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  The Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine is among the top contenders in a global race to develop a successful inoculation. US drugmaker Pfizer and its German partner BioNTech said on Wednesday that documents related to their development of a COVID-19 vaccine had been “unlawfully accessed” in a cyberattack on Europe’s medicines regulator. The European Medicines Agency (EMA), responsible for assessing and approving medicines and vaccines for the European Union (EU), said hours earlier that it had been targeted in a cyberattack. It gave no further details. Pfizer and BioNTech said they did not believe any personal data of trial participants had been compromised and EMA “has assured us that the cyberattack will have no impact on the timeline for its review.” It was not immediately clear when or how the attack took place, who was responsible or what other information may have been compromised. A spokeswoman for BioNTech declined further comment. Pfizer did not immediately respond to a request

  The Federal Government has granted six water use licences to the Kano State Water Board through the Nigeria Integrated Water Resources Management Commission (NIWRMC) , according to a press statement issued on Friday in Abuja by the commission’s head of public relations, Mrs Getrude Madina. The statement quoting Mr Magashi Bashir, Executive director, NIWRMC, said the licenses were to enable the State access, officially extract water, and to aid them expand water wells, and improve water supply to the Nigeria Bottling Company from the Challawa Plant. By law, the Commission has been mandated to issue licenses for water use, as well as regulate water resources in Nigeria, the News Agency of Nigeria reports. “The licensing of various water users is necessary and important to the nation at a time like this when the Government is up-scaling revenue generation and job creation, among others,” the statement stated. Meanwhile, the Managing Director, Kano State Water Board, Dr Wambai was elated

  ‘Yemenis are not going hungry, they are being starved,’ says World Food Programme’s David Beasley as he warns of another ‘looming famine’. A nurse holds a malnourished girl at al-Sabeen Hospital in Sanaa, Yemen.   The United states  has once again warned of millions of men, women and childar-torn Yemen are facing famine as it issued yet another appeal for more money to prevent it. “We are on a countdown right now to a catastrophe,” UN World Food Programme (WFP) Executive Director David Beasley told the UN Security Council on WednesdayWednesday. “We have been here before … We did almost the same dog-and-pony show. We sounded the alarm then,” the head of the Nobel Peace Prize-winning UN body said. The UN describes Yemen as the world’s largest humanitarian crisis, with 80 percent of the country’s 30 million people in need of help. “If we choose to look away, there’s no doubt in my mind Yemen will be plunged into a devastating famine within a few short months,” Beasley told the 15-member

The pandemic has affected nearly every aspect of American life and fuelled record levels of early and postal voting. The US recorded a record number of daily cases of COVID-19 on Wednesday. The United States set a one-day record for new coronavirus cases on Wednesday with at least 102,591 new cases and as hospitals in several states reported an increasing number of patients, according to a count from the news agency. Nine states reported record one-day increases in cases on Wednesday: Colorado, Idaho, Indiana, Maine, Michigan, Minnesota, Rhode Island, Washington and wisconsin. Johns Hopkins University, which tracks the virus separately, also said the US reached a new daily record with 99,660 new cases in the past 24 hours. The pandemic has affected nearly every aspect of American life and prompted a record number of people to vote early or use postal votes in Tuesday’s presidential election, with a winner yet to be declared. More people are also being admitted to hospital with COVID-19

Twenty-four fire engines and some 50 firefighters extinguish blaze in Gujarat state after several hours. Witnesses say the huge explosion ripped apart the walls of the building At least 12 workers were killed when part of a chemical warehouse collapsed following a powerful blast in western India, according to officials. Twelve bodies have been recovered from the warehouse of a cotton factory on the outskirts of Ahmedabad, a key city in Gujarat state, National Disaster Response Force spokesman Krishan Kumar said on wednesday. A fire official told the AFP news agency that the dead included five women, and that nine other people were injured in the incident at an industrial complex. Witness told reporters that the explosion ripped apart the walls of the building, including a textile facility that operated from the complex. Television images showed several workers fleeing the premises. The New Delhi television news channel said that some nearby buildings also were damaged by the blast. Ahm

