*) EU leaders agree on budget and virus recovery package
After four days of talks, EU leaders have agreed on a financial aid package of more than 850 billion dollars with a budget of two point one trillion dollars.
The discussions took an intense turn as leaders accused each other of deliberately hampering the talks.
The coronavirus has killed around 135,000 EU citizens, plunging its economy into an estimated contraction of 8.3 percent this year.
Egypt’s parliament has voted in favour of sending troops to Libya.
Egypt supports warlord Khalifa Haftar whose illegal militia is facing UN-backed government forces that are set to retake the city of Sirte.
On Saturday, Italy, France and Germany threatened sanctions on any foreign actors who violate the arms embargo on Libya.
*) Oxford Covid-19 vaccine trial shows potential
The race for a coronavirus vaccine has ratcheted up after the first human trial of a vaccine showed some promise.
The vaccine from AstraZeneca and University of Oxford prompted no serious side effects and triggered antibody and T-cell immune responses.
At least 150 possible vaccines are in various stages of development, with US’ Pfizer and China's CanSino Biologics reporting positive developments.
*) Trump threatens to replicate federal response in Portland
US President Trump says he wants to replicate a heavy-handed federal crackdown on protests against racial inequality in Democrat-run cities.
Trump’s statement comes amid growing alarm over the treatment of protesters in Portland, Oregon.
Camera footage appears to show unmarked officers seizing demonstrators from city streets seemingly at random and whisking them away in vehicles.
And finally
*) Polar bears may be extinct by 2100
Climate crisis is starving polar bears into extinction and they could all but disappear within the span of a human lifetime, research says.
Polar bears in 12 of 13 sub-populations analysed in the research will have been decimated within 80 years by the pace of change in the Arctic.
This scenario foresees Earth's average surface temperature rising 3.3 degrees Celsius above the preindustrial benchmark.