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elecom operator AT&T (T.N), opens new tab and its joint-venture partner TPG (TPG.O), opens new tab are in early-stage talks to merge their DirecTV satellite TV service with EchoStar (SATS.O), opens new tab owned Dish, a person familiar with the matter told Reuters on Friday.

The two companies first attempted to merge back in 2002 when the U.S. Justice Department blocked the tie-up. The combined entity would create the largest pay-TV service provider in the U.S. at about 16 million subscribers, if the talks are successful.

The potential deal would likely attract antitrust scrutiny again although it might be able to clear regulatory hurdles this time as the industry has expanded substantially since then and DirecTV and Dish now compete against the likes of Comcast (CMCSA.O), opens new tab, Charter (CHTR.O), opens new tab, Amazon Prime, YouTube TV, and Netflix (NFLX.O), opens new tab.

Several high-profile companies are trying to test investor appetite for IPOs following a prolonged downturn due to rising interest rates and geopolitical turmoil.

The number of Chinese companies that have pursued stock market flotations in the United States has dropped in the past few years, after ride-hailing giant Didi Global was forced to delist its shares in late 2021 following a backlash from China's regulators.

EV maker Zeekr's (ZK.N), opens new tab debut on the New York Stock Exchange earlier this year was the first big listing by a Chinese company in the U.S. since Didi's delisting.

South Korea convened an international summit on Monday seeking to establish a blueprint for the responsible use of artificial intelligence (AI) in the military, though any agreement is not expected to have binding powers to enforce it.

More than 90 countries including the United States and China have sent government representatives to the two-day summit in Seoul, which is the second such gathering.

The first summit was held in The Hague last year, where the United States, China and other nations endorsed a modest "call to action, opens new tab" without legal commitment.

Artificial-intelligence company Anthropic asked a California federal court on Thursday to dismiss some copyright claims brought by a group of music publishers over the alleged misuse of song lyrics to train its AI-powered chatbot Claude.

Anthropic said that the court should reject the publishers' allegations that the company induced Claude users to infringe their copyrights or committed other copyright-related violations.

The company did not address the core claim from the publishers - Universal Music Group (UMG.AS), opens new tab, ABKCO and Concord Music Group - that the use of their lyrics to train AI violates their rights or the key defense that such training makes fair use of copyrighted work.

"Anthropic's latest motion is completely without merit and is yet another example of an AI company seeking to avoid taking responsibility for its massive infringement of copyrights," the publishers' attorney Matt Oppenheim of Oppenheim + Zebrak said in a statement on Friday.

A federal judge in Florida has temporarily blocked a U.S. Federal Trade Commission rule that would ban agreements commonly signed by workers not to join their employers' rivals or launch competing businesses, becoming the second judge to rule that the ban is likely invalid.

During a hearing on Wednesday, U.S. District Judge Timothy Corrigan in Ocala, Florida, blocked the FTC from applying the rule to real estate developer Properties of the Villages, pending the outcome of the company's lawsuit claiming the commission lacked the power to adopt the ban earlier this year.

Corrigan at the hearing said the rule implicated a question of "extraordinary economic and political significance" that Congress did not empower the FTC to address, according to a court transcript.

Corrigan cited the "major questions doctrine," a legal theory embraced in recent years by conservative lawyers and judges - including the U.S. Supreme Court - in challenges to many Democratic and progressive policies. The doctrine says that federal agencies can only issue rules with broad societal impacts with Congress' explicit permission.

A white woman who fatally shot her Black neighbor through a locked door amid a neighborhood feud in Florida has been convicted by a jury of manslaughter.

The jury took less than three hours Friday to find 60-year-old Susan Lorincz guilty in the death of Ajike "AJ" Shantrell Owens, a 35-year-old single mother who was shot once in the right side of her chest with a .380-caliber handgun while standing outside Lorincz's front door in June 2023. Owens' death drew national attention and put a new spotlight on race, gun violence and Florida's controversial "stand your ground" law.

The defense team offered no comment after the verdict, citing respect for the victim's family. In a news conference outside the courthouse, Anthony Thomas, an attorney representing Owens' family, called on Circuit Judge Robert Hodges to impose the maximum sentence of 30 years in prison.

A handful of institutional investors bought large positions in former President Donald Trump’s media company in the second quarter ahead of the company's inclusion in two Russell indexes, regulatory filings released on Wednesday showed.

Among the biggest purchasers of shares of Trump Media & Technology Group (DJT.O), opens new tab, the parent company of the Truth Social platform, were asset managers Vanguard, State Street and BlackRock, which are known for their passive investing businesses. Those include exchange traded funds that buy shares of companies included in a wide range of indexes that they track.

Vanguard Group initiated a new position with the purchase of nearly 2.9 million shares of Trump Media, with a market value of approximately $94.3 million at the end of the quarter, the filings showed. BlackRock initiated a new position with the purchase of nearly 2.2 million shares, while State Street initiated a new position with just over 440,000 shares.

The sheriff's deputy charged with fatally shooting Sonya Massey in the face has been the subject of several complaints alleging belligerent behavior toward women, a USA TODAY review of public records shows.

Despite the complaints, Sangamon County Sheriff's Deputy Sean P. Grayson was never prohibited from working in law enforcement and moved from one police agency to another, the records show, calling into question how he got the job he held when Massey was shot.

The July 6 killing of Massey has sparked national outcry over police brutality, coast-to-coast demonstrations and a federal probe by the Justice Department.

The hiring practices of the sheriff's department have also been under fire from Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker, who earlier this week formally called for Sangamon Sheriff Jack Campbell to resign, expressing frustration with how the sheriff has responded to Massey's death. Amid the growing pressure and questions about Grayson's hiring, Campbell said on Friday he will step down and retire.

The prospective owners of a Woodbury office building that’s nearly 40% vacant due to the popularity of remote work are seeking 20 years of tax breaks to turn around the property, officials said.

Investors Ric Clark and Dennis Friedrich plan to purchase 1000 Woodbury Rd. for $23.5 million from commercial real estate giant RXR. The pair then would spend $8 million on renovations to about half of the 288,000-square-foot building.

“This building from an interior standpoint is unfortunately very dated,” said Friedrich, founding principal of TKF Real Estate Investment LLC in Manhattan. He added that much of the office space hasn’t been improved in 20 years.

“But this is a great location and I think coming in … with some fresh ideas we can get back to” 85%-95% occupancy in three years, Friedrich told the Nassau County Industrial Development Agency last week.

Earth’s string of 13 straight months with a new average heat record came to an end this past July as the natural El Nino climate pattern ebbed, the European climate agency Copernicus announced Thursday.

But July 2024 ’s average heat just missed surpassing the July of a year ago, and scientists said the end of the record-breaking streak changes nothing about the threat posed by climate change.

“The overall context hasn’t changed,” Copernicus deputy director Samantha Burgess said in a statement. “Our climate continues to warm.”