By David Shepardson

WASHINGTON (Reuters) -Four major U.S. wireless carriers told the Federal Communications Commissions (FCC) late on Friday they had agreed to some voluntary actions to address aviation safety concerns and allow full use of the C-Band wireless spectrum for 5G use.

“These voluntary commitments will support full-power deployments across C-Band, and are crafted to minimize the operational impact on our C-Band operations,” said the letter from Verizon, AT&T, T-Mobile US and UScellular filed with the FCC on Friday and seen by Reuters.

The agreement follows extensive discussions with the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) and is a major step forward, allowing carriers to increase power levels to get to full C-Band use, according to the letter and people involved in the talks.

Concerns that 5G service could interfere with airplane altimeters, which give data on a plane’s height above the ground and are crucial for bad-weather landing, led to brief disruptions at some U.S. airports last year as international carriers canceled some flights.

Last year, Verizon and AT&T voluntarily agreed to delay some C-Band 5G usage until July as air carriers worked to retrofit airplane altimeters. T-Mobile and UScellular had not begun deployment when the agreement was announced.

Reuters first reported in February that the FAA, Verizon and AT&T were in talks to reach a new agreement that sought to extend some voluntary mitigations beyond July 1.

Verizon said Friday it “agreed to final voluntary commitments that will allow our company to fully use our C-band spectrum for 5G by the previously agreed to deadline of July 1.”

AT&T said the “filing is the result of collaborative and productive conversations with the FAA.”

Some of those commitments could last until 2028. The FAA had initially sought to extend some through up to 2033, two sources briefed on the matter.

The FCC did not immediately comment. The FAA said Friday it continues “to work closely to ensure a safe co-existence in the U.S. 5G C-band environment.”

UScellular said the “agreement results from collaboration and coordination with the FAA, FCC, and our industry partners to ensure UScellular can deploy our C-band spectrum without delay.”

Last month, the world’s biggest airline trade body warned many airlines will be unable to meet looming U.S. deadlines to retrofit airplane altimeters to ensure they are not susceptible to 5G wireless interference.

Wireless carriers won the spectrum in an $80 billion auction with Verizon paying $52.9 billion.

(Reporting by David Shepardson; Editing by Aurora Ellis)

By Ross Kerber

(Reuters) -Republican attorneys general from 21 U.S. states raised fresh concerns with asset managers over their consideration for environmental, social and governance (ESG) factors in the votes cast at U.S. corporate annual meetings getting under way this spring.

The top state legal officers issued their challenge via a letter, provided by the office of Montana Attorney General Austin Knudsen on Friday, sent to 53 of the largest U.S. fund firms including BlackRock Inc and the asset-management arms of State Street Corp and JPMorgan Chase & Co.

The letter marks the latest salvo in a growing political battle over what had been a quiet corner of finance.

Companies and investors increasingly consider factors like climate change and workforce diversity, which they say can affect company performance and reputation. The approach has received backing from Democratic leaders, including U.S. President Joe Biden, who recently used his first veto to defend a rule on ESG investing.

Meanwhile, Republicans, many from energy-producing states, have raised a growing chorus of challenges on ESG. The latest letter built on concerns many of the same attorneys general brought to BlackRock last August.

In the new letter, dated March 30, the attorneys general told the asset managers that “many of you have committed to take actions inconsistent with your clients’ financial interests,” such as by joining groups like the Net Zero Asset Managers initiative, which encourages members to help reduce global emissions.

This can be a problem for fund participants who do not share ESG goals, the Republicans wrote. “As far as we can tell, your non-ESG funds do not disclose to investors that their investments will be used to further ESG goals, including pressuring companies to reduce emissions in economically destructive ways,” the letter states.

Asset managers have argued that such memberships align with their fiduciary obligations, and some are giving clients more control over proxy votes.

BlackRock and State Street did not comment. JPMorgan declined to comment.

Another section of the Republicans’ letter describes several pending shareholder resolutions as “pushing three companies to stop using Vanguard” as their default retirement plan and noting Vanguard’s fossil fuel investments.

“Asset managers voting for the exclusion of one of their competitors has clear antitrust implications,” the letter states.

A representative for Knudsen said Pennsylvania-based Vanguard, the top U.S. mutual fund manager, was not among the recipients of the letter, because it had withdrawn from the Net Zero group, the rare fund manager to do so.

Vanguard did not comment.

The resolutions were filed by activist shareholder group As You Sow, which the Republicans suggested had targeted Vanguard over its withdrawal. As You Sow President Danielle Fugere said that was not correct as the group had filed similar resolutions last year, before Vanguard’s December action.

