focus on your. own d w. d w scream fighters are back with africa's most successful radio drama series continues in the only disowns are available online and of course you can share and discuss on p.w. africa's facebook page and other social media platforms crime fighters tune in now . hi everyone welcome to focus on europe i'm happy to have you with me here in europe we really are feeling the effects of the climate crisis with extreme heat waves droughts and out of control fires portugal has been hit particularly hard by forest

fires over 100 people lost their lives in 2 deadly blazes in 2017 as wave after wave of flames closed in on the country's cities rescue workers were totally overwhelmed and roads cut off that has left this young portuguese woman claudia duarte augustine you know wondering what kind of world are we really leaving behind for children european governments she says are not doing enough to protect the climate she feels they are literally putting her life at risk and so she's taking legal action against 33 countries in europe to change that. this side lives cloudy or do i have to go sit in your speechless. she can still remember when everything here was green. but ever since the wildfires the pines are all dead. it makes me

very sad to see such an amazing place that was destroyed by the fire. this is very symbolic because it means that it will keep but if nothing it's then this will keep happening in other places from from our planet and we should fight to change that. wildfires rage through portugal often in 2017 the fires claimed the lives of some 120 people and were deemed the worst in living memory. as each summer becomes hotter and drier than the last the risk of devastation rises. 2 cloudy a blames the climate crisis that's why the nursing student from malaria north of luzon is stepping up the pressure but since her voice wasn't being heard enough on the streets she took her case to the european court of human rights and sued half of europe. i'm taking this

case against 33 countries because one day i want to be in a world that's healthy and with no danger. 30 years fellow plaintiffs are her siblings and her 3 friends her brother martin is 18 and suffers from asthma they say more and more people are getting sick from the increasing heat and fires. we're going to change breathing problems will just get worse. people like me won't get better just it's going to get worse and worse their parents are supportive of the lawsuit to reason is 47 years old and grew up in germany she says she has lived a carefree life but can understand her children's concerns for the future that's why she is glad that the judges in strasbourg have classified the cases are urgent i have a little girl she's only i and what will her life be like. i feel guilty

i didn't really do anything by the tog i didn't contribute to the crisis. but i also didn't think about it let's fight it like my kids i feel bad about that. cloutier does not want to blame all the generations after all they couldn't have known any better but those who deny the climate crisis are fooling themselves. when people don't believe in climate change i think that those people are the ones who feel more guilty because they don't want to believe it because it hurts it hurts a lot to think what they are we doing to our planet. lawsuits like this so what the irish human rights organization global legal action network specializes in the strategy of the lawyer gerry liston and his team was risky the european court of human rights could have referred to national judicial channels but the judges have

admitted these young people's case were. but failing to adopt the necessary emissions reduced. to avoid catastrophic consequences. discrimination on the basis. facing a. generation. greater risk of future harm. to me just like the show with the lawyer means he's referring to agreements from the european convention of human rights and the paris climate accord to keep global warming well below 2 degrees celsius as pledged countries would have to make a much bigger effort to reduce greenhouse gases cloudier is optimistic but i believe this can still be achieved her case is just one of the ways pressure on governments is mounting. a lot of people come to was then they think for what we

are doing in there that makes me very happy but they still have a lot of work to to do and a long way so i think that we have we we have. the power and we want. to do something so we are very hopeful. it remains to be seen when a verdict will be reached. for now the $33.00 states charged a still fighting against the lawsuit. now well european governments will have to take a formal position now by the end of may after a court rejected their argument that the proceedings were not urgent. germany is trying to ramp up its energy transition but when it comes to building new wind turbines in the north and baltic sea there is some pretty explosive danger down on the seabed more than one and a half 1000000 tons of explosives ammunitions from the 2 world wars have all just

been sunk into the sea for years this out of sight out of mind approach worked just fine but not anymore. their job is to find any mission collect data and gauge the damage 2 world wars have left behind and the other asian floor. is still down there also were munitions from the 1st world war that was more than a 100 years ago now a century later we're still dealing with the aftermath for. the scientists from daycare my home center for ocean research in kiro wants to shed light on the subject. with the help of these autonomous underwater vehicles he wants to get a better idea of the exact locations and quantities of munitions dumped into the

ocean. it's a systematic survey of explosive waste sites in the oceans and the 1st of its kind that mission is crucial i. think her mission is soon ports or not because it's meant that we finally started to compile a comprehensive inventory of munitions and look emotions where there were certain groups who would need to leak. in late summer toxicologist who are out on the back to investigate the danger posed by explosive devices under water. the risk of them suddenly exploding is one thing and yet even more hazardous other harmful substances they release as they corrode. and not to concentrations. these substances can be costs in a janick explains professor adman masa head of toxicology in kenya but. the other misnomer at the base and we expect more and more of these exclusives to spread through the sea why give me ideas if i'm the more the greenies in mines rust

there are more substances are released into the environment better than of us on this all we need to monitor this closely and it's because we don't end up in a situation where certain fish are so easy to become too contaminated or through the meal was good and it's was up to the shop for bread. along the entire german coast scientists have already been able to detect traces of explosives in the water . here in the bay of li back there using mussels to investigate the level of contamination of the baltic sea as only about 20 meters deep at this point. in the past 4 years a lot of munitions were swept under the proverbial brugge here. several months earlier muscles were placed at various locations some closer to 9 initial sites some further away.

