Trump orders US military to 'shoot and kill' Iranian small boats

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) – President Donald Trump has ordered the U.S. military to “shoot and kill” small Iranian boats that deploy mines in the Strait of Hormuz, he said Thursday, a day after Iran again displayed its ability to thwart traffic through the channel.

Intel leads the US stock market to more records

NEW YORK (AP) - A surge for Intel following a blowout profit report led the U.S. stock market to more records Friday, while oil prices kept yo-yoing in the wait for what's next with the Iran war. The S&P 500 climbed 0.8%. The Dow Jones Industrial Average dipped 79 points, or 0.2%, and the Nasdaq composite rallied 1.6%.

US soldier charged with using intel to win $400K Polymarket bet on Maduro raid

WASHINGTON (AP) – A U.S. special forces soldier involved in the military operation to capture Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro has been charged with using classified information about the mission to win more than $400,000 in an online betting market, federal officials announced Thursday.

US hunting for explosive mines in latest push to open the Strait of Hormuz

WASHINGTON (AP) – President Donald Trump says the U.S. Navy is clearing Iranian mines from the Strait of Hormuz, a vital sea route for oil shipments whose disruption is increasingly threatening the global economy.

Meta slashes 8,000 jobs, or 10% of its workforce, as Microsoft offers buyouts

Meta is laying off about 8,000 workers, or about 10% of its workforce, the company said Thursday as it continues to ramp up spending on artificial intelligence infrastructure and highly paid AI-expert hires.

Despite Iran tensions, King Charles III will celebrate US-UK bonds

LONDON (AP) – The challenge for King Charles III when he embarks on next week’s state visit to the U.S. is, as always, to live up to his mother’s example. The late Queen Elizabeth II wowed Congress in 1991 with a speech that celebrated the shared democratic traditions of Britain and the United States.

Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool gets a blue coating

WASHINGTON (AP) – President Donald Trump is having the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool coated in a swimming pool surface hued in “American flag blue,” covering up a decades-old granite surface that he said was “leaking like a sieve” and would take years to replace.

Editorials from The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, The Washington Post and others

Excerpts from recent editorials in the United States and abroad:

Lebanon and Israel to resume rare direct talks in Washington to extend Israel-Hezbollah ceasefire

BEIRUT (AP) – Lebanon and Israel were set to begin a second session of direct talks in Washington on Thursday to discuss the possibility of extending a truce between Israel and the Hezbollah militant group and plans for future negotiations between the two neighbors with a long history of hostile relations.