♪ >> the french president -- pegasus spyware used by morocco secret services. the french government is also a potential victim. belgians king and queen meet the people affected by the death -- that swept through communiti along the river. 30 dead. 70 still missing. the world's richest man took a trip tthe edge of space this weekend. just basis that it was the best day ever when he touchdown back on the ground in texas after --

jeff bezos said it was the best day ever after he touchdown back in texas. thank you for joining us. emmanuel macron's phone was targeted by pegasus spyware. the intelligence service of morocco is behind the hack. since the misuse of the pegasus software -- the list of victims, other gernment victims in france were also potential victims of the spyware that can take over phone, access files, document, photos, calls and copy passwords. >> the latest victims revealed in this far reaching spy scandal. the top of the french government. according to the investigation of forbidden stories into the use of pegasus spyware. a phone belonging to president emmanual macron has been

targeted by the moroccan secret service since 2017. the former prime minister édoua philippe was also mked for surveillance, along with 14 other ministers. it's easily install. almost impossible to detect, and harder to get rid of. what isore it gives the tacker access to the victims phone allowing them to take complete control. >> it's pretty much turning your phone into something that is spying on you all the time in your pocket, which is pretty invasive and extreme the dangerous. >> once they're in, the attacker can read messages, and photos and videos, access contacts and calendar data and track a location using gps. pegasus can use a microphone and camera and record keystrokes, meaning that anything being typed, a password, for instance, can be known to the hacker. the phone will not shown any sign -- show any sign of being

infected. the elysee says it is taking the allegations seriously and plans to investigate further. >> 18,000 new cases of covid-19 in france over the past 24 hours. the health minister talking of the 150% increase in cases said the situation now is unprecedented. >> [speaking french] >> the french health minister there. pedro castillo has been declared president-elect in peru.

he was a teacher and never held office before. officials declared him the winner of a runoff election held on june 6th. castillo came to support the poor and rural citizens. colombia will deploy thousands of police and soldiers in anticipation of demonstrations planned for two-state, -- for tuesday. 3000 thousand soldiers are being put on the streets ahead of these demonstrations, set to resume an antigovernment campaign that has been met with deadly force. 44 people have been killed. most of them shot by police. the defense minister warned the government would not tolerate what has been described as vandalism and road blocks. 6000 police on the streets according to bogotá city council. nearly 3000 soldiers to be

deployed. in the capital. belgium's king and queen paid a visit to the flood stricken town -- to lead the nation in a minute of silence to remember those who lost their lives in floods. flags lowered to half mast, followed by minute of silence. the kind a-- the king and queen consoled those in the wake of the floods that claimed 31 lives with 70 people missing. >> in this camp site located on the banks of a tributary of the river the water has not completely receded. seeming lost in this desolate landscape, monique and amalie are still seeing the extent of the damage. >> [speaking french] >> here, several bodies were found lifeless. the floods a few chances for the

habitants of these fragile constructions. >> [speaking french] >> a little further in a district of a city, an entire café literally fell into the river. >> [speaking french] >> her and her daughter try to save a few things and to forget water rose toward the floor,e where they had taken shelter. >> dans la chambre. [speaking french] >> when the water started to rise we rushed into his

instrument shop to save his old collectibles. >> [speaking french] > no more books and games. schoolchildren will not find them at the start of the school year. these and habitants must now give up their memories. >> the situation there in belgium, the visit by the king and queen to the community stricken by floods. next, wildfires in severe forced the closure of the airport. around 50 more towns - - russia's plagued by widespread wildfires. emergency officials said 187 fires are raising in the region. it is the driest and hottest june ever and the on neglect by people of fire safety rules. the world's richest man jeff

bezos took flight to the edge of space this tuesday. the flight lasted 10 minutes. the c first blue origin spaceflight, the name of his space charter company. bezos was delighted when the capsule touchdown again in texas. 66 miles above the ground. it came nine days after service of branch and -- sir richard branson was aboard his virgin galactic spaceflight successfully. >> on a sub orbital journey to space, jeff bezos in his own spacecraft nine days after billionaire richard branson successful flight. in september, another billionaire, elon musk, will be on an orbital mission on his dragon capsule. the world's richest men battling it out to secure a share of the market for space tourism. >> this is a tourism mission, and it is very important because

it lets us practice and it will let people get up into space and that practice will allow us to build the infrastructure to let the next generations of people do amazing things in space. >> according to a study the market for space tourism is expected to grow to $2.5 billion in the next decade. while ticket prices are set to decrease and spaceflights become more, the luxury remains limited to a few. rides space on virgin galactic are going for $250,000. the company is set to begin commercial operations next year. elon musk's space-x has placed 900 satellites in orbit so far this year. and hop to send humans to mars within the next five years. blue origin has two spaceflight schedule before the end of this year. it h asn't started selling any seats or released details on what its prices will be. in the past, its founder jeff bezos has said he wanted to create a future where millions

