• Three Black men sued American Airlines, alleging racial discrimination on a January flight.
• The men were removed because of a body odor complaint from a white flight attendant.
• American Airlines said it was investigating the incident.

A trio of Black men sued American Airlines on Wednesday, saying they faced racial discrimination on a flight in January.

Alvin Jackson, Emmanuel Jean Joseph, and Xavier Veal filed a lawsuit in federal court about their removal from and eventual reinstatement on the plane.

The three men, along with five other Black men, were flying from Phoenix to New York. None of them knew each other or were seated together.

Just before takeoff, they were individually ordered off the plane because of a complaint about body odor, an American Airlines representative told them, per the lawsuit.

Cellphone video from one of the men shows a man telling an American Airlines employee that they were taken off because of their skin color. She responds, "I do not disagree with you."

After an hour of waiting, during which American Airlines could not find later flights for the men, they were allowed to reboard.

They then had to "endure the stares of the largely white passengers who viewed them as the cause of the substantial delay," the complaint said.

The body odor complaint came from a white male flight attendant, the lawsuit said. One of the plaintiffs asked to be seated away from the flight attendant. Staff moved an Asian woman to first class and directed the man to her coach seat.

The other two plaintiffs were served by that unnamed flight attendant, who "continued to behave in a rude and discriminatory manner" during the flight.

American Airlines told one of the plaintiffs that he could speak with a representative inside the terminal after the flight landed in New York. After he disembarked, there were no employees available.

The trio of plaintiffs, represented by New York attorney Lindsay Goldbrum, are seeking a jury trial.

American Airlines did not respond to Business Insider's request for comment, sent outside normal working hours. The company did not file an immediate response to the lawsuit.

The company told NPR in a statement that it takes discrimination claims very seriously. "Our teams are currently investigating the matter, as the claims do not reflect our core values or our purpose of caring for people."

The lawsuit comes amid a series of high-profile incidents for American.

Last month, a former judge, who is Black, said she was racially discriminated against on a February flight. Seated in first class, she said a flight attendant made her use an economy-section bathroom and she alleged he falsely accused her of hitting him and threatened her with arrest.

And last year, two high-profile Black passengers — track star Sha'Carri Richardson and involving musician David Ryan Harris — were involved in disputes with the carrier.

In 2017, the NAACP issued a travel advisory, warning Black passengers of potential discriminatory and unsafe practices at American Airlines. The civil-rights organization lifted the warning the following year.

• Greg Bockman is the Senior Events Manager at AT&T.
• His mom, Kathryn Bockman, is the company's Assistant Vice President of Accounting.
• Greg said Kathy sometimes acts as his mentor and sometimes acts as his mom.

This as-told-to essay is based on a conversation with Greg Bockman, senior events manager at AT&T, and his mother Kathryn Bockman. It has been edited for length and clarity.

Sometimes when I'm at work in the AT&T office in Dallas, the elevator will open and my mom will stroll out. It's not a crazy coincidence or an issue of mom overstepping: we both work for the same company and in the same building.

If I bump into my mom coming out of the elevator or in the hall, we'll give a quick embrace, but not the type of mother-son hug we save for family events. Since we work in different departments it's rare that we're in a meeting together. If we are, we acknowledge each other with a polite smile or nod — the same way we greet coworkers who aren't family.

We've learned that it's important to keep up professionalism. And yet, working with my mom has been a really cool growth opportunity. I know her better because I get to see her as a professional and mentor, not just a mother.

I wouldn't want to report to my mom directly

I never expected to be working with my mom. Growing up I knew she worked at AT&T and had a lot of loyalty to the company, but our interests were totally different: I love planning events, while she's focused on numbers and finance.

Even after I graduated college and looked for a job in the corporate world, my mom didn't intervene. She didn't want anything to be spoon-fed to me. And yet, I felt a familiarity with life at AT&T, and when a job presented itself at the company where my mom is in leadership, I took it.

Luckily, I've never had family or coworkers give me a hard time about working with mom. I don't report to her and we rarely cross paths professionally. I'm glad we maintain that division.

I see my mom a lot more since we work together

Like most moms, mine would appreciate it if I saw her more. Outside work we get together probably two to three times a week. I'll head to her house for dinner and catch up with the rest of the family, including the dogs.

That doesn't give us too much time. So, bumping into her once or twice a week at work has really strengthened our relationship. We even have the opportunity to put a lunch date right on each other's company calendar, which makes keeping in touch much easier.

