♪ anchor: confirmed coronavirus cases rise exponentially in the united states, with 30,000 in new york state alone. this as the senate passes a historic to trillion dollar stimulus package. french prereside e emmanuel macn deploys the army to critically hit areas of france in a bid to support the population. this as the death t toll surpass 1300. and in new zealand, the 2019 christchurch shooter changes his plea to guilty.

51 people were killed during a terrorist attack on two mosques, sending shockwaves. across the world. . hello and welcome to the "france 24" newsroom. i am simon harding. states,ed in the united some becoming g the center of te coronavirus pandemic. to cope with the situation and provide aid to americans, the u.s. senate has passed an unprecedented to trillion dollar -- to trillion dollar stimulus package to help unemployed workers and businesses. there are almost 70,000 confirmed cases in the state and the death toll virus has exceeded 1000 people. new york is the worst hit with close to 30,000 cases. monti francis has the story. the bustlingany of spots unusually empty, the strict restrictions on social distancing could be slowing the spread of covid-19.

thehis past sunday, projection was hospitalizations were doubling every two days. on tuesday, the projection suggested that the hospitalizations were doubling every 4.7 days. now, that is almost too good to be truru monte: but the situation in the country's most densely populated city remains dire. an emergency doctor should video with the "new rk times"" from inside a public hospital overwhelmed by cases of covid-19, describing the situation there as "apocalyptic ." alone,0 dead in new york state officials are asking for more ventilators as more cases come entered in new orleans, louisiana, people crowded bourbon street for mardi gras. there is a growing concern it could become the next epicenter for the growing virus in the u.s. the city has seen a 3 30% jump n

cases in just 24 hours. isshat we are seeing now several weeks post m money grar, and the governor has indicated we are on a path -- mardi grara, and the governor has indicated we are on a path. monte: the trump administration has not signed onto a nationwide order to keep people at home. against the advice of his own health experts, president trump continues to insist that the cure cannot be worse than the problem and that he would like all americans to be back at work by easter. simon: of course we will be keeping you updated with everything happening in the united states. let's move on to spain, where the situation is worsening, day by day. parliament has decided to expand the state of emergency until april 12 number of coronavirus cases have increased tenfold since the state of emergency was initially imposed on march 14. fatalities have

jumped to the second highest in the world. the prime minister has set it is the best strategy to fight the coronavirus pandemic. where as in italy, fourth consecutive day of lowering the number of new cases have been reported by health authorities. the world health organization has said this we could see the peak of the pandemic in italy, with current events starting to head down. the italian government has warned citizens that in spite of encouraging news, the country must remain on its guard. thenuel macron is deploying army to critically hit areas of france in a bid to support public services and an operation dubbed "resilience." like many countries across europe, the military operation will focus on aiding and supporting the population as well as helping public services face the pandemic.

on thursday, the death toll and france had surpassed 1300 casualties. donning a mask, french president emmanuel macron visited a makeshift military hospital in eastern france, where patients with covid-19 are being treated. after the tour, he repeated his declaration that the country is at war against the virus, but this time, he said, going forward, the military would play an important role. pres. macron: [speaking french] translator: we are at war and faced with what is still ahead, its peak of the pandemic that is before us, i have decided on the minister of the armies and chief of the defefense stataff to lauh operation resilience. >> the number of troops who will take part in operation resilience has not yet been confirmed, but hours after the president's announcement, the country's armed forces ministry said france will withdraw all of

its 200 troops stationed in iraq, due to the c coronavirus outbreak. operation resilience has three objectives -- first, to provide logistic and medical support. this is already happening, as the french army has helped to evacuate patients from hospitals that are overwhelmed. to further that goal, the government says the two helicopter characters, -- carriers, equipped with hospitals on board, or on their way to french territories in the caribbean and also the indian ocean. the second objective is logistics. that includes transporting masks and other medical supplies from to reaso region of the country another.r. finally, the third objective is law enforcement. . that includes monitoring sensitive locatitions, but the military is not expected to inist in and fortune -- enforcing the government's stay-at-home order's. simon: to discuss the situation we cross overher, to a ceoeo who joinsns us.

