very best personal stories behind the headlines. i'm damien mcguinness. thanks very much for joining us. on the program today -- in iceland -- a chilly reception for tourists. in the czech republic -- reality tv nazi-style.

and in rumania -- why clamping down on corruption means locking up politicians. with summer approaching, many europeans are looking forward to hitting the beaches. but for those who are a bit bored by your average package holiday in southern europe iceland in the far north is offering a journey deep into the heart of something which is definitely not sun, sea, and sand. in fact it's arguably the world's coldest tourist attraction, and if you've ever wondered why the country's called iceland, well, what our reporters have discovered there should give you the answer. reporter: after a long day's work, tómas árnason comes home and lets his horses run free. they don't mind the cold. tómas is a born and bred farmer, but he can't always earn enough from his horses to get by. tómas árnason: my farm is too small for us to make a living. sometimes, it's just not enough.

kristjana johanna lilliendahl: i had to take a job away from the farm. i've been working in the retirement home for 16 years. reporter: tómas's other job is a two-hour's drive away -- up a glacier, at 1300 meters altitude. just getting there is something of an adventure. a converted military vehicle crawls across a layer of snow atop an ice cap up to 750 meters thick. langjökull is iceland's second largest glacier. at first, the idea of burrowing a tunnel through it seemed a bit far-fetched. kjartan thor thorbjörnsson: when the collapse was in iceland, there was not that much to do, and it pretty much started as an idea -- a small idea -- and here we are today. ♪ reporter: now, at a length of

500 meters, europe's largest glacier tunnel is complete. tómas has been working on it all winter. the work was only interrupted when snow storms kept the crews from reaching the entrance. tómas: it was very hard work. sometimes, we only made a few meters a day. it took several months to dig the whole thing. reporter: like many icelandic farmers, tómas loves to sing while he works. the acoustics here are ideal. he says his coworkers have even asked him to switch his walkie-talkie on, so they could listen in. he gives a little sample in the ice chapel made for couples looking for a special place to take their wedding vows. ♪

now, deep inside the glacier tourists can inspect what not even scientists have ever seen before. at this point, the ice strata rise some 30 meters above their heads. thorsteinn thorsteinsson: it looks like volcanic ash is in there -- probably from the eyjafjallajökull eruption in 2010, the one that caused so many problems for flights to and from europe. reporter: up above, the ice cap stretches almost all the way to the horizon. iceland is home to europe's largest glaciers. if a shiver runs down the visitors' spines, it may not just be because of the constant 0-degree-celsius temperature. kayleigh barnes: it's absolutely beautiful. a little cold, but it's amazing that we're able to walk through

caves of ice. [laughs] jón óskarsson: it's just incredible. quite a bit larger than i expected. and the lighting is great. the tourists will love it. eileen: it's very exciting and interesting. i'm glad i got the chance to come to the opening. reporter: iceland's tourist boom continues unabated. ever greater numbers are coming every year to see the island's unique natural wonders, a badly needed boost after the financial crisis of 2008. there aren't enough rooms to accommodate them all. a construction boom is underway, with new hotels popping up all over the capital reykjavik. some icelanders are calling it a gold rush. sigurdur hallgrimsson: we have to be careful not to push it too fast. we don't want it to turn into a

bubble. but the investors are pouring in lots of money and expecting high returns for it. that's part of the story. reporter: back in the glacier, tómas takes his breaks in a little cafeteria the workers dug out of the ice. he's hoping that he'll find a way to stake his own claim in iceland's new tourist gold rush. damien: a chilly place to work. but now to poland where politicians have ratified a european convention to fight violence against women. sounds sensible, you might think, but in fact the new regulations have sparked controversy in poland -- one of the convention's aims is tackle violence by promoting equality between men and women through education. but some of poland's right-wing political and religious leaders say this undermines the family and breaks down traditional gender roles. either way the controversy around the law has at least shone a spotlight on a tragic, and previously rarely discussed, issue -- every year hundreds of polish women die as a result of violence in the home.

