James Clayton
North America technology reporter

Image source, Getty Images

With the virus hitting the film and entertainment industry hard, Disney has unveiled plans for a major expansion of its Star Wars and Marvel franchises on its Disney+ subscription streaming service.

The company said that its upcoming films Peter Pan & Wendy and Tom Hanks' Pinocchio would be launched directly on to Disney+, skipping theatres.

Disney is the latest major studio to divert its focus from cinema to streaming.

Last week, Warner Brothers said all its 2021 releases would debut on HBO Max.

Cinemas are desperate for content to lure viewers back with new entertainment that can initially only be seen on their screens.

But content producers want to cater to audiences who may not be ready to go back to cinemas.

Read more on this story here.

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The British pharmaceutical firm GlaxoSmithKline and its French partner Sanofi have said their vaccine against the coronavirus will not be ready until the end of next year.

Interim test results showed only a low immune response in older adults, the companies said.

They will now begin a second-phase study in February, in the hope of rolling out a more effective vaccine in 2021.

The "protein adjuvant vaccine" is based on the technology used by Sanofi to produce a flu vaccine, as well as GSK's established pandemic technology.

Research showed an immune response comparable to patients who recovered from Covid-19 in adults aged 18 to 49 but an "insufficient response" in older adults.

The companies said this was "likely" to be due to older people having an insufficient concentration of the antigen - the protein that stimulates the body's immune response against the virus.

The UK has secured access to 60 million doses of the GSK/Sanofi vaccine.

Image source, Reuters

Britons holidaying on Spain's Canary Islands say their Christmas plans have been thrown into jeopardy after quarantine rules were imposed.

Travellers returning to the UK will have to self-isolate for 14 days from Saturday due to rising infection rates, Transport Secretary Grant Shapps said.

Steve Hay, from Bournemouth, arrived in Lanzarote on Thursday evening for a seven-day break with his family.

They now face cutting it short to avoid a quarantine period that could potentially run until New Year's Eve - effectively cancelling their Christmas plans in the UK.

"How will we do our Christmas shopping?" Mr Hay said. "I think it's shocking and doesn't appear much thought has gone into it.

"Why is it being implemented so quick, this only gives us tomorrow to get back."

Read more here.

As we mentioned in our roundup, the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has recommended emergency approval of the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine.

The drug still needs to be formally approved by the FDA's vaccine chief, which is expected in the coming days.

The US has recorded 292,179 deaths and more than 15.6 million cases.

Operation Warp Speed, the federal government's vaccine distribution programme, has said that vaccine deliveries will begin with 24 hours of approval.

Plans to rollout the vaccine are already underway. The United Parcel Service and FedEx are working with the government to send the vaccine to distribution staging areas.

The vaccine needs to be kept in a cold freezer and must be used quickly once it has thawed.

Pfizer hopes to have 6.4 million doses ready for the US in its first rollout round in late December. Because two shots are required per person, that is enough for three million people, out of a total US population of 330 million.

Dr Michael Osterholm, an advisor to President-elect Joe Biden, has warned that large quantities of the vaccine will not be made available to the public before March or April. Healthcare workers and nursing residents will be at the front of the queue.

All secondary schools and further education colleges in Wales will move classes online from Monday, the education minister has announced.

Kirsty Williams said it was part of a "national effort to reduce transmission of coronavirus".

However, the Children's Commissioner for Wales has criticised the decision as disruptive to education.

A number of counties have also said primary schools will close earlier, including Cardiff and Swansea.

The latest data shows the infection rate across Wales is averaging more than 370 cases for 100,000 people, with 17% of tests now coming back positive.

It means the reproduction (R) number in Wales has now reached 1.27, with infections doubling in 11.7 days.

State schools in Wales closed after the first lockdown began in March and only reopened for pupils in September.

Read more here.

BBC Monitoring
The world through its media

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Russia has reported a record rise in daily Covid-19 deaths since the start of the pandemic - and for the first time the daily death toll has exceeded 600.

Over the past 24 hours, 613 coronavirus-related deaths have been confirmed, up from 562 deaths reported on the previous day, the country's Moscow-based coronavirus headquarters said on its Telegram account on 11 December.

Russia's total Covid-19 death toll now stands at 45,893. A total of 28,585 new cases were reported over the past 24 hours, up from 27,927 reported yesterday, with the highest numbers in the capital Moscow (7,215), St Petersburg (3,779) and Moscow Region (1,370).

The number of active cases currently stands at 491,978.

Overall, Russia has officially recorded 2,597,711 cases since the beginning of the pandemic. According to Russia's coronavirus headquarters, a total of 2,059,840 people have recovered from the illness.

Image source, PA Media

Non-essential shops across much of western Scotland - including Glasgow - are reopening for the first time in three weeks.

Retailers in the 11 council areas that had been been under the country's toughest lockdown rules were able to welcome customers from 06:00 GMT.

But pubs, cafes and restaurants will have to remain closed until Saturday.

