World Street | Crackdown on China, angry Brussel farmers, Boeing's safety concerns, Kroger's mega-merger on hold, and more

World Street offers a sneak peek into the world of business and economy.

Cash holding causes brokerages woes as questions around deploying funds arise. General Motors launches luxury electric offerings in France, while Belgium, too, faces farmer protest. US-based grocery chains Kroger and Albertsons's mega-merger hits pause as the Federal Trade Commission sounds alarm.

Protests sprouts in Brussels 

Farmers set fire to piles of tyres in Brussels on February 26 in a protest to demand EU action on issues ranging from cheap supermarket prices to free trade deals, as agricultural ministers met to discuss the crisis in the sector, Reuters reported.

More than 100 tractors were parked around the European Union institutions' headquarters, jamming parts of Brussels, a short distance from the cordoned off area where ministers were meeting.

Charged Up

US automaker General Motors unveiled its luxury electric Cadillac Lyriq in France, an expansion of its market in Europe after returning last year.
In October, the American car maker announced it was launching sales in Switzerland, the first step in an all-electric return to European markets since selling off the Opel and Vauxhall brands in 2017.

Problem of plenty

The world's top global energy trading houses are facing a growing problem — what to do with their cash piles. Most trading houses, which are privately owned and controlled by their employees, disclose little about their cash position equity or dividends. But according to Reuters calculations, Vitol, Trafigura, Mercuria and Gunvor are collectively sitting on billions of dollars even after paying out record dividends.

Trade tantrum

China slammed the United States for imposing sanctions on Chinese enterprises for Russia-related reasons.
China will take necessary measures to firmly safeguard the legitimate rights and interests of Chinese enterprises, the country’s commerce ministry said in a statement.

AI wars

Google is bullish on the prospect of its more advanced artificial intelligence models coming to smartphones in the next year, CNBC reported.
The internet giant expects that its Gemini large language model (LLM), which competes with Microsoft-backed OpenAI’s most powerful GPT-4 AI model, will begin to get embedded in devices starting next year.

Regulatory pause

The mega-merger of US grocery chains Kroger and Albertsons has been put on hold by the US Federal Trade Commission (FTC). The FTC is suing in an attempt to block the merger, as it would result in higher prices for consumers and lower wages for employees.

Kroger was set to acquire Albertsons for a whopping $24.6 billion, creating one of the largest grocery chains in USA.

Tighten your seatbelts

In a review of its safety management strategies, an expert panel found a disconnect between Boeing’s senior management and its employees. The safety culture amid the top brass and workers varied largely, Reuters said.

The panel’s report was released following the two fatal Boeing 737 MAX crashed in 2018 and 2019, that caused the death of 346 people. The report said Boeing had "a lack of awareness of safety-related metrics at all levels of the organisation."

Blackcat's claws

The ‘Blackcat’ ransomware gang were responsible for the outage at the US-based pharmacy services firm UnitedHealth. Prescription deliveries have been stopped for six days after hackers gained access to the company’s IT systems, resulting in deliveries being disrupted.