'At 6 p.m., life stops': Europe uses curfews to fight virus

January 14, 2021

PARIS (AP) — As the wan winter sun sets over France's Champagne region, the countdown clock kicks in. Laborers stop pruning the vines as the light fades at about 4:30 p.m., leaving them 90 minutes to come in from the cold, change out of their work clothes, hop in their cars and zoom home before a 6 p.m. coronavirus curfew.

Forget about any after-work socializing with friends, after-school clubs for children or doing any evening shopping beyond quick trips for essentials. Police on patrol demand valid reasons from people seen out and about. For those without them, the threat of mounting fines for curfew-breakers is increasingly making life outside of the weekends all work and no play.

“At 6 p.m., life stops,” says Champagne producer Alexandre Prat. Trying to fend off the need for a third nationwide lockdown that would further dent Europe’s second-largest economy and put more jobs in danger, France is instead opting for creeping curfews. Big chunks of eastern France, including most of its regions that border Belgium, Germany, Switzerland and Italy, face 6 p.m.-to-6 a.m. restrictions on movement.

The rest of France could quickly follow suit, losing two extra hours of liberty that have been just enough for residents to maintain bare-bones social lives. Until a couple of weeks ago, the nightly curfew didn't kick in until 8 p.m. in Prat's region, the Marne. Customers still stopped to buy bottles of his family's bubbly wines on their way home, he said. But when the cut-off time was advanced to 6 p.m. to slow viral infections, the drinkers disappeared.

“Now we have no one," Prat said. The village where retiree Jerome Brunault lives alone in the Burgundy wine region is also in one of the 6 p.m. curfew zones. The 67-year-old says his solitude weighs more heavily without the opportunity for early evening drinks, nibbles and chats with friends, the so-called “apero” get-togethers so beloved by the French that were hurried but still feasible when curfew started two hours later.

“With the 6 p.m. curfew, we cannot go to see friends for a drink anymore,” Brunault said. "I now spend my days not talking to anyone except for the baker and some people by phone.” Imposing a 6 p.m. curfew nationwide is among options the French government is considering in response to rising infections and the spread of a particularly contagious virus variant that has swept across Britain, where new infections and virus deaths have soared.

Prime Minister Jean Castex could announce a curfew extension Thursday evening, as well as other restrictions, to fight the virus in a country that has seen over 69,000 confirmed virus deaths. An earlier curfew combats virus transmission “precisely because it serves to limit social interactions that people can have at the end of the day, for example in private homes,” French government spokesman Gabriel Attal says.

Overnight curfews have become the norm in swaths of Europe but the 6 p.m.-to-6 a.m. curfew in 25 regions of eastern France is the most restrictive anywhere in the European Union's 27 nations. Others countries' curfews all start later and often finish earlier.

The curfew in Italy runs from 10 p.m. to 5 a.m., as does the Friday night to Sunday morning curfew in Latvia. Regions of Belgium that speak French have a 10 p.m. to 6 a.m. curfew while in Belgium's Dutch-speaking region, the hours are midnight to 5 a.m.

People out between 8 p.m. and 5 a.m. in Hungary must be able to show police written proof from their employers that they are either working or commuting. There are no curfews in Bulgaria, Croatia, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Ireland, Lithuania, Malta, Sweden, Poland or the Netherlands, although the Dutch government is thinking about whether imposing a curfew would slow new COVID-19 cases.

In France, critics of the 6 p.m. curfew say the earlier time actually crams people together more after work, when they pile onto public transportation, clog roads and shop for groceries in a narrow rush-hour window before they must be home.

Women's rugby coach Felicie Guinot says negotiating rush-hour traffic in Marseille has become a nightmare. The city in southern France is among the places where the more contagious virus variant has started to flare.

“It's a scramble so everyone can be home by 6 p.m.,” Guinot said. In historic Besançon, the fortressed city that was the hometown of “Les Misérables” author Victor Hugo, music store owner Jean-Charles Valley says the 6 p.m. deadline means people no longer drop by after work to play with the guitars and other instruments that he sells. Instead, they rush home.

“People are completely demoralized,” Valley said. In Dijon, the French city known for its pungent mustard, working mother of two Celine Bourdin says her life has narrowed to “dropping kids at school and going to work, then going back home, helping kids with homework and preparing dinner.”

But even that cycle is better than a repeat of France's lockdown at the start of the pandemic, when schools also closed, Bourdin says. “If my children don’t go to school, it means I cannot work anymore," she said. "It was terribly difficult to be all stuck almost 24 hours a day in the house.”

Leicester reported from Le Pecq, France. AP journalists across Europe contributed.

Rubbish-covered lake brings to light Balkans waste problem

January 26, 2021

PRIBOJ, Serbia (AP) — Trucks and building machines are parked on a river dam in southwest Serbia but not for construction work. Instead, huge cranes are being used to clear tons of garbage crammed at the foot of the power plant.

Serbia and other Balkan nations are overwhelmed by communal waste after decades of neglect and lack of efficient waste-management policies in the countries aspiring to join the European Union. Burning rubbish dumps can be seen from the roads, plastic bags are hanging from trees and islands of waste are floating down the region's rivers. The problem usually comes into focus in winter, when swollen waters sweep over landfills, pushing the garbage toward hydropower dams.

This has been the case at the Potpec accumulation lake near the power plant after a spate of rainy and snowy weather in December and early January. The surface of the lake got covered in a thick layer of waste ranging from plastics to rusty metal scraps, tree trunks and even reportedly a coffin.

The garbage has been swept downstream by the Lim River, which feeds the Potpec dam. The Lim originates in neighboring Montenegro, passing through several municipalities and their waste sites in both Montenegro and Serbia.

“Based on a recent study, we found out that in these towns, in the five municipalities in Montenegro and three in Serbia, about 45,000 tons of waste are collected (per year),” said Predrag Saponjic, the Lim River hydropower plant system manager. Looking at the rubbish-strewn lake, he added that "even if only a fraction of that waste ends up in the Lim River, we get this.”

Environmentalists in the Balkans have warned that because most landfills aren't managed properly they leak toxic materials into rivers, threatening ecosystems and wildlife. Bosnia too has reported a garbage pileup that endangers the hydroelectric dam on the Drina River, near the eastern town of Visegrad. The Lim is one of the tributaries of the Drina, which makes their waterways — and garbage flows — closely connected.

The two emerald-colored rivers — the Drina flows along the border between Serbia and Bosnia — during summer are favored by adventurers and water rafters who enjoy the winding waterways and seemingly pristine nature.

While Balkan nations have been struggling to recover following a series of wars and crises in the 1990s, environmental issues often come last for the countries whose economies are lagging far behind the rest of Europe and where public funds are vulnerable to widespread corruption.

Jugoslav Jovanovic, from Serbia's state-run Srbijavode company that is in charge of the country's water system, put the waste problem down to “our neglect and lack of care.” Landfills are located too close to rivers and are overfilled rather than closed down over the years, he warned.

“If we find ourselves forced to do this year after year, then that’s not really a solution," he said of the clearing operation. “We must find common ground and solve this by joining forces.” Serbia, Montenegro and Bosnia have held meetings on the issue but little has been done. The Balkan countries also face other environmental emergencies, including dangerous levels of air pollution in many cities.

Experts predict the clearing of Potpec lake will take few weeks, depending on the weather. However, all the garbage from the water will end up again on a landfill in western Serbia. Goran Rekovic, an activist from the nearby town of Priboj, said raising public awareness about pollution is a key goal, along with “institutional and systematic” solutions. These are needed also if Serbia and other Balkan countries wish to move closer to EU membership.

“This is not European Union's obligation. We should not be doing this for them," Rekovic said. “The reason why we should take care of our environment is for our own future generations."

Jovana Gec and Marko Drobnjakovic contributed to this report.

Air pollution in eastern Europe adds to pandemic health woes

December 17, 2020

SARAJEVO, Bosnia-Herzegovina (AP) — With the arrival of cold and foggy winter weather amid the pandemic, eastern Europe is facing an extra respiratory health hazard — air pollution. Countries such as Bosnia and Serbia in the Balkans, and even European Union nations Poland and Croatia, traditionally report high levels of dangerous pollution from heating in winter months.

The United Nations has warned in previous years that people in all major cities across the Western Balkans face alarming levels of air pollution that are reducing their life expectancies. This year, the problem is coupled with the soaring COVID-19 infections.

Thousands of new cases have been reported daily in most countries in the region. Hospitals are practically full and many departments treating other diseases or chronic ailments have been converted to COVID-19 wards, bringing the health systems in the former Communist-run nations near breaking-point.

“We have this pressure from two sides now, one (from the virus) and another from polluted air,” said Igor Spaic, a resident of Bosnia's capital Sarajevo, which is one of the most polluted cities in Europe.

“Smog is dangerous for children and corona is dangerous for older people ... there is great pressure on people and their lives today here,” Spaic added. Sarajevo on Thursday was enveloped in thick smog as authorities warned high-risk groups to reduce activity and told schools to keep children inside.

Dirty air is a chronic problem in the city of some 270,000, which is nestled in a narrow valley surrounded by mountains, and has few anti-pollution measures in place. Bosnia — and much of the Balkans — relies largely on coal for heating. Socialist-era giant power plants in both Bosnia and Serbia lack modern environmental protection measures, and citizens heat their homes with cheap coal.

Additionally, the use of old, highly-polluting vehicles is widespread in the impoverished region that went through devastating wars in the 1990s. Poor architectural planning in Sarajevo and Belgrade have left the overpopulated cities with blocked air flow and few green areas.

The U.S. embassy in Sarajevo early Thursday described the city's air as “hazardous," changing it to “very unhealthy" later in the morning. The embassy uses its own air quality monitoring equipment to measure PM 2.5 fine particulate matter and define air quality.

Sarajevo authorities said windless weather forecast in coming days likely will increase unhealthy substances in the air. The city's public health institute urged measures such as the reduction of heating temperature to reduce coal consumption, more environmentally-friendly city transport vehicles and more frequent cleaning of streets.

Sarajevo resident Sead Secercehajic said masks worn for protection against COVID-19 might confer an additional advantage on wearers: "We can’t (smell) the stench of this fog.” Belgrade's 2 million residents woke up to thick fog and motionless air, particularly in the lower parts of the city. The Belgrade city website described the air as “polluted," warning citizens to limit outside activity.

High pollution was also reported Thursday throughout Poland, a major producer and consumer of coal for energy. The concentration of dangerous dust particles was particularly bad in the southern, coal-mining and industrial areas.

The problem has long plagued Poland and is blamed for high numbers of deaths each year. But this year medical experts say it’s worse due to the pandemic. Lung disease specialist Tadeusz Zielonka told the Onet news portal this week that Poles face a particularly dangerous winter from the triple threat of smog, flu and COVID-19.

“Smog is like a lockpick that opens the door of infection,” said Zielonka, who works at the Medical University of Warsaw. “Smog not only opens the door to the coronavirus, but is also a means of transport for it.”

AP writers Jovana Gec in Belgrade, Serbia, and Vanessa Gera in Warsaw, Poland, contributed to this report.

As season nears, Europe ponders skiing during pandemic

November 26, 2020

MILAN (AP) — Though the first real snow has yet to fall across much of Europe, ski buffs are imagining with dread a once-unthinkable scene: Skiing in Zermatt in Switzerland while lifts idle across the border in Italy's Aosta valley.

The leaders of Italy and France are resisting pressure to reopen ski resorts before Christmas, pushing for European coordination so their industries don’t suffer during the pandemic while others flourish. But the Alpine countries of Switzerland and Austria could well be spoilers.

