“Serbia could lose access to around 1.5 billion euros ($1.8 billion) in European Union funds if it fails to halt democratic backsliding, EU Enlargement Commissioner Marta Kos warned on Monday. International monitors have said they had witnessed violence and irregularities during last month’s local elections in 10 Serbian municipalities. ‘We are increasingly worried about what is happening in Serbia,’ Kos told EU lawmakers. She said the European Commission is ‘assessing whether the country still fulfills the conditions for payments under the EU’s financial instruments.’ Kos said the commission’s concerns range from ‘laws that undermine the independence of the judiciary, to crackdowns on protesters and recurrent meddling in independent media.’ Serbia qualifies for a big slice of an EU fund to promote growth in countries trying to join the bloc if they carry out reforms. Kos said Belgrade has received 110 million euros ($130 million), but that still ‘leaves around 1.5 billion under a question mark.'” (04/20/26)
“Eli Lilly will acquire biotech company Kelonia Therapeutics in a deal worth up to $7 billion, the company said Monday. Lilly will pay $3.25 billion upfront, and the remaining payments are contingent upon clinical, regulatory and commercial milestones, it said. The transaction is expected to close in the second half of 2026. Kelonia is developing technology to reprogram patients’ T-cells inside the body so those cells can attack cancer, called in vivo CAR-T. Current treatments require that work to be done outside the body, or ex vivo, a process that involves harvesting cells, engineering them in a lab and then reintroducing them. While logistically intensive, the procedure has been successful for blood cancers like multiple myeloma.” (04/20/26)
“The U.S. Supreme Court declined on Monday to hear a bid by parents to sue a public school district in Massachusetts over actions by teachers and officials to support the gender identity of students by not disclosing name or pronoun changes to parents without the child’s consent. The justices turned away an appeal by the parents of a student who had self-identified as ‘genderqueer’ while attending a middle school in the Massachusetts town of Ludlow after a lower court threw out their lawsuit. The plaintiffs claimed officials treated their child as nonbinary and hid this information from them in violation of their fundamental parental rights as protected by the U.S. Constitution’s 14th Amendment promise of due process.” (04/20/26)
“British police overnight arrested two teens in connection with an attempted arson of a London synagogue, authorities said Monday as they investigate a rash of recent attacks targeting the Jewish community as possible terrorism. A Metropolitan Police spokesperson told UPI in an emailed statement Monday that a 17-year-old boy and a 19-year-old man were arrested overnight …. There have been at least five separate arson attacks in London since four ambulances used by the Jewish community in Golders Green were set ablaze March 23. … The Met’s Counter Terrorism Policing unit is leading an investigation into all of these incidents, Deputy Assistant Commissioner Vicki Evans told reporters outside Kenton United in a Sunday press conference, stating that the ‘nature’ of all the crimes has been similar — ‘arson attacks targeting Israeli- and Jewish-linked premises in London.'” (04/20/26)
“Michael Saylor’s Strategy (MSTR) added 34,164 bitcoin to its treasury last week at an average price of about $74,395 per coin, for a total cost of roughly $2.54 billion, according to a Monday filing. The purchases bring the company’s total holdings to 815,061 BTC, acquired for approximately $61.56 billion at an average cost basis of $75,527. With BTC currently trading at around $75,000, Strategy’s stash is currently break-even. Strategy is the world’s largest publicly listed bitcoin holder. It began acquiring BTC as a balance sheet asset in 2020.” (04/20/26)
“Apple CEO Tim Cook is stepping down from the job that he inherited from the late Steve Jobs, ending a nearly 15-year reign that saw the company’s market value soar by more than $3.6 trillion during an iPhone-fueled era of prosperity. Cook, 65, will turn the CEO duties to Apple’s head of hardware engineering, John Ternus, on September 1 while remaining involved with the Cupertino, California, company as executive chairman. That’s similar to the transitions made by Amazon’s Jeff Bezos and Netflix’s Reed Hastings after they ended their highly successful tenures as CEO.” (04/20/26)
“British Prime Minister Keir Starmer acknowledged Monday that he made the wrong judgment when he picked Jeffrey Epstein ’s friend Peter Mandelson as U.K. ambassador to Washington, batting away a barrage of calls to resign over a scandal that has left his leadership teetering. Starmer said he would have withdrawn the appointment if he’d known Mandelson had failed security checks, as he tried to explain why Mandelson was given the U.K.’s most important diplomatic post. Starmer placed blame squarely on Foreign Office officials who he said failed to tell him about the security concerns and approved Mandelson’s appointment despite them. Starmer told lawmakers in the House of Commons that ‘I would not have gone ahead with the appointment’ had he known the truth.” (04/20/26)
“Jay Foreman said he’s ‘locked and loaded’ for the U.S. government’s April 20 launch of a new system to refund up to $166 billion in illegally collected tariffs, but he and many other importers are realistic that much could still go wrong. ‘You have to be worried about what they could possibly do to jam things up,’ said the CEO of toymaker Basic Fun, which sells Tonka trucks, Care Bears and K’Nex construction toys. The refund system is the latest twist in a drawn-out battle over tariffs collected over the past year …. The constantly shifting tariffs roiled global business as companies rushed to shift supply chains to avoid them as well as figure out who would ultimately pay the taxes. The Supreme Court in February struck down the tariffs President Trump pursued under a law meant for use in national emergencies, handing the president a stinging defeat.” (04/20/26)
Source: Radio France Internationale [French state media]
“Billionaire Elon Musk has been summoned to Paris, where investigators are looking into allegations of misconduct related to the social media platform X, including the spread of child sexual abuse material and deepfake content. Musk, the world’s richest man, and Linda Yaccarino – the former CEO of X – have been called for voluntary interviews on Monday, the Paris prosecutor’s office said. It is unclear whether either will attend. Prosecutors said the interviews would allow executives to ‘present their position’ and outline compliance measures. They described the inquiry as a ‘constructive approach’ aimed at ensuring X complies with French law.” (04/20/26)
“The clip-clop of horse hooves echoed as Paul Revere rode through the streets of Boston’s North End on Monday — a reenactment of his historic midnight ride, but with some modern-day tweaks: this time, the revolutionary hero set out under bright daylight and a police escort. Residents lined the narrow streets as the rider passed, some lifting phones to record while others waved, clapped and called out, ‘Here he comes!’ and ‘We love you, Paul!’ The ride cut through dense city blocks where everyday life continued alongside the spectacle — people walking dogs, jogging and moving through parks and apartment-lined streets, some pausing to watch, others carrying on. Mary McCabe, who came from Lowell with her daughter Cecily, said it was interesting ‘just to see how different messages traveled back then.’ Cecily, who said she loves learning about the American Revolution, said seeing the reenactment in person made history feel more real.” (04/20/26)
