Israel has killed more than 700 people in Gaza since last year’s US-brokered ‘ceasefire’.
Published On 21 Apr 202621 Apr 2026
Dubai-based logistics giant DP World has held talks with representatives linked to Donald Trump’s so-called “Board of Peace” over managing supply chains and infrastructure projects in Gaza, according to the Financial Times (FT) newspaper.
The talks reportedly explored whether the state-owned company could partner with the group to oversee logistics for humanitarian aid and commercial goods entering the besieged Palestinian enclave.
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That would include warehousing, cargo tracking systems and security arrangements, the report said. Other proposals discussed reportedly included building a new port in Gaza or on Egypt’s nearby Mediterranean coast, as well as creating a free-trade zone inside the war-ravaged territory.
The discussions form part of longstanding proposals by US officials to privatise much of the Palestinian territory’s services and infrastructure as part of their plans for a “new Gaza”.
But critics have accused such plans of sidelining Palestinians, bypassing international institutions, including the United Nations, and risking legitimisation of the forced displacement of Palestinians from their land.
The report comes as progress towards peace in Gaza has stalled. Israel continues to occupy large swaths of the enclave, while aid access remains heavily restricted despite a US-brokered “ceasefire” announced last October. Since then, Israeli attacks have killed more than 700 people and injured about 2,000, according to the Palestinian Ministry of Health.
The FT said a draft proposal it reviewed described a vision for a “secure and traceable supply chain system” and a “port-led economic ecosystem”, alongside light industry and job-creation platforms.
It was not clear who drafted the document or how far the talks progressed.
A spokesperson for DP World told the newspaper they were not aware of any discussions. The United Arab Emirates’ Ministry of Foreign Affairs did not respond to FT’s request for comment.
DP World, owned by the Dubai government, is one of the world’s largest port operators and says it handles about 10 percent of global trade daily across more than 80 countries.
The company’s senior leadership was reshuffled after longtime chair Sultan Ahmed bin Sulayem stepped down in February following scrutiny over his links to the late convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.
Meanwhile, discussions linked to Gaza’s reconstruction have continued behind the scenes, including talks with companies in the security, finance and technology sectors, the FT said.
A joint assessment by the European Union, UN and World Bank said Gaza will require $71.4bn for reconstruction over the next 10 years, including $23bn needed in the next 18 months.
Voters in Virginia head to the polls on Tuesday to decide on a measure that could redraw the state’s congressional map and potentially shift the balance of power in Washington.
Major political figures, including former President Barack Obama and House of Representatives Speaker Mike Johnson, have weighed in on the high-stakes vote, with nearly $100m spent on campaigning around it.
Part of a broader redistricting battle that began in Texas and spread nationwide, the vote may be the Democrats’ last chance this year to gain seats by changing district maps. The vote comes about six months before the 2026 midterm elections.
Here is what we know:
What is Virginia voting on?
Virginia currently sends 11 members to the House. At the moment, six of them are Democrats, and five are Republicans, reflecting the state’s balance.
Democrats now want to redraw the map to favour them in a way that could help them win up to 10 of the 11 seats. Under the proposal, most districts would be safely Democratic or lean towards the party, with only one strongly Republican.
A breakdown would be:
Eight districts would be safely Democratic
Two would be competitive but lean Democratic
Only one would be safely Republican
If approved, this could give the Democrats several extra seats in Congress, helping them win back or strengthen control of the House in Washington, where majorities are often decided by just a few seats.
That would be a big political shift for the state, which was once closely contested but has become more Democratic-leaning in recent years.
Supporters depart a campaign rally against Virginia Democrats’ proposed state redistricting constitutional amendment [FILE: Ken Cedeno/Reuters]
How would the vote work?
Voters in Virginia can cast their ballots either early or on Election Day.
Polling stations will be open across the state on Tuesday:
Polls open at 10:00 GMT
Polls close at 23:00 GMT
Votes will be counted after polls close, with early results expected later that evening and fuller results overnight or the next day.
What are voters being asked to decide?
