oggccccc'''''' liz: hello, and a very warm welcome to “focus on europe” witme, liz shoo. oggccccc'''''' we start today's program in hturkey, where a lot of people are currently facing a difficult time. because of surging prices, the new year begins with long queues for bread, which is at least still affordable. fruit, meat, and fish have become luxury goods for many turks. vendors are stuck with their perishable products. their customers are forced to budget their liras tightly. the curren is rapiy losing s value. it's a cause of anger for many in turkey.

and most of that anger is directed at him -- turkish president recep tayyip erdogan. many blame him for the drastic plunge of the lira. they are worried that erdogan's economic policies will be the financial ruin of many turks. thinflation is particularly hard on the country's poorest. people like emrah hazer. he's a waste material collector. even before the current crisis, it was difficult for him to make ends meet. and now, he barely earns enough to feed his young family. reporter: an old cardboard box means hard cash for emrah hazer. the 25-year-old earns money by collecting wastepaper from rbage cansn istanbula metrolis with populationf over 15 million. he also collects plastic. it's hard make a living because in times of economic crisis the prices of recyclable materials are plummeting. emrah: a kilof cardboargets y get thequivalent of three

euro cents. a kilo of plastic, only 10 centinstead of 1cents. porter: every day, emrah spends 10 hours wandering the streets of istanbul in search of paper and plastic. 's jt one of tusands o collecrs of recyclable materials struggling to survive turkey.mrah: the ice of bre has gone again. even the price for the cheapest bread has doubled. hocan i affo enough food? b. repoer: a dereli building the outskirts of the city serves as a collection point where emr delivers his findings at the end of the day. he collected 58 kis today d earn the equivent of les an five ros. aftesorting, the garbage is later transported to recycling plants. emrah: without us, the streets would be full of litter. we prevent t garbage cs fromverflowingreporter:

wthat was true up until now.d but inhe midst othe. econic crisis all times turkisauthorits plan to let private companies collect recyclabs. it's a lucrative market. as a result, the mostly illegal llectionoints wi disappr. a few months ago, an eviction order led to violent claes between ste collecrs and e police. there were dozens of arrests. omeanwhile, the recyclables workers have joined forces to fight back against the allegations. ali: ey sal refugees, we pose a security problem in residential neighborhoods, and we disturb the peace of local residents. in a press statement, the governor of istanbul called on citizens to work together to ensure that the carts of waste

collectors disappear from the streets. reporter: emrah has to share his livin space istanbul th three other coectors. collectorof turkey.r from the theyhe only sees his wife and one-year-old child every three months. emrah: sometimes i sit here and i wish i could be home with them. but i can't. my mother just cled the other day and said ty don't ha money r diapers. and so i know i have to keep going here. reporter: the next morning, emrah sends clothes and toys home to his faly with a relative. he found the toys in the trash. buit's not oy the couny's estited 0,000 gaage colltors who a currently feing for thr livelihoods. the value of the turkish lira has almost halved in the past year, d inflatiois offially at 36 economicxperts sayt's acally muchigher.

nesrin in surve, more than half of the population say they can barely afford their daily groceries. almost three-quarters of turks are in debt. and almost everyone complains about a drop in income. these figures show how desperate the situation is. reporter: at the collection point, operations continue. but for how much longer? emrah and his colleagues hope the vernment wl hold offn channg the recycng system for a ile longer. cetin: collecting and sorting recyclables is a very complex matter and difficult to organize. after all, there is no waste separation in turkish households. rerter: so for now, emrah is still needed on the streets of istanbul. but every day, the economic situation worsens. and for emrah, that means he must collect even more garbage

to makends mee liz: ssia is thlargest cotry in the world. so it's no wondethat some to makends mee liz: areas are remote th basic serves like mail delivery are not possible on a regular basis. luckily, there are people like andrian khromov. he brings letters, parcels, and even pension money to the people living in the russian taiga. his route can take some 18 hours. a challenging journey through snow, ice, and the bitter cold. once a month he travels to villages like tyrka. and despite the difficult journey, he loves his job. mainly because people are always happy to see him. our reporter accompanied the mailman on one of his extraordinary trips. reporter: kachug, siberia, might seem like the very last outpost of civilization. but it does have a few modern amenities like electricity and mobile phone reception. andrian khromov is about to set

off on a perilous journey to the remote villages in the taiga. his biggest worry is the weather. andrian: i'm expecting problems on this trip. wead a wholeeek of -22 taiga. degrs celsius.rand someo weather. andrian: cross the rivers out there, but now, they can'come back, because the rivers are ice-free again. the