of people can live on colonies in space due to a lack of resources on earth. >> see if you can feet -- you can keep your feet truly on the ground. stay with us. more news to come. ♪ ♪ >> glossy, gaudy and lurid, these are the sculptures that have made jeff -- the 21st century face of pop art. in financial terms he is the king of the contemporary market. although when it comes to critical appraisals with his work, opinions are divided. this bouquet of flowers installation was snubbed by many parisians who said it was to pay

tribute to the victim of terror attacks was unwelcome and he has been accused of plagiarism. his latest show features peaches -- pieces acquired -- and is on display at the museum in marseille. >> thank you for joining us today. we're used to seeing your artwork in galleries, as standalone pieces. this is an anthropological muum. there is a dialogue with other objects. can you tell us more about the concept? >> it's a fascinating show. and it's just as you mentioned. the artworks rae -- are in dialogue with pieces from the museum of civilization, different ready-made items throughout history, everyday objects --glassware, some ceramic pieces, cow bells, a variety of different objec. and my work comes from a history

of ready-made objects. i following the steps of marcel duchamp. >> these are very ordinary day-to-day objects but also some references. for example, your gazing wall makes a direct reference to the spanish artist. can you tell us more abt how the artt affected -- is effective literally and figuratively in that piece of work. >> i grew up in york, pennsylvania in the central part, i was affected by the glass gazing ball. and people would put them in their yard as a lawn ornament. in the gazing ball series i put these ready-made objects, a cobalt blue globe, on a shelf and i created the image of a picasso painting, one of the late paintings of his. it's interesting in the show because it almost looks like the

gazing ball itself is a ready-made -- for the museum. it is that type of feeling. >> other pieces are associated uniquely with yourself. the balloon dog, the magenta version. that is probably the piece of work that people most associate with you today. how do you feel about that sculpture becoming a sort of visual shorthand for you? >> it is one of many. i am very proud of this. if you look closely, i think you can see here, there's an aspect of a body of biology. the balloon dog, could be made out of intestines. you take and twist and blow air into it and make a sculpture like that. it has a sense of the virtual. i could imagine that kind of some type of tribal or communal type of celebration, ritual takes place around it. i love the philosopher john

dewey. john dewey is an american philosophy that says that life experience is really this int erface that takes place between an organism and the outside world. and the effect the organism has on the outside world and vice versa. what effect the outside world has on the organism. and, if you look at the balloon dog, it is a membrane, just like our skin is a membrane from the inside and the outside world. all of this on a subconscious level is in discussion with the viewer. >> these pieces have been selected from the -- pinot collection. he just opened a new space in paris in addition to his space in venice. how do you -- feel that private collectors are shaping a

relationship with 21st century art? >> i think they are very important. they give people the opportunity to be able to interact with the art. somebody like francoiis is deeply involved with his collection and he likes to work and play with the collection. be able to communicate ideas. at least with the way he sees his collection and how the works >> a court in paris ordered you to play damage is to a french advertising group judging that sculpture of yours constituted plagiarism, you'd taken an image, an existing image and made it into a 3d sculpture. this does raise an existential question. there are many artists that barter what - -borrow references from other pieces. picasso was fond of borrowing. why do you think your work is -- >> if you ask different people they can give you different answers. i think probably because of the

success i've had. but i come from the tradition of surrealism and dada and pop art, and the use of imagery of the everyday world, this dialogue with the everyday world is a way of being brought up to look at the world. copyrightt laws are different throughout the world. and, hopefully, the dialogue in some of these issues becomes more united eventually. but all these things continue to change in time. >> a new chapter with the creation of ntf's, work in the virtual space, de-materialized worked to a certain extent. it's sething you hav explored a belief with augmented reality. can you tell us more about why you are interested in that? >> if i look at how i produce the balloon dog, it is through the use of cat scans, using all

different types of technology to be able to have it be as kind of objective as possible, each twist and fold is an authentic as possible. so, i could almost take any part of that process and make a permit. in some ways my work presented in a digital way, but what i'm interested in as an artist is to communicate to people about life experience. if i felt that i could do it more directly, stronger in that media at this moment, i would. but i think especially for young artists, it's important to realize that if you want to create new work, fresh contemporary work, if you just work with the newest technology, that is -- that's not necessarily where you find something that is new. i think actually something truly ew comes from the things -- new

