and this is some story and most stubborn rice farmer from thailand. his problem that's. his credo no chemicals. sprayed him was. just don't stand a chance. train him successfully. duck out of me start october 5th change d.w. . from. all blue planets is becoming increasingly dominated by concrete over half the global population now lives in cities and the number is rising. not only are millions of people moving into urban areas wild animals are entire populations of them. live in areas of habit in cement bricks and asphalt which in harsh weather

turns them into hot spots literally. not a good look at the rising temperatures in the us cities welcome to tomorrow today the science show on t.w. . the northern hemisphere is 2nd hottest summer since records began is just coming to an end. in the last 140 years there's only been one summer hasa than this 12016 that's here august was particularly roasting the fall of hottest some is all in the last 5 years climate change is catching up with us it's particularly evident in cities because they become heat islands. have been heating is the name given to the so-called heat island effect temperatures and towns and cities rise more sharply than in the surrounding areas. because of the density of streets and buildings and

the many people cars and trains all of which produce heat. spread over the year the mean air temperature in areas is around $1.00 to $3.00 degrees celsius warmer than areas outside them only spaces within them. on top of this town and city center has often cooled down far less at night because the building density doesn't allow cool air to move around the city. on hot summer night without agrees the temperature difference between a city and its surroundings can be more than 10 degrees celsius. what's needed is cool air from the surrounding area but what happens when a current of air meets an obstacle that's would under this researching with the help of water light shining on tiny white particles suspended in the water reveals

currents in the tank. here the current flows unhindered but then it hits a building. you can see there in front of it that there's turbulence and the current flows over the top of the building and there's more turbulence behind it this is what happens when an air current is confronted with a building this is just one building but in a city up there are lots of them and that means all kinds of air currents. does cold air flow over a building or around it and what happens if there are obstacles in its path rubin eliminates these issues too. if a building faces the wind its width and height are the key factors in blocking the flow of air. the bigger it is the more the current is blocked. if i add another obstacle behind. the 1st one creates an area between them that is

poorly ventilated. the wind if it only comes from the front goes over the top of both buildings. and the area between them remains poorly ventilated. but you can reduce this effect if you place the building with its narrow side facing the wind. that reduces the surface area at the wind hits and allows it to flow past the building. urban planners need to pay close attention to the orientation of buildings relative to prevailing winds here for example they block cool air coming off the high ground into the valley but if they are turned to 90 degrees the wind passes between them and everything gets nicely ventilated.

high rise buildings can also do their part in ventilating a city. although if i place a tall building behind a short one. the wind goes over the top of the short one and blows down into the street in front of the tall one and swirls around. you can influence the exchange of air in a city quite well pending on where the buildings stand relative to each other. if the tall building is right in front of the short one that blocks the breeze and prevents cooling the distance is great enough that current also reaches the short building. big gaps between city buildings are red this proximity makes them he said and some cities like chennai and mumbai in india can reach temperatures of 30 degrees celsius. lagos in nigeria is also one of the world's hottest city.

as is mecca in saudi arabia. and he's saying is happening across the globe even in cooler places like the german capital. joke folk is an urban climate expert searching for effective ways to reduce city temperatures this detailed model of berlin is going to help him. in hot weather the german capital is an urban heat island thermal imaging shows how populated urban areas function like calculate they can be up to 8 degrees warmer than outlying areas. the researcher is using this mini world to find a solution. inside this model of a city apartment and ice cube will demonstrate how much heat gets through.

the test houses made of regular building materials. and want to see what happens when the sun shines on a brick building the building warms up. and what happens if we use other materials insulate the facade of or if we put a tree in front of it. on a fish. using time lapse imaging we can see how people fare in this kind of building it only takes half an hour for the house to really heat up very soon they would be practically melting in the heat and no wonder it's over 30 degrees. brick buildings as we've reproduced them here in the model absolve the heat energy of the sun very well and stoled its energy very well. this is due to the effect with the color of a building material dictates how much radiation from the sun is reflected by its surfaces. in the case of black slate for example the

