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  • Pakistan PM, army chief wrap up key trips in push for more US-Iran talks

    Pakistan PM, army chief wrap up key trips in push for more US-Iran talks

    Field Marshal Asim Munir leaves Tehran while premier Shehbaz Sharif heads home from Turkiye amid hopes of another round of US-Iran talks.

    Pakistan’s army chief and the prime minister have wrapped up separate diplomatic visits aimed at advancing efforts to end the United States-Iran conflict, with Field Marshal Asim Munir leaving Tehran and Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif returning from Turkiye.

    Munir met Iran’s leadership and peace negotiators during a three-day visit to Tehran, a Pakistani military statement said on Saturday.

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    The visit demonstrated Pakistan’s “unwavering resolve to facilitate a negotiated settlement… and to promote peace, stability and prosperity,” the military said ahead of expected US-Iran talks in Islamabad in the coming days.

    Munir held talks with the country’s president, foreign minister, parliament speaker and head of Iran’s military central command centre.

    Parliament Speaker, Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, and Foreign Minister, Abbas Araghchi, led the Iranian delegation to Islamabad for peace talks with the US last week, the highest level face-to-face contact between Washington and Tehran in decades.

    Those talks ended without agreement, and a ceasefire is due to expire on April 22.

    But diplomacy has continued, with Pakistan’s Prime Minister, Shehbaz Sharif, visiting Saudi Arabia, Qatar and Turkiye to push the peace process.

    His three-country trip concluded on Saturday, with Sharif and Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar departing a diplomacy forum in Antalya, according to statements from both officials.

    “I leave Antalya [Turkish city] with fond memories and a renewed commitment to further strengthening the enduring fraternal bonds between our two nations, and to continuing our close cooperation to advance dialogue and diplomacy for lasting peace and stability in the region,” Sharif posted on X.

    The flurry of diplomacy comes as further negotiations are expected in Pakistan in the coming days as Islamabad intensifies contacts with regional and global leaders in an effort to sustain momentum towards a US-Iran deal.

    Pressure for a deal between the two countries has grown after Iran reimposed restrictions on the Strait of Hormuz, hours after its reopening following the start of a ceasefire in Lebanon. Tehran accused the US of violating a deal to reopen the strategically important waterway.

    Donald Trump has said a second round of talks with Iran could be held in Pakistan in the coming days. The New York Post reported that Trump praised Munir, saying he was “doing a great job”.

    Reporting from Islamabad, Al Jazeera’s Kamal Hyder said Munir landed back home on Saturday as Pakistan prepared for another round of US-Iran talks expected “within the next few days”.

    “We have also seen a lot of praise from the Trump administration on social media, praising the Pakistani leadership. So all eyes are on Islamabad. Serious differences remain, but there is a flurry of diplomatic activity and a hope and expectation that some sort of breakthrough may happen,” he said.

  • Sabrina Carpenter Goes Full ‘Thelma & Louise’ at Coachella Weekend Two With Geena Davis Monologue

    Sabrina Carpenter Goes Full ‘Thelma & Louise’ at Coachella Weekend Two With Geena Davis Monologue

    Sabrina Carpenter leaned into a “Thelma & Louise” theme with her weekend-two Coachella appearance Friday by featuring Geena Davis reading the mid-show monologue as an older “Aunt Sabrina,” succeeding last weekend’s guest Susan Sarandon.

    The monologue was half the length of Sarandon’s uncomfortably overlong version last weekend, lending credence to rumors that Sarandon had been asked to stretch and improvise due to a technical delay.

    Her appearance was doubly a surprise as it came amid hurricane-force rumors that Madonna will be joining Carpenter during the show, which led many to wonder if she would perform the monologue instead of Sarandon, only to find that she was being saved for an actual musical appearance later in the show.

    Sitting in one of the 1950s cars that are a theme of Carpenter’s set, amid a makeshift drive-in theater lot in the middle of the field, Davis read through a monologue that preceded largely along the lines of last weekend’s script. However, the young drive-in carhop, played by her former “Girl Meets World” TV costar Corey Fogelmanis, arrived after three and a half minutes instead of seven to help her settle up her tab.