Fugere also said the letter mischaracterizes the resolutions, since they only ask for companies to issue reports on how they are protecting plan beneficiaries with long-term investment horizons from climate risk.

The attorney general’s letter, Fugere said, “seems geared to chill asset manager votes.”

(Reporting by Ross Kerber. Additional reporting by Isla Binnie; Editing by Richard Chang)

By Blake Brittain

(Reuters) – Apple Inc on Friday convinced a U.S. appeals court to throw out a $502 million verdict for patent licensing company VirnetX Inc in a long-running fight over internet privacy technology.

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit said the verdict could not stand after the U.S. Patent Trial and Appeal Board canceled the virtual private network (VPN) patents VirnetX accused Apple of infringing.

The ruling follows the Federal Circuit’s Thursday decision to affirm a U.S. Patent and Trademark Office tribunal’s finding that the patents were invalid.

Apple and VirnetX did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

The two companies have waged a 13-year court battle over VirnetX’s patents that has included several trials and appeals. An East Texas jury awarded VirnetX $502 million in 2020 after finding Apple infringed the patents at issue in the Federal Circuit cases.

VirnetX separately won a $302 million verdict against Apple in East Texas in 2016, which was later increased to $440 million, over related allegations that the tech giant used its internet-security technology in features like FaceTime video calls.

(Reporting by Blake Brittain in Washington; Editing by Josie Kao)

By Jorge Otaola and Rodrigo Campos

BUENOS AIRES (Reuters) -The International Monetary Fund (IMF) approved Argentina’s fourth review under its $44 billion loan program on Friday, unlocking the disbursement of $5.4 billion to the indebted country, the lender said in a short statement.

The IMF made no mention of Argentina’s request for easing reserve targets that have becoming increasingly difficult to meet amid a historic drought hitting the country’s grains exports, but said a longer statement would be released later.

The country’s central bank foreign reserves jumped by $2.5 billion on Friday versus a day earlier, data from the bank showed. That reflected the new IMF funds minus $2.7 billion of repayments Argentina had to make to the lender on Friday.

The IMF said its executive board had completed the fourth review of Argentina’s Extended Fund Facility (EFF) which “enables an immediate disbursement” of funds to the country, taking the total given via the program to $28.9 billion.

A central bank source told Reuters the funds had arrived and been reflected in reserve levels. Those remain very depleted after drought has hit the country’s grains exports, its main source of dollars, and global inflation has pushed up costs.

“The disbursement from the Fund has entered and it will be reflected in the reserves, which rose more than $2.5 billion as a net effect after payments were made,” the source said.

(Reporting by Jorge Otaola, Rodrigo Campos and Jorgelina do Rosario; Writing by Adam Jourdan)

(Reuters) -U.S. Federal Reserve Board Governor Lisa Cook on Friday said she is watching credit conditions closely and will factor in potential economic headwinds from recent banking sector turmoil as she weighs the right level of interest rates to deal with high and persistent inflation.

“On the one hand, if tighter financing conditions restrain the economy, the appropriate path of the federal funds rate may be lower than it would be in their absence,” Cook said in remarks prepared for delivery. “On the other hand, if data show continued strength in the economy and slower disinflation, we may have more work to do.”

The Fed last week lifted the policy rate by a quarter of a percentage point to a 4.75%-5.00% range, and said “some additional policy firming may be appropriate.”

Economic data had been coming in stronger than expected, with inflation showing signs of accelerating and the labor market tight, feeding a mounting sense among Fed policymakers that more aggressive policy tightening would be needed to bring inflation down to the Fed’s 2% goal.

But the collapse of Silicon Valley Bank less than two weeks before the Fed’s meeting up-ended that view, and now Cook says the policy outlook needs to balance a focus on economic data with forward-looking analysis.

“I am closely watching developments in the banking sector, which have the potential to tighten credit conditions and counteract some of that momentum,” Cook said.

(Reporting by Ann SaphirEditing by Chris Reese)

By Jonathan Stempel

NEW YORK (Reuters) -A U.S. judge on Friday dismissed seven lawsuits by investors who accused Goldman Sachs Group Inc and Morgan Stanley of market manipulation and insider trading before the collapse of Bill Hwang’s $36 billion Archegos Capital Management LP.

U.S. District Judge Paul Crotty in Manhattan rejected claims that the Wall Street banks, two of Archegos’ prime brokers, should be liable for dumping stocks they knew Archegos would be forced to sell after failing to meet margin calls in March 2021.

