From Coinbase putting the pressure on the US SEC to Al Pacino still being the GOAT at 83 – Here are today's Headlines

To start off, we're looking into:

Coinbase takes the SEC to court

The backstory: It's no lie that the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) is not a huge fan of crypto, with Chair Gary Gensler famously calling it the "Wild West." The SEC tends to think that almost everything in crypto is a security and, therefore, subject to the same laws, supervision and reporting standards as other securities, like stocks, bonds, etc. But many crypto firms don't think most digital assets qualify as securities, and so very few register their products with the SEC.

More recently: Last July, crypto exchange Coinbase filed a petition with the SEC, asking for more clarity on how securities laws apply to crypto. Basically, the company suggested a new framework be created for digital assets because they are different from traditional securities. But, the SEC hasn't yet responded, except with a Wells notice, letting Coinbase know it could bring enforcement action against it.

The development: So, Coinbase has sued the regulator to compel it to answer the petition. Check out the full article for more on this crypto clash.

Fruit freeze frenzy

The backstory: Last year, China, one of the world’s top global suppliers of fruits and vegetables, suffered an over 70-day heat wave in June that caused widespread damage. The Yangtze river basin battled forest fires, lakes and reservoirs dried up and crops were destroyed. The country recorded its highest temperatures ever in August.

More recently: Now, the country has continued getting hit hard with extreme weather events this year, causing all sorts of chaos and disruption. We're talking droughts and sandstorms. It all started back in early February when officials warned that more extreme weather was on the way And, they weren’t wrong. In March, over a dozen major Chinese cities hit record-high temperatures. Shahe took the cake with a sweltering 31.8 degrees Celsius (89 degrees Fahrenheit).

The development: On the other temperature extreme, though, farmers and investors in northern China are feeling the chill from a recent cold front. The temperature drop is causing some serious worries about fruit and vegetable crops (especially since China produces about a third of the global supply), causing investors to bet on production losses. In fact, apple futures on the Zhengzhou Commodity Exchange have surged 8% in under two weeks. The agriculture ministry is warning about potential harm to apple trees in main producing regions like Shaanxi, Shanxi and Xinjiang, as well as other fruits like grapes, citrus and pears.

China drops more COVID rules

The backstory: Throughout the pandemic, China had some of the toughest restrictions in place for a long time as it held on to its zero-COVID stance. The policy was essentially meant to keep COVID cases as close to zero as possible through restrictions like lockdowns, quarantines and mass testing. But, since the end of last year, China has been easing off this stance by opening up travel and scrapping national restrictions step-by-step over the last few months.

More recently: When it comes to inbound travel from some countries, China has kept PCR testing a requirement, even after dropping other travel rules like mandatory quarantine. But there have been some exceptions. For example, travelers coming from certain countries, like Malaysia and New Zealand, have had those restrictions loosened. Even with China’s borders opening and travel being encouraged, though, the air travel industry just hasn’t been recovering very quickly, with international flights from the first quarter of this year at just 12.4% of the 2019 level.

The development: So, on Tuesday, China said it would drop mandatory PCR testing for incoming travelers, a rule that’s been kind of deterring visitors since these tests take longer. Starting April 29, travelers can instead show a negative rapid test, which is less sensitive than PCR tests but a lot quicker. But it doesn’t seem like airlines will have to check those tests before boarding, anyway. Travelers will still have to fill out health declaration forms.

To end, we'll look into:

A vaccine for Lyme disease?

Lyme disease is a tick-borne illness that’s becoming more of a concern as climate change affects insect populations. And so, with that, because ticks could become more of a year-long nuisance, there’s a threat of Lyme numbers rising.

Lyme disease is a bit of a medical mystery, affecting different people in different ways. Lyme disease bacteria can cause fever, rashes, chills, headaches, fatigue or muscle and joint aches in humans. If it's not treated, though, the disease can end up causing a whole lot worse, like facial palsy and arthritis. But, all in all, It's usually treatable, depending on the person.

So, why don't we have a vaccine yet?

About 20 years ago, there actually was a Lyme disease vaccine for humans, but it wasn't successful. LYMErix was a vaccine approved by the FDA in the US in 1998, proven safe and about 75% effective in reducing the risk for infection in clinical trials. But, it was taken off the market in 2002 because of low consumer demand at the time, paired with reports of potential side effects like arthritis, which was enough to turn a lot of people against the vaccine.

