(Reuters) – Rupert Murdoch stepped down as the chairman of Fox Corp and News Corp on Thursday, ending a long reign that saw him develop and lead a global media empire.

Here is a look at some crucial moments from his decades-long career under the spotlight:

ROOTS

The son of a famous war correspondent in Australia, Rupert Murdoch took over his father’s newspaper business in the early 1950s and set about turning it into a global media empire.

He took up residence in the United States in 1974 and became a naturalized U.S. citizen in 1985, based in New York City.

EARLY INTEREST IN MEDIA

Murdoch’s first brush with journalism was at college. His experience as an editor of the Daily Express in London is thought to have shaped his future as he embarked on popularizing tabloid-like journalism.

MARRIAGES

Murdoch and former San Francisco police chaplain Ann Lesley Smith called off their engagement in April. That would have been the billionaire’ s fifth marriage.

He reportedly ended his fourth marriage to actress and model Jerry Hall via an email. Their divorce was finalized last year.

NEWS OF THE WORLD SCANDAL

Murdoch’s News of the World, Britain’s one-time biggest selling weekly newspaper, hit the streets for the last time on July 10, 2011, succumbing to a phone hacking scandal that sent tremors through the British political establishment.

Accusations that telephone hacking at the newspaper stretched from celebrities to missing children, relatives of those killed in the 2005 bomb attacks on London’s transport network and families of soldiers killed in action triggered a huge public outcry.

SPLIT OF THE MURDOCH EMPIRE

Bowing to pressure from shareholders, Murdoch separated News Corp’s publishing and entertainment assets in 2013. Almost a decade later, he would consider reuniting those firms but the plans were abandoned later.

POLITICS

“The Murdoch dynasty draws no lines among politics, money and power; they all work together seamlessly in service of the overarching goal of imperial expansion,” a piece from the New York Times magazine wrote of Murdoch’s family in 2019.

Though several of his companies are known for their conservative tilt, he initially urged Michael Bloomberg to run for president against Donald Trump.

Murdoch reportedly has an unflattering opinion of the former president and has also criticized Fox News anchors for siding with Trump.

Source: Forbes, media reports

(Reporting by Niket Nishant and Noor Zainab Hussain in Bengaluru; Editing by Saumyadeb Chakrabarty)

By Ankika Biswas and Shristi Achar A

(Reuters) – Nasdaq led declines in key Wall Street indexes on Thursday as a jump in Treasury yields knocked down growth stocks after the Federal Reserve signaled that another rate hike was in the offing this year.

Rate-sensitive stocks including Tesla, Meta Platforms, Amazon.com, Alphabet, and Nvidia fell between 1.5% and 3.0% as the two-year and 10-year Treasury yields scaled multi-year highs. [US/]

Semiconductor firm Broadcom slid 3.9% on report Alphabet-owned Google’s executives discussed dropping the company as a supplier of artificial intelligence chips as early as 2027.

The report also said Google had been working to replace Broadcom as the supplier for networking chips used in its data centers with Marvell Technology which rose 0.9%.

The Philadelphia chip index lost 1.1%.

The U.S. central bank delivered a widely anticipated pause on Wednesday and revised economic projections higher with warnings that the battle against inflation was far from over, prompting a weak session for Wall Street.

The benchmark interest rate could be hiked one more time in 2023 to a peak range of 5.50%-5.75%, while monetary policy could stay tighter than was expected through 2024, the Fed’s updated quarterly projections showed.

“Our economists were expecting cuts in each of the four quarters of next year, but now they think the first cut will be delayed until sometime in the second quarter,” said Sam Stovall, chief investment strategist at CFRA Research in New York

Adding to rate jitters, U.S. jobless claims unexpectedly fell last week, while the Philadelphia Fed’s business conditions index reading showed a worse-than-expected drop in September, fueling recession concerns.

“With interest rates like that and with other measures of the economy showing weaker-than-expected readings, the increasing concern is that we are headed for a recession,” Stovall added.

The CBOE volatility index, known as Wall Street’s “fear gauge”, hit its highest level in nearly one month, reflecting rising investor anxiety.

