The Economist Continental Europe Edition October 31, 2020

America hit 83,000 new daily infections on two consecutive days, the highest numbers since the pandemic began. Russia broke records for both the daily number of cases and deaths in the country. Some 27,000 people have officially died in total, though the true figure may be much higher. Iran said it would extend the closure of schools, mosques, shops, restaurants and other public institutions in Tehran until November 20th. State television reported that a person was dying from the virus every four minutes. Taiwan went 200 days without any locally transmitted cases. It has had just seven deaths. Melbourne came out of a lengthy strict lockdown, which has been credited with suppressing the spread of the disease in the Australian city. Its 5m residents had been largely confined to home. For our latest coverage of…

Politics The second wave of covid-19 worsened across Europe, leading a number of countries to impose stricter measures. A second national lockdown was announced in France; Emmanuel Macron, the president, said the country had been “overwhelmed” by the spread of the virus. In Germany restaurants, cafés and bars were ordered to close during November. Spain announced a new state of emergency, and much of Italy has introduced curfews. A study in England suggests that 100,000 people are catching the disease there every day. A suspected Islamist killed three people at a church in Nice, virtually beheading one of his victims. He was shot, injured and arrested by French police. On the same day police shot dead a man near Avignon who had threatened passersby with a gun. The attacks came soon after…

THE COUNTRY that elected Donald Trump in 2016 was unhappy and divided. The country he is asking to re-elect him is more unhappy and more divided. After almost four years of his leadership, politics is even angrier than it was and partisanship even less constrained. Daily life is consumed by a pandemic that has registered almost 230,000 deaths amid bickering, buck-passing and lies. Much of that is Mr Trump’s doing, and his victory on November 3rd would endorse it all. Joe Biden is not a miracle cure for what ails America. But he is a good man who would restore steadiness and civility to the White House. He is equipped to begin the long, difficult task of putting a fractured country back together again. That is why, if we had a…

GOVERNMENTS ARE lining up to set new climate targets for the middle of the century. This week Japan said that it would eliminate all greenhouse gases (see Asia section). In the past month or so China and South Korea have declared that their economies will be carbon-neutral, meaning that they will put no more carbon dioxide into the atmosphere than they take out. In March the European Union unveiled a “net-zero” plan of its own. Britain and France have enshrined their targets into law. A victory next week for Joe Biden could put America on a similar path. Targets are easier set than met. Today around 85% of the world’s industrial energy comes from fossil fuels. Getting consumption to near zero will involve enormous economic shifts. It will require huge changes…

Politics The second wave of covid-19 worsened across Europe, leading a number of countries to impose stricter measures. A second national lockdown was announced in France; Emmanuel Macron, the president, said the country had been “overwhelmed” by the spread of the virus. In Germany restaurants, cafés and bars were ordered to close during November. Spain announced a new state of emergency, and much of Italy has introduced curfews. A study in England suggests that 100,000 people are catching the disease there every day. A suspected Islamist killed three people at a church in Nice, virtually beheading one of his victims. He was shot, injured and arrested by French police. On the same day police shot dead a man near Avignon who had threatened passersby with a gun. The attacks came…

America hit 83,000 new daily infections on two consecutive days, the highest numbers since the pandemic began. Russia broke records for both the daily number of cases and deaths in the country. Some 27,000 people have officially died in total, though the true figure may be much higher. Iran said it would extend the closure of schools, mosques, shops, restaurants and other public institutions in Tehran until November 20th. State television reported that a person was dying from the virus every four minutes. Taiwan went 200 days without any locally transmitted cases. It has had just seven deaths. Melbourne came out of a lengthy strict lockdown, which has been credited with suppressing the spread of the disease in the Australian city. Its 5m residents had been largely confined to home.…