the new silk road. china wants to expand its influence with this trade network also in europe. china is promising its partners rich. but in europe there's a sharp warning whether accepting money from the new superpower will become dependent on it china's gateway to. starts feb 19th on g.w. . this is news and these are our top stories. in northern india several people are confirmed dead after a glacier broke causing a torrent of water to crash into several 100 electric plants in the state of with a count some 140 people are still reported missing and feared dead search efforts are under way for survivors. tens of thousands of people

continue to protest in me in mar after last week's military coup that despite the military's efforts to block internet communication throughout the country the protesters are demanding the release of mian mars' detained leader aung sun suu kyi . northern and central germany have been hit by heavy snow and ice causing disruptions to public transportation that will likely continue into monday some train services between major cities in the capital berlin have been cancelled authorities are urging people to stay at home this is d.w. news from berlin you can follow us on twitter and instagram at v.w. news and to visit our website that's t w dot com. or .

a simple plastic bag is used only for 15 minutes on average but it can last in a waste body without decomposing for work i'm in libya think about that. our world produces $300000000.00 tons of plastic every year and it's found everywhere in cities towns and villages that pollute our land and the oceans what can we do to eradicate our dependence on plastic that's what we talk about to be welcome to equal india. let's start with something that most of us read and many of us laugh clothes when we pick up

a shirt we love dress that might look great we don't notice that more than 65 percent of all textile fibers need using crude oil which is why the textile industry today is one of the biggest polluters worldwide if you go for natural alternatives like cotton for example we're still a lot out of the woods cotton production needs a lot of water you know where does that on the world are experimenting with revolver t.v.'s which would cause the least amount of negative impact and hemp seems to be one such natural fiber. interests used to live off tourism the oregon valley. is a popular destination peak season is from may to october but the pandemic has changed everything.

around what needs to look for another source of income. might be the answer the plant floor issues here in the mountains. and has a tradition of hemp production that dates back centuries. until recently people didn't know much about him so. we grew it mainly for personal use like making shoes and ropes but now we know that this product has a value and can be sold at a price so it's only now that we're beginning to work with it commercially. while the fruits and flowers of hemp a variety of cannabis are banned in india under the 1985 narcotics drugs and psychotropic substances act the dried stock and seeds are not. had a cow and is the 1st state in the country granted a license to cultivate hemp for research and industrial use. but only the

non-narcotic variants of the plant the plants that traditionally grow here in the mountains contain high levels of psychoactive substances less than 40 kilometers away from raw its village and the town of people j.p. my tiny has been working closely with farmers to promote the extract of hemp for industrial use. there but as the head of a federation of self-help groups my tunny has been working to create local resource based employment for the vulnerable mountain communities of the charm only district . one source of income is him cultivation itself the other is processing the 5 bed to make clothes. but then there is the processing of seeds to make protein products and oils the c.b.d. oil extracted from it is used in many ayurvedic medicine so

a single plant has about 1200 uses. it also grows in 6 to 7 months doesn't attract blog life and it's not labor intensive. no burden on women and children really but he. has been working on projects with the federation for over 20 years. the dried stocks of hemp are processed into fiber one and manages a team of women from nearby villages employing them seasonally for a daily wage of 300 rupees just over 3 zeros the number of women working here depends on how much hemp needs to be processed in a region where work has become increasingly difficult to find the project gives women like the one a hope. that here in the hills a lot of men are alcoholics they don't earn a living usually their wives are the ones who come here and work it's the only way

they can afford to light their stoves at home. on average $100.00 kilos of dried hemp stock produces about 10 kilos of processed fiber. this is then made into garments. there is a growing demand for hemp clothing as organic eco friendly fashion becomes more trendy. but so far hemp processing hasn't really taken off the primary reason being the local availability of the non-narcotic low t.h.c. seed. real for now we are unable to produce the low t.h.c. seeds in the district we're working in that direction along with a few other companies they're trying to develop a lower t.h.c. seeds. but this needs a lot of research and it's a time taking process in the meantime industrial hemp seeds are imported from the

us australia and europe. the center for aromatic plants and data dune was established by the government its director near penn. played a key role in shaping state policy on hemp cultivation he's working together with research institutes to develop non-narcotic seeds in india which will not adversely affect local biodiversity and that if industrial hemp creates business opportunities then why would people grow something that could land them in jail we are hoping to make these seeds available freely so that locals can grow industrial hemp in as much quantity as they want there are already comprehensive plans for him production in the pipeline. despite the challenges on the ground experts in the sector remain optimistic that hemp cultivation could become the backbone of the state's economy. the plant has been growing in these hills for centuries and has

long been misused and misrepresented the new strategy could help improve the lives of the local population. when the plant has high t.h.c. seeds then people smoke it especially now when there's so much unemployment if we only grow low t.h.c. seeds then this problem can be prevented round what is already doing better in the past year here and $5000.00 rupees around $56.00 euros by selling roll have fiber that's only a small percentage of what he earned previously but he hopes that eventually hemp cultivation will provide him with a reliable income. now historic set to have been one of the 4th blondes to. use the bot. a controversial reputation let's see ringback how it's evolved over the last 200.

