Elon Musk’s X lifts price for premium-plus tier to pay creators

(Reuters) – Elon Musk-owned X raised the price of its premium-plus plan in several markets from Dec. 21 as the social media company looks to boost payment for creators on its platform. The top-tier plan is now priced at $22 a month in the U.S., up from $16 earlier, according to a blog post. Prices for the basic tier and premium subscriptions remain unchanged at $3 and $8, respectively. X changed its revenue-sharing practices in … Read more…

Lilly’s weight-loss treatment Zepbound becomes first FDA-approved drug for sleep apnea

By Bhanvi Satija (Reuters) -The U.S. Food and Drug Administration on Friday approved Eli Lilly’s weight-loss treatment, Zepbound, for obstructive sleep apnea, making it the first drug greenlighted to directly treat patients with the common sleeping disorder. The regulator approved the drug for moderate to severe obstructive sleep apnea in adults with obesity, the company said. The approval opens up a wide market of patients for Lilly at a time when demand for Zepbound is … Read more…

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Google offers to loosen search deals in US antitrust case remedy

By Jody Godoy (Reuters) -Alphabet’s Google proposed on Friday a loosening of its agreements with Apple and others to set Google as the default search engine on new devices, in a bid to address a U.S. ruling that it unlawfully dominates online search. The proposal is much narrower than the government’s push to make Google sell its Chrome browser, which Google called a drastic attempt to intervene in the search market. Google urged U.S. District … Read more…

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Biden approves $571 million in defense support for Taiwan

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – U.S. President Joe Biden on Friday agreed to provide $571.3 million in defense support for Taiwan, the White House said, while the State Department approved the potential sale to the island of $265 million worth of military equipment. The United States is bound by law to provide Chinese-claimed Taiwan with the means to defend itself despite the lack of formal diplomatic ties between Washington and Taipei, to the constant anger of Beijing. … Read more…

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Ukraine’s air defence downs 52 out of 103 Russian drones, air force says

KYIV (Reuters) – Ukraine’s air defences downed 52 of the 103 Russian drones launched overnight, the Ukrainian military said on Sunday. The military said on Telegram that it had lost track of 44 drones, and another had left the territory of Ukraine to Belarus. The military gave no information on the fate of the remaining drones. However, they said that in Kherson, Mykolaiv, Chernihiv, Sumy, Zhytomyr and Kyiv regions, private businesses and apartment buildings have … Read more…

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Potential TikTok bidder seeks a CEO, prepares business overhaul

By Sheila Dang and Krystal Hu (Reuters) – U.S. billionaire businessman Frank McCourt is crafting a fundamental overhaul of TikTok’s business model as part of a plan to bid for the Chinese-owned short-form video app, he told Reuters. McCourt, who formerly owned the Los Angeles Dodgers baseball team, said he has received verbal funding commitments totaling $20 billion from a consortium of investors to rescue the app from legal purgatory as it awaits a Supreme … Read more…

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US finalizes up to $6.35 billion in chips awards for Samsung Electronics, Texas Instruments

By David Shepardson WASHINGTON (Reuters) -The U.S. Commerce Department said on Friday it was finalizing an award of up to $4.745 billion to South Korea’s Samsung Electronics and up to $1.61 billion for Texas Instruments to expand chips production. The Samsung award is about $1.7 billion smaller than the preliminary award announced in April of up to $6.4 billion and reflects its revised smaller investment plans, the department said. A Commerce spokesperson said the department … Read more…

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Fitch raises Sri Lanka rating after creditor nod to $12.55 billion debt overhaul

(Reuters) – Credit ratings agency Fitch on Friday upgraded Sri Lanka’s long-term foreign-currency default rating to ‘CCC+’ from ‘restricted default’ (RD) following approval by creditors of the country’s $12.55 billion debt overhaul earlier this week. The island nation’s bondholders overwhelmingly signed off on the government’s proposal to restructure international bonds, a much-needed step in its path to steadily recover from its worst financial crisis in decades. “Sri Lanka has normalised relations with a majority of … Read more…

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Soccer-Netflix inks US broadcast deal with FIFA for 2027 and 2031 women’s World Cups

NEW YORK (Reuters) – FIFA and Netflix have signed a deal to broadcast the 2027 and 2031 editions of the Women’s World Cup in the United States, world soccer’s governing body said on Friday. FIFA said the Women’s World Cup will be the first competition to be acquired in full by Netflix and U.S.-based fans would be able to watch every match live. The agreement also includes Puerto Rico while it will cover all languages, … Read more…

The Dow Heads South – by Justin Vaughn

(Justin Vaughn, Editor, Options Trading Report) Friday’s DowJones fell again…the seventh session in a row, as stocks retreated in every sector, weakening the benchmark index. The tech-driven Nasdaq Composite finished near the flatline, while the S&P 500 was lower. The Bond Market trended upward, picking up a quarter percentage point for the week at 4.398%, edging up since the election.. “We’ve had a big run up but now interest rates are pushing up and people … Read more…