o;o;ó7ó7 hello everyone, and welcome to focus on europe. we start today's show with a look at putin's war which continues to lead to the needless devastation of lives, homes and futures in ukraine. back in russia, the impact is also being felt. but moscow is determined to stifle dissent, which is making for tough times in the country's arts, cultural and music scenes. more and more artists, like the russian pop-rock group aloe vera which has been speaking out against the ukraine war have found themselves in the

crosshairs of russian authorities. others - like singer svetlana loboda - have been banned from performing in russia entirely. now, there's a newly created special commission to uncover these so-called anti-russian acts, with many artists learning the hard way how it feels to have the russian secret service arrive at the end of a concert. and for anyone who reaches a large audience, like singer svetlana their work, which contains anti-war messages, naturally attracts even more of attention. as russian authorities take action against her and many others, often the only option left is to flee. >> a concert audience in latvia's capital riga creates a sea of light in honor of singer svetlana loboda. and she's as outspoken as ever. >> today, my homeland ukraine is experiencing a major,

terrible, unjust war. >> svetlana loboda lived in moscow for years and has millions of fans in russia. but in late february, she spoke out against the country's war of aggression on ukraine and left russia. >> i wanted to be on the right side of history the side of good and truth. >> moscow's response wasn't long in coming. loboda was banned from entering russia for the next fifty years. the singer is just one of many prominent figures russia has punished for taking a public stand against the kremlin and its policies. artists, actors and tv personalities have since been forced out of the country. those who stay risk harassment by the authorities as happened

to the band aloe vera from yekaterinburg. their lead singer, vera musaelyan, was married to a well-known russian opposition figure, currently in custody awaiting trial because of his openly anti-war statements. the singer also protested against the kremlin's policies -- and is paying the price. >> our concerts are banned. we're suddenly removed from festival programs. sometimes, they'll call just a few hours before the concert and say we're not allowed to play. the worse the political situation in russia gets, the more brazenly the authorities act to prohibit concerts.

but the band refused to give up. it put on a concert at a secret location in saint petersburg for a select audience. vera musaelyan says that, afterwards, the organizers received a visit from russia's fsb. the security service agents demanded the surveillance videos and photos, to identify people who had attended the concert. >> we're a thorn in the side of the authorities. our lifestyle, our social media posts all that is reason enough to ban us. i make no secret of my views in protest against the state. and that's enough for them to block our work as artists. there is no official blacklist so far. but the names of performers whose appearances are 'unwanted' keep popping up in the media. the russian parliament is taking it a step further, proposing to

penalize state employees who hire these performers even if it's the director general of channel one russia or the director of moscow's renowned bolshoi theater. >> these state employees stand on the wrong side of history. we want to give them back their common sense. if you're a state employee, you mustn't give pop stars or celebrities who are taking an openly anti-russian position any state money svetlana loboda is certain that she's chosen the right side. she thanks her fans across europe for their support. but what about her fans in russia? >> russia is a country that's lost its way.

at the top is a man who's leading this land in the wrong direction. and as long as its people don't realize that, nothing good will happen in that country. and performances like this one will only be possible outside russia. with russia continuing to wage its war against ukraine, k life for ukrainians is lived in a constant state of emergency - especially for people near the front. in and around the city kharkiv, the population is not only in constant danger, but it's difficult to even maintain any semblance of day-to-day life. or normalcy. the fact that it exists at all hs is thanks, in part, to people like zoya harbuzova. she's a mail carrier, and she regularly travels around the contested area, bringing a whole lot more than just letters. derhachi, near kharkiv. russian artillery shells could

hit at any moment. we're following behind zoya harbuzova, the local mail carrier. when things are quiet, she delivers the mail. >> i'm just glad i can get to the people to the elderly. they're like a second family to me. i love them, and they love me. the feeling is mutual. she's the only visitor many of these people have now. 87-year-old hanna's lived in her house for 56 years. she's lost eight family members to war. now, she lives alone. >> only a few neighbors are left here. and because of the attacks. the fence was damaged, and lots of dogs came into the yard, and one of them bit my leg. >> only about a quarter of derhachi's original population

have stayed on here. the others have fled. the arts center downtown has been destroyed and the central post office, too. >> the people here have changed. they're not afraid anymore. i've never left this town. i've always lived in derhachi. my old mother's here, my brother, husband and daughter. she works in our hospital. i'm only afraid for my mother. >> zoya's been working as a mail carrier for 20 years. she's never been needed more than now, in the war, she says. before we move on from derhachi, we have to don body armor not a pleasant feeling, especially since the local people have none. but the roads are dangerous. we meet up with

ukrainian soldiers who have to collect fallen russian troops. a siding just outside kharkiv. we're not allowed to give the exact location. anton commands the ukrainian j9 military unit. his job is to recover fallen russian soldiers who were left behind on the battlefield. for two months, anton helped to defend his city. he was born and raised in kharkiv. >> we handle all the fallen russian soldiers according to international law. we're not like them. this is our land. we were born here. we're not going anywhere else. we don't need any other land but our own. we're at home here unlike them. >> we head to the northeastern front.

