the us food and agriculture agency, so gone, has one of the world's highest rates of di forestation, euro 2020, the biggest sporting events since the start of the pandemic has finally kicked off off for a year's delay. 11 cities are hosting this year championship. it'll start at a study olympic in rome. if we were up against turkey and $15000.00 fans enough to go to italy 3 times to get up to a winning stop. ah, checking the headlines here down to 0. the corona virus pandemic has dominated the 1st day of the g 7 summit in southwest england, lead as promising a 1000000000 current of virus vaccines to developing nations. the un. secondly general, welcome to move, but call further global action. we need more than by left, so all to support them, the individual countries initiatives. we need

a concert so that we need a global explanation plan. and for the global escalation plan to be possible, we need all the companies that are meaningful in the election or can be with the proper support to come together. if not, louis is that there will be still lives in the developing world where the via is spread like wildfire and the risks of mutation and the risks of new brilliance coming and becoming the will to get ends of mind. the efforts, as he goes, comes up every day to make sure that the forgot relation is chinese capital has gone into locked down despite more than half its population being fully vaccinated . the number of corona virus cases in santiago has surged by 25 percent in the past 2 weeks. intensive care beds have almost run out. one of hong kong, most prominent pro democracy act. this has been released from prison. agnes child served nearly 7 months for her role in anti government protest back in 2019. she

was arrested under a sweeping national security law that beijing imposed on the territory. a year ago . molly's transitional government has named a new cabinet defense minister, kind of saudi camara has been reappointed. his removal was one of the reasons behind last month to the security in step top. and algeria capital ahead of saturday's parliamentary elections. the 1st since mass protest for the former president of these books a flicker to step down 2 years ago. the country's here right pro democracy movement is urging supporters to boycott. the vote. up to 7 of its leaders were arrested on thursday, and deforestation, and brazil. amazon rain forest has surged by 67 percent compared to a year earlier. brazil's national space research institute says more than 2500 square kilometers, were destroyed. those are the headlines and he's continuous your analysis era after the war, hotel state you. and thanks for watching bye for now. did you know you can watch

out the english streaming light on i do channels plus thousands of our programs. award winning documentaries and get new support. subscribed to you choose dot com. forward slash al jazeera english the. the comedy hotel was safe. and then you went out into a very raved civil war. can that we're going to be the if a comment hadn't been the is really invasion, was not being so well result it was a great use an overall,

was this godfather of the journalist business. the next room i was in was underground in a tiny, filthy, dirty prison cell, basically as a hostage me ah, ah, ah, ah, i welcome to 960. they route for several decade

fits. cosmopolitan city attracted international jet set of who could get from the ski slopes to the beach in no time. the hotel district was at the heart, a bit to luxury tourism economy and in its heyday hotel. like just in george, the phoenician on the holiday inn were full of wealthy torres business men, generally diplomats and the occasional spy travelers on a tight budget state. hotels like the commodore and in the mid 19 seventy's, it became host to the world's media. when the lebanese civil war erupted. ah, in 1970, a young arab millionaire yusef and his owl took the commodore hotel on a 20 year lease from the kuwaiti. royal family. nathaniel was the leading investor in the hotel industry in the region and responsible for attracting thousands of

tourists, lebanon mohammed. she borrow, worked with miss allen ticketing, and still runs a travel agency near the commodore with the same name. but that by the phases of missouri from the commodore law, one of those surveying ballot can you can let the ma thought of the phases of mozilla. thunderbird mel cargo from the atlantic medical organ. i'm trying to find out the offer happen. but the luxury bay roof lifestyle obscured a gap between rich and poor, that was whitening all the time. the international press used to be rude to the barometer of what was happening in the middle east. and one of the foreign correspondents who predicted the violence in lebanon was tv, jonathan denby. i 1st went to lebanon in

