Troops from Pakistan and India exchanged fire overnight across the line of control in disputed Kashmir, officials have said, after the UN urged the nuclear-armed rivals to show “maximum restraint” after a deadly shooting in the region.

Relations have plunged to their lowest level in years, with India accusing Pakistan of supporting “cross-border terrorism” after gunmen carried out the worst attack on civilians in contested Muslim-majority Kashmir for a quarter of a century.

Syed Ashfaq Gilani, a government official in Pakistan-administered Kashmir, told Agence France-Presse on Friday that troops exchanged fire along the line of control that separates the two countries. “There was no firing on the civilian population,” he added.

India’s army confirmed there had been limited firing of small arms that it said had been initiated by Pakistan, adding it had been “effectively responded to”.

India’s army chief, Gen Upendra Dwivedi, is to lead a high-level security review in Srinagar in Indian-held Kashmir on Friday, days after militants killed 26 civilians in the disputed region in one of the worst such attacks in years.

The brazen assault, carried out in a mountain meadow near Pahalgam, has derailed Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s claims of restored calm in the restive Himalayan territory and sent tensions soaring between nuclear-armed India and Pakistan.

The Indian army has launched sweeping “search-and-destroy” operations, deployed surveillance drones, and ramped up troop numbers across the Kashmir Valley. A manhunt is underway for three suspects – one Indian national and two Pakistanis.

Early on Friday, authorities in Indian Kashmir demolished the houses of two suspected militants, one of whom is an accused in Tuesday’s attack, according to an official.

As tensions rise between the two countries, the UN has urged India and Pakistan to show restraint. The countries have imposed tit-for-tat diplomatic measures over a deadly shooting in Kashmir.

Relations have plunged to their lowest level in years, with India accusing Pakistan of supporting cross-border terrorism, after gunmen carried out the worst attack on civilians in contested Muslim-majority Kashmir in a quarter of a century.

“We very much appeal to both the governments … to exercise maximum restraint, and to ensure that the situation and the developments we’ve seen do not deteriorate any further,” the UN spokesperson, Stéphane Dujarric, told reporters in New York on Thursday.

“Any issues between Pakistan and India, we believe, can be and should be resolved peacefully through meaningful mutual engagement.”

Dwivedi’s visit to the regional capital underscores a sharp increase in military and diplomatic activity. India began large-scale air and naval drills on Thursday, which analysts say could pave the way for military action.

The Indian air force’s Gagan Shakti exercises, showcasing its Rafale jets and elite strike squadrons, have assumed added urgency, while the navy has intensified manoeuvres and test-fired a surface-to-air missile.

“There are many imponderables Modi must deal with, including the significant capabilities of the Pakistan army,” the veteran analyst C Raja Mohan wrote in the Indian Express. “But given the horrific nature of the attack and the outrage that has convulsed the nation – the victims came from 15 states across India – the PM may have no option but to explore some major risks.”

On the diplomatic front, India’s foreign secretary, Vikram Misri, briefed envoys from 25 countries, including key G20 partners, Gulf states and, notably, China. Beijing’s inclusion, despite strained ties, was seen as an attempt to build broader global consensus.

India presented what it called “clear evidence of cross-border complicity”. An obscure group calling itself the Resistance Front has claimed responsibility for the attack. Indian officials say it is a proxy for the Pakistan-based Lashkar-e-Taiba or a similar outfit. Islamabad denied involvement, accusing India of failing to provide proof.

On Thursday Modi promised to capture the gunmen responsible for killing 26 civilians, after Indian police identified two of the three fugitive assailants as Pakistani.

“I say to the whole world: India will identify, track and punish every terrorist and their backer,” the prime minister said, in his first speech since Tuesday’s attack in the Himalayan region. “We will pursue them to the ends of the Earth.”

Denying any involvement, Islamabad called attempts to link Pakistan to the Pahalgam attack “frivolous” and vowed to respond to any Indian action.

“Any threat to Pakistan’s sovereignty and to the security of its people will be met with firm reciprocal measures in all domains,” a Pakistani statement said, after the prime minister, Shehbaz Sharif, held a rare national security committee meeting with top military chiefs.

Kashmir has been divided between India and Pakistan since its independence in 1947, with both claiming the territory in full but governing separate portions of it.

Rebel groups have waged an insurgency in Indian-controlled Kashmir since 1989, demanding independence or a merger with Pakistan.

Indian police say the three gunmen are members of Lashkar-e-Taiba, a UN-designated terrorist organisation. They offered a bounty of 2m rupees ($23,500) for information leading to each man’s arrest.

A day after the attack, New Delhi suspended a water-sharing treaty, announced the closure of the main land border crossing with Pakistan, downgraded diplomatic ties, and withdrew visas for Pakistanis.

