into completely new things and talk of the ancient giants when it reaches its teachers even the. darkest ability to turn. to there's probably no place anywhere and when things are in such quick succession . the renaissance. starts and p. twenty second w. hello and a warm welcome to focus on europe thanks for joining us now and again there are events and images so extraordinary that the entire world is seemingly moved the fire at the historic notre dame cathedral in paris was such an event onlookers

watched in shock as the flames ravaged their way from the rooftop to this fire the firefighters could only extinguish the flames the next morning. isn't just any church it's the heart and soul of the french capital and though parts of it have been destroyed the structure of the iconic building has been preserved and french president emmanuel mccaughan has vowed to rebuild the church within just five years for parisian and those who love the city the fire was a reminder of just how beloved new toy down is. live it was an incredible sight more and more people gathered in front of notre dame cathedral which was burning before their very eyes they sang and prayed together parishioners and tourists from around the world. the fire had already been raging for three hours the iconic twin bell towers were in danger of collapsing many here

were hoping for a miracle like josie and early christians from lebannon. they had to go in there's water on either side. but it's on fire and they can't put it out. even in france with all of its modern technology they can't put it out you were praying to god said. also this you might if men can't do it maybe the good lord will help us. so that. it's not just not true donna from paris it's not true dom of all humanity even the muslims next to us started singing with us when they saw he was singing in arabic. much of notre dame's roof had collapsed the fate of its invaluable artworks and relics was still unclear a best it was somewhat depressing for me this is the symbol of paris i'm in love with paris and it's art and culture that this could happen to such a powerful symbol i can't will not. people hoped and prayed firefighters could put

out the fire there never been one like this at notre dame many of the beams in the church's wooden frame were almost a thousand years old. put them through. the dam is my heart my soul is what i'm a parisian born in paris to me it's our most important building. everyone cried tonight i stood beside muslims jews blacks whites this united everyone it touches our soul and breaks our hearts. some people stayed all night. then in the early hours of the morning the fire department announced that the blaze was under control though the damage is huge many of the most important artworks were rescued . who long work for the roman catholic archdiocese of paris is relieved and impressed by how many people of all religions to together.

last night the grand the rabbi of france cited the old testament that's common to both christians and jews. prophet isaiah said he my house will be called a house of prayer all peoples. and that's what not a dom represents for christians of course but for all men of good faith whether they be jews or muslims or otherwise. even nonbelievers. some say it's a miracle notre dame is still standing. still i believe in resurrection. rise again due to the extraordinary solidarity of those mobilizing to rebuild it before going to get the sale i think we're capable of doing it maybe differently but we have to do it as well no matter what the cost it will be huge you know but that doesn't matter it must be done and when you know. notre dame and paris are experiencing an outpouring of solidarity people around the globe want to help

restore the treasure cathedral to its former glory and help is on the way through an outpouring of generosity hundreds of millions of euros from individuals and companies have already been pledged to rebuild. these people are demonstrating for a liberal and cosmopolitan spain for a tolerant society well the current socialist government supports these values but with elections coming up in spain they are facing a serious challenge from the far right the populist locke's party are gaining momentum after their surprise victory in regional elections they are unapologetic about the country's former dictatorship during which tens of thousands were murdered many others were imprisoned and tortured well the effects of franco's forty year reign of terror still have a profound impact on the victims and their relatives today. it was the

most terrible experience of his life billy merrow was just nineteen when he was thrown into this prison in madrid. today it's hard to imagine the horrors that took place here during the fascist regime of francisco franco to force mayor to speak the police staged his execution. and. when they point to post and press the trigger with no bullet in that split second two things can happen you can just stand there speechless like i did or you fall apart. or so that. the young communist did not reveal any names his time in prison in the early one nine hundred seventy s. helped spur his decision to enter politics where he eventually served as m.e.p. for the united left block mayor fears that right wing populist are gaining support in twenty eighteen the far right box party took eleven percent of the vote and to lucy as regional election now the country is heading into