thank you very much for joining us live on "france 24." this is of course a very difficult period for french people economically. with no money or less money coming in, can we expect, for example, a a delay or suspspensn onhehe payments ofof rent? in the terms and conditions of your loan contract, you have an article t that plans t the possibility to either suspend or delay the payments of your monthly loan, if you own a credit loan, ususually one to sx months. we are all confined in our house. take the time to read again the terms s and condititions. find this article. most of the time, you will have this article that is supposed to help you have the possibility to suspend or delay the pavement. -- the payment.

write an email to the banker, and asking to put this article into institution. if you are a tenant and you rent your apartment and you are unable to pay the true rent, but for not paying the rent, have a call to your landlord. call the owner of f the apartment and talk to him. i bebelieve now more humanizatin between people. do, him, ask him if you can may be reduce from 20%, 30%, even 50% of the rent. it is better than not paying it, innyny c case. but if it is not written into your rent or lease that allows you to not pay the rent, but you can call the owner and try to compromise with him. simon: the government has saidd ifif citizenss are unable to pay tax, it will be reported to a later date, but is that likely to make the economimic situation worse, once the crisis is over? [laughs]

i do not know if this is the issue right now. probably the treasury of france and as well as many other countries will be affected. right now, individuals, french people have to think how they are going to surviveve, how they will pay their costs at the end of the month, and for most of them, many of them, too many of them areartially employed, soo tax can a aeady go toto the site, and with two cliques, they can stop the payment of the taxes. it is not mean it is a present. it does not mean they can have it for free. it only means you can suspend it just to give the time to get out of this crisis. don't forget to put a reminder in your agenda to pay it back again inick on it probably june or july, but right now if you need oxygen, , you nd a little oxygen in order to survive was two months, you can suspend the payments of your taxes directly on the government site. thank you very much for

that analysis. in the united kingdom, boris johnson's government is due to announce financial support later this thursday, as the coronavirus continues its rapid spread across the u.k. almost 10,000 confirmed cases nationwide with 465 people ordered to have died from covid-19. to cope with the growing medical demands, half a million people have volunteered to help britain's national health service. claire rush has this. claire: a call to service that to heart,ok volunteering with the national health service, heeding the government's plea. an army of volunteers that will play a key role in avoiding the outbreak, according to the prime minister. pm johnson: they will be driving medicines from pharmacies to patients, they will be bringing patients home from hospital.

very importantly, they will be making regular phone calls to chcheck on and d support peopleo are staying on their own at home, and they will be absolutely crucial in the fight against this virus. claire: as of wednesday, the u.k. has recorded more than 400 deaths, more than 9000 cases, including prince charles, first in line to the british throne. he has mild symptoms but is otherwise in good health, according to buckingham palace. since monday, the u.k. has been on lockdown, with all nonessential business i closed. they faced criticism for failing to impose quarantine similar to those of its european neighbors. authorities have also announced plans to convert a london convention center into a hospital with 4000 beds dedicated to coronavirus patients. amid the lockdown, some parts of the capital have come to a standstill, but some residents are still adjusting to the new rules to stay at home.

i it is a real l show of solidarity in the united kingdom , like inany places across the world. we move on to japan, where tokyo's govovernor hahas asked warningo stay at home, residents of japan's capital that they needed to prevent an explosion of coronavirus cases. shoppers raced to stock up p on food a and other essential good, with fears of an official lockdown looming over the capital. for the second day in a row, tokyo has seen a sharp rise in tokyo 19 cases, -- covid-19 cases, which now are over 2050 people. empty store shelves have now become the norm for many countries across the world, even though officials have appealed not to buy more than you need. in fact come authorities in the u.k., united states, trillion, and hong kong have warned against buying more supplies than is actually needed and have

sought to reissue to people that there are adequate goods going around. tokyo has some 212 confirmed cases, for a total of 1200 in the c country. families of f the victims of t e christchchurch mosque shootings have been left in shock after the suspected shooter changed his plea to guilty over the killings. nownds andd parents -- he murder and ants of terrorism charge for the shootings in new zealand, that sent shock waves around the world. the shooter had always pleaded his innocence but has reversed decision. sentencing is due to take place later this year. s" richelle harrison plesse gave us these updates. through: it was rushed

