this is p.w. news coming to you live from berlin catastrophic flooding in venice the damage will run into hundreds of millions of euros much of this historic city is still underwater after the highest tide in half a century the mayor says venice is on its knees the prime minister has called it a blow to the heart of italy. and uneasy calm in gaza the militant islamic jihad group announces a cease fire after days of heavy fighting israel says it's holding fire for now and will answer quiet with quiet. plus the troop impeachment hearings hit the world's

television screens house democrats hope to prove the president of the use his power to discredit will trump himself says they have one on if there are a witch hunt and in any case he's too busy to tune in. hello i'm terry martin good to have you with us the worst flooding in venice in more than 50 years has brought calls for more to be done to protect the historic city from the ravages of rising sea levels the italian cabinet is set to declare a state of emergency much of the historic center is under water the mayor is blaming climate change prime minister just have a contest called the flooding a blow to the heart of italy. the crypt of the saint

marks basilica and there more than a meter of water the church one of venice's most iconic landmarks is among the west hit by the flooding. on wednesday evening water levels have gone down but locals remained on the. prime minister just epic on day rush to the city to assess the situation his government will swiftly decide whether to accept the regional governors appeal and declare a state of emergency. stage i don't see any reason not to declare a state of american sea and begin allocating funds immediately. local authorities estimate that more than 85 percent of the city was inundated in the past days high winds and heavy rain drove the water level to almost 190 centimeters it hadn't been this bad since 1986 mayor blamed climate change for the extreme weather and

said venice was on its knees. there is also plenty of anger here the most and undersea barrier system aimed at protecting benny's from high water has faced constant delays since construction began in 2003. been on it for 10 years but they've done nothing it's in total neglect doesn't work and it's only $6000000000.00 euros in italy unfortunately. our politicians are all thieves we should all be in jail. as locals take in the aftermath city officials say the damage could total hundreds of millions of euros. just. delhi. in. assessing the damage julie what's the situation in the city this morning. well this morning

we were woken by an alarm high tide alarm in fact we are here in st mark's square you can see behind me the tide is rising again and they expect to have a new high tide this time around 130 centimeters so lower than the record breaking tide around 11 this morning but life is going on as normal a lot of tourists here taking pictures in their rubber boots people here in the city venetians are assessing the damage there cleaning up their shops there cleaning up their homes hotels have been affected cafes have been affected so people are sort of trying to figure out how much damage has happened how to go on in the next few weeks but they're also bracing for some upcoming bad weather that is going to happen tomorrow and saturday i understand surely that even st marks which i believe is in the background there the city's famous landmark it's been flooded too how bad is the damage there. yes

the basilica has been flooded on the not tuesday night water entered the basilica crept down into the crypt and it flooded it completely it also flooded the main floor of the basilica which is covered in marble and mosaics now it's hard to assess the damage quite yet because experts have to wait for the water to drain and to then conduct in-depth investigations the problem is that even once the water dries it's salty water so the water will evaporate but salts will remain and that can really really damage the structures. or you know i thought the venice already had the flood protection system i must admit what's the story there was that not ready. so construction of the most is the name of the protection system was meant to be finished in 2014 it began in 2003 it

went on slowly it was filled with controversy and scandal in fact in 2014 this system of barriers that was meant to stop the high tide. was investigated for corruption and corruption ties were found in the construction of the barriers it should be completed now in 2021 but work is slow and a lot of in the sions are upset that this hasn't been completed yet and they're asking why that hasn't happened to me what are the chances that venice will continue to face flooding will face more flooding moving forward. well definitely a lot of people are now talking about climate change as being a factor in rising waters here in venice the mayor. mentioned climate change as a direct factor that caused the high tide yesterday and activists are also

talking about the influence of climate change so definitely if there is a link there there is a risk that events like this will continue to happen and especially if there is not a protection system in place there is definitely a risk that this could happen again surely it thank you very much julia delhi there in venice. the palestinian militant group islamic jihad says a cease fire with israel has been reached in 2 days of prodding along the gaza border that has killed at least $34.00 palestinians including a family of 6 the flare up of violence was triggered by the targeted killing on tuesday of a senior member of islamic jihad by israeli forces. over whether the truce has been holding with reports of 2 rockets fired into southern israel shortly after the announcement. for the very latest now let's cross over to our correspondent on your kramer she's standing by for us in jerusalem tanya islamic jihad says