Traders’ bets on the benchmark rate remaining unchanged in November and December stood at 72% and 53%, respectively, according to CME’s FedWatch tool.

Meanwhile, weak performance of recent listings after their debut highs has dampened hopes of a likely revival in the initial public offering market amid high interest rates and broader market declines.

Marketing automation firm Klaviyo’s shares fell 1.3%, after closing well below their intra-day debut high on Wednesday at $32.76.

Instacart fell 5.1% briefly slipping below its IPO price of $30 per share, while Arm Holdings shed 3.4% to $51.1, nearing its IPO price of $51 per share.

At 9:50 a.m. ET, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 161.34 points, or 0.47%, at 34,279.54, the S&P 500 was down 37.92 points, or 0.86%, at 4,364.28, and the Nasdaq Composite was down 163.88 points, or 1.22%, at 13,305.25.

FedEx added 5.8% after surprising investors with a big quarterly profit beat.

Fox Corp and News Corp added 1.7% and 0.4%, respectively, after Rupert Murdoch stepped down as the chairman of both firms.

Declining issues outnumbered advancers by a 7.06-to-1 ratio on the NYSE and by a 3.86-to-1 ratio on the Nasdaq.

The S&P index recorded two new 52-week highs and 16 new lows, while the Nasdaq recorded seven new highs and 207 new lows.

(Reporting by Ankika Biswas and Shristi Achar A in Bengaluru; Editing by Arun Koyyur and Vinay Dwivedi)

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – U.S. existing home sales unexpectedly fell in August as persistently tight supply boosted prices, and a further decline is likely amid a resurgence in mortgage rates.

Existing home sales slipped 0.7% last month to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 4.04 million units, the National Association of Realtors said on Thursday. Existing home sales are counted at the closing of a contract.

Last month’s sales likely reflected contracts signed in July, before the recent run-up in mortgage rates, which lifted the rate on the popular 30-year fixed mortgage above 7%.

Economists polled by Reuters had forecast home sales climbing to a rate of 4.10 million units.

Sales fell in the South and West. They rose in the Midwest and were unchanged in the Northeast.

Home resales, which account for a big chunk of U.S. housing sales, dropped 15.3% on a year-on-year basis in August.

The housing market had shown signs of stabilizing after being slammed by the Federal Reserve’s aggressive monetary policy tightening. With mortgage rates resuming their upward trend, it appears to be faltering. Homebuilder confidence slumped to a five-month low in September, while housing starts in August dropped to levels last seen in mid-2020.

The increase in mortgages rates is in tandem with U.S. Treasury yields, which have risen amid worries that surging oil prices could hamper the Fed’s fight against inflation.

The U.S. central bank on Wednesday left its benchmark overnight interest rate unchanged in the 5.25%-5.50% range. The Fed, however, stiffened its hawkish stance, projecting another hike by year end and monetary policy staying significantly tighter through 2024 than previously expected. The Fed has raised the policy rate 525 basis points since March 2022.

There were 1.1 million previously owned homes on the market last month, down 14.1% from a year ago. At August’s sales pace, it would take 3.3 months to exhaust the current inventory of existing homes, up from 3.2 months a year ago.

A four-to-seven-month supply is viewed as a healthy balance between supply and demand. The median existing house price increased 3.9% from a year earlier to $407,100. It was the third straight month the median sales price surpassed $400,000.

“Home prices continue to march higher despite lower home sales,” said Lawrence Yun, the NAR’s chief economist. “Supply needs to essentially double to moderate home price gains.”

Properties typically remained on the market for 20 days in August, up from 16 days a year ago. Seventy-two percent of homes sold in August were on the market for less than a month.

First-time buyers accounted for 29% of sales, unchanged from a year ago. All-cash sales accounted for 27% of transactions compared to 24% a year ago.

Distressed sales, including foreclosures, represented only 1% of transactions, unchanged from July.

(Reporting by Lucia Mutikani; Editing by Andrea Ricci)

By Ahmed Aboulenein

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The U.S. government is awarding $45 million in grants to help clinics treating long COVID develop new models of care and expand access, the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) said on Wednesday.

