While the 95% efficacy rates for the Moderna and Pfizer/BioNTech vaccines are great news for the U.S. and Europe, Monday's announcement from Oxford and AstraZeneca may be far more significant for the rest of the world.
Why it matters: Oxford and AstraZeneca plan to distribute their vaccine at cost (around $3-4 per dose), and have already committed to providing over 1 billion doses to the developing world. The price tags are higher for the Pfizer ($20) and Moderna ($32-37) vaccines.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu traveled in secret Sunday to the city of Neom on Saudi Arabia's Red Sea coast for a meeting with Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman and Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, Israeli sources told me.
The latest: Saudi Foreign Minister Faisal bin Farhan on Monday denied the meeting took place — a signal that the Saudis may be unhappy with the leak or are at least trying to publicly distance themselves from the meeting. Netanyahu, on the other hand, has not denied the story.
The University of Oxford announced Monday that a COVID-19 vaccine it's developed with AstraZeneca is 70.4% effective in preventing people from developing symptoms, per interim data from Phase 3 trials.
Why it matters: The Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine is shown to work in different age groups and can be stored at fridge temperature. It is much cheaper than other vaccines in development and is part of the global COVAX initiative, designed to ensure doses go where they're most needed.
Hong Kong pro-democracy campaigner Joshua Wong and fellow activists Wong, Agnes Chow and Ivan Lam were remanded in custody Monday after pleading guilty to charges of organizing and inciting an unauthorised assembly during last year's massive protests.
The big picture: They could have faced life sentences under the new national security law, but the charges relate to offenses before Chinese lawmakers passed the bill for the city in June, per the BBC. Wong, who became the face of 2014 pro-democracy demonstrations, expects to be imprisoned for up to five years. He tweeted a message to supporters from detention, ahead of a Dec. 2 sentencing.
New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern has become the latest world leader to congratulate President-elect Joe Biden in a phone call, but Russian President Vladimir Putin is still refusing to acknowledge the U.S. election win.
Driving the news: Biden's transition team said in a statement late Sunday he "expressed his intent to strengthen the U.S.-New Zealand partnership" and looked forward to working closely on challenges including containing COVID-19, tackling climate change and "reinforcing multilateralism."
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Sunday that President-elect Biden's administration “must not go back to the 2015 nuclear deal with Iran."
Why it matters: The comments — at the annual memorial ceremony for David Ben-Gurion, Israel’s first prime minister — signal that Netanyahu is planning to repeat the public campaign against an Iran deal that he engaged in during the Obama administration.
England will impose a strengthened version of an earlier three-tiered system of local restrictions to curb COVID-19 when the national lockdown ends Dec. 2, Prime Minister Boris Johnson's office has announced.
Why it matters: Johnson, who's expected to outline this "COVID winter plan" Monday, is being urged by scientists not to relax rules over Christmas and pressed by his Conservative Party members of parliament to discontinue strict measures that impact local economies, The Guardian notes.
Guatemalan riot police moved in to quell unrest after hundreds of demonstrators stormed the country's Congress and set fire to part of the building Saturday, per the BBC.
The big picture: Some 7,000 protesters rallied in Guatemala City to demand President Alejandro Giammattei resign over the 2021 budget passed earlier in the week, which cut funds to COVID-19 programs but "approved $65,000" to cover politicians' meals, per AP. Opposition lawmakers said firms with government connections got priority for "big infrastructure projects," the BBC notes.
Editor's note: This article has been updated with news of the riot police moving in.
Why it matters: Portugal recorded 6,472 new COVID-19 cases on Saturday, per the health ministry. The country of 10 million ranks seventh in Europe for the number of total cases per 100,000 people and 14th for new deaths from the virus, Reuters reported, citing the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control figures.
