monday during his first day on office.

The order has already become the subject of five lawsuits by civil rights groups and Democratic attorneys general from 22 states, who call it a flagrant violation of the US constitution.

“Under this order, babies being born today don’t count as US citizens,” the Washington assistant attorney general Lane Polozola told Judge John Coughenour at the start of a hearing in Seattle.

Polozola – on behalf of Democratic state attorneys general from Washington state, Arizona, Illinois and Oregon – urged the judge to issue a temporary restraining order to prevent the administration from carrying out this key element of Trump’s immigration crackdown.

In a press conference outside the court after the restraining order was issued, Polozola said: “This is step one but to hear the judge from the bench say that in his 40 years as a judge, he has never seen something so blatantly unconstitutional, sets the tone for the seriousness of this effort.”

Polozola and the other challengers argue that Trump’s action violates the right enshrined in the citizenship clause of the constitution’s 14th amendment that provides that anyone born in the United States is a citizen.

Trump in his executive order directed US agencies to refuse to recognize the citizenship of children born in the US if neither their mother nor father is a US citizen or legal permanent resident.

In a brief filed late on Wednesday, the US justice department called the order an “integral part” of the president’s efforts “to address this nation’s broken immigration system and the ongoing crisis at the southern border”.

The lawsuit filed in Seattle has been progressing more quickly than the four other cases brought over the executive order. It has been assigned to Coughenour, an appointee of the Republican former president Ronald Reagan.

The judge potentially could rule from the bench after hearing arguments, or he could wait to write a decision ahead of Trump’s order taking effect.

Under the order, any children born after 19 February whose mothers or fathers are not citizens or lawful permanent residents would be subject to deportation and would be prevented from obtaining social security numbers, various government benefits and the ability, as they get older, to work lawfully.

More than 150,000 newborn children would be denied citizenship annually if Trump’s order is allowed to stand, according to the Democratic-led states.

Democratic state attorneys general have said that the understanding of the constitution’s citizenship clause was cemented 127 years ago when the US supreme court held that children born in the United States to non-citizen parents are entitled to American citizenship.

The 14th amendment was adopted in 1868 following the civil war and overturned the supreme court’s notorious 1857 Dred Scott decision that had declared that the constitution’s protections did not apply to enslaved Black people.

But the justice department in its brief argued that the 14th amendment had never been interpreted to extend citizenship universally to everyone born in the country, and that the supreme court’s 1898 ruling in United States v Wong Kim Ark concerned only children of permanent residents.

The justice department said the case by the four states also “flunks multiple threshold hurdles”. The department said that only individuals, not states, can pursue claims under the citizenship clause and that the states lack the necessary legal standing to sue over Trump’s order.

Thirty-six of Trump’s Republican allies in the US House of Representatives on Tuesday separately introduced legislation to restrict automatic citizenship to only children born to citizens or lawful permanent residents.

Senators Susan Collins of Maine and Lisa Murkowski of Alaska announced that they would oppose the nomination of Pete Hegseth to become the next US secretary of defense, making them the first two Republican lawmakers to publicly reject one of Donald Trump’s cabinet picks and raising fresh doubts about the controversial nominee’s chances of confirmation.

Murkowski indicated her opposition to Hegseth in a statement shared on social media on Thursday, in which she criticized the Fox News host and army veteran as lacking the experience and character needed to lead the Pentagon.

“After thorough evaluation, I must conclude that I cannot in good conscience support his nomination for secretary of defense,” Murkowski wrote. “I commend Pete Hegseth’s service to our nation, including leading troops in combat and advocating for our veterans. However, these accomplishments do not alleviate my significant concerns regarding his nomination.”

Shortly after Murkowski made her announcement, Collins joined her in opposing a procedural motion to advance Hegseth’s nomination to a final Senate vote and released her own statement detailing her reservations about the cabinet pick.

“After careful consideration, I have decided to vote against Pete Hegseth’s nomination for secretary of defense,” Collins said. “While I appreciate his courageous military service and his ongoing commitment to our servicemembers and their families, I am concerned that he does not have the experience and perspective necessary to succeed in the job.”

Given Republicans’ 53-47 advantage in the Senate, Hegseth can only afford to lose three of their votes, assuming every Democratic senator opposes his nomination. Hegseth overcame a procedural hurdle in the Senate on Thursday afternoon, with 51 Republicans voting to advance his nomination, but it remains unclear whether he will have the support necessary to be confirmed.

The test vote came one week after Hegseth’s contentious hearing before the Senate armed services committee, where Democrats grilled the nominee on allegations of sexual assault, excessive alcohol use and financial mismanagement of two non-profits that he oversaw.

On Wednesday, the top Democrat on the committee, Jack Reed of Rhode Island, confirmed that senators had received an affidavit from Hegseth’s former sister-in-law accusing him of engaging in aggressive and erratic behavior that prompted his family members to fear for their safety. Hegseth has denied the allegations, and his ex-wife, Samantha Hegseth, has said he never physically abused her.

Murkowski continued in her statement: “While the allegations of sexual assault and excessive drinking do nothing to quiet my concerns, the past behaviors Mr Hegseth has admitted to, including infidelity on multiple occasions, demonstrate a lack of judgment that is unbecoming of someone who would lead our armed forces.”

Murkwoski and Collins also cited Hegseth’s previous comments suggesting women should not be allowed to serve in combat roles, which he attempted to walk back during his hearing last week, as disqualifying.

“He and I had a candid conversation in December about his past statements and apparently evolving views,” Collins said. “I am not convinced that his position on women serving in combat roles has changed. Women comprise nearly 18% of our active-duty military. They continue to make critical and valuable contributions to our national defense.

“I have long advocated that women who wish to serve in and can meet the rigorous standards of combat roles should be able to do so. And numerous women have proved that they can accomplish this difficult feat.”