Nine clinics will receive $1 million grants annually over the next five years through the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) within HHS, the department said.

President Joe Biden had tasked HHS last year with developing a national action plan to tackle long COVID, a complex, multi-symptom condition that arises months after a COVID-19 infection and leaves many of its sufferers unable to work.

“The Biden-Harris Administration is supporting patients, doctors and caregivers by providing science-based best practices for treating long COVID, maintaining access to insurance coverage, and protecting the rights of workers as they return to jobs while coping with the uncertainties of their illness,” said HHS Secretary Xavier Becerra.

The funding will be used for increasing in-person and virtual visits, establishing new satellite clinics, and an education initiative aimed at growing referrals. Limited knowledge and acceptance among clinicians has contributed to delays in diagnoses and referrals.

It will also go towards social services, hiring interpreters, group patient programs, and behavioral health support. The grants prioritize access for underserved, rural, vulnerable, and minority populations that are disproportionately impacted by long COVID.

The condition affects nearly 7% of all U.S. adults and 2.3% of the overall population and has cost an estimated $386 billion in lost wages, savings and medical bills, according to an analysis in April by the Solve Long Covid Initiative, a non-profit research and advocacy group.

More than 200 symptoms have been linked to the syndrome – including extreme fatigue, difficulty thinking, headaches, dizziness when standing, sleep problems, chest pain, blood clots, immune dysregulation, and even diabetes.

No proven treatments are available but research is underway. The National Institute of Health (NIH) is conducting a $1.15 billion effort, the RECOVER program, which launched two clinical trials in July that will evaluate at least four potential treatments.

(Reporting by Ahmed Aboulenein; Editing by Richard Chang)

LONDON (Reuters) – Big central banks are closing in on the end of their rate hiking cycles, starting to surprise markets as their outlooks on when and how they will cease monetary tightening diverge.

The U.S. Federal Reserve has trounced hopes for a prolonged pause, while Switzerland on Thursday unexpectedly kept rates steady and the Bank of England also chose to leave rates unchanged as latest data suggests inflation pressures easing.

So far, nine developed economies have raised rates by a combined 3,965 basis points (bps) in this cycle. Japan is the holdout dove. 

Here’s where central banks stand, ranked by how much they have hiked so far this cycle:

1) UNITED STATES

The U.S. Federal Reserve held interest rates steady at 5.25%-5.50% on Wednesday but said rates may rise again this year to contain inflation.

Markets are not so sure, with futures pricing a roughly 50% chance of another quarter-point hike by year-end. Many economists suspect the rate hiking cycle is over even if the Fed remains hawkish for now.

2) NEW ZEALAND

The Reserve Bank of New Zealand lifted its cash rate to a 14-year high of 5.5% in May and has kept it there since.

A front-runner in withdrawing pandemic era stimulus, the RBNZ has pushed out when it expects to start cutting borrowing costs to 2025.

3) BRITAIN

The Bank of England held interest rates at 5.25% on Thursday, citing increasing signs of the economy slowing, but left the door open to further hikes.

Sterling fell sharply after the move and interest rate futures showed traders believe there is a 70% chance the BoE will leave rates unchanged in November, compared with around 50/50 before the decision.

4) CANADA

Bank of Canada Governor Tiff Macklem said on Sept. 7 that monetary policy may not be tight enough to return to target.

His hawkish remarks came a day after the Bank of Canada kept its key rate at 5%, but said it could hike again should price pressures persist. Inflation has remained above the bank’s 2% target for 27 months.

5) EURO ZONE

The ECB raised its key rate to 4% on Sept. 14, the highest level since the euro currency was launched in 1999, but signalled this could be its final move in a more-than year-long fight against inflation.

Economists polled by Reuters believe the ECB is done hiking rates and will stay on hold until at least July 2024.

6) NORWAY

The Norges Bank raised its key rate by 25 bps to 4.25% on Thursday, but in a surprise move flagged another hike was likely in December.

Core inflation unexpectedly declining to 6.3% in August had boosted expectations that Thursday’s hike would have been Norway’s final one. But underlying price growth is still well above the bank’s 2% target and now seen at 4.7% next year, higher than the Norges Bank previously expected.