Investors who bought the stocks, which included ViacomCBS, Discovery and Baidu, said the combined selling left them with huge losses, while enabling Goldman and Morgan Stanley to avoid billions of dollars of their own losses.

Crotty, however, said the investors failed to adequately allege that the banks breached any duty toward or concealed their selling from Archegos.

He also found no proof that Goldman and Morgan Stanley breached any duty to shareholders of the seven companies by virtue of having traded after Archegos gave them material nonpublic information about its financial distress.

Lawyers leading a committee representing the investors did not immediately respond to requests for comment. Crotty gave the investors a chance to amend their complaint.

Archegos’ collapse stemmed from its founder Hwang’s aggressive use of total return swaps, a type of financial contract, to boost the effective size of his market positions.

The New York-based firm’s demise caused billions of dollars in losses for banks such as Credit Suisse Group AG, which agreed on March 19 to be acquired by Swiss rival UBS AG, and Nomura Holdings Inc.

U.S. prosecutors filed criminal fraud charges against Hwang in April 2022 for being the alleged mastermind of a vast market manipulation scheme at Archegos.

Hwang has pleaded not guilty. On March 23, another judge refused to dismiss the indictment, which Hwang said prosecutors obtained by tricking him into cooperating with their probe and divulging his defense strategy.

The investor lawsuits in the U.S. District Court, Southern District of New York are Tan v. Goldman Sachs Group Inc et al, No. 21-08413; Florio v. Goldman Sachs Group Inc et al, No. 21-08618; Merson v. Goldman Sachs Group Inc et al, No. 21-08752; Ulanch v. Goldman Sachs Group Inc et al, No. 21-08897; Felix v. Goldman Sachs Group Inc et al, No. 21-10286; Scully v. Goldman Sachs Group Inc et al, No. 21-10791, and Lee v. Goldman Sachs Group Inc et al, No. 22-00169.

(Reporting by Jonathan Stempel in New York; editing by Jonathan Oatis and Richard Chang)

BRASILIA (Reuters) – Brazil’s government debt as a percentage of gross domestic product (GDP) rose to 73% in February, largely impacted by an increase in interest expenses, according to data from the central bank on Friday.

This indicator is considered the main reference for the country’s public accounts sustainability and was at 72.5% in January.

Last week, the central bank decided to hold its benchmark interest rate at a six-year high of 13.75% for the fifth consecutive time, citing concerns over worsening inflation expectations and defying intense pressure from new President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva to reduce borrowing costs.

According to the central bank, the Brazilian public sector posted a primary deficit of 26.453 billion reais ($5.19 billion) for the month, below the 30 billion reais shortfall expected by economists polled by Reuters.

Over the course of 12 months, the public sector recorded a surplus equivalent to 93.250 billion reais, or 0.93% of GDP.

However, the outlook is for a return to a primary deficit this year, especially after the new leftist President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva obtained approval from Congress for a multi-billion reais spending package to fulfill campaign promises.

In February, the central government’s 39.238 billion reais deficit was the main driver of the result. States and municipalities reached a primary surplus of 11.847 billion reais, while state-owned companies had a surplus of 938 million reais.

($1 = 5.0983 reais)

(Reporting by Marcela Ayres; Editing by Steven Grattan)

By Dietrich Knauth

(Reuters) -A Johnson & Johnson company cannot delay a court order dismissing its bankruptcy, a U.S. court said on Friday, despite the company’s planned Supreme Court appeal to use bankruptcy to resolve tens of thousands of lawsuits over its talc products.

J&J sought to use the bankruptcy of its subsidiary company, LTL Management, to halt more than 38,000 lawsuits alleging the company’s Baby Powder and other talc products are contaminated with asbestos. J&J maintains its consumer talc products are safe and asbestos-free.

The bankruptcy strategy stumbled in January, when the 3rd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals based in Philadelphia ruled that neither LTL nor J&J had a legitimate need for bankruptcy protection because they were not in “financial distress.”

LTL asked the 3rd Circuit to delay its ruling from taking effect and give the company time to pursue a U.S. Supreme Court appeal. The 3rd Circuit denied that request in a brief written order on Friday, instead directing a U.S. bankruptcy judge to dismiss LTL’s Chapter 11 case.

LTL has not yet filed a formal petition to the U.S. Supreme Court.

The judge overseeing LTL’s bankruptcy case, U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Michael Kaplan in Trenton, New Jersey, said in February that he was prepared to end the bankruptcy and allow talc lawsuits to resume once the 3rd Circuit issued a formal mandate of its January decision, which it has now done.

