European governments prepared a raft of tougher measures to fight the Covid-19 pandemic, putting further strain on economies and political leaders as they seek a faster pace of vaccinations. France expanded a daily 12-hour curfew nationwide starting Saturday and German Chancellor Angela Merkel is leading toward a tougher lockdown, amid concern that a more-contagious coronavirus variant may cause infections to spiral out of control. Vaccination is “the utmost priority” to get out of the crisis, French Prime Minister Jean Castex said. “But we must all be patient and responsible because it will take months before ... (full story)