"The FDA found insufficient evidence to support a causal relationship between the reported adverse effects and the vaccine and continued to permit use of the vaccine," researchers wrote in Epidemiology & Infection in 2007. "However, the public's perception of potential risks, heavily influenced by the negative press coverage and limited awareness of the benefits of the vaccine, decreased consumer demand for the vaccine."

Luckily, now, we could be looking at a new vaccine against the disease.

Earlier in April, Moderna announced two different mRNA Lyme disease vaccines in the works. And Pfizer and its partner, Valneva, have also been on track to get a Lyme disease vaccination out soon. There were a few setbacks here and there with the clinical trials, but we could be seeing FDA vaccination authorization as early as 2025.

"We are extremely pleased to reach this important milestone in the development of VLA15," Valneva's chief medical officer, Juan Carlos Jaramillo, said in a statement last year. "Lyme disease continues to spread, representing a high unmet medical need that impacts the lives of many in the Northern Hemisphere."

In other news ...

📉Stocks: MSCI’s global gauge of stocks is down 1.32% at 2,789.54 at the time of writing.

• Dow Jones fell 1.02% to 33,530.83.
• Nasdaq Composite lost 1.98% to 11,799.16.
• S&P 500 dropped 1.58% to 4,071.63.
• Hang Seng Index tumbled 1.71% to 19,617.88.

🧠Some quick factors to bear in mind:

• US stocks took a hit on Tuesday as investors grew concerned about the economy slowing down and a bleak outlook from United Parcel Service (UPS).
• UPS lowered its full-year revenue forecast, leading to a 10% drop in its stock, with consumers just not spending as much as much as we were throughout the height of COVID.
• But PepsiCo managed to buck the trend, with its shares climbing 2.3% thanks to better-than-expected numbers that lifted forecasts.
• First Republic Bank struggled in Q1, with a 40% drop in deposits from the previous quarter and shares falling over 49%.
• Traders are widely predicting a 25 basis point rate hike to about 5-5.25% at the May 2-3 Fed policy meeting.
• Tuesday's US consumer confidence hit a nine-month low, with many worried about an impending recession.
• Over in Hong Kong, the stock market didn't do so well either.
• Alibaba shares sank 3.2%, Tencent Holdings plummeted 1.9% and HSBC fell 0.8%.
• On the data front, Hong Kong's unemployment rate decreased to 3.1% in January-March from 3.3% in December of last year to February.

👄Some comments and chatter:

• "Investors have been trying valiantly to hold it together in the midst of a big earnings and economic data week and a big Federal Reserve week next week," said Carol Schleif, chief investment officer for BMO Family Office based in Chicago.
• “Tech isn’t working as a ballast because it ran up so much and because we’re getting close to earnings. The rubber is hitting the road, so those companies have to do quite well to justify it,” said Jay Hatfield of Infrastructure Capital Management.

🛢Oil: On Tuesday, oil prices went down by 2% after going up for two days in a row, with traders starting to worry about the economy slowing down and the dollar weakening. So, even though there was good news about China needing more oil and the US having less inventory, those concerns outweighed the positive news.

👛Bitcoin: At the time of writing, Bitcoin is up 2.84% at US$28,296.80.

🕊Sudan ceasefire and WHO warning: As fighting continues in Sudan, other countries are trying to evacuate diplomats and citizens, and the Sudanese people are trying to escape violence in Khartoum. On Monday, a 72-hour ceasefire from the warring security forces was announced. But, the WHO is concerned about possible biological hazards in Khartoum with the National Public Health Laboratory under occupation right now (by whom, exactly, is unclear).

📩Biden announces campaign for re-election: Everyone kind of suspected already that current US prez Joe Biden was going to run for re-election in 2024. But, on Tuesday, he formally announced he'd be running for a second term. We don't have an official lineup of runners yet.

💣Attack on Ukrainian museum: As Ukraine sets up its spring counteroffensive against Russia, President Zelenskiy announced on Tuesday that a Russian airstrike had hit a museum in Kupyansk in eastern Ukraine, killing two people and injuring 10 others. And, according to new UK intelligence, Russia's daily casualties have gone down around 30% as it makes more defensive moves.

🤝S. Korea and US meeting to talk nukes: Over the past few months, tensions between North and South Korea have been rising, with North Korea launching missile tests off the peninsula and South Korea running military exercises with Japan and the US. This week, South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol is visiting the US to celebrate the 70th anniversary of the two countries' alliance. Biden plans to announce new nuclear deterrence plans, plus new cyber security efforts, economic investments and a new educational project.

