she assured i see i love you sure. i'll be good same with the biggest companies or if you talk iconic you can begin to imagine. plus one player on the list for the musical journey of discovery. would help for you to start september 16th i want to tell you. hello and welcome to this week's focus on europe show and it's great to have you with us the russian opposition leader alex scene of ali is still recovering after being poisoned by the military grade nerve agents novacek the attack on him has

also poisoned relations between the e.u. nato and russia this video shows the volley before the attack campaigning in the russian town of nor was he beares he became popular for uncovering corruption and mismanagement and for his videos exposing the luxurious homes of politicians loyal to the government he's regarded as the leader of the opposition. now vali has been a thorn in the side of russian president vladimir putin for a long time the kremlin has tried to stop now with exclusion from elections prosecution and even jail time but all the efforts have failed so far russians who openly criticize putin are aware of how dangerous it is especially for the leaders of protests and opposition our moscow correspondents met up with some of them. piotr there's the love knows all too well what it means to enjoy life one day at a time ever since he was poisoned in moscow in 2018 much like opposition activist

alex a never really in august this year unlike now finally though he showed no signs of the nerve agent 90 chalk. ways that aboard the ship with 3 of which my poisoning was weaker my recovery went faster. by the 2nd week of treatment i could talk again with shipping out there. is a very strong torch in a future for i can cripple or kill someone be thought. is a dealy suited to murder. like never any where's the love a long time spokesman of the punk band pussy riot was treated in berlin sherry tay hospital based on the symptoms doctors found the activist had probably been poisoned though they could not identify a specific toxin as they now have 4 never any support. i think with the use of newby chalk carries the handwriting of the russian president. one thing is clear

that only the secret services have access to special weapons agents. and they could only have carried out this operation with the express consent of law the mere puton where they meet up with dimitri good coffee is certain it's meant as a warning shot to all well known opposition activists the liberals were not allowed to field candidates for the election to the moscow city duma. from the rhinestone planning part of this country freedom and justice don't exist here anyone who calls for a demonstration can be put behind bars for 30 days. good cause knows what he's talking about he spent 36 days in prison the mass protests came to a head when opposition candidates were barred from running in the election to the moscow duma. in 2900 independent local politician. was another well known face at the mass protests in moscow. that bought the rights

of the get that we live in enough for a tarion state a dictatorship whose beginnings could be made out as soon as lattimer putin took office and. paid for her political activism with several prison terms each a few weeks long the last time she was arrested alone in moscow with just a poster while protesting against the detention of a reporter charges were brought for violations of the right of assembly and she was sentenced to 5 years in prison. and invited neutral nor i'm not afraid but this trial is making things hard for me i'm not allowed to leave for example i'm not allowed to take part in any more protests that restricts me quite a lot. since our governor was more supportive than the state as your 1st 3 on protected. no body guard will be able to save your life. someone was

as to what you might protect you from hooligans but not from poisoning or murder. even so he has no intention of giving up the poisoning of alexei in the vineet might weaken the russian opposition. but he was only its best known face not its only leader. but lead to this effect only works that the opposition has got just one single leader but if you have several heads it doesn't they can't poison us all and in fact there are lots and lots of people in russia who aren't afraid to protest anymore because the desire for a change in the system is growing stronger and stronger. since he recovered putin critic. also has been politically active again he sees it as his responsibility to press on for himself and for his daughter. my friends my family and my daughter to live in a magnificent country without putin and his treacherous system that i'm certain

of this cool thing. but in the meantime. won't let his daughter out on the street alone every morning he brings her to school personally. would you say no to this job offer like robinson crusoe you get to live all alone on a beautiful island located between corsica and sardinia you're surrounded by nature and you're only task is to protect the famous beaches of the italian island well the man in our next reports took on the dream job of island guardian for over 30 years but now he's been ordered to leave although his job is nonce unimportance. well you can't come in here because you see the red boys. roam around he is able to

drive these 2 would be intruders away. from you if i were to your they'd already be lying on the beach others would follow their lead and soon the whole place was full of people like accused to be. morandi is defending this. on the island of delhi one of the most famous speeches on the mediterranean it's playing sandy is unique. and around he has been caring for this natural wonder for over 3 decades he got stranded here back in 1909 while heading for the atlantic and his catamaran. marandi happened upon the little island between corsican sardinia quite by accident. he's living here on his own and watched over to delhi ever since at 81 he's still almost comically self-sufficient. when it came to the island i couldn't even change a light bulb. but here i was forced to acquire all sorts of important survival