a general election. i feel safe today but i'm very worried because a political force like vox is yearning for a time in which we lived under a dictatorship of. the far right the box party wants to unseat the socialists the crowd of fox supporters have come to this bullfighting are enough for a rally many have written the slogan spain for the spanish on their flags they want to ban abortion and same sex marriage and they glorify the years under the dictatorship. grayle if we would the franco years weren't so bad there was a good side. of our border ok it was a dictatorship but a homeless one. just then we had to just let it go away i'm proud of spain's history thanks to franco spain made progress and became what it is today. for franco's victims and their families sentiments lie. these are

a slap in the face for nine years they've been demonstrating every thursday in the center of madrid. they're calling for truth justice and retribution they say the dead should be exempt from mass graves and given a proper burial and their murderers and torturers brought to justice for the people here the rise of the far right is a shock. to brighten their lot and they want to recon ques a recon quest can you believe it this is a disgrace to spain. that's why we're here demonstrating against fascism not for ourselves we're old they're not but for our children our grandchildren are near. the crimes of the dictatorship have been swept under the carpet agrees nicholas sanchez. under franco he became a forced labor he fled spain and only returned after franco's death he wrote a book about his life spain's younger generation he believes has learned far too

little about the horrors of the dictatorship that's why many are now joining the far right. haven't properly grappled with our own history we're going to we have an entire series of very conservative governments. they made sure that schoolchildren never learned about what actually happened in this country. of a gun denied that we had a dictatorship. spain's history has divided the country far right box leaders santiago rejects the notion that any form of reckoning or redress is necessary to come to terms with franco's nearly forty year dictatorship but you only you won't apologize for our history we should acknowledge its glory its a darker side draw the best out of it and take pride in it. really mayor is dismayed

and angry at the spanish left which he says failed to counter the rise of the far right he hopes the radical right won't have a strong showing in the general election and become kingmakers in a new conservative government as they did in andalusia. one other love not a that was one of the most terrible nights of my life. this or that after so many years of struggle and sacrifice of this of after so many disappeared so many who were forced to flee and look at so many who were tortured this would be a step backwards it would be like starting over again at zero the third of. a mayor says he won't give up he'll continue to fight for a just and lightened and modern spain. many girls the world over dream of becoming famous and reality casting shows can

offer a fast track to fame and fortune eleven year old tonya from russia dreams of making it big as a singer but first she has to win over the tough judges to make it through to the finals with millions of russians tuning in the competitions can be brutal especially for children from taxes prevention of city of to their the draw of the big stage in moscow is worth the risk. to make it big you've got to stop small. a rehearsal room into via a provincial russian city eight weeks before the show. at just eleven years old lead singer thom yorke is one of russia's youngest rocks it. has to move in with my band mates are quite a bit older but if i were to play with kids my own age ordering we could never

achieve this quality level we're taking with. tanya it's been chasing her dream of talent show success but she is she to play football us russia's version of the voice months before but didn't make it past the first round since then she's been rehearsing every day in her hometown to the city lies on the ball down and on the rail line between moscow and st petersburg. tanya's having private singing lessons with her voice teacher. right now bush no doubt about tommy has an unusually strong will to sing rock you must have an inner motivation time he has that and a natural presence with you don't you for that only if you. just four weeks to go till the show tanya has to go to moscow to rehearse with the orchestra for

russian television channel one but the on phone bill has little experience with hard rock so can it work. and is there any way usually play the song twice as fast. as his wish i'd listen to thoughts. i think. finally the day of the show has come and tommy is hoping that a slower version of the song will strike the right chord with the jury should hear more. about the other will be ready to go on at twenty two eleven. that those millions of people all across russia are waiting to hear who the jury will send to the final round russia's been in a talent show frenzy for years now. young

performers sing their versions of songs by big stars. act last tanya girl keenness on with her own interpretation of nirvana the grunge anthem smells like teen spirit. the juries made up of three famous russian singers. they sit with their backs to the contestants judging solely on what they hear if nobody's turned their chair around by the songs and the singers out of the running. he'd see. my kid and i got to see him.