The proposed constitutional amendment is the only statewide contest on the ballot.
It reads:
“Should the Constitution of Virginia be amended to allow the General Assembly to temporarily adopt new congressional districts to restore fairness in the upcoming elections, while ensuring Virginia’s standard redistricting process resumes for all future redistricting after the 2030 census?”
A “yes” vote would support allowing the General Assembly to redraw congressional districts before the midterms.
A “no” vote would leave current boundaries unchanged until the next round of regularly scheduled redistricting after the 2030 census.
What do the latest polls suggest?
The result is expected to be close.
A recent poll by State Navigate, a nonpartisan research group, suggests a small lead for supporters, with about 53 percent in favour and 47 percent against.
Why do district lines matter so much?
District lines decide how voters are grouped, which can shape who wins elections.
Moving the lines can make a district more favourable to a Democratic or Republican win, by adding or removing neighbourhoods and communities that lean one way or the other.
It can turn a close race into a safe seat, or the other way around. It affects which communities are kept together and who represents them.
This process, often called gerrymandering, allows parties to draw maps that benefit them.
In a closely divided state like Virginia, even small changes to the map can shift several seats and influence who holds power in Congress.
A 2023 study by Harvard University researchers found that gerrymandering often creates “safe” seats for politicians, meaning their races are less competitive.
In turn, those politicians become less responsive to the needs of their constituents, who become discouraged about voting as a result.
Supporters pray during a campaign rally against Virginia Democrats’ proposed state redistricting constitutional amendment [Ken Cedeno/Reuters]
When could new maps take effect?
If approved, the new map could be used as early as the next election cycle, including the upcoming midterms, depending on legal approval.
However, the plan could face legal challenges. Critics have questioned the ballot wording and the process used by lawmakers.
The Virginia Supreme Court has allowed the vote to go ahead while reviewing those concerns.
If it later finds that rules were broken, the results could be overturned, and the current maps would remain.
Why this vote could shape power in Washington?
A handful of seats could decide control of the US House.
Republicans currently hold a narrow 218–213 majority, but Democrats are seen as competitive heading into the midterms.
Political leaders have underscored the stakes.
Hakeem Jeffries, the Democratic Party’s leader in the House, has pointed to Virginia as a crucial battleground, while Mike Johnson has said the result will be closely watched across the country.
US House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) speaks during a campaign rally [Reuters]
What it means to control the US House
The party with the majority (more seats) in Congress can:
Set the agenda, deciding which bills are brought up for debate
Control committees, including investigations and hearings
Pass legislation more easily (if they stay united)
Block bills from the minority party.
The majority party also chooses the speaker of the House, who has major influence over what reaches the floor.
Where else has this happened?
Virginia’s redistricting vote is part of a larger political battle playing out in the US. Republicans in Texas, encouraged by Donald Trump, have redrawn district maps to strengthen their advantage, prompting similar efforts in other states.
In rare cases, voters have been asked to decide directly, including in California last year and now in Virginia.
In California, voters backed the changes despite concerns about fairness. Now it’s Virginia’s turn to decide.
What Democrats are saying, and why?
Democrats argue the plan is a response to Republican actions in other states, not just a power grab.
Leaders like Obama had long opposed gerrymandering in principle, but have now backed the Virginia move, even releasing a video asking voters to go out and vote for the constitutional amendment.
Seoul police have applied for a warrant to detain Bang Si-hyuk, chair and founder of Hybe, over alleged securities fraud tied to the K-pop conglomerate’s public listing, Reuters reported.
Bang established Hybe – then known as Big Hit Entertainment – in 2005, building it into the most powerful company in the K-pop industry. The Seoul-based group is home to BTS, Seventeen, Le Sserafim and Katseye, among others.
Authorities allege that Bang gave early shareholders false assurances in 2019 that a stock market debut was not on the horizon, inducing them to sell their stakes to a private equity vehicle connected to his associates. According to Reuters, once Hybe went public the fund exited its position, and Bang is suspected of collecting around 30% of those proceeds through a prior arrangement with shareholders – generating an estimated KRW190 billion ($129.1 million) in illegal profits. Reuters reported that Bang has previously denied wrongdoing and that Hybe declined to respond when approached for comment.