In response, Islamabad ordered the expulsion of Indian diplomats and military advisers on Thursday, cancelling visas for Indian nationals – with the exception of Sikh pilgrims – and closing the main border crossing from its side.

Pakistan also warned any attempt by India to stop the supply of water from the Indus River would be an “act of war”.

Agence France-Presse contributed to this report

Tensions between the arch-rivals India and Pakistan have escalated rapidly after the massacre of 25 Indian tourists and a Nepalese citizen in the disputed Himalayan Kashmir region on Tuesday, prompting warnings of a return to conflict.

A previously unknown Islamic militant group calling itself the Resistance Front has claimed responsibility for the attack, which India immediately linked to Pakistan, although it did not publicly produce any evidence. Pakistan has denied any involvement.

Among a string of punitive measures announced since Tuesday, India has downgraded diplomatic ties, suspended a crucial water-sharing treaty and revoked all visas issued to Pakistani nationals.

In retaliation, Pakistan has closed its airspace for all Indian-owned or Indian-operated airlines, and suspended all trade with India, including to and from any third country.

Tensions between the arch-rivals India and Pakistan have escalated rapidly after the massacre of 25 Indian tourists and a Nepalese citizen in the disputed Himalayan Kashmir region on Tuesday, prompting warnings of a return to conflict.

A previously unknown Islamic militant group calling itself the Resistance Front has claimed responsibility for the attack, which India immediately linked to Pakistan, although it did not publicly produce any evidence. Pakistan has denied any involvement.

Among a string of punitive measures announced since Tuesday, India has downgraded diplomatic ties, suspended a crucial water-sharing treaty and revoked all visas issued to Pakistani nationals.

In retaliation, Pakistan has closed its airspace for all Indian-owned or Indian-operated airlines, and suspended all trade with India, including to and from any third country.

Donald Trump has issued a rare rebuke to Moscow for an air attack that killed 12 people in Kyiv, telling the Russian president in a social media post: “Vladimir, STOP!”

The US president’s remarks come as he makes a renewed push to end the Ukraine war, reportedly on terms favourable to Russia that include recognition of Moscow’s 2014 annexation of Crimea, something the Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, has said he cannot accept.

Trump told reporters in Washington: “I have my own deadline,” amid speculation he wants to have a ceasefire agreed before his 100th day in office on 30 April. He repeatedly claimed during his election campaign that he would end the war within 24 hours of taking office.

The US president insisted that he was applying pressure on Vladimir Putin to end the war, claiming that an agreement by Moscow not to take over the entire country would be a “pretty big concession”.

“We’re putting a lot of pressure on Russia, and Russia knows that,” he said.

Russian foreign minister Sergey Lavrov told CBS news the Kremlin was ready to “reach a deal” with the US on Ukraine, but there are some “elements of this deal which need to be fine tuned”.

The attack on Kyiv was the biggest and most deadly this year. Two children were among the dead and at least 90 people were injured. Russia also carried out strikes against Kharkiv and other cities.

Waves of drones as well as ballistic and guided missiles struck the Ukrainian capital early on Thursday. There were explosions for much of the night, beginning at about 1am local time, and the rattle of anti-aircraft fire as Ukrainian defences tried to shoot the missiles down.

Kyiv’s mayor, Vitali Klitschko, said rescuers searching for survivors had found one man alive and recovered three bodies. Zelenskyy said two of the victims were a brother and a sister, 21-year-old Nikita and 19-year-old Sofia. “To our great regret, there is destruction and loss in our capital,” he said.

The injured included six children and a pregnant woman, with more than 40 people taken to hospital. A house, other buildings and cars were set on fire and extensive damage was caused by falling debris in several districts.

“Russia has launched a massive combined strike on Kyiv,” Ukraine’s state emergency service said on Telegram.

Zelenskyy said early on Friday that Russian forces had tried to use mass air strikes as cover for intensified land-based attacks.

“When our forces were concentrating to the maximum on defending against missiles and drones, the Russians went ahead with intensified ground attacks. But they were repelled in worthy fashion,” he said on the Telegram messaging app

Zelenskyy said Russia fired a North Korean ballistic missile at an apartment block in Kyiv’s Sviatoshynskyi district. Video showed the missile, which Reuters said was a North Korean KN-23, plunging into the building, followed by a huge orange explosion and a boom.

Ukraine’s interior minister, Ihor Klymenko, said a big rescue operation was under way at the scene of the strike, involving dogs and engineering teams. “Mobile phones can be heard ringing under the ruins. The search will continue until everybody is got out. We have information about two children who cannot be found at the scene of the incident,” he said.

Earlier on Wednesday evening, drones could be seen buzzing in the sky above the north-east Kharkiv region and flying over a forest. Kharkiv, Ukraine’s second city, was hit by seven missiles and 12 kamikaze drones in strikes throughout the night as black smoke plumed overhead.