skills. like a modern day robinson crusoe he uses everything the island's rugged terrain has to offer like prickly pears and aloe vera. i also use the ilo as a medicinal plant to treat cuts and scrapes and above all. because the only shady spot on by his house miranda is only companions are his 2 hands who keep him hopping here's what. they jump over the brush and lay their eggs elsewhere . so he can't count on eggs for breakfast. that's a good person is the friended with supply him with food morandi was once a teacher and lives from his pension. i used to go shopping myself but then i was forbidden from using the motorboat. so now i have to rely on others his days in

paradise look to be numbered soon there could be no more rubber boat on the pink beach and no more around you. that's it the administration of the national park on the main island madalena has its way the whole model an archipelago is run from here to delhi included. to build a research station in new zealand there in place of. future visitors to the pink beach to better consciously enjoy the natural beauty before their eyes. the operators of the national park want marandi to leave 6 years ago the italian government purchased new delhi which had been privately owned they say miranda's contract as the island's caretaker is now know and void. in public administration positions are publicly advertised candidates must be suitable and qualified and

several need to apply sort of. but mallo marandi won't be pushed out of paradise without putting up a fight using instagram as his weapon he's won close 260000 followers they have launched a petition demanding he be allowed to stay and continue posting photos of rule breakers. it's my mission and i hope the folks from the national park finally get that. many day trippers who visit here legally in the summer and keep the prescribe pads think that this rosa or pink beach needs protection from the tourists towards being. and those who have met. agree that he and his way of life are worth protecting to. morrow should stay not just because of the island he makes to reflect what are

our needs where do we come from. as long as he lives and who knows how long that will be he should be allowed to continue. our own marandi can't imagine being banished from his island paradise he plans to stay live in his hut and continue his work protecting delhi and its pink beach. they are loud they are proud and they want to be accepted as part of the polish. homosexuals and transgender people are leading a difficult life in their contrie which is still largely catholic even the government is calling for a ban of what it calls l g b t ideology but that's not keeping clear activists from taking to the streets in cities like warsaw and large they wanted their cries for equality to be heard even

if that means being arrested. a peaceful demonstration. protest or so that the police acted against them with the president and severity. might go here in the right is the icon of the polish l g b t movement the movement for gay lesbian and transgender rights she was arrested during the protests together with about 50 other activists this is what margot had to say shortly before her arrest let me say good for you we are not afraid we are gays and lesbians in poland and we aren't afraid of anything in this darn country it can't get any worse and we'll fight back if we have to because this is our country our poland our home. since this escalation there's been rallies of warsaw and elsewhere and solidarity with thousands of

participants. almost every weekend they take the districts against violence and homophobia. one of the demonstrators is to write a study at school. travel from march to warsaw to protest against the discrimination against certain faces. she isn't intimidated by the authorities it represent is the that sonia we founded the group we parents because we're also affected as parents of homosexual children. our children are systematically excluded attacked speak now. but we stand by them. at their home and larch the router her husband and son kiat on watching a video from a demonstration in august they say the violence against is lesbians is escalating it's hard for them to watch patton was also there and he too shocked the ground and . if you watch the news from the past few. days it now seems socially acceptable to

do something like this. just yesterday a gay couple was beaten up in front of their own apartment. but actually is against the law in poland is hanging a rebel flag on a memorial. the harmless it's considered a desecration monument according to polish law for which one can be thrown into prison. the violence of the last weeks is proof that this is becoming a dangerous war of cultures gays and lesbians are increasingly considered fair game in conservative poland some communities even the clear themselves l g b t free zones under proud of it. to stop the ask is fear for their son and even more so since the reelection of the conservative law and justice party pressure is increasing on those who don't follow what is considered the norm.