Ski resorts were one of the major sources of contagion in the deadly spring surge of COVID-19. So far, restrictions to slow the curve of infections have kept lifts closed in Italy, France, Germany and Austria, as well as countries further east. But skiers are already heading to mountains in Switzerland, drawing an envious gaze from ski industry and local officials in mountain regions elsewhere on the continent who lost most of last season due to the virus. They are warning of irreversible economic damage if they are not permitted to open this season.

Both Italian Premier Giuseppe Conte and French President Emmanuel Macron said this week that pre-Christmas openings are unthinkable. While such skiing luminaries as world and Olympic champion Alberto Tomba argue that it is an individual sport conducted in the open air, the leaders point to the risks of contagion in crowded lift lines and lodges, as well as closed cable cars.

Top health officials in Italy appeared aghast when they were asked at a briefing Tuesday about the prospects for opening ski season, minutes after they had just reported a resurgence-high 853 deaths in a 24-hour period.

“I admit I have a difficult time inside commenting on arguments relating to ski areas and what will happen at Christmas, thinking about these numbers,’’ said Dr. Franco Locatelli, head of Italy’s national scientific council.

French mountain industry representatives met with the French prime minister Monday to press to be able to reopen, but apparently their pleas weren’t heard. “It seems impossible to me to imagine a reopening for the holidays, and much more preferable to favor reopening in January, in good conditions,’’ Macron said as he laid out plans Tuesday night for a gradual easing of the current lockdown.

Plans for reopening also remain on ice in the eastern countries of Poland, Slovenia, Slovakia and the Czech Republic — although Serbia is prepping for the winter season in full swing, as if COVID-19 did not exist, counting on both domestic and foreign visitors.

Austria, whose current lockdown runs through Dec. 6, has been for months saying that it hoped to reopen the slopes this season and rejected Italy’s idea of keeping them closed until Jan. 10. On Wednesday, Austrian Chancellor Sebastian Kurz pushed back against calls to write off this year’s ski season because of the pandemic.

In Bavaria, Germany’s largest ski destination, Governor Markus Soeder supported the idea, saying that if Europe’s borders are to remain open through the Christmas season there will have to be some sort of a blanket rule on keeping resorts closed.

In Switzerland, lifts are indeed in operation on Zermatt, next to the famed Matterhorn, and eastern Davos, near Austria. The famed resort of St. Moritz, a favorite destination for well-heeled Italians, is set to open about 60% of slopes this weekend.

But much of the fun of skiing getaways is missing: Zermatt's slopes may be open, but its restaurants are not — meaning a warm cocoa, mulled wine or cold beer at pubs or eateries after mountain runs is out.

So far, just 10% of the country’s 250 ski stations are open as only the highest altitudes have gotten enough snow, according to Switzerland Tourism spokeswoman Veronique Kanel. She said she didn't expect a flood of foreign skiers, noting strict travel rules still in place in many countries.

An official in the Swiss health ministry said Switzerland plans to join a discussion among officials from Alpine countries in the coming days on coordinating a plan for relaunching the ski season. “Clearly the situation is complicated: It’s difficult to have only one country open its ski slopes when others close theirs. There needs to be coordination,” said the official on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak publicly on the matter.

Keaten contributed from Geneva. Angela Charlton in Paris and Dave Rising in Berlin also contributed.

Freezing temps bring Europe traffic chaos, smog, avalanche

January 18, 2021

WARSAW, Poland (AP) — Extreme cold has hit large parts of Europe, with freezing temperatures cracking railroad tracks in Poland, snow blanketing the Turkish metropolis of Istanbul and smog spiking as more coal was being burned to generate heat.

In Switzerland, a skier who had been buried by an avalanche over the weekend died in a hospital of his injuries, authorities said Monday. The country had issued avalanche warnings several days earlier after heavy snowfall. Officials said the skier and his two companions were buried by an avalanche while skiing off marked trails in the Gstaad area on Sunday. One man freed himself from the snow and then extricated one of the others, but the third man could only be found by rescue crews, who arrived later.

Temperatures dropped to minus 28 degrees Celsius (minus 18 Fahrenheit) in some Polish areas overnight, the coldest night in 11 years. Many trains were delayed on Monday after tracks at two Warsaw railway stations cracked.

Hand-in-hand with the cold came a spike in smog in Warsaw and other parts of Poland, as the cold prompted an increase in burning coal for heat. Air pollution levels were so high in Warsaw that city officials urged people to remain indoors.

Just across Poland's southwestern border, the Czech Republic experienced the coldest night this year with temperatures dropping below minus 20 degrees Celsius (minus 4 Fahrenheit) in many places. The lowest temperature — minus 27 degrees Celsius (minus 16 Fahrenheit) — was recorded Monday in Orlicke Zahori, a mountainous village 160 kilometers (100 miles) east of Prague near the Polish border, according to the Czech Hydrometeorological Institute.

The freezing weather was expected to be replaced by heavy snowfall in the northeastern Czech Republic, the institute said. Wintry weather and freezing temperatures were reported throughout the Balkans, which has created problems with power supplies in Serbia and brought some snow even to Croatia’s Adriatic Sea islands.

In eastern Albania, temperatures dipped as low as minus 13 degrees Celsius (9 Fahrenheit) in Peshkopi, 110 kilometers (70 miles) east of the capital, Tirana. The deep freeze caused water pipes to freeze and created dangerous driving conditions. Icy roads in the city of Pogradec prevented firefighters from arriving in time to a home fire in which a man died early Monday.

In Istanbul, traffic was brought to a halt by the layer of snow covering the city, with cars stalled or skidding on the roads. In Germany, fresh snow, slippery roads and fallen trees led to several car accidents on Sunday and overnight, the dpa news agency reported. A driver died in southwestern Germany after his car shot over a mound of snow.

The Nordic region also saw snow and subfreezing temperatures, with the coldest temperatures predictably recorded in the Arctic. Norway’s meteorological institute tweeted a tongue-in-cheek message on Monday, saying: “we encourage all knitting lovers to send woolen clothes to their friends in the north.”

In Denmark, police found 17 people ice bathing naked on Sunday in a lake near Roskilde, 40 kilometers (25 miles) west of Copenhagen. Everyone in the group, aged between 26 and 51, was preliminarily charged with violating pandemic restrictions limiting gatherings to five people. Police said they will all receive a fine, which is 2,500 kroner ($405) for first-time offenders.

AP writers from across Europe contributed.

Hot again: 2020 sets yet another global temperature record

January 14, 2021

(AP) Earth's rising fever hit or neared record hot temperature levels in 2020, global weather groups reported Thursday. While NASA and a couple of other measurement groups said 2020 passed or essentially tied 2016 as the hottest year on record, more agencies, including the National Oceanic Atmospheric Administration, said last year came in a close second or third. The differences in rankings mostly turned on how scientists accounted for data gaps in the Arctic, which is warming faster than the rest of the globe.

“It’s like the film ‘Groundhog Day.’ Another year, same story — record global warmth,” said Pennsylvania State University climate scientist Michael Mann, who wasn’t part of the measurement teams. “As we continue to generate carbon pollution, we expect the planet to warm up. And that’s precisely what we’re seeing.”

Scientists said all you had to do was look outside: “We saw the heat waves. We saw the fires. We saw the (melting) Arctic,” said NASA top climate scientist Gavin Schmidt. “We’re expecting it to get hotter and that’s exactly what happened.”

NOAA said 2020 averaged 58.77 degrees (14.88 degrees Celsius), a few hundredths of a degree behind 2016. NASA saw 2020 as warmer than 2016 but so close they are essentially tied. The European Copernicus group also called it an essential tie for hottest year, with 2016 warmer by an insignificant fraction. Japan’s weather agency put 2020 as warmer than 2016, but a separate calculation by Japanese scientists put 2020 as a close third behind 2016 and 2019. The World Meteorological Organization, the British weather agency and Berkeley Earth’s monitoring team had 2016 ahead.

First or second rankings really don’t matter, “but the key thing to take away is that the long-term trends in temperature are very very clearly up and up and up,” said Schmidt, who heads NASA’s Goddard Institute for Space Studies that tracks temperatures. “We’re in a position where we’re pushing the climate system out of the bounds that it’s been in for tens of thousands of years, if not millions of years.”

All the monitoring agencies agree the six warmest years on record have been the six years since 2015. The 10 warmest have all occurred since 2005, and scientists say that warming's driven by the burning of coal, oil and natural gas.

Temperatures the last six or seven years “really hint at an acceleration in the rise of global temperatures,” said Russ Vose, analysis branch chief at NOAA’s National Centers for Environmental Information. While temperature increases have clearly accelerated since the 1980s, it’s too early to discern a second and more recent acceleration, Schmidt said.

Last year's exceptional heat “is yet another stark reminder of the relentless pace of climate change, which is destroying lives and livelihoods across our planet,” United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres said in a statement. “Making peace with nature is the defining task of the 21st century.”

The United States, which had its fifth warmest yea r, smashed the record for the number of weather disasters that cost at least $1 billion with 22 of them in 2020, including hurricanes, wildfires, tornadoes and a Midwest derecho. The old record of 16 was set in 2011 and 2017. This was the sixth consecutive year with 10 or more billion-dollar climate disasters, with figures adjusted for inflation.

Earth has now warmed 1.2 degrees Celsius (2.2 degrees Fahrenheit) since pre-industrial times and is adding another 0.2 degrees Celsius (0.36 Fahrenheit) a decade. That means the planet is nearing an international warming threshold set in Paris in 2015, Vose and Schmidt said. Nations of the world set a goal of preventing at least 2 degrees Celsius (3.6 degrees Fahrenheit) of warming, with a tougher secondary goal of limiting warming to 1.5 degrees (2.7 degrees Fahrenheit).

“We cannot avoid 1.5 C above pre-industrial now -- it is just too late to turn things around,” University of Oklahoma meteorology professor Jason Furtado, who wasn’t on any of the measurement teams, said in an email. “I also fear that the 2 C threshold is slipping away from us too unless changes become much more immediate in the US and other nations.”

Earth has warmed 1.6 degrees (0.9 degrees Celsius) since 1942, when President-elect Joe Biden was born, and 1.2 degrees (0.6 degrees Celsius) since 1994, when pop star Justin Bieber was born, according to NOAA data.

The main reason the agencies have varying numbers is because there are relatively few temperature gauges in the Arctic. NOAA and the British weather agency take a conservative approach in extrapolating for the missing data, while NASA factors that the Arctic is warming much faster than the rest of the globe, hitting 100 degrees (38 Celsius) in the Russian Arctic last June, said NASA's Schmidt.

The pandemic may have added ever so slightly to last year’s warming, enough to edge 2020 past 2016 in NASA's calculations, Schmidt said. Around the globe, people were driving less — and that reduced short-term aerosol pollution which acts as a cooling agent by reflecting heat. Schmidt said fewer cooling aerosols could be responsible for .09 to .18 degrees (.05 to .1 degrees Celsius) warming for the year.

NOAA's Vose and Schmidt expect 2021 to be among the top five hottest years but probably not a record breaker because of natural temporary cooling in parts of the Pacific called La Nina. NOAA and NASA measurements go back to 1880, while the United Kingdom Met Office has readings back to 1850.

Books? Hairdressers? Europeans split on lockdown essentials

November 07, 2020

HALLE, Belgium (AP) — The concept of what is essential to keep a society functioning during coronavirus lockdowns is gripping Europe as the pandemic unleashes death, poverty, illness and isolation. Beyond obvious candidates like food stores and pharmacies, some answers in the patchwork of nations and cultures that make up Europe can approach the surreal. An activity or item considered essential in one country can be off-limits across the border just a brief stroll down the road.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel said that while it might seem fairest to just shut everything down, “it's perhaps not the most practical” solution. “If people are only satisfied when everything possible is shut down, then that’s a view which naturally doesn’t make economic sense,” Merkel said.