Murkowski, meanwhile, concluded her statement by saying: “Given the global security environment we’re operating in, it is critical that we confirm a secretary of defense[;] however, I regret that I am unable to support Mr Hegseth.”

The Senate is expected to hold the final vote on Hegseth’s nomination on Friday night.

Donald Trump has ordered the release of thousands of classified governmental documents about the 1963 assassination of John F Kennedy, which has fueled conspiracy theories for decades.

The executive order the president signed on Thursday also aims to declassify the remaining federal records relating to the assassinations of Robert F Kennedy and the Rev Martin Luther King Jr. The order is among a flurry of executive actions Trump has quickly taken the first week of his second term.

“More than 50 years after the assassinations of President John F Kennedy, Senator Robert F Kennedy, and the Rev Dr Martin Luther King, Jr, the federal government has not released to the public all of its records related to those events,” the executive order stated.

“Their families and the American people deserve transparency and truth. It is in the national interest to finally release all records related to these assassinations without delay,” it added.

Speaking to reporters, Trump said: “Everything will be revealed.”

“That’s a big one,” he added as he signed the order.

Trump had promised during his re-election campaign to make public the last batches of still classified documents surrounding Kennedy’s assassination in Dallas, which has transfixed people for decades. He made a similar pledge during his first term, but ultimately heeded appeals from the CIA and FBI to withhold some documents.

Trump has nominated Kennedy’s nephew, Robert F Kennedy Jr, to be the health secretary in his new administration. Kennedy, whose father, Robert F Kennedy, was assassinated in Los Angeles in 1968 while running for president, has said he is not convinced that a lone gunman was solely responsible for the assassination of his uncle, John F Kennedy, in 1963.

The order directs the director of national intelligence and the attorney general to develop a plan within 15 days to declassify the remaining John F Kennedy records, and within 45 days for the other two cases. It was not clear when the records would actually be released.

Trump handed the pen used to sign the order to an aide and directed it to be given to Robert F Kennedy Jr.

Speaking to NBC News, Kennedy Jr said that he was “grateful to President Trump”, adding: “I think it’s a great move, because they need to have more transparency in our government, and he’s keeping his promise to have the government tell the truth to the American people about everything.”

Meanwhile, Jack Schlossberg, the grandson of Kennedy, condemned Trump’s latest executive order as a “political prop”.

“The truth is a lot sadder than the myth – a tragedy that didn’t need to happen. Not part of an inevitable grand scheme. Declassification is using JFK as a political prop, when he’s not here to punch back. There’s nothing heroic about it,” Schlossberg said on X.

Only a few thousand of the millions of governmental records related to the assassination of John F Kennedy have yet to be fully declassified. And while many who have studied what has been released so far say the public should not anticipate any earth-shattering revelations, there is still an intense interest in details related to the assassination and the events surrounding it.

“There’s always the possibility that something would slip through that would be the tiny tip of a much larger iceberg that would be revealing,” said Larry Sabato, director of the University of Virginia Center for Politics and author of The Kennedy Half-Century. “That’s what researchers look for. Now, odds are you won’t find that but it is possible that it’s there.”

Kennedy was shot dead in downtown Dallas on 22 November 1963 as his motorcade passed in front of the Texas School Book Depository building, where the 24-year-old assassin Lee Harvey Oswald had positioned himself in a sniper’s perch on the sixth floor. Two days after Kennedy was killed, the nightclub owner Jack Ruby shot and killed Oswald during a jail transfer.

In the early 1990s, the federal government mandated that all assassination-related documents be housed in a single collection in the National Archives and Records Administration. The collection of more than 5m records was required to be opened by 2017, barring any exemptions designated by the president.

During his first term, Trump boasted that he would allow the release of all of the remaining records on the president’s assassination but ended up holding some back because of what he called the potential harm to national security. And while files have continued to be released under Joe Biden, some still remain unseen.

Sabato, who trains student researchers to comb through the documents, said most researchers agree that “roughly” 3,000 records have not yet been released, either in whole or in part, and many of those originated with the CIA.

The documents released over the last several years offer details on the way intelligence services operated at the time, and include CIA cables and memos discussing visits by Oswald to the Soviet and Cuban embassies during a trip to Mexico City just weeks before the assassination. The former marine had previously defected to the Soviet Union before returning home to Texas.

There are still some documents in the collection, though, that researchers do not believe the president would be able to release. About 500 documents, including tax returns, were not subject to the 2017 disclosure requirement. And, researchers note, documents have also been destroyed over the decades.

Associated Press contributed to this story

Hundreds of people have fled the Jenin refugee camp and surrounding areas as an Israeli assault on the West Bank city enters its third day, amid a deepening crackdown across the occupied Palestinian territory.

“Most of the camp’s residents were forced out, and I was made to leave my neighbourhood,” said 65-year-old Saleh Ammar, who fled the Jouret al-Dhahab neighbourhood inside the camp. “I saw with my own eyes the 12 large bulldozers they brought in: if they wanted to destroy an entire city, they could have done so.”

Israeli officials have labelled the latest escalation in the West Bank, codenamed Iron Wall, which began just days after a ceasefire in Gaza came into effect, as part of a shift in the aims of the war that began in October 2023, after an attack by Palestinian militants on Israeli towns and kibbutzim around the Gaza Strip.

The Israeli military said it was operating in Jenin to target Palestinian militants in the refugee camp, with the Israel Defense Forces spokesperson, Lt Col Nadav Shoshani, telling reporters in a briefing that the operation was intended to prevent militants “from regrouping” and attacking Israeli civilians.

Ammar accused forces affiliated to the Palestinian Authority of shooting at residents of the refugee camp before Israeli forces entered, to assist their assault. The PA launched its own assault on the camp in December, intended to target militias that oppose its rule.

