Good morning. The U.K.’s Serious Fraud Office for the first time is offering to let companies avoid prosecution if they voluntarily report possible wrongdoing and cooperate with subsequent investigations.

The SFO, which prosecutes white-collar crime, said companies can avoid prosecution and be invited to negotiate deferred prosecution agreements if they disclose wrongdoing and fully cooperate with investigators.

• DPA: A deferred prosecution agreement is a form of corporate probation and offers a dismissal of charges when a corporate defendant meets its terms “to make full reparation for criminal behavior.”
   
• New corporate cooperation guidance: The new policy, announced by SFO director Nick Ephgrave, also clarifies what the SFO considers “genuine cooperation” and “uncooperative conduct.”
   
• What companies that self-report misconduct can expect: The regulator would respond within 48 hours, decide if it will open an investigation within six months, conclude its probe within a prompt time frame, and complete negotiations for a deferred prosecution agreement within six months of sending an invitation to a company.

Apple, Meta fined by EU, ordered to comply with tech competition rules. 

The European Union fined Apple and Meta Platforms hundreds of millions of dollars and ordered the companies to comply with the bloc’s tech rules in a move that risks ratcheting up tensions with the Trump administration as officials pursue trade talks.

The European Commission, the EU’s executive body, on Wednesday slapped Apple with a 500 million euro fine, equivalent to about $570 million, for allegedly breaching the bloc’s Digital Markets Act. It fined Meta €200 million.

• Disgraced Hollywood producer Harvey Weinstein is back on trial for sex-crime charges in New York after an appeals court overturned his prior conviction.
   
• The Food and Drug Administration on Tuesday posted a warning about generic forms of a popular hair-loss medication often sold by major telehealth companies including Hims, Keeps and Ro, citing reports of side effects including sexual dysfunction and suicidal thoughts.
   
• The price of President Trump’s meme coin surged Wednesday after its official website and X account said the coin’s top 220 holders would be invited to an exclusive gala dinner with the president next month.

White House considers slashing China tariffs to de-escalate trade war.

The Trump administration is considering slashing its steep tariffs on Chinese imports—in some cases by more than half—in a bid to de-escalate tensions with Beijing that have roiled global trade and investment, according to people familiar with the matter.

President Trump hasn’t made a final determination, the people said, adding that the discussions remain fluid and several options are on the table. One administration official said Trump wouldn’t act unilaterally and would need to see some action from Beijing to lower tariffs.

• China Bets Trump Will Back Down on Tariffs
• China Signals Openness to U.S. Trade Talks—but Not Under Duress
• Xi Is Ratcheting Up China’s Pain Threshold for a Long Fight With Trump
• Boeing Will Stop Making Jets for China if Airlines Won’t Accept Planes, CEO Says

IMF warns against support for tariff-hit businesses as government debts surge.

Higher tariffs and heightened geopolitical tensions may push government debts to new highs over the coming years, making the need for policymakers to outline robust plans for containing the surge more pressing, the International Monetary Fund said Wednesday.

In its twice-yearly report on the outlook for government debt, the fund said total borrowings will likely rise above 95% of world economic output this year, and almost match global gross domestic product by the end of the decade.

• Trump Tariffs Show Mixed Impact on Big Economies
• Rand Paul Fights Trump on Tariffs as Other Republicans Duck

• Russia killed at least nine people and injured 70 others in an overnight attack on Kyiv, its biggest aerial bombardment of Ukraine’s capital this year, as U.S.-mediated talks to end the war stall.
   
• The Trump administration is prepared to allow Iran to have a civil nuclear program that relies exclusively on imported nuclear fuel, Secretary of State Marco Rubio said, outlining a possible compromise with Tehran aimed at preventing it from building a nuclear weapon.
   
• Food additives might be riskier for health than previously understood, a new study suggests.

• Births in America hovered near record-low rates last year.
   
• President Trump is expected to sign an executive order Wednesday to shake up the arcane but pivotal world of college accreditation, a move Trump has called his “secret weapon” in his bid to remake higher education.
   
• Former South Korean President Moon Jae-in, who left office in 2022, was indicted on bribery charges, a development that leaves all of the country’s leaders elected this century with post-presidencies ending in legal woes or suicide.

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