Biden, Trump celebrate Thanksgiving quietly at home as Covid-19 pandemic rages
US President-elect Joe Biden and President Donald Trump, like millions of Americans, were celebrating Thanksgiving quietly at home on Thursday, as the coronavirus pandemic raged across the country.
Biden was spending the holiday in the small seaside town of Rehoboth, Delaware, where he and his wife Jill have a vacation home.
The Bidens are hosting daughter Ashley Biden and her husband Dr Howard Krein for the holiday meal.
The former vice-president, appearing with his wife Jill in a video message posted to his Twitter account on Thanksgiving, said his family typically holds a large gathering on the island of Nantucket off Massachusetts, but would remain in Delaware this year "with just a small group around our dinner table" because of the pandemic.
WHO sees progressive control of Covid-19 in 2021, cautions on Christmas
The World Health Organisation's top emergency expert said on Thursday the introduction of a Covid-19 vaccine should allow the world to gain progressive control over the disease next year.
"Life as we used to know it, I think that's very, very possible but we will have to continue with the hygiene, physical distancing. Vaccines do not equal zero Covid.
"Adding vaccines to our current measures will allow us to really crush the curve, avoid lockdowns and gain progressive control over the disease," Dr Mike Ryan told RTE television in his native Ireland.
AstraZeneca says likely to run new global trial on Covid-19 vaccine
AstraZeneca is likely to run an additional global trial to assess the efficacy of its Covid-19 vaccine, its chief executive Pascal Soriot was quoted as saying on Thursday after questions over the results from its late-stage study.
Instead of adding the trial arm to an ongoing US process, a new study would be run to evaluate a lower dosage that performed better than a full amount in AstraZeneca's studies, Soriot was quoted as saying in a Bloomberg News report.
"Now that we've found what looks like a better efficacy we have to validate this, so we need to do an additional study," Soriot was quoted as saying.
Britain faces hard winter with Covid-19: PM Johnson
British Prime Minister Boris Johnson said on Thursday the country faced a hard winter but that action taken to slow the spread of the coronavirus had prevented the NHS health service from being overwhelmed.
"We now have reason to hope that by spring, community testing and vaccines will combine to end this era of restrictions," Johnson said at a news conference.
"But to get there, we must first navigate a hard winter, when the burden on our NHS and cold weather favours the virus."
'Adios Diego': World says farewell to football great Maradona as emotions spill over
A hearse bearing the flag-draped coffin of Argentine football legend Diego Maradona rolled through the centre of Buenos Aires Thursday as thousands of fans bade him a final farewell.
Amid blaring sirens and surrounded by motorcycle police outriders, the funeral cortege swept quickly through the streets around the presidential palace, where thousands of fans had filed past Maradona's coffin since early morning.
The lying in state, which had been extended to cope with the crowds surrounding the palace, was cut short by the family and officials after unruly fans took over an inner courtyard of the presidency.
