As hacking incidents continue to increase in the cryptocurrency sector, projects are still trying to take precautions against them.
At this point, the latest move came from Solana. Accordingly, the Solana Foundation launched its new initiatives aimed at ecosystem security.
The Solana (SOL) Foundation has partnered with Asymmetric Research to launch two new initiatives, STRIDE and SIRN, to strengthen DeFi security.
“The Solana Foundation has a long history of allocating resources to ensure the provision of security services and tools to the ecosystem, and today’s announcement further reinforces that commitment.”
According to the official statement, STRIDE is a security program that assesses and monitors the security level of Solana-based projects, and also provides intervention capabilities in the event of an incident.
Stride evaluates projects based on a total of eight criteria: “program security, governance and access control, oracle and dependency risk, infrastructure security, supply chain security, operational security, monitoring and incident response, and log management and forensic analysis.”
The Solana Foundation added that the evaluation results would be transparently communicated to users and investors regarding the protocol’s security level.
SIRN is a network of professional security firms established to provide immediate response to security incidents.
This measure was taken following a recent major cyberattack. As is known, Drift Protocol, a Solana-based derivatives trading protocol, suffered approximately $280 million in losses due to an attack carried out by an organization believed to be linked to North Korea.
Bill Ackman’s Pershing Square Capital Management unveiled a non-binding proposal to the board of directors of music giant Universal Music Group (UMG), the musical home of such stars as Taylor Swift and Kendrick Lamar, to acquire all of its outstanding shares in a mega-transaction valued at around $63.5 billion, “together with a value creation plan designed to deliver significant benefits to UMG stakeholders.”
Pershing, which has owned a stake in the music major since 2021, said its offer values each share of UMG at €30.40, putting the total value of UMG under the overall deal at about €55 billion, or $63.5 billion.
“Since UMG’s [stock market] listing, [UMG chairman and CEO] Sir Lucian Grainge and the company’s management have done an excellent job nurturing and continuing to build a world-class artist roster and generating strong business performance,” said Pershing Square CEO Bill Ackman. “However, UMG’s stock price has languished due to a combination of issues that are unrelated to the performance of its music business and importantly, all of them can be addressed with this transaction.”
Pershing Square said it “believes that UMG’s stock price underperformance is principally due to the following factors”: Uncertainty concerning the Bolloré Group’s 18 percent stake in the company, the postponement of UMG’s U.S. [stock market] listing, the underutilization of UMG’s balance sheet, which has led to reduced returns on equity, the absence of a publicly disclosed capital allocation plan and earnings algorithm, the lack of investor credit in UMG’s valuation for its €2.7 billion ($3.1 billion0 stake in Spotify, suboptimal shareholder investor relations, communications, and engagement.
In the proposed transaction, UMG would merge with Pershing Square SPARC Holdings, and the newly merged company will become a Nevada corporation listed on the New York Stock Exchange. “We expect the transaction to close by year-end,” the firm said. “Shareholders will receive a total of €9.4 billion in cash (or €5.05 per share) and 0.77 shares of New UMG stock for each share of UMG held. New UMG will publish financial statements under U.S. GAAP and be eligible for S&P 500 and other index inclusion. The transaction will enable the cancellation of 17 percent of UMG outstanding shares while preserving the company’s investment-grade balance sheet and its long-term financial and strategic flexibility.”
All equity financing will be backstopped by Pershing Square and its affiliates, with all debt financing to be committed at signing.
In six short years, Rare Beauty, Selena Gomez‘s beauty brand, has raised $30 million toward the star’s philanthropic goal of giving $100 million to mental health causes. When it comes to market share, the line (named after her 2020 album Rare) occupies a bigger slice of the sales pie than Hailey Bieber’s Rhode (sold last year for $1 billion to e.l.f. cosmetics), Lady Gaga’s Haus Labs and Kylie Cosmetics, and is only outsold by Rihanna’s Fenty brand — which Rare Beauty surpasses in relevance, if you consider being the most Googled brand this past year a measure of that ineffable quality.