“I am so upset by the Palestinian Authority invasion – they burned the houses, installed snipers on the rooftops and opened fire randomly,” he said. “This continued until Israeli forces entered the camp … we are living between two fires.”

Ammar said he and his family were forced to walk out of the camp on Wednesday afternoon by Israeli forces, despite his objections.

“I had to argue to retrieve my wife’s medication, she has high blood pressure and diabetes,” he said. He and his family walked 3km to safety through the mud now covering the roads that lead out of the camp.

“The Israeli army wants to destroy the camp and make it like Jabaliya,” he said, in reference to a refugee camp in Gaza that has been the target of Israeli bombardments until the recent ceasefire. “They want to destroy the houses, bulldoze the streets and remove residents from the camp. They told us to get out before they start bombing.”

He added: “I expected that things would calm down after the ceasefire but I did not expect that the Palestinian Authority would partner with the Israelis in killing its own people.”

The Jenin governor, Kamal Abu al-Rub, told Agence France-Presse that hundreds of people who lived in the camp “have begun leaving after the Israeli army, using loudspeakers on drones and military vehicles, ordered them to evacuate the camp”.

Israeli public radio said 2,000 people had fled the refugee camp “after being inspected” by Israeli forces there, citing military sources who indicated the assault on Jenin would continue for some time.

The Palestinian news agency Wafa said Israeli forces further tightened their grip across the West Bank, erecting more checkpoints outside big cities from Jericho to Ramallah, causing long tailbacks of traffic and preventing movement across the territory.

Shoshani indicated that the assault on the Jenin camp involved battles taking place in mosques and hospitals, but blamed Palestinian militants for embedding there. “Hopefully we will be able to do counter-terrorism without the terrorists fighting us from civilian infrastructure,” he said. “But history shows that this is something that may not happen.”

Danny Yatom, a former head of the Mossad who is now a member of the policy group Commanders for Israel’s Security, told reporters: “We need to carry out pre-emptive attacks. We will not wait for a squad from Jenin to come and enter Tel Aviv, but we will do our utmost in order to gather the information needed about this squad, and we will kill them.”

Angelita Caredda, the Middle East and north Africa director for the Norwegian Refugee Council (NRC), pointed to the 12 people who had been killed and 40 injured in the Israeli assault on Jenin, in which drones, aircraft and other heavy weaponry have been used. Several medics at the public hospital close to the camp said they were injured after being targeted by snipers.

She said: “We are seeing disturbing patterns of unlawful use of force in the West Bank that is unnecessary, indiscriminate and disproportionate. This echoes the tactics Israeli forces have employed in Gaza.”

The NRC said the escalation in the West Bank had coincided with the PA’s efforts to assert control in Jenin by targeting armed groups who have long resented its control, and deference to Israeli forces. Three-quarters of Jenin’s residents had already been displaced by the PA’s assault on the refugee camp that began in December, the NRC added.

Shoshani said the IDF had not issued any evacuation order. “There is no evacuation order in Jenin. There is no plan to issue an evacuation order in Jenin. If you hear that, you should know it is fake news,” he told reporters in a briefing.

A man who lives on the edge of the camp told AFP that the Israeli army asked people to leave between 9am and 5pm local time. “There are dozens of camp residents who have begun to leave,” he said. “The army is in front of my house. They could enter at any moment.”

The Palestinian Red Crescent (PRC) said its ambulances had helped almost 650 people who had fled the refugee camp in the heart of the city and adjacent neighbourhoods over the past day, but could only rescue those who had managed to escape to other parts of Jenin that medics could access.

“We are still receiving calls from people inside the camp or surrounding areas,” said Nebal Farsakh of the PRC. “We’re getting more calls now as people need their medications, they need basic supplies like nappies as it’s the third day of this, so some families have run out of supplies or need to be evacuated. That’s why people want to get out of these areas where they can’t leave, often it’s just to get basic groceries,” she said.

Medics with the PRC were finding coordination with Israeli forces in Jenin arduous, she added, including repeated refusals or long delays. Its teams had treated five cases of physical assault and seven injuries from live ammunition since Wednesday.

Yatom said Israeli forces had launched the operation in Jenin because the PA had been unable to rid the camp of armed groups including militants aligned to Hamas.

“There is now cooperation between the Palestinian Authority security apparatus and the IDF, even though the PA security could not accomplish the mission in general,” Yatom said. “So it was a mistake … Hamas was never deterred. It was a total mistake of our security apparatus to think that Hamas is deterred.”

In Gaza, Palestinian journalists have shared videos on Instagram showing civilians trying to find their relatives among the bodies recovered by rescue services in recent days.

In an apparent violation of the ceasefire reached between Israel and Hamas and implemented on Sunday, an Israeli tank killed two Palestinians west of Gaza’s Rafah on Thursday, Reuters reported quoting the territory’s civil defence.

The alleged incident coincided with a statement from the Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, who said on Thursday: “Israel has a right to continue military attacks in Gaza if it deems negotiations regarding the second phase of the ceasefire agreement with Hamas to be fruitless.”

The Southport killer Axel Rudakubana has been jailed for a minimum of 52 years for the “ferocious” and “sadistic” knife rampage at a Taylor Swift-themed dance class.

The 18-year-old refused to appear in the dock as the judge said he would probably “never be released and he will be in custody for all his life” for the “savage” murder of three young girls and attempted murder of eight others, as well as two adults who tried to save them.

It can now be revealed that two years before the Southport attack, Rudakubana’s parents had called police four times in six months asking for help.

On one of those occasions, he was caught carrying a blade on a bus, but officers did not detain him and instead took him home and told his mother to keep knives out of his reach.

