“Labor Secretary Lori Chavez-DeRemer will step down from the Trump administration to take a job in the private sector, according to a statement posted Monday by White House communications director Steven Cheung. … Chavez-DeRemer’s brief tenure has been one marked by turmoil as she’s come under internal investigation following complaints within the department about her conduct. The New York Times previously reported that her husband had been banned from the department’s headquarters amid sexual assault allegations. A criminal investigation into that matter has been closed. In March, two of her top aides were forced out amid an investigation into misconduct at the agency, the Times reported.” (04/20/26)
“Peru’s electoral authorities began reviewing thousands of contested ballots on Monday, stalling the count in the April 12 general election and delaying final results, as no clear presidential rival has emerged to face conservative frontrunner Keiko Fujimori in a June runoff. Roughly 6% of polling stations — representing more than one million votes — were challenged last week due to missing information or errors on tally sheets, according to Peru’s National Office of Electoral Processes (ONPE). Peru’s top electoral body, the National Jury of Elections (JNE), said it has started reviewing disputed polling stations in public hearings before adding them to the final tally, a process that could take weeks.” (04/20/26)
“The Federal Aviation Administration grounded Blue Origin’s New Glenn rocket after it shuttled its payload to the wrong orbit during its launch on Sunday, according to a report from the Orlando Sentinel. ‘The FAA is aware that Blue Origin New Glenn 3 experienced a mishap during the second-stage flight sequence following a successful launch,’ the FAA said in a statement obtained by the Orlando Sentinel. … Though the rocket’s reusable booster returned to its landing pad without issue, the rocket’s upper stage failed to deliver AST SpaceMobile’s BlueBird 7 satellite. … Blue Origin confirmed that its second stage shut off its engines and was in a ‘coast phase’ after reaching an ‘off-nominal’ orbit, but it didn’t provide any other details about what went wrong or when it will return to Earth.” (04/20/26)
“FBI Director Kash Patel on Monday morning filed a lawsuit seeking $250 million in damages from The Atlantic magazine for what he claims is a defamatory article that alleges he abuses alcohol. Patel over the weekend had vowed to sue The Atlantic for the article published on Friday, which was carried the headline ‘Kash Patel’s Erratic Behavior Could Cost Him His Job.’ ‘The FBI director has alarmed colleagues with episodes of excessive drinking and unexplained absences,’ the article’s subhed says. Patel’s suit was filed in U.S. District Court in Washington, D.C. … The Atlantic, in a statement to CNBC, said, ‘We stand by our reporting on Kash Patel, and we will vigorously defend The Atlantic and our journalists against this meritless lawsuit.'” (04/20/26)
“Hungarian election winner Péter Magyar on Monday announced the first round of his incoming government’s Cabinet members, including nominees for ministers of foreign affairs, finance and economy, following the first meeting of his party’s parliamentary group. Magyar and his center-right Tisza party defeated Prime Minister Viktor Orbán in a landslide election on April 12, securing a two-thirds majority in Hungary’s next parliament which will make it possible to undo many of the policies Orbán implemented during his 16 years in power. The opposition leader has vowed to restore democratic institutions and the rule of law which eroded under Orbán’s rule, and to hold accountable those who he says were responsible for overseeing and benefiting from widespread official corruption. Magyar’s party gained 141 seats out of 199 in parliament — the largest majority in Hungary’s post-Communist history. Orbán’s far-right, euroskeptic Fidesz party will control 52 seats, down from 135 before the election.” (04/20/26)
“Four anti-narcotics agents, including two American embassy workers, were killed in a car accident while returning from a major drug raid in northern Mexico, prosecutors said Sunday. On Friday and Saturday, six clandestine synthetic drug labs were raided in Morelos, in the northern state of Chihuahua, following a three-month investigation, state prosecutor Cesar Jauregui told reporters. The victims’ vehicle, which was leading an official convoy of five cars, skidded off the road and plunged into a ravine, he said. The Americans killed were ‘instructor officers’ who ‘were carrying out training tasks’ as part of anti-drug cooperation between the U.S. and Mexico, Jauregui said.” (04/20/26)
“Harvard University is once again facing intense scrutiny over its long and controversial association with Jeffrey Epstein, after newly released US Justice Department documents reportedly revealed that several faculty members continued to maintain contact with him even after he served jail time and was registered as a sex offender. … the newly released files show that Epstein’s connections with Harvard extended far beyond donations and social access. The documents reportedly suggest that professors continued to visit him, endorse him and even acknowledge him in academic work after his 2008 conviction and subsequent release from jail.” (04/20/26)
“Slovenia’s outgoing prime minister, Robert Golob, on Monday said that his liberal Freedom Movement (GS), which narrowly won a parliamentary vote in March, would go into opposition after failing to secure a majority coalition, indicating that centre-right parties would form a government. GS won 29 of the 90 seats in parliament, followed by the right-leaning Slovenian Democratic Party (SDS) of populist, pro-Trump ex-prime minister Janez Jansa on 28. Along with smaller parties that have typically supported them, GS would have 40 MPs while SDS would have 43 seats, leaving both in need of support from elsewhere.” (04/20/26)
“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)
