of the european commission and european council not to participate in protest at saudi arabia's human rights rest record, including for example, and very notably, the killing of journalist jamal khashoggi by agents known to be linked to the saudi government. and that letter went on answer for a long time. and now just today, commission president of underlying council presidential michelle have responded to that letter saying they feel it's important to be there. that if you want to make an impact on the saudi government, on human rights, you need to talk to them. they said they can't possibly stay away when finding a solution to the coded. 1000 crisis is so important for the whole world. so michelle and vulgar lane will be there, but they did finally take note of this, this protest that they were asked to to hold the summit starts as we hear a critical phase of the coverage. 19 pandemic. terry, the distribution of the vaccine is crucial to what extent should competition for

access to the vaccine be part of these discussions? i think leaders are very much going to be focused on cooperation to finding a way to distribute the vaccine and not necessarily on competition. those may well be conversations held between countries that have announced that they are competing to become the 1st. but remember, the united states is the one most notably who has said it will not participate in an international effort. now there has been a letter addressed to the g., 20 by several leaders, including the head of the w.h.o., the world health organization, and signed by commission. president ursula vander lion asking g. 20 leaders to make up a funding shortfall of $4500000000.00 in a w.h.o. program that would ensure equitable, equitable distribution around the world of a vaccine. so i think that that's what, what the push is going to be not to focus on the competitions, the, the, you know, sort of horse race that we've seen, but rather on getting everyone on the same page and perhaps with the election of

a new president of the united states, you can actually bring washington on board as well. speaking of which, terry, this is largely donald trump's last appearance. what we're expecting who ever knows? i think world leaders are going to be in a bit of an awkward position because of course president trump has not yet eg knowledge that he lost the election. and so he is, i mean when we just heard a day ago that, that he was finally confirmed to be taking part. and so perhaps he will present himself as continuing on into a new term and other leaders won't know what to do, but the advantage of a virtual summit is of course everyone has a new tour. schulze in brussels. thank you so much. well, the so-called islamic state terror group says it carried out a series of attacks in the afghan capital kabul, at least i pay people have been killed by multiple rocket blasts. the attacks come,

as u.s. secretary of state is in the region to push forward. stalled afghan peace talks. early morning, rush hour in. cab brought to a standstill. after a series of attacks, afghans interior ministry says the mortar shells were fired from 2 vehicles. eyewitnesses described the scene in the capital, the sort of the, i guess it was morning and we were leaving our home when the explosion happened. 2 of my sisters and my mother were wounded, taken them to the hospital. over there was another machine gun. like i was having breakfast when the rockets landed, one of them had a vehicle belonging to a bakery at least 3 people were injured. and now they've been taken to the hospital . the heavily fortified zone, which houses diplomatic missions was also targeted. iran's embassy was damaged

after it was hit by rocket fragments. violence in the country is rampant as multiple insurgent groups launch assaults on afghan security forces. this despite, a push for peace between the taliban and the government. u.s., secretary of state mike pump aoe is in cata, are to resume, stop talks with the 2 sides. his visit comes as washington announced, it will speed up the withdrawal of its troops from afghanistan. the pentagon says 2500 troops are to leave by january, but there are fears this could further weaken afghan forces. for now, people in kabal must live with the constant threat of another attack. ok, let's take a look now at some of the other stories making headlines around the world. tens of thousands of turned out for the funeral of a radical cleric in pakistan who signed terrorized religious minorities and called

for the destruction of european nations. it's not known how he died. huge crowds ignored coronavirus restriction to mourn his death. so big 19 infections in japan have hit a record high for the 3rd consecutive day. despite the surge, thousands have flocked to train stations and airports to make the most of a traditional long weekend. the government is scaling back a campaign, encouraging people to travel. and it was drug giant pfizer and its german partner biotech. have applied for emergency authorization for their corona virus vaccine. in the united states, the vaccine has performed well in a new safety trials and the u.s. food and drug administration could grant permission for testing is complete. well as a by john says its troops have begun entering the areas surrounding the disputed territory of nagorno-karabakh, which were once protests that was before i,

