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PARIS - Plastic barriers and millions of masks appeared Monday on the streets of Europe’s newly reopened cities, as France and Belgium emerged from lockdowns, the Netherlands sent children back to school and Greece and Spain further eased restrictions. All faced a delicate balance of trying to restart battered economies without fueling a second wave of coronavirus infections. Social distancing was the order of the day but just how to do that on public transit and in schools was the big question. With Monday’s partial reopening, the French did not have to carry forms allowing them to leave their homes...

The great waves of plague that twice devastated Europe and changed the course of history had their origins in China, a team of medical geneticists reported Sunday, as did a third plague outbreak that struck less harmfully in the 19th century.

Is this the stronghold of freedom fighter William Wallace? It’s pretty overgrown now, but a combination of drone flight and 3D tech appears to have found “Wallace’s House” in southern Scotland. From this fort, the legendary thorn in England’s side planned an attack on nearby Lochmaben Castle in Dumfries and Galloway. The Scotsman reports how Forestry and Land Scotland (FLS) – in association with Skyscape Survey – launched an aerial exploration of the site. Drone footage was taken over a “massive earthen rampart and the promontory where the waters of the Black Linn (River) and the Tor Linn meet.” From...

Covid-19 cases in France can be dated back to as early as November 16, nearly 10 weeks before the country’s first confirmed cases of the disease were thought to have occurred, according to a French hospital. The November case was identified by the hospital’s medical imaging department after carrying out a retrospective study on about 2,500 chest scans performed between November 1 and April 30. [snip] In France, some cases were already in circulation in November, said Michel Schmitt, chief doctor of the medical imaging department at Albert Schweitzer Hospital in the town of Colmar in Alsace, near the border...

Seventy-five years ago today, the last remnants of the Nazi regime unconditionally surrendered to the Allied Powers, marking the end of World War II in Europe.  Today, we celebrate the forces of freedom who defeated tyranny and emerged victorious in that monumental struggle.  We pay tribute to those who served for their service and pause to remember those who gave their last full measure in defense of the flames of liberty.The campaign to end fascism in the European Theater is a somber reminder of the price of freedom.  More than 30 million lives were lost and tens of millions...

European Union lawmakers are considering toughening the bloc’s planned climate law, with stricter near-term emission goals and a binding commitment for every member state to decarbonize by 2050, according to a draft document seen by Reuters. Such goals are required if the world is to stick within limits scientists say are needed to avoid devastating fallout from global warming, the lead author of the document, Swedish lawmaker Jytte Guteland, said. The European Commission, the EU’s executive, proposed the law in March - weeks before the coronavirus pandemic prompted an economic crisis that the bloc has pledged to tackle with “green”...

Berliners have been given an unprecedented public holiday on Friday, to mark the end of World War Two but also liberation from Nazi rule. Not since reunification has a German city acknowledged 8 May as a day of liberation and some Berliners are unaware of the date's significances. A street party and several events have been cancelled because of the coronavirus pandemic. The holiday is one-off and is not being held outside Berlin. But there are growing calls for a public holiday to be held across Germany.

The UK must avoid lurching from the coronavirus crisis into a deeper climate crisis, the government’s advisers have warned. They recommend that ministers ensure funds earmarked for a post-Covid-19 economic recovery go to firms that will reduce carbon emissions. They say the public should work from home if possible; and to walk or cycle. And investment should prioritise broadband over road-building, the Committee on Climate Change (CCC) says. People should also be encouraged to save emissions by continuing to consult GPs online. The government will reply later, although the Energy Secretary Alok Sharma has already spoken in favour of a...

Most important reason for discrepancy appears to be implementation of early lockdown The coronavirus map of Europe makes one thing clear: the richer nations of western Europe have suffered more from the virus than countries in the eastern half of the EU, almost without exceptions. Comparing figures from different countries can be fraught with difficulty, and many factors can potentially skew the numbers. But the comparison between western Europe on the one hand, and central and eastern Europe on the other, shows a difference in coronavirus rates that is too stark to ignore. Even the worst-hit central and eastern European...

Germany will take new steps towards normalisation in May, including reopening shops and schools after weeks of shutdown imposed to control the spread of the coronavirus, according to a draft agreement seen by AFP Wednesday. "Even after initial steps to open up were introduced from April 20, the number of new infections remained low," the document read, with "no new wave of infection" so far detected -- justifying the series of bolder reopening steps. So far, only certain children like those soon facing exams had been allowed to return to class. But now kindergartens and primary schools will also reopen...

Police on quarantine containment patrol in Paris, France, came under fire Sunday evening. Video from the chaotic scene in the Noisy-le-Grand suburb shows three policemen entering a plaza on motorcycles before footage cuts to one officer being bombarded with fireworks as he tries to pin down a resident.

