the headlines: president trump has declared a national emergency in the united states. mr trump said the declaration would give the government access to up to $50 billion in emergency funding. following his comments, share prices on wall street surged by almost 10%. the world health organisation says europe is now the epicentre of the coronavirus pandemic, with more reported cases and deaths than the rest of the world apart from china. a number of countries in the european union say they'll close their borders to most or all foreigners because of the health crisis. emergency legislation is being drawn up to ban mass gatherings in the uk, possibly from next week, in response to the worsening coronavirus outbreak. scores of major sporting and cultural events have already been cancelled. now on bbc news, click.

this week, keeping our devices coronavirus free. the mobile phone app hoping to help more survive snake bites. and this eagerly anticipated is here. but don't expect to see it on an actual screen anytime soon. ini998, in 1998, the release of first person

shooter half life sent a seismic shock across the world of video games. it featured cinematic storytelling, tort action sequences and some of the creepiest bad guys ever to grace a videogame. well, let's just say your hour has come again. i remember when half-light came out, november 1998, again. i remember when half-light came out, november1998, a again. i remember when half-light came out, november 1998, a massive moment in pc gaming. before than it had been doom that define shooter games. half life reset the bar.l sequel followed in 200a. fans patiently awaited new half—light content, but its makers, a company called valve went very quiet on the half life front until now, that is. marks is like has been to valve's headquarters in the us, where he has got his hands on the latest edition

that addition to the franchise, a game which has surprised many by embracing virtual reality. bellevue, washington, is home to valve software, and award—winning games development company. it has plans to reinvigorate virtual reality with half life's help. a title which changed games forever. hey, mr freeman, i had a bunch of messages for you... the first half i played was probably the second one, before going back to the first one. but both of them start with a train journey going on, and you are being introduced to the world as the train does, as you enter the game, you are seeing everything that is going on in the world. you are slowly being immersed in it. i played the first half life not long after it came out. current topside temperature is 93 degrees. there is something about having glimpses of set pieces that you never fully get up close to in games, but somehow just accelerates

the world building by 1000%. the knowledge that you may not have even seen it, i think is brilliant. sector c test labs and control facilities... like, the idea that on a second play through, or a third, you can see something you didn't the first time around, and even then, it isjust by first time around, and even then, it is just by chance, first time around, and even then, it isjust by chance, it is going on outside a window, and if you looked to the righty would have seen a different set piece. morning, mr freeman. looks like you are running late. everyone has been fixated on the idea of a new half life game for years. the first one gave us such a new cinematic way of experiencing a game, the second one, it handed us the gravity done, we had much more puzzling, much more storytelling. and it has almost become a kind of joke over the last 13 years of half—light three being announced, because that valve has always teased that something would come. there we re lots of that something would come. there were lots of rumours, everybody wanted something new, but finally being told that we have got something in that universe, it is a whole new full—length story, people are really, really excited. set

before the events of half life two, the player assumes the role of alyx vance, resistance fighter struggling to rescue her father vance, resistance fighter struggling to rescue herfather in vance, resistance fighter struggling to rescue her father in city 17, vance, resistance fighter struggling to rescue herfather in city 17, the centre of an extra dimensional invasion of the earth. there has been a lot of hype and high hopes around the rebirth of the —— of virtual reality. vr headsets have arrived from a variety of different companies. but in recent years, interest in the technology has waned. virtual reality, it seems, is lacking a killer app. that, however, could be about to change. it is probably fair to say that a new half life game will be one of the most keenly anticipated titles of the last decade. but is making it a virtual reality only title a way of shifting headsets? i mean, this is a way to sell the headsets. the minute you put a half life game on the other it is going to make people buy

something or potentially look buying something or potentially look buying something they hadn't had before. but it is notjust available on valve's headsets, it is available everywhere. so what this all there is potentially reinvigorate and kickstart everybody‘s interest in the vr space. one of our goals here was to hopefully show a bunch of people who looked out of er and thought, but looks interesting, but it hadn't convinced them yet start, oh, there is an experience over there they really want, and hopefully they will see this sensei, actually, i will go check that out. this is the moment that i've been waiting for. it has been 16 years since half life two was released, and 13 years since we have had any new half life content. right now i'm going to try out the latest game in the series in virtual reality. i am playing using valve's own vr hardware, called index. they controller featured sensors which translate my hand and finger movements. this will allow me to interact with the game world in much

