The best and most relevant Iraqi Dinar news updates online.
No drama. No intrigue. No songs and dances. Just straight, factual news that I read and interpret to the best of my ability after being an avid Dinar investor and insanely obsessed Dinarian for over 15 years.
It all started with daily phone calls to my Mom to give her the latest updates. After she passed in 2022, I decided to build this team of newshounds and moderators to deliver the highest-quality, most accurate information to everyone invested in this journey.
If you enjoy these straightforward updates, please leave a LIKE and drop a comment below — I read every single one.
Support the Crew
Join our Patreon community for ad-free videos, fresh daily content, and our exclusive Wednesday LIVE Q&A sessions with me and the full Crew. Only $11.99/month.
→
One-time support is also hugely appreciated and helps keep the news flowing:
PayPal →
Freedom Forged Coffee
Awaken with FREEDOM! Use code MILITIAMAN5 at checkout for 5% off →
Follow me on X →
Fair Use Disclaimer
The materials used in this video are adapted and used for educational purposes only. This constitutes fair use of any copyrighted material as provided for in Section 107 of the U.S. Copyright Law for purposes such as criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching, scholarship, and research.
This video, my face, my voice, my biometrics, and my thumbnails are all my exclusive creations and copyrighted property. Any unauthorized copying or re-use is strictly prohibited.
Welcome to Music Business Worldwide’s Weekly Round-up – where we make sure you caught the five biggest stories to hit our headlines over the past seven days. MBW’s Round-up is exclusively supported by BMI, a global leader in performing rights management, dedicated to supporting songwriters, composers and publishers and championing the value of music.
This week, Bill Ackman’s Pershing Square submitted a non-binding proposal to acquire Universal Music Group in a deal worth approximately $64 billion — with Ackman telling investors he expects “overwhelming shareholder support”, while JP Morgan analysts expressed skepticism that key stakeholder Bolloré would back the transaction.
Meanwhile, Udio signed a licensing agreement with Kobalt, marking the AI music platform’s fourth major deal since settling copyright litigation with UMG in October 2025 — and its latest step in its transformation from courtroom defendant to licensed service provider.
Elsewhere, Wireless Festival was canceled after the UK government blocked headliner Ye (Kanye West) from entering Britain, ruling that his presence would not be conducive to the public good — prompting promoter Festival Republic to confirm that refunds will be issued to all ticket holders.
Also in the past seven days: UMG and Believe settled the copyright infringement lawsuit filed against the Paris-headquartered company and its distribution platform TuneCore in late 2024, with all claims dismissed with prejudice.
Here are some of the biggest headlines from the past week…
1. BILL ACKMAN CONFIDENT HE’LL WIN OVER UMG SHAREHOLDERS TO $64 BILLION BID, SAYS BOLLORÉ RESPONSE WAS ‘MUSIC TO MY EARS’
Bill Ackman told investors on Tuesday (April 7) that he expects “overwhelming shareholder support” for Pershing Square’s $64 billion takeover proposal for Universal Music Group.
The deal — a cash-and-shares offer — would see UMG shareholders receive EUR €9.4 billion in cash, plus 0.77 shares of a newly created company for each share held.
Ackman said that his first call before launching the bid was to the Bolloré Group, UMG’s largest single shareholder, and that the initial response was encouraging.
However, not everyone shares Ackman’s confidence. In a research note circulated on Tuesday, JP Morgan analyst Daniel Kerven said he would “be surprised” if Bolloré supported the deal, arguing there is nothing in Pershing’s proposal that UMG could not do itself with the backing of its major shareholders and board… (MBW)
2. AFTER UNIVERSAL, WARNER, AND MERLIN DEALS, NOW UDIO INKS LICENSING AGREEMENT WITH KOBALT
Udio has signed a licensing agreement with independent music publisher Kobalt, adding to a growing roster of industry partners as the AI platform continues its transformation from copyright defendant to licensed service provider.
The deal, announced on Thursday (April 9), will see Udio’s forthcoming subscription platform trained on authorized and licensed music from Kobalt’s catalog, with participating creators credited and paid for remixes, covers, and new songs made using their voices and compositions.
The agreement marks Udio’s fourth significant licensing deal since it settled copyright infringement litigation with UMG in October 2025. That settlement was followed by a similar agreement with Warner Music Group in November 2025, and a licensing deal with Merlin in January 2026… (MBW)
3. SECRETLY DISTRIBUTION ACQUIRES MUSIC DATA AND ANALYTICS FIRMS ENTERTAINMENT INTELLIGENCE AND BABEL OPS
Secretly Distribution has acquired Babel Ops, the technology company behind music data and analytics platform Entertainment Intelligence (Ei).
