🇸🇪 Sweden proposes to cut fuel tax and reduce Iran war price impact

Sweden will lower the tax on petrol by 1 krona per liter and on diesel by 0.4 krona per liter between May 1 and Sept. 30 at a cost of 1.64 billion kronor ($175 million), Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson said. The government said it would also compensate households for higher electricity and gas prices in January and February at a total cost of 3.4 billion kronor to allow households to “better meet higher energy prices.”

“In difficult times, we will always prioritize the budgets of hard working families,” Kristersson said.

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💊 Doctronic raises $40 million as race to apply AI in clinical care heats up

Earlier this year the startup Doctronic launched a provocative, first-in-the-nation experiment in Utah to renew drug prescriptions with a chatbot. It can prescribe refills of 190 medications across 9 categories of medicines. In its current first phase, human doctors review all prescriptions before they are sent to pharmacies to check for suitability.

“When we prove it’s safe for AI do to this, that helps a lot of people,” — co-founder and co-CEO Matt Pavelle said.

Doctronic, launched in 2023, introduced a chatbot in September of that year that could suggest possible diagnoses and treatments that patients could take to their doctor. The company built its own team of doctors that patients can have video visits with for $39. It now provides video visits with human physicians in all 50 states and the District of Columbia.

Now it’s refilling its coffers with $40 million in fresh funding led by Abstract and Lightspeed Venture Partners. Advocates say AI will speed access to care and help the nation confront rising healthcare costs and a shortage of doctors. Systems designed for clinical care can be safer and more effective than general-purpose chatbots.

Do you agree with that? 🧐

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💻 LG produces the world's first mass-production LCD laptop display capable of 1 Hz to save power

Smartphones have been using highly power-efficient, 1 Hz-capable OLED displays for a few years to improve power efficiency, but now that same display technology is finally making its way into laptops. LG has announced the world's first mass production 120 Hz LCD laptop display capable of spinning down to 1 Hz.

LG's new tech takes advantage of an Oxide TFT display that exhibits low power leakage while the display is in its low refresh rate mode. The display can automatically detect when screen changes occur, and will transition from 120 Hz down to 1 Hz when motion is static. LG claims its new display exhibits 48% greater battery efficiency compared to "existing solutions." The company announced it will be debuting OLED counterparts of its 1 Hz-capable LCDs beginning in 2027.

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🔥 Franklin Templeton highlights rising XRP adoption in finance

​Franklin Templeton reported growing demand for XRP from institutional investors. According to Roger Bayston, head of digital assets at Franklin Templeton, XRP is increasingly being used as a utility rather than a speculative asset.

Speaking on the Paul Barron Podcast, he noted that companies are purchasing the token for real-world infrastructure use. This includes cross-border payments and asset tokenization. XRP is gradually establishing itself as an infrastructure element rather than just a trading asset.

Franklin Templeton is actively strengthening its presence in the XRP ecosystem. In particular, the Franklin XRP ETF (XRPZ) has been launched. Tokenized money market funds have also been integrated on XRPL. This expands blockchain use in traditional finance. Bayston emphasized that regulatory alignment between the SEC and CFTC could accelerate institutional adoption. In his view, this will be a key driver of the next market phase.

#Stellar

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✈️ Alphabet's Wing to start drone delivery in San Francisco Bay Area

Alphabet-owned Wing plans to begin delivering packages by drone to homes in California's San Francisco Bay Area in ​the coming months, it said on Monday, extending its ‌rollout to one of its earliest testing grounds. Wing already offers drone delivery in North Carolina, Virginia and Australia, but this is the first time that consumers in the company’s home market will be able to try out the technology.

Wing is seeking to scale what it says is a solution to the hurdles ​facing last-mile delivery of small household items and meals ​by using lightweight, automated drones designed to fly directly ⁠to homes in dense residential areas.

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🔥 White House reviewing SEC’s crypto, hedge fund disclosure plans

On March 20, The SEC sent two new proposed rules, one on digital assets and another on hedge fund and private equity firm disclosures, to the White House for review. The two plans are under review by the White House’s Office of Management and Budget, according to a notice posted today on a US government website.

