WASHINGTON(NBC) — Dr. Anthony Fauci formally met with President-elect Joe Biden's transition team for the first time on Thursday to discuss the response to the coronavirus pandemic.

Fauci told NBC News he participated in a “very productive Zoom meeting," which lasted for an hour, with Biden’s team. Fauci said they discussed “a variety of Covid-related topics.” A senior transition official said Jeff Zients, who’s expected to be the incoming administration’s Covid-19 czar, led the discussion for the Biden team.

Biden later told CNN in an interview on Thursday that he asked Fauci to stay in his current role, and to also serve as a chief medical adviser. Fauci had told NBC News on Thursday he would stay in his current role and work closely with the new administration.

Biden told CNN that he’d be “happy” to get publicly vaccinated conditional on Fauci saying that it is safe. He also said that when inaugurated he will ask Americans to wear a mask for 100 days.

"It is important that we in fact, the president and the vice president, we set the pattern by wearing masks but beyond that, where the federal government has authority I'm gonna issue a standing order that in federal buildings you have to be masked," he said.

He added, "Just 100 days to mask. Not forever. 100 days. And I think we'll see a significant reduction ... if that occurs, with vaccinations and masking, to drive down the numbers considerably."

In an interview on MSNBC's "Andrea Mitchell Reports" ahead of the virtual meeting, Fauci said he has talked informally with members of Biden's team, including Zients, to coordinate the response to the pandemic. He said during the interview that he would be "talking about just substantive, uncomplicated transition issues like vaccines and the state of the epidemic" with the incoming administration.

Fauci said he has spoken previously with Biden's incoming White House chief of staff, Ron Klain, but the meeting Thursday with the transition "landing team," which is working on priorities for the early months of the Biden presidency, marked a more formal and substantive process.

Fauci added that it will likely be the first of a series of transition meetings with him. He also said he fully expects to remain in his role as director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases as the new administration takes over.

"What contribution I will make in the new administration depends on the new administration," Fauci said. "But I cannot imagine I'm not going to be involved in the Covid-19 response. I mean that would, I think, be unheard of if that's the case. But we'll see."

The White House task force response coordinator, Dr. Deborah Birx, also started her formal contact with the Biden transition team this week.

Meanwhile, Biden and Vice President-elect Kamala Harris are also receiving the presidential daily briefing and meeting with transition team advisers Thursday. There are no public events on their schedule.

They are also expected to record a joint interview Thursday with CNN’s Jake Tapper, portions of which are scheduled to air after 4 p.m. ET, with the full interview airing at 9 p.m.

•             Biden on Thursday announced that Brian Deese, a former adviser to President Barack Obama, will serve as director of the National Economic Council. Deese, a former deputy director of the council and the Office of Management and Budget, was part of the Obama administration team that worked on both environmental issues and the bailout of the auto industry.

•             Biden could announce his health team as soon as next week, a transition official told NBC News, including his picks to lead the Department of Health and Human Services, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the incoming administration’s response to the pandemic. Former Obama Surgeon General Vivek Murthy is a leading contender for HHS secretary, as is Rhode Island Gov. Gina Raimondo.

•             Obama and former Georgia House minority leader and gubernatorial candidate Stacey Abrams will headline a get-out-the-vote virtual rally Friday for the state's Democratic Senate candidates, Jon Ossoff and Rev. Raphael Warnock. The event will include a discussion with volunteers ahead of the state's Dec. 7 voter registration deadline and the start of in-person early voting on Dec. 14.

•             Harris announced more senior staff appointments Thursday, including her chief of staff, Hartina Flournoy, who has served as former President Bill Clinton's chief of staff. Rohini Kosoglu will serve as a domestic policy adviser and has been with Harris since her days in the Senate, serving as her chief of staff. Nancy McEldowney, a 30-year veteran of the foreign service, will serve as Harris' national security adviser.

•             President Donald Trump has not ruled out the possibility of firing Attorney General William Barr, according to an administration official and two people familiar with the matter who also said a sudden departure is not seen as imminent. Trump publicly lashed at Barr during a White House event on Thursday, telling reporters, "He hasn't done anything."

•             The Wisconsin Supreme Court on Thursday rejected an emergency lawsuit filed by the Trump campaign, which sought to invalidate mail ballots it claimed were improperly included during the canvas in Milwaukee and Dane counties.

•             White House communications director Alyssa Farah announced she is leaving the job.

Trump had no public events on his schedule. He presented the Medal of Freedom to former Notre Dame football coach Lou Holtz on Thursday and was also expected to sign legislation that aims to modernize information technology at the federal level and an executive order promoting the use of artificial intelligence in government.