The legal exposure is severe. The Korea Times noted that under the Capital Market Act, any person who nets KRW5 billion or more by making false representations about a financial product faces a prison term of at minimum five years, with a life sentence possible at the upper end.
The Korea Times also reported that investigators received their first information about the alleged conduct in late 2024 and moved to search both the Korea Exchange and Hybe’s headquarters the following year. Bang has been questioned five times and held under a travel ban – a restriction that drew a diplomatic response, with the U.S. Embassy in Seoul writing to the police agency to request that Bang be allowed to enter the country in connection with BTS’s world tour.
Hybe’s stock swung sharply on the news, Reuters reported, dropping 2.9% at a point when South Korea’s broader KOSPI index was trading up 1.8%. The timing is particularly sensitive for the company: BTS drew tens of thousands of fans to a free comeback concert in Seoul last month – the group’s first live shows after nearly four years away during which members fulfilled mandatory military obligations – and has since played further dates in Goyang and Tokyo. A U.S. leg of the tour is due to open in Tampa, Fla., later this month. A court must still approve the warrant before Bang can be taken into custody.
Cryptocurrency exchange Binance has announced it will remove certain trading pairs from its margin trading platform. According to the official statement, the removal of these margin trading pairs will take effect on April 24, 2026, at 09:00 AM.
According to the announcement, a number of currency pairs will be delisted, affecting both cross-margin and isolated margin trading. The pairs to be removed under cross-margin include $AAVE/$ETH, $STX/$BTC, $ICP/$BTC, $SEI/$BTC, $AAVE/$BTC, $UNI/$BTC, $LTC/$ETH, $NEAR/$BTC, $XLM/$BTC, and $ADA/$ETH. On the isolated margin side, the following pairs will be delisted: $STX/$BTC, $ICP/$BTC, $SEI/$BTC, $AAVE/$BTC, $UNI/$BTC, $LTC/$ETH, $NEAR/$BTC, $XLM/$BTC, and $ADA/$ETH.
Binance stated that these decisions are made as a result of regular reviews aimed at ensuring user safety and maintaining high quality standards in the market. The exchange emphasized that factors such as low liquidity, insufficient trading volume, and changes in market conditions influence such delisting decisions.
Users were reminded that they should close their open positions and take necessary precautions before the specified date. Otherwise, automatic liquidation procedures may be applied by the system.
Experts say that these regular list updates help maintain market health and that investors should pay more attention to risk management.
The Playmaker has saddled up to handle international sales duties for Sonja Maria Kröner’s family adventure film “Horse on a Stick,” which will have its market premiere at Cannes Film Market.
The film, which opens in German theaters on April 23, distributed by Port au Prince, is produced by Lieblingsfilm, whose previous production, comedy “Extrawurst,” is Germany’s most successful box office release of this year so far, with a $21.9 million gross from 1.9 million admissions.
“Horse on a Stick” is based on the real-life Finnish phenomenon of hobby horsing: competitive tournaments in which teenagers perform dressage and show jumping routines on handmade hobby horses.
The film follows 13-year-old Sarah from Munich, who discovers her passion for hobby horsing. In the hunt for a trophy, she travels to Finland with Beatrice, also 13, to compete in the Hobby Horse Championship.
“’Horse on a Stick’ is a fun, lovely, and empowering adventure and friendship story about finding yourself and sticking to it no matter what,” Ramona Sehr, head of acquisitions at The Playmaker, said.
“When I first heard screenwriter Gerlind Becker’s pitch for ‘Horse on a Stick,’ I knew straight away this would be an enchanting story closely tied to the everyday lives of the children’s target audience,” producer Philipp Budweg said.
The Playmaker said the film carries a universal message: passion and friendship transcend where you come from. Its protagonist documents her journey on social media, and the film’s “TikTok-ready subject matter makes it a story that speaks directly to today’s generation,” the company added.