and that's just how he goes for tonya none of the jury members turned around the eleven year old aspiring the singer from to via has to fight not to break down into his brother that was listening with what can i say she's just not right for this format or rather channel one's not yet ready for tanya's music. they'll be hearing from me. no happy ending for tonya other youngsters are waiting backstage hundreds while three thousand sit at home in front of their t.v.'s. weeks ago we shared with you the story of how a young man from iraq who had camped out on the french coast of cali with no roof over his head he was left to sleep under a bridge in the middle of winter and not told us his goal was to cross the english

channel over to the u.k. before border controls were reintroduced for breaks that he repeatedly risked his life trying to cross the freezing waters on an inflatable dinny or correspondences and adore hegar has kept in contact with hammer and brings us this update. february twenty fifth twenty nineteen hama from iraq squeezed into a refrigerator truck with other refugees trying to cross the english channel from county to britain without permission. they were all risking their lives. after nine hours without knowing what was happening around them the truck was in britain fear melted away only now did hama dare to take videos on his cell phone that. you cannot describe feeling it's unbelievable as it's

a brutal happens because something when you did not expect something and you want it to happen when it's happened it's sad you cannot explain it. to the asylum authority sent hama to liverpool it was his first time on british soil after at least sixty attempted crossings and over ten thousand euros paid to people smugglers. after all he's been through his room in the refugee shelter here feels like paradise welcome and this is my home this is my bit. in here is better warm safe and no big fan of the police no in truth or anything else. hama says that in iraq he was roughed up by the kurdish secret service and threatened with murder his dream was to get to britain he imagined english gardens stately homes and best of all an open liberal society.

but the reality of britain is very different. from is afraid to walk the streets at night in this neighborhood some locals are less than welcoming and far from cosmopolitan. when you do walk. you know walking. near to them close to them. they look at you by some way that you are not belong to this society i've got a different one now it's the end of me. how much i don't. walk around on the midnight. in the night because lots of people in here are drunk they say they want to make a problem so it's for your safety. and he gets homesick especially times like this. someone has placed roses in

a tribute to their mother on a lamppost that reminds hama of his own family. i left my country i didn't tell him he didn't tell. me i was i was in greece. i was in. my brothers. and i didn't. with taylor i guess it's. just arriving to italy i. i speak with they are she. she she rides a lot. calmer doesn't know when he'll see his mother and siblings again he can't leave britain until his asylum status has been decided. he tries to communicate with people were ever he can america's new in here so what do you think that if you bring revenue through palm reading this will be a problem for. some some kind of people maybe the third of us who don't know and

every everyone's going to have a different opinion about everything i just don't see a problem thanks thanks i sent it to the us banks got off early. on his way to britain how often acted as an interpreter for other refugees in an effort to be of service here to he offered his services to the red cross fortunately for him and the red cross his language skills are needed. how many meanings and sentence from this ronnie and i are. sometimes to close to two to have an interpreter with us providing support with those skills yet it's just one of the many many ways of integrating under current pot you. can see and we recognize that rotten science it does have a lot of positive contributions to. hama has applied for asylum now he's waiting

for the interview that will help determine his future. it's my dream come true that's what i think so maybe i'm right maybe i'm wrong i will fight just like i fight to come here i will fight to stay here. he's made a start hamas wants to study nursing at a university and start a new life step by step. in security and freedom. tackling fote waste is becoming increasingly important as we seek to make our world more sustainable the european union has committed to reduce fuel waste by fifty percent by the year twenty thirty and in the czech republic the government has already acted by introducing a new law at the claire's war on food waste and initiative welcomed by people like stanislav said elect but critics say it's crossing the line.