The full horror of his 12-minute attack was laid bare at Liverpool crown court on Thursday when it emerged that some of Rudakubana’s victims had been stabbed dozens of times, many with such force it broke their bones.

He chased some of the young girls as they fled in terror. Three girls – Bebe King, six, Elsie Dot Stancombe, seven, and Alice da Silva Aguiar, nine – suffered unsurvivable injuries. The attack on two of them could only be described as “sadistic”, the prosecutor, Deanna Heer KC, told a packed courtroom.

Sentencing Rudakubana to life with a minimum term of 52 years in prison – the longest jail term ever given to someone his age – the judge, Mr Justice Julian Goose, said the triple killer would only be released if a Parole Board believes he is no longer a threat to the public, but he added: “It is likely he will never be released and he will be in custody for all of his life”.

Rudakubana could not be sentenced to a whole-life order – meaning he would never be released from prison – because he was nine days short of his 18th birthday when he carried out the attack at the Hart Space in Southport on 29 July last year.

The teenager, who was 17 when he carried out the attack, will be almost 70 before he is considered for release.

The sentencing, where about 40 relatives of the victims had gathered, was twice loudly interrupted by the defendant pleading for medical assistance. “My chest is hurting … I need to speak to a paramedic,” he shouted, before interrupting the judge as he tried to proceed: “Don’t continue! Don’t continue! Don’t continue!”

In court, family members of the victims were in tears as the shocking attack was relayed in full. CCTV footage played in court showed young girls screaming and running from the dance studio, seconds after Rudakubana entered at 11.45am – just 15 minutes before the girls were due to be collected by their parents.

The 26 girls were gathered around a table making bracelets when he appeared in the doorway, hooded and holding a 20cm knife.

Body-worn footage recorded by police showed the chaotic scenes as officers rushed into the bloodstained building, where Rudakubana was seen “crouching” over the body of one little girl.

One officer is heard to say: “She’s dead” and another yelled “Jesus” as others screamed around them. Moments later, officers found one of the dance teachers, Heidi Liddle, who had locked herself in a toilet with one of the girls. They were escorted from the building, crying with fear and relief.

In a statement read to court, the girl’s mother described how “time stood still” as she arrived to collect her to realise she was still inside with the knifeman.

Terrified, she rang her parents telling them their granddaughter had been killed, only to later find her inside alive. They suffer flashbacks, she said, adding that her hair had “fallen out due to the trauma”.

Several relatives of the victims left the courtroom, some in tears, before Heer detailed the horrifying pathological evidence of their injuries, which the Guardian has chosen not to publish.

Heer said Rudakubana had boasted of his attack shortly after being arrested, saying: “I’m so glad those kids are dead … it makes me happy.”

This was one of a number of “unsolicited comments” recorded on CCTV footage or noted down at the time, Heer said. He was also heard to say “So happy, six years old. It’s a good thing they are dead, yeah” and “I don’t care, I’m feeling neutral.”

Police believe he may have copied the stabbing methods he used in the Southport attack from an al-Qaida training manual he admitted possessing. He is also believed to have used it to attempt to make ricin.

A chemical weapons expert concluded that the ricin found in Rudakubana’s bedroom was actively poisonous but there is no evidence it was ever used.

He had bought enough castor beans, the ingredient used to make the toxin, to produce up to 12,000 lethal inhalations, had he completed the process of distilling it, the court was told.

A public inquiry will examine the missed opportunities to stop Rudakubana, who had been referred three times to Prevent, the government’s anti-extremism programme, which did not believe he posed a threat.

Goose accepted the prosecution’s evidence that there was no evidence of a terrorism motive but said that the debate over whether it was terrorism or not “misses the point”. “In my judgment his culpability for this level of violence is equivalent to terrorism matters, whatever the motive,” he said.

The judge said some would describe the teenager’s actions as “evil” and that “on any view it was the most extreme, shocking and serious crime”.

“It was such extreme violence of utmost and exceptionally high seriousness that it is difficult to comprehend why it was done,” he said, adding that Rudakubana was “determined to cause maximum suffering” and caused “profound and permanent” harm to the families and the wider Southport community.

“Had he been able to, he would have killed each and every one of them – all 26 of them – as well as any adult who got in his way,” the judge added.

Rudakubana’s barrister, Stanley Reiz KC, said there was little mitigation he could offer for “offences of such wickedness”.

He said Rudakubana had turned at the age of 13 from a “normal well-disciplined child to someone who was capable of committing acts of such shocking and senseless violence”.

He said the teenager exhibited a “startling lack of empathy” and had for five years struggled with “difficulties with social communication and interacting in line with his diagnosis of autism spectrum disorder”.

DCI Jason Pye, the senior investigating officer at Merseyside police, said: “This was the most harrowing, large-scale investigation that our force has ever dealt with, and I want to praise the commitment, dedication, and sheer determination of the investigation team who have never had to deal with anything like this before.”

After the hearing, Elsie’s family thanked the emergency services who responded to the incident.

“We are so thankful for their bravery, compassion and strength which should serve as an inspiration to everybody,” they said.

The family also thanked Keir Starmer, King Charles and the Prince and Princess of Wales for arranging private meetings where they offered their condolences.

Police told Axel Rudakubana’s mother to keep knives out of his reach two years before the Southport attack, after he was caught carrying a blade on a bus.

Lancashire police are facing questions over their handling of the “sadistic” teenager in the years before he murdered three young girls and tried to kill 10 others at a Taylor Swift dance class last summer.

It can now be revealed that officers failed to arrest Rudakubana when he was found in possession of a knife on a bus in March 2022.

Instead of detaining the then 15-year-old – who had also been excluded from school in 2019 for carrying a knife – they took him home and gave his mother “advice regarding securing knives in the home”, said the assistant chief constableof Lancashire police Mark Winstanley.

