EUROPE

Britain's medicines regulator said on Wednesday that final late-stage trial results from Pfizer and BioNTech's COVID-19 vaccine candidate were very encouraging, adding it would need to see the full data before making an assessment of the shot.

Governments and officials are voicing hopes that COVID-19 vaccines could bring "herd immunity", with some calculating that immunising just two-thirds of a population could halt the pandemic disease and help protect whole communities or nations.

German police unleashed water cannon and pepper spray in an effort to scatter thousands of protesters angry about a new legal framework for enforcing coronavirus restrictions passed by parliament on Wednesday.

Air France-KLM is among airlines gearing up for the challenge of transporting millions of doses of temperature-sensitive COVID-19 vaccines in the midst of a travel slump.

The number of reported global daily deaths from the coronavirus stood at 10,816 on Tuesday, according to a Reuters tally, the highest single-day death count as the virus's global epicenter the United States entered winter.

Pfizer Inc said on Wednesday that final results from the late-stage trial of its COVID-19 vaccine showed it was 95% effective, adding it had the required two-months of safety data and would apply for emergency U.S. authorization within days.

Ukraine faces a "very severe" period of COVID-19 cases but will not tighten lockdown restrictions because measures taken last week should stabilise the situation, Health Minister Maksym Stepanov told Reuters on Wednesday.

Denmark's Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen on Wednesday faced opposition calls to resign after her agriculture minister stepped down over an illegal order by the government to cull the country's farmed mink.

Portugal has set up a taskforce to come up with a COVID-19 vaccination strategy and hopes to be prepared to start distributing shots as early as January, Health Minister Marta Temido said on Wednesday.

English doctors are grappling with the prospect of seven-day service, -75 degree Celsius freezers and vaccines known as "Talent" and "Courageous" as they prepare for an unprecedented logistical challenge: the roll-out of COVID-19 vaccinations.

Any final exit by Britain from the European Union that worsens business conditions through increased tariffs would threaten the sustainability of Nissan Motor Co's UK operations, the Japanese car maker's chief operating officer cautioned.

Britain will ban the sale of new petrol and diesel cars and vans from 2030, five years earlier than previously planned, as part of what Prime Minister Boris Johnson is casting as a "green revolution" to cut emissions to net zero by 2050.

Polish authorities said on Wednesday a former secret service agent and a Chinese citizen who worked for a telecommunications company have been charged with spying for China.

Drugmaker Pfizer said on Wednesday that final results from the late-stage trial of its COVID-19 vaccine showed it was 95% effective, and that it would apply for emergency U.S. authorization within days.

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An Italian study supporting the case that the novel coronavirus was circulating outside China earlier than thought has sparked doubts among some Western scientists who called for further tests.

British Prime Minister Boris Johnson accused the Scottish National Party on Wednesday of using devolution to campaign for the break up of the United Kingdom.

Bank of England Chief Economist Andy Haldane said the economic outlook for 2021 was "materially brighter" than he had expected just a few weeks ago despite short-term uncertainty from a renewed COVID-19 lockdown in England.

Drugmakers and research centers around the world are working on COVID-19 vaccines, with large global trials of several of the candidates involving tens of thousands of participants well underway.