we found in the box this is where the muscles are the older ones are attached to the core the younger ones on the books for best film or. muscles felt in your tree and out of the seawater by passing it through their bodies. that makes them ideally suited to help detect toxins. that test found evidence of compounds typical of explosives in the muscles and in the water samples. the banks of do not explicitly fail and are still trace levels and christopher now we don't have to worry about consuming fish in the baltic or mussels from the behavior because what somebody wants a consumer but the problem is pride rests. on the expeditions into the baltic sea the researches with the end dry net spared no effort at. the hazardous waste from the war has not only had a major impact on the environment it has also come at

a considerable cost to locate it and carry it away but findings show the agence see of doing just that. it's easy to make and have plenty of food to stand video as well as images from the underwater vehicle is group that have documented what's really down there it's like the. ticking time bombs on the seabed that no real secret. findings have shown we can keep pretending they are. watching ships is always fun but for europe there schick it's more than just a past time that's because he also sees more than passing ships since the bosphorus in istanbul leads to the black sea and is a gateway to the mediterranean for russia and also because in some places it is

just 700 meters or about 2000 feet wide that means that when a foreign warship passes through europe would be sure to know about it. this man looks like any other tourist on a ferry taking in the sights of istanbul. but you took this ship is actually observing the ships roughly $50000.00 pass through the bosphorus each year nothing special for most observers but for him each ship tells a story. for example freight ships like this one often travel to the crimean peninsula that russia has an extravagant i'm interested in what's going on. they really had it where they say they are do they really have the cognitive they say they have to be good for film of the false verses one of the most important streets in the world connecting the black sea with the mediterranean it's 30 kilometers so all was fleet an important rule in the push and pull between

the world's great powers. access to the black sea is important to nato and it's also important for russia to have access to the west to the engine and mediterranean sea we're talking about maybe i was just a few days later who shook shows as an example when tensions last truce between russia and ukraine russian warships pass through the bosphorus on their way to the black sea. he then discovered a cargo ship that he believes was transporting me to military equipment to a romanian port in the black sea. when he returns home he rushes to push his discoveries and photos on twitter. there is a whole community of sponsors around the world. what they cling to it can be quite sensational at times. you know to feel the

fact that russia was planning to intervene in the syrian conflict 1st became clear for me crazed the number of naval ships in the bosphorus i was able to record. just how they were equipped on deck apart from the russian naval ships there were also civilian cargo ships we were able to prove they were transporting weapons to syria prophecy that. gives you a. little apart from arms smuggling. who runs his own consultancy analyzing data same activity as also observed shipments of illegal waste or animals being transported in inhumane conditions. he says it's not spying because the information is freely accessible. he's also not scared of getting into trouble at least not yet. we want to get them out what turkey's going through a difficult phase when it comes to freedom of opinion. i share my observations openly on twitter net but i try to refrain from making any political judgment.

that we can begin to come to a moment. of course his apartment also has a few across the bosphorus and he stays in touch with other sponsors 247. we don't have to want each other in advance if the ship set sail somewhere i know roughly when it should arrive here you. know how fast the different models travel i shall you've got to give me a who's in the videos. from his perch europe should we be watching the next time history unfolds at his door step. china is expanding its economic influence here in europe and for those people who've come here to flee the chinese state that influence can really feel like

a threat as it does for this man from tibet he didn't want to tell us his real name but he's part of a large community in exile in switzerland he says he does not feel safe because despite the fact that the swiss government is harshly critical of the extensive human rights violations against tibetans in china it also maintains good relations there. a bit is monastery about 30 kilometers east of syriac where it's quite enough for prayers tens in not israel name grew up in tibet he comes here quite often the prayer hall reminds him of his younger days and the time he spent in a monastery things was simpler than that life came to an end when chinese security forces began harassing the monks here than talk to students every day they bullied and suppressed us and our freedom with affright hope bug and how i put up

a poster against it and protested the cleeve put this to the mark friends warned him that the police were looking for him so he fled to switzerland where thousands of other tibetan refugees had gone before him tens and has been living in the outlying republic for 7 years now and has a family of his own he continues to observe tibetan prayers and traditions. first to him but like to stay in switzerland and work as a nursing care assistant. or also craig assistant. biden. all i want is to be able to provide for my family and lead a normal life. to asylum application submitted by his family have already been turned down because he entered switzerland through another country a humanitarian appeal is currently under review the friends he met in switzerland have helped the family deal with the authorities. and 3 tibetan

