the world. around half a century. will be a true decrease. in evidently sea level playing least one meter in a century it's really frightening. why are people more concerned. started may thirty first w. a low in a very warm welcome indeed to focus on europe with me peter crave and we begin in northern ireland where tensions have been stoked by the ongoing uncertainty over brags the looming british exit from the european union and people have been

mourning the death of young journalist lira mckinney shots while reporting on the clashes in the city of derry her killing was the first by a paramilitary group in the twenty one years since the signing of the good friday peace agreement that brought an end to decades of deadly violence known as the troubled it's. now day nine hundred ninety eight agreement led to the opening of the border between northern ireland of the republic of ireland both part of the e.u. and those who live along the frontier wanted to stay open believing that a hard border would trigger not just more violence but also more smuggling and shamus murphy is among those who are supportive mildly very angry that people are even talking about the possibility that their worst fears could become a reality. the free. lunch from his home in the republic of ireland seamus murphy shows his friend peter where

the irish border runs rex it is a constant topic of conversation and concern for them some cynical humor helps. it would be illegal. to take his dog from. pine trees because pine trees in the republic of ireland a but his dog. would need shots not to. here in the border region people aren't big sticklers about regulations seamus murphy says smuggling was part of everyday life when he was a boy so most of the time the goods involved were fairly innocuous detergent. a couple of sheep in a carrier. almost anybody over fifty years of age have themselves some smuggling skills and we admired smugglers when we were children there were legends there were robin hood figures in this area so there was no social condemnation of

a smuggler smuggling was perfectly respectable business to be in. mc who prefers to keep his last name to himself says he to smuggle goods back then the truck driver brought his cargo across the irish border on country roads avoiding the customs officers altogether. he believes that will bring with it duties and price differences and that will encourage smuggling again. wherever. i go to barbados facio and instead of yeah it was very you know like. the so money back since two or three on the cross and here over the years i couldn't do that. so this thing of. the b.b.c. it was in the old days these warehouses right by the border were used to smuggle in

cattle grain heating oil and other products until the e.u. customs union and open borders made it unprofitable but gangsters continue to operate in the region and could profit from. the danger is very substantial there are people with access to hundreds of thousands opposed to invest in the goods that they want to smuggle and those are the people with existing links to crime. work together just as criminal gangs have cooperated particularly in the illegal cigarettes and importing of illegal sibs cigarettes from eastern europe from. after that it could be more lucrative for these gangs to smuggle beef from the u.k. into neighboring ireland and then sell it for higher prices in the e.u. . the only way to stop them would be to implement tougher border controls but politicians warn that that could also reignite the northern ireland conflict.

has the potential to bring us back if there's any infrastructure. at the border and in relation to border control attentional bring is by those dark days and that's. people that's why it's so imperative that there is no return to the borders of the promised. this former british customs shed is a relic of that past. conor patterson from the new reeks of commerce and trade recalls that it would sometimes take an entire day for a truck to clear customs. although back then there was less trade between northern ireland and the republic of ireland. this facility was both here and in our area that was secure we have we have cameras

we have we had the british military very close by the previous for so they was was was destroyed and the ira which killed nine people i'm not swore they are actual arjun's of the political conflict came from that's why three hundred thousand british soldiers and northern ireland during the course of the thirty year conflict . some bricks that supporters say the answer to the problem is a smart border with infrared cameras and motion sensors but among locals there's also huge opposition to the idea. the problem with. any take knology installed at this border will not last twenty four hours. why because it will be either blown up by paramilitaries or ripped down by respectable people like me. to. the

well of these two men who want things to stay just the way they are at the irish border they view breck's it as a threat to peace and stability in the region. that no one wants the troubles to return that. ok let's go now to the spanish region of galicia where twenty years ago the town of ponce very drove banned cars from entering the town center and gave the streets back to the people the man at the center of that decision was made go fernandez laurus who was then and is still the mayor of point of the trip he made the case that yes cars stand for mobility and freedom but they're also noisy dirty and dangerous and most people in the town are glad that they've gone down a different road from other places the point of a dress has long been a stopover for pilgrims taking the way of st james but now it's become