7) SWEDEN

Sweden’s central bank raised its key policy rate by 25 bps to 4% on Thursday, as expected, and said more tightening may be needed to bring inflation back to 2%.

The Swedish crown has tumbled around 7% against the euro in 2023, bolstering the case for rate rises, and inflation was running at 4.7% in August. But policymakers also face a sharply slowing economy, which the government expects to contract 0.8% this year.

8) AUSTRALIA

Minutes from the Reserve Bank of Australia’s September meeting showed the central bank considered a 25 bp hike but opted to keep rates steady at 4.1% for a third consecutive meeting, the last under former Governor Philip Lowe.

Lowe’s successor, Michele Bullock, is expected to strike a similar tone on Oct. 3, with markets pricing in one more rate rise by early 2024.

9) SWITZERLAND

The Swiss National Bank unexpectedly kept interest rates on hold on Thursday at 1.75%, after three consecutive months of inflation within its 0% to 2% target range.

Yet SNB Chairman Thomas Jordan did not rule out a further interest rate hike. “We will not hesitate to tighten our monetary policy further if necessary in order to keep inflation below 2% on a sustainable basis,” he said.

10) JAPAN

The Bank of Japan, the world’s most dovish major central bank, unveils its latest decision on Friday.

The consensus is for no change in its current stance, although Governor Kazuo Ueda suggested in an interview that the central bank’s negative interest rate policy could end within this year.

A majority of economists said in a Reuters poll on Thursday that BoJ will end its negative rates policy next year.

(Reporting by Naomi Rovnick, Harry Robertson, Samuel Indyk, Nell Mackenzie, Alun John, Yoruk Bahceli and Chiara Elisei; Graphics by Kripa Jayaram, Pasit Kongkunakornkul, Prinz Magtulis, Riddhima Talwani, Sumanta Sen and Vineet Sachdev; Compiled by Naomi Rovnick and Chiara Elisei; Editing by Dhara Ranasinghe and Sharon Singleton)

By Jonathan Stempel

NEW YORK (Reuters) – (This Sept. 20 story has been refiled to correct typographical error in paragraph 9)

Netflix was ordered by a federal judge to face a defamation lawsuit by best-selling author and former Manhattan prosecutor Linda Fairstein over her portrayal in a 2019 crime drama about the Central Park Five case.

U.S. District Judge Kevin Castel on Tuesday said Fairstein plausibly alleged that Netflix, director Ava DuVernay and writer-producer Attica Locke acted with actual malice as to five scenes in “When They See Us.”

The series dramatized the story of five Black and Hispanic teenagers who spent five to 13 years in prison after being wrongfully convicted in the April 1989 rape of a white jogger in Central Park. Another man confessed in 2002.

Castel in a 67-page decision found evidence that in depicting Fairstein as a villain emblematic of broader problems in criminal justice, the defendants “reverse-engineered plot points to attribute actions, responsibilities and viewpoints to Fairstein that were not hers and are unsupported in defendants’ substantial body of research materials.”

The Manhattan judge said jurors should decide whether there was “clear and convincing evidence that defendants were recklessly indifferent to the truth.”

Netflix, based in Los Gatos, California, and the defendants’ lawyers did not immediately respond to requests for comment. A lawyer for Fairstein had no immediate comment.

Fairstein, 76, had been running the sex crimes unit of the Manhattan District Attorney’s office when the 28-year-old jogger, later identified as Trisha Meili, was attacked.

The five alleged defamatory scenes include suggestions that Fairstein withheld evidence, coerced confessions and ordered a mass police roundup of young Black men in Harlem.

Backlash from the series caused Fairstein to lose her publisher, resign under pressure from several boards and be attacked on social media including under the hashtag #CancelLindaFairstein.

The defendants said Fairstein offered no evidence that their portrayal of her “reflected the essence of truth” and was protected by the First Amendment.

They also said that the lawsuit threatened filmmakers’ ability to dramatize controversial, real-life events when told from “different and often marginalized perspectives.”

New York City reached a $41 million settlement with the five original defendants, without admitting wrongdoing, in 2014.

