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By Toby Sterling AMSTERDAM (Reuters) -A Dutch seizure of Chinese-owned computer chip maker Nexperia came after rising U.S. pressure on the company, a court ruling released on Tuesday showed, underscoring how the firm has been caught in the crossfire between Washington and Beijing. The government said on Sunday that it had intervened in Netherlands-based Nexperia, which makes chips for cars and consumer electronics. It cited worries about possible transfer of technology to its Chinese parent company, Wingtech. Wingtech was put on a U.S. "entity list" in December 2024 for its alleged role "aiding China's government's efforts to acquire entities with sensitive semiconductor manufacturing capability." Washington last month expanded that list to include majority-owned subsidiaries. The Dutch court document said records from a June 12 meeting between U.S. Commerce Department officials and the Dutch Foreign Ministry showed rising pressure to remove Nexperia's Chinese CEO to help keep the company off the list. "The fact that the company's CEO is still the same Chinese owner is problematic," the filing said, citing minutes from the Dutch-U.S. meeting. "It is almost certain the CEO will have to be replaced to qualify for the exemption from the entity list." CAUGHT BETWEEN WASHINGTON AND BEIJING Nexperia is caught between the U.S. and China, with U.S. President Donald Trump ratcheting up pressure on tech as part of a broader trade war in which he threatened 100% tariffs on China's exports last week. Beijing has announced curbs on exports of rare earths. Nexperia faces export restrictions from both governments, it said on Tuesday, and is seeking talks. It said a new interim CEO had been put in place after the former chief executive Zhang Xuezheng was removed from his post on a Dutch court order. The documents released on Tuesday by the Amsterdam Commercial Court showed that Nexperia had been informed by the Dutch Economic Affairs Ministry on June 5 that the new U.S. rule might be coming and it should take action. "It was clear to all involved that (a U.S. listing) could have a significant negative impact on Nexperia and its business," it said. Nexperia is one of the largest makers globally of basic chips such as transistors that are not technically sophisticated but are needed in large volumes. Its biggest manufacturing site is in Hamburg, Germany, but most of its chips are packaged and assembled into larger products in China. Wingtech on Monday told investors in China that it did not expect short-term disruption to its production and research efforts from the Dutch measures. It is working on a legal appeal, a source with direct knowledge of the meeting told Reuters. The source said that company executives in the meeting believed that Dutch authorities were acquiescing to the United States and added that the company was very confident that it could have the decision reversed. The Dutch government said on Tuesday there was no U.S. involvement or pressure in the decision to intervene in Nexperia. (Reporting by Toby Sterling in Amsterdam, Karen Freifeld in New York, and Samuel Shen, Liam Mo and Brenda GohEditing by Adam Jourdan, Kirsten Donovan and Matthew Lewis)

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By Toby Sterling AMSTERDAM (Reuters) -A Dutch seizure of Chinese-owned computer chip maker Nexperia came after rising U.S. pressure on the company, a court ruling released on Tuesday showed, underscoring how the firm has been caught in the crossfire between Washington and Beijing. The government said on Sunday that it had intervened in Netherlands-based Nexperia, which makes chips for cars and consumer electronics. It cited worries about possible transfer of technology to its Chinese parent company, Wingtech. Wingtech was put on a U.S. "entity list" in December 2024 for its alleged role "aiding China's government's efforts to acquire entities with sensitive semiconductor manufacturing capability." Washington last month expanded that list to include majority-owned subsidiaries. The Dutch court document said records from a June 12 meeting between U.S. Commerce Department officials and the Dutch Foreign Ministry showed rising pressure to remove Nexperia's Chinese CEO to help keep the company off the list. "The fact that the company's CEO is still the same Chinese owner is problematic," the filing said, citing minutes from the Dutch-U.S. meeting. "It is almost certain the CEO will have to be replaced to qualify for the exemption from the entity list." CAUGHT BETWEEN WASHINGTON AND BEIJING Nexperia is caught between the U.S. and China, with U.S. President Donald Trump ratcheting up pressure on tech as part of a broader trade war in which he threatened 100% tariffs on China's exports last week. Beijing has announced curbs on exports of rare earths. Nexperia faces export restrictions from both governments, it said on Tuesday, and is seeking talks. It said a new interim CEO had been put in place after the former chief executive Zhang Xuezheng was removed from his post on a Dutch court order. The documents released on Tuesday by the Amsterdam Commercial Court showed that Nexperia had been informed by the Dutch Economic Affairs Ministry on June 5 that the new U.S. rule might be coming and it should take action. "It was clear to all involved that (a U.S. listing) could have a significant negative impact on Nexperia and its business," it said. Nexperia is one of the largest makers globally of basic chips such as transistors that are not technically sophisticated but are needed in large volumes. Its biggest manufacturing site is in Hamburg, Germany, but most of its chips are packaged and assembled into larger products in China. Wingtech on Monday told investors in China that it did not expect short-term disruption to its production and research efforts from the Dutch measures. It is working on a legal appeal, a source with direct knowledge of the meeting told Reuters. The source said that company executives in the meeting believed that Dutch authorities were acquiescing to the United States and added that the company was very confident that it could have the decision reversed. The Dutch government said on Tuesday there was no U.S. involvement or pressure in the decision to intervene in Nexperia. (Reporting by Toby Sterling in Amsterdam, Karen Freifeld in New York, and Samuel Shen, Liam Mo and Brenda GohEditing by Adam Jourdan, Kirsten Donovan and Matthew Lewis)