According to Kharkiv’s mayor, several private houses, a factory and a high-rise apartment block were hit. “One of the most recent strikes hit a densely populated residential area. Two people were injured there,” Ihor Terekhov said, urging people to be careful.

On Thursday Trump posted on Truth Social: “I am not happy with the Russian strikes on KYIV. Not necessary, and very bad timing. Vladimir, STOP! 5,000 soldiers a week are dying. Let’s get the Peace Deal DONE!”

The day before, he had lashed out at Zelenskyy for failing to support a US “peace plan” in which Crimea and other Ukrainian territories would be handed to Russia.

Trump accused Ukraine’s president of prolonging the “killing field” and making “very harmful” statements. Zelenskyy has ruled out recognising Crimea as Russian and says a complete ceasefire is needed before any settlement can be discussed.

Zelenskyy said he was cutting short a trip to South Africa because of the attack. “It has been 44 days since Ukraine agreed to a full ceasefire and a halt to strikes … And it has been 44 days of Russia continuing to kill our people,” Zelensky said in a post on X. “The strikes must be stopped immediately and unconditionally.”

According to Bloomberg, Washington will push back on Russia’s demand that Ukraine is “demilitarised” as a part of a peace deal. The news agency said the US special envoy, Steve Witkoff, would insist during his next meeting with Putin that Kyiv has its own army and defence industry.

The Ukrainian foreign minister, Andriy Sybiga, said Russia’s “maximalist demands for Ukraine to withdraw from its regions, combined with these brutal strikes, show that Russia, not Ukraine, is the obstacle to peace”.

He added: “Moscow, not Kyiv, is where pressure should be applied. Putin demonstrates through his actions, not words, that he does not respect any peace efforts and only wants to continue the war. Weakness and concessions will not stop his terror and aggression. Only strength and pressure will.”

Posting on social media as Russian bombs fell around them, Ukrainians criticised Trump’s one-sided approach and his apparent indifference to Ukrainian civilian casualties. The massive attack suggested the Kremlin was not remotely interested in peace, they suggested.

Olga Rudenko, the editor of the Kyiv Independent newspaper, wrote on social media: “Can’t begin to explain how surreal it is to be sitting on the floor in the safest place of my apartment hearing an extremely loud Russian missile+drone attack – after having spent entire day discussing and editing coverage of the US effectively demanding Ukraine’s surrender.”

Euan MacDonald, a freelance journalist, said: “Great big bang in Kyiv, and another – incoming missiles. Shaheds also in city, just heard anti-aircraft guns. And two more big bangs just as I write … Not been this noisy for a while.”

There were further attacks in the cities of Pavlohrad and Zhytomyr, as well as in the Zaporizhzhia region.

In Kyiv, some residents spent a sleepless night in the subway, which doubles as a missile shelter. According to the photographer Kostyantyn Liberov, Shahed drones struck the same district twice as rescuers and civilians were trying to free a young woman who was trapped in a collapsed building.

“Honey, we’ll get you out no matter what. We’re right here,” one of the rescuers reassured her as a Shahed drone buzzed overhead, Liberov reported.

Anton Shtuka, a videographer who filmed the difficult rescue operation, said: “Sometimes it looks like these strikes hit our homes because Putin feels US support and begins to pressure Ukraine even more.” He added, ironically: “Thank you, partners.”

Kyiv was last hit by missiles in early April, when at least three people were hurt. It has been the target of sporadic attacks since Russia launched its full-scale invasion in February 2022.

Andriy Yermak, the head of Zelenskyy’s office, said: “Putin shows only a desire to kill. The attacks on civilians must stop.”

• Volodymyr Zelenskyy rushed home to Ukraine after a devastating attack on Kyiv, cutting short a diplomatic trip to South Africa. At least 12 people were killed, including a brother and sister, aged 21 and 19. The president said rescue workers were still scouring the rubble to search for survivors.

• Zelenskyy said on X preliminary analysis had linked the Russian attack to a ballistic missile manufactured in North Korea. The president had harsh words for Pyongyang: “If the information that this missile was made in North Korea is confirmed, this will be further proof of the criminal nature of the alliance between Russia and Pyongyang. They kill people and torment lives together.”

• He went on to cite Ukraine’s top military commander, who claimed early on Friday that Russian forces had tried to use the air assault to cover increased ground attacks. Zelenskyy said those forces were “repelled in worthy fashion.”

• Donald Trump issued a rare call on Moscow to stop its assault, writing on social media: “Vladimir, STOP!” The White House has insisted it is amping up pressure to end the war and the US president said Thursday he was “not happy with the Russian strikes.” Trump accused Zelenskyy this week of harming talks and getting in the way of a peace deal.