Much like O.G. pioneer Fenty, Rare Beauty has crossed the Rubicon of being carried in both Sephora — where it was the first brand to be exclusively stocked in 2,700 stores internationally — and Ulta, where it entered over 1500 stores on Feb. 1. The two arch frenemies of the beauty retail world will together drive sales as well as the 33-year-old actress’ philanthropic goal. “It’s important we continue to expand our mission and vision,” Gomez tells The Hollywood Reporter, about her commitment from launch to donate one percent of Rare Beauty earnings to mental health and wellness organizations. “The Ulta funds donated by customers are split evenly between the Ulta Beauty Foundation and Rare Impact Fund. Together we’ve already raised over $2 million in support of youth mental health. We’ve been able to reach over 3.5 young people annually to help young people get more access to mental health support.”
Certainly, Gomez’s 425 million Instagram followers, who have hung on every twist and turn in the star’s overall wellness and beauty journey, have helped push Rare Beauty toward its purpose. “I’ve been in a makeup chair since I was seven,” says Gomez. “That gave me perspective on what was missing in the market. I wanted to create a welcoming space in beauty, where people can feel good about themselves. But I knew from the beginning I wanted the business to be built around a mission personal to me, hence the Rare Impact Fund. I didn’t see mental health being talked about in the beauty/wellness space. I want people to celebrate their imperfections, that’s exactly why we do what we do. I believe makeup is something to enjoy, not something you need. It’s always been important to me to build a legacy that makes a difference.”
This past week — in the same time frame that Rare Beauty, known for its viral liquid blush, released its first foundation, True to Myself Natural Matte Longwear Foundation, in 48 inclusive shades — Gomez was awarded the first Excellence in Beauty Philanthropy Award by Craig Cichy, executive director of The Social Impact Fund. The awards and subsequent summit were held at New York’s Fashion Institute of Technology, where Cichy explained what the organization does for partners that embrace both artistry and charity like Gomez and her Rare Impact Fund in his opening remarks: “We’re a national not-for-profit organization dedicated to making philanthropic access be efficient. We are the home base for nonprofits that need tax structure. And, as the great Robert Redford once said, ‘The glory of art is that it cannot only survive, it can lead.’ He knew style can never survive without substance.”
The rock star was added as a surprise act for Coachella for this weekend, with the music festival announcing White’s set in a post revealing the performance times for weekend one.
White’s not the first veteran star to get added to Coachella’s lineup for a surprise set in the past few years. Last year, both Weezer and Ed Sheeran were brought onto the bill to play the Mojave stage at 3 p.m. for weekend one and two, respectively, the same stage and time slot White will take on this year. Arcade Fire was a last-minute addition back in 2022.
White is a Coachella veteran, with his band, The White Stripes, playing the festival back in 2003, while he headlined as a solo artist back in 2015 as well.
White’s set comes a week after he released a pair of singles — “G.O.D. and the Broken Ribs” and “Derecho Demonico”— on Friday, a day before he served as musical guest on Saturday Night Live while Jack Black was the host. He also took to The Late Show with Stephen Colbert on Monday.
Given the new music and the sudden blitz of high-profile performances, fans are hoping this could be the first sign of a new album on the way, though as of now it’s unclear what else is on the horizon. White’s last album was the surprise release No Name, which marked one of White’s hardest-rocking albums in years and earned a Grammy nomination for best rock album. The White Stripes were inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame last year.
Outside of White, this year’s Coachella lineup is led by headliners Sabrina Carpenter, Justin Bieber and Karol G, with other notable performances from Young Thug, Devo, Addison Rae, Sombr, David Byrne and many more. Fellow modern garage rock heroes The Strokes will also play Saturday, with their set coming that night on the main stage.
Jonah Hill included a Kanye “Ye” West joke in his new movie Outcome and it all stemmed from a 2023 Instagram post from the rapper, where he said the actor’s performance in 21 Jump Street made him “like Jewish people again.”
The actor, who is Jewish, opened up about the controversial rapper’s “bizarre public thing” during a recent appearance on Apple Music’s The Zane Lowe Show. West has faced widespread backlash over the last few years for making several antisemitic remarks and releasing a song called “Heil Hitler.”
“I felt that he did this bizarre public thing to kind of make up, like, ‘It’s all good cause I love Jonah,’” Hill said of the rapper’s 2023 social media post. “[It] just sat with me in a way that it’s, like, all good. I love him still, and I hope whatever happens, he can heal or whatever, and everyone can heal from all that stuff. … I hope he can heal and make it right with the people he needs to make it right [with] in the Jewish community. Me and him got no beef.”
