for n.p.r. . starts february 20th on w. . this is news coming to you live from berlin and china sees its deadliest day yet in the coronado virus outbreak health officials attribute the surge in deaths and infections to new reporting methods we'll ask a biologist if this means china and the blood are facing a much bigger crisis or so coming up was it a military necessity or

a needless tragedy germany remembers one of the most controversial chapters of the 2nd world war the bombing of dresden by the allies 75 years ago today. and infect humans with malaria making mosquitoes one nature's most efficient deaf delivery systems but scientists may have come up with an effective way to control down on but those. hello and welcome. good to have. this been alarming surge in the number of infections and deaths from the corona virus which has been named by scientists as corbett 19 this is what the health officials. about the number of infections is shooting up has gone up to 60000 that's office and 50. 100000 new

cases were reported in just one day over 250 deaths were recorded on wednesday alone in the chinese province of who'll be the epicenter of the outbreak it was the deadliest day so far since the virus in mugged. for more on this i'm joined by dr martin stillman he's a vajrayana just at the i am the lebar tree for him to disciplinary medicine welcome mr look at it tell us what lies behind this sudden 3rd infections. they help authorities change their case definition again no they calmed all cases just based on clinical symptoms without having a positive test so what does it tell us about the threat from the virus and how dangerous is it not just for china but for the rest of the was you know we

already said that the number they reported is too low we expected a much much higher number of cases based on 0 experience as was the rest period for diseases so this might reflect the true numbers of people infected with the wiring and of course having much more cases they're going to suspect if even mother countries have more cases than we actually see so might be dangerous for the world based on the actual numbers in other countries we have still say stable situation and is it also might to estimate when this epidemic will peak. good question. the 1st thought that will get and what people know about based on these numbers we should expect to peter later on at least in 2 weeks i guess. dr martin is too much of i ought to just thank you very much for that you're welcome.

now you have this is a meeting in brussels for talks and europe's response to the virus max done deal went to the european emergency response center it stepped in to help out with the severe global emergencies and coordinate is are now working around the clock to help citizens in china get back home. a dramatic journey coming to an end these passengers disembarking from a german air force jet in frankfurt earlier this month were among the 1st to be evacuated from china to europe due to the coronavirus it was a challenging task to organize. here at the european commission in brussels christiane yacoub is helping europeans in china return home safely on flights such as the one to frankfurt in the operation room of the emergency response center it's his job to oversee all processes and coordinate help we are in close contact with our member states by phone by e-mail and true especially for mission systems we are

in close contact with the chinese authorities in order to receive updates from them and to see. the most need to lie to them so that you know to contain the disease the r.c.c. has been coordinating the e.u.'s response to global emergencies since 2001 during the evil after demick in western africa the organization oversaw assistance and relief to the affected countries such as liberia valuable lessons that are proving helpful today operations in brussels have taken up pace since france triggered an e.u. wide emergency response procedure over the corona virus outbreak situation definitely is worrisome. to some epidemic this is a serious danger. this virus as you know spreads with great speed so measures have to be taken and we are trying to see the taken in a coordinated manner for the e.u.

getting its citizens out of china is a 1st important step but with the number of coronavirus cases growing rapidly brussels and member states will have to come up with a broader strategy to prevent the disease from spreading on european soil. and have been caused by 19 us trials and joins me now from justice learned that he was clearly what about the impact of the corona virus tell us more about the kind of measures that the e.u. health ministers would be looking at to deal with the situation. well the number of and affected people here in europe is still quite low we're talking about 4040 people who are infected with corona wires and it's also not the case that they use just standing by and watching the you has already done something to fight the virus we've seen that in a report that activated a crisis response mechanism but of course with the number of in fact it's people exploding in johnno also the health ministers here in the european union are more

and more worried that this whole crisis might become a pandemic so for example health minister german health minister sponsored today that we might not have reached a peak here in europe and we europe has prepared selves europe has to take measures europe member states have to work together have to share information to deal with that crisis but as you said of course this would require coordination from all e.u. member countries any kind of plan do you think we'll be able to agree on a common strategy. health actually is a national matter so it's a bit complicated but at the precious really high with more and more people getting in fact it's all over the world also also and your we will see some cases so the pressure is hard to actually do something and. of course viruses don't respect border to something we have been hearing here from the health ministers

