hello and welcome to focus on europe. it's wonderful to have you with us. with new attacks, russia is yet again escalating the war in ukraine. and to continue this war russia needs more and more soldiers. russian authorities have been ramping up efforts to mobilize new troops for the front. in various cities, recruiters are handing out glossy pamphlets that glorify the military. young russians are being urged to enlist and help defend their country - in a war in which many thousands have

already lost their lives. criticizing putin or his war against ukraine can have severe repercussions. in fact, just using the word “war” can lead to a prison sentence of up to ten years. demonstrations are banned. but that doesn't mean that there's no resistance to the war. take the example of sergei, who runs a private vocational school. he's been told to recruit for the russian army - and has refused. and he's not alone. andrej, for instance, was a student - but was expelled from his university for his protests. sergei lives in novosibirsk. and andrej thousands of kilometers away in st. petersburg - but they are united by their determination and courage. 20 -year-old andrei kotenko had plans to become a journalist. he says he was among the best students at his university in saint petersburg - until a year ago. he earned good grades, praise from the teachers and

the respect of his fellow students. that promising career ended abruptly in march of last year, when andrei sided with a lecturer who condemned the war. he also posted anti-war photos on his private instagram account. hello, i'm andrei kotenko. i was expelled because of my political statements. my online posts and stories. one was 'no to war', others were 'end the ban on speaking out' and 'stick your bombs where the sun doesn't shine. ' and suddenly, andrei says, his academic success was over. the university took every excuse to harass him, and finally, they expelled him - even though his grades were good. and to prove it, he shows us his transcript. i was miserable because they robbed me of my dream. my life seemed over. i felt like screaming, that's how upset i was.

the university administration rejected andrei's complaint. and they replied to our enquiry with a written statement, saying he'd been ex-matriculated because of bad grades. but they refused our request for an interview on camera. andrei sued the university for a refund of his tuition plus damages. the case went to court. the legal dispute took place in a system where more and more critics of the war are silenced, and more and more soldiers are being recruited - especially in regions far from moscow - like here in in novosibirsk. billboards call on young men to take up arms. videos on tv and the internet praise the wagner private army as well as the regular military forces.

from now on, university students are to be targeted for recuiting - like at this private vocational school. the authorities suggested to its founder, sergei chernyshov, that he post the defense ministry's flyers on his school's web site. you'd have to be completely nuts to post recruiting posters like these on a vocational school's site. as i see it, it's utter nonesense because people who want to study at technical and vocational colleges are exempted from military service. and now, they're the ones who are supposed to give everything up and join the military? what idiots are they appealing to? besides, it contradicts our values. chernyshov refuses to advertise for the military - even though he knows his refusal can have unpleasant consequences.

as a critically minded person, he sees no alternative. you can't act as if nothing were happening all around you. you can't just ignore the fact that tragedies are occurring on both sides of the border, in both russian and ukrainian families. people are dying on both sides. the infrastructure and economy are suffering. just pretending that nothing's going on would be absurd. back to andrei kotenko, the former student from saint petersburg. his court case took an unexpected turn. the court decided partly in his favor, he says, and he sent us the ruling. the university has to refund the tuition andrei has already paid and compensate him for damages - the equivalent of over 11 thousand euros in all. but he's not optimistic about his plans for a career in journalism. i can't make any big plans for the future.

i don't know what i'll be doing in half a year, one year or in 10 years. what's happening to me is symbolic. just half a year ago, i thought i'd be finishing university and starting on my professional career - just like before february 24 th, last year, people thought they'd be living in peace. andrei kotenko has left saint petersburg but not russia, his homeland. he can't imagine taking that step - no matter how uncertain his future there may be. when europe's fishers go out to sea, they generally use large trawl nets for their work. the problem is that more and more dolphins are getting caught in them. in france, animal rights activists are sounding the alarm because these beautiful mammals are dying in the nets.

many are washing up on the coast. activists are determined to save the dolphins and raise awareness of the problem. but they're having a tough time convincing the fishers around le-sable-do-lonnh on the west coast of france. the dolphins in the bay of biscay, off the west of france, love to play. and they love to follow fishing boats. but it's a dangerous game. the marine mammals often end up caught in the fishing nets and die because they can't get back up to the surface to breathe. the fishers often throw the dead dolphins back into the sea, says damien chaumillon. he and a team of activists from the sea shepherd marine conservation organization are combing the beach at sables

d'olonne today, looking for dead dolphins. documenting the problem is important work. the sea is choppy right now and the wind and the currents wash the carcasses ashore. an hour later, they find a male dolphin on the beach these marks are proof. this dolphin tried to free itself from a fishing net. sea shepherd often puts dead dolphins like this on on display in public places. the goal is to shock people into awareness and force politicians to take action. but many here disapprove of sea shepherd's methods. the fishing boats that might have caught the dolphin in

their nets are docked in the port of sable d'olonne. as their catch dwindles and their income drops, fishers here are resorting to ever larger trawling nets. gilles bardu mainly fishes for cod. he admits that a dolphin gets caught in his nets every once in a while. but he's dismissive of sea shepherd's claims. just because a dolphin might have some visible marks from a fishing net, that doesn't automatically mean that's what killed it. it might have died of old age. we fishers have our doubts. we suspect that sea shepherd activists might be putting the dead dolphins on the beach in order to blame us. but marine biologist martin böye from the dolphinarium in port saint père says the situation in the bay is serious.