That's why Germany is keeping car dealerships open this time, after their closure in the first, spring lockdown hurt the country's huge automobile industry. In Belgium, of course, chocolate shops are staying open.

“Chocolate is very much an essential food around here," said chocolatier Marleen Van Volsem at the Praleen chocolaterie south of Brussels. “It has to be. Because chocolate makes you happy." Happiness would seem no subject to split hairs about. Neither would safety as infection numbers are setting global records. A total of 600,000 confirmed daily cases were reported worldwide for the first time Friday after having reached 500,000 for the first time on Oct. 26.

Yet consider how differently Italy and Britain treat a service that gladdens many a heart. In the country that coined the term “bella figura” — the art of cutting a fine figure — hairdressers are deemed essential.

“Italians really care about their image and about wellness,”″ said Charity Cheah, the Milan-based co-founder of TONI&GUY Italy. “Perhaps psychologically, the government may feel that going to a salon is a moment of release from stress and tension, a moment of self-care, that citizens need.”

But across England people have had to scramble to get their hair done in the last days and hours while they still could, before new pandemic restrictions came into force on Thursday. “The thought of another lockdown and being stuck at home — (people thought) I’m going to throw caution to the wind and I am just going to come in and have my hair done,” said Richard Ward, managing director at the Richard Ward Hair and Metro Spa on London's swank Sloane Square.

And then there are life's finer pleasures. In France, the love of books is unquestioned. No country has more Nobel Prize-winners in Literature, and a book review program on TV like Apostrophes used to be watched by millions every week. But walk the streets of Paris and you will find bookshops closed.

Sylvia Whitman, who runs the famed Shakespeare and Co. bookstore on the Left Bank, seethes at the prospect of giant online platforms gobbling up business while her shop is shuttered. Her sales have dropped 80% since the the spring lockdown.

“I find it really tiring that the bigger you are the more you can ignore laws, you can avoid taxes, you can find loopholes," she said. “The smaller you are, the more expensive and the more complicated things are. “

Across the border in Belgium, books were deemed essential. Even then, Wouter Cajot, owner of the 't Stad Leest in the port of Antwerp finds it a mixed blessing. The lockdown has reduced passing shoppers to a trickle and he will have to decide whether heating and personnel costs make it worth his staying open.

But when essential goods cannot be bought in a store they can still be delivered. “During the first lockdown we had to invent a website in three days and nights," said Cajot, and he got “new logistical equipment — a cargo bike," to the delight of his Antwerp clients who get books delivered within hours of placing their order. “So why order books at an international online giant when the corner bookstore can deliver same-day by bike?"

That's also become a question of government policy. With small shops often forced to suspend operations, and drifting closer to bankruptcy as a result, the door is wide open for supermarket chains and online giants to pounce. Several countries have taken steps to ensure supermarkets during lockdown cannot sell many products that provide the livelihood of closed shops.

It can get very complicated, with some supermarkets forced to tape off sections of their merchandise. In Belgium, Christmas decorations which took weeks to set up may now be hidden from view, since retail stores cannot sell them, as they are deemed non-essential.

“Books and magazines are allowed," said Harry Decraene, manager of a Carrefour department west of Brussels. "DVDs, CDs and games are not allowed. Sewing equipment is allowed, stationery is allowed, garden equipment can be sold. Pots and pans, toys and Christmas supplies are not allowed.”

Just as toys would seem essential for children, petanque — France's traditional outdoors game that involves mostly elderly players tossing metal balls with leisurely accuracy — might be considered a must for the country's retirees.

There is nothing quite like the petanque grounds of the Provencal village of Saint-Paul-de-Vence, where the likes of actors Yves Montand and Lino Ventura would click their balls on the dirt. Now they're deserted, as the government opined that petanque is not essential.

“It’s a leisure activity, we can do without it,” said Sandrine Leonard, who manages the local tourism information center. Now that dead leaves provide the color the sun usually does, “it’s more a period to stay quietly at home, to do some cooking. We spend less time outdoors. Hence the importance of having a good book.”

But wait! Bookshops are closed.

John Leicester and Oleg Cetinic contributed from Paris, Virginia Mayo from Antwerp, Belgium, Sam Petrequin from Brussels, Frank Jordans from Berlin, Colleen Barry from Milan.

Short of medics as virus surges, central Europe sounds alarm

October 29, 2020

KYJOV, Czech Republic (AP) — Soldiers in Poland are giving coronavirus tests. American National Guard troops with medical training are headed to the Czech Republic to work alongside doctors there. A Czech university student is running blood samples to labs, and the mayor of the capital is taking shifts at a hospital.

With cases surging in many central European countries, firefighters, students and retired doctors are being asked to help shore up buckling health care systems. “This is actually terrifying,” Dr. Piotr Suwalski, the head of the cardiac surgery ward at a Polish hospital said on a day when daily COVID-19 cases rose 20% nationwide. “I think if we continue to gain 20% a day, no system can withstand it."

Even before the pandemic, many countries in the region faced a tragic shortage of medical personnel due to years of underfunding in their public health sectors and an exodus of doctors and nurses to better paying jobs in Western Europe after the nations joined the European Union in 2004. Now, with the virus ripping through their hospitals, many health workers have been sickened, compounding the shortfall.

Over 13,200 medical personnel across the Czech Republic have been infected, including 6,000 nurses and 2,600 doctors, according to the doctors’ union. It's not just clinicians these countries need. Both Poland and the Czech Republic are building field hospitals as beds fill up on wards, and authorities say there are only 12 ventilators left in all hospitals taking COVID-19 patients in the region around Warsaw, the Polish capital.

This may sound familiar, but not for these countries. Many in the region imposed tough restrictions in the spring — including sealing borders and closing schools, stores and restaurants — and saw very low infection rates even as the virus killed tens of thousands in Western Europe.

But now many central European countries are seeing an onslaught similar to the one their western neighbors experienced — and the same dire warnings. As he announced new restrictions last week, Czech Prime Minister Andrej Babis put a date on when his country’s health system would collapse, if the new regulations were not imposed to slow the virus's spread: between Nov. 7 and 11.

With one of the highest infection rates in Europe, the Czech Republic's hospitals are desperately looking for volunteers. The government is deploying thousands of medical students to hospitals and other students to testing sites.

In the capital of Prague, Mayor Zdenek Hrib, who has a degree in medicine, volunteered to help do initial exams of possible coronavirus patients at a university hospital. Soon, 28 medical personnel from the Nebraska and Texas national guards are expected to arrive to help treat patients at Prague’s military hospital and a new field hospital at the city’s exhibition ground.

Croatia has asked former doctors to come out of retirement to help in hospitals, while Slovenia has put retired physicians and current medical students on standby in case its situation deteriorates. Poland, meanwhile, is mobilizing soldiers to conduct COVID-19 testing, so medical professionals can focus on helping patients, as Warsaw's National Stadium and other spaces are being transformed into field hospitals. Three times this week, the country reported new record highs in daily infections, and on Thursday it also announced a record number of daily deaths, at 301.

In Poland, deaths among people with cancer and other illnesses are also rising because doctors and nurses simply cannot keep up with their care, said Suwalski, the head of the cardiac surgery ward at the Interior Ministry Hospital in Warsaw, the capital’s main coronavirus hospital.

“The numbers of victims of this pandemic are not just the patients dying directly from COVID-19,” Suwalski said. “There are also (patients) who die because of the change of conditions, and even the collapse of the medical system.”

The problem is felt especially keenly in small town hospitals that don’t have the resources of university medical centers, such as the one in Kyjov, a southeastern Czech town of 11,000. The director of the hospital there, Lubomir Wenzl, says staffing became critical in October as the number of COVID-19 patients doubled over three weeks to almost 60, and 75 of the medical staff fell ill.

He appealed for volunteers on social media and got so many offers that the hospital could pick who it needed. Mostly, the hospital chose people who have some medical training. They keep a roster of others they can call if they need them.

“I have healthy hands and legs, and this is something as a firefighter I can do,” said Antonin Kuchar, the deputy mayor and a volunteer firefighter who has helped move patients around the hospital. Vojtech Coufal, a mechanical engineering student at a university in Brno, also answered the call. The 20-year-old has first-aid training and was couriering blood samples around the hospital campus.

While the volunteers' help is vital, their roles are obviously limited, said Dr. Jiri Vyhnal, chief of the intensive care unit in Kyjov that treats COVID-19 patients in serious condition. “It’s impossible to replace those doctors by anyone else, because you need a long time to gain experience to become a good intensive care specialist,” Vyhnal said. “The problem is that a small group of doctors and nurses will have to take care of a high number of patients treated with lung ventilation.”

As the number of coronavirus patients rises, the hospital has closed several wards: ones for ear, nose and throat, neurology, rehabilitation and orthopedics. “We have been forced to stop doing planned operations, but we have to go on with urgent ones,” Wenzl, the hospital director, said.

The intensive care ward, meanwhile, has 11 patients and can accept up to 18, according to Vyhnal. He said he and his staff are ready to work on their days off “to prevent an Italian scenario," referring to how hospitals there became overwhelmed.

“We will do everything,” he said. "But of course we are afraid, who wouldn’t be?”

Gera reported from Warsaw, Poland. Associated Press writer Dusan Stojanovic contributed from Belgrade, Serbia.

New protests loom as Europeans tire of virus restrictions

October 27, 2020

MILAN (AP) — Italy braced Tuesday for more nationwide protests against virus-fighting measures like regional curfews, evening shutdowns for restaurants and bars and the closures of gyms, swimming pools and theaters — a sign of growing discontent across Europe with renewed coronavirus restrictions.

Police in the financial capital of Milan arrested 28 people after protests turned violent on Monday night when police blocked their procession to the regional government headquarters. And in Italy's industrial northern city of Turin, at least 11 people were arrested, including a pair who smashed the window of a Gucci boutique and stripped a mannequin of its lemon yellow trousers.

Italy is not the only country facing unrest. All of Europe is grappling with how to halt a fall resurgence of the virus before its hospitals become overwhelmed again. Nightly curfews have been implemented in French cities and in Spain, and restaurants and bars in Italy must close at 6 p.m. Schools have been closed in Northern Ireland and the Czech Republic. German officials have ordered de-facto lockdowns in some areas near the Austrian border and new mask-wearing requirements are popping up weekly across the continent, including a nationwide requirement in Russia.

“We would all like to live like before, but there are moments where you have to make tough decisions,” French Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin said Tuesday as the government held emergency meetings on the pandemic.

Yet in this new round of restrictions, governments are finding a less compliant public, even as the continent has seen over 250,000 confirmed deaths in the pandemic and last week recorded 46% of the world's new infections, according to the World Health Organization.

Over the weekend, police used pepper spray against protesters angry over new virus restrictions in Poland. Spanish doctors staged their first national walkout in 25 years on Tuesday to protest poor working conditions, and other protests were planned in the Netherlands.

In Britain, anger and frustration at the government’s uneven handling of the pandemic has erupted into a political crisis over the issue of hungry children. The Conservative government is under huge pressure to keep giving free school lunches to children from lower-income families when schools close during the current midterm break and the Christmas holidays.

Italian Premier Giuseppe Conte's Cabinet was preparing a new decree Tuesday with 5 billion euros ($5.8 billion) in economic remedies for those hurt by the new restrictions that took effect Monday. Professional soccer is playing in empty stadiums and Italy’s cultural venues, like Milan’s La Scala opera house, are drawing the curtains on an already money-losing season.