Earlier during his chat with Lowe, The Wolf of Wall Street actor revealed that the joke in Outcome was his character’s assistant says, “We did the research and it turns out hating Jews doesn’t hurt your career, it helps it,” and then it cuts to a photo of West.
“The reason why I put that in there was not just to take a shot at Kanye. I love the Kanye that I’ve met over the years. I love the artist. I think there is no artist I probably love more across any genre ever. I think he is probably the greatest artist ever to live. And he thinks that,” Hill explained with a laugh. “He’s a genius, and the stuff with the hate stuff sucks. What are you going to say? It sucks, no matter who you are, to hear that. Now, do I know what’s going on? No. Am I going to punch someone while they’re down? No, of course not.”
He added, “I just put that in there like, yo, you’re going to put the 21 Jump Street poster up there and say you don’t hate Jews anymore? That’s pretty wild. I’m gonna put a picture of you saying that hating Jews helps your career. Obviously, that’s a joke on my part. It doesn’t help your career, but it’s me just having fun. I’m a comedian.”
Elsewhere, Hill also said during a separate interview with SiriusXM’s Julia Cunningham that the joke is also meant to point out how “culture’s fucking weird and it always has been and it always will be. And one of the funny things about it is like you can go on a Jew-hating tour and then sell out [SoFi Stadium].”
In addition to his antisemitic rhetoric and “Heil Hitler” song, the “Heartless” artist also used a Super Bowl ad in 2025 to direct viewers to his Yeezy website that had swastika-emblazoned t-shirts. West has since apologized for his antisemitic statements in an ad in the Wall Street Journal earlier this year, but hasn’t addressed the controversy any further.
United States Vice President JD Vance is travelling to Budapest to bolster support for Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban, whose Fidesz Party faces its most difficult election in over a decade.
The White House announced last week that Vance would arrive in Hungary on Tuesday and hold two days of bilateral meetings.
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In February, US President Donald Trump endorsed right-wing leader Orban ahead of Hungary’s April 12 parliamentary elections, while US Secretary of State Marco Rubio visited the country that month to show support.
Kim Lane Scheppele, a professor of sociology at Princeton University in the US who has spent years as an analyst and critic of Orban’s government, says that the trip is meant to underscore the close relationship between Trump and his Hungarian counterpart.
“Orban will make a big deal out of the fact that he’s got Trump’s support. And that’s why Vance is coming,” she said, adding that she is sceptical that Vance’s trip will have a large impact on the outcome of the election.
“If you look at the polls in Hungary, they show the opposition with an 8 to 12 percent lead, in some recent polls up to a 20 percent lead. One visit by a relatively low-profile American vice president is not going to change that.”
Fidesz party voter Gergo Farkas takes part in Prime Minister Viktor Orban’s election campaign rally with his friends in Szombathely, Hungary, April 2, 2026 [Marton Monus/Reuters]
Robust opposition
Orban’s 16-year tenure has been marked by the erosion of the independence of institutions such as the judiciary and the media, as well as reforms that critics say have slanted the electoral system in favour of Orban and his Fidesz party.
But despite what the opposition has described as a deeply imbalanced electoral environment, most polls show the 62-year-old Orban trailing the 45-year-old opposition leader, Peter Magyar, and his Tisza Party.
Magyar is a former high-ranking Fidesz official who broke with the party two years ago and has emerged as a popular voice railing against Orban’s rule.
His campaign has focused on corruption, deteriorating social services, economic conditions, and Orban’s combative relationship with the European Union, which has often centred on immigration and support for Ukraine.
The European Union suspended billions of euros in funding for Hungary in 2022 over what it characterised as democratic backsliding and declining judicial independence.
Magyar has pledged a more cordial relationship with the European bloc, as well as reforms that could lead to the restoration of suspended funds.
While Orban has depicted the opposition as a destabilising force that will sell out the country’s national interests on behalf of Ukraine and the EU, Magyar’s right-leaning politics mean that policies on issues such as immigration would see little change.
“Magyar is centre-right; he’s basically a believer in much of what Orban has done, minus the corruption. In EU terms, he’s slightly eurosceptical but wants to get the money back,” said Scheppele.
Peter Magyar, Hungarian opposition leader of the ‘Tisza’ (Respect and Freedom) Party, delivers a speech at a demonstration during commemorations of the 178th anniversary of the 1948-49 Hungarian Revolution on March 15, 2026 in Budapest, Hungary [Janos Kummer/Getty Images]
Blueprint for the US right
While Orban’s approach to consolidating power and his embrace of far-right politics have mired his relationships in Europe, they have made him a source of inspiration for the US far right and prominent members of the Trump administration, such as JD Vance.
