general news

A long-running legal battle over allegedly defective earplugs made by 3M Co. MMM -0.31% arose after the company initiated a separate dispute against a smaller competitor, court documents showed.3M’s effort to protect its military earplug business eventually led 3M to halt deliveries of one model of earplugs, and resulted in years of litigation, millions of dollars in costs and potentially billions in liabilities for the Minnesota-based manufacturing giant, according to…

Growing fears of a global recession and easing concerns over world food shortages are reversing a sharp rally in grain markets, but pressure on food supplies could linger for years, executives and agricultural economists say.Prices for agricultural commodities such as corn and wheat have tumbled in recent weeks following a monthslong surge touched off by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in late February. War between the two agricultural giants drove futures prices for wheat at the Chicago Board of Trade up by $4 a bushel in…

FARNBOROUGH, England— Delta Air Lines Inc. DAL 5.93% said it was ordering 100 of Boeing Co. BA 2.21% ’s largest 737 MAX jets, providing a vote of confidence for the model and adding to the list of big U.S. carriers operating the airliner. The deal, announced at the Farnborough International Air Show near London on Monday, is a boost for the U.S. plane maker as it tries to catch up with…

This summer was supposed to mark the rebirth of commercial aviation after two years of travel restrictions left the industry nearly in hibernation.Instead, it is turning into one of the most chaotic travel seasons in decades.Flights are being canceled, and delays are becoming chronic. Baggage is getting lost. Hourslong waits for check-in, luggage drop-off and security have exasperated travelers. It’s not just one thing going wrong. The system is under strain or breaking down at every link in the chain, and…

GE Vernova will be the name of General Electric Co. GE 3.07% ’s power business when it splits off from the company in 2024.The new name, GE said, is a mashup of the Spanish word “verde” for green and “verdant” plus “nova” derived from the Latin “novus,” or “new.”It joins a growing list of linguistic creations— Altria , Mondelez , Tronc and Verizon —that companies have adopted to…

Stellantis STLA 2.37% NV said it would end the joint venture that makes and distributes its Jeep brand in China and focus instead on selling imported Jeep vehicles in the country. The Netherlands-based car maker blamed a lack of progress in its plan to take a majority share in the joint venture with China’s Guangzhou Automobile Group Co. 2238 1.17% Ltd. “Stellantis…

The new stand-alone company, called Haleon PLC, fetched a market value of about £30.5 billion, equivalent to $36.4 billion, at its stock-market debut Monday. The listing is one of the largest in London for years and the biggest corporate change for GSK—until recently called GlaxoSmithKline–since it was formed through a megamerger in 2000. The long-anticipated spin is a major pillar of Chief Executive Emma Walmsley’s plan to boost growth at GSK. The company says the move will allow it to put…

The U.S. is adding workers at a strong pace over the past three months. It is also losing workers.The conflicting employment data come from two different surveys—one of employers and one of households—used to calculate employment, unemployment and other key figures in the Labor Department’s monthly jobs report. The divergence raises questions about the labor market’s overall strength as more signs point to a slowing economy. The survey of employers shows nonfarm payrolls growing by an average of 375,000 jobs a month over…

A split is emerging between organizations that provide abortion pills to patients in the U.S. U.S. companies that prescribe abortion pills after telehealth consultations are expanding, but only in states that allow the practice, after the Supreme Court last month removed constitutional protections for abortion. Nonprofits based abroad, meanwhile, are mailing more pills to women across the U.S., including patients in states that have banned or restricted medication abortion. “The increase in demand has been…

As a deadline approaches for Russia to resume supplying natural gas to Germany this week, European officials and executives are growing concerned about a cascading economic fallout that would spread across the continent should Moscow keep the tap shut.The Nord Stream pipeline that ferries gas from Siberia to Germany closed last Monday for annual maintenance that is expected to last 10 days. Many in the West fear that Moscow might prolong the closure, possibly permanently, and deprive Germany, Europe’s industrial…