this is the lead news live from berlin spain this gripped by a 2nd not a van rest and anger of a popular who was sent to prison clashes erupted in boston london and madrid between police and protesters demanding the release of of hostile he's charged with glorifying terrorism and insulting for the family also coming up to study or go nato considers its future in afghanistan defense ministers whole day to day virtual

summit to decide whether to continue the fight or to withdraw their troops. and hundreds of thousands of astra zeneca vaccine does is go and used in germany i mean concerns about its efficacy and side effects not the country's health minister says he wouldn't hesitate to get a shot into. a math anyhow booking to the program would begin in spain where police have classed with thousands of protesters demanding the release of a rap artist who was jailed for his lyrics this is the 2nd night of violence in madrid and barcelona police in the city's attempted to break up the protest by deploying tear gas and firing rubber bullets some demonstrators set up burning barricades and it would dozens of arrests and injuries. was convicted on

charges of glorifying terrorism and insulting the sums and tweets. for more on this we're joined by stephen bergen in barcelona stephen we're seeing the disturbances spreading across spine how serious is this outbreak of violence. well it is it is certainly spread much further than yesterday when i was mostly confined to other parts of catalonia. as it was quite big disturbances in the dreaded also in grenada our country or all of the country. i think we might be seeing something slightly different here in there we're used to saying this is services here in ca to libya particularly. but the whole basically relates to the question of counsel and independence and this is this is going nothing to do with this this is to do with free speech is

a do particularly i think young people feeling that they're not represented. and that there's an underlying. my amount of hypocrisy when madhur might say about who is allowed to say was so the you know this rapper. problem himself is you know being sent to sent to prison while other people who say very incendiary things only happen in the last week or and with some very smart ring people and you know they appear to have impunity and i think i think there's a lot of anger about this that goes well beyond the political questions that we've seen recently and over is the question steve and why did author he's go off to sell in the 1st place isn't what he said covered by freedom of expression. well i

think the you know this is partly why our government is now discussing having a. it's sort of like i think about. freedom of speech which we don't really have here you know mostly we don't have freedom of speech but legally it's very it's very very you can say things and for example in newspapers here that would be considered libelous you know it's akin to other countries. so i think you know this is and i have to go to narrow down what is what is acceptable to treat a speech. it's not yet clear water law is going to is going to say in the meantime i think there's always quite clearly a groundswell of opinion among particularly among young people that there there are there's a double standard there's hypocrisy stephen bergen in basilan

a thanks so much for talking to us. to take a look at some other world news now facebook is blocking users in australia from breeding and sharing news stories the social media giant opposes legislation that would force internet companies to pay news publishers for content earlier this week google said it had struck deals to pay to a strength in many companies for their news content. the us conservative talk radio host rush limbaugh has died of lung cancer aged 75 brand forecastable is known for promoting republican causes and politicians during his shows and taunting democrats . he was awarded the medal of freedom by the former u.s. president donald trump. you know tell him prime minister mario draghi has easily survived his 1st vote of confidence in the senate after valent to do whatever it takes to late his country out of the corona virus pandemic and rebuild the economy

drug is expected to win a 2nd confidence confidence vote in the lower house of parliament on thursday. while nato defense ministers have begun a 2 day virtual summit to consider the alliance's future in afghanistan it's the 1st such gathering since the us election many the may deadline for troop withdrawal set by the trump white house is now in doubt the ministers will discuss whether to continue the fight against the taliban or withdraw their troops even as the taliban increases its attacks against afghan police and civilians while after the 1st day of meetings nato secretary general install timberg laid out the alliance as plans for their mission in afghanistan. we will only leave when the time is right and the focus now is how can we support the peace efforts the peace talks and the re and the joyous. relaunch new strength and new momentum in the peace talks because

that's all it paul through peace. as you know we went into afghanistan together. nato allies partners under not to states all to $911.00 we have made decisions on the just you know presence together and we will also make the decision when the time is right to leave together or for more let's bring in our washington correspondent of the seller that certainly sounds like the u.s. withdrawal that former president trump announced last year is now off the table all of a. well officially the by the administration is reviewing its of ghana's term policy but yes you just heard secretary just general you installed speaking he said nato will leave of ganesan when the time is right and it does not really look like the time is right because the conditions were also set in the in that agreement with the taliban and they were that the taliban. and here to these conditions

