Stocks drifted mostly lower on Wall Street and oil prices slipped ahead of planned U.S.-Iran talks following a shaky ceasefire agreement. The S&P 500 fell 0.1% Friday. The Dow Jones Industrial Average lost 0.6%, and the Nasdaq composite rose 0.4%. Trading remained choppy ahead of high-level talks between negotiators from Iran and the U.S.

HONG KONG (AP) – China’s exports of passenger cars accelerated in March, an industry association said Friday, as Chinese automakers stepped up their push to grow overseas markets.

WASHINGTON (AP) – First lady Melania Trump’s seemingly out-of-the-blue statement Thursday denying affiliation with disgraced sex trafficker Jeffrey Epstein left people still wondering Friday what prompted the public declaration at a time when the case had receded from the spotlight.

PHNOM PENH, Cambodia (AP) – Cambodia’s King Norodom Sihamoni announced Friday that he has prostate cancer and will be undergoing treatment for it in China, where he was diagnosed with the disease.

The long-term fallout of the war in Iran is only beginning to take shape, but this much is clear: The conflict has left the Middle East unsettled, alliances strained and the world facing uncertain shifts in the balance of economic and military power.

BANGKOK (AP) – Min Aung Hlaing, who as Myanmar ‘s military commander had led the Southeast Asian nation with an iron fist since seizing power from Aung San Suu Kyi’s civilian government in 2021, was sworn in as an elected president on Friday.

Excerpts from recent editorials in the United States and abroad:

TOKYO (AP) – Japanese Prime MinisterSanae Takaichi took a short – and happy – break on Friday as she hosted legendary British rock band Deep Purple in Tokyo as a longtime admirer.