The incident can be revealed after Rudakubana, now 18, was jailed for 52 years on Thursday for the murders of six-year-old Bebe King, Elsie Dot Stancombe, seven, and Alice da Silva Aguiar, nine, and the attempted murder of 10 others.

The bus incident, which came after Rudakubana’s mother had reported him missing, was one of four police callouts to the family home in the six months to May 2022.

The role of Lancashire police and other agencies will be scrutinised by the public inquiry ordered by Keir Starmer this week after he said the state’s failures “frankly leap off the page”.

It emerged on Thursday that Lancashire police first visited Rudakubana in October 2019 and he had contacted Childline and asked: “What should I do if I want to kill somebody?”

Stanley Reiz KC, his defence barrister, told the court that Rudakubana had told officers he wanted to stab someone so police would seize his phone and “delete embarrassing videos he had on social media”.

He was “fixated” on removing the videos, Reiz said, and “did not appear to understand the consequence that such action would have”. He said the teenager had exhibited a “startling lack of empathy” and had for five years struggled with “difficulties with social communication and interacting in line with his diagnosis of autism spectrum disorder”.

Days later the teenager said he hated someone at school who had bullied him and wanted to kill them, Liverpool crown court was told.

Rudakubana told Childline that he had taken a knife to school but would only use it if the person really annoyed him. He confirmed he had taken a knife to school when police visited him, telling officers he thought he would use it if he became angry.

He was permanently excluded from the school shortly after when he admitted taking a knife on to the premises on at least 10 occasions, the court heard.

This was two months before Rudakubana was referred for the first time to the government’s anti-radicalisation scheme, Prevent, due to concerns about him viewing extreme material online.

On 5 November 2021, Rudakubana’s parents contacted police after he became “distressed” when a stranger knocked on the door.

Three weeks later they called the force again after an argument which saw the schoolboy “kick” his father, Alphonse Rudakubana, and damage his car. Police took no further action against the teenager after his father said he did not want to prosecute.

He was caught by police with a knife on a bus on 17 March 2022 and, two months later, officers were called to the family home again after Rudakubana’s behaviour “escalated after he was denied access to a computer”.

Winstanley said the teenager’s parents asked officers for “assistance to help cope with him”.

After each callout, officers referred his case to local safeguarding officials who then assessed him as a vulnerable child and offered support for behaviour issues.

However, Rudakubana had become more socially isolated and stopped attending a local specialist school for children with autism and Asperger’s. The school, Presfield in Southport, called police in March 2023 to ask them to conduct a welfare check on the teenager as he had not attended since May 2022.

Winstanley said officers were not sent to check on Rudakubana because “there was no immediate concern for his safety, and the circumstances did not reach the threshold for police deployment”.

He said the decisions taken by the officers were based on the information available to the officers at the time, and said “any learning or other outcomes for policing will be fully implemented” after the public inquiry.

The repeated involvement of local police came less than a year after Rudakubana was deemed not to pose a risk despite the three Prevent referrals.

Counter-terrorism officials closed his case each time despite meeting him only once, it is understood. The first referral was in December 2019 after teachers raised the alarm about his fascination with mass shootings.

A senior police source said it was unlikely that Lancashire police would have known about the Prevent referrals when they decided not to take firmer action.

It is understood that the details of cases investigated by Prevent could only be seen by counter-terrorism officers, not regular police, raising concerns that Rudakubana was allowed to slip through the cracks.

The policing source said a lack of communication between law enforcement agencies was likely to be one of the failures identified in the public inquiry.

A leading ethics watchdog has issued warnings to Donald Trump’s billionaire ally Elon Musk and the “department of government efficiency” (Doge), an agency Trump has stated he will create, claiming its use of encrypted messaging apps potentially violates the Federal Records Act (FRA).

American Oversight, which uses litigation to obtain public records and expose government misconduct, argues that Musk’s leadership of Doge raises “significant ethical concerns about potential conflicts of interest”, given his business empire and the substantial impact that Doge could have on federal agencies.

The warnings stem from reports that members of Doge, which aims to carry out dramatic cuts to the US government, are using the encrypted messaging app Signal with an auto-delete feature, which could hinder the preservation of official records.

On Wednesday the watchdog sent letters to Musk, Doge, the “US DOGE Service” (formerly the United States Digital Service) and the Departments of Defense, Health and Human Services, Homeland Security, Treasury and Veterans Affairs, and the office of management and budget.

American Oversight also notified the National Archives and Records Administration, urging the archivist to take legal action through the attorney general if records are unlawfully removed or destroyed.

American Oversight argues that all written communications related to Doge activities, both before and after Trump’s inauguration on Monday, are federal records that must be preserved. The FRA requires agencies to preserve federal government records documenting their activities, decisions and policies.

Chioma Chukwu, the group’s interim executive director, commented: “Efforts are clearly underway to conceal information that would expose the Trump administration’s plans to gut critical services that benefit the American people, and Doge – led by unelected billionaires poised to benefit from their self-serving machinations – is no exception.”

She added: “Transparency and accountability are non-negotiable. That is why we have put the administration on notice: comply with your obligation to preserve all Doge-related records, or defend that secrecy in court.”

The group has a history of suing the Trump administration for non-compliance with record transparency, including documents exposing Rudy Giuliani’s communications about Ukraine, copies of forged electoral vote certificates in 2020 and records revealing preventable deaths of immigrants in Immigration and Customs Enforcement custody. More recently, it has brought lawsuits concerning Trump nominees Matt Gaetz and Kash Patel.

Doge has ambitious goals of eliminating entire federal agencies and cutting three-quarters of federal government jobs. Failed Republican presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy was a co-chair but has left to reportedly run for governor of Ohio.

An executive order, announced by the White House late on Monday, stated the group’s aim to “modernize federal technology and software”. Trump told reporters there were plans to hire about 20 individuals to ensure the implementation of the group’s objectives.