russian brokered peace deal ended weeks of bloody fighting with giving up much of the territory in return for the deployment of russian emily's show when reports she met with ethnic experience of saying goodbye to their homeland. armenians are saying the house of worship is in several regions being handed over to after a peace deal. a priest here says he can be able to reach this holy site from the negotiations

about the road leading here. but we've been assured that the church will remain this road should stay in service. we worship here. why should we priests leave the church? there's no reason for us to leave ancient dates from the 9th century. for days, armenians have been coming here to take a final book. the mood is a mix of grief and defiance. this is a holy place for us when we drive along this route, we usually always stop here. now we came to say good bye. we probably won't be able to come here any more. i hope this won't be a final farewell to monastery. we will come here again. i know that we aren't afraid of anyone. why should we be scared if this is ours, but the world know that this church is armenian and will always be armenian. the

russian peacekeepers have been stationed here to guard the monastery. some of the armenian visitors bring them sweets to thank them. already the monastery stands in the landscape and the village around it is deserted. for days, many locals in the area have been burning their own houses, leaving only scorched earth behind for us or by john. the owner of this house was already gone when we arrived the peace deal that armenia and azerbaijan signed officially ended the war here and now. but it's clear that people's anger burns on in nearby villages. people tell us they're still unsure which areas will ultimately be under control. for now is staying with relatives in the village,

a bit in which will stay armenian. she says she's waiting to find out the fate of her town. i don't know what to do. my things are there and i'm here. i fought myself and was injured in the last war. i don't want them to take our land. if our house is taken, go and burn it. the mountains of may now be peaceful, but many of the ethnic armenians leaving say they would rather keep fighting than lose so much of their homeland. or the pandemic is taking its toll on shamans, some creatures appear to be benefitting from the cold wilds. for example, are enjoying quiet thanks to the drop off in shipping traffic. it's a once in a lifetime chance to learn more about the world's biggest. it's this boat used to be a fish trawler. now it's a whale watching coat with about 50 tourists onboard. it's located in the norwegian

scene, off the island of endianness. the huge marine mammals are retreating more and more because the ocean has become too large for them. heard of a little sound, waves behave quite differently under water than on land. the whales can feel this, knowing they recognize sounds very well, even over great distances. so we maneuver our boat very carefully so as not to disturb them. we even have an extra quiet propeller. but now, because of the corona virus pandemic, the number of ships headed north of scandinavia has dropped. most cruise liners are docked, the ocean is calm for marine researchers. it's a unique opportunity to understand the world's oceans better. scientist garryowen sim and his students have been studying light and noise pollution. he says you can observe the impact of the corona lockdown on nature right here in the trondheim few

words. i recently saw 2 or 3 pilot whales. although it's not a scientific finding, i can say one thing. i've never seen pilot wheel so close to the city center in my entire life. with this device, marine researchers observe the water quality off trondheim as standard procedure, but they're researching other tendencies as well. they want to find out how the underwater world has been affected by this sudden silence. they're interested in behavior of all aquatic creatures, from tiny organisms right up to the giant whale. how they eat, hunt, and communicate undisturbed by humanoids. gear's research colleagues have installed a network of underwater microphones in the atlantic and north sea. since the

coronavirus lockdown, noise levels have dropped by 25 percent in some places. the researchers say it may not have been this quiet in 150 years. and on that note you're up to date up next the late, the booming businesses of online dating. you know that d w documentary coming up. don't forget, you know, us what brought onto our website that any time that's i think, i believe dot com. more news coming up in 45 minutes, thought climate chios happening. it's not happening in the future, or possibly it's already going on. it's the future of humanity. isn't the sea levels will continue to rise, but by how much the