“Horse on a Stick” is shot by DOP Julia Daschner. Principal photography took place in Munich and Lithuania, with the film’s championship sequences set in Finland. The film’s score was composed by Inéz and Demian Kappenstein, the duo behind German electronic-indie act Ätna. The film stars Manon Debaille, Chiara Kitsopoulou and Aurelia Ott.
“Horse on a Stick” is produced by Budweg for Lieblingsfilm in co-production with ZDF and KiKA. The production was supported and funded by FFF Bayern, MDM Mitteldeutsche Medienförderung, Hessenfilm & Medien, BKM, Kuratorium Junger Deutscher Film, FFA and DFFF.
Five Japanese filmmakers developed through the Atmovie Global Track will pitch new projects at the Cannes Film Market during the Cannes Film Festival, with the debut timed to Japan‘s designation as Country of Honor at this year’s market.
The accelerator, funded by the Japan Creator Support Fund under the Agency for Cultural Affairs and administered by Japan Arts Council, ran a lab of 14 fellows with international mentors before selecting five projects for a dedicated industry showcase.
“While Japan is often seen as a source of adaptable IP, this initiative highlights creators empowering their own stories to the global market in their own voices,” said Moriya Takeshi, chief producer and founder of the program, whose credits include “Midnight Diner” and “Midnight Swan.”
The selected slate spans tone and genre. Seki Shun’s “Her Voice” follows girls in a juvenile detention center who stage a rehabilitative operetta. Joya Yoshimi’s “Almost Goodbye” centers on a hikikomori man sustaining a false identity through nightly visits to a convenience store. Furuyama Tomomi’s “My Missing Half” is a darkly comic Japan-Philippines road movie rooted in the Filipino manananggal myth. Arai Soji’s “Their Own Sake,” drawn from a true story, tracks a Japanese sake brewer attempting to practice his craft in the Arizona desert alongside his Navajo wife. Miyase Sachiko’s “Portrait of Absence” follows three middle-aged women traveling to Europe in search of a missing friend.
“What’s emerging here is not just Japanese content, but globally viable cinema at script stage,” said Deepti Chawla of Inflixious Content & Art India, a key international collaborator on the initiative and executive producer on Cannes 2024 title “The Shameless” and associate producer on Annecy Grand Prix winner “Sultana’s Dream.” “The focus is on building projects that travel early – structurally, financially and creatively. That shift is what makes this slate relevant to international partners.”
The program’s mentors include James Bang and Jenna Ku of the Busan Asian Film School, whose credits span “The World of Love” and “Little Forest.” A broader network of producers from Japan, the U.S., the U.K., Taiwan, and India is also engaged, among them Eiko Mizuno-Gray (“Plan 75”), Yamaguchi Shin (“Rental Family”), Yanagimoto Chiaki (“Aum”), and Suzuki Lancaster Fumie (“Fujiko”).
The five filmmakers will pitch to producers, financiers, and sales agents during Cannes, with additional curated pitch events and networking receptions planned at the Japan Pavilion.
If Instagram has been turning your color photo posts into black and white recently, don’t worry, there’s no problem with your camera or your account. The Meta-owned app has confirmed to Engadget that the issue is caused by a bug that’s affecting HDR photos in particular. “Earlier today, a technical issue caused some HDR photos to appear incorrectly as black-and-white for a subset of accounts,” Instagram has told us. However, we see complaints dated April 18 and 19, so the issue has been going on a bit longer for some people.
Regardless of when the bug started causing problems, the Instagram team said it has since corrected the issue. If your posts are still showing up in black and white, Instagram said the fix will automatically turn your affected photo posts back to their original state over the next few hours. “We apologize for any inconvenience,” they added.
While the quantum computing threat has long been considered a theoretical risk in the cryptocurrency sector, recent research has made it a more concrete issue, and Ripple has taken a significant step in this area.
The company announced on Monday a multi-stage roadmap aiming to build a quantum-resistant structure for the $XRP Ledger (XRPL) by 2028.
