French President Emmanuel Macron said he was looking into more financial aid for the country's arts and culture sectors that have been hit hard by the coronavirus pandemic. 

With 6,000 cinemas closed, 200 film shoots stopped in March, more than €150 million already lost and more than half of the population signed up to a streaming service, film critic Lisa Nesselson speaks to Eve Jackson about the effect of the coronavirus on the French film industry. They also talk about the revival of the drive-in in these social distancing times and the release of Terrence Mallick's "A Hidden Life" on VOD.

Will the arts ever be the same again? The magic of digital technology has kept us connected to movies, music and TV shows during confinement, while distribution giants like Amazon have kept up supplies of books and CDs. But scrapped are the big summer music and theatre festivals. Can artists, producers and distributors hold out? Will Covid-19 finish off already struggling neighbourhood movie theatres? François Picard's panel reacts to the French president's promise of support for the industry and reflects on how confinement alters creativity.

This week we took a look at Iran's handling of the Covid-19 pandemic, the troubles that lie ahead for prisoners on early release due to the coronavirus and China's "mask diplomacy". We also investigate how Covid-19 is affecting the French cinema industry and the role of US forces in the Sahel region's war on terror. 

Fashion has always known how to adapt to the world around it - and that's never been truer than right now. Face masks, once worn as fashion statements, have become indispensable amid the coronavirus pandemic. Big luxury groups and smaller outfits alike have repurposed their production lines to produce vital protective equipment. Covid-19 is forcing the world of fashion to take a long, hard look in the mirror. Who better to discuss these unprecedented times than Parisian designer Jean-Charles de Castelbajac? He joins us on the show under lockdown.

Some of the busiest traffic arteries in Paris will be reserved for cyclists in a bid to limit crowds on public transport when France begins lifting its coronavirus lockdown next week, the city's mayor said.

Poland's governing parties said on Wednesday they had agreed to postpone the country's May 10 presidential election after a failed attempt to hold it via a postal vote due to the coronavirus pandemic.

Two weeks of coronavirus shutdown were enough to hit Air France-KLM with an 815 million-euro ($880 million) first-quarter operating loss, the airline group said on Thursday - predicting demand could take "several years" to recover.

How to lip read when everyone’s face is hidden behind a mask? That is the challenge facing deaf people across the world as the Covid-19 pandemic makes face masks a part of daily life. The answer could be transparent face masks but such masks are in short supply, leading some to make their own.

Ukraine locked down early and has a far lower rate of coronavirus infections than some countries in Western Europe, plus fewer than 400 deaths so far. Yet 20 percent of cases are among medical personnel – one of the worst rates in the world. By the health ministry's own admission, that's due to a severe shortage of protective equipment. The ministry says it's doing its best to correct the situation and buy the necessary protective suits and masks. Yet it has been reluctant to co-operate with the country's independent medical procurement agency, set up to prevent corruption in state purchases.

Nigeria's main cities of Lagos and Abuja see an easing of coronavirus lockdown restrictions, but many businesses are still shut and social distancing measures remain in place. Our correspondent tells us more. Meanwhile, South Africa also sees some businesses reopen after five weeks of lockdown. Plus, charities and organisations in Morocco come together to support those in need during Ramadan. In a country where the informal economy accounts for more than 20 percent of GDP, the lockdown has been tough for many people, as our correspondents report.

Africa’s biggest city, Lagos, returned to work on Monday at the end of a five-week coronavirus lockdown.

Last month, the president of Madagascar and the country’s Institute for Applied Research launched Covid-Organics (CVO), a drink derived from the artemisia plant they claim can treat and prevent Covid-19. Now other countries in the region are beginning to import the herbal remedy, despite a lack of scientific research to back up its billing as a miracle cure for the coronavirus.  

Uganda moved quickly to bring in one of the toughest coronavirus lockdowns in the region. That's now been extended for another two weeks even as some restrictions are lifted, allowing a number of businesses to reopen. Also, moves to bring in criminal penalties for female genital mutilation in Sudan are welcomed by activists, who hope that changes brought in since the fall of Omar al-Bashir last year will mean a huge step forward for women's rights. Finally, journalists in Cameroon worry their newspapers will not survive lockdown restrictions.

In an exclusive interview with FRANCE 24 and RFI, the president of the Republic of Congo, Denis Sassou-Nguesso, discussed the Covid-19 pandemic in his country, as well as a controversial treatment developed in Madagascar that the Republic of Congo plans to use. He also talked about the economic consequences of the health crisis and asked for up to "$500 million" in aid from the IMF. Finally, he ruled out the release of two jailed political opponents, Jean-Marie Michel Mokoko and André Okombi Salissa, on health and humanitarian grounds.