The deal, announced on Wednesday (April 8), brings both companies under the ownership of the independent distributor, which says Babel Ops will continue to serve its existing client base of independent labels and music businesses.
Secretly Distribution CEO Darius Van Arman framed the acquisition in the context of growing consolidation in major label-land, pointing to the majors’ recent acquisitions of digital supply chain companies like FUGA and Revelator, as well as Bill Ackman’s $64 billion bid for UMG… (MBW)
4. WIRELESS FESTIVAL CANCELED AFTER UK GOVERNMENT BLOCKS KANYE WEST FROM ENTERING BRITAIN
London’s Wireless Festival has been canceled after the UK government denied headliner Ye (Kanye West) permission to enter the country, with the Home Office ruling that his presence would not be conducive to the public good.
The move followed a wave of political condemnation over the announcement that West had been booked as the sole headliner for all three nights of the festival, scheduled for Finsbury Park from July 10-12.
UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer called the booking “deeply concerning” in view of West’s previous antisemitic remarks, while at least three sponsors — including headline partner Pepsi, drinks giant Diageo, and Rockstar Energy — had withdrawn from the festival… (MBW)
5. UMG AND BELIEVE SETTLE LAWSUIT THAT ALLEGED ‘INDUSTRIAL-SCALE’ COPYRIGHT INFRINGEMENT OF UNIVERSAL’S MUSIC
Universal Music Group and Believe have settled the copyright infringement lawsuit filed against the Paris-headquartered music company and its distribution platform TuneCore in late 2024.
UMG had filed a complaint against Believe and TuneCore on November 4, 2024, seeking damages of at least $500 million. At the heart of the case was a sweeping allegation that Believe had built its business through what UMG described as “industrial-scale copyright infringement,” focusing heavily on the distribution of so-called “manipulated” audio — sped-up or remixed versions of copyrighted recordings uploaded to streaming platforms… (MBW)
Partner message: MBW’s Weekly Round-up is supported by BMI, the global leader in performing rights management, dedicated to supporting songwriters, composers and publishers and championing the value of music. Find out more about BMIhere. Music Business Worldwide
LexisNexis Risk Solutions’ latest Cybercrime Report reveals key global fraud trends emerging over the past year. The report shows a significant 8% rise in global fraud rates driven by attacks targeting the gaming, gambling and e-commerce sectors, cost of living pressures and new emerging fraud tactics.
Key takeaways from the 2026 LexisNexis Risk Solutions Cybercrime Report
First-party fraud reigns: Customers defrauding organizations remains the leading source of fraud globally for the second year running, comprising 38.3% of reported frauds. This varies significantly by region: 51.7% of fraud in EMEA is first-party fraud, compared to less than 10% in Latin America, where synthetic identity fraud (48.3%) is far more prevalent.
Significant rise in synthetic fraud: 11% of fraud now involves a synthetic identity, representing an eight-fold global increase year over year and making it the fastest growing fraud type globally. Synthetic fraud represents a shift in tactics away from short-term opportunism to long-term goals, since they can take months to properly establish. Fraudsters stitch together new identities from various stolen identity attributes and use them to commit a variety of crimes. With no victim to immediately raise the alarm and high potential returns, synthetic fraud is proving attractive to fraudsters globally, particularly in LATAM (48.3% share).
Agentic traffic rises 450% between January and December 2025: This traffic was mainly linked to credit card payments and logins at gaming and gambling sites. While there is no indication of malicious intent, these agents present a new challenge for fraud detection longer term, introducing a third type of digital interaction in addition to genuine human transactions and traditional bots carrying out a defined instruction set.
Malicious ‘bad’ bots are getting better at impersonating people: Bots can now mimic genuine human actions, such as how we move a cursor around a login screen, with a high degree of plausibility to fool the latest behavioral fraud detection tools. Last year saw a 59% rise in malicious bot attacks as criminals test and deploy these sophisticated tools, with significant peaks seen throughout March and April and again in August 2025.
Fraudsters target e-commerce and online betting accounts: The e-commerce fraud attack rate grew 64% year over year and the attack rate at login where fraudsters work to gain control of customer accounts jumped 216%. Growth occurred across all regions, particularly in the US, Canada and APAC. Gaming and gambling sites experienced a notable 76% rise in global attack rate in 2025.