value is 0 point one that means just 10 percent of the rays from the surface are reflected. with red roof tiles the value was between 0 point one and 0.35 and with white facades like the ones common increase the albi job alue is between 0.5 in 0.9 the lower the value of their for solids or roofs the hotter the buildings in the city will be. now the experts. are measures 1st external thermal insulation panels. if we want to see what effect this has on the building ultimately insulating the facade not only ensures that heat stays in the apartment it also keeps heat out of

the apartment. next comes a coat of light colored paint this reflects the sunlight and so coots the heat out . brightly painted insulated the house then gets a layer of greenery. on its roof before being bathed in another half hour of $1000.00 watt sunshine a couple of shade providing trees round off the protective measures. behold this time our hypo thermic resident is still on his feet no wonder with an interior temperature of almost $23.00 degrees. since now about $23.00 degrees in the apartment and compared to the temperature of around 30 degrees at the start of our experiment that's a big drop in the wall. which all goes to show that paint can play an important role in easing the city's he problem.

as can green spaces in a city. and they don't only offer a fresh mint. it's a paradox while the habitat of wild animals shrinks thanks to expanding cities some creatures are playing to urban areas and finding refuge in them. even develop into unique groups of city animals. urban foxes live among us but make only occasional fleeting appearances there are a growing presence in cities and have proven to be highly adaptable. evolutionary biologist sophia kim make researchers berlin's fox population for wild animals the city is a challenging habitat. but. you have to bear in mind what sort of

a habitat the city is it's such an artificial environment miss so much man made him put the foxes have to withstand the light noise traffic i find that fascinating to me to me and. q. make has been gathering data on urban foxes for the last 5 years she's equipped 17 of them with a transmitter that allows her to track their movements she's also set up cameras near fox holes in order to monitor the activities of their inhabitants. and woman which is also at the moment i'm trying to find out if they're actually hit. i know they're in the area but it's a wide area so there are lots of folks then and i'd like to know which one they're actually using on the moment but let's not. kill it is writing a doctoral thesis at the lab mates institute for zoo and wildlife research on the behavioral ecology of red foxes in urban environments.

she cited specimens in parks and even in berlin's government district. none of the strong smell indicates fox is often something all. that goes a rabbit. as we can see there are rich pickings for foxes. and he's also. one of the fox so sophia kimock has located it's beneath containers at the edge of a park the foxes keep a low profile during the day but they did leave traces. the monkey know him if you look closely you can see a footprint. urban foxes live in close proximity to the human population how come given that they're naturally shy animals. well they found a habitat in the city where no one is preying upon them as is the case in the countryside whether many food sources for on of all those folks is a highly opportunistic and the anything they find although they're especially good

at hunting mice and other brighton's they can also live off rotting fruit earthworms and all sorts of things really. there is no shortage of trash in the city it's one big buffet as far as the foxes are concerned. berlin is believed to be home to between 5010000 foxes fox cubs born in the city are unfazed by the hustle and bustle of the big city. foxes are becoming ever less timid. sylvia q. makes research has revealed that berlin has its own indigenous population and the animals are in fact genetically different from their country cousins. stock kinds of time and again schools of the city limits seem to mark a barrier between fox population was the still live move between the city and the countryside but it's massively reduced. the forces that live in the city you don't

want to leave it to you and cox's that live in the countryside don't want to fund trying to the city. because they're afraid and i'm not used to being close to humans in your defense and. her research has also shown that urban foxes mark out their territory and like to stay in it with some exceptions. then you took the boxes reach maturity in autumn and start to migrate to the territory so they make their way through the city and you think they would choose to travel through the parks and green spaces but in fact they tend to travel along the motorways to get from one place to the next. foxes obviously appreciate the benefits of urban infrastructure they're becoming increasingly bold urban foxes often even approach humans. to the consternation of many foxes are thought to carry disease although in fact regrease was a radical beat in germany in 2008 and. just highly dangerous his rare.

have been having an issue enough west from dutch on this new fox tape and it's rather than a take the risk of getting infected is very very not a fix and if you don't come into direct contact with foxes then you're not at risk and in general you just stick to hygiene rules after working in the garden or if you've been digging in the soil i bet you didn't even add up. anywhere where foxes might lurk where there's fallen fruit vegetables or berries it's important to keep washing your hands and if you do encounter a fox keep your distance. most berliners don't mind living in close proximity to foxes in. that they like them sophia kimock will be completing her ph d. thesis this year her research on urban fox populations has been exhaustive she's grown fond of her bushy tailed research subjects.

