michelle: hello, and welcome to "focus on europe," with some of the best stories from across the continent. i'm michelle henery. thanks for joining us. on today's show -- how spanish lifeguards are rescuing refugees in greece. belgium's struggle for power -- nuclear power. and, women's soccer clubs in italy score against the mafia. despite freezing temperatures and dangerous conditions, refugees continue to arrive in europe in the thousands. many start their journeys across icy waters in flimsy rafts in turkey. they may end up in overcrowded camps without basic amenities in lesbos, one of the greek islands bearing the brunt of the migrant

crisis. here, the official eu border protection agency, frontex, is struggling to co-ordinate rescue efforts between the two countries. troubled by stories of the refugees' plight, a group of lifeguards left spain to volunteer in greece. leaving behind their jobs on the glitzy atlantic beaches, they now face daily challenges they never imagined. >> xabi aramburu knows that more rubber dinghies will arrive today. the northern tip of lesbos is just six nautical miles from the turkish coast. hundreds of people have already drowned trying to reach the island. that's why aramburu and his coworkers are keeping watch. they're lifeguards with the spanish volunteer organization proactiva, so they know what to look for. xabi: today is a hard day. the wind is strong. it's cold. you can see the choppy in the sea. and also there are rocks on the

difficult sides. like cliffs. >> just two hours earlier, the proactiva team was called out to another emergency. a crowded rubber dinghy had run aground on a cliff. while aramburu was tending to several young people who had managed to clamber out of the boat, his fellow lifeguards went to the aid of an injured afghan man, who was trapped down below. the rescue was a success, much to everyone's relief. this boat had set out from turkey before daybreak. >> 4:00 peer. it and how many people weren the boat? >> 50.

>> xavi aramburu is already responding to the next call. another rubber dinghy has washed ashore. every second counts. the lifeguards know that most of the migrants who fail to make it drown in the final meters before landfall. the spanish lifeguards arrive in time, and are able to pull the migrants out of the boat. normally aramburu works as a lifeguard at the tranquil beaches that dot spain's atlantic coast. but here, at the entryway to the european union, their work is a race against death. the new arrivals are brought to a first aid center. there's no greek rescue service in sight. the greek government appears to have decided let volunteers deal with the situation. the volunteers ae appalled at what the criminal traffickers on the turkish side are doing, putting people onto boats knowing there's a good chance they're sending them to their death.

xabi: is this useful? no. this take water. if someone wants come into the water -- take water onto the person. go under, to drown. >> aramburu and his fellow lifeguards are devoting their annual holiday to helping out here on lesbos. they're on call 24 hours a day. back at home in san sebastian, they had all read the newspaper accounts about the refugee crisis and the many people who were drowning in the attempt to reach europe. but aramburu and his friends never imagined how desperate the situation would be here. xabi: i do this thing in spain from 20 years ago. and i can't explain. to see the dingy with the baby, childs -- >> about 1000 refugees arrive

every day. the residents of lesbos are struggling to cope. but they admire what the foreign rescue teams are doing here. >> it doesn't matter if it's nighttime, snowing, raining or cold. they set off right away. they skipped breakfast again this morning. when they hear that boats are arriving, they drop everything and head over to help. >> this time, all they find is a bag. it probably belongs to a refugee. xabi aramburu can only hope that its owner survived. the crew also patrols the coastline by boat. it often happens that boats packed with refugees get into trouble out on the open sea. sometimes all that's left are tattered scraps of rubber. then only the fortunate survive. xabi: it comes alone, and nobody sees. >> but i have the feeling

everything is under control here? xabi: the coastline is very large. >> aramburu will be here another week. during his stay, he's recovered a number of bodies of people who drowned. but he's also helped save hundreds of lives. xabi: the pain of the people that come here is hard to see. all i can do is that. helping people, all i can do for them. you see the smiles and -- >> other volunteers will come to take over after xabi aramburu leaves. because boats filled with refugees will continue to arrive on the shores of lesbos. michelle: lately, some of our stories have been about desperate people

