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Today's edition brings a significant shift in federal policy, fresh questions about one of the world's most recognizable companies, and an extraordinary journey nearly three decades in the making. We're also looking at rising health care costs, the growing influence of artificial intelligence, and some surprising changes to everyday life. From major decisions to remarkable personal stories, there's plenty to explore.

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The Trump administration on Wednesday dropped its legal fight to overhaul Public Service Loan Forgiveness, abandoning two appeals of June rulings in favor of advocates who said the program risked becoming a tool for political retribution. Federal officials gave no explanation, and each side agreed to pay its own fees.

The program forgives the loans of qualified workers in government, public schools, fire and police departments, public hospitals and nonprofits after a decade of payments. A rule written last fall would have let Education Secretary Linda McMahon remove employers whose work she decided had a "substantial illegal purpose."

Seven oil tankers caught fire or were damaged in the Strait of Hormuz overnight after being hit by Iran or striking naval mines, Tehran said Thursday, as concerns grow that US-Israeli attacks on Iran could resume. A British maritime monitor did not report the attacks, and Iranian state television did not mention casualties.

Iran's Revolutionary Guard navy again threatened to strike US bases in the region if Washington keeps helping guide commercial ships through the strait. Separately, the State Department ordered non-essential staff and families to leave Saudi Arabia after strikes there killed three people, including one at an airport in Dammam.

The pro-Israel lobbying group AIPAC announced Wednesday that it will no longer issue endorsements, make direct PAC contributions or earmark funds for candidates, five years after it began direct political involvement. Its candidates have faced opposition from both the right and the left as public opinion on the US relationship with Israel has shifted.

AIPAC said its members gave more than $90 million directly to candidates this cycle and that organized giving from individual donors will continue and increase. Its affiliated super PAC, United Democracy Project, will keep operating and can raise unlimited money, and it is currently spending against Michigan Senate nominee Abdul El-Sayed.

Nayib Bukele says he launched a rescue operation for four Salvadoran technicians kidnapped by gangs in Haiti and warned of a more powerful operation unless they come back unharmed.

Two European women held captive in Niger, a 76-year-old Swiss and a 69-year-old Austrian, were freed after over a year and handed to authorities in Libya's Benghazi.

North Korea will resume its propaganda broadcasts along the border, Kim Jong Un's sister said, after land mine blasts injured three South Korean front-line soldiers and tensions rose along it.

A fire tore through a Mississippi senior living center, destroying much of the building that housed more than 100 people, with no confirmed casualties as authorities searched into the night.

Florida authorities arrested Kissimmee's mayor, Eva Jacquelyn Espinosa, accused of stealing COVID relief funds meant for small businesses, charging her with grand theft and an organized scheme to defraud.

County officials in five states have been notified that the Justice Department wants to monitor their counties on Election Day in what it calls the largest monitoring effort.

Meta's quarterly profit more than tripled to $9.86 billion as revenue rose 26% to $64.6 billion, while Mark Zuckerberg said Muse accounts had topped 10 million.

Tesla's quarterly profit fell 44%, but the electric carmaker surprised analysts by generating $1.5 billion in free cash flow as it weighs a possible merger with SpaceX.

Barclays is cutting about 5,000 jobs as the British bank leans more on artificial intelligence, though its chief executive calls AI only the icing on the cake.

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Some Google DeepMind staff have resigned or are leaving over the company's AI contracts with the US military as Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth pushes for an AI-first warfighting force.

Amazon plans to spend almost $40 billion on data centers in a drought-stricken region of northeast Spain whose regional government calls itself the Virginia of southern Europe.

Honduras has paid $750,000 for 20 cloud-seeding flights spraying silver iodide to ease an El Niño drought, though a meteorologist calls the effort an expensive experiment.

Walker Kessler went 12-for-12 in his Lakers debut, scoring 26 as Los Angeles beat Golden State 127-105, with 28 points from Luka Doncic.

Atlanta beat Golden State 97-71 for a 2-1 lead in the WNBA Finals as Angel Reese had 21 points and 12 rebounds before a huge home crowd.

Rookie Cole Knuble scored his first two NHL goals in front of his father and former NHL forward Mike as Philadelphia beat Buffalo 3-1 for a third straight win.

Ottawa fans booed Brady Tkachuk all night in his return with Florida as the Senators beat the Panthers 5-1 while some threw his old jerseys onto the ice.

Tom Cruise will get AFI's life achievement award at a Los Angeles gala next April, joining a roster that runs from John Ford to Denzel Washington and Eddie Murphy.

Electronic Arts is shutting down BioWare after more than three decades of role-playing hits and canceling the next Mass Effect amid a reported 400 layoffs.

Judi Dench says her eyesight has left her unable to act on stage or screen or read more than a decade after she was diagnosed with macular degeneration.

What it is: The average premium for a family health plan through an employer is now $28,000 a year, according to an annual survey of nearly 2,000 employers released Thursday by the health research group KFF. Workers pay about $7,000 of that on average, and employers cover the rest, and about 157 million Americans get insurance through their jobs.

The detail: Family premiums rose about 5%, roughly in line with wages and inflation, but the share paid by workers rose 9%. Deductibles have climbed too. A financial controller in Springfield, Missouri, whose employer covers his premiums, recalls deductibles of $250 or $500 in the 1990s and says they are now $5,000.

Why it matters: A separate Commonwealth Fund survey released the same day found that about 43% of workers with health benefits skipped care because of cost in the past year, and about 31% reported medical debt. It also found the uninsured rate rose over the last two years, which its lead author tied to the expiration of extra subsidies for Affordable Care Act plans and to people losing Medicaid after the pandemic emergency ended.

What to watch: Medicaid work requirements take effect next year, and millions more people are projected to lose coverage. In the Commonwealth survey, nearly three-quarters said the federal government has a responsibility to ensure all Americans have coverage, including about 45% of Republicans, 93% of Democrats, and 76% of independents.

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Karl Bushby started walking home from Chile in 1998, and after crossing the Bering Strait on foot, he hopes to reach his mother's home in Hull by November 1.

Caitlin Abrams cleans old gravestones in Vermont and then researches the lives of the people buried beneath them for videos that draw large online audiences.

Airbnb guests can stop washing dishes and stripping beds under new rules for stays booked from November 20 that generally bar tasks typically done by a cleaner.

André-Jacques Garnerin makes the first parachute descent over Paris (1797) · Federal agents and local police shoot bank robber Pretty Boy Floyd dead in Ohio (1934) · Kennedy reveals Soviet missile bases in Cuba and announces a quarantine (1962) · The deposed shah of Iran is allowed into the US for medical treatment (1979) · Reagan signs a sweeping tax overhaul into law (1986)

"The path we have chosen for the present is full of hazards, as all paths are." — John F. Kennedy, 1962

That's a wrap for today. Thanks for making us part of your morning. Stay curious, keep exploring, and we'll see you tomorrow.

—The Five Minute Daily Team