STORYLINE

Rap superstar Kanye West has qualified to appear on Oklahoma’s presidential ballot, the first state where he met the requirements before the filing deadline.

But confusion remains over whether he's actually running.

A representative for West filed the necessary paperwork and paid the $35,000 filing on July 15th which was the deadline for a spot on the state's Nov. 3rd presidential ballot, said Oklahoma Board of Elections spokeswoman Misha Mohr. He was one of three independent presidential candidates to pay the filing fee prior to the deadline, she added. The others were concert pianist Jade Simmons and cryptocurrency entrepreneur Brock Pierce.

The filing came a day after New York Magazine's “Intelligencer” quoted West adviser Steve Kramer saying “he's out" and noting that the staff he had hired were disappointed.

However, TMZ reported that the West campaign had filed a “Statement of Organization” Wednesday with the Federal Election Commission, stating that a Kanye 2020 committee would serve as principal campaign committee for a West candidacy.

West has already missed the deadline to qualify for the ballot in several states, and it’s unclear if he is willing or able to collect enough signatures required to qualify in others.

West, who is married to reality television star Kim Kardashian West, initially announced his candidacy on July 4th. Days later, he told Forbes magazine that he, who once praised President Donald Trump and said the two share “dragon energy,” was “taking the red hat off” - a reference to Trump’s trademark red “Make America Great Again” cap.

West, who said that he had been diagnosed with bipolar disorder, told the magazine that he planned to model his White House on the fictional land in “Black Panther” if he won the presidency, adding “Let’s get back to Wakanda.”

***

Joe Biden named California Sen. Kamala Harris as his running mate on August 11th, making history by selecting the first Black woman to compete on a major party’s presidential ticket and acknowledging the vital role Black voters will play in his bid to defeat President Donald Trump.

In choosing Harris, Biden is embracing a former rival from the Democratic primary who is familiar with the unique rigor of a national campaign. Harris, a 55-year-old first-term senator, is also one of the party’s most prominent figures and quickly became a top contender for the No. 2 spot after her own White House campaign ended.

Harris joins Biden in the 2020 race at a moment of unprecedented national crisis. The coronavirus pandemic has claimed the lives of more than 150,000 people in the U.S., far more than the toll experienced in other countries. Business closures and disruptions resulting from the pandemic have caused an economic collapse. Unrest, meanwhile, has emerged across the country as Americans protest racism and police brutality.

Trump’s uneven handling of the crises has given Biden an opening, and he enters the fall campaign in strong position against the president. In adding Harris to the ticket, he can point to her relatively centrist record on issues such as health care and her background in law enforcement in the nation’s largest state.

Harris’ record as California attorney general and district attorney in San Francisco was heavily scrutinized during the Democratic primary and turned off some liberals and younger Black voters who saw her as out of step on issues of systemic racism in the legal system and police brutality. She tried to strike a balance on these issues, declaring herself a “progressive prosecutor” who backs law enforcement reforms.

Biden, who spent eight years as President Barack Obama’s vice president, has spent months weighing who would fill that same role in his White House. He pledged in March to select a woman as his vice president, easing frustration among Democrats that the presidential race would center on two white men in their 70s.

Biden’s search was expansive, including Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren, a leading progressive, Florida Rep. Val Demings, whose impeachment prosecution of Trump won plaudits, California Rep. Karen Bass, who leads the Congressional Black Caucus, former Obama national security adviser Susan Rice and Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms, whose passionate response to unrest in her city garnered national attention.

A woman has never served as president or vice president in the United States. Two women have been nominated as running mates on major party tickets: Democrat Geraldine Ferraro in 1984 and Republican Sarah Palin in 2008. Their party lost in the general election.

***

The Republican Party formally nominated President Donald Trump for a second term in the White House on August 24th, one of the first acts of a GOP convention that has been dramatically scaled down to prevent the spread of the coronavirus.

Trump has sought to minimize the toll of the pandemic, but its impact was evident as proceedings began in Charlotte. Instead of the thousands of people who were expected to converge on this city for a week-long extravaganza, just 336 delegates participated in a roll-call vote from a Charlotte Convention Center ballroom.

The GOP convention is a crucial moment for Trump, who is trailing in national and battleground state polls and under intense pressure to turn the race around. Just 23% think the country is heading in the right direction, while 75% think it's on the wrong path, according to a new poll from The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research.

Many of the usual trappings of a convention were present on Monday, including signs designating each state and gift bags with Republican swag. But chairs on the ballroom floor were arranged with lots of space between them and convention organizers told participants to wear masks, though adherence to the rule was uneven.

***

Anti-Trump messages were projected on the Trump Hotel in Washington, DC as the Republican National Convention was underway on August 25th.

The messages included "Trump has no plan," "nothing will change because Trump won't change," and "it is what it is."

President Trump made that comment during a recent interview when asked about the number of people in the United States in the United States killed by the coronavirus.

***

Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden said the country has not seen enough economic recovery since the coronavirus outbreak began months ago.

He blasted President Donald Trump for downplaying COVID-19, saying that it will continue to kill Americans and ravage the economy.

U.S. unemployment dropped sharply in August to a still-high 8.4% from 10.2%, with about half the 22 million jobs lost to the coronavirus outbreak recovered so far, the government said on September 4th in one of the last major economic reports before Election Day.

Employers added 1.4 million jobs last month, the Labor Department said, down from 1.7 million in July and the fewest since hiring resumed in May.

But the economy has recovered barely half the 22 million jobs that vanished when the pandemic paralyzed the nation in early spring.

Biden also accused of being out of touch with ordinary Americans, caring instead about his wealthy friends and donors.

"Families teeter on the brink of hunger and homelessness, and our president calls that success, what does that say about what he values?" Biden said Friday.

***

Try as he might to change the subject, US President Donald Trump can't escape the coronavirus.

In newly released interviews from journalist Bob Woodward's forthcoming book "Rage," Trump privately acknowledged the severity of the pandemic even as he played it down in public.

Excerpts of the book were published September 9th by The Washington Post and CNN, which also aired audio of some of the interviews.

Woodward, who is most famously known for helping break open the Watergate scandal during the Nixon administration, has chronicled the happening of most American presidents since then.

Two years ago Woodward released a different book, "Fear", that depicted a chaotic White House environment under the Trump administration.

After its release the president complained that he was not actively involved in the book and agreed to at least nine private interviews with Woodward which were used for his latest novel "Rage."

"This is a case where Trump himself wanted to shape the narrative, and while the book isn't out yet at least, the early headlines aren't very kind to him," said Jonathan Lemire, a White House reporter for the Associated Press.

Lemire added that other former presidents, like George W. Bush and Barak Obama, who agreed to have Woodward write a book about their administrations were also displeased with the final products.

"But this is different," Lemire said. "Trump himself is far more conscious or frankly, obsessed with the media coverage he receives than any of his predecessors. We see that every day on Twitter. He often delves into media critique."

In taped conversations released along with the excerpts, Trump insisted he didn't want to create "panic." But his comments also raised fresh questions about how he has managed the defining crisis of his presidency, one that has killed about 190,000 Americans so far, with no end in sight.

Trump's team would much rather center the November vote around the economy, cracking down on protests spawned by racial injustice, and the president's promise that he could appoint more conservative justices to the Supreme Court.

"They're comfortable fighting on anything else except for the pandemic because public opinion polls show the Americans don't think the president has done a very good job," Lemire said. "And by his comments, his own words, these are not anonymous sources. These are not administration officials on background. His own words caught on tape are again highlighting the pandemic, put it at the national... center of the national discourse, and raising all sorts of further concerns about how, frankly, he has handled the largest health crisis this nation has faced in a century."

After details of the book were released, Democrats have condemned Trump's actions of downplaying the coronavirus early on, with the Governor of Michigan Gretchen Whitmer calling the president "the biggest threat to the American people."

And now, Trump's own words are redirecting attention to his handling of the pandemic when he can least afford it - less than two months before Election Day.

"Because this... revelation is about COVID-19, it is possible this will be damaging to him. This will hurt his electoral challenge... chances. It certainly can't help," Lemire said. "But it remains to be seen whether or not this is a mortal blow to his reelection bid or whether we're simply talking about something else in 72 hours."

***

Joe Biden expressed his strongest support yet for Puerto Rican statehood on September 15th, though he says the decision must be made by residents of the island.

Biden said at a Hispanic Heritage Month kickoff event in Kissimmee, Florida, that he believes statehood “would be the most effective means of ensuring that residents of Puerto Rico are treated equally.”

But Biden emphasized that “the people of Puerto Rico must decide, and the United States federal government must respect and act on that.”

Biden had previously declined to take a position on the issue.

During the last referendum on statehood, an overwhelming majority of Puerto Ricans voted in favor of becoming a state.

Biden’s remarks came as part of a broader effort to appeal to Latinos in Florida and particularly Puerto Ricans, which make up one of the fastest-growing demographic groups in central Florida.

Democrats have expressed concerns that Biden may be slipping in the state, particularly with influential Latino voters.

***

With less than 50 days to go until the U.S. elections, President Donald Trump has been steadfast in dismissing concerns of foreign interference in the November ballot.

Trump insists that the expected huge number of postal ballots Americans will use are a much bigger concern, telling reporters September 16th that "much of the stuff coming out about foreign countries turned out to be untrue."

But testifying on Capitol Hill on September 17th, FBI Director Christopher Wray said that Russia has been "very active" in its efforts to influence US elections, with the primary goal being to "denigrate" Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden.

Wray told lawmakers that Russia is primarily interfering through malign foreign influence in an effort to hurt Biden's campaign -- echoing the intelligence community's public assessment on Moscow's meddling efforts issued last month.

Wray's comments come as President Donald Trump and several other top administration officials have recently attempted to play up the theory that China is meddling to get Biden elected, while downplaying well-founded reports that Russia is trying to help Trump win again, like it did in 2016.

Intelligence officials have said they have uncovered evidence that Russia is currently interfering in the election to hurt Biden's campaign. Separately, some evidence has already emerged about Moscow's efforts, including Facebook's announcement earlier this month that a troll group that was part of Russia's attempt to interfere in the 2016 election is trying to target Americans again.

Independent Senator Angus King, a co-chair of the Cyberspace Solarium Commission, a congressional Commission that studied cyber security, worries about the continued attempts by Russia to affect American presidential races.

"What bothers me is that I don't think they were doing it for fun (attack the 2016 race)," he said. "It worries me that they were practicing, that they were learning and that this election could be the test case."

While there is consensus on Russian attempts to attack the US elections, what is not clear is their end goal.

"We would put Russian intelligence and squarely at the top of the of the risk score here," Sandra Joyce, the Senior Vice President and Head of Global Intelligence for the private security fire FireEye. "There's really no end to what they are capable of doing if they decide to go ahead and do it. "

Graham Brookie, the Director and Managing Editor of the Digital Forensic Research Lab at the Atlantic Council says there is evidence Russians have continued to experiment in both the 2016 and 2018 elections.

The Senior Vice President and Director of Technology Policy Program at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, Jim Lewis, says it is clear that at least two state opponents have decided to disrupt the American election.

"The Chinese studied what the Russians did," Lewis told the Associated Press, but they don't agree with the Russians on what the best outcome in 2020 will be. "You've got two competing hostile powers, one of whom is quite good and one of whom is learning quickly. "

While the intelligence community has assessed that China and Iran prefer Trump to lose in November, officials have offered no indication, to date, that either country is acting on that preference in the same way as Russia, according to public statements issued by the intelligence community and sources familiar with the underlying evidence.

The same GRU military intelligence unit, known as Fancy Bear, that Microsoft identifies as being behind the current election-related activity also broke into voter registration databases in at least three states in 2016, though there is no evidence it tried to interfere with voting.

During the Cyberspace Solarium Commission investigation, King said he spoke to many local election officials. "In my view they are over confident," he said, adding "I'm worried there is still a vulnerability there."

FireEye's Joyce warns her company has found active measures "on the part of multiple nation states," to collect information about local election officials.

***

Cindy McCain, the widow of the late U.S. Senator and 2008 Republican presidential nominee John McCain, is endorsing Democrat Joe Biden for president in a rebuke of U.S. President Donald Trump.

Trump has had a fraught relationship with members of John McCain's family since he disparaged the Republican Arizona senator during his 2016 campaign.

Cindy McCain is citing the decades long friendship between her family and Biden's and their bond as the parents of children serving in the military.

Her backing could help Biden appeal to Republicans disaffected with Trump.

It also could give Biden a boost in Arizona, a crucial swing state that McCain represented in Congress for 35 years.