• Zelenskyy said during his trip to South Africa Ukraine cannot accept US recognition of the Kremlin’s annexation of Crimea.

• Boris Johnson said Trump’s peace proposals offer “nothing” to Ukraine. “Putin indiscriminately butchers more Ukrainian civilians, killing and injuring 100 in Kyiv including children,” Johnson wrote on X. “And what is his reward under the latest peace proposals? 1. The right to keep sovereign Ukrainian territory he has taken by violence and in breach of international law.”

• Russia’s foreign minister, Sergei Lavrov, said Moscow was “ready to reach a deal, but there are still some specific points … which need to be fine-tuned, and we are busy with this”. Donald Trump’s friend Steve Witkoff, a real estate dealer, is due in Russia on Friday and is expected to meet Vladimir Putin. So far Trump “did not spell out the elements of the deal”, Lavrov said on CNN.

• Alleged former members of a neo-Nazi group claim its Russia-based, American leader is a Kremlin spy. A website claiming to speak on behalf of those former members alleges Rinaldo Nazzaro, the founder of the terrorist-designated group the Base, is a Kremlin intelligence asset.

• Ukraine said Thursday it suspects Russia tortured a Ukrainian reporter who died in captivity. Viktoria Roshchyna, 27, died last September after going missing in 2023 during a reporting trip to Russian-held territory in eastern Ukraine.

The Vatican will make final preparations on Friday for Pope Francis’s funeral as the last of the huge crowds of mourners file through St Peter’s Basilica to view his open coffin.

Many of the 50 heads of state and 10 monarchs attending Saturday’s ceremony in St Peter’s Square, who include US president Donald Trump and Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy, are expected to arrive in Rome on Friday.

Italian and Vatican authorities have placed the area around St Peter’s under tight security before the funeral, with drones blocked, snipers on roofs and fighter jets on standby.

Tens of thousands of people have already queued for hours to pay their last respects to Francis, whose coffin will be closed at 8pm local time in a ceremony attended by senior cardinals. Cardinal Kevin Farrell, the camerlengo who is running the Vatican’s day-to-day affairs until a new pope is elected, will preside over the so-called “Rite of the Sealing of the Coffin”.

The Catholic church’s first Latin American pope died on Monday aged 88, less than a month after spending weeks in hospital with severe pneumonia.

Veronique Montes-Coulomb, a tourist from Toulouse in France who attended the lying in state on Thursday at St Peter’s, said she had been at the mass on Easter Sunday – the pontiff’s last public outing.

“We saw the pope passing by in the popemobile, he seemed relatively healthy, and we were surprised to learn that he had died on Monday morning,” she told AFP.

The Argentine pontiff, who had long suffered failing health, defied doctors’ orders by appearing at Easter, the most important moment in the Catholic calendar.

Condolences have flooded in from around the world for the Jesuit, an energetic reformer who championed those on the fringes of society in his 12 years as head of the world’s 1.4 billion Catholics. He used his last speech to rail against those who stir up “contempt … towards the vulnerable, the marginalised and migrants”.

At least 130 foreign delegations are expected at his funeral, including Argentina’s president, Javier Milei, and Britain’s Prince William, and a no-fly zone will be in force.

The pope’s coffin was set before St Peter’s altar for his three days of lying in state, with Francis dressed in his papal vestments – a red chasuble, white mitre and black shoes.

“It was a brief but intense moment next to his body,” Italian Massimo Palo, 63, told AFP after his visit. “He was a pope amongst his flock, amongst his people, and I hope the next papacies will be a bit like his.”

Italy’s civil protection agency estimates that “several hundred thousand” people will descend on Rome on what was already set to be a busy weekend due to a public holiday on Friday.

After the funeral, Francis’s coffin will be driven at a walking pace to be buried at his favourite church, Rome’s papal basilica of Santa Maria Maggiore. He will be interred in the ground, his simple tomb marked with just one word: Franciscus. People will be able to visit the tomb from Sunday morning.

Following that, all eyes will turn to the process to choose Francis’s successor. Cardinals from around the world have been returning to Rome for the funeral and the conclave to elect a new pontiff. In the absence of a pope, the cardinals have been meeting every day to agree the next steps, with another meeting due on Friday.

They have yet to announce a date for the conclave, but it must begin no fewer than 15 days and no more than 20 days after a pope’s death. Only those under the age of 80 – currently about 135 cardinals – are eligible to vote.

Pope Francis, who died on Monday morning at the age of 88, will be laid to rest on Saturday in Rome. His funeral is expected to draw dignitaries from across the world, as well as tens of thousands of faithful. This is what is expected to happen on the day, and what may come next for the Catholic church.