yeah that's better folks finish where this is where the stock and fox are equipped with the truck. of it's a tough cookie who read how young hair every year. i don't get any data from her anymore but i still come by to see if she's still head to check up on her up so here are a few urban foxes live to a ripe old age in this city field goals are their greatest enemy yet the growing presence of foxes shows that the opportunities of city life clearly outweigh the threats. and yet the cities continue to sprout up at an alarming rate easing ever more into surrounding areas humans and their beloved countries are taking over like here in china. and here in custer. as

a consequence animals and humans are getting closer to even sharing diseases vision from india had a question about that. what is who are not take diseases they are diseases caused by pathogens carried by non-human animals that spread to people. out of every 10 infectious diseases are believed to be 0 and are sick. the pathogens can be viruses bacteria parasites. many of the diseases they cause in people a mild but some a serious and even deadly. the bubonic plague tuberculosis malaria and ebola to an arctic diseases that have killed countless millions of people. and perhaps it was also caps and dogs and many other species carry pathogens that can make people

sick but often they don't make the animals that host. sick transmission can occur via a bite or through eating the flesh of a carrier or contact with its blood or feces. zoonotic diseases can spread fast and far if the pathogens adapted to be transmitted from person to person that's the case that the novel coronavirus. one hypothesis is that hangal ends with the intermediaries that transported the novel coronavirus from its natural hosts facts to humans. what markets where life wild animals assault are considered a potential site of transmission of zoo and arctic disease pathogens some have been closed for that reason. infectious diseases from animals are a growing problem of the probably has to do with humans encroaching on animal habitats forests are cleared for timber or to make space for farms or towns humans

and animals species on a longer far apart this offers opportunities for the pathogens to make the leap. there are more than $200.00 known zoonotic diseases there at countless germs out there to which humans have no immunity on new devastating diseases lurking to prevent the making the jump to humans we need to protect wild animals and their habitats. we do know to diseases can result from intensive livestock farming the other great animals are more susceptible to disease and so they are given blanket antibiotics this can lead to resistant bacteria which can then be transmitted to people. intensive farming also causes other problems it's threatens genetic diversity by repressing older groups of farm

animals. meet turk pull your pigs. styria and chickens and the ancient british white. people have been breeding and domesticated animals for at least 11000 years. nowadays 180 breeds of farm animals are endangered in europe alone among them the german saddle back. at the head open air museum folk in favor is working to preserve the rare breed with its distinctive features for one thing it's meat tastes very different from that of pigs raised on a factory farm. we have. in the autumn when the acorns fall to the ground the solid back seat lots and lots of them are so their meat has this wonderful acorn flavor it's something you don't often find nowadays we also make sausage out of the meat and it's very special those. pigs have been bred mainly for their meat

. the german saddleback has a generous layer of fat which nearly swelled its due. tastes changed in the 1960 s. and demand for fatty meat declined. the food industry responded by getting it scientists to breed futuristic new pigs with more meat chops all the same size and crucially a lot less fat. the breeders did not care much about the health or well being of the animals these newfangled swine were too big and heavy for their legs and hearts specimens were put on treadmills so the strongest could be identified and allowed to have offspring. these pigs were longer and had 2 more ribs than most and lots of lean flesh. but modern pigs are susceptible to stress for example when

being transported to slaughter but efforts are underway to breed a variety that takes even that. in its stride. old breeds are more robust and on the whole healthier and that probably has to do with their genetic make up. there are collections of genetic material from old breeds of farm animals. they are very important for research and for breeding purposes. one aim is to combine genes from different breeds in order to reduce the susceptibility to certain diseases. but it's far from certain that epidemics of say swine fever could be prevented this way. german red mountain cattle are long lived and undemanding. make have without complaining or complications for the most part. in the olden days there were no vets just down the road so everything had to just function properly and that's the case here even though it's cold when they have