    Even though the monologue hit many of the same beats as last week’s, it was paraphrased throughout. Sarandon opened with: “What a moron I was. Running around like nobody’s going to judge you, just bippity boppity boo. When of course, everybody’s judging you.” Davis’ opening: “What a moron. I was running around like that carefree, all hippity, skippity…”

    The many trims that cut the speech in half included losing somewhat audience-confusing references to a fictional sister, Laurie, who Sarandon-as-Sabrina said “was always really uncomfortable whenever I was the center of attention. Sometimes she would just ignore what I was doing or other times she would shit on me. And probably she’s putting down my career right now…” Also dropped was the whole wistful/inspirational final part of the monologue, in which Sarandon had spoken of “that little voice (where) you say, fuck it, I can do this. I can do whatever I put my mind to… Why do people stop saying that to themselves when they become 12 years old?”

    Later in the set, Will Ferrell was succeeded in his comedic role as an electrician by Terry Crews, playing the same part, but with different dialogue, and without the failed attempt to light a cigarette.

    Of course, Madonna ultimately provided the mother of all cameos with a medley/duet of her hits… and extended astrology talk that threatened to erase the memory of any filibustering that might have gone on during Sarandon’s speech the previous week.

  • You Can Now Use XRP on Solana—Here’s How

    You Can Now Use XRP on Solana—Here’s How

    In brief

    • The Ripple-linked $XRP is now live for trading and use in DeFi on Solana.
    • It’s made possible due to Hex Trust’s wrapped token offering, which is 1:1 backed with native $XRP.
    • Around $1.2 million in wXRP has already been minted on Solana.

    The prominent Ripple-linked cryptocurrency $XRP is now live for use on Solana, letting individual users and institutions alike gain access to the token on the layer-1 blockchain via a wrapped token issued by Hex Trust.

    The initiative, first announced in December, will open up the utility of $XRP beyond the $XRP Ledger, expanding its use in market-making and decentralized finance (DeFi) to Solana.

    More than 834,000 $XRP, or around $1.2 million worth of the token, has already been wrapped and activated on Solana.

    BREAKING: $XRP is live on Solana https://t.co/pWiljVfc6m pic.twitter.com/QZbwd6qEN4

    — Solana (@solana) April 17, 2026

    To do so, authorized users send native $XRP to Hex Trust’s regulated custody services, and the firm then mints wXRP tokens on Solana or supported Ethereum Virtual Machine (EVM) blockchains like the Ethereum mainnet, Optimism, or HyperEVM. Institutions seeking access to the project can register to gain early access to the feature via Hex Trust.

    The 1:1 backed wXRP can then be used in DeFi protocols on those chains, all of which have more robust DeFi ecosystems when compared to the native $XRP Ledger. According to data from DeFiLlama, Ethereum and Solana rank first and second in DeFi total-value-locked (TVL) with $57.2 billion and $6.08 billion, respectively.

    Meanwhile, $XRP Ledger ranks 41st, with just $51.46 million in DeFi TVL.

    “There’s growing demand to use $XRP across the wider crypto ecosystem and institutions, and so we are excited to see Hex Trust address this demand,” Ripple X SVP Marcus Infanger said in a statement when the initiative was launched in December.

    With the wrapped token’s launch on Solana, now they can do so.

    In addition to the $1.2 million in wXRP on Solana, 50 million tokens or around $74.5 million worth of wXRP has been minted on Ethereum. Almost all of those tokens have been in the same Ethereum wallet—one likely connected to the token issuer—since early November, prior to the wXRP announcement.

    Less than 60 total transactions involving the wrapped token have taken place all-time, according to Ethereum block explorer, Etherscan.

    A representative for Hex Trust did not immediately respond to Decrypt’s request for comment. $XRP is up around 2% in the last 24 hours, recently changing hands at $1.49. It remains 59% off its all-time high of $3.65 created last July.

  • NBA Playoffs: What to expect in Thunder-Suns series

    NBA Playoffs: What to expect in Thunder-Suns series

    Devin Booker will have his hands full trying to slow reigning Kia MVP Shai Gilgeous-Alexander.

    • Download the NBA App

    This 1-8 first-round showdown was the last opening series to be settled, with Phoenix beating Golden State to regain a playoff berth and earn the toughest task facing any of the qualifying teams: somehow win four times against the defending champions, who are driven to be the first repeat Larry O’Brien winners since the 2017 & 2018 Warriors.  


