Student protests over the Israel-Hamas war have popped up on an increasing number of U.S. college campuses following last week’s arrest of more than 100 demonstrators at Columbia University. The students are calling for universities to separate themselves from any companies that are advancing Israel’s military efforts in Gaza — and in some cases from Israel itself. Protests on many campuses have been orchestrated by coalitions of student groups. The groups largely act independently, though students say they’re inspired by peers at other universities.

Defense attorney Emil Bove has questioned former National Enquirer publisher David Pecker on his recollection of specific dates and meetings relevant to Donald Trump's hush money trial in New York. The grilling Thursday marked an apparent effort to underscore the difficulty of recalling details concerning the years-old allegations. After noting Pecker had mistakenly told a grand jury the wrong week that the former president was in New York City, Bove suggested he may have gaps in his memory that he must fill in using assumptions. Pecker rejected that premise. He says his testimony was based on his “best recollection of the time.”

Stocks closed lower on worries about a potentially toxic cocktail for financial markets, one where inflation remains stubbornly high but the economy’s growth flags. A sharp drop for Meta Platforms, one of Wall Street’s most influential stocks, also dragged the market lower. The S&P 500 fell 0.5% Thursday after paring an earlier drop of 1.6%. The Dow Jones Industrial Average lost 1%, and the Nasdaq composite gave back 0.6%. Treasury yields climbed after the government reported that inflation remained hotter than forecast during the first three months of the year. The economy's growth also slowed more than expected.

United Methodist delegates have overwhelmingly endorsed a constitutional amendment seen by advocates as a way of defusing debates over the role of LGBTQ people in the church. It seeks to do that by giving rule-making autonomy to each region of the international church. Delegates voted 586-164 for the “regionalization” proposal on the third day of their 11-day General Conference, the legislative body of the United Methodist Church. It is meeting in Charlotte, North Carolina. The plan would create multiple regional conferences —- one for the United States and others covering areas ranging from the Philippines to Europe to Africa.

BNSF will become the second major freight railroad to allow some of its employees to report safety concerns anonymously through a federal system without fear of discipline. The Federal Railroad Administration announced Thursday that the railroad owned by Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway had agreed to let its roughly 650 dispatchers participate in the program all the major railroads promised to join after last year's disastrous Norfolk Southern derailment in Ohio. Until NS became the first major railroad to sign on in January, all the major freight railroads had resisted joining because they wanted the ability to discipline workers who use the hotline in certain circumstances.

The former publisher of the National Enquirer testified at Donald Trump’s hush money trial about going to great lengths to help shield his old friend from potentially damaging stories. The efforts relied on a catch-and-kill scheme prosecutors allege amounted to interference in the 2016 presidential campaign. At the same time, the U.S. Supreme Court heard arguments Thursday in a different criminal matter involving Trump, who has claimed that he should be immune from prosecution over his efforts to reverse his 2020 election loss to Joe Biden.

The man who fatally shot retired NFL star Will Smith after a car crash in 2016 has received a 25-year prison sentence following his January conviction on a manslaughter charge. Thursday's hearing in New Orleans marked the second time 36-year-old Cardell Hayes had faced sentencing in the killing. He was convicted of manslaughter in 2016 and later sentenced to 25 years. But the jury vote had been 10-2 and the conviction was later tossed after the Supreme Court outlawed such non-unanimous verdicts. Hayes was convicted by a unanimous jury in January, despite Hayes’ insistence that he had fired in self-defense, thinking that Smith had retrieved a gun from his SUV.