France

Less than a month after President Trump vowed to stop U.S. funding, Germany promised to give more than half a billion dollars and France pledged $100 million to a WHO research center in Lyon.

It was the landmark's longest closure since World War II. But the tower's highest point is still not open — and for now, visitors will need to take the stairs.

In a national address, French President Emmanuel Macron said beginning Monday restaurants and cafes would be allowed to fully reopen and people could resume visiting family in nursing homes.

Earlier this week, police gathered in front of precincts across France and threw down their handcuffs in a symbolic gesture.

Demonstrators this week said they were rallying for "our brother" in the U.S. as well as Adama Traoré, who died in police custody in 2016.

"It will be so nice to be able to go lie on the grass in a park and have a picnic or to sit at a sidewalk cafe again," says a Paris resident. Restaurants and bars will reopen with restrictions June 2.

As France emerges from two months of lockdown, restaurants still have no reopening date. Among other dishes, Savoy is offering a poultry ballotine with foie gras in a truffle vinaigrette for takeaway.

An uproar followed comments by Sanofi's CEO that if the company develops a vaccine, doses would likely go to Americans first. The board president later insisted, "Any vaccine will be a public good."

France's minister of education, Jean-Michel Blanquer, talked with NPR about the gradual reopening of schools, which will be voluntary. Still, many parents and administrators are against the plan.

As a longtime Paris resident, at first I feared Dirt might be yet another expat tale of moving to France en famille, with all its tedious clichés. I should have known better.

The Covidom app allows thousands of patients with non-critical cases of COVID-19 to ride the virus out at home. They answer questions on a range of health indicators and doctors follow up by phone.

Even after Europe became an epicenter in the global spread of COVID-19, a number of leaders have had growing approval from their citizens.