European leaders have reacted sceptically to the limited ceasefire in Ukraine agreed by Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin, saying it has made it abundantly clear that the Russian president is not serious about seeking a peaceful end to the three-year-old conflict.

During a call with the US president, Putin agreed to a partial ceasefire that would stop his forces targeting Ukraine’s energy infrastructure, but declined to commit to the 30-day full ceasefire plan pitched by Trump last week and agreed to by Ukraine.

Further doubts about the deal arose after Russia launched a wave of attacks on targets across Ukraine hours after Trump and Putin spoke. Russia also reported a series of attacks by Ukrainian drones.

“Attacks on civilian infrastructure in the first night after this supposedly pivotal and great phone call have not abated,” Germany’s defence minister, Boris Pistorius, said in an interview with the German broadcaster ZDF. “Putin is playing a game here and I’m sure that the American president won’t be able to sit and watch for much longer.”

Pistorius said Putin’s commitment to stop attacks on energy targets was “basically nothing” because such infrastructure in Ukraine was already the “best protected”.

The minister also described as “unacceptable” the Kremlin’s insistence that a key condition for peace would be a total halt of western military and intelligence support to Ukraine’s embattled military.

“This is very transparent,” Pistorius said, adding that Putin aimed to prevent Kyiv’s backers from “further supporting Ukraine and enabling it to really defend itself if there is another attack, during or after a ceasefire”.

The German chancellor, Olaf Scholz, and the French president, Emmanuel Macron, said their countries would continue sending military aid to Ukraine. “Ukraine can count on us,” Scholz said.

The Finnish president, Alexander Stubb, also dismissed Russian demands that help for Kyiv be halted. “Ukraine has an undeniable right to defend itself on its own and supported by its partners,” he said on Wednesday. “This right cannot be restricted in any way, not now, and not in the future.”

The EU’s foreign policy chief, Kaja Kallas, downplayed the US-Russian deal. She said: “It is clear that Russia does not really want to make any kind of concessions.” She added that Kremlin demands to stop arming Kyiv could not be accepted.

Spain’s foreign minister, José Manuel Albares, was equally cautious about the prospects for peace. In an interview with Radio Nacional de España on Wednesday morning, he described the conflict as “one man’s war”, adding that there was “no real will from Putin to stop this war”.

He asaid: “It’s positive that there’s talk of a ceasefire and talk of peace with Russia, but we’re still very far from the peace that Spain and the European people want.”

Others, however, were more optimistic. On Wednesday, China applauded the deal between Putin and Trump.

“The Chinese side has advocated resolving the crisis through dialogue and negotiation from the very beginning,” its foreign ministry spokesperson Mao Ning said. “We welcome all efforts toward a ceasefire and consider it a necessary step toward achieving peace.”

Agence France-Presse and Reuters contributed to this report

Volodymyr Zelenskyy said he would speak with the US president, Donald Trump, on Wednesday, their first conversation since last month’s disastrous Oval Office meeting, as the Ukrainian president warned Vladimir Putin’s pledge to halt strikes on energy infrastructure was “very much at odds with reality” after a barrage of drone attacks across the country.

Russia carried out overnight strikes on Ukraine’s energy infrastructure despite Putin agreeing in a call with Trump on Tuesday to avoid such targets for 30 days.

“Even last night, after Putin’s conversation with Trump, when Putin said that he was allegedly giving orders to stop strikes on Ukrainian energy, there were 150 drones launched overnight, including on energy facilities,” Ukraine’s president said at a news conference in Helsinki with his Finnish counterpart, Alexander Stubb.

Zelenskyy announced he would have a call with Trump later in the day to “discuss the details” ahead of the next round of talks between US and Russian delegations on Sunday in Saudi Arabia.

It would be the first known conversation between Trump and Zelenskyy since their disastrous meeting at the White House last month.

Kyiv is expected to agree to the new, more limited ceasefire, but Zelenskyy said he was waiting for further information from Washington.

“If the Russians would stop hitting our targets we would certainly not be striking their targets,” Zelenskyy said in Helsinki on Wednesday.

Russia and the US are meeting in Riyadh this weekend to finalise the limited ceasefire deal and begin discussions on a maritime ceasefire in the Black Sea, as well as the prospects for a full ceasefire.

Trump and Putin spoke for more than two hours on Tuesday evening, and while the Russian president rejected Trump’s request for a full 30-day ceasefire, to which Ukraine had agreed last week in Jeddah, the pair agreed on a mutual moratorium between Russia and Ukraine on strikes on energy and infrastructure targets.

However, shortly after the call ended, air raid sirens sounded in Kyiv. About 45 drones attacked the region around the capital, and anti-aircraft fire was audible across Kyiv overnight.

Authorities said numerous houses and cars were damaged by drones that fell in Bucha and other areas around the capital, and two people were injured. In the eastern city of Sumy, a drone hit a hospital building, and more than 100 patients had to be evacuated. In a separate incident, one civilian died in a nearby village.

Ukraine also continued its own long-range drone assaults on Russia overnight, apparently hitting an oil depot in the southern region of Krasnodar. Russia’s defence ministry claimed it destroyed 57 Ukrainian drones, the majority in the Kursk region, where Ukrainian forces have recently been withdrawing from a small chunk of territory they have occupied for the past seven months.

Speaking to reporters in Moscow on Wednesday, Putin’s press secretary, Dmitry Peskov, reiterated that Putin and Trump had agreed to a 30-day ceasefire specifically targeting energy infrastructure.

Russia’s defence ministry claimed in a statement that, as part of Putin’s limited ceasefire pledge, its air defence systems shot down its own kamikaze drones, which had reportedly been targeting Ukraine’s energy infrastructure.

Peskov also underscored the growing warmth between the two leaders, who have been lavishing praise on each other in recent weeks, fuelling anxieties in Europe and Ukraine.

“Presidents Putin and Trump understand each other well, trust each other and are intent to gradually move towards the normalisation of ties,” he said.

