U.S. Vice President JD Vance, right, speaks during a news conference after meeting with representatives from Pakistan and Iran, as U.S. President Donald Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner, left, and U.S. Special Envoy to the Middle East Steve Witkoff watch, in Islamabad, April 12, 2026.
Jacquelyn Martin | AFP | Getty Images
The U.S. and Iran will likely return to Pakistan next week for a second round of peace negotiations, two senior Pakistani officials told MS NOW on Wednesday.
The latest sign of the countries’ continuing efforts to reach a diplomatic end to the war came from officials who are involved in finalizing decisions with the U.S. and Iranian teams, but did not want to be named because of sensitivities around negotiations, MS NOW reported.
The step toward resuming the stalled peace talks came as tensions in the Persian Gulf continued to rise, further imperiling a shaky two-week ceasefire between the U.S. and Iran.
Oil tanker traffic through the Strait of Hormuz remains at a trickle as Iran continues to pose threats to passing vessels and the U.S. enforces a retaliatory blockade of Iranian ports.
President Donald Trump, who said last week that the ceasefire agreement was subject to the strait being fully reopened, had complained about the lack of activity in the vital shipping route prior to announcing the blockade.
On Wednesday, Iranian state news outlet Fars reported that Tehran was suspending all petrochemical exports until further notice.
U.S. Vice President JD Vance, left, speaks with Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif ahead of their meeting on Iran amid the US-Iran peace talks in Islamabad, April 11, 2026.
Jacquelyn Martin | AFP | Getty Images
Still, the White House said Wednesday it is optimistic about a possible peace agreement coming into view.
“Discussions are being had,” and “we feel good about the prospects of a deal,” press secretary Karoline Leavitt told reporters at a White House briefing, while cautioning that the next round of in-person talks hasn’t yet been made official.
Leavitt also said those talks would “very likely” be held in Islamabad, “the same place as they were last time.” Pakistan has facilitated communications between the warring powers.
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The first round of negotiations last weekend — a marathon 21-hour session led on the the U.S. side by Vice President JD Vance and special envoys Steve Witkoff and Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner — ended in no deal.
Pakistan is “the only mediator in this negotiation,” Leavitt said as she praised the regional power for its help so far.
Leavitt also said it is “not true” that the U.S. has requested an extension of the ceasefire, which is set to expire next Tuesday.
A senior U.S. official told CNBC on Wednesday morning, “The United States has not formally agreed to an extension of the ceasefire. There is continued engagement between the U.S. and Iran to reach a deal.”
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A big change to the Vancouver waterfront has been approved by city councillors.
A six-storey, 250-room floating hotel, which would be located next to the Vancouver Convention Centre in Coal Harbour, was approved after a public hearing on Tuesday night.
The “floatel” is a joint venture between the Finland-based Sunborn Group and the Vancouver Harbour Flight Centre.
It would include a hotel, a bar, shops, restaurants, a cafe, a spa and a new viewing area.
There has been some pushback to the project and some speakers on Tuesday night voiced their opposition.
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“Three thousand hotel rooms that have already been approved, we don’t see a rush to approve another one,” Michelle Travis with Unite Here Local 40 said.
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“There are 3,700 more hotel rooms in the pipeline. The hotel policy that the city passed last year calls for 10,000 rooms by 2050, not by 2026.”
Floating hotel proposal heads to public hearing
Hans Niemi with Sunborn Group said there is a great demand for hotel rooms in Vancouver.
“The project has really been kick-started by the needs of the hotel sector,” he said.
“There’s a great demand for hotel rooms, and by delivering it on a water space that we otherwise couldn’t develop for housing.”
The developers still need to obtain environmental permits and the ship would take about two years to build and transport to the harbour.
David Axelrod, a senior advisor to former president Barack Obama, put out a statement on X quelling rumors that a Thursday meeting between himself and Pope Leo XIV was a precursor to a potential Pontifex-Obama summit.
“To be clear, I was gratified and honored that Pope Leo XIV granted my request for an audience and thrilled to spend a some time with him last week,” Axelrod wrote.