LTL’s bankruptcy put a deluge of talc litigation on hold, including the approximately 38,000 cases that are consolidated in a New Jersey federal court proceeding. Those cases will be able to resume once LTL’s bankruptcy is dismissed.

“Victims of J&J’s talc products are now closer to returning to courts and juries of their peers to seek justice and rightful compensation,” said David Molton, an attorney for the official committee of talc plaintiffs in the bankruptcy case.

Kaplan had already allowed one case to resume while LTL fought to preserve its bankruptcy.

J&J did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Friday.

LTL said in a Thursday court filing that its bankruptcy offers a way to fairly and efficiently settle all talc claims, rather than subjecting the company and plaintiffs to the “lottery-like results” yielded by past trials.

Before the bankruptcy filing, the company faced costs of $3.5 billion in verdicts and settlements, including one case in which 22 women were awarded a judgment of more than $2 billion, according to bankruptcy court records.

J&J has prevailed in other cases, winning defense verdicts in 16 trials and succeeding in several appeals that either reversed or reduced plaintiffs’ initial wins.

J&J announced in 2020 that it would stop selling its talc Baby Powder in the U.S. and Canada due to what it called “misinformation” about the product’s safety and later announced its intent to discontinue the product worldwide in 2023.

(Reporting by Dietrich Knauth; editing by Giles Elgood, Alexia Garamfalvi and Josie Kao)

By Aditya Soni and Chavi Mehta

(Reuters) -Canada on Friday approved Rogers Communications Inc’s C$20 billion ($14.8 billion) buyout of Shaw Communications after securing binding commitments to pay financial penalties if it failed to create new jobs and invest to expand its network.

The final nod from Minister of Innovation, Science and Industry Francois-Philippe Champagne capped two years of antitrust uncertainty and paves the way for the creation of Canada’s No. 2 telecoms firm in a market with some of the highest wireless bills in the world.

The deal was opposed by consumer advocates and politicians on worries it could lead to higher prices due to an overlap between Rogers and Shaw’s wireless divisions.

On Friday, Champagne agreed to the transfer of wireless licenses held by Shaw’s Freedom Mobile unit to Quebecor Inc-owned Videotron – a proposal that helped resolve antitrust concerns.

Champagne has secured a commitment from Videotron that it will offer plans at least 20% cheaper than competitors and invest C$150 million to upgrade Freedom Mobile’s network in the next two years, or risk a fine of up to C$200 million.

Rogers reaffirmed its conditions, including setting up a western headquarters in Calgary, creating 3,000 new jobs in Western Canada and investing C$6.5 billion to upgrade connectivity. If it breaches the commitments, Rogers will have to pay a fine of as much as C$1 billion, Champagne said at a news conference in Ottawa.

When asked about how these commitments will be enforced, Champagne said, “I will (enforce it). Am a lawyer and it’s a contract, I know how to read a contract and enforce them. And it’s subject to arbitration.”

Champagne said if wireless prices do not go lower, he would seek further legislative and regulatory powers.

FREEDOM SALE

The merger unites two of Canada’s wealthy families whose companies have for long fought for market share.

Tony Staffieri, president and CEO of Rogers, said in a statement the company is “deeply” committed to delivering on its promises.

While Champagne said the sale of Freedom Mobile to Videotron would create another major national player and help lower prices, consumer advocacy groups were not convinced.

Rosa Addario, a spokesperson for internet advocacy group OpenMedia, said the concessions sought by the government were unlikely to result in lower prices.

“This is undoubtedly going to harm our competition, our choice and will make our bills more expensive,” Addario said.

Shares of Shaw rose more than 3% to C$40.43, just below the offer price of C$40.50. Rogers was down 1.6%.

The Rogers-Shaw merger had faced intense opposition from Canada’s antitrust regulator whose efforts to block it were rejected by the Competition Tribunal and a Canadian court.

Its approval now paves the way for the deal to close on April 7, after the completion date was delayed for a fifth time.

The combined company will benefit from Rogers’ strong presence in urban Ontario and Shaw’s dominance in the sparsely populated regions of Western Canada. ($1 = 1.3535 Canadian dollars)

(Reporting by Eva Mathews, Juby Babu, Aditya Soni and Chavi Mehta in BengaluruAdditional reporting by Steve Scherer in Ottawa and Maiya Keidan in TorontoEditing by Arun Koyyur and Matthew Lewis)