Technology

Japan plans to buy AstraZeneca Plc’s experimental COVID-19 vaccine and fund a local company to manufacture Novavax’s vaccine candidate, ramping up its stockpile plan as it battles surging infections. Japan will order 120 million doses of the experimental vaccine developed by the British pharmaceutical company, beginning with 30 million doses by March next year. It did not disclose purchase prices. …

US President Donald Trump has announced sweeping restrictions against Chinese-owned social media giants TikTok and WeChat, his latest explosive move aimed at countering China’s rising global power. Trump on Thursday signed executive orders giving Americans 45 days to stop doing business with the Chinese platforms, effectively setting a deadline for a potential pressured sale of viral video sensation TikTok to Microsoft. The …

Facebook has deleted a post by President Donald Trump for violating its policy against spreading misinformation about the coronavirus. The post in question featured a link to a Fox News video in which Trump says children are “virtually immune” to the virus. Facebook said Wednesday that the “video includes false claims that a group of people is immune from Covid-19 which is …

Novavax said on Tuesday its experimental COVID-19 vaccine produced high levels of antibodies against the novel coronavirus, according to initial data from a small, early-stage clinical trial, sending the company’s shares up 10%. The company said it could start a large pivotal Phase III trial as soon as late September, and on a conference call added that it could produce …

KARACHI: After assessing 500 applications received for the digital media wing, the government has appointed the former social media head of the Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI), Imran Ghazali, to lead the newly established unit in the information ministry. According to an Establishment Division notification dated Aug 3, Mr Ghazali has been hired as the general manager of the wing at the …

BRUSSELS: The European Commission launched an “in-depth investigation” on Tuesday into whether US tech giant Google’s planned $2.1 billion purchase of smartwatch maker Fitbit would give it an unfair market advantage. “Our investigation aims to ensure that control by Google over data collected through wearable devices as a result of the transaction does not distort competition,” EU competition commissioner Margrethe …

ISLAMABAD: The Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences (Pims) has decided to restart the biometric attendance system for its employees from Wednesday. The biometric attendance system was suspended in the first week of March in the wake of the Covid-19 outbreak. However, the employees have expressed concerns over the decision saying it can become a reason for the spread of the …

As the world awaits a COVID-19 vaccine, the next big advance in battling the pandemic could come from a class of biotech therapies widely used against cancer and other disorders – antibodies designed specifically to attack this new virus. Development of monoclonal antibodies to target the virus has been endorsed by leading scientists. Anthony Fauci, the top US infectious diseases …

NEWYORK: Microsoft confirmed Sunday it is in talks with Chinese company ByteDance to acquire the US arm of its popular video app TikTok and has discussed with President Donald Trump his concerns about security and censorship surrounding such an acquisition. In a statement, Microsoft said Microsoft and ByteDance have provided notice of their intent to explore a deal resulting in …

WASHINGTON: Big Tech executives faced an onslaught of criticism from US lawmakers on Wednesday at a high-stakes antitrust hearing that could lay the groundwork for tougher regulation of the major internet platforms. CEOs Tim Cook of Apple, Jeff Bezos of Amazon, Mark Zuckerberg of Facebook and Sundar Pichai of Google were grilled for more than five hours in the unprecedented …