“It was scheduled months ago and unrelated to any prospective meeting with President Obama,” his Tuesday post concluded.
Despite the statement, Obama has been open about his desire to meet with Pope Leo. Obama-Biden White House alum Christopher Hale posted on X that there are “early talks” about a potential one-on-one.
POPE WARNS ESCALATING IRAN CONFLICT COULD TIP MIDDLE EAST INTO ‘IRREPARABLE ABYSS’
David Axelrod speaks on stage during the “Election 2024” panel for The Atlantic Festival 2024 on Sept. 20, 2024, in Washington, D.C.(Morigi/Getty Images)
Axelrod, now a CNN analyst, was responding to a video from his own network in which conservative commentator Hal Lambert accused Pope Leo’s recent criticisms of President Donald Trump and the war in Iran of being politically motivated.
“David Axelrod goes and visits Pope Leo last week. They’re talking about Obama going to visit. Pope Leo is from Chicago. All of a sudden, now Pope Leo is out attacking Trump and the policies of the United States and Israel,” Lambert said during a CNN panel show.
“Axelrod is the chief strategist for Obama. The Pope was saying he’s not political. Why is he meeting with the chief strategist for both Obama’s campaign and in the White House?” Lambert asked.
POPE LEO PICKS NEW VATICAN AMBASSADOR TO US AS TRUMP TENSIONS MOUNT OVER POLICIES
In addition to being a senior advisor to Obama in the White House, Axelrod was also the chief strategist for both Obama’s 2008 and 2012 campaigns and was widely seen as the brains behind his successful runs.
The veteran politico met with Pope Leo on April 9. The pope’s criticism’s of Trump’s military actions predate the meeting. He’s been critical of both military actions in Venezuela and in Iran, telling a Palm Sunday mass in March that God “does not listen to the prayers of those who wage war.”
But one day after his meeting with Axelrod, Pope Leo wrote what appeared to be a direct rebuke to the administration.
POPE LEO CALLS OUT ‘DELUSION OF OMNIPOTENCE’ FUELING IRAN WAR IN VIGIL FOR PEACE AT ST. PETER’S BASILICA
“God does not bless any conflict. Anyone who is a disciple of Christ, the Prince of Peace, is never on the side of those who once wielded the sword and today drop bombs,” Pope Leo wrote in an April 10 post on X.
Pope Leo XIV speaks to the media on the U.S.–Israeli conflict with Iran, as he leaves the papal residence to head back to the Vatican, in Castel Gandolfo, Italy, April 7, 2026.(Guglielmo Mangiapane/Reuters)
“Military action will not create space for freedom or times of Peace, which comes only from the patient promotion of coexistence and dialogue among peoples,” he concluded.
The post, which has been followed with at least 10 direct or indirect references to war and peace in the five days since, came days after Secretary of War Pete Hegseth spoke of the rescue mission to save a downed airman in Iran.
POPE LEO XIV INVOKES POPE FRANCIS’ FINAL WORDS IN EASTER PLEA AGAINST GROWING ‘INDIFFERENCE’ TO WAR
“Shot down on a Friday — Good Friday — hidden in a cave — a crevice — all of Saturday and rescued on Sunday,” Hegseth said. “Flown out of Iran as the sun was rising on Easter Sunday, a pilot reborn. All home and accounted for. A nation rejoicing. God is good,” Hegseth said in an April 6 press conference.
Trump responded to comments from Pope Leo, calling him “weak on crime and “terrible for foreign policy,” in a post on Truth Social.
“Leo should get his act together as Pope, use Common Sense, stop catering to the Radical Left, and focus on being a Great Pope, not a Politician. It’s hurting him very badly and, more importantly, it’s hurting the Catholic Church,” Trump also wrote.
FROM IRAN TO THE FAKE JESUS IMAGE, TRUMP IS FACING A GROWING BACKLASH FOR HIS INFLAMMATORY RHETORIC
The heightened rhetoric has contributed to an atmosphere that many are increasingly viewing as political.
