you. as it did that when years live from the european parliament declares a climate inversion saying lawmakers piled the pressure on the incoming commission president. to keep the climate neutral by 25th also on the program. the convicted murderer is to be returned to germany from the united states after 30 years behind bars.

i'm phil gal welcome to the program the european parliament has declared a climate emergency the resolution passed with a clear majority in strasbourg lawmakers hope the move will send a powerful signal to the u.n. climate summit which begins in the trade next week and also way to put pressure on the incoming executive to take a leading role in the global fight against climate change so what effect will this declaration half. show us who is professor of environmental and climate policy of the technical university of munich welcome to. the declaration itself doesn't propose any concrete measures so how significant is it. well what's important about this measure is that it's joining a number of other countries and cities and states that and said the climate change problem is really very serious and it's so serious we want to make make this aware

to everybody and really say this is a climate emergency so i think it has symbolic power and it can have agenda setting power the european parliament is one of the more progressive that the european institutions and the fact that the european parliament has passed this this emergency declaration is really a way to say soon when the presidents and in chancellors of the european states meet to make decisions about where to go with climate strategy for 2030 and beyond that this will really put some more pressure on them to take the climate change issue far more seriously than has been done in the past so it is more than symbolic but as as critics would also say what what is missing here are any kind of concrete decisions about what kinds of decisions need to be taken in terms of phasing out of coal of phasing out of possible energies phasing out subsidies that are going to the fossil energy sector by dealing with the agricultural sector said so there's

many many things that need to happen as a next step the climate emergency statement as a 1st step in this process and the i mean it's interesting you raise that the use of fossil fuels and of course agriculture within the european union nobody dad is touch agriculture and the fossil fuels coal mining huge here in germany so that's that's going to be a very very bitter pill to swallow. yes it will and it's not only germany of course you have a lot of people in germany but you also have countries like poland the czech republic that also have substantial sorry substantial amounts of coal and they are going to expect some kind of compensation so i think one of the things we're likely to see in the december meeting of the heads of state is discussions about how. compensation mechanisms can be introduced to help those regions and those countries

that are heavily dependent on fossil fuels make the transition away from them that's going to bring in the sort of social justice element of this whole question but there are of course other areas that are under a lot of pressure in agriculture is one of them actor culture is being pressured both because of what's happening with the over use of. manoora and the sulfur dioxide emissions that that's what into the waterways and that problem that is causing for you trip occasion it's contributing to biodiversity loss and then on top of that you have climate change instead of farming community is going to be hard pressed to make some transitions but it needs to happen good talking to you thank you so much for joining us professor professor marandi shrub's thank you. well from wildfires to floods hurricanes to parched riverbed scientists say climate change is making itself felt more urgently around the world even the polar ice caps

are melting and raising seeing enough holes. beautiful but endangered greenland ice sheet is melting at record speed raising sea levels across the world global warming could redraw the world map as we know it. when i was a boy there was a lot of ice. 10 months years sometimes. but in recent years still only 4 to 5 months. in october everything used to be locked in ice but now only in december not before many. scientists are on a mission to predict just how much sea levels will rise globally. if it happens at a rate where we're looking at maybe feet of sea level rise at a 50 or a 100 years it's going to have it for cities all across the planet cities like

alexandria in egypt are spending hundreds of millions of euros to hold back the water. in the netherlands billions of euros are being invested under water management innovations to keep the country above water. rising sea levels are just one aspect of climate change with the future of the planet at stake activists across the world are demanding radical action from governments while there's still time. now let's take a look at some of the other stories making news around the world medical sources say iraqi forces of shot dead at least 25 protesters in the southern city of nasiriyah some grass continues to grip the country on wednesday. demonstrators set fire to the ring in consulates in the city of new jeff outrage over unemployment government corruption and perceived to reign in influence as we fuelling widespread

anti-government protests. united states has passed a law supporting democracy in hong kong and threaten sanctions against chinese officials who commit human rights abuses in the territory china's foreign ministry denounced the move accusing america of meddling in its internal affairs comes pro-democracy movement welcomed the u.s. support. in order why a conservative opposition candidate. or has claimed victory after a days long count of the country's runoff election the new martinez the candidate for the country's ruling broad front of party has conceded defeat of the left wing broad front has been in power. for more than for the last 50 years. pressure on multiverse government so be investigation into the murder of journalist daphne caught on a glitzy is increasing our prime minister joseph morse cat has summoned his cabinet to urgent meeting earlier this week 3 senior political figures quit the cabinet