their cobs in fabry humans rarely have to get involved that's a great advantage the very healthy. and the ancient celts are believed to have bred these red brown cattle 2000 or more years ago the cattle provide milk and meat and can be harnessed to plow the fields this breed is endangered outgunned by modern turbo cows. breeders have been adapting cows to the requirements of industrial farming. new breeds have been designed on the drawing board. the cow's udder was bred to fit the shape of a milking machine milk production increased the body's use of feed was optimized. red mountain cattle were regarded as extinct in the 1970 s. but thanks to a coincidence it has survived a study seen it was discovered at a breeding facility. as he was known sire to

a new generation and in doing so saved the breed from extinction the cattle characteristics could be use. in the future. even if they're no longer used in production their genetic material is needed for further breeding and we can't know today exactly what kind of breeding requirements will have a century from now. a change of scene the rain mountains of central germany are home to the ruined sheep its positive characteristics were also nearly forgotten. once demand for its ruined sheep pelts dried up its numbers dropped from hundreds of thousands to just a few 100 creatures the sheep scratchy wool became unmarketable. modern sheep were needed to provide more meat more milk and above all softer wool. none of this applies to the ruined sheep but still it's being rediscovered for landscaping purposes modern sheep brains often suffer from book disorders but not the ruin

their trousers are especially tough. thanks to this hardness they have no problem grazing year round and since sheep are picky eaters they help maintain sensitive ecosystems. this is silver thistle an emblem of the run their only chance of survival depends on the grazing strategy used on the sheep are best suited to the purpose of the sheep choose what they like and they leave the rest alone that means this biodiversity already exists i mean actually want more of this dismissed my. old farm animals they are still useful for landscape maintenance for their ease of care for their taste and for their genetic diversity. if outlet is right why i'm glad you. see you have the science question you'd like us to unset send it in if we featured on this show you didn't didn't surprise as

a thank you. can. just ask the but. want to hear most stories about science then visit our website and check us out on twitter. the be. that's all from us i tomorrow today thanks for joining us. we're back next week to talk then stay healthy and curious. the but.

the big. tax can aspire. to be the people making above africa fantastic right now but join them as they set out to save the environment to learn from one another work together for a better future for the because do you all putting it be good enough or go.

on d.w. . the face against the corona virus pandemic. where does science stand. and what the new findings have researchers new. information and background to. the corona update comes with 19 special. monday to friday on g.w. . our favorite. pairing the for cutting the bathtub was.

the last at. first but i am. now. here has family. and i have to say when. i was. there my i was. always gagging. gallow know what i did. when i met.

this is d.w. news live from berlin how long will donald trump stay in covert quarantine the u.s. president is reportedly pushing for a monday release just a day after briefly leaving the hospital to wave to supporters faces mixed messages swirl over the true state of trump's health also is coming out free for all a just when this year's nobel prize for medicine that their discovery of hepatitis c. . i'm

rebecca rose has welcome to the program u.s. president donald trump is facing a shot criticism over his decision to briefly leave the hospital where he's being treated for covert 19 trump took a motorcade ride on sunday to wave to supporters in a move that many say breaks health protocols the white house says doctors will decide whether to discharge the president lives as a day meanwhile the outbreak in the white house keeps expanding with press secretary caley mcinerney now confirming she's tested positive for the virus. president trump alive and well appear to be the message behind his short right outside the walter reed military hospital where he's being treated for a cold that 19 the wisdom of his outing to greet supporters was immediately questioned leading physician said president trump disregarded standard guidelines for coronavirus patients and put the health of others at risk. in

a short video posted on sunday trump claims that this experience was teaching him a lot about the coronavirus anybody so it's been a very interesting journey i learned a lot about kovi i learned it by really going to school this is the real school this is in the let's read the book school and i get it and i understand it and it's a very interesting thing going to be letting you know about trump's doctors painted an optimistic picture of the president's health suggesting that he might be back at the white house as early as monday but the medical details provided were contradictory and a vase of some information including drops in the president's oxygen levels and the decision to administer a steroid treatment point to a more serious case of coalwood 19 than what his physicians previously disclosed. trump's supporters who organized the boat rally on maryland's eastern shore were

