Melissa chan welcome to news asia thank you for joining us south korean boy band b t as has fans around the world and their stardom scenes unstoppable except it might come to a sudden halt because of south koreas mandatory military service where theyd spend 18 months out of the spotlight training for potential war on the Korean Peninsula fans say they should be exempt while others say they need to do their duty frank smith reports. So korean boy band b. T. S. Reigns supreme over billboard charts as their fans their army fallen over their good looks and slick moves but as they move through their twenties an ominous obligation approaches a minimum one and a half years mandatory military Service Required of every healthy south korean male between 18 and 28. The issue of mandatory military service for entertainers like b. T. S. Is complicated by the fact that high achieving south korean athletes have seen their army obligations reduced after winning a gold medal in the 2800 games soccer stars on whom in was required to do just 3 weeks of Marine Corps Training completed earlier this year although he will also have to perform some extra community service. So the green boy band b. T. S. Reigns supreme over billboard charts as their fans their army fallen over their good looks and slick moves but as they move through their twenties an ominous obligation approaches a minimum one and a half years mandatory military service reality of a little bit yes a stain is doing Public Relations informing other countries about south korea they should be exempted from military service because they promote south korean culture there are many of them and south korea so why are they trying to take e. T. S. Which play such an Important Role for the country. She spent 21 months in the army in warns of a declining population in the ongoing threat of north korea. We can only maintain National Security when we have a Strong Military defense such preferential treatment increases the number of people entering the military will decrease. The military will be shaken and it will be a threat to National Security you know and they dont want to know what im about. So threes National Assembly has tabled a bill that would offer certain artists the opportunity to delay the service for 2 years shane argues a clear policy is needed but a special deal for b. T. S. Would be unfair. No matter how do it but without coming out and they pulled out because bt has worked in Entertainment Company i dont think its right for them to get exemptions while performing. B. T. S. Doesnt generate interest in our country but i think giving preferential treatment to b. T. S. Discriminates against other men in the northern part of the how do we double that would have to go. To the recent survey showed that most south korean support some type of deferral for a k. Pop idols that contribute to south korea is International Reputation a decision has to be made soon because for b. T. S. Time is running out. Joining us is frank smith out of seoul frank tell us more about this mandatory military service in south korea how long has it been in place well they started mandatory military service here conscription back and 957 thats just screen years or 4 years after their korean war ended it was based actually on a 948 law and it starts out with about 5 weeks of basic training or boot camp and recruits can either enter the army the room corps the navy or the air force the terms of service the length of Service Berries a little bit if you enter the d navy or the air force you have to do a month or 2 longer and presumably its in place because of the threat from north korea what are those months of Training Like are some soldiers actually patrolling the border between north and south korea for example. Well military service in south korea is generally considered in 2 different ways its blurry and its also stressful if youre deployed near the d. M. Z. The Demilitarized Zone its the heavily most heavily fortified border in the world there are Something Like 700000 north korean troops just on the other side of that border in terms of the borini end of things former president of south korea no one said serving military service was really kind of a waste of time and since then as preciously liberal administrations here in south korea have tried to find ways of reducing the terms of service and making it a little bit easier for conscripts to serve here at some incredible statement from south korean politicians there how much public support is there from military service then and it sounds like from your report that enough people are comfortable with exemptions for example im thinking of mandatory military service in israel and how trying to get out of it is really not socially acceptable but it seems like in south korea thats different. Raul its not that different if youre trying to get out of it the public is quite strongly against that type of thing what it is interested in at about the 60 percent level is providing exemptions for people that d are you know doing extraordinarily thrones in the name of the country i give the example of the athlete son who men during the report there its also extended to classical musicians and other types of artists but that environs only really a delay and there is also strong support for our turn out of service here in south korea previously Conscientious Objectors were jailed there were once up to 500. 