a destination for curious urban planners to. pont of adra is setting an example as a pedestrian ised city with only a few cars. the town hall welcomes group after group of interested visitors mayor miguel morris is the man behind the project. emissions here have been reduced by around seventy percent and these portuguese visitors are impressed. the mayor receives guests from all over the world including the u.s. and the rest of europe. today the mayor of paris has joined the portuguese visitors they're intrigued by the project who is good for us the streets here bring people together so. we will skip the squares where children play. it with the view there's a sense of ease and community. punch of interest mayor shows us the center he says

he's a great fan of walking it. laura has started changing things twenty years ago back then point of a drop was choking in traffic it had nearly eighty thousand residents and almost as many vehicles most people did their shopping by car in those days today the majority of shoppers are pedestrians of course as they were with cars are bad for the city they took up too much space we still have up to fourteen thousand cars here every day of the storage city center which completes me hannah and growth. all around the city there are signs that look like subway maps but instead they provide walking distances in meters and minutes. the fifteen thousand parking spaces on the edge of the inner city play a major role in the project most of them are free of charge. vehicles such as delivery trucks are still allowed to enter the city but they may only park for

brief periods it's the same in all residential areas the maximum parking time is limited to ten or fifteen minutes no room for cars is the motto here police cameras monitor how long a vehicle parks and how fast it travels the overall speed limit is thirty kilometers an hour and put s. rians always have right of way there are hardly any traffic lights or signs the project is proving a success. that. there has not been a single fatal accident in the last eight years but before that there were two or three each year that appeared to have traditionally conservative punch of a drive voted in left wing representative morez at the end of the one nine hundred ninety s. since then he has transformed the city the city center was protest realized within a month rather than what's in it when you buy

a car you do not also buy the right to a parking space this is our approach of course people are afraid of making changes but then most people saw how things improved and how the retail sector benefited little about the ever only going to move. as first three thousand retailers protested against the mayor's plans some even went to court businessmen miguel lago was also against the proposal initially but that has now changed. sales increased not only in his store. and customers now come on foot or by bike. local shops have profited from the traffic free concept because he wanted to know how to fill a hole people were afraid but then we saw how the rundown city center improved a now more and more people want to invest here. or feeling. pontiff vedran is showing how cities can reclaim public space and residents are

supportive. whether that thank you and you can walk without the fear of getting run over it's just wonderful that made you think that a lot of us minnows want i mean i feel. there's less pollution the city is more fun because you can stroll around without the cars. being. twenty ventura has become a much more attractive place to live people used to move away from here now the number of residents is on the increase a success for the city's mayor. was the theory with us or with the people are proud of punter vedra. that they believe in the city's future. that's probably the best thing is that can happen to america. but surprisingly mayor lois likes driving right he drives in from the countryside every day he says he doesn't hate cars but he feels they belong on country roads or

freeways and not in cities this philosophy has turned punt of adra into a great place for pedestrians. now on a very different note to russia is a key player in the long dirty and devastating war in syria and to make the case for its involvement in the conflict moscow has sent a train around the country carrying exhibits highlighting the heroism of russian soldiers and the threats they face in syria but there's another side to the story and our reporter met with a woman called nova who told him about her own loss and the council's he's in a war in a distant land. at ten am the syria train as it's known arrives that cousin station to welcome with military honors its twenty cars are packed with military equipment patriotism and pride sporting trophies brought

back from syria by russia's armed forces. including tanks armored vehicles and even many labs for making chemical weapons they allegedly belong to as terrorists because iran is one of a total of sixty stops on the tour. lou democracy is another needed the russian people have to see this train so the want to stop the misery that sadly at home in other corners of the world. and to understand russia's role in the battle against international terrorism a war zone they feel but it's not with them that it is not. all gone markelov understands all too well what that battle can mean. she lives in each new camps one hundred seventy kilometers from concern alone with her daughter her husband dmitri was killed in syria in twenty seventeen she says the train from the perspective of

