Coming up on our program at this hour, the olympic flame lands in japan. This as bouts over the summer games grow doubts over the summer games grow. A number of athletes a and officials have called on the event to be postponed because of the pandemic. Those are our top stories this hour at france 24. Thank you for watching. We start here in france where its the fourth day of a National Lockdown and this morning Emmanuel Macron isis holding a meeting to discuss further measures to combat the spread of covid19. The country, which has reported 11,000 cases of the disease, is poised to follow itataly in extetending its confinement perd from t two to four weeks. Lets listen to macron speaking earlierr from the interior inistry. Werere at very start of thi crisis. Weve taken exceptional measures to counter this first wave. Its a race against time to fight the virus. And even though its still the start, we must remain ready to make any necessary changes. We must be ready to react to any new incidents and unforeseen events that may occur. Ananchor for moren ththisd like to bring in o our senior journalist who has been following those developments for us. Thanks again for being with us. We heard from macron, race against the virus. That meeting was it started in the morning. What can we expect to hear from him . Reporter whats happening is a defense cabinet, which means indeal all relevant ministers to tackle the ongoing crisis, are being put together in a room to discuss what to do next. Now, what we are expecting very widely is the fact that this lockdown could be made longer than initially planned. When macron announced it in the first place, he said it was for two weeks renewable. And chances are its very probably going to be renewed. The big question mark is, will there be some extra measures that might be enforced during this meeting . For example, macron has said on many occasions that he found that the french people were not taken this seriously enough. He was seeing too many people outdoors, too many people spending time Walking Around or running or jogging. While indeed maybe we will see some measures to tighten all of that up, for example, what i can tell you is that for the moment in france, all the beaches on the mediterranean are now closed. The beaches in corsica are also closed. The beaches on the atlantic front are now all closed atat ts stage. Very probably will be closed soon enough. The objective for the authorities is that they want to let people go outdoors, eventually. But not meet up in places. They dont want to see lararge crowds assembling at the same place outdoors. This is a big challenge at the moment. To make sure that theres no transmission of this virus. Some very extreme measures have been taken in some areas, including in italy, for example. Where they are very seriously talking about banning the fact of going outdoors for jogging or for a walk. As such, youll be allowed to walk to the store to buy groceries. But thats very much it. Not allowed to take kids out, for example, for a walk. And another big question, and this is also in italy, one of the Regional Governors has been speaking of eventually tracking people using cell phones in order to see if they are respecting the rules or not. And then potentially remotely finding them fining them. So it does appear that a lot of countries in europe, especially italy, the death toll has risen to 3,400 deaths which is extremely high. Ts higher than china. Theyre going to extreme measures to make sure people stay at home anchor extreme measures have been taken. Also the virus, and this is something were discussing earlier, its hitting the cyberworld. What are we going to do . Im just asking for a friend who may be relying on netflix for entertainment purposes. Reporter indeed, yes. This phenomenon is taking its toll on the cyberworld and on the networks. And indeed in france, the government has been starting to work on that. We saw a document being published yesterday about practices as far as using the networks and not overloading the networks in this period. So companieses who rely heavilyn bandwidth for their projects, of course, netflix or other streaming companies that offer films, for example, the question mark is, how long can a lot of french households download or stream films at the same time without the actutual physical network crashing . Whats been asked is for people to stop streaming films in 4k because that means its a much higher amount of data at any given time that is used to produce these ultrahigh resolution images and netflix has said that they were studying a way to reduce the bandwidth and they will be limiting, capping the amount of data sent to every household. And the same pretty much for everyone and the government has said that indeed companies who rely on data bandwidth were to eventually consult the ministry here in france in charge of these networks in order to find solutions to reduce the amount of data being used. Anchor this may not be e such bad thing. Back to the books we go. Reporter back to the books. Anchor thank you very much for that. Over in california, the governor has issued a statewide order for all residents to stay at home amid the coronavirus outbreak. 