    Series schedule

    Here’s how to watch the Thunder vs. Suns series:

    All times Eastern Standard Time

    • Game 1: Phoenix at Oklahoma City | Sunday April 19 (3:30 ET, ABC)
    • Game 2: Phoenix at Oklahoma City | Wednesday April 22 (9:30 ET, ESPN)
    • Game 3: Oklahoma City at Phoenix | Saturday April 25 (3:30 ET, NBC)
    • Game 4: Oklahoma City at Phoenix | Monday April 27
    • Game 5: Phoenix at Oklahoma City | Wednesday April 29*
    • Game 6: Oklahoma City at Phoenix | Friday May 1*
    • Game 7: Phoenix at Oklahoma City | Sunday May 3*

    * = If necessary


    Regular-season results


    Top storyline

    Are the Thunder ready for their close-up? By the time we get to Sunday’s series opener at the Paycom Center, it will be going on two weeks since we saw Oklahoma City in its conference-leading configuration. That came in their 128-110 beatdown of the Clippers on April 8. The two final games were left to its backups and deep reserves. That might suggest a rest vs. rhythm trade-off for the Thunder, except their machine hummed along all season despite significant rotation guys’ absences. Chet Holmgren missed 13 games, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander 14, Alex Caruso 26, Isaiah Hartenstein 35 and Jalen Williams 49, yet there was virtually no slippage. A 3-5 hiccup in January/February took OKC from 37-8 to 40-13, and that was as shaky as things ever got.  


    Keep your eyes on 

    Slowing SGA. It hasn’t happened a lot in Devin Booker’s career that there’s been a backcourt weapon on the opposing team more dangerous than him. But that’s the situation in which Booker and Phoenix find themselves as they try to cope with Gilgeous-Alexander’s multi-faceted offensive attack. The Suns have Dillon Brooks as a feisty defender and possible irritant, along with Ryan Dunn and Jordan Goodwin. They crafted the NBA’s ninth-most efficient defense this season. But the pressure SGA puts on every opponent, and any individual defender, is relentless, and he has myriad options for spraying the ball. Plus there’s always that path he wears to the foul line.  

    Gilgeous-Alexander averaged 30.0 points and 7.3 assists vs. the Suns this season, while shooting a robust 50.9% overall and 50% from the arc. Phoenix does take pride in its 3-point defense (34.7%) but its underbelly was a little soft – opponents shot 55.6% inside the arc, a category in which the Suns ranked 19th. Booker certainly can keep up as a scorer, but he’ll have to do it  against the league’s top defense. And he doesn’t have at his disposal the secondary and tertiary scorers SGA does. 


    One more thing to watch for each team 

    For Thunder: Even a defense as stingy as theirs can’t take away everything. OKC’s 25th place ranking in 3-point defense is a potential flaw the Suns can exploit. Phoenix took and made the fifth-most 3-pointers in the league, setting a franchise record along the way by knocking down 1,210. The 36.1% accuracy of its long-distance shooters ranked 12th. Still, OKC doesn’t leave many openings elsewhere. Its overall defensive field-goal percentage (43.87%) was the NBA’s best. So were its 20.7 deflections and 22.0 points off turnovers. Forcing turnovers, the Thunder ranked second, same as in steals. That’s chaos on a stick when OKC dials up to playoff intensity.  

    For Suns: Finding reliable scorers besides Booker against the Thunders’ physical, disruptive defense was looking like a challenge. Consider: Ten Suns averaged 10+ points against OKC in the season series but only point guard Jamaree Bouyea participated in all five meetings. And only three more played in four. But that was before Jalen Green blew up in Play-In week. He went for 35 in the loss to Portland, then topped that with 36 in eliminating Golden State. Green didn’t face OKC at all this season while playing in an injury-hobbled 32 games. He has long been a streaky but potent 20-point man over four seasons with Houston before his trade to Phoenix. The trick will be getting Green and Booker going at the same time. 


    One key number to know

    7.4 — The Suns averaged 3.1 more shot opportunities (field-goal attempts or trips to the line) than their opponents in the regular season. That was the league’s third best differential and an improvement of 7.4 per game from last season, when they averaged 4.3 fewer than their opponents. 

    In Jordan Ott’s first season as head coach, the Suns saw an incredible improvement in the possession game. They saw the league’s biggest jumps in both offensive rebounding percentage and opponent turnover rate. They made up for sub-par shooting by getting more shots. 