a ceasefire has been agreed with the israelis does not appear to be the case well reports have been coming out since to early morning hours from east to which has usually taken the lead in a mediation and trying to deescalate the situation in such situations and this ceasefire should be in place since 5 30 am local time in the has been just shortly after what's some sporadic rockets fired into southern israel now these are any foreign minister has been quoted as saying that it's both need to quiet with quiet that isn't usually the formula after such periods of escalation and we also understand from the home front come on that they have lifted most of the restrictions on the areas surrounding the gaza strip it's just

a few. hearts just very close to gaza so that schools can be reopened and life can go back to normal there but having said that obviously. the coming hours are critical to see whether this will hold ok well this cease fire or at least a lawless in the fighting follows 2 days of heavy fighting so it's more about what's been going on there. well it all had been started in early tuesday morning. in a targeted killing targeted. hearts and senior military commander now so i mean how does a smaller very hard line militant group in gaza they vote i mean it's revenge launching powers of rockets into mainly southern israel but also further up north and it's also carried out many airstrikes in the gaza strip now what has been

a bit different this time is that it's about. a set that they're holding it is something to hide responsibly use the you know in statements you read that it's hamas to hold him responsible for anything coming out of gaza hamas is ruling the gaza strip this time to talk it was clearly the islamic jihad hamas had showed support of the group and showed solidarity but the reading here was that they really didn't join into the fighting and that obviously get. egypt more leverage now for these mediation efforts so as to say that there was probably not really an interest within hamas but also not within this well to further escalate the situation but of course it always remains very. truce or cease fire tanya thank you very much for bringing us up to date w's tanya kramer in jerusalem. now it's catch up on smaller stories making headlines around the world today germany has narrowly

avoided entering a recession according to the latest statistics experts had expected growth to grind to a halt in the 3rd quarter u.s. china tariff dispute has helped drive germany's key manufacturing sector into a sharp downturn. students from mainland china are leaving hong kong university says lot of protests affect campuses many courses have been cancelled protesters have continued to build barricades and disrupt public life demanding that hong kong remain independent of mainland china. and new zealand lawmakers have voted in favor of legalizing euthanasia the final decision will now be put to the public in a referendum during the country's general election next year the bill allows for terminally ill patients to request a medically assisted death you're watching d.w. news still to come china is establishing its 1st ever national park to protect its

fashionable natural resources but what will be the impact on the local population. lawmakers in washington have begun public hearings and the impeachment inquiry against president donald trump the 1st in 20 years the televised hearings kicked off tuesday with testimony from 2 top u.s. diplomats dealing with ukraine has called process a witch hunt he says he's too busy doing the people's business to tune in. a historic day for the united states hours of testimony played out on television screens across the country will come to order. morning everyone. the inquiry centers on an alleged pressure campaign aimed at forcing ukraine to investigate the u.s. president's political rival joe biden and on wednesday one of the diplomats who testified links donald trump more directly to those efforts the acting ambassador

to kiev said a member of his staff overheard a conversation in which trump asked e.u. ambassador gordon some lint if he'd successfully pushed the ukrainians into a night sing the investigation. all when the call with president trump the member of my staff asked investor solomon what president trump thought about ukraine as the song responded the president from cares more about the investigations of biden trump later said he did not remember the conversation. i don't recall not even a little bit. but democrats are hoping to build a case that trump did in fact abuse his power of office to pressure ukraine's behavior they say would warrant removing him from office is this what americans should now expect from their president if this is not impeachable conduct what is the republicans say it's not rather than denying the man 1000 evidence of

a pressure campaign they are now focused on arguing that it is not grounds for impeachment it seems unlikely that fresh evidence will change that strategy when the next round of hearings begin on friday. well for more now let's bring in our washington correspondent all of us saw that who was wednesday's hearing on capitol hill all over a historic day there in d.c. the 1st impeachment hearing in more than 2 decades what did we learn from these 2 witnesses. well terry the main takeaway here was that these 2 witnesses tied president trump closer to this alleged pressure campaign against ukraine's president selenski and they essentially said that there was a quid pro quo they undermined allegations that were out there already but of course made public in today's yesterday's wednesday's public hearing then bill taylor the acting ambassador to ukraine. that there was an invitation for the

