blue nar, do davinci, mysterious masterpiece. ah, it's perhaps the greatest leonardo masterpiece in the collection of the louvre and no, it is not the mona lisa. it is the virgin of the rocks, 2 versions, multiple copies, and a hidden drawing. was there another symbolic meaning to this beautiful painting that perhaps we just don't understand? a search for answers starts july 7th on d, w. ah, hello and welcome to focus on europe where the focus this time round is still inevitably on the conflict in ukraine. and one of the closest allies of russia in

the gruesome war of aggression launched by vladimir putin is alexander lucas shanker, the autocratic leader of bellows. the relationship between the 2 men goes back a long way and they still meet on a regular basis, which is a huge source of irritation and anger to the opposition that has however, largely been crushed by cushion that has in turn of course force many to seek asylum in ukraine, including for instance, scientists and artists, and men like alexei, he had already been living in ukraine for a number of years and had signed up to join the military. they're so wild bellows, the country stand side by side with russia. many bellow, russian, people are fighting shoulder by shoulder with the ukrainian forces. and for his courage and his commitment, alexei has paid a high price. alexei has to learn to stand on to feed again.

originally from bella, ruth, he's been part of the ukranian army off and on for about 8 years now, the war has taken its toll. 2 weeks after the fighting started, he was on a reconnaissance patrol when a russian shell struck near by. now he's learning to walk on an artificial leg. when there was up 2 or 3 weeks ago, i still needed to crutches. not like this one, but that real crutches. that you wedge under your arms just now i manage without social, and i use this one like a cane thought. now alexei trains recruits so many bela ruffians have joined ukraine's armed forces since the war started, that they formed an entire regiment of their own. yeah. alexa came to ukraine in 2014, after keeps euro. my dan, protests going america of my as crane is one of the last free countries remaining of the former soviet republics. you could have lost its freedom, it. oh,

if the my dad protests had been put down as was the bill that would have been no future left for the region, possibly neither for ukraine nor for belarus. good belittles your labors, never slip was linear of eminent. now the bela ruffian regiment numbers several 100 troops. many of them fled to ukraine in 2020, after president, alexander lucas shanker. crushed mass protests all across. bela ruth with roster as his fellow troopers call him as part of the regiment. he also took part in the protests and bella, ruth, nor merely toiling a portion of his mortal mutiny, a horse killed, but in the showroom. and marcia, we were hoping we could topple lucas shinkel peacefully, see you. but unfortunately, through our hopes that not come true. and the regime is still in power. my task now and all now is to do everything i can to bring down this regime of cynthia marshall

trio booth, newton. but from to the soldiers of the bella ruffian regiment, the ukrainians fight is also very much theirs. they can't go back to their country now anyway that we need to kind of push it forward. thurmond, nic manual that i could expect a life sentence at the very least, given that the worst execution to law, what's offer my participation in the protests extreme. you could charge me with extremism asada, and now on top of that, with being a mercenary in the war, when you problem the fighters have many different political opinions. what unites them as their opposition to the regime in bella? ruth, in 2014, alexei 1st joined the right when nationalists as of battalion since february, he's been with bella, rosie and regiment. he describes himself as the nationalist belongs, counsellor,

isn't over. campbell, there was more rulers acosta chola, which little russian nationalists want to live in a free country. the former takes since his group whether democracy or something else is not so important to lower. the main thing is that people can choose undeveloped as they wish. he wasn't until at the moment, there is no development and been a roost lucille now alexis morning starts with physiotherapy. his body has to learn to keep its balance without help from the left leg. he's down to receive a new, electronically controlled prosthesis. eventually. if alexei had his way, he'd like to go back to the front, i won't be able to return to active duty like i used to. but there are many different jobs at the front or below. different kinds of weapons. is that i want to be able to fight in my former unit that's physically no longer possible, but i'm a little bit of august involved for the time being it's training,

training and more training. he still has many steps to take before he can return to the front. well, on a very different no to what you can see here are young bulgarians, enjoying one of the very popular students balls that mark the end of school days and the pursuit of new challenges a bit here to the war in ukraine cast. so shadow because just like in the rest of europe, the conflict has sent consumer prices spiraling, still in the capital. so for your daniella says no corners will be cut when it comes to making sure that her daughter natalie will have a day to remember. and that means lots of glamour and glitz. at 7 30 am to a 19 year old natalie graduates from school, one of the most important days of her life. she and her mother have been preparing for it long in advance. today she is going to feel like

a princess. daniella took out a loan to pay for it, or, i mean it wouldn't it all if you count all the preparations and the party afterwards, it costs around $3000.00 euros cup that includes the restaurant, her outfit make up here. do you all the accessories and other details to the daily news at what does it mean for an ordinary bulgarian family to spend so much? anybody in air meal, they lessen all over him. well, you have to save up the money for a long time. most people take out alone to do it. that's how we finance everything in life. at any rate, you couldn't pay for it from your salary. as an accountant, natalie smoother errands, an average income. in bulgaria, that means about $500.00 euros a month. mother and daughter both have to get by him, but her 1st appointment is for makeup as she starts to get ready for the big day. this only happens once in life,

and i want it to be unforgettable. as a girl, you have your makeup hair and a manicure done, and you pick out a dress. these preparations are very important to us about an hour later, natalie's ready at last, but she still got to hurry. the most important part is yet to come. bulgaria is one of the european union's poorest countries. currently, less than half the population earns enough to cover their living expenses. the moments natalie's been waiting for the whole morning has come. it's time to put on to dress. it cost an yellow 400 years. the pair of them took 3 months to find exactly what they wanted. yes, you are so beautiful. they did just gorgeous.

mock. let me straighten the netting a little. he was up in the back to bravo. at the meal, the family showers natalie with presents. it doesn't show at the party, but many here are worried about their futures. the worn ukraine has made a difficult situation far worse. now. inflations running at 14.4 percent. was beautiful. so sage the course we feel it, we're of thick. there's a kind of fear that affects us all, my virtue is a psychological stress and we feel it. so save them. but if we look back at history, we see that we're not the 1st to experience or felicia, and on the war watches are the winner. natalie's mother daniella has gone into debt for her daughter's sake. the costs for the celebration have exploded over just the past few weeks. everything's got more expensive. everything.

bread, cheese, meat, for example, chicken breast used to cost 3 years, 50 kilo, now it's 7 euro's the price is doubled in a few months ago with the party might have cost me around half as much after the meal natalie gets together with her schoolmates. many of them have rented a car, especially for the stay, so they construct their stuff in front of the alexander, netscape cathedral. sophia's most famous landmark for graduates count down the 12 years at school and the party begins. oh, well they may party like there is no to move pressure. the country is increasing. in late april, russia cut natural gas applies to bulgaria for now in the country can manage. but the sanctions on russia lead to a cuts and the flow of oil. things could get much worse. most of the

graduates here don't want to think about it. how do you imagine your life in 10 years from now? we might be a family and a job. i see my future in bulgaria. you can accomplish a lot here. you don't have to go abroad, they leave the problems for another day. the money was rising prices, news of the war to night, they just want to enjoy the celebrations. now temperatures are high in many parts of europe and people are looking for places to cool down. but many rivers lakes across the continent are in poor shape, not least in the u. k. a close look at the river thames that runs through london shows that a number of places along its course. a badly clogged up by a sick clean mix of cleansing. wipes leaves toilet paper,

sludge and effluent. but as we see now, some holiday spirits taken up the battle against the muck. debbie leach is not impressed. few could guess where she is pulling up here. the river thames and london has a few undesirable spots along its banks. and this here is wet life. it's caught on this twig. it's about one half me to thick mound of wet wipes, mixed with twigs and some salt few leaves. but it's basically solid, used wet wipes. locals have dropped the area which wipe island it come to real house. is this south like in people's bathrooms? it's people are using wet wipes in their bathrooms and then i think he accost our flush that down the low. there's no bite of esoteric there tall or the small animals you'd expect to see on riverbanks. and unfortunately, he is gone. debbie is part of

a group of britons monitoring the condition of the rivers. something the authorities here rarely do these days. many are outraged that toilet was could end up here on the riverbank retired police officer. ashley smith heads up a group that conducts daily detective work the washer company for the thames region . once a purification plant, not far from here. we see quite a nasty coating of grey fine sediment on the bottom and brown and grey owl gay, which is coating the gravel choking any we've life out of it. ashley smith is on his way to a spot where the company releases the purified waste water into the stream. but directly next to it actually points to a 2nd pipe. this one sometimes spews out untreated waste water, the actual chemicals, your hormones, the drugs, the bacteria, the human waste,