a body has been reported to the unit in no-man's land. we have to take our pictures fast with a small camera. >> come on, grab a body bag. make it snappy. war is a mass of contradictions and absurdities. these soldiers risk their lives to show the bodies of their enemies due respect. they know the danger from mines and booby traps. with every step the stench of decay gets thicker. anton documents the body. the dead russian soldier must have lain here for some time. later, on the road back, anton tells us the war won't truly be over until the last veteran of it has died. till then, memories of it will live on with them. he and his comrades have retrieved over a hundred bodies so far, sometimes under fire. it's vital work because the

corpses might trigger epidemics. the unit also helps to expose russian propaganda. the data they collect could also be useful for investigating war crimes. >> even during combat operations, we evacuate and identify the bodies of our enemies. no army has ever done that as meticulously. >> observing international law is important to him. even in war, he does what he can to keep his moral bearings. yet he feels no sympathy for the fallen russians. >> we killed them. what could be better? the international red cross arranges for the exchange of the bodies with russia. anton says the details are kept secr. back with zoya, the mail carrier. she has one last stop her route.

another elderly resident on the outskirts of derhachi, svitlana, also doesn't want to leave her home. >> we're very pleased with our mail carrier. she's magnificent friendly, polite and educated. and always delivers the mail on time. >> in reality, the fighting often means the mail is delayed. but for svitlana, the fact that zoya delivers the mail at all, in the midst of a war, makes her deserving of the highest praise. >> if you're out at sea, you're usually pretty happy if you're lucky enough to spot a dolphin or whale. but imagine if your boat were suddenly attacked by one of those animals by a killer whale. k that is exactly what's happening off the atlantic coast of spain, where there are more and more reports of orca attacks on sailing yachts and on fishing and sport boats. marine biologists are faced with a mystery, and sailors, well they're left wondering how they can stay safe.

>> killer whale! >> a sailor's worst nightmare: a full-grown orca rams a boat off the spanish coast. >> the animal is strong enough to damage the sailing yacht or, in the worst case, to capsize it. it's happened to rafael martinez, too. he's had 30 years' experience sailing the seas with his wife, and the couple from cadiz are not easily shaken. but their encounter with the orcas was terrifying. >> suddenly i felt a jolt; the boat spun around 180 degrees and was facing north. that was when my wife spotted

the orcas. the first thing i did was radio the coastguard for help. because when an animal that massive attacks your boat and you don't know how long it's going to go on, anything could happen. >> fears are growing on spain and portugal's atlantic coast. more than 300 incidents have been recorded in the last two years. sailors say that the spanish coast guard is having to launch rescue operations on a daily basis for people whose boats have been damaged by orcas. the crew of this boat were able to record the dramatic scenes. orcas - also called killer whales -- are predators that can weigh up to seven tons. these four orcas pushed the yacht back and forth like a toy. they seemed especially fixated on the rudder. >> nobody will believe this! every time i go on one side, he

goes to the bloody other. >> the marine mammals besiege the boat for about two hours. scientists prefer to call the events encounters. but rafael martinez and most sailors are calling them attacks. >> at one point i felt panic; the orcas had been at it for 15 minutes, and suddenly i see a piece of the rudder floating behind us. >> without a rudder, the boat is impossible to steer. the big question is why are the orcas doing this? >> >> something's been done to them that's completely destabilized them. it was as if they'd gone completely crazy. >> the port of conil de la frontera. locals say the competition for food is making the orcas aggressive. the marine predators and the

fishers are both hunting for bluefin tuna. in the fight over the prey, fishers have injured orcas with harpoons, according to animal rights activists. the fishers have a different theory. >> we think that a sailor accidentally injured an orca calf. and that's why the animals are now attacking the underside of the boats. that's never happened before. >> whale researcher ezequiel andreu prefers to avoid the word attack. he estimates there are only about 40 iberian orcas left. protecting this endangered species is top priority. >> it's very difficult to find the cause the orcas aren't telling us. but what we can say with a high probability is that it's related to a variety of interactions with humans. we think it's a learned behavior over time, which is passed on

to the rest of the group. >> most of the sailors take little comfort in such explanations. they say scientists and authorities aren't doing enough to ensure the sailors' safety. rafael martinez says the animals should be monitored with gps transmitters. if nothing is done, he fears, one day an orca might be killed. >> if your boat and your life are in danger, then you defend yourself! i feel sorry for the orcas, but if it's a question of their life or my life, then i choose mine. but it should never come to that -- we need studies and solutions to the problem. >> the couple plan to continue sailing. but one thing they want to avoid at all costs is another encounter with the iberian orcas.