Then-President Barack Obama and David Axelrod seen at the White House.(Mark Wilson/Getty Images)
“It’s not about when it was scheduled. It’s about why? David Axelrod is a powerful Democrat political strategist. That’s his job for the past 30 years. Millions of people would like a private audience with the Pope, but he is meeting with a powerful strategist for the opposition party to President Trump,” Lambert told Fox News Digital.
“This is all about the midterms and trying to turn Catholics against President Trump and Republicans,” Lambert concluded.
BISHOP BARRON SAYS TRUMP ‘OWES THE POPE AN APOLOGY’
Besides incurring the Pope’s ire, Trump has also irked Christians across the board after posting an AI-generated image of himself on Truth Social that many viewed as depicting himself as Jesus Christ.
Trump deleted the photo and denied the charge, claiming he thought the photo was depicting him as a doctor.
“I did post it, and I thought it was me as a doctor and had to do with Red Cross… which we support, and only the fake news could come up with that one,” Trump told reporters.
“As a Chicagoan, I’ve been eager to meet Pope Leo from the moment he stepped out on the balcony,” Axelrod told Fox News Digital.
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“My admiration for him as a great moral leader has only grown since. The audience, which I requested, was scheduled months ago. No one sent me and the only mission I was on was to visit with him and pay my respects,” he concluded.
Fox News Digital reached out to The Vatican and an Obama representative for comment but did not immediately receive a response.
A handful of Conservative MPs stopped on their way into a caucus meeting this morning to tell reporters they’re backing their leader as questions swirl about Pierre Poilievre’s ability to stay in the job.
MP Andrew Lawton says Poilievre is doing a tremendous job and received resounding support from the party membership at its recent convention.
Deputy leader Melissa Lantsman and House leader Andrew Scheer both say the caucus is united behind its leader.
Poilievre’s leadership under scrutiny as Conservative floor-crossings mount
That’s something Conservatives have said repeatedly since November, when the first of four Conservative MPs defected to join the Liberals.
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AI Minister Evan Solomon, who was involved in helping recruit Marilyn Gladu to the government benches, says the Liberals are talking to lots of people about crossing the floor.
Poilievre closed out a speech in the House of Commons on Tuesday by saying he plans to lead Conservatives into the next election.
A court heard that the Reform UK councillor was angry that a Conservative candidate suggested he was a racist
Helen William Press Association
16:17, 15 Apr 2026Updated 16:19, 15 Apr 2026
Reform UK councillor Andy Osborn arriving at Westminster Magistrates’ Court(Image: PA Media)
A Reform UK councillor posted a damning fake message about a Conservative candidate because he was angry she had suggested he was a racist in public, a court has heard.
The prosecution allege that Andy Osborn, 74, broke election law when he was chairman of the North East Cambridgeshire Reform Party. They said he made Samantha Hoy a “target with anger” during campaigning in the run-up to the May 2025 local poll for Cambridgeshire County Council.
A post stating “Samantha Hoy worked in the care industry but allegedly was sacked for fraud no wonder Wisbech is in such a state. Reform UK will fix it” appeared on a Facebook account on April 25, days before the election, Westminster Magistrates’ Court heard.
Osborn, who is a member of Cambridgeshire County Council, has pleaded not guilty to a charge of making or publishing a false statement and is charged under the Representation of the People Act 1983. He says his account was hacked.
The court heard the allegations stem from incidents in the build-up to the election which included a dispute between Reform UK campaigners, including Osborn, of March, Cambridgeshire. He was alleged to have told the mayor of Wisbech, councillor Sidney Imafidon, who is a black man, to “speak English”.
Police were called to the incident on April 11, which is said to have happened at Wisbech marketplace when questions were raised over whether Reform had a licence for a stall and if it was being used for political purposes, the court heard. Mr Imafidon asked them to move and the police were called.
Osborn, who has hearing problems, says he only asked Mr Imafidon to “speak clearly”.
Ms Hoy, a councillor for Wisbech South, claims that Osborn started an “argument unnecessarily” when she was with colleague Steve Tierney at a postal vote count on April 25. She told Osborn “isn’t it interesting that your hearing is working?” here at the count but not at the marketplace, she recalled while giving evidence on Wednesday (April 15).
