FIVE MINUTE DAILY

A criminal investigation is underway after someone slashed the newly installed liner beneath the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool, damaging part of a $16 million restoration project.

Micron continues to benefit from surging AI demand with another major business win, while an unlikely donkey movie is drawing outsized attention.

Plus, Senate Republicans reverse course on Iran war powers, new concerns emerge over migrant children, and revised data shows the U.S. economy grew faster than first reported.

Forward this to a friend who wants the world in five minutes.

58% of buyers now start their research in ChatGPT or Gemini, not Google. Most startups aren't showing up there yet.

The ones that are get cited by the AI tools their buyers, investors, and future hires already use. And they convert at 3×.

Download the free AEO Playbook for Startups from HubSpot and get the exact steps to start showing up. Five minutes to read.

Get the free playbook

A US judge blocked the Trump executive order overhauling mail-in voting, ruling that the President cannot unilaterally restructure a state-administered system. The order followed Trump's years-long effort to undermine confidence in US elections, including the false claim that his 2020 loss resulted from fraud.

Justice Department lawyers indicated an immediate appeal, with the case likely consolidated with the SAVE voter-tool ruling already heading toward the Supreme Court. The decision lands ten days before several states certify summer-primary results that the order would have directly affected.

A top National Park Service official said the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool liner was deliberately cut with a sharp knife or razor this month, damaging foam sealant installed as part of a $16 million rehabilitation project. Park Police are reviewing surveillance feeds and interviewing contractor staff who held credentials during the rehabilitation window.

Damage forced Park Service crews to redrain and reapply sealant ahead of America 250 events on the Mall, with full repair costs not yet finalized. Federal investigators have opened a separate vandalism investigation independent of the broader America 250 security review.

The Supreme Court struck down Hawaii's strict gun permit law in a 6-3 ideologically divided ruling Thursday, holding that requiring permission in advance is an undue burden on the right to possess and carry firearms. The decision is the most consequential Second Amendment ruling since the 2022 Bruen case.

Hawaii's attorney general said the state will revise its statute to comply while preserving as much of its permit framework as possible. Permit regimes in California, New Jersey, and New York are now exposed to immediate federal challenge, with several state legislatures expected to fast-track amended laws ahead of the August recess.

King Charles released figures showing he paid £12.9 million in tax last year, becoming the first British monarch to publicly disclose a personal tax bill. Royal public funding is also set to double to £100 million, with both the King and Queen relocating from Buckingham Palace through scheduled renovations.

NATO's deputy commander called for a summit in Turkey aimed at pressing member states to spend more on defense and continue supporting Ukraine. Push comes as alliance budgets face simultaneous demands from the Iran posture and renewed Russian drone campaigns inside Ukraine.

A poor rainy season and weak monsoon system is driving water shortages across India's major cities and vast rural regions, including Mumbai and Delhi. Reservoir levels are now below seasonal averages, with the second half of the monsoon window already running out.

New York dropped the Weinstein rape charge after accuser Jessica Mann said she could not face another trial. Prior proceedings produced one overturned conviction and two hung juries; Weinstein stays imprisoned on separate convictions in New York and California.

Senate Republicans reversed course on the Iran war powers resolution and held a late-night vote to appease the President after he publicly berated them. Reversal scrambled the bipartisan rebuke Tuesday's symbolic war-powers vote was meant to deliver.

The US economy expanded at a solid 2.1% annual pace from January through March, the Commerce Department reported in its final Q1 estimate. Growth came in higher than the initial reading despite the Iran-war shock that hit consumer sentiment late in the quarter.

SPEND LESS WISELY

Retirement doesn’t mean your money has to feel stretched thin.

A few smart adjustments could go a long way and many of them are easier than you think.

We put together a list of simple cutbacks that can free up more of your budget for the things that actually matter.

See which everyday expenses you may be able to cut today.

See Where You Could Save.

_{Please support our sponsors!}

Asian stock markets slid sharply this morning as the tech selloff that hit Wall Street earlier in the week rolled through Tokyo, Seoul, and Hong Kong. Trading on South Korea's Kospi index was halted for the third time this week to prevent panic selling.

A CryptoQuant report told Michael Saylor's Strategy to pause Bitcoin purchases and rebuild cash reserves heading into the second half of the year. Recommendation lands as Bitcoin trades at its lowest level since October 2024.

Micron reported Q3 revenue of $41.46 billion, more than quadrupling year-over-year as AI-driven memory demand outstripped supply. Management said chip-supply constraints will likely persist past 2027, with Apple's price hike Thursday the clearest downstream signal of the squeeze.