New developments have come to light in the killing of 15 Palestinian medics and rescue workers by Israeli troops in the Gaza Strip last month, with evidence reportedly contradicting the Israel Defense Forces’ claim that soldiers did not fire indiscriminately at the medical workers.

The Israeli daily Haaretz reported on Wednesday that its analysis of the IDF’s own materials collected as part of an internal investigation into the incident contradicted the army’s claim that soldiers did not shoot indiscriminately at Palestinian ambulances and a fire engine in the early hours of 23 March.

Instead, Haaretz said, soldiers fired continuously at the vehicles for three and a half minutes from close range despite the aid workers’ attempts to identify themselves.

The family of Assad al-Nsasrah, one of two survivors of the attack, filed a petition on Wednesday with Israel’s high court seeking details of his detention in Israel. Israeli authorities confirmed last week that Nsasrah was in custody, but under emergency war legislation the whereabouts of detainees from Gaza can be kept secret and they can be barred from meeting a lawyer for 45 days. Nsasrah is not allowed legal counsel until 7 May.

In Israeli political news on Thursday, the supreme court granted Benjamin Netanyahu an extension until Sunday to file an official rebuttal to an affidavit from his fired Shin Bet chief, Ronen Bar.

The Israeli prime minister was expected to accuse the head of the general security service of lying, in an affidavit that was supposed to be submitted by the end of Thursday in response to claims made by the security chief in his own 31-page affidavit earlier this week.

Israel’s supreme court halted Bar’s controversial firing after a cabinet vote last month, widespread protests and a petition from the attorney general, Gali Baharav-Miara, on the grounds it may be unlawful. The battle between the two men is pushing the country to the brink of a constitutional crisis.

The Shin Bet has been investigating Netanyahu’s close aides for alleged breaches of national security, including leaking classified documents to foreign media, and allegedly taking money from Qatar, which is known to have given significant financial aid to Hamas.

In his affidavit, Bar accused Netanyahu of moving to sack him after his refusal to fulfil requests including spying on anti-government protesters and helping the premier postpone his testimony in his criminal trial. Bar also claimed it had been made clear to him that he was expected to be “personally loyal” to the prime minister.

Netanyahu has said he lost trust in Bar’s capacity to lead the Shin Bet. He escalated his attack on Bar on Wednesday night, before his expected filing, by sharing a recording of a phone conversation between a Shin Bet agent and a police officer allegedly proving that the agency “persecutes rightwing activists”.

The relationship between the two men, already strained, deteriorated further after the release of a Shin Bet investigation pointing to policy issues in the run-up to the 7 October 2023 Hamas attack.

Netanyahu has never accepted any responsibility for Israel’s worst national security disaster, which killed 1,200 people, mostly civilians, led to 251 being abducted and held hostage in the Gaza Strip, and ignited the devastating war in the Palestinian territory.

The head of Israel’s powerful Histadrut union, Arnon Bar-David, threatened on Thursday to call a nationwide strike if the government disobeyed a potential high court order to reinstate Bar, describing such a move as a “red line”.

Two previous Histadrut strikes have put Netanyahu’s far-right coalition under significant pressure. One in March 2023 was triggered by the prime minster’s decision to fire the defence minister, Yoav Gallant, over his opposition to a proposed judicial overhaul. Strike action in September 2024 took place in favour of a hostage deal and ceasefire in the war in Gaza after Hamas murdered six captives.

In Gaza on Wednesday, Israeli airstrikes across the strip killed at least 28 people, according to the territory’s health ministry, whose data the UN assesses to be accurate.

New developments have come to light in the killing of 15 Palestinian medics and rescue workers by Israeli troops in the Gaza Strip last month, with evidence reportedly contradicting the Israel Defense Forces’ claim that soldiers did not fire indiscriminately at the medical workers.

The Israeli daily Haaretz reported on Wednesday that its analysis of the IDF’s own materials collected as part of an internal investigation into the incident contradicted the army’s claim that soldiers did not shoot indiscriminately at Palestinian ambulances and a fire engine in the early hours of 23 March.

Instead, Haaretz said, soldiers fired continuously at the vehicles for three and a half minutes from close range despite the aid workers’ attempts to identify themselves.

The family of Assad al-Nsasrah, one of two survivors of the attack, filed a petition on Wednesday with Israel’s high court seeking details of his detention in Israel. Israeli authorities confirmed last week that Nsasrah was in custody, but under emergency war legislation the whereabouts of detainees from Gaza can be kept secret and they can be barred from meeting a lawyer for 45 days. Nsasrah is not allowed legal counsel until 7 May.

In Israeli political news on Thursday, the supreme court granted Benjamin Netanyahu an extension until Sunday to file an official rebuttal to an affidavit from his fired Shin Bet chief, Ronen Bar.