The case is Fairstein v. Netflix Inc et al, U.S. District Court, Southern District of New York, No. 20-08042.

(Reporting by Jonathan Stempel in New York; Editing by Mark Porter)

By Rajesh Kumar Singh

CHICAGO (Reuters) – Travel boom has delivered bumper earnings for U.S. carriers, but no-frills airlines such as Frontier and Spirit are struggling to return to sustainable profitability.

That has made some of them weigh premium-price offerings, including first-class seats, customer lounges and branded foods even as they expect fares to remain the primary driver for bookings.

Ultra low-cost carriers offer a no-frills experience at rock-bottom fares and charge heavily for ancillary services.

They were tipped to be the big winners after the pandemic, but persistent operational constraints have exacerbated their cost pressures, making it imperative to find new high-margin revenue streams.

With consumers more willing to splurge on travel, demand for premium cabins has gone up. This together with soaring bookings for flights to Europe and Asia have allowed the legacy airlines – Delta, United and American – to mitigate inflationary pressures.

Budget carriers lack these products.

Frontier CEO Barry Biffle said while he will not invest in long-haul jets, he has been struck by a greater desire among leisure travelers to pay for first-class seats on domestic flights.

Frontier is watching the trend “very carefully” and would consider adding premium seats if it lasts for multiple years, he said.

“If people are really willing to pay that much for a premium, maybe there is an opportunity,” Biffle told Reuters.

Similarly, Minneapolis-based ultra-low-cost carrier Sun Country is contemplating opening an airport lounge and offering branded food and beverage. CEO Jude Bricker said the demand for services that offer even minor improvements to the travel experience has doubled.

“We’re in discussions about things that I would have written off in the past,” Bricker said.

These offerings, however, entail a dilution of the traditional no-frills business model that powered the earnings of budget carriers before the pandemic. They also run the risk of inflating costs.

Frontier’s Biffle called adding premium seats a “big decision” and a “fairly expensive” move. That’s why he is not ready to change Frontier’s business model “overnight.”

In the meantime, he is doubling down on costs. Frontier plans to rework its network to allow almost all of its planes to return to their stations every night, with a goal to contain disruptions and save money.

OPERATIONAL CONSTRAINTS

No-frills carriers operate a single fleet, fly their aircraft longer each day, and put more seats on every plane.

Operational constraints have upended that playbook. A shortage of air-traffic controllers has marred Frontier’s operations. Sun Country is grappling with a shortfall of captains. Spirit has been forced to ground several planes due to RTX’s engine problem.

As a result, ultra low-cost carriers have not been able to fully utilize their fleets – a strategy they relied upon before the pandemic to lower operating costs and boost profits.

Meanwhile, surging pilot pay rates have ballooned costs. Privately-owned Avelo Airlines has seen a 75% jump in its pilot wage bill in the past two years. The bill is expected to increase by another 10% following hefty pay raises at major carriers, CEO Andrew Levy said.

Weakening pricing power in their domestic market, as well as a jump in fuel prices, have only added to their troubles.

Biffle last week said Frontier is facing pressure to offer “very, very low” fares to fill up its planes. Spirit has cut its profit outlook for the current quarter, citing “heightened promotional activity with steep discounting.”

Frontier’s shares are down by half this year. Spirit shares are down 18%. In contrast, shares of United and Delta are up 20%, and American’s shares have gained 5%.

The divergence in performance has sparked questions about the business model of low cost, low fares.

United Airlines CEO Scott Kirby has called the model “doomed” as he doesn’t expect the constraints would go away anytime soon. Some analysts are also calling for a review.

“I don’t know that the model is completely broken, but I certainly think that it needs to be rethought,” said Helane Becker, airline analyst at TD Cowen.

PRICE-SENSITIVE TRAVELERS

CEOs of budget carriers, however, don’t see the model losing its appeal as long as fares determine travel bookings. The share of discount carriers in domestic passenger traffic has gone up after the pandemic, data from trade group Airlines for America shows, thanks to travelers like Jacob Brown.

The 23-year-old Denver-based school teacher calls himself a “big fan” of ultra-low-cost airlines. He has been using Frontier’s unlimited $140 monthly flight pass, which he said translates into an average one-way fare of about $15.