    The Thunder saw the league’s fourth biggest drop in shot-opportunity differential, from plus-4.3 per game (second) last season to plus-1.3 (11th) this season. They didn’t force quite as many turnovers as they did a year ago, and they saw the third biggest drop in offensive rebounding percentage. The Suns had the slight edge over the five head-to-head meetings, though the biggest differential in those five games (Phoenix +5) came on the last day of the regular season, when both teams rested their regulars. 

    — John Schuhmann 


    The pick 

    Thunder in five. Phoenix came to camp with 14 new faces, a rookie coach in Ott and a brand new staff. Seven Suns players set career highs in scoring, while the team ranked fourth in steals and held foes to 111.1 points per game, its lowest in four years. But the overachievement stops here. Even with Green’s sizzling week to help his team get here, Phoenix’s offense will face a heightened level of stymying against OKC. Its squadron of defenders such as Lu Dort, Alex Caruso, Cason Wallace, Chet Holmgren and more doesn’t just hold teams down – it frustrates, bruises and occasionally bloodies them. At this early stage of the postseason, the Thunder are measuring themselves against, well, themselves. The lengthy timeline of the first round – or the extra off-days if they make quick work of Phoenix – will enable OKC to fashion its rotation to something more reliable than how it patched together the first 82.  

    * * *

    Steve Aschburner has written about the NBA since 1980. You can e-mail him here, find his archive here and follow him on X.  

  • Jalen Green’s 36 points guides Suns past Warriors to clinch No. 8 seed in West

    Jalen Green’s 36 points guides Suns past Warriors to clinch No. 8 seed in West

    Jalen Green soars in to score two of his game-high 36 points in Friday’s 111-96 victory over the Warriors.

    PHOENIX (AP) — Jalen Green scored 36 points, Devin Booker added 20 and the Phoenix Suns locked down Stephen Curry and the Golden State Warriors, winning 111-96 in the SoFi NBA Play-In Tournament Friday night.

    The Suns took the No. 8 seed in the Western Conference playoffs and will face the defending NBA champion Oklahoma City Thunder on Sunday in Game 1. The Warriors’ season is over.

    Green shot 14-for-20 from the field, including 8-for-14 on 3-pointers. Jordan Goodwin scored 19 points, had nine rebounds and was a menace on defense with six steals.

    Booker and Golden State’s Draymond Green were both assessed two technical fouls late in the fourth quarter after exchanging words multiple times and were ejected.

    The 38-year-old Curry couldn’t get many clean looks and finished with 17 points on 4-for-16 shooting. Brandin Podziemski led the Warriors with 23 points.

    Phoenix led by five at the break and built a 69-53 advantage with 5:12 left in third after a fast-break layup by Royce O’Neale. It was 85-72 with 10:12 remaining.

    There was reason to believe the lead wasn’t safe. Phoenix blew an 11-point, fourth-quarter lead in a loss to Portland on Tuesday night, while Golden State clawed back from a 13-point fourth-quarter hole to beat the Los Angeles Clippers on Wednesday night, which led to the winner-take-all matchup Friday.

    The Warriors looked as if they might have another comeback brewing — Curry hit a 3-pointer that cut the margin to 85-78 with 9:30 left — but the Suns responded with the next seven points.

    The Suns avoided becoming the first team to lose both Play-In Tournament games on their home floor. The current format was established in 2021.

    Golden State’s Kristaps Porzingis played through right ankle soreness, the result of an injury Wednesday against the Clippers. The 7-foot-3 center played just 15 minutes and finished with 11 points.

    The Suns built an early 13-2 lead after the Warriors turned the ball over four times. Phoenix pushed the advantage to 33-15 through one quarter after Golden State shot just 30%, including 1-for-9 from 3-point range.

    But the Warriors recovered, cutting it to 50-45 by halftime.

  • Curry, Warriors knocked out of NBA play-in tournament by Suns

    Curry, Warriors knocked out of NBA play-in tournament by Suns

    Jalen Green’s 36 points helped lift the Phoenix Suns into the playoffs with a 111-96 play-in win over the visiting Golden State Warriors on Friday.

    The Suns earned the Western Conference’s eighth postseason seed. They will visit the defending champion and top-seeded Oklahoma City Thunder on Sunday to open a first-round series.

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    Phoenix scored 30 points off the Warriors’ 21 turnovers.

    After Phoenix let a late lead slip away against the Portland Trail Blazers in the play-in opener, the Suns held on this time.

    There was some late drama, though.

    With the outcome already decided, Golden State’s Draymond Green fouled out with just more than a minute remaining. Warriors coach Steve Kerr shared a moment with Draymond Green and Stephen Curry, embracing both. The three were part of four NBA championship runs.