Ms Hoy said Osborn “got quite angry, said I was calling him racist and we both walked off”, describing the scene as “quite embarrassing really when you are in a room full of people”. The offending message appeared online later that day.
Ms Hoy, who works in the care industry and has never been sacked or faced fraud allegations, later responded online describing the claims as “an absolute lie and extremely defamatory and damaging”.
Ms Hoy reported the matter to the police and took screenshots of messages from the account Osborn is alleged to have had. They said “I have taken a lot of slander in reference to me being a racist, I have family who are black and I am proud of them.”
The posts were publicly available for “months rather than weeks”, according to Ms Hoy, who told the court that she never received an apology.
Osborn stressed he did not write or publish the posts and his account was hacked, and suggested the culprit may have been a neighbour or an online troll. He recalled “struggling to hear because of the background noise” in the marketplace and said he did not tell Mr Imafidon to “speak English” but to “speak clearly”.
Osborn recalled that Ms Hoy told him at the postal count “oh, you can hear now there is not a black man in the room”. He was ‘offended’ by her comment but did not react, and told the court: “I am not a racist. I do not judge anybody by their skin colour.”
Osborn said “there was not any form of aggression or shouting” and he only ‘touched’ Mr Tierney on the shoulder and did not ‘poke’ him. Osborn does not have relatives who are black, he told the trial.
Under cross-examination, prosecutor Thomas Coke-Smythe said it would have been “absolutely catastrophic” for Osborn and the Reform party to have someone pretending to be him publishing messages online and it would need to be corrected, potentially with an apology.
Mr Coke-Smythe suggested Osborn was “furious” that Ms Hoy had called him a racist at the count and that he posted comments to the North East Cambridgeshire discussion page to “get back” at her. Osborn said: “I would not do it. I’m a 74-year-old man, about to be 75 – I want a peaceful life.”
Earlier Mia Gibson, defending Osborn, suggested that he “was not the author or maker” of any of the posts. She told Ms Hoy: “I’m going to suggest you have brought these proceedings against Mr Osborn to disparage him and his party.”
Ms Hoy denied this, saying: “No, why would I put myself through this for that?”
President Donald Trump’s pick to lead the Federal Reserve is headed to the Senate next week, but Trump is worried that one Senate Republican could doom the confirmation process.
Kevin Warsh is scheduled for his confirmation hearing before the Senate Banking Committee after his initial hearing set for this week was canceled. But his odds of moving to the next — and final — step of the process are low, given that Sen. Thom Tillis, R-N.C., plans to block him.
And Trump isn’t happy about it.
LEAVITT ACCUSES SEN TILLIS OF HOLDING US ECONOMY ‘HOSTAGE’ OVER FED NOMINATION DISPUTE
When asked by Fox Business’ Maria Bartiromo about Warsh’s chances in the Senate, Trump said, “We’re going to have to find out.”
“He might not, but that’s why Thom Tillis is no longer a senator,” Trump said. “He quit.”
Tillis, despite announcing plans to retire from Congress at the end of his term this year, is still an active U.S. Senator and would have full voting rights if Warsh’s confirmation comes up for a vote before January 2027.
Fox News Digital reached out to Tillis’ office for comment on the president’s latest comments.
The North Carolina senator has repeatedly clashed with the Trump administration ever since Tillis bucked his fellow Republicans in their pursuit of steep Medicaid cuts last year during the creation of the “One Big Beautiful Bill.”
That rebellious streak has continued as the Department of Justice probe into current Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell has progressed.
JUSTICE DEPARTMENT ASKS JUDGE BOASBERG TO RECONSIDER ORDER QUASHING POWELL SUBPOENAS
Kevin Warsh, former governor of the U.S. Federal Reserve, during the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and World Bank Spring meetings at the IMF headquarters in Washington, D.C., on Friday, April 25, 2025. (Tierney L. Cross/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
Tillis’ beef isn’t with Warsh specifically — a point he has reiterated on several occasions — but with the DOJ’s investigation into Powell’s testimony last year about the Fed’s renovation of its two historic main buildings on the National Mall.