But the committee, despite its name, is not a department and has limited official power to carry out any reorganisation, let alone the sweeping cuts proposed by Musk and Ramaswamy.

Government employee unions, watchdog groups and public interest organizations sued within minutes of the announcement. Another watchdog group, Public Citizen, is suing over Doge’s uncertain legal status, along with a union representing government employees.

A leading ethics watchdog has issued warnings to Donald Trump’s billionaire ally Elon Musk and the “department of government efficiency” (Doge), an agency Trump has stated he will create, claiming its use of encrypted messaging apps potentially violates the Federal Records Act (FRA).

American Oversight, which uses litigation to obtain public records and expose government misconduct, argues that Musk’s leadership of Doge raises “significant ethical concerns about potential conflicts of interest”, given his business empire and the substantial impact that Doge could have on federal agencies.

The warnings stem from reports that members of Doge, which aims to carry out dramatic cuts to the US government, are using the encrypted messaging app Signal with an auto-delete feature, which could hinder the preservation of official records.

On Wednesday the watchdog sent letters to Musk, Doge, the “US DOGE Service” (formerly the United States Digital Service) and the Departments of Defense, Health and Human Services, Homeland Security, Treasury and Veterans Affairs, and the office of management and budget.

American Oversight also notified the National Archives and Records Administration, urging the archivist to take legal action through the attorney general if records are unlawfully removed or destroyed.

American Oversight argues that all written communications related to Doge activities, both before and after Trump’s inauguration on Monday, are federal records that must be preserved. The FRA requires agencies to preserve federal government records documenting their activities, decisions and policies.

Chioma Chukwu, the group’s interim executive director, commented: “Efforts are clearly underway to conceal information that would expose the Trump administration’s plans to gut critical services that benefit the American people, and Doge – led by unelected billionaires poised to benefit from their self-serving machinations – is no exception.”

She added: “Transparency and accountability are non-negotiable. That is why we have put the administration on notice: comply with your obligation to preserve all Doge-related records, or defend that secrecy in court.”

The group has a history of suing the Trump administration for non-compliance with record transparency, including documents exposing Rudy Giuliani’s communications about Ukraine, copies of forged electoral vote certificates in 2020 and records revealing preventable deaths of immigrants in Immigration and Customs Enforcement custody. More recently, it has brought lawsuits concerning Trump nominees Matt Gaetz and Kash Patel.

Doge has ambitious goals of eliminating entire federal agencies and cutting three-quarters of federal government jobs. Failed Republican presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy was a co-chair but has left to reportedly run for governor of Ohio.

An executive order, announced by the White House late on Monday, stated the group’s aim to “modernize federal technology and software”. Trump told reporters there were plans to hire about 20 individuals to ensure the implementation of the group’s objectives.

But the committee, despite its name, is not a department and has limited official power to carry out any reorganisation, let alone the sweeping cuts proposed by Musk and Ramaswamy.

Government employee unions, watchdog groups and public interest organizations sued within minutes of the announcement. Another watchdog group, Public Citizen, is suing over Doge’s uncertain legal status, along with a union representing government employees.

Donald Trump has made a combative return to the world stage, accusing oil producers of prolonging the Ukraine war by failing to cut prices, and threatening tariffs on all US imports.

In a typically blustering online address to the World Economic Forum in Davos, the new president called on Saudi Arabia and the oil-producers’ cartel Opec to cut the cost of oil, in order to choke off revenues to Russia and halt the conflict in Ukraine.

“You’ve got to bring it down, which, frankly, I’m surprised they didn’t do before the election. That didn’t show a lot of love. Surprised by that,” Trump said. “If the price came down, the Russia-Ukraine war would end immediately.”

He added: “They should have done it long ago. They’re very responsible, actually, to a certain extent, for what’s taking place. Millions of lives are being lost.”

Trump also appeared to signal sweeping tariffs on imports to the US, warning: “If you don’t make your product in America, which is your prerogative, then very simply, you will have to pay a tariff – differing amounts, but a tariff.”

He repeated his call for Nato countries to dramatically increase defence spending, to reduce their dependence on the US.

“I’m also going to ask all Nato nations to increase defence spending to 5% of GDP, which is what it should have been years ago,” he said. He said lower levels of spending in recent years had been “unfair to the United States, but many, many things have been unfair for many years to the United States”.

Ranging widely across economic and foreign policy, Trump also put himself on a collision course with the Federal Reserve by urging it to cut interest rates “immediately” to bolster the US and global economy.

“I’ll demand that interest rates drop immediately. And likewise, they should be dropping all over the world. Interest rates should follow us all over,” he said.

In a speech heavily laced with grievances, Trump also complained about what he called an “unfair” trading relationship with China – which is expected to face the harshest tariffs.

“All we want is fairness. We just want a level playing field. We don’t want to take advantage. We’ve been having massive deficits with China. [Joe] Biden allowed it to get out of hand,” he said.

Tariffs are import taxes on goods, which are often passed on to consumers in higher prices. But Trump insisted his tariff policy would “direct hundreds of billions of dollars, and even trillions of dollars into our treasury to strengthen our economy and pay down debt”.

He has previously said he intends to levy the taxes on goods from Mexico, Canada and China, and is also considering penalising imports from the EU. But his latest remarks appeared to suggest they would be applied across the board.

Trump received a mixed response from Davos attenders, with some audibly grumbling when he promised to scrap equalities policies.

In response to carefully curated questions from business leaders, the US president denied his tariff policy could raise prices and contribute to inflation.

“I think [it will] actually bring down inflation. It’s going to bring up jobs. We’re going to have a lot of jobs. We’re going to have a lot of companies moving in,” he said.