he's already counted more than 900 dead dolphins washed up on the french coast since the start of the year. it's time to take action. we all need to sit down together, and we all need to contribute to the solution. the fishers need to be able to do their jobs, and the dolphins need to have their habitat preserved. böye is researching ways to help. he's been tagging dolphins with sensors to study their sense of orientation. he's already figured out that dolphins mistake the nets for seaweed, and then get caught in them. dolphins rely on echo-location to orient themselves. these nets should be redesigned to produce a louder echo. that way, the dophins would perceive the nets as an obstacle, and avoid them.

but redesigning the fishing nets will take time. the fishers have started attaching acoustic warning signals to the nets, but so far it hasn't helped. both scientists and marine conservationists say a solution has to be found - quickly. sea shepherd has called for more radical measures. these kinds of trawling nets will never be able to scoop just one fish species out of the water. that's why trawling nets should be banned. trawling nets are unlikely to be baed any timsoon. but a workable compromise needs might soon vanish from the bay of biscay. the number of people fleeing to europe is once again

on the rise. many come from syria and afghanistan. they're hoping to find a safe and secure future -- for example in the netherlands. some have ended up in the coastal town of felsen, where officials are making every effort to provide the migrants and refugees with decent accomodations on this ferry, the new arrivals have found a temporary home - but they still don't know what the future holds for them. normally the silja europa ferries tourists back and forth between tallinn and helsinki. but the netherlands has chartered the ferry for a completely different reason. here in velsen, near amsterdam, it houses up to a thousand migrants waiting for a decision on their asylum applications. hanneke niele has been appointed ship manager by the dutch government. she shows us a cabin where the refugees are accommodated. so as you can see, this is a normal cabin, usually 2 persons can stay here. it's small, but everything's here.

it's clean and they have their privacy. they also have a small wet cell, where they can shower. many people here have experienced rather different conditions in the large intake facilities. like zara, who fled her abusive husband in chad - where marital violence usually goes unpunished. it was hard when i arrived. first i was in the reception center in ter apel, with 4 or 5 people to a room. the second place was even worse. but since i've been on the ship, everything has gone well. most of the leisure facilities are shut down. the pool and sauna are closed, the water slide long unused. the spa area is being used as a clinic. no one needs to leave the ship to see a doctor.

dutch is taught in the movie theater. for most people on board, the greatest challenges are the uncertainty about their asylum applications and the boredom. i read books. and i'm studying dutch. eating, sleeping, training, studying. the cafeteria provides three meals a day. for safety reasons, the residents aren't permitted to cook for themselves. everyone is free to come and go as they wish. where to go is another story. the ship is moored in the middle of an industrial zone. a strange situation, for the ship's captain too. even at anchor, he stays on board. “every seaman wants to go to sea, but we can manage here.

also it's not so bad to stay, it's a nice place to stay. ” velsen is one of the few communities in the netherlands with space for a ship. the canal divides the town into two unequal parts. the silja europa lies in the northern part - home to only 5 thousand people. “the reaction was tremendous, but not positive. they were really very angry at me. they said: we only have one school here, we only have one doctor here, and if a thousand people come to our community of 5 thousand people, how is that going to work? ” attempting to defuse the conflict, the mayor promised the people in the north part of town that the ship would only stay for half a year. in the end, he says, there have been no major incidents. but eight months later, the silja europa still has not left north velsen.

the authorities haven't found an alternative yet. velsen's residents have mixed reactions. i think it's good to help people, but they have to help velsen's own population first. when they're looked after, then you can help others. “at first we were against so many people coming. but now everything's quieted down here in the village . ” “the problem is not so much the ship, but that it's been poorly communicated how long it will stay. ” on the 4 th of june, the silja europa is to leave for good - as of now. but where will the people go? on land, at any rate, there seems to be no place for a reception center in the community that would not lead to major conflicts.

there is a serious housing crisis here. some people have to live with their parents until they're 30, even 40 years old. migrants and refugees with good work prospects and families with school-age children are to be resettled on a smaller ship. where it will be moored is still uncertain. and many in velsen would consider even a smaller ship a broken promise. that wasn't what we agreed to. velsen would have to be well compensated. and the migrants who won't be permitted to stay are facing another relocation, into the unknown. what you see here in the dense fog are special devices that can steal water from the clouds. they provide fresh water, even if it hasn't rained for a long time.

this is especially useful in hot and dry regions such as spain, which is groaning under record-breaking heat. gran canaria - one of the canary islands in the atlantic - is no exception. so, environmental technician saúl oliva decided to adopt a process that takes advantage of the fog on the mountainsides. early morning clouds are gathering in the mountains of gran canaria. and strange structures will capture their water. saúl oliva is an environmental technician with the life nieblas project. he's showing a trainee the principle based on nature's model. i can extract moisture from the air. they suck it up like a sponge.