this is automotive pioneer henry ford in the early 1940 s. leaning into a prototype made of plant based materials including hemp hardly a subtle product but the marketing the vehicle was lighter and more stable than its metal counterparts but it never went into mass production. temp was an important commodity in the european textile industry into the 1800s until the low cost cotton imports replaced it a cannabis plant it was later banned in many countries because of its intoxicating qualities but attitudes towards cannabis have been changing in recent years. some countries such as canada have even legalized recreational marijuana at a national level. while industrial hemp has lower levels of psychoactive substances it does contain c.b.d. which is short for cannabidiol a drug that is said to have many positive effects including therapeutic ones there

are currently 12 european countries that permit the use for medicinal purposes. there is. your will end up with. this but it has been proven. to get. ready for the problems that can be pain or no. help is also being rediscovered as an environmentally friendly building material it's breathable and can also help regulate the temperature and air moisture in buildings thus saving energy. does here this is a classic wall insulation can be a good alternative policy styrene or mineral will. hamper keeps out moisture and bugs when mixed with clay it can last for centuries. him is

a renewable raw material but growing it is only allowed under strict conditions only particular varieties are permitted for large scale farming in the. industrial hemp is a plant that grows quickly and has multiple uses another advantage is that hemp farming uses 50 percent less water than cotton farming. camp is also being combined again with synthetic materials to form composites automobile manufacturers like b.m.w. use hemp in car door panels. people can also purchase smart phone covers made of hemp creating these innovative materials is still laboring chance of and expensive but industrial hemp has lots of potential it's also rich in protein omega 3 and omega 6 fatty acids as a result c b d s b trump

a darling of the lifestyle industry it's founded cosmetics like oils creams and soaps as well as food stuffs like lemonades cakes and coffee. in an ideal world we would only completely recyclable products we wouldn't have such a huge amount of plastic waste and we wouldn't find plastic everywhere. but unfortunately we don't live in that ideal world our plastic problem is it's estimated that by 2050 there will be more pieces of plastic than the number of fish. lucky for us that of many people who are trying to solve this problem we raise that at some of them in germany. and i delete location on the who are river in western germany. take a closer look and it's not as beautiful. as. kevin know where

and their classmates have come to do some fishing but not the usual kind it's trash their fishing for. and here it doesn't take long place lissa everywhere they look and lots of different types of it and kevin and the way show us some discarded newspapers and cigarette lighters they worry they could cause wildfires. and there's plenty of plastic. wise if you glass bottles to. the students attend a local high school and are taking part in an initiative called plastic pirates it's a research project where young students get to do the work of real scientists. they take water samples and measure count and record the pieces of trash they recovered from the rivers and river that. scientists in kew use the data to generate a garbage map of german rivers and calculate how much trash ends up in the sea

since 2016 more than 15000 plastic pirates from 700 schools have collected samples from all over germany. the project is now being launched in other european countries too. for the past 2 years the school has included the topic of recycling on their curriculum. and the teachers are happy to do their part to inspire the budding scientists. out there. it's something i care about myself it always bothers me when i see people leaving rubbish behind especially when they have small children with them and are supposed to be setting an example. the work of the plastic pirates shows that on average one piece of trash can be found for every 2 square metres of riverbank in germany. france also has a project aimed at tracking down the trash it's called plastic origins and goes

a step further using artificial intelligence and an app we want to move it out as much as brought us and citizens as we can to go on the reverse or you can create either through change or walking around that we do bands and using those data using the video footage that they are going to take over the river banks we will be able to analyze as we do detect early 2 items and uses data to my previous plastic pollution the aim of plastic origins is to get stricter legislation introduced on plastic waste and regulatory limits with the amount of plastic in european reference their garbage map is intended to identify especially polluted areas and it's important because it's going to help us. to know exactly where we should act 1st you know the pollution is coming from

