IN CASE YOU MISSED IT–Schedule of Reuters features from this week

(ITALY-HOSPITAL/PIANO (PIX, TV), moved, 173 words) This pigeon is worth $1.5 million KNESSELARE, Nov 15 - A two-year-old Belgian racing pigeon called New Kim set a world record of 1.6 million euros ($1.89 million) at an auction that ended on Sunday, the online auction house said.

Every week, Reuters journalists produce scores of multimedia features and human-interest stories from around the world. Below are some engaging stories selected by our editors, as well as explanatory context and background to help you understand world events. For a full schedule of news and events, please go to our editorial calendar on Reuters Connect https://www.reutersconnect.com/planning.

Duck and cover: Blow-up mascots star at Thai protests BANGKOK, Nov 18 - Thai police have water cannon and teargas to fire at protesters. The answer: Inflatable yellow pool ducks. (THAILAND-PROTESTS/DUCKS (PIX, TV), by Chayut Setboonsarng and Juarawee Kittisilpa, 260 words)

How two companies sprinted ahead in extraordinary race for a COVID vaccine Nov 17 - Just as the novel coronavirus was gaining a foothold in the United States in mid-March, Pfizer Inc Chief Executive Albert Bourla called on his top vaccine scientists and laid out a clear mission. (HEALTH-CORONAVIRUS/PFIZER VACCINE (INSIGHT, PIX), by Michael Erman and Julie Steenhuysen, 1445 words)

Women handling the dead: More female morticians in South Korea as taboo fades SEOUL, Nov 18 - A growing number of South Korean women are training to be morticians, a field from which they had long been excluded, amid changing views on gender roles and a rising preference for women's bodies to be handled by women. (SOUTHKOREA-JOBS/WOMEN (PIX, TV), by Sangmi Cha and Hyun Young Yi, 521 words)

Barley trade routes redrawn as China tariff hits Australian farmers SYDNEY/PARIS, Nov 16 - Out in Australia's grain fields, farmers have started harvesting one of their biggest ever barley crops, after drought-relieving rains convinced many to plant to the edges of their paddocks. (AUSTRALIA-CHINA/BARLEY (PIX, TV), by Jonathan Barrett and Gus Trompiz, 698 words)

Spain's hard-pressed millennials move out of the city amid COVID MADRID, Nov 16 - Thirty-one-year-old Ines Alcolea ditched the bustling life of Madrid in October for a village near the much quieter medieval town of Toledo, unable to face the prospect of more COVID-19 restrictions in her small flat in the Spanish capital. (HEALTH-CORONAVIRUS/SPAIN-MILLENNIALS (TV, PIX), by Clara-Laeila Laudette, Silvio Castellanos and Elena Rodriguez, 562 words)

Saint Pope John Paul II - a hasty halo? VATICAN CITY, Nov 16 - During his 27-year pontificate, Pope John Paul II canonised so many people that some dubbed the Vatican "the saint factory". (POPE-JOHNPAUL/SAINTHOOD (PIX), by Philip Pullella, 611 words)

Where social distancing comes naturally: Finland keeps coronavirus in check HELSINKI, Nov 16 - While many countries struggle with a second wave of the coronavirus, Finland has halted a rise in new infections at Europe's lowest level, helped by the fact that for Finns social distancing comes naturally. (HEALTH-CORONAVIRUS/FINLAND (PIX, TV, GRAPHIC), by Anne Kauranen, 413 words)

Therapeutic effect: Musical medic plays to cancer patient, 10, during surgery ROME, Nov 17 - During an operation to remove a double tumour in the spinal cord of a 10-year-old boy, doctors watching the brain activity of their patient saw a change when the music played on a piano next to him was interrupted. (ITALY-HOSPITAL/PIANO (PIX, TV), moved, 173 words)

This pigeon is worth $1.5 million KNESSELARE, Nov 15 - A two-year-old Belgian racing pigeon called New Kim set a world record of 1.6 million euros ($1.89 million) at an auction that ended on Sunday, the online auction house said. (BELGIUM-PIGEON/ (PIX, TV), by Clement Rossignol and Bart Biesemans, 297 words)

UNDERSTANDING COVID-19 Where are we in the vaccine race?

FACTBOX-Development of Pfizer-BioNTech coronavirus vaccine The most promising vaccines in development (https://tmsnrt.rs/36jDuuj)

FACTBOX-COVID-19 vaccine frontrunners EXPLAINER-Shot in the dark: Early COVID-19 vaccine efficacy explained

GRAPHIC-U.S. logs 1 million new COVID-19 cases last week, deaths up 12% (https://tmsnrt.rs/2WTOZDR) Global COVID-19 tracker (https://tmsnrt.rs/32CyMHu)

U.S. COVID-19 tracker (https://tmsnrt.rs/2ySIhG0) The Lifeline Pipeline: the drugs, tests and tactics that may conquer coronavirus (https://reut.rs/3bhMUaE)

Prominent people diagnosed with COVID-19 (https://reut.rs/38zyAtI) OTHER EXPLANATORY CONTENT

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FACTBOX-Which countries have stakes in Ethiopia's war? (Compiled by Leela de Kretser, Patrick Enright and Tiffany Wu)