“ the unusual structures take advantage of a common phenomenon on the north side of spain's canary islands. clouds move in from the atlantic and stall on the mountainsides. saúl oliva and his colleagues have set up fog collectors - cloud catchers. they soak up valuable water in the same way that lichens do. “the wind pushes the fog into these fine-meshed nets. tiny water droplets condense and grow into bigger drops, which then fall into the collector and flow into the tanks. “ they've collected 90 thousand liters of water over two years.

water is scarce on gran canaria. the reservoirs are running dry. the arid conditions are making wildfires more frequent. in 2019, the island was hit by a devastating fire. ten thousand hectares of forest burned down. nine thousand people had to be evacuated. “it's a vicious circle. the lack of water means there's less healthy forest and everything dries up. this in turn means more fuel for the fires. “ so they reforest, planting tree species that should make the forest more resilient. and they also use water from the cloud catchers. “we want laurel forests to grow here that will work like natural fog catchers. the trees take the water from the clouds and pass it

into the ground. that could be the future of the islands. for now, though the presentis dominated by agriculture. economically, the canaries depend on banana crops, but each tree needs 20 liters of water a day. juan ramón sosa works a plantation in the north of gran canaria. he's worried about water, because rain is becoming ever more scarce “it rains here in cycles, every 7 to 8 years without much in between. reserves from a big rainfall only last for one or two years, so for the rest of the time we have to find another way. “ sea water is one option, but treating it is expensive. iván cabrera, a desalination technician, is visiting.

“we have to filter out the salt that's dissolved in the sea water. it's a complex chemical process that uses a lot of energy. could large scale fields of fog catchers in the mountains be a solution? saúl oliva trusts in the research. his project is working on new ways of capturing moisture from the clouds. they expect this metal grid to be much more efficient than the plastic mesh they've been using. “using a sustainable and natural resource like fog could be a good solution. we could water our tree seedlings with it and a farmer could use the water on the plantation.

“ for that to work, though, clouds will have to continue to gather here on the mountainsides. if weather patterns change, cloud catchers might also fall victim to climate change. now you may be familiar with the saying good things come in small packages. well, that certainly seems to be the case with this miniature version of a true classic, made in britain. it might be the small side, but its price tag certainly isn't! still, it's a dream come true for fans of classic cars - and it has an environmentally friendly side, too. an exquisite attention to detail with a license to thrill. the aston martin db -5 made famous by james bond. it looks like the genuine article - but the leg room comes up a bit tight. this model by the little car company, as the name implies, is

a downsized version. but it's not for kids. it can do 80 kilometers per hour - the legal limit. driving a priceless 1950 s race car in slightly smaller scale that you wouldn't otherwise get. and all our cars are signed off by the factories, so the companies will send their test drivers to sign off the vehicles, and make sure they're just perfect. 'honey, i shrank the cars' - by around 25 percent. bugattis, ferraris, aston martins - for years, ben hedley had been importing mini replicas from asia. but he wanted a more authentic feel - and environmentally friendly electric drive. today he has over 60 employees and an annual turnover 80 million euros. he finds many of his buyers at luxury trade fairs - like here in london. the cars are for the track - or just for show: a ferrari, for instance. ideal, i absolutely love it.

1958 testarossa and it's absolutely stunning. and i think i might have to buy it. it's 93 -thousand euros - a steal, compared to an original. the company exports to 50 countries - with germany as its main european market. the engineers even designed a very special container to transport the pint sized classics. now, these fly cases fold open, sides go down, there's a ramp inside. you can then drive your car on, it sits in little wheel cups. strap it in, put the ramp back in, close it up like a clam. and then you can move around the world. it's rumored that even king charles, a dedicated environmentalist, has his eye on one of these mean little electric machines. and it would be a royal delight to see the king at the wheel. that would be a sight to see! that's all for this week's focus on europe.

thanks for watching and take care.

06/01/23 06/01/23 [captioning made possible by democracy now!] amy: from new york, this is democracy now! >> the nightmare scenario, i can imagine with ai, robots have become so powerful they are able to control or eliminate humans without their knowledge. this could lead to society where the rights of individuals are no longer respected. amy: a group of leading artificial intelligence experts