get. the freak on t w. lyn. hello and welcome to focus on europe i'm lara babylonia thanks for being with us italy's floating city is under water and then as has been hit by its worst floods in 50 years many historic buildings have unesco's world heritage sites are on the brink of ruin including the iconic st mark's basilica officials have declared a state of emergency residents and tourists are shocked at the scale of the damage

. the 1200 year old city has reached its breaking point and to make matters worse the disaster in italy could have been prevented a decades old project to build a flood barrier has failed to materialize it's over budget overdue and plagued by allegations of corruption residents have long complained that exploited for profit tourism has left a mark on the fragile city with $30000000.00 tourists coming every year well the mayor has blamed the flooding on climate change but architect christie. says the disaster is manmade he fears that it may soon be too late to stop venice from going under. 83 year old venetian christiana gaspar eto has experienced numerous floods in his lifetime. but the kind of prolonged flood his hometown is currently enduring is a whole different league. together with other locals christiana

has started protesting on a nearby square against what they call the real reasons of the disaster. this is a manmade catastrophe if we can blame bad weather all strong winds for this. this flanders the result of our own structural interventions over the past decades . christiana has dedicated his life to the preservation of venice but it's a losing battle. this book shop for example got flooded and now everything is ruined. this is christiana as the latest construction site when it flooded the water rose to almost half a meter. now he will have to move the power sockets or further up the walls in case of a similar disaster. the architects knows only too well what damage flooding

causes to historical buildings like this former medieval tower. the salt water gets into the walls and the salt crystallizes expands in volume and bursts the building materials siegel yeah. and that's why we see red powder a long break after every flood the video at all said the mother. the flood has spared nothing the city's iconic st mark's square has been inundated for days. likewise st marks the silica and unesco world heritage site its precious floor mosaics covered in salt water likewise the crypt which had just been restored at great costs. but some locals are convinced the city could been better prepared for floods like these. giuseppi kristen alley a retired urban development professor accuses politicians and public administrators

of systematically ruining venice by taking wrong decisions. going forward this is disheartening. for the past 50 years ago nothing has been done to preserve venice this is key to its own ship and there was lots of talk and plenty of money spent and nothing has changed for them. all his life mr christopher lee has called for more research into the nation lagoon a unique ecosystem that for centuries had been able to absorb and cope with floods . at all. but in recent decades this ecosystem has shrunk by a 3rd due to the construction of industrial sites port facilities and artificial islands. water flowing in from the adriatic sea now builds up in the lagoon and streams into venice much quicker because waterways have been deep into so that the huge cruise ships can enter the city.

for almost 20 years the city has been working on mobile barriers to protect venice almost 7000000000 euros were spent on the project which still hasn't been completed . the city therefore has no functioning flood protection something that makes locals like christiana gaspar livid. rid of the media out of more than $1000000000.00 euro in bribes were paid to get the project through because it is apparently so misguided that all the author artists who had to approve it had to be paid off it will be when all that he put in the steel door when he says the rise of global sea levels makes flooding increasingly likely. the system of mobile barriers would provide it ever became operational cut off the venetian lagoon from the sea for months or they would be taking that live with the barriers imply. no more water would flow out of the lagoon the $81.00 municipalities and the agricultural sector

all pumped their waste water into it. are some of it is chemically contaminated and would collect them more directly. and that would pose a huge environmental problem for the city a grim prospect. so for now volunteers are working hard to protect the city's historic sites like here at the church of the kamini because it's only a matter of time until the next flood. for many asylum seekers in germany is their last hope when deportation is imminent taking refuge in a church or monastery all the parishes see it as their duty to help people like come on from iraq he's been holed up in the bavarian monastery and learns to live freely well church asylum is a centuries old tradition in germany but it has no legal basis immigration authorities and many politicians are growing increasingly wary of the practice and

are putting pressure on the churches. hamann is ready to help whenever sister geraldine calls for him today it's gardening the daily labor at the monastery helps the young iraqi years e.-d. get his mind off the fear of being deported. according to e.u. agreements he would have to go back to remain here as dance where he entered the e.u. but he claims to have been abused by the remaining and police. wish i could leave them honest repressors as a free human being without fearing that of police would arrest and deport me immediately to the harmon and 5 other refugees were granted church asylum in the dominican monastery here they say for the time being the nuns provide food shelter and they give german lessons every up to noon. orange. for.