the same way that i would in the real world. here we've got an opportunity to try out some of the gameplay mechanics, so we have the gravity gloves, which should allow me to pull this. and grab it. and throw it towards one of those ba rna cles. throw it towards one of those barnacles. let the barnacle eat it. when you see items you can grab them with the gravity gloves, catch them, store them in your backpack for later. the title has been designed to work with a wide variety of different vr headsets. but the game is demanding that the game's demanding technical specifications means it will have to run on a pretty high—end pc. the full index vr set up like this one isn't cheap either, costing nearly £1000. can't open these doors, they are jammed. but will open it up for me. here we go. almost everything you interact within the game works like it does in the real everything apart from

travel. getting around turns out to be one of the more interesting things in virtual reality. it is one of the trickier problems to solve. so many things that are local scale allow you to just use your body in a natural way, like, i'm allow you to just use your body in a naturalway, like, i'm going allow you to just use your body in a natural way, like, i'm going to pick up natural way, like, i'm going to pick upa natural way, like, i'm going to pick up a bucket to look at what is underneath it. traversing space doesn't quite yet allow you to use your body in that way, so solving that for players is one of the more interesting things about virtual reality. we've chosen to provide a variety of methods. there are a couple of different styles of teleportation under then a more traditional movement but is, that we call continuous motion. and some people are more comfortable with one than another. a roomful of had crabs here. looking for zombies. than another. a roomful of had crabs here. looking forzombies. let's than another. a roomful of had crabs here. looking for zombies. let's see if there's any extra ammo in here, because i have a feeling i'm going to need it pretty soon. this title is unusual for to need it pretty soon. this title is unusualfor vr, to need it pretty soon. this title is unusual for vr, because that is about 50 to 60 hours worth of

gameplay, much longer than a lot of virtual reality titles. —— 15 to 16. let's get rid of this barricade, pull it out of the way. this is genuinely extremely tense. 0k, well, i need a new underwear. this adds an entirely new dimension to a —— to videogame combat. 0ne entirely new dimension to a —— to videogame combat. one of absolute penetrating fear. —— pant wetting fear. the big question is, will this can be the one that persuades more people to invest in virtual reality? there is a real chance that half life: alyx is going to be a killer up life: alyx is going to be a killer upfor life: alyx is going to be a killer up for virtual reality in 2020. in pa rt up for virtual reality in 2020. in part that is because it represents the return of one of the most acclaimed series in gaming, but it is also down to the fact that there are not a lot of developers making this kind of lost experience with vr right now. half life: alyx might not push virtual reality into the mainstream by itself, but it could persuade a lot of developers to start working on similar experiences in the argument that could be huge. i think the only game that could

potentially sway me and make me want to get vr and play it is a valve game. the only downside is that i have to wander around my living room in fearof my have to wander around my living room in fear of my wife walking in on me pretending to smash up some combine offices with a crowbar. i'm with you every step of the way. we'll find out what kind of impact half life: alyx because when it releases on march 23. hello, and welcome to the week in tech. it was a week that the british government ruled that tight —— chinese tech guide by way would still be permitted to develop the country's 5g network after a rebellion from its own mps. finish satellite firm ice eye debuted images made with cutting—edge radar tech which can operate through clouds and at night. and a gameplaying robot has been taught to admit its mistakes. i feel bad for letting you all down. yale university scientists said that by expressing vulnerability, the droid

helps humans to communicate better. as the coronavirus pandemic continues, one chinese firms as it has created facial recognition that can identify people while they are wearing protective masks. hangwang technology says it is 95% accurate in the scenario and can even connect to sensors to help china identify civilians suffering from high temperatures. we have seen drones carrying medical cargo before, but now autonomous ports can help load packages two. a drone station like this is opening at a swiss hospital where staff will use smartphones to log samples they can then scan and drop off for delivery to nearby labs. and finally, a digitalfood specialist in japan labs. and finally, a digitalfood specialist injapan has been 30 printing sweet treats stop based on weather data. tokyo's open meals has used algorithms to create flavoured designs, where windspeed alters shape, pressure levels dictate size and temperature determines colour.