Trump’s special envoy, Steve Witkoff, told Fox News that talks to finalise the deal between the two sides would begin on Sunday. “We have some details to work out of course, but that will begin on Sunday in Jeddah, and beyond that we’ll move to a full ceasefire,” he said.

He described the call as “two great leaders coming together for the betterment of mankind”.

Trump wrote on his Truth Social platform shortly after the call ended that he had had a “very good and productive” conversation with Putin.

He added: “We agreed to an immediate Ceasefire on all Energy and Infrastructure, with an understanding that we will be working quickly to have a Complete Ceasefire and, ultimately, an END to this very horrible War between Russia and Ukraine.”

Trump later told the Washington Examiner news outlet that the call with Putin was “very good,” describing the Russian leader as “very solid, very strong – which he is”.

Trump has been keen to do a quick deal to end the war, which many in other western capitals are concerned may involve pressuring Ukraine into an unfavourable deal, as Russia shows no sign of relaxing its maximalist demands for peace.

A Kremlin statement said Putin had issued an order to the Russian military to suspend strikes on Ukrainian energy infrastructure. However, it added that in order to agree to a full ceasefire Moscow would first require all western military aid to Ukraine to cease.

“It was emphasised that a key condition for preventing the escalation of the conflict and working toward its resolution through political and diplomatic means must be the complete cessation of foreign military aid and the provision of intelligence to Kyiv,” the Kremlin said.

Speaking on Fox News after the call, Trump denied that the issue had even come up. “No, we didn’t talk about aid, actually, we didn’t talk about aid at all. We talked about a lot of things but aid was never discussed,” he said.

However, Peskov directly contradicted Trump on Wednesday, telling reporters in Moscow that “the need to halt arms supplies to Kyiv was discussed during Putin and Trump’s conversation”.

“The suspension of military aid to Kyiv will be high on the agenda in negotiations between Russia and the US, but the topic will not be discussed publicly,” Peskov said.

Ukraine had initially proposed a ceasefire on sea and in the air, but the US delegation at talks in Saudi Arabia last week pushed Kyiv to agree to a full 30-day ceasefire, which was eventually agreed after eight hours of talks.

If upheld by both sides, a halt to attacks on energy infrastructure would mark the first part-ceasefire in more than three years since Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. Russia has been relentlessly targeting Ukraine’s infrastructure for the past three years, while in recent months Ukraine has been increasingly able to hit targets deep inside Russia with long-range drones.

In Moscow, senior Russian officials signalled their satisfaction with Putin’s conversation with Trump. Kirill Dmitriev, a senior aide close to Putin, wrote on X: “It is official now – a PERFECT call.”

There remains no indication that Putin has abandoned any of his most hardline objectives in the war in Ukraine.

Kommersant, a well-connected Russian newspaper, reported on Wednesday that Putin told a meeting of senior business leaders on Tuesday that he intends to continue the fighting until he gets full control of, as well as international recognition over, the four regions Moscow annexed in 2022.

On Wednesday, Zelenskyy reiterated that Ukraine would never recognise any occupied territories as part of Russia.

“The key thing is not to lose our independence, our state’s sovereignty, and to ensure that Russia never, ever has any influence over Ukraine’s freedom,” he said.

Zelenskyy also rejected any discussion on the role or size of Ukraine’s military, firmly rebuffing one of Putin’s key demands, to impose a cap on its armed forces.

Donald Trump began his conversation with Vladimir Putin with a simple demand: a 30-day ceasefire on land, sea and air which Ukraine has already signed up to, as an initial measure on which to build towards a peace.

Instead, what the US president got from Putin were questions, half-offers and limited concessions – and, above all, an extraordinary demand from the Russian leader to weaken Ukraine that would make a mockery of any peace agreement.

The “key condition” for resolving the conflict, the Kremlin said in a statement after the call, should be “the complete cessation of foreign military aid and the provision of intelligence information to Kyiv”.

That means halting military support not just from the US but from all Ukraine’s foreign backers, including Britain, France and all those putting together plans for a post-conflict “reassurance force” intended to provide a long-term security guarantee to Kyiv, allowing it to open its ports and airports, and safeguard utility supplies.

It is nowhere near a position Ukraine can accept. Kyiv has spent three years fighting off Russia, incurring tens of thousands of casualties and successfully preventing a full takeover of the country – albeit for loss of around a fifth of its territory, which it accepts it cannot win back through fighting.

So bold is the demand, it is hard to believe that Putin is entirely serious. “It sounds like the Russians are projecting their desires,” said Matthew Savill, an analyst with the Royal United Services Institute thinktank, simply describing the Kremlin position as “incompatible” with the European-led security plan.

It is not yet clear how far Trump pressed the full 30-day ceasefire proposal, negotiated a week earlier with Ukraine by his secretary of state, Marco Rubio. Lord Ricketts, a former UK national security adviser, said: “We need to know how Trump reacted to it. But I can only assume it was designed to ensure a Zelenskyy rejection, taking the pressure off Putin.”

Key European leaders did not appear too impressed either. France and Germany’s leaders, hosting a press conference, reiterated their continuing support for Ukraine. “We will continue to support the Ukrainian army in its war of resistance,” the French president, Emmanuel Macron, said, speaking alongside Germany’s Olaf Scholz.

What Trump did obtain was something considerably more modest than a full ceasefire: an immediate commitment from Putin to cease bombing Ukraine’s energy infrastructure if Kyiv would “mutually refrain” from similar attacks of its own.

Over the past three years, Russia has repeatedly bombed Ukraine’s power plants to the point where there is little energy generation left that is not nuclear, too risky for even Moscow’s forces to attack. Ukraine, meanwhile, is being asked to halt a destabilising campaign of refinery attacks in the Russian rear that probably has some way to run – though any cooling of hostilities has to be welcomed.