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and European Council President Charles Michel are due to hold a video conference summit with China's leaders later on Monday.  The European Union and China will seek to cool tensions on Monday at a video summit, their first formal talks since ties soured over European accusations that Beijing had spread disinformation about the novel coronavirus. European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and European Council President Charles Michel - the EU's chief executive and chairman - will hold video conferences with Chinese Premier Li Keqiang and President Xi Jinping. "We are ready to work with China. But we also expect China to assume its responsibilities as one of the world's largest economies," said a senior official helping prepare the summit. "The pandemic has heightened some (EU) concerns." No joint statement is expected after the summit, scheduled t

Nigeria has reported 19,808 coronavirus cases and 506 related deaths Nigerian doctors in state-run hospitals have called off a week-long strike over welfare and inadequate protective equipment as new coronavirus cases spike in the country. The strike by the National Association of Resident Doctors (NARD), which represents some 40 percent of Nigeria's doctors, began last Monday but had exempted medics treating coronavirus patients. The group's directors decided to suspend the strike action from Monday, June 22, by 08:00am local time (07:00 GMT), the association said in a statement. NARD said the decision, which followed the intervention by state governors and others, was to give the government time to fulfil the outstanding demands. The organisation had called the strike over a range of issues, including the "grossly inadequate" provision of personal protective equipment (PPE) and calls for hazard pay for those workin

Study aims to determine if chloroquine and hydroxychloroquine are effective in preventing the novel coronavirus. US President Donald Trump announced on May 18 he has been taking hydroxychloroquine for almost two weeks as a preventive measure against COVID-19 Healthcare workers in the United Kingdom will begin taking part in a University of Oxford-led international trial of two anti-malarial drugs to see if they can prevent COVID-19, including one US President Donald Trump says he has been taken. The "COPCOV" study, wich begins on Thursday, will involve more than 40,000 front-line healthcare workers from Europe, Africa, Asia and Latin America to determine if chloroquine and hydroxychloroquine are effective in preventing the novel coronavirus. The drugs have risen to prominence since Trump said earlier this week he was taking hydroxychloroquine as preventive medicine against the virus, despite medical warnings about its use. T

Travel restrictions prevent foreign parents from collecting babies, with fears quarantine extension could worsen issue. A nurse and newborns are seen in the Hotel Venice owned by BioTexCom clinic in Kyiv, Ukraine May 14, 2020  Infants in Ukraine born to surrogate mothers for foreigners are stranded because the country's borders are closed under coronavirus restrictions,  preventing parents from the United States, Europe and elsewhere from travelling to collect them. Ukraine ' s human rights ombudswoman has appealed to authorities to find a solution. "About 100 children are already waiting for their parents in different centres of reproductive medicine. And if quarantine is extended, then it will not be about hundreds, but about thousands, "  said Lyudmila Denisova. Ukraine has a thriving surrogate industry and is one of the few countries that legally allows the service for foreigners. Concern is high that a long

Rick Bright warns US could face 'darkest winter in modern history' if leaders don't act quickly. Richard Bright, former director of the Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority, testifies during a hearing before the United States House Committee on Energy and Commerce's Subcommittee on Health Whistle-blower Rick Bright warned on Thursday that the United States lacks a plan to produce and fairly distribute a coronavirus vaccine when it becomes available. The nation could face "the darkest winter in modern history" unless leaders act decisively, he told a congressional panel. Bright alleges he was removed from a high-level scientific post after warning the administration of US President Donald Trump to prepare for the pandemic. Bright said, "We don't have [a vaccine plan] yet, and it is a significant concern." Asked if lawmakers should be worried, he responded, "absolutely"

Move by US's largest 4-year university system is one of first signs crisis will have major effects through end of year. California State University's Los Angeles campus on April 25, 2019  California's state university system, the largest in the United States, cancelled classes on Tuesday for the fall semester   because of the coronavirus pandemic, while Los Angeles County said its stay-at-home order was likely to be extended by three months. The announcements on the West Coast came after the country's top infectious disease expert, Dr Anthony Fauci, told Congress that lifting the sweeping lockdowns could touch off new outbreaks of COVID-19, which has killed nearly 81,000 Americans and devastated the economy. In one of the first indications the pandemic will continue to have significant effects through the end of the year, the chancellor of California State University said classes at its 23 campuses would be cancelled for