to stop putting the security of the united states and their allies at risk to distance themselves from other terror groups like al qaeda and also to participate in peace talks now there is growing consensus that this is not the case the taliban continued to carry out attacks in afghanistan so it looks like that was drawled plans are off the table at least in the short term with that as the backdrop how is joe biden going to sell that shift away from trump's afghanistan policy to his supporters. well joe biden certainly knows that americans are tired of their endless war so it will be a tough sell to explain this to the american voters that he believes that american troops have to stay put in afghanistan. but he will also certainly make clear that this was even a part of the trump plan and the trump agreement with the taliban that it would withdrawal only takes place if the conditions are met now the pentagon

a couple weeks ago said that the taliban do not stick to their commitments in the pentagon does not see a future for the deal and for a withdraw now there's also an afghanistan expert group in afghanistan in washington d.c. really issuing a stark warning addressing the white house saying that a troop withdrawal would lead to a collapse of the afghan state to a return of civil war in afghanistan and that resulting in a terror threat here on american soil and joe biden certainly will not want to be held accountable for this he will then have to make clear that the trumpet plan was premature in his opinion and that leaving now would put the security of the united states at risk of a seller in washington thanks so much a winter storm continues to disrupt energy infrastructure across parts of the united states and has left dozens dead and freezing rain hit the sub state of texas

the cold snap is led to widespread power outages leaving millions of households without electricity as temperatures dropped below freezing. too cold and some brave to lone icy drives to get their loved ones to a warm shelter to spend at chez shop in houston has a generator to keep the lights on the owner is letting families stay overnight. the 1st thing. in the trailer there's no installation anything like that says quote of their week we can't we can't afford to have them freezing not being able to feed freedom. hughes grow for propane canisters to power gas stoves grills to cook because millions of homes still have no electricity. the unexpected cold snap crippled the power grid. to the every source of

power that the state of texas has has been compromised whether it be renewable power such as wind or solar but also as i mentioned today. access to coal generated power access to the gas generator power. at systems produce and equipment failed energy companies used to rolling blackouts to conserve electricity. water pipes best in the blistering cold texas officials warned residents to boil tap or to before drinking it claiming damage to water infrastructure. with low temperatures expected for a few more days many texans have no choice but to struggle on. criticisms about the slow rollout of the corona virus vaccines across the european union has been mounting but now some health care workers us not being the astra

zeneca vaccine amid concerns about its efficacy and saw the face of the 740000 doses delivered to germany few of the 90000 have been administered gemini's health minister has downplayed the concern saying he would not hesitate to get the astra zeneca shot when it's his turn reports like the ones from this hospital in the central german city of are contributing to skepticism of the astra zeneca vaccine at the end of last week 88 employees in the highest risk group who work in intensive care and covert wards receive the astra zeneca shot a short time later almost half of them had to stay home from work because of side effects such as fever. well it's surprising that half of them have symptoms studies show that 10 percent of patients develop symptoms here we're looking at 40 percent that's much more but it doesn't last long they are sick once for a short time and this means the body is interacting with the compound then they

quickly become healthy again but some are hesitant there is uncertainty about whether to go ahead with the astra zeneca shots. i'm still undecided because they don't really know whether i want to get this shot or not of course you're also influenced a lot by what happens to those around you. the vaccine from the british swedish manufacturer is only given to people under 65 in germany due to a lack of data on its effectiveness on older adults some have called into question how effective it is compared to the other jabs. there is skepticism it's been discussed for a long time we need highly effective vaccines for people at high risk that includes medical personnel the sick elderly and those who are bedridden we should use that vaccine for the lower risk groups for younger less at risk people that would be better but infectious disease specialist say there's no reason to consider astra