just hours before new zealand begins an unprecedented four-w-week nationwide lockdown due to this covid-19 pandemic. very few people knew of today's ararranged h hearing, due to see health restrictions, only 17 people were present in the courtroom, the judge and a skeletonon staff. a hahandful of journalists and e mosquesom both of the that were attacked last year, but the judge says sentencing will only take place when it is possible foror the victims to oppose, when it is possible for them to do so, once the court returns to n normal operations. but due to the c current situation, what with the coronavirus crisisis, we just dodon't know when that will be. simon: richelle harrison plesse reporting from sydneyy there. that is the end of our bulletin. we will be back in 15 minutes, but for now, from everyone here at "france 24," please stay

safe, tatake care. bye-bye. ♪ >> for a moment, we watched the , whipping their wings violently as they battled desperately for their lives but failed. he beat it off with susuch haste and violence. then he hearard the sound of the followed byntents, splashes of sound, and it seemed that the woman listened, too, and in listening, he felt an indescribable bond with her, as

they had both become witnesses to some crime. they stood there until he heard the woman's gasps, then he lookeded at her, then back at te water hidden from his eyes by the darkness, and then back at her again. >> thank you so much. that was a nigerian writer reading from his stunning second novel, "an orchestra of minorities." it has become an historical treasure and destined to become a classic. it is original as it combines flow clore from nigeria, a greek tragedy, and the context of modern nigeria. thank you so much for joining us. >> thank you, it is a pleasure to be here. >> congratulations on this story. : thank you. 2020, it is the year you mark 60 years of independenence from the british. you call this work a book --

this book a work of cultural preservation. you were born to a very large family, and you have 12 childrenen. noww youou spend time in thehe d states, where you teach english and creaeative writing. did you always want to be a writer and bring nigerian culture,e, and in particular, precolonial culture to the world? chigozie: yes. i became a writer, i would say, from a very young age, so i started to listening stories of my parents, and i thought words and the ability to create these alternate universes was one of the most m miraculous things any humans being could do, and i wanted to be a person who would observe the society and reaeali, you know, what i see e on the page. >> and this book has been an immense success, translated into 16 languages so far. this?u surprised by

chigozie: well, it is a surprise always when anybody reads your work, but especially the story, theuse it is a story about cosmology, which is no longer even respected in nigeria, so what colonialism did is that it rendered almost everything that was afafrican inferior in some y to the western culture, so we have forgotten some of these histories, you know, the idea of the chief, and so has every individual. so i wanted to, like, not only tell the story, but i wanted to have a monument, to which people can go back and look at this rich, vast, you know, cultures that are buried, you know, on the surface. >> just explained to people at home, the chi is like the

guardian spirit, the main character, and the story is told from his point of view. chigozie: yes, chi is the guardian spirit, like even in my name, chigozie obioma, it is in this spirit that is there before you are born. it comes from, it goes back to the domain of thehe ancestors ad returns to the individual within the same familily structure. so i wanted in this spirit to tell the story, because it has been coming and going for some 700 yearars, so it has been through several eras. so i can tell this story of this particular character but also be a chronicler of history, because it has witnessed, for instance, the period of slavery, during firstafra war or even the part of the 17th century, so it is a chronicle of history as well as a storyteller. >> wishes quite a big challenge.

you wrote it with seven centuries of knowledge. nigeria initics of the book are instrumental in the rise and fall of the main character. all he has, the chicken farmers, the university education, to impress his lover's family, who comes from a higher social class. how w do you seeee life for ninigerians inin 2020? chigozie: [laughs] so i think it is a projection that nigeria will become the poorest country, the country with the poorest population in 2020. and is a very fatal disturbing trend, because nigeria is one of the richest countries. is an, we say this, it most stereotypical and cliched now, but it is true that we have a lot of money. so the country i hope, you know, we are listening to so many people who are calling for a restructuring, because right

