Budget 2018-19

  The terms of the deals were renegotiated after Phase 3 clinical trial data showed vaccines from the two companies are more effective than some rivals Pfizer Inc and Moderna Inc have raised the prices of their Covid-19 vaccines in their latest European Union supply contracts, the Financial Times reported on Sunday. The new price for the Pfizer shot was 19.50 euros ($23.15) against 15.50 euros previously, the newspaper said, citing portions of the contracts seen. The price of a  Moderna vaccine  was $25.50 a dose, the contracts showed, up from about 19 euros in the first procurement deal but lower than the previously agreed $28.50 because the order had grown, the report said, citing one official close to the matter. The terms of the deals —struck this year and covering up to 2.1 billion shots until 2023 —were renegotiated after Phase 3 clinical trial data showed vaccines from the two companies are more effective than some rivals, it said. The European Commission said on T...

  “The Secretary and the High Representative also agreed to continue strong US-EU cooperation on issues related to China,” the statement said. US Secretary of State Antony Blinken and EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Josep Borrell discussed ways to further US-EU bilateral ties and agreed to continue ‘strong cooperation’ on issues related to China. “Secretary of State Antony J. Blinken spoke with EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy and Vice President of the European Commission Josep Borrell today to discuss ways to repair, revitalize, and raise the level of ambition in the US-EU relationship,” the State Department said in a statement. “The Secretary and the High Representative also agreed to continue strong US-EU cooperation on issues related to China,” the statement said. Blinken thanked Borrel for the European Union’s leadership in various areas in recent years and emphasized the United States’ desire to work with the bloc a...

  Companies like Amazon.com Inc, Apple Inc. or Alphabet Inc.’s Google could face fines of as much as 10 per cent of their revenue US and other major tech platforms that treat their own services more favorably, at the expense of rivals, could be forced to sell businesses and pay billion-dollar fines under strict rules unveiled by the European Union. Under the EU’s new Digital Markets Act, companies deemed to be so-called “gatekeepers” won’t be allowed to rank their offerings above rivals on their own platforms, or use competitors’ data to compete with them, according to the new regulation released on Tuesday. Companies like Amazon.com Inc, Apple Inc. or Alphabet Inc.’s Google could face fines of as much as 10 per cent of their revenue in Europe if they don’t comply, while a company that has repeatedly breached the rules could face orders to divest businesses, confirming a Bloomberg report on Monday. Gatekeepers will also need to inform regulators about smaller acquisitions that woul...

  The primary analysis, which included 196 cases, found the vaccine was 94.1 per cent effective, in line with preliminary findings released earlier this month. Moderna Inc plans to request clearance for its coronavirus vaccine in the United States and Europe on Monday, after a new analysis showed the vaccine was highly effective in preventing Covid-19, with no serious safety problems. The primary analysis, which included 196 cases, found the vaccine was 94.1 per cent effective, in line with preliminary findings released earlier this month. None of the participants in the trial who’d received the vaccine developed severe Covid-19. All 30 severe cases observed in the study occurred in participants who received placebo shots, according to a company statement. The shares extended their gains to as much as 12 per cent before US markets opened, hitting a record of $142.85. They have risen more than sixfold since the year began. The new results put the Cambridge, Massachusetts-based biote...

Additional measures would likely be required to make a cybersecurity safety board successful, such as launching investigations only for serious breaches like those involving critical infrastructure While some countries struggle with safety, U. S. airplane travel has lately had a remarkable safety record. In fact, from 2014 through 2017, there were no fatal commercial airline crashes in the U. S. But those years were fraught with other kinds of trouble: Security breaches and electronic espionage affected nearly every adult in the U. S., along with the power grid in Ukraine and the 2016 U. S. presidential campaign, to name a few. As a scholar of cybersecurity policy, I think it’s time that my own industry took some lessons from one of the safest high-tech transportation methods of the 21st century. Like today in cybersecurity, the early days of US air travel weren’t regulated particularly closely. And there were a huge number of accidents. Only after pub...