zeneca as a 2nd choice side effects can occur with other vaccines too that's the be expected it says life effects on them from the shiny to hospital in berlin also but for the vast majority of those who get vaccinated what really matters is to be protected from a severe case of coven 19 intensive care and death and we see that across the board in all studies of vaccines provide excellent protection including astra zeneca. even germany's health minister would accept the astra zeneca shot its value in france of what i'd definitely be ready to get it immediately because they trust the e.u. approval process sees in their evaluation follows due process. and so that's why i would certainly accept the resentment of vaccines is that it is often in from the us and the vaccinations are set to continue on fridays at this parish fike hospital that will allow health care workers to deal with any potential side effects over

the weekend. and that's it for now coming up next as adult film posing the question what if this were unique you make it so that i'm forgetting to get more news on the day doubling used and update up to the account book and follow stories and correspondents on instagram and twitter handle the natives at the news morning's headlines coming up at the top of the hour from now on they have to be held in berlin thanks for watching. imagine how many push. ups right now in the climate change story this is my plan to wake from 1st one week. how much work can really get. we still have time to work i'm going. to. watch said.

if we just take the time to observe it nature provides us with the fascinating spectacle. is the planet of life running crawling all flying like a bank. it's everywhere. but for all this beautiful diversity to have proliferated earth has had to provide a favorable environment for around 4000000000 years. but. what then were the conditions which enabled the blooming of life on earth and could these conditions be present elsewhere resulting in alternative ecosystems.

but. in an attempt to answer these questions scientists scour the cosmos for signs of life. they've built giant telescopes with which to probe the universe and listen to the whispering of the stars but space has remained resolutely silent. but scientists have sent probes to the very edges of our solar system but all they've sent back has been images of planets inimical to life over the last 25 years however astronomers have discovered thousands of incredibly diverse planets in our galaxy alone. so many strange worlds with no sign of life not one other planet similar to our own so could it be that earth really is unique.

all living things on earth are made of the same building blocks long carbon based molecules scientists now think that a large proportion of these molecules came from outside planet earth. comets and asteroids could be the missing links of a long. chain the chain began with the simpler molecules found in the early cloud dust and culminated with the building blocks of life from which life on earth 1st sprang the chain leading to life. made let's walk out when it all but this carbonaceous material that ended up going to earth's oceans that adventure all whole series of changes that particular temperatures particular events a particular star but very particular radiation from our own sun kept up to create .

this organic matter was constantly altered on its long journey towards our planet its final composition the product of a singular history which scientists are now attempting to reconstruct. to understand what happened to these comments during their transformation and journey through the solar system louis don't the core and clay court don't have

taken an original approach which doesn't require a long and costly interplanetary travel more a trip in a test tube. because if you know you are gay there's the idea of a journey which is quite poetic but it's framed in a very scientific context sure if you're. hearing there live dartrey in ma say the scientists simulate the formation of a comet and its journey to earth and i'll just also how to. we do this comets are made of ice and we make some ice so we go into glass was it shows 3 molecules likely to be in such eyes water and methanol and ammonia the water 1st yeah tell me when i have the methanol. we're ok. these icy material is similar to that of which the newly formed comets were composed next the artificial comets long journey is simulated in fast forward.

although do we know that a week in the lab represents a 1000000 year it was already. going to do our job to tell me when you switch it on then i'll do the compressed air in the experiment begins in the chemical reactor there's a vacuum very close to that of interstellar space and the temperature is minus 200 degrees celsius. all of us so we make the ice we can see a bit here a sort of a sort of growth on the edge of the window. the ice is bathed in ultraviolet light simulating solar radiation which breaks up the molecules. for all this 1st stage produces simple molecules which can then recombine to make more complex molecules if this astonishing experiment is successful. in the class warfare what we're going to do now is a warm the system a little dizzy with the ice. then begins the 2nd part of the

experiment the comet leaves the outer region of the solar system and approaches the woman zones where earth is. no what if the 2 like that can see the ice disappearing after a moment you can see bubbles forming itself so we're approaching a phase where the water is close to leaving the ice but once we lose the water we see a white film on the surface of the human that's the new molecules that are form of us so it's not just at the end we have tiny droplets on the surface of the window which are quite visible to the eye and they constitute the organic matter that's been formed from the initial i saw it was a radiator and then on the armed. the temperature in the reactor is now around 20 degrees celsius the artificial comet has finished its transformative journey. there are found.

