Focus on Europe | Video Podcast | Deutsche Welle

A teacher from Uzbekistan had been cleaning for years in Moscow when she stumbled onto the club scene. Although there’s increasing xenophobia in Russia, she’s respected despite her ethnicity, age, and career as a cleaner.

There have been more than 100 bombings in Sweden this year - more than twice as many as in 2018. Experts blame the violence on feuding criminal gangs. And the police seem powerless to act.

In a camp at the border between Bosnia and EU member Croatia, refugees are currently living in catastrophic conditions. Local authorities refuse to deal with the situation and demand that new camps be set up in other parts of the country.

Just outside Berlin, the remains of thousands of soldiers who fell in the Second World War are buried. The "Association for the Recovery of the Fallen in Eastern Europe" searches for the dead and has made a surprising discovery--74 years after the end of the war.

German authorities have cut down on asylum permits for refugees who've been housed at churches and monasteries. In 2016, 80 percent got permits; 2019 it was just 1.4 percent. We'll talk to some refugees who are staying at a monastery in Bavaria.

Flooding in Venice has heavily damaged St. Mark's Basilica and several palaces. Local residents are upset that a hugely-expensive flood-control system that was begun 17 years ago is still not complete.

For nearly 30 years, a former baker has studied the night sky over his home town of Diyarbakır. He managed to prove that Galileo's calculations on the moon's orbit were wrong.

Attacks on butcher shops, restaurants, and cheese shops are increasing - especially in France where food is a culture in and of itself. Radical vegans are behind the acts of vandalism.

A program called 'Teachers for Russia' is designed to attract young academics to rural areas, otherwise many schools will have to close. This would leave school kids without teachers or prospects.

Many in France are worried about the political climate in their country. Following the death of Jean-Mathieu Michel, mayors are resigning due to the aggression and violence they're experiencing.