Donald Trump's positive test result for coronavirus has immediately prompted speculation around his chances of suffering severe illness from the disease.
Based on his age and the results of his most recent physical tests, the 74-year-old president is considered to be at higher risk of serious complications from a virus that has now killed more than 200,000 people across the US.
According to statistics published by the US government's Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), people in the 65-74 age bracket are five times more likely to need hospital treatment than an 18 to 29-year-old - and 90 times more likely to die.
Image:A CDC chart showing the relative risks of hospitalisation and death from COVID-19 according to age.
The first detailed studies into the mortality risk for COVID-19suggested thatfor every 1,000 people in their mid-seventies or older who are infected, around 116 will die.
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But while advanced age has been strongly linked to a person's chances of getting seriously ill after contracting coronavirus, other health factors are also understood to be important.
Health records for Mr Trump released in June showed his weight was 17st 6lbs.
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Based on his 6ft 3ins frame, that gave him a Body Mass Index of 30.5 which means he is categorised as obese - along with around 40% of Americans.
The CDC says having obesity - defined as a body mass index (BMI) of 30 or above - increases a person's risk of severe illness from COVID-19.
And a study released in August found 77% of 16,780 people who needed to go into hospital for coronavirus treatment were overweight or obese.
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Trump on aide testing positive for COVID
Anne Dixon, a physician-scientist who studies obesity and lung disease at the University of Vermont, said experts did not initially recognise how big a risk factor the condition was.
"It's not until more recently that we've realised the devastating impact of obesity, particularly in younger people," she told Science magazine in September.
She added that this "may be one reason for the devastating impact of COVID-19 in the United States".
Image:The results of Mr Trump's physical exam from 3 June 2020
The president's physical tests have shown he has a resting heart rate of 63 beats per minute.
A normal resting heart rate for adults ranges from 60 to 100 beats per minute, and a lower rate normally implies better cardiovascular fitness. This will reduce the risks from coronavirus.
His blood pressure in the last publicly revealed tests came in at 121 over 79.
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Trump boarding plane with aide Hope Hicks
According to the American Heart Association, elevated blood pressure range is when a reading for the upper number consistently ranges from 120 to 129 and less than 80 for the lower number.
People with elevated blood pressure are likely to develop high blood pressure unless steps are taken to control the condition.
While evidence is mixed, the British Heart Foundation says research has indicated that there is a link between high blood pressure and severe illness or death from coronavirus.
However, Mr Trump has shown marked improvement in his cholesterol levels during his presidency, helped by medication.
New Zealanders are to be granted access to Australia in the first opening of international borders by either nation since Covid restrictions were imposed.
People will be able to fly from New Zealand to New South Wales and the Northern Territory - and avoid mandatory quarantine - from 16 October.
The nations closed their borders in March in a bid to stop the spread of coronavirus.
Officials say the risks are now low enough to justify a "travel bubble".
"The establishment of a travel zone between Australia and New Zealand has been finalised," said Australian Deputy Prime Minister Michael McCormack.
"This is the first stage in what we hope to see as a trans-Tasman bubble between the two countries, stopping not just at that state and that territory."
At first, travel will be limited to New Zealanders.
Mr McCormack said a decision on when Australians may be able to visit New Zealand would be up to Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern.
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He said Australia had assessed New Zealand visitors as posing "a low risk of Covid-19 transmission" as it currently had no "hotspots".
Australia defines a hotpot as any area with at least three local infections per day across a three-day rolling average, he added.
New Zealand's most recent locally acquired case was reported on 21 August.
Australia's Northern Territory has not recorded any infections in two months. New South Wales - which includes Sydney - has not seen a locally transmitted case since last week.
Australia's federal government has pushed for domestic and international borders to be re-opened "as soon as practical" to help the economy, but some state governments - which have power over their own borders - have been more resistant.
Victoria remains cut off from the rest of Australia, after an outbreak in the state capital Melbourne which is now abating.
New Zealand has recorded 1,848 cases and 25 deaths, while Australia has seen over 27,000 cases and 888 deaths.
Tensions rose earlier this year when Turkey sent a ship into a disputed area to search for potentially rich oil and gas deposits.