at the end we get thousands of different kinds of molecules if we start with just remark your through the water methanol and ammonia or if we apply energy to earth and we form thousands of other molecules on. the experiment was a success. in this small chemical reactor there are now simple organic molecules similar to the building blocks from which life sprang forth. among these molecules of life there are amino acids the base of all proteins found in every living creature. also in these droplets there are sugars essential for the construction of d.n.a. . this in which a lot of old molecules like theirs ended up on earth have been in fact what we call meteorites are pieces broken away from comets and asteroids that came in our atmosphere and left their extra terrestrial organic material on the surface of primitive earth as us or for us did out there and.

having traveled from the outer reaches of our solar system this organic matter ended its journey in the oceans of primitive earth. now we need to know what the environmental parameters were which allowed this matter to keep reassembling until it formed living organisms. this is the next step of these groundbreaking experiment. feel gammick matter produced by the artificial comet is placed in an environment close to that of primitive earth. has given us all a push it around with this experimental approach we can change the environmental condition is like we can change for example the water to. the pressure of what we can change the wavelength of the imaginary son that were years ago and continues or is a 600 of a toy yellow puts very important for determining the various parameters of this or other limited or not those that are unique to earth look at their other

environments they did elsewhere in our solar system or os x. of planets for example or things of that dies a. panic molecules are present throughout the universe but the presence of the basic ingredients of life may not in itself be enough for life to exist. to go from the inert to the living may require a very specific combination of environmental conditions that we're only just starting to piece together.

the last half. our planet clearly provided the conditions necessary for life to arise very early on liquid water has been present on earth for 4400000000 years and the most ancient traces of life date from frequent 8000000000 years ago. on a geological time scale life appeared very quickly. what then was this particular medium which allowed the 1st living organisms to appear so quickly biologist put a few casts on lopez garcia here in mexico is studying the amazing adaptability of life in environments very similar to those of primitive earth. while she wound. it's crazy to nip if i think i'm i could be smaller but it's a pretty big if and deep it's going to be hard to get now that we kill him out late . doesn't it smells of sulfur so i love it shall we go event oh yes.

horrific house you own and stuff it moreira are exploring the crater of the volcano as children in mexico. fumaroles boiling cauldron mud and springs the geothermal activity is evident everywhere here. gas rising from the bowels of the earth bubbles up through the acid lake. the to file it just 1st time is to measure the parameters of this extreme environment before looking for signs of life. says it's hot really hot yes. that's why they're up to 9092 sat still going up and i for sign

a 5000 or 6.7 degrees for it comes out it must be seriously hot inside my so i'm telling you. sit down to see if you ignore the plants at the edge of the craters this is like some environments of primitive earth with lots of volcanic activity and hydrothermal like to protect my niece moss hydrothermal activity was a constant on crime and ever. so fast. same yes 96.6 shall we take a sample they're going to show duties that we have of their cell phone on. these hydrothermal environment is very similar to that in which life 1st appeared and it

doesn't take the 2 biologists long to find organisms which appear to thrive here. or out of youthful carraige well take a sample here chose the exhibit the way. it was. despite these conditions which to us seem extreme there's abundant microbial life here the 2 scientists find and observe many varieties of bacteria organized into communities. believes are getting as much 2 of these organisms aren't primitive organisms yet from the microbial diversity we find here and in other ecosystems we can deduce the characteristics of the 1st living organisms.