the ah, heavy levels of phosphate and nitrate and ammonia that all comes out here. and that makes its way down into the river windrush then into the river. thames sewage last clued from it 2 days ago. he says he's collecting film evidence. i'm going to put them gloves on because i'm going to post the camera after it's been in the companies are allowed to release untreated waste water into the rivers. but only in exceptional circumstances, when there's flooding, the sewers are full after heavy rain. otherwise it's illegal. our analysts can tell if it's happened by looking at war to industry, data flow data taken on 15 minute intervals. he can establish whether it's happened to early, if they've discharged it before treating sufficient for their permit. and we found a lot of illegal activity in that way. the washer company insists its activities

are legal. the environment agency relies on companies to self monitor at the public outcry has now prompted an investigation. you k rivers are among the most polluted in europe. the government and water companies are accused of feeling to modernize the sewage system over decades. this is basically a consequence of victorian infrastructure and it's a, it's a huge undertaking to remove all of these storm overflows. they are therefore emergency flash flooding events outside. they've always been part of the system. but we're taking action right now to, to eliminate some of these and reduce their harm. but it's predicted to take 10 or 20 years. so ashley wants to keep up the pressure by exposing as many illegal activities as possible. he recently found an undocumented pipe from thames water is about 3 meters down into the thames. here the water is in a shocking state containing feces, old food and grease. every time we've come,

it's been worse than the last, this bits dreadful. it's, it's really bad. the washer company claims not to have released any untreated sewage here since march last year. so it's a mystery. her, this condo came out of the pipe, were presented to the environment agency, and i expect them to do very little life. become almost redundant on a spectator in the engagement now between campaign as the water industry and counselors and local people who are now really pushing for the changes to of those local people arrive on the scene. oh yeah. oh, they were hoping to go swimming, looking a bit brown. okay, show that it's not looking good. is it? no, at least the water company, no issues, warnings when it's releasing sewage into the times. disgusting. and we shouldn't have to put up with this as a river here was so clean. you could see the river bed only

a couple of decades ago, especially when they are group has come up with another strategy to get this stretch of the river cleaned up. the aim is that we're going to try and get designated bathing war to status, which will mean that the environment agency are obliged to monitor regularly and try and impose i did some sanctions on tim's water. the device their plan, along with trevor williams. he takes regular samples and sends the results to the authorities. so you can see it's quite dirty today because it's just rained but hopefully not for much longer because their strategy worked. this stretch of the river has now been granted bathing water status to things ought to get a lot cleaner here. soup, that will be the 2nd river in the whole of the u. k. to have a bathing or to status so and hopefully other rivers will follow seats and other

water companies will take note that they can't get away with dumping that their waists in the river and policing policing on environment. the campaigners are having to go to great lengths and even resort to tricks. but thee, along with many britons just want the u. k. 's rivers to be cleaner again. well, even i admit it. shopping can be fun, but it can also be intimidating. what with all the a trend distractions, so for people like joe well, who are vulnerable to anxiety issues such as autism, it can be particularly stressful, but a supermarket in the small swiss village of, or doff is part of a chain of stores that has adopted a new approach, loud brightly lit and colorful. the average supermarket can be tortuous for people with autism. a sensory overload hard to bear. so twice a week, the supermarket, missouri scales, everything down, lights, music commercials. it's known as

a quieter. the idea came from new zealand self, thus francois yardi, sailing 9. i read about it 2 years ago in a magazine or a molten all. i was so touched by the article, i found it really heart warming. and i thought if they can do it, new zealand, we can do it in switzerland, a long time tom and cleaning those in the fried south. so without further ado hands rudy shellman and his brother introduced a quiet hour to across 12 stores for people like jewell, who now ventures into the supermarket with her support dog, rocky. he's allowed inside, even in the quiet our shopping used to be almost impossible for joel when we called alice like loud. every thing comes at me at the same volume, speed and intensity. and i can't filter things out of the radios on the shelves are being stocked. and i can't block out what's happening house blend to well doesn't want special offers. she wants everything to stay in the same place. she always

shops with a list and sticks to it down without the story they so difficult when they reorganized the shelves and i organized my shopping list so that i can just has through once that way i minimize my stress if they even can dwell needs to come atmosphere because her brain processes sensory input differently with many of the customers also appreciate the quieter and so do the self love with along with the customers and condon them as florida her. the 1st time they did it, i thought, or is this a power tighter? that's me. i was quite confused. you did. did sister, oak name, it's nice that a lot less hectic taking of the stress with a low sensory our a great idea that seems destined to catch on more widely dusty idea. now let's go to the longer region of north western italy to meet him