a lot for example german health minister spans that europe has to give more money to fight the crisis the european union your piñon has already promised 10000000 euro's that will be used for example for research in june that goes into new therapies to cetera but many health minister here have said we have to spend even more money we have to support china we have to support maybe out a 3rd member states that their health systems is not that are not as good as in the european union so it's not only about euro but it's also about the rest of the world here that we'll talk to talk about one major issue will also be you know it's not health but supply chains because many ingredients of pharmaceutical products that are used here in the european union actually come from china and there might be shortages and health nurses will also discuss how the european union will deal with these shortages in the future my nationals in brussels thank you very much.

let me now bring you up to date with some other stories making news around the world the u.n. has released a report that accuses more than 100 israeli businesses of being complicit in violating palestinian rights by operating in the occupied west bank by listed in officials have welcomed the report israeli prime minister binyamin netanyahu has called it a shameful attempts to blacken his country's name. at least one person has died as torrential rains back to australia east coast a woman has also been reported missing emergency workers have rescued dozens of people from the floods and many schools have been closed authorities say the rain has helped them put out multiple blazes in the fire ravaged region. german media reports a conservative politician friedrich metz is planning to run for the leadership of christian democratic party he's one of chancellor macas fiercest critics in 2018 he

narrowly lost on a great cut and bauer who announced on monday she would step down as party leader because. it was 75 years ago today in the final months of the 2nd world war that british and american aircraft began bombing the german city of dressed and in the days that followed warplanes dropped fire bombs that killed thousands of people many of the grim and children who were fleeing the soviet army's advance in the east there's been much debate about whether the bombing was justified a military grounds or was it an unnecessary tragedy and a war crime we met up with one of the survivors in the now rebuilt city of preston . when aaron steers comes to the new marked public square and sees the restored. he is reminded of the dresden bombings 75 years ago. here.

and everything was destroyed and this was where most of the people were killed in the fire storm then on the next day the duration fallen kisha collapsed yes the square was reduced to rubble. on the evening of february 13th 1945 over the span of just 15 minutes the allied forces dropped bombs containing 900 tons of explosives on dresden during the next 2 days 3 more attack waves followed after that the baroque old town lay in ruins at the time aaron's tears was 9 years old when the bombs were dropped on dresden he and his parents he had in a bomb shelter in the cellar of their house seen here in the former your hungry organ alley. after the 1st attack we left the apartment while everything was burning i can still see it

before that was my parents' apartment was on the top of that's what the ruins look like you can see the facade was still in good shape but inside the building everything was burned out and that's what the whole wonderful street looked like. ants tears shed his parents were lucky they were able to flee the city as many as 25000 people died during the air raids many of them suffocated during the firestorms. in my eyes this was a war crime many things happened on all sides but this was an act of destruction directed at the civilian population. and steere started working as a camera man in the 1950 s. he sneaked in was the eye of dresden he documented the reconstruction of the destroyed city and he's been collecting photos and videos of dresden since the 19th century for his film archives. documentary film can be brutally honest if you do

not read it or change the footage and i never did this then for me it is the most impressive historical witness. today the rebuilt cityscape of dresden betrays few signs of the destruction that took place here 75 years ago. the most wonderful thing of all is that the dresden from has been restored that is really the biggest miracle and after the destruction i experienced in my childhood and youth i never hoped or expected this to happen i hope it will stay this way forever. dresden for one cure here is where aaron's tears was baptized before the war today he sees it as a symbol of peace. so was dressed in a legitimate target or a war crime to talk about that i have with us our correspondent good british she's

in dresden as well as with me in the studio analyst john berry a welcome to both of you if i missed out with you john now we heard the survivor in our report ends his he described what happened in reston today 75 years ago as a war crime what is your assessment. it's a difficult question to answer simply and because there is controversy about it among historians and legal experts the short answer that i think. it is the consensus is by the standards of the time it it was not a war crime there was a carpet bombing. so called strategic bombing of cities in order to demoralize the populations done by both sides and it was considered at the time the judgment of course if it were to happen today. it would definitely certainly be regarded as a war crime turning to you know a kid i mean the far right in germany is using these commemorations in dresden in