Trump’s call for interest rate cuts are unlikely to go down well at the US central bank, which is independent of government.

The Fed’s chair, Jerome Powell, recently insisted he would not resign if Trump asked him to. The new US president has previously criticised the Fed’s governors as “boneheads”.

The bank reduced interest rates three times last year, but financial markets are expecting fewer than two cuts this year, with many analysts expecting tariffs to be inflationary. The next Fed meeting is on 29 January and could provoke an early clash with the White House.

During his 45 minutes on the big screen, the US president also made a series of false claims, including denying the reality of the climate crisis, and claiming “far more people” had died in Ukraine than had been reported.

Trump also went on a lengthy digression about the benefits of “good, clean coal”, and claimed to have discussed a radical nuclear disarmament deal with Moscow and Beijing in his first presidency.

He was appearing by video link in the vast hall at the conference centre in the Swiss ski resort, where discussions have been dominated all week by the potential impact of his policies on the global economy.

Earlier on Thursday, the populist Argentine president, Javier Milei, told the Davos audience that he saw himself and Trump as part of a growing band of world leaders standing up against “woke ideology”.

“Slowly an alliance is building between countries which want to be free,” he said, in a speech that also attacked feminism.

A French man who has been on death row in Indonesia since 2007 for alleged drug offences is expected to return home in weeks after an Indonesian minister said an agreement would be signed on Friday to allow his transfer.

Serge Atlaoui is expected to return to France on 5 or 6 February, the senior minister for law and human rights affairs, Yusril Ihza Mahendra, told Reuters on Friday.

Indonesia has in recent weeks released half a dozen high-profile detainees, including a Filipina mum on death row and the last five members of the so-called Bali Nine drug ring.

Indonesian officials will hold a press conference with their French counterparts to announce the transfer agreement for Atlaoui, a 61-year-old welder arrested in 2005 at a drugs factory outside the capital Jakarta, on Friday, Mahendra said.

“We will sign the arrangement tomorrow at 3 pm. The minister of justice of France already confirmed today,” Mahendra told AFP late Thursday.

The ministry said in an invite to media that a press conference would be held after a “closed-door signing of the practical arrangement” for Atlaoui’s transfer.

The signing of the agreement, initially scheduled for Wednesday, was first postponed to Thursday for scheduling reasons and then again to Friday, according to a source close to the discussions.

“The agreement is due to be signed early Friday afternoon in Jakarta by Mr Yusril and Gérald Darmanin, the French justice minister, remotely from Paris, by videoconference,” the source said.

Atlaoui is suffering from an illness in a Jakarta prison and receives weekly treatment at a hospital, raising the stakes of his transfer.

Paris submitted an official request for his transfer last month, and Atlaoui’s fate upon his return to France could also be announced on Friday.

Father-of-four Atlaoui has denied drugs charges ever since his imprisonment, claiming that he was installing machinery in his capacity as a welder in what he thought was an acrylics plant.

He was initially sentenced to life in prison, but the supreme court in 2007 increased the sentence to death on appeal.

Atlaoui was held on the island of Nusakambangan in Central Java, known as Indonesia’s “Alcatraz”, after the death sentence, but he was transferred to the city of Tangerang, west of Jakarta, in 2015 ahead of his appeal.

That year, he was due to be executed alongside eight other drug offenders who were killed but won a temporary reprieve after Paris stepped up pressure, with Indonesian authorities agreeing to let an outstanding appeal run its course.

Indonesia has some of the world’s toughest drug laws and has executed foreigners in the past.

At least 530 people were on death row in the south-east Asian nation, mostly for drug-related crimes, according to data from rights group KontraS, citing official figures.

According to Indonesia’s immigration and corrections ministry, more than 90 foreigners were on death row, all on drug charges, as of early November.

Despite ongoing negotiations for Atlaoui’s transfer, the Indonesian government recently signalled that it will resume executions – on hiatus since 2016 – of drug convicts on death row.

Italy’s interior minister said on Thursday a Libyan man detained under an international war crimes arrest warrant and then unexpectedly released had been swiftly repatriated because of his “social dangerousness“.

Osama Najim, also known as Almasri, was detained on Sunday in Turin under an arrest warrant issued by The Hague-based international criminal court (ICC).

Najim, who is chief of Libya’s judicial police, is wanted by the ICC for alleged war crimes and crimes against humanity, as well as alleged rape and murder. He also presides over Mitiga prison, a facility near Tripoli condemned by human rights organisations for the arbitrary detention, torture and abuse of political dissidents, migrants and refugees.

He was freed on Tuesday due to a procedural technicality and flown on an official state aircraft to Tripoli. The ICC demanded an explanation, saying on Wednesday that he had been released from custody and transported back to Libya by prime minister Giorgia Meloni’s rightwing government “without prior notice or consultation with the court”.

“Following the non-validation of the arrest … considering that the Libyan citizen … presented a profile of social dangerousness … I adopted an expulsion order for reasons of state security,” interior minister Matteo Piantedosi said.

Italian foreign minister Antonio Tajani made light of the ICC’s objections, telling reporters the international court “is not the word of God, it’s not the font of all truth”.

“Italy is a sovereign country and we make our own decisions,” he added.

Najim is a brigadier general in Libya’s judicial police who the ICC says is suspected of crimes against humanity and war crimes at Mitiga prison.

Meloni’s government depends heavily on Libyan security forces to prevent would-be migrants from leaving the north African nation and heading to southern Italy.

Piantedosi told lawmakers during a question time session in the Senate that Rome’s appeals court ordered Najim’s release because they considered his arrest non-compliant with procedures.

An interior ministry source told Reuters previously that he was freed because local police had not immediately informed the justice ministry of the arrest, as required.

Opposition parties said Piantedosi’s explanations were inadequate and called on prime minister Meloni to come to parliament to clarify.