“I love the candidate. I won’t spend my five minutes [in committee] asking him about his credentials, because he has them,” Tillis said. “I’ll spend five minutes talking about a bogus investigation that’s going to cause me to vote no, unless they end the investigation.”
“There’s no way to sugarcoat this,” he continued. “There’s one way out of the box, canyon, and they’ve got to decide whether or not they’re going to do it.”
Prosecutors from U.S. District Attorney Jeanine Pirro’s office reportedly visited the Federal Reserve’s headquarters unannounced on Tuesday.
POWELL REVEALS WHAT IT WOULD TAKE TO STEP DOWN FROM THE FED AS PRESSURE MOUNTS
U.S. Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell listens to a question during a press conference after the Monetary Policy Committee meeting, at the Federal Reserve in Washington, D.C. on March 19, 2025. (Roberto Schmidt/AFP/Getty Images)
Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., has spoken with the White House about halting the investigation.
“I think, at some point, they’re gonna have to deal with the committee, they’re gonna have to deal with Tillis,” Thune said. “And I think it’s in everybody’s best interest to wrap up the investigation.”
Meanwhile, given the uncertainty surrounding his predecessor, Powell said he would stay on temporarily until a replacement is confirmed. But Trump said he would fire Powell if he wasn’t out by next month.
Trump charged that Tillis wouldn’t “want the legacy of stopping a great person who could be great.”
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“I think Kevin Warsh is going to be great. He doesn’t want the legacy of having an incompetent guy stay there for longer than is necessary,” Trump said. “I know Thom Tillis. He’s a good man. I don’t think he’s going to hurt — I know he said what he said, and maybe it’s true, in which case I’ll have to live with it.”
Tillis is working to make sure that, until the investigation is dropped, there’s no way Warsh makes it out of committee.
“I don’t think there’s any mechanism where he gets reported out of committee, but I’m already working to make sure votes will be held on the floor until we have a definitive answer,” he said.
Alex Miller is a writer for Fox News Digital covering the U.S. Senate.
With proposals to rein in prediction markets proliferating through the halls of Congress in recent weeks and months, Kalshi — one of the biggest players in the booming industry — went on defense.
The New York-based platform launched an ad campaign throughout Washington, rolling out mint-green spreads on billboards, bus shelters and inserts in The Washington Post. The ads seek to deflect the spate of criticism being hurled Kalshi’s way and to position it as different from Polymarket, the other global industry giant.
“We ban insider trading,” “We don’t do death markets,” “We aren’t the house,” “We operate under U.S. law,” the ads read.
The companies are looking to get ahead of lawmaker concerns about insider trading and bets placed on things like war-related deaths.
Building corporate influence in the capital city is a well-used playbook. Prediction markets are a new player, and Kalshi and Polymarket are working to create goodwill with Congress and regulators, who are raising concerns about insider trading and unseemly bets on the platforms.
“There’s been a lot of conflation between the two big prediction markets players,” Kalshi’s head of communications Elisabeth Diana said in an interview. “There are very big key distinctions between the two, and we want to make sure the public — and more importantly policymakers — understand the difference.”
“What we are focused on is building the best product, setting the standard on these issues and working with our relevant regulators and law enforcement to appropriately draw the lines and enforce against actual bad actors,” Olivia Chalos, deputy chief legal officer at Polymarket, said in an interview. Chalos declined to directly address Kalshi’s messaging.
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Prediction markets including Kalshi and Polymarket have surged in popularity in the last year. The markets allow users to purchase event contracts — essentially, bets on the outcome of a specific event — on a variety of areas, including sporting events, awards shows and elections.
Kalshi dominates the U.S. prediction market space, accounting for roughly 90% of U.S. market share, according to an April 8 Bank of America report. Polymarket is a major global player but has a limited U.S. footprint.
A Kalshi advertisement seen in Washington D.C. on March 27, 2026.