The violence of protests that erupted in major Italian cities from Milan to Turin to Naples indicated that the promise of government relief offered little salve to frustrations over a tightening of personal freedoms after a relatively care-free summer, and as many businesses are still trying to get back on their feet.

On Tuesday, a dozen restaurant owners protested in front of Milan's city hall while as many stadium concession stand owners waved banners at the Lombardy regional headquarters. The leaders of both said that the government remedies to date had been inadequate and appealed to leaders to allow them back to work.

“No one has thought of us,'' said Giacomo Errico, the Lombardy president of FIVA Commercio representing 6,000 concession stand owners in the northern region, among 40,000 nationwide, that have been out of work since February. ”We want to meet with the government so they can hear what we need, because we are dying of hunger."

Such peaceful protests have been staged up and down the Italian peninsula, while more violent protests erupting at night, increasingly culminating with vandalism, looting and clashes with police. Italy's national prosecutor for terrorism and organized crime, Federico Cafiero de Raho, on Tuesday said subversives had infiltrated peaceful protests in the country. He said they included proponents of the extreme right and anarchists on the extreme left.

Investigators have also looked into indications that organized crime groups in the Naples area provoked violence at a peaceful protest. Italy, the first Western country caught up in the pandemic, has seen as many as 20,000 new cases a day in the resurgence. Some 13,000 COVID-19 patients have been hospitalized — up from summertime lows in the hundreds — and nearly 1,300 ICU beds are occupied.

“These are difficult days,” said Italian Health Minister Roberto Speranza. “In all of Europe, the wave is very high. We must react immediately and with determination if we want to avoid unsustainable numbers.”

France is warning of possible new lockdowns, include extending existing curfews, fully keeping residents at home on weekends or all week and closing non-essential businesses. Since curfews were imposed a couple of weeks ago, French police have issued 14,000 fines, the interior minister said Tuesday. Doctors are seeing growing pressure on France's emergency services and intensive care wards, where COVID patients now take up more than half of the beds.

In Spain, the Canary Islands was seeking to pass a law demanding that visitors arrive at the popular archipelago off northwest Africa with proof of a negative COVID-19 test. Russia, which has the fourth highest tally of 1.5 million confirmed cases, is resisting a second lockdown after most restrictions were lifted this summer. But with cases rising at over 15,000 a day, the health agency ordered all Russians to wear masks in crowded public spaces, including public transport, and in closed spaces like taxis and elevators.

Dr. Michael Ryan, WHO’s emergencies chief, said the European Union's open borders might even need to be shut down again to “take the heat out of this phase of the pandemic.” “There’s no question that the European region is an epicenter of disease right now,” he said.

WHO director-general Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said even more stringent measures should be applied to stop the virus. “If it’s let go freely, it can create havoc, especially when we don’t have vaccines at hand," he said. “Governments should do their share and citizens should do their share ... we should not give up.”

D'Emilio reported from Rome. AP reporters from throughout Europe contributed.

Virus is pummeling Europe's eateries — and winter is coming

October 25, 2020

HEIKRUIS, Belgium (AP) — As the Friday night dinner service began earlier this month at the De Viering restaurant outside Brussels, it seemed the owners' decision to move the operation into the spacious village church to comply with coronavirus rules was paying off. The reservation book was full and the kitchen was bustling.

And then Belgium's prime minister ordered cafes, bars and restaurants to close for at least a month in the face of surging infections. “It’s another shock, of course, because — yes, all the investments are made,” said chef Heidi Vanhasselt. She and her sommelier husband Christophe Claes had installed a kitchen and new toilets in the Saint Bernardus church in Heikruis, as well as committing to 10 months’ rent and pouring energy into creative solutions.

Vanhasselt's frustration is Europe's as a resurgence of the virus is dealing a second blow to the continent's restaurants, which already suffered under lockdowns in the spring. From Northern Ireland and Italy to the Netherlands and France, governments have shuttered eateries or severely curtailed how they operate.

More than just jobs and revenue are at stake — restaurants lie at the heart of European life. Their closures are threatening the social fabric by shutting the places where neighbors mix, extended families gather and the seeds of new families are sown.

A restaurant remains “a place where very special moments are celebrated,” said Griet Grassin of the Italian restaurant Tartufo on the outskirts of Brussels. “It’s not just the food, but it’s the well-being.”

The governments of Italy and Spain announced new measures Sunday that are aimed at curbing spiraling infections but also detrimental to dining out. Italian Premier Giuseppe Conte announced that restaurants and bars will be required to shut at 6 p.m. daily for at least a month. Most restaurants in Italy usually don’t even start to serve dinner before 8 p.m. Milan has already seen protests over a local curfew that took effect Thursday.

In Spain, Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez declared a national curfew from 11 p.m.-6 a.m. and said he would ask lawmakers to keep in place until May. The curfew starting Sunday night means Spaniards will have to watch the clock if they want to indulge their love for a late, leisurely meal with friends. The measure could end chances for the recovery of the country’s large nightlight industry.

The reduced hours that businesses can stay open and people are allowed to be out is particularly painful since they might stretch into the Christmas holiday season, nixing everything from pre-holiday office drinks to a special New Year's meal.

When it comes to purely calories and vitamins, “of course we can live without restaurants,” said food historian professor Peter Scholliers. But, he asked: “We can live without being social? No, we can’t.”

Successful restaurants have always had to adapt quickly — but never has there been a challenge like this. The European Union said the hotel and restaurant industry suffered a jaw-dropping 79.3% decline in production between February and April. Try bouncing back from that.

Summer, with its drop in COVID-19 cases and a hesitant return to travel, brought some respite, especially in coastal resorts. But then came fall. Any giddiness that the fallout from the pandemic could somehow be contained faced the sobering reality of relentlessly rising coronavirus cases and hospitalizations. Overall, COVID-19 has killed over 250,000 people across Europe, according to a tally by Johns Hopkins University. Leaders are now warning that things will get worse before they get better.

But many restaurant owners have bristled at the new restrictions and some are openly challenging them. In London last week, the preeminent chef Yotam Ottolenghi banged pots on the street to protest restrictions that include earlier closing times.

“It’s really hard, we’ve got a great industry with lots of heart,” Ottolenghi said. “And there’s so many people who depend on it.” If the mood of any nation is set by its stomach, surely France's is. And it is turning as sour as a rhubarb tartlet. The streets of Paris, the culinary capital of Lyon and several other French cities were eerily empty at night during the first week of a 9 p.m. curfew scheduled to last for at least a month.

Xavier Denamur, who owns five Parisian cafes and bistros that employ around 70 workers, said the French government is unfairly punishing the industry. “It’s a catastrophic measure,” he said, arguing any curfew should be pushed to at least 11 p.m. to allow for a proper dinner service.

Still, highlighting how the world is feeling its way in the near darkness, restaurant and food delivery business owner Matteo Lorenzon argued the opposite. “Having a curfew starting at 11 p.m., it’s too late.”

Already in September, more than 400,000 employees of restaurants and cafes in Italy, a nation of 60 million, were unemployed, according to an estimate by Fipe, the restaurant lobby group. Its prediction for the coming months was even more dire: “Hundreds of thousands of jobs risk being erased definitively."

In the Netherlands, which has one of the highest virus infection rates in Europe, more than 60 Dutch bars and restaurants sought to overturn a monthlong closure order but failed. Lawyer Simon van Zijll, representing the bars and restaurants, warned that the Dutch hospitality industry faces “a tidal wave of bankruptcies.”

The first lockdown in the spring caught the owners of Tartufo, the restaurant on the outskirts of Brussels, off guard. This time, Grassin and her husband chef Kayes Ghourabi, were ready: They will ramp up their takeaway service and even offer their own gin with Mediterranean spices. Still, income will drop by about 70% to 80%.

“We lose, but it helps the costs. The electricity, the insurance that keep on going, even in a lockdown," she said. Across Europe, the stories are the same — of chefs thinking creatively, making something of a bad situation, showing resilience to save something they often built from scratch.

“I have a son, and I always say to my husband, ‘the restaurant was our first child.’ And you want to fight for it," Grassin said. Takeout food is also a lifeline for Paolo Polli, who owned five bars and restaurants in Milan before closing four recently. His staff was cut from 60 to six. He said he made more money during the lockdown with his pizza-delivery service than when he reopened for regular service.

Down south, a balmy fall offered some reprieve, allowing restaurants to serve on outside terraces. Despite this, in Portugal, the AHRESP restaurant association said restaurants lost more than half of their revenue. Now the chilly weather, stronger winds and rain are forcing everyone back indoors, where the virus spreads most easily.

“It will be impossible,'' said Artur Veloso, who manages the Risca restaurant in Carcavelos. “Winter will bring more ruin."

Associated Press writers Barry Hatton in Lisbon, Fran D'Emilio in Rome, Andrea Rosa in Milan, Thomas Adamson in Paris, Mike Corder in The Hague, and Joseph Wilson in Barcelona contributed.

European Space Agency appoints Austrian scientist new chief

December 17, 2020

BERLIN (AP) — The European Space Agency said Thursday that Josef Aschbacher, an Austrian scientist who leads its Earth observation program, has been appointed as the organization's next head. The agency's 22 member states elected Aschbacher to be ESA's director general succeeding Jan Woerner, whose term ends on June 30.

Aschbacher currently oversees the ESA’s center for Earth Observation, near Rome, and has been deeply involved in some of the agency's most high-profile missions including the Copernicus fleet of satellites collecting environmental data about the planet from space.

The European Space Agency has lately begun discussing involvement in crewed missions beyond Earth's orbit, such as a possible return-to-the-Moon mission with NASA.

More masks, less play: Europe tightens rules as virus surges

October 14, 2020

GENEVA (AP) — Governments across Europe are ratcheting up restrictions to try to beat back a resurgence of the coronavirus that has sent new confirmed infections on the continent to their highest weekly level since the start of the pandemic.

The World Health Organization said Tuesday there were more than 700,000 new COVID-19 cases reported in Europe last week, a jump of 34% from the previous week. Britain, France, Russia and Spain accounted for more than half of the new infections.

The increasing caseload is partly the result of more testing, but the U.N. health agency noted that deaths were also up 16% last week from the week before. Doctors are warning that while many of the new cases are in younger people, who tend to have milder symptoms, the virus could again start spreading widely among older people, resulting in more serious illnesses.

Italy and France are restricting parties and putting limits on restaurants and bars. The Netherlands went further and ordered the closing of all bars and restaurants, And to discourage partying at home, it banned the sale of alcohol after 8 p.m.

The Czech Republic is closing all schools until Nov. 2, while Latvia is ordering teenagers to switch to distance learning for a week. And Britain unveiled a three-tiered system for deciding what restrictions to impose, based on how severe the outbreak is in certain areas.

Those moves reflect a new approach to containing the virus among governments wary of hurting already fragile economies. Officials are eager to avoid the total lockdowns they imposed in the spring that resulted in heavy job losses. Instead, they are relying on a patchwork of regional or targeted restrictions that have sometimes caused confusion and frustration by those affected.

The U.N. health agency appeared to support the new approach, with WHO spokesman Tarik Jasarevic saying lockdowns should be a “last resort.” German Chancellor Angela Merkel told a European Union advisory body Tuesday that she is watching the rising infection figures “with great concern.”

“We must not squander now what we achieved through restrictions in recent months,” Merkel said in a video address. “None of us found it easy to impose those restrictions,” she added. “Many people lost their lives, and so it is all the more important that we ensure now that a further lockdown won’t be necessary, that our health system isn’t overstrained again.”

