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☆ This SoftBank-backed startup just launched smart glasses that enable surgeons to virtually observe and advise on procedures across the world
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-13 | by ( Riddhi Kanetkar | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +6 min

The practicing surgeon is the founder of Proximie, an augmented reality startup that enables healthcare professionals to observe and advise on surgeries virtually. The wearable PxLens headset enables remote users to get a first-person view of surgeries or training procedures in 2D. Riddhi Kanetkar/InsiderThrough its 4K camera lens, the glasses enable surgeons and remote users to have a detailed view of the operating room. "It's almost as if you're standing over the shoulder of the surgeon in the operating room," said Hachach-Haram. "I see a world where every operating room in the world will be digital, and accessible to anyone."

☆ Reaction to Lineker being pulled from presenting by the BBC
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-10 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

But the decision to take Gary Lineker off air is indefensible. LABOUR PARTY LEADER KEIR STARMER"The BBC is not acting impartially by caving in to Tory MPs who are complaining about Gary Lineker." FORMER LABOUR LEADER JEREMY CORBYN"Well done Gary Lineker for standing up for refugees. FORMER CULTURE SECRETARY NADINE DORRIES"News that Gary Lineker has been stood down for investigation is welcome and shows BBC are serious about impartiality." "The perception out there is going to be that Gary Lineker, a much-loved television presenter, was taken off air after government pressure on a particular issue."

Maxwell, 61, is expected to present her legal arguments in a filing with the 2nd U.S. Epstein killed himself at age 66 in a Manhattan jail cell in August 2019, one month after being charged with sex trafficking. Maxwell is expected to claim that prosecutors charged her long after a five-year statute of limitations expired. At Maxwell's trial, the four accusers said Maxwell and Epstein at first made them feel welcome in their orbit before subjecting them into giving Epstein sexualized massages. Prosecutors are expected to respond to Maxwell's filing before the appeals court hears oral arguments.

[1/2] U.S. President Joe Biden delivers remarks about the student loan forgiveness program from an auditorium on the White House campus in Washington, U.S., October 17, 2022. The program fulfilled Biden's 2020 campaign promise to cancel a portion of the nation's $1.6 trillion in federal student loan debt but was criticized by Republicans and others as an overreach of his authority. Biden's administration has said the plan is authorized under a 2003 federal law called the Higher Education Relief Opportunities for Students Act, or HEROES Act, that allows student loan debt relief during wartime or national emergencies. Beginning in 2020, the administrations of President Donald Trump, a Republican, and Biden, a Democrat, repeatedly paused federal student loan payments and halted interest from accruing, relying upon the HEROES Act. Missouri-based U.S. District Judge Henry Autrey found the states - Arkansas, Iowa, Kansas, Missouri, Nebraska and South Carolina lacked the legal standing to sue.

☆ FDA advisors recommend Pfizer RSV vaccine for older adults, despite possible Guillain-Barre risks
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-28 | by ( Spencer Kimball | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +5 min

The vote followed concerns at the FDA and among advisory committee members about two cases of Guillain-Barre syndrome among about 20,000 vaccine recipients. The FDA has asked Pfizer to conduct a safety study on Guillain-Barre syndrome, which the company has agreed to do. There currently is no approved RSV vaccine for the elderly. Pfizer's vaccine contains both strains of RSV, which circulate at the same time during fall and winter. Dr. David Kaslow, a senior official in the FDA's vaccine division, said safety monitoring will be "critically important" if Pfizer's RSV vaccine is approved.

The Sandy Hook families said that they need specialized assistance to review Jones' assets, income, and ability to pay those verdicts. Jones filed preliminary financial statements earlier in February, but listed several trusts that held unknown assets. Jones filed for personal bankruptcy in December, saying he could afford to pay less than 1% of the judgments handed down in two Sandy Hook defamation trials. Lopez will decide in March if Jones has to face a third Sandy Hook defamation trial. The Sandy Hook families have expressed concern that Jones is using bankruptcy to limit payments on the defamation judgments while attempting to collect income outside of the bankruptcy court's oversight.

