☕️ Meet Apple's new CEO

Good morning!

Into stargazing and an early bird? Then make sure you don’t miss the first shooting stars of spring during the annual Lyrid meteor shower this week.

In the past, the showers have resulted in over 100 visible meteors per hour. However, astrologists advise that the best viewing times are in the pre-dawn hours, meaning only the most dedicated get to see the spectacle!

I’ve got 30 seconds

Some headlines from this morning:

• Vice President JD Vance is expected to head to Islamabad, Pakistan, today to continue peace deal talks with the Iranian regime. The news comes as the ceasefire between the U.S., Iran, and Israel enters its final week without further developments. Vance heads into talks overshadowed by threats from President Trump to bomb Iran's bridges and oil plants if a deal is not reached. Trump has indicated he would extend the ceasefire if progress is made during talks this week, but says it’s “highly unlikely”.

• Labor Secretary Lori Chavez-DeRemer resigned on Monday following a series of alleged scandals that the Trump administration denies. Chavez will move into a role in the private sector, according to a statement by White House communications director Steven Chung. Her resignation will not halt an investigation by the Labour Department’s inspector general into Chavez’s use of taxpayer funds for personal travel. Her tenure has also been overshadowed by allegations that she had inappropriate relationships with her staff. Chávez’s departure marks the third cabinet secretary to leave the Trump administration, following Attorney General Pam Bondi and Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem.

• UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer admitted that appointing Peter Mandelson as ambassador to the U.S. was a mistake, as new information comes to light that Mandelson was deemed unfit for the appointment by vetting agencies. Madelson, a former Labour power broker, was fired from his appointment late last year after the release of the Epstein files revealed he passed on government information to the convicted sex trafficker. Last week, an investigation revealed Madelson was appointed despite failing his vetting process. Starmer told Parliament yesterday that he was not told of Mandelson’s failure by officials but called the appointment an error of judgment.

• 27-year-old Mexican citizen Julio Cesar Jasso opened fire from the top of one of the Teotihuacan pyramids near Mexico City on Monday, killing a Canadian tourist and injuring 13 other people. The popular tourist site is north of Mexico City and attracts thousands of visitors a year. Police say Jasso was the only shooter and was later found dead from a self-inflicted gunshot wound. Among those hospitalised were six Americans, three Colombians, one Russian, two Brazilians, and one Canadian whose ages ranged between six and 61.

I’ve got 1 minute

Apple has announced Tim Cook, its CEO of 15 years, will step down. Cook will officially leave the job on 1 September and become the multi-trillion-dollar company’s executive chairman.

In that role, Apple said Cook will “assist with certain aspects of the company, including engaging with policymakers around the world.” Apple has appointed senior executive John Ternus as Cook’s successor.

Tim Cook

Tim Cook joined Apple in 1998 and has served as CEO since 2011, taking over from company co-founder Steve Jobs.

Before assuming the role, Cook was the company’s chief operating officer (COO), overseeing global sales and the company’s supply chain.

As CEO, Cook has overseen the rollout of the Apple Watch, AirPods, and Apple Pay, among other products.

Under his leadership, Apple’s value has grown from around $US350 billion to $US4 trillion ($AU500 billion to $AU5.6 trillion).

New CEO

Cook described his time in the role as the “greatest privilege” of his life and said he “could not be more confident” in his successor, John Ternus.

Ternus joined Apple in 2001 and became senior vice president of Hardware Engineering in 2013.

In that role, he has overseen the design, development and testing of Apple’s physical products, such as the iPad, new generations of the iPhone, Mac and Apple Watch.

Apple’s statement announcing Ternus as the new CEO noted he had led the development of the MacBook Neo, a cheaper alternative to the company’s other laptops.

It also credited him with overseeing the latest range of iPhones, which included lower-cost options, and with leading efforts to recycle and lower the company’s carbon footprint.

In the statement, Ternus said he is “profoundly grateful for this opportunity... to lead with the values and vision that have come to define this special place”.

I’ve got 2 minutes

Allegations of insider trading continue to swirl around the Trump administration after $1 billion in “perfectly timed” bets hinging on developments in the Iran war were placed over the past month.

It continues a pattern of big bets being placed on oil, stock, and prediction markets in President Trump’s second term before major developments are announced.

The news comes after U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) Michael Selig promised a Congressional hearing last week that the regulator would crack down on insider trading in the government.

What is insider trading?

Insider trading is when someone profits from secret information that the public doesn't have. For example, a politician buying defense shares right before a new military operation is announced.

Private sector insider trading carries prison time and millions in fines. Some rules prevent government officials from betting under the 2012 STOCK Act. However, this act lacks teeth: the penalty for violations is $200, and no prosecutions under the act have ever occurred.

The new grey zone

Recently, betting platforms like Polymarket and Kalshi have created a new, largely unregulated frontier for insider trading by allowing users to bet on real-world outcomes with cryptocurrencies, such as elections, military strikes, and political events. 

The lack of regulation surrounding these platforms led Craig Holman, a government affairs lobbyist for Public Citizen, to tell the Guardian, “It’s a wild west phase when we’re talking about the prediction market industry.”

What happened?

During the evening of 26 February, hours before the U.S. first struck Iran, a New York Times analysis found that 150 Polymarket accounts correctly bet a total of $855,000 on the U.S. striking Iran on 27 February. 

Sixteen of these accounts pocketed more than $100,000 each. Additionally, one account dubbed “Magamyman” made over half a million dollars by placing an $85,000 bet just moments before Ayotollah Kameni was killed. 

This behavior has not been restricted to prediction markets, with a surge of oil trades worth $950 million being made just before President Trump announced the temporary ceasefire with Iran, which brought oil prices down. 

A complaint has been made in response to these behaviours to the CFTC, which alleges the bets were made with insider knowledge.

Not the first time…

This unusual betting behaviour occurred on two other notable occasions in President Trump’s second term. 

The first was when the President announced a pause to his Liberation Day tariffs last April, which caused the S&P500, a benchmark stock index in the U.S., to jump by nearly 10%. Just before the pause was announced, an unusually high number of bets were placed on the S&P 500 jumping. 

On 30 December 2025, multiple accounts profited massively from bets on Venezuelan President Maduro being ousted just days before a U.S. military operation resulted in his capture. One account made over $400,000 from a $30,000 bet. 

What’s next?

Scrutiny is increasing over insider trading in the government. 

Commissioner Selig told a Congressional hearing that his agency was investigating fraud allegations last Thursday, a day after media outlets reported that the CFTC was investigating oil futures bets placed on April 7. 

Congressman Sam Liccardo also penned a letter to Securities and Exchange Commission Chair Paul Atkins and Selig to “express alarm over recent reporting that indicates large trades were made on crude oil prices and the S&P 500” before action in Iran. 

The White House also published a memo last month instructing staff not to engage in insider trading.

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