Having a mom and mentor in one can be complex

In our situation, I get a mentor and a mother. There's no doubt that my mom is good at her job, and seeing her in this environment as a career woman has really enriched my understanding of who she is.

Because of that, I really value her professional mentorship. There's a definite difference in her tone when she's speaking to me as a mom, versus as a mentor. As a mother, she tries to be understanding and soften the blow of any tough love. As a mentor, she's a straight shooter, reminding me to buckle up and get the job done.

There's love in both deliveries, but sometimes it can be hard to take advice from my mom. Once or twice she's told me things I didn't want to hear. I might get annoyed with my mom about that, but at the same time I appreciate the honesty from my mentor.

My mom has a great understanding of my work

In a big company like AT&T, it's easy to let other departments handle their areas of expertise, without really understanding why they're important. The same can happen with family — we often only have a vague idea what our loved ones do.

My mom has told me that since we work together, she has a better understanding of the value that my area of the company has. It's taught her about an area that she might not be aware of, if she didn't have family working within it. That can strengthen the organization because we recognize the potential for collaboration, and the value that everyone brings to the table.

• A new 155mm factory in Texas aims to produce 30,000 rounds a month, per The New York Times.
• It's part of the US plan to manufacture 100,000 rounds a month by the end of 2025.
• But that pales to Russia's annual production estimates, which go up to 3 million to 4.5 million.

The US has opened a new factory for Howitzer ammo near Dallas, which aims to pump out 30,000 of the 155mm shells a month as the Ukraine war chews through Western stocks.

The factory, run by General Dynamics in Mesquite, Texas, was built from scratch in just 10 months with the help of technologies from Turkish arms manufacturer Repkon, The New York Times' John Ismay reported on Wednesday.

Ismay noted that one of its production lines would be next to a Frito-Lays distribution center that appeared to be taking deliveries from Cheetos trucks.

The Texas plant's monthly manufacturing goal of 30,000 shells falls under a new push by the US Army to make 100,000 rounds a month by 2025.

Before the invasion of Ukraine, the US produced only 14,000 shells a month, but by the end of 2023, this had doubled to 28,000.

According to Ismay, the most updated production figures show that 36,000 shells are made monthly at two factories in Pennsylvania. The new facility at max capacity would bump total production to 66,000 shells a month for the US.

That might be two-thirds of the way to the US' 2025 goal but still pales to Russia's current production rate — underscoring a major advantage in artillery capacity for Moscow.

The Kremlin was estimated to be producing 250,000 shells a month, or 3 million a year, according to NATO assessments reported by CNN in March.

It is also unlikely that all of the forecast 100,000 monthly shells produced by the US would be reserved for Kyiv. Washington is also sending ammo to Israel, for example, and needs to think about replenishing its own stock.

NYT cited Michael Kofman, a senior fellow at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, saying: "Let's say a year and a half from now both the US and Europe are making, or buying, over a million shells each. That's still probably less than Russia is going to produce this year."

Kofman told the outlet that while the Mesquite plant would be important for long-term production, Russia would likely still be producing more ammo than the West even if the US hits its 2025 goal.

The US and Europe have sent Ukraine more than 3 million 155mm artillery shells since the war began. Ukraine has said the munitions are critical to its defense. Though Kyiv is burning through thousands of shells per day, Russia is estimated to be firing multiple times more shells back.

In March, the European Union earmarked another $2.15 billion to boost its production after only being able to supply about half of the 1 million 155mm rounds it promised to deliver by that month.

Meanwhile, the US Army said it would need some $3.1 billion to hit its 100,000-rounds-per-month goal and received $6 billion instead.

"So that, I think, is a vote of confidence as we make our way to 100,000 shells a month," said Doug Bush, the Army's top official for acquisitions, in March.

On Sunday, Sky News reported on a Bain & Company analysis that said Russia is on pace to manufacture about 4.5 million shells this year, at a cost of about $1,000 per round.

The US, on the other hand, spends about $3,000 to $4,000 to make a single 155mm round. With Washington and its allies expected to produce about 1.3 million rounds in 2024, that would be about a third of Russia's forecast capacity at triple the cost.

Press teams for the Pentagon and the US Army did not immediately respond to requests for comment sent outside regular business hours by Business Insider.