SEC Chairman Paul Atkins previewed the sweeping digital asset proposal during a speech last week. The measure will include a long-awaited “innovation exemption” for digital asset firms to avoid registration as brokers, exchanges or other regulated entities for a limited period of time, Atkins said. The other item may tee up major changes to Form PF, the form hedge funds, private equity firms and other private funds use to report performance and risk metrics to the broader financial system.

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📉 DoorDash introduces relief payments for drivers as the Iran-US war drives up gas prices

The company announced on Monday the rollout of a temporary program aimed at easing the financial burden on Dashers who rely on their vehicles for deliveries. DoorDash’s relief program, which runs through April 26, offers weekly payments to eligible drivers.

Dashers who drive at least 125 miles per week can receive payments starting at $5, translating to estimated savings of $1 to $1.50 per gallon. The support could be especially meaningful for drivers in suburban and rural areas who travel longer distances. Additionally, drivers who utilize DoorDash’s Crimson debit card will benefit from an extra 10% cash back on gas purchases, offering them potential savings of up to $1.90 per gallon.

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🚫 FCC bans wireless router imports, citing security concerns

The Federal Communications Commission ordered a ban on the import of new models of foreign-produced consumer wireless routers due to national security concerns. The ban could impact companies such as TP-Link Systems Inc., Netgear Inc., and others that build their products overseas, regardless of the nationality of the developer.

The move does not impact consumers' ability to continue using previously purchased routers, and retailers will be allowed to keep selling already-imported routers. In making its decision, the FCC cited a National Security Determination provided on March 20.

“Recently, malicious state and non-state sponsored cyber attackers have increasingly leveraged the vulnerabilities in small and home office routers produced abroad to carry out direct attacks against American civilians in their homes,” — the notice said.

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🤖 Apple to start AI comeback bid on June 8 with annual WWDC conference

Apple Inc. announced plans to hold its annual Worldwide Developers Conference from June 8 to June 12, when the company is poised to unveil a make-or-break collection of AI features. As part of the WWDC26, Apple will announce the iOS 27. It is also revamping its Siri voice assistant to provide a more chatbot-like interface. The company is preparing an under-the-hood cleanup of its operating systems, which in some cases have become bloated and buggy.

“WWDC26 will spotlight incredible updates for Apple platforms, including AI advancements and exciting new software and developer tools,” — the company said in a statement.

Apple typically follows up on WWDC with launches of new hardware in the fall, including iPhone introductions in September and new types of Macs or other products in October. Later this year, the company plans to debut a foldable iPhone, the iPhone 18 Pro line and an upgraded MacBook Pro with a touch screen.

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🇺🇸 Trump sets up ‘Pax Silica’ fund to reduce global dependencies

The Trump administration said on Monday that it intended to create a consortium to invest over $1 trillion into energy projects, minerals and semiconductors in an effort to create a new source for critical goods controlled by the U.S.

“The fund will serve as a catalyst, a credible call to action for partners around the world to put serious capital behind shared strategic objectives,” — Mr. Helberg said.

The voluntary consortium will include countries like Singapore, the United Arab Emirates, Qatar and Sweden, in addition to the U.S., which will contribute $250 million toward the investment, Jacob Helberg, the under secretary of state for economic affairs, said. The investment is intended to grow out of the “Pax Silica” initiative, an economic security program aimed at building out a secure global supply chain for semiconductors.

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🇪🇺🇦🇺Europe, Australia agree to trade deal to boost ties

The European Union and Australia agreed to a free-trade deal, wrapping up almost a decade of talks, which will reduce costs for Australian consumers and open new markets for Australian producers. The conclusion of negotiations for the agreement was announced Tuesday in Canberra by Prime Minister Anthony Albanese and Ursula von der Leyen.

