US marks Thanksgiving with parade in New York

Millions of Americans have been marking Thanksgiving, at home and abroad.

New York kicked off the US holiday season with its annual parade, however celebrations were muted for thousands in areas hit by superstorm Sandy.

Elsewhere, President Obama led charity work, while US troops abroad played football and ate turkey as tradition dictates.

The event has been marked for hundreds of years, and is generally thought to commemorate a 1621 harvest feast the US Pilgrims shared with Indians after settling at Plymouth, in what is now Massachusetts.

Lucas de Jong reports.