Apple announced on April 20 that John Ternus will become its new CEO, effective September 1, 2026. Tim Cook, who has led the company for the past 15 years, will serve as executive chairman. “It is the greatest honor of my life to serve as CEO of Apple and to enjoy the trust placed in me to lead such a great company,” Cook, 65, said in a statement. Apple John Ternus and Tim Cook John Ternus is now Apple's Senior Vice President of Hardware Engineering.

Russian President Vladimir Putin signed a decree on conducting an experiment to defer the payment of VAT, which customs charges when importing goods into Russia. The experiment will last until June 30, 2027. When importing goods into Russia, companies will be able to defer payment of value added tax for a maximum of three months. The deferment will be provided without paying interest, the decree says.

People's Artist of Russia, violinist, chief conductor and artistic director of the St. Petersburg Symphony Orchestra Sergei Stadler died on April 20 at the age of 63, Fontanka reported, citing the press service of the governor of St. Petersburg. According to the publication, the musician became ill on board a plane flying from St. Petersburg to Istanbul. Because of this, the plane landed in Bucharest, doctors tried to resuscitate the artist, but they could not save him.

Pranker Evgeniy Volnov from Ukraine attended a closed meeting at the Russian Ministry of Industry and Trade, which was held via videoconference. Volnov published a video about this on April 17; attention was drawn to the video by Astra, which identified some of the participants in the meeting. The edited recording, which lasts just over a minute, shows that the production of drones is being discussed at the meeting (this follows from the presentation that the participants in the video call see).

No one knows for sure why this happens. The developers themselves suggest that they were subjected to a “PR attack” The last month has been unsuccessful for the creators of Telega, an unofficial alternative Telegram client. At first it turned out that the messenger monitors users and can even read all their correspondence. Then Telega was removed from the App Store, considering it spyware. And recently it became known that the application can turn an iPhone into a “brick”.

The Trump Organization has announced that it plans to build a 70-story Trump Tower skyscraper in Tbilisi. The building is going to be built near the central park on the territory of the former hippodrome in Saburtalo, writes Paper Kartuli. The skyscraper project will be designed by the architectural bureau Gensler, the largest architectural company in the world. Georgian companies will participate in the construction, including the country's largest developer Archi.

This is one of the most popular shows in Russia. That's what happened there "Natal chart" / "VK Video" Attention! The text contains swearing and references to sexual practices. Last Friday, April 17, a new episode of Natal Chart , one of the most popular entertainment shows on the RuNet, was released. In it, the hosts, comedians Olesya Ivanchenko and Dmitry Zhuravlev, analyze the guest’s natal chart and ask him questions.

We explain in as simple a language as possible - in one paragraph Saul Loeb / AFP / Scanpix / LETA Pentagon press briefing on the situation in the Strait of Hormuz. April 16, 2026 The Strait of Hormuz is very important for the global economy - 20% of oil supplies pass through it. Following the attacks by the US and Israel, Iran threatened to open fire on any ships attempting to pass through. Few people decided to check how real the threats were; most tankers stopped and oil prices rose sharply.

OpenAI said on its website that the ChatGPT chatbot and Codex, an AI coding tool, stopped working on April 20. “We are investigating an issue with these services,” OpenAI said. At the same time, users began to complain that Google’s Gemini bot was not working, according to Downdetector data. The Google AI Studio page reports that "The Gemini API is experiencing issues processing newly created keys." Users also report that the Claude chatbot is unavailable.

France and Germany proposed to provide Ukraine with “symbolic” benefits at the stage of preparation for its accession to the European Union. The Financial Times writes about this with reference to proposals from Berlin and Paris, set out in separate documents. Under the proposals, Ukraine would not have access to the bloc's budget, EU agricultural subsidies or voting rights until it becomes a full member of the bloc.

Tatiana Stanovaya argues (Carnegie Politika) Pavel Byrkin / RIA Novosti / Sputnik / IMAGO / SNA / Scanpix / LETA After the start of active blocking and the fight against VPN services, even those who had never done this before began to criticize the Russian authorities. And many, for the first time since the start of the great war between Russia and Ukraine, thought about emigrating.

The Strait of Hormuz is closed again. It is unknown whether a new round of negotiations will take place US Central Command Public Affairs / AFP / Scanpix / LETA US troops board the Iranian container ship Touska in the Arabian Sea on April 19. Screenshot from US Central Command video The truce between Iran and the United States was threatened after the US military seized the Iranian cargo ship Touska , which was trying to break the American blockade of Iranian ports in the Strait of Hormuz.

Representatives of the VPN service industry are preparing for total blocking of the infrastructure of hosting providers in Russia, the Durov Code publication reported on April 20, citing sources. Services are expecting a “large-scale purge” amid the fact that the State Duma has prepared amendments according to which Russian hosting providers will be prohibited from providing computing power to VPN owners.

The Moscow Magistrate's Court sentenced rapper Alisher Morgenstern in absentia to a fine of seven million rubles in a criminal case for failure to fulfill the duties of a “foreign agent” (Part 2 of Article 330.1 of the Criminal Code), Mediazona reports.

The Ministry of Internal Affairs proposed to legally prohibit the extradition abroad of any foreigners who have received one or another type of asylum in Russia. Currently, the Russian Federation does not extradite only those foreigners who have received asylum because they face persecution in their home country on the basis of race, nationality, or membership in an official group.