☆ Glencore sentenced to pay $700 million in US after bribery guilty plea
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-28 | by ( Luc Cohen | Thomson Reuters | Reports On The New York Federal Courts. Previously Worked As A Correspondent In Venezuela | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

Companies Glencore PLC FollowNEW YORK, Feb 28 (Reuters) - A U.S. judge on Tuesday ordered Glencore Plc (GLEN.L) to pay $700 million in connection with its guilty plea over a decade-long scheme to bribe foreign officials across several countries. Prosecutors have said Glencore paid more than $100 million in bribes to officials in countries including Nigeria, Brazil, Venezuela and the Democratic Republic of the Congo to win business or avoid audits. Overall, the Swiss-based multinational has said it expects to pay more than $1.5 billion to settle bribery and market manipulation accusations, including more than $1 billion in the United States. Last year, Glencore was ordered to pay $341 million in fines and $144 million in forfeiture after pleading guilty to a market manipulation charge in Connecticut federal court. Reporting by Luc Cohen in New York Editing by Marguerita ChoyOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

Law firms Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld LLP FollowNEW YORK, Feb 28 (Reuters) - The U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) has hired a former New York prosecutor with expertise in cryptocurrency and cyber crimes to lead its enforcement unit, the agency said in a statement on Tuesday. CFTC Chairman Rostin Behnam in the statement described McGinley as a "leader in combatting modern financial fraud". "His background as a prosecutor with unique experience in commodities, crypto, and cyber-crimes and frauds makes him an ideal person to lead the CFTC’s enforcement team," Behnam said. McGinley, whose appointment is effective immediately, replaces the CFTC's acting director of enforcement and veteran CFTC official Gretchen Lowe. Reporting by Chris Prentice Editing by Mark PotterOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

The ruling authored by Jackson, who was confirmed last year by the Senate as the newest of the nine justices, was unanimous. Under that law, money orders that go uncashed can be generally taken by the state in which they are purchased. Circuit Judge Pierre Leval, later agreed with Delaware's view that they were not legally money orders but were "third-party bank checks." Jackson rejected that position, saying the financial instruments were similar to money orders in function and operation by allowing prepayment of a specified amount to a specific person. "And none of the differences Delaware identifies relates to the statutory text or ordinary meaning of a money order," Jackson wrote.

Feb 27 (Reuters) - Robinhood Markets Inc (HOOD.O) said in a filing on Monday it had received an investigative subpoena in December from the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission related to listings of cryptocurrencies. The collapse of Sam Bankman-Fried's FTX was the biggest in a string of major crypto-related failures in 2022, which sparked a cryptocurrency rout and left creditors facing losses of billions of dollars. The SEC has maintained that pre-existing securities laws also apply to digital assets and that many crypto tokens meet the definition of a security, which the crypto industry has previously criticized. Robinhood said the subpoena it received from the SEC was regarding the supported currencies at Robinhood Crypto LLC, which is a wholly-owned subsidiary of the brokerage, as well as its custody of cryptocurrencies and other platform operations. Reporting by Anirban Chakroborti in Bengaluru; Editing by Krishna Chandra EluriOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

Feb 27 (Reuters) - The U.S. consumer financial watchdog agency on Monday said it had permanently barred California mortgage broker RMK Financial Corp. from the mortgage lending industry, accusing it of repeat violations against military personnel and their families. "Our action reflects our commitment to weed out repeat offenders, and we are shutting down this outfit for good," he said. According to the CFPB, Majestic Home Loan "tricked" military families by falsely claiming government affiliation while also deceiving borrowers about interest rates. The agency on Thursday announced a $10 million fine against the Georgia title lender TitleMax for allegedly making unlawful loans to military personnel and charging illegally high interest rates. The Supreme Court on Monday agreed to hear an appeal against an October ruling from the 5th U.S.

Feb 27 (Reuters) - Three banks agreed to pay $1.35 billion to resolve litigation by former Allen Stanford investors who accused them of contributing to the imprisoned financier's massive Ponzi scheme. Canada's Toronto-Dominion Bank <TD.TO> will pay $1.205 billion, HSBC Holdings Plc (HSBA.L) will pay $40 million and Independent Bank Group Inc (IBTX.O) , formerly Bank of Houston, will pay $100 million. They avert a trial that had been scheduled for Monday in Houston federal court, where TD, HSBC and Independent Bank were the last remaining defendants. Two other defendants, France's Societe Generale SA (SOGN.PA) and Mississippi-based Trustmark Corp (TRMK.O), settled for a respective $157 million and $100 million earlier this year. Independent Bank expects to recognize a $100 million first-quarter expense for its settlement, a regulatory filing shows.