now, that is cooking up a storm. we are all being told that the best way to combat the coronavirus is by washing our hands thoroughly with soap and water. but when we can't get to a basin, many of us are also using alcohol —based hand sanitiser. so much so that supplies have been running low. 0ne company we met in taiwan last year hopes to have found the solution. this is the eloclean, a device that is claimed to create your own disinfectant.

hopefully that will do the trick. the company does expect that this protects against the coronavirus. the issue is, they have actually sold out of them. but it is notjust about keeping our hands clean. how about keeping our hands clean. how about our devices? this week apple issued new advice about how to keep oui’ issued new advice about how to keep our phones clean, but i would suggest that you don't do anything until you've heard what chris fox has to say. with the growing concern around coronavirus, i thought i would be better safe than sorry and smothered my phone with antiviral gel. but it turns out that some hand gels and sanitisers and actually damage the oil repelling layer on your phone screen which is supposed to keep fingerprints. so check this out. if i put my phone next one that has the layer intact you can see that this one looks like i've been eating pizza off it. it is covered in fingerprint and oil. this one does

have something to prince on it still, but not nearly as many, and thenif still, but not nearly as many, and then if i wipe down this phone with a microfibre cloth, the finger prints come off super easy. if i try this one, some of the oil comes off but you can see it is still really st mary. and as a final test i p°pped st mary. and as a final test i normed my st mary. and as a final test i popped my finger prints on there. —— really smeary. you can see that this absolutely gross, and this one not nearly as dirty. so how can you clea n nearly as dirty. so how can you clean your phone without damaging it? well, this week i met with microbiologist doctor lehner ciric and she told me how. unplug your phone, turn it off and remove the case. dampen a microfibre cloth with water & household soap. gently rub the services of the phone with the damp cloth. they cannot to get moisture in any of the openings because even a water resistant phones lose their protection over time. finally, try your phone with a clea n time. finally, try your phone with a clean microfibre cloth. we haven't

used any antiviral gel on this phone so used any antiviral gel on this phone so how do we know they are clean? we can use these swabs on this device which sells the level of microbial activity on the phone in relative light units or rlus. hynam we get, the higher number of gels. the results are the higher number of gels. the results a re pretty the higher number of gels. the results are pretty good. we would wa nt results are pretty good. we would want a surgical service to have a rating of 50 or less and all of the phones have readies of less than this so that's pretty good. so their certificate we notice of soap and water. yes. how is that possible without using any antiviral gel? the main ingredient is a detergent which is basically lifting off the grease and grime and streams from the surface of the phone which is then rinsed off with water and that's what makes a claim. there are a few other ways you can clean your phone safely. this week, apple changed its guidelines and that is if you have an iphone, you can safely wipe it with a 70% isopropyl alcohol wipe, the kind you can get from computer shops or online if they have not sold out. there are also devices

that can sterilise your phone sing ultraviolet uvc radiation. this what is called foam so dominic soap and cost about £80 of the right people and is available. what you do is pop your phone inside and let it cook for about ten minutes. the manufacturer says it shouldn't chime your device but to some phones or cases could be discoloured over time. finally, what can you do if, like me, you have stripped the oil repelling coating of your phone's screen? there are some ways to fix this. first of all, you can get a screen replacement although that is not going to be the cheapest option. 0r not going to be the cheapest option. or you not going to be the cheapest option. 0ryou can get not going to be the cheapest option. or you can get one of those stick on a glass screen protectors which is a quick and easy way to fix the screen. 0r quick and easy way to fix the screen. or you quick and easy way to fix the screen. 01’ you can quick and easy way to fix the screen. or you can try this, it is called liquid nano and this wipe puts a silicate dioxide coating over the display which says it will restore the earlier phobic properties for 12 months. it cost between 20 and £30 and have to let it set on the phone for at least half—an—hour. i tried it set on the phone for at least half—an—hour. itried it it set on the phone for at least half—an—hour. i tried it out on the phone ruined and i have to say it