earth is getting hotter. the polar ice caps are melting in greenland and antarctica . the ice is receding. 6 times faster than expected. sea levels around the world are rising. geo mon, the helmholtz sent to greece, which is located in kiel, germany. some of the world's top climate experts work here, including moji blood, teef, who studies global warming and its effects using golson ice ponds. these enormous ice caps hold an immense amount of water. just imagine if they were to melt away completely. gooden global sea levels would rise by about 60 meters. this cease meter, an increase of that magnitude would radically alter the earth's geography. much of northern europe could be submerged, the netherlands would vanish underwater. but even a small increase would have

a major impact, major cities in coastal regions and further inland would be flooded. that includes london, boston, shanghai,, washington, d.c., and mumbai. yet, you know, that won't happen for decades or even centuries. but if we don't limit global warming, it will eventually be unstoppable and the, even if we stop emitting greenhouse gases and hireling, it will be too late. these huge sheets of ice, a dynamic systems. if they reach a tipping point, sea levels could rise a lot very quickly. this is just another gun type, and yet we know that happened at the end of the last ice age. we don't know if it could happen today is this. and then chris of one meter, or even 3 meters,

is possible by the end of the century or so that i make a commitment to sea levels are rising and eventually many coastal regions might be reclaimed by the ocean. since the 19th century global mean sea levels have risen by about 20 centimeters in the south pacific sea levels are rising $2.00 to $3.00 times faster than the global mean. the island nation of tuvalu might be the 1st to be swallowed by the way fully one half of the netherlands lies just one meter above sea level. one quarter is below sea level. the country is protected by a system of polders, dikes and dams. but for how long the netherlands is developing innovative concepts to deal with the projected rise in sea levels. here in amsterdam,

a pilot project has created an entire community of floating homes sascha glass, and is a founding partner of the space and matter architectural studio. and he and his family now live in one of the houseboats. a small building initiative began acquiring these sites about 10 years ago. there's room for about 30 homes, houseboats. here are nothing new, but this project is one of a kind living on the water is incredible. it's a dream come true for me. this place feels like a vacation home to the hospital. if you come back from work and you feel relaxed and like you're on vacation, remember, such a design the house himself. there's plenty of living space spread out over 3 levels . you won't find this kind of comfort on a traditional houseboat. these jetty connects the floating settlement to the

mainland. we've got connections to the power grid, sewage and water systems, the internet and so on. it's a plug and play concept and it's simple and it works really well. as it's like when you pull your motorhome into a camping site, you can connect to the entire infrastructure system on this for the one who turned from to work with a living on the water gives you a lot of the flexibility. we're going to start with, you can expand the community quickly, make it smaller. you can reconfigure it again and again, we're in this concept has a huge potential with these floating homes generate much of their own energy with photovoltaics solar panels. right now the site is purely residential,

but sasha believes that this might change one day. our vision is not limited to house boats. you could also have voting schools, offices and supermarkets, just about any sort of structure. actually. a studio architectural firm is located in the town of rice, like the company was founded by coup an old house. he's known around the world for developing floating solutions to problems posed by climate change and of an isolation. people called me architects. for me, that means that you use water to make cities better worldwide to try to take advantage of the water by building on water by taking the flexibility of the water of death

created these that are more efficient and more adaptable. the dutch have been taming the water and fighting the rising and falling tide for centuries. so that an artificial country, we are live on the me from the sea level. and what we did, we built some dikes around it, i mean, pump the water out. so now we have a dry country, but of course with climate change with more sea level rise, we can't keep everything dry. so we now have to see what's the next next step in this testing machine because the netherlands body of sea levels continue to rise. the netherlands will be among the 1st countries that have to deal with the impact here. we have to take a lot of effort to keep everything dry. and i think what's about architects and other colleagues can learn from the dutch, is that true? never can sit still, you have to, to think of the next, next steps in your inner city in your country. and we call this building for change