The agreement eliminates tariffs on key Australian exports including wine, seafood and horticulture, and sets quotas for Australian beef, sheep and goat meat, and raw sugar cane to be imported tariff free. The two sides also signed a Security and Defence Partnership to facilitate better cooperation on crisis management and security challenges, and reached a framework to cooperate more on critical raw materials. 🤝

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🌖 NASA to spend $20 billion on moon base, cancel orbiting lunar station

NASA is cancelling plans to deploy a space station in lunar orbit and ​will instead use its components to construct a $20 billion ‌base on the moon's surface over the next 7 years, its new chief Jared Isaacman said on Tuesday. Lunar ⁠Gateway was designed to serve as both a research platform and a transfer station that astronauts would ​use to board the moon landers before descending ​to the ⁠lunar surface.

"It should not really surprise anyone that we ​are pausing Gateway in its current form and focusing on infrastructure that supports sustained operations on the lunar surface," — Isaacman told delegates at the event.

The changes imposed by Isaacman on the flagship U.S. moon program in recent weeks are reshaping billions of dollars worth of contracts ⁠under ​the Artemis effort. That is sending companies ​scrambling to accommodate the extra urgency as China makes progress toward its own 2030 moon ​landing.

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🔥 NYSE partners with securitize to develop 24/7 tokenized securities platform

The New York Stock Exchange, part of Intercontinental Exchange announced a collaboration on Tuesday with digital asset ​company Securitize to help create tokenized versions of ‌traditional financial securities.

Securitize will serve as the first digital transfer agent eligible to create blockchain-based securities for issuers of corporate and ​exchange-traded funds on an upcoming NYSE-affiliated Digital Trading ​Platform. The addition of Securitize formalizes a core piece of that infrastructure, linking the exchange’s ambitions with an established player in digital asset issuance.

Securitize specializes in tokenizing real-world assets, converting traditional financial instruments into blockchain-native representations that can be traded more efficiently. The firm has worked with institutions including BlackRock, which earlier launched a tokenized fund through Securitize’s platform. Securitize actively cooperates with top crypto projects: Uniswap (UNI), Wormhole (W), Ethena (ENA), Ripple (XRP), BNB Chain (BNB), Solana (SOL) and others.

Securitize is building an infrastructure through which tokenized assets flow directly into crypto and DeFi. Now the NYSE is being added to this.

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💊 Scientists discover promising treatment for deadly hepatitis E virus

Hepatitis E virus (HEV) is the leading cause of acute viral hepatitis and kills about 70,000 people each year. Even with that global impact, there is still no vaccine and no virus-specific treatment.

Researchers have now identified bemnifosbuvir, a drug already in clinical trials for hepatitis C, as a possible way to stop hepatitis E from multiplying. Because the drug is already being tested in people for another viral infection, it could offer a faster path toward a treatment option than starting from scratch.

An international team from Bochum and Heidelberg, Germany, and Beijing, China, identified the compound by screening a library of nucleotide/nucleoside analogues, a class of molecules designed to resemble the building blocks used in genetic material. The virus no longer replicated, while the treated cells remained healthy. The results were published in the journal Gut.

Follow-up studies in animals confirmed that the compound reduced both viral activity and liver inflammation. If the ongoing clinical trials of bemnifosbuvir against hepatitis C are successful, the drug could soon also be available for off-label use against hepatitis E.

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🌍 Russia puts first Internet satellites into orbit as SpaceX rival

Russia’s Bureau 1440 space company launched 16 broadband Internet satellites, marking an early operational step in a low-Earth orbit network. The launch is part of Russia’s broader Rassvet project, which it plans to scale up sharply over the next several years to build a sovereign satellite Internet network.

“The launch of the first satellites in the target constellation marks the transition from experiments to the creation of a communications service. Ahead lie dozens of launches and hundreds of satellites,” — the company said.

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🚫 Ford to recall over 254,000 SUVs in the US due to software issues

Ford Motor is ‌recalling 254,640 SUVs in the U.S. over software issues that may result in ​the loss of rearview ​camera image and some advanced ⁠driver assistance (ADAS) features. The recall includes ​Lincoln Navigator, Lincoln Nautilus, ​Lincoln Aviator and Ford Explorer SUVs, ‌according ⁠to the ​U.S. National Highway Traffic ​Safety Administration (NHTSA).

