Good morning. Software developers and regulators battling Apple over how it grants access to its more than two billion active devices increasingly find themselves at odds with one man: Phil Schiller.

• Who is he? Apple’s former chief marketing officer and longtime “mini-me” to Steve Jobs has emerged as perhaps the most ardent public defender of the company’s ecosystem, a vision of electronic devices that work seamlessly together and protect user security and privacy.
   
• Criticism of Apple’s vision: Once seen as a virtue, Apple’s vision has increasingly come under attack, from regulators in the Justice Department, the European Union and other jurisdictions as well as from rivals including Spotify, Microsoft, Match Group, X and Meta Platforms. Critics see Apple’s fees as excessive and have suggested its control of external software is oppressive and impeding innovation.
   
• Defending the ‘walled garden’: In legal filings, public announcements and courtrooms, Apple has made it clear that it isn’t going to go down without a fight, and more often than not, Schiller has been the one to deliver the message. Schiller’s strident advocacy is emblematic of Apple’s internal rancor over the fight, which many see as an existential challenge to the “walled garden” of controlled and connected devices and software that dates back to Jobs, the company’s co-founder.

Tom Hayes, trader at center of Libor scandal, loses appeal.

A U.K. court upheld the landmark conviction of Tom Hayes, the alleged ringleader of a conspiracy among big banks and brokers to rig interest rates during the global financial crisis.

The former UBS and Citigroup trader was one of the few bankers on either side of the Atlantic jailed for misdeeds connected to the 2008-2009 crisis. He served half of an 11-year prison term and was released in 2021.

AI is moving faster than attempts to regulate it. Here’s how companies are coping.

Companies are pressing ahead with building and deploying artificial intelligence applications, even as the regulatory landscape remains in flux.

European lawmakers this month approved the world’s most comprehensive legislation yet on artificial intelligence, although other regions, including the U.S. and individual states, aren’t as far along.

Potential threats to customer privacy, the security of customer data, as well as the potential bias and inaccuracy of AI algorithms are all areas regulators are examining.

• The Fight for AI Talent: Pay Million-Dollar Packages and Buy Whole Teams

• A federal judge on Wednesday denied Coinbase’s motion to dismiss a Securities and Exchange Commission’s lawsuit that alleges the crypto exchange violates investor-protection laws.
   
• Federal lawmakers concerned about gambling addiction are starting to scrutinize online betting companies’ targeting of big spenders and VIPs.
   
• Disney backed down on Wednesday from a long-running legal battle with Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis over control of the Orlando-area land that is home to its most important resort, ending a yearslong feud and handing the governor a political victory.

China’s Xi seeks to soothe anxieties of American CEOs.

Chinese leader Xi Jinping, facing a slowing economy and a sharp fall in foreign investment, sought to reassure American chief executives that China’s economy hasn’t peaked and that the country is working to improve its business environment.

In a meeting with a group of more than a dozen U.S. business leaders and scholars on Wednesday, Xi also said the two countries should do more to overcome their differences and increase interactions, according to state broadcaster China Central Television.

• China Industrial Profits Return to Growth

• The Bank of England on Wednesday warned that investors may be too complacent about the challenges facing the global economy, with the result that there is an increased risk of a “sharp correction” in asset prices.
   
• Over six years, Russian leader Vladimir Putin stockpiled American detainees, enhancing his bargaining position and thwarting backchannel efforts by Trump and Biden to bring citizens home. 
   
• Carnival warned its full-year earnings will take a hit from the collapse of a key bridge in Baltimore that has halted vessel traffic at a port Carnival uses.
   
• Reeling from an apparent security lapse that allowed a group of heavily-armed men to massacre dozens of concertgoers in Moscow last week, Russia has gone into overdrive advancing a narrative that pins the blame on a usual suspect: Ukraine.

U.S. publishes draft federal rules for cyber incident reporting.

The U.S. Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency on Wednesday published long-awaited draft rules on how critical-infrastructure companies must report cyberattacks to the government.

CISA developed the rules after President Biden signed the Cyber Incident Reporting for Critical Infrastructure Act into law on March 15, 2022. Officials hope reports from companies in a range of industries will allow them to better spot attack patterns and determine tactics used by cybercriminals and nation-states to help improve defenses.

• The lawyers and advisers running FTX’s bankruptcy spent more than half a year and millions of dollars in fees to explore the idea of restarting Sam Bankman-Fried’s failed cryptocurrency exchange. In the end, they decided it wasn’t worth it.
   
• Discover Financial Services said Michael Rhodes is resigning as chief executive and president of the company, shortly after taking over both positions.
   
• The collapse of a major bridge along a crucial trade corridor outside Baltimore idled shipping at one of the East Coast’s busiest ports, tied up coal shipments and pushed retailers, truckers and industrial firms to reroute shipping volumes to contain the economic fallout of the catastrophic event.
   
• Netflix’s newest high-powered sci-fi drama, “3 Body Problem,” is one of the biggest cultural events to come out of China in years. After watching it, many in China say they wish the producers of the show had taken their country out of it entirely.
   
• A lawyer for Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs criticized law enforcement for “a gross overuse of military-level force” when they raided two of the hip-hop mogul’s properties.

Follow us on X at @WSJRisk. Follow Risk & Compliance editor David Smagalla @DSmagalla_DJ and reporters Mengqi Sun @_MengqiSun, Dylan Tokar @dgtokar and Richard Vanderford @VanderfordRich.

You can reach us by replying to any newsletter, or email David at david.smagalla@wsj.com.