Paul Lester | CNBC
Sports are the most popular event contract type by volume — as of February, almost 90% of bets made on Kalshi in the last year were on sports, according to the Congressional Research Service — though users in some cases are able to place bets on more controversial issues, which has led to increased scrutiny.
One user on Polymarket raked in $400,000 in January by correctly predicting the ouster of Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro, raising insider trading concerns. Subsequent bets placed on the Iran war and other government actions have heightened the alarm of lawmakers, who are scrambling to legislate tougher restrictions on the platforms.
“By offering bets on wars, elections, and U.S. government actions, prediction markets are a real danger to our democracy and ripe for exploitation by public officials with insider information,” Sen. Jeff Merkley, D-Ore., said in a statement to CNBC. Merkley has introduced multiple bills seeking to more strictly regulate prediction markets.
Prediction markets are quickly finding opponents. Casinos and sportsbooks argue they operate as unlicensed sites for gambling. And several states have issued cease and desist orders to halt their operation. Kalshi won a key case last week when a federal appeals court slapped down an attempt by New Jersey to curb the platform.
In Washington, lawmakers are just waking up to how the industry works.
Kalshi, Polymarket lobbying hit nearly $1 million in 2025
Kalshi spent $615,000 and Polymarket spent $360,000 on lobbying in 2025, according to OpenSecrets, an organization that tracks U.S. political spending. That pales in comparison with the double-digit millions spent by top trade associations. Kalshi opened a Washington office in January and tapped Biden administration alum John Bivona as its first head of government relations. In April, Kalshi added Stephanie Cutter, a former top aide to Democrats including President Barack Obama, as policy advisor.
Kalshi is regulated by the Commodity Futures Trading Commission and does not allow users to place bets anonymously, a contentious feature of some platforms that operate outside the U.S. Kalshi has a robust surveillance and enforcement team, Diana said, and made news earlier this year when the company suspended and referred to federal officials an editor for the YouTube influencer Mr. Beast who allegedly engaged in insider trading.
Kalshi has not been without controversy. The company allowed bets in late February on whether the late Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei would be out of power. Khamenei was killed on the first day of the U.S.-Israeli war with Iran, and bettors were left expecting a payout.
Kalshi ended up refunding bettors all fees and net losses related to those bets, citing federal regulations that bar wagers on death.
The CFTC regulates prediction markets as “designated contract markets” offering event contracts under the Commodity Exchange Act. The CFTC treats the contracts the companies offer as “swaps,” a type of financial exchange it regulates.
“These are derivatives markets, and they come with a comprehensive set of regulations and protections for the integrity of the markets and the safety of the consumer,” said Sean Patrick Maloney, a former U.S. House Democrat from New York who runs the new lobbying group the Coalition for Prediction Markets, which includes Kalshi.
Other coalition members include crypto.com, Coinbase, Robinhood and Underdog — all entities based in the U.S. and regulated by the CFTC. It does not represent Polymarket.
Blockchain-based Polymarket is headquartered in New York and run by an entity licensed in Panama. Its limited U.S. platform is regulated by the CFTC, but its international side is not overseen by American regulators.
Lawmakers’ concerns rest largely on companies such as Polymarket that operate outside the U.S. and technically bar U.S. users, some of whom find their way in through work-arounds such as virtual private networks, or VPNs, which can be used to hide their locations.
Asked about these concerns, Polymarket’s Chalos touted what she said was the company’s internal abilities to identify bad actors.
“I think there’s a bit of a misconception around this idea of anonymous trading. Blockchains afford the ability to gather an enormous amount of information about a person’s trading activity. In many instances, individuals are able to be identified,” Chalos said, though she would not comment on whether anyone was identified for bets placed related to Máduro or the Iran war.
While Polymarket has generally been less public-facing than Kalshi, it has started developing a ground game in the nation’s capital.
It unveiled a pop-up bar in downtown Washington in March, where revelers could access Bloomberg terminals and place bets alongside libations, though power issues led to a botched opening.
“We have a number of key hires in the pipeline, which will broaden our D.C. presence,” Chalos said. “We have third-party people we work with down in D.C., and then members of the company have been spending time down there as well.”