Orysia Lutsevych, a Ukraine expert at the Chatham House thinktank, adds that the arrival of spring means that Kyiv gains relatively little from a 30-day halt to energy attacks. She described Putin’s offer as “a kind of goodwill gesture to keep Trump interested and get a bigger prize: [the] US abandoning Ukraine”.

Nevertheless, the White House said both sides would begin “technical negotiations on implementation of a maritime ceasefire”. Trump himself added that came “with an understanding that we will be working quickly to have a complete ceasefire” though this latter point was obscured by Russia.

Instead, the Kremlin emphasised that Ukraine would remain shut out from the talks. “The leaders confirmed their intention to continue efforts to achieve a Ukrainian settlement in a bilateral mode,” negotiations that also restore legitimacy to a country whose aggression and war crimes had left it isolated and sanctioned by the west.

The positive is that talks continue, though the concern must be that Russia will use them to try to detach the US from Europe. In the meantime, Trump and Putin did also agree to organise ice hockey matches between players in the American and Russian leagues. The puck, at least, does not stop here.

Turkish police have arrested the mayor of Istanbul, detaining the primary challenger to the president, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, in dawn raids that also ensnared 100 politicians, businesspeople and municipal officials accused of corruption and links to terror groups.

Ekrem İmamoğlu, the mayor, released a video statement as police gathered outside his residence in Istanbul, speaking to the camera as he put on a shirt and tie before his arrest. In a caption accompanying the video posted to social media, he wrote: “This is a blow to the will of the people.”

“Hundreds of police officers have arrived at my door. I entrust myself to the people. The police are raiding my home, knocking on my door,” he said.

“I stand resolute, entrusting myself not only to the 16 million residents of Istanbul but to the 86 million citizens of Türkiye, and all who uphold democracy and justice worldwide,” he later added. “I stand firm in my fight for fundamental rights and freedoms.”

The Istanbul mayor was detained along with about 100 others, including his chief spokesperson, Murat Ongun, the head of the İmamoğlu construction firm, Tuncay Yılmaz, and the head of the Istanbul municipality sports club, Fatih Keleş, all accused of corruption, embezzlement and bribery.

The Istanbul public prosecutor’s office added that İmamoğlu was charged as “the leader of a criminal organisation” accused of extortion, fraud and corruption.

Prosecutors also accused İmamoğlu and at least six others including local officials of “aiding a terrorist organisation” in reference to the Kurdistan Workers party (PKK) armed group. The Istanbul prosecutor accused them of collaborating with a leftwing political coalition in the run-up to local elections after losses for Erdoğan’s party last year, thereby allegedly aiding the PKK. The jailed leader of the PKK, Abdullah Öcalan, announced late last month that the group would disarm and dissolve.

Long seen as the only candidate capable of presenting a serious challenge to Erdoğan’s 22 years in power, İmamoğlu had been taking part in primaries for the Republican People’s party (CHP) to choose the opposition’s candidate for the next presidential election. He was widely tipped to be declared as the opposition’s candidate in a vote expected this weekend.

The next presidential vote is scheduled for 2028, although observers anticipate early elections.

İmamoğlu had previously faced a political ban after an Istanbul court convicted him of insulting election officials in 2022, charges that he appealed.

The night before hundreds of police arrived at his residence to arrest him, Istanbul University declared that it had annulled his diploma – effectively barring him from running for the presidency, as a university degree is a pre-requisite. İmamoğlu denounced the decision as “legally baseless”.

Turkish police were out in force across Istanbul on Wednesday amid a four-day ban on public protests and meetings following İmamoğlu’s arrest, with main thoroughfares closed and some metro stations shuttered. A boulevard around the police station where İmamoğlu was taken into custody was locked down.

Despite the restrictions, thousands of students gathered to protest on the campus of Istanbul University before some clashed with riot police. Crowds of students then marched towards the mayoral headquarters, while a major union called on its members to take to the streets near the police station where the mayor was detained.

Internet access across Turkey was limited, while the internet freedom organisation Netblocks noted restricted access to social media platforms including X, YouTube, Instagram and TikTok after the mayor’s detention.

The head of the CHP, Özgür Özel, denounced İmamoğlu’s arrest as “a coup”. “There is currently a force in place to prevent the nation from determining the next president,” he said in a post on X. “We are faced with a coup attempt against our next president.”

The justice minister, Yılmaz Tunç, dismissed any suggestion that the wave of arrests targeting İmamoğlu and 105 others was politically motivated.

“The rule of law is essential,” he said in a statement. “It is utterly dangerous and wrong to mischaracterise the investigations conducted by the independent and impartial judiciary or describe them using expressions such as coup d’état.”

The Istanbul mayor swept to power on a wave of popular support in 2019, before his initial victory was annulled by election officials after pressure from Erdoğan’s party. İmamoğlu won his seat again after a re-run of the vote, and secured a second term with a wide margin in local elections that marked a high point of opposition support last year.

Turkish authorities have arrested hundreds in a series of dawn raids in recent months, detaining politicians with the pro-Kurdish People’s Equality Democracy (DEM) party as well as journalists and academics. Authorities also unseated pro-Kurdish mayors from their posts in south-eastern cities, whittling away at the opposition’s victory last year, often replacing them with trustees loyal to the government.

Özel travelled to Istanbul and addressed a crowd that had gathered in front of Istanbul city hall, thanking the students and youth “who ignored the police barricades” and walked to city hall to protest.

In reference to Erdoğan’s earliest foray into politics as the mayor of Istanbul in the late 1990s, Özel added: “He who wins Istanbul wins Turkey. He who loses Istanbul loses Turkey.”

Researchers have uncovered “possible links” between Ontario’s provincial police force and an Israel-based military-grade spyware maker called Paragon Solutions, raising questions about the extent and scope of Canadian authorities’ use of cyber weapons.

