Trump moots killing Iran deal opponents as Israel says ready to resume war

 

• President Donald Trump endorsed a hardline opinion article arguing Washington does not need an agreement with Iran, including a call to target Iranian leaders resisting a deal.

• Israel’s defense minister said on Thursday the country is prepared to resume military operations against Iran and is waiting for authorization from Washington, signaling readiness for both offensive and defensive action as targets have already been identified.

• President Donald Trump said Iran was divided between “hardliners” and “moderates” amid leadership infighting and said the US had “total control” over the Strait of Hormuz.

• President Donald Trump said he had ordered the US Navy to “shoot and kill” any boats laying mines in the Strait of Hormuz and to intensify mine-clearing operations.

• Iran said it had begun collecting transit fees from ships in the Strait of Hormuz, with the first revenues deposited into the central bank.

• US and Israel bear responsibility for the consequences of the war as the “aggressors,” Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said during a meeting in Tehran with the South Korean special envoy, according to the foreign ministry.

• Iran’s internet blackout entered its 55th consecutive day on Thursday, with connectivity flatlining at about 2% of normal levels after 1,296 hours, NetBlocks said.

• Iran’s Revolutionary Guards said it seized two ships in the Strait of Hormuz on Wednesday after a ceasefire extension, following reports that vessels had come under fire in the area.

https://www.iranintl.com/en/liveblog/202604194357

Parents or States: Who Should Decide How Much Social Media Time

 

by Clay Calvert, Nonresident Senior Fellow, Technology Policy Studies

In late February, a federal court in NetChoice v. Jones blocked Virginia from enforcing a statute that limits minors’ usage of a “social media platform to one hour per day” unless they obtain “verifiable parental consent to increase or decrease the daily time limit.” The ruling correctly lets parents make both the initial and ultimate decisions about how much time their children spend on social media platforms rather than letting lawmakers dictate a “parental adjustable default” of 60 minutes that necessitates a parent’s veto to overcome.

Placing the initial how-much-time choice in parents’ hands rather than the government’s is logical. Every child is unique, and parents typically are in far better positions than miles-away lawmakers to understand their children’s distinctive capacities, needs, and interests regarding social media content.

Virginia’s default time limit seemingly reflects a blunt legislative judgment that somehow 60 minutes—why not 75 minutes, or 90, or 120?—of social media usage is the most a hypothetical, average minor should experience per day unless a parent says otherwise. Additionally, by defining a minor as a “person younger than 16 years of age,” the law treats 15-year-olds the same as six-year-olds despite important differences in cognitive development.

Imagine the government establishing a one-hour default limit on how much television minors can watch on any given station unless a parent overrides the government’s cap. That sounds ridiculous, and it is. For me, as a child during the 1970s, it would have meant the government limiting my Tuesday viewing on an ABC station to Happy Days and Laverne & Shirley unless my father gave the government his verifiable consent so I could also watch Three’s Company. My father apparently didn’t mind me gazing at Suzanne Somers; I still completed my homework, and life went on without the government rationing my TV-viewing time.

Allowing parents—not lawmakers—to make the initial determination about social media usage is especially important when it comes to letting minors access content that’s fully protected by the First Amendment. Indeed, Virginia’s one-hour cap applies to any content on a social media platform, be it political, educational, religious, or social interactions between minors. To wit, US District Judge Patricia Tolliver Giles observed that under Virginia’s law, “a minor would be barred from watching an online church service if it exceeded an hour on YouTube” and “a minor is prohibited from watching science or history programming on YouTube that is longer than one hour without their parent’s consent.”

Should the government really establish a time limit for watching such content on a social media platform, especially when it doesn’t enforce usage limits for watching the same subjects on other platforms—over-the-top streaming services, cable television channels, and over-the-air broadcast stations? One suspects that such speaker-based discrimination against social media platforms may partly be due to an older generation’s frets about technology it didn’t grow up with.

Judge Giles unsurprisingly determined that


Virginia has the authority to enforce a prohibition that a parent puts in place to prevent their child from accessing information. But Virginia does not have the legal authority to block minors’ access to constitutionally protected speech until their parents give their consent by overriding a government-imposed default limit.