certain that president trump would make a full recovery. course i was worried about our prize and we love our prize and. i think he's in the best behave and he's got a great doctor and i think you'll be just fine he's strong helping me and so i don't think the timing is good but it sounds like he's recovering and getting through well i don't think i have too much of an impact down. with the election just one month away trumps camp is struggling to push his campaign forward pulls show that joe biden's lead in the presidential. race has grown since last week's debate under quarantine the president can't hold rallies to fire up his base and his coronavirus that gnosis has made it even harder to divert attention from his much criticized handling of the pandemic. of war on this story i'm joined by date of your report to our until 10 am hi bring us up to speed it's now monday

morning where the president is what's the latest from wall to rate well what we're hearing both from walter reed and from the white house is that president trump is continuing to push to be released later today now what the white house officials have been seen so far is that his doctors have not yet made any type of decision regarding his health and whether that will allow him to actually be released back to the white house now based on things that from his writing on twitter what he was seeing yesterday we do know that he's really pushing for that but there's a lot of open questions regarding his actual diagnosis and his condition at the moment based on the type of treatment he's receiving and also as we heard there in that report the fact that he has been given supplemental oxygen that seems to indicate that his covert 1000 diagnosis was a little bit more severe than his doctors and his supporters rule initially wanted to admit to and that there may have been some long term damage to his lungs now if these are all questions that his doctors are looking at quite closely and will

probably factor into the decision of whether or not he will be able to be released later today you know if you've been following on twitter the president is awake he is tweeting up a storm right now so he's taking pains to actually show that he is healthy enough to go back to work but the ball is really in his doctor's court at the moment so donald trump focuses on a lot on personal appearances to kind of drum up support mass rallies to really get out his message this is coded in fiction maine he'll now be following a different strategy in the lead up to the election well you're really asking me to get into donald trump's head right now and at the end of the day it's he's the only one who's going to know that. one hand we saw in one of his videos that he released yesterday that he said you know he's learned a lot from his own infection he's learned how dangerous this diseases and how insidious it is to a certain extent but the question for me that is really kind of out there is what could he have learned in the last 3 days that the deaths of 209000 americans haven't taught him in the last 6 months and when you really look at it this is

a man who's obsessed with her train his own strength to the rest of the world and that's actually what his rallies are really good for he thinks he's you know kind of in his own ballpark when he's out there pressing the flesh talking to people directly and getting his message directly to his voters would you really needs to do that in terms of getting his mentions of strength out there but at the same time you have to realize he's surrounded himself by a party that since day one has minimized its threats of covert is minimized the dangers associate with the disease and actually tried to label people who wear masks who socially distance at least in the american context as unpatriotic and weak so he's kind of damned if he does damned if he doesn't if he says he's turned over a new leaf well some of his own supporters did say wait used to say that that was weakness that was anti-patriotic but if he doesn't brace these new measures you could have other people are then saying well why didn't you do that earlier and if you did do that earlier wouldn't these 201000 americans still be alive so it's a really tricky deal that he's in with right now and i don't think there's

a clear answer even for himself now the next few days certainly are going to be interesting but what about the other side the democrats what's the reaction been from the biden cap well biden has taken a very very different strategy to trump since the public announcement of his diagnosis biden kind of took the statesman approach he took a step back and said i'm not going to run attack ads anymore i'm going to step out of the limelight and let the country focus on the president and let the president actually take time to heal and recover from this disease on the one hand you could say this is a very statement like approach it's the polite thing to do it's the moral thing to do it's what he should be doing. but there is definitely political calculation behind this biden wants to make sure all focus is directly on the president and his handling of the covert pandemic he wants to make sure that people who think that there are massive problems with how america has approached the pandemic are remaining focused on the president and this strategy does appear to be work you

know i mean if you look at it through every major appalled by it is leading especially in the critical swing states because you know they realize when it comes to the situation donald trump is best for his own best friend and his own worst enemy and their strategy really is basically give don't trump enough rope to hang himself with it and see how the american public react to it and so far it appears to be working until then thanks very much praise up to thank you. ok let's turn now to some of the other stories making news around the world famous cafes and bars of paris have been ordered to close their doors completely for 2 weeks following a surge in corona virus infections the move comes just months after france lifted a nationwide lockdown the new rules to ensure social distancing in the french capital go into force on choose day. a suicide bomb attack in eastern afghanistan has killed at least i pay full and left more than $25.00 injured the attacker rammed a vehicle packed with explosives into the provincial governors convoy it comes as