studying environments like these folks can a crater scientists can easily imagine the types of environments which were favorable to the formation of life on earth. yet there's a lot of hot water vapor on and on no more you hear the water but we can't see it. on the other show we go to them like look at down over there. 4000000000 years ago the chemistry of life may well have begun in small puddles swept by a backwash book would be put. as many hypotheses about the origins of life suggests that that there were tides leaving little legs small ponds which let the organic molecules come together to maybe kick start life so maybe we needed both land and

sea but the queue for the call to know it was. going. to go always go with the big danger would have been too much water with just a little bit more water we'd have had deeper oceans maybe tens of thousands of meters deeper and we'd have had no land just one big ocean when it was no surface no interaction and no possibility of environments favorable to life if we can wonder if the fact that earth had just the right amount of water to have 70 percent oceans continents and then interactions was what made life possible. the ponds of hydrothermal springs provide an ideal environment in which the chemistry of life can get started water heat and chemical elements rising from under the surface that tear up the meaty primitive earth was definitely a chemistry lab level a dirty chemistry lab with lots of components all mixed up with a lot of changing of parameters and condition it's

a metal book will take on the show. for several hundreds of millions of years the molecules mixed together rearranging themselves in all possible combinations becoming ever more complex could this chemistry to finally produce life the chemical elements needed to be able to assemble in isolation from the outside environment. the cell membrane needed inventing. the c.e.o. within this one always a bubble of grease and fell into these elements on the plane that was the 1st individual and if it's put into to do that was the 1st population is life began to go mostly. having only just. come into existence the 1st life forms were still fragile their only protection from the outside environment a thin membrane. yet they succeeded in developing their metabolism and specializing

life could now diversify trying out multiple homes. they love you see vivacity fly has diversified and honestly but from a single common ancestor maybe it early on there were several has a ton of life but only one survived major not a moment of it printed this year we know this because despite the incredible diversity of our living i think that animals and plants and the enormous variety and diversity of microorganisms that we all have the characteristics that we share a guy stick his tongue only. one of us is just saying biochemical base that the same d.n.a. as genetic material and we are all based on the same cloete in manama. discus everything that's in bacteria fungus birds of whales or plants as the same stuff as us we're all related from bacteria to the most beautiful dresses debate

did that people be off. all inhabitants of earth carry within them the traces of these shared ancient history for we all constructed from a limited number of identical basic ingredients and yet 4000000000 years ago the building blocks were available on primitive earth. well any theories. do go meteoroids came from bodies which broke up the audience of years ago it is near rights there were from 6080 a mill as i said we only use 24 days google and. yes i mean the 1st life force chose these 20 amino acids for why those so it's probably just a question of chance to do a shot so. if the grid tie munition you can very well imagine

a world in which living creatures are made up of 28 amino acids it will but not the same ones as us it wouldn't produce all the same lifeforms hobgood they would be very different movie so how can you feel. scientists come up against a serious problem when trying to work out how life 1st came into being. 4000000000 years of plate tectonics have obliterated any trace of the 1st organisms. so they have to look elsewhere on a planet where conditions favorable to life did once exist and where traces of this distant past may still remain. it's a technique that black can exist there's no plate tectonics on the surface of mars or least it's stuff very early there which means that at certain sites its entire

history has been preserved going back a very long time after 4000000000 years that would mean the alderney. there was certainly time for life to occur on months before the planet lost its atmosphere and any record of these beginnings could very well have been preserved under the surface. that size it you know mars had a youth very similar to earth which liquid water comets raining down organic matter and so on just like on earth that makes all the i mean the case of them shows the shield. going to a man's eye could you know if you know this but with the same ingredients in the space there might have been the same beginnings of democrat changers which on earth reduced life also maybe on mars there were these 1st these are dangerous to like making membranes i thought was structures like that the structure of the city block .

and affable think we've studied the planet a lot and we realized that 3 and a half to 4000000000 years ago mars had the conditions that could have supported the beginnings of life. did i just. that's where i think we've found that the curiosity rover which has been on mars for 7 years now sit down and is still investigating itself that a crater it touched down at which is 160 kilometers across get used to be a lake of fresh water filled with fresh water this water was present for hundreds of millions of years old so it's possible that my wife appeared in that crater that if you plant that it would also cut to. exploring the former lakes of months these scientists are hoping to on so one of the main. questions of astronomy and biology is life a pretty ordinary phenomenon in the universe popping up wherever conditions are favorable or is it really

