>> this is "bbc world news america." welcome to the world, the arrival of birth's 7 billion percent is matched with a question. the united nations cultural agency unesco approved palestine as a member. one of the world's finest is it culture or politics? welcome to our viewers on pbs and america and around the globe. if you are feeling a little cramped today, you have good reason. planet earth now has a population of 7 billion.

the philippines was the first country to declare the seventh billionth person. she is a little girl called dankeeka mae who is the only person who does not know how famous she is. the unavoidable question remains, can the world cope with so many of us? >> it is more about samples than exact sums when it comes to global population. the u.n. has declared that any country, one baby born on the 31st of october becomes the seventh billion person. there are many tiny candidates. the philippines' contribution to the 7 billion is dankeeka mae. blissfully unaware of for celebrity status. born into a crowded public hospital, she was greeted to speeches.

the family planning is a controversial issue in the country and her mother has decided to defy church teachings and practice birth control. this little boy is the chosen one, according to russian state police. a quarrel is -- russian state television. politicians have declared a another candidate as the first to be born on monday the regions are competing to show how they're trying to boost the country's dwindling population. india has the opposite problem. the u.n. projects that in 2025, its population will overtake china. india also struggles with a skewed sex ratio because of the preference for boys. china is also dogged by a shortage of girls.

the government deems the family planning policy has paid dividends, helping to boost the economy. its problem now is not enough young chinese to support a huge elderly population. the u.n. does not want this milestone just to be about total numbers. there is also the urgent issue of inequality. >> lavish lifestyles, but poverty for to many others. a huge advantage -- mothers die every day in childbirth. >> 7 billion and counting. for many, the key question, how to manage these scarce resources so that babies have a bright future? >> a very special day, but for

more on the milestone and how the plan is poised -- planet is poised to go, i spoke with the executive director of the global help the development program at the aspen institute. it is almost remarkable that we can say that this is the day, right? we are sure that today is the day? >> today is the day. we have been thinking about this for some time. the u.n. has the ability to project population at the very specific levels. >> it is remarkable. what are the challenges? >> this is an untold story about a 7 billion. most of europe and america has seen aging populations and smaller family sizes. the poorest countries of the world and the country's most vulnerable are those that have

off the charts of population growth and fertility rates that have not changed in many decades. there is kind of a confluence of population, environment, and food scarcity that is coming together. >> what are the opportunities? >> the opportunity is -- we're coming up to the 20th anniversary of the sustainability talks. it is time for us to return to talks about population it has become very polis that -- politicized to talk about family planning. families -- there is such a high unmatched need for family planning. -- unmet need for family planning. in somalia, it is very easy to see that the horn of africa cannot sustain family sizes of seven to a people.

the droughts are so severe and 30,000 children have died as a result of the compliance of these crises coming together. >> we have seen so quickly -- how quickly 7 billion has crept up on us. >> people said we will be at 9 billion by 2015 without question. there is no question that these milestones will be met. it will be very difficult to reverse that. what we can do differently is to begin to invest in population research at and to family planning so we can turn it around and some of the countries that needed the most. >> thank you very much. happy 7 billion. a number that raises a lot of important issues for all of us. to a controversial vote which is already proving costly to the united nations cultural body unesco. the agency voted to grant the

palestinians full membership. no sooner had the votes been tallied, the u.s. and israel caught their funding. -- cut their funding. >> as they went around the table in paris today giving their votes, it rapidly became clear who was going to win. the no's from america and israel outnumbered by d yes's but everyone else. >> russian federation, yes. >> can the announcement. >> ladies and gentlemen, the general conference has voted to adopt the draft resolution and decided to admit palestine as member of unesco. >> followed by jubilation. after decades of waiting, palestine has formally been

admitted to the u.n. body as a state. the palestinian government was quick to claim victory. >> we believe that the acceptance of palestine in the unesco is an indicator to the growing international support to the palestinian accord meant to be recognized as a state -- a requirement to be recognized as a state. " the israeli reaction was less in disaster. >> that will not change the situation on -- the israeli reaction was less enthusiastic. >> it will only make it more difficult to actually renew constructive negotiations. >> today was a small, but significant victory for the palestinians in their battle for

u.s. recognition. the 107 countries devoted guest today, including france, russia, and china, have all made a statement that they support the palestinian bid for u.n. recognition. unesco helps protect ancient and beautiful places around the world, including jerusalem. its work is funded by american monday, money that washington -- monday that washington is certain to withdraw. >> nato has officially brought its mission in libya to a close. to mark the occasion, the nato chief made a surprise visit to tripoli, where he heralded the success of operations and congratulated the country on its future. just hours later, the country's interim leadership chose a new prime minister.