14 million residents and it marks the first mandatory restriction issued in the united states. Gavin newsom warned that half of californias population could get infected in just two months. Lets take a listen. This is a moment we need to make tough decisions. This is a moment where we need some Straight Talk and we need to tell peopople the truth. We need to bend the curve in the state of california. And in order to do that, we need to recognize the reality. We are confident that the people of the state of california will abide by it, will do the right thing, theyll meet this moment. Theyeyll step u up, as they ha overer the course of the lastst number of weeks to protect themselves, to protect their families, and to protect the Broader Community in this great state and the world that we reside in. Anchor the pandemic is landing in brazil as the hot summer days in the Southern Hemisphere are drawing to a close. Medical experts say thiss could potentially worsen the spread of the virus. On t thursday in a b bid to con thee disease, brazil closedts boborders with eight neighborin countrtries. Meanwhile, Rio De Janeiro has closed its famed beaches as well as restaurants and bars for 15 dafmentse for more, days. For more, lucas, thank you for being with us. Can you talk us through the latest measures being takenen i brazil . Reporter yes. S. Hihi, thanks for having me. So as you s said, rio de janeir was the first place, the first local government to take action. Really theyve closed schools, colleges, theyve reduced public transportation, they are closing shops also and that has also been happening in the last 24 to 48 hours i in sao paulo whihich thststate with h the biggesest population inin other states also where the have been cases, and nanational were seeing thehe closising of boborders, a as you said. Also people coming b by p planem rorope and from asisia, it won be possible anymore foror the nt 30 days. S. So a month. Therhahave been n really th has enen an awawakening in the last, i would say, 48 hours. The local governments started acting last week or early this week and the federal government in the last 48 hours. And it has been very criticized for its lack of action. Anchor it has been criticized bubut erere are alsoso reports chaos coming out of brazil. Were hearing about rioting and rebellions in prisons amid this crisis. Can you tell us more about that . Reporter yes. There have been someme rebellio in sao rerent units paulo. People have even escaped. There has been a riot where hundreds of prisoners have escaped. Some of them or i would say most of them have been r recaptured. They were proteststing against this measure, the facact that their famimily wont be able t sesee them foror a while. They were unhappy, i think, that they werent inforormed about t circrcumstances of covid19. Soso there h have been ririots sosome pple,e, some hundreds of themem have been recapturered ie last 24 hours. And also weve seen riots in the publblic scene, i would say, in the markets. You have vivideos going on onon cicial media where people are ighting for hand sanitizers, they are anchor im going to interrupt you there because i want to talk about brazil bebeing the region largest economy here. There must be concerns as there are across the globe of the impact this crisis will have on the economomy. If you can t tell us very brief there. Reporter yes. Yeyes. There has been, even as something to prprevent a bigigg crisis or a deeper crisis, there has been a package, the federal government has announced the package to fight covid19, to prpreserve jobs. Also to help the states to help poor people. E. Because we have i in brazil 40 f the rkrk force which is in the informal sector. Its not protected by work laws, by the legislation. O we have this, i think it was 200 million [indiscernible] w which i wouould say correspondents w with abouout 4 billion euros, lets say, which is a pkagege that aims to impact the economyy or to protect jobs and protect poor people. It has been announced earlier this week. Anchor brazil governmentnt has introduced a financial pacackag to try and help the work force amid this crisis. Thank you so much for being with us. Time now for what were cacalli at france 24 a world tour with our correspondents dotted around the globe. E. This hour were heading over to australia. Many are criticizing the lack of measures over there implemented where people are not taking social distancing very seriously. Ets listen. Reporter over the last couple of days, australia has seen a massive surge in con fermed cases of covid19 confirmed cases of covid19. Tighter r restrictioions were pn place this week, such as a ban on indoor gatherings of more than 100 people and a 14day selfquarantine rule for anyone arriving from overseas. National carrier is grounding all International Flights after the Prime Minister announced a indefinite ban on overseas travel. But the federal government is facing increasasing scrutiny wi many saying the measures dont go far enough. Thousands of doctors here in australia have signed an open letter and petition urging g health authoririties to ramp up their response to the pandemic and are calling for an immediate lockdodown of schools and publi places. While we have a small number of cases c compared to the u u. S. , china or somome european countrieies, doctors here say their french and italian counterprparts