Macron says France accelerating easing of lockdown restrictions

French President Emmanuel Macron made a TV address on Sunday saying he was accelerating plans to ease the country's coronavirus lockdown and that the fight against racism should not involve the rewriting of history. In the speech, Macron promised that the cost of keeping companies afloat and people in jobs during the worst economic downturn since World War Two would not be passed to households through taxes.

 The government expects the economy to get smaller by 11% in 2020. The coronavirus emergency had exposed France's, and more broadly Europe's, heavy reliance on global supply chains, from the car industry to smart phones and pharmaceuticals, that were paralyzed when the epidemic first broke out in China.