5 Big News Stories Overnight - Thursday, April 30, 2026

U.S.: Artificial Intelligence Takes Over

Bloomberg reports:

Four of the biggest US companies—Alphabet, Amazon, Meta and Microsoft—reported earnings after the bell on Wednesday. And it’s all about AI.

Meta raised its spending outlook for the year, extending its streak of plowing historic levels of investment into the artificial intelligence race. The social-media giant projected full-year capital expenditures between $125 billion and $145 billion, far exceeding analysts’ estimates. Shares fell 4.4% in after-hours trading. They had risen 1.4% this year through Wednesday’s close in New York.

Alphabet reported quarterly revenue and profit that beat projections. Google’s parent company said first-quarter revenue, excluding partner payouts, was $94.7 billion, compared with the $91.6 billion expected on average by analysts, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.

Amazon’s cloud unit posted its fastest quarterly growth in more than three years, bolstered by new data center capacity and an increasing slice of business from Anthropic and OpenAI. Still, capital spending for that effort jumped to $44.2 billion in the first quarter, exceeding analysts’ expectations, a sign that Amazon is seeing higher expenses for the build-out than anticipated. 

PHOTO: Cash Macanaya, Unsplash
 

United Kingdom: Jew hate ‘out of control’ in UK

The Telegraph reports:

Anti-Semitic attacks are out of control in the UK, Israel has said after two Jewish men were stabbed in a terror attack in Golders Green.

The Israeli foreign ministry said Sir Keir Starmer’s words were “no substitute for confronting the roots of anti-Semitism” after the men, aged 76 and 34, were stabbed as they walked near a synagogue on Wednesday morning. The victims were taken to hospital and were in a stable condition.

Footage of the moment the attacker struck showed one ultra-Orthodox Jewish man running for his life and screaming for help, while a second victim was stabbed shortly after putting on his skull cap as he waited at a bus stop.

PHOTO: March 22 London Attack, Burning Jewish Ambulances, PHOTO: Chaskel Bennett

U.S.: Saudi Arabia Pulls Funding From LIV Golf. Its Star Players Face a Painful Road Back.

Wall Street Journal reports:

After spending recent weeks on life support, LIV Golf has lost the funding of its Saudi backers.

LIV plans to tell players and staff by Thursday that Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund will no longer bankroll the circuit after this season, according to people familiar with the matter. The move sounds the death knell for the upstart that sowed chaos in professional golf by plowing billions into the sport and poaching A-list players.

The writing had been on the wall for nearly a month. When PIF recently laid out its vision for the next five years, it made no mention of the league that has divided the golf world since it first teed off in 2022. The people said that while LIV has grown the sport globally, the operation was no longer consistent with the new phase of PIF’s investment strategy.

PHOTO: Scott Warman, Unsplash

U.S.: Oil Prices Rocket

New York Times reports:

Oil prices continued to surge on Thursday, hitting a fresh wartime high above $126 a barrel on concerns that the war in Iran could escalate, leading to a longer disruption of fuel supplies from the Middle East.

President Trump maintained his stance that the naval blockade of Iran’s ports would persist until Tehran gives up its nuclear program. His remarks to Axios on Wednesday suggested that the standoff over the Strait of Hormuz, the vital trading route for oil and natural gas supplies, was not nearing a resolution.

After the Federal Reserve held interest rates steady on Wednesday, Jerome H. Powell acknowledged that the war had led to significant uncertainty and policymakers needed to be “very cautious” about their next steps.

Middle East Update

Al Jazeera reports:

- US President Donald Trump says Washington’s blockade of Iranian ports has been a success and urges Tehran to “just give up”.

- At least nine people have been killed in Israeli air strikes across southern Lebanon today, the National News Agency is reporting.

- Iran’s Parliament Speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf dismisses US’s economic pressure campaign as the Iranian military warns its restraint so far has been “intended to give diplomacy a chance”.