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By Jan Wolfe WASHINGTON (Reuters) -The U.S. Supreme Court declined a chance to reassess the broad legal immunity tech companies have over content hosted on their platforms, turning away on Tuesday an appeal in a lawsuit against Grindr by a male plaintiff who was raped at age 15 by adult men matched to him via the gay dating app. The justices decided not to hear the plaintiff's appeal of a lower court's ruling to dismiss his lawsuit seeking monetary damages against Los Angeles-based Grindr because the company was protected from liability by a provision of federal law called Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act. Enacted in 1996, Section 230 allows online platforms, including social media sites and online forums, to host user-generated content without being held legally responsible as the "publisher or speaker" of that content. The provision has shielded online platforms such as TikTok and Meta Platforms from a wide range of litigation. The plaintiff in the Grindr case has remained anonymous, being referred to as "John Doe" in court filings. His lawyers argued in a court filing that Section 230 has been a "goldmine for amoral companies who need not invest in providing safe products." Lawyers for Doe said four adult men raped him on consecutive days in April 2019, when he was a high school student in a small town in the Canadian province of Nova Scotia after he signed up for Grindr and falsely represented he was at least 18 years old. Grindr requires users to be over 18, but does not verify the ages of users. Three of the men were prosecuted in Canada and received multi-year prison terms, while the fourth remains at large, according to court papers. The plaintiff filed his civil lawsuit in California state court in Los Angeles in 2023, accusing Grindr of negligence and unlawfully failing to warn users about the risks of child sexual abuse, among other claims, as well as defective app design for matching adults and children for illegal sexual activity. It sought an unspecified amount of compensatory damages for physical and emotional harm, plus punitive damages of at least $66 million. After the case was moved to federal court, the California-based 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled in February that Section 230 barred Doe's state law claims. His lawyers in asking the Supreme Court to hear the case called it an optimal vehicle for addressing whether Section 230 "immunizes apps for their own conduct in marketing and designing defective products." Proponents of Section 230 have argued that, without it, online services would face potentially crippling legal costs and would be incentivized to censor free expression on the web. Republican President Donald Trump has been a critic of Section 230 and sought unsuccessfully during his first term in office to end the protections. The Supreme Court last addressed Section 230 in a set of rulings from 2023. In those cases, the justices declined to chip away at Section 230's scope and rejected lawsuits that sought to hold tech giants including Alphabet Inc liable for terrorism-promoting content on their platforms. Online platforms have urged courts not to weaken Section 230's protections. (Reporting by Jan Wolfe; Editing by Will Dunham)

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By Milana Vinn NEW YORK (Reuters) -Renesas Electronics Corp. is exploring a sale of its timing division in a deal that could value the business at close to $2 billion, according to people familiar with the matter. The Japanese semiconductor manufacturer is working with investment bankers at JPMorgan on the potential divestment, which is in its early stages, the sources said. The process is expected to draw interest from other major chipmakers, including U.S.-based Texas Instruments and Germany's Infineon, the sources added, requesting anonymity to discuss confidential information. Renesas and JPMorgan declined to comment. Texas Instruments and Infineon didn't immediately return requests for comment. The division develops and supplies specialized integrated circuits that manage clock, timing and synchronization functions. These components are critical for ensuring the orderly flow of data in high-speed networking equipment. Key markets for the unit include data centers, where its products support communication between servers, as well as telecommunications infrastructure and the build-out of 5G mobile networks. The potential sale comes as demand for components that power data centers and high-speed communications networks has surged, driven by the growth of artificial intelligence and 5G technology. A divestment would allow Renesas to raise significant capital and potentially sharpen its focus on its core markets, such as automotive and industrial chips, while a buyer would acquire a valuable asset in a high-growth segment of the semiconductor industry. Renesas is one of the world's largest suppliers of microcontrollers and a chip supplier to the automotive industry. The company has grown through a series of acquisitions in recent years to broaden its portfolio of analog and power management chips. The potential divestment of the timing business reflects a broader trend in the highly competitive semiconductor industry, where companies frequently review their portfolios to shed non-core assets and double down on areas of strategic priority. Timing and clock ICs are fundamental components in virtually all advanced digital electronics. They act as a metronome for electronic systems, generating precise signals to ensure that data is processed and transmitted in a synchronized manner, preventing errors in complex, high-speed applications. (Reported by Milana Vinn; Editing by Dawn Kopecki and Mark Porter)