What has the EU said?
Mrs von der Leyen told reporters that the EU wanted "a positive and constructive relationship with Turkey and this would be also be very much in Ankara's interest".
"But it will only work if the provocations and pressures stop," she said. "We therefore expect that Turkey from now on abstains from unilateral actions. In case of such renewed actions by Ankara the EU will use all its instruments and options available. We have a toolbox that we can apply immediately."
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After their late-night meeting, EU members agreed to review Turkey's behaviour in December and impose sanctions if "provocations" had not stopped.
Austrian Chancellor Sebastian Kurz, posting on Twitter after the meeting, said: "The EU issues a clear threat of sanctions against Turkey should it continue to violate international law."
European Council President Charles Michel said the EU was offering Turkey closer relations on trade and other areas but holding out the threat of sanctions if tensions in the Mediterranean did not de-escalate.
What's the background?
The European Union and Turkey have long held a fragile relationship.
Turkey has been a long-term candidate for membership of the EU but efforts have stalled. EU leaders have criticised Turkey's record on human rights and the rule of law, in particular in the wake of the 2016 failed military coup.
Despite the strains, Turkey remains an important partner for the EU. Turkey hosts millions of migrants and struck a deal with the EU that limited the numbers arriving in Greece.
Greece and Turkey are both Nato members, but have a history of border disputes and competing claims over maritime rights.
Greece called the move a "new serious escalation" and the EU has backed its members Cyprus and Greece against Turkey.
Tensions eased somewhat when the research ship returned to Turkish waters last month and both sides said they were prepared to resume talks.
Why the military hotline?
The announcement of the hotline on Thursday followed talks between Turkey and Greece at the Nato headquarters in Brussels.
"I welcome the establishment of a military de-confliction mechanism, achieved through the constructive engagement of Greece and Turkey, both valued Nato allies," said Nato Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg.
"This safety mechanism can help to create the space for diplomatic efforts to address the underlying dispute and we stand ready to develop it further."
Such mechanisms enable direct communication between two sides. Russia and the US set one up during the Cold War and it has been in operation ever since.
Last month France - which is also at odds with Turkey over the crisis in Libya - deployed two Rafale fighter jets and a naval frigate in the Eastern Mediterranean because of the tensions between Greece and Turkey.
Hope Hicks, one of President Donald Trump's top aides, has tested positive for coronavirus, according to US media reports.
Ms Hicks, who serves as a counsellor to the president, reportedly tested positive for the disease on Thursday, the day after she travelled with the president to a rally.
The information was revealed by an anonymous administration official who spoke to news agency Bloomberg.
Image:Hope Hicks worked on Mr Trump's 2016 campaign from its inception
Reports said Ms Hicks is the closest aide to Mr Trump to test positive for the disease so far.
The 31-year-old has travelled with the president a number of times during the past week, including on presidential helicopter Marine One, and on Air Force One to Tuesday night's first presidential debate.
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There is no indication that Mr Trump has contracted the virus and it is not known whether he has been tested since Ms Hicks's diagnosis.
In a statement, White House spokesman Judd Deere said: "The president takes the health and safety of himself and everyone who works in support of him and the American people very seriously."
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"White House Operations collaborates with the physician to the president and the White House Military Office to ensure all plans and procedures incorporate current CDC guidance and best practices for limiting COVID-19 exposure to the greatest extent possible both on complex and when the president is travelling," he added.
Ms Hicks quit as White House communications director in 2018 but returned earlier this year as an adviser, working closely with the president's son-in-law Jared Kushner.
Among those who tuned for the first US presidential debate, there is a clear and growing consensus that the first on-air face-off between Donald Trump and Joe Biden was a mess.
For some 90 minutes, the candidates shouted, bickered and largely ignored the topics at hand, despite repeated pleas from moderator Chris Wallace.
And it looks like the Commission on Presidential Debates - the nonpartisan charity that sponsors the events - agrees. On Wednesday, the group said the first debate had "made clear" that additional structure must be added for the remaining two match-ups. One possible change being considered is cutting candidates' microphones if they try to interrupt each other, according to CBS News.
President Trump has since responded, in a tweet, implying that he would not be willing to accept changes to the format.