a very targeted and particular way tell us more about their perception and strategy . well rita the far right scene and near nazis here in germany have been instrumental izing these commemorations of the dresden bombing for many many years now as part of their propaganda and that all stems really from immediately after the raid 75 years ago when the nazis who were of course still in power at the time really adjusted those numbers quoting numbers of deaths and casualties manipulated those figures saying that anywhere between 200000 half a 1000000 people perished in this tragic bombing but of course nowadays we know that there was actually around 25 people 25000 people who perished in these in these areas in the firestorm that took hold of dresden just behind me on the other side of the elba and of course this year we are expecting to see the far right

march again this weekend today we are expecting to be to not really see anything of the far right seen by some saturday here in dresden they're expected to hold a demonstration or a tile a mosque as they call it a sense of a march of mourning to remember the victims and so we're still seeing this interim an instrumentalist ation continuing today and we're expected to see people from not only germany's far right scene but people are expected to descend on dresden from across europe as well and join the narrative surrounding the destruction of dresden has been instrumental is not just now as kate was telling us but right from the start tell us more about that use of goebbels who was the knots of propaganda minister on the day after the 1st wave of bombing. not only exaggerated the numbers mentioned quite rightly he also suggested that it was women refugees and children

who had been killed and that dresden was not militarily significant it was that the aim of the targeting was it was. against the cultural city of dresden now that's simply a lie of course also there was hatred as always and revenge sorts of revenge in the allies and they were targeting civilians as well quite clearly but dresden had a very significant military position at the time the red army was advancing from russia had already crossed into german territory was surging towards berlin the capital germany had not yet surrendered and dresden was a garrison city with 20000 troops there with armament factories and was also the main rail hub to the east supplying armand's to the to the to the to the german forces fighting the russians so there were also military reasons for attacking it. getting off standing in the heart of dresden what do people there feel about this

debate and these conflicting narratives that we are getting. well dressed in this today emirates not only want to remember the victims of the air raid 75 years ago but they also want to use the memorial in the commemorations today to take a look at exactly what's happening in the present and how we today how society today can learn from the atrocities of the past and i think that's reflected in the commemorations taking place today if you look at the friends of the program for this service later today it simply says nish forgets and meaning just to not forget and i think that will be shown as well later this evening when 10 round 10000 people a jew to unite around dresden across both sides of the river elbe or behind me to unite and create a human chain and that is supposed to create a signal of unity against all signs of hate i hate violence and of course german president front fell to steinmeyer will also be taking part so the commemorations

today are not only about remembering the past but also reflecting on what can be learned and applied to the present day good reading reston and john barry did of these and i'm just here thank you both very much for your perspectives and we're going to get your live coverage of the 75th anniversary commemorations of the bombing of dresden beginning at a 3 pm central european time that's just a bit under 4 hours from now we hope you join us for that moving on now it need be less than a centimeter in size but the mosquito is one of the biggest health threats to humans mosquitoes can transmit malaria a disease that kills more than 400000 people across the world every year for a long time pesticides were effective in controlling their numbers but mosquitoes have become resistant resistant to those chemicals scientists are hoping to hit back with the neil a controversial alternative. in the book enough fossil village off so most all

damane whether all gore is visiting his son's grave since the 2 year old died of malaria a couple of months ago he has been here every single day. so i am losing a child is really painful for me for any parent for that matter. so if we can find a solution against this disease which killed my child we will thank god. they should do everything that to eradicate this disease. roughly 8000 kilometers away at the university of maryland in the us to connect really occurring fungus that is known to infect mosquitoes then they genetically modified it to produce a toxin similar to spite of venom when the most quito comes in contact with the spores it gets infected and dies prime love it is the lead author on the study

out of the box if they went anywhere on the outside of the recognize that they're on a mosquito and the burrow their way into the mosquito. to test the fungus the researchers build the test side in book enough fossil in an entity area they simulated a village with hearts vegetation water sources and food for the musky toss in the hearts they hang black cloth that was soaked with oil and the fungus spores then they released hundreds of mosquitoes. so. the musk usuals fly around the room looking for something to a few dollars so they feed on an animal after feeding the mosquitoes look for a close to rest the usually learned on the walls. given the are attracted to the color black they will rest on the tree which is black. that is when they make contact with the fungus spores and the fungus starts to grow inside them and that's what kills them. within $45.00 days that toxins had