uncalled roberto and for so he's very unusual in fact unique in this day and age because as a doctor he makes house calls on horseback. he carries all his equipment in a saddle bag flung over the horses back when he rides out to do his daily rounds. and i'm sure you can imagine it's an important service that he provides. after all, the average age of his patience is 70 and some are over a 100. ah abra and roberto, an inseparable duel from long gay in italy's piedmont region. but this is no pony drag. they're on their way to work. you're fetching pretty mario. a lot of fun. yes, estate it go on that doctor on the horse as my assistant, she spoke my friend and the message that i bring to my patience. ah,

the pair ride up and down the hilly terrain. as long as it's not an emergency doctor on 1st. oh, prefers to ride to his appointment. so his 1st task of the day is to get his assistant ready for action. big towel, umbrella. i am bradley sim. hello. gorgeous suantlan, bonn. booker. to put like i brought you a little treat quite a bump, amber amber as my new horse khalilah i got her 3 years ago for nicholas the birthday. mandy corky, vienna court come by law and made the court a doctor that comes to tend to the sick on horseback is seen as someone who has time for his patience, medical venga corner. that fact alone that people know the doctor is taking the time to them that it does the patients good and makes them feel well cared for that

major. but interesting to read your swatch well there to unfair. so has been a doctor for, for decades. 15 years ago he decided to combine his hobby with his job. the response of impatience has been very positive, but he has to be prepared for everything in monte cristo deserted shackleton, vis. saddlebag has all the things i need from my appointment with dr. sarah petronela fair, the other one contains everything i need to tie the horse up while i'm seeing my patients. mr. trisha corkalon. once the horse ran away, while i was examining some one scarborough for she tore the snap hook and took her enough dorna this cup of yeah. ah, going from an easy tried to an elegant gallop umbrella. and roberto cover at least 80 kilometers a week. it covers a horse symbolizes strength, elegance and vigor. so those are all characteristics that my patient slack due to

ill health or old age. so when i come with amber, it is, if we're bringing those attributes spectrum plant all hello. hey, yes, i'll be with you in half an hour. i see a soon sorry roberto cares for some 1500 patients scattered across the hill than small villages of this famous wine region. the area has been a unesco world heritage site since 2014 wind rower a daily oh. tarry is roberto his 1st patient of the day when john good morning i good morning. yeah. how are you? good. bye. then in good nice who came to visit? you can, of course i dish or just let me tie my horse up and i'll be with you shortly. harry

will. she'll be glad to. day is just a routine checkup to monitor the patient's heart and blood pressure. but lamp at a sure blood pressure is fine. the 10th of $100.00. 20 over 80. that's okay. oh, gotcha. over there, i'm always happy when he comes to visit. it's like in the old days when there weren't any cars big and there's something special about it or not corella. and i spent breathin and then hold your breath for a moment. a lawmaker us and we are the only health care center in all of italy, where when you call a doctor, cover letter we sent in the cavalry free of charge. it was once said, no hour of life is wasted, that is spent in the saddle. roberto unfold so might just agree.

lovely, wonderful and heart warming. now if you've enjoyed the slightest edition of focus on your roku, joined us next on brown. and so when i buy into ah, ah, ah, with

our leverage guide jakarta, what to do to help people and the government to you last you did it with 30 minutes on

d. w. is the end of the pandemic in site. we show what it could look like. return to normal. and we visit those who are finding it difficult. a success in our weekly coven, 19 special? ah, every thursday on dw was making the headlines. and what's behind d. w. news africa. the show that titles the issues shaping the continents life is slowly getting back to normal. yeah. well, on the street to give you enough reports on the inside of our cars. funds is on the ground reporting from across the continent. all the french stuff, mazda u. t. w news africa every friday on dw,

with every man news of the children's food. the food can be nothing. before movies, news can. we had a lot of programs. they drop over the school because they were eating nothing when it coming from home. that could have easily been us. anyone of a hulu. mm hm.

mm hm. ah ah, ah, this is didi of you. news live from berlin. disaster in afghanistan, a powerful earthquake leaves a 1000 people dead and many more injured now it's a race to age. survivors also coming up ukrainian president vladimir zalinski urges allies to send more.