Advice about how to treat handling your mental health differently than you would during a normal crisis

The mayor of Manaus, the biggest city in the Amazon rainforest region, asked world leaders Tuesday for help fighting the novel coronavirus, which has brought his city's health system to the brink of collapse.

Protests and riots have hit prisons across South America in recent weeks over fears of the spread of Covid-19 within their walls. Now, the UN is warning that overcrowding, unsanitary conditions and lack of access to health care is causing the “rapid spread” of the virus in detention facilities throughout Latin America.

Chancellor Angela Merkel announced steps on Wednesday to ease the coronavirus lockdown in Germany but at the same time launched an "emergency brake" mechanism allowing for renewed restrictions in case infections pick up again.

Before coronavirus struck New York, one of the world's premier seafood restaurants Le Bernardin was offering tasting menus including striped bass truffle tartare and grilled lobster mi-cuit.  

Chinese and US trade representatives agreed Friday to "create favourable conditions" for the phase one trade deal signed in January, Beijing officials said, despite recent tensions over the coronavirus pandemic.

In an interview with FRANCE 24, Taiwan's Vice President Chen Chien-jen, an epidemiologist by training, discussed his country's handling of the Covid-19 pandemic, while criticising the response of China and the World Health Organization. Chen refused to rule out the "possibility" that the coronavirus originated in a Chinese laboratory in Wuhan. He also expressed concern about a second wave of the virus appearing in autumn or winter.

The UN's World Food Programme (WFP) is warning of potential famines of "biblical proportions" as the Covid-19 pandemic affects countries in an already dire situation. In an interview with FRANCE 24, the United Nation's WFP Executive Director David Beasley said he was especially worried about a breakdown in the supply chain that allows his agency to provide food to dozens of millions of people around the globe.

Despite being one of Greece's best-known folk singers, Natassa Bofiliou is among thousands of artists worried about the economic impact of coronavirus lockdowns that have only just begun to be eased.

Since the start of the Covid-19 pandemic, about 30 different quotes attributed to public figures including French infectious disease expert Didier Raoult, French president Emmanuel Macron and Madagascar president Andry Rajoelina have been making the rounds on Congolese Facebook pages. But it turns out all of them were made up. The FRANCE 24 Observers team tracked down the source of these widely circulated fake quotes and discovered a 20-year-old keen to generate “a buzz”.

Russia marks 75 years since the Soviet victory over Nazi Germany in World War Two on Saturday, but the coronavirus outbreak has forced it to scale back celebrations seen as boosting support for the Kremlin.

Brazil, the country in Latin America that has been hardest hit by the coronavirus crisis, said Friday it had reached a new daily record for COVID-19 fatalities with 751 deaths.

In a mid-April report, the NGO Human Rights Watch cited UN statistics that the main prisons in the Democratic Republic of Congo are at 432 percent capacity, with Makala Prison in the country’s capital of Kinshasa at 461 percent. While media access to prisons in Kinshasa is denied, FRANCE 24 obtained amateur footage from Makala inmates and spoke with an NGO and a Congolese official about the potential for a major Covid-19 health crisis.

While residents of Benin haven’t been ordered to stay home like their neighbours in Nigeria, the Covid-19 pandemic has forced them to slow down nevertheless, putting many at risk of food insecurity.

Madonna said Thursday she has recovered from the Covid-19 disease, which forced her to pull out of a string of concerts in Paris in February and March.

Economic activity in France picked up slightly over the last two weeks as the country prepares to emerge from a coronavirus lockdown, but it remains a third below normal levels, the INSEE official statistics agency said on Thursday.

For many farmers, the Covid-19 pandemic has been brutal with large orders cancelled and revenue plunging. But some small-scale farmers have noticed a rise in direct sales. FRANCE 24's Catherine Norris-Trent reports.

French Prime Minister Édouard Philippe on Thursday detailed his government’s plan for easing Covid-19 confinement measures on May 11, warning that the exit from lockdown would be gradual and targeted to stem a resurgence of the viral outbreak. 

France on Thursday recorded 178 Covid-19 deaths in 24 hours, a 0.7 percent rise from the previous day in the lowest rate of increase in four days, taking the total number of deaths to 25,987. 

France on Friday marked the 75th anniversary of Victory in Europe (VE) day with President Emmanuel Macron attending a scaled-down ceremony on Paris’s Champs-Élysées. Click on the player to see how the commemorations unfolded.