00 Conscientious Objectors behind bars in south korea theyve been released in recent years and now theyre moving to an alternative service which you know is langar than the mandatory 18 months of active military duty here frank very quick question what are the chances that south korea would move to a professional army and away from mandatory military service well i think we really have to look at the relationship between south korea and north korea and north korea still presents a military threat to south korea and there are periodic flare ups in the tension on the Korean Peninsula given that that continues were not going to see you know a career professional army here in south korea until there is really a calming down of tension and knots better relations between north and south korea thanks matthew thank you. For 2 weeks now vietnam has been dealing with heavy rains floods and landslides caused by a series of Tropical Storms and the extreme weather is taking a heavy toll with more than 100 People Killed and at least 30 missing central provinces have been worst hit and theres no sign yet that conditions will ease the floods have compounded the suffering of people already struggling from the coronavirus endemic. An onslaught that simply wont let up vietnam has seen weeks of trench rain as excessive storms churned 3 Southeast Asia the relentless downpours have triggered the countrys worst flooding in years in central provinces the water level just keeps on climbing i mean ive never seen such a terrible flood before im scared and i dont know where to go if it gets worse. People are seeking safety on rooftops the floods of inundated almost 200000 homes destroyed crops and killed livestock devastated communities now face shortages of food and clean water. I havent eaten since yesterday the floodwaters at roof level we have nothing no food no phone nothing. As the situation becomes increasingly desperate mobilizing all resources to prevent further loss of life. Weve sent a dozen emergency teams to the most severely affected communities. One that will carry out the search and rescue mission to the best of our abilities. And that mission is a daunting one dozens of people remain missing and another Tropical Storm is expected to hit vietnam in the coming days. Remember this past spring when so many of us went under lockdown and traffic cleared up which meant the pollution levels fell no place felt that so palpably than delhi but in the indian capital like other places things have quickly returned to their old ways. After months of absence people in indias capital are feeling it again irritated eyes and throats that smells Poor Visibility smog has returned to delhi and also even for people. Active people like me were coming through and the noticing a change of elvis a bit and its getting harder to believe that after months of clearer healthier air because of the coronavirus lockdown with traffic industry and most social life suddenly stopped the environment recovered and people breathed easier. That seems over now one might say it was only a matter of time smog in these parts has several causes theres the exhaust from all those engines and boilers. Farmers burning off stubble on their fields after the harvest. And the winds and rains of the monsoon are gone. The locked down is also a thing of the past india has now clocked over 7000000 coronavirus cases and people are realizing that pollution and the pandemic are forming a vicious circle. We have this double problem of pollution and coronavirus people were already scared of the corona virus and now secondly this pollution so what should we do. Doctors say pollution and covert 19 are a dangerous combination the pollution and really damage really cause inflammation in the lungs and that sort of cause it and wont let them run their cause inflammation. Respited theyre more nuanced and get complicated for those facing the double threat of covert 19 and unhealthy air this may be an especially difficult when sure. Thats it for today theres always more on dot com for slash asia we leave you now with pictures from thailands protests people have hit the streets every day for almost a week thanks for watching and with you tomorrow. Combating the corona pandemic. Where does research stand. What are scientists learning. Background information and. Our corona. Over 19 special next on d w m ms. So many push. Ups right now in the us right now Climate Change me different story. Bases much less the wings on just one week. How much worse can really get. We still have time to. Get. Such a. Good subscribed the only news like this. How dangerous is the air around us. Every time we speak every time we laugh or seeing. Them its particles and once theyre there they linger we know that this is a key where the corona virus can spread. Scientists are still suffering how dangerous these doses of airborne virus can be and what we can do to avoid them. Opening a window is one way to keep their fresh but by keeping the air moving with systems like air conditioning are we decreasing the risk or merely spreading it. What do we need to do to breathe easily indoors. And this is the covert 19 special who are welcome to show up in berlin open the window its the one piece of advice were all hearing now thats a bit more complicated in the winter doesnt work in all rooms and certainly doesnt work on airplanes theyve used in the industry says cabin air is sufficiently filtered and circulated though some experts say questions remain. For air travelers social distancing already starts