First Thing: Pope Francis, groundbreaking pontiff, dies aged 88

Death of 267th head of Catholic church triggers period of global mourning and Vatican conclave of cardinals to elect successor. Plus, are Michelin stars a blessing or a curse?

Good morning.

Pope Francis, the pontiff revered by millions of Catholics around the world, whose popular appeal reached far beyond his global congregation, has died at the age of 88.

Cardinal Kevin Farrell, the Vatican camerlengo, said: “At 7.35 this morning, the bishop of Rome, Francis, returned to the home of the Father. His entire life was dedicated to the service of the Lord and of his church.″

Francis, who suffered from chronic lung disease and had part of one lung removed as a young man, was admitted to Rome’s Gemelli hospital on 14 February for a respiratory crisis that developed into double pneumonia. He spent 38 days there, the longest hospitalisation of his 12-year papacy.

• When did he last appear in public? He appeared yesterday at the Vatican’s St Peter’s Square. The pope, 88, came out in a wheelchair and waved from the balcony of St Peter’s Basilica saying to the crowds: “Dear brothers and sisters, Happy Easter.” However, his Easter address was delivered by a clergy member. The pope was then driven around the square.

Pete Hegseth shared Yemen attack details in second Signal chat – report

Before the US launched military strikes on Yemen in March, Pete Hegseth, the defense secretary, sent detailed information about the planned attacks to a private Signal group chat that he created himself, which included his wife, his brother and about a dozen other people, the New York Times reported on Sunday.

The Guardian has independently confirmed the existence of Hegseth’s own private group chat.

According to unnamed sources familiar with the chat who spoke to the Times, Hegseth sent the private group of his personal associates some of the same information, including the flight schedules for the F/A-18 Hornets that would strike Houthi rebel targets in Yemen, that he also shared with another Signal group of top officials that was created by Mike Waltz, the national security adviser.

• How has Trump reacted? The president downplayed the first incident, describing it as “glitch”. But the latest news is likely to add to growing criticism of the former Fox anchor’s ability to manage the Pentagon, a massive organization, which operates in matters of life and death around the globe.

Senator says trip to El Salvador was to support Kilmar Ábrego García’s due process

Senator Chris Van Hollen, who travelled to El Salvador last week to meet Kilmar Ábrego García, the man at the center of a wrongful deportation dispute, said yesterday that his trip was to support Ábrego García’s right to due process because if that was denied then everyone’s constitutional rights were threatened in the US.

The White House has claimed Ábrego García was a member of the MS-13 gang though he has not been charged with any gang-related crimes and the supreme court has ordered his return to the US be facilitated.

But in an interview with ABC’s This Week, Van Hollen, a Maryland senator, stressed that the government had presented no evidence linking Ábrego García to MS-13 in federal court. “Mr President,” the senator said, “take your facts to court, don’t put everything out on social media.”

• What else did he say? Speaking on CNN’s State of the Union, Van Hollen said Trump’s “argument that you can’t fight gang violence and uphold people’s constitutional rights at the same time. That’s a very dangerous view. If we deny the constitutional rights of this one man, it threatens the constitutional rights of everyone in America.”

In other news …

• A Boeing jet intended for a Chinese airline landed back at the planemaker’s US production hub yesterday after the estimated $55m price was set to balloon by 125%, a victim of the tit-for-tat bilateral tariffs launched by Donald Trump.

• Ukraine issued air raid alerts for Kyiv and the country’s eastern half as blasts shook the city of Mykolaiv early this morning, authorities said, hours after the one-day Easter “ceasefire” declared by Vladimir Putin came to an end.

• Minnesota senator Amy Klobuchar warned yesterday that the US was “getting closer and closer to a constitutional crisis”, but the courts, growing Republican disquiet at Trump administration policies, and public protest were holding it off.

• The winners of the world’s most prestigious environmental prize this year include grassroots activists who helped jail corrupt officials and obtain personhood rights for a sacred Amazonian river.

Don’t miss this: ‘It was very difficult to hold on to’ – are Michelin stars a blessing – or a curse?

Time was, the ultimate honour for any ambitious chef was to gain a Michelin star or two. Better still, three. But these days, the world of fine dining is in a state of flux. The esteemed restaurant guide has struggled to stay relevant, with some leading chefs even barring reviewers or asking for their stars to be removed. Is this the end of fine dining?

Climate check: Melting glaciers will harm us all. Yet still we watch, unmoved

The problems that now afflict attempts to establish a military presence in the far north of Canada and Greenland provide timely warnings about the miseries that lie ahead for the rest of the planet as global warming continues its remorseless spread, writes Robin McKie. The Arctic has suffered especially early impacts because temperatures here are rising faster than in any other part of our planet. Crucially, this process threatens to trigger even greater climatic mayhem.

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