Chancellor Angela Merkel will discuss the future of Germany's key automotive sector with industry representatives on Tuesday, at a time of crisis caused by the coronavirus pandemic. The video conference is scheduled to take place from 7-9 pm (1700-1900 GMT), dpa reported.

Swiss pharma giant Roche announced on Friday that it has received authorisation from the US Food and Drug Administration for a test which can quickly detect whether a patient has Covid-19 or one of two forms of influenza - A and B. It will be used in approved laboratories in the US and will also be available in markets accepting the CE mark.

Ryanair has raised €400 million in a share sale announced after stock markets closed on Thursday. The company said the same was designed to strengthen its balance sheet amid the Covid-19 crisis, and take advantage of “significant growth opportunities” as rivals run into trouble.

United Airlines on Wednesday said it is planning to cut more than 16,000 jobs as early as next month, after federal coronavirus aid that protects aviation jobs runs out.

Apple has announced that it will increase its charges for app developers, as it becomes the latest tech giant to pass on some of the costs of new digital taxes to smaller businesses.

The oil industry has asked the United States to pressure Kenya to change its world-leading stance against the plastic waste that litters Africa, according to environmentalists who fear the continent will be used as a dumping ground, AP reports

The World Trade Organization will face the biggest crisis in its 25-year history without a captain as his director-general Roberto Azevedo steps down on Monday, news wires reported. Any future WTO leader will head an organisation mired in stalled trade talks and struggling to curb trade tensions between the US and China. It must also help member countries navigate a devastating global economic slump sparked by the coronavirus pandemic.

The cloud division of Google's aims to invest some $100m in Amwell, developer of technology for virtual doctors' visits. The company has filed to go public, and Google's investment will be a concurrent private placement at the IPO price.

The effectiveness of wearables as Covid-19 detectors is a milestone for several studies that show promising results, Bloomberg reported. Monica Valencia, whose family member died of Covid-19 amid an extremely short illness, was among 400 employees of the San Diego Metropolitan Transit System outfitted with wearable Fitbit fitness devices as a part of a study tracking early signs of Covid-19 launched in March by the Scripps Research Translational Institute in San Diego.

French supermarket retailer Carrefour has agreed to buy 172 stores under the Supersol banner in Spain, in a deal worth an enterprise value of €78 million ($92.3 million) which would strengthen Carrefour’s number two position in Spain.