>> this is focus on europe. i'm lara babalola, thanks for your company. it was a catastrophe of epic proportions the flooding that ripped through western germany last summer. no one saw it coming until it was too late. rivers, including the ahr, burst their banks and destroyed virtually everything in their path. dozens of villages were inundated homes and possessions washed away in an instant. more than 130 people died along the ahr river. the sheer amount of rainfall

took residents by surprise. experts say the extreme weather event was caused by climate change. and it seems like a combination of the topography and city planning has made the region more vulnerable to rising waters much of the landscape in the ahr valley is still scarred. those living in the community of schuld have a lot work ahead of them. residents are yearning for normality as they face an uncertain future. >> abandoned, since summer 2021. a village on the river ahr a gentle stream that turned into a raging current. >> what do you think, when will this village be rebuilt? >> in ten years. >> everything will be normal then?

>> yes, we hope so. >> schuld was one of the municipalities hardest hit by the flooding. last july,eavy rainfall made the river ahr swell up to seven meters high, destroying cars, homes and anything elsin its th. authorities failed to warn locals in time a fatal mistake. julia henrichs and her three children sheltered on a roof until the water finally subsided. >> there was a house standing here. the front had collapsed during the flooding, though there were still two people inside. they survived by the skin of their teeth. the torrent tore a hole into julia's parent's house. but after eight months of repairs, they were able to move back in. many locals, meanwhile, have

been left traumatized by the flood. >> you fear water, that includes taking a shower. you hear the water gushing out of the shower head. and that reminds you of the sound of surging water and the feeling of wetness. last year's ahr valley flood killed at least 133 people. hundreds went missing, only to be found later including some of julia's neighbors. >> i'll never forget that: the door was forced open by the water masses and a child shouted: mum, help! mum, help! and then it was suddenly quiet. i did not hear from these people for three days. but then i saw them again and knew: ok, they're safe, nothing bad has happened to them. >> the aftermath of the flooding:

mounds of mud and debris everywhere. that year, we visited mohammed abdulhamid in his hair salon, trying to salvage what he could. >> i've been here for almost six years i lost everything. >> for months, he cut his client's hair outside. he finally managed to reopen the salon a few days ago. >> thank god, but there are still a few things missing. >> yes, sure, but it took a long time until you could reopen. >> eleven months! i am really glad tsee the salon back open, to have a daily routine, and see my clients. to be honest: my heart is dancing! >> mohammed has been fortunate. many buildings in this region still remain damaged, and at risk of collapsing. in some cases, it's unclear who will pay for repairs.

few here were insured when disaster struck. government aid hasn't reached everyone yet or has proven insufficient. many here are disappointed. they expected quicker emergency relief. >> i tnk at first there were not enough workers. on top of that i guess it was the same for you you had to get an estimate of the damage, get a company to do that >> we had a foreign company do that. >> the flood wiped out many jobs in the region. mario is a nurse but his former workplace a nearby clinic is still being rebuilt. >> i'm on benefits, because of the flood. we will have to see how things go. i hope they will reopen this year, but we haven't heard anything yet. >> a tiny housing settlement, a little further up the valley. they're emergency shelters for 30 local families.

they don't afford much space, and many here yearn to return soon to their own homes. >> two bedrooms, a small one, a kitchen, and living room. >> soon, michael and his family can leave this shelter. after a year of repairs, their family home finally is inhabitable. though he does not want to keep living there. i think that in the medium or long term, we will leave. not so much out of fear, but there is an uneasy feeling. whenever there is heavy rainfall, or a storm warning, it does make you a bit nervous. >> the river ahr has taken and changed lives forever. even a year after the flooding, few things here are back to normal.

>> russia has been at war with ukraine for four months now. one of the kremlin's first targets during the early days of the invasion was kharkiv, ukraine's second-largest city. kyiv's forces managed to defend kharkiv and push back the russians. still, the battle is far from over, as putin's troops continue to shell the city. residents are trapped between normal, daily life and the fight for survival. >> another day of work in kharkiv. another day these garbage collectors aren't sure they'll come back home alive again. >> it's dangerous with all the shelling going on. >> andriy, yuri, and mikhail are making the rounds in the north of the city. when the war broke out, a wave of destruction hit. and shells keep raining down. every day is different.

>> there was a time before the war, and now. to me, it's like two different lives. you can't even remember normal life anymore. it feels like there's only been these past three or four months. >> flying shrapnel sometimes barely misses them. yet, gone are the protective vests. death, destruction, and tears may be part of day-to-day life now. but the trio isn't numb to it. >> it really hits me when we stop at an apartment and i see diapers on the balcony, and the whole building is destroyed. it's tough. and what lies in the rubble they clear away? there could be dangerous explosives. the garbage collectors are the

silent heroes of the city. they risk their lives to keep things going because kharkiv must not give up. someone has to do this work. who else is going to? everyone decides for themselves. i like to help people. >> and they're not the only helping hands. volunteers offer to make destroyed apartments more or less livable again free of charge. when the shells start raining down and your hands are shaking, you start cutting crookedly. it's really stressful. >> today, they've been called over by a retired woman whose windows have been blown out since february. she'd originally fled, but now wants to return to kharkiv. >> a shell hit the building next-door and killed a boy. my granddaughter was sleeping at my place. and all the windows blew out.