    However, as action resumed, Draymond Green and the Suns’ Devin Booker began a heated discussion that carried on for several moments before the whistle blew and both players were issued a technical foul. Green was ejected.

    Phoenix jumped out to a big lead with a 13-0 run after the Warriors scored the game’s first two points, then closed the quarter with eight consecutive points to lead 33-15.

    Golden State’s 15 first-quarter points were their fewest in a quarter since scoring 14 in the fourth quarter on March 7 against the Thunder.

    The Suns, who shot 52.4 percent in the first quarter, struggled in the second quarter as the Warriors roared back.

    Phoenix was just 5 of 20 from the field in the second, and Golden State pulled within two on Curry’s free throws with 19.6 seconds remaining in the half.

    As time ran down, Jalen Green elevated for a 3-pointer from the wing and drained it for the Suns’ first field goal in more than five minutes to give Phoenix a 50-45 lead at the break.

    Golden State’s Brandin Podziemski scored 10 of his team-high 23 points in the second. He also led the Warriors with 10 rebounds.

    The Suns used an 11-1 run – featuring two 3-pointers from Jalen Green – to regain control in the third quarter.

    Booker finished with 20 points, eight assists and six rebounds. Phoenix’s Jordan Goodwin added 19 points, nine rebounds and six steals.

    Curry recorded 17 points in the loss but was just 4 of 16 from the floor and 3 of 10 from 3-point range.

    Stephen Curry in action
    Stephen Curry #30 attempts a shot under pressure from Oso Ighodaro #11 of the Phoenix Suns during the NBA play-in tournament game at Mortgage Matchup Center on April 17, 2026, in Phoenix, Arizona [Christian Petersen/Getty Images via AFP]

    Magic extend Hornets’ playoff drought, face Pistons next

    Paolo Banchero scored 25 points to lead ‌five players in double figures for the host Orlando Magic, who advanced to the ⁠Eastern Conference playoffs ⁠by routing the Charlotte Hornets 121-90 in the earlier play-in game on Friday.

    The Magic, who finished eighth during the regular season, earned the eighth seed and will ⁠face the top-seeded Pistons in a best-of-seven first-round series beginning Sunday night in Detroit.

    This is the third straight trip to the playoffs for the Magic – the longest streak for the franchise since ⁠a team-record six straight appearances from 2007-12.

    LaMelo Ball scored 23 points for the Hornets, who finished ninth in the East. Charlotte earned a dramatic 127-126 overtime win over the Miami Heat in the first play-in game on Tuesday but missed the postseason for the 10th straight season – the NBA’s longest active drought.

    Franz Wagner ‌had 18 points while Wendell Carter Jr. finished with 16 for the Magic, who also received 13 from Desmond Bane and 12 from Jalen Suggs. Orlando shot 50 percent (42 of 84) from the field and 29.6 percent (8-for-27) from 3-point range.

    “When you play with a sense of desperation and urgency, when you know you’re either going home or you’re extending your season, that’s what it looks like,” Magic head coach Jamahl Mosley said.

    Miles Bridges scored 15 points, Brandon ⁠Miller had 14 and Kon Knueppel added 11 in Charlotte’s most lopsided ⁠loss of the season. The visitors shot just 33.7 percent (28 of 83) from the field and 26.7 percent (12 of 45) from beyond the arc.

    Miller’s 3-pointer gave the Hornets their only lead at 5-4 with 9:58 left in the first quarter. The ⁠Magic scored the next 10 points, after which Bridges and Miller combined for five consecutive points.

    The Magic responded by taking control with a ⁠13-0 run as Carter and Banchero combined for 11 points ⁠to take a 27-10 lead. Goga Bitadze’s layup gave Orlando its first 20-point lead at 36-16 with 54 seconds left.

    The Magic led by as many as 35 in the second before entering the half with a 68-37 advantage. Orlando led ‌102-71 at the end of the third and by as many as 33 in the fourth.

    “I hope that this fuels us this offseason, because we did a tonne of really good things ‌and ‌gave ourselves an opportunity – you’re one step away from being in the playoffs, so I don’t want to discredit that,” Hornets head coach Charles Lee said. “But this has got to, like, hurt a little bit.”

    Paolo Banchero in action.
    Paolo Banchero led all scorers with 25 points as the Orlando Magic ended the Charlotte Hornets’ NBA season [Fernando Medina/Getty Images via AFP]
  • Sabrina Carpenter Goes Full ‘Thelma & Louise’ at Coachella Weekend Two With Geena Davis Monologue

    Sabrina Carpenter Goes Full ‘Thelma & Louise’ at Coachella Weekend Two With Geena Davis Monologue

    Sabrina Carpenter leaned into a “Thelma & Louise” theme with her weekend-two Coachella appearance Friday by featuring Geena Davis reading the mid-show monologue as an older “Aunt Sabrina,” succeeding last weekend’s guest Susan Sarandon.

    The monologue was half the length of Sarandon’s uncomfortably overlong version last weekend, lending credence to rumors that Sarandon had been asked to stretch and improvise due to a technical delay.

    Her appearance was doubly a surprise as it came amid hurricane-force rumors that Madonna will be joining Carpenter during the show, which led many to wonder if she would perform the monologue instead of Sarandon, only to find that she was being saved for an actual musical appearance later in the show.

    Sitting in one of the 1950s cars that are a theme of Carpenter’s set, amid a makeshift drive-in theater lot in the middle of the field, Davis read through a monologue that preceded largely along the lines of last weekend’s script. However, the young drive-in carhop, played by her former “Girl Meets World” TV costar Corey Fogelmanis, arrived after three and a half minutes instead of seven to help her settle up her tab.

    Even though the monologue hit many of the same beats as last week’s, it was paraphrased throughout. Sarandon opened with: “What a moron I was. Running around like nobody’s going to judge you, just bippity boppity boo. When of course, everybody’s judging you.” Davis’ opening: “What a moron. I was running around like that carefree, all hippity, skippity…”

    The many trims that cut the speech in half included losing somewhat audience-confusing references to a fictional sister, Laurie, who Sarandon-as-Sabrina said “was always really uncomfortable whenever I was the center of attention. Sometimes she would just ignore what I was doing or other times she would shit on me. And probably she’s putting down my career right now…” Also dropped was the whole wistful/inspirational final part of the monologue, in which Sarandon had spoken of “that little voice (where) you say, fuck it, I can do this. I can do whatever I put my mind to… Why do people stop saying that to themselves when they become 12 years old?”

    Later in the set, Will Ferrell was succeeded in his comedic role as an electrician by Terry Crews, playing the same part, but with different dialogue, and without the failed attempt to light a cigarette.

    Of course, Madonna ultimately provided the mother of all cameos with a medley/duet of her hits… and extended astrology talk that threatened to erase the memory of any filibustering that might have gone on during Sarandon’s speech the previous week.

  • Madonna Teams Up With Sabrina Carpenter at Coachella for Transcendent Duets: ‘Vogue,’ ‘Like a Prayer’ and New Song

    Madonna Teams Up With Sabrina Carpenter at Coachella for Transcendent Duets: ‘Vogue,’ ‘Like a Prayer’ and New Song

    After rumors swirled that she would appear at Coachella weekend one, Madonna made a cameo during Sabrina Carpenter’s headlining performance on Friday night, emerging near the end of the set to perform “Vogue,” “Like a Prayer” and a new duet.

    Carpenter was midway through “Juno” — typically the song on her “Short ‘n Sweet” tour where she’d “arrest” a different celebrity — to bring out Madonna. The pop queen emerged through the middle of the stage to sing “Vogue,” joining Carpenter to debut a new duet that’s rumored to be on the singer’s upcoming album “Confessions II.” Then, Madonna took the mic to give an extended address to the audience.

    “So 20 years ago today I performed at Coachella,” said Madonna. “I was in the dance tent and it was the first time I performed ‘Confessions on a Dance Floor Pt. 1’ in America, and that was such a thrill for me, so you can imagine what a thrill it is to be back 20 years later in the same boots, with the same corset, the jacket I had on earlier, a Gucci jacket. So it’s like a full circle moment, you know? Very meaningful for me.”

    After Madonna gave an astrology lesson (literally), the two joined forces to duet on her classic “Like a Prayer,” with backup dancers dressed in habits sauntering down from the back of the stage. “The great thing about music is that it brings people together. Am I right?” said Madonna. “It’s the one place that people have to put their differences aside. Put their shit down and everyone just have a good time togehter, right? So I am thrilled to be a part of that healing experience of bringing people together. I just want to say, four lines from my ‘Confessions 1’ record. It goes like this. Can we get together? I really, I really want to be with you. Come on check it out with me, I hope you, I hope you feel the same way too.”