lenski to the white tells us well as military aid hundreds of millions of dollars and that those who are conditioned to investigations against joe biden the former vice president who of course is a political rival and bill taylor called that alarming the democrats believe that this will be a betrayal of the presidential oath of office as well as abuse of power and of course the big question remaining here is how will this impact the public opinion of the american voter so this was a very important launch of these public hearings how are people particularly lawmakers reacting to what they heard. well i was able to follow the hearing today and i have to say that the republicans are under enormous pressure at this point you could really tell this by their strategy of defense they said the president's conduct here might not have been perfect but the that the

phone call in fact was not impeachable and they're also trying to question the legitimacy of the investigation they're essentially saying the democrats are trying to undo a democratically held election but at the same time it's really worth pointing out here that there were 2 career diplomats testifying on capitol hill they work for the government in the case of bill taylor he was actually even children and deployed by the president so he was they were impartial and they have a high level of credibility and the democrats are certainly trying to capitalize on that now this is just the beginning of the public hearings what else can we expect from the inquiry this week right so the hearings are to be continued on friday and we will then hear from a real bitch who it was the former ambassador to ukraine was removed in spring and she says that rudy giuliani president trump's private lawyer held a campaign against her that rudy giuliani believed she would stand in the way of

potential investigations against joe biden and that's of course another damning account against president trump because it highlights the role of president trump's private lawyer doing essentially a government job so all of this is not shedding any good light on president trump all over thank you very much that was our washington correspondent all over solve it there. as that impeachment hearing was underway on capitol hill president trump himself was meeting with the turkish president regift marijuana at the white house trump is facing criticism for hosting out of one turkish recent incursion into northern syria but a spite strained relations declared himself a big fan of the turkish leader. impeachment what impeachment that was the message from the white house while much of washington watch the hearings riveted don't know trump was hosting he's took

a count of pot it was a chance to reset the agenda for the president towards what he sees as a foreign policy victory and i became president isis was all over the place and we took over 100 percent of the caliphate and last week as you know we killed its leader and its founder trump sees that one is playing a supporting role in the fight against assad quote islamic state but the 2 latest relationship is also under strain right now because of the battle for terror train syria. thank you. ignoring trumps objections turkey has now moved into the northern syrian border regions taking territory once controlled by the could with american backing and. despite be could a show position everyone is not backing down he says he too is fighting terror. community we don't have problems with the kids but we have problems with the terrorists that it is that we're just fighting terrorists period. banker is still

worried about the presence of u.s. troops so close the zone on the northern syrian border even after the pullback they remain kilometers from to battle front with the could in some areas but trump says they have a new mission that we're keeping do it well we have the oil the oil is secure we left troops behind only for the oil this white house meeting was billed as a chance to shore up the u.s. is vital relationship with a key nato ally but trumpeted when didn't make a deal for now us into interest remained too far apart. in other news supporters of business whalers opposition leader. by the country's embassy in brazil on wednesday the standoff ended after some 11 hours it was recognized by the u.s. and brazil as venezuela's legitimate leader outside the embassy the risk offals between his supporters and those of venezuelan president nicolas maduro. australia

is raging bush fires have claimed another life bringing the death toll to 4 firefighters are struggling to contain dozens of blazes burning across the country's east coast a separate emergency warning has been issued for a fire threatening a city in western australia through nature conservation is becoming more of a priority for china the government is working to create a national park system that will protect better protect its spectacular natural resources. one of the 1st parks son junge yon national park in ching hai province is set to open its gates in 2020 tibet nomads in areas it's good news for the environment but there is some concern about what it means for the local tibet population in a region an expired china in the 1950 s. . luscious mountains clear it

is and abundant wildlife. including the rez know lebed these are some of the treasures of what's said to become one of china's 1st national parks inching high province conservationists are excited it's huge it's diverse it's got almost every ecosystem you could possibly look for. creating spaces to protect nature is not a new idea in china some 15 percent of the land has been set aside as parks but they are run by various agencies and currently don't have an forcible guidelines to protect the ecosystems the government is hoping a unified national park system will change that. the inspiration national parks in the united states such as the famous yellowstone chinese officials have visited there and have been consulting with u.s.