previously rejected asylum seekers like carmen who sought refuge in a church almost always had a chance for a 2nd hearing but recently the federal authorities rejects nearly all such applications but. since church asylum regulations were tightened last year sister geraldine often doesn't know how long the refugees have to stay to be safe from deportation and sometimes she has to turn down refugees seeking help its own asylum seekers came here broken and devastated lying before me crying and i had to say we haven't got enough space there are too many i thought oh my god this is hell. i won't be able to carry on. her engagement is viewed with skepticism by politicians in berlin like thorsten fly who deals with domestic policy church asylum will be respected and police force won't be used to get refugees out of

church asylum but lorna spaces won't be tolerated. as church asylum is just an additional right for reviewing cases it's completely wrong to think that such requests by parishes are medically approved that would be absolutely unacceptable and contradict the rule of law absolute missed acts of popular. this puts pressure on sister geraldine she's contacting other parishes that offer church asylum there are about 450 in germany. together they want to resist a new rule which requires refugees to live on church grounds for at least 18 months to avoid deportation that's the deadline for deportation to another e.u. member state. and even though if when they receive this letter their deadline has been extended to 18 months most of them fall into a deep hole. have also had people say i'm leaving i'm going to another country some

fall into a long period of depression. i think it's a shame that in a constitutional democracy we need to grant church asylum to so many people at the moment mistakes happen recently a judge told me we judges are infallible in need church asylum as it acts as a humanitarian corrective. harmon has to keep waiting in the monastery but his brother has been granted asylum and can go to school in a neighboring town whenever harmon speaks to his family in iraq he's worried 5 years ago around 7000 women and children were enslaved by the islamic state in iraq many of his years e.-d. relatives were killed. oh my uncle to go back to iraq. your sister geraldine wants to stand her ground she's adamant that harmon and the other refugees are staying in the monastery until

a solution is found. that maxim is whatever you do to the least of my brothers so you do and to me we always say that we live according to the gospel and this is the practical application of practice because it's no. harm on isn't christian but he keeps being drawn to the monasteries chapel out of gratitude and admiration he's aware that without the sisters and their strong belief he might not be in germany anymore. norway is home to one of the most unique education systems in europe children only receive marks after the 7th grade and i t students are given free laptops while norway often achieves top results in international education rankings the government goes to great lengths to ensure all children receive a good education no matter where they live and in a place with mountains fiords and islands like on a hell of a year archipelago in the far north getting to school can be

a challenge for pupils like erlend also but despite the long commute he always gets to class on time. life can be pretty isolated here and have a beer north of the arctic circle the norwegian mainland is almost an hour away by boat. just $100.00 residents a kiosk in a school for 16 children today it's something special instead of math or music they learn how to be rescued on the high seas. jacqueline and her brother erlend know this could come in handy if you don't let them know that if you're on a boat and something happens you need to know what to do most of the take because we live in a neighboring island we take the boat every day there but you just get you right the 1st it's my 1st time i'm excited. it takes up to an hour for the children to get to school each day they travel on the little ferry without their parents. even

on days like today when the sea is rough and it's icy cold outside. put it there when the wave so big i get scared i don't like atlanta boat to rock spec and force as he said after. the journey to school can be perilous also pitcher us. we're doing best so we all get to know the equipment we'll release the line soon and then it's your time. alone with the day before. these children learn to become independent at an early age so that they can help themselves in case of an emergency here they're lining up for school but quite literally for life. almost half an hour later they reach hell of year where their school is located the 1st the 10th graders are usually divided up into groups like today for english class and then often as i'm

in a class with older kids a year older talk and learn from them. the 16 pupils are. instructed by 4 teachers and the principal you know. it's a big expense for the municipality but it pays off when young families stay in how it veer rather than move away from school x. as a youth center to earlier misery there aren't any other families where we live so doing things with others is lots of fun. a game of tag team sport and that day in norwegian waffles are always a tasty treat. but one of the better to be home schooled and not have to take the ferry every day. you. know i couldn't do that that would be really done look around i need to have these people around me. right along with the 3 r.'s the pupils also learn social skills and how to have fun with other children. even.

