Editor

Big pharma pushes Trump team to ease Medicare drug price negotiation rules

By Michael Erman, Patrick Wingrove and Maggie Fick NEW YORK (Reuters) – The U.S. pharmaceutical industry is pushing to revamp the new law that allows Medicare to negotiate prices for its costliest prescription drugs once president-elect Donald Trump is back in office, according to lobbyists, executives, analysts and healthcare policy experts. Seven lobbyists and executives who work with top pharmaceutical and biotech companies told Reuters they are pushing to delay the timeline under which medications … Read more…

Categories Uncategorized

Orange signs deal with OpenAI to get access to pre-release AI models

By Gianluca Lo Nostro (Reuters) – Orange has struck a multi-year partnership with OpenAI in Europe that will give the French telecoms operator access to pre-release AI models, group chief artificial intelligence officer Steve Jarrett said on Wednesday. WHY IT’S IMPORTANT Orange will become the first telecoms firm in Europe to have direct access to OpenAI’s models. KEY QUOTES “OpenAI’s models are the most popular. And so it made financial sense for us to have … Read more…

British PM opens Google-backed AI Campus to inspire students

By Paul Sandle LONDON (Reuters) – British Prime Minister Keir Starmer on Wednesday opened London’s first Google-funded AI Campus which aims to help young people develop skills in the rapidly developing technology. The centre, based in Camden, an area which Starmer represents in parliament and which is also home to Google’s future offices in Kings Cross, has already started a two-year pilot project for local students. An first cohort of 32 people aged 16-18 will … Read more…

Exclusive-Exxon lobbyist investigated over hack-and-leak of environmentalist emails, sources say

By Raphael Satter and Christopher Bing WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The FBI has been investigating a longtime Exxon Mobil consultant over the contractor’s alleged role in a hack-and-leak operation that targeted hundreds of the oil company’s biggest critics, according to three people familiar with the matter. The operation involved mercenary hackers who successfully breached the email accounts of environmental activists and others, the sources told Reuters. The scheme allegedly began in late 2015, when U.S. authorities … Read more…

Categories Uncategorized

Exclusive-Trump team weighs direct talks with North Korea’s Kim in new diplomatic push, sources say

By Trevor Hunnicutt WASHINGTON (Reuters) – President-elect Donald Trump’s team is discussing pursuing direct talks with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, hoping a fresh diplomatic push can lower the risks of armed conflict, according to two people familiar with the matter. Several in Trump’s team now see a direct approach from Trump, to build on a relationship that already exists, as most likely to break the ice with Kim, years after the two traded … Read more…

Categories Uncategorized

Bitcoin options trade shows more bets on retreat after failing to breach $100,000

By Gertrude Chavez-Dreyfuss NEW YORK (Reuters) – Investors in the world’s largest cryptocurrency are anticipating a significant downward move after bitcoin failed to hit an all-time peak of $100,000, according to a crypto trading platform citing recent options activity. Bitcoin hit a record high of $99,830 on Nov. 22, but it has since fallen more than 8% to a one-week low of 91,377.32 on Tuesday. The best-known cryptocurrency has soared 120% so far this year … Read more…

US most wanted terrorist since 2009 arrested in the UK

By Brad Brooks (Reuters) – An alleged animal-rights extremist on the U.S. most-wanted terrorist list since 2009 in connection with the bombing of a California biotechnology firm has been arrested in the United Kingdom, the FBI said on Tuesday.  The suspect, Daniel Andreas San Diego, was arrested in Wales on Monday in an operation carried out by Britain’s National Crime Agency, Counter Terrorism Policing and the North Wales Police in coordination with the FBI, the … Read more…

Categories Uncategorized

Netflix defeats shareholder lawsuit over growth forecasts

By Jonathan Stempel (Reuters) – Netflix won the dismissal on Tuesday of a shareholder lawsuit accusing the streaming company of downplaying the impact on subscriber growth of account sharing, where paying members share user names and passwords with nonpaying members in other households. The proposed class action led by a Texas-based trustee began after Netflix revealed in April 2022 it had lost 200,000 subscribers in the prior quarter, the first decline in a decade, and … Read more…

Meta faces April trial in FTC case seeking to unwind Instagram merger

By Jody Godoy NEW YORK (Reuters) – Facebook owner Meta Platforms will face trial in April over the U.S. Federal Trade Commission’s allegations that the social media platform bought Instagram and WhatsApp to crush emerging competition, a judge in Washington said on Monday. The FTC sued in 2020, during the Trump administration, alleging the company acted illegally to maintain a monopoly on personal social networks. Meta, then known as Facebook, overpaid for Instagram in 2012 … Read more…

Musk’s Neuralink to launch feasibility trial with brain implant, robotic arm

(Reuters) -Elon Musk’s brain technology startup Neuralink said on Monday it has received approval to launch a new feasibility study using its brain implant and an experimental robotic arm. Neuralink is conducting its PRIME study, aimed at evaluating the safety of its wireless brain-computer interface and surgical robot. It is assessing the initial effect of the implant in patients with quadriplegia, a form of paralysis, to control external devices with their thoughts. The company plans … Read more…