Ripple’s plan envisions a gradual transition rather than a sudden overhaul of existing systems. This involves first testing quantum-resistant cryptography solutions, then deploying a hybrid model to work alongside the existing infrastructure, and finally scaling these systems. The company is also collaborating with Project Eleven to accelerate the development process, which includes validator testing and the development of early-stage storage prototypes.
One of the notable elements of the quantum threat preparedness plan was the emergency scenario called “Quantum-Day” (Q-Day). This plan includes a transition mechanism that would allow users to securely move their assets to quantum-resistant accounts in the event that current cryptographic standards are compromised.
Behind these developments lies a recent study published by Google Quantum AI. This research revealed that sufficiently advanced quantum computers could break existing cryptographic algorithms used in blockchains by 2032. These algorithms are critical for the security of wallets, transaction signing processes, and the protection of digital assets.
Although there is no direct risk today, experts say the threat has moved from being theoretical to a “credible” level. Specifically, in the so-called “collect now, decrypt later” scenario, malicious actors could collect open cryptographic data on the blockchain today and decrypt it in the future using quantum computers.
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Ripple points out that this risk could have significant consequences specifically for XRPL. Every account connected to the network makes its public key visible on the chain when signing a transaction, and this could create a potential security vulnerability in the quantum age. Protecting accounts that hold assets for the long term is among the primary objectives.
On the other hand, it is added that XRPL already has some advantages. Thanks to the network’s built-in key rotation feature, users can switch to more secure keys over time without changing their existing accounts. This feature provides significant flexibility not found in many blockchains, allowing users to adapt to security updates without having to move their assets to new addresses.
Ripple officials state that the quantum transition is not a one-off update, but a comprehensive transformation encompassing performance, storage, usability, and protocol design. Therefore, the company is pursuing a multi-stage strategy aimed at minimizing disruption to the transition in a potential “Q-Day” scenario, while preserving the strengths of the current system.
A chunk of the Kelp DAO haul is no longer going anywhere.
Arbitrum’s Security Council froze 30,766 $ETH worth roughly $71 million on Monday night, moving funds linked to Saturday’s $292 million rsETH exploit into an intermediary wallet that can only be accessed through further Arbitrum governance action.
The Arbitrum Security Council has taken emergency action to freeze the 30,766 $ETH being held in the address on Arbitrum One that is connected to the KelpDAO exploit. The Security Council acted with input from law enforcement as to the exploiter’s identity, and, at all times,…
— Arbitrum (@arbitrum) April 21, 2026
The council said it acted on input from law enforcement regarding the exploiter’s identity and executed the freeze “without impacting any Arbitrum users or applications.”
The transfer completed at 11:26 p.m. ET on April 20, according to Arbitrum’s statement on X. The stolen funds are no longer controllable by the address that originally held them.
The move recovers about a quarter of the total amount drained from Kelp’s LayerZero-powered bridge on Saturday, when attackers pulled 116,500 rsETH by exploiting compromised verifier infrastructure. LayerZero attributed the attack with preliminary confidence to North Korea’s Lazarus Group.
Arbitrum is a layer-2 blockchain, meaning a network built on top of Ethereum that processes transactions more cheaply and settles them back to the main chain. Its Security Council is a group of elected signers with emergency powers to take protective action in exactly this kind of scenario, though governance-level interventions on user funds remain rare and controversial because they introduce a degree of discretionary control over an otherwise permissionless network.
The freeze leaves Kelp with a partial recovery option on top of whatever else law enforcement and chain-tracing firms can claw back.
It also escalates the ongoing dispute between Kelp and LayerZero over who bears responsibility for the exploit, since any broader socialization of remaining losses now has a $71 million offset to work with before legal coordination, insurance, or treasury contributions come into play.
Kelp has said it is coordinating with ecosystem partners on a recovery fund and weighing next steps on unpausing, loss socialization, and legal coordination with affected counterparties. LayerZero has not publicly commented on the Arbitrum freeze.
Whether more stolen funds can be frozen depends on where else the attacker moved rsETH or its derivatives before consolidation, and whether other chains with similar emergency powers choose to act on their portions of the flow.