afghan president ashraf ghani travel to hotwire in an attempt to restart stalled peace talks with the taliban. laid bricks that negotiated michelle obama is in berlin for government talks amid mounting pressure on london and brussels to agree on the terms of britain's departure foreign minister hyper miles underscored the need for quick progress to avoid an ideal scenario on air also held talks with chancellor angela merkel. and german authorities have launched an attempted murder investigation into the case of a 26 year old jewish student who was attacked outside a sing synagogue in hamburg and initial findings indicate the assault was motivated by anti semitism the victim was seriously wounded when a man in military style clothing struck him on the head repeatedly with a shovel. the 1st of the 2020 nobel prizes was announced today and this is prize for medicine went to a trio of or all of just the discovery of hepatitis c.

the ulta shells rice and michael jordan were on it for their groundbreaking work dating back to the 1970 s. the nobel committee says the discovery of hepatitis c. helped save countless lives around the world. 71000000 people that's how many suffer from a chronic hepatitis c. infection as estimated by the world health organization they have to tie. isee virus is transmitted through blood it often goes unnoticed for a long time slowly and silently attacking the liver infection can lead to diseases like liver cirrhosis or liver cancer a major reason people need a liver transplant the discovery of the virus led to huge medical breakthroughs really in saving discovery you know so it's critical to go to the to do beginning to really understand the basic original discoveries that he really enabled there's so much that has happened so many. advances in european center but

that's made this initial discovery of the actually. harvey alter discovered the hepatitis c. virus in 1909 it was the 1st step towards fighting dangerous and until then mysterious liver infections the 2nd nobel laureate michael houghton then succeeded in isolating the d.n.a. of the newly found virus and finally charles reiss prove that it is the virus alone that causes liver disease these 3 scientific discoveries also made it possible to screen donated blood making blood transfusions much safer if. after the discovery we were able to test all the blood donors and sort out the ones with hepatitis c. . one could also develop treatments with which we could successfully fight the virus. there's still no vaccine for hepatitis c. the research for that is ongoing but today the world health organization estimates that over 95 percent of hepatitis c.

patients can be successfully treated against the disease thanks to the work of today's nobel prize winners. on it's very important research i'm joined by a. science desk thanks for coming in we had a little bit there but tell us a bit more about today's winners well they all of the 3 from the u.s. and from europe what and this is actually the case for most. of the nobel prize laureates. for all the times we have so far so it's no surprise that. well alter and rice they both are from the u.s. heart and as british but here over his life he moved to the us and now lives in canada and works there. they didn't work together one institute at their research kind of this built. upon each other so alter was the 1st to kind of to make the initial step and then the others followed to with further research and with further knowledge and as the prize was in the $970.00 s.

the nobel prize was awarded to the discovery for have it off they have a virus it's not really a surprise now that this is also awarded now i mean that's just right ok well then tell us a little bit more about the research how does it change the lives of people the daily lives of people it has changed a lot. a lot because it's hard to see viruses quite dangerous it can cause death and it's chronicled so it's a life long thing but let's go a bit into the past to understand it better in the one 961970 s. the hepatitis a and have are there to be viruses they are already known. but they're protected virus wasn't yet and back then alter the 1st winner was studying how blood transmissions cause hepatitis infections and he he found there was no no no no no no of the strains that were known no hepatitis

a and no appetite to be viruses were found in the samples he lies so i was wondering where is this mysterious virus coming from who is it where is it what is it. so he was the 1st actually identify that there was something there was a virus which is a and b. which causes the strange arrest infection and then the heart and. into the game and you was the 1st to identify really the hepatitis c. virus to sit. with new molecular methods so he could say this is the event this is the d.n.a. this is how it looks like and when is the last piece in the puzzle because of course the question is then can hepatitis c. be the only cause for the insects and and that was what was what rice found out that yes it can and it's quite dangerous. thanks very much for that information

i just a reminder of the top story we're following for you the white house says doctors will decide later today whether to discharge president trump from hospital where he's being treated for coverage 9 tain critics have called trump's contract outside on sunday as irresponsible and while want white house press secretary came a mike mcinerney has confirmed she's also tested positive for the virus. you're watching. thanks for. every 2 seconds the person is forced to flee their home. the consequences just stress our documentary series displaced depicts traumatic humanitarian crises around the world. for good thing we don't have time to think i didn't go to university to kill people and you know i think the impact it's having i mean again