“I can’t afford to fly Delta enough on my measly salary,” Brown said. “But I can afford to fly budget carriers.”

(Reporting by Rajesh Kumar Singh, Editing by Nick Zieminski)

By Kevin Yao

BEIJING (Reuters) -China’s economic slowdown is polarising government advisers over the best way forward, with advocates of structural reforms now emerging from the shadows in a challenge to others calling for more state spending to shore up faltering growth.

The rare debate among advisers, who influence policy-making but do not wield direct power, comes as global markets scramble for clues on how authorities will halt a downturn that has left millions without jobs, forced investors to flee and the yuan to tank.

A dribble of piecemeal support measures from Beijing in recent months has raised questions about the tough choices China’s new economic leadership now faces over whether to prioritise short-term relief or long overdue reforms.

Advisers calling for immediate stimulus argue the central government’s low debt means it can shoulder the burden with municipalities to finance infrastructure and other spending to rev up activity. But pro-reform advisers argue the stimulus playbook that helped drive growth for decades has run its course and that bolder structural changes to the economy are now needed.

Both camps argue their proposals should be treated with urgency by policymakers, ahead of the annual Central Economic Work Conference, an agenda-setting gathering of top leaders expected in December.

“We need stronger stimulus policies and an overall plan, a package of macroeconomic policy measures,” said Yu Yongding, an influential government economist who previously advised the central bank.

“China should issue more government bonds to finance infrastructure investment, including more investment in public facilities such as hospitals and old people’s homes. China should not be afraid of increasing its budget deficit-to-GDP ratio and government bonds-to-GDP ratio,” Yu told Reuters.

China’s central bank is constrained in how much it can ease monetary policy amid fears a widening interest rate gap with the United States would trigger capital flight and yuan falls, Yu said.

“We need to step up fiscal stimulus. There is room for the central government to step up spending given its sound fiscal position,” said an adviser who spoke on condition of anonymity.

The central government’s debt as a share of gross domestic product is just 21%, far lower than 76% for local governments, including their hidden debt.

China targets a budget deficit of 3.0% of GDP for 2023. Local governments are racing to issue the 2023 quota of 3.8 trillion yuan ($520.68 billion) in special bonds this month to fund infrastructure.

The pro-reform camp is beating the drum for faster structural reforms, including relaxing the system of residence permits, or “hukou”, to spur consumption, removing market entry barriers for private firms at the cost of state giants.

Some are calling for reviving stalled market reforms amid signs of increased state controls in the economy.

International Monetary Fund Managing Director Kristalina Georgieva told Reuters over the weekend that the Fund plans to tell China to boost domestic consumption, rein in local government debt and clean up its bloated property sector.

“Policy stimulus is not effective and it’s just a placebo,” said one of the advisers.

Liu Shijin, an adviser to the central bank, said China must push reforms to unleash spending power of migrant workers who had entered cities, a view shared by former central bank head Yi Gang.

Reforms are urgently needed as growth engines such as property, exports and infrastructure are stalling, he said.

“If we continue to focus on macroeconomic policies to stabilise growth, the side effects will increase, and more importantly, the opportunity for structural reform will be missed again,” Liu told a forum last month.

“It’s not just macroeconomic policies that have short-term effects. Structural reforms with expansionary effects can also have immediate effects.”

TIGHTROPE

Despite the heated debate, analysts expect Chinese leaders can walk a tightrope between stimulus and reforms.

Rob Subbaraman, chief economist at Nomura, said short-term stimulus would spur growth but at the cost of worsening structural distortions. Meanwhile, structural reforms would bring short-term pain and take longer to boost activity, but produce higher quality, sustainable growth over time.

“China needs both, whereas it is where it is now because historically it’s relied more on policy stimulus than on the harder structural reforms,” he said.

The world’s second-largest economy is showing some signs of stabilsing after a flurry of modest policy measures, but the outlook is clouded by a property downturn, aging demographics, high debt and geopolitical tensions.

The Asian Development Bank on Wednesday trimmed its growth forecast of China to 4.9% from 5.0% in July due to the weakness in the property sector.