Hungary has previously hosted the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC), an annual summit where individuals and groups from across the US right and allies from other countries gather to discuss the future of the conservative movement.
When CPAC convened in Budapest in 2024, Trump sent a video praising Orban for “proudly fighting on the front lines of the battle to rescue Western civilisation”.
Shared ire for Muslims, immigrants, and centres of liberal politics such as universities has helped cement that bond, and Vance himself has enjoyed especially close relations with Orban’s government.
When he was selected as Trump’s running mate in July 2024, Orban’s political director shared a photo of himself posing with Vance, captioned: “A Trump-Vance administration sounds just right.”
Orban’s Hungary has been at the centre of the Trump administration’s shifting policy towards Europe, firmly aligning itself with far-right parties and immigration restrictionists in countries such as France and Germany.
Scheppele says that Orban’s relationship with the Trump administration and status as an icon of the global far right may be of limited use in an election that is mostly focused on domestic issues.
But she noted that more tangible steps, such as a pledge of US financial support from the Trump administration if Orban wins, could buoy his chances in the closing days of the race.
“The big thing to watch is that, when Orban came to the US recently, Trump appeared to promise a fiscal safety net if Orban wins,” said Scheppele, adding that the US took similar steps before the 2025 midterm elections in Argentina in order to bolster right-wing ally Javier Milei, now the country’s president.
“Trump hasn’t made that kind of formal promise, and he’s now denied that he made any specific promise. But the Orban people think that Trump is going to backstop them if they win the election,” Scheppele added. “If Vance makes that kind of announcement, it could be a real game-changer.”
Bill Ackman‘s Pershing Square Capital Management disclosed early Tuesday that a takeover bid for Universal Music Group has been submitted to UMG’s board. The offer includes about $10.9 billion in cash, plus additional stock that pushes the total consideration to about $35 a share.
Pershing Square said that UMG’s stock has been undervalued because of uncertainty around the company’s ownership structure and around UMG’s stake in Spotify, and by the company’s delay of its planned stock listing in the U.S. Ackman previously struck an agreement with the company last year to establish a secondary listing in the U.S. in addition to its primary home on the Euronext Amsterdam listing.
The Wall Street Journal pegged the total value of the offer at more than $63 billion.
Ackman praised UMG’s current regime led by Lucian Grainge for cultivated an unparalleled artist roster. But the financial performance has been lacking. Ackman is one of the loudest hedge fund investors out there, exerting enormous influence through social media, podcasts and media interviews.
“Since UMG’s listing, Sir Lucian Grainge and the company’s management have done an excellent job nurturing and continuing to build a world-class artist roster and generating strong business performance,” Ackman said in a statement. “However, UMG’s stock price has languished due to a combination of issues that are unrelated to the performance of its music business and importantly, all of them can be addressed with this transaction.”
Ackman, who has been sparring with UMG management, asserted that “all Transaction equity financing will be backstopped by Pershing Square and affiliates, and all debt financing will be committed at signing.”
Pershing Square asserted that the offer is a 78% premium to UMG’s recent trading price in the $19.60 range. In addition to cash, shareholders would receive 0.77 shares of New UMG stock for each share of UMG held. Per Pershing Square, the deal “will enable the cancellation of 17% of UMG outstanding shares while preserving the company’s investment grade balance sheet and its long-term financial and strategic flexibility. New UMG will have 1.541 billion shares outstanding.”
Pershing Square’s statement included a bullet point list of reasons why UMG’s board should embrace the takeover offer, including “uncertainty concerning the Bolloré Group’s 18% stake in the company,” what it described as the “underutilization of UMG’s balance sheet, which has led to reduced returns on equity” and “the absence of a publicly disclosed capital allocation plan and earnings algorithm.”
Representatives for Universal Music Group did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
Directed by Khương Ngọc and Tấn Hoàng Thông for VIC.N Studio, the film centers on Tâm, a young delivery worker whose heart condition from birth leads him into a strange folk ritual called “lying in a coffin” – a practice held to transform one’s destiny through the symbolic act of death. Dương Hải Yến serves as executive producer.
