A court in Chisinau sentenced the former leader of the Democratic Party of Moldova, billionaire Vladimir Plahotniuc, to 19 years in prison, NewsMaker.md reports . He was found guilty of bank fraud, organizing a criminal group and money laundering. The prosecution requested 25 years in prison.

Vladimir Putin has renamed the FSB Academy in honor of Felix Dzerzhinsky, according to a decree published on the Kremlin’s website that cited the Bolshevik intelligence chief’s “outstanding contribution to ensuring state security.” From 1962 to 1992, the Higher School of the KGB was named after Dzerzhinsky.

Khizriyeva refused to go with them and called the police herself, describing the situation. She stated that she would not leave the area until officials arrived. After this, the men left, leaving their contacts with the taxi driver and asking him to tell them where they would take the girl. Later, Khizriyeva told reporters that she was heading to the police department to write a statement. The last time she contacted me was from the department, after which she stopped responding.

Iranian tankers laden with oil were able to leave the Strait of Hormuz despite the American blockade: at least two ships passed it this week. Bloomberg writes about this with reference to data from the analytical company Vortexa. We are talking about two tankers sailing directly under the Iranian flag - Hero II ( IMO : 9362073) and Hedy (IMO: 9212888). According to Vortexa, they passed the American blockade lines on April 20 and entered the Arabian Sea.

An international team of scientists from the Universities of Leeds, Birmingham, Bristol, Nottingham and the China University of Geosciences in Wuhan has found that the small herbaceous club mosses survived the Permian-Triassic extinction event 252 million years ago thanks to a special mode of photosynthesis that allows them to absorb carbon dioxide at night rather than during the day. The article was published in the journal Nature Ecology & Evolution.

Iranian naval forces of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) seized two ships and attacked another in the Strait of Hormuz.

Due to the blockade of the Strait of Hormuz, oil prices have risen sharply, followed by fuel prices within the United States. The average price of gasoline increased by more than a third, to $4 per gallon (3.785 liters), and diesel fuel - to almost $5.7. This leads to increased transport costs for various goods and puts additional inflationary pressure.

Investigators questioned four top managers of Eksmo, but none of them were charged, TASS reported , citing a source in law enforcement agencies. The agency does not specify their procedural status.

The frigate of the Black Sea Fleet of the Russian Navy "Admiral Grigorovich" carried three sanctioned tankers through the English Channel and currently remains in the waters of the strait, reports the Russian Forces Spotter maritime OSINT project. Presumably, the ship is waiting for new tankers to escort them to the Atlantic.

A court in Baku sentenced Alexander Vaissero, one of the Russians arrested in Azerbaijan in the summer of 2025. According to local publication Minval, he was found guilty of money laundering and sentenced to 4 years in prison.

Deputy General Director of Patriot Park Vitaly Melimuk was detained on suspicion of receiving a bribe in the amount of about 18 million rubles. He was sent to a pre-trial detention center, Investigative Committee reports . According to investigators, Melimuk received a bribe in April of this year from the general director of Hermes LLC.

The KGB Higher School was named after Felix Dzerzhinsky from 1962 to 1992. In 1992 it was renamed and received its current name. As journalist Farida Rustamova notes , this is probably the first time that Putin publicly assesses the personality of Dzerzhinsky, the founder and head of the All-Russian Extraordinary Commission for Combating Counter-Revolution and Sabotage, which existed at the beginning of the 20th century. It was then replaced by the NKVD, and later by the KGB and the FSB.

Swedish authorities have released the captain of the bulk carrier Caffa ( IMO : 9143611), who was detained in early March on suspicion of using false documents. Local publications Omni and SVT write about this. His release is also mentioned in a press release from the prosecutor's office, but his name is not mentioned. Local media write that we are talking specifically about the captain of Caffa.

Meta will install a surveillance program on the work computers of its American employees that will record mouse movements, clicks and keystrokes. All collected data will be used to train the company’s AI models. This was reported by Reuters with reference to internal memos. The program is called the Model Capability Initiative (MCI). In addition to recording user actions, it will periodically take screenshots of their screens.

Donald Trump said he is extending the ceasefire with Iran indefinitely. As follows from the US President's message in Truth Social, he made this decision "in view of a serious split in the Iranian government" and at the request of Pakistan, which is acting as a mediator in the negotiations: “We have been asked to suspend attacks on Iran until its leaders and representatives come up with a unified proposal.