environmental groups on how to replicate their success at hime in the u.s. there are a source of pride of national pride and i think they certainly could be here in china as well. the chinese government has already stopped issuing mining and hydropower permits in the ching hai region and it started to employ people from the area to perform conservation related tasks like collecting trash and keeping an eye out for poachers. if we fail to protect this homeland and we will have failed to take care of ourselves. there are a number of people who support and will benefit from the creation of the national park inching high province but there is concern about what it will mean for the bulk of the local population many of whom are tibetan i manse more than 100000 people live within the park's boundaries only about. i and chinese officials have

alluded that some of them will be free locate it. i don't believe you we we are going to move all the all the people with the like of the future national. so this holdouts we need to respond to the traditional we all feel like a community. in the early 2000 tens of thousands of tibetan nomads were paid to resettle in townships ending their traditional way of life to enable china to conserve and show off its environmental trashes. that africa name o.g.'s have changed the way we communicate sometimes an image without words is enough to get the message across there is supposed to make up a universal language but emerges don't work for everyone let's meet the man who's giving the smartphone symbols a traditional african twist. hello my name is

a player who i'm 22 years old and i'm studying computer graphic design i created the projects is a quad the african images. the idea came about because i wanted to design masks so. nowadays we live in a modern way. and we tend to neglect the traditional aspects of our african culture masks languages and dance numbers long it was. from the beginning i wanted to promote mass because even if we evolve and we develop we shouldn't forget our traditional african culture it's a part of us one of. my inspiration from everyday life from what i know personally. and i research on google about african countries where i've never been to many. like gaba it's

a dish that you find on the streets of abidjan. it's made from. cassava grains with fish and. you eat it on the street and people love it because it suits you quickly it's cheap and it tastes good too. but i prefer food it's a dish that has you up a bit more it's based on plan time bananas were chaotic. i design $365.00 emoji one for each day of the year. there's a saying we have in ivory coast which goes like you saw that didn't you usually say when you want to warn someone about the negative consequences of his actions might have. and then when the guy realizes that what you told him was true. and he comes back and you say to him well i want you to really knew.

i'd like people to contact me on instagram or by e-mail to send me their ideas so that i can develop the project. out of more than $300.00 emergencies there are at least $200.00 that only relate to west africa. because that's my experience and that's what i know best. i'd like people to sense it just seems to me so that i can develop more emerges that represent other parts of africa was you but if you look. just reminder the top stories we're following for you here today on the news the mayor of venice says the city is on its knees after the highest tide in more than 50 years brought heavy flooding prime minister has called it a blow to the heart of italy. and gaza's militant islamic jihad group has announced a cease fire after days of heavy fighting that killed at least $32.00 palestinians israel says it's holding fire for now and will answer quiet with quiet. coming

up next conflict sebastian interviews the czech foreign minister thomas patrik check and you can get all the latest news and information from around the clock on our web site of course any time that you know he dot com i'm terry mark thanks for watching. good. to.

cut. into the conflict zone with sebastian with time running out cold for us all as a muslim to get oppressive feel for you is claiming to be full of a blame on the britain recently goshi ations fire my guest this week here in progress which check for melissa tomas patricia he has surprisingly clear differences with a government who so much so why doesn't he resign conflicts of. next to dublin.

women of i s. we told you that loads of people i can't even tell you how many. my name is ayesha is my real name in i says they call me. 10 women who actively supported my hands they were merciless terrorists but were they also victims. in 45 minutes on t w. holes calculable. their egos and such. their rivalry to. 3 princes. who dream of the world. are full

power and boundless ambition have touched the middle east into a great crisis. to rival principals of the cold starts november 27th on g.w. . it will sing the. french falafel companies in the central europe you've seen massive demonstrations protests demonstrations up to the prime minister to decide whether the loans focus with a side of them believes in the independents will do the sure it with time running out for brussels in london to get a breakfast deal for you is climbing through before the blame on the britain if the negotiations fail my guest this week here in prague.