but we've been to meet some of the women who have survived. reporter: both mother and son are safe. slowly jola is starting to feel at home in this women's shelter in warsaw. she's trying to put a nightmare behind her. jola: he beat me and humiliated me. he broke my nose twice. my face was all scratched up. most of it doesn't show anymore. i never spoke to anyone about it. i was too ashamed. and besides, no one would have believed it. we were a respectable family. reporter: she asks herself why she suffered six years of abuse before calling the police. most women here share her feelings -- shame that their partner harmed them. and shame that they didn't get help. one reason is that domestic

violence is a taboo subject. andrzej dominiczak: one problem is that no one is interested -- neither the courts nor the prosecutors nor the politicians. no one is interested except for a few feminist organizations. reporter: the women can stay in the shelter for a maximum of six months. but where can they go then? at least there are a growing number of such facilities in warsaw. the situation in small towns and the countryside is harder. women who have been abused by family members come up against tradition, religion, outmoded gender roles. like asia. her daughter discovered the women's shelter on the internet. before that asia had repeatedly returned to her violent husband. she had nowhere else to go. now she has hope of a better life.

this heart -- made by her grandchildren -- and the virgin mary give her courage. asia: i was like a slave for him. clean this. sweep that. he'd insult me, and if i didn't respond, he'd yell, "can't you say anything?" and if i objected, he'd beat me. when i came here i was black and blue all over. reporter: did you come here directly from the village? asia: yes, and that made it harder to run away. there isn't public transport like in the city. and he was shouting again, "where are you going to run to?" reporter: did any of your neighbors react, or the priest? asia: no, no. most of the people in our village are his relatives. they believed what he told them. i don't have any family. if i had to ask for help -- i wouldn't know where. i didn't have contact to anyone.

reporter: joanna tanska runs the only women's shelter in the mazovia region. she has encountered many women like asia, who only flee after decades of maltreatment. joanna tanska: the women don't believe anyone will help them because rule number one in poland is you wash your dirty laundry at home. i see that again and again. when a woman tells her mother, her mother-in-law, or her sister that she is being abused, the answer is often "well, you knew what you were getting into.'" reporter: that was zuzna's experience. she was married for 10 years to a violent alcoholic who beat and raped her. zuzanna: people don't interfere in this kind of thing. it has a certain acceptance in society. reporter: how do you notice

that? zuzanna: people even say "you're in good hands in your family." so other people have no idea what you're going through. no wants to see the facts, like bruises or a black eye. reporter: and the church seems to be of little help. it is mainly concerned with maintaining traditional family roles, and it is influential in rural areas. abused women rarely seek help from their priests. joanna: since i've been working here -- that is, since 2007, i've only experienced twice that a priest informed us when a woman was being beaten in her family. reporter: the police often come up against their limits, too. the officers consider domestic violence an awkward issue. and they're dependent on cooperation that is not always forthcoming. anna gorczewska: it rarely happens that we get information

from doctors, hospitals, or the school. but actually these are the institutions that should be working with us. reporter: but the police say things are changing in rural areas. more cases of domestic violence are being reported -- not because it's on the rise, but because people are braver about filing complaints. like asia or zuzanna. they have to live with the damage, but they have freed themselves from their abusive situations. damien: ever since a dutch company created the reality tv show "big brother" back in the 1990's, programs putting real people in very unreal situations have become an inescapable part of european television. and increasingly outlandish formats are constantly being developed, with the latest in the czech republic where a new show recreates life under nazi occupation. but czechs still have painful

memories of the nazi era. under hitler, hundreds of thousands of czechs and slovaks were killed, and the country's jewish population was virtually wiped out. so the idea of making tv entertainment out of such tragic history is not going down well with everyone. reporter: this remote village in the eastern czech republic is the location of the new reality-tv series on czech public tv. it's called "holiday in the protectorate." the show sends three generations of a family back to the time of the nazi occupation. accompanied constantly by cameras, they are supposed to be recreating the circumstances in the protectorate of bohemia and moravia after germany invaded czechoslovakia in 1939. the show is based on german tv's