• China is pushing yuan use globally to guard against potential Western sanctions.
• Beijing aims to reduce risks from sanctions in geopolitical tensions, like over Taiwan.
• But China's trade partners face challenges in using more yuan.

China is on a drive to expand the use of the yuan internationally. But Beijing's near-term intent is more about sanctions protection than currency dominance, according to a researcher.

"China's strategies to develop an alternative financial system are defensive rather than offensive — at least for now," wrote Zoe Liu, a fellow for China Studies at the Council on Foreign Relations, on Wednesday.

Beijing's goal now is to minimize any impact from potential sweeping sanctions from the West in "extreme geopolitical scenarios," such as a military conflict over Taiwan, which China claims as its territory, wrote Liu. Her post was published on the website of the Official Monetary and Financial Institutions Forum, a London-based think tank.

"Expanding the use of the renminbi in trade is less challenging than increasing its status as an international reserve currency," Liu wrote.

Countries around the world have been diversifying their assets and chipping away at the dominance of the US dollar over fears that — like Russia — they could be shut out of the greenback-based world financial system should sanctions hit.

However, king dollar is so entrenched in the world's financial system that few really think it can be dethroned.

The yuan faces challenges in its globalization

While the US and China's strategic competition points to a possible race for currency supremacy, the Chinese yuan is far from ready — and even Beijing knows that.

An often-cited hurdle to the yuan's internationalization is China's use of capital controls to maintain financial stability. This means Beijing has control over how much foreign money can move in and out of China's economy, which in turn influences the foreign currency exchange rate.

However, capital controls are not necessarily a dealbreaker for the broader adoption of the yuan in trade, wrote Liu.

This is because China is already a top trading partner for over 120 countries. Furthermore, Chinese authorities are willing to facilitate exports by offering currency swaps and providing trade finance, Liu added.

However, the yuan's path to becoming an international reserve currency is fraught with obstacles because of other factors. They include the lack of risk-free yuan-denominated assets, the relatively closed nature of the Chinese financial market, and Chinese leader Xi Jinping's preference for one-man rule over the rule of law, Liu wrote.

Businesses have reservations about using the yuan

Recent data from China's central bank showed even Chinese businesses aren't that sold on the yuan, as they hold back on converting their foreign-exchange earnings into the Chinese currency.

This appears to be primarily due to the yuan's current weakness. It also shows it's not so easy to displace the mighty US dollar as the world's top reserve and trading currency of choice.

A recent global survey of 1,660 enterprises showed that there is just not enough interest in using the yuan to trade.

Conducted in March by China's Bank of Communications and Renmin University, about three-quarters of the survey's respondents were located in East Asia. Another one-fifth of respondents were from Southeast and Central Asia.

Half of the companies surveyed said the main stumbling block to wider use of the yuan was simply because their trading partners were not willing to use the currency.

About 64% of all respondents cited the "complexity of policies" as the main obstacle, while more than 40% of them cited other difficulties including barriers to capital flow.

• Two senior US officials told the NYT that Washington has sent plans for more than 1,000 weapons to Ukraine.
• The reported transfer comes amid a push from the West to help Ukraine boost its domestic weapons production.
• The officials declined to say which weapons plans were included, but left a clue, per the NYT.

The US has given Ukraine manufacturing plans for more than 1,000 American weapons in hopes of helping Kyiv bolster its own arms production, two officials told The New York Times.

The military officials told NYT's John Ismay of the transfer during a reporting visit to a new factory for Howitzer artillery shells near Dallas.

According to the NYT, these two officials were William A. LaPlante, Undersecretary of Defense for Acquisition and Sustainment, and Douglas R. Bush, Assistant Secretary of the Army for Acquisition, Logistics, and Technology.

They told the outlet that the US has also translated technical manuals from English to Ukrainian but declined to say which weapons were involved, per NYT.

"What are they using the most?" Bush told Ismay.

Drones and artillery shells have been among the most prominently used weapons in the war, but neither official was reported to have given further information on the plans.

Their remarks came amid the opening of the $500 million Dallas plant, which is run by General Dynamics and aims to boost artillery shell production by another 30,000 155mm rounds a month.

The US has set a goal of producing 100,000 such shells a month by end-2025, after sending more than 3 million rounds together with its allies to Ukraine. Demand there for the ammo is pressing.

The US Army has said it would need about $3.1 billion to buy the rounds and expand production to achieve its ammunition goal. It's unlikely that all of these new rounds will be earmarked solely for Ukraine.

