Merck announced on Monday it would stop development of its two Covid-19 vaccines and focus pandemic research on treatments, with initial data on an experimental oral antiviral expected by the end of March, news wires reported. Merck was late to join the race to develop a vaccine to protect against the coronavirus. Reuters commented.

The Taiwanese Globalwafers announced it had increased its bid for the German Siltronic by 150 million euro, wrapping total offer to 5.35 billion euro, Reuters reported. The deal is intended to create a leader in global silicon wafer industry.

Boeing Co announced today that it will begin delivering commercial airplanes capable of flying on 100% biofuel by the end of the decade, calling reducing environmental damage from fossil fuels the “challenge of our lifetime.”

The Japanese car maker Nissan announced it planned to keep operations in its UK facilities after Brexit deal with the EU, BBC reported. The company issued official note saying that production in Britain will continue in the long term.

The carmaker Ford Motor has announced it planned to recall some 3 million vehicles mainly in US due to safety concerns related to used airbags, Reuters reported. The US National Highway Traffic Safety Administration earlier this week ordered Ford toimplement recall for driver-side airbag inflators. The NHTSA decision dismisses the Ford’s 2017 petition to avoid the recall.

The hi-tech giant Google said it intended to block its search engine in Australia if the country’s government continues accepting new amendments to legislation that may force it, together with Facebook, to pay to media for the right to use its contents, Reuters reported.

German flagship carrier Lufthansa said it had reduced its losing rate to a million euros every two hours, the airlines CEO said, quoted by Reuters.

German carmaker Volkswagen is very close to a multi-million penalty for violating environmental standards, Reuters reported. VW faces a penalty exceeding 100 million euros for missing the set EU targets on carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions from its 2020 passenger cars.

The antitrust bodies of the European Union have approached advertisers in a bid to obtain information regarding Google’s advertising technology methods, Reuters reported quoting a document of the European Commission.

Intense cleaning routines related to pandemic conditions boosted demand for chemicals and spiked the financial results of Procter & Gamble, Reuters reported. The company released a statement raising again the forecast linked to sales and revenues.