>> the summer drought is leaving its mark everywhere in europe. especially on agriculture. the fields are brown and dusty, and harvests have been threatened in many regions throughout continent including here in germany. in the east, where farmers tend to grow grain, it's been especially dramatic - hs like on the fields of jonas schulze niehoff. the farmer fears that this drought is a sign of many more to come - but he's not about to hang up his boots. for him, it's time to change his plans and, his plants. no, this is not a weed. it's beautiful quinoa grain. it's light-colored, good sized and quite firm, which means it's the right time for threshing. >> quinoa is a recent arrival in jonas schulze niehoff's fields -- the organic farmer likes to test out new crops. when he took over his father's

farm eight years ago, the fields were planted wi the usual spelt, oats, potatoes and maize. the dark, fertile soil in this part of eastern germany is rich in nutrients. but there's a problem:>> it's gotten much, much drier here, and we just don't harvest as much grain as we used to. >> to secure his livelihood, the farmer's now experimenting with quinoa, the ancient inca grain, which is native to the andes of south america. >> the issue is not only the current economic situation, but what will happen tomorrow, the day after tomorrow, and three years from now. given all that, i need to be experimenting with new crops today. it's part of being an entrepreneur: you ke risks, sometimes you win and sometimes you lose. the trick is to win more than you lose. >> at first, he was starting from scratch.

he didn't even have a source for the seeds. learning by trial anerror - which six ars ons starting he didnto bear fruit. source schulze niehoff is an exception in his region in north-eastern germany. but he does have allies. agricultural scientist urte grauwinkel also believes that the agriculture sector in germany needs to adjust to climate change. she contacted schulze niehoff to find out more about his experiences. >> we've talked enough, played enough politics and have thought long enough on what's to be done. it's time for action. >> together they measure the soil moisture content of the field. >> wow. you can see how dry it is. >> 3.1 >> less than 10 percent, they both say, is too little for the usual spelt, oats or wheat.

>> it is so dry we might have to consider a change a make the switch from grains to chickpeas. they probably cope with drought. we will see. >> so far, the farmer is only growing quinoa on 2 point 5 percent of his land. spelt and potatoes are sti his main source of income. but in the meantime a native of subtropical regions has moved into fourth place: the chickpea. >> the soil is hot. wow. >> with its feathery leaves it would have a key advantage in coping with drought. >> the dew that gathers overnight ends up here. even when it's completely dry, you still have a little bit of moisture. and chickpeas, of course, also

have a nice, deep root system. >> the organic farmer is pleased with the quinoa harvest. because of the hot weather, it dried much faster than usual this year. >> too dry. >> the yield for the grains he normally grows dropped by 20 percent -- another sign that he's on the right track. >> i need to expand my horizons. the world is constantly changing. and we have to change with it. >> jonas schulze niehoff believes that climate change will bring more drought to this part of germany. farmers will have no choice but to adapt to that - and he wants to be prepared. if you're looking for one last vacation this summer you might be interested in a trip to switzerland. in the canton of valais, it's no longer just about the usual swiss stuff, like marveling at the mountains or the fresh alpine air. hs it's

it is about breathing some pretty terrible air and getting an awful night's sleep with a complete lack of privacy for a whole lot of money. >> from the sky, the bed lies by the road. there's no escaping the noise, emissions -- or rising gas prices. but the riklins don't mind if their guests can't sleep. their zero-star suite isn't meant to be idyllic. the twins want their art to wake people up, to break with old conventions and structures. >> it's not the time to sleep. we need to react to the current state of the world. >> their hotel at the gas station helps folks discover that. it's a symbol of a world gone haywire: war in europe, an energy crisis and high inflation.

>> as artists we think we also have a responsibility. we need to do something ourselves -- not just play the aesthete. and we also realize that, in society, there's a huge desire for change. >> they launched their first zero-star hotel in 2008 -- in a nuclear fallout shelter. open-air versions in vineyards and mountain pastures followed. but they all had butler service. these butlers are normally students, or work in banks or bakeries. they sport a uniform on top, but whatever they like on the bottom. the butlers make beds, serve breakfast and chat with the guests. they're an important part of the concept. >> i just try to please the guests. and enjoy the experience myself. that's the goal: to enjoy doing it and really give the guests something positive. >> for over two decades the riklin twins have been making

art that intrudes into reality. out of the museum and into everyday life. guests pay almost 330 euros for one night at their zero-star hotel. a deliberate provocation. >> i see it as an investment in self-reflection. if someone recognizes the personal value in it, the 325 swiss francs are nothing. >> a bargain! >> then they can skip taking another course or mindfulness training. >> in an increasingly incongruous world, spending the night in this bed is also making a statement. the hotel will operate until mid-september. so what's next? the riklin twins have some ideas: >> hello vladimir, hello? >> hello. >> can you understand us? >> we're on a conference call. >> hopefully it doesn't rain. in any case, on behalf of the whole team here at focus on europe, i wish you a good rest of your day, and a great night's sleep. see you next time!

09/22/22 09/22/22 [captioning made possible by democracy now!] amy: from new york, this is democracy now! >> claiming you have money that you do not have, that amounts to the art of the deal, it is the art of the steel. amy: new york attorney general leticia james sues donald trump and his children for fraud in -- and a three-judge panel also ruled the justice department can resume using classified records