1972, as a young reporter. and i wanted to see whether something was happening there or not. i stayed in what was then relatively modest hotel called the commodore hotel. the overall impression was some, some as a society which was held together by a rather loose series of ropes. and it didn't take much for that to shatter the, the 13th of april, 1975 mo, to the official start of the civil war. it was a proxy conflict thought during the cold war on one side, lebanese cristian right wing parties, backed by the us, wanted to end the armed palestinian present in lebanon. on the other one muslim left wing parties allied with the pillow and backed by the soviet union. they sold

the right wing christians, a simply an extension of israeli and american influence in the country. when the war broke out, an army of foreign journalists headed to be route, including the former bbc middle east correspondent, tim llewellyn. all of whom wanted a safe place to stay. in november 1975, i was taking what turned out to be one of the last m. e. a flights into bay route from london. which was virtually empty except for a few journalists and use of miss owl who i didn't know. but of course, wisdom, it was to turn out that he was the manager of the commodore hotel. so he drew me, he took out a piece of paper and a pen. and he drew from me various sections of beirut who controlled what,

where you could go safely. i said the use of what we needed was a bass. the next time i went to be rude. is if had created this fantastic hotel in the space of a few weeks. the commodore had become that journalistic center, the 975 and 76. with the theaters, 2 years of the civil war with thick terry and killings. massive destruction and the division of bay root into the christian east and muslim west the former times correspondent robert fisk decided to base himself permanently in beirut in 1976. so when i came to barrett, i already knew the city, but i knew before when i went downtown here, i could not believe the, the extraordinary destruction. i mean it takes you can destroy us. if you very quickly takes an awful long time to rebuild it. ah, i, casey, went to the commodore with

a p stuff just to have lunch sometimes or meet other journalists. but i didn't stay there. i didn't like it very much when i, i thought it was another city hotel with extraordinary high prices. the commodore hotel was safe and so you could be there. and it was quite bizarre, really. you could be in the civil safe enclave. and then you went out into a very grave civil war. the under use system dissolves management. the beirut commodore became a global center for news and information. i use it and as i was a young man and he seemed to have an extraordinary uncanny ability to know what journalist wanted. and he realized quickly and brilliantly, that the journalist would need 1st of all, above all, good communications,

what the commodore had and what no or else had was communications. and you know, if a journalist has a story and he can't send it, he might as well go home. and you had 3 working to alex machines and they could get to court alumni uses bizarre, started by using lines and telex machines from his private business in bay routes, london, a man and cyprus. but as reported the man's groove, he had to get hold of extra line at any cost to follow kenneth, my doom invalid said joseph and i'm out of local law. more buddied or minority to be a about myself was not valid can for how for you in you a full the 1st had a mother or i don't shut it because i had them spread . the militias took control of different neighborhoods. the challenge for the

commodore was to keep the hotels safe for its media. guess i was there on one occasion, we were down in the bar and suddenly there was a caustic noise of gunfire from inside the hotel. everyone. dr. dot my mother, you know, everyone was on the floor and the bread or like that stopped silence. the only sound was of the parrot, which had a peculiar position on the edge of the bar. and the parrot talked quite freely while everyone else's son, which made you half, you know, when you're, when you're frightened, you wanted to knock away the funny squawking parrot was going on talking the african parent's name was cocos, and his party tricks became legendary. this parrot used to do various things. it could do the opening notes of beethoven's 5th symphony and various other things.

but it's as p s too, as the sauce was to imitate an incoming shell. ah, on the 6th of june, 1982, israel invaded lebanon. israel claimed it wants to take out the piano to rocket launcher position, but there was more than that to the israeli action. the railey siege of bay root was one of the bloodiest episodes of the whole, sorry conflict. the destruction was enormous, and 20000 lebanese and palestinians were killed and nearly 50000 doing did. amid the may him, the commodore hotel became the de facto ministry of information. lebanese photo journalist ramsey, hyder,

was that the commodore during the israeli invasion going forward on with all the lead to man. but. busy busy but the missed, i'm think about on the sooner, but not to do, but they're getting the solution. i didn't with it. but let's just, let's say la, la marketable we should even have in the early days of the as really invasion of lebanon uselessness. our stock power, large amounts of fuel food and cash. millions of dollars, he said enough for the hotel residents and stuff for the month to come out. also lent journalists money can feel as usual, allowing me my casual my of the, you know, are you from the,

in the muscle for shuffling your part of the federal system as it has been more thought. if one we are feeling cash money. no problem enjoy. have pool of flows up live life for the commodore based journalists during the invasion was tough. all west bay root was under siege with constant israeli air raids and reportedly indiscriminate. shelly, but they told the real story i think the barret cj, as i said, was a big eye opener for many correspondence who only eaten the israeli story, but until then. and they were able, at 1st time when they went out to see the suffering of lebanese and palestinians. and they really went off to a story very, very hard, very hard and harshly. and well, i think at that stage though, if a comment hadn't been the israeli invasion would not have been so well reported. and you can thank the commodore and ways of this and the people in it under use.