Congress cool to prediction markets’ pitch
These efforts to win hearts and minds have left Congress somewhat split.
“Sometimes it can seem like Washington is the last place to wake up to something millions of Americans have embraced and enjoy, and it feels like there’s a lot for people to do,” Maloney said.
Congressional leadership has been mostly quiet on the issue. Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., and House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., did not respond to requests for comment for this story.
House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., offered tepid support for congressional oversight of the industry during a press conference in March.
“I do think it’s reasonable for us to take a look at what can be done in this space and try to find a bipartisan path forward, working with all of the stakeholders in this area,” Jeffries said.
A Kalshi advertisement seen in Washington D.C. on March 27, 2026.
Paul Lester | CNBC
But a growing number of lawmakers are entering the fray.
At least eight prediction market bills have been introduced since January. Several specifically seek to root out insider trading, while others, like one from Sens. Adam Schiff, D-Calif., and John Curtis, R-Utah, would bar sports prediction market contracts entirely.
Those broader approaches may have trouble gaining traction. But Sen. Todd Young, R-Ind., one of a small group of Republicans who have thrown their weight behind legislation to regulate prediction markets, said Congress should keep pushing on a solution to insider trading on the platforms.
“I don’t think that political concerns should prevent us from regulating what could fundamentally undermine trust in our system of government,” Young said.
Rep. Nikki Budzinski, D-Ill., who introduced her own version of a prediction market insider trading ban with Rep. Adrian Smith, R-Neb., said she appreciated the relative transparency Kalshi offered by banning anonymous users.
Another key issue for many lawmakers is the ability of traders to place bets on war and military actions, which is banned on Polymarket in the U.S. but is available elsewhere in the world. Chalos said Polymarket believes there should not be prediction markets on death but that other war-related information can be invaluable to users.
“There are instances where users have reached out to us and said, ‘We don’t believe what the news is reporting. We are getting our information in real time by looking at the markets … And we have made life-or-death decisions based on these markets versus what is out there in the media,” Chalos said.
‘Slim to none’ odds of legislation this year
Regardless of Kalshi’s and Polymarket’s lobbying efforts, the fervor around prediction markets is unlikely to die down in the halls of Congress anytime soon, even if the proposals may be doomed to fail.
Sen. Chris Murphy, D-Conn., who led a bicameral bill to ban government officials from profiting on prediction markets on war or government actions, told reporters in March that the odds of any legislation gaining momentum this Congress were “slim to none,” in part because of the politics of prediction markets.
Prediction market regulation has some Republican buy-in, but has so far been a largely Democratic issue in Congress. And the Trump family has taken an active interest in prediction markets.
“I think we need to build a grassroots constituency around ending these corrupt prediction markets,” Murphy said. “But Donald Trump, his family is completely integrated and making money off of Kalshi and Polymarket.” Murphy said that given the Trump family’s interests, he doubts the president would allow Republicans to support legislation that could curb prediction market profits.
The Trump administration in March sent a staff-wide email warning against placing Iran war bets on prediction markets, a White House official confirmed. Davis Ingle, a White House spokesperson, denied any wrongdoing by Trump administration officials and reiterated that insider trading is already illegal.
“President Trump has been crystal clear: while he seeks a strong and profitable stock market for everyone, members of Congress and other government officials should be prohibited from using nonpublic information for financial benefit,” Ingle said via email in response to questions about Trump family interests in prediction markets. “The only special interest that will ever guide President Trump is the best interest of the American people.”
Disclosure: CNBC and Kalshi have a commercial relationship that includes a CNBC minority investment.
— Emily Wilkins contributed to this story.
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Christine Fréchette is set to be sworn in as Quebec’s premier Wednesday with less than six months to go before the provincial election.
She defeated Bernard Drainville in the race to replace François Legault, who created the Coalition Avenir Québec in 2011 and had been premier since 2018.
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The 55-year-old Fréchette will be the province’s second female premier after the Parti Québécois’s Pauline Marois held the role from 2012 to 2014.
Fréchette has said she will name a cabinet next week and intends to make at least one announcement in the coming days related to the cost of living.
