NEW YORK (AP) - Stocks rushed higher worldwide, and oil prices eased as hopes built that the war with Iran could end soon. The S&P 500 rose 0.7% and added to its leap from the day before, which was its best since last spring. The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 0.5%, and the Nasdaq composite jumped 1.2%.

RIO DE JANEIRO (AP) – When 33-year-old Brazilian woman Emily de Souza heard about a program allowing her to shave off four days from her prison sentence by reading a book, she seized the opportunity to reconnect with a cherished habit.

WASHINGTON (AP) – King Charles III will deliver an address to Congress during his visit to Washington in late April, becoming the first British monarch to give a speech to a joint meeting of U.S. lawmakers in more than three decades. The joint address is part of the 250th anniversary of the U.S. declaring independence from Britain.

SAO PAULO (AP) – Brazil’s former President Jair Bolsonaro was discharged from a hospital in the capital on Friday to continue serving a 27-year sentence for a coup attempt at his residence in an upscale gated community.

LONDON (AP) – U.S. President Donald Trump says he’s strongly considering pulling the United States out of NATO, ratcheting up his criticism of European allies and exposing a wider rift in the trans-Atlantic alliance – this time over the Iran war.

NEW YORK (AP) – A U.S. judge pressed the Trump administration Thursday about its basis for barring Venezuela’s government from paying former President Nicolás Maduro’s legal fees in the drug trafficking case that has put him behind bars in New York.

Excerpts from recent editorials in the United States and abroad:

HONG KONG (AP) – Chinese automaker BYD said Friday its annual sales rose to a record $116 billion, outpacing Tesla’s, but its profit fell for the first time since 2021 under pressure from cutthroat competition. BYD, the largest electric vehicle maker, has been expanding into global markets including Latin America and Europe.