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(Reuters) -BCE raised its 2028 cost-saving target by 50% to C$1.5 billion ($1.07 billion) as the telecom and media company simplifies operations and bets on its North America expansion to power its growth. The company unveiled the new target as part of a three-year plan at its investor day on Tuesday – its first in more than a decade. It also expects to achieve about 15% compounded annual growth in free cash flow after lease liabilities between 2025 and 2028. The company sees further cost savings in 2029 and beyond as it exits legacy services by decommissioning copper-based network infrastructure and moves to new technologies like fiber that require less maintenance. To fuel its growth, BCE will launch internet services in British Columbia and Alberta in the coming weeks, as it looks to take on Rogers Communications and Telus Corp. It completed a C$5 billion buyout of U.S. internet services provider Ziply Fiber to expand its fiber footprint in the country, and has invested nearly C$24 billion since 2020 to upgrade its high-speed fiber and wireless networks. Those investments are expected to help drive compounded annual revenue growth of 2% to 4% between 2025 and 2028. BCE is also doubling down on artificial intelligence, building a national AI compute project and integrating AI into customer service and network operations. ($1 = 1.4061 Canadian dollars) (Reporting by Jaspreet Singh in Bengaluru; Editing by Leroy Leo)

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(Reuters) -BCE raised its 2028 cost-saving target by 50% to C$1.5 billion ($1.07 billion) as the telecom and media company simplifies operations and bets on its North America expansion to power its growth. The company unveiled the new target as part of a three-year plan at its investor day on Tuesday – its first in more than a decade. It also expects to achieve about 15% compounded annual growth in free cash flow after lease liabilities between 2025 and 2028. The company sees further cost savings in 2029 and beyond as it exits legacy services by decommissioning copper-based network infrastructure and moves to new technologies like fiber that require less maintenance. To fuel its growth, BCE will launch internet services in British Columbia and Alberta in the coming weeks, as it looks to take on Rogers Communications and Telus Corp. It completed a C$5 billion buyout of U.S. internet services provider Ziply Fiber to expand its fiber footprint in the country, and has invested nearly C$24 billion since 2020 to upgrade its high-speed fiber and wireless networks. Those investments are expected to help drive compounded annual revenue growth of 2% to 4% between 2025 and 2028. BCE is also doubling down on artificial intelligence, building a national AI compute project and integrating AI into customer service and network operations. ($1 = 1.4061 Canadian dollars) (Reporting by Jaspreet Singh in Bengaluru; Editing by Leroy Leo)

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Berlin (dpa) – Unusual for animals from a biological point of view, female mountain gorillas often live many years after last giving birth – just like people. This may be to care for their young, according to scientists from the University of Turku in Finland and the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology in Leipzig. They weighed three decades of life history and behavioural data from 25 wild mountain gorillas in Bwindi Impenetrable National Park in Uganda, for a study published in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS). Seven of the females examined lived more than 10 years after their last birth – more than twice as long as the average interval between two births, the researchers found. Six of the animals were older than 35, the highest reproductive age observed in mountain gorillas to date. Wild female gorillas rarely reach the age of 50, so these post-reproductive years, meaning years after fertility, account for at least a quarter of their adult life, the researchers say. How is this possible? There are several possible explanations for why female gorillas continue to live so long without reproducing, even though this does not seem to offer any evolutionary advantage for the species. The grandmother hypothesis assumes that females live longer to help their grandchildren by protecting them or passing on knowledge – a theory also applied to whales and humans. The grandmother effect in humans is probably due to the fact that grandmothers took care of their grandchildren early on in human history, scientists say. Childhood lasts relatively long in humans because the nervous system needs a long time to mature. Under these conditions, the theory is that the chances of survival for offspring were better if grandmothers could care for their grandchildren for as long as possible, relieving their daughters. Grandmother or mother theory? But such intergenerational assistance is unlikely among gorillas, as both females and males often leave their birth groups before they reproduce and thus live with relatives less frequently, according to the researchers. The mother hypothesis seems more likely – in which older females stop reproducing in order to save energy and other resources and instead invest in their existing offspring. Observations show that mothers also play an important role for adult animals and that females that no longer reproduce are often in better physical condition than older, reproducing females. But the scientists also say the long lifespan after reproduction in gorillas may not be a targeted evolutionary trait, but a by-product of longer life expectancy. In the wild, many animals die early, meaning there is no selection against genes that only cause problems in old age. But with animals living longer, thanks to fewer predators or better conditions, such effects become apparent, such as continuing to live long after the end of reproduction. The following information is not intended for publication dpa ram xxde arw coh