Companies Tesla Inc FollowFeb 27 (Reuters) - Tesla Inc (TSLA.O) and its Chief Executive Elon Musk were sued on Monday by shareholders who accused them of overstating the effectiveness and safety of their electric vehicles' Autopilot and Full Self-Driving technologies. They said Tesla's share price fell several times as the truth became known, including after the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration began investigating the technologies, and reports that the Securities and Exchange Commission was investigating Musk's Autopilot claims. The share price also fell 5.7% on Feb. 16 after NHTSA forced a recall of more than 362,000 Tesla vehicles equipped with Full Self-Driving beta software because they could be unsafe around intersections. Monday's lawsuit led by shareholder Thomas Lamontagne seeks unspecified damages for Tesla shareholders from Feb. 19, 2019 to Feb. 17, 2023. Tesla's share price closed Monday up $10.75, or 5.5%, at $207.63, but the stock has lost about half its value since peaking in Nov. 2021.

Feb 27 (Reuters) - Fox Corp Chairman Rupert Murdoch acknowledged under oath that some Fox hosts "endorsed" the notion that the 2020 U.S. presidential election was stolen, according to a court filing unsealed Monday. Documents in the case in Delaware state court show Murdoch and other Fox executives believed Joe Biden fairly beat Donald Trump and that the results were not in doubt. Asked by a Dominion lawyer if some of Fox’s commentators had endorsed the idea that the 2020 election was stolen, Murdoch responded, “Yes. Dominion claims in its filing that Murdoch closely monitored Fox coverage but declined to wield his powerful editorial influence despite strong concerns about Fox's coverage. Murdoch testified that he believed early on that "everything was on the up-and-up" with the election, and that he doubted claims of election fraud from the very beginning.

REUTERS/Rebecca CookFeb 27 (Reuters) - Ohio residents suing Norfolk Southern Corp (NSC.N) over a train derailment that spilled toxic chemicals urged a U.S. judge on Monday to block the company from destroying the wreckage without first giving them ample opportunity to inspect the crash site. The derailment of the Norfolk Southern operated train in East Palestine on Feb. 3 forced thousands of residents to evacuate while railroad crews drained and burned off toxic chemicals. They asked the judge to give their experts more time before Norfolk Southern removes and destroys the wreckage, which was slated to start on Wednesday. She asked whether Norfolk Southern could remove low-priority cars to an offsite storage location for later inspection, or if other options were available. The EPA on Saturday announced it was temporarily pausing Norfolk Southern's shipment of material from the crash site, but promised those efforts would resume soon.

The justices will hear the case during the court's next term, which begins in October. The case is the latest to come before the Supreme Court seeking to rein in the authority of federal agencies. The CFPB, which enforces consumer financial laws, was created after the 2008 financial crisis as part of a federal law known as the Dodd–Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act. A Democratic-led Congress in 2010 set up the agency to draw funding annually from the Federal Reserve, the U.S. central bank, which last fiscal year transferred around $642 million to the consumer protection agency. The court heard arguments in November in two other cases involving agency power.

[1/2] Alex Murdaugh gives testimony in his murder trial at the Colleton County Courthouse in Walterboro, South Carolina, U.S., February 23, 2023. Grace Beahm Alford/Pool via USA TODAY NETWORK via REUTERSFeb 27 (Reuters) - Four final defense witnesses are set to take the stand on Monday in the double murder trial of disbarred South Carolina lawyer Richard "Alex" Murdaugh before his attorneys rest their case, with jury deliberations on track to begin later in the week. Murdaugh's lawyers said they planned to question four additional witnesses before resting their case in the early afternoon on Monday. That would be followed by closing arguments and the judge instructing the jury, which could happen on Tuesday or Wednesday, Murdaugh defense attorney Dick Harpootlian said in court on Friday. The case has drawn intense media coverage given the political influence of the Murdaugh family in South Carolina.

WASHINGTON, Feb 25 (Reuters) - A Republican congressman's court battle to protect his cellphone records has prevented federal investigators from reviewing over 2,200 documents in their investigation of then-President Donald Trump's efforts to overturn the result of the 2020 election, according to newly unsealed court documents. An investigation by the U.S. House of Representatives' Jan. 6 committee last year revealed Perry was in frequent contact with Trump White House officials in the weeks before the attack. On Thursday, an attorney for Perry asked an appellate court to reverse Judge Howell's lower court ruling that his communications were not within a "legitimate legislative sphere." A Justice Department attorney urged the judicial panel not to block the congressman's cellphone from investigators. Reporting by David Morgan; Editing by Daniel Wallis and Jonathan OatisOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