are begegging tho learn from their mistakes before its too late. Anchor now we end our program at this hour with the olympic flame, completing even the difficult journey from greece to japan. In a scaleddown welcoming ceremony. This as the opening of the tokyo games remains in doubt. While organizers say the show must go on on july 24. Japan for its part is grappling with pressure to avoid a Health Crisis among 600,000 expected spectators and athletes at the event. As the Novel Coronavirus advances across the planet, the olympic flame is also continuing its journey. After starting its relay in greece, the flame landed in japan to a small welcoming ceremony. Before it goes on a scaleddown nationwide tour. Crouds continue to gather over the doubtbts continue to gatr over the fate of f the tokyo gas but the jan japanese authorities still plan to hold them as lanned starting july 24. Reporter an increasing number of athletes are voicing concern about the decision, though. Like british fourtime gold medalist. On a global front, we have other priorities and i think the olympics should at the very least be saying, we should postpone or indeed we should just cancel at this stage and well talk about postponement later on. Reporter japan is clinging to the hope that scientists will find a new vaccine before the games begin. But ultimately the decision on whether to go ahead rests with the International Olympic committee. The i. O. C. Says its still too early to make that call for now. But many competitors say thats unfair on them because Current Conditions hamper their ability to train. Anchor thank you for watchinin france 24. Do stay tuned. Anchor his work has been displayed in australia. Perched on cap buildings in cities around the world but it might be more accurate to say these sculptures inhabit the landscape. Because this work is often about bodies in space, be it the built environment or the natural one. The artist is showing new work here in paris and hes with us in the stutudio to telll us mor. Hello. Hello. Anchor this latest show features both sculptures and draugs and i notice that the central drawings and i notice that the central piece has something quite graphic about it. Even though it is a 3d piece. Can you tell us a bit more about that . I suppose i spent a lot of time in my studio thinking about the body less as an object than a place. And im thinking about is architecture as a place and doing the same thing, trying to i guess map it, make an object that somehow investigates space itself and at the same time without occupying it, energizes it. And ii suppose for m me the vie then becomes part of the work. The work is a single line. Its about 200 meters long. Its an open tube. I guess it connects with other things that ive made like passage, which was a long human silhouetted tunnel that youre invited to walk through. The show as a whole is investigating the second body. So if the e first placace we lis the human body, the second place we live is in the rooms and cities of our habitat. Anchor indeed you can go inside that piece of work. But for people more familiar with your past work, that piece might appear to be less human than the cast figures theyve seen in a lot of your previous installations. And in fact your whole body of work has been celebrated at a retrospective, at the Royal Academy in london last year. Ets look at that. Anchor just to come back to some of the human figures that we saw there briefly, some of these bodies feature an installation called Event Horizon which took place in various locations around the world. Now how did you choose the spots, where to put those figures . And whats the oddest or most surprising place landscape youve seen them in . I guess that piece has to do with making an acupuncture of a city. And thinking, how can we activate that dialogue between the sky and the earth, at the skyline of a city . New york it was important that we got real landmarks. So we had the clock tower, we had the empire state, we had the flat iron building. And one of the places where those figures, those castiron figures, are quite striking is in the piece, another place on crosby beach, where theyre sort of in and out of the water, depending on the tide. A much earlier work of yours, host, also involves water. Floodwater. A sort of soupy, muddy waterer. Host was made in 1991. At that time, the phrase Climate Crisis wasnt as ubiquitous as it is today. Was that a prophecy of sorts . Were you protecting predicting a watery end for all of us . I think that ive always been very concerned with making sculpture, that engages with the public. That maybe isnt even alive yet. The idea that the sculpture, rather than memorializing the past, which its done so effectively in the 18th and 19th century, i think the urgency now is to make sculpture. The things about which our human contribution may be to the future of the biosphere. And certainly the first time i made it, which was in charleston in south carolina, i was thinking more about you could say the beginning and ending of life, the fact that, yeah, i guess we came out of the ocean, life evolved on this planet out of the ocean. So moving 30,000 litres of atlantic sea water into one of the primary galleries in the Royal Academy, and mixing it with a bit of england, a bit of