The Israeli prime minister was expected to accuse the head of the general security service of lying, in an affidavit that was supposed to be submitted by the end of Thursday in response to claims made by the security chief in his own 31-page affidavit earlier this week.

Israel’s supreme court halted Bar’s controversial firing after a cabinet vote last month, widespread protests and a petition from the attorney general, Gali Baharav-Miara, on the grounds it may be unlawful. The battle between the two men is pushing the country to the brink of a constitutional crisis.

The Shin Bet has been investigating Netanyahu’s close aides for alleged breaches of national security, including leaking classified documents to foreign media, and allegedly taking money from Qatar, which is known to have given significant financial aid to Hamas.

In his affidavit, Bar accused Netanyahu of moving to sack him after his refusal to fulfil requests including spying on anti-government protesters and helping the premier postpone his testimony in his criminal trial. Bar also claimed it had been made clear to him that he was expected to be “personally loyal” to the prime minister.

Netanyahu has said he lost trust in Bar’s capacity to lead the Shin Bet. He escalated his attack on Bar on Wednesday night, before his expected filing, by sharing a recording of a phone conversation between a Shin Bet agent and a police officer allegedly proving that the agency “persecutes rightwing activists”.

The relationship between the two men, already strained, deteriorated further after the release of a Shin Bet investigation pointing to policy issues in the run-up to the 7 October 2023 Hamas attack.

Netanyahu has never accepted any responsibility for Israel’s worst national security disaster, which killed 1,200 people, mostly civilians, led to 251 being abducted and held hostage in the Gaza Strip, and ignited the devastating war in the Palestinian territory.

The head of Israel’s powerful Histadrut union, Arnon Bar-David, threatened on Thursday to call a nationwide strike if the government disobeyed a potential high court order to reinstate Bar, describing such a move as a “red line”.

Two previous Histadrut strikes have put Netanyahu’s far-right coalition under significant pressure. One in March 2023 was triggered by the prime minster’s decision to fire the defence minister, Yoav Gallant, over his opposition to a proposed judicial overhaul. Strike action in September 2024 took place in favour of a hostage deal and ceasefire in the war in Gaza after Hamas murdered six captives.

In Gaza on Wednesday, Israeli airstrikes across the strip killed at least 28 people, according to the territory’s health ministry, whose data the UN assesses to be accurate.

A handful of “small but dirty” public affairs and law firms in Europe are enabling pollution by lobbying extensively for big oil, an analysis has found, with most major companies in the industry working for at least one fossil fuel client.

Several of the top spenders on activities to influence EU policymaking are on the payroll of oil and gas companies, according to an analysis of the EU Transparency Register by the Good Lobby nonprofit, but fossil fuel clients represent just 1% of the industry’s revenue.

The researchers said it showed that public affairs companies could cut ties with the big polluters who pay them to influence policy without hurting their bottom lines – but warned there was little public or regulatory pressure on lobbyists to go green.

Alberto Alemanno, the founder of the Good Lobby and a co-author of the research, said public affairs companies lobbying on behalf of the fossil fuel industry had flown under the radar. “They can afford to keep [these clients] – even though they bring in very little – because they have basically not been subject to any form of accountability.”

In the first comprehensive review of lobbying firms working for oil and gas companies, which was shared exclusively with the Guardian, the researchers created a database of public affairs and law firms, as well as their clients, using disclosures made on the EU transparency register before January 2024. They tallied the midpoint of the lobbying costs, which the register publishes only in ranges, to estimate the amount of money each company receives from fossil fuel clients.

The list does not include fossil fuel industry groups or secondary polluters, such as airlines and carmakers.

Some of the companies have deepened their ties with big oil over the last year, according to checks conducted by the Guardian using disclosures made as of April 2025. Several have also made public sustainability commitments that appear to contrast with the actions of their clients, such as energy companies who have scrapped climate targets or shown little progress towards reducing emissions.

Burson, Cohn & Wolfe, a public affairs company, is listed as having taken €600,000-699,999 from ExxonMobil Petroleum and Chemical in 2024 for lobbying services on several environment files. Burson says on its website “we help energy clients navigate the transition toward sustainable progress”.

Another company, FTI Consulting, is listed as having taken €300,000-399,999 from ConocoPhillips and €50,000-99,999 from ExxonMobil in 2023, the latest year for which it has disclosed clients. Its latest sustainability report says: “FTI Consulting’s role as a professional services firm allows us to support a sustainable economy – both through our internal initiatives and the work we do on behalf of our clients.”

A third company, Nove, is listed as having taken €100,000-199,999 from ExxonMobil and €100,000-199,999 from Equinor in 2024, as well as smaller sums from ENI, TotalEnergies and SNAM. A case study on Nove’s website says it helped a client prevent the European Commission from banning “critical chemicals” in a regulatory proposal to reduce climate-damaging fluorinated gas emissions.

