ALPHABET PETITION:
BACK IN STOCK: Novo Nordisk replenished supplies of Ozempic, a treatment for diabetes, after social media-driven enthusiasm over the drug’s use for weight loss led to six months of shortages. Two common doses of Ozempic are now available again, according to an update posted on the U.S. FDA’s drug shortage database that Novo confirmed in a statement. A third, higher dose of the drug may have limited availability in late March, the FDA and Novo said.
Almost 1,400 employees at Google parent Alphabet have signed a petition calling for better treatment of staff during the layoff process, after the company announced it was cutting 12,000 jobs. In an open letter addressed to Chief Executive Officer Sundar Pichai, employees made a series of demands of the company, including freezing new hires, seeking voluntary redundancies before compulsory ones and giving priority to laid-off workers for job vacancies. The workers also called on Alphabet to avoid terminating employees from countries with active conflicts or humanitarian crises.
FCC SUPPORT: U.S. regulators gave preliminary approval to rules for offering phone calls via direct links to satellites, a potential $30 billion market that’s attracted Elon Musk’s SpaceX and competitors including AT&T partner AST SpaceMobile. The FCC on a 4-0 vote Thursday tentatively approved regulations for the service, which would expand mobile-phone reception to places beyond cell coverage, offering access in remote areas. The rules won’t become final before a second vote that wasn’t immediately scheduled.
German police detained 42 people as part of a crackdown on gangs suspected of blowing up cash machines, authorities said Friday. Incidents in which thieves blow up ATMs and then make off with the cash, usually during the night, have become increasingly common in Germany in recent years. There were a record 496 cases last year, a 27 percent increase over 2021, according to the Interior Ministry.