everywhere but we know that most of the pollution we find the ocean is transported by regrets that right now we don't know which way it goes the most polluted for the . but the app can track micro plastics in germany alone full kilos of micro plastics per person per year end up in the environment the main sources particles from the tires industrial waste and household garbage it's difficult for waste water treatment plants to filter out the tiny particles but a munich startup called eco faria is showing how it can be done using a simple but effective method. there prototype is currently being tested this is how it works the waste water is pumped into the filter a powerful voice x. is generated in the pipe pushing the water containing most of the micro plastics to the top the company says 95 percent of micro plastics from municipalities and

industry could be filtered out in this way. the young plastic pirates agree that more needs to be done to combat plastic pollution after just 2 hours in this idyllic location they found more trash than they can even carry. plastics need hundreds of years to decompose but they will never be completely gone the result of this process of decomposition is micro plastics or very small particles that you can't see with the naked eye and that pollute the environment but what if you used plastic decomposed in another week scientists have found some help in nature. these warnings are doing something that we always thought was impossible. but you have to think reading the non-bank readable. digesting the number just the. they're even plastic.

this is how they would use a piece of styrofoam in just the week 'd. if we could harvest their super power we could get 3 of our plastic trash in weeks rather than send to reach. they could save countless animals help clean the environment and avoid toxic plastic incineration. can prosecuting bugs help solve our plastic problem 'd. oh yeah. i have to say that my that night. she speak up at the kini

a molecular biologist who in 2017 made an important discovery. by not cleaning one of my beehive it was. basically. what they used to find was. there. but these worms managed to eat their way out of the plastic bag this is something. to grasp the importance of these discovery we 1st need to understand more plastic is plastic is a mysterious material. frankel a science writer author and real plastic. in the natural world natural substances there you know sort of broken up by bacteria. go back to their essential elements are water. plastic doesn't do that. it just gets smaller and

smaller and smaller and smaller but it still essentially lasts that's why micro plastics stained the environment for center release. for most of our history we've built things with stuff we found in nature. rocks and metals but there's the ward modernize and there was a growing demand for properties that only scarce natural elements processed. things like raisin look. or ivory. in the mid 19th century. so many elements were being. made billiard balls. were being driven into extinction. eventually i'll be here at the board manufacturer promised to reach price to whoever could find a more abundant substitute for ivory that caught the eye of an american named john wesley. who spent several years to bring in his workshop benchley came up with the stuff so you avoid the plastic cage at begun. adverts like jesus celebrated the new

material they are that good at that they everything the rag doll get lovely washable microbrews read it because they were all laughing at life why you know i said annoyed replaced tortoise shell coral and mother. nylon replaced silk it's funny because in the early years plastic was seen as sort of a salvation of nature and today we look at it it's one of the chic enemies of the natural world. plastic is no everywhere some are light and transparent like plastic bags all those are extremely resistant like bullet proof vests what they all have in common is the polymers which just basically means they're materials that are made up repeating atomic units and i think of them as like beads on a chain. but a plastic looks like how it feels how it behaves all of that demands an army of

them together and the reason why plastic lasts so long in the environment is that nothing evolved to break down to stop of bombs. or a kiddies that's what we thought. all they have called me awards. and you can actually buy them online and watch them become it cute. as you feed them with styrofoam. it's not the organisms themselves. it's the bacteria those organisms probably if you think. he's a professor of structural biology and he knows everything about them things. were actually. horrible places actually to find those facts there are growing

on the surface that just think. their goal is to find new bugs in the can they just plastic isolate their enzymes and then enhanced must produce them in by reactors. obviously we can't just breathe. some of these technology can't help with the plastic already in the environment however it could revolutionize our recycling system. to really recycle something you have to break it down to its basic elements so that you can rearrange them into something else. because we can't break down plastic bonds we can only recycle it once or twice before it becomes unusable. and deaths wifey's warms can be a game changer if you think about bio recycling what you can do is take that box. and reuse it again and again and infinitely in fact it sounds like but it's already

on the way for example a french company named carpio's is a radio using again signs to recycle bottles like these and not just once or twice like in theory if in italy if you can increase the value of the. sensitized to morrow. forwards collect love lost in the 1st place and instead of people actually giving money to consume i'm still saying to people who'll be big money to take it back i think you can only use it. so the technology war is not scalable yet and it's still more expensive than virgin plastics oil and gas is really cheap that means it's cheaper to make a costly drill for oil and gas rather than fall out recycled materials. you need to get these technologies working at a much bigger scale that we're currently doing now in order to make a dent i do believe. we really need to work hard. so can

my warms with their enzymes solve our plastic problem i think it's great if we can find things like you know. the bacteria that can. last is really a design problem it's that we're taking acid 'd and we're using them up to our to make things that are trivial necessary and serve you know. we are in a toxic relationship with plastic. we invented it to substitute for a pail box in now we're turning to bugs to get rid of it. live without it i mean you know i like the fact that my glass lined up right. in the middle of the coronavirus. just. carry on the issue is how we how we use it. and here is well my screamy friend 7

important lesson to teach us. they have adapted to leave with plastic. 'd we should do the same. also 5 things have been conditioned to using plastic but little by little we can. of reaching for that plastic bag plastic cup or the container every small action comes i'll leave you without thought and see you again next week for why the entire team in india and germany. with.