With two weeks until Mr Trump and Mr Biden are back in the ring, what could these next debates look like?
Mute the candidates?
Typically, presidential debates give voters a chance to hear what the candidates have to say before casting their ballots. During's Tuesday event, however, there was a prevailing wish among those watching for the two men on stage to be quiet.
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As the debate wore on, social media was flooded with requests - from voters, pundits and journalists - for moderators to be given the power to selectively mute the candidates and prevent them from jumping in out of turn. Though both nominees were guilty of interruptions, President Trump was by most accounts the more egregious offender, cutting in some 73 times, according to CBS news.
This change is now said to be at the top of the list of those proposed by the debate commission, according to US media.
The calls for muting seem to be a product of the Zoom-era brought about by the coronavirus pandemic. When working from home and using video-chat apps, such as Zoom, we're now able to mute ourselves and turn the volume down on colleagues - a tool that could conceivably lend a hand to a moderator desperate to maintain calm.
A better moderator?
Many who were unhappy with Tuesday's performances expressed dissatisfaction with moderator Chris Wallace.
From the outset, the Fox News anchor struggled to maintain control of the candidates, resorting to desperate appeals to Mr Trump to stop talking and allow his opponent to finish, at one point shouting for the president to "Let him [Mr Biden] answer!".
But many defended him, saying that dealing with this set of candidates - namely Mr Trump - was a tough order for anyone.
"I don't blame Chris Wallace at all. He's a stellar, stand-up journalist," presidential historian Laura Ellyn Smith told the BBC. "He did well with the Clinton-Trump debate in 2016, he was a good choice to moderate. He was given an almost impossible task, straight out of the gate."
Speaking to the New York Times the morning after, Mr Wallace said he was saddened by the way the evening had unfolded.
"I never dreamt that it would go off the tracks the way it did," he said.
For the next two debates, Mr Wallace will pass the torch. First, to Steve Scully, a political editor with the C-SPAN television network and then to Kristen Welker, White House Correspondent for NBC News.
Will they have a better chance of keeping the candidates in check? That is a great unknown. As a conservative veteran from Mr Trump's favourite network, praised for his work as moderator in the last presidential election, Mr Wallace was thought to have as good a chance as any. But even he proved no match for the chaotic collision this year.
A new format?
This change is already certain. The next debate, on 15 October in Miami, Florida, will be in a town-hall format, where candidates take questions from voters instead of journalists. Here, the environment is generally more casual. In pre-coronavirus elections past, candidates have been seated within arms' reach of voters, instead of protected behind a podium on stage.
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The town-hall style may serve to benefit these particular candidates, Ms Smith said, adding that it might bring some civility. "In the first debate, they were just looking at Chris Wallace, the room otherwise is pretty dark," she says.
This time, neither Mr Biden nor Mr Trump will get to steamroll the moderator - they'll have to answer directly to voters.
"It might inspire a bit more confidence and might bring a bit more pride back into the format of debate," Ms Smith said.
Call them off?
Some voters and pundits alike who tuned into the first debate think the events aren't worth saving. As Tuesday's contest was unfolding, Twitter was alighting with pleas to cancel the remaining match-ups entirely.
"I wouldn't be surprised if this is the last presidential debate between the president of the United States and the former vice-president of the United States," CNN anchor Wolf Blitzer said minutes after the face-off concluded.
"For the sake of democracy, cancel the Trump-Biden debates", read the headline of a New York Times column by Frank Bruni. The call was echoed by the Washington Post, Slate and the Atlantic magazine.
But the debates still have their defenders, including Ms Smith.
"I think that would be a step in the wrong direction [to cancel]. It would be admitting defeat at this point," she said. "The debate has been a helpful way in the past to demonstrate candidates' skills. To see policy, even, in a bit more detail."
She added: "I don't think you should ever cut back on dialogue in democracy, even if it's loud."
The remaining debates will proceed as scheduled on 15 October and 22 October, with new rules from the debate commission to be announced this week.
But the vice-presidential candidates - Vice-President Mike Pence and California Senator Kamala Harris - will be squaring off first in their debate on 7 October. It is expected to be less raucous than that of their running mates.
