BBC (July 20)
“Heat records tumbled and firefighters faced new blazes as much of Western Europe baked in a gruelling heatwave.” The UK “saw temperatures of more than 40C (104F) for the first time.” Germany had “its hottest day of the year,” as did the Netherlands, while in France “37,000 people had to be evacuated from their homes” due to wildfires. In the past week, Portugal alone has recorded “more than 1,000 heatwave-related deaths.”
Tags: Blazes, Deaths, Firefighters, France, Germany, Gruelling, Heat, Heatwave, Netherlands, Portugal, Records, Temperatures, UK, Western Europe, Wildfires
Washington Post (June 20)
“A punishing early-season heat wave… tormented large swaths of Europe over the weekend,” setting hundreds of record highs. “Temperatures between 104 and 110 degrees (40 to 43 Celsius) were common from Spain to Germany,” but France was hit hardest by extreme temperatures that peaked on Saturday “when more than a dozen all-time records were set.”
Tags: Early, Europe, Extreme, France, Germany, Heat wave, Punishing, Record highs, Spain, Temperatures, Tormented
The Week (April 25)
Emmanuel Macron may have “roundly defeated the right-wing antiliberal candidate Marine Le Pen in the second round of France’s presidential election,” but this is no time for complacency. “Placed in the broader historical context… the battle in France between liberals and antiliberals, center and periphery, is far from over. Indeed, if recent trends continue, the likelihood of a defeat for the center and triumph of the antiliberal right or left will continue to rise, with one of the extremes running a good chance of prevailing in the coming years.”
Tags: Antiliberal, Center, Complacency, Defeated, France, Historical context, Le Pen, Liberals, Macron, Periphery, Presidential election, Right wing
Reuters (November 27)
Europe is struggling “to find a common solution for the upcoming Christmas winter sports season.” Germany and France want the resorts closed while Austria doesn’t. A total closure “would be costly: Austria wants EU compensation for 2 billion euros of expected losses. But allowing people to squeeze into cable cars and enjoy apres-ski may pile pressure on national health systems as Europe fights a second wave of Covid-19. Without a coordinated and strict EU approach, a post-Christmas virus resurgence could be on the cards.”
Tags: Austria, Cable cars, Christmas, Compensation, COVID-19, EU, Europe, France, Germany, Second wave, Ski resorts, Solution, Strict, Winter sports
Wall Street Journal (October 28)
“France has emerged as the epicenter of the second wave of coronavirus infections now sweeping much of Europe, causing hospitals to brace for a surge of new patients.” Governments have been left “are struggling to respond to the second wave, loath to impose new lockdowns that would compound the economic pain the coronavirus pandemic has already inflicted on their countries, but concerned about the steady rise in hospitalizations and deaths.”
Tags: COVID-19, Deaths, Economic pain, Epicenter, Europe, France, Governments, Hospitals, Lockdowns, Patients, Second wave, Surge
The Irish Times (September 7)
With nearly 50,000 new cases last week, “Spain passed a grim milestone of recording more than half a million coronavirus cases on Monday, becoming the first western European country to do so amid a steep upward trend that is mirrored in neighbouring France.” Moreover, there is “significant concern” that the UK is moving down the same path to resurgence. All this comes as wet pubs look poised to reopen in Ireland on September 21.
Wall Street Journal (August 19)
“Coronavirus infections are surging again across much of Europe and governments are racing to prevent a full-fledged second wave of the pandemic.” Infection levels still “remain far lower in Europe than in much of the U.S. The seven-day average of new daily U.S. cases is running at nearly 150 cases per million people, about five times the number across Germany, France, Spain, Italy and the U.K.”
Tags: Coronavirus, Europe, France, Germany, Governments, Infections, Italy, Pandemic, Prevent, Second wave, Spain, Surging, U.S.
Wall Street Journal (August 13)
“The U.K. recorded a steeper second-quarter contraction than its peers, suffering the worst economic hit from the coronavirus in Europe as well as reporting the highest death toll there.” Great Britain’s GDP “shrank 20.4% in the second quarter, equivalent to an annualized rate of 59.8%,…. In the same period, U.S. and German output declined by around 10%, while Italy lost 12%, France 14% and Spain 19%.”
Tags: Contraction, Coronavirus, Death toll, Economic hit, Europe, France, GDP, Germany, Italy, Output, Peers, Suffering, U.K., U.S.
Bloomberg (July 26)
“Countries around the Mediterranean Sea were praying that a glimpse of tourism would get them through the summer before the cold snap drives people indoors and ushers in a second chapter to the pandemic. Now,” with resurgence in Spain and France, “it appears the spread of the virus may not wait for the winter months.”
Tags: Cold, France, Indoors, Mediterranean, Pandemic, Resurgence, Spain, Summer, Tourism, Virus
Reuters (April 20)
“Income tax was introduced in the United Kingdom in 1799 to fund the Napoleonic Wars against France. America imposed the tax in 1861 to pay for its civil war. The coronavirus pandemic is not literally a war. But it will lead to massive debts and eventually higher taxes.”
Tags: Civil war, Coronavirus, Debts, France, Fund, Income tax, Napoleonic Wars, Pandemic, Taxes, U.S., UK