comes from the things that are very ancient, very old, biological information, sense of memory that we all carry within a universal vocabulary of our human experience and bringing that to the forefront, to the surface is what always is what we're most interested in and and has the newest feel. >> when you were last in france you were -- reading details about the bouquet a gift following the terrorist attacks in 2015 to show american solidarity. that sculpture had some controversy. some said they did not want a public installation. how do you negotiate that gap between, for example, an artist's intention and the public reception of the wor >> when i made the bouquet of tulips i was invited by the american ambassador. i wanted to participate in

creating a gift from the american people to the french people in response to the terrible attacks that happened in 2015-2016, to show our solidarity and shared values with the french people. i tried, and i'm very proud of the bouquet of tulips, to show an offering of support and we are there for each other. i used theidea of picasso''s bronze slpture of a woman with a vase. there's a sense of archaic offering. and so, the support or the way the public responded to it, i think i've noticed that i think that it is, the public is being supporteive, and and tensions have been good. i think the people will see that -- the intentions have been good. people can see the solidarity, the references to bartoli's

sculpture and the connection it has between french and american culture. >> looking ahead to fure projects, i believe we do have - we have to wait two years until we see new work from you a the pace gallery in new york. i wonder if this represents a new chapter for you a what we can expect. >> i have been working on a series of work called the porcelain series. and i am excited that in two years i will be able to show this body of work, which i, think, you know , is my life journey within my dialogue with art is the strongest work i can make it this time. so, it gives me an opportunity to create this body of work, i think really plays with metaphysics, that you can see i touch upon in a series like the equilibrium, just working with reflection in a sculpture like a balln dog, but to bring it to

a higher level, complete discourse within the philosophy of the ready-mad and thee dialogue -- >> thank you very much. >> thank you. ♪ >> time now for french connections, are weekly look at the connections in france. today we focus on line which. -- on language. the country has a lot of regional languages. >> there is one official language in france. two of the friends -- french

constitution and the language of the republic shall be french but there are several regional languages as you'll be able to see on the map. we are going to focus on the mainland france languages if you count the one in overseas territories, there are over 75. in mainland france, there are six regional languages that are still commonly used. you have the alsace region. brittany, basque, catalan near the border with spain. corsica and this big region. these regional language are testament to france's rich history and part of the country's colorful cultural heritage. some say it is if france has its own mini europe. >> it's common to translate roadsides between french and corkrsican.

>> there was a recent study that showed that about 200,000 speak corsican. it is not like catalonia and spain where it is the dominant leg which. -- language. locals make a part of learning the regional language and it is part of their identity and a source of regional pride as well. it is a kind of thing that people will speak within their family, especially something that older people will speak. in fact, over the years, there has been a big fear that these regional languages would disappear as france becomes more and more homogenous. so, there has been a real concerted effort to have these regional languages taught in school. >> [speaking foreign-language] >> these languages are alive and

kicking but they cause a national debate. like recently a newly adopted law aimed at protecting regional languages was partially repealed by the french consul. >> aimed at protecting and promoting regional languages across the country. the main thing the constitutional council rejected and you can see it in our expression is something that is called immersive teaching. it would give schools at all these levels the possibility of teaching these regional languages, immersive teaching. immersive teaching is when you teach kids a language by immersing them in as much of the language and the culture as possible, not just language classes. in france, 15,000 students learn their regional languages in immersion. that means they have math in bas que or alsacian.

and they will be encouraged to speak it on the playground as well. the constitutional decision council's decision to repeal this really prompted demonstrations across the country in defense of these regional languages. >> [speaking french] [speaking french] >> what did the constitutional

council find threatening about immersive teaching? >> they say this form of teaching threatens article ii o f the french constitution with french as the official line which of france. they say it threatens the unity of the country. there is something in there about france, there is a fear of something that is called speaking french, where a group of people will cling to separate cultural identities like regional identities before the national identity. so, language is a huge part of this. defenders of this say there is no way that it would, they would replace french, but what is interesting is some linguists actually sounded the alarm over this immersive learning before children have fully mastered french. >> [speaking french]

> the president has weighed in to protect france's regional language. >> he actually posted something on facebook where he said france's languages are a national treasure and he invited the government to find methods of guaranteeing the transmission of these minority languages. certainly still is a hot button issue. it comes at a time when a lot of regions feel undermined by the central power, and it also comes an interesting time politically as divisions start to emerge ahead of the next presidential election. >> thank you very much for that, flo. that is all we have time for in this edition of "french connections." you can tweet your questions to flo or check out our website

france24.com.

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07/20/21 07/20/21 [captioning made possible by democracy now!] amy: from new york, this is democracy now! >> a consortium of news outlets including frontline have been investigating the use of spyware called pegasus any israeli company that sells it to foreign governments. >> anything on the phone including pictures, contacts, listening to calls. amy: the israeli