Sunday, January 7, 2024

Investigation on Boeing 737 Max 9 incident continues / Toyota plants to resume work / NHS probing its Palantir deal

Plus: COSCO announces it will not ship to Israel

Inside Business

For January 07, 2024

Here are the Business stories to look forward to this upcoming week:

✈️ An ongoing investigation is expected to reveal whether a key supplier or Boeing itself was responsible for the Alaska Airlines incident.
🚙 Toyota is set to resume work in its manufacturing plants in Japan following a 7.6 magnitude earthquake that hit the country on Jan. 1, 2024.
🔍 The NHS is probing its deal with Palantir only days after signing a partnership with the U.S. software company.

Arbër
p/Arber

The story: Boeing grounded more than 170 Max 9 planes to inspect whether there were any defects after an entire section of an Alaska Airlines plane blew out on Jan. 5. The plane had to make an emergency landing. As the investigation continues, reports claim that this upcoming week, investigators will reveal whether the defect was due to a mistake by Spirit AeroSystems, which manufactured and installed the fuselage part on the Boeing 737 Max 9s, or Boeing, which is also involved in installing these parts.

The story: Toyota is set to reopen its manufacturing plants on Monday following a destructive earthquake with a 7.6 magnitude. The world's largest automaker stated that it will decide on resuming its operations starting from Jan. 15 and will use parts it has in its stock to compensate in the meantime. Nearly 80% of 200 companies with plants in the affected areas have resumed production or have stated that they plan to do so soon.

More details: More than 100 people have been confirmed dead, and more than 200 are still missing as the 7.6 magnitude earthquake hit the Noto peninsula on Jan. 1, 2024.

The story: Famous software company Palantir signed a partnership with the National Health Service, the U.K.'s national healthcare system, last week. The agreement, heavily criticized by data privacy activists, is intended to provide Palantir access to all NHS data to help organize and update it in real time. Just days after reaching the deal, the NHS is reportedly probing whether the software company has breached the agreement by seeking to hire a PR agency in order to improve its reputation. The company claims that it never hired the company. Therefore, it didn't notify NHS of the potential marketing campaign.

The story: Chinese shipping company COSCO will not ship products to Israel, according to reports. The decision is the latest development in a growing shipping crisis created by Houthi militants, who are attacking every ship that has business deals with Israel. Israeli authorities have yet to confirm this news, while it remains to be seen whether other companies will do the same.

The story: China has sanctioned five U.S. defense companies soon after they provided $300M worth of weapons to Taiwan. While the Chinese government did not specify the exact reason why BAE Systems Land and Armaments, Alliant Techsystems Operations, AeroVironment, ViaSat, and Data Link Solutions were being sanctioned, it had stated that the sale of the weapons in December 2022 would have consequences. It is worth noting that U.S. companies mainly do not sell weapons to China; therefore, the sanctions are highly political.

Quick Hits:

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French government officials have announced the country's plan to reduce the share of fossil fuels in its energy consumption mix to 40% by 2035. Currently, fossil fuels generate around 60% of the country's total energy consumption.
The head of the Czech Republic's Central Bank, Eva Zamrazilova, has stated that the institution will look at the speed at which inflation is dropping to determine its next interest rate change.
Ohio-based Clarametyx Biosciences has raised a $33M Series A funding round led by Ohio Innovation Fund, with participation from Nationwide Children's Hospital, Rev1 Ventures, JobsOhio Growth Capital, C Bio Investors, and 1776 Fund. The company develops therapies that aim to help treat infections more efficiently.

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Arbër Musliu

Writer

Arbër is an Inside analyst who has previously incubated his startup at the largest incubator in Southeastern Europe. He has collaborated with multiple major publications and holds a business degree from XAMK University in Finland.