The First Amendment problems, however, run deeper than those affecting minors. Stemming from legislation known as Virginia Senate Bill 854 (SB 854) that former Governor Glenn Youngkin signed into law in May 2025, the statute restricts more than just minors’ ability to access and engage in speech that the First Amendment safeguards. Giles explained the measure also implicates the First Amendment rights of platforms to engage “in expressive activity when they disseminate third-party content.”

Furthermore, adults’ First Amendment freedoms are burdened—they must surrender personal information to prove they’re at least 16 years old to use a social media platform for more than one hour a day. As Giles wrote, “all users are restricted from accessing protected speech, even adults, until they can show that they are not a minor.” (emphasis added).

Are there constitutional solutions to the alleged problem of social media addiction that ostensibly animated SB 854? Giles noted that parents already have the power to restrict “access to smartphones like schools do during instruction time” through parental control mechanisms. She added that “even if parents are not using the available parental controls, Virginia could work with companies and launch advertising campaigns to ensure parents know how to use the current tools effectively.” In short, technology and education—not speech-restrictive regulation—provide paths forward.

Ultimately, as NetChoice’s Paul Taske noted, the decision “reaffirms that the government cannot ration access to lawful speech—even if it has noble intentions. Fundamentally, parents must stay in the driver’s seat when it comes to decisions about their families.” Unmoved, Virginia is appealing Giles’s decision.

https://www.aei.org/technology-and-innovation/parents-or-states-who-should-decide-how-much-social-media-time-is-too-much/

Blackstone’s Secondaries Unit Hits $100 Billion as Demand Grows

 

Blackstone Inc.’s secondaries business reached $100 billion of assets under management in the first quarter, making it one of the biggest players in the market for selling secondhand stakes.

Its flagship secondaries fund collected an additional $6 billion in the first quarter of this year, bringing the total raised for that fund to $11 billion, Blackstone President Jon Gray said on a call with analysts to discuss the firm’s first-quarter results Thursday.

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2026-04-23/blackstone-s-secondaries-unit-hits-100-billion-as-demand-grows

'Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei Surrounded By 24/7 Medical Team In Hideout As Generals Run Iran: NYT'

 The NY Times in a new deep dive of what governing structures now look like inside Iran says what's already long been obvious to many in the wake of longtime Ayatollah Ali Khamenei's death: "When Ayatollah Ali Khamenei ruled Iran as the supreme leader, he exerted absolute power over all decisions about war, peace and negotiations with the United States. His son and successor does not play the same role."

The publication says it was able to interview at least half-a-dozen Iranian insiders, including IRGC officials, and individuals who know the younger Khamenei "well". The NY Times describes of Mojtaba Khamenei: "His father, wife and son were all killed. Access to him is extremely difficult and limited now. He is surrounded mostly by a team of doctors and medical staff who are treating the injuries he sustained in the airstrikes."

ISNA/AFP/Getty Images

Apparently even top 'trusted' generals and IRGC commanders do visit him for fear of being surveilled and tracked to his location by Israel and the United States.

Per the sources cited in the Times, "Though Mr. Khamenei was gravely wounded, he is mentally sharp and engaged, according to four senior Iranian officials familiar with his health."

And more: "One leg was operated on three times, and he is awaiting a prosthetic. He had surgery on one hand and is slowly regaining function. His face and lips have been burned severely, making it difficult for him to speak, the officials said, adding that, eventually, he will need plastic surgery."

All of this provides an explanation as to why he has never been seen or heard from in public since Trump's Operation Epic Fury began on February 28. He has not so much as been photographed, and when state media has issued a few prior statements, it does so via text or what appears to be AI-configured audio over state media airwaves.

This fact has unleashed an avalanche of speculation as to his fate over the course of the war, and who is "really in charge". And yet it's also well-known that Iran is able to function militarily based on autonomy and dispersion of command among units, with the IRGC given more independence to act.

The White House has alleged there are essentially two factions vying for power and direction over the war - the civilian leadership and the IRGC command sides. 

"Mojtaba is not yet in full command or control," Sanam Vakil, the director of the Middle East and North Africa for Chatham House, claimed in the NYT report. But as expected the situation is nuanced: "There is, perhaps, deference to him," he continued. "He signs off or he is part of the decision-making structure in a formal way. But he is presented with fait accompli presentations right now."