The new findings were published by the Citizen Lab at the University of Toronto, which tracks and identifies digital threats against civil society, and come three years after a parliamentary committee in Canada called for Ottawa to update the country’s privacy laws in the wake of press reports that the national police force was using spyware to hack mobile phone devices. No laws were ever passed to address the controversy.

The Citizen Lab, in a report published on Wednesday, found a possible technical link between Paragon, which sells a spyware known as Graphite to government clients, and entities based in Ontario, Canada, including one that used the address of the Ontario Provincial Police (OPP).

Paragon, which is now a US-owned company, does not disclose the names of its clients and did not comment on this story.

Like other spyware makers, the company has emphasized that it is meant to be used to fight serious crime and terrorism. But the company’s spyware, which can hack into any phone, was recently found to be used against an Italian journalist and several activists who support migrants. The Italian government has acknowledged it was a Paragon client and that the company has suspended its contract with Italy following revelations that the hacking software was used against members of civil society.

In a previous statement, a spokesperson said Paragon requires all of its users to “adhere to terms and conditions that preclude the illicit targeting of journalists and other civil society leaders”. A spokesperson added: “While we are not able to discuss individual customers, we have a zero-tolerance policy for violations of our terms of service.”

Canada’s use of spyware was a source of controversy in 2022, when the Royal Canadian Mounted Police admitted – in what was called a “remarkable” disclosure – that the national police force used spyware to infiltrate mobile devices and collect data. It said at the time that it only used the technology in serious cases, when other surveillance technology failed.

The Citizen Lab’s new report provides more detail about the use of spyware by Canadian authorities. Researchers said they found evidence of a “growing ecosystem” of spyware capability among Ontario-based police services. Researchers said public court records obtained by the Citizen Lab show that the OPP used a surveillance tool that was being used by the Royal Canadian Mounted Police in the course of a 2019 investigation to infect a mobile phone for remote interception of private communications.

Additionally, a 2023 judgement from the superior court of justice in Toronto described a joined investigation by Toronto police and York regional police services where investigators “considered” the use of a spyware surveillance tool, which in Canada is referred to as an “on-device investigative tool” (ODIT).

A 2023 search warrant application obtained by the Citizen Lab, which was prepared by the Toronto Police Service, also revealed that TPS has obtained an ODIT from an unknown source, and that the police were seeking authorization to use the software to intercept cellular communications through encrypted instant messaging applications.

“What these findings show is that there is a widening gap in public awareness regarding the extent to which spyware technology is being used in Canada,” said Kate Robertson, a senior researcher at the Lab. “These findings raise important questions for the government and privacy regulators about what technologies are being used, and underscores again the need for law reform to address the security and human rights risks concerned.”

The OPP did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

A prominent activist in Italy has warned the international criminal court that his mobile phone was under surveillance when he was providing the ICC with confidential information about victims of torture in Libya.

A report released on Wednesday by the Citizen Lab at the University of Toronto, which tracks digital surveillance of members of civil society, has confirmed that David Yambio, the founder of an organisation called Refugees in Libya, was targeted by mercenary spyware. The attack occurred at a time when he was in communication with The Hague, he said. At least one attack took place around June 2024, researchers said.

In a statement to the Guardian, Yambio said he alerted the ICC to the attack after it had been confirmed and urged members of the court to have their phones checked for spyware. The ICC’s office of the prosecutor said it would not comment on matters related to “ongoing investigations”.

The revelation raises questions about whether a government agency with access to military-grade spyware may have been seeking to interfere with ICC proceedings by keeping tabs on individuals who have access to and advocate on behalf of victims of torture. It will probably put pressure on Giorgia Meloni, who has faced questions about the use of spyware in her government since revelations emerged in January that a handful of Italian activists and journalists had received warnings from WhatsApp, the messaging app owned by Meta, that their phones had been targeted by spyware.

Meloni’s government has been heavily criticised after authorities in Italy released a Libyan citizen wanted by the ICC for war crimes who had been arrested in Rome. Osama Najim, who is known as Almasri, is the director of a detention centre in Mitiga in Tripoli, which has been condemned by human rights organisations for its arbitrary detention, torture and abuse of political dissidents, migrants and refugees.

The Citizen Lab report has confirmed that several activists and associates of Yambio, including two personal friends of Pope Francis, were targeted by hacking software that is supposed to be used against targets in terrorism investigations and other serious crime.

Researchers have not yet been able to determine the exact kind of spyware used against Yambio, but are continuing their investigation. They were able to confirm that the hacking software used against other activists was made by Paragon Solutions, an Israeli surveillance technology company that is now owned by a US financial investor. The researchers included Luca Casarini and Giuseppe Caccia, the two founders of an NGO that tries to protect migrants and refugees who are crossing the Mediterranean.

The researchers said: “We forensically analysed multiple Android phones belonging to Paragon targets in Italy [an acknowledged Paragon user] who were notified by WhatsApp. We found clear indications that spyware had been loaded into WhatsApp, as well as other apps on their devices.”

The Italian government has acknowledged it was a client of Paragon but has denied it was behind a spate of surveillance attacks against a journalist and several activists. Paragon has since suspended its contract with Italy because, according to a a person close to the matter, of a failure to abide by Paragon’s rules that forbid spyware to be used against journalists or other members of civil society.

WhatsApp first revealed in January that 90 of its users, including civil society members and journalists, had been the target of government clients of Paragon. When it is successfully deployed, Paragon’s spyware, which is called Graphite, can hack into any phone and access a user’s messages and listen to mobile phone conversations, including those held over encrypted apps such as WhatsApp or Signal.

Yambio was first notified by Apple of a possible attack in November and his mobile phone was subsequently examined by experts at Cyber Hub-AM and the Citizen Lab.

Forensic details of the researchers’ investigation was then shared for further analysis with Apple, which said in a statement that attacks like the one used against Yambio were “extremely sophisticated, cost millions of dollars to develop … and are used to target specific individuals because of who they are or what they do”. Apple confirmed it had developed and deployed “a fix” to the security flaw that had been exploited to attack Yambio, and that the fix was released in its iOS 18 to protect iPhone users.