trying to escape war-ravished countries and poverty to settle in europe. but there is another group of people who are also on the move . russia's super-rich are leaving the country in droves. but they are not fleeing war or hardships. russia's wealthiest citizens are leaving because of high taxes, slowing economic growth and a feeling that the regime is becoming more authoritarian. >> the road to rublyovka, the residential area where russia's rich and powerful live. every day, cars with tinted windows glide through moscow's exclusive suburb. flashing blue lights are not uncommon. russia's oligarchs, politicians and businessmen live behind high walls. journalists are not welcome. we managed to get by the guards with the help of alexei, a real estate agent. he's often here on business. once upon a time, the house prices here were going through the roof. but they've now plunged considerably. the rouble is weak, the russian economy is suffering. >> fewer people are investing in luxury real estate.

people are considering other parts of europe as an alternative to russia, to lead some kind of more civilized life. >> he says that many business people have told him they are worried about the authorities - , and the fact that they sometimes abuse their power to get a share of the cake. >> they don't believe that in this business in the case of growing up will be safe in the future. >> when the economy was booming, many oligarchs and businessmen built estates inspired by historical architecture. they replaced the traditional dacha. president vladimir putin also has a house in the area. so the price per square meter rises according to a house's proximity to the president's home. the first property alexei shows us is a villa with a spa and a tennis court.

it's a remote-controlled "smart home." alexei says that people would have paid anything for these houses a few years ago. to invest money that didn't go into offshore accounts. but now the rich are leaving russia and taking their money with them. alexei talks to his office to hear how the market is developing. this particular house has dropped considerably in value. and that will mean a drop in his commission. >> we started out at $12 million, then went down to $10 million. then the prices plunged. now, it could go for as little as $2.5 million. michelle>> a bargain, and yet 's

still no buyer. hardly anyone wants to invest in russia these days. not far away is moscow's luxury shopping district. traders from azerbaijan and georgia used to sell fruit and vegetables here. but now there are only expensive designer boutiques that sell imports. the facades are made from th very best wood in the world. but business is bad this year. only real tate agents have no shortage of work. irina gets new listings every day. she's never had so many in her 20-year-career as a real estate agent. prices have tumbled but many owners refuse to believe it. she tells us that she's just had a sobering conversation with a client who wanted to sell his house for $11 million. irina: i suggested seven. he was quiet. i thght there'd been a drop out in the phone connection.

he said to me, " irina, why 7? i invested 8.5. how can it be 7? " i told him it doesn't matter what you invested, those days are over. >> irina and her colleagues set up a crisis meeting. they have about 750 houses to sell and that number is growing. they brainstorm ways of attracting customers, of making the houses more appealing, perhaps with special offers. we have a meeting with bozhena rynska, probably russia's most famous gossip columnist. she was once apolitical and interested only in celebrity and glamor, but this all changed in 2012 when she became a mouthpiece for the opposition. in her blog, she accuses putin and his government of destroying russia. and of being merciless against political opponents such as boris nemtsov.

so now, she's selling everything , including her house. she wants to leave everything behind, start anew in spain. >> i've talked to a lot of people, everyone's having a tough time. in this economic situation, it's impossible to earn any money, you can't get commissions without connections. lots of people are also leaving because of the police and the justice system. as long as there's no independent legal system, it will be impossible to live here. >> bozhana says that she is also worried about state unpredictablity. she's been accused of insulting the state. so, she's decided to leave, albeit with a heavy heart. sociologist lev gudkov describes this trend as a silent protest against putin. a lot of people are leaving russia for the sake of their children. >> these people are successful,

recognized, they have property, but they don't see any prospects for themselves in this country, with this authoritarian and now we can even say stricter, more repressive, dictatorial regime. >> meanwhile, real estate agent alexei has another meeting in rublyovka. with somebody who wants to get rid of their house as fast as possible. michelle: once upon a time, nuclear power was considered the energy of the future. supposedly clean, efficient and reliable, it seemed like the ideal alternative to fossil fuels, which are finite and harmful to the environment. but ever since 2011 when japan suffered a major nuclear disaster, some countries have scrambled to find other ways to provide power to the people. germany, for instance, is phasing out its nuclear energy program and investing heavily in renewables.