As we and other have pointed out, in public at least the de facto day-to-day leader of the country remains speaker of the Iranian Parliament Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf. He has taken point as lead negotiator with the United States in Pakistan, and has been the public face of updating his country and the world on both the status of the war and the now stalled negotiations.

One other interesting detail in the Times report is seen in the following:

Messages to him are handwritten, sealed in envelopes and relayed via a human chain from one trusted courier to the next, who travel on highways and back roads, in cars and on motorcycles until they reach his hide-out. His guidance on issues snakes back the same way.

Some pundits have correctly pointed out that skepticism is warranted, also given the NYT's often deeply inaccurate reporting on Bush's Iraq war invasion, and other Mideast conflict zones including Syria:

With all due respect, remain skeptical about the credibility of the The New York Times report.

- If leaks of this magnitude were truly that easy, it would have been just as easy for Mossad to obtain precise information on Mojtaba Khamenei’s whereabouts, with obvious… https://t.co/g36ONAQUpd

— Babak Vahdad (@BabakVahdad) April 23, 2026

The NY Times alleged findings has it to the conclusion that even big decisions are currently under control of the generals and IRGC apparatus: "The combination of concern for his safety, his injuries and the sheer challenge of reaching him has resulted in Mr. Khamenei's delegating decision making to the generals, at least for now," the report concludes.

https://www.zerohedge.com/geopolitical/ayatollah-mojtaba-khamenei-surrounded-247-medical-team-hideout-generals-run-iran-nyt

‘Hospitals are stepping up’: Direct contracting gains traction in Indiana

 Indiana’s first review of direct-to-employer healthcare arrangements found that all participating hospitals met the state’s pricing benchmark, and advocates say the results signal a broader shift in how employers and health systems are structuring their relationships.

The Indiana Department of Health on April 22 published the inaugural Direct-to-Employer Healthcare Arrangement Plan Review for 202522, finding that every submitted plan came in at or below the statutory threshold of 260% of Medicare rates. The review was mandated under state law requiring nonprofit hospitals to demonstrate their employer-direct plans remain within that ceiling.

Participating systems included:

• Ascension St. Vincent (Indianapolis)
• Community Health Network (Indianapolis)
• Franciscan Health (Mishawaka)
• Indiana University Health (Indianapolis) 
• Parkview Health Network (Lebanon)

Many priced well below the statutory cap, offering employers greater predictability in year-over-year healthcare spending, according to the report. 

“This year’s review demonstrates that Indiana hospitals are stepping up to provide employers with affordable, predictable healthcare options,” Indiana Health and Human Services Secretary Gloria Sachdev said in the release. “Direct-to-employer contracts are an important tool for controlling costs while maintaining access to high-quality care.”

The Indiana Hospital Association also welcomed the findings, framing direct contracting as a market-based solution to the growing friction between employers, insurers and providers.

“By working more directly with hospitals or targeted networks to cut out unnecessary middlemen, employers can improve health outcomes of their employees, reduce administrative complexity and create more predictable healthcare spending,” Scott Tittle, the association’s president, said in a statement shared with Becker’s. “As the state’s review shows, hospitals are more than delivering on competitive, transparent pricing that aligns with employers’ needs.”

Ascension St. Vincent CEO Don King pointed to the health system’s employer solutions program — established in 2009 and now serving more than 75 businesses, 125 public schools and over 300 public safety agencies — as evidence that direct contracting at scale is already well underway.

“Through direct employer arrangements, we partner with organizations across Indiana — from small employers to large corporations, schools, public safety agencies and local governments — to improve affordability and deliver high-value care,” Mr. King said.

Indiana’s report lands amid growing national momentum around direct contracting, driven in part by employer frustration with traditional insurance models and high-profile efforts to bring transparency to hospital pricing.

Entrepreneur Mark Cuban has been among the most vocal advocates for the model. 

At the Becker’s Spring Chief Pharmacy Officer Summit in Chicago on April 15, Mr. Cuban said the largest commercial payer relationships may actually be the least profitable for hospitals once administrative costs, denials, late payments and clawbacks are fully accounted for.

“If you literally did a cost analysis and a profitability analysis by insurance carrier, the biggest ones are where you’re going to be losing the most money,” he said.

