Plastic as Scientists Turn to biological materials to make things like headphones. Im called aspen thanks for joining us u. S. President donald trump has now declared a National Emergency in the United States over the spread of the corona virus that will release billions of dollars in disaster funding and give special powers to federal Health Authorities but during his address at the white house the president denied any responsibility for delays in making Testing Available even has even as his administration has come under fire for being too slow to respond. President trump has come under considerable scrutiny in recent weeks for not moving quick enough to tackle the virus spread on friday he tried to reassure concerned americans and somewhat uncharacteristically called for prudence americans are the strongest and most resilient people on earth and in the coming weeks we will all have to make changes and sacrifices but the short term sacrifices will produce long term gain. Then again ive said were learning a lot for the future and future problems like this or worse or worse could get worse did buy this truck but added to the next 8 weeks would be critical. Among other things declaring a National Emergency unlock some 50000000000 dollars for federal relief aid it also relaxes regulations surrounding health care making it much easier for many ordinary americans to get help. With more than 1700. 00 reported cases of covered 19 in the u. S. Resulting in a least 50 deaths pretty much all americans are now taking notice at the socalled at the center of the u. S. Outbreak the new york suburb of new rochelle locals say its taking its toll on daily life. The last friday. This is the last straw with. Its very bizarre its been so very kind of here and we thought thats what they did to the supermarket and he felt like really everyone was kind of. Shopping for the end of days no one else would have. Been here feeling. At a time when authorities are rushing to take action life on the streets of every day america could soon become very slow indeed. Heres a look now at the latest coronavirus developments around the world italy the hardest hit country in europe recorded its highest one day toll with 250 deaths over the past 24 hours Dutch Airline cayle am plans to cut up to 2000 jobs amid the global outbreak spains cabinet will declare a 2 week state of emergency today and some good news south korea has for the 2nd day in a row now reported more recoveries from coronavirus than it has do infections. Authorities here in germany have announced a series of measures to slow the spread of the corona Virus Outbreak including the closure of schools more than 3600. 00 people have been infected in germany so far and 8 have died chancellor Angela Merkel has called on people to avoid social contact to prevent the elderly and those with preexisting Health Conditions from contracting the virus meanwhile the number of people stockpiling is on the rise that means people are buying up food and supplies like disinfectant and toilet paper. Well joining me now in studio is a lima were talking sports with a look at how the pandemic is continuing to affect the sports world lets start here in germany because the buddhist leader germanys top Football League finally suspending matches until april 2nd but really there was a feeling right that this was a decision i took a bit too long why did this take so long to write it i think the German League for the longest time was under the impression that as long as no players effect it no coaches affected whats the harm in playing that as long as none of them have tested positive for the rawest we can continue playing and they were even playing matches with people in the stands all right what they call these guys for your footage of that thats a match where you have the match continue as normal but you just dont have any fans in the stadium and that often causes a very eerie atmosphere and spooky you know it was just even watching it on t. V. It was just it didnt feel like a match at all and then yesterday we had some very interesting developments because right before fridays match had a once coach sort of challenge symptoms of the cronulla virus and thats i think when the when you see i began to panic and they decided to call of god match at the end he did not test positive but it was still the right to decision but we can also understand why these leaks are so reluctant to these cancellations its because what makes football unique in that respect is that in order to plan for the next season you have to know the outcomes of this. Season because you need to know which team is going to get relegated who is going to get promoted you need to know which team makes it for the european places right at the unseat the europa places so it is a real struggle right now for football how are players fans reacting to this suspension of the season that actually is like the one positive in all of this is that the fans and most of the pay is really get it and on social media as well the reaction people are saying that health is the number one priority the well being of others its about containing this virus and that football and sports you know theres life after as well that it can always you know that its not priority number one and that can be put on the back burner thats very very refreshing now you wave has called an emergency meeting that will happen on tuesday they may end up changing your oh 2022 year old 2021 pushing him back again or its going to conflict it wont even be it wont be easy at all even if they do push it back to 2021 which just sound like a very viable option at the moment because people also need to understand that kickoff of the tournament was supposed to start in rome italy in june and thats of course a very high risk area but the biggest hurdle i think for all of football right now is how do you deal with the backlog of all the other competition so you still have the Champions League you have the euro