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Powerful gusts pushed flames from a wildfire through Southern California canyons on Thursday, one of several blazes that burned near homes and forced residents to flee amid elevated fire risk for most of the region that prompted utilities to cut off power to hundreds of thousands.

The biggest blaze began late Wednesday as a house fire in Orange County's Silverado Canyon, where gusts topped 70 mph (113 kph).

“When crews arrived it was a fully engulfed house and the winds were extremely strong and they pushed flames into the vegetation,” said Colleen Windsor, a spokeswoman for the county's Fire Authority.

The fire grew to more than 11 square miles (29 square kilometers) and blanketed a wide area with smoke and ash.

Crews struggled in steep terrain amid unpredictable Santa Ana winds that sent flames racing across major roads. Two firefighters were hospitalized after being treated on scene for injuries, said Fire Chief Brian Fennessy. He said their condition was not immediately known.

Some homes were damaged in the fire and possibly destroyed, Fennessy said. He said he couldn't immediately say how many homes were affected.

Evacuations were ordered for thousands of residents of canyon and foothill neighborhoods near the city of Lake Forest — although some orders were later lifted — and residents of other nearby areas were told to be ready to get out.

There was no containment of the fire.

Numerous studies have linked bigger wildfires in America to climate change from the burning of coal, oil and gas. Scientists have said climate change has made California much drier, meaning trees and other plants are more flammable.

The Bond Fire about 50 miles (80 kilometers) southeast of Los Angeles is burning near the same area of October’s Silverado Fire, which forced tens of thousands of people to evacuate.

Kolbi Winters said helicopters flew overhead throughout the night and before dawn she got a warning she might need to evacuate her home. A few hours later, she got an order to get out and packed up and headed to a hotel for the second time in recent months, where she'll stay with her partner, dog and cat.

“I had one month literally to enjoy myself before another fire happened,” Winters said. “If this continues happening, and we don’t take care of this, one day, I’m not going to have a home.”

The new blaze broke out as Southern California utilities cut the power to tens of thousands of customers to avoid the threat of wildfires during the notorious Santa Anas.

Red flag warnings of extreme fire danger through Saturday were in place because of low humidity, bone-dry brush and the winds, which sweep down from the interior, the National Weather Service said.

Utilities in the populous region began cutting power Wednesday to customers as a precaution to prevent gusts from blowing tree limbs into electrical equipment or knocking down power lines, which have sparked devastating wildfires in recent years.

Southern California Edison had cut power to nearly 50,000 homes and businesses by Thursday evening and was considering de-energizing lines serving about 190,000 other customers in seven counties throughout the windy period, which could last into Saturday.

It was one of the utility’s largest precautionary blackouts.

San Diego Gas & Electric pulled the plug on about 55,000 customers with another 40,000 in the crosshairs.

“We recognize losing power is disruptive, and we sincerely thank our customers for their patience and understanding,” the utility said.

A few miles to the north, a blaze near Corona Municipal Airport shut down State Route 71 and had residents getting ready to flee.

Evacuations were ordered when a small wildfire broke out near the rural community of Nuevo in Riverside County, about 50 miles (80 kilometers) to the east.

And to the south, a small blaze in San Diego County threatened about 200 homes and prompted evacuations before firefighters managed to contain 50 percent of it. At least one structure was destroyed and six others were damaged, according to 10 News San Diego.

California already has experienced its worst-ever year for wildfires. More than 6,500 square miles (16,835 square kilometers) have been scorched, a total larger than the combined area of Connecticut and Rhode Island. At least 31 people have been killed and 10,500 homes and other structures damaged or destroyed.

The latest fire threat comes as much of California plunges deeper into drought. Virtually all of Northern California is in severe or extreme drought while nearly all of Southern California is abnormally dry or worse.

The US announced Wednesday that is banning imports of cotton products from the Xinjiang Production and Construction Corps (XPCC) based on information that indicates the use of forced labor in northwestern China.  

The Department of Homeland Security said Customs and Border Protection (CBP) personnel at all US ports of entry will detain shipments from XPCC, a state-owned economic and paramilitary organization which is said to be benefitting from goods made by forced labor from the Xinjiang Uighur Autonomous region.

"CBP’s Office of Trade directed the issuance of a Withhold Release Order (WRO) against cotton products made by the XPCC based on information that reasonably indicates the use of forced labor, including convict labor," the agency said in a statement.

"The WRO applies to all cotton and cotton products produced by the XPCC and its subordinate and affiliated entities as well as any products that are made in whole or in part with or derived from that cotton, such as apparel, garments and textiles," it added.

DHS Acting Deputy Secretary Ken Cuccinelli said the Chinese government's rights abuses against Muslim and ethnic minorities will not be tolerated by President Donald Trump and the American people.