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(Reuters) -Instagram will limit what users under 18 can see on the platform using filters inspired by the PG-13 movie rating system, in the latest step by its parent Meta to address criticism that it has not done enough to protect teenagers online. Modeled on the Motion Picture Association's ratings, the new system will restrict posts featuring strong language, risky stunts, drug references or other mature themes. The rules will also apply to Meta's generative AI tools, it said on Tuesday. The move follows criticism from advocacy groups and lawsuits alleging the company failed to protect young users from harmful content or misled them about the psychological harm from its platforms. A report in September showed numerous safety features Meta has implemented on Instagram over the years do not work well or exist. Reuters also reported in August that Meta allowed provocative chatbot behavior, including letting bots engage in "conversations that are romantic or sensual". Meta said on Tuesday its latest move automatically place teen accounts under the PG-13 settings, which parents can adjust to add stricter content and screen-time controls with a "limited content setting". Teen users will also be blocked from interacting with accounts sharing age-inappropriate material. "We hope this update reassures parents," Meta said in a blog post. "We know teens may try to avoid these restrictions, which is why we'll use age prediction technology to place teens into certain content protections — even if they claim to be adults." Meta in August added safeguards for teenagers across its AI products by training its systems to avoid flirty exchanges and discussions of self-harm or suicide with minors. That followed a broader overhaul last year that introduced enhanced privacy and parental controls for Instagram users under 18. The new settings will be released in the U.S., UK, Australia and Canada, with full launch expected by the year-end. Meta is also introducing more safeguards for teens on Facebook. The move comes as Meta, ByteDance's TikTok and YouTube face hundreds of lawsuits filed on behalf of children and school districts about the addictive nature of social media. U.S. regulators are increasingly scrutinizing AI companies over the potential negative impacts of chatbots. (Reporting by Jaspreet Singh in Bengaluru; Editing by Mrigank Dhaniwala and Arun Koyyur)

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(Reuters) -Walmart said on Tuesday it was partnering with OpenAI to enable customers and Sam's Club members to shop directly within ChatGPT, using the AI chatbot's Instant Checkout feature. Walmart shares were up about 3% in early trading on Tuesday. The tie-up follows a similar partnership OpenAI announced last month with Etsy and Shopify, which sent the online sellers' shares soaring. Walmart, the world's largest retailer, is expanding its use of artificial intelligence as companies across sectors adopt the technology to simplify tasks and cut costs. Earlier this year, Walmart laid out plans to roll out a suite of AI-powered "super agents" to improve the shopping experience and streamline operations. (Reporting by Sanskriti Shekhar in Bengaluru; Editing by Tasim Zahid)

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By Milana Vinn NEW YORK (Reuters) -Renesas Electronics Corp. is exploring a sale of its timing division in a deal that could value the business at close to $2 billion, according to people familiar with the matter. The Japanese semiconductor manufacturer is working with investment bankers at JPMorgan on the potential divestment, which is in its early stages, the sources said. The process is expected to draw interest from other major chipmakers, including U.S.-based Texas Instruments and Germany's Infineon, the sources added, requesting anonymity to discuss confidential information. Renesas and JPMorgan declined to comment. Texas Instruments and Infineon didn't immediately return requests for comment. The division develops and supplies specialized integrated circuits that manage clock, timing and synchronization functions. These components are critical for ensuring the orderly flow of data in high-speed networking equipment. Key markets for the unit include data centers, where its products support communication between servers, as well as telecommunications infrastructure and the build-out of 5G mobile networks. The potential sale comes as demand for components that power data centers and high-speed communications networks has surged, driven by the growth of artificial intelligence and 5G technology. A divestment would allow Renesas to raise significant capital and potentially sharpen its focus on its core markets, such as automotive and industrial chips, while a buyer would acquire a valuable asset in a high-growth segment of the semiconductor industry. Renesas is one of the world's largest suppliers of microcontrollers and a chip supplier to the automotive industry. The company has grown through a series of acquisitions in recent years to broaden its portfolio of analog and power management chips. The potential divestment of the timing business reflects a broader trend in the highly competitive semiconductor industry, where companies frequently review their portfolios to shed non-core assets and double down on areas of strategic priority. Timing and clock ICs are fundamental components in virtually all advanced digital electronics. They act as a metronome for electronic systems, generating precise signals to ensure that data is processed and transmitted in a synchronized manner, preventing errors in complex, high-speed applications. (Reported by Milana Vinn; Editing by Dawn Kopecki and Mark Porter)

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