then erlend in the sister returned home to you that i don't know they're the only children who live on this island. so after school animals are their main playmates . this is snowball my rabbit. i love to play with them even though he just bit me he doesn't normally do that with each other to. let the children know they'll have to leave the island after 10th grade and finish high school on the mainland where will they go after that. when i'm grown up i won't live here anymore maybe i'll come back to visit but i want to live in a city. perhaps after a few years of urban life will choose to return like his mother or law she went to

live in the city age 16 or return to the island 10 years later. she consciously chose to raise her family on a new fare and is thankful for the assistance she and her children receive out of. thank you both for and from the community board or your board if it weren't for the municipality we couldn't live out here you know that octave and if we skulk only because they make it possible to live out here i have to admit so compared to many other places in the world we really can't complain. thing or. make it different the day one or older children must leave for the mainland is getting closer but wherever they go there carefree childhood on you there will always stay with them. they come at night in tamil flaws and wait until the coast is clear then the high speed ins on the siberian landscape

illegal loggers load their trucks with wood destined for the black market it's an easy and lucrative target for criminals almost half of russia is covered by forest a treasure many want to preserve like luke off. she is determined to stop the forestry mafia. the senior citizens are volunteers on a mission to save siberia's forests i wish you would know we heard of upshifting that even today we're conducting a check. at the reception because residents have reported that at night our siberian pines are being cut down in the forests. they leave their car in a secluded spot and continue on fort accompanied by a local the but 1st glance the cleared area looks more still residents have found 10 such clearings nearby. along with a specially made transport route through the forest selling such timber is highly

profitable. from what it is the switching booth they worked quickly using big trucks which they loaded them up and got the logs out of the forest fast what's left are these broken pine branches and. little ball fall aquino captures everything on video recordings have already been used 3 times as evidence in court the perpetrators are often locals or suspicious jeep drives by it has no license plate and the men inside addressed in camouflage. gear heard in the blue those are scouts who are seeing who's hanging around in the forest. they might be planning to fell more trees tonight but. now the volunteers want to find the right strategy to catch the illegal loggers in the act. deforested areas are often clearly visible near in the siberian tiger most of the

illegal timber is sold to china. sharman yelena beyond i have now has also asked alec you know for help many of siberia's indigenous peoples view the larch as a sacred tree they place the ashes of deceased shamans in holes in large trees. but what you can argue that the loggers have transported precisely these large as with the ashes of our deceased shaman to china. they've left so much garbage behind and felled so many trees that's what they've done to our forest its natural treasures and our culture is a great sand but what you think you would get if these trees grow very slowly. this one here is about 5 years old. and it takes maybe $120.00 or 150 years for one like that to grow that tall so. you react carol chain go and loop of our kena collect rubbish wherever they can. the forest is an intent grow part of siberia

it's solved. then they return to the village passing vast fields in the past and this area was covered in trees says the sharman. she has invited the environmental activists to her home for dinner. she describes how the logging is causing local springs to dry up. he springs have given us a long life expectancy. in my village there are many who lived until they were 9294 or even 96 our ancestors used to say anyone who comes here wielding a sword will reap the consequences. that's why locals together with the help of both forest and to vests are taking action against illegal logging and pretty soon some of the culprits will be going on trial.