a 10 phenomenon that we have practically no hope of finding anywhere else but on the earth's surface this is the crucial question which the next missions to explore the red planet's buried surface will attempt to. even know for the last 40 years the history of the search for life on mars has been one long series of disappointments almost every 2 years we hear we found evidence of life but we haven't on mars it is almost. these disappointments began with mariner 4 in 1965 as the probe called close to mass it sent back the 1st photographs of the surface to the consternation of the scientific community. the photos showed a dry and desert like planet then it was the viking missions the 1st time scientific probes actually touched down on martian soil we have since 1976 the

viking with charlton looked on life with lion logical experiments looking for life on the surface of mars the results are negative gets if. you're so exposed to the viking experiments we're actually looking for life on mars that would be the same as on earth as well that's a total illusion and it didn't work and it got nowhere but in either go it was a huge disappointment as the 1980s doomed not just the general public but scientists 2 were in through all to the then dominant idea in both cinema and literature that life the bounded beyond our planet that they did that was the 1st big shock shaking the dominant paradigm of that time which said that there was life everywhere including on mars. the failure of the viking missions called for a total rethink of how we should tackle the quest. and of extraterrestrial life bhaskar limit to. the people just the accents mankind had been convinced for several centuries that there was life all over the universe and the solar system

also people seriously thought that mars was the most likely to be favorable to life on the it affected pre-sales issue took several setbacks in those experiments before people realized that this idea that there was life everywhere and run its course again. a final food is only recently that space missions have shown us that we should have a different approach in our missions of the planet mars because you know i think i've done that math. the next exploratory missions to mars won't be looking for a life now but rather the trace of life in the past. this is the objective of the ambitious european exo mars mission with its most bolivar tree. name and we know mars well enough now to look specifically for things that have been preserved in the right context end zones favorable to life.

it's here ensuring that the gigantic 3 d. jigsaw puzzle of the european exo mars is being assembled it's a worthy challenge for the scientific community. from the control center in cheer in carolyn frisbie name will monitor the analyses of the martian soil carried out by the automatic lavar tree in the rover it's the 1st time a mission will be capable of analyzing samples from the neat the surface of mars. all 6 or less just surface is bombarded by radiation which destroys them. tiriel we're looking for such an organic matter which would be the possible residue of a life or conform to the. masses atmosphere

became too feeble to filter the solar radiation that so from full to life. on clothes off by drilling down to meters we can get a much better preserved environment is clear it is more likely that the moment you will see we are looking for would be preserved please help us you will do one exceptional the chefs. looking for life on mars is in effect looking for our own origins will on earth that we don't know how it went from chemistry to biology it's the missing link exobiology that passage from chemistry to bio at you know she. must also this on mars through these experiments we find organic matter we can say that we're attracting the 1st stages of how life emerged on earth jeff in

a very good ideas of the. earth fortunately underwent a very different history from that with months our planet was able to hold on to its atmosphere and liquid water life continue to evolve inventing new forms. of peace white rock is testimony to an uphill battle to code 2500000000 years ago. in the oceans the development which changed the entire history of life on earth a planet scale revolution brought about by microorganisms.

we had lots of beautiful to me just raucous the history of our the history of biology it's evolution it's the amazing ability to transform matter and energy and it's fantastic where the children of this type of microorganism this is our parent and i hate is what. these aren't just any rocks that biologist put it because your lopez garcia and her team are here to study. these calc area structures the result of what was a brand new process using solar radiation as a source of energy us dramatic lines constructed by complex microbial communities in particular cyanobacteria. skin onto i'm surrounded by fossils from matter like if this is a piece of living history man and i like that i've just shocked that you can see

the colonies of green messiah and i bacteria that is still a typical color of chlorophyll across the pigment essential for photosynthesis doesn't it. this great innovation by cyanobacteria with their ability to manufacture their own food sugars from the 3 most abundant elements on primitive earth water carbon dioxide and sunlight this process photosynthesis also produces a health care as deposit which surrounds and protects the cyanobacteria allowing them to form colonies. don't go. out but a lovely piece is growing real i'm getting really really fast as. we have at least at least a 100 micrometers of growth per year maybe even $200.00. 250. that's wonderful. so let's all that if we were happy this morning because we found

a colonization system as we placed here 5 years ago yes now colonized by microbial .