. people feel for their cars and their future so they seek refuge abroad but what will become of course to stay behind. displaced starts october 16th on g.w. . did look at a bit of that. a bounce in of debt is threatening the developing world the world bank warning the solutions are needed and fast as the pandemic eats into country's finances the organization raising the volume on its calls for debt moratoriums and forgiveness. also on the show will look at how women in afghanistan are pushing ahead with their own businesses. and the world's 2nd largest cinema operator center world shouting over $700.00 u.k. and u.s. movie theaters after james bond is held up by the coronavirus. welcome to the show

i'm stephen beers in berlin it's good to have you with us. so the world bank is sounding the alarm of the towering debt levels in developing countries weeks after zambia skipped a payment to private creditors world bank president david moll pos in a virtual speech to the frankfurt school of management calling for more countries to join a debt moratorium as well as private creditors who make up a growing portion of lenders in africa i'm up us also called for an international joint action plan for debt reduction by year's end and the push comes one week before the world bank's annual meetings. are let's take a quick look at africa and just how much much its debt burden has grown in recent years now between 20102800 foreign debt in sub-saharan africa almost doubled to

just under 6 trillion u.s. dollars i don't believe we have the picture therefore if you have to listen to me that means that many of those countries who have to spend more on paying back the loans as well as the interest on them and that it doesn't leave much room for those countries to make much needed investments including in medical supplies or economic stimulus and china is one of the largest creditors in africa but the number of private creditors has also grown. and the president of the world bank joins me today from washington david welcome to the show it's great to have you as always david i want to start with zambia which i just mentioned missing a payment to its private creditors despite participating in this loan moratorium read this debt moratorium program sponsored by you and i.m.f. why is that moratorium in their case not enough. hi steven i thought that moratorium. helps a lot but remember what it does is dip the payments and for quite

a few countries they're actually going to need a reduction in the amount of debt with interest rates as low as they are right now if i if i tell. you in dollars this year or you can pay me next year a $1000000000.00 neither of those helps you very much because you know it's very hard to come up with the money and the time value of money isn't the way it used to be so it's just a big challenge for the countries zambia. is trying to find its way through that and they'll be working i guess with private sector creditors i don't know that situation so well now david after this debt moratorium came out from the g 20 private creditors a group of private creditors actually sent you a letter saying that they are willing to forbear on loan repayments but that they are not going to seek to cancel debt which is just what you said that you wanted so how are you going to get them to budge when they explicitly say we do not want to

do that. what i had hoped in march when i when i called for the for the suspension of payments was that the private sector creditors would join with the official creditors unfortunately they they didn't do it they continued taking all the payments and while they they did write that note that you're talking about there was never action by the private sector creditors to help make that work so the countries were under the risk if they if they'd missed a payment big penalty interest being applied to it that's one of the challenges i mentioned in my speech this morning the issue of penalty interest it's almost like if you miss a miss a payment on your credit card and then all of a sudden you're paying 20 percent interest rate compound it rapidly that's a risk for these countries and there needs to be more active participation by creditors you also mentioned in your speech today china and said that despite being

car the g 20 they have not participated in this loan forgiveness program to the most part they haven't really shown many signals how hard is it going to be to get them involved. well unfortunately they joined the g 20 indorsement of this concept back in march and president xi has spoken in favor of it but some of the individual chinese creditors aren't participating and they're some of the biggest creditors in the world so if you look at the poorest countries in africa and africa in general giant amounts are owed to these rather wealthy chinese government agencies that are still taking full payments and so that's one of the challenges that we're facing and what we're calling for you know we have our annual meetings coming up and we're asking the g. 20 to to ask us for next steps in other words push forward and the world bank shareholders are favoring that pushing forward with ways to find relief