>> the 72-year-old pensioner says it's a real miracle how these young men are repairing her apartment for free now. but they see it as their contribution in wartime. yet sergiy still feels guilty. >> sure, i'm providing humanitarian aid. but i keep thinking about my friends fighting in the warzone on the front. and how they're spending days down in the trenches sleeping with machine guns in their arms. >> the metropolis of kharkiv has two surreal, parallel worlds. some parts are peaceful and idyllic, while others are being pummeled by shelling. kharkiv fell almost entirely into russian hands when the war began. then in may, the city was liberated. but many feel putin won't stop until he's got his hands on this prestigious prize.

>> maria can barely stand the constant fear of death while going about her day-to-day life. >> i keep telling my son that our guys are sleeping in the trenches so we can sleep soundly in bed. >> maria says our guys because she feels ukrainian. and started her family here. but she's russian. and the artist has grown apart from her native country. she says ukraine has become freer and more upbeat, while russia has lurched towards authoritarianism. maria has applied for ukrainian citizenship and burned her russian passport >> it was my way of expressing my disapproval and saying i wanted nothing to do with that country anymore.

and that i no longer see myself as a russian citizen. >> the war may keep grinding on for some time. it could take generations to heal the hate. and yet kharkiv beams with defiant optimism. these people keep toiling away, despite the risks to keep kharkiv alive and strong. >> the effects of the ukraine war are also being felt by fishermen in italy. the spike in energy prices is making the diesel that fuels their boats unaffordable for some. in genoa, fishermen rely on a good catch to make ends meet. now some have given up entirely leaving their vessels moored at the dock. hs but mauro gambaro is refusing to throw in the towel just yet. he and his colleagues have come

up with a clever business model to help keep them afloat during the crisis. >> fisherman mauro gambaro sets off from the port of genoa at seven in the morning, as he's done almost every day for the last 20 years. what's new is that he doesn't know if the catch will be big enough to cover his costs. >> at a restaurant, the fish dishes still cost about the same as before, because you don't want to put the prices up too much. but our profit is going down! and our costs continue to rise. we're lucky we've organized ourselves into a big cooperative we'll have to see how things go. >> 24 fishermen have joined together in the cooperative, specializing in regional fish and lobsters a niche market alongside wholesalers and cheap imported fish. they have laid out three kilometers of net, which they haul in by hand, meter by meter, which takes hours. >> here look, we can't use this one, it's been eaten by sea

fleas. and that is a jellyfish. >> and finally: the coveted lobsters. if you net a lot of them, the day was worth it. due to overfishing and warming seas though, this precious catch is dwindling. >> the sea has changed, that's clear. we're finding much more plastic in the nets, unfortunately. >> after five hours, the net is fully hauled in. the result: >> there are about seven kilos of lobsters, 350...650 700 euros; that's all it's worth. that's rough, because today we spent about 200, 300 euros on diesel, then there's our own provisions, the wear on the boat, and the fact that the nets must constantly be

repaired. >> that doesn't leave much to live on. they try to make ends meet with new sales markets. the fishermen run their own restaurant. they also have a stall at the harbor, where they sell directly to the customer. mario, the head of the cooperative, takes care of this. but most of the stands in the small market hall are empty today for many fishermen, it's no longer worth heading out. >> if you're not passionate about fishing, you can't do the job. but you've got to get something out of it. if we don't get help, there won't be any of us here in 5 or 6 years. >> the situation is dramatic for all fishermen, since the price of diesel has almost tripled due to the ukraine war. for weeks fishermen went on strike and blocked ports. with the already low profit margins, the business is hardly

worthwhile anymore. >> the government has forgotten and abandoned us; that's obvious. >> we must be given the opportunity to work. the price of diesel has to go down; that's what we want, not >> -- not charity! >> mario was on strike too, but he doesn't believe in government handouts and has taken matters into his own hands. here in the picturesque bay of boccadasse in genoa, the cooperative runs a restaurant locals and tourists love the old fishing village, because it retains much of its original charm. in the restaurant they only sell fish they've caught themselves. so far, the idea has been a hit. and it could be a lifesaver for the fishermen of boccadasse. >> we came to boccadasse, because we loved the idea of this restaurant. i had the blue fish it was great.