First elected in 2022 in the Sanguinet riding south of Montreal, Fréchette held the economy and immigration portfolios in Legault’s cabinet.
She now faces the task of boosting the fortunes of the Coalition Avenir Québec, which is polling behind the Liberals, the Parti Québécois and the Conservatives ahead of the Oct. 5 election.
WASHINGTON — President Trump said that China has agreed not to send weapons to Iran amid reports it plans to give Tehran new air defense systems — and predicted Chinese leader Xi Jinping “will give me a big, fat, hug” when they meet next month.
Trump further claimed Wednesday that Xi is “very happy” about his efforts to open the Strait of Hormuz, a day after officials in China slammed his blockade as “dangerous and irresponsible.”
“China is very happy that I am permanently opening the Strait of Hormuz. I am doing it for them, also — And the World,” Trump crowed on Truth Social. “This situation will never happen again. They have agreed not to send weapons to Iran.
President Trump predicted that China’s “President Xi will give me a big, fat, hug” when they meet on May 14-15. AP
“President Xi will give me a big, fat, hug when I get there in a few weeks,” he added. “We are working together smartly, and very well! Doesn’t that beat fighting??? BUT REMEMBER, we are very good at fighting, if we have to – far better than anyone else!!!”
Trump and Xi are set to meet in Beijing on May 14-15.
That meeting was delayed due to the war in Iran.
China, notably gets roughly 45-50% of its crude imports through the Strait of Hormuz.
The president revealed on Fox News Business’ “Mornings with Maria” that Xi wrote him a letter about not sending weapons.
“Look, there’s never been anybody tougher in China than me. But I also have a good relationship with President XI and that’s a good thing,” Trump said.
Attendance at Ontario high schools has plummeted below 50 per cent, according to newly released data, as the province looks to reward students with marks for turning up to class.
As part of a new bill that includes an overhaul of school board governance, the Progressive Conservatives are planning to award students in grades 9, 10, 11 and 12 a portion of their final mark for attending class.
It’s a measure Minister Paul Calandra said was suggested to him by teachers who are struggling with truancy and classroom control.
“It is an idea that came exclusively from my engagement with teachers; it wasn’t on my radar at all,” he told reporters on Tuesday.
“I have to be honest with you, when I took over the position, I actually still thought attendance was part of the mark, and then I realized that for many, many years it had been taken out.”
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Now, data from the government lays bare the extent of student absences, which have worsened substantially over the past decade.
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Ontario’s school boards consider students to be absent in some form if they miss 10 per cent or more of their classes. That’s a threshold where additional discipline is triggered.
Back in the 2017-18 school year, roughly 60 per cent of students in grades 9 to 12 were attending class at that level. That figure has fallen sharply to just 40 per cent in the 2024-25 year.
The decline worsened substantially when students returned to class after the pandemic. In 2021-22, 53 per cent of students in grades 9 to 12 were meeting the attendance requirements, which fell again to 36 per cent in 2022-23.
The following year saw a rate of 40.5 per cent, falling again to 40.2 per cent last year.
Attendance rates appear to worsen with age, a trend which remains broadly the same since the 2017-18 year. Figures for last year show that 46 per cent of students in Grade 9 met the threshold, 41 per cent in Grade 10 and 39 per cent in Grade 11.
Just 33 per cent of students in Grade 12 were in class 90 per cent of the time or more often.
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Calandra said he was concerned the current assessment system allowed kids to skip class and still get high marks, while failing to acknowledge those who attend every lesson.
“One hundred per cent of their mark is based on coursework, so students can pop in and out as they like and their mark was not impacted at all,” he said on Tuesday.
“And at the same time, some kids were working really, really hard and there was no way to acknowledge their hard work as part of their marks.”
The Ontario Secondary School Teachers’ Federation said the change was “low-hanging fruit” and said the government should make broader investments to encourage students to spend more time in school.
“I would rather that the government funded the system properly so that we wouldn’t be seeing these gaps in attendance at all,” Malin Leahy, vice president with the union, said.
