First Thing: Dozens of pro-Palestinian protesters arrested after Columbia calls in NYPD

University’s acting president says move was necessary for safety and calls protesters’ actions ‘outrageous’. Plus, Pakistan’s PM vows to avenge India’s airstrikes

Good morning.

The NYPD arrested dozens of pro-Palestinian activists who had occupied part of the main library building on Columbia University’s campus yesterday, ending an hours-long standoff, roughly a year after student anti-war protests swept the Ivy League school.

Claire Shipman, the university’s acting president, said she asked the NYPD to help clear the building after protesters had refused to leave despite being threatened with disciplinary action and possible arrest for trespassing.

Video shared on social media showed protesters handcuffed with zip ties being led out of the building by police. The student-run Columbia Daily Spectator reported that about 75 protesters were arrested.

The Trump administration has in recent months launched a sweeping crackdown on student demonstrators involved in campus protests, including the recently released Mohsen Mahdawi, a Palestinian green card holder and Columbia student who was detained for his activism, and Mahmoud Khalil, a Palestinian activist and Columbia graduate, who was arrested in March and remains in custody.

• How did Columbia justify its decision to call in the NYPD? “Requesting the presence of the NYPD is not the outcome we wanted, but it was absolutely necessary to secure the safety of our community,” said Shipman, who called the protesters’ actions “outrageous”.

• How did the Trump administration weigh in on the arrests? Marco Rubio, the secretary of state, said on X: “We are reviewing the visa status of the trespassers and vandals who took over Columbia University’s library.”

Pakistan PM vows to ‘avenge each drop of blood’ after Indian airstrikes kill 31

Pakistan has said it will avenge the deaths of 31 people killed in missile attacks by the Indian air force, raising fears of an escalating conflict between the two nuclear-armed countries.

Pakistan’s prime minister, Shehbaz Sharif, said late on Wednesday: “We make this pledge, that we will avenge each drop of the blood of these martyrs.”

Pakistan claimed to have shot down 12 Indian drones overnight and said drone attacks had left one civilian dead and four soldiers injured. Pakistan’s military spokesperson said India had “apparently lost the plot” as he accused it of “yet another blatant military act of aggression”.

• How has Pakistan responded to the Indian strikes? Pakistan’s government accused India of “igniting an inferno” with strikes on nine sites in Pakistan-administered Kashmir and the Pakistani province of Punjab and authorized its military to take “corresponding” retaliatory action against India.

• How did India justify the actions? India said the strikes were a direct retaliation for an attack in Indian-administered Kashmir late last month in which militants killed 25 Hindu tourists and their guide. India has accused Pakistan of direct involvement in the attacks through Islamist militant organizations it has long been accused of backing.

Black smoke signals first day of Vatican conclave has failed to elect new pope

Plumes of black smoke emerged from the chimney on top of the Sistine Chapel yesterday, signalling that the 133 cardinals sealed off inside had not elected a new pope on the first day of conclave.

After the formal procession to the Sistine Chapel and each of the cardinals swearing the oath to secrecy, the first voting round got under way at about 5.45pm local time. Then all eyes were on the chimney. After a tense wait, black smoke finally appeared at 9.05pm.

• How does the conclave work? There are 133 cardinals eligible to vote, who have all arrived at the Vatican from around the world. Read about the full process here.

• Who will be the next pope? Predicting the outcome of the highly secretive papal conclave is very difficult. But at the moment, speculation has focused on these men.

In other news …

• US intelligence agencies have been ordered to focus their spying activities on Greenland, in a stark sign of Donald Trump’s determination to acquire the territory.

• A federal appeals court yesterday granted a judge’s order to bring a Turkish Tufts University student, Rümeysa Öztürk, from a Louisiana immigration detention center back to New England for hearings to determine whether her rights were violated, after she co-wrote an op-ed that criticized the school’s response to Israel’s war on Gaza.

• Ceremonies will be held across Europe today as countries mark the 80th anniversary of Victory in Europe (VE) Day.

• China’s Xi Jinping is in Russia on a four-day visit, during which he will attend a military parade for Russia’s Victory Day anniversary.

• Canadian police scaled back a search for two children missing in woods for six days, given the “low” odds the children are still alive.

Stat of the day: Trump’s aid cuts blamed as food rations stopped for 1m refugees in Uganda

Food rations for a million people in Uganda have been cut off completely this week amid a funding crisis at the UN World Food Programme. Donald Trump’s freeze on US aid spending in January has badly hit Uganda’s ability to look after refugees. “Malnutrition has reached critical levels,” WFP Uganda said.

Don’t miss this: ‘Outdated and unjust’ – can we reform global capitalism?

Donald Trump’s tariffs plunged the world economy into chaos. The left should seize on capitalism’s crisis of legitimacy, writes John Cassidy, a staff writer at the New Yorker, in this long read adapted from his upcoming book, Capitalism and Its Critics.

… or this: What happened to the first city that tried to ban smartphones for under-14s?

It’s a year since teachers at a school in St Albans, England, asked parents not to give younger children smartphones. “When we were at school, at least when we went home the bullies couldn’t get us there,” said one head teacher.

Climate check: April storms that killed 21 in US made more severe by burning fossil fuels, study finds

The four-day storm that caused destruction and killed at least 21 people across the central Mississippi valley in early April was made about 9% more intense and 40% more likely by human-caused climate change, a World Weather Attribution study found

Last Thing: Online tool tracks migratory animals’ ‘astonishing journeys’

A new tool from Migratory Connectivity in the Ocean (Mico) visualizes astonishing animal journeys, such as those of female loggerhead turtles, which swim more than 600 miles (1,000km) north from the east coast of Florida to their feeding grounds.

Sign up

First Thing is delivered to thousands of inboxes every weekday. If you’re not already signed up, subscribe now.

Get in touch

If you have any questions or comments about any of our newsletters please email newsletters@theguardian.com