** Boeing (BA) said on Wednesday it is issuing layoff notices starting this week to workers impacted by a broader plan by the heavily indebted planemaker to cut 17,000 jobs, or 10% of its global workforce.
** Frontier Communications shareholders have approved a $9.6 billion sale to Verizon, the company said on Wednesday, even as a number of large investors sought to get a higher price.
** Record oil and gas production under President Joe Biden has enabled the US to smoothly transition toward cleaner energy and fight climate change without driving up prices, a top White House adviser said Wednesday.
** Ford Motor Co. will pay a penalty of up to $165 million to the U.S. government for moving too slowly on a recall and failing to give accurate recall information. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration says in a statement Thursday that the civil penalty is the second-largest in its 54-year history. Only the fine Takata paid for faulty air bag inflators was higher.
World
** OMV AG warned Russian natural gas supplies may be disrupted as the company intends to stop paying for imports from Gazprom PJSC to recoup damages it won in arbitration. European futures surged to the highest in a year.
** Austria is preparing for Moscow to turn off the taps that kept Russian gas flowing for more than a half century, as OMV AG enforces a ruling against Gazprom PJSC.
** Four people were killed in a fire after a Tesla Model Y lost control and hit a pillar in Toronto last month. The four people were reportedly unable to open the doors of the car after it caught fire and a fifth passenger only survived the crash after onlookers smashed a window and dragged them from the wreckage.
** Stellantis does not plan to close plants or make mass redundancies in Italy, an executive at the automaker said on Thursday during talks organised by the Italian government to address concerns about the country’s car industry.
** The go-global strategy of Chinese electric vehicle (EV) makers has hit speed bumps after Beijing warned them not to invest in certain markets and a battery maker’s failed US$4 billion plan for production in Germany provided a bitter lesson.