"schwarzwaldhaus" or earlier british and u.s. historical reality series. the family was told only that it would be living "sometime" in the past. 400 families applied for the role. they may have been attracted by the prospect of receiving around 35,000 euros for the 60 days of filming. the seven members of the family that won the casting tests are not professional actors. but all the other figures are, like the gestapo informers who make the family's life a misery and the other characters. director zora cejnkova came up with the idea for the program. she says it's not just entertainment but a kind of history lesson for all those who didn't experience the period 76 years ago.

zora cejnkova: we are trying to find answers to the question of how people dealt with the situation back then. how did they react? reporter: the area where the series plays was the location of fighting during the war. czech partisans attacked german troops, who in turn took revenge on the local people. the gestapo was based in the next village. zora: i think this project has its value in the way it seems authentic, and that it was made with great historical care. the viewers learn a great deal about life in the protectorate. we used archive material, and we've tried to put what takes place in the house into historical context. reporter: critical reactions to the show have been mixed.

it's also divided the plachys. while jiri plachy of the military history institute defends the show with arguments like those of the director, his wife pavla, a historian, takes a different view. pavla placha: of course they can't simulate the real situation. i think it is nonsense to do that. it is a game, and it remains a game. the experiences of the people who lived back then can't be conveyed today. you can't compare reactions today with the reactions back then, because the people are living in an entirely different context. reporter: a more damning criticism comes from jana vrzalova, spokeswoman for a czech organization of freedom fighters who resisted the nazis.

jana vrzalova: the years of the protectorate from 1939 to 1945 were a very difficult time for czechs and slovaks. from our point of view it is completely impermissible to turn it into a reality tv series. it's an insult to the people who fought for our freedom back then. reporter: nonetheless the czech public broadcaster, which is airing the eight episodes in a prime time slot, see the show as a big draw. the nazis -- and czech resistance to them -- are an attraction, more than seven decades after the events. damien: nazi occupation as reality tv -- tasteless and exploitative? or simply a lively way of teaching history? let me know what you think about that or any of the stories on today's show by getting in touch with me on email, twitter, or facebook. but now to romania, often seen as one of the most corrupt

countries in the european union. for decades to get anything done, some sort of backhander has generally been needed. but the government is now cracking down on that corruption, partly thanks to the country's new president, who was voted in after promising to tackle graft. a wave of high-profile arrests has now hit the political elite, something which the eu has welcomed. the problem is though that corruption has been such a big part of the system for such a long time that stamping it out is no easy task. reporter: for weeks, journalists have been staked out in front of the offices of the national anticorruption directorate in bucharest in the hopes that something will happen. and it usually does. in romania, barely a day goes by without some public figure being interrogated or arrested on suspicion of corruption. attila biro: it's important for us as news people. but for the citizens it's important because they see that you have to respect the rules and obey the rule of law.

and there is somebody who protects you from people who want to steal the public funds. reporter: that's high praise from an investigative journalist who for years was appalled by the state of his country and the endemic corruption there. back in the newsroom, he shows us why he's now more hopeful. attila: politicians can no longer get away with it. they're shaking in their boots, as we're constantly broadcasting images like this. reporter: here elena udrea -- romania's former tourism minister and a close confidante of former president traian basescu -- is led away in handcuffs. prosecutors say that udrea pocketed 10% of the value of contracts awarded by her ministry. she's once thought to have been handed 900,000 euros -- in cash. former finance minister darius valcov is accused of accepting 2 million euros in bribes.

many of the current investigations center on those close to current prime minister victor ponta. and on the former mayor of constanta, radu mazare, whose escapades had the whole country talking. everyone knew he was corrupt but he thought he was above the law. however, his last appearance in front of the anticorruption directorate was less flamboyant. its head, general prosecutor laura codruta kövesi, is constantly in the media spotlight. here she's providing the latest account of the staggering figures. the courts are currently handing around 1100 corruption cases -- 9 of them involving mp's. 12 are against current or former government ministers. and there is a case against a former prime minister who has already been convicted. close to half of the heads of romania's administrative districts are being investigated, as are 1/3 of the mayors of major towns.