>> it's definitely better to spend money on a regional product than spending the same amount on something imported from abroad. >> the next day, mauro heads out again. and he hopes to live from fishing for a long time to come; he simply can't imagine doing anything else. >> it's bloody, deadly and a tradition that's treasured by some bullfighting is still alive and well in spain. the sport was even named a part of the country's cultural heritage in 2013, much to the dismay of animal rights activists. it's man versus bull and it almost always ends with a dying animal in the arena. well, there's yet another aspect to bullfighting that has activists up in arms: people with restricted growth performing as clowns and acrobats.

the men do it voluntarily, they say. does that make it ok? >> they're rehearsing one last time before the show. roberto torres and his fellow clowns want to make their audience laugh in the bull-fighting arena of granada. that's what's brought the troupe together from across spain. most of them are people with restricted height due to a genetic condition. >> my father was also short and performed in the arena for years. i always watched and it's what got me into bull fighting. i've enjoyed it since i was a kid as long as i can remember. and i'm still doing it now. >> little toreros are often an essential element of any show in spanish bull fighting. they perform with young bulls like these, but they don't hurt or kill them. the troupe is on their way to lunch. and in the street, they turn a lot of heads.

but fifty-three-year-old josé antonio zarzuela doesn't mind. he's used to it. >> that's just life. we've got a disorder called achondroplasia. too bad. but i'm happy with my body and myself. i don't care if i get a few looks or what they say about me. >> but having little toreros perform in granada or other spanish cities has become a controversial matter. >> when i was little, i would go with my parents. when i was six or eight. and i had a lot of fun. >> that shouldn't be happening anymore. it doesn't make any sense to put someone in the limelight for their body size and make fun of them. >> the shows upsets carolina puente. she's just a meter and thirty-seven centimeters tall herself and promotes equality

for people with restricted growth. she finds these kinds of shows counterproductive. she wishes they were phibited. >> we didn't come all th way earning society's respect just to have it trampled in a show or to have children making fun of shorter classmates. >> time for the sod check at the arena in granada. for his part, daniel calderón is average-height. he met the smaller comedians while working as a bull fighter. and now he leads the troupe. he doesn't get his crics' objections. >> who says you need to be a certain height to be a comedian? everyone can do what they want. these guys are professionals. they pay into social security; they are proper bullfighters. we're not doing this because someone is forcing us.

we're professionals. >> one hour to go until the show begins. the bullfighters are getting ready. carlos isn't nervous at all. the portuguese native has performed in many shows already. and knows what it means to be humiliated. >> the only thing i didn't like was being thrown through the air. tall men took us and tossed us around. that was in torrevieja, it was really degrading. >> carolina puente has teamed up with susana noval to fight for the rights of people with achondroplasia. they say comedic bullfighting shows are humiliating. >> it gets people thinking that those with dwarfism are funny and slapstick-y. apparently, it's okay to make fun of this disability. but nobody would find it funny if people in wheelchairs were thrown through the air.

>> do you really think these people are suited to bullfighting? no. they are employed because their unusual bodies make them strange. >> and then, it's show time. >> >> the group of comedians have become close friends over time. >> we all have the same stature. nobody is taller or smaller than anyone else. we are like brothers, helping each other out. we all have the same worth. we're equals.

>> and they'd love to keep doing what they do. but carolina and other activists have already succeeded in banning such shows in other parts of spain. >> nouvelle cuisine or new cuisine is a french movement that was pioneered by this man, paul bocuse. he tore up the rule book and modernized fine dining. bocuse was crowned the chef of the century and went on to teach many notable chefs before his death in 2018. his legacy lives on in a cooking school that bears his name. each year, hundreds of students learn the techniques of their idol in lyon. >> sparkling clean glasses. >> napkins perfectly rolled. isoline is studying to become a hotel manager at the bocuse institute it's her dream job. >> to get the right aesthetic look, the plate must be two

finger-widths from the edge of the table, along the axis of the chair, and aligned with the glass. >> meanwhile, in the kitchen, the ovens are heating up. students from all over the world come here to learn about haute cuisine at the school founded by paul bocuse. today, it's a five-course menu. mohammed from morocco is in his third and final year. the work at the stove is grueling, the pressure great. but mohammed loves the challenge. >> there is a clear hierarchy that we have to respect. we know who's boss. it's like an orchestral conductor with their musicians. only with us, it all happens in the kitchen. the boss sets the tempo. >> in this case, the boss is florian pansin. he is responsible for ensuring that the restaurant slash cooking school retains its michelin star.

the students have to be calm and focused so that they get all the instructions. it requires a lot of concentration, which itself requires rigor and discipline. >> the moment of truth. the main course. squab aka pigeon in a crust of cashew nuts. all under the watchful eye of paul bocuse. >> the food is excellent. well done! bravo! our french culinary heritage allows us to shine the world over. and that's just what schools like this are about. >> high praise for the students, as they too dream of bringing haute cuisine to the world. isoline with a hotel in india mohammed with a restaurant in morocco. >> and i dream of tasting their creations. that brings us to the end of this edition of focus on europe.

thank you for watching. bye for now.

08/04/ 084/22 [captioning made possible by democracy now!] amy: from new york, this is democracy now! >> we need a treaty of nonproliferation of nuclear weapons as much as ever. amy: as the u.n. secretary-general warns of possible nuclear annihilation, we look at the growing threat of nuclear war as tensio