While structural changes require political will, pro-reform advocates argue that without them, China will struggle to sustainably revive confidence in its economy, especially the private sector.

“We must return to the basis set by Deng Xiaoping, otherwise the economy won’t be good as overseas investors don’t have confidence,” said Yi Xianrong, an economist at Qingdao University and former government adviser. “The economy is unlikely to pick up as long as private firms lack the confidence to invest.”

($1 = 7.2982 Chinese yuan)

(Reporting by Kevin Yao. Editing by Sam Holmes)

(Reuters) -Billionaire entrepreneur Elon Musk’s brain-chip startup Neuralink said on Tuesday it has received approval from an independent review board to begin recruitment for the first human trial of its brain implant for paralysis patients.

Those with paralysis due to cervical spinal cord injury or amyotrophic lateral sclerosis may qualify for the study, it said, but did not reveal how many participants would be enrolled in the trial, which will take about six years to complete.

The study will use a robot to surgically place a brain-computer interface (BCI) implant in a region of the brain that controls the intention to move, Neuralink said, adding that its initial goal is to enable people to control a computer cursor or keyboard using their thoughts alone.

The company, which had earlier hoped to receive approval to implant its device in 10 patients, was negotiating a lower number of patients with the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) after the agency raised safety concerns, according to current and former employees. It is not known how many patients the FDA ultimately approved.

Musk has grand ambitions for Neuralink, saying it would facilitate speedy surgical insertions of its chip devices to treat conditions like obesity, autism, depression and schizophrenia.

In May, the company said it had received clearance from the FDA for its first-in-human clinical trial, when it was already under federal scrutiny for its handling of animal testing.

Even if the BCI device proves to be safe for human use, it would still potentially take more than a decade for the startup to secure commercial use clearance for it, according to experts.

(Reporting by Mariam Sunny in Bengaluru; Editing by Pooja Desai)

By Greg Bensinger

(Reuters) – Amazon.com Inc on Wednesday unveiled a slate of new and refreshed devices and updated its Alexa voice assistant with generative artificial intelligence to attract users to the unprofitable product as competition grows from chatbots like Google’s Bard.

Alexa will converse more naturally, losing its robotic tone of nearly a decade, and answer questions like the start time for football games and recipe ideas. It will also be able to compose and recite poems, Amazon showed at the company’s annual product launch in Arlington, Virginia.

Amazon introduced Alexa in 2014, but has not found a consistent means to make it profitable, instead driving shoppers toward the company’s website for more purchases. Typically accessed through speakers or enabled televisions, the service provides spoken answers to user queries, like the local weather, and can serve as a hub to control home appliances.

The Seattle-based company has worked to pep up Alexa particularly after OpenAI’s ChatGPT burst on the scene in November with longform written answers to complex queries. Similar chatbots have sparked an investor frenzy in generative AI startups.

“You can now have a near-human-like conversations with Alexa,” Dave Limp, Amazon’s hardware chief, said at the event.

On Tuesday, Reuters reported that morale among workers in Amazon’s hardware unit has suffered over shifting strategies and concerns that the company is not producing popular consumer devices. Many products under development, people familiar with matter told Reuters, are simply meant to put Alexa in more rooms of the home, such as a carbon monoxide detector with the service built in.

Limp, who is leaving the company before year’s end, showed how one could ask a series of questions without repeatedly using the “Alexa” wake word, a new feature for at least some Alexa devices, like the refreshed Echo Show 8.

At the event, Amazon also introduced refreshed versions of children’s Fire tablets, a soundbar for televisions and new search capabilities on the FireTV service to find free content.

Among the new devices Amazon announced is the $180 Echo Hub wall-mounted touchscreen for controlling gadgets throughout the home. Amazon also showed off a new feature for its Alexa app that can map out internet-connected devices throughout a user’s home for easier control.

Additional announcements included updates to the Echo Frames eyeglasses, with Alexa embedded, and refreshed versions of its Blink outdoor security cameras and Eero Wi-Fi extenders.

(Reporting by Greg Bensinger; Editing by Richard Chang)