polygraphed the domestic competition so i think by pushing it back it does sound kind of like a logical solution because at least then you can youre able to put compete all the other competitions but of course is still cause a lot of problems for 2021 even if it happens they have a nice settlements situation in the world of sports so we know talk is going on top of that for us thanks very much. Was the number of infections in europe grows the corona virus appears to be retreating in china thats where it emerged late last year the government says its strict warrant scene has been a success one thats already being touted in state propaganda. Triumphal scenes in china this week infection rates are decreasing on friday the country proudly announced on the 8 new cases. Who hand city reported 5 new cases before the eyes of the nation the city close the last temporary hospital to china wants to signal to the rest of the world that it has the virus under control after more than 3000 people died from it. Theyre very happy that patients finally recovered. Young gong from to han has been cornered in this apartment for 50 days in the beginning he and his family were very scared his neighborhood is still a ghost town no one is allowed to leave the house but the fear is gone. You know you cannot rewrite that some provinces are open again people can step out we hope that the intestine rate in our city rouhani is going to be 0 soon then we can finally go outside. The Chinese Government staging dance events to lighten the mood beijing is practicing normality crowds are going back to the vegetable markets in the capital after months filled with fear people are stepping out of their apartments again. So didnt he just yet although its much better before there are almost no people now theyre coming back out. A month ago the streets of beijing where nearly deserted now theyre busy again giving off the impression of normality. Never there its a bit better but not as good as before the epidemic may go these. Workers from all over the country are taking special trains to get back to the factories chinas freeing itself from its self imposed restrictions its a risky decision for the leadership in beijing workers could still carry the virus with them the shoot 1st will get Key Industries back on track in an orderly manner. In rouhani and in the rest of the country people are celebrating the containment they want to believe and the triumph are theres a check now of some of the other stories making headlines around the world a barrage of rockets has hit a base housing u. S. And other Coalition Troops north of baghdad officials said at least 2 iraqi soldiers were wounded there is no word on responsibility so far camp taji was already the target of an attack days ago that killed 3 military personnel including 2 americans. Antigovernment protesters have clashed with Security Forces and she lays capital Santiago Police responded to stone throwers with Water Cannons since october chile has been rocked by protests that started over a hike in public transport fares and broadened to include calls for better Pensions Health care and education. Thousands of demonstrators have taken to the streets of algerias capital held years to march against the countrys ruling elite despite the coronavirus threat the campaign of weekly mass protests as lasted more than a year now and led to the resignation of long serving president of the elysees group of last year. Bill gates has stepped down from microsofts board of directors to focus on philanthropy gates cofounded microsoft in 1975 he was its c. E. O. Until the year 2000 the billionaire plans to spend more time on his foundation tackling issues like Global Health and education. Climate activists have been taking aim at plastic its made from fossil fuels and its a major source of pollution in the seas but its also extremely versatile and can be shaped and molded into any number of products so what can replace it will scientists in finland think they may have an answer and it could be music to environmentalists ears. The term bio based economy has been a catchphrase for decades now but products have remained few and far between especially in the area of electronics at the v t t Technical Research center in finland the scientists decided to demonstrate how far the field has come with the sort of biotech headphones unlike plastic the materials and them were sourced not from fossil resources but from living organisms. Using our by reactors we can produce lots of different molecules polymers. That form care because we can make for example synthetic spider silk or by a plastic precursors or even by a polymers. The headphones prototype is made from 6 different biotech materials they include a bio plastic produced by yeast a leather substitute made from a fungus and a bio synthetic sound transmission element derived from that synthetic spider silk the researchers designed the headphones to try to raise awareness for greener production processes. We thought it was a great opportunity to combine differ materials in no one had done it before actually to bring on the seafront microbes to into the development of Electronic Devices of course the electrical components inside the bio based headphones still have to be made of conventional materials but as we work on ways to leave oil in the ground replacing most of the plastic in products like this with bio engineered alternatives is at least a small step towards a more sustainable future. Youre watching the news live from berlin stay tuned for a history of Human Trafficking that is up next in doc film but we leave you now with some heartwarming moments from italy people there are confined to their homes because of the coronavirus lockdown but entire neighborhoods are raising their voices to fill the empty streets with music take a listen. You. Know i. Believe. I. Was. I. Were all set to go beyond. That. Were all about the stories that matter to. Country. Whatever it takes. Running now