01:57:19

00:00:00

Rapper Kanye West files for Oklahoma presidential ballot

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ASSOCIATED PRESS, POOL

POOL

New York, 13 December 2016

1. President-elect Donald Trump exiting elevator with rapper Kanye West,

ASSOCIATED PRESS

Washington, 11 October 2018

2. Kanye West and President Donald Trump at the White House

00:08:00

Biden selects Sen. Kamala Harris as running mate

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ASSOCIATED PRESS

Iowa City, Iowa - 10 April 2019

3. Kamala Harris speaking to a crowd in Iowa City

Des Moines, Iowa - 3 July 2019

4. Kamala Harris talking to reporters at a July 4th picnic in Iowa

00:22:12

Trump accepts nomination at RNC convention

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POOL

Charlotte, North Carolina - 24 August 2020

5. Wide of introduction of President Trump UPSOUND:

"Ladies and gentlemen, please join me in welcoming the President of the United States, and our nominee, Donald J. Trump"

6. SOUNDBITE (English) Donald Trump, US President

"(Crowd: Four more years, four more years, four more years, etc!)

You want to really drive them crazy? You say 12 more years.

00:56:07

Anti-Trump messages projected on Trump hotel

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ASSOCIATED PRESS

Washington, DC - 25 August 2020

7. Front of Trump Hotel, with messages projected on it reading "Trump has no plan," "Chaos," "Nothing will change because Trump won't change," and other anti-Trump messages

01:12:10

Biden: Trump virus response keeps hurting economy

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POOL

Wilmington, Delaware - 4 September 2020

8. SOUNDBITE (English) Joe Biden, (D) Presidential Nominee:

"I talk to a lot of real working people. Ask them, they feel like they're being left behind, ask them how they feel about the economy coming back. You'll find they don't feel it."

01:23:21

Woodward book spotlights Trump's response to virus

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ASSOCIATED PRESS

ARCHIVE: Washington - 11 September 2018

9. Copies of the Bob Woodward book "Fear" on display inside a bookstore

ARCHIVE: Washington - 29 April 2017

10. Journalist Bob Woodward sits at the head table during the White House Correspondents' Dinner

01:31:19

Biden signals support for Puerto Rican statehood

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POOL

Kissimmee, Florida - 15 September 2020

11. SOUNDBITE: (English) Joe Biden, (D) Presidential Nominee:

" I happen to believe statehood would be the most effective means of ensuring that residents of Puerto Rico are treated equally, with equal representation at the federal level.

01:40:11

Trump undeterred by Russian threats to US election

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ASSOCIATED PRESS, POOL

ASSOCIATED PRESS

Raleigh, North Carolina - 3 September 2020

12. Various, mail-in ballots being prepared

POOL

Washington - 17 September 2020

13. SOUNDBITE (English) Christopher Wray, FBI Director:

"The intelligence community's consensus is that Russia continues to try to influence our elections."

01:52:22

Republican Sen. John McCain's widow endorses Biden

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ASSOCIATED PRESS

ARCHIVE: Kyiv, Ukraine - 31 March 2019

14. Mid, Cindy McCain (dark winter jacket) speaking to a woman of the International Republican Institute, visiting a polling station in the Ukraine

STORY

On January 12th 2017 President-elect Donald Trump's nominee to run the CIA says Russian meddling in the president election was an aggressive action taken by senior Russian leaders. At his confirmation hearing on Thursday, congressman Mike Pompeo of Kansas says it's pretty clear Russia worked to hack information and to have an impact on American democracy. Trump has voiced scepticism that Russia was behind hacking of political sites. But he said Wednesday for the first time that he believes Russia was responsible for the hacking. Pompeo also said he expected to be able to present the incoming administration with intelligence that is sound and that the leadership would make decisions based on that intelligence. US President Donald Trump said in his speech on January 20th that he will govern the country by putting America first. Trump said as president that "from this day forward it's going to be only America first". He said that every decision he makes, on issues from trade to taxes to immigration and foreign affairs, will be made to benefit American workers and families. "We must protect our borders from the ravages of other countries" taking American jobs, Trump said. US President Donald Trump signed his first executive order on January 20th, ordering federal agencies to ease the burden of former President Barrack Obama's sweeping health care law. No details were given on what the order contained. Trump was joined in the Oval Office by Vice President Mike Pence, White House chief of staff Reince Priebus and other top advisers as he signed the executive order on the so-called "Obamacare" law that he opposed throughout his campaign. Trump also formally signed the commissions of incoming Defence Secretary James Mattis and Homeland Security Secretary John Kelly. Pence later swore them in at a separate ceremony in the Eisenhower Executive Office Building, where the vice president's suite of offices is located. On January 26th White House press secretary Sean Spicer said US President Donald Trump will seek a 20 percent tax on Mexican imports to pay for a proposed border wall. The wall is part of Trump's plan to halt illegal immigration to the U.S., and he has long insisted that Mexico will pay. Mexican President Pena Nieto insists his country will not. On the flight back to Washington, Spicer told reporters travelling with the president that Trump will seek to impose a 20 percent tax on Mexican imports to pay for the wall. Congressional approval would be needed for such a step. Trump's brief trip to Philadelphia to speak with Congressional Republicans at their policy retreat, marked his first flight on Air Force One, the familiar blue and white government plane that has long ferried presidents around the country and the world. Trump spoke to reporters on board the plane, describing Air Force One as a "beautiful, great plane." On January 27th President Donald Trump and British Prime Minister Theresa May were seen holding hands for a brief period of time as they walked along the colonnade at the White House, before Trump tapped on May's hand and they let go. The two appeared to be in conversation following joint remarks made earlier at a news conference. May's meeting with the US president in Washington, D.C. is being hailed by the British government as a sign that the tarns-Atlantic "special relationship" is valued by the new US administration. On January 29th protests have erupted for the second day after US President Donald Trump issued an executive order to temporarily bar refugees and citizens of seven predominantly Muslim countries from entering the US. Dozens of protesters gathered outside the White House, while a smaller group protested outside an airport in Morrisville, North Carolina, holding banners in support of refugees and immigrants and chanting anti-Trump slogans. Several thousand people gathered near Prime Minister Theresa May's London residence on January 30th to protest against a planned state visit by US President Donald Trump. Protesters held signs and placards, some branding May "shameless", and chanted "No state visit!" Many said they were protesting to express their anger over Trump's immigration ban. January 30th's protest near 10 Downing Street was the largest of a series of protests across the country, including in Oxford, Manchester, Newcastle, Cardiff and Glasgow. An online petition opposing Trump's state visit has more than 1.5 million signatures. Any petition with more than 100,000 signatures must be considered for a debate in Parliament, though not a binding vote. US President Donald Trump fired acting Attorney General Sally Yates on January 31st after she announced she would not defend his controversial immigration order. He is naming Dana Boente, US Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia, to serve in her place. The White House press office said in a statement that Yates "has betrayed the Department of Justice by refusing to enforce a legal order designed to protect the citizens of the United States." The statement calls Yates an Obama administration appointee "who is weak on borders and very weak on illegal immigration." Trump's order from Friday temporarily suspends the US refugee programme and bars immigration from seven majority-Muslim countries - Iran, Iraq, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria and Yemen. Trump has picked Senator Jeff Sessions to lead the Justice Department, but he has yet to be confirmed by the Senate. US Secretary of Homeland Security John Kelly on January 31st defended President Donald Trump's executive order on immigration. Kelly said that the order is "not a travel ban. This is a temporary pause that allows us to better review the existing refugee and visa vetting system." Nordstrom says it will stop selling Ivanka Trump clothing and accessories, creating some questions about the future of the brand elsewhere. The Seattle-based department store chain said the decision was based on the sales performance of the first daughter's brand. Neiman Marcus may be the next one to pull back on the label, as the branded jewellery is nowhere to be seen on the up scale retailer's website as of 3rd February. "We've said all along we make buying decisions based on performance," said Nordstrom in a statement emailed to The Associated Press. "We've got thousands of brands” more than 2,000 offered on the site alone. Reviewing their merit and making edits is part of the regular rhythm of our business." Nordstrom said that each year the chain cuts about 10 percent and refreshes its assortment with about the same amount. "In this case, based on the brand's performance we've decided not to buy it for this season," Nordstrom added. Lord & Taylor only said it continues to carry the brand. Neiman Marcus, Macy's and Dillard's, which also carry the label, didn't immediately reply to AP's query. The move by Nordstrom Inc. comes amid a social media campaign called "Grab Your Wallet," urging a boycott of stores that stock Ivanka Trump or Donald Trump products. In a statement emailed to The Associated Press late Friday, Rosemary K. Young, senior director of marketing at Ivanka Trump, said that the brand continues to expand across all categories and distribution, resulting in "significant" revenue growth last year compared to the previous year. "We believe that the strength of a brand is measured not only by the profits it generates, but the integrity it maintains," said Young in the statement. "The women behind the brand represent a diverse group of professionals and we are proud to say that the Ivanka Trump brand continues to embody the principles upon which it was founded." An unnamed spokesperson for the brand contradicted Nordstrom's statement, saying that Nordstrom did order both shoes and clothing for spring and moved forward with the purchase of clothing. Wendy Liebmann, CEO of WSL Strategic Retail, says that retailers walk a tight rope when it comes to celebrity brands but given the politics surrounding the Ivanka Trump brand, that only adds extra controversy, particularly given such a politically divisive climate. Liebmann noted a decision of whether to pull a brand is politically loaded even if it's based on poor sales performance. "The brand is vulnerable," Liebmann said. "Retailers view their role as having the right products for the right consumer, not being pulled in a political situation." She noted that some shoppers may not want to wear the Ivanka Trump brand because they may want to avoid making a political statement. Ivanka Trump announced earlier this month that she would take a leave of absence from her clothing and accessories business as well as the Trump organization. US President Donald Trump's embattled national security adviser Michael Flynn resigned late on February 13th, following reports that he had misled Vice President Mike Pence and other officials about his contacts with Russia. His departure upends Trump's senior team after less than one month in office. In a resignation letter, Flynn said he gave Pence and others "incomplete information" about his calls with Russia's ambassador to the US. The vice president, apparently relying on information from Flynn, initially said the national security adviser hadn't discussed sanctions with the Russian envoy, though Flynn later conceded the issue may have come up. Trump named retired Lt. Gen. Keith Kellogg as the acting national security adviser. Kellogg had previously been appointed the National Security Council chief of staff and advised Trump during the campaign. Trump is also considering former CIA Director David Petraeus and Vice Admiral Robert Harward, a US Navy SEAL, for the post, according to a senior administration official. The Trump team's account of Flynn's discussions with the Russian envoy changed repeatedly over several weeks, including the number of contacts, the dates of those contacts and ultimately, the content of the conversations. Late in January, the Justice Department warned the White House that Flynn could be in a compromised position as a result of the contradictions between the public depictions of the calls and what intelligence officials knew to be true based on recordings of the conversations, which were picked up as part of routine monitoring of foreign officials communications in the US. A US official told The Associated Press that Flynn was in frequent contact with Ambassador Sergey Kislyak on the day the Obama administration slapped sanctions on Russia for election-related hacking, as well as at other times during the transition. US President Donald Trump on February 16th said his ousted national security adviser was a "fine person" after offering his resignation amid reports of contact with Russian officials. Trump was recounting why he asked Michael Flynn for his resignation. The president said at a news conference that he was "not happy" with how information about Flynn's phone call to a Russian diplomat was relayed to Vice President Mike Pence. But Trump says what Flynn did "wasn't wrong" - and called attention to what he described as "classified information that was given illegally." Dakota Access pipeline protesters are ceremonially burning some of their living structures ahead of the closure of a long-standing camp in North Dakota. About 200 to 300 protesters remain at the camp near the Standing Rock Sioux reservation. The Army Corps of Engineers has ordered the camp closed at 2 p.m. February 22nd, citing the potential for spring flooding. Those left in camp milled about peacefully Wednesday, many in prayer. At least four wooden structures were being burned in what protesters say is part of the ceremony of leaving. Authorities in North Dakota are offering assistance and services to Dakota Access pipeline protesters as they close a long-standing encampment near the Standing Rock Sioux reservation. A White House spokeswoman said March 3rd that Vice President Mike Pence "did everything to the letter of the law" after public records revealed that he used a private email account to conduct public business as Indiana's governor. The Indianapolis Star reported that emails provided through a public records request show that Pence communicated with advisers through his personal AOL account on homeland security matters and security at the governor's residence during his four years as governor. The governor also faced email security issues. Pence's AOL account was subjected to a phishing scheme last spring, before he was chosen by Donald Trump to join the GOP presidential ticket. Pence's contacts were sent an email falsely claiming that the governor and his wife were stranded in the Philippines and needed money. As Trump's running mate, Pence frequently criticized rival Hillary Clinton's use of a private email server as President Barrack Obama's secretary of state, accusing her of purposely keeping her emails out of public reach and shielding her from scrutiny. Hours before it was to take effect, President Donald Trump's revised travel ban was put on hold March 15th by a federal judge in Hawaii who questioned whether the administration was motivated by national security concerns. U.S. District Judge Derrick Watson also said Hawaii would suffer financially if the executive order blocked the flow of students and tourists to the state, and he concluded that Hawaii was likely to succeed on a claim that the ban violates First Amendment protections against religious discrimination. A federal judge in Greenbelt, Maryland, has blocked US President Donald Trump's revised travel ban targeting six predominantly Muslim countries. Judge Theodore Chuang ruled on Thursday in a case brought near the nation's capital by the ACLU (American Civil Liberties Union) and other groups representing immigrants, refugees and their families. It was the latest ruling against Trump's revised travel ban. On March 15th, a federal judge in Hawaii blocked Trump's revised travel ban hours before it was to take effect, marking the second time courts have thwarted Trump's efforts to freeze immigration by refugees and citizens of some predominantly Muslim nations. Government lawyers argued that the ban was substantially revised from an earlier version signed in January that was later blocked by a federal judge in Washington state. They said the ban was ordered in the interest of national security to protect the US from "radical Islamic terrorism." During his campaign as a Republican presidential candidate, Donald Trump called for a "total and complete shut-down of Muslims entering the United States." Trump's campaign said in a statement that such a ban should stand "until our country's representatives can figure out what is going on." It said the proposal comes in response to a level of hatred among "large segments of the Muslim population" toward US citizens. At an evening rally in South Carolina in December 2015, Trump supporters cheered and shouted in support as he read his statement. An earlier version of the executive order, issued in late January, was blocked by a judge in Seattle, sparking harsh criticism from the president of both the judge and his decision. Trump said at the time that the court fight over his refugee and immigration executive order could end up in the Supreme Court. Speaking to reporters on 7 February 2017, Trump said he was going to take his fight to uphold the directive "through the system." A federal appeals court refused to reinstate President Donald Trump's ban on travellers from seven predominantly Muslim nations, dealing another legal setback to the new administration's immigration policy. In a unanimous decision, the panel of three judges from the San Francisco-based 9th US Circuit Court of Appeals declined to block a lower-court ruling that suspended the ban and allowed previously barred travellers to enter the US. Moments after the ruling was released, Trump tweeted, "SEE YOU IN COURT," adding that "THE SECURITY OF OUR NATION IS AT STAKE!" Declaring "the start of a new era" in energy production, President Donald Trump signed an executive order March 28th that he said would revive the coal industry and create jobs. The move makes good on his campaign pledge to unravel former President Barrack Obama's plan to curb global warming. The order seeks to suspend, rescind or flag for review more than a half-dozen measures in an effort to boost domestic energy production in the form of fossil fuels. Environmental activists, including former Vice President Al Gore, denounced the plan. But Trump said the effort would allow workers to "succeed on a level playing field for the first time in a long time." "That is what this is all about: bringing back our jobs, bringing back our dreams and making America wealthy again," Trump said, during a ceremony at the Environmental Protection Agency headquarters, attended by a number of coal miners. In addition to pulling back from the Clean Power Plan, the administration will also lift a 14-month-old moratorium on new coal leases on federal lands.

SHOWS

(HD version available in \\Source_Clips\Newsroom Failures)

Pompeo: Russia aimed to influence US election

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POOL

Washington DC - 12 January 2017

1. SOUNDBITE: (English) Sen. Marco Rubio, (R) Florida:

"In your personal opinion, is Vladimir Putin and the Russians looking at all this and saying 'we did a really good job of creating chaos, division, instability in the American political process?"

2. SOUNDBITE: (English) Rep. Mike Pompeo, CIA Director Nominee:

"I have no doubt that the discourse that's been taking place is something that Vladimir Puttin would look at and say, 'Wow, that was among the objectives that I have."

00:20:23

Trump to govern by putting America first

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POOL

Washington, DC - 20 January 2017

3. SOUNDBITE (English) Donald Trump, US President: ++INCLUDES SHOTS OF CROWDS++

" From this day forward a new vision will govern our land. From this day forward, it's going to be only America First, America First." (++Crowds clapping)

00:39:22

Trump signs executive orders in Oval Office

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POOL

Washington DC - 20 January 2017

4. US President Donald Trump signing commission allowing General James Mattis to be sworn in as Defence Secretary

00:46:24

Spicer: Trump Seeks 20% Tax on Mexican Imports

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POOL

On Board Air Force One - 26 January 2017

5. SOUNDBITE: (English) Sean Spicer, White House Press Secretary:

"If you tax that $50 billion at 20 percent of imports - which is by the way a practice that 160 other countries do - right now our country's policy is to tax exports and let imports flow freely in, which is ridiculous."

01:02:06

Trump, May hold hands outside White House

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AP TELEVISION

Washington,D.C. - 27 January 2017

6. Tracking shot of British Prime Minister Theresa May and President Donald Trump walking outside White House, holding hands for a few seconds

01:10:09

US protests against Trump's immigration ban

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AP TELEVISION

Washington DC/Morrisville - 29 January 2017

7. Protesters on ground gathering outside White House, holding banners and chanting slogans in support of refugees

01:21:12

UK protest against Trump's state visit

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London - 30 January 2017

++NIGHT SHOTS++

8. Protesters standing in front of Downing Street with signs and posters

9. Close of sign that reads (English) "Shameless May, Fascist Tyrant"

10. Close of sign that reads (English) "No to racism, no to Trump"

01:46:12

Trump fires Attorney General Sally Yates

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FILE: Washington, DC - 28 June 2016

11. Various of Sally Yates, now former acting US Attorney General speaking at briefing while serving as Deputy Attorney General

01:54:19

US Homeland Security chief defends travel ban

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Washington DC - 31 January 2017

12. SOUNDBITE (English): John Kelly, Secretary of Homeland Security:

" It is important to understand that there are terrorists and other bad actors who are seeking to infiltrate our homeland every single day."

02:02:13

Nordstrom will stop selling Ivanka Trump clothing and accessories

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New York, 29 June 2012

13. Medium of Ivanka Trump talking and showing her clothing line

AP Entertainment

New York, 14 April 2015

14. Ivanka Trump and Jared Kushner arriving at the Vanity Fair Tribeca Film Festival party

02:17:16

US National Security Adviser Flynn resigns and Kellogg takes over as acting US National Security Adviser

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Washington DC - Recent/File

Washington DC - 20 January 2017

15. Michael Flynn arrives at inauguration

New York - 7 October 2016

16. General Kellogg, sitting next to Trump, speaking

02:30:06

Trump: Russia links reports are "fake news"

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Washington DC - 16 February 2017

17. SOUNDBITE (English) Donald Trump, US President:

"I can tell you from speaking for myself, I own nothing in Russia, I have no loans in Russia, I don't have any deals in Russia. (Russian) President (Vladimir) Putin called me up very nicely to congratulate me on the win of the election, he then called me up extremely nicely to congratulate me on the inauguration which was terrific, but so did many other leaders, almost all other leaders from almost all other countries, so that's the extent. Russia is fake news, this is fake news put out by the media."

03:03:24

Pipeline Protesters Set Fires to Close Camp

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Near Cannon Ball - 22 February 2017

++QUALITY AS INCOMING++

18. Wide pan of area with protesters and fire

03:16:18

Pence responds to use of private email account

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Janesville, Wisconsin - 3 March 2017

19. SOUNDBITE (English) Mike Pence, Vice President:

(Reporter question off camera: "Why did you decide to use your private email accounts to deal with some public business?")

"I did. We issued a statement on that. I am very confident that our email practices were in full compliance with all of Indiana's laws. And in my service as a vice president will continue, will continue that practice."

03:31:02

Federal judge in Hawaii puts travel ban on hold

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Honolulu - 15 March 2017

20. Wide of press conference beginning

21. SOUNDBITE (English) Doug Chin, Hawaii Attorney General

" It showed that they were trying even harder to mask what was a religious animus."

03:42:17

Trump suffers second travel ban defeat

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Mount Pleasant, South Carolina - 7 December 2015

22. Donald Trump walking to podium

23. SOUNDBITE (English) Donald Trump, Republican Presidential Candidate:

"Donald J. Trump is calling for a total and complete shutdown of Muslims entering the United States until our country's representatives can figure out what the hell is going on. We have no choice."

04:07:09

Trump signs roll-back on Obama era climate plans

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Washington DC - 28 March 2017

24. US President Donald Trump signing executive order

HD version available in \\Source_Clips\Newsroom Failures

STORYLINE

Dozens demonstrated on July 4th in Sao Paulo against the Brazilian president's coronavirus response and on racial police violence.

Members of different groups including health workers, teachers, lawyers, students and others, carried pictures of victims of COVID-19 and of people allegedly killed by the police.

Keeping distance and wearing masks, the group remained at Paulista Avenue, demanding the end of what they called "the government of death" lead by Jair Bolsonaro.

"I am outraged with the government of Bolsonaro and the way he has been dealing with the health problem, the pandemic" said Ari Meneghini, a 61 year-old professional working in advertisement who attended the demonstration.

Meneghini also criticized what he called a "genocide policy" by president against people living in the favelas, especially the Black people victim of police violence, and against Indigenous people.

Bolsonaro's downplaying of the coronavirus outbreak and his rejection of local restrictions to curb spreading the virus became part of a heated, politicized debate.

He has drawn criticism from the beginning of the outbreak, initially for referring to the virus that causes COVID-19 disease as a "fantasy" and a "little flu".

While authorities, including former health ministry instructed people to avoid gatherings, president Bolsonaro condemned the restrictive measures applied by governors and mayors to avoid the spread of the virus, attended rallies with dozens of his supporters.

In these rallies, some of Bolsonaro supporters have asked for a military intervention and criticized the Supreme Court and the Congress.

For weeks Brazilians have been going to the streets to protest against Bolsonaro's administration, at the same time his followers have gathered outside the presidential palace in Brasilia almost every Sunday, to show their support to the president.

***

At the Eternal Life coffin manufacturer in Lima, Peru, business is booming since the COVID-19 pandemic hit the Andean nation last March.

Sales went up from 50 coffins per week to over 250, so the company needed to hire more people.

Meanwhile, business was terrible for Gianmarco Vargas and his wife Milagros Goto.

They were forced to close their company due to strict measures imposed by the government, which declared a state of emergency and a nationwide quarantine.

During the lockdown, the government put its foot down hard and made clear it wouldn't allow any clowning around. Literally.

And as it turns out, Vargas himself is a professional clown known as Fosforin, Little Match Head in English, while his wife works as an entertainer at children's parties.

Their work was put on hold indefinitely and their savings ran out in just a few days.

Luckily for them, Eternal Life was hiring.

Now they both work making coffins.

Vargas in the carpentry area and his wife Milagros sews the cloth for the interiors.

They used to be surrounded by joy and the happy voices of children, but are now surrounded by the sadness that so many COVID-19 deaths per day can bring.

Vargas tells his clients that for now he is working in a funeral parlour making coffins and he says they cannot understand how a happy person can work at something that is so sad.

But he explains that he desperately needs the work. He has a family to feed.

And while he misses painting faces and playing games with children, he understands his job right now is to help families secure a coffin for their relative so they can have a place to rest in peace.

In Peru, during the month of July, national holidays are celebrated and there is no school. It is the best month to work as a clown, but due to COVID-19, this year there will be no circuses and no private parties.

Vargas says they already want to return and cheer children.

"I tell the children that all this (pandemic) is going to pass, it is going to pass and I am going to once again be at children's homes. We are going to laugh. We are going to play. I am going to do magic tricks," says Vargas.

Peru has reported more than 300,000 cases of COVID-19 and over 10,000 deaths, according to Johns Hopkins University.

***

Protesters threw flares and fireworks outside Serbia's National Assembly, illuminating the night's sky, after the president on July 7th announced that a lockdown will be reintroduced due to rising coronavirus numbers.

The Balkan country reported its highest single-day death toll from COVID-19 on July 7th.

Police fired tear gas at thousands of people, some chanting “Resignation! Resignation!" gathered in front of the downtown parliament building in Belgrade.

Some managed to enter the building by force, but were pushed back by riot police.

Earlier, President Aleksandar Vucic called the virus situation in the Serbian capital of Belgrade “alarming” and “critical” as the city's hospitals neared their capacity limits.

Vucic said the government would reimpose a curfew as of July 10th. He said it will "probably" last from 6 p.m. (1600 GMT) on Friday till 5 a.m. (0300 GMT) on Monday.

He also said the groups of no more than five people will be allowed together.

The country’s Health Ministry said on July 7th that 13 people had died in 24 hours in Serbia and 299 new COVID-19 cases were confirmed.

That brought the total to 16,719 confirmed cases and 330 virus-related deaths since the start of the pandemic in Serbia, which went from having one of Europe’s strictest lockdowns to a near-complete reopening at the beginning of May.

***

A new wave of homeless people are struggling to withstand the Argentinean winter cold after being pushed to the streets by an economic crisis worsened by the COVID-19 pandemic lockdown.

With temperatures reaching freezing point, the city of Buenos Aires is distributing blankets, clothing, hot food, and offering homeless people to be taken to a shelter.

Given the increased hardship under a coronavirus lockdown that has lasted over 100 days, more people are finding themselves on the street, and the city has added 1,280 beds to their 43 shelters, adding to a total capacity of over 3,000.

But not all people want to go to the shelter and stay behind braving the cold.

Leandro Benítez, 28, who worked as a food runner at one of the city's most expensive hotels until he was fired at the start of the pandemic, was forced to live on the streets after being unable to pay for rent.

Now he sleeps on the sidewalk with his three-year-old daughter, hoping to find a new job.

"(We are) surviving, going to the soup kitchen, receiving donations from neighbours, getting ahead like that," Benítez said.

For Sabrina Surlys, a veteran supervisor for the Buenos Aires Present program for the homeless, the situation during the pandemic has become more drastic.

"Many of these people are people who have worked all their lives and feel even embarrassed to ask for help," she said.

With the economy in shambles after the lockdown and over 35.5% of the population in poverty, people in Argentina are struggling to put food on their tables, and many are falling further into hardship.

Since the mandatory lockdown that started on March 20, an additional three million Argentines have asked for food assistance, totalling 11 million, according to government figures.

***

Protesters gathered in front of Serbia's Parliament building on July 10th for a fourth day.

It came after two nights of violent protests and clashes with police, and then last night's peaceful demonstrations that were held in Belgrade and several other Serbian towns.

Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic said July 10th he's not worried about losing political power amid large protests against his handling of the coronavirus crisis and hard-line rule, but instead expressed his fear about the spread of the virus among the demonstrators.

***

In the parking lot of a shopping centre in the Colombian town of Mosquera, a drive-in movie theatre has been set up for people to enjoy a cinema experience during the coronavirus pandemic.

A total of 95 vehicles with four occupants are able to enter the drive-in and no minors are allowed, due to strict quarantine rules in place in the town of more than 80,000 inhabitants, located 10 kilometres west of Bogotá.

One of the project organizers, Diana Castillo, said the theatre will hold viewings twice daily.

"To come to the drive-in is more than just see a movie. It's an entire experience. People know they can experience this in total confidence because we have all the biosecurity protocols in place," said Castillo.

Customers can only get out of their vehicles if they need to go to the bathroom, so they can request the drive-in's attendants if they wish to buy anything such as snacks.

***

Ultra-Orthodox protesters confronted Israeli police July 13th in a Jerusalem neighborhood that's under renewed lockdown because of a new surge in coronavirus cases.

About 400 people protested in Jerusalem's Romema neighborhood. Some clashed with police, and a large pile of trash was set on fire.

Israeli police reported at least one arrest.

As Israel grapples with a spike in coronavirus cases, it has begun to impose restrictions on selected towns and neighborhoods with high infection rates.

Many of these areas are ultra-Orthodox and residents there say they are being unfairly singled out.

***

Long lines form every morning in one of the Bolivian cities hardest hit by the pandemic as desperate people wait to buy small bottles of chlorine dioxide, a toxic bleaching agent that has been falsely touted as a cure for the coronavirus.

The rush in the city of Cochabamba to buy a disinfectant known to cause harm to those who ingest it comes even after the Bolivian Health Ministry warned of its dangers.

According the Health Ministry, at least five people had been poisoned after taking chlorine dioxide in La Paz, the capital.

However, Bolivia's opposition-controlled congress is promoting the use of chlorine dioxide.

In the previous week, the Senate approved a bill authorizing the emergency "manufacture, marketing, supply and use of chlorine dioxide solution for the prevention and treatment of coronavirus."

The bill would require the approval of interim President Jeanine Áñez, who is in quarantine after testing positive for the new coronavirus.

She has sparred with opposition lawmakers loyal to Evo Morales, the former leader who was forced to resign last year after an election marred by irregularities.

Many fearful residents in Cochabamba, where opposition support is strong, are giving chlorine dioxide a try.

Cochabamba has reported about 440 deaths from COVID-19, or one-quarter of the total number of reported deaths in Bolivia. The real toll is believed to be higher.

"I know people and family members who have taken it and have been treated with it and they are recovering," said Andrés Poma, a 34-year-old teacher who is sceptical that beleaguered health services can help him if he gets sick.

Federico Anza, who sells chlorine dioxide at his Cochabamba store, said thousands of people had bought it, consuming it in drops.

My wife and I took it and nothing happened to us," he said.

He said his clients had not fallen ill after taking the agent, though provincial health authorities reported 10 cases of poisoning from chlorine dioxide in the past week.

The governor of Cochabamba state, Esther Soria, said she supports a plan for a state law authorizing the use of chlorine dioxide and traditional medicine to treat COVID-19.

Cochabamba's mayor, José María Leyes, said he favours the free distribution of the bleaching agent to treat patients.

In April, a federal judge in South Florida ordered a Colombia-based group, the Genesis II Church of Health and Healing, to stop selling a related product, Miracle Mineral Solution, in the U.S.

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has previously issued public warnings that MMS can cause nausea, vomiting, diarrhoea and severe dehydration.

In April, U.S. President Donald Trump mused about whether disinfectants could be injected or ingested to fight COVID-19, prompting intense blowback from doctors and other health officials.

***

Britain's Prince William paid a visit to a facility for homeless people in Cambridgeshire, east England on July 16th.

The Duke of Cambridge sat down with a group of former rough sleepers to hear how agencies in Peterborough helped during lockdown due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

The Prince was asked by one of the rough sleepers if he had lost weight during lockdown, provoking giggles from the rest of the group, including the Duke, who jested "maybe around the jowls."

The visit is part of Prince William's campaign to raise awareness around homelessness in the UK.

***

THIS YEAR'S NEW TREND TAKES TO THE CATWALK: FACE MASKS

Models wearing a colourful range of face masks walked a runway on July 24th in South Korea’s capital, where health authorities are scrambling to stem a rise in coronavirus infections as people increasingly venture out in public.

Lim Yeon-hee, the chief organizer of the Seoul fashion show, says she hoped to create a cheerful vibe after the nation went through months of gruelling anti-virus campaigns.

“The entire world is in a very difficult situation due to COVID-19,” says Lim, wearing a glittering pink mask matching the style of her out-sized fedora.

“In addition to an economic slump, activities in culture, arts and sports have also been reduced. ... We should all work together to overcome the crisis.”

Similar mask-themed fashion shows have been held in major cities such as Paris and Shanghai.

South Korea’s Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported 41 newly confirmed cases of COVID-19 earlier July 24th, bringing the national caseload to 13,979, including 298 deaths.

The country has been reporting 20 to 60 new cases per day since easing social distancing measures in early May. Most of the infections have come from the densely populated Seoul metropolitan area, where about half of South Korea’s 51 million people live.

***

When the novel coronavirus closed Guatemala's schools in mid-March, teacher Gerardo Ixcoy invested his savings in a secondhand, adult tricycle.

But this is not just transportation.

It's also a mobile classroom, with plastic sheets to protect against virus transmission, a whiteboard and a small solar panel that powers an audio player he uses for some lessons.

The classroom-on-a-trike was born of necessity.

Illiteracy in the area is about 42%.

And in the entire department or province, only about 13% of homes have internet.

"I wanted to help them because they lacked technological tools, such as computers, printers, internet", Ixcoy said.

So each day, the 27-year-old teacher pedals among the cornfields of Santa Cruz del Quiché to give individual instruction to his sixth-grade students.

Ixcoy is known universally as "Lalito 10", a childhood nickname that stuck.

For the kids, the sound of the bicycle's bell announces the classes that break up the monotony of weeks in quarantine.

Ixcoy tries to visit each of his students twice a week. Each time, he deploys a mop to measure the distance between him and his students.

Eleven-year-old Oscar Rojas, wearing a face mask, recently met Ixcoy in the doorway of his home.

The pandemic has really altered Oscar's routine, "because now I'm not receiving normal classes", he said.

"Teacher Lalito only comes for a little while to teach me, but I learn a lot."

Ixcoy recalls his students laughing when they first saw him pedalling into town, but he said the children soon realised he was there to help them.

"I believe they are my engine, the fuel to keep on pedalling to help them learn", he said.

"In the same way they have taught me a lot: they are teaching me how to teach."

***

The biggest test yet of an experimental COVID-19 vaccine got underway on July 27th with the first of some 30,000 Americans rolling up their sleeves to receive shots created by the U.S. government as part of the all-out global race to stop the outbreak.

Final-stage testing of the vaccine, developed by the National Institutes of Health and Moderna Inc., began with volunteers at numerous sites around the U.S. given either a real dose or a dummy without being told which.

"I'm doing it because again, I'm a retired healthcare worker and I understand the challenges COVID-19 has caused our community, state and the whole country," said study participant Karen Juser, a retired nurse.

Juser received an injection in Binghamton, New York.

It will be months before results trickle in, and there is no guarantee the vaccine will ultimately work against the scourge that has killed about 650,000 people around the world, including almost 150,000 in the U.S.

As if to underline how high the stakes are, there were more setbacks in efforts to contain the coronavirus.

In Washington, DC, the Trump administration disclosed that national security adviser Robert O'Brien has the virus - the highest-ranking U.S. official to test positive so far. The White House said he has mild symptoms and "has been self-isolating and working from a secure location off site."

Scientists set speed records getting a made-from-scratch vaccine into such massive testing just months after the coronavirus emerged. But they stressed that the public shouldn't fear that anyone is cutting corners.

"This is a significant milestone," NIH Director Francis Collins said after the very first test injection was given, at 6:45 a.m. in Savannah, Georgia. Iit comes at a remarkably rapid pace compared to the usual pace for vaccine preparation. It is possible to do this because of an all hands on deck effort that has been essentially 24/7 since last January when the SARS - COV2 virus called me to virus first emerged as a worldwide threat."

After volunteers get two doses a month apart, scientists will closely track which group experiences more infections as they go about their daily routines, especially in areas where the virus is spreading unchecked.

The answer probably won't come until November or December, cautioned Dr. Anthony Fauci, NIH's infectious-diseases chief.

Among many questions the study may answer: How much protection does just one dose offer compared with the two scientists think are needed? If it works, will it protect against severe disease or block infection entirely?

Don't expect a vaccine as strong as the measles vaccine, which prevents about 97% of measles infections, Fauci said, adding he would be happy with a COVID-19 vaccine that's 60% effective.

Several other vaccines made by China and by Britain's Oxford University began smaller final-stage tests in Brazil and other hard-hit countries earlier this month. But the U.S. requires its own tests of any vaccine that might be used in the country.

Every month through the fall, the government-funded COVID-19 Prevention Network will roll out a new study of a leading candidate, each with 30,000 volunteers.

The final U.S. study of the Oxford shot is set to begin in August, followed by a candidate from Johnson & Johnson in September and one from Novavax in October. Pfizer Inc. plans its own 30,000-person study this summer.

That's a stunning number of people needed to roll up their sleeves for science. In recent weeks, more than 150,000 Americans filled out an online registry signaling interest, Collins said. But many more are needed.

NIH is working to make sure that the study isn't just filled with healthy, younger volunteers but includes populations hit hardest by COVID-19, including older adults, those in poor health and African-Americans and Latinos.

"Well, this is called warp speed, and this has moved at a pace it's unprecedented that nothing is being done here to compromise the safety of this particular trial or others like it, nor will be compromised on an ultimate conclusion about whether the vaccine is effective." Collins said.

___

The Associated Press Health and Science Department receives support from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute's Department of Science Education. The AP is solely responsible for all content.

***

A church in the Mexican city of Cuernavaca is offering Catholic faithful the chance to attend Mass from the safety of their cars amid the coronavirus pandemic.

For the past two Sundays, the Cuernavaca Diocese has celebrated Mass at a drive-in cinema.

Safety measures such as temperature checks are in place on arrival for attendees, while the congregation can even listen to the service through their car radios if they feel safer not lowering their windows.

When major public events were canceled across Mexico due to virus restriction measures, Mass and other religious services were no exception.

C hurches are now able to reopen their doors, but many people still feel more comfortable attending services where it is easier to maintain distance.

Faithful can attend the drive-in Mass either by contacting the Diocese to receive a registration code or arrive early to see if spaces are available.

On Saturday, Mexico reported yet another new daily high for confirmed cases - 9,556, which raised Mexico's total cases so far to almost 425,000.

The country also posted 784 more confirmed COVID-19 deaths, raising its accumulated total to 47,472.

***

WORLD'S MOST EXPENSIVE CORONAVIRUS FACE MASK WITH A PRICE TAG OF $1.5 MILLION

An Israeli Jewelry company is working on what they say is the world's most expensive coronavirus face mask with a price tag of $1.5 million.

Once completed, Yvel's 18-karat white gold mask encrusted with 3,600 white and black diamonds can be fitted with the top-rated N99 filters, Jerusalem-area designer and owner Isaac Levy said.

Levy said the item was commissioned by a Chinese businessman living in the US on condition that it would be completed by the end of 2020, and that it would be the priciest in the world.

"Money maybe doesn't buy everything, but if it can buy a very expensive COVID-19 mask and the guy wants to wear it and walk around and get the attention, he should be happy with that," Levy said.

The glitzed-up face mask may not be a practical piece of protective equipment to wear, however. It is expected to weigh 270 grams - over half a pound.

"It is the most expensive mask in the world," said Levy "If there will be another company that will create such a mask and will challenge us, I am sure that we're going to find another customer to buy a more expensive mask."

***

Live performers across the country are getting creative as traditional music and live theater venues remain closed during the pandemic.

In San Francisco, home to a vibrant drag show scene, one bar has decided to bring their performers right to their audience's doorstep.

Oasis night club launched its "Meals on Heels" service a few weeks ago.

For a fee, plus tips, drag queens such as Amoura Teese and Kochina Rude will deliver food and cocktails right to your door, followed by a curbside, socially distant sidewalk lip sync performance for you and your neighbors.

On a recent evening, Rude delivered dinner to Kelsie Costa and her family in the city's Marina District and then lip synched the drag show classic "Finally" by CeCe Peniston.

"There's not a lot to do these days with shelter in place and COVID and all that," said Costa. "So gotta spice it up somehow. It's really fun."

Oasis owner D'Arcy Drollinger said it's a way to reconnect with their fans and bring a little joy to those who haven't had much to smile about recently.

"You have the choice, you can either give up, go home and call it a night, or you can put some duct tape on, find a song you don't know that well and go out there and sell the number. That's how I've been looking at this whole thing, is we've got to sell the number. The show must go on," said Drollinger.

It also gives drag performers a chance to make some much needed money and continue their passion.

"Drag is such a beating heart of the city," Rude said. "So it's not only good for us, but it's good for the people around us in our community. I'm inspired by it and I'm honored to be a part of it."

Meals on Heels started as a one-time event, but it's become so popular, Drollinger said they'll continue the service indefinitely until the club is permitted to reopen.

***

Riot police clashed with protesters gathering September 24th at the gates of Madrid's Assembly building, after new coronavirus measures left the Spanish capital's various neighbourhoods with different restrictions.

Health authorities are asking residents to brace for tough weeks as the Spain's cumulative caseload surpassed 700,000.

And controversial restrictions on free movement from the hardest-hit areas of the capital to neighbourhoods emerging with increasingly higher rates of contagion might be extended.

Madrilenians are being asked to justify trips out of 37 neighbourhoods.

More than 850,000 residents have been confined this week to their neighbourhoods unless they have vital business.

The extended region around Madrid, comprising a population of 6.6 million, is struggling to control outbreaks that have hit harder working-class areas with high-density.

Protests have also taken place outside health centres in those areas to demand more resources for primary care medical personnel, who are grappling to test and follow up those suspected of having the virus.

More than 10,600 new infections on September 24th pushed the confirmed tally to 704,209 cases.

The 84 new deaths bring the confirmed toll to 31,118.

***

Over 50,000 flags of Spain have been erected overnight in a Madrid park to pay tribute to victims of COVID-19.

The grassy slopes of the capital's Rome Park were a sea of red and yellow on September 27th after the flags were planted in rows, visible from the city's main circular road.

Volunteers from an association of coronavirus-affected victims are thought to have worked overnight in secrecy to plant the small Spanish flags.

A white ribbon was also laid out by the association, which has been highly critical of the government's handling of the coronavirus outbreak.

One local resident said it was a moving tribute to those who has lost their lives in the pandemic.

Spain has so far been able to prevent a second wave of the virus that has claimed over 31,000 lives in the country.

Spain’s health minister reiterated his plea this weekend for Madrid’s regional authorities to apply more stringent restrictions on mobility in Europe’s worst coronavirus hotspot.

On September 25th, Madrid increased the number of neighborhoods under restrictions that prohibit unnecessary movement outside the area, reduce occupancy in shops and restaurants and close parks.

Those measures apply to around 1 million people of the 3.3 million who live in the capital.

04:22:00

00:00:00

Protest in Brazil against Bolsonaro virus response

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Sao Paulo - 4 July 2020

1. Demonstrator holding a picture of a man who died victim of the new coronavirus, reading "Jorge Campos. COVID-19" and shouting (Portuguese) "Out (Brazilian president) Bolsonaro, out paramilitary"

2. Various of people wearing masks and carrying pictures of people who died because of COVID-19 and pictures of others who died due to the police violence and shouting (Portuguese) "Out Bolsonaro, out paramilitary"

00:12:15

Clown in Peru turns to building coffins amid virus

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ARCHIVE: Lima - 25 May 2019

3. Various of clowns celebrating at a parade in Peru

Lima - 5 July 2020

4. Various of Gianmarco Vargas working in coffin factory

00:24:15

Protesters light flares, try to storm parliament

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Belgrade - 7 July 2020

++QUALITY AS INCOMING++

++NIGHT SHOTS++

5. Various of flares, fireworks and tear gas, as protesters confront riot police outside Serbian House of the National Assembly

00:36:23

Argentinean homeless caught between cold, virus risk

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Buenos Aires - 7 July 2020

++NIGHT SHOTS++

6. Buenos Aires city government workers pile up blankets to be distributed to homeless people

7. Leandro Benítez receives a pack with a blanket, gloves, hat, socks, and a cleaning kit

8. Sabrina Surlys, supervisor for 'Buenos Aires Present' program, distributes hot meals for homeless people

00:48:23

Thousands keep up protest outside Serbia assembly

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Belgrade - 10 July 2020

9. Various of protesters in front of the parliament building

00:56:20

Drive-in cinema offers virus escape in Colombia

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Mosquera, Colombia - 11 July 2020

10. Car in parking lot converted to drive-in cinema, getting instructions from drive-in personnel

11. Drive-in screen and cars

++NIGHT SHOTS++

12. Vehicles at drive-in with screen in background

01:07:02

Ultra-Orthodox Jews and police clash over lockdown

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Jerusalem - 13 July 2020

13. Walking shot of protesters, burning trash, and police at scene blocking road

01:19:20

Fake and toxic virus cure on sale in Bolivia

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Cochabamba - 16 July 2020

14. People waiting in a long queue at Cochabamba main square

15. Vendor wearing personal protective equipment, selling products

16. Andrés Poma showing two white bottles of chlorine dioxide

17. Lab technicians preparing Chlorine Dioxide

01:35:03

Prince William talks to homeless about COVID-19

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Peterborough, UK - 16 July 2020

18. Britain's Prince William arriving

19. Various of William talking to partners and staff of the Light Project Peterborough

01:49:08

This year's new trend takes to the catwalk : face masks

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MUTED AS MUSIC ON CATWALKS NOT CLEARED FOR USE

Seoul - 24 July 2020

20. Various of model wearing fashion mask on stage

02:01:13

Guatemala teacher pedals mobile school to children

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Santa Cruz Del Quiche - 16 July 2020

21. Teacher Gerardo Ixcoy pedalling on his tricycle mobile learning structure

22. Various of Gerardo Ixcoy teaching fractions from his tricycle

23. Gerardo Ixcoy teaching fractions to 11-year-old student Oscar Rojas

02:16:11

Leading US vaccine candidate enters final testing

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Binghamton, New York - 27 July 2020

24. Various of participant Karen Juser getting vaccine

25. Wide of study participant Wade Bardo getting a shot

02:27:18

Mexican church offers drive-in Mass services

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Cuernavaca - 2 August 2020

26. Various of cars parked at a drive-in cinema where Mass is being celebrated

27. Father Tomas Torres Nájera, Vicar of the Diocese of Cuernavaca addressing the congregation

28. Mass attendees in their car singing

02:44:12

World's most expensive coronavirus face mask with a price tag of $1.5 million

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Motza, near Jerusalem - 9 August 2020

29. Various of diamonds encrusted on mask's gold plate

30. Face mask model and parts of 18-karat gold plates encrusted with diamonds

SOUNDBITE (English) Isaac Levy, designer and owner of YVEL: "We're working right now on the most expensive COVID mask, COVID- 19 mask in the world, it's made out of 18 karat white Gold, set with 3600 stones, black and white diamonds for the price of $1.5million USD.

03:11:02

'Meals on Heels' mixes drag, food during virus

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San Francisco - 28 August 2020

31. Oasis night club exterior

32. SOUNDBITE (English) D'Arcy Drollinger, Owner, Oasis:

"How about we'll get a drag queen to deliver food and signature Oasis cocktails? "

33. Drag performer Kochina Rude delivers food to Kelsie Costa and family

03:25:08

Scuffles at Madrid protest against virus management

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Madrid - 24 September 2020

34. Various of riot police clashing with protesters, detaining people

03:51:13

Thousands of Spain flags pay tribute to virus victims

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Madrid - 27 September 2020

35. Pan of thousands of small flags of Spain planted in grounds of city park

36. Sign reading (Spanish) "Justice for the Victims of Coronavirus."

37. SOUNDBITE (Spanish) Honorio Hernandez, Madrid resident and retiree:

"I think it is a beautiful homage to the victims, a lot better than the homage that was given by the Prime Minister. I have been to the Arlington National cemetery and this reminds me of that. These people at the very least deserve this, if not much more."

38. Woman walks up hill amongst flags

U.S. President Donald Trump on October 1st 2020 predicted the "end of the pandemic is in sight."

Trump made the remarks as he addressed the annual Alfred E. Smith dinner on October 1st.

The annual fundraising dinner for Catholic charities was held virtually for the first time because of the COVID-19 outbreak.

The president used the event to defend his Supreme Court nominee Amy Coney Barrett and hailed to contribution of Catholics to American life over the years.

Trump also praised New Yorkers for their 'grit' in the face of the coronavirus pandemic.

***

Joe Biden says President Donald Trump testing positive for coronavirus is a "bracing reminder" of the seriousness of the virus. He also says he's received two coronavirus tests, and both came back negative.

Speaking at an event in Grand Rapids, Michigan, Biden said he received a test in Delaware and one from "the former White House doctor" who came up to Delaware to administer the test, "and everything's clear."

The president said October 2nd that he and his wife, Melania Trump, tested positive for coronavirus. Biden was tested after spending nearly 90 minutes onstage with the president during their debate earlier this week.

Biden said he wished the president and the First Lady a full recovery and that "this is not a matter of politics." Biden said it was a "reminder to all of us that we have to take this virus seriously. It is not going away automatically."

"This cannot be a partisan moment," he said. "It must be an American moment. We have to come together as a nation. I'm running as a Democrat. But I will run and govern as an American president. Whether you voted for me or against me, I will represent you."

Biden delivered the entirety of his remarks wearing a mask.

***

India crossed the mark of 100,000 confirmed COVID-19 deaths on October 3rd, putting the country's toll at nearly 10% of the global fatalities and behind only the United States and Brazil.

The Health Ministry also raised the confirmed caseload to more than 6.4 million with 79,476 new infections.

The grim milestone comes at the heels of a growing crisis for Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his Hindu nationalist government that has been criticised over its handling of the virus and economic impacts that have left millions jobless.

September has been India's worst month with daily cases and fatalities outstripping those in any other country.

Almost 41% of total cases and 34% of COVID-19 deaths were reported in that month alone, with nearly 1,100 people dying every day on average from the virus.

But the overall fatalities are most certainly an undercount, experts say, as deaths may have been attributed to other causes, especially in the early days when testing was extremely low for a country with a population of 1.4 billion.

India's poor track record to register mortality data even before the pandemic has further amplified questions over the actual death toll.

India's first COVID-19 death was reported on March 12. Over the next five months, the disease killed 50,000 people.

The pandemic that has saturated intensive care units and morgues and also contributed to the deaths of medical professionals, including doctors and nurses.

The Indian Medical Association on Friday said at least 500 doctors have died of the coronavirus, adding the toll could be far higher.

The association last month accused the government of "indifference" after it said there was no complete data on the number of front-line health care workers who had contracted the coronavirus and died.

Even as the numbers keep rising, India's senior health officials have used the official COVID-19 fatality rate of 1.56%, which is nearly half of the global one, as evidence of its success in fighting the pandemic and a basis for relaxing restrictions and reopening the economy.

India also has the highest number of recovered patients in the world.

Public health experts say the disorderly lockdown, which led millions of migrant workers to flee from cities to villages, possibly carrying the virus with them, further complicated the fight against the pandemic, undercutting the country's feeble health care system's ability to cope with the rising infections.

Still, India is preparing to reopen cinemas and entertainment parks with limited capacity beginning on October 15th, in an effort to revive the economy.

***

Supporters of President Donald Trump have been camped outside of the military hospital where he has been treated for COVID-19 since October 4th, publicly supporting him and sending him well wishes.

The supporters wave flags and pro-Trump banners to traffic passing by the Walter Reed Medical Center. Loud music blares from speakers along the sidewalk.

Trump said October 5th he's leaving the hospital and will continue his recovery at the White House.

He said he's feeling good and despite his attack the nation should not be afraid of the virus that has killed more than 209,000 Americans.

Trump's expected return comes after he has received an exceptionally aggressive course of treatment and a standard of care well above what is available to average Americans.

His doctor, Navy Cdr. Sean Conley, said the president would not be fully out of the woods for another week, but he said Trump had "met or exceeded all standard hospital discharge criteria."

On October 4th, Trump briefly ventured out of the hospital while contagious to salute cheering supporters by motorcade - an outing that disregarded precautions meant to contain the virus.

Less than one month before Election Day, Trump was eager to project strength despite his illness. The still-infectious president surprised supporters who had gathered outside the hospital, riding by Sunday in a black SUV with the windows rolled up. Secret Service agents inside the vehicle could be seen in masks and other protective gear.

White House officials said Trump was anxious to be released after three nights at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center, where doctors revealed on Sunday that his blood oxygen level had dropped suddenly twice in recent days and that they gave him a steroid typically only recommended for the very sick.

Trump's experience with the disease has been dramatically different from most Americans, who do not have access to the same kind of monitoring and care. While most must cope with their symptoms - and fear of whether they'll take a turn for the worse - at home and alone, Trump has been staying in the presidential suite of one of the nation's best hospitals and has been given experimental drugs not readily available to the public. He returns to the White House where there is a team of doctors on call with 24-hour monitoring.

***

US President Donald Trump briefly left the hospital October 4th in his car to wave to supporters gathered outside.

The president's visit came shortly after he promised his supporters “a surprise” in a video posted a video on social media.

“It’s been a very interesting journey," Trump said in the video.

"I learned a lot about COVID. I learned it by really going to school. This is the real school. This isn’t the let’s read the books school. And I get it, and I understand it. And it’s a very interesting thing.”

Earlier in the day, Trump's doctor said he “continued to improve” and suggested he could be discharged as early as Monday.

***

At one of Argentina's favourite holiday beach resorts, Mar del Plata, 504 small national flags were planted in honour of local people who have died of COVID-19 as the pandemic continues to spread from the country's capital to the interior provinces.

A group of anonymous neighbours planted the flags on Bristol beach, one of the city's central and best-known beaches, to draw attention to the rising numbers of COVID-19 victims.

While the number of infections and deaths begin to go down in the city of Buenos Aires and its metropolitan area, the pandemic is spreading to the interior just two months from the start of the summer season, when hundreds of thousands of tourists normally flock to the beaches.

Authorities haven't clarified yet what measures will be taken during the holiday season.

Argentina has reported more than 840,000 cases of the new coronavirus and 22,226 deaths.

***

Police officers carried out checks on October 9th in Madrid to ensure those living in the city were adhering to restrictions imposed by the government to curb the spread of the coronavirus.

Spain's government declared a state of emergency in the capital after it wresting control of efforts to fight the spread of COVID-19 from local authorities in a region that is experiencing one of Europe's most significant coronavirus outbreaks.

The step, which took immediate effect and lasts for two weeks, forced Madrid authorities to restore restrictions on travel that had been introduced by the national government but were struck down the previous day by a Madrid court ruling.

That successful legal challenge by Madrid officials was part of a long quarrel between the country's main political parties over their coronavirus response.

The central government's measures prohibit all nonessential trips in and out of the capital and nine of its suburbs, affecting some 4.8 million people.

Spain's interior minister said that more than 7,000 police officers would be deployed to ensure the restrictions are observed.

But Madrid's conservative regional government opposed those restrictions, saying they were draconian and hurt the economy claiming their more moderate measures were enough to fight COVID-19.

***

Hundreds of people gathered in the Italian capital on October 10th to protest against recent measures the government has adopted to control the spread of COVID-19 in the country.

Italy is struggling with a resurgence of coronavirus infections, after winning international praise for having tamed the virus with a strict 10-week lockdown and instituted a careful, conservative reopening and contact-tracing effort, when summer vacation travelers created new clusters.

Protesters complained about new measures including a order for all Italians to wear masks outdoors or face fines of up to 1,000 euros ($1,200).

The Italian Health Ministry reported another 5,724 cases in the last 24 hours and 29 deaths. Most cases were asymptomatic and determined through increased testing - more than 133,000 in the period.

Most of the new cases are in Lombardy in the north, which tallied 1,140 new infections, followed by Campania, which includes Naples, and Veneto.

Italy has reached totals of nearly 350,000 confirmed cases and 36,140 deaths.

***

Dozens of people gathered in Prague's Old Town Square on October 18th for an outdoor Catholic mass.

Currently, indoor gatherings are limited to six people in the Czech Republic.

The priest leading the service said that while he understood the importance of the rules, "since the number of ill and severely ill is growing," it was "absurd" that other groups could meet in larger numbers.

"For instance political parties can gather with up to 100 people, but we are only allowed to pray in the church with six people. That is nonsense," said Jiri Korda.

On October 16th, coronavirus infections in the Czech Republic surpassed 10,000 in one day for the first time.

The Health Ministry said the day-to-day-increase of the new confirmed cases surged to 11,105.

It is almost 1,400 more than the previous record set a day earlier.

The country has registered a total of 160,112 cases, including 1,283 deaths.

After a series of new restrictive measures adopted by the government to slow down the surge, Health Minister Roman Prymula said he still expected a rise of those tested positive for about two weeks.

***

Czech police on October 18th used tear gas and a water cannon to disperse hundreds of protesters, who attacked them after a rally Sunday in Prague against government restrictions to slow the spread of coronavirus infections.

Police rescue services said at least 20 were injured in the clashes, which erupted after a few thousand people, including soccer and ice hockey fans, rallied at Old Town Square to condemn the restrictions that include the ban of sports competitions and closure of bars and restaurants.

Public gatherings of more than six are also banned but up to 500 people are allowed to demonstrate if they are divided into separated groups of 20 and wear face masks.

Many of the demonstrators had no face coverings. After police said their number surpassed 500, the organizers ended the rally.

But some protesters remained and the square, throwing flares, beer bottles, stones and various other objects at riot police.

The Czech Republic has been facing a record surge in coronavirus infections in recent weeks.

***

DUKE AND DUCHESS OF CAMBRIDGE MEET FRONTLINE STAFF AT ST BARTHOLOMEW'S HOSPITAL IN LONDON

The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge celebrated the launch of the "Hold Still" exhibition October 20th by meeting one of the photographers featured.

They met with Joyce Duah, who is an on site oncology pharmacist at St Bartholomew's hospital in central London - her photo "All in this Together" was selected for the exhibition.

They also chatted with her colleagues Amelia Chowdhury and Dipal Samuel, who are the subject of the photo.

"Hold Still" is a community photography project started by the Duchess in May, she invited people to submit a photo they had taken during lockdown, to be exhibited in various locations across the country.

***

A coronavirus testing laboratory in Rhineland-Palatinate said it was nearing its capacity as Germany's infection numbers have been increasing in the past weeks.

Bioscientia is the largest medical laboratory in Rhineland-Palatinate and one of four performance centers for COVID-19 diagnostics in Germany. 

It was the first institution in Rhineland-Palatinate to set up an outpatient smear clinic, and several thousand tests for the coronavirus are carried out daily.

The Robert Koch Institute, the country’s disease control center, says 7,595 new cases were registered on October 21st.

The number of new cases per 100,000 over the last seven days has risen to 51.3.

German states are imposing stricter coronavirus restrictions as the numbers of new infections continue to rise across the country.

The country's most populous state, North Rhine-Westphalia, announced that all students from fifth grade up will have to start wearing masks in class when they return from the fall break on Monday.

The measure's expected to remain in place until at least the Christmas break, authorities said.

***

The Czech army is finishing setting up the first COVID-19 field hospital in Prague with a capacity of 500 beds and 10 intensive care units.

The new hospital will be ready to accept patients by the upcoming weekend, according to the military.

It was set up as a backup facility to serve Prague hospitals in case they become inundated with coronavirus patients.

A series of restrictive measures imposed by the Czech government to slow a record surge of the virus in recent weeks have failed to make a difference.

In another desperate attempt to turn things around, health minister Roman Prymula announced on October 21st a ban on free movement of people in the Czech Republic and a closure of many stores, shopping malls and hotels.

At the same time, state offices will limit their opening hours.

Approved earlier, the country also returned on Wednesday to mandatory wearing of face coverings outdoors and in the cars.

The 7-day rolling average of daily new cases in the Czech Republic has risen over the past two weeks from 29.59 new cases per 100,000 people on October 6th to 85.64 new cases per 100,000 people on October 2th.

***

On its second night of curfew, Milan's main streets and piazzas remained empty.

In the financial capital of the country known for its bustling nightlife, the city's streets were left silent on October 24th.

Restaurants, bars and theatres remained closed, with everyone told to return to their homes by 11pm.

Buses and trams continued to run with almost no passengers, as the night service continued to operate for those who needed to travel for emergency or work reasons.

Italy, where the pandemic surfaced in Europe in February, has surpassed 500,000 confirmed COVID-19 cases.

Trying to devise a strategy to rein in the galloping contagion, government officials were huddling with regional authorities on Saturday to determine what new restrictions could be imposed on the country.

Premier Giuseppe Conte has said he doesn't want to put Italy under severe lockdown again, as he did at the pandemic's start.

In past days, several governors have ordered overnight curfews in their regions in a bid to stop people from congregating at night outside bars and other social venues.

Lombardy, of which Milan is part and where the outbreak has been most devastating, registered more than double the number of daily new cases than any other region.

The nation's confirmed death toll, second highest in Europe after Britain's, rose to 37,210, after 151 more deaths.

***

Police fired water cannon at protesters in Rome on October 27th after hundreds gathered in the Italian capital to vent their anger over the latest measures aimed at curbing the spread of COVID-19.

Footage showed protesters hurling what appeared to be flares towards the police.

They were protesting against new restrictions that have forced restaurants and cafes to close early and shuttered cinema, gyms and other leisure venues.

The government imposed at least a month of new restrictions across the country Sunday to fight rising coronavirus infections.

Italy has surpassed half a million confirmed coronavirus cases since February, when it became the first country in Europe stricken by the pandemic.

***

A few hundred people took to the streets of Paris to protest the French government's new lockdown and curfew measures aimed at curbing the spread of the virus.

Mostly young men, some with yellow vests, walked through traffic calling on drivers and passers-by to join them in their fight against what they said were unfair and antidemocratic rules.

The customers of the brasseries and restaurants along the route looked on, hardly distracted by the rowdy crowd.

It was time for last orders.

France prepared October 29th to shut down again for a month to try to put the brakes on the fast-moving coronavirus.

Most said they were ready to restrict their freedoms given the rising number of virus-related deaths and COVID-19 patients filling French hospitals.

The new lockdown is gentler than what France saw in the spring, but still a shock to restaurants and other non-essential businesses ordered to close their doors in one of the world's biggest economies.

COVID-19 patients now fill 60% of French intensive care units, and France reported 244 virus-related deaths in a single day October 28th, for a total of 35,785 since the pandemic began, among the world's highest reported tolls.

***

French Opera singer Stephane Senechal sang the country's national anthem from his window on the first day of a second national lockdown.

Senechal became popular on social media during the first confinement when he started singing classic and opera songs to entertain his neighbours.

To mark the beginning of the second confinement and pay tribute to the victims of the terrorist attack in Nice where three churchgoers were killed he choose to sing 'la Marseillaise'.

Speaking to the Associated Press on his choice of song he said that the anthem represents courage and strength.

"It's a freedom song. And I think about the victims when I sing it. And there are three types of victims in this moment. The victims of the virus, those who are victims of the confinement because they lost their jobs and the victims of terrorism", he said.

France entered into its second lockdown on Friday, which is expected to last for the next four weeks.

The country is also experiencing a period of heightened national security due to a terror attack on October 29th which killed three people.

***

Police were patrolling the streets of Lisbon in the early hours of November 10th as Portugal entered a state of emergency, with curfews imposed in the areas worst hit by the COVID-19 pandemic.

For at least two weeks, some seven million people, around 70 percent of the country's population, must remain at home on weekdays between 11 p.m. (2300 GMT) and 5 a.m. (0500 GMT).

At weekends, they cannot leave home after 1 p.m. (1300 GMT).

Restaurants, bars and other businesses have to close early.

On the first night of curfew, police officers across Lisbon set up road checkpoints to control drivers after 11 p.m. and controlled a few neighborhoods making sure people were aware of the new rules with businesses closing on time.

Exemptions include workers going to or returning from work.

The government has warned that the state of emergency, which grants authorities special powers, could be prolonged and measures may be tightened if the spread of the new coronavirus does not slow.

The number of cases and hospital admissions has climbed sharply in recent weeks.

***

Pfizer Inc. said November 9ththat its COVID-19 vaccine may be a remarkable 90% effective, based on early and incomplete test results that nevertheless brought widespread optimism.

Pfizer, which is developing the vaccine with its German partner BioNTech, now is on track to apply later this month for emergency-use approval from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, once it has the necessary safety information in hand.

Still, November 9th's announcement doesn't mean for certain that a vaccine is imminent.

This interim analysis, from an independent data monitoring board, looked at 94 infections recorded so far in a study that has enrolled nearly 44,000 people in the US and five other countries.

***

Hundreds of drones lit up Seoul's night sky on November 13th, forming colorful pictograms and messages of hope.

Organized by South Korean government, more than 300 drones flew over the Seoul Olympic Park.

This was the second drone flash mob event this year, aimed at invigorating and encouraging the public to overcome the economic difficulties and COVID-19 challenges.

More than 120 of new cases were reported Friday in densely populated Seoul metropolitan area, where officials have struggled to stem transmissions tied to various places, including hospitals, nursing homes, churches, schools, restaurants and offices.

***

German police fired water cannon at demonstrators in Berlin on November 18th during a protest against coronavirus restrictions.

Police said the crowd had refused to listen to their orders to wear face masks and keep their distance from one another in line with regulations.

As the water cannon opened up outside the landmark Brandenburg Gate, police in riot gear moved through the crowd carrying away some protesters.

Thousands of people were demonstrating against the restrictions as lawmakers debated a bill that would strengthen official powers to impose further measures.

***

Hundreds of bodies are still being stored in freezer trucks at a disaster morgue set up during New York City's coronavirus surge in the spring, according to the city's Office of Chief Medical Examiner.

Many of the 650 bodies at the disaster morgue on the Brooklyn waterfront are of people whose families can't be located or can't afford a proper burial, officials said.

The unit tasked with identifying bodies is set up to handle about 20 deaths a day, but during the peak of the pandemic it received as many as 200 a day, Aden Naka, deputy director of forensic investigations, told the Wall Street Journal.

Normally, the deceased would have been buried within a few weeks in a gravesite for the indigent on Hart Island in the Long Island Sound. But as COVID-19 deaths surged in New York in April, with as many as 800 deaths in one day, Mayor Bill de Blasio pledged that mass burials in temporary graves wouldn't take place.

The medical examiner's office is having trouble finding relatives of about 230 deceased people, officials said. When next of kin have been contacted, many bodies haven't been collected because families haven't arranged burial for financial reasons, nor have they requested free burial on Hart Island.

The city is slowly reducing the number of bodies in storage, with the number declining from 698 to 650 since mid-September, according to Dina Maniotis, the chief medical examiner's office's executive deputy commissioner.

New York state has reported at least 34,187 deaths of people due to COVID-19, according to data from John Hopkins University & Medicine. And at least 6,600 residents have died in nursing homes, according to state data, which doesn't state how many nursing home residents died in hospitals.

***

Belgium is set to become a hub for distributing the vaccines across the European continent and also into Africa, as companies prepare to ship vaccines for the coronavirus.

At Brussels Airport, Koen Gouweloose, the CEO of Swissport Cargo Services told The Associated Press during a tour of his company's facilities that "what we expect is that there will be a huge volume coming through."

Vaccine doses, from companies within Europe and from outside, will be temporarily stored there at sub-zero temperatures before they're shipped out by road, rail or air.

Belgium is host to a number of big pharmaceutical companies, is home to the headquarters of the European Union, and borders four EU countries.

"We are prepared, everything is done, tested," Gouweloose said.

Brussels Airport is also a major transport hub for Africa

Vaccinations against the coronavirus could start in the 27 European Union nations by Christmas and member countries must urgently prepare their logistical chains to cope with the rollout of hundreds of millions of doses of the vaccines, according to a top EU official.

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen also told EU lawmakers Wednesday that "the first European citizens might already be vaccinated before the end of December."

The commission, the EU's executive arm, has agreements with six potential vaccine suppliers and is working on a seventh contract.

The deals allow it to purchase over 800 million doses, more than the population of the bloc, which stands at around 460 million people.

Some vaccines would require two doses to be effective.

***

The American drugmaker Pfizer said December 2nd it would immediately begin shipping its COVID-19 vaccine to the UK, after British regulators gave its approval to the drug.

A refrigerated truck was seen leaving a Pfizer factory in Belgium, following the UK's announcement earlier on December 2nd that the vaccine had been authoritised for emergency use.

The move makes Britain the first western country to license the vaccine.

The British government said it expected to receive the vaccine "within days".

***

Thousands of doctors, teachers and others in high-risk groups signed up for COVID-19 vaccinations in Moscow with the programme starting on December 5th, a precursor to a sweeping Russia-wide immunisation effort.

Three days prior President Vladimir Putin ordered the launch of a "large-scale" COVID-19 immunisation campaign, even though a Russian-designed vaccine has yet to complete the advanced studies needed to ensure its effectiveness and safety in line with established scientific protocols.

The Russian leader said on December 2nd that more than 2 million doses of the Sputnik V jab will be available in the next few days, allowing authorities to offer jabs to medical workers and teachers across the country starting late next week.

Moscow, which currently accounts for about a quarter of the country's new daily infections, moved ahead of the curve, opening 70 vaccination facilities on December 5th.

Doctors, teachers and municipal workers were invited to book a time to receive a jab, and Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin said that about 5,000 signed up in a few hours after the system began operating on December 4th.

Russia boasted that Sputnik V was the world's "first registered COVID-19 vaccine" after the government gave it regulatory approval in early August.

The move drew criticism from international experts, who pointed out that the vaccine had only been tested on several dozen people at the time.

Putin has shrugged off doubts about it, saying in August that one of his daughters was among the early vaccine recipients.

Over the past months, Sputnik V has been offered to medical workers and teachers, even as it was still in the middle of advanced trials.

Several top officials said they also have received the jabs, and earlier this week the Russian military began vaccinating crews of navy ships scheduled to depart on a mission.

Health Minister Mikhail Murashko said Wednesday that more than 100,000 people in Russia already have received the shots.

The free vaccine is offered to people aged 18 to 60 who don't suffer from chronic illnesses and aren't pregnant or breastfeeding.

The two-shot Sputnik V was developed by the Moscow-based Gamaleya Institute.

An advanced study among 40,000 volunteers was announced two weeks after the vaccine received government approval and that is still ongoing.

in November, developers of the vaccine said interim analysis of trial data showed it was 91.4% effective.

The conclusion was based on 39 infections among 18,794 study participants that received both doses of either the vaccine or a placebo, which is a much lower number of infections than Western drugmakers have looked at when assessing the effectiveness of their vaccines.

Two other Russia-designed vaccines are also undergoing tests.

Russia has been swept with a resurgence of the outbreak in the fall, with the number of new infections exceeding the levels recorded early in the pandemic, but the authorities so far have refrained from a tight lockdown imposed in the spring.

On December 5th, Russia reported a new record high of daily infections at 28,782, including 7,993 in Moscow.

The government task force has recorded a total of 42,684 virus-related deaths since the start of the outbreak.

Russia's total of over 2.4 million confirmed cases is currently the fourth-largest caseload in the world behind the United States, India and Brazil.

***

A COVID-19 vaccine for widespread use in the United States began being pulled out of a Pfizer manufacturing plant in Michigan on December 13th, with the shots that are critical to stopping the nation's coronavirus outbreak destined to reach states a day later.

The vaccines were being removed from freezers and packed into special containers, ahead of distribution to hubs across the US.

Shipments of the Pfizer vaccine will set in motion the biggest vaccination effort in American history at a critical juncture of the pandemic that has killed 1.6 million and sickened 71 million worldwide.

Initially, about 3 million doses were expected to be sent out, and the priority is health care workers and nursing home residents as infections, hospitalizations and deaths soar in the US.

***

Austria has been training dogs to sniff out COVID-positive people for almost a year and on December 14th, army specialists presented one of their canine virus detectors to the public for the first time.

During training, Belgian shepherd dog "Fantasy forever vom Seethalblick" was able to scan 250 samples in 10 minutes according to Colonel Otto Koppitsch, who heads Austria's Military Dog Centre in Kaisersteinbruch.

"The nose of a dog is able to detect COVID-positive material and point it out," he said.

By early 2021 the military hopes to have completed the training of its new sniffer dogs.

The dogs could be deployed at international airports where test results are needed immediately and passengers can't wait for the results of regular tests.

How exactly dogs are able to detect the virus is still a mystery - one possibility is that they are sensing not the virus itself but biological messengers of the immune response of infected people.

***

Britain's Prince Charles and Camilla, Duchess of Cornwall, on December 17th visited a re-purposed COVID-19 vaccine ward at Gloucestershire Royal Hospital.

The ward, named the Edward Jenner COVID-19 Vaccination Hub, will be used as a part of the UK's coronavirus vaccination program, which began on December 8.

The royals toured the facility, before unveiling a plaque commemorating their visit.

Prince Charles had already contracted COVID-19 in March 2020, and commented to staff at the unit that he already has antibodies for the virus.

***

The coronavirus pandemic hasn't made life on the streets of Berlin any easier for Kaspars Breidaks.

For three months, the 43-year-old Latvian has faced shelters operating at reduced capacity so that people can be kept at a safe distance from one another, and a reduced ability to raise money from panhandling or collecting bottles with fewer people on the streets.

But on a chilly winter morning this week he found himself with a free hot meal and a place to warm up, after the German capital's biggest restaurant, the Hofbraeu Berlin, itself closed down due to coronavirus lockdown restrictions, shifted gears to help the homeless.

Breidaks said other homeless people at the train station had told him about the place.

Patterned after the famous beerhall of the same name in Munich, the idea of opening up the shuttered Bavarian-style beerhall near the city's landmark Alexanderplatz square to the homeless came from an employee who volunteers at a shelter.

It was a clear win-win situation, said Hofbraeu manager Bjoern Schwarz, to help out the homeless during tough times, while also giving much needed work to employees and income to the restaurant through the city-funded meals.

In cooperation with the city and two welfare organizations, the restaurant quickly developed a concept to take in up to 150 homeless in two shifts every day until the end of the winter and started serving meals on Tuesday.

It's only a small fraction of the 3,000 restaurant guests, primarily tourists, who frequently pack the establishment during good times, but the spacious halls have proved perfectly suited to bring in the homeless and give them each plenty of space to avoid infections.

For its new clientele, the restaurant opened a second-floor, wooden-decorated hall, put up forty long tables, where up to two people can sit at an appropriate distance.

"We'll offer them something different from the regular soup kitchen food, real dishes on porcelain plates, with different sides, we'll try to offer Christmas-style dishes with lot of flavors," Schwarz said.

Breidaks came to Berlin looking for work, but his job never materialized and he was left on the streets begging to try and raise enough money to replace a stolen passport and for a bus ticket back home.

He's one of an estimated 2,000 to 12,000 people living without a place to sleep in this city of 3.6 million.

Another 34,000 homeless have been put up in community shelters, hostels and apartments by the city's social services and private welfare groups.

According to Elke Breitenbach, the Berlin state government's senator for social issues whose department supports the restaurant-turned-shelter financially, the pandemic has seriously worsened the situation.

"So much has disappeared for the homeless people. So, fewer people are out and about," she said. "You can collect less and less bottles. Also with begging, they just get less money."

"They don't have enough to eat and when it's cold they must have places to warm up," Breitenbach added.

***

For some people it was business as usual in the streets of Mexico City on December 19th, despite the city returning to a lockdown that allows only basic services to operate from the weekend.

Many visited the city centre, a popular tourist spot and a hub for supplies for workshops and small industries in the Mexican capital.

Gustavo Bello, a tattoo artist, went to find last minute supplies for the upcoming weeks.

"(I agree with the measures) because it is really necessary, we need to have control of the disease and that people are aware," Bello said.

Authorities introduced several checkpoints to reduce access without fully restricting it.

Mexico City Mayor Claudia Sheinbaum announced three weeks of new restrictions, after weeks of increased COVID-19 cases and as hospitals continue to fill.

Gatherings are not allowed, but the government did not mention any specific plans to prevent residents from doing so.

Mexico has seen more than 1.3 million confirmed coronavirus cases nationwide, with 117,248 deaths related to COVID-19.

Due to the low level of testing, authorities acknowledge the real death toll is probably closer to 150,000.

***

Workers on December 20th began packaging shipments of the second COVID-19 vaccine authorized in the US, a desperately needed boost to efforts to bring the coronavirus pandemic under control.

The much-needed shots developed by Moderna and the National Institutes of Health are expected to start being administered on December 21st, just three days after the Food and Drug Administration authorised their emergency rollout.

Later on December 20th, an expert committee will debate who should be next in line for early doses of the Moderna vaccine and a similar one from Pfizer and Germany’s BioNTech.

Pfizer's shots were first shipped out a week ago and started being used the next day, kicking off the nation’s biggest vaccination drive.

***

President-elect Joe Biden on December 21st received his first dose of the coronavirus vaccine on live television as part of a growing effort to convince the American public the inoculations are safe.

The president-elect took a dose of Pfizer vaccine at a hospital not far from his Delaware home, hours after his wife, Jill Biden, did the same. The injections came the same day that a second vaccine, produced by Moderna, will start arriving in states. It joins Pfizer's in the nation's arsenal against the COVID-19 pandemic, which has now killed more than 317,000 people in the United States and upended life around the globe.

"I'm ready," said Biden, who was administered the dose at a hospital in Newark, Delaware, and declined the option to count to three before the needle was inserted into his left arm. "I'm doing this to demonstrate that people should be prepared when it's available to take the vaccine. There's nothing to worry about."

The president-elect praised the health care workers and said President Donald Trump's administration "deserves some credit getting this off the ground." And Biden urged Americans to wear masks during the upcoming Christmas holiday and not travel unless necessary.

Other top government officials last week joined the first wave of Americans to be inoculated against COVID-19 as part of the largest vaccination campaign in the nation's history.

The CDC's Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices has said the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine, which was the first to receive authorization, "is safe and likely efficacious" for people who have been infected with COVID-19 and "should be offered regardless of history of prior symptomatic or asymptomatic SARS-CoV-2 infection."

While there is no recommended minimum wait time between infection and vaccination, because reinfection is uncommon in the three months after a person is infected, the committee said people who tested positive in the preceding 90 days "may delay vaccination until near the end of this period, if desired."

***

The South African Medical Association (SAMA) called for new lockdown restrictions on December 28th as the country's COVID-19 spike reached 1 million confirmed cases on Sunday.

President Cyril Ramaphosa called an emergency meeting on December 27th of the National Coronavirus Command Council.

The country's new variant of the coronavirus, 501.V2, is more contagious and has quickly become dominant in many areas of the resurgence, according to experts.

With South Africa's hospitals reaching capacity and no sign of the new surge reaching a peak, Ramaphosa is expected to announce a return to restrictive measures designed to slow the spread of the disease.

SAMA says hospitals are struggling to cope with the influx of patients.

***

Chinese health regulators said on December 31st that they had given conditional approval to a coronavirus vaccine developed by state-owned Sinopharm.

Chen Shifei, the deputy commissioner of the National Medical Products Administration, said at a news conference in Beijing that the decision had been made the previous night.

"For the vaccines that are urgently needed for responding to major public health emergency, the national drug administration can approve the registration application with conditions," said Chen.

The inactivated, two-dose vaccine is the first one approved for general use in China.

The go-ahead comes as the country carries out a campaign to vaccinate 50 million people before a major holiday for the Lunar New Year in February.

The vaccine was developed by the Beijing Institute of Biological Products, a subsidiary of state-owned conglomerate Sinopharm.

The company announced Wednesday that preliminary data from last-stage trials had shown it to be 79.3% effective.

Final proof of its effectiveness will depend on publication of more data.

Sinopharm is one of at least five Chinese developers that are in a global race to create vaccines for the disease that has killed more than 1.8 million people.

Conditional approval means that research is still ongoing, and the regulators can request more safety and effectiveness data about certain populations with different health profiles, Tao Lina, a former government immunologist, said at the news conference.

Usually, it means that the drug or product in question may be restricted for certain age groups, he said.

Being asked about the price of the vaccine at the press conference, Zheng Zhongwei, a National Health Commission official said that it will be "in the limit of what people can afford," without giving a particular price.

The Beijing Institute vaccine is already under mass production, though officials did not answer questions about current production capacity.

"Production capacity is a dynamic and continuous process," said Mao Junfeng, Vice Director of the Department of Industry of Consumer Products of the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology.

***

French police manned checkpoints in Paris ahead of midnight on December 31st, as the country's coronavirus restrictions continued into the new year.

While the country has not instituted a national lockdown, rising cases have prompted a national curfew of 8 p.m to 6 a.m, while venues in the capital remained closed.

06:01:20

00:00:00

Trump: 'End of the pandemic is in sight'

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POOL

Washington - 1st October 2020

1. SOUNDBITE (English) Donald Trump, U.S. President:

" And I just want to say that the end of the pandemic is in sight and next year will be one of the greatest years in the history of our country."

00:08:08

Biden urges Americans: 'Be patriotic,' wear masks

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POOL

Grand Rapids, Michigan - 2 October 2020

2. Democratic Presidential Nominee Joe Biden walks up to podium

3. SOUNDBITE (English) Joe Biden, (D) Presidential Nominee:

"We have to do our part to be responsible. It means following the science, listening to the experts, washing our hands, social distancing. It means wearing a mask in public and means encouraging others to do so as well."

00:23:03

Burials in Delhi as virus deaths reach 100.000

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New Delhi - 3 October 2020

4. Grave digger being sprayed with sanitizer

5. Relatives and workers carry body, holding ropes and lowering body into grave

00:32:16

Trump fans gather outside of military hospital

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Bethesda, Maryland - 5 October 2020

6. Trump supporters wave flag and signs in front of Walter Reed Medical Center

7. Close-up flowers in front of sign

00:40:05

Trump drive-by outside hospital, greets supporters

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Bethesda - 4 October 2020

8. Continuous shot of US President Donald Trump during drive-by outside hospital, supporters cheering

00:50:19

Hundreds of Argentine flags to honor virus deaths

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ASSOCIATED PRESS

Mar del Plata, about 400 kilometers south of Buenos Aires - 8 October 2020

9. Hundreds of Argentine flags planted on Bristol beach

10. Mar del Plata resident Cecilia planting a flag

00:58:19

Police enforce Madrid virus state of emergency

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ASSOCIATED PRESS

Madrid - 9 October 2020

11. Various of police stopping cars

01:07:11

Far-right supporters protest virus restrictions in Italy

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Rome - 10 October 2020

12. Fake skull with face mask (Italian) reading: "I'm dead because of COVID but because I starved."

13. Demonstrators with letters in background reading: "Sovereignty"

14. Woman holding banner (Italian) reading: "It's a dictatorship, not a pandemic"

01:18:14

Dozens gather in Prague for outdoor Catholic mass

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Prague - 18 October 2020

15. Various of people gathering for an outdoor Catholic mass

01:26:15

Anti-lockdown measures demo turns violent in Prague

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ASSOCIATED PRESS

Prague - 18 October 2020

16. Various of violent demonstration, fireworks exploding, tear gas

17. Man being grabbed and beaten by riot police

01:38:12

Duke and Duchess of Cambridge meet frontline staff at St Bartholomew's hospital in London

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London, 20 October 2020

18. Duke and Duchess talking to frontline staff and photographer Joyce Duah

01:46:14

Virus testing lab in Germany 'nearing capacity'

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ASSOCIATED PRESS

Ingelheim - 21 October 2020

19. Laboratory

20. Lab workers

01:54:14

Czech army sets up 500 bed field hospital

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ASSOCIATED PRESS

Prague, Czech Republic - 22 October 2020

21. Wide of field hospital

22. Wide of tents

02:02:07

Milan's main streets and piazzas remained empty

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ASSOCIATED PRESS

Milan - 25 October 2020

++NIGHT SHOTS++

23. Empty street

24. Inside of empty tram

02:10:01

Water cannons at Rome protest against virus rules

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ASSOCIATED PRESS

Rome - 27 October 2020

25. Various of water cannon moving in to disperse anti-lockdown protesters

02:18:02

Hundreds of Parisians protest lockdown in streets

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ASSOCIATED PRESS

Paris - 29 October 2020

26. Wide of protesters walking down street with one holding flare in the air

27. Pan of protesters pushing rubbish containers onto street

02:26:01

Paris hears window national anthem from opera singer

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ASSOCIATED PRESS

Paris - 30 October 2020

28. Wide of Stephane's building

29. UPSOUND (French) Stephane Senechal singing 'La Marseillaise'

02:35:09

Police patrol Lisbon as new measures take effect

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ASSOCIATED PRESS

Lisbon - 10 November 2020

30. Police checkpoint in the middle of Liberty Avenue

31. Police officer checking documents of driver

02:43:09

Various exteriors of BioNTech plant in Mainz

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ASSOCIATED PRESS

Mainz - 9 November 2020

32. Various exteriors of BioNTech plant

02:51:10

Drones light up Seoul sky in message of hope

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ASSOCIATED PRESS

Seoul -13 November 2020

++NIGHT SHOTS++

33. Various of drones rising

34. Various of drones forming the shape of the coronavirus and images of people wearing masks

35. Various of drones forming the shape of heart and hashtag, which thanks South Korean people for helping to contain the coronavirus

03:08:05

Police fire water cannon at Berlin virus protest

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ASSOCIATED PRESS

Berlin - 18 November 2020

36. Various of water cannon being used on protesters

03:18:17

COVID bodies still in trucks at Brooklyn pier

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ASSOCIATED PRESS

New York - 24 November 2020

37. 39th Street pier lot with trucks in the distance that may contain bodies of victims who died of COVID-19 during the spring outbreak

38. Wide of lot entrance

03:26:21

ONLY ON AP Belgium to become vaccine hub

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ASSOCIATED PRESS

Machelen, Belgium - 25 November 2020

39. Close of worker unloading a box from the truck with a forklift

40. Close of dry ice being poured into a box

41. Close of demonstration boxes being loaded into the refrigerated container

03:38:15

Exteriors of Pfizer manufacturing plant in Belgium

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ASSOCIATED PRESS

Puurs, Belgium - 2 December 2020

42. Exterior view of Pfizer manufacturing plant

43. Truck labelled Temperature Controlled Logistics departing from factory

03:46:14

Authorities begin distributing SputnikV vaccine

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ASSOCIATED PRESS

Moscow- 5 December 2020

44. Nurse showing vaccine to cameras

45. Close of nurse injecting vaccine in woman

03:55:22

Virus vaccine out of freezers for US distribution

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Kalamazoo, Michigan - 13 December 2020

46. Various of freezers storing Pfizer's COVID-19 vaccine being opened, vaccines being packed

04:08:13

Austrian military trains virus sniffer dogs

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ASSOCIATED PRESS

Vienna - 14 December 2020

47. Dog sniffing samples for coronavirus

04:18:12

Charles, Camilla visit UK vaccination centre

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UK POOL

Gloucester - 17 December 2020

48. Prince Charles walking down corridor into ward

49. Various of Prince Charles and Camilla speaking to medical staff at vaccine centre

04:37:00

Berlin restaurant turns homeless shelter amid virus

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ASSOCIATED PRESS

Berlin - 17 December 2020

50. Homeless man from Latvia, Kaspars Breidaks at Hofbraeu Berlin restaurant, Christmas decorations

51. Breidaks taking his soup

52. Sign reading (German): "Berlin Cold Relief"

04:48:06

Busy streets in Mexico City despite lockdown

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ASSOCIATED PRESS

Mexico City - 19 December 2020

53. People walking in downtown area under a sign that reads (Spanish): "You are in a high-risk area."

54. Health promoter offering face masks and antibacterial sanitizer

55. People walking in downtown area

04:59:19

Moderna vaccine prepared for distribution across US

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POOL

Olive Branch, Mississippi - 20 December 2020

56. Various of boxes of Moderna coronavirus vaccine being labeled and put into lorries at the McKesson distribution center

05:10:10

Biden gets vaccine, says 'nothing to worry about'

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POOL

Newark, Delaware - 21 December 2020

57. President-elect Joe Biden receiving his first shot of the COVID-19 Pfizer vaccine

58. SOUNDBITE (English) Joe Biden, US President-elect:

"What I want to say is we owe these folks an awful "

59. Biden fist bumping nurse who gave him the shot

05:26:20

South Africa confirms more than one million virus cases

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ASSOCIATED PRESS

Soweto - 28 December 2020

60. Woman getting tested for COVID-19

61. Nurse registering people getting tested for COVID-19

62. Woman getting tested for COVID-19

05:39:21

China conditionally approves Sinopharm vaccine

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ASSOCIATED PRESS

Beijing - 31 December 2020

ARCHIVE: Beijing - 7 September 2020

63. Various of Sinopharm's COVID-19 vaccines displayed at China Beijing International Fair for Trade in Services

05:50:01

Paris quiet on New Year's Eve amid virus curfew

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ASSOCIATED PRESS

Paris - 31 December 2020

64. Police officer on Champs Elysées

65. Wide of check point on Champs Elysées

66. Champs Elysées