buckinghamscheyer, it was just a provocation to say, i want to bring the condition of outside inside, inside the city. And allow us to think about what our relationship is with the primary elements. In a time of massive, you could say, digital explosion. We live in a cybersociety and i think that reengagement with firsthand experience of the elements is a a very important part of that show. Anchor speaking of elements. One constant in your work has been your use of different metals for many of your pieces. I believe you work in your own foundry and steel is a very important part of the monumental piece, angel of the north, which is in the u. K. Thatat was completed in 1998. And given that you were making a piece of public art that was to be viewed by everyone, how did that affect your Creative Process . Did it influence your approach . I think that sculpture has always been a collective activity. And i think the angel of the north is an example of i couldnt have made it without the Ship Builders that actually knew how to bend ship steel, that knew, in a sense, the anguage of steel when put into naval architecture. And thats where its form its form came from. I guess that idea, which is probably a tribal idea, that sculpture can be about collective experience and made collectively, and then occupied collective space, i think thats a tradition that for 200 years was lost and now i would like to think i is bein found again. Anchor and that piece was made with Financial Support from the u. K. Arts council. Local funds and european contntributions too. Yeah. The European Union gave 150,000 pounds toward that, which im very, very grateful for. Anchor indeed. I believe public backing of the arts is something you support and you joined some very high profile artists in 2010 in an open letter urging the thenculture minister, jeremy hunt, not to go ahead with cuts to the arts. How do you see the situation at the moment in the u. K. , 10 years on . Things are changing rapidly. With our new chancellor and our new Prime Minister. I think its difficult to predict whats going to happen under boris realm. However, there has been an absolute reduction in state funding of education in art, in britain. And along with it, the support of museums that thankfully have remained free, but are still struggling, i think, in a time in which, you know, sponsorship certainly from the oil industry is becoming more and more problematic. And im hopeful, im hoping that the new chancellor and the new Prime Minister will be resolute in replacing replacing funding that has been removed from our National Institutions and from arts generally. Anchor speaking of public versus private commissions, your recent interactive installation, new york clearing, was part of a larger contemporary Art Initiative piloted by the korean pop band, b. T. S. What prompted you to say yes t their r projecect . I thinknk it was visioionary extraordinarily generous. Its really unusual that a group of 19 to 23yearolds that are basically interested in making music should suddenly make 5 million available to a group of artists who think of the idea of making five major shows in five major cities globally. Cultural bridge is now bridges are now more important than ever. We can see throughout the world this in a way, through, as a result of fear, a return to the nostalgia of National Identity and religious certainty. And i think we need to, well, we need to certainly resist that, what i conceive of as backward thinking, with an idea of collective, creative projects of exactly this kind. Anchor touching a new generation there as well. Now, finally, we asked to you flag up whats on your cultural radar at the moment. And you told us about a contemporary dance performance of blue beers choreographed. Tell us what it is about that piece that got you interested . This is extraraordinaryry bee i hadnt seseen it and d it was restaged. It was a piece that pina made in 1977 and it was restaged. I was completely knocked away by , well, just the rad calt and the passion radicality and the passion of this work that deal with, if you like, issues of sexual diversity, with issues of the whole of the metoo movement, the idea of male power d, in a sense, the rise of female awareness. It was prophetic and still now at the beginning of a new millennium, this work that was made in the last quarter of the and was ked such power so moving and so critically relevant. That i thought that, you know, here is a person that has really chananged the landscape of art. Anchor a visionary indeed. Thats definitely worth checking out. Thank you so much for joining us today. Thank you. Anchor well leave you with a clip of pinas unique lyrical language of dance and do remember you can get more arts and culture on our website and were also on social media too. Theres more news cocoming up o france 24 just after this. Man ive already had a rewarding career representing artists writing the first review of basquiat, being the first person to buy his work, being jeff koons dealer during the nineties. Ive already done very rewarding things like this. Im a stealth bomber. I can walk the walk and talk the talk of money people but im using the structure to put out some very progressive, radical ideas. First the challenge was economic survival. Now its how do i survive the