to get difficult at the boarding gate and it gets even trickier on the plane spacing out just isnt possible unless you can afford to buy an extra seat. With only 50 centimeters distance between each person the risk of infection is obvious and healing the droplets in aerosols from an adjacent passenger seems unavoidable scientists have long been aware of the dangers of infection on planes mostly because of studies of other coronaviruses air is not displaced in aircraft inlets in l. Its hard to small for that cabin air can only be mixed. Over at the Hamburg University of applied Sciences Professor dr schulte says viruses may stay in the cabin air for up to 15 minutes exposing passengers to infection risk. The i want us to want to look for the Aviation Industry makes 3 climbs firstly filters an aircraft to make the air as clean as an operating room for them secondly the air is completely exchanged every 2 to 3 minutes thirdly the air only moves from top to bottom in the cabin all of 3 are just not sure. It could be that current Safety Standards and filtration techniques are not as good as many may think meaning the possibility of catching coronavirus when flying could be more up to chance than anything else. Lets take a closer look at ventilation and the virus joining me now is paul linden hes professor of fluid mechanics at Cambridge University paul its good to have you on the show. With the obvious question winter is approaching in northern in the Northern Hemisphere whats the best thing that someone should keep in mind about ventilation in rooms well its obviously a challenge the winter because. You have to see is to close up buildings and ventilation is reduced to keep warm so the best thing to do is to make sure that as much ventilation as possible is achieved open a window if you possibly can. And if you have a mechanical system make sure as much fresh air coming in as possible what about fans or if i just have fans that are standing around the room does that help keep things ventilated is that help me at all no it doesnt it will just mix up whats already there and thats probably not the best thing because if there is virus particles in the air in the air and start all around your chances of breathing them are increased so i wouldnt recommend using fans. Ok so the best option and it seems to be is to keep the window open even though its when its winter early to open a periodic lee. Of course thats going to mean that people are going to be colder rooms are going to be colder is this really a choice now that we have between Climate Control and being safe with the virus is it such a black and white choice pretty much i would say it is thats right and. Its well known that during the spanish flu. Classes in the u. S. Even in the midwest in the winter were held outside so. I think it is a it is a tradeoff between staying warm and staying safe thats going to mean quite a change for the industry the Climate Control back conditioning industry yes absolutely it will and i mean conventional systems use a certain amount of research elated air and they supplement that with some fresh air when its pumped so dr through the building and again you want to make sure that the proportion of pressure air is as high as possible and that will you know Climate Controlled situation mean of course more energy is used to keep that to warn that iraq. So it will be a tradeoff they have between between energy costs and. The amount of fresh air that you can provide and then one of your studies you mention Carbon Dioxide of course being an indicator as well does this mean that we can expect that Carbon Dioxide measures will be a more common feature in rooms. Yeah i believe thats a very sensible thing to do Carbon Dioxide is essentially within a building produced by people exhaling. And so levels that are above the background outside values of about 400 something past a 1000000. Indicate indicative of. Its being in someones lungs and then breathed out again and so measuring that gives you an estimate in fact you can relate the risk of infection directly to. The concentration of Carbon Dioxide help me understand your picture when i enter room breathing speaking laughing with without a mask what am i seeing and what are you seeing if youre able to see these these plumes or whatever you call them. Yes so from an individual you give off heat. Every person gives off about 80 watts bit like a blush really bright light bow and that heat rises from your body in what we call a turbulent plume. And that will rise up towards the ceiling and you know that in most rooms the air in the ceiling is warmer than the air in the floor also plumes arise from equipment like a computer or other things and and when you breathe out you also agree that warm air that warm air is directed of course in in Different Directions so if you breathe through your nose its directed downwards if you breathe if you talk and is Goes National was horizontally and of course it depends on sounds that you make some sounds inject air further and do you speak the further it goes so theres a very complex dynamical process going on and its invisible thats quite right we have techniques that make it possible to visualize this and we use those techniques which essentially look at the way the refractive index of the air changes its a bit like watching the a shimmer above a toaster you look at your toaster one that you see that is the same process and we can visualize that we can see where this goes and what we do see is that if you wear a mask for example that the air that you exhale even when youre speaking were even blocking and coughing tends to basically leak around. The edges of the last nights sleep around the nose where it doesnt it properly and that then gets carried out with the plume in your body and thats a good thing so that so wearing a mosque generally confines your breath to to be taken up with the hot air rising from you is more complicated if you. Near around on the other hand because then you have a wake behind you just as you would. A way behind a ship and and that weight carry you carry your breath in the wake behind you so you can spread it around quite significantly so those flows are much more vigorous than the flow produced by your ventilation system an issue very close to say an open window you probably dont perceive the around you. So those floods are a run to the weak the flow from your heat from your body when you speak when you breathe in and now theyre much stronger and theyre and so its a complicated interaction between those flows and the general tendency of partying to rise and and to be taken in and out through whatever openings you have in you in the building or i will have to leave it there for now it sounds like a fascinating time to be a professor of fluid mechanics paul linden joins us from a reverse they thank you very much thank you and now its time for viewer questions its the part of the show where our science correspondent Derek Williams answers the questions youve posed that tore you tube channel over there. If a number of vaccines come out of the same time would it homy to take multiple different vaccines. In light of how quickly things are moving on the vaccine from this is an important question to ask for example there have been reports that china is apparently already giving tens of thousands of doses to people there of vaccine candidates that havent yet completed widespread safety and efficacy testing observers are seriously alarmed by that because it sets the stage for a range of frightening possible scenarios what happens for instance if the vaccine doesnt prevent infection as well as hoped and and those people have to be vaccinated again at some point with other candidates could that be dangerous for them the short answer is once again we dont know but possibly vaccines can have adverse effects even when just one is administered thats why theyre tested so widely before being approved for the general public and with dozens of different candidates out there based on a number of different platforms there are a lot of possible combinations with a potential to go wrong if people start being given more than one vaccine or or given them in haphazard undocumented ways until we actually do it theres no way to rule out that giving vaccines in combination or in a series could pose a danger which is why its best to exhaustively check every vaccine candidate for safety and efficacy in advance so that in a best Case Scenario we only have to vaccinate everyone once. Or science correspondent there williams there and before we let you go heres another look at how people are adapting to life in the pandemic in this case by socially distancing within a crowd lives. Music has returned to Rio De Janeiro but many dance floors an open air concert space is selfish or spaced out boxes of up to 6 people each music fans there say its important for their Mental Health to be able to let loose well hopefully staying safe. And thats it for our coven 1000. 00 special we hope that you stay safe and join us next time for. Kickoff. Dylan thomas. Might sing wins against alabama and defenseman championships. The longer at the bottom. Some good scores a point against him in berlin breaking free from last year to. Keep him in w. W c. Show the game strong the clear position is from the internet the 1st read the book. Every week we get to the point on our current topic. The complements the controversial commitment to the book to point to the good long look. In the coming of Climate Change the business of. The ku. Klux mistook. The book. The future of. The column for cannabis if the gifts could cut or. Premiums. The above is from. The b. M. V. The being a good response above the 1st place the books the books lead the club the books and respects. This is it reduces life and world and curfews and closures europe tries to turn the tide scrambling to stop the coronavirus gripping the continent by introducing new restrictions across the map case numbers hit new records Authorities Say the Health Situation in some states is worse than during the pandemics 1st wait we take a closer look at how the new restrictions are being received and germany and belgium also coming out to deal gun julys dozens of kilometers away from the border problem up to people who live here never the full and would become part of the fighting again alone so fillion paid a high prize as the newborn ocado boss conflicts with the threat risk to spill beyond the disputed region a correspondent is at the scene plus to cram down on press freedom by its claims of another victim the rights to a liable information journalists around the world facing censorship and intimidation. On way our thank you so much for your Company Everyone states across europe are scrambling to contain a fresh wave of covert 1900 says belgium is one country work is slow as far exceed those at the height of the pandemic 1st wave back in the spring the countrys bars