and i think the, the israelis had at that stage in the early eighty's, the worst press they've ever had before. or since the 70 day israeli siege of a root was lifted on the 21st of august, 1982. and the pillow pulled out of lebanon. there were immediate presidential elections, and the leader of the right wing christian philanthropists. but she had your maya, who had supported the israeli incursion, became the president elect of lebanon. but jim mile never took off it. he was assassinated 23 days later for the following 3 days, the 1617th and 18th of september, 1982 christian militia supported by israel, took part in

a massacre that the palestinian refugee comes of sabra and shatila. when news of the massacre reached the commodore hotel on the 18th, dozens of local and foreign journalists headed straight to the southern bay route sub robert fisk was one of the 1st to enter the palestinian camp. i've never before had to walk and carpets of dead bodies in my life, and the smell was appalling. and we went on the saturday morning when the type of finance was still there. the murderous will still was still in the count. the 2nd amount of next month and some of them don't. busy do stuff, i can remember who i'd, if you had them, is that what that one i kind of hit us on the line and someone should be mad. and we would like us to jump on the feed again. if

you said the machine, how about the the sabra and sheila massacres. thorough the 2000 palestinian and lebanese civilians killed. i started writing and writing writing. unfortunately the times didn't come out on sunday, so i had to wait for the next day's paper. but i goal of the story, i got it on the news of the 18th of september, massacres shocked the world and the international coverage angered v as railey, and those organizations the same day they arrested use of nas out and took into their base at the st. george hotel, the journalists became extremely angry. the french, typically a french organized a petition sign petition and took it down to the israeli commander,

demanding that use of miss. i'll be released. yes, i was a surprise. he was arrested because they realized this was a communication center and they didn't want to operate. i think the purpose of arresting joseph was to close down the common h years into the fighting. on the night of the 30th of august, 1983. the commodore took a direct hit, shattering its eastern side where they want to assure you they don't know what's going on on the, on the door that i want to deal with. but if, if the phoenix about the scene of the song, i have the huffy and shut off or not when i'm your robot of to neil and inexperienced reporters were sometimes unable to handle a route. a new system is our office sometimes doubled as a psychiatric unit, as be israeli withdrawal continued into 1983 lebanese militia immediately filled.

that vacuum invite for control region by region. the commodore had continued as an international news hub, fairly below worked as a cameraman for c, b c. and took these photos of life inside the hotel at that time. but in 1980, for a new development in the conflict, upset that life even more kidnapping. the comedy hotel i think was beginning to lose its attraction as a journalist again to prize around the time of the mid 19 eighties around the time in the kid mapping. i think the fear of kids not being started around $84.00. i was an attempt to get nothing on me in madame curious st. very close to

accommodate i still remember that was the 1st time i started getting really frightened. and then of course, not long afterwards, terry anderson was kidnapped, longest held hostage with 7 years. and then we all realize we were in trouble me. terry edison was the senior associated press correspondent on the 16th of january, 1985. he was kidnapped on his way to the commodore hotel. 3 years into his detention. his kidnappers released this photo of him wearing a commodore hotel t shirt designed by yusef and his owl for his journalist guests. anderson was the 1st journalist to be kidnapped in beirut. would be the last to be released in 1991 . several different groups carried out the hosted shaking, but the most prominent was islamic jihad. so i wouldn't advise any foreigners to

stay here the moment while the situation is so dangerous. in november, 1985, such as the special envoy to the british archbishop of canterbury, terry wait arrived in lebanon, and it goes ca hostage releases. he stayed at the riviera hotel, but often went to the commodore to meet journalists. on the 21st of november, fighting known as the battle of the flag between different left wing allied lebanese militia controlling west bay root reach, the commodore hotel cherry weight was trapped inside with dozens of local and foreign journalists, including ramsey. hi, doug, can will you wait on them for half an hour? call my sofie. mila said i, who with a lot of last we'll yes. the