but germany's neighbor belgium, despite a few mishaps in recent years, has restarted the ageing tihange nuclear reactor. >> postman nicolas damery has almost finished his rounds. he knows the people and often stops for a chat. tihange is a small, close-knit community. >> families here stick together. on the other side of the river, too, there are large families who all live in the sme neighborhood. >> tihange is located in southern belgium, on the river meuse. this part of wallonia boasts an idyllic landscape with gently rolling hills. and, in the heart of it lies the tihange nuclear reactor, surrounded by family homes. but that doesn't bother people here. lora d'orie has just bought and renovated this bar. locals gather here at lunch or after work. owning her own pub is d'orie's

dream. she moved here specially from namur, the wallonian capital. >> bonjour. >> most of her customers work just across the way -- at the power station. >> it's great for me. it's a huge advantage. i didn't have to try and drum up business. the customers were already here. and being right across from the reactor doesn't worry me. >> bruno petre is an electrician who's worked at the tihange reactor for over two decades. he says they do enough to ensure people's safety. >> we always have to wear a protective suit, helmet, goggles and gloves. and we always work in pairs. >> belgium is home to two nuclear power plants. they produce ample electricity for the relatively small country. belgium has relied on atomic energy for decades. its citizens trust the technology.

>> belgium is a country at the crossroads of three great cultures. the germanic, latin and anglo axon cultures. there have always been various influences and it's not a very old country. so there have always been compromises. this has made us pragmatic and rational. we have to make deals and collaborate with others. if we don't, it's over for us. >> the company that runs the nuclear facitilities is paying the belgian state hundreds of millions of euros to extend the life span of the plants. if belgium had opted to close one down, the state would be the one shelling out millions. >> there's a signed document, which they first tried to keep secret, which states that the belgian state has to pay this money within 30 days. depending on the price of electricity, it amounts to around 200 million euros.

>> belgium's agency for nuclear control first needs to certify the reactors' safety. but the green party says there's a dangerous entanglement between politicians and the nuclear lobby. >> you need to realize that the director of the agency worked for the french nuclear power company for decades. >> after a shutdown, millions of euros changed hands just so tihange could start operating again. neighbouring countries germany and the netherlands criticized the decision, saying that tihange's aging reactors are unsafe. they're now over 30 years old and cracks have appeared. but nicolas damery says folks here aren't concerned. >> i can only say that new families keep moving here. the ones here are new, and the ones over there, too. they're not worried about it. >> living in the shadow of a nuclear reactor isn't most people's dream. but in tihange they view things

pragmatically. housing prices are cheap here -- a big advantage for business-minded belgians. michelle: often, when we think of refugees, we imagine displaced groups of people arriving in a new land, seeking to start a new life. but many kurdish people living in turkey consider themselves refugees in their own home. last year, an old conflict re-erupted between turkish security forces and kurdish militants who are fighting for autonomy. although widely dispersed, about half of all kurds live in southeastern turkey. many residents are trapped without food or electricity with any hope of peace diminishing. >> today is a lucky day for munever erpek and her children. the city administration had some food donations to distribute. erpek and her children are living in an abandoned house that's ripe for demolition.

there's no heat or running water. the erpeks are kurds. about four weeks ago, they became refugees in their own city of diyarbakir. they're fleeing the civil war that's re-ignited between kurdish militants and the turkish state. the family's four children are traumatized. >> the rockets came from one side, and then the other. we lay on the floor for hours, afraid to go out. the children kept calling, "mama, let's go, they're going to kill us." but i didn't know where to go. then we ran, with nothing but the clothes on our backs. we left everything else behind. >> diyarbakir is a predominantly kurdish city of about a million in southeastern turkey. the battles here are the worst they've been in decades. more than 170 civilians are said to have been killed in the city and the surrounding region in the violence. the turkish military has also deployed tanks and heavy artillery.

turkish forces are trying to retake the center of the city. but the kurdish fighters, most of them young, have entrenched themselves in the maze of alleyways. every day sees casualties on both sides. this street is normally a lively ing up to leave. >> children used to play around here, but now there's a war on. that's not just bad for us shopkeepers. children can't go to school, and sick people can't get to the hospital. >> at the local human rights organization, family members of victims have gone on a hunger strike. they say the turkish military won't let them recover the bodies of their sons and daughters for burial. the people consider the victims "martyrs" who've fallen for a just cause.