“Fraud continues to evolve at pace with digital innovation,” said Stephen Topliss, vice president of fraud and identity at LexisNexis Risk Solutions. “While organizations are strengthening defences across channels, cybercriminal networks are scaling automation, shifting tactics and probing for any available weaknesses across the digital customer journey. Increasingly, attackers rely on advanced bots and AI-driven tools to mimic human behavior and test defences with unprecedented speed and accuracy.”
Regional fraud trends highlight evolving global threat patterns
North America experienced periodic spikes in e-commerce fraud activity during the year, although the overall attack rate remained steady at roughly 2.2%. Fraud attacks most frequently target login events and e-commerce platforms.
EMEA’s attack rate increased significantly for the first time in several years, rising 27% year over year, largely driven by account takeover attempts as fraudsters target authentication weaknesses across digital services.
APAC continued to see strong digital transaction growth alongside rising fraud activity, with the attack rate increasing to 1.7%. Desktop browser attacks rose sharply as fraudsters deployed more sophisticated automation tools.
LATAM fraud patterns remained diverse across industries, though the region saw growing concerns around synthetic identity fraud linked to expanding digital services and regulated online gaming markets.
“Cybercriminals are experimenting with the same technologies that are transforming digital commerce and organizations must prepare for a future where both legitimate users and malicious actors rely on automated agents to interact online,” Topliss noted. “Those that succeed must be able to confidently distinguish between humans, bots and agents as well as determining intent. We continue to see increasing collaboration between organizations with global digital intelligence, advanced analytics and strong cross-industry partnerships. Organizations that share risk intelligence are best positioned to protect consumers and build trust in the digital economy.”
Cybersecurity is becoming more important than ever. A hacker’s abilities are increasingly enhanced by technology, including access to agentic AI, which can help bad actors exploit vulnerabilities in a company’s information systems.
Ensuring a business has the best available cybersecurity protection is key. It’s an industry not likely to be disrupted by generative artificial intelligence. It will be boosted by it.
I think the best stock to buy in this space is CrowdStrike(CRWD 3.86%). CrowdStrike is a major cybersecurity player already, and the company is taking its protection to the next level by incorporating several key elements in defending its clients from cybersecurity attacks.
Image source: Getty Images.
CrowdStrike’s stock is on sale thanks to AI
As AI coding agents become more popular, many software stocks have heavily sold off in fear that someone could re-create the platform in-house with the aid of an AI coding platform.
While I think some companies are rightfully worried, I don’t think the cybersecurity industry should be. If someone makes an error (be it the AI platform or the human directing it), the results could be catastrophic. This makes this area too risky to use internal resources to build a cybersecurity platform, so they need to turn to experts like CrowdStrike.
Today’s Change
(-3.86%) $-15.23
Current Price
$379.44
Key Data Points
Market Cap
$96B
Day’s Range
$364.50 – $396.14
52wk Range
$342.72 – $566.90
Volume
424K
Avg Vol
4.1M
Gross Margin
74.53%
CrowdStrike’s base functionality is endpoint security, which protects network endpoints from cyberthreats. It uses AI to detect abnormal activity on each endpoint, then shuts down the attack before it has a chance to do serious damage. In total, it has more than 30 modules of increased functionality, with each add-on increasing the level of protection a client has. Indeed, 50% of clients have more than six modules, showcasing the strength of CrowdStrike’s ability to upsell clients.
Cybersecurity is a massive and expanding market, and CrowdStrike believes that its total addressable market will more than double by 2030. This should make the market bullish on the stock and cybersecurity in general, but because CrowdStrike is grouped with other software companies, its stock is being hammered.
CrowdStrike’s stock is down around 30% from its all-time high, and its valuation has seldom been this cheap.
CRWD PS Ratio data by YCharts
While 21 times sales may appear expensive (and it is), CrowdStrike is a cybersecurity leader and deserves a premium compared to its peers. I still think the company can deliver market-crushing returns, and the need for best-in-class security products is only going to rise as cyberthreats ramp up.
The Canadian economy added a modest 14,100 jobs in March, in line with economists’ expectations but marking only a partial reversal of the 109,000 positions lost in the first two months of the year.
A world-class degree only takes you so far. Where you have the right to live and work determines how far that degree actually goes, according to a recent global analysis. The Henley Opportunity Index 2026, published as part of the wealth advisory firm’s annual Education Report, ranks the top countries where residence or citizenship can be secured through investment or merit.
PNC recently launched its new relationship program called TotalRewards. By keeping different amounts of assets with PNC, you can unlock various perks. The most notable benefit is a boost on your credit card cashback earnings. This program is very similar to the well-known Bank of America Preferred Rewards program.