and restaurants have been told to close their doors but scientists fear a full National Lockdown could be just a matter of time. There were long queues in brussels on monday people lined up socially distanced to get tested for corona virus belgium has recorded more than 700 factions per 100000 people over the past 14 days this 2nd highest rate in europe many have had their 1st brush with the virus and now they want to be sure that theyre not infected. You know. Someone close to me tested positive so i want to get tested to be sure i dont have any symptoms but better to be safe than sorry with such a high rate of infection belgium authorities implemented a raft of new measures on monday people have been ordered to work from home were of a possible and social contacts outside of the home should be limited to one. Alcohol sales are banned after 8 pm and a curfew is being enforced from midnight until 5 am cafes bars and restaurants will be closed for a month. Many hospitality workers are frustrated with the return to some of the harsh measures experienced earlier in the year you can live with you know its like the 1st time its catastrophic we just have to try and survive weve had some state aid and thats something thats better than nothing but well see. But belgian Officials Say the measures are absolutely necessary the countrys Health Minister says the Health System could soon be overwhelmed by infections and warned of a coming to an army of cases many doctors share his concerns. The sky is more or less blue but we can see a huge wave is about to arrive its inevitable authorities hope the drastic set of measures will have a quick and packed they say theyll review the results in 2 weeks time. Well meantime authorities in the german state of the area have put more than 100000 people into a Strict Lockdown hundreds of people on vacation there are also packing their bags to go home and restrictions in a southern bizzare district went into effect just moments ago. Bash this got no land in bavaria a mountainous on the austrian german border now the number one current virus hotspot in germany the number of new cases here in the last week is 5 times that of the threshold for an area to be deemed high risk locals were put back into lockdown from a day on tuesday and they were in the allowed to leave their homes with a valid reason the number of new daily cases in germany is rising nationwide with the south in the west worst hit more than 115. 00 areas and now a high risk in berlin as the 2nd wave sets in life goes on and the public is largely remaining calm. Much on and off course were afraid of a 2nd wave but not in the sense that you think about it all the time but were protecting our service just like before this gentleman and my parents. First time were all this time to think it meant doesnt it thats when i think were better prepared states time around compared to the 1st time i see how people are behaving and its much much better. But what it means for us im in berlin for the 1st time in 10 months of course im a bit afraid of him political spheres pressure is now growing for more involvement of the palm and current virus Decision Making bundestag president for the gun show bill of rights m. P. s on monday saying the parliaments role as lawmakers must be more distinct in the handling of the pandemic a polite reminder that in geminis democracy palm meant makes the laws not. The government. Has signature more now on this. Joins us why is it so difficult for americas government to agree on stricter stricter rather measures across the nation. Well germanys a federal state in finding an agreement between the federal government and a 6th in a region is not an easy task me so last week after marathon negotiations i got america landed 16 states premiers agreeing on restrictions nationwide for example restrictions in the hot spot so wearing a mask in all public spaces if there is more than 2535 cases spare 100000 inhabitants and limiting the amount of people out social gatherings and local authorities in hotspots such as fairly in the capital hard already implemented such a night out restrictions measures but in berlin. Had actually been overturned by another nice try to call it a late last week because the court was charging that imposing our instructions on bars and restaurants was a disproportionate response and unfair on some sectors here Hospitality Branch now tell us a little bit about how the people in germany have responded to this surge in numbers i mean there are already signs of renewed restrictions how have they been received. Well the thing does every climate of us uncertainty among people of the moment this can bring people on the edge of course because of the ever evolving nature of the situation pandemic wise and because of the ever evolving measures as well this is a new situation for everyone for politics for her thoughts and also for the people theres also the open question on Domestic Travel which can be quite unsettling for people who want to travel across the country its not clear yet some states have come up with that combination for people coming from hotspots and chancellor Angela Merkel will meet again with the state premiers on the member aids to discuss this question and just contextualize this for us please how bad is the situation in germany compared to other european states for example well it is a worrying situation in the sense of the reason risk of an exponential increase of the number of infections