killed almost all of the insects even the ones resistant to pesticides without the presence of the fungus the population of increased over the same period the researchers say the fungus does not harm humans and other insects they hope that one day their approach could also help fight diseases like. that are also transmitted by mosquitoes. joining me now in the studio is dead equations from our science desk welcome derrick it seems that almost half the world's population is exposed to malaria and a lot of people also lose their lives the law has been able to eradicate smallpox but why not malaria wise it's a difficult to eradicate well for a couple of different reasons the 1st and foremost being of course that we have an effective vaccine against smallpox there's also and there's a vaccine that's been around for about 5 years for malaria but it's not nearly as effective and it just appears that this is parasite this plasmodium that causes

malaria is quite good at sort of getting around doing this and run around these immune systems solutions like back scenes which is why so many researchers are focusing on a different aspect they're focusing on the vector the transmission of it which happens of course via mosquitoes and and. wipe out the disease so at the heart of the problem lie the mosquitoes what makes them so difficult to control . a mosquito a female a novelist mosquito that you know awfully species been the ones that transmitted malaria is really a mosquito factory and of herself a single mosquito can have up to around $200.00 can lay up to around $200.00 eggs and those eggs after they hatch. become adult mosquitoes within about 2 weeks so it's a very very fast generational turnaround and there is they'll start having they'll start laying eggs as well and so the the thing is is that is that we have to break

through that cycle because if even if you don't wipe them out down to the last. down to the last mosquito populations can rebound very very quickly and they and populations can explode very quickly if the conditions are right so using this new kind of gene modification technique is this the right way to go about it how can find to be so sure that it will have no adverse effects well that's a very very tricky question because on the one hand in order to solve this problem you really do need highly specific tools just like this one you can't just go in and dump a lot of insecticides out of planes in order to take care of your mosquito problem because you're dumping toxins into the environment and that affects all kinds of other mystery the other kinds of insects as well as well as things like birds and fish so what you need is a very highly specific tool and of course this genetically modified fungus that they're using is a very highly specific tool for mosquitoes it only infects mosquitoes they've shown that but then of course the problem is that is when you begin to release

a genetically modified organism like this fungus into the environment because you can't really predict what kind of effects that might have on the environment down the road once it's out there you're not going to be able to put that particular genie back in the bottle which is why you have to take it very much step by step and be very very very careful as you release if you're going to think about releasing a genetically modified organism into the wild jack williams from did obvious science to discredit you very much for that information. this is news and these are our top stories there's been a surge in the number of coronavirus cases in china officials in who by a province say there were 15000 new cases and over 250 deaths in a single day experts attribute the rise to a new diagnostic method. european union health ministers are holding

emergency talks in brussels that hard to prevent a virus from spreading only a few dozen cases have been recorded in europe but the block says a coordinated response is needed to keep the numbers low. a u.n. report accuses more than 100 israeli businesses of being complicit in violating palestinian rights by operating in the occupied west bank ballasted in officials welcomed the report but israeli prime minister benjamin netanyahu called it shameful. german media reports a conservative politician friedrich math's plans to run for the leadership of america's christian democratic party in 2018 he narrowly lost to an a great comfort cut in bauer who said on monday she would step down. this is the news from berlin for more follow us on twitter or visit our web site that's d w dot com. coming up next business news.

when others give up. natalia keeps on fighting. many russian mothers are in similar situations. their sons have run afoul of the country's arbitrary justice her only hope is protest. and she's not a law abiding citizen the bad guy in 60 minutes on a. johnny doesn't let his wheelchair keep him from pursuing surfing. dramas for johnny. that is not your average short stupid every day he pushes

himself to the limit fighting for his dream course life follows johnny as he overcomes obstacles and breaks down barriers from the wheelchair to athletes of. sports line starts february 15th on d w. is for me. beethoven is for you. it's for help. beethoven is for. is for the. beethoven is for us. is for every. beethoven 2020250th anniversary here on to.

the for. their bus bucks an ugly loss for 29 team a 3600000000 euro corruption penalty has finally hit the ledgers still there is reason for optimism well given the latest. also on the show the world's biggest mobile technology exhibition is canceled the for concerns over the coronavirus forced the mobile world congress to close its stores this year. this is.