The Citizen Lab researchers said its investigation found a number of other countries appeared to be clients of Paragon, including: Australia, Canada, Denmark, Cyprus, Singapore and Israel. No other details about the alleged relationship of those countries with Paragon were revealed in the report.

John Scott-Railton, a senior Citzen Lab researcher, said the emergence of fresh information about Paragon clients ought to raise questions about who was running the deployment of spyware, what was being done with information gathered, and whether the use of the spyware was aligned with domestic laws.

John Fleming, the executive chair of Paragon US, said in a statement: “Paragon has been contacted by Citizen Lab and provided with a very limited amount of information, some of which appears to be inaccurate. Given the limited nature of the information provided, we are unable to offer a comment at this time.”

The company, which has previously agreed a contract with US immigration authorities, said it required all users to adhere to terms and conditions that “preclude the illicit targeting of journalists and other civil society leaders”.

Fleming said: “While we are not able to discuss individual customers, we have a zero-tolerance policy for violations of our terms of service.”

Hannah Neumann, an MEP who investigated the abuse of spyware inside the EU, said in a statement that spyware abuse continued in Europe, and followed a similar pattern.

She said: “We have seen this pattern before – denial, deflection, and ultimately, no justice for the victims. It is Groundhog Day for spyware abuse, and unless we fix the loopholes in regulation and strengthen victim protection, these violations will continue unchecked. We need strong European rules and accountability measures to stop this cycle once and for all.”

A New York federal judge has denied the Trump administration’s bid to dismiss the legal challenge brought by Mahmoud Khalil, the recent Columbia graduate and Palestinian activist who was detained by immigration enforcement agents earlier this month, and has ordered the case transferred to New Jersey.

Khalil, a permanent US resident with a green card who helped lead Columbia University’s pro-Palestinian protests last spring, was arrested in New York on 8 March by federal immigration authorities. He was transferred first to New Jersey and then to Louisiana, where he is currently detained.

The Trump administration sought his deportation but two days after his arrest, the New York federal judge, Jesse Furman, ordered that Khalil not be deported while his legal challenge continues.

Federal prosecutors then asked the New York court handling the case to transfer Khalil’s challenge to his arrest and detention to Louisiana.

Khalil’s lawyers have advocated for his return to New York. They have requested that he be released on bail, which would allow him to reunite with his wife, an American citizen who is due to give birth next month.

In his order on Wednesday morning, Furman explained that, given the fact that Khalil was in detention in New Jersey at the time his lawyers submitted their petition, meant that the New York court “lacks jurisdiction over most, if not all, of Khalil’s claims”.

Furman further stated that since the district of New Jersey was “the one and only district in which Khalil could have filed his Petition when he did”, the legal statutes governing the transfer of civil cases from one federal district court to another “dictate that the case be sent there”, rather than Louisiana.

Furman added that his order from 10 March – barring the government from deporting Khalil while the legal challenge continues – shall also remain in effect, “unless and until the transferee court orders otherwise”.

Khalil’s lawyers have submitted requests for his immediate release, but as of Wednesday morning, Furman has not ruled on those bids, focusing instead on the jurisdiction question.

Khalil has not been accused of a crime and his legal team has argued that the Trump administration is unlawfully retaliating against him for his activism and constitutionally protected speech.

They assert that his detention violates his constitutional rights, including the rights to free speech and due process, and that the arrest and detainment exceeds the government’s legal authority.

The Trump administration has accused the former student of leading and engaging in “activities aligned to Hamas” and is seeking to deport him using a rarely invoked legal provision from the Immigration and Nationality Act of 1952.

This provision gives the US secretary of state the power to remove individuals from the US if their presence is deemed to “have potentially serious adverse foreign policy consequences for the United States”.

Khalil released his first public statement since the arrest on Tuesday.

In the statement, Khalil spoke out against the conditions facing immigrants in US detention and said he was being targeted by the Trump administration for his political beliefs.

The European Commission has accused the US tech companies Google and Apple of breaking its digital rules, in a landmark action that could escalate transatlantic tension with Donald Trump.

The US president has sought to exert pressure on the EU to back away from tougher regulation of American technology groups, warning that he could retaliate by imposing tariffs on foreign companies.

But on Wednesday, the commission pressed ahead with enforcement action against Apple and Google’s parent company Alphabet, two of the world’s five largest companies by stock market value, accusing them of breaking the EU Digital Markets Act (DMA).

Breaches of the DMA can result in companies being fined 10% of revenue, or 20% if they reoffend. Based on Apple’s 2024 revenue of $391bn (£301bn), the maximum fine would be nearly $80bn.

The commission said it had taken a “preliminary view” that Google’s search engine prioritises results pointing to Alphabet’s own services over those of rivals, breaching the requirement to treat third-party services in a “transparent, fair and non-discriminatory” way.

It also said that Google Play, the company’s app store, prevents developers from steering consumers towards other channels where better offers might be available.

The commission told Apple it must make its operating systems available to devices made by competitors such as smartphones and wireless headphones, or else face the prospect of investigations and fines.

The order is designed to promote competition by making it possible for makers of rival technology to connect with Apple’s devices, such as iPads and iPhones.

The EU issued a second order against Apple, laying out a detailed timeline and methodology for how Apple should respond to requests from app developers to open up its systems.

A spokesperson for Apple said: “Today’s decisions wrap us in red tape, slowing down Apple’s ability to innovate for users in Europe and forcing us to give away our new features for free to companies who don’t have to play by the same rules.”

The company added: “It’s bad for our products and for our European users. We will continue to work with the European Commission to help them understand our concerns on behalf of our users.”

Google’s senior director for competition, Oliver Bethell, wrote in a blogpost: “The commission’s findings require us to make even more changes to how we show certain types of search results, which would make it harder for people to find what they are looking for and reduce traffic to European businesses.”