here in germany being saved with 4300 new infections daily germany still has better than other European Countries if you look at trends it peaked at over 30000 daily cases over the weekend and neighboring Czech Republic which as a times less in are beaten is than germany was well over 10000 cases of a weekend so the reason a risk here in germany of getting out of the penny getting out of control out of hand but for now germany still says ok and this also translates when foreign minister talks about every t. And ses that germanys ready to take in patients from neighboring countries as long as the country is to have the capacity to do so and at the moment is the case i mean that reporting thank you. Our i want to tell you now about some of the other stories making news around the world french authorities have ordered the closure of a mosque in paris saying it helped provoke last weeks murder of a teacher a mosque that shared a video railing against the teachers use of cartoons of the muslim Prophet Muhammad in the class its director says sharing the clip is not a call to violence. The u. S. Has filed a landmark antitrust lawsuit against google electors that the tech giant has been abusing its dominance in Online Search to fend off bibles is the u. S. Governments most significant act to protect competition since his groundbreaking case against microsoft more than 2 decades ago. The United Arab Emirates and israel have signed a series of records and television on the us after the 1st ever go a delegation from the u. A. E. A wide on israeli soil last month the u. A. E. And behaving became the 1st arab gulf states to establish formal ties with israel in a deal brokered by the united states. Now there has been more fighting and casualties reported in and around the disputed nagornokarabakh region in the caucasus both sides armenia and azerbaijan have accused each other of targeting civilians in the flare up and fighting that began 3 weeks ago and our correspondent you leon reports now from the city of gunja in azerbaijan as very Authorities Say a missile attack by Armenian Forces there kill a dozen people and injured 40 over the weekend. On the ruins of wood used to be her life. Her neighborhood was destroyed in a missile attack over the weekend. From home. This is from where the rocket came there were houses everywhere here but they were hit and everything got destroyed. The small sport school to. Look they were close and mattresses lying around my belongings also somewhere here. Next to the bombed out homes a makeshift memorial. Many ganja residents come here to commemorate those killed in the attack certain people according to the authorities. They bring flowers and signs saying who they blame the army an army. To rest in peace gunja people may god bless you. The city of ganja lies dozens of kilometers away from nagornokarabakh people who live here never thought they would become part of the fighting but they were wrong several houses in this residential area have been reduced to rubble over the weekend and its become clear once again that this conflict can escalate any time and in any direction. Since late september armenia and azerbaijan have been at war for nagornokarabakh again. And it is difficult to get an independent picture of the situation in the region both sides report military successes both countries accuse each other of fueling the fight in. 2 attempts at a ceasefire have already failed propaganda and war rhetoric determine everyday life. Was. Also here in the city center of gunja most people we speak to support the azerbaijan more distant with the power and strength of our army will soon be taken in the flag of us or by john will be raised that although much of our registered as a woman to join our army im ready. This clock neal has been changed when not to frame me my family and fellow citizens all of us so willing to sacrifice our lifes foreign nations we will never back down this whole truckload is on mccloys to the autos after the fatal attack on gunja as a by john has the right to defend itself many here say one cannot give a good idea of a he now has to look for a new beginning in the ruins of her own life really thinking. Im now joined by richard de guerre gershon he is the head of the Regional Study Center in corn a policy think tank in yerevan armenia a very good day to you mr garrett as weve just featured in our report residential areas under attack. Civilians theyre caught in the crossfire there is just no way to keep the civilian population out of this conflict is there well no but what we see unfortunately in this 24th day of nonstop attached on our media and not one of color of all we see a degree of. More than Collateral Damage just destruction and it needed the imperative to return to a cease fire immediately unfortunately as the report indicated other regarding turkey have both rejected previous cease fire actions and its very difficult to think about it will magically way out while were under attack having said that we do have a hole or a meeting between the Foreign Ministers apartment here and also. That for friday in washington followed by a diplomatic summit in moscow. Ok well lets talk a little bit more about that mr garratt what is the incentive for the parties involved in this conflict to sit around the table and find a diplomatic solution because this is a decade long conflict well yes but fortunately we are hopefully approaching it too big for it in terms of conflict on the one hand