because of the case one of them the prime minister's former chief of staff i keith . has now been questioned and has now been arrested and questioned according to multis media he was confronted with evidence provided by a prominent businessman that implicates him for weeks now protesters have called for the prime minister to step down accusing him of protecting his allies earlier we spoke with daphne kind of want to go it's your son matthew who is him self an investigative journalist we asked him about for his assessment of the prime minister's role in this case what is incredible is that the prime minister is still using his position and even giving speeches in parliament behaving as though what he is the defense lawyer over. his chief of staff who is now currently being investigated for his role in the murder of my mother it's just absolutely astonishing i can't think of a single parent or not just in your above the anywhere else in the world where

elected head of government uses dispositions of this to defend a murderer so our position on the equivocally years he has still girls it's not just a question of moral responsibility but also if we want to the investigation to move forward and it's very clear that it's an investigation in which his office is implicated then he has to go completely new people have to take over is there enough or does there need to be much more pressure from the e.u. there needs to be more i think a big problem is that it's very embarrassing for european leaders who have embraced them or scart like france to come on world marker on. disguised himself as a liberal or that his actually are popular sed heavily or for it area in his

government is extremely corrupt. european leaders were our neighbors to see through this this guys because they were still desperate to find liberalize within the european union and they made the mistake of every single scarth and other allies it is the embrace of that you who said previously that if when. the facts in the panama are papers that your mother began investigating if after they had 1st been found out these people who were implicated by the resigned or had been arrested at the time then your mother could well be alive she would definitely be alive this is a certainty and the public inquiry which we fought 2 years to start and the prime minister tried to stop it overturn will seek to establish jobs this us fact that the maltese government also have known that there was

a plot to murder my mother. but also that it created or cultivated. a real land percy you've gotten a sphere of impunity that facilitated my mother's us ice in asia by the same people last year was investigating. i think galatea other son of a former german diplomat has been imprisoned in the united states since 997 serving was convicted of the murder of his girlfriend's parents though he initially admitted he's guilty then retracted his confession i've insisted he was innocent despite this he received 2 life sentences 30 years later he's being released and deported back to germany. this is the state prison in virginia where young serving has been held since 1900 when he was found guilty of 2 counts of 1st degree murder

. this footage is from an interview searing repeatedly requested a pardon but to no avail a former state governor wanted to send him to germany to serve out a sentence but his successor disagreed the german ambassador in washington has welcomed the impending release of serving on parole. want to have he too cynical to hear the relevant authorities granted mr suranne parole on monday he has spent many decades almost 3 decades in prison we have always sought to have him released and a very pleased that this goal has now been achieved song. writer artist in 1905 derek and nancy hazen was stabbed to death at their home in virginia they were the parents of servings then girlfriend elizabeth. the 2 fled to england when they became suspects they were caught in london and sent back at 1st soaring confessed to the crime but he later retracted his confession he said he'd wanted to

protect his girlfriend and thought that is the son of a german diplomat he enjoyed immunity from prosecution at his trial he insisted he was not the culprit. i'm innocent. the conviction proved controversial the evidence was circumstantial experts including sheriff departing tate touring was wrongfully convicted later d.n.a. analysis failed to link him to the scene of the crime he's been locked up to 30. 3 years for a crime that myself another investigators don't feel like he was there we don't feel like he was present when the actual murders were committed as he's maintained you know since he went on trial. he's missed his twenty's just thirty's and is 40 so it's time to stand up and go to the junior parole board has called hey some answering to conduct in prison exemplary and said they had served more time to move the usual on to today's new york. governor ralph northam has made it clear that he is not pardoning inserting and elizabeth hastened his many provoked them on the board's recommendation. in

a 2016 documentary the promise starting again as cited his innocence and said he considered himself the victim of his former girlfriend. and rises as it is a looking back at me because i know that i never knew this woman. most of the story she told me were not true buys as a gun and i don't know who the real elizabeth was. the film's co-director marcus fetzer is pleased ziering is being set training. is for me thing for me is that the trials are the circumstances the conviction and not beyond a shadow of a doubt and if there are too many unanswered questions as is keep so few defining. starring is soon to be deported to germany the date has not been announced. washing day w coming up a china warns washington that it will take firm counter measures in response to a new u.s. legislation backing antigovernment protests in hong kong so how will this affect

the trade negotiations between the poles 2 largest economies. stephen because they both have about story imo and d.-w. business in just a moment top of the world news at the top of the hour a little. bursts . home to use of species. a home worth saving. those are big changes and most start with small steps but global ideas tell stories of creative these people and innovative projects around the world. to use that can turn the climate goosed green energy solutions and resource rich. into.