"DHS is taking the lead to enforce our laws to make sure human rights abusers, including US businesses, are not allowed to manipulate our system in order to profit from slave labor. ‘Made in China’ is not just a country of origin; it is a warning label," said Cuccinelli in the same statement.

In July, Washington blacklisted XPCC, which it accused of being instrumental in Beijing's crackdown on Turkic-Muslim Uighurs in Xinjiang, along with Sun Jinlong, a former XPCC operative, and Peng Jiarui, a Chinese government official and XPCC commander.

Beijing's policy in Xinjiang has drawn widespread criticism from rights groups, including Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch, who accuse it of ostracizing the 12 million Uighurs in China, most of whom are Muslims.

The region is home to 10 million Uighurs. The Turkic Muslim group, which makes up around 45% of Xinjiang’s population, has long accused China's authorities of cultural, religious and economic discrimination.

Up to 1 million people or about 7% of the Muslim population in Xinjiang have been incarcerated in an expanding network of "political re-education" camps, according to US officials and UN experts.

The camps have been linked to forced labor and mandatory sterilization./aa

ANKARA(AA) 

Significant progress has been made in laboratory studies under a project at Ankara University in Turkey, where drug studies are being conducted to reduce the effects of COVID-19. 

The project, "Investigation of the Effectiveness of Existing Drug Active Substances Against COVID-19, In-Silico, In-Vitro and In-Vivo," is being carried out under the leadership of Dr. Mehmet Unal from the university.

As part of the project, thousands of drug molecules were evaluated through computer simulations and the effects of 43 molecules on the virus were investigated.

Laboratory studies have shown that the ribavirin molecule is effective against the virus and that the drug reduces the effects of COVID-19 in the organism.

All laboratory studies for ribavirin have been completed and patient trials will begin soon, Unal told Anadolu Agency.

He stressed that ribavirin, which has been used to treat Hepatitis C for many years, is a broad-spectrum anti-viral drug effective against DNA and RNA viruses. This is why it has been placed on the research group’s list.

"Ribavirin can be produced with local and national means in our country when its effectiveness is proven," Unal said.

Stating that animal experiments have been started for a drug on other molecules that can be effective against the virus, Unal said "there are other molecules that we are hopeful for, and we want to start clinical studies as soon as their laboratory studies are completed."

He also stressed that the results obtained are regularly shared with TUBITAK, the Scientific and Technological Research Council of Turkey.

Turkey’s Industry and Technology Minister Mustafa Varank previously mentioned that scientists have proven in laboratory studies that the ribavirin molecule is effective in the treatment of the disease.

Public security officials and intelligence agencies in Brazil’s northern Pará state are on alert following a failed bank heist in the early hours of Wednesday in the city of Cametá, located 235 kilometers (146 miles) from the state capital Belém.  

One person died after being held hostage by at least 10 heavily armed robbers, said Pará police.

According to Governor Helder Barbalho, however, the gang missed the safe and fled without taking any money. He advised neighboring cities and states about further actions.

"An operation like this requires a very large amount of money. As the gang wasn’t successful, the risk they seek new events is real."

Speaking by phone to Anadolu Agency, Dieh Kleine Sacramento, press officer to Cametá Mayor Waldoli Valente, complained about the lack of security structure in the city but noted that usually Cametá is a quiet place.

"The city has always been known for being very peaceful. This kind of thing had never happened here before."

Sacramento said he believes the choice to rob the bank there is related to the money flow in the city from açaí, a nutritious berry found on palm trees in Brazil’s amazon region.  

"It’s also a city in which escaping is easy because there are ways out by surrounding rivers.”

According to the police, the robbers used cars and boats to escape.

Mayor Valente was not available to speak as he is undergoing health treatment in Belém.

The robbery at Banco do Brasil in Cametá took place in the wake of a very similar action in the early hours of Tuesday in the southern Brazilian city of Criciúma in Santa Catarina state. Like that heist, robbers in Cametá used local residents as human shields and attacked a Pará Military Police battalion in order to delay the arrival of officers at the bank. The gang used explosives and high-caliber weapons. One person was arrested for suspicion of providing logistical support.

This year alone, Pará has had two similar robberies, in January and April. According to Pará’s Public Security Department, practically everyone involved was arrested.

In Criciúma, about 30 hooded people participated in the nearly two-hour robbery, starting fires across the city, blocking access, shooting at a Military Police Battalion and using hostages as shields.

Both in Criciúma and Cametá, the targets were Banco do Brasil branches.

Deputy Santa Catarina Police commander Colonel Marcelo Pontes said he sees similarities between the Criciúma theft and recent attacks on bank branches in the interior of São Paulo state./aa