once a week stanislav said he like opens up his grants for the needy he distributes groceries mostly to pensioners and single mothers today he has pizzas that have almost reached their sell by date supermarkets are no longer allowed to throw these products away they are legally obliged to give them to charity organizations marta franco about is happy she can now invite her grandchildren to dinner. it out i get a small pension of about three hundred dollars and when i have to buy call and pay the electric bill it's hard to. climb out of a comes here every week at age thirty she's on disability because of heart trouble receiving the equivalent of one hundred sixty euros a month but groceries cost about the same in the czech republic as they do in germany she comes away with three pizzas and a pair fridge she says these will last five days. this is did you know at first i

was ashamed because this was someone i didn't know and i've never done anything like this asking a stranger for food even if i know he gives it to others they're due for a student because we didn't know what usually told me i can come here every thursday at a certain time. so i do. so there were two of them with this difference that john cherry picks up the food items daily from supermarkets in and around prague the discounters are now required by law to get him merchandise about to reach its best before date this staff member of a prague food bank wholeheartedly supports the idea. it's terrible when you see how many people have nothing to eat and then the stores just toss all these products in the dumpster or you. just horrible. new boxes of yogurt fruit and chocolate stacked up in the prag food bank about ten tons of

groceries are distributed each day to around twenty two thousand people in need hardly anything is thrown away people either pick it up directly or it goes to homeless shelters and soup kitchens. that haven't dalek over the new law means we have much more food at our disposal and a greater variety we get more perishable goods including fruit and vegetables. the discount supermarkets say the law is a mistake. if the regulations are point strict sometimes it's not easy to determine which fruit we're still allowed to pass on and which we need to throw away after all the charities have to document that the perishable goods will be used quickly a complaint was filed at the constitutional court by some checks senators they said the last smacked of communism and that other potential beneficiaries were losing out. we lodged

a complaint because the state was deciding who the supermarket should give food to . for example some discounters have been donating such products to zoos. well now they're not allowed to do so despite the quantities available being enough for everyone to do. what i was emotional stanislav so deal like disagree there's not enough to go around he says food prices are so high that even ordinary pensioners rely on food banks the state isn't providing enough support. the problem is that there are many people like me. my pension is enough i don't need to work i can volunteer. i don't earn anything from what i hear. what stanislav citylink would really like is a freezer the law may have made more food available for distribution but the czech republic is by no means a paradise for those in need. plenty of food for thought

well that's all for this edition of focus on europe feel free to get in touch about this week's topics on twitter you can also find more stories on our website d w dot com thanks for watching and feeling. the area of the elite.

how's your view of the world. where i come from but oh that's good just go it's just like with chinese food doesn't matter where i am suppose it was reminds me of home after decades of living in germany china is for just one of the things i miss

the most but that takes me a step back and i see if they wanted to have different skin knowledge benefits a person to go nations that exist the other part of the war haven't been implemented in china that's new but i'm not a child of people wondering if they're gorgeous unsafe to me but if i have a right to learn about it and that is this is the job just under so much how i see it and others why i love my job because i tired to do it in fact it is an hour a day my name of the uninsured and. i was acting deputy. it's crunch time the european elections are just around the corner i think having it easier you might ask a simple why should i care what the european market is one of the biggest in the wives of everyone everybody needs to catch up so watch our special show elections why they matters to asia. political sides good morning value.

the new elections why they matter to asia to date on the deficit. when the rich amazing people fight for survival the money based on a budgets limited budget when there's a flood water comes up to a waste by your clothes fast everyone needs to but. the lack of water is equally dangerous. there's junk you can see people move south so they can plant crops and find food. floods and droughts will climate change become the main driver of mass migration you could not write any apocalyptic scenarios you want and probably most of them to come to. the climate exodus starts in full service on t w.

this is the w. news live from the u.s. special counsel report into russian interference in the twenty sixteen presidential election that's been made public and u.s. attorney general william pass says the inquiry showed no collusion between donald trump's election campaign and moscow the president says he's been vindicated but well the long awaited reports tell the same story take you live to washington also

on the program india begins phase two of its five week general election process the rest of region of kashmir goes to the.