seems to have done a pretty good job. but is one solution to what could have been an expensive mistake. just remember, if you do clea n mistake. just remember, if you do clean your phone, soon as you touch it, you bring james back on it again and the most important advice remains to wash your hands thoroughly and frequently. that was chris. later this month, a number of globes here at the british library, some of them over 400 years old i going be made available online in full, 360 degrees interactive form. this isn't just full, 360 degrees interactive form. this isn'tjust a way of modernising these agile objects but also making them available to the masses. the digital cloves project will eventually see if 30 of them are brought to virtual life without the risk of any grubby mitts damaging at the originals. anthony, here we have a capturing process, quite a few dslr ‘s. any topping for the set up?

it capturing elements of the globe, and a polymer self through a process called fracture grammar tree. 0nce all the images go through to the computer, the software will render all the images together to make one com plete all the images together to make one complete globe. once they are all fitted together, we have to make sure that the cover right also that what is for? that's right. we can do a3d what is for? that's right. we can do a 30 print of the items. you can do a 30 print of the items. you can do a pretty prince, you need to have exactly the right colour. so people can recreate their own, not that these globes are entirely accurate. california seems to be an island. and it wasn't due to ignorance in the 1700s as some earlier maps had it right. inaccuracies were purposefully placed in maps for all sorts of reasons. such as, putting continental rivals, for example, down a wrong route or sending them down a wrong route or sending them down the wrong direction. as well as

being available on the british library's website, there is also an augmented reality version which is within an app called sketch up accessible in any ar compatible device. here is the map and to turn it into ar, you up on this and it appears in front of me and i can travel around the world. it's an interesting contrast. while this looks so ancient to us, it was technology in its time and now we're mixing that in with a bit of tented reality. the technology of our time. so while they may have been a little polishing in the virtual versions, these globes still provide a history lesson of how the world was seen, not just lesson of how the world was seen, notjust geographically but politically in each of their errors. —— eras. earlier we were talking about the coronavirus. now, to a very different sort of health risk.

the snake bite. around 5 million people every year are bitten by snakes. and of course we know how dangerous they have enemies. it can cause crippling injuries and fatal. india is one of the parts of the world that has the highest death toll. falling into the tens of thousands every year. so could something as simple as a mobile phone app actually bring those numbers down? david reed has been to the west of india to find out. these quys the west of india to find out. these guys are the west of india to find out. these guys are off to catch one of the world's most dangerous animals. the cobra, highly venomous. they are using a new life saving up. it has told them a snake has been spotted ina told them a snake has been spotted in a local gujarat workshop. to bag it and get it back in the wild, they first have to find it in a pile of stuff where every second thing that looks like a scary snake. this is

going to take at timer so let's check back later. first, when heading to a local hospital to see why this app is so important. conservationists is going to guide us conservationists is going to guide us there with his indian snakes app. we are here and from here we have to go to we are here and from here we have to gotoa we are here and from here we have to go to a small village 25, as i. it gives vital details to those bitten by s na kes gives vital details to those bitten by snakes of nearby hospitals stocking the antivenom that could keep them alive. we actually are going to meet this doctor who is a specialist in snake bites. the hospital is there, the name is there, the phone number is the. we get there in snake bite rush—hour. we've been here only a very, very short time. in the manner of the last five minutes, three new patients have come in complaining of

snake bites. to help identify the snakes, patients often kill the animal that bit. this is a highly venomous russell viper. administering antivenom carries its own health risks. doctors hold off using it and instead to a battery of tests until they know it is not a dry bite and the patient is showing the effects of venom. he will be under observation for 48 hours. if any more symptoms we see, then we will start the antivenom. often, there is no time for wait and see. a number of bite victims waste precious time visiting had faith healers over hospitals and one of the reason so many die from bites each year in india. estimates say as many as 50 to 60,000 people. the indian snakes up amps to get people to hospital fast. the first moments,