It says: “We brought our client’s position and demonstrative data to the attention of the co-legislators, successfully creating room for an exemption for safe closed-loop use of fluorinated gases without economically or chemically viable substitutions.”

The researchers said they wanted to shine a light on enablers of pollution who provide services for the fossil fuel industry but escape public attention. Similar efforts have helped spur change in the advertising industry, with the Clean Creatives movement covering more than 1,300 agencies who openly refuse to work with fossil fuel clients.

Duncan Meisel, the executive director of Clean Creatives, said dropping fossil clients was a smart business strategy for public affairs firms because it would help them advocate for all companies in their portfolio – including those that would be hit hard by climate breakdown. It would also help them attract and retain talent, such as young graduates who see the climate crisis as an existential threat, and avoid potential crackdowns by regulators, he added.

Public affairs firms are just one avenue by which energy companies seek to sway European policymakers. Many of the biggest players employ large teams of lobbyists in Brussels or work through well-connected industry associations that have the ear of EU officials and ministers in national governments.

As a result, a naming-and-shaming campaign may only have limited effect on climate policy, industry insiders say. Fossil fuel companies have already made efforts to develop lobbying capabilities in-house, and a climate-driven rift in the industry would probably drive those that have not yet done so to the lobbying firms that choose to continue working with them.

But such a shift would still make it more difficult for polluters to stand in the way of climate action, said Meisel. “Even if fossil fuel companies completely in-house their lobbying, they’ll have to pull from a dwindling pool of talent that is not interested in devoting their whole careers to polluters.

“Generally speaking, fossil fuel companies are not high-prestige clients. They don’t win awards, they don’t get listed prominently on resume sites, and they don’t offer a long-term career path. Polluter agencies will be the agencies with less talent and less impact, and likely higher fees.”

Some of the public affairs companies highlighted in the analysis disagreed with the characterisation of their clients as fossil-based. Aula Europe, which is listed as having taken €100,000-199,999 from Neste between April 2022 and March 2023, said its client had transformed from “a local oil refiner into a global leader in renewable and circular solutions”.

“Aula’s public affairs work with Neste has focused on renewable energy and EU decarbonisation policies relevant to this transformation,” said Henri Satuli, a lobbyist at Aula Europe.

Must and Partners, which is listed as having taken €50,000-99,999 from the Italian energy company A2A in 2024, provided a statement from A2A that disputed its classification as a fossil fuel company, stating: “In 2024, renewables accounted for approximately 50% of the group’s total electricity production, highlighting A2A’s concrete progress toward a cleaner energy model.”

The other public affairs businesses named in the analysis – along with Hill and Knowlton, Weber Shandwick, Rud Pedersen, FleishmanHillard and Eupportunity – did not respond to a request for comment.

Dieter Zinnbauer, a researcher and adviser to the Good Lobby, said it was telling that many of the public affairs firms highlighted in the analysis focused their public sustainability statements around actions to reduce their direct carbon footprint.

“It’s one thing to recycle toner cartridges in your office, that’s great,” he said. “But if your main business line is about helping put the world on the wrong track towards the energy transition, this is more consequential in terms of what you’re doing than the recycling you do on the side.”

Pete Hegseth, the US defense secretary, had an unsecured internet connection set up in his Pentagon office so that he could bypass government security protocols and use the Signal messaging app on a personal computer, two people familiar with the line told the Associated Press.

ABC News also reported that Hegseth had what is known as a “dirty line” – what IT professionals call a commercial internet line that is used to connect to websites blocked by the Pentagon’s unclassified and classified lines. Defense department computers connect to the internet through two different systems: SiprNet – or secure internet protocol router network, which is the Pentagon’s network for classified information – and NiprNet – the non-classified internet protocol router network, which handles unclassified information.

The fact that Hegseth was evading Pentagon security filters to connect to the internet this way raises the possibility that sensitive defense information could have been put at risk of potential hacking or surveillance.

Sources told the AP that at times there were three computers around Hegseth’s desk – a personal computer; another for classified information; and a third for sensitive defense information. Because electronic devices are vulnerable to spyware, no one is supposed to have them inside the defense secretary’s office.

The latest reporting continues a pattern of leaks about Hegseth’s use of Signal to text sensitive military information to a circle of family and friends. On Wednesday, the Washington Post reported that Hegseth, a former Fox weekend anchor, directed the installation of Signal on a desktop computer in his Pentagon office.

Sean Parnell, the Pentagon’s chief spokesperson, told news outlets: “We can confirm that the secretary has never used and does not currently use Signal on his government computer.”

Earlier this week, the Guardian confirmed a New York Times report that Hegseth had shared sensitive operational information about strikes on Houthi rebels in Yemen on a private Signal group chat he set up himself to communicate with his wife, brother, personal lawyer and nine associates.

