What you need to know about the coronavirus today

Vaccine success gives world more hope
Moderna's experimental vaccine is 94.5% effective in preventing COVID-19 based on interim data from a late-stage trial, the company said, becoming the second U.S. drugmaker to report results that far exceed expectations.
Together with Pfizer's vaccine, which is also more than 90% effective, and pending more safety data and regulatory review, the United States could have two vaccines authorized for emergency use in December with as many as 60 million doses of vaccine available this year.

U.S. states from coasts to heartland act to curb virus
Several U.S. governors, from the coastal states of New Jersey and California to the heartland of Iowa and Ohio, acted on Monday to restrict gatherings and boost face-coverings in confronting a coronavirus surge they warned is out of control.
Each of the four governors, representing both ends of America's political divide and a mix of urban and rural regions, cited health data showing the pandemic reaching its most perilous point yet in the United States, threatening to overwhelm hospitals and claim thousands more lives in the weeks ahead.
South Korea warns of new crisis
South Korea will impose stricter social distancing rules for the greater Seoul area a month after easing them, officials said on Tuesday, warning of an even bigger crisis if anti-COVID-19 efforts fail to dampen a spike in new cases.
Tighter curbs will ban public gatherings of 100 people or more, limit religious services and audiences at sporting events to 30% capacity, and require high-risk facilities including clubs and karaoke bars to broaden distance among guests.
Merkel very worried about Berlin
The situation in Germany is still very serious even though infection numbers are not rising so fast, Chancellor Angela Merkel said on Tuesday, after federal and state leaders postponed until Nov. 25 a decision on further lockdown measures.
Merkel said she would have preferred to have agreed stricter rules at a meeting with federal and state leaders on Monday, adding she was very worried about the uncontrolled spread of coronavirus in some places, including the capital Berlin.
France regaining control
France's health minister Olivier Veran said on Tuesday the country was regaining control over the coronavirus but was not ready to ease the second national lockdown.
After curfew measures applied in major French cities in mid-October failed to produce the results the government had hoped for, it enforced a one-month lockdown on Oct. 30, though it was less strict than the one that ran from March 17 to May 11.

From Breakingviews - Corona Capital: Smoking from home, UK aid, Baidu
Big Tobacco is reaping the benefits of a captive customer base, charity seems to begin at home for the British government and Baidu is seeking diversification. Catch up with the latest financial insights.

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Top News

Biden could name cabinet picks amid Trump efforts to block transition. President-elect Joe Biden will focus on shaping his core White House team on Tuesday while outgoing President Donald Trump presses on with his increasingly tenuous legal fight to reverse his loss in the U.S. election.
Several of Biden’s senior campaign staff have been discussing their roles in the transition and the new administration that takes over Jan. 20.
Some roles could be announced as soon as Tuesday, according to a person familiar with the matter.

President Donald Trump, with two months left in office, last week asked for options on attacking Iran’s main nuclear site, but ultimately decided against taking the dramatic step, a U.S. official said on Monday.
Trump made the request during an Oval Office meeting on Thursday with his top national security aides, including Vice President Mike Pence, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, new acting Defense Secretary Christopher Miller and General Mark Milley, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, the official said.

The Donald Trump era may be coming to an end, but European Union ministers meeting this week to discuss the future of the continent’s defense will say the lesson has been learned: Europe needs to be strong enough to fight on its own.
EU foreign and defense ministers meeting by teleconference on Thursday and Friday will receive the bloc’s first annual report on joint defense capabilities, expected to serve as the basis for a French-led, post-Brexit, post-Trump effort to turn the EU into a stand-alone military power.
British Prime Minister Boris Johnson called the devolution of powers to Scotland “a disaster”, a comment that played into the hands of Scottish nationalists pushing for an independence referendum that opinion polls suggest they could win.

Space

Four astronauts riding a newly-designed spacecraft from Elon Musk’s rocket company SpaceX greeted their new crewmates aboard the International Space Station on Tuesday after successfully docking in a landmark achievement for private space travel.
In NASA’s first full-fledged mission ferrying a crew into orbit on a privately-owned spacecraft, the SpaceX Crew Dragon capsule dubbed Resilience opened its hatch door shortly after 1 a.m. EST (0600 GMT), two hours after docking and 27 hours after launching atop a Falcon 9 rocket from Cape Canaveral.