noodle the battery, we've got you. but we see cause missing need general names. when you saw projects, i will follow the ramsey, hide the photograph, these images of journalists pulling the man's body out of the night range, then moving it into the back of a car. that image encapsulates the horror of events outside the commodore hotel that night. terry wait, stayed at the commodore and these rare pictures show him making phone calls in the hotel lobby. negotiations for the release of hostages had so far failed,

and the kidnapping continued. on the 16th of march, 1986 like the british journalist john mccarthy arrived in bay route as w t n bureau chief. it was his 1st assignment to award. he checked in to the commodore opposite w t ends offices, excited to be staying at the now legendary hotel. i think i had a rather romantic view of what the commodore would be like. i had heard of from other colleagues, had been there and stayed. there was very aware that it was a famous hotel world. the great journalist stayed. so when i got there, i was surprised because it was nearly empty. the, the street fighting and fear of kidnap drove many foreigners out of west bay route to the christian east side, or out of lebanon to neighboring cypress. so i was told,

you must be careful. you know, you'll be a target possibly for one of these kidnap groups. so stay close to the office in the hammer district and stay close to the hotel. the commodore by april 1986, 34 in national had been kidnapped in lebanon. it didn't occur to joe mccarthy that he might be next. it seemed like an error for this hotel, for lebanon, for the foreign journalists working that it was coming to an end. it was closing in around, around me. but also it felt as if the hotel was sort of closing down to mccarthy was then ordered by his w t. n. bosses in london to leave a route immediately. on the 17th of april, 1986, he checked out of the commodore and headed for the airport. but within minutes

armed men intercepted his car, grabbed him and took him away. joe mccarthy would be the last foreign journalists to stay at the commodore. so it's extraordinary. i started off that morning in april and 86 leaving this rather grand if dilapidated street at the commodore hotel. and then the next room i was in was underground in a tiny, filthy, dirty prison cell, basically as a hostage. and i was to remain a hostage for the next 5 and a quarter years. 9 months after mccarthy's abduction, on the 17th of january, 1987 hostage negotiator terri weight was also kidnapped. he was last seen on the bay root cornish, surrounded by government from the drews, progressive socialist party, who are acting as his body guards in my last year captivity. i was held with the 2 americans, terry anson, and tom sutherland, and also with the englishman,

terry weight, who gone out to lebanon to try and negotiate our release a few years earlier, but himself been kidnapped. so it's very strange that there we were in a cell with the guy who tried to rescue us and he ended up being a hostage to within hours of terry waits. abduction of fierce battle ensued in west bay route. 200 people died in the 5 days fighting and the commodore was almost completely destroyed by fire. and there was another kid now, the victim this time cocoa, the pirate hotel manager argument, she borrow, checked on the stuff and damage the next day. he contacted the owner of nissan, who was abroad to reassure him. the star for okay. but the hotel was so damaged, it was now uninhabitable. i lit up on any on

the bill that i am literally the last one day of and while it was either beveled in mobile up with bob, how funny in 2002, a new investor bought the commodore it was completely refurbished and revived the 5 star luxury hotel in the heart of bay roots, ah, american journalist nicholas tetra, perhaps best sunday tough when he wrote during the israeli siege of bay root in a city of survivors, the commodore hotel has proven itself to be a survivor. with a touch of class. there is no contract which is simple goodies versus badges. it's always more complicated than that. and

add one more thing. find a good safe hotel. ah . when the shots came from the holiday and we heard cracks, we heard some noise. this is known as a sniper alley, was dangerous intersections and thought able didn't come in through the front entrance. that was what happens to people who were shot. they came into the wrong entrance, the nightly pyrotechnics of the funny to turn to the camera man. so that's good, they'll out of here, sorry, a vo holiday, and we'll hold on al jazeera award winning programming from international. so make it one quick. so it's right on the back side of the global discussion. what

guarantee debility the right to take the life, giving voice to the voice here in california, it almost everybody's a paycheck, away from being on house program, but open your eyes to view. well today this is what the picture looks like. the, the world from a different perspective on how to mirror the hello, i'm down john into the quicker mind of the top stories here on al jazeera, the head of the united nations says more global action is needed to build in a pledge by g 7 nations to donate a 1000000000 cove in 1900 vaccines to poor countries. second, to general antonio terrace, is urging the world's richest countries to support equitable mass vaccination. the british prime minister says the g 7 plan will inoculate the wills, nearly a 1000000000 people by the end of next year, but active a se, it's far too slow. java reports, of course.