Italian Premier Giuseppe Conte ordered bars and restaurants to close at midnight and banned pickup sports games among friends and parties in enclosed spaces. Private gatherings at homes with more than six people who don’t live together are also discouraged.

“Our objective is clear: We must prevent our country from plunging back into a generalized lockdown," Conte said. Italy reported more than 5,900 people tested positive over the past day and 41 people died, bringing the country's official COVID-19 death toll to more than 36,200, the second-highest in Europe after Britain.

The outbreak has spread to the annual Giro d’Italia, which was thrown into chaos after several top riders withdrew from the cycling race following positive tests for the coronavirus. Italy made masks mandatory outdoors last week, a requirement already in place in Spain, Turkey, India and a few other Asian countries. Elsewhere in Europe, such mandates are in effect in many places in Poland and hot spot cities like Paris and Brussels, and are being introduced in several German cities.

In France, which has seen a rapid increase in infections, Paris, Marseille and seven other large cities have been placed under maximum alert, resulting in the closing of bars, gyms and swimming pools. Public parties are banned, and restaurants have to maintain at least 1 meter (3 feet) between tables, with groups of diners limited to six people.

Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki urged the country’s citizens to observe social distancing and wear masks as he himself went into quarantine following contact with someone who later tested positive for COVID-19. He said in a video message that his government was working as usual and that he had no symptoms.

Poland, a nation of about 38 million, has seen a sharp spike in newly recorded infections, with close to 5,100 cases and 63 deaths reported Tuesday. Over the summer, new daily cases were around 600. Some doctors are warning that Poland's chronically underfunded health care system may collapse if the current rate of new cases continues.

In Britain, which has suffered the deadliest outbreak in Europe, with a toll of more than 43,000, officials defended their new system as striking the right balance. Under the plan unveiled this week, Liverpool is in the highest-risk category, and its pubs, gyms and betting shops have been shut.

"The prime minister has to balance protecting people’s lives and the NHS (National Health Service) from the virus while also prioritizing things that matter to us as a society, like education and keeping as many people in employment as possible,” Communities Secretary Robert Jenrick told the BBC.

Britain’s number of newly confirmed COVID-19 cases has more than tripled in the last three weeks, with infection rates rising across all age groups and regions. In an effort to keep people and goods moving throughout the European Union, member countries approved a color-coded system Tuesday.

The countries agreed to not restrict people traveling between green areas — where infection numbers are low — but EU governments will continue to set their own restrictions, such as quarantines or mandatory testing upon arrival, for people coming from orange or red zones.

Associated Press writer Jamey Keaten reported this story in Geneva and AP writer Frank Jordans reported from Berlin. AP writers around Europe contributed to this report.

Lesson not learned: Europe unprepared as 2nd virus wave hits

October 10, 2020

ROME (AP) — Europe’s second wave of coronavirus infections has struck well before flu season even started, with intensive care wards filling up again and bars shutting down. Making matters worse, authorities say, is a widespread case of “COVID-fatigue.”

Record high daily infections in several eastern European countries and sharp rebounds in the hard-hit west have made clear that Europe never really crushed the COVID-19 curve as hoped, after springtime lockdowns.

Spain this week declared a state of emergency for Madrid amid increasing tensions between local and national authorities over virus containment measures. Germany offered up soldiers to help with contact tracing in newly flaring hotspots. Italy mandated masks outdoors and warned that for the first time since the country became the European epicenter of the pandemic, the health system was facing “significant critical issues” as hospitals fill up.

The Czech Republic’s “Farewell Covid” party in June, when thousands of Prague residents dined outdoors at a 500-meter (yard) long table across the Charles Bridge to celebrate their victory over the virus, seems painfully naive now that the country has the highest per-capita infection rate on the continent, at 398 per 100,000 residents.

“I have to say clearly that the situation is not good," the Czech interior minister, Jan Hamacek, acknowledged this week. Epidemiologists and residents alike are pointing the finger at governments for having failed to seize on the summertime lull in cases to prepare adequately for the expected autumn onslaught, with testing and ICU staffing still critically short. In Rome this week, people waited in line for 8-10 hours to get tested, while front-line medics from Kiev to Paris found themselves once again pulling long, short-staffed shifts in overcrowded wards.

“When the state of alarm was abandoned, it was time to invest in prevention, but that hasn’t been done,” lamented Margarita del Val, viral immunology expert with the Severo Ochoa Molecular Biology Center, part of Spain’s top research body, CSIC.

“We are in the fall wave without having resolved the summer wave,” she told an online forum this week. Tensions are rising in cities where new restrictions have been re-imposed, with hundreds of Romanian hospitality workers protesting this week after Bucharest once again shut down the capital’s indoor restaurants, theaters and dance venues.

“We were closed for six months, the restaurants didn’t work and yet the number of cases still rose,” said Moaghin Marius Ciprian, owner of the popular Grivita Pub n Grill who took part in the protest. “I'm not a specialist but I'm not stupid either. But from my point of view it’s not us that have the responsibility for this pandemic.”

As infections rise in many European countries, some — including Belgium, Netherlands, the United Kingdom, Spain and France — are diagnosing more new cases every day per capita than the United States, according to the seven-day rolling averages of data kept by Johns Hopkins University. On Friday, France, with a population of about 70 million, reported a record 20,300 new infections.

Experts say Europe's high infection rate is due in large part to expanded testing that is turning up far more asymptomatic positives than during the first wave, when only the sick could get a test. But the trend is nevertheless alarming, given the flu season hasn’t even begun, schools are open for in-person learning and the cold weather hasn’t yet driven Europeans indoors, where infection can spread more easily.

“We’re seeing 98,000 cases reported in the last 24 hours. That’s a new regional record. That’s very alarming,” said Robb Butler, executive director of the WHO’s Europe regional office. While part of that is due to increased testing, “It’s also worrisome in terms of virus resurgence.”

It’s also worrisome given many countries still lack the testing, tracing and treating capacity to deal with a second wave of pandemic when the first wave never really ended, said Dr. Martin McKee, professor of European public health at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine.

“They should have been using the time to put in place really robust ‘find, test, trace, isolate’ support systems. Not everybody did,” McKee said. “Had they done that, then they could have identified outbreaks as they were emerging and really gone for the sources.”

Even Italy is struggling, after it won international praise for having tamed the virus with a strict 10-week lockdown and instituted a careful, conservative reopening and aggressive screening and contact-tracing effort when summer vacation travelers created new clusters. Anesthesiologists have warned that without new restrictions, ICUs in Lazio around Rome and Campania around Naples could be saturated within a month.

As it is, Campania has only 671 hospital beds destined for COVID-19, and 530 are already occupied, said Campania Gov. Vincenzo De Luca. Half of Campania’s 100 ICU virus beds are now in use. For now, the situation is manageable. “But if we get to 1,000 infections a day and only 200 people cured, it’s lockdown. Clear?” he warned this week.

The ICU alarm has already sounded in France, where Paris public hospital workers staged a protest this week to demand more government investment in staffing ICUs, which they said haven't significantly increased capacity even after France got slammed during the initial outbreak.

“We did not learn the lessons of the first wave,” Dr. Gilles Pialoux, head of infectious diseases at the Tenon Hospital in Paris, told BFM television. “We are running after (the epidemic) instead of getting ahead of it.”

There is some good news, however. Dr. Luis Izquierdo, assistant director of emergencies at the Severo Ochoa Hospital in Madrid said at least now, doctors know what therapies work. During the peak of the epidemic in March and April, doctors in hardest-hit Spain and Italy threw every drug they could think of at patients — hydroxychloroquine, lopinavir, ritonavir — with limited success.

“Now we hardly use those drugs as they hardly have any effect,” he said. “So in this sense we have had a victory because we know so much more now.” But treating the virus medically is only half the battle. Public health officials are now dealing with a surge in anti-mask protests, virus negationists and residents who are simply sick and tired of being told to keep their distance and refrain from hugging their loved ones.

The WHO this week shifted gears from giving medical advice to combat infections to giving psychological advice on how to nudge virus-weary Europeans to keep up their guard amid “COVID-fatigue” that is sweeping the continent.

“Fatigue is absolutely natural. It’s to be expected where we have these prolonged crises or emergencies,” said the WHO’s Butler. The WHO this week put out new advice for governments to consider more social, psychological and emotional factors when deciding on lockdowns, closures or other restrictions — a nod to some in the field who say the mental health toll of lockdowns is worse than the virus itself.

That data, Butler said, “is going to become more important because we have to understand what restrictions we can put in place that will be sustained and adhered to, and acceptable to our populations.”

AP reporters across Europe contributed.

Final goodbye: Recalling influential people who died in 2020

December 08, 2020

(AP) In a year defined by a devastating pandemic, the world lost iconic defenders of civil rights, great athletes and entertainers who helped define their genres. Many of their names hold a prominent place in the collective consciousness — RBG, Kobe, Maradona, Eddie Van Halen, Little Richard, Sean Connery, Alex Trebek, Christo — but pandemic restrictions often limited the public's ability to mourn their loss in a year that saw more than a million people die from the coronavirus.

U.S. Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg — known as the Notorious RBG to her many admirers — was one of the many noteworthy figures who died in 2020. In a court known for solemn legal proceedings, Ginsburg became a cultural and social media icon whose fierce defense of women's rights earned her a devoted following. She died in September after 27 years on the country's highest court. Making few concessions to age and health problems, she showed a steely resilience and became the leader of liberal justices on the court.

The world also said goodbye to U.S. Rep. John Lewis, a lion of the civil rights movement who died in July. Other former political figures who died this year include Egyptian leader Hosni Mubarak, New York Mayor David Dinkins, Arizona Gov. Jane Hull, Taiwanese President Lee Teng-hui, U.S. Sen. Tom Coburn, Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat, U.N. Secretary-General Javier Pérez de Cuéllar and FBI Director William S. Sessions.

Some of the year's deaths struck down relatively young people, leaving mourners with the heartbreak of a life gone too soon. Basketball great Kobe Bryant died along with several others in a January helicopter crash at age 41. And in a shock to fans, actor Chadwick Boseman, who inspired audiences with his portrayal of comic book superhero Black Panther, died of cancer in August at age 43.

Others in the world of arts and entertainment who died in 2020 include actors Olivia de Havilland, Kirk Douglas, Irrfan Khan, Max von Sydow, Diana Rigg, Ian Holm, Rishi Kapoor and Franca Valeri; musicians Ellis Marsalis Jr., John Prine, Bonnie Pointer, Kenny Rogers, Juliette Greco and Toots Hibbert; filmmakers Nobuhiko Obayashi, Joel Schumacher and Ivan Passer; authors Mary Higgins Clark and Clive Cussler; TV hosts Regis Philbin and Jim Lehrer; magician Roy Horn; and fashion designer Kenzo Takada.

Here is a roll call of some influential figures who died in 2020 (cause of death cited for younger people, if available):

JANUARY

David Stern, 77. The basketball-loving lawyer who took the NBA around the world during 30 years as its longest-serving commissioner and oversaw its growth into a global powerhouse. Jan. 1.

Nick Gordon, 30. He was found liable in the death of his ex-partner, Bobbi Kristina Brown, the daughter of singers Whitney Houston and Bobby Brown. Jan. 1. Heroin overdose.

Don Larsen, 90. The journeyman pitcher who reached the heights of baseball glory when he threw a perfect game in 1956 with the New York Yankees for the only no-hitter in World Series history. Jan. 1. Esophageal cancer.

Neil Peart, 67. The renowned drummer and lyricist from the influential Canadian band Rush. Jan. 7.

