AL JAZEERA

Saudi Arabia, Qatar near agreement in Gulf crisis: Sources

Qatar and Saudi Arabia are close to striking a preliminary agreement to end a dispute that has pitted the Gulf neighbours against each other for more than three years, sources told Al Jazeera.

THE NEW YORK TIMES

Covid-19 Live Updates: U.K. Becomes First Country to Approve Pfizer Vaccine

LONDON — Britain gave emergency authorization on Wednesday to Pfizer’s coronavirus vaccine, leaping ahead of the United States to become the first Western country to allow mass inoculations against a disease that has killed more than 1.4 million people worldwide.

THE NEW YORK TIMES

In Nagorno-Karabakh Peace Deal, Putin Applied a Deft New Touch

The iron-fisted tactics used against Georgia and Ukraine seem to have fallen out of favor, replaced by a more subtle blend of soft power and an implicit military threat.

THE NEW YORK TIMES

Covid-19 Live Updates: Moderna to Seek Emergency F.D.A. Approval for Vaccine

THE NEW YORK TIMES

Pushed by Pandemic, Amazon Goes on a Hiring Spree Without Equal

THE NEW YORK TIMES

Macron’s Rightward Tilt, Seen in New Laws, Sows Wider Alarm in France

PARIS — A rightward push by the French government is alarming civil liberties advocates in France and raising questions about President Emmanuel Macron’s positioning ahead of an expected electoral challenge from the far right in 2022.

THE NEW YORK TIMES

A U.S. Record: Two Million New Virus Cases in Two Weeks

For the first time since the coronavirus outbreak hit the United States, the country has added more than one million cases in each of the past two consecutive weeks. Covid deaths, which lag reported cases by weeks, are also at a level not seen since the spring.

THE NEW YORK TIMES

Live Updates: Biden’s Transition to the Presidency Formally Begins

President-elect Joseph R. Biden Jr. will introduce his nominations for high-profile cabinet positions on Tuesday, a day after President Trump authorized his administration to officially begin the transition process, even as he refused to concede the election and vowed to continue his fight in court.

THE NEW YORK TIMES

Biden Chooses Antony Blinken, Defender of Global Alliances, as Secretary of State

WASHINGTON — Antony J. Blinken, a defender of global alliances and President-elect Joseph R. Biden Jr.’s closest foreign policy adviser, is expected to be nominated for secretary of state, a job in which he will try to coalesce skeptical international partners into a new competition with China, according to people close to the process.

THE NEW YORK TIMES

Trump’s Attempts to Overturn the Election Are Unparalleled in U.S. History

WASHINGTON — President Trump’s attempts to overturn the 2020 election are unprecedented in American history and an even more audacious use of brute political force to gain the White House than when Congress gave Rutherford B. Hayes the presidency during Reconstruction.