Companies Goldman Sachs Group Inc FollowFeb 25 (Reuters) - Roger Ng, the former Goldman Sachs Group Inc (GS.N) banker convicted for helping to embezzle Malaysia's 1MDB sovereign wealth fund, appealed to a New York court on Saturday not to force him to spend more time in prison. A federal jury in Brooklyn convicted Ng in April last year of conspiring to violate an anti-bribery law and commit money laundering. Reuters was not immediately able reach Malaysian prison officials to comment on the conditions. Prosecutors said that he helped his former boss Tim Leissner embezzle money from the fund, launder the proceeds and bribe officials to win business for Goldman. Reporting by Shivani Tanna and Chandni Shah in Bengaluru; Editing by Daniel WallisOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

The pre-Roe laws include criminal penalties for people who help others obtain an abortion. Pitman's order, which is preliminary, will remain in place while abortion funding groups, including Fund Texas Choice, The North Texas Equal Access Fund and The Lilith Fund for Reproductive Equity, move forward with a lawsuit seeking to block enforcement of the laws. The order applies only to five individual local prosecutors who are named as defendants in the case, though the groups have said they will seek to expand their case to include a class of all local prosecutors in the state. Paxton's office and lawyers for the abortion funds and for the local prosecutors did not immediately respond to requests for comment. They cited statements by Paxton and by some state lawmakers suggesting that the pre-Roe laws criminalized funding or facilitating such abortions.

Companies U.S. Food and Drug Administration FollowFeb 24 (Reuters) - Twelve Democratic-led states have sued the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to challenge certain federal restrictions imposed on the distribution of the abortion pill mifepristone, saying those limits are not supported by evidence. Mifepristone, in combination with the drug misoprostol, was approved in 2000 by the FDA for medication abortion in the first 10 weeks of pregnancy. The decision enabled more than a dozen Republican-led states to adopt new abortion bans. The FDA's special restrictions on mifepristone are imposed under a safety program meant to minimize the risk of potentially dangerous drugs. After last year's Supreme Court ruling, Democratic President Joe Biden directed federal agencies to expand access to medication abortion.

The families, comprising more than 10,000 people, had asked U.S. District Judge George Daniels in Manhattan to put his Feb. 21 decision on hold while they appeal. "An important public interest lies in the enforcement of terrorism judgments," Daniels wrote. In ruling against the families, Daniels said awarding them the frozen assets would effectively recognize the Taliban as Afghanistan's legitimate government, which the Biden administration has not done. The president ordered $3.5 billion set aside to benefit the Afghan people, leaving the rest for the families to pursue. The case is In re Terrorist Attacks on Sept. 11, 2001, U.S. District Court, Southern District of New York, No.

REUTERS/Mario AnzuoniNEW YORK, Feb 24 (Reuters) - The rights to stream "South Park," the popular animated comedy featuring foul-mouthed children, is the subject of a new lawsuit where Warner Bros Discovery Inc is seeking hundreds of millions of dollars in damages from Paramount Global (PARA.O). The complaint said the defendants cemented their apostasy in August 2021 when Paramount's MTV unit announced an agreement to stream new "South Park" content on Paramount+, through season 30 in 2027. Warner said it now expects to receive only 14 of the 30 new "South Park" episodes it had been promised, including two "Pandemic Specials" that Paramount claims constitute season 24. The defendants also include MTV and South Park Digital Studios, a joint venture between Paramount, Parker and Stone. "South Park" was launched in August 1997 on Comedy Central, owned by Paramount.

Feb 24 (Reuters) - Producers of the Western movie 'Rust' on Friday said they had agreed to pay a $100,000 civil fine for "serious" workplace safety breaches prior to the fatal shooting of cinematographer Halyna Hutchins on a New Mexico film set in 2021. Hutchins was killed when actor Alec Baldwin fired a live round from a gun he was using during a rehearsal on a movie set outside Santa Fe. The New Mexico Occupational Health and Safety Bureau did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Rust Line Producer Gabrielle Pickle told the agency on Dec. 20 Gutierrez-Reed's requests for extra armorer days were granted. Production of the movie is set to resume in the spring in Montana, RMP has said.

[1/2] A person uses virtual reality headset at Meta stand during the ninth Summit of the Americas in Los Angeles, California, U.S., June 8, 2022. The FTC sued Meta in July to stop the Within deal, arguing that Meta's purchase would reduce competition in a new market. Judge Edward Davila of the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California rejected the FTC's concerns, and declined to order a preliminary injunction. The FTC's effort had been seen as a test of the agency's ability to prevent Meta from acquiring small would-be rivals. Reporting by Diane Bartz in Washington Editing by Matthew LewisOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

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