His direct contracting platform, Cost Plus Wellness, connects self-insured employers with providers through publicly posted contracts, with no prior authorization requirements, no balance billing and a mandatory 30-day payment window.

Dallas-based Baylor Scott & White Health was the first major health system to sign on.

Cost Plus Wellness currently lists 27 published contracts covering at least 9,200 providers and 193 facilities, predominantly in the Dallas-Fort Worth area, with more being added, according to Mr. Cuban.

His pitch to health system leaders is straightforward: Start with the employers whose workers you already see.

“Go and sit down with them and say, ‘let’s talk about all these patient experiences and what you paid for them, because I can save you money,'” he said. “Because you know what you both have in common? You don’t like insurance companies.”

https://www.beckershospitalreview.com/finance/hospitals-are-stepping-up-direct-contracting-gains-traction-in-indiana/

FTC moves to shut down health insurance fraud scheme

 A federal court has temporarily halted a Florida-based operation that the Federal Trade Commission alleges collected more than $91 million by deceiving consumers into purchasing fake health insurance coverage.

The FTC filed its complaint April 7 in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida, and a federal judge signed a temporary restraining order April 15, freezing the defendants’ assets and appointing a receiver. The agency announced the action publicly on April 22.

The defendants include Innovative Partners, which operates as Innovative Health Plan or Healthcare Plan; American Collective, which operates as ACLP Health Plan; Health Plan Administrators; Papyrus Green Investments; Ahmed Ibrahim Shokry, who the complaint identifies as the controlling owner of the enterprise; and his sister, Amani Ibrahim Shokry, who served as chief technology officer of Innovative Partners.

According to the complaint, the scheme has operated since at least 2023. The FTC alleges that telemarketers working for the defendants impersonated government agencies, state and federal health insurance marketplaces, and private insurers to sell products they falsely described as comprehensive PPO plans with no deductibles and low or no copays. According to the complaint, the plans consisted of limited medical discounts, capped payouts for a narrow set of medical expenses, and ancillary products with no out-of-pocket maximum for consumers. Under one plan, the complaint said that the most a consumer paying roughly $300 per month could recover in illness-related benefits annually was $850.

The complaint also alleges the defendants targeted already-insured individuals by impersonating their existing insurer and falsely telling them their coverage had lapsed or would be canceled unless they made an immediate payment.

The FTC is seeking a permanent injunction, consumer refunds, and monetary relief, with the defendants scheduled to appear for a preliminary injunction hearing on April 29.

https://www.beckershospitalreview.com/legal-regulatory-issues/ftc-moves-to-shut-down-health-insurance-fraud-scheme/

Ozempic pill for children to launch in US market ‘soon’: Novo Nordisk

 Novo Nordisk said April 23 it plans to seek expanded FDA approval for its Ozempic pill in the second half of 2026, which would make the drug the first oral GLP-1 approved for children and adolescents with Type 2 diabetes. 

Currently, the Denmark-based drugmaker has FDA approval for the injectable form of Ozempic, which is indicated for adults with Type 2 diabetes, as well as diabetes-related cardiovascular disease and chronic kidney disease. The FDA approved the oral presentation of Ozempic in February, and Novo Nordisk said it would launch the pill in the U.S. in the second quarter of 2026. 

The world’s two largest manufacturers of brand-name GLP-1s, Novo Nordisk and Eli Lilly, already produce FDA-approved GLP-1 pills for obesity. Novo Nordisk also offers Rybelsus, an oral GLP-1 for Type 2 diabetes, which the FDA approved in 2017. 

The latest announcement comes alongside positive phase 3 trial results evaluating oral semaglutide (Ozempic) among Type 2 diabetes patients ages 10-17 years old. The 52-week study found “superior blood glucose lowering versus multiple comparators, together with consistent weight reduction, reduction in cardiometabolic risk factors and reduction in major adverse cardiovascular events,” Novo Nordisk said. 

“Pending regulatory approvals, oral semaglutide has the potential to be the first and only oral GLP-1 RA to demonstrate superior glycemic efficacy versus placebo in children and adolescents with Type 2 diabetes, while maintaining the well-established safety profile seen across the semaglutide portfolio,” the drugmaker said.

https://www.beckershospitalreview.com/glp-1s/ozempic-pill-for-children-to-launch-in-us-market-soon-novo-nordisk/