>> my brother joined the militia five months ago. he'd experienced so much injustice at the hands of the state. he spent three months in jail, even though he was innocent. he couldn't take it anymore. >> the turkish government says they want to resume negotiations on the kurdish question. but nobody here believes those promises. foreign observers understand their scepticism. >> how are you going to win people onto the government's side to support a peace process if there's a perception that the state government side is just completely unreliable, anti-kurdish, makes no distinction between armed militants and the civilian population? >> the erpek family has taken shelter just a few hundreds meters from their home. but they can't return. they don't even know if the house is still standing. when the family approaches the area of fighting, police call them back.

the erpeks are just a few of the tens of thousands who continue to flee the embattled areas. some say they'd like to leave the region altogether. but for the poorest kurds, like munever erpek, leaving is unthinkable. >> there's no way we can leave. we can't leave diyarbakir. where should we go? >> it's a cold night, just above freezing. the erpek family has only one small electric heater. this winter promises to be long and difficult. it doesn't look like peace will be returning to diyarbakir any time soon. michelle: the idea of women in soccer is nothing new. last summer's women's world cup final, when the us beat japan,

was the most-watched soccer game ever in the us. but it seems that not everyone thinks the beautiful game has a place for the fairer sex. italy, a country which went into national mourning after the men's team crashed out of the world cup, lacks the same fervour for its women's teams. at least, that is, until one of its best female clubs, sporting locri from the southern tip of calabria, received mafia-style threats to shut it down. after an outpouring of support from the public, they continued to pay on. >> rarely has italian women's football received so much attention. this match was even broadcast on television. but not because there was so much interest in which team would win or lose. the fact that the players from locri sporting had turned up to play was news enough. that's because somebody had tried to prevent it. the team received mafia-style death threats saying it should disband. but the players decided to go ahead with the game anyway.

>> at first, i was a bit anxious because we didn't know what had happened but then i realized i shouldn't be afraid to do something i love, and that's playing football. >> i was never afraid. this sport is our passion. we will keep at it. we won't bow down to anyone or anything. >> the club's president, ferdinando armeni, was unable to set aside his fears. he resigned after receiving personal threats. his tires were slashed several times and he found letters on the windshield, demanding he disband the club or something would happen to his 3-year-old daughter. ferdinando armeni: everyone reacts differently to threats. the others can talk and be brave , but when you're personally affected, things are different. >> locri is in southern italy, in the region of calabria. this is the heartland of the

'ndrangheta crime syndicate, europe's biggest drug cartel. there are many mafia groups here, some of them also run football clubs. one of them doesn't seem to like locri sporting, which has campaigned for women's rights. for now, the mayor is running the club, but no one knows what the future will bring. in the end, it's the team from rome who win the match. the real losers weren't sporting locri, however, but the mafia - . at least for a day. michelle: can italy ever beat the mafia or should it just live with it? let us know what you think about that or any of today's stories by getting in touch on facebook, email or twitter. well, that's it for today. thank you for watching. it's goodbye from me and the whole team. see you next time. [captioning performed by the national captioning institute, which is responsible for its caption content and accuracy. visit ncicap.org] "in the arena

hello there. welcome to "newsline." it is tuesday, february 9th. i'm catherine kobayashi in tokyo. markets are tumbling as investors dump stocks due to the u.s. dollar. let's go to ai uchida from the business desk. >> when the yen initially, it declined then the nikkei gained. the investors are feeling anxious over a weakening global economy, the oil oversupply, the inability of central banks to stimulate their economies. those fears are pushing investors toward the safety of things like the yen. and tokyo stock prices in turn