He said if the company could not charge reasonable fees to support the ongoing development of Android and the Play services, then it would be unable to invest in an open platform.

The EU competition chief, Teresa Ribera, said the bloc was “simply implementing the law, and providing regulatory certainty both to Apple and developers”.

It comes six months after Brussels opened proceedings designed to ensure that Apple complies with the DMA.

Trump has indicated that he will factor any regulatory action against US companies into his decisions about imposing tariffs on foreign goods.

The US has also pushed back against Britain’s plans for a digital services tax, amid regular attacks by Elon Musk, the owner of X, on the UK prime minister, Keir Starmer.

The European Commission has accused the US tech companies Google and Apple of breaking its digital rules, in a landmark action that could escalate transatlantic tension with Donald Trump.

The US president has sought to exert pressure on the EU to back away from tougher regulation of American technology groups, warning that he could retaliate by imposing tariffs on foreign companies.

But on Wednesday, the commission pressed ahead with enforcement action against Apple and Google’s parent company Alphabet, two of the world’s five largest companies by stock market value, accusing them of breaking the EU Digital Markets Act (DMA).

Breaches of the DMA can result in companies being fined 10% of revenue, or 20% if they reoffend. Based on Apple’s 2024 revenue of $391bn (£301bn), the maximum fine would be nearly $80bn.

The commission said it had taken a “preliminary view” that Google’s search engine prioritises results pointing to Alphabet’s own services over those of rivals, breaching the requirement to treat third-party services in a “transparent, fair and non-discriminatory” way.

It also said that Google Play, the company’s app store, prevents developers from steering consumers towards other channels where better offers might be available.

The commission told Apple it must make its operating systems available to devices made by competitors such as smartphones and wireless headphones, or else face the prospect of investigations and fines.

The order is designed to promote competition by making it possible for makers of rival technology to connect with Apple’s devices, such as iPads and iPhones.

The EU issued a second order against Apple, laying out a detailed timeline and methodology for how Apple should respond to requests from app developers to open up its systems.

A spokesperson for Apple said: “Today’s decisions wrap us in red tape, slowing down Apple’s ability to innovate for users in Europe and forcing us to give away our new features for free to companies who don’t have to play by the same rules.”

The company added: “It’s bad for our products and for our European users. We will continue to work with the European Commission to help them understand our concerns on behalf of our users.”

Google’s senior director for competition, Oliver Bethell, wrote in a blogpost: “The commission’s findings require us to make even more changes to how we show certain types of search results, which would make it harder for people to find what they are looking for and reduce traffic to European businesses.”

He said if the company could not charge reasonable fees to support the ongoing development of Android and the Play services, then it would be unable to invest in an open platform.

The EU competition chief, Teresa Ribera, said the bloc was “simply implementing the law, and providing regulatory certainty both to Apple and developers”.

It comes six months after Brussels opened proceedings designed to ensure that Apple complies with the DMA.

Trump has indicated that he will factor any regulatory action against US companies into his decisions about imposing tariffs on foreign goods.

The US has also pushed back against Britain’s plans for a digital services tax, amid regular attacks by Elon Musk, the owner of X, on the UK prime minister, Keir Starmer.

Israel has launched a fresh wave of airstrikes in Gaza on the second day of its resumed offensive in the devastated Palestinian territory.

The attacks were far less intensive than the massive strikes early on Tuesday morning, which killed more than 400 people and shattered the relative calm since a 19 January ceasefire paused the 18-month war.

Three people died in an Israeli airstrike on a house in the Sabra suburb in Gaza City, while another left two dead and wounded six others in the northern town of Beit Hanoun, Gaza health officials said.

Mahmud Bassal, a spokesperson for Gaza’s civil defence agency, put the death toll higher, saying that 13 people had been killed since midnight, including several in the city of Khan Younis in Gaza’s south.

There were also reports that an Israeli drone fired at several fishing boats off Gaza City.

The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said the new strikes were against “terrorist” targets including a “Hamas military site in northern Gaza where preparations were being made to fire projectiles” and “several vessels in the coastal area of the Gaza Strip … intended for use in terrorist operations by Hamas and the Islamic Jihad [armed group]”.

The IDF issued new evacuation orders on Wednesday, telling residents across a swath of northern Gaza to move south and west to avoid “dangerous combat zones”.

About 100,000 Palestinians are estimated to be affected by a series of evacuation orders in the last 24 hours, which may suggest the IDF is planning ground operations.

The Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, said late on Tuesday that the strikes were “only the beginning” and that future negotiations with Hamas “will take place only under fire”.

“Hamas has already felt the strength of our arm in the past 24 hours. And I want to promise you – and them – this is only the beginning,” the Israeli prime minister said in a video statement.

Israel and Hamas accuse each other of breaching the truce, which had broadly held since January and offered respite for the 2.3 million inhabitants of Gaza.

About 1,200 people, mostly civilians, died in the shock Hamas incursion into Israel in October 2023 that triggered the war. The Israeli offensive in Gaza has killed more than 49,000, also mostly civilians.

Netanyahu and other Israel officials said the decision to renew attacks in Gaza came after Hamas had rejected proposals for a 30- to 60-day extension of the first phase of the three-phase ceasefire. The first phase came into effect in January but expired earlier this month. They consulted with the Trump administration before the strikes went ahead.

Hamas, which still holds 59 of about 250 hostages seized in the October 2023 attack, says it wants to conclude the three-phase ceasefire deal as signed. More than half of the hostages are thought to be dead.

Israeli has refused to enter into discussions about the deal’s second phase, which is intended to lead to a permanent end to hostilities, the withdrawal of all Israeli forces from Gaza and the return of all the hostages. It has also reimposed a strict blockade on the territory, and cut off remaining electricity supplies.

Under the ceasefire deal drafted under the former US president Joe Biden’s administration, the second phase should have begun in early March.