It comes as the areas move from level four to level three in the country's tiered system of Covid restrictions.

More than two million people had been subject to the level four restrictions since 20 November.

Read more here.

Image source, Reuters

Germany has this morning reported a record number of 29,875 daily coronavirus cases and 598 deaths - bringing the total to 20,970. The latest figures have added to pressure to bring in tighter measures fast. The head of Germany's medical association Klaus Reinhardt wants to shut down public life between Christmas and 10 January. The south-western state of Baden-Württemberg will later announce its plans for tougher measures for the start of next week, and Berlin Mayor Michael Müller believes a hard lockdown should start on 20 December.

Additional measures have come into force in Cyprus today until 31 December, shutting shopping centres and catering establishments and barring worshippers from church services.

Last night's EU deal to unblock a €750bn (£685bn) coronavirus stimulus fund across the 27-country bloc will be welcomed in Spain and Italy in particular. It still has to go before the European Parliament, but it'll mean €140bn in grants and loans for Spain alone.

Ukraine has reported its highest daily Covid-related death toll of 285, with 13,514 infections.

The deaths of four patients in a Swedish hospital's cardiac intensive care unit (ICU) could be linked to an ICU Halloween party, Expressen newspaper reports. Vaxjo Central Hospital Operations Manager Thomas Aronsson is quoted as saying he would have banned the party had he known about it. Eleven staff in the cardiac intensive care unit reportedly became ill afterwards.

Italian health officials say a 26% fall in case numbers in the past week confirms that the Covid curve is "freezing", despite a surge of 887 deaths reported yesterday. Covid commissioner Domenico Arcuri has appealed especially to young Italians to take care over Christmas and to act responsibly.

Image source, Reuters

UK banks are well prepared for serious economic shocks and can continue to lend during the pandemic, the Bank of England has said.

Banks have built up strong capital buffers since the financial crisis more than a decade ago, the Bank said in its latest financial stability report, external.

Most risks to the UK's financial stability posed by a no-deal Brexit have been mitigated, it said.

But it warned that "some disruption to financial services could arise".

Read more here.

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Here are the latest headlines from around the world:

• Medical experts advising the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) have recommended emergency approval for the Pfizer/BioNTech coronavirus vaccine. The decision comes after a 23-member panel met to determine whether the drug’s benefits outweigh the risks
• In Australia, a promising vaccine candidate has been abandoned after trial participants returned false HIV positive results. Australia had previously agreed to buy 51 million doses of the vaccine being developed by Australian firm CSL and the University of Queensland. The government said orders of other vaccines would now fill the shortfall
• EU leaders have struck a deal over the bloc’s €1.8tn (£1.64tn; $2.2tn) budget and Covid recovery fund, after reaching a compromise with Hungary and Poland. The two nations had threatened a veto over a clause that tied funding with adherence to the rule of law
• Pharmaceutical giants Sanofi and GlaxoSmithKline say a Covid-19 vaccine they were developing has showed an insufficient immune response in clinical trials. They say they will research other options with a view to coming up with an effective product by the end of next year
• France is tightening its restrictions over the Christmas period due to rising case numbers, Prime Minister Jean Castex said. The nightly curfew that comes into force on 15 December has been brought forward by an hour to 20:00 and will be enforced on New Year’s, Eve ruling out public celebrations
• A coronavirus adviser to President-elect Joe Biden has told Americans not to attend Christmas parties. Dr Michael Osterholm has urged people to refrain from seeing anyone from outside their immediate households. He warned of high numbers of cases in the coming weeks. "The next three to six weeks at a minimum are our Covid weeks," he told CNN.

Image source, RSC

A £19.4m loan for the Royal Shakespeare Company will help to secure its "immediate future", the theatre group says.

The RSC, which said in October that 158 jobs were at risk, has successfully applied for a loan from the UK government's Culture Recovery Fund.

It has not been able to stage full productions since the pandemic began.

Its Stratford-upon-Avon home is under tier three rules - the strictest measures available - meaning all entertainment venues need to be closed.

The National Theatre, Southbank Centre and English National Opera are among other organisations set to benefit from the £165m being offered in "repayable finance", the Department for Culture Media and Sport said.

Read more here.

Image source, PA Media

Here's an overview of the stories that have been making headlines in the UK in recent hours:

• The public spending watchdog has found that in the early stages of NHS Test and Trace in England, some call handlers were busy for only 1% of their paid hours

• Non-essential shops across much of western Scotland - including Glasgow - are re-opening today for the first time in three weeks

• In Northern Ireland, non-essential shops, close contact services such as hairdressers and most hospitality businesses are reopening

• A report says measures put in place to help NHS England cope with the pandemic have benefitted towns and cities more than rural areas

• The Royal Shakespeare Company, National Theatre and English National Opera are among the arts venues to share £165m in government loans

Hello and welcome to our live coverage of the coronavirus pandemic.

Our teams from London and around the world will be bringing you the latest updates and analysis throughout the day.