Elizabeth Wurtzel, 52. Her blunt and painful confessions of her struggles with addiction and depression in the bestselling “Prozac Nation” made her a voice and a target for an anxious generation. Jan. 7. Cancer.

Buck Henry, 89. “The Graduate” co-writer who as screenwriter, character actor, “Saturday Night Live” host and cherished talk-show and party guest became an all-around cultural superstar of the 1960s and 70s. Jan. 8.

Ivan Passer, 86. A leading filmmaker of the Czech New Wave who with Milos Forman fled Soviet-controlled Prague and forged a celebrated career in Hollywood. Jan. 9.

Sultan Qaboos bin Said, 79. He was the Mideast’s longest-ruling monarch who seized power in Oman in a 1970 palace coup and pulled his Arabian sultanate into modernity while carefully balancing diplomatic ties between adversaries Iran and the U.S. Jan. 11.

Jimmy Heath, 93. A Grammy-nominated jazz saxophonist and composer who performed with such greats as Miles Davis and John Coltrane before forming the popular family group the Heath Brothers in middle age. Jan. 19.

Thomas Railsback, 87. An Illinois Republican congressman who helped draw up articles of impeachment against President Richard Nixon in 1974. Jan. 20.

Terry Jones, 77. A founding member of the anarchic Monty Python troupe who was hailed by colleagues as “the complete Renaissance comedian” and “a man of endless enthusiasms.” Jan. 21.

Jim Lehrer, 85. The longtime host of the nightly PBS “NewsHour” whose serious, sober demeanor made him the choice to moderate 11 presidential debates between 1988 and 2012. Jan. 23.

Kobe Bryant, 41. The 18-time NBA All-Star who won five championships and became one of the greatest basketball players of his generation during a 20-year career spent entirely with the Los Angeles Lakers. Jan. 26. Helicopter crash.

John Andretti, 56. Carved out his own niche in one of the world’s most successful racing families and became the first driver to attempt the Memorial Day double. Jan. 30.

Mary Higgins Clark, 92. She was the tireless and long-reigning “Queen of Suspense” whose tales of women beating the odds made her one of the world’s most popular writers. Jan. 31.

Anne Cox Chambers, 100. A newspaper heiress, diplomat and philanthropist who was one of America’s richest women. Jan. 31.

FEBRUARY

Andy Gill, 64. The guitarist who supplied the scratching, seething sound that fueled the highly influential British punk band Gang of Four. Feb. 1.

Bernard Ebbers, 78. The former chief of WorldCom who was convicted in one of the largest corporate accounting scandals in U.S. history. Feb. 2.

George Steiner, 90. He became one of the world’s leading public intellectuals through his uncommon erudition, multilingual perspective and the provocative lessons he drew from his Jewish roots and escape from the Holocaust. Feb. 3.

Daniel arap Moi, 95. A former schoolteacher who became Kenya’s longest-serving president and presided over years of repression and economic turmoil fueled by runaway corruption. Feb. 4.

Kirk Douglas, 103. The intense, muscular actor with the dimpled chin who starred in “Spartacus,” “Lust for Life” and dozens of other films, helped fatally weaken the blacklist against suspected communists and reigned for decades as a Hollywood maverick and patriarch. Feb. 5.

Beverly Pepper, 97. A fixture of the Roman “Dolce Vita” and renowned American sculptor who made Italy her home and backdrop to many of her monumental steel creations. Feb. 5.

Roger Kahn, 92. The writer who wove memoir and baseball and touched millions of readers through his romantic account of the Brooklyn Dodgers in “The Boys of Summer.” Feb. 6.

Orson Bean, 91. The witty actor and comedian who enlivened the game show “To Tell the Truth” and played a crotchety merchant on “Dr. Quinn, Medicine Woman.” Feb. 7. Hit by a car.

Robert Conrad, 84. The rugged, contentious actor who starred in the hugely popular 1960s television series “Hawaiian Eye” and “The Wild Wild West.” Feb. 8.

Mirella Freni, 84. An Italian soprano whose uncommon elegance and intensity combined with a sumptuous voice and intelligence to enthrall audiences for a half-century. Feb. 9.

Joseph Shabalala, 78. The founder of the South African multi-Grammy-Award-winning music group Ladysmith Black Mambazo. Feb. 11.

Charles “Chuckie” O’Brien, 86. A longtime associate of Teamsters boss Jimmy Hoffa who became a leading suspect in the labor leader’s disappearance and later was portrayed in the Martin Scorsese film, “The Irishman.” Feb. 13.

Zoe Caldwell, 86. A four-time Tony Award winner who brought humanity to larger-than-life characters, whether it be the dotty schoolteacher Miss Jean Brodie, an aging opera star Maria Callas or the betrayed, murderous Medea. Feb. 16.

Charles Portis, 86. The novelist was a favorite among critics and writers for such shaggy dog stories as “Norwood” and “Gringos” and a bounty for Hollywood whose droll, bloody Western “True Grit” was a bestseller twice adapted into Oscar-nominated films. Feb. 17.

Mickey Wright, 85. The golf great with a magnificent swing who won 13 majors among her 82 victories and gave the fledgling LPGA a crucial lift. Feb. 17.

Sy Sperling, 78. The Hair Club for Men founder who was famous for the TV commercials where he proclaimed “I’m not only the Hair Club president but I’m also a client.” Feb. 19.

Barbara “B.” Smith, 70. She was one of the nation’s top Black models who went on to open restaurants, launch a successful home products line and write cookbooks. Feb. 22.

Thich Quang Do, 91. A Buddhist monk who became the public face of religious dissent in Vietnam while the Communist government kept him in prison or under house arrest for more than 20 years. Feb. 22.

Katherine Johnson, 101. A mathematician who calculated rocket trajectories and Earth orbits for NASA’s early space missions and was later portrayed in the 2016 hit film “Hidden Figures,” about pioneering Black female aerospace workers. Feb. 24.

Clive Cussler, 88. The million-selling adventure writer and real-life thrill-seeker who wove personal details and spectacular fantasies into his page-turning novels about underwater explorer Dirk Pitt. Feb. 24.

Hosni Mubarak, 91. The Egyptian leader who was the autocratic face of stability in the Middle East for nearly 30 years before being forced from power in an Arab Spring uprising. Feb. 25.

MARCH

Jack Welch, 84. He transformed General Electric Co. into a highly profitable multinational conglomerate and parlayed his legendary business acumen into a retirement career as a corporate leadership guru. March 1. Renal failure.

Ernesto Cardenal, 95. The renowned poet and Roman Catholic cleric who became a symbol of revolutionary verse in Nicaragua and across Latin America, and whose suspension from the priesthood by St. John Paul II lasted over three decades. March 1.

James Lipton, 93. The longtime host of “Inside the Actors Studio.” March 2. Cancer.

Bobbie Battista, 67. She was among the original anchors for CNN Headline News and hosted CNN’s “TalkBack Live.” March 3. Cancer.

Javier Pérez de Cuéllar, 100. The two-term United Nations secretary-general who brokered a historic cease-fire between Iran and Iraq in 1988 and who in later life came out of retirement to help reestablish democracy in his Peruvian homeland. March 4.

Amory Houghton Jr., 93. He led his family’s glass company in upstate New York and later spent nearly two decades in Congress as a Republican with a reputation for breaking with his party. March 4.

Max von Sydow, 90. The actor known to art house audiences through his work with Swedish director Ingmar Bergman and later to moviegoers everywhere when he played the priest in the horror classic “The Exorcist.” March 8.

Rev. Darius L. Swann, 95. His challenge to the notion of segregated public schools helped spark the use of busing to integrate schools across the country. March 8.

Charles Wuorinen, 81. A winner of the 1970 Pulitzer Prize in Music and composer of the operas “Brokeback Mountain” and “Haroun and the Sea of Stories.” March 11. Injuries suffered in a fall.

Lyle Waggoner, 84. He used his good looks to comic effect on “The Carol Burnett Show,” partnered with a superhero on “Wonder Woman” and was the first centerfold for Playgirl magazine. March 17.

Kenny Rogers, 81. The Grammy-winning balladeer who spanned jazz, folk, country and pop with such hits as “Lucille,” “Lady” and “Islands in the Stream” and embraced his persona as “The Gambler” on records and TV. March 20.

Terrence McNally, 81. He was one of America’s great playwrights whose prolific career included winning Tony Awards for the plays “Love! Valour! Compassion!” and “Master Class” and the musicals “Ragtime” and “Kiss of the Spider Woman.” March 24. Coronavirus.

Manu Dibango, 86. He fused African rhythms with funk to become one of the most influential musicians in world dance music. March 24. Coronavirus.

Floyd Cardoz, 59. He competed on “Top Chef,” won “Top Chef Masters” and operated successful restaurants in both India and New York. March 25. Coronavirus.

Fred “Curly” Neal, 77. The dribbling wizard who entertained millions with the Harlem Globetrotters for parts of three decades. March 26.

Rev. Joseph E. Lowery, 98. A veteran civil rights leader who helped the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. found the Southern Christian Leadership Conference and fought against racial discrimination. March 27.

Tom Coburn, 72. A former U.S. senator from Oklahoma who earned a reputation as a conservative political maverick when he railed against federal earmarks and subsidies for the rich. March 28.

Krzysztof Penderecki, 86. An award-winning conductor and one of the world’s most popular contemporary classical music composers whose works have featured in Hollywood films like “The Shining” and “Shutter Island.” March 29.

Joe Diffie, 61. A country singer who had a string of hits in the 1990s with chart-topping ballads and honky-tonk singles like “Home” and “Pickup Man.” March 29. Coronavirus.

Bill Withers, 81. He wrote and sang a string of soulful songs in the 1970s that have stood the test of time, including “Lean on Me,” “Lovely Day” and “Ain’t No Sunshine.” March 30.

APRIL

Ellis Marsalis Jr., 85. The jazz pianist, teacher and patriarch of a New Orleans musical clan. April 1. Coronavirus.

Adam Schlesinger, 52. An Emmy and Grammy-winning musician and songwriter known for his work with his band Fountains of Wayne and on the TV show “Crazy Ex-Girlfriend.” April 1. Coronavirus.

Tom Dempsey, 73. The NFL kicker born without toes on his kicking foot who made a then-record 63-yard field goal. April 4. Coronavirus.

Honor Blackman, 94. The potent British actress who took James Bond’s breath away in “Goldfinger” and who starred as the leather-clad, judo-flipping Cathy Gale in “The Avengers.” April 5.

Earl Graves Sr., 85. He championed Black businesses as the founder of the first African American-owned magazine focusing on black entrepreneurs. April 6.

John Prine, 73. The singer-songwriter who explored the heartbreaks, indignities and absurdities of everyday life in “Angel from Montgomery,” “Sam Stone,” “Hello in There” and scores of other songs. April 7. Coronavirus.

Herbert Stempel, 93. A fall guy and whistleblower of early television whose confession to deliberately losing on a 1950s quiz show helped drive a national scandal and join his name in history to winning contestant Charles Van Doren. April 7.

Linda Tripp, 70. Her secretly taped conversations with former White House intern Monica Lewinsky provided evidence of an affair with President Bill Clinton that led to his impeachment. April 8.

Mort Drucker, 91. The Mad magazine cartoonist who for decades lovingly spoofed politicians, celebrities and popular culture. April 9.

Phyllis Lyon, 95. A gay rights pioneer who, with her longtime partner, was among the first same-sex couples to marry in California when it became legal to do so in 2008. April 9.

Nobuhiko Obayashi, 82. He was one of Japan’s most prolific filmmakers who devoted his works to depicting war’s horrors and singing the eternal power of movies. April 10.