“Hamas has not closed the door on negotiations, but we insist there is no need for new agreements,” Taher al-Nunu, a Hamas official, said on Wednesday.

Nunu called on the international community to “take urgent action” to end the war, while accusing Israel of “violating the ceasefire agreement it signed”.

Critics have accused Netanyahu of resuming the offensive to reinforce his coalition government before a crucial budget vote in parliament, to rally support for the war in the face of popular backing for a ceasefire and to head off widespread public anger over his attempt to fire the head of the internal security service, the Shin Bet.

Underlining the deep divisions in Israel, tens of thousands have protested against the renewed offensive. Parliamentarians have called for a review after police forcefully dispersed activists demonstrating on Tuesday against the resumption of the war.

The prime minister’s office said early on Wednesday that the Israeli government had “unanimously approved” his proposal to reappoint the far-right politician Itamar Ben-Gvir as national security minister.

Ben-Gvir left the government in protest at the ceasefire deal agreed in January, but said he would return if the war was resumed.

A second far-right minister who has returned is Amichai Eliyahu, who was briefly suspended in November 2023 for suggesting that the use of nuclear weapons on Gaza was an option during the war.

Analysts said Israel had launched strikes to “break an impasse”.

Prof Danny Orbach, an expert in military history at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, said: “There was a very good reason Israel did not want to go to phase two [of the ceasefire agreement]. It would have meant Hamas staying in Gaza, staying in power and Israel having to lift its siege too … There was a complete disconnect between the interests of the two sides.”

Air raid sirens sounded across parts of southern Israel on Wednesday night after detection of a missile launch from Yemen, the IDF said. The missile was successfully intercepted by Israel’s air defence system.

The Yemen-based Houthis have been attacking Israel and international shipping in the Red Sea since the beginning of the war in Gaza. The US has launched intensive airstrikes against the Iran-backed militia in recent days.

Astronomers are predicting an “avalanche of discoveries” after the first major release of observations from a European space telescope built to study the mysterious dark matter and dark energy that comprise the bulk of the universe.

The European Space Agency’s Euclid mission has captured images of 26m galaxies, covering 10bn years of cosmic history. They give researchers unprecedented insight into the forces that shape the cosmos and the galaxies it holds.

The first batch of survey data has allowed researchers to create a detailed catalogue of 380,000 galaxies, revealing the rich variation in galactic structures, with some caught in the act of merging with their neighbours.

Further images reveal how massive galaxies surrounded by dark matter, the invisible substance said to pervade the universe, warp space and magnify more distant galaxies behind them. These rare images are among the best leads scientists have for understanding the nature of dark matter.

Prof Adam Amara, the UK Space Agency’s chief scientist and one of the researchers who first proposed the mission 20 years ago, said it was a “huge relief” to see the observations. “All of the science we designed it for is starting to roll out exactly and even better than we would have hoped,” he said. “I’m convinced there’s groundbreaking science in there, and a lot of it.”

Three years before publishing his general theory of relativity in 1915, Albert Einstein predicted that strong gravitational fields generated by massive objects such as galaxies would warp space-time. Astronomers call the effect gravitational lensing, because the warping behaves like a lens, magnifying more distant objects.

Observations from Euclid gathered over a single week captured 500 strong gravitational lensing events where the warping of space-time is clearly visible. When a background galaxy is magnified by lensing it often appears as a bright arc around the border of the foreground galaxy.

Precise measurements of these bright arcs can reveal how much dark matter lurks around a galaxy. Meanwhile, the clumpiness of the dark matter haloes can shed light on its temperature and potential constituent particles.

“We have precious few clues as to what dark matter is,” said Stephen Serjeant, a professor of astronomy at the Open University. “But one of the ways we might figure out what dark matter is, is how it clumps.” The rarest, but most valuable images have a foreground galaxy that bends light from multiple galaxies behind it. With Euclid, researchers hope to massively increase the number of such images.

“This is the significance of our strong gravitational lenses,” said Serjeant. “It’s the start of an avalanche of new discoveries, and among this avalanche will be beautiful clues about what dark matter is made of.”

The most popular theory of the universe suggests only 5% is made from ordinary matter. Dark matter, an invisible substance that forms what is called the cosmic web, is said to account for 25%. The bulk, about 70%, is said to be dark energy, a mysterious force that is accelerating the expansion of the universe.

Euclid is expected to capture images of more than 1.5bn galaxies over six years. Detailed measurements of these will reveal how dark energy is driving the expansion of the universe. But researchers are also hoping for glimpses of the unknown.

Amara said: “I’m now convinced that we have the image quality in the resolution that in six years’ time, there’ll be new categories of objects discovered by Euclid.”

A “truly evil” 19-year-old who murdered his mother and two younger siblings as part of a failed plot to kill 30 children and become the worst mass murderer in British history has been jailed for life with a minimum term of 49 years.

Nicholas Prosper admitted murdering Juliana Falcon, 48, Kyle Falcon, 16, and Giselle Falcon, 13, last month. Their murders were part of a wider plot to storm a morning assembly at his former primary school with a shotgun and “cause the biggest massacre of the 21st century”.

He also admitted buying a shotgun without a certificate, possession of a shotgun with intent to endanger life and possession of a kitchen knife in a public place.

Prosper initially refused to attend Luton crown court on Wednesday but was ordered to appear by Mrs Justice Cheema-Grubb, causing the start of the hearing to be delayed. He kept his head in his hands as she read out her remarks and he refused to stand to hear his sentence.

Addressing Prosper, the judge said: “You intended to unleash disaster on the community of Luton. Your plans were intelligent, calculating and selfish.

“Your ambition was notoriety. You wanted to be known posthumously as the world’s most famous school shooter of the 21st century.”

Prosper’s plan failed when his mother confronted him after realising he was in possession of a gun. A lengthy, violent struggle followed that resulted in the entire family being shot dead.