👩‍⚖️Singapore to execute man over cannabis charge: Singapore has some of the strictest anti-drug laws in the world, which it sees as a necessary protection of its society. In a controversial move, authorities have decided to hang a man for conspiring to traffic a kilogram of cannabis. Activists say the man, Tangaraju Suppiah, has been convicted on weak evidence, and his family is asking President Halimah Yacob for last-minute clemency. His execution is set for Wednesday.

📆Rana Plaza Disaster anniversary: Ten years ago, on April 24, 2013, the Rana Plaza garment factory building collapsed in Dhaka, Bangladesh, killing more than 1,100 people. It's known as the deadliest accident in modern garment industry history and one of the worst industrial accidents ever, period. The disaster sparked workplace safety movements and campaigns against fast fashion.

😓No one wants Voyager: Bankrupt crypto platform Voyager was initially set to be purchased by FTX before that empire crumbled late last year. Then, Binance.US agreed to buy the platform to get it out of bankruptcy and allow it to pay back customers. But on Tuesday, Binance canceled the deal abruptly without explaining why. Voyager has acknowledged the defunct deal and has said it will still look to pay customers back with direct distributions. Binance did indicate to Bloomberg that its reasoning had to do with US regulatory pressure and uncertainty.

🤑The tech industry faces heavy fines in UK: In the UK, new legislation was just passed to protect consumers when it comes to issues like fake online reviews and subscriptions that are difficult to cancel. The new digital markets, competition and consumers bill will give UK's competition watchdog standing to take on the "excessive dominance" that just a few tech firms have on consumers and businesses. Now, these tech firms could face multibillion-pound fines for breaking consumer protection rules.

💸Tesla really wants your business: Tesla has been slashing the prices of its entry-level vehicles in markets all over the world, starting what many see as a price war with other manufacturers. Now, the Tesla entry-level Model Y SUV costs almost US$800 less than the average new vehicle in the US, which is putting a lot of pressure on other carmakers to stay competitive.

🎫ANA canceling super-cheap flights: Last week, Japanese airliner ANA had a bit of a snafu on its Vietnam site with some faulty currency conversion, meaning a lot of passengers got business and first-class flights for a fraction of the typical cost. The company previously said it would honor tickets already purchased during the error, but now it's said it plans to cancel and fully refund all the remaining tickets "erroneously processed."

🚀Japanese company attempts private moon landing: A Japanese lunar lander launched by private space company Ispace was supposed to land on the moon Wednesday, which would make it the world's first commercial spacecraft lunar landing. But the mission wasn't successful, with flight controllers on the ground losing contact with the spacecraft, which is now considered lost.

⌚AI health tech: Apple is working on a project codenamed Quartz, an AI-powered health coaching service and tech that can help track emotions. The coaching service aims to help users stay motivated to exercise and eat and sleep better, according to inside sources, all using AI and data from the Apple Watch.

🔬Experimental brain-cancer-killing gel shows major potential: Glioblastoma is an overall rare cancer, but it's one of the most common brain cancers and also one of the deadliest. In a breakthrough for fighting this disease, scientists at Johns Hopkins University say they've created a gel-based treatment for glioblastoma that (when combined with surgery) was found to eradicate 100% of glioblastoma tumors in mice. There will need to be a lot more research and testing before we start testing on humans, but it's a major step forward.

🎧Oh, Spotify, why?: Spotify released its quarterly earnings, which are up around 14% to match the streaming platform's boost in subscribers. It now boasts about 210 million paid subscribers and around 515 million monthly active users. So, naturally, its CEO is ready to hike prices for the service. How much, though, will depend on what agreements the company works out with major record labels.

🌺RIP Harry Belafonte: Entertainer Harry Belafonte was a musician who rose to the top in the 1950s, overcoming racial barriers in the music scene to become a revolutionary in the industry and a powerful figure in the American civil rights movement. On Tuesday, he died at age 96 in his New York City home.

🎂Happy Birthday Al Pacino: Considered one of the GOATs of film, Italian-American actor Al Pacino, who told us to say “hello” to his little friend and taught us not to ever take sides against the Family, celebrated his 83rd birthday on April 25. Here’s to many more.

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Written and put together by Joey Fung, Vanessa Wolosz, Krystal Lai and Christine Dulion