Sweden did not have a lockdown. Experts predicted that it would have 40,000 COVID-19 deaths by May 1. The actual number was 2,769. Sweden did not have a lockdown.Experts predicted that it would have 40,000 COVID-19 deaths by May 1.The actual number was 2,769.The Telegraph just reported:How Sweden suppressed infection rates without a lockdownDenmark locked down hard and early, shutting schools, borders, cafés, restaurants and shops. Sweden has taken a light-touch approach, shutting none of these things, and instead relying on the public’s “common sense behaviour”.If the R number is 1, it means that each person infected goes on to infect...

The European Union raised over $8 billion for the development and "universal deployment" of a COVID-19 vaccine and other medical treatments during a virtual global summit Monday that the U.S. did not participate in, prompting doubt about the Trump administration's support for those efforts. Senior administration officials said that the U.S. is supportive of the summit and that the administration has already provided $2.4 billion in total for the coronavirus response, including economic assistance, global health funding and humanitarian aid. But two officials who briefed reporters would not say why the U.S. skipped the summit. The pledging marathon will continue...

Europe’s top coronavirus hot spots are preparing to lift lockdown measures after seeing the biggest dip in daily new confirmed cases and deaths in weeks. Italy, Spain, and France have all recorded their lowest daily spike in fatalities to date. On Monday, Italy recorded just 174 coronavirus-related deaths within a 24-hour period – the lowest daily increase in two months, Sky News reported. Spain’s 164 new death count was the lowest daily increase since mid-March. In France, 135 deaths were recorded overnight. Italy Italy, the first country in the world to implement a nationwide lockdown on March 10, is allowing...

A French hospital which has retested old samples from pneumonia patients discovered that it treated a man who had Covid-19 as early as Dec. 27, nearly a month before the French government confirmed its first cases. Yves Cohen, head of resuscitation at the Avicenne and Jean Verdier hospitals in the northern suburbs of Paris, told French media that scientists had retested samples from 24 patients treated in December and January who tested negative for the flu. "Of the 24, we had one who was positive for Covid-19 on Dec. 27," he told the news channel on Sunday. Each sample was...

About 4.5 million Italians are returning to work Monday as Italy — one of the countries hardest hit by COVID-19 — begins lifting some restrictions meant to stop the spread of the disease. Italy has lost nearly 29,000 people because of the coronavirus, second only to the United States, according to data from Johns Hopkins University. More than 210,000 people in the country have been infected. Italy was one of the first countries to be racked by the disease. The government imposed strict lockdown policies on March 9, earlier than many countries started responding, as NPR's Sylvia Poggioli reported from...

Thousands of  desperate  migrants are trapped in limbo and even at risk of death without food, water or shelter in scorching deserts and at sea, as  governments close off borders and ports amid the coronavirus pandemic. Migrants have been dropped by the truckload in the Sahara Desert or bused to Mexico’s desolate border with Guatemala and beyond. They are drifting in the Mediterranean Sea after European and Libyan authorities declared their ports unsafe. Many governments have declared emergencies, saying a public health crisis like the coronavirus pandemic requires extraordinary measures. However, these measures are just the latest efforts by governments...

p>There are several things we know today about the Wuhan coronavirus that we did not know two months ago: ** It is not as dangerous as first reported. The mortality rate is somewhere around 0.1% to 0.3% similar to a seasonal flu unlike the 3.4% number that the WHO was throwing around in early March. ** The Wuhan coronavirus is not a threat for children especially children under 10 who are not transmitters of the disease. ** Dr. Fauci was wrong almost every step of the way in understanding and controlling the disease. ** Dr. Fauci and Dr. Birx and...

CASTEL VOLTURNO, Italy - They are known as “the invisibles”: Undocumented African migrants who, even before the coronavirus outbreak plunged Italy into crisis, barely scraped by as day laborers, prostitutes, freelance hairdressers and seasonal farm hands. Locked down for two months in crumbling apartments in a mob-infiltrated town north of Naples, their hand-to-mouth existence has grown even more precarious with no work, no food and no hope. Italy is preparing to reopen some business and industry on Monday in a preliminary easing of its virus shutdown. But there is no indication that “the invisibles” of Castel Volturno will get back...

Top lawmakers on both sides of the Atlantic released a joint statement Friday calling for countries worldwide to reject isolationism and work together to fight the coronavirus pandemic. The statement was signed by foreign affairs committee chairmen from the U.S., U.K., Germany and the European Union and stressed safeguarding transatlantic relationships built in the aftermath of World War II to combat threats posed by bad actors trying to exploit the health crisis. "Would-be authoritarians and strongmen are using the crisis to consolidate power and crack down on the rights and freedoms of their people, political opponents, and the independent press....