Cheema-Grubb paid tribute to Juliana, Kyle and Giselle, saying their “deaths are almost certain to have saved the lives of many children. The community owes them its gratitude and their memory should be honoured.”

Her words were echoed by Raymond Prosper, the father of Nicholas, Kyle and Giselle, who said in a statement read by police: “We now see the deaths of Juliana, my son Kyle and daughter Giselle had much more meaning and importance.

“Their deaths and the fast response of Bedfordshire police stopped any other family in the community going through the pain we have suffered.” He added he wanted people to remember “loving” Juliana, “kind and funny” Kyle and “exceptional” Giselle for who they were.

DCI Sam Khanna, of Bedfordshire police, said he had never “encountered anyone capable of such horrific acts” throughout his entire police career.

Khanna said: “I’ve been utterly shocked and appalled by the actions and plans of the offender in this case, and I’m pleased that this truly evil individual will serve a significant proportion of his life behind bars.”

On Tuesday, Luton crown court heard how he had shot his family dead at their home in Luton after a violent struggle and how it was part of a wider plan to carry out a mass shooting at St Joseph’s Catholic primary school, where he and his siblings were pupils, to gain notoriety as a mass murderer.

His plan was months in the making. Prosper surveilled St Joseph’s, taking images of staff and students from the school’s website and noting the times of lessons and assembly.

The day before the murders, Prosper bought a shotgun from an online seller for £650 after he “made a high-quality forgery of a shotgun certificate or licence”.

He had planned to murder his family while they slept on Friday 13 September, a date chosen on purpose, and then leave the home at about 8.30am to travel to St Joseph’s school to carry out the attack.

His plans were disrupted when his family realised that something was wrong. After they challenged him, there was a violent struggle.

The court heard that Juliana was killed by a single shotgun shot to her head but her hands and arms had “slash injuries and bruising as if she had been trying to ward off blows from a knife”. Giselle was killed with a single gunshot to her face. Her body was found underneath a dining table “as if she had been trying to hide there”. Kyle died after being shot twice. His body was found with more than 100 knife wounds.

Neighbours called the police after hearing the sounds of frantic footsteps, shouting and gunshots. Prosper fled the home before officers arrived, holding a bag containing the shotgun he had used to murder his family. Alongside the gun were 33 cartridges, which he had planned to use at a morning assembly at St Joseph’s.

After hiding for two hours and believing his plan was thwarted, as police swarmed the area, Prosper flagged down officers in a marked car and they arrested him.

The court heard details of a note outlining Prosper’s plan. In it, he wrote the entire attack would be “one of the biggest events ever” and it included a diagram pointing to one of the early years classrooms at St Joseph’s and an arrow pointing to a second classroom. Beside the first classroom he had written: “Kill all.”

Maureen Murphy, the headteacher of St Joseph’s, said last month that staff were “very shocked” to learn of the plan.

Prosper has been diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder. A doctor who assessed Prosper said his diagnosis did not explain his lack of empathy and remorse and said he had “psychopathic traits”.

Cheema-Grubb said: “It is important to note that your ASD does not correlate to an increased risk of violence. Nor did ASD, in this case, impair your ability to understand the nature of your conduct, exercise self-control or form rational judgments when you decided to commit violent crimes.”

Heavily redacted court documents related to Prince Harry’s US visa have been released in the US, with his “exact status” remaining confidential over fears he could be subjected to harassment.

Judge Carl Nichols ordered the release of the documents after a freedom of information (FoI) request by the Heritage Foundation, a conservative US thinktank. The Heritage Foundation argued that the Duke of Sussex might have concealed past illegal drug use – discussed in his memoir Spare – which should have disqualified him from obtaining a US visa.

Applicants for US visas are asked about current and past drug use and admissions can lead to applications being rejected, but immigration officers have discretion to make a final decision based on a number of factors.

The prince’s visa form has not been released, with the redacted documents released on Tuesday as it was argued that there was not a strong enough public interest argument to disclose his immigration records in full.

The documents read: “To release his exact status could subject him to reasonably foreseeable harm in the form of harassment as well as unwanted contact by the media and others.”

It continued: “There is the potential of harm in the form of harassment if his exact [REDACTED] is revealed. Thus, there is significant privacy interests involved in the records.

“Plaintiffs have not established public interest, as defined by the FOIA, in disclosure of the records.”

“While the plaintiffs had argued the records should be disclosed to establish whether the Duke was granted preferential treatment when applying for a US visa, the speculation by plaintiffs does not point to any evidence of government misconduct,” it added.

Prince Harry admitted to using drugs in his bestselling memoir, Spare. He wrote that he had first tried cocaine at the age of 17.

“At someone’s house, during a shooting weekend, I was offered a line, and I’d done a few more since. It wasn’t much fun, and it didn’t make me particularly happy, as it seemed to make everyone around me, but it did make me feel different, and that was the main goal. Feel. Different. I was a deeply unhappy 17-year-old boy willing to try almost anything that would alter the status quo.”

Marijuana, he wrote, was different. “That actually really did help me.” He described smoking it at school at Eton, along with others, in a tiny bathroom. “You’d take a hit or two, blow the smoke out of the window … Then we’d all head to one of our rooms and giggle ourselves sick over an episode or two of a new show. Family Guy.”

In another extract, he described, while high, looking out of the window at a fox. “Maybe it was the weed – undoubtedly it was the weed – but I felt a piercing and powerful kinship with that fox.”

Harry has also revealed he once had a “delightful trip” on magic mushrooms at a party at the Friends star Courteney Cox’s Los Angeles house. After spotting a “huge box of black diamond mushroom chocolates” and consuming some, he went to the bathroom and hallucinated that the pedal bin was a head. “I stepped on the pedal and the head opened its mouth,” he wrote. “A huge open grin. I laughed.”

Harry and his wife, Meghan, moved to California in 2020 having briefly lived in Canada at the start of the year after their decision to step down as working royals and leave the UK.