her personal tragedy. we need to work with i see nothing in this train but death. because of the military involvement i've lost my husband over there what i'm worth only of this government. the russian defense ministry gives an official toll of one hundred sixteen russian troops killed in syria. officially august husband dmitri is not among them alongside the regular troops for several private combat units from russia agas husband belong to one of them. but it wasn't just ten or twenty soldiers from russia there were thousands and very many died. when august caesar videos of the trophy train she expresses just one wish. what they can be as now we are if i had known i might have gone to cosign and would have hounded down

those generals sugarless it's. officially russia prohibits combat missions by private companies human rights activists speak of cynical double standards we made up one of the activists on the outskirts of moscow. prevent go ahead about august case he provides support for the relatives of the private russian fighters who were killed in syria now where the dead fathers are husbands listed as soldiers. in the syrian war has two faces the first one shows us russia's official war on terrorism. a second hidden one is not meant to be seen that russia must expose the second face and explain the nebulous structures in syria and meet in a new nie. the death of august husband is one chapter in the story of russia's involvement in syria but the trophy train and its initiators

prefer to keep on the wraps. instead the guides talk about russia's successes. moscow has been assisting the syrian military in its fight against isis since twenty fifteen and helping to keep president bashar al assad in power many visitors support this. are helping the degraded syrian people. so how and foremost successfully they say what does russia have to do with syria. well it's a substantial help for the country. so we can return to the well what's it called. peace of mind we have to show children weapons of war so they know war is bad. the families of some of the victims from private armies are fighting for some form of compensation among them all going michael over and her daughter they get

nothing from the russian state even though the mitri was fighting alongside regular russian troops against the same enemy in syria. that i fear would of course russians fighting international terrorism but why isn't there anything for the survivors. our government sends humanitarian aid to syria why aren't we getting any humanitarian aid we've lost our breadwinner and didn't discover me. for two months the syria train traveled across russia from west to east the russian military pretreated as a symbol of success in its war on terrorism but this battle has left many questions unanswered. now it lies a deliberately waged between switzerland and austria with beautiful landscapes

we're talking about the principality of list inch dine which is this year celebrating its free hundredth anniversary but at least in china has had to work hard in recent years to begin to shake off its reputation as a tax haven and in what is a hereditary monarchy the ruling family under the acting head of state a low is fond. of also work hard to justify an exalted status that sometimes feels like something from another age. for hundreds of years european kings and princes were absolute rulers in their castles overlooking the cities and towns from on high then came democracy and the rule of the people. but at least things are a bit different even to this day as prince other we saw explains. the border first here in florida the prince lives in a castle one hundred meters above the valley he's got

a very close natural and informal relationship with the people used. ought to hereditary princes an expert on law and economics and a member of europe's wealthiest noble family but he describes himself as simply the first servant of his country when come to the people can pass a vote of no confidence in the monarch in a referendum. the people can even abolish the monarchy in a referendum one of the option of the one just like an elected politician the monarch always has to consider the interests of the people so we are not in the long run you'll run into problems. if the company because. that may be true but listen stein's prince also holds a unique right to veto any law passed in parliament if he wishes he can also dismiss the government and appoint judges. these powers are a bone of contention for the monarchy few critics at home.

when they put on display when it comes to the citizens judicial rights lichtenstein years like to say they'd rather leave it up to the people up at the castle to take care of it. that's also a form of pragmatism and division of task but i think it undermines democracy with this shot at the democracy. but least in china's economy is booming unemployment is virtually nonexistent the principle of these financial dealings have made it rich and it is home to numerous banks financial advisors and trustees. in two thousand and eight one of the princes bank employees sold for in tax inspectors confidential documents they involved thousands of accounts held by tax dodgers and contained billions of euros an undeclared funds. the liechtenstein system skyhigh with the data he took from the royal trust and that's an achievement. i think he changed this country more than any

