Focus on Europe | Video Podcast | Deutsche Welle

Sweden is taking a tougher stance against the rampant violence of organized crime. In 2022, gang violence claimed over 60 lives, the highest toll ever. Both perpetrators and victims are getting younger and younger.

More and more people in France are calling for a ban on cooking frog legs. Thousands of tons are imported each year because catching wild frogs is largely prohibited in the country. A French frog farmer is stepping in.

'Drag Syndrome' is Britain's first collective for drag artists with Down syndrome. On tour for five years, the group has performed on stages worldwide, including the famous Glastonbury Festival and for the fashion magazine, Vogue.

There is no road to Codera, only 2600 steps of a staircase. A helicopter can also take you to the village with nine inhabitants.

Tourists visiting Rovaniemi, Finland, meet an environmentally friendly Santa Claus.

Bosnia generates two-thirds of its electricity from coal. Increasingly, residents around the largest power plant are being diagnosed with cancer, respiratory problems and diabetes. They see a connection.

Some 32,000 West African migrants have arrived on the Canary Islands this year, setting a new record. Their goal is mainland Europe, but the chances of getting asylum are slim. Spanish authorities are overwhelmed.

The high cost of energy in Kosovo means that more households are heating with firewood. As a result, illegal logging is on the rise. That's devastating to the forest ecosystem — and puts rangers at risk.

The Smederevo steelworks was once considered the "pride of Serbia." But since being acquired by China, one study is reporting a four-fold increase in cancer diagnoses around Serbia.

In Helsinki, Finland, a massive network of underground bunkers has been carved into the bedrock to shelter the population in an emergency. Some of the spaces are open to public use, with a pool, play areas, sports facilities and more.

The opposition coalition in Serbia says President Aleksandar Vucic has fueled a climate of hatred and violence in the country and eroded democracy. They're hoping the December parliamentary elections will bring change.

In northern Sweden, winter is dark, cold and lonely. That's why the city of Luleå, located 110 kilometers south of the Arctic Circle, has launched the "Hej campaign" – an initiative meant to cheer up residents by combatting loneliness.

More than 100,000 people fled from Nagorno-Karabakh to Armenia after the enclave was attacked by Azerbaijan. They are now are trying to reorient themselves far from home.

Traditional belly dancers are finding it increasingly difficult to make a living in Turkey. Every year, the country grows more conservative and the rate of inflation is officially higher than 60 percent.

Welcome to Britain's first housing community for older women, where the youngest resident is just over 50 and the oldest is 94. Men are allowed to come — but just to visit.

Since the Hamas attack, a Jewish refugee center in Hungary has been taking in families from southern Israel. It was initially set up in 2022 to house more than 600 Jews who fled Ukraine after the Russian invasion.

A Dutch farmer has rescued pedigree pigs from the former East Germany from the brink of extinction. As the Leicoma pigs are not suited to modern factory farms, the farmer is likely the only person breeding these animals today.

Belgium is running out of housing for migrants and is prioritizing women and families with children. This means young male refugees are left to their own devices, with many becoming homeless.

More than 1300 years ago, Moorish rulers had irrigation canals built in southern Spain. Some of this infrastructure is still in use today and has proven ideal for small farmers.

The Taliban's music ban forced an entire Afghan youth orchestra into exile. The students at Afghanistan's National Institute for Music – more than 250 in total – have been granted asylum in Portugal.

Fishers are still using illegal explosives off Montenegro's coast to catch fish, destroying marine life and habitats.

Turkey's President Erdogan is making things hard for winemakers and brewers by imposing alcohol taxes that have risen by 1,550 percent since 2011. For Seniz Saç winemaking is a millennia-old cultural tradition.

In Albania, if a woman takes an oath of virginity, she can gain the legal rights and responsibilities of a man. According to an archaic law known as the Kanun, the women who take this vow are referred to as Burrnesha.

Hamas' terror in Israel is affecting Israelis and Jews abroad. They fear violence by Hamas and its sympathizers in Europe.

Marine life is dying in the Vejle Fjord: eutrophication and climate change are causing algae growth in the Baltic Sea. As a result, fish lack oxygen.

In a school in Limassol, 80 percent of the students are from Russia, Belarus, and Ukraine. They feel at home here - and with each other - as they play together in the yard far away from the war.

Albania is building a huge airport in the delta of one of Europe's last wild rivers. It highlights the tensions between the country's desire for increased tourism and the need for nature conservation.

The war in Ukraine is heightening tensions between Russians and Norwegians living on Svalbard. A 1920 treaty has so far allowed the populations to live together peacefully.

Radical users on YouTube are undermining democratic norms in France. Mayors are becoming targets of both left-wing and right-wing extremists who disagree with municipal decisions.

Fertility treatments like in vitro fertilization are a contentious issue in the Polish election campaign. The liberal opposition supports IVF. The right-wing PiS party rejects it, calling it "human breeding."

For centuries, adventurers have searched for Nessie—without success. But Dave Holton is confident he'll find the Loch Ness monster someday. And he has high-tech equipment to help with his quest, but a canoe may be just as useful.

The refugee camp on the Greek island of Lesbos is all but full, still more than 1300 people have been arriving every month since July 2023.

France is imposing tight border controls on neighboring Italy to make them turn away refugees. For a long time, the EU has been working towards opening its internal borders, but the refugee crisis has made that goal more difficult to achieve.

The consumption of hard drugs has been legal in Portugal for decades, but now resistance is building. With addicts using in public spaces, even outside schools, many demand more protection for society and less care for addicts.

The Dragon's Heart café in Bosnia employs people with Down syndrome. After a rough start, a successful social media campaign brought in many more guests and saved the café.

Romania received EU funds to close a substandard landfill and implement better waste standards. Since then, little has changed — and no one feels responsible.

Death and dying is something most of us find hard to talk about. That's also true for Regina Ciriack, who is terminally ill. She's receiving care from a death doula — a trained end of life companion.

Floods have devastated two-thirds of Slovenia. Many villages are cut off from the outside world. The Balkan country is struggling with the worst natural disaster in its history.

San Giovani a Teducco in Naples was a neglected and impoverished neighborhood. Now, with the help of EU funding, a digital campus has been built there.

The world's first nuclear waste repository is being built off Finland's west coast on the island of Olkiluoto. Highly radioactive waste will soon be buried deep underground there.

They clean and do laundry, watch children, and take care of the elderly twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week. In Spain, tens of thousands of undocumented domestic workers are living in appalling conditions.

New soldiers near the frontlines are not safe from Russian attacks, so Ukraine is training them. Members of a Deutsche Welle camera team were also injured there.