In 2016, when it was reported that Hillary Clinton used a private email server to conduct official business when she was secretary of state, Hegseth told Fox News that “any security professional – military, government or otherwise – would be fired on the spot for this type of conduct, and criminally prosecuted. The fact that she wouldn’t be held accountable for this, I think blows the mind of anyone who’s held our secrets dear, who’s had a top secret clearance, like I have.”

California’s economy has surpassed Japan’s, making the Golden state the fourth largest economy in the world, Governor Gavin Newsom announced on Thursday.

The state’s nominal GDP reached $4.1tn, according to data from the International Monetary Fund and the US Bureau of Economic Analysis, edging out Japan’s $4.02tn nominal GDP. California now ranks behind the US at $29.18tn, China at $18.74tn and Germany at $4.65tn.

Along with the tech and entertainment industry capitals, the state, which has a population of nearly 40 million people, is the center for US manufacturing output and is the country’s largest agricultural producer.

“California isn’t just keeping pace with the world – we’re setting the pace. Our economy is thriving because we invest in people, prioritize sustainability, and believe in the power of innovation,” Newsom said in a statement.

The state has outperformed the world’s top economies with a growth rate in 2024 of 6% compared with the US’s 5.3%, China’s 2.6% and Germany’s 2.9%. This week’s new rankings come six years after California surpassed the United Kingdom and became the world’s fifth largest economy.

Newsom noted, however, that the Trump administration’s agenda endangers California’s economic interests.

“And, while we celebrate this success, we recognize that our progress is threatened by the reckless tariff policies of the current federal administration. California’s economy powers the nation, and it must be protected.”

California last week became the first state to sue the federal government over Donald Trump’s tariff policies, and has argued that the president’s actions are unlawful and that the constitution explicitly grants Congress the power to impose tariffs.

“No state is poised to lose more than the state of California,” Newsom said during a press conference announcing the lawsuit. “It’s a serious and sober moment, and I’d be … lying to you if I said it can be quickly undone.”

California is a major contributor to economic growth nationally, with the money it sends to the federal government outpacing what it receives in federal funding by $83bn, according to a statement from Newsom’s office.

Despite an enormous shortage of affordable housing that has fueled a homelessness crisis in the state, the population has grown in recent years. Meanwhile, last year the state reported its tourism spending had hit an all-time high – though California has seen a drop in some areas.

Canadian tourism in California was down 12% in February compared with the same month last year amid Trump’s tariff war. In response, the state has announced a new campaign to draw Canadians back, while one city has put up pro-Canada signs across its downtown.

Bill Maher has responded to Larry David’s satirical essay in the New York Times that compared Maher’s glowing account of having dinner with Donald Trump to dining with Adolf Hitler.

Maher, a vocal critic of Trump in the past, had dinner with the US president and a group of his high-profile supporters, including their mutual friend Kid Rock, on 31 March. On an episode of his talkshow Real Time on 11 April, Maher described Trump as “gracious” and “much more self-aware than he lets on”, saying: “Everything I’ve ever not liked about him was – I swear to God – absent, at least on this night with this guy.”

The New York Times then published a satirical piece written by the Curb Your Enthusiasm creator, a first-person account from a critic of Hitler who accepts a dinner invitation from the Führer and ends up deciding “we’re not that different, after all”.

“I had been a vocal critic of his on the radio from the beginning, pretty much predicting everything he was going to do on the road to dictatorship,” David wrote.

“But eventually I concluded that hate gets us nowhere. I knew I couldn’t change his views, but we need to talk to the other side – even if it has invaded and annexed other countries and committed unspeakable crimes against humanity.”

Appearing on Piers Morgan’s talkshow Uncensored on Thursday, Maher said: “First of all, it’s kind of insulting to 6 million dead Jews … It’s an argument you kind of lost just to start it. Look, maybe it’s not completely logically fair, but Hitler has really kind of got to stay in his own place. He is the GOAT of evil.”

Maher told Morgan he considered David a friend, and didn’t know about the piece until his publicist told him it had been published. “This wasn’t my favourite moment of our friendship,” he said.

“Nobody has been harder, and more prescient, I must say, about Donald Trump than me. I don’t need to be lectured on who Donald Trump is. Just the fact that I met him in person didn’t change that. The fact that I reported honestly is not a sin either.”

Maher told Morgan he didn’t want to “make this constantly personal with me and Larry”, saying: “We might be friends again.”

“I can take a shot and I can also take it when people disagree with me. That’s not exactly the way I would’ve done it.

“Again, the irony: let’s go back to what my original thing was. There’s got to be a better way than hurling insults and not talking to people. If I can talk to Trump, I can talk to Larry David too.”