    As she said, Madonna’s appearance during Carpenter’s set comes 20 years after her Coachella debut in 2006, when she popped up at the Sahara Tent instead of the main stage to perform cuts from “Confessions on a Dance Floor.” She later returned to the desert for a surprise cameo during Drake’s closing set in 2015, singing “Human Nature” and “Hung Up” and, in one of the most talked-about moments that year, kissed Drake.

    The timing of Madonna’s return to Coachella aligns with the announcement of her upcoming album “Confessions II” earlier this week. The project, slated for July 3 via Warner Records, marks her first full-length album in seven years and her reunion with Stuart Price, the producer of the original “Confessions on a Dance Floor.” Earlier on Friday, Madonna premiered the song “I Feel So Free” on iHeartRadio’s Pride Radio, giving a first taste of the project.

    Leading up to her Coachella performance last weekend, Carpenter dropped the video for “House Tour,” the latest single off of last year’s “Man’s Best Friend.” In the clip, she has a girls’ night out with Margaret Qualley and Madelyn Cline, ransacking a stranger’s house and stealing a Grammy.

    Carpenter previously performed at Coachella in 2024, foreshadowing that she’d one day take top billing during a custom outro for “Nonsense”: “Made his knees so weak he had to spread mine / He’s drinking my bathwater like it’s red wine / Coachella, see you back here when I headline.” This year’s headlining gig comes after a busy few years for the singer, who kicked off her “Short ‘n Sweet” tour — her first arena trek — in September 2024. She stayed on the road through the end of 2025, when she closed the tour with six nights at Los Angeles’ Crypto.com Arena just a week before she was celebrated as Variety‘s Hitmaker of the Year.

  • SEC Has Issued a New Official Green Light for Cryptocurrencies

    SEC Has Issued a New Official Green Light for Cryptocurrencies

    The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has formally approved a rule change proposal submitted by the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) that aims to create a new trading mechanism for “tokenized securities.”

    The proposal, outlined in document number 34-105260, is considered a critical step towards integrating traditional finance with blockchain technology.

    According to the proposal, the NYSE plans to introduce a new regulation called “Rule 7.50,” allowing eligible securities to be traded in both traditional and blockchain-based “tokenized” forms. This structure will be implemented within the scope of the DTC pilot program under the Depository Trust & Clearing Corporation (DTCC).

    Related News After the Bull Run, Michael Saylor Increased His Bitcoin Fortune: Here’s the Latest on His Portfolio

    In the new system, tokenized securities will share the same trading code (CUSIP) and ownership structure as traditional shares. This will ensure full fungibility between the two forms. Furthermore, on the matching engine side, tokenized assets will be subject to the same priority rules as traditional shares and will not experience any disadvantage in trading order.

    Market participants can choose to have transactions executed on the blockchain via a “tokenization flag” that they can use when placing orders. Technical and operational processes will be handled by authorized custodians.

    NYSE’s proposal isn’t limited to the trading side alone. The exchange is also making changes to order queuing, routing, and clearing rules, aiming to seamlessly integrate tokenized securities into its existing market infrastructure.

    *This is not investment advice.

  • UBS Analysts Have Stated That They Expect the Fed to Cut Interest Rates Twice More This Year

    Global financial giant UBS has published a noteworthy assessment of US monetary policy. The bank stated that it maintains its expectation that the Fed will cut interest rates later in the year.

    A research note published by UBS emphasized that the Fed remains on a path of monetary policy easing under the current outlook. The report highlighted that Fed Chairman Jerome Powell has recently indicated that the need for tightening is limited despite the rise in energy prices. It recalled Powell’s statement that supply shocks, particularly those like rising oil prices, are generally ignored as long as inflation expectations remain under control.

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    UBS analysts stated that the Fed is looking for more evidence of a sustained decline in core inflation before returning to loose monetary policy, but they still expect a total of 50 basis points of interest rate cuts by the end of the year.

    On the other hand, the report also included projections for the US bond market. UBS pointed out that current US Treasury yields are significantly higher than before the geopolitical tensions, arguing that there is therefore room for downward movement in yields. The bank stated its year-end forecast for the 2-year US Treasury yield is 3.25%, and for the 10-year Treasury yield is 3.75%.

    *This is not investment advice.