The cast is led by Hồng Đào, one of Vietnam’s most widely recognised performers, whose turn in Netflix’s “Beef” brought her to a global audience. She also appeared in “Mai” (2023), among the biggest box office draws in Vietnamese film history. Khương Ngọc and Hồng Đào have worked together before, on dramas “The Real Sister” and “My Little Grandma.” Võ Tấn Phát plays the lead role.
“A ‘Good’ Best Luck is a deeply local story, but one that speaks to universal questions about fate and responsibility,” said Dương Hải Yến. “It reflects how people turn to belief systems when pushed to the edge and how real change ultimately comes from within.”
Mockingbird Pictures holds worldwide distribution rights and is pursuing both theatrical openings across the region and deals with international streaming platforms. Talks with prospective buyers are ongoing.
“As global audiences continue to embrace authentic, culturally rooted storytelling, we see ‘A “Good” Best Luck’ as a film with strong potential to travel and connect with audiences beyond Vietnam,” said Phong Duong, business director of Mockingbird Pictures.
The film, whose Vietnamese title is “Lên Hương,” is in its final production phase and is pencilled in for a Vietnam release in the final quarter of 2026. Mockingbird plans to take the project to further festivals and markets in the months ahead.
Earlier this year, Amazon threatened to cut US Postal Service deliveries by as much as two thirds. Now, the parties have reached tentative a deal that will see USPS deliveries reduced by 20 percent, The Wall Street Journal reported. While not as drastic as first menaced, the reduced volume will still deal a financial blow to the USPS.
“We’re pleased to have reached a new agreement with USPS that furthers our longstanding partnership and will let us continue supporting our customers and communities together,” an Amazon spokesperson told the WSJ.
Amazon is the USPS’s largest customer, accounting for 15 percent of its volume and $6 billion in revenue. A two-thirds cut would have been a disaster for the USPS, but a 20 percent reduction could result in more than $1 billion in lost revenue nonetheless. Amazon would have needed to scramble as well, as it relies heavily on the post office for rural and last-mile deliveries.
Amazon’s contract with the USPS was set to expire in September 2026, and in October Amazon said it wanted to strike a deal by December 2025. However, the USPS abruptly pulled out of negotiations, according to Amazon, and implemented a new bidding process for last-mile deliveries. “Our goal was to increase our volumes with USPS, not reduce them — until USPS abruptly walked away at the eleventh hour in December,” Amazon said at the time.
Amazon was reportedly considering expanding its own delivery network if the USPS deal fell through, though the company may have started those rumors itself to prod negotiations. The Postal Service decided to re-engage with Amazon after bids from several Amazon rivals fell short of its volume and revenue expectations, according to the WSJ‘s sources. The new agreement is still subject to approval by the federal Postal Regulatory Commission.
Bitcoin traded around $68,780 on Tuesday as U.S. spot bitcoin ETFs posted their strongest daily inflow in more than a month.
Funds added a combined $471 million on April 6, according to SoSoValue data, marking the largest inflow since Feb. 25 and the sixth-biggest daily total this year. The figure remains below January’s peak flow regime, when multiple trading days topped $700 million.
These high inflows come as bitcoin continues to stall below $70,000, with weak spot demand and distribution by large holders capping upside. ETFs have increasingly offset that pressure, acting as a primary source of marginal buying.
Macro signals offer limited direction. Markets are pricing a 98% probability that the Federal Reserve will hold rates steady at its April meeting, according to Polymarket data, with minimal expectations for near-term cuts or hikes.
Bitcoin’s relationship with global monetary policy may be shifting, with ETFs changing not just the scale of demand but its timing.
A recent Binance Research report finds bitcoin’s correlation with its Global Easing Breadth Index, which tracks 41 central banks, has turned sharply negative since 2024, the same year U.S. spot ETFs were approved. Before then, bitcoin tended to follow easing cycles with a lag. That relationship has now flipped, with the inverse effect nearly three times stronger.
The shift reflects who sets the marginal price. Retail once reacted to macro after the fact. ETF-driven institutional flows are more forward-looking, positioning ahead of expected policy moves.
“BTC may have evolved from a macro ‘lagging receiver’ to a ‘leading pricer,’” Binance Research wrote.
ETF inflows continue to absorb supply and anchor prices, which could explain the continued daily inflow.
If what Binance Research proposes holds, bitcoin may keep trading as a forward-looking asset, pricing in central bank pivots before traditional markets rather than reacting to them after the fact.
