The industry is devoting all its resources to finding a vaccine, but we should not be complacent about the need to invest in future innovation, says Bernard Mallee

Bayer said it was targeting growth in adjusted core profit of 7% to 9.6% this year, driven by sales of agriculture products and pharmaceuticals, despite facing multiple legal cases in the US over cancer claims.

Bayer is understood to be proposing to pay as much as $8bn (€7.1bn) to settle more than 18,000 US lawsuits alleging its Roundup herbicide causes cancer.

European shares handed back gains yesterday to close flat after comments from the White House undid optimism over a potential US-China trade deal, while a strong rally in shares of chemicals company Bayer propped up German equities.

Just as a jury in California awarded more than $2bn to a couple who claimed Bayer AG’s glyphosate-based Roundup caused their cancer on Monday, Victor Vescovo, a retired American naval officer, gave details of his submarine dive to one of the deepest known places on earth.

But a San Francisco law professor said it is likely a trial judge or appellate court will significantly reduce the punitive damages award.

As Bayer management digs in against a growing shareholder rebellion over the acquisition of Monsanto, attention will shift from the German company’s headquarters back to US courts.

Noel Campion says the features with the P30 and P30 Pro deliver on Huawei’s vow to rewrite the rules of photography.

Bayer and Johnson & Johnson have agreed to settle more than 25,000 US lawsuits alleging that their blockbuster blood thinner Xarelto caused unstoppable and in some cases fatal bleeding, court documents showed.

Bayer’s management retains the backing of its supervisory board, its chief executive said, after pressure on the company increased when a second jury in the US ruled its glyphosate-based Roundup weed killer caused cancer.

Vodafone shares rose 2% as it said it plans to raise about €4bn selling bonds that will be converted into shares to fund the acquisition of some of Liberty Global’s European businesses without weighing down the phone giant’s balance sheet.

Pharmaceutical companies GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) and Pfizer have said that it is too early to say what the implications are for their Irish staff after a partnership between the firms to create a €10.85bn consumer health division.

Bayer says the number of US lawsuits brought against newly acquired Monsanto has risen to about 8,000 from 5,200 previously after the company was told to pay damages for not warning of alleged cancer risks of glyphosate-based weedkillers.

Ten-man Hamburg were relegated from the Bundesliga for the first time today, sparking angry fan demonstrations.

US stocks finished mostly lower in another choppy day of trading after a midday rally faded.

Nestle, the world’s largest packaged food firm, said it would reorganise its infant nutrition business to improve performance, five months after the new CEO listed the category as one of its priorities for growth.

Kevin Volland scored a brace as Bayer Leverkusen returned to winning ways with a comfortable 3-0 Bundesliga victory over Hamburg at BayArena.

The European Commission has started an in-depth investigation of Bayer’s planned $66bn (€56bn) takeover of US seeds group Monsanto, saying it was worried about competition in various pesticide and seeds markets.

US stocks erased earlier gains on Wednesday after the Federal Reserve released the minutes from its March meeting - hinting it might start trimming its balance sheet later in the year.

German drugs and crop chemicals company Bayer has won over US seeds firm Monsanto with an improved takeover offer of around $66bn (€59bn), ending months of wrangling after increasing its bid for a third time.

Bayer is examining Monsanto’s financial accounts, sources said, a crucial step that could pave the way for the German company to raise its $55bn (€49bn) takeover offer for the US agrochemicals giant.

American biotech company Monsanto Co and Microsoft Corp have announced a partnership to invest in agricultural technology startups in Brazil.

Bayer offered $62bn (€55.2bn) to buy Monsanto, deepening investor concern that it’s stretching its finances to become the world’s biggest seller of seeds and farm chemicals.

Bayer has made an unsolicited takeover offer for Monsanto in a bold attempt by the German company to snatch the last independent global seeds producer and become the world’s biggest supplier of farm chemicals.

Sanofi says it has sent a letter to Medivation’s board, urging the company to engage in negotiations regarding the French drugmaker’s unsolicited $9.3bn (€8.1bn) takeover offer and threatening to go directly to shareholders if talks don’t begin.

A reduction in the number of farmland birds in some European countries is being attributed to insecticides which are also claimed to have caused massive bee deaths globally, according to new research.

A breast cancer treatment to be trialled in Ireland brings fresh hope to women with a particularly aggressive form of the disease that is resistant to current therapies.

Spinmania is crossing the Atlantic. If 2014 was the year of the US corporate spinoff, the next 12 months may see the trend grow in Europe.

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Post-primary schools in Ireland have been urged to redouble their efforts to ensure that students get at least two hours' physical education per week.

Private equity firms are circling Bayer’s €10bn plastics business, hoping to divert the German drugmaker from its plan to list the division, two people familiar with the matter said yesterday.

Holders Manchester City will host Sheffield Wednesday in the third round of the Capital One Cup.

Losses of managed honey bee colonies in the US totalled 23.2% last winter, according to a report by the US Department of agriculture.

An EU survey into the impact of pests and diseases on honey bees found death rates were lower than feared, in part countering concerns about the collapse of colonies of the crop-pollinating insects.

Bayer has forecast 8% annual growth in pharmaceutical revenue through 2016 on demand for new medicines.

Irish beekeepers have welcomed an EU ban on three pesticides which are being blamed for the deaths of millions of bees worldwide.

Bayer Leverkusen 0 Manchester United 5