Nestle China on Monday unveiled a new Research & Development center in Beijing and a system technology hub in Shenzhen to accelerate its trend-based innovation in the country, aiming to get closer to consumers and get products quicker to market. The new R&D center in Beijing focuses on creating new food and beverage products primarily for Chinese and Asian consumers. (China Daily)

Boeing said Monday that it has for the first time successfully test-launched two interceptors to knock down a ballistic missile target over the Pacific Ocean. It partnered with the US Missile Defense Agency to conduct the historic test, it said. The incoming 'threat-representative target' of the intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) class was destroyed by two Ground-Based Midcourse Defense (GMD) system interceptors fired from the US Air Force base in Vandenberg, California, Boeing said. (China Daily)

Sabic will continue investing in the Chinese market with a new polycarbonate plant in Tianjin in the process of construction, through Sinopec Sabic Tianjin Petrochemical Co Ltd, a 50-50 joint venture with State-owned oil giant China Petroleum and Chemical Corp or Sinopec, the world's largest refiner. 'The new polycarbonate plant is expected to be operational by 2020. It will leverage Sabic's world-class advanced polycarbonate technology and maintain the company's leading position in polycarbonate resin products,' said Abdulrahman Al-Fageeh, executive vice-president of the petrochemicals strategic business unit of Sabic. (China Daily)

PepsiCo announced its 50 million yuan ($7.45 million) donation plan for supporting their community projects in China.The company aims to increase its funding toward China's sustainable development and deliver continued support to public welfare programs and local communities. Over the last 18 years, PepsiCo and PepsiCo Greater China Region have contributed more than 163 million yuan to strengthen communities in China. (China Daily)

Volkswagen said Wednesday it is partnering with Amazon to develop cloud computing capacity aimed at improving efficiency and coordination across the automaker's vast global factory network. Volkswagen, the world's largest automaker by unit sales with 10.83 million vehicles sold last year, says that combining data from its 122 factories will allow it to standardize production planning and management of inventory. That should raise efficiency and lower costs. (National Business Daily)

Apple wins a round in iPhone patent dispute. The U.S. International Trade Commission is reversing an administrative law judge's findings that Apple's iPhones infringed on technology owned by Qualcomm. The decision invalidating Qualcomm's patent claim handed Apple a victory late Tuesday in Washington. It came a few hours after Apple suffered a setback in another ITC case brought by Qualcomm that could still result in a U.S. import ban on some iPhones. (National Business Daily)

China National Offshore Oil Corp produced 27.73 billion cubic meters of natural gas and imported 26.42 million tons of liquefied natural gas in 2018, making it the country's second-largest natural gas supplier and biggest LNG importer in the country. The company also produced 74.06 million tons of crude last year. (National Business Daily)

Bayer AG, the Germany-based pharmaceutical and life sciences major, is banking on the growing demand for pets in China in the next five years to provide ample growth opportunities for the company in the pet care market. (National Business Daily)

General Motors (GM) plans to invest 300 million US dollars at its Orion assembly plant in the US state of Michigan to produce a new Chevrolet electric vehicle (EV), said the US automaker on Friday. GM originally intended to produce the new electric vehicle outside the United States. The decision to bring it to Orion will add 400 new jobs there. (Global Times)

U.S. health insurer Centene Corp is buying its smaller rival WellCare Health Plans Inc for $15.27 billion in a cash-and-stock deal. The companies announced on Wednesday that the deal was valued at $17.3 billion, including debt. (Global Times)

Bayer and Johnson & Johnson on Monday agreed to pay $775 million to settle nearly 25,000 lawsuits alleging that the companies failed to adequately warn of the potential for bleeding from blockbuster blood thinner drug Xarelto. The total amount will be shared equally between Bayer and Janssen Pharmaceuticals – a division of J&J – and neither firm admitted liability. Both companies continue to stand behind the treatment. (Global Times)

Tencent leads $74 mln investment in crowdfunding platform Shuidi. Shuidi announced Wednesday it has completed the Series B round of financing worth nearly 500 million yuan (74.3 million U.S. dollars), the largest deal by financed amount in the Internet health insurance field since last year. (Global Times)