While quantum computing remains a largely theoretical threat to blockchain for now, some projects are already preparing for that eventuality.
Fintech company Ripple has released a detailed four-phase roadmap to make the $XRP Ledger, a decentralized, layer-1 blockchain, quantum-resistant, aiming to reach full readiness by 2028. $XRP, the world’s fourth-largest digital asset by market capitalization, is the native token of the $XRP Ledger. Ripple’s solutions use $XRP Ledger, $XRP, and other digital assets. Ripple is also one of many developers building on and contributing to the $XRP Ledger (XRPL).
Ripple’s announcement comes weeks after Google warned that a quantum computer could potentially attack Bitcoin, the world’s largest blockchain, with less computational power than previously estimated—prompting some analysts to suggest 2029 as the Q-day, the so-called deadline to build defenses against such a machine. Bitcoin developers are also already working on measures to mitigate the risk.
Let’s first understand the threat to XRPL and then discuss the four-phase plan.
Quantum risks to XRPL
A quantum computer has three implications for the $XRP Ledger, and these apply equally to most other blockchains.
First, every time an XRPL account signs a transaction, its public key becomes visible on the blockchain. It’s like writing your mailing addresses on the outside of an envelope, allowing anyone to see where it came from, but they still can’t see what’s written inside without the private key.
However, a quantum computer can reverse-engineer the private key from the exposed public key, draining your coin holdings.
Second, accounts that have held coins for long periods of time are the highest risk. The longer the public key sits on-chain, the more time a future quantum attacker has to target it.
Lastly, the team added that building quantum-resistant systems is not just a technical challenge but an operational one, as it’s tied to every $XRP holder and every application built on the $XRP Ledger.
Collectively, these things warrant a structured response.
The four-phase plan
Phase 1, called Q-Day readiness, is an emergency measure designed to protect exposed public keys and long-held accounts if quantum computers arrive faster than expected.
In that case, Ripple will implement what it calls a hard shift: Classical public-key signatures will no longer be accepted by the network, requiring all funds to migrate to quantum-safe accounts.
This phase also looks into enabling safe recovery for all account owners via zero-knowledge proofs, a way of mathematically proving you own a key without revealing the key itself. This would allow holders to migrate funds even in a compromised scenario, ensuring no one is locked out.
Phase 2 is already underway and is targeted for completion in the first half of 2026. It involves Ripple’s applied cryptography team conducting a full assessment of quantum vulnerability across the XRPL network and testing defenses suggested by the National Institute of Standards and Technology, the U.S. government’s global standards body for cybersecurity.
But those defenses aren’t without cost. For instance, post-quantum cryptography uses larger keys and signatures, which can strain the ledger. So the team is also working through the tradeoffs and what system changes might be needed.
To accelerate this phase, Ripple has teamed up with quantum security research firm Project Eleven for validator-level testing, developer networking benchmarking and early custody wallet prototypes.
Phase 3, targeted for completion in the second half of 2026, involves controlled integration of post quantum measures. In this phase, Ripple will begin integrating quantum-resistant signatures alongside existing ones on its developer test network. It will allow developers to test and build against the new cryptography without disrupting the live network and existing users.
This phase, therefore, directly addresses the third implication that migration, though a giant operational effort, must not break what already works.
At the same time, the work goes beyond just replacing today’s signing methods. The team is rethinking the broader cryptography underpinning XRPL and exploring quantum-resistant approaches to privacy and secure data processing, which are important for compliant tokenization and features such as confidential transfers.
“This phase is where experimentation meets system design. We’re not just asking “what works cryptographically?” We’re asking “what works for XRPL at scale?,” the team said.
Phase 4 marks the full transition from experiment to full deployment, targeting completion by 2028. “We’ll design, build and propose a new amendment to the XRPL ecosystem for native post-quantum cryptography and begin transitioning the network to PQC-based signatures at scale,” Ripple’s team said.
The four phases mean the migration path could be seamless and significantly less painful, which could be a material advantage as the clock ticks down to Q-day.