Before the Dallas plant was set up, the US was reported at the end of 2023 to be making about 28,000 Howitzer shells a month. NYT reported that production this month rose to about 36,000 shells without the new factory.

Meanwhile, Russia is estimated to be producing about 250,000 shells a month, according to NATO assessments reported by CNN in March.

Western countries are concerned by the rate at which Moscow has been able to rapidly expand and galvanize its defense manufacturing industry, with some think-tank estimates saying the Kremlin can sustain its high casualties in manpower and equipment for years.

Ukraine already needs more troops, and the US and Europe have been trying to shore up its military supplies.

The European Union promised in March to deliver 1 million more artillery shells to Kyiv over the next year. But with reports that it's only manufacturing about 30% of what's needed, some experts say Ukraine could eat up Europe's current entire annual production within two months.

Press teams for the US Army and the Pentagon did not immediately respond to requests for comment sent outside regular business hours by Business Insider.

• Beth Hammack, a former Goldman Sachs executive, was just appointed Cleveland Fed president.
• Hammack succeeds Loretta Mester, known for her hawkish stance on inflation policies.
• She starts on August 21 and will vote in the September Fed meeting.

Longtime Goldman Sachs executive Beth Hammack, who left in February, is heading to the Federal Reserve Bank of Cleveland as its next president.

She will take office on August 21 and vote on monetary policy decisions starting in September, the bank said Wednesday. She'll lead 1,100 employees in her new position.

Hammack replaces Loretta Mester, who is stepping down on June 30 after a decade as the Cleveland Fed's president. Mester is one of the US central bank's most hawkish chiefs, backing policies to combat inflation despite other risks to the economy.

Hammack will be the bank's 12th president and the fourth woman to lead the organization. She will be responsible for all bank activities, including monetary policy, financial institution supervision, and payment services.

Before co-heading global financing at Goldman, Hammack was the firm's global treasurer, global head of short-term macro trading, and global head of repo trading. She joined the company in 1993 as an analyst in capital markets.

The Cleveland Fed announced a nationwide search for a new president in November. Until Hammack's start date, first vice president Mark Meder will serve as interim president.

Hammack joins the Federal Reserve System at a time when it is heavily debating when to begin interest rate cuts. The central bank raised borrowing costs from close to zero to around 5.5% between March 2022 and July 2023 and has kept them at that level since. Earlier this month, Chair Jerome Powell warned that rates will have to stay higher for longer to help ease price pressures.

The Cleveland Fed is part of the Federal Reserve System, which regulates monetary policy and banking institutions. It comprises 12 regional banks, which oversee regional economic interests and coordinate with the New York Fed.

• NATO members have less than 5% of the air defenses needed to protect Central and Eastern Europe, per the FT.
• A NATO official said their air defense "stockpiles have been reduced."
• Putin hinted on Tuesday that he might attack NATO members calling for Ukrainian strikes on Russia.

Central and Eastern European countries may find themselves vulnerable during an invasion because of NATO's weak air defenses, per a new report from the Financial Times.

Members of the military alliance only have less than 5% of the air defense capabilities needed to protect those regions from attacks, the FT reported on Wednesday, citing people familiar with NATO's defense plans.

When asked about the report, a NATO official told the FT that its "capability targets and defense plans are classified" but noted that its air defense "stockpiles have been reduced."

"NATO's new defense plans also significantly increase air and missile defense requirements in quantity and readiness," the official told the outlet.

The official added that the organization is confident its deterrence against Russia "remains strong."

Representatives for NATO didn't immediately respond to a request for comment from BI sent outside regular business hours.

The FT's report comes amid heightened concerns that NATO could find itself at war with Russia following the latter's invasion of Ukraine in 2022.

In February, Estonia's foreign intelligence service said it expects a "significant increase in Russian forces near the Estonian border in the coming years."

"The Kremlin is probably anticipating a possible conflict with NATO within the next decade," the intelligence agency said.

On Tuesday, Russian leader Vladimir Putin hinted that Russia could retaliate against European countries that are calling for Ukraine to attack Russia directly.

"So, these officials from NATO countries, especially the ones based in Europe, particularly in small European countries, should be fully aware of what is at stake," Putin told reporters.

"They should keep in mind that theirs are small and densely populated countries, which is a factor to reckon with before they start talking about striking deep into the Russian territory," he said. "This unending escalation can lead to serious consequences."