and building for change makes. it's that we have to be flexible. we have to be ready for any change in politics, in technology, in climate, in whatever comes to us. and with that, we have to make sure that we can create new cities, towns in visions, what he calls the blue sea, a floating metropolis that grows out of an existing city. by building on the water structures or even districts to be relocated to respond to climate change or new social conditions. house is an optimist. he believes that architects and urban planners will play an important role in helping communities adapt to rising sea levels. so we also have to deal with nature and we have to start living with the water. and that's a moment that this kind of floating architecture taking use of the water building top of the water, is the best because your city of your country is threatened by the water,

the safest place to be is already on top of the water. here in amsterdam's i book, district, people are already living in floating homes and apartment buildings. it's a model housing estate that features designs by a number of architects. the structures are anchored to the sea floor instead of their docks for boats. the neighborhood is also different in another respect, it's connected to the mainland by a jetty and the houses float on the water. so how would these structures actually built floating foundations that can be from, from concrete or from steel of a composite. and with that become big, very large floating platforms. and on top of it that forms we can built almost anything from form parks and green to houses, to towers. and these are these big platforms. we can connect to our cities on the

water or lakes or rivers or seas, and by death we can take advantage of that space. the range of possibilities seems endless. the ocean flower complex in the multi even islands, with $185.00 villas and a floating golf course. the citadel apartment complex in the netherlands, a design that would use the water to help cool the buildings consuming 25 percent less energy than conventional structures. a plan for an entire floating city. it features self-contained modular construction and has lots of recreational space. a design for a floating mosque in the united arab emirates and a 25 storey hotel tower in dubai rotating on a floating foundation. but khun althouse is mainly interested in

designing floating residential communities. but only floating villas will never be enough if you really want to cure the problems of space, you have to also do it in high densities and high intensity that we also have to make floating towers. so the next step for floating cities will be these things floating stars. so we need a tower for rotterdam, a floating office tower of 8 stories, and we do it in seal to cause lemonade, the timber, and been put on big for the foundations. you can create almost same density as well . one basic idea underlies water studio's designs and accounts for its international success. people ask me, do you want to live on the water yourself? while i have a family, i have 3 sons. and there for me, i only want to live on the water if the quality of the comfort is exactly the same as i learnt. but today with all the technology we have

a favorable from the offshore industry and from form the shipping industry. you can make platforms that nobody will even noticed that you are on the water. this is the mass, lance storm surge barrier in the province of self holland. and they love that in the next in the last big flood was in 1953. nearly 2000 people were killed. the government said this can't happen again. during the storm, 200 kilometers of dikes burst, and water levels quickly rose to 3 meters and instrumented 100000, people lost their homes. after would the government ordered the construction of a system of 15 storm surge, barriers, dams, and other structures to have the barriers aren't enough. there are just a part of the system that helps us to keep our feet dry. it sounds simple, but it's really quite complex. the country is still battling,

the threat of flooding. dikes are being rebuilt and planted with vegetation. beaches are being widened and sand dunes razed. rotterdam was he hard by the 953 floods. the mass land area is one of the world's largest moving structures and now protects about 1000000 people. the 2 launch floating gates each 240 meters long, the retaining walls, a curved to withstand the force of the oncoming water. the barrier is closed only when a big storm is on the way. rotterdam is europe's largest seaport, and the barrier is designed to protect it, to the muslim. this is the only barrier of its kind that's run by a computer. we've worked hard to eliminate any technical complications of the look

of always. it takes just 2 hours to close the gates. these only happens when the water level hits 3 meters, either they know they want to tell me a lot about everyone in the netherlands, contributes to flood protection or through the taxes they pay. even those who don't live near water in the more than a 1000000000 euros goes into the flood control program every year. and then the government also finances efforts to help parts of russia. damn city center, collect and drain excess water in an emergency. there's lots of open space seen parking garages, they're designed so that they can take on runoff. water during floods, heated by the rhine and mass rivers. he is

an unusual design floating policeman's.