Doug Krisner

That is First Lady Melania Trump.

The White House has reportedly warned staff against improperly leveraging their positions to place well-timed bets in the futures markets.

The Wall Street Journal reports a mysterious flurry of activity in the futures markets occurred about 15 minutes before President Trump announced plans to pause strikes against Iran.

More than $760 million worth of oil futures contracts changed hands in less than two minutes.

A federal judge has dismissed a lawsuit brought by the Department of Justice over state voter rolls in Massachusetts.

The judge said the DOJ did not take the necessary steps required to access voter rolls as outlined in federal law, nor did the DOJ provide a factual basis for the demand.

Now, this marks the latest setback in the Trump administration's effort to collect voter data.

And in another ruling against the Trump administration, a federal judge rejected a second attempt by the Department of Defense to restrict reporters' access to the Pentagon.

Earlier, the Pentagon changed the wording of a provision barring journalists from seeking confidential information from government sources.

However, the New York Times reports the judge declared the Pentagon's new policy was essentially unconstitutional.

And that is news when you want it.

With Bloomberg News Now, I'm Doug Krisner, and this is Bloomberg.

News when you want it.

With Bloomberg News Now, I'm Doug Krisner.

The U.S.

and Iran are preparing for peace talks this weekend in Pakistan, and Israeli strikes in Lebanon are sure to be a major issue.

Iran called it a clear violation of a ceasefire agreed this week.

However, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said there is no ceasefire in Lebanon.

Netanyahu did agree to hold talks with Lebanon with a focus on disarming Hezbollah.

Early on Thursday, the Israeli military told residents in eight Beirut neighborhoods to leave ahead of strikes.