now, there is a lot of poverty, even though we have a lot of financial resources. >> so what are some of your goals as a writer? to call: well, i want attention, as you mentioned, to the disparity in class and, you , you the way in which know, powerful press the power. the powerful oppress the minorities. to need money to meet the status of this woman he is in love with is what destroys him, because her family, not herself, refuses to accept him even when she tries to, you know, explained to them. so i called nigeria a5 them of the vulnerable, because the rich domthe world -- a fivef of the vulnerable, because the rich and the world will not let

them rise, so it is called an prey ofrranty, or the the birds or the small animal. tempts to dissuade a stranger from jumping over a bridge and ending her life. the book is based on your own experience, growing up in nigeria. tell us more about your inspiration. so this part of the story was i encounter this guy in cyprus. i had been there for two years. -- tonntry on bun band the u.n. ban. there are people who are here, people with cameras, who are agents, and they say look, this is the u.k. or america or some advanced country, only to, and discover they had been swindled. so this guy came, discovered he has lost everything, and becomes

very depressed, so he becomes very drunk, and he fell down from the top of a four-story building and died. in the aftermath of that event, i started to think about the journey, because he mentioned that the main motivation for him coming to cyprus was because he was in love with this woman, so i wanted to re-create that journey, you know, what was the dynamic between them that would have made him, you know, make that leap, to try to get rich again come back and marry her? >> the book also talks a lot about loneliness. the main character is very lonely. protagonistshe despair is the disease of the despair isagonist, the disease of the soul, i want to say love is the cure, certainly, but in n the end, it does not seem that is the case, is it? chigozie: yeah, i think that cure, and the love

between them is real, but society destroys it, because of pressure from the family, also of society. her parents think he is not suitable for her, so he has to go to cyprus, but for a long time, i like to say the reality of love sustains him, but a also the mythology of love, the myth that she will be waiting for him, you know, whenever he has gone away, like just died in cyprus, and then when he returns to discover that things have changed, you know, so the mythology of she being his penelope, you know, is what destroys him. >> it is very different from your award-winning novel from 2015, "the fisherman," which explores womanhood in nigeria. into 27een translated language is, it has been adapted

into a play. some of the commentators of this book said that this book was a metaphor for nigeria itself, because in addition, the four brothers of great promise undermined by a prophecy. was that the metaphor? chigozie: yes, it was, it was a metaphor for nigeria, again, a four for how we -- so we follow, wase is a competition that in 1999, the trust of nigigia'ss structcture is from colonial times, so what the british left for, and it does not work, so a peoplpleople, so many have been calling, intellectuals, why don't we restructure these? why should we continue with what we have? so "the fishermen" tells the story of these four brothers, whose their lives are changed when they meet a prophet, who

says this is how your life will be, and i destroys them, so that is what my view of nigerians was. ourk, we always end with guest's cultural pick of the moment, and you chose a project that brings together a profound sound in icon collection in nigeria between 1909 and 1915, at the height of colonialism. these have not been seen for something like 100 years. what do these archives and collections meaean to different communitieies tod? chigozie: so they have really shown how, you know, number one, the history. so i can see how people were living in the late 19th century and all that. but also, the faces and the voices, you hear the voices of these, you know, long dead people. i think it is very rich historical material, but also, it also brings the fall, you know, the way in which the

colonialists saw the africans. there was a lot of dehumanizing. so i think this is a major archive. will be exhibited again in october, but between october and november in london, and i am hoping to bring it to nigeria. >> it has been a pleasure. thank you. chigozie: thank you very much. >> thank you so much. these e feature in the award-winning film "faces and voices," and i will leave it with that. and "an orchestra of minorities" has just been translated into france. there's more news coming up on "france 24" after this. ♪ >> smiling. optimistic person. hurtful. suspicious. carious. -- curious.

- hey, i'm darius rucker. coming up onreel south. - ♪ jump up outcha chair, holla ba ♪ - [darius] in bessememere, alabama, it's the blueses that put this small town on the map. [harmonica] but whenen this icononic juke joint faces troubled waters is music enough to bridge the divide? - you cannnnot decide e that we're going to obesomeme laws and d not other laws. - - this iyour house, hishous , and everybody come here. - [darius] the blues play on at "gip's place" on reel south. - [female narrator] support for this program is provided by south arts, sponsors of the southern circucuit tour of independent filmmakers, with funding from the national endowment t for the arts.