At the Vatican, a conclave of Roman Catholic cardinals has elected Robert Francis Prevost as the new pope. He becomes the first U.S. pontiff to lead the world’s 1.4 billion Roman Catholics. He has chosen the papal name Leo XIV, suggesting a possible emphasis on social justice. Pope Leo XIII, who ruled from 1878 to 1903, condemned slavery as a “wretched yoke [that] has oppressed many people.” Leo XIV called for peace and dialogue as he addressed the faithful from the Vatican Thursday.

Pope Leo XIV: “We must seek together how to be a missionary church, a church that builds bridges, dialogue, always open to receiving, like this square, with open arms to all who need our charity, our presence, dialogue and love.”

Pope Leo grew up on Chicago’s South Side. He is also a naturalized citizen of Peru, where he served the church for two decades. He has criticized the Trump administration’s attack on immigrants. Just weeks ago, he responded to Vice President JD Vance’s invocation of a Christian principle to justify the mistreatment of immigrants. Pope Leo posted on social media, “JD Vance is wrong. Jesus doesn’t ask us to rank our love for others.”

Pope Leo has also previously attacked LGBTQ people and said the “homosexual lifestyle” is incompatible with the Catholic Church. We’ll have more on the new pope after headlines.

India’s military says it intercepted Pakistani drones and missiles targeting two military bases in Indian-administered Kashmir and another base in India’s Punjab state. Pakistan’s defense minister denied the claims, saying his forces have yet to retaliate after India launched a wave of airstrikes early Wednesday. Separately, police in Pakistan-administered Kashmir said overnight artillery fire killed five people, including a newborn baby, bringing the death toll on Pakistan’s side to at least 36 people. Meanwhile, India says Pakistani shells have killed 16 people on its side of the Line of Control that divides Kashmir. This is a resident of the border town of Uri in Indian-administered Kashmir.

Revina Begum: “Our livestock and belongings are all gone. Nothing is left. This shelling must stop, and there should be peace. For God’s sake, give us peace. We want peace for everyone.”

Meanwhile, Elon Musk’s social media site X said it blocked 8,000 accounts in India under orders from Narendra Modi’s government. Among those censored were the Pakistani channel Geo News HD and the newspaper Dawn. A spokesperson said X “disagreed” with the Indian government’s demands even as the company complied with the order.

Israeli airstrikes have killed at least 16 Palestinians across the Gaza Strip over the past 24 hours — among them, several attacks on apartment buildings in Gaza City that killed three people, including a child. Separately, a Palestinian fisherman was killed, and another injured, after Israeli naval forces opened fire on a boat off Gaza’s coast. Israel’s latest attacks came as the Gaza government media office reported Israel has dropped 100,000 tons of explosives on the Gaza Strip over the past 19 months, leaving some 62,000 Palestinians dead or missing under the rubble.

This comes as some 170 community kitchens across Gaza have shut down after running out of food due to Israel’s total blockade. Displaced Palestinian mother Huda Abu Diyya says she does not know how she will feed her children after a Khan Younis community kitchen served its last meals Thursday.

Huda Abu Diyya: “Today is the last day. What will we eat? We will die of hunger, for the sake of our children. We are still alive because of the communal kitchen. We don’t cook or bake or do anything, only heating the food that we beg to take. If it weren’t for the communal kitchen, we would have died. For the sake of our children, what shall we do? They said today is the last day. What shall we do? What should I feed them tomorrow?”

UNRWA condemned Israel’s military after soldiers forced their way into three U.N.-run schools in occupied East Jerusalem while classes were in session on Thursday. The soldiers forced 550 students out of their classrooms at gunpoint, some of them as young as 6 years old. UNRWA’s director said in a statement, “This is an assault on children. An assault on education. … Storming schools and forcing them shut is a blatant disregard of international law.”

President Trump and British Prime Minister Keir Starmer announced what the U.K. called a “historic” trade deal Thursday. Trump’s 10% tariff on the U.K. will remain in place, but the U.S. will ease tariffs on steel, aluminum and cars. The U.K. will lower tariffs on the U.S. and increase market access for American beef, ethanol and machinery, though no timeline has been given. Prime Minister Starmer praised the deal in a phone call with Trump.

Prime Minister Keir Starmer: “Really important deal. This is going to boost trade between and across our countries. It’s going to not only protect jobs, but create jobs, opening market access.”

But critics were skeptical of the yet-to-be-signed deal. Democratic Senator Ron Wyden said, “The details aren’t even finalized. There’s not much THERE, there.”