Tiers and Benefits
PNC TotalRewards has the following tiers, along with their asset requirements and cashback bonuses:
Base (no tier)
Silver: $25k+ assets, 5% cashback boost
Gold: $100k+ assets, 25% cashback boost
Platinum: $500k+ assets, 35% cashback boost
Default
Silver
Gold
Platinum
Asset Requirement
$0+
$25k+
$100k+
$500k+
Cashback Boost
0
5%
25%
35%
Among these, the sweet spot is clearly the Gold tier. The requirement is much lower than Platinum at just $100k, while the 25% boost is already quite attractive.
What Assets Count
Eligible assets include balances across PNC accounts such as checking, savings, and brokerage. As usual with these programs, it’s especially appealing that brokerage assets count—you can simply park something like VOO there. Since you have to hold those investments somewhere anyway, this effectively comes at near-zero opportunity cost.
PNC Checking Requirement
In addition to meeting the asset threshold, you must also maintain an active PNC checking account. If you don’t already have one, it’s worth opening one and stacking it with a checking account bonus along the way.
Best PNC Credit Cards
Here are the most relevant PNC cards that benefit from this program:
PNC Cash Unlimited — 2% Everywhere Card ($0 AF)
This card is originally a straightforward 2% cashback card on all purchases with no annual fee. But once you factor in the rewards boost, it becomes extremely powerful:
With Gold (25% boost): 2.5% cashback everywhere
With Platinum (35% boost): 2.7% cashback everywhere
At 2.7%, this becomes one of the strongest no-category cashback cards on the market. It beats Bank of AmericaUnlimited Cash Rewards (2.625% with Preferred Rewards), though still slightly below Robinhood Gold Card’s 3% (which has exclusions).
PNC Cash Rewards — 4% Gas Card ($0 AF)
This card earns 4% cashback on gas (up to $8,000 per year). With the boost:
Gold: 5% on gas
Platinum: 5.4% on gas
That makes it one of the highest-earning gas cards available.
Summary
PNC TotalRewards offers meaningful value if you can meet the asset requirements:
Gold ($100k+): 25% boost
Platinum ($500k+): 35% boost
Combined with PNC’s solid 2% flat-rate card, you’re effectively looking at 2.5%–2.7% cashback on all purchases, which is top-tier in the current market. If you have idle assets that can be moved, this is definitely a program worth considering.
If you like this post, don’t forget to give it a 5 star rating!
9 Financial Goals You Should Achieve Before 40
📈 Are you on track with the Baby Steps? Get a free personalized plan.
What do you want your life to look like when you turn the big 4-0? In this episode, find out the nine financial goals you’ll want to reach before hitting 40 that will help you build wealth (and avoid that midlife crisis Miata).
Next Steps:
Check out the Ramsey Investment Calculator:
🎥 Watch my video What Your Net Worth SHOULD Be by Age 40:
💵 Sign up for EveryDollar today to create a free budget!
Connect With Our Sponsors:
🔒 Get 20% off when you join DeleteMe. ⮕
💸 Learn more about opening a high-yield savings account with Laurel Road. ⮕
Member FDIC. Laurel Road is a brand of KeyBank NA
📱 Get $5 off Tello’s Unlimited Plan and enjoy great nationwide coverage for only $20. ⮕
Connect With Our Sponsors:
🔒 Get 20% off when you join DeleteMe. ⮕
💸 Learn more about opening a high-yield savings account with Laurel Road. ⮕
📱 Get $5 off Tello’s Unlimited Plan and enjoy great nationwide coverage for only $20. ⮕
Explore More From Ramsey Network:
🎙️ The Ramsey Show ⮕
🍸 Smart Money Happy Hour ⮕
💸 The Ramsey Show Highlights ⮕
🧠 The Dr. John Delony Show ⮕
💡 The Rachel Cruze Show ⮕
🪑 Front Row Seat with Ken Coleman ⮕
📈 EntreLeadership ⮕
Ramsey Solutions Privacy Policy
Products:
Breaking Free From Broke:
The Total Money Makeover – Updated and Expanded Edition:
Baby Steps Millionaires:
EveryDollar Premium Version Physical Gift Card:
Get Clear Career Assessment: Find the Work You’re Wired to Do:
Questions for Humans: Couples:
Building a Non-Anxious Life:
Financial Peace University Gift Card:
Smart Money Smart Kids:
Questions for Humans: Intimacy
From Paycheck to Purpose:
