European Union

The Netherlands and France have announced that they will provide billions in aid for the airline holding Air France-KLM to get it through the coronavirus crisis. Both countries hold a stake in the company. Dutch commentators voice dismay.

While many European countries are discussing when and under what conditions football matches can be played again, the Netherlands has become the first major football nation to cancel the professional football season. The clubs there are protesting and one of them is even threatening to sue. Commentators discuss whether protection against Covid-19 is more important than football's function in society.

In mid-April the US magazine Forbes put forward the attention-grabbing thesis that countries led by women have better strategies for dealing with the coronavirus crisis and fewer deaths. This was particularly clear when such countries are compared with the United States and Britain for example, the article said. The thesis is still the subject of fierce debate on social networks and in the media, although some find it unconvincing.

Eight people in the Faroe Islands who recovered from their Covid-19 infections have tested positive again, the chief medical officer, Lars Fodgaard Møller, told Danish broadcaster DR. "We believe that they have not recovered, but have had viruses or dead viruses in the body, which show on tests". Testing is key in the small island's Covid-19 strategy, resulting in only nine patients not knowing where they got infected.

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Energy ministers from the 27 EU member states will on Tuesday (28 April) hold their first talks since the coronavirus outbreak, discussing both emergency measures to ensure supply security and longer-term plans for the recovery phase.