several days later. is preparing to our footage when she hears that apparently the locals got wind that something was up there was an accident. he wouldn't. to day we learned that they tried to transport all the timber out of the forest over night i knew were as usual running as a couple but the driver loaded up too many logs and his vehicle tipped over killing him. that pivotal so that they just by keep. a keen eye has now decided to pass footage on to the prosecutors so that the culprits will face justice for illegal logging she says she's looking forward to going back into the forest which gives her energy and strength. italian astronomer galileo once said you tend not to a man anything you can only help them find it within himself well galileo's

discoveries helped us gain a deeper understanding of our universe and continue to inspire other stargazers one hobby astronomer in turkey has dedicated his life to probing our cosmos here self-taught but hasn't pressed experts with his insights into our solar system and though his neighbors may scratch their heads at his fascination with outer space abdul qadeer is proud to be the lone star of diyarbakir. when the night sky is clear an unusual precession ascends up the highest hill near the town of diyarbakir. they follow abdul qadeer top catch the man with the telescope and. he can show them the night sky as he is the only astronomer around. today we're looking at jupiter they must be somewhere in this direction. god

willing we'll find it. other people look at space on their computers and don't understand a thing i'm on the this guy gets it. the sign above his door reads top catch baker but instead of working in the bakery 55 year old abdul qadeer spends his time in his little backyard house where he's busy with the stars and planets all this despite having been a primary school only a few years. as a child on stay awake looking at the stars and always ended up asking myself is it possible to see what's behind the moon. he's even disproves the great galileo the moon's orbit is undulated rather than elliptic. others had already made this discovery but he couldn't know that the american space agency nasa sent him a letter nevertheless. he keeps it safe and would

like to be in touch with more astronomers around the world. i always came up with the questions myself and then i'd work on answering them on my own like nobody ever taught me anything. in the summer of 2015 a great drawback the violence between militant kurds and the turkish army escalated . his house was heavily damaged by the army his telescope was reduced to bits and pieces he had nothing left but his fate moved many people a fundraising campaign across turkey helped him buy a new telescope. a long time ago as wife left him and the people in the neighborhood whisper about the man with that star tech he got used to it. said this at them talk i don't care whether i feel lonely definitely but my attention is fully focused on the

things up there because. even in his old bakery the colleagues don't really know what to do with him he keeps talking about the sky. the lot of us after his death perhaps there'll be appreciation for what he's done. now it just seems a bit crazed to us when you almost also looking at your. childhood but when abdul qadeer is on the hill with his telescope he's rarely on his own there are always curious people who join him and don't think he's crazy or even dangerous. also said you know what are you looking at with this a policeman recently asked me he suspected that i was spying on potential targets to be bombed. and then all abdul qadeer top catch wants is to inspire others to take an interest in the sky and perhaps he can get some recognition some time for

his never ending curiosity about the planets and stars. for the moon even if you mess around among the stars thanks for watching focus on your up by for now. the book. the book. the book the because.

if it's big it's called. the biggest show the biggest aircraft the biggest cooling the biggest car and so on the be made in germany wants to find out what's behind this train. bigger always better. and how will this affect our natural resources made in germany the big.

strong opinions clear position the international perspective such. it's time to stop talking about africa and start working with that says chancellor merkel she's calling on german companies to invest more there but do firms have enough trust to take the leap the economic upswing in africa really probably going to. it was a few minutes on the w. . ill the something dies or entire scream for jurors or dealing with any other i killed many civilians. coming including my father while. i was a student i wanted to build a life for myself. but suddenly life became alledge kind zob. providing insights global news that matters d. w. made for mines supposedly and now look at me affectionately asian but as

affectionately as you can. bloody near putin in the middle of his election campaign in the year 2000 a documentary was filmed for russian television but director vitali munson captured much more than just to determine the camera back on the moment of course the games the film secretly chronicled a power grab actually everything was precisely planned instruction. featuring thomas supporting roles to the freedom of russia. and featuring a lead role like you've never seen before let me be clear with your. good manners that i'm your average jew the ends justify the means. to tim's witnesses starts december 13th on d w. play

. this is the w. news live from for the indicting the israeli prime minister could it be the beginning of the end for benjamin netanyahu israel's attorney general charges the prime minister with fraud bribery and breach of trust yahoo is calling the indictment a coup also coming up. as wrap up public impeachment hearings against president.