for the countries you know a big problem is the inequality that this all provides you've got you've got the advanced economies with these big stimulus measures through you know through government spending for example and the central banks that are buying up a lot of the debt that that's not available to the developing countries and especially not to the poorest countries so we need to find extra things or different things that we can do to help them through the crisis right david you mentioned those annual meetings coming up debt relief such a big focus but we just talked about china how reluctant they are and private creditors how reluctant they are the odds don't really look that great for getting a whole lot of debt relief for developing countries. you know what's happened is that's right and that's a real concern in past credit crisis cycles and there have been a number where that they they tend to go on for many many years and the people of

the country are left left in a very difficult spot there their government promised to pay and then the people are made to pay even no matter how poor they are and that's what we're trying to avoid this time by moving faster toward actual reduction in the stock of debt of course the creditors are reluctant you know they want to keep getting paid every quarter if they can but at some point the world has to join together and push forward more aggressively. on this idea that look too much was lived in there's the pandemic has changed circumstances so we have to find a way through it baster rather than drag it out all right david malpass president of the world bank with an urgent appeal thank you very much thank you bye bye all right and now we go to another developing country afghanistan it may not come to mind is the kind of place where business ideas can blossom but women

entrepreneurs in afghanistan are on the rise and according to one local ministries estimate from 2018 they're almost 900 small and medium size female own enterprises around the country and one such enterprise one such enterprise rather is a fitness center for women in the former taliban stronghold of kandahar. political games have been slow for women in afghanistan since the fall of the taliban in 2001 . but the gains in the gym have only just begun this woman only fitness center in the conservative stronghold of kandahar is credit to the hard work. the mode. also employs women it's vital progress in a country where less than a quarter of women work outside the home. the system does this is. i'm delighted to work here because i can help women and exercise myself after all exercise is good for my health and the money i earn is

a great financial health is my family. it's not just the cardio machines here that are raising heart rates the owner says she's never spent on going peace talks with the taliban could mean compromises that restrict women and threaten businesses like cars. i want to get on in the house they were worried not only about our business and sports but about all sectors where women work. our concern is that if the taliban reunited the government what were they impose a lot of money because given what i've been following on the here is i think the taliban's mindset and ideas have not changed much. for now the women walking out here see the will push through their fears and work towards their fitness and health codes. and let's take a brief look now at some of the other business stories making global headlines u.s. software giant microsoft will build 3 data centers in athens investing up to

$1000000000.00 u.s. dollars in greece the package includes digital skills training programs for government and private sector workers as well as teachers and students recently emerged from a years long financial crisis. oil production and exports are resuming in opec member libya following the easing of a blockade by militant forces the blockade which began in january libyan output from over 1000000 barrels per day to around 100001st tankers alleve was already carrying 600000 barrels and headed for italy. well global pandemic may be a good movie plot but it's a terrible reality for the movies the world's 2nd largest cinema operator center world says it's temporarily closing more than 700 theaters in the u.k. and the u.s. senate world says the delay in major film releases the newest james bond movie has made the industry a viable. not for the 1st time had double 07 been

expected to come to the rescue this time an industry thrown into crisis no time to die itself fell victim to the virus it's pretty serious delaying its released until next spring. on the loss of a crowd puller like bond has made the movie theater industry on a viable according to bosses and it comes after a miserable year doubtful sinew world lose $1600000000.00 the quiz if you you. we will. march big. close. will be like also the stock was not food with 45000 jobs now at risk british prime minister barak's johnson is calling for the public to help bios would say to people is that you. do not have ways of letting

their shows go on in a they could be secure way and i'd encourage people to go out to the cinema enjoy themselves and support those businesses it may be too late for the silver screen without the lure of blockbuster releases anxious consumers are perhaps even less likely to flock to the cinema for some of them no matter how much they need this. and that's all from me and the business team today in berlin if you want more from us to check us out online dot com slash business cross on facebook and twitter as always is joining us.

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trying in all with and the stand this new culture. another very little. you want to become a citizen. in for migrants your platform for reliable information. this is the wus a show coming up to do the children forced into an adult's wasn't. millions of children in india on a risk of being pushed into work as the go on oh i just find them egregious across the country damn that it's far too should be prevented. and conservationists in taiwan are in the race against time to save the.