organizations. for example as a network of sponsors to help make their daily lives a little easier life. in china tibetans who fled to switzerland over guarded his dissidents from 2015 to 2020 switzerland granted china the right to dispatch their own security officials to check the identities of suspected chinese citizens. the agreement drew considerable controversy. this writes in switzerland a debate over rose when a contract turned up showing that the chinese authorities had assisted in it and defying chinese asylum seekers who swiss authorities had projected and that raised concerns that tibetan refugees may also be affected if the swiss t.v. reported that the chinese ambassador rejected any such speculation regrettably in this document switzerland makes unfounded accusations attacks upon the political

system minority policies and human rights situation in china our reporter would have liked to have spoken to the ambassador in person but also true quest went and answered we would have liked to ask the ambassador about china's economic relations iceland georgia and switzerland are the only european countries that have free trade agreements with china a profitable arrangement for companies on both sides the swiss exporters have maintained their market share and some even increased it and the chinese have exported more to switzerland so both sides have really benefited by the type of government but the syrian economic interests while protecting human rights is a delicate balancing act that politicians are wary to. meet good progress but now we're seeing that the free trade agreement has to be developed further we have to shift our focus on just human rights issues even when we talk about our relations with china. because china has expressed the desire to

extend the agreement and identity checks for refugees the profitable economic ties could easily sway switzerland's position critics warn. you know peter china is behaving increasingly or for tarion in asserting its interests in economic and refugee policies switzerland will have to react and coordinate its response a better you don't call it in your top 40 tenzing also when switzerland to take a clear stance phase i own peace of mind so i see even yarden i haven't seen my parents or my family and friends for 7 years now nick is in won't this i haven't had any contact at all all and that makes me very sad. out of fear for his relative safety tends in hasn't contacted them since he fled they don't even know that he started a family in switzerland. it's

painful it's permanent it's expensive and not everyone actually likes them tattoos now i don't have one but i do know that most tattoos whether it's an anchor of flowers a dragon or even a bumblebee they usually mean something special to the person who got them. with long there's a lot of room for interpretation though the frenchman is a teacher and he's also a living work of art. despite his years of experience so. he freaking who is still not used to the pain the 35 year old is the most tattooed man in france there's hardly a free spots left on his body. put on your wall the love of it what you want your skin is the mirror of the soul. ring so true to me because it means i'm free and

can do what i want what of course while respecting everyone else around me because we've all call them what. freaky hoody got his 1st tattoo 7 years ago he was living in london at the time he started on his arms with images of muscles and insects. in london i met a lot of people with tattoos who were very tolerant of the tattoo culture is so different there i fell in love with tattoos at 1st sight and that's why i kept doing it more and more over the years. it might come as a surprise to hear that he's a primary school teacher. but his pupils and their parents don't seem to mind. any permission has got nasty he's really nice much on the old i have to choose to so i have nothing against them but mostly it's what he

wanted to do. is serious i scare you know now. what counts most is that he's a good teacher. it's made for t.v. he's very nice and i think he's the most tattooed man in the world if you like but it. it hasn't always been easy for so if. 2 years or 2 he was working at a different school and some parents complain they said their child was having nightmares because of his appearance now he's no longer allowed to teach preschool he doesn't want to change professions. being a teacher has always been my calling you can't do this job if it's not your passion i have a lot of fun with the students and here at the end of the year or christmas they give me presents i get a lot of nice messages often the parents tell me that the kids didn't used to like

going to school but now they love it it's great. so also hopes to convey a message. before i will really sure if my looks can help move things ahead if my students grow up more tolerant less racist less homophobic less anti semitic that would make me happy because i will have achieved something and helped break down prejudices this is 2021 after all. for me to pursue so long. tattoos are still not widely accepted in mainstream french society but the times are changing says sylvana learns favorite tattoo artist. there has been a process of liberation here in france. but it's nothing like in north america or england it's still a taboo topic here. suzanne's

tattoos have opened up a new world. he's a model in the art world and an actor. and now has a huge number of followers on social media almost 80000 on instagram aloon. i think that i trigger all kinds of fantasies. i know that a lot of women and men find me attractive from over there is a dog i get lots of messages and office. but that often evaporates as soon as they meet me face to face and realize that i'm completely normal if you turn on my. hopes that he can continue getting tattoos for the rest of his life. he doesn't worry about running a space. he can always include for older i'm a tease. yeah i still think i'll wait for my 1st

tattoo but that is it for focus on europe today thank you for watching and goodbye . to a. clear

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