artist or intellectual prince ever did before. he diffused off to. the people at least dime and the prince were called robber barons but they came through the scandal united following international pressure the financial sector was reform to adhere to european transparency rules. i think. looking back it's very clear that this was the right and important decision to make at the time. they were estimating that for the end of twenty eight thousand we'll be managing over three hundred billion swiss francs in assets to from a protection here. which is also a source of income for the little us so they took the tax haven affair as a minor on the princes part. this desert so they're part of us they're us and we are they. would leave this direction stein didn't have its principle still be a farming village today this is very likeable family we're looking forward to their

big jubilee house if the school says you believe the people down in the valley are full of praise and up at the castle hereditary prince other ways is well aware of his high approval ratings surrounded incidentally by one of europe's biggest private art collections. this is by rubens one of his few landscapes the reigning launch of that's if you have made of. and as its people are shown on the tend to concentrate more in biblical as well as antique motifs always with powerful figures if being a fickle one fusion and clear mission stein too seems to like powerful figures and in twenty one thousand and this age of democracy the small state in its powerful princely family celebrates their three hundredth anniversary. well one of my favorite places in europe is brussels the belgian capital is though often underrated despite its many attractions including the tiny fellow universally

seen as the symbol of the city who spends his whole day well dare i say passing water lovely you might be thinking but it doesn't stop there because it's been discovered that the little lady who just can't restrain himself has been wasting a very valuable public resource. the city of brussels has so much to offer culling area treat performance art architecture. and then there's this a sixty one centimeter tall bronze statue of a boy passing water and then it can pierce is regularly decked out in new outfits. but now the authorities have realised the city landmark has been wasting more than two thousand liters of fresh drinking water every day no one even knew. we didn't have a water meter and a different department simply footed the steep bill somehow. and investigation

has revealed that the water from the statue was going down the drain but that has since been fixed and you will clog the look of all the water is not collected here . we then pump it back up to the mannequin pissed at you and love will restrict not only on water physically. fresh drinking water is no longer being wasted and the four hundred year old statue is one hundred percent eco friendly many could be medical tests makes it clear to everyone in brussels belgium and europe it's a message from europe's capital that clean drinking water is precious and should not be wasted because you're talking for the preserve of. the recycled water doesn't detract from the popularity of what is probably the most famous tourist attraction in the belgian capital a small boy spending a penny. and that's all from

focus on europe this time around thanks so much for joining us and if you'd like to see any of our reports again just go to our home page on d w dot com all visit us on facebook can do come back next time around until then bye bye and troops. the food.

the food. the. people here life they love their country but not the current conditions iran a journey through a land full of contradictions of joy and sadness comforts and doubt. our documentary depicts the contrasts of everyday life that help people cope

without fear run bittersweet fifteen minutes on the job of. shifting powers the old order is history the world is real uniting itself and the media's role is keep the topics in focus of the global media forum twenty nineteen today one of two people is online who are we following them do we trust the beijing that ship the future at the georgia global news for twenty nineteen. we're not here to judge you but to eliminate prejudices. we're not here to change your opinions but to open some space for different points of view we're not here to speak on behalf of anybody but to let everybody speak for themselves. and not here to give the right answers but to ask the right questions. we're not here

to indoctrinate but to listen. plus ninety connect to an unbiased agenda subscribe now on you tube. some people don't care about me. because they don't see my beauty. some people don't care about me because they think i have nothing to give. but two billion people do. too then i am everything. their home. be a food. their livelihood. but day by day i disadvantage. and so does everything i give. two

billion people care about me. me me. and now. i need either. venezuela's president nicolas maduro has said those conspiring against him will go to prison and supporters of self-proclaimed president juan why don't have clashed with police in the capital caracas sizes have taken to the streets again after quite don't called for a military uprising against madrid zero. u.s.

attorney general william barr will not appear before the house judiciary committee on thursday it comes after senate committee heating where he defended his handling of the mother report intervention.