A group of 13 Democratic senators is calling for an investigation into whether Elon Musk leveraged his role at the White House to secure private deals with other countries for his Starlink satellite internet service. Internal government messages seen by The Washington Post reveal how U.S. embassies and the State Department pushed distribution deals for U.S. internet companies, often mentioning Starlink by name, and invoking ongoing trade deals and tariffs. Starlink has recently secured deals with Lesotho, Somalia, the DRC, Vietnam, Bangladesh, Pakistan and India.

Meanwhile, a new report from Public Citizen finds Elon Musk has had a direct business interest in over 70% of the agencies and departments targeted by his so-called Department of Government Efficiency since its inception.

President Trump has appointed former judge and Fox News host Jeanine Pirro — now the 23rd Fox-affiliated appointee — as interim U.S. attorney for Washington, D.C., after pulling the nomination of Ed Martin. On Tuesday, Republican Senator Thom Tillis effectively tanked Martin’s confirmation over Martin’s support for January 6 insurrectionists, including a man who idolized Adolf Hitler and once said he would “kill all the Jews and eat them for breakfast.” But Trump is keeping Ed Martin close in his orbit, handing him three new jobs at the Justice Department: pardon attorney, associate deputy attorney and the director of an initiative investigating the so-called weaponization of the government.

President Trump has tapped wellness influencer Casey Means to become surgeon general, after withdrawing the nomination of Fox News contributor Dr. Janette Nesheiwat. Casey Means attended Stanford Medical School but never went on to become a licensed doctor, instead turning to the “wellness” space, where she has promoted disputed claims about health and nutrition and sold supplements and personal care products through her website. Her brother is an adviser to Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. Like Kennedy, Casey Means has expressed skepticism about vaccines. She has also attacked hormonal birth control and its effects on women’s bodies, calling its use a “disrespect of life.” The talking point is used by far-right pundits to discredit proven contraception methods.

The Trump administration fired the librarian of Congress, Carla Hayden, Thursday. She’s the first woman and first African American to fill the role. Carla Hayden had been targeted by right-wing groups for pushing so-called woke books for children, like books that promote diversity and inclusion. Congressmember Rosa DeLauro called her firing a “direct attack on the independence of one of our most revered institutions.”

The acting head of the Federal Emergency Management Agency, Cameron Hamilton, was dismissed from his position Thursday, one day after he testified to Congress that FEMA provides essential services and should not be eliminated.

Cameron Hamilton: “Communities look to FEMA in their greatest times of need, and it’s imperative that we remain ready to respond to those challenges. … I do not believe it is in the best interest of the American people to eliminate the Federal Emergency Management Agency.”

Just one day before Hamilton’s testimony, Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem told lawmakers FEMA should be abolished, parroting an idea that’s been pushed by Trump. Former Marine Corps officer David Richardson has been named to replace Hamilton. He does not appear to have any experience in disaster management.

In related news, NOAA, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, said Thursday it will stop tracking the cost of the most expensive disasters, making it harder for scientists and insurers to understand wildfires, storms, droughts and other disasters that are becoming more frequent due to the climate catastrophe.

At least six climate activists in Boston say FBI agents showed up at their homes in March. The motive for the FBI visits is unclear, but they’ve fueled fears the Trump administration will move to escalate attacks on climate protesters and their right to free expression.

Federal Judge James Boasberg has demanded the Trump administration clarify whether it has “constructive custody,” and therefore the ability to bring back some 140 immigrants, mostly from Venezuela, it expelled from the U.S. in March without due process. One of those men is Maryland father Kilmar Abrego Garcia, who the Trump administration admitted to expelling in error. Trump has claimed both that the U.S. government does not have the authority to return Abrego Garcia from an El Salvador prison and that he can bring him back with one phone call.

This comes after the Trump administration cited “national security” reasons as it refused to explain to another judge this week how it ended up wrongly deporting Abrego Garcia.

In South Carolina, autopsy records reveal corrections officers botched the execution of Mikal Mahdi, who was killed by firing squad last month. Mahdi’s three executioners missed his heart, hitting his abdomen, and causing him “excruciating conscious pain and suffering for about 30-60 seconds.” He was pronounced dead nearly four minutes after the officers fired. Mikal Mahdi’s lawyers said he selected the firing squad method over lethal injection and the electric chair because he believed it would be the “lesser of three evils.”

A federal court ruled Thursday Alabama’s Republican-led Legislature intentionally diluted the voting power of Black Alabamians when it drew up congressional maps in 2023, in violation of the Voting Rights Act. The three-judge panel permanently blocked the gerrymandered map and ordered the state to use a court-ordered map that led to the election of Alabama’s second Black congressmember in last year’s election.

In California, a federal jury has ordered Israeli spyware firm NSO Group to pay over $167 million in damages for hacking some 1,400 WhatsApp users with Pegasus spyware. The most targeted country in the case, which was first filed in 2019, was Mexico. Pegasus has been used to spy on politicians, activists and journalists around the world.