the from. the bomb. in good shape. to the company's us every day and most of the time we don't even think about it bring in fresh small c.j.d. into all sales engine link commandant except that it's not only about those gases it's a lot like tunnels to stand the lies in all body everything about breathing in good

shooting. d.w. . is a not the best sexual assault is part of everyday life for women in egypt so it's time to resist. the filmmaker shows a young female superhero mocking downstream the band as mamas clerics are putting their foot down initiatives against sexual violence and global trade to submit. 16. closely. followed.

suit. to get. discover who. subscribe to. documentary. hello and welcome to in good shape today show is about something we all do every single day 247 when we awake and even when we sleep i'm talking about breathing

inhaling exhaling bringing fresh oxygen into cells and moving it but it's not only about those gases it's about vitality stand the body and nothing more refreshing than a walk in fresh how you can train your breathing and how you can use it. this is what we're going to talk about later in the show but 1st let's take a look at what is in the air and if it's really so clean when you take a walk. 99.9 percent of the air we breathe and consists of nitrogen oxygen and the noble gas are gone. but there are also trace gases the air in our immediate environment contains just 0.038 percent carbon dioxide but c o 2 is of major importance for the climate as well as for us and other living things. plants need carbon dioxide for photosynthesis which creates

the oxygen we all need to breathe. pure oxygen is poisonous breathing it in would be deadly. this specific mix of gases in the air around us is crucial to our survival. at rest and adult human needs to inhale about 0.3 leaders of oxygen per minute and to exhale about a quarter of a leader of carbon dioxide. reaching those amounts requires 7 leaders of air to circulate through the lungs every minute. clean air is something we can neither smell nor taste. but depending on our location and the time of year air can contain all kinds of additional liquid and solid particles. water vapor in the form of clouds for instance forms about 0.4 percent of the

earth's atmosphere. and there are any number of substances in the air that can harm us such as particulates matter emitted in traffic. and ultra fine dust particles are especially dangerous. for a single human hair is 50 to 70 micro meters wide. find such particles often measure less than 2.5 meters. but ultra fine particles are a 1000 times smaller than that. this enables them to penetrate the lungs airways and alveoli and cause inflammation there but they can also enter the bloodstream. there are also indications that the tiny particles can reach the brain.

particular matter doesn't just come from combustion engines especially diesel powered cars it's also a byproduct of abrasion from brakes and tires. heating with wood is another important source of particulate matter. and secondary particulates matter resulting from other contaminants such as ammonia can pollute the air for instance when animal excrement is used as fertilizer. the air we breathe contains all kinds of substances from our surroundings. and it's not as clean as we might imagine. is specially in times of corona and especially in times of wearing face masks we all start to realize how important breathing is but breathing is not only about the exchange of gases it's

important wellbeing so it might be a good time to exercise proper breathing. breathing is a natural process we don't have to think about it it just happens but the coronavirus pandemic has shown us just how important healthy lungs are. crucial when it comes to infectious diseases let's have a look under the ribs the right lung here can hold around 2 liters of air the left the same which isn't that much but if i look at the inner surface where the oxygen gas exchange happens i suddenly have an area as big as a football field all the viruses and bacteria that i breathe in and up on a vast surface which is a very exposed to infection so it's vital that we keep our lungs healthy. how can we cathal and strengthen our lungs. but something fancy is keen to find out professor thomas 1st step is exercise. regular exercise can steadily

increase the capacity of our lungs according to the w.h.o. adult should do at least 2 and a half hours of exercise per week yeah there are several benefits 1st it gives the lungs a proper airing sitting at our desks we only breathe in and out half a liter or a liter of air and. the better air the lungs are the more blood they receive which improves the immune system plus it trains our respect for tree muscles and yet. but we can also strengthen the auxiliary were spirit tree muscles in the throat and back from father and i was using a resistance band for example that would get seen by far and now we just pull and we breathe out and in. and out or. or and gentle back exercises and standing further apart increases the effort. and then it's time to stretch it up or find the it's

a liberating feeling usually fear for this opens the lungs and deepens the breath and you can do it almost anywhere. a month on tab on the other my knees you don't have a resistance band you can just stand in the corner of the office put your arms up against the walls and push out your sternum the muscles there are often a bit shorter. than they are for. in everyday life we tend to take quick rather hectic breaths conscious breathing though is actually very simple no matter where you are you can take a few deep breaths try to breathe into your belly instead of your chest that strengthens the time from which supports the lungs singing calming even blowing up a balloon figure at the diaphragm and breathing passages and this exercise is a veritable long walk out. for dinner. so. deeply as you can and then i'll. go home and.