ON Semiconductor announced its acquisition of Synaptics to expand into physical-AI markets, with the deal adding $30 billion to ON Semi's total addressable market for 2030. The combined company now competes across edge-AI sensors, automotive systems, and consumer device controllers.

The Chan Zuckerberg Initiative's Biohub announced new grants for the rare-disease community alongside an expanded AI drug-repurposing partnership with Every Cure. Initiative pairs the foundation's research budget with AI tools designed to identify existing drugs effective against ultra-rare conditions.

As Greece braces for another blistering fire season, a new line of defense is taking shape in orbit using satellite imagery and AI detection. The system aims to surface ignition events within minutes rather than hours, reshaping response timelines.

Christian Pulisic returned to the field for the United States on Thursday, just in time to warm up for the World Cup matches that really matter next week. The US closes group play against Turkey before the knockout round, with Pulisic the team's primary attacking creator.

Pete Crow-Armstrong laced an RBI double in the 10th inning as the Cubs beat the Mets 4-3 to complete a four-game sweep of a New York team now in free fall. Chicago has won ten of its last twelve, while the Mets' slide hits its fourth straight week.

Tatsuya Imai struck out 10 across six scoreless innings, and Taylor Trammell homered as the Astros beat the Tigers 2-1 Thursday night. Imai's outing extended a stretch in which Houston starters have dominated AL Central opponents.

The Athletics scored four runs with two outs in the ninth on Jonah Heim's RBI single and Lawrence Butler's go-ahead hit, rallying past the Giants 9-6. Late comeback gave Oakland's relievers their second walkoff escape this month.

RATES HAVE DROPPED

If you financed your car in the last few years, there's a good chance you locked in your rate at the worst possible time.

Rates have since come down — but your loan didn't follow. It's still charging you the old rate, every single month.

That's where RefiJet comes in. Refinancing through RefiJet takes minutes to check, costs nothing to apply, and won't impact your credit score.

Customers who refinance to lower their payment save an average of $150/month*.

Rates as low as 4.49% are available for qualified borrowers, and RefiJet has an A+ BBB rating to back it up.

Your old rate isn't doing you any favors. Check what today's rates could do for your payment.

See if you qualify for a lower rate

*Monthly Payment Claim: This average monthly auto loan payment savings reflects loans where the borrower chose to lower their monthly payment. Not every auto refinance is intended to lower monthly payment. These savings are not guaranteed. Individual savings and rates may differ

_{Please support our sponsors!}

Olivia Rodrigo's third album, You Seem Pretty Sad for a Girl So in Love, opened at career-high first-week numbers on the Billboard 200 chart. Sales mix of vinyl, streaming, and bundle preorders made it the strongest opening week of any 2026 pop release to date.

A Shrek-universe spinoff titled Donkey, built around the Eddie Murphy character, is coming to theaters in 2028. DreamWorks is positioning the project as the first solo-character feature in the franchise since the 2010 finale.

A 1943 Norman Rockwell suite of illustrations titled So You Want to See the President! goes on public view Thursday in Washington, depicting a procession of visitors waiting to see Franklin Delano Roosevelt. Exhibit lands in the middle of the America 250 anniversary calendar across the Mall.

What it is: Two earthquakes — magnitudes 7.2 and 7.5 — struck near Caracas less than a minute apart Wednesday, the largest Venezuela has recorded since 1900. Seismologists now believe the rapid back-to-back sequence may have involved two separate fault lines firing in succession rather than a single rupture with aftershocks.

The detail: Northern Venezuela sits at the intersection of the Caribbean and South American plates, with several faults that converge under and around Caracas in a tectonically complex zone. The geometry meant that the second shock arrived before residents had time to evacuate buildings damaged in the first, contributing significantly to the casualty count emerging from the capital.

Why it matters: Building codes across Caracas were last comprehensively updated in 1998, and large portions of the city's housing stock are masonry construction from earlier decades that the codes never reached. Disaster will test whether Venezuela's emergency-response infrastructure, weakened by years of economic crisis, can absorb a recovery cycle of this scale without significant international support.

What to watch: Watch for international seismology teams to publish formal multi-fault analyses within ten days, which will shape how Caribbean-rim cities reassess their own near-term earthquake risk. Also watch the politics — President Maduro's government had no functioning capital while he was detained by US forces in January, and rebuilding decisions are now landing on an interim administration with limited legal standing under Venezuela's constitution.

That is today’s Five Minute Daily. Share it with someone who wants the news without the noise.

—The Five Minute Daily Team