“You are plunging our country into utter shame, you talk about technicalities, but you have made a precise political choice,” said senator Giuseppe De Cristofaro, from the Green-Left Alliance party.

• Russian crews were responding to an air attack in the Ryazan region south-east of Moscow over Thursday night. Social media channels posted videos of what appeared to be very large blazes in the city and said a major oil refinery and a power station had been hit by Ukrainian drones. The Ryazan governor, Pavel Markov, said air defence units destroyed drones. The Moscow mayor, Sergei Sobyanin, said air defences intercepted attacks by Ukrainian drones at four locations around Russia’s capital and more drones headed for the capital.

• Donald Trump has told the Davos World Economic Forum conference that he wants to meet Vladimir Putin soon and “stop this ridiculous war”. Trump, who has threatened to impose punitive measures on Russia if no deal is reached, said: “I really would like to be able to meet with President Putin soon to get that war ended … And that’s not from the standpoint of economy or anything else. It’s from the standpoint of millions of lives are being wasted … It’s a carnage. And we really have to stop that war.”

• Heather Stewart writes that in his online address to Davos, the US president accused the Opec global oil producers of prolonging the Ukraine war by failing to cut their prices, which, if they did, would hurt Russian oil revenues and “the Russia-Ukraine war would end immediately”.

• The Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said there was nothing particularly new in Trump’s threats about ending the war but Moscow was following closely “all nuances” in rhetoric and remained open to dialogue. Peskov said Trump had often applied sanctions on Russia during his first term as president.

• Trump’s comments have been welcomed by Ukraine. “We do really welcome such strong messages from President Trump and we believe that he will be the winner. And we believe that we have an additional chance to get new dynamic in diplomatic efforts to end this war,” said Ukraine’s foreign minister, Andrii Sybiha.

• Russia has rejected the idea of Nato countries sending peacekeeping troops to Ukraine in the event of a ceasefire. Maria Zakharova, Russian foreign ministry spokesperson, said it could cause an “uncontrollable escalation”. Volodymyr Zelenskyy, the Ukrainian president, said on Tuesday that at least 200,000 European peacekeepers would be needed to prevent a new Russian attack after any ceasefire deal.

• Ukraine announced evacuations of children from several towns in the north-eastern Kharkiv region threatened by Russian forces. The Kharkiv region governor, Oleg Synegubov, said “267 children and their families are to be evacuated from 16 settlements to safe places”. Synegubov said the towns and villages affected were near Kupiansk, a town Russia has tried to capture for months where fighting is raging around its outskirts. “The decision was made due to the intensified hostile shelling. We urge families with minors to save their lives and leave the dangerous areas,” Synegubov said.

• Ukraine is in the final stages of drafting recruitment reforms to attract 18- to 25-year-olds who are currently exempt from mobilisation, the battlefield commander recently appointed to the president’s office said. Col Pavlo Palisa said the current drafting system inherited from Soviet times was hindering progress. Though Ukraine has already passed a mobilisation law lowering the age of conscription from 27 to 25, the measures have not had the impact needed to replenish its ranks or replace battlefield losses in its war with Russia.

• One initiative is what Palisa described as an “honest contract” that includes financial incentives, clear guarantees for training, and measures to ensure dialogue between soldiers and their commanders. The plan would also target Ukrainians who have the right to deferment or were discharged after the mobilisation law was passed. “As of now, my view is that we need to start an open dialogue with society,” Palisa said. “Because the defence of the state is not only the responsibility of the armed forces. It is the duty of every Ukrainian citizen, and it is their obligation.”

Ireland is bracing for what has been described as one of the most dangerous storms ever seen, with the national weather centre warning of violent winds from 2am on Friday.

Emergency services were on high alert and the country was preparing for a virtual standstill on Friday, with airports, schools, parks and offices to close and public transport cancelled during the peak hours of Storm Éowyn.

Keith Leonard, the chair of the national emergency coordination group, said the storm would be one of the most dangerous storms Ireland has seen. “We expect this storm to be destructive, dangerous and disruptive. We can expect [gusts] greater than 130km/h inland, which is very, very unusual. It is going to be a damaging, dangerous and destructive weather event.”

He said the winds would bring severe conditions, which would constitute a risk to life and property.

The public have been warned to stay at home, to avoid the coast and to have phones and torches fully charged. The Electricity Supply Board has said extensive damage to electricity infrastructure is anticipated and widespread power outages are expected.

Leonard said it was likely that the number of people losing power would top the 385,000 figure from Storm Ophelia in 2017. “Our most important message today is that everybody needs to shelter in place for the duration of all red warnings,” he said.

“We are likely to see significant and widespread power outages, so I would encourage everyone to prepare ahead. Make sure phones, torches and laptops are fully charged. Ensure that there are no loose garden furniture or other items on your property that could cause problems in strong winds.”

Local authorities are encouraging anyone living in mobile homes or other residences with potential structural issues to consider staying with friends or family during the storm.

Donegal county council is offering vouchers to encourage people in those situations who don’t have alternatives to move to a hotel or bed and breakfast.

Met Éireann has advised people to steer clear of the coastline, where force 10 winds are expected. Force 12 winds are expected farther out to sea, from Valentia in County Kerry in the south-west of the country to Erris Head in the north-west of County Mayo.

Eoin Sherlock, Met Éireann’s chief hydrometeorologist, said on Thursday: “The fact that we are in the national emergency coordination group today signifies that this is amongst the most dangerous storms that Ireland will have faced. This at the extreme end of the Atlantic storms.”

The most dangerous recorded storm in Irish history was Hurricane Debbie. This was not an Atlantic storm but a rare tropical cyclone, which slammed into Ireland on 16 September 1961. It caused 18 deaths in the Republic of Ireland and six in Northern Ireland.