Stirling Moss, 90. A daring, speed-loving Englishman regarded as the greatest Formula One driver never to win the world championship. April 12.

Brian Dennehy, 81. The burly actor who started in films as a macho heavy and later in his career won plaudits for his stage work in plays by William Shakespeare, Anton Chekhov, Eugene O’Neill and Arthur Miller. April 15.

Jane Hull, 84. She was Arizona’s first woman elected governor and part of the “Fab Five” celebrated as the nation’s first all-female elected state executive branch leadership group. April 17.

Paul O’Neill, 84. A former Treasury secretary who broke with George W. Bush over tax policy and then produced a book critical of the administration. April 18.

Irrfan Khan, 54. A veteran character actor in Bollywood movies and one of India’s best-known exports to Hollywood. April 29.

Denis Goldberg, 87. A South African anti-apartheid activist. April 29.

Rishi Kapoor, 67. A top Indian actor who was a scion of Bollywood’s most famous Kapoor family. April 30.

MAY

Bobby Lee Verdugo, 69. One of the leaders of the 1968 East Los Angeles high school walkout to protest discrimination and dropout rates among Mexican American students, which triggered a movement across the American Southwest. May 1.

Shady Habash, 22. An Egyptian filmmaker detained without trial for over two years for making a music video that mocked President Abdel Fattah el-Sissi. May 2. Died in prison.

Rosalind Elias, 90. An American mezzo-soprano who created roles in a pair of Samuel Barber world premieres and made her Broadway debut at 81. May 3.

Don Shula, 90. He won the most games of any NFL coach and led the Miami Dolphins to the only perfect season in league history. May 4.

Roy Horn, 75. He was half of Siegfried & Roy, the duo whose extraordinary magic tricks astonished millions until Horn was critically injured in 2003 by one of the act’s famed white tigers. May 8. Coronavirus.

Little Richard, 87. He was one of the chief architects of rock 'n’ roll whose piercing wail, pounding piano and towering pompadour irrevocably altered popular music while introducing Black R&B to white America. May 9. Bone cancer.

Betty Wright, 66. The Grammy-winning soul singer and songwriter whose influential 1970s hits included “Clean Up Woman” and “Where is the Love.” May 10.

Jerry Stiller, 92. For decades, he teamed with wife Anne Meara in a beloved comedy duo and then reached new heights in his senior years as the high-strung Frank Costanza on the classic sitcom “Seinfeld” and the basement-dwelling father-in-law on “The King of Queens.” May 11.

Astrid Kirchherr, 81. She was the German photographer who shot some of the earliest and most striking images of the Beatles and helped shape their trend-setting visual style. May 12.

Phyllis George, 70. The former Miss America who became a female sportscasting pioneer on CBS’ “The NFL Today” and served as the first lady of Kentucky. May 14.

Fred Willard, 86. The comedic actor whose improv style kept him relevant for more than 50 years in films like “This Is Spinal Tap,” “Best In Show” and “Anchorman.” May 15.

Ken Osmond, 76. On TV’s “Leave It to Beaver,” he played two-faced teenage scoundrel Eddie Haskell, a role so memorable it left him typecast and led to a second career as a police officer. May 18.

Saleh Abdullah Kamel, 79. The billionaire Saudi businessman who founded the banking and real estate conglomerate Dallah Albaraka Group. May 19.

Jerry Sloan, 78. The Hall of Fame coach who was a fixture for decades in Utah and took the Jazz to the NBA Finals in 1997 and 1998. May 22.

Eddie Sutton, 84. The Hall of Fame basketball coach who led three teams to the Final Four and was the first coach to take four schools to the NCAA Tournament. May 23.

Stanley Ho, 98. A casino tycoon whose business empire dominated the Portuguese gambling enclave of Macao for decades. May 26.

Larry Kramer, 84. The playwright whose angry voice and pen raised theatergoers’ consciousness about AIDS and roused thousands to militant protests in the early years of the epidemic. May 27. Pneumonia.

Christo, 84. He was known for massive, ephemeral public arts projects that often involved wrapping large structures in fabric. May 31.

JUNE

Wes Unseld, 74. The workmanlike Hall of Fame center who led Washington to its only NBA championship and was chosen one of the 50 greatest players in league history. June 2.

Shigeru Yokota, 87. A Japanese campaigner for the return of his daughter and more than a dozen others who were abducted to North Korea in the 1970s. June 5.

Bonnie Pointer, 69. She convinced three of her church-singing siblings to form the Pointer Sisters, which would become one of the biggest acts of the 1970s and ’80s. June 8. Cardiac arrest.

Pierre Nkurunziza, 56. As president of Burundi, his 15-year-rule was marked by deadly political violence and a historic withdrawal from the International Criminal Court. June 8.

William S. Sessions, 90. A former federal judge appointed by President Ronald Reagan to head the FBI and fired years later by President Bill Clinton. June 12.

Charles Webb, 81. A lifelong nonconformist whose debut novel “The Graduate” was a deadpan satire of his college education and wealthy background adapted into the classic film of the same name. June 16.

Edén Pastora, 83. Better known as “Commander Zero,” he was one of the most mercurial and charismatic figures of Central America’s revolutionary upheavals. June 16.

Jean Kennedy Smith, 92. She was the last surviving sibling of President John F. Kennedy and who as a U.S. ambassador played a key role in the peace process in Northern Ireland. June 17.

Vera Lynn, 103. The endearingly popular “Forces’ Sweetheart” who serenaded British troops during World War II. June 18.

Ian Holm, 88. An acclaimed British actor whose long career included roles in “Chariots of Fire” and “The Lord of the Rings.” June 19.

Joel Schumacher, 80. The eclectic and brazen filmmaker who shepherded the Brat Pack to the big screen in “St. Elmo’s Fire” and steering the Batman franchise into its most baroque territory in “Batman Forever” and “Batman & Robin.” June 22.

Milton Glaser, 91. The groundbreaking graphic designer who adorned Bob Dylan’s silhouette with psychedelic hair and summed up the feelings for his home state with “I (HEART) NY.” June 26.

Thomas Edwin Blanton Jr., 82. He was the last of three one-time Ku Klux Klansmen convicted in a 1963 Alabama church bombing that killed four Black girls and was the deadliest single attack of the civil rights movement. June 26.

Rudolfo Anaya, 82. A writer who helped launch the 1970s Chicano Literature Movement with his novel “Bless Me, Ultima,” a book celebrated by Latinos. June 28.

Carl Reiner, 98. The ingenious and versatile writer, actor and director who broke through as a “second banana” to Sid Caesar and rose to comedy’s front ranks as creator of “The Dick Van Dyke Show” and straight man to Mel Brooks’ “2000 Year Old Man.” June 29.

Johnny Mandel, 94. The Oscar- and Grammy-winning composer, arranger and musician who worked on albums by Frank Sinatra, Natalie Cole and many others and whose songwriting credits included “The Shadow of Your Smile” and the theme from the film and TV show “M(asterisk)A(asterisk)S(asterisk)H.” June 29.

JULY

Hugh Downs, 99. The genial, versatile broadcaster who became one of television’s most familiar and welcome faces with more than 15,000 hours on news, game and talk shows. July 1.

Nick Cordero, 41. A Tony Award-nominated actor who specialized in playing tough guys on Broadway in such shows as “Waitress,” “A Bronx Tale” and “Bullets Over Broadway.” July 5. Coronavirus.

Ennio Morricone, 91. The Oscar-winning Italian composer who created the coyote-howl theme for the iconic spaghetti Western “The Good, the Bad and the Ugly” and soundtracks for such classic Hollywood gangster movies as “The Untouchables” and “Once Upon A Time In America.” July 6. Complications of surgery after a fall.

Charlie Daniels, 83. Country music firebrand and fiddler who had a hit with “Devil Went Down to Georgia.” July 6. Stroke.

Mary Kay Letourneau, 58. A teacher who married her former sixth-grade student after she was convicted of raping him in a case that drew international headlines. July 6. Cancer.

Naya Rivera, 33. A singer and actor who played a gay cheerleader on the hit TV musical comedy “Glee.” July 8. Drowning.

Kelly Preston, 57. She played dramatic and comic foil to actors ranging from Tom Cruise in “Jerry Maguire” to Arnold Schwarzenegger in “Twins” and was married to actor John Travolta. July 12. Cancer.

Joanna Cole, 75. The author whose “Magic School Bus” books transported millions of young people on extraordinary and educational adventures. July 12. Idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis.

John Lewis, 80. An icon of the civil rights movement whose bloody beating by Alabama state troopers in 1965 helped galvanize opposition to racial segregation, and who went on to a long and celebrated career in Congress. July 17.

Rev. C.T. Vivian, 95. An early and key adviser to the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. who organized pivotal civil rights campaigns and spent decades advocating for justice and equality. July 17.

Regis Philbin, 88. The genial host who shared his life with television viewers over morning coffee for decades and helped himself and some fans strike it rich with the game show “Who Wants to Be a Millionaire.” July 24.

Peter Green, 73. The dexterous blues guitarist who led the first incarnation of Fleetwood Mac in a career shortened by psychedelic drugs and mental illness. July 25.

John Saxon, 83. A versatile actor with a lengthy and prolific career who starred with Bruce Lee in “Enter the Dragon” and appeared in several “Nightmare on Elm Street” movies. July 25. Pneumonia.

Olivia de Havilland, 104. The doe-eyed actress beloved to millions as the sainted Melanie Wilkes of “Gone With the Wind,” but also a two-time Oscar winner and an off-screen fighter who challenged and unchained Hollywood’s contract system. July 26.

Connie Culp, 57. She was the recipient of the first partial face transplant in the U.S. July 29.

Lee Teng-hui, 97. A former Taiwanese president who brought direct elections and other democratic changes to the self-governed island despite missile launches and other fierce saber-rattling by China. July 30.

Herman Cain, 74. A former Republican presidential candidate and former CEO of a major pizza chain who went on to become an ardent supporter of President Donald Trump. July 30. Coronavirus.

Alan Parker, 76. A successful and sometimes surprising filmmaker whose diverse output includes “Bugsy Malone,” “Midnight Express” and “Evita.” July 31.

AUGUST

Wilford Brimley, 85. He worked his way up from movie stunt rider to an indelible character actor who brought gruff charm, and sometimes menace, to a range of films that included “Cocoon,” “The Natural” and “The Firm.” Aug. 1.

John Hume, 83. The visionary politician who won a Nobel Peace Prize for fashioning the agreement that ended violence in his native Northern Ireland. Aug. 3.

Shirley Ann Grau, 91. A Pulitzer Prize-winning fiction writer whose stories and novels told of both the dark secrets and the beauty of the Deep South. Aug. 3.

Brent Scowcroft, 95. He played a prominent role in American foreign policy as national security adviser to Presidents Gerald Ford and George H.W. Bush and was a Republican voice against the 2003 invasion of Iraq. Aug. 6.

Rabbi Adin Steinsaltz, 83. A prolific Jewish scholar who spent 45 years compiling a monumental and ground-breaking translation of the Talmud. Aug. 7.

Franca Valeri, 100. An elegant, ironic and versatile actress who pioneered female comic roles in Italy’s post-war years and helped the nation laugh at its foibles. Aug. 9.

Robert Trump, 71. President Donald Trump’s younger brother, he was a businessman known for an even keel that seemed almost incompatible with the family name. Aug. 15.

Slade Gorton, 92. A cerebral politician from Washington state who served as a U.S. Senate Republican leader before he was ousted by the growing Seattle-area liberal electorate in 2000. Aug. 19.