think it over i thought my. diaphragm pushes up as far as it can go it's a great exercise in a good enough to get another to eating well. the long lines are a gateway for viruses and bacteria so how do we fight them through exercise of course but also mainly by eating sensibly on a fallen style that is important for your lungs it can even lower your risk of getting to caesar's like of sma to 1st of all use good fats like cold pressed olive oils they help prevent inflammation of the air passages. as does fish rich in omega 3. oils from ginger and onions help to. black grapes oranges apples of

fresh tomatoes protect cells and strengthen the immune system. and there are nuts rich in vitamin e. and might be. another tip steam which keeps our mucous membranes moist an essential factor for healthy lungs. not just seem bad for a cough means i breathe in lots of dampier and it's much easier for me to expect to write it which gets rid of the bacteria viruses house but don't substantial oil strengthens the effect simply stir them into hot water and breathe in the steam for 5 to 10 minutes it clears everything out. so now your lungs should be better equipped to counter viruses but don't forget every now and again do take a nice deep breath. usually you're not aware of your breathing but this

changes instantly when you're getting short of breath like insisting fibrosis a disease which affects mainly the airways there's no cure for it yet but there is hope with a new therapy containing 3 different substances. zimmerman should say is a huge fan of karate the fact that he can practice the japanese martial art and all this almost a miracle. for years he's been prone to coughing fits and has had to regularly inhale medication the manas not exactly a carefree teenager. the high school student suffers from cystic fibrosis an incurable progressive lung disease that can potentially lead to premature death. like cough a lot more than other people and i get out of breath foster while doing sports but . 'd he was diagnosed with cystic fibrosis within his 1st year of life.

the one has to inhale find different medicines 3 times a day he also goes to physiotherapy and does regular breathing exercises and has to take up to $35.00 pills a day. plus there are a number of ordinary activities that he cannot take part in. the stuff washroom is not can't go swimming in likes or rivers or palms for example or when we go to the zoo i can't go inside the buildings where the animals are housed. during the coronavirus lockdown an early summer of 2021 caught a bug and the symptoms got worse for a high risk patient like him that meant going straight to the hospital even a minor cold could prove fatal. so i do worry because i'm afraid that things could be really bad. at all they all know that cystic fibrosis is a progressive disease so we always try to keep him at the state as he's already out

but we know that at any time like last summer with some germs going around things can change. but there is no hope on the horizon in the shape of new medication 1st approved in the u.s. and germany it goes by been named cuffed. symptoms considerably within just a few days. his lung function values have improved as is the case with most patients who have been taking the new medication. he said we've seen how those patients who needed oxygen no longer needed it. they gained weight and saw a dramatic improvement in the lung function as well as the quality of life. due to much less mucus in their lungs better briefing and

a greater appetite both of our pets patients who haven't been able to smell anything in years are now saying they can smell and taste things again as. the new medication contains a combination of 3 active ingredients and promises improved lung function lower infection risk and a higher quality of life. studies inspire hope for positive developments among those affected. seem on as now more optimistic about his future. ve won for near me here i know expect the moron to be able to lead a normal life again. some yet think really right now the average life expectancy in germany is 53 years but i think. the man should surpassed that by far if everything goes as well as it is now and hopefully he'll

also be able to reach old age just like everyone else he knows hoffman normile. be. the teenager can now breed far more easily. his chronic cough has almost disappeared. the new medication gives him a lot more energy and above all in makes a lot happier. something has done notices to you. in times of the novel coronavirus we're all getting used to this year wearing face masks but those muscles can protect us from another health hazard than just a virus they can protect us from air pollution particles in europe alone around 400000 people die each year from air pollution but there's a lot you can do to protect yourself when in dos try to avoid open fire like

candles and when you're outdoors don't exercise near to big groups and to strong thoughts of particulate matter as ships especially in times of covert 19. they might be docked but that engines are still running cruise ships here in hamburg and another ports around the world. they're likely to remain in place until the pandemic is over. you mean you know because of the number of cruise ships here means a lot of pollution in the cities that's affecting people's health. of. air pollution is also a major focus for coronavirus research is they want to find out why mortality rates vary widely across different regions. they suspect the dirty air

leads to more people dying of covert 19. research as compared data from the year.