laura codruta kövesi: there have been two effects from our work. one is preventative. fewer government employees and politicians are demanding or taking bribes. the other is the change in mentality of the general population. people are no longer willing to accept corruption as a given. many are coming to us and reporting it. reporter: nicolae ceausescu's former palace now houses romania's parliament and senate. former prime minister calin popescu-tariceanu is now the president of the senate. he is furious about the arrests, but is careful not to show it. he knows that the eu has praised the work of the anticorruption directorate. and that bulgaria and moldova plan to follow romania's lead. it is only politicians like him who want to halt the investigations. calin popescu tariceanu: these are excesses and violations on the part of the justice system. i'm very pleased that the

european commission has praised romania for tackling corruption. but the investigators are abusing their authority. reporter: they hope to stop this alleged abuse with a new law. it still must be passed by parliament, where its supporters include mp's who are currently under investigation. but now investigators have found an ally in romanian president klaus iohannis. in an exclusive interview with german public broadcaster ard, he spelled out how he'll react should he be asked to sign off on the proposed changes to the criminal code. president iohannis: the president can send any bill or draft law back to parliament and the parliament will have to deliberate on it again. and if that doesn't work, then the president can appeal to the constitutional court. reporter: are you considering doing that?

president iohannis: yes, i seriously am. reporter: president klaus iohannis knows that he has the vast majority of the population behind him. while some politicians think prosecutors are abusing their power, images like these give most romanians hope that the days of rampant political corruption might be over. damien: in britain breeding race horses is seen as one of those expensive hobbies reserved for rich nobility. the horses themselves are pedigree, worth hundreds of thousands of dollars, and training and racing them can cost almost as much as that again. but one woman has decided not to let all that stop her from following her dream of breeding her own champion racehorse -- despite the fact that she's from the welsh mining valleys, one of the poorest regions of britain. through pure determination she has broken class barriers and turned an unknown horse born in a recession-hit mining village into a film star. reporter: every morning when janet vokes leaves the

supermarket where she works as a cleaner, she passes a film poster. it's actually the poster for her film. the dark horse of the title is dream alliance, the racehorse that janet bred. janet vokes: it's really -- you just can't imagine. you look at that and expect, you know, somebody with plenty of money, you know, an actor or something. and here i am, cleaning at the asda. but it is nice. reporter: the true star of the documentary film is dream alliance. the foal of an undistinguished racehorse, he grew up on a small paddock near the working-class town of blackwood. but in 2009 he won the welsh national, a true outside chance. brian vokes: when she came home she said, "i want you to buy me a thoroughbred mare." i said, "what for?" she said, "i'm going to breed a racehorse." i said, "don't talk bloody stupid." janet: when people say, "you can't do it," my answer is "why?" you know, there's always a way. always a way.

reporter: that optimism is not always so easy to maintain in wales. the former coal mining area is one of europe's poorest regions. unemployment is high. and many have lost hope. to finance dream alliance's training, janet recruited a syndicate of 30 locals -- workers, unemployed, or pensioners -- who saved up 14 euros a week to become the owners of a racehorse. janet: it's lovely to get people like that to the racecourse and enjoy what the rich and famous enjoy. what he's done for us is priceless. he's take us to places. we've sat in the royal box in sandow. we were at all the top racecourses. reporter: and they hope to do it again. this time janet has bred two really good racehorses. and once again the foal will belong to the community.

damien: great. so the next welsh champion is getting ready to enter the race. well, that's it for today. thanks for watching. remember to get in touch anytime with your thoughts. always great to hear from you. but in the meantime, it's goodbye from me and the whole team. and 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 middle of tokyo, it takes up an area equivalent to 32 foot all fields. nearly 1000 food materials are traded here daily. fresh fish and shells from the seas surrounding japan, all sorts of fruit and vegetable from all over japan. today's focus is the highest value fish in fiji, tuna.