the transitional government has announced a new prime minister for libya. what can you tell us about him? >> abdel rahim al-kib is something that can bring the national transitional council together. there have been a lot of reports about internal squabbling and power plays over the body of the former dictator, where it should be buried, how it should be buried. this is seen as a consensus figure. he is from tripoli as well and that has helped the city. this should be the seat of power, they say. this is a tripoli candidate. this should help unify feelings and bring people together. that is what libyans or what. they want people to move on ahead. they want to move on this

ambitious plan toward democracy with the idea that the prime minister will collect a cabinet, which will lead to elections in 8 months time to draw up a new constitution for libya. people are eager to move on that road to democracy as soon as they can. >> how much of those plants for the future are affected by nato ending its mission in libya tonight? mindthink it's focus his on libya. nato has ended its mission and it made an audience feel safe. they think nato for winning the war against colonel gaddafi's powerful forces. what you have here on the ground work ill-equipped and ill trained fighters. having a nato fly all of those missions at 25,000 -- it was made about what the battle.

>> china has launched an unmanned spacecraft in preparation for the country's first ever space docket. it blasted off from the desert in northwest china ahead of an experimental docking. china plans to launch at least one unmanned mission next year. a suicide bomber has carried out an attack near in the united nations building in kandahar in southern afghanistan. five people were killed, including a policeman. the taliban says it carried out the attack. the greek prime minister says greece will be holding a referendum on the bailout deal of greek at the european summit last week he has given no

details for the referendum, but he promised to seek a vote of confidence in the parliament. after weeks of posting anti- capitalist protest on is doorsteps, the dean of st. paul's cathedral has resigned. the protesters were inspired by occupy wall street. the clergy has been divided on how to handle it. our religious affairs correspondent has more details. >> yesterday, only hours from his resignation, the deans body language betrayed the enormous pressure he was under. visibly uncomfortable, as the past protesters -- >> i find it quite difficult that you assume that i do not hold the same views as you simply because i do not use the same methods of expressing my views as you. >> today, the news that shocked

the whole church. a statement from the dana read by a colleague saying that he was going. >> it has become clear to me that a criticism of the cathedral has mounted in the press, media, and in public opinion. my position was becoming untenable. >> the activist, protesting about the effects on the poor, insist they never wanted the dean's resignation. >> everyone here was really shocked. what we want to do is get back to the issues. >> there are certain amount of pressure going around, in some cases, it is a good show to resign.

>> the dean has ultimate responsibility for st. paul's. the important task of fund- raising belongs to the foundation, on which the dean has a seat. six of the other nine trustees have links with the world of banking and finance. the bishop of london will take over the dean's duties. he says the resignation was tragic and is saddened and shocked. he insisted there was never any influence from financial institutions. >> i would also like to refute a very strongly the suggestion that what is behind all of this money. that has been repeatedly said in reporting the situation. i think it is very unfortunate that that impression has got around.

>> those built of stone. >> whatever the pressures, he has been forced out of office by a public protest. there is no sign tonight that the protesters will leave. the departure might do little to ease. >> you are watching "bbc world news america." shining a light on islamic art. one york museum experiences far beyond the exhibition hall. the fbi has released a video shop and members of a russian spy ring secretly exchanging information and money. the investigation ended and the biggest since the cold war.

>> what you are seeing now is a rare glimpse into the world of counterintelligence. the woman shown here in a copy shop -- coffee shop is a russian spy. she is under fbi surveillance, captured on a secret camera. the other members -- is still the exchange of a package between spies on the street. he recovers something from a drop where it has been hidden by another agent. all of these videos were released by the fbi. there were more than 10 people in this spy plane. for years, they lived here in the states. they look build lives for themselves. they raised kids. supposedly, moscow had ordered them to cultivate contacts in

america's power elite and to seek out sources of intelligence. we now know that for years, chapman and co-conspirators were under fbi surveillance. they were all deported last year. back in moscow, chapman became an instant celebrity. a model and tv presenter. we asked her about her secret past. >> i will never denied and will never confirmed the fact. >> the american not parties maintain the scott -- spy ring never gleamed much. >> returning to the world's growing population. and the last half century, there

has been urban centers that have ballooned. nowhere is this more evident than in the pakistan city. today, it is 30 times bigger than it was at the end of the second world war. how is coping with the growing pains? on this day that the population had 7 billion, it is fitting that we are talking about a city that has exploded. there are many cities around the globe that have grown incredibly fast. why karachi? >> just watching your newscast today, i am reminded how you get a reflection of so many news stories. not just the increase in population. you have news about terrorism. you have demonstrations around the world about economic inequality. that is spectacularly on display

in a city like this. you have a glass towers going up by the beach at the same time millions of people live in the unauthorized neighborhoods. many of the gravest problems facing the world are being struggled with in a city like this. >> you spend a lot of time in karachi. how has it changed? >> in 1947, this was a city of about 400,000 people. today, it is more than 13 million. >> unrecognizable. >> you see a few of the old buildings. it has grown so much. that is not just a high birthrate. it is also mass migration from india, up from elsewhere in pakistan, every time there is increased conflict in afghanistan, more people are motivated to come south and look for a job that pays them three

or four american dollars a day. that is an opportunity to what they have elsewhere. that is the story in cities around the world. >> you have the unfortunate job of being a city planner today, it can you manage this population explosion? >> when i researched the history of this city, what i found was planners that tried repeatedly to managed exploding growth of the city and failed. they were overwhelmed by human nature. they were overwhelmed by unintended consequences. there were a lot of players that had influences on our cities around the world. but not necessarily the consequences they planned for. what has had a greater influence is the growth of unauthorized neighborhoods. people would grab chunks of real estate from the government, subdivide them, and sell them to the poor. that is the way that cities are growing. keeping up with bad is a huge

challenge. -- keeping up with that is a huge challenge. >> it is one of the world's finest collections of islamic art. it now has a new home in new york city. there is a diplomatic mission to this collection, too. the metropolitan museum of art hopes the new -- hopes it will dispel stereotypes about the muslim culture. ♪ >> we must recognize that we live in a nation where a widespread consciousness about islamic world really did not exist until 10 years ago. that awareness came at one of the darkest hours in american history. ♪

>> a decade after new york was attacked by muslim extremists, the city's pre-eminence museum has unveiled a suite of new galleries that traced the course of islamic civilization. >> we have one of the biggest collections of islamic art and the western world. art galleries span 1400 years from the earliest origins of muslim culture through the variations across the world. >> most of this collection was taken off display in 2003. some in the muslim community suspect this was done in retaliation for the attacks of 9/11. this is an 8-your process.

we have had some money conservators, architects, engineers, every kind of person you can imagine. >> a team of moroccan are dissents was even brought to new york to create attics elusive -- an explicit courtyard. >> artist of this skill are still working. are did not die in 1900. -- art did not die in 1900. >> apart from being a major musician, this is part of a concerted effort and cultural diplomacy. >> our mission to educate and tell people about world culture.

it gets away from the polarized focus of contemporary politics. >> he is from the interfaith center of new york and says the opening of the new galleries is a major breakthrough for muslims in the city. >> having a gallery like this will help to broaden people's perceptions. there is a real opportunity here. it is wonderful about this cowdery is opening at this time. -- that is calorie is opening at this time. >> a look at the beautiful islamic art that is home at the metropolitan museum of art in new york. go see it if you can on this 7 billion today. that brings our show to a close. you can find constant updates on our website. thank you so much for watching.

>> funding was made possible by the freeman foundation of new york, stowe, vermont, and honolulu. newman's own foundation. union bank. and shell. >> this is kim - about to feel one of his favorite sensations. at shell, we're developing more efficient fuels in countries like malaysia that can help us get the most from our energy resources. let's use energy more efficiently. let's go.

>> union bank has put its global expertise to work for a wide range of companies. what can we do for you? >> "bbc world news america" was presented by kcet los angeles.

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