France’s lockdown measures are among the strictest in Europe as the country bids to stamp out the Covid-19 pandemic. Paris is usually known for its night wanderers but the last few weeks has seen its lively and vibrant atmosphere replaced by calm and silence. However, not all Parisians are respecting lockdown measures and FRANCE 24 went out to meet them. Some are simply wandering the streets. Others are out and about because the streets are what they call home.

As France prepares to gradually end its Covid-19 lockdown on May 11, workers are busy installing dozens of kilometres of temporary bike lanes across Paris and surrounding suburbs, part of plans to prepare for – and encourage – an expected boom in cycling in the capital.

The number of people who have died from coronavirus infection in France rose 243 to 26,230 on Friday, a higher daily death toll than the previous day when it stood at 178.

An investigation by French daily Le Monde has uncovered the extraordinary chain of events that led successive French governments to build an ambitious pandemic response strategy and then dismantle it almost entirely, leaving the country dangerously exposed to the Covid-19 disease.

In this edition of Middle East Matters, we continue our rolling coverage of the Covid-19 pandemic across the region. Jordan is flattening its coronavirus curve after a series of strict measures, including travel bans. We speak to Health Minister Saad Jaber, himself a doctor, about how he's managed the crisis. Also, deadly clashes erupt after hundreds take to the streets in northern Lebanon amid a crash in the local currency and a surge in food prices. 

We continue our coverage of the Covid-19 pandemic in the Middle East. Iran is one of the worst-hit countries in the region – authorities there have reported more than 6,000 deaths. But observers and health experts say the numbers are in reality much higher. After weighing up economic risks against health ones, the country's leadership decided to reopen businesses in late April, followed by schools and mosques. We speak to a doctor from Tehran, who has been on the frontlines of the battle against Covid-19. He has asked for his identity to be concealed.

A third of people in the Afghan capital Kabul have tested positive for Covid-19, according to a recent study. FRANCE 24 spoke to Afghan doctors on the Covid-19 frontline as civil war continues to ravage the country.

A choice between lives and livelihoods? Iranian authorities have gradually been easing confinement since April 11, this in a nation hit early and hard by Covid-19. Did they have to reopen mosques? Could they afford to keep the sanctions-squeezed country in lockdown and risk a complete collapse of the economy or does opening it up make it worse? Already there are signs of a resurgence of coronavirus. The show features Sanam Shantyaei's exclusive interview with a frontline medic in Tehran while Esfandyar Batmanghelidj and Behnam Ben Taleblu disagree on whether the US should ease sanctions.

After 76 days under lockdown, China's Wuhan city is gradually returning to a new normal. But while Covid-19 infection rates have fallen, social distancing measures are still in place and the economic repercussions for the industrial hub are also becoming clear.

South Korea returned largely to normal Wednesday as workers went back to offices, and museums and libraries reopened under eased social distancing rules after new coronavirus cases dropped to a trickle.

India will within days roll out a version of its coronavirus contact-tracing application that can run on mobile carrier Reliance Jio's cheap phones, as it looks to increase the reach of the system, a senior government official said on Thursday.

Медицинские ресурсы заражённым коронавирусом будет распределять искусственный интеллект, который вместе создадут Амазон, Майкрософт и Палантир. Данные для обучения нейросети будет предоставлять британская национальная служба здравоохранения. ИИ на основе анализа этих данных и сопоставления с прочей информацией по теме будет распределять по больницам ИВЛ и медицинский персонал.

My upcoming eSports competition show, Gamemaster, has been delayed like everything else, but the people involved wanted to use the resources they had already mustered for production to do some […]

Pukeko Pictures, founded by Weta Workshop’s Richard Taylor and Tania Rodger with their friend and children’s author Martin Baynton, has released a free children’s ebook. The book is based on characters from the New Zealand kids’ show Kiddets and demonstrates to children the importance of remaining clean, clear, and kind. You can download a copy […]

British medical journal’s editorial says the Brazilian president’s disregard for lockdown measures is damaging

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The biggest threat to Brazil’s ability to successfully combat the spread of the coronavirus and tackle the unfolding public health crisis is the country’s president, Jair Bolsonaro, according to the British medical journal The Lancet.

In an editorial, The Lancet said his disregard for and flouting of lockdown measures was sowing confusion across Brazil, which reported a record number of Covid-19 deaths on Friday, and is fast emerging as one of the world’s coronavirus hot spots.