the first minutes, first hour of a snake bite is very important. the major problem we face is people don't go to the hospital first, go to the local, traditional healer who they trust. what is not possible for him, he will send them to the hospital. the first morning on the dos and don'ts list is don't go to a faith healer. the second, don't suck out the venom whatever you have seen in the movies. there is also a field guide to id venomous snakes. you wa nt to guide to id venomous snakes. you want to see the snake in detail so you can click on the picture and cement... you can also report a snake in your house and call a rescuer. this is your current location, you'll find your nearest rescuer. we need to do is contact the rescuer. remember these guys, let's see how they are getting on. actually, pretty well. they distinguish the snake from yards of cabling. it then instinctively made a dash straight into their black

bag. and with a little coaxing, pop safely inside. the indian snake's up is not just about saving safely inside. the indian snake's up is notjust about saving lives and helping snake rescuers but also conserving and learning about snakes, especially in their conflicts with people. we get a lot of data from the country about the demographics, and epidemiology of snake bites which come through app. do you think there is understood? completely, they are one of the most misunderstood animals. this app is the main purpose for people to desensitise people in india about snakes and work on a conversation, conservation. and education about how to avoid and treat snake bites could well transform our attitudes to one of the most feared and demonised animals on the planet.

david reed there in india. that is it for this week's show. you can keep track of the team throughout the week on instagram, facebook, youtube and twitter at a cyclic. thank you for watching. —— bbc click. hello again. well, yesterday, what a glorious start to the day it was. most of us did have a lot more in the way of sunshine, and some stunning weather which pictures were sent in from scotland. you can see the snow glistening under those clear blue skies in the spring sunshine. it wasn't like that everywhere, though. we did have this line of showers that developed from merseyside down towards the midlands. that is where some of the heavier showers were during friday afternoon. and of course the skies looked quite different. this was the scene in tamworth, as it turned pretty cloudy through the afternoon. and we had the heavy downpours

and of course a few rainbows. the latest satellite picture, though, shows an area of cloud coming in across england and wales. this weather front is weakening quickly because out in the atlantic we have a developing low pressure system, and it is really starting to take over. and what it means over the next few hours is that the rain, as it pushes east across england and wales, is fragmenting, becoming light and patchy, whereas further north in scotland there is still a bit of oomph to the rain as it comes in across western areas in the next few hours, and indeed there will be hill snow in scotland about 200 metres of elevation. the weekend is quite unsettled. it will be windy, some rain and sunshine as well. many of us will start on a grey note, although some sunshine quite quickly for northern ireland. eventually, as the patchy rain clears england and wales and later in the day for western scotland, we will see some sunshine coming through, then quite quickly, the next low pressure system comes in and that is going to be feeding rain back into northern ireland. rain getting into western

scotland, western parts of england and wales, as we go into the afternoon. it will be mild and quite windy as well. through saturday night, this weather front becomes quite slow—moving for a time across wales and south—west england. over the hills, we could see around 30, maybe 40 millimetres of rain building up. it will be a very mild night, temperatures nine or ten for england and wales. cooler air for scotland and northern ireland. on sunday, that rain pushes east, but as it does so the front will be decelerating, slowing down, so really dragging its heels as it works into east anglia and south—east england. behind the front, the cool air extends in across many areas, so feeling pressure. a mixture of sunshine and showers around, some of the showers heavy with some hail and thunder in those heavy ones for scotland. now, into next week, pressure rises towards the south of the uk, so the weather is becoming settled across southern areas, whereas further north we have got rain and showers in the forecast. something of a north—south split. in the south it's notjust dry, it will get quite mild, up to 16 in london. showers at times for the north. that's your weather.

welcome to bbc news. i'm simon pusey. our top stories: president trump declares a national emergency, unlocking billions of dollars to fight coronavirus in the us. the action i am taking will open up access to up to $50 billion — a large amount of money for states and territories and localities in our shared fight against this disease. as italy struggles to cope, the world health organisation says europe is now the epicentre of the pandemic. more uropean countries seal their borders, and the uk