An unexpected reset of an image processing software may cause ​loss ​of ⁠ADAS features like pre-collision assist, lane-keeping ​assist, and blind-spot monitoring. NHTSA ​said the ⁠software will be updated by a dealer or by ⁠the ​company through an over-the-air (OTA) ​update.

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🤖 Arm is releasing the first in-house chip in its 35-year history

Storied semiconductor and software company Arm Holdings is starting to make its own chips after nearly 36 years of licensing its designs to companies like Nvidia and Apple. Arm Holdings announced a new AI ​data center chip which it said will add billions of dollars of revenue and represent ‌a significant shift in the company's strategy.

The new chip, called the AGI CPU, will address data-crunching needed for a specific type of AI that is able to act on behalf of users with minimal oversight, instead of responding to queries as part of a chatbot. AGI CPU, will have as many as 136 cores and draw 300 watts of electricity, with Meta Platforms Inc. as its first major customer.

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⚡️🇺🇸 Trump officials ready E15 waiver for summer gasoline sales

The Trump administration is preparing to expand the opportunity for sales of higher-ethanol E15 gasoline this summer by waiving the fuel from US volatility requirements. The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) would issue emergency fuel waivers temporarily exempting E15 gasoline from volatility restrictions that block warm-weather sales of the fuel in areas where smog is a problem. The move is seen as a way to deliver a win to corn farmers, biofuel producers, and rural voters, and to help ease energy costs for consumers.

E15, which is made with 15% corn-based ethanol, generally runs cheaper per gallon than conventional E10 gasoline — though it’s also less energy dense. Since the heat of summer increases the evaporation of all liquids, including gasoline, the US imposes more stringent limits between June 1 and Sept. 15 on Reid vapor pressure, the propensity for gasoline to evaporate and lead to smog. Under the Clean Air Act, the EPA can waive those requirements to address shortages.

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🔥 Ripple joins monetary authority of Singapore’s BLOOM initiative and partners with unloq to advance programmable settlement infrastructure in trade finance

Ripple announced its participation in BLOOM, an initiative by the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS). BLOOM - Borderless, Liquid, Open, Online, Multi-currency - is designed to extend settlement capabilities in tokenized bank liabilities and regulated stablecoins.

Partnering with leading supply chain finance technology provider, Unloq, Ripple will pilot a use case aimed at transforming cross-border trade settlements. The project aims to showcase a viable model for Singapore’s future development of innovative and interoperable settlement infrastructure.

The joint initiative features Unloq’s SC+ trade finance infrastructure, which integrates trade obligations, settlement conditions, and financing workflows into a unified execution layer. The solution leverage Ripple’s institutional-grade infrastructure, the XRP Ledger (XRPL), and Ripple USD (RLUSD) - a trusted, enterprise-grade stablecoin, designed for enterprise use cases.

Payments are released only when predefined commercial conditions are met, such as shipment verification. This structure enhances risk transparency and supports improved access to financing for SMEs.

#Stellar

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🇵🇭 Philippine pension fund offers $8,300 solar loans to cut energy bills

Philippine state-owned pension fund Government Service Insurance System is offering loans of up to 500,000 pesos ($8,300) for members to buy and install solar power for their homes amid surging fossil fuel prices. The GSIS said the loans are a major step in making renewable energy more accessible in the Southeast Asian nation. The Philippines aims to boost the share of renewables in its energy mix to more than a third by the end of the decade from about a quarter now and to 50% by 2040.

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🔥 CFTC forms new innovation task force to shape crypto, artificial intelligence and prediction markets

CFTC Chair Michael Selig unveiled the Innovation Task Force, which he said will focus on advancing rules for new products and technologies. The new task force will work with other federal agencies, including the SEC and its crypto task force.

“By establishing a clear regulatory framework for innovators building on the new frontier of finance, we can foster responsible innovation at home and ensure American market participants are not left on the sidelines,” — Selig said.

The Innovation Task Force, in partnership with the Innovation Advisory Committee, will work with the Commission to develop a clear regulatory framework for innovators focused on:
▪️crypto assets and blockchain technologies;
▪️AI and autonomous systems;
▪️and prediction markets and event contracts.

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