Gail Sheehy, 83. A journalist, commentator and pop sociologist whose best-selling “Passages” helped millions navigate their lives from early adulthood to middle age and beyond. Aug. 24. Complications from pneumonia.

Lute Olson, 85. The Hall of Fame coach who turned Arizona into a college basketball powerhouse. Aug. 27.

Osamu Masuko, 71. A former Mitsubishi Motors chief executive who engineered the Japanese automaker’s alliance with Nissan. Aug. 27. Heart failure.

Chadwick Boseman, 43. He played Black American icons Jackie Robinson and James Brown with searing intensity before inspiring audiences worldwide as the regal Black Panther in Marvel’s blockbuster movie franchise. Aug. 28. Cancer.

John Thompson, 78. The imposing Hall of Famer who turned Georgetown into a “Hoya Paranoia” powerhouse and became the first Black coach to lead a team to the NCAA men’s basketball championship. Aug. 30.

Lady Yvonne Sursock Cochrane, 98. One of Lebanon’s most prominent philanthropists and a pioneer defender of the country’s heritage. Aug. 31. Injuries suffered from a massive explosion in Beirut.

Tom Seaver, 75. The Hall of Fame pitcher who steered a stunning transformation from lovable losers to Miracle Mets in 1969. Aug. 31. Complications of Lewy body dementia and the coronavirus.

SEPTEMBER

Kaing Guek Eav, 77. Known as Duc, he was the Khmer Rouge’s chief jailer, who admitted overseeing the torture and killings of as many as 16,000 Cambodians while running the regime’s most notorious prison. Sept. 2.

Diana Rigg, 82. A commanding British actress whose career stretched from iconic 1960s spy series “The Avengers” to fantasy juggernaut “Game of Thrones.” Sept. 10.

Toots Hibbert, 77. One of reggae’s founders and most beloved stars who gave the music its name and later helped make it an international movement through such classics as “Pressure Drop,” “Monkey Man” and “Funky Kingston.” Sept. 11.

Terence Conran, 88. The British designer, retailer and restaurateur who built a furniture empire around the world, founded The Design Museum in London and modernized the everyday lives of British people. Sept. 12.

Florence Howe, 91. An activist, educator and major contributor to American literature and culture who as co-founder of the Feminist Press helped revive such acclaimed and influential works as Charlotte Perkins Gilman’s “The Yellow Wall-Paper” and Rebecca Harding Davis’ “Life in the Iron Mills.” Sept. 12.

Winston Groom, 77. The writer whose novel “Forrest Gump” was made into a six-Oscar winning 1994 movie that became a soaring pop culture phenomenon. Sept. 17.

Ruth Bader Ginsburg, 87. The U.S. Supreme Court justice developed a cultlike following over her more than 27 years on the bench, especially among young women who appreciated her lifelong, fierce defense of women’s rights. Sept. 18.

Rev. Robert Graetz, 92. The only white minister to support the Montgomery bus boycott and who became the target of scorn and bombings for doing so. Sept. 20.

Michael Lonsdale, 89. An enigmatic giant of the silver screen and theater in France who worked with some of the world’s top directors in an acting career that spanned 60 years. Sept. 21.

Ang Rita, 72. A veteran Nepalese Sherpa guide who was the first person to climb Mount Everest 10 times. Sept. 21.

Gale Sayers, 77. The dazzling and elusive running back who entered the Pro Football Hall of Fame despite the briefest of careers and whose fame extended far beyond the field for decades thanks to a friendship with a dying Chicago Bears teammate. Sept. 23.

Juliette Greco, 93. A French singer, actress, cultural icon and muse to existentialist philosophers of the country’s post-War period. Sept. 23.

Sheikh Sabah Al Ahmad Al Sabah, 91. The ruler of Kuwait who drew on his decades as the oil-rich nation’s top diplomat to push for closer ties to Iraq after the 1990 Gulf War and solutions to other regional crises. Sept. 29.

Helen Reddy, 78. She shot to stardom in the 1970s with her rousing feminist anthem “I Am Woman” and recorded a string of other hits. Sept. 29.

Timothy Ray Brown, 54. He made history as “the Berlin patient,” the first person known to be cured of HIV infection. Sept. 29.

Mac Davis, 78. A country music star who launched his career crafting the Elvis hits “A Little Less Conversation” and “In the Ghetto,” and whose own hits include “Baby Don’t Get Hooked On Me.” Sept. 29.

Sister Ardeth Platte, 84. A Dominican nun and anti-nuclear activist who spent time in jail for her peaceful protests. Sept. 30.

OCTOBER

Bob Gibson, 84. A baseball Hall of Famer and the dominating St. Louis Cardinals pitcher who won a record seven consecutive World Series starts and set a modern standard for excellence when he finished the 1968 season with a 1.12 ERA. Oct. 2.

Kenzo Takada, 81. The iconic French-Japanese fashion designer famed for his jungle-infused designs and free-spirited aesthetic that channeled global travel. Oct. 4. Coronavirus.

Eddie Van Halen, 65. The guitar virtuoso whose blinding speed, control and innovation propelled his band Van Halen into one of hard rock’s biggest groups and became elevated to the status of rock god. Oct. 6. Cancer.

Johnny Nash, 80. A singer-songwriter, actor and producer who rose from pop crooner to early reggae star to the creator and performer of the million-selling anthem “I Can See Clearly Now.” Oct. 6.

Mohammad Reza Shajarian, 80. His distinctive voice quavered to traditional Persian music on state radio for years before supporting protesters following Iran’s contested 2009 election. Oct. 8.

Whitey Ford, 91. The street-smart New Yorker who had the best winning percentage of any pitcher in the 20th century and helped the Yankees become baseball’s perennial champions in the 1950s and ’60s. Oct. 8.

Joe Morgan, 77. The Hall of Fame second baseman became the sparkplug of dominant Cincinnati teams in the mid-1970s and was a two-time National League Most Valuable Player. Oct. 11.

Bernard S. Cohen, 86. He won a landmark case that led to the U.S. Supreme Court’s rejection of laws forbidding interracial marriage and later went on to a successful political career as a state legislator. Oct. 12. Complications from Parkinson’s disease.

Mahmoud Yassin, 79. An Egyptian actor and pillar of the country’s film industry during the second half of the 20th century. Oct. 14.

Christopher Pendergast, 71. A suburban New York teacher who turned a Lou Gehrig’s disease diagnosis into a decadeslong campaign to raise awareness and fund research. Oct. 14.

Rhonda Fleming, 97. The fiery redhead who appeared with Burt Lancaster, Kirk Douglas, Charlton Heston, Ronald Reagan and other film stars of the 1940s and 1950s. Oct. 14.

Sid Hartman, 100. The Minnesota sports columnist and radio personality was an old-school home team booster who once ran the NBA’s Minneapolis Lakers and achieved nearly as much celebrity as some of the athletes he covered. Oct. 18.

Spencer Davis, 81. A British guitarist and bandleader whose eponymous rock group had 1960s hits including “Gimme Some Lovin’” and “I’m a Man.” Oct. 19.

James Randi, 92. A magician who later challenged spoon benders, mind readers and faith healers with such voracity that he became regarded as the country’s foremost skeptic. Oct. 20.

Lee Kun-Hee, 78. The Samsung Electronics chairman who transformed the small television maker into a global giant of consumer electronics but whose leadership was also marred by corruption convictions. Oct. 25.

Diane di Prima, 86. A poet, activist and teacher who was one of the last surviving members of the Beats and one of the few women writers in the Beat movement. Oct. 25.

Billy Joe Shaver, 81. An outlaw country singer-songwriter who wrote songs like “Honky Tonk Heroes,” “I Been to Georgia on a Fast Train” and “Old Five and Dimers Like Me.” Oct. 28.

Sean Connery, 90. The charismatic Scottish actor who rose to international superstardom as the suave secret agent James Bond and then abandoned the role to carve out an Oscar-winning career in other rugged roles. Oct. 31.

NOVEMBER

Robert Fisk, 74. A veteran British journalist, he was one of the best-known Middle East correspondents who spent his career reporting from the troubled region and won accolades for challenging mainstream narratives. Nov. 1.

Tom Metzger, 82. The notorious former Ku Klux Klan leader who rose to prominence in the 1980s while promoting white separatism and stoking racial violence. Nov. 4. Parkinson’s disease.

Norm Crosby, 93. The deadpan mangler of the English language who thrived in the 1960s, ’70s and ’80s as a television, nightclub and casino comedian. Nov. 7.

Alex Trebek, 80. He presided over the beloved quiz show “Jeopardy!” for more than 30 years with dapper charm and a touch of schoolmaster strictness. Nov. 8.

Saeb Erekat, 65. A veteran peace negotiator and prominent international spokesman for the Palestinians for more than three decades. Nov. 10. Coronavirus.

Prince Khalifa bin Salman Al Khalifa, 84. As Bahrain’s prince, he was one of the world’s longest-serving prime ministers and led his island nation’s government for decades. Nov. 11.

Paul Hornung, 84. The dazzling “Golden Boy” of the Green Bay Packers whose singular ability to generate points as a runner, receiver, quarterback and kicker helped turn the team into an NFL dynasty. Nov. 13.

Soumitra Chatterjee, 85. The legendary Indian actor with more than 200 movies to his name and famed for his work with Oscar-winning director Satyajit Ray. Nov. 15. Coronavirus.

Walid al-Moallem, 79. Syria’s longtime foreign minister, he was a career diplomat who became one of the country’s most prominent faces to the outside world during the uprising against President Bashar Assad. Nov. 16.

Jan Morris, 94. The celebrated journalist, historian, world traveler and fiction writer who in middle age became a pioneer of the transgender movement. Nov. 20.

David Dinkins, 93. He broke barriers as New York City’s first African American mayor but was doomed to a single term by a soaring murder rate, stubborn unemployment and his mishandling of a riot in Brooklyn. Nov. 23.

Bruce Carver Boynton, 83. A civil rights pioneer from Alabama who inspired the landmark “Freedom Rides” of 1961. Nov. 23.

Diego Maradona, 60. The Argentine soccer great who scored the “Hand of God” goal in 1986 and led his country to that year’s World Cup title before later struggling with cocaine use and obesity. Nov. 25.

Dave Prowse, 85. The British weightlifter-turned-actor who was the body, though not the voice, of archvillain Darth Vader in the original “Star Wars” trilogy. Nov. 28.

Eddie Benton-Banai, 89. He helped found the American Indian Movement partly in response to alleged police brutality against Indigenous people. Nov. 30.

DECEMBER

Thomas M. Reavley, 99. He was the oldest active federal judge who served for 41 years on the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. Dec. 1.

Valery Giscard d’Estaing, 94. He was the president of France from 1974 to 1981 and became a champion of European integration. Dec. 2.

Rafer Johnson, 86. He won the decathlon at the 1960 Rome Olympics and helped subdue Robert F. Kennedy’s assassin in 1968. Dec. 2.

Alison Lurie, 94. The Pulitzer Prize-winning novelist whose satirical and cerebral tales of love and academia included the marital saga “The War Between the Tates” and the comedy of Americans abroad “Foreign Affairs.” Dec. 3.

David L. Lander, 73. An actor who played the character of Squiggy on the popular ABC comedy “Laverne & Shirley.” Dec. 4.

Tabaré Vázquez, 80. He was Uruguay’s first socialist president, rising from poverty to win two terms as leader. Dec. 6. Cancer.

Paul Sarbanes, 87. He represented Maryland for 30 years in the Senate as a leader of financial regulatory reform and drafted the first article of impeachment against Republican President Richard Nixon during the Watergate scandal as a congressman. Dec. 6.