some hundreds between western europe and russia. and for years the country was also somewhere in between when it came to homophobia. now we're going we're in the direction of russia but it's getting worse and worse. the polish government sees it completely differently of course and blames demonstrators for the violence with alleged video evidence. toys but they're bandits that's just banditry. that the opposition is still defending only such as a regis said they should apologize a little east and to the citizens song too for the proceeds of the torch will be. the e.u. is observing the developments in poland which concern the e.u. commissioner for equality has called on the government to respect the rights to demonstrate but for crackdown those are just words they don't help the 26 year old and his rainbow community in their daily lives. the question is whether the

commission wants to intervene at all. for years the e.u. has avoided clearly stating what's going on there are only ever being cautious intra guarding poland's politics. yes i do knew if he really wants to take a stand for l g b t rights. ok it sounds parents are afraid that something will happen for the child here in poland. they also fear something else that their only son like so many young people will leave the country because he just doesn't feel safe in launch a war zone. before the 1000 pandemic the number one topic in the european union was brags that the brits had voted to leave the e.u. by the end of this year and now the transition period is set to expire but negotiations for a trade agreement are still ongoing if the u.k. exits without a trade deal it would lead to scenes like this long queues of tracks waiting to

cross the borders we visit had one of the oldest markets in london to find out what new important expert regulations could mean. every year 2 people come to south london is bara market looking for all it's not bargains. here you can find delicacies from all over europe. right. dominic quite a loves the variety. is godor come from holland. for courses in france supply him with conti and more be a. and in summer there's fetter from the greek island of les boss. not a day goes by when the cheesemonger doesn't sample some of his wares himself like his beloved french comb take. the smooth sweet whereas most of the british chooses are crumbly and. and sort of brightens and shot. but

brags it poses a big threat to his little cheesy show the massive worry the enemy and has been worried since the referendum have already run off 3rd stockpiling plans. to make sure we've got enough stock at the prices that we're currently paying and we don't have to incur any higher prices that might be introduced by high tariffs. quite takes us to store a seller he fears food products in the e.u. will be slapped with higher g t's has already pricey cheeses could then cost up to 20 percent more and who'd be willing to pay that much. and that's if the cheese even makes it to london as more stringent border controls would leave his wares stuck in transit for days i imagine that is going to be the village the transport logistics is going to be that much more complicated it is going to be expensive

does it would be extra paperwork involved. and i can only imagine it's not going to be as free flowing as it is currently. no market has been supplying hungry londoners for close to 300 years still a new deal breakers that could change was offered here. today spurs warn the supplies of fresh produce could become scarce of trucks get held up at the borders some 80 percent of the fruit sold here is imported. yet this interview doesn't shock britain's because it makes me think if we don't have to reconnect we are a better body than the camera. but we'll be ok well yes even many of the cabinets are important 2 if london fails to reach a deal with brussels the us could fill some of the gaps through crises might even fall. but what about the quality. u.s. environmental and health standards are lower than those in the e.u. in the u.k. especially where meat is concerned merchants fear that british products could then

no longer compete with us and i think the real worry is that if we get these influx of much cheaper feet being imported to actually safe markets will stop the chain restaurants may start phase and so all changes have. a way supply the best face and a fat price means that the disparity between consumers off it is going to be much wider than it already is the continuing uncertainty about life after breaks it provides fodder for conversation dominate talk things over with next tucker a fishmonger we all believe changes need always be able to always call me old fashioned a shiny out. if we want to shit like that you just saw a little oil and you know on days of a country that you would have us covered and you'll feel quite preparing for a heartbreak sits in his own way for a time when

a stockpile of affordable imported cheese runs out so he can stay in business i'll get a friend who bakes cheddar and we've talked about maybe selling that so. the reason for us to look into that sort of the more local indigenous issues is because of the exchange rate. and the security of supply and all the sort of stuff. 2 2 merchants at london's barra market are still. the british treat. before the end of the year. for their customers food products from europe. and we are keeping our fingers crossed however at the moment it seems unlikely that london and brussels will reach an agreement by the end of the year climate change has become a topic all over the world and innovative ideas can come from the most unlikely places such as a small village in finland called its citizens are role models for climate

protection even the youngest villagers are part of the solution and although climate change may be a somewhat abstract concepts the people in know that protecting nature can have immediate rewards. the outback of finland near the baltic coast a session in the sauna punctuated by dips in a cold river is obligatory. very refreshing and when you're in the water you feel so much like a part of nature that it if sometime this town in finland is called spelt simply with 2 eyes just as simple and straightforward as the town itself a few roads to supermarkets and not quite 10000 people but even a very well be europe's greenest town the community has succeeded in reducing its emissions of c

o 2 by 80 percent. of the sea and that you must we here in the realized that climate change is not yet to come it's already here. and we understood that it's not just the world's big movers and shakers that have to act. we ourselves have to do something. the key to their success has been creating incentives so that everybody pitches in. it all started with a $5050.00 project we tried it in 3 schools the children had to monitor the power and water use and they got back half of whatever money was saved then they could decide for themselves what they wanted to spend the money on the model was such a success that we expanded it to all the schools and daycare centers and. in the past 10 years he has managed to cut its power consumption in half.

and the children have used the money they saved well they bought game tables toys and lots of plants. the town of e is surrounded by unspoiled nature as well as some of europe's biggest peat bogs. for centuries pete was burned here as a source of energy but the moore's are also a vast reservoir of c o $21.00 of the principal greenhouse gases protecting the moore's keeps that c o 2 out of the atmosphere the town has banned anything that pollutes the air oil heating for instance replacing it with wind and water energy now the little town is generating 10 times as much green energy as it use and selling the surplus brings in nearly 4000000 euros a here. we've also heard a great deal of the scotian about wind power about the noise for instance the blight in the countryside and how the wind turbines interfere with community life.

and on site inspection for the 60 new wind turbines in planning but they are to be located at the edge of a primeval forest not one tree has been felled here for a century. the wind turbines. will be 300 metres tall and set up only a couple of 100 metres from here. so. it's our common goal to protect nature and. we need the wind power but we also have to protect the area all around. that it's like a puzzle. that we have to fit all the pieces together in the end and find the best compromise. protecting the climate is indeed a massive puzzle and what impact can such a little town have on such a global problem a big one say the people live they can set an example what works for remote corner of finland just might work for the rest of the world too. just goes to show that

a lot can be achieved when each one of us is willing to do their bit that brings us to b. and off today's show from me and the rest of the team it's goodbye and see you next time. you. thank you for. the adjutant her and. her new.

the fix. to. good use crime fighters are back a bit more now for those most successful radio drama series continues in a moment disowns are available online the course you can share and discuss song w. africa's facebook and other social media platforms to a crime fighter tune in now to. be tough it is for me.

is for. the children is for. me to use her. and beethoven is for. beethoven is for every moment the beethoven 2020. the 50th anniversary here on d w. oh but life i. mean it's a coming and. a joy a coincidence. that tampa previously searched was just a messy chemistry lab a time machine. where d.m. . cutting through the offices for the creation of our solar system with our planet is a bit like winning the lottery ticket and i salute the beginning of. what is 1st and

more unique start september 18th on g.w. . education is not only fought i'm glad that the education is fought and palmer i'm saw that in coming 1015 years the lot of them think about how through in colcord the value is off tolerance there's an understanding these things cannot be ignored for have them because the fundamentalist forces and the fanatic courses are also acting very deeply and intensely and they cannot undermine their power the power of communication to get power off technology ordinary people must not modernise support them must not socialism or that the international community has to invest more on the education which can prevent young people who entered into the trap of

head of the forces. the but. the but. this is deja vu news live from berlin. europe scrambles to help the displaced migrants of moriah thousands are homeless and hungry after a fire destroyed greece's largest refugee camp the greek government to sending help but what about the rest of the e.u. also coming up they would score to iraq's in flames again a month after a massive explosion level to much of the area a huge new fire has been anxious residents alarmed.

i'm sumi so misconducts good to have you with us european governments are racing to find shelter in safety for thousands of displaced migrants from greece's morea camp that's after a massive fire tore through the facility leaving some 12000 people homeless greece is sending 3 ships to house thousands of refugees temporarily and the leaders of france and germany have also agreed on a plan to resettle hundreds of children from the camp to the european union. wins a 2nd night of fires burn the morning a refugee camp beyond all recognition. leaving behind a human catastrophe which is now unfolding on the streets of lesbos. among the homeless thousands of exhausted men women and children. some of whom were born in the now destroyed morea camp. we do if it were free if

i'm just a little of north doing nothing really and yet we do the world with a big you'll feel. like. no money put up let's let them. know we will sleep on the street what can we do if we don't have food and if we don't have anything what can we do. meanwhile officials point the finger of blame for the fire at residents angry over street coronavirus corn tea measures. i'm not modi's all these this want to since because i recognized the difficult conditions however nothing can become an excuse for violent reactions to health checks and even more so for such extensive on race this is not a hits. amid the ruins of what was morey's notoriously crowded camp aid workers say the tragedy has been a long time coming. we are shocked about. the

situation there will be time. to. night. by years of progress confinement and containment parties to be run by the government as much as. the race to re homes mores displaced is under way 400 unaccompanied children boarded a flight to mainland greece on wednesday the miners were placed in quarantine facilities in the city to saloniki for the families left behind to wait continues their fate in the hands of leaders their futures uncertain. let's get some perspective on this story now joining us on the phone is now she's a migration expert and the architect of the european union's refugee jail with turkey signed in march 26th seen

a good evening to you as we mentioned the german and french leaders have agreed on an initiative for the european union to take in around $400.00 miners but that really is just the start do you think a european approach is viable is possible when there are countries that were checked any plans to distribute migrants. well 1st of all the form of the children is useful and good for 4 on the children but it doesn't go much beyond the promises that were made before this catastrophe and it will not solve the problem we have 26000 people on the island the conditions have been horrible and because of the coronavirus quarantine people have been there on all these items who arrived in all some 2090 so they've been contained there's no perspective and it's not even clear why do i kept on the island because it's crystal clear that at the moment you can't really do with items the siege of the descaling nobody will be sent back to turkey because turkey doesn't take anyone there that you track agreement broke down into

february 2020 so it's no longer in place and anyways cannot be deputations even of those who might be rejected if their side of procedure which as i said you can hold in a chaos so these people will not be returned they will be in greece but housing them on the impossible conditions the last 6 months and now of course homeless in lesbos a the recipe for further disaster for attention or even security ok all and aid organizations have been warning about this for quite some time how do you explain this how could europe allow these conditions to go on for so long. well there's been bad conditions for years. the end of 2000 by g.d. every other time people say to the very best camp was 4 months and already then there was always enough money to actually improve conditions and there would have been always the possibility to accelerate procedures and to move people quick as

the main and this wasn't happening but in the last few months it was very clear that in the absence of any agreement with turkey there is there are governments in europe and they say to open the that basically bank of deterrence through bad conditions only so these people are means to an end and the end is to deliver a message don't come to europe because in europe your life will be worse than where you are now turkey or elsewhere but it is clearly illegal it's the breakdown of the rule of law it's the violation of every convention every asylum law the refugee convention human rights convention everything that is a principle lot in europe but it's being tolerated by the rest of europe and it seems to be and we saw it in the reaction today there isn't a demand from greece to other europeans to take the people who are now homeless on the island so carol where do things go from here we mentioned that you were the architect of the migration agreement with turkey as you said

a pile of parts what would a new plan for europe look like. well 1st we need a plan for the next 3 days then a plan for the next 3 months for the next 3 days these people need to be housed. they need to be treated with dignity that he cough cough above and let go of others on the other hand they need to be moved to the mainland now european countries and here germany can play a cheek role in the biggest country should offer to take refugees one easy it's ministered to easy ways to take records he's going to question on the greek made them they can't see obviously they want to bring them to to germany and then you get how the people who need to move from the island. even accommodation that is going to be i can see that it's not unknown but greece needs to act quickly this is crucial ok we'll have to leave it there now some migration expert as we said architect of the refugee with to deal with a turkey thanks for joining us here in. the fire has broken out in beirut support

weeks after the devastating explosion that killed nearly 200 people in the lebanese capital and left hundreds of thousands homeless flames and smoke rose from the destroyed or to the cause is still unclear the army says the blaze started at a warehouse where oil and tires were being stored there were no reports of injuries but the fire tear terrified residents were still traumatized by last month's blast . earlier i spoke to do you have used money in beirut and asked her to tell us more about the new place. to be i'm the standing facing the living in beirut and as you see behind me there is small can see it and in any area you stand in and they do what. the cause of the needs was not here yet but the fire erupted from their house to bring oil and storing tires and they do what. witnesses told us that they saw that maintenance work was going on before the fire

erupted the fire didn't you know and the dead zone which is central to that they would investigate it up today in an area that was. recently asked to debate who pointed out. rahsaan it is still the 2nd fire at the port complex this week and this is just weeks after that massive explosion how are people reacting seeing these flames. when she knew the captain isn't talking fate of panic. witnesses that told us that when they were driving they sold cars that were reversing here the highway near the border because they were scared they were panicking because the memories of the ogust explosion came back to their mind and. told us that they are through with the government and the need there is and they think that they are unable to manage the country and that is right here are. they think that they could protect their citizens and they

couldn't preserve the security of the competent and on social media the very young to of the people is the break here. what are authorities doing to make sure that the port is actually security. as you can hear. the monkey they live in need air force trying. to put down the blaze and there are fire trucks that are trying to pull down the blaze as well and. the governor of made with mud when i was asked to evacuate the boys and all of the area surrounding the ports and yes citizens to stay in their homes and close their windows because the black smoke behind me maybe talks. our correspondent reza on some reporting for us from beirut thank you so much. let's get some headlines now from around the world at least 7 people are dead and hundreds injured after violent

protests erupted in the colombian capital but the unrest follows the death of a man in police custody a video of us officers holding down and tasing the man went viral on social media. south african anti-apartheid activist and human rights lawyer george bizos has died at 92 he played a key role in ending apartheid the source represented nelson mandela is treason trial in 1964 and worked for the former president until his death in 2013. u.s. president donald trump is under fire again for his handling of the coronavirus in a new book veteran journalist bob woodward says trump deliberately downplayed the danger posed by the virus and has produced an audio recording of the president admitting to doing so at a news conference president trump defended his actions he maintained he was not lying to the public insisting he did not want to cause panic nearly 200000 americans have died so far. and certainly are not going to drive.

this country or the world into a frenzy we want to show confidence we want to show strength we want to show strength as a nation and that's what i've done and we've done our let's go right to washington now do we go have a standing by for us there are high abbie so how is the president's explanation for misleading the american public on the coronavirus spending make going down there. while sumi we heard him there say that he was just trying to avoid causing panic and he was tweeting rather rapidly earlier even downplaying the reaction the outrage to these audio clips by saying woodward didn't release the tapes earlier so how terrible could they have been really trump has also said he didn't want to jump up and down saying there was a problem while there was a problem and we now know he understood that that he was aware of the deadly nature of the disease but was comparing it to the seasonal flu and he insisted the virus would be gone by summer that it was all under control but this audiotape shows he

knew just how pressing the situation was and he simply was not conveying that to the american people certainly there's been some criticism of course considering what he's been saying but the white house and his administration are certainly spinning it differently well the democratic presidential candidate joe biden has come up pretty strong on this what has he been saying. he called it quote almost criminal that this is a life and death be trail of the american people this audio of trauma saying he was downplaying the pandemic is from march 19th to me but he continued to hold rallies after he made these comments to woodward rallies without social distancing rallies without encouraging people to wear face masks and even within the last week we heard mock biden for wearing one so the democrats along with the presidential candidate joe biden will certainly point out that the president not only lied to the american people but he's continuing to ignore the pandemic now that even as his advisors told him just how devastating this pandemic could be and now with more

than 189000 americans dead the devastation is a reality unfortunately but how worried are republicans actually do they think this could further damage the president's prospects of getting reelected. i'll talk to a little bit about the latest national polls show that biden leads trump in almost every category except the economy he does lead trump when it comes to the coronavirus response or what americans think that the better candidate would be to dealing with a pandemic but we have to remember this poll was conducted before all of this and we also have to acknowledge the fact that trump is fighting back some other criticism he's facing heavy backlash after reports last week allege that he insulted american soldiers who had died in combat and that he disparaged wounded veterans a poll also shows by the leading trump by 4 percentage points amongst military voters again that poll was also taken before these stories came to light so will this all of this be the knockout punch that takes him down in november all observers have watched him dodge crisis after crisis in the past as

a candidate and as a president and he may very well do it again. he could have been reporting from washington thank you. all right coming up next is china clamping down on europeans doing business there stephen beardsley has more on business. my 1st buys a little sewing machine. i come from them in their bones by this solution for. something as simple as that in home the right to buy said this isn't. since it isn't good i want it to have advised at the last minute and it took me years to.