As journalists waited for a Brexit briefing outside 10 Downing Street in London, a street-level drama unfolded as a pigeon escaped the clutches of Larry the cat.
Trucks inched slowly past checkpoints at the English port of Dover and headed across the Channel on Thursday to the French port of Calais after France partially reopened its borders with Britain following a scare over a rapidly spreading new virus variant.
Another new variant of the coronavirus appears to have emerged in Nigeria, Africa's top public health official said Thursday, but added that further investigation was needed.
U.S. officials say they are on track to deliver 20 million vaccine doses by the first week of January. But how quickly those shots will get into arms isn't clear.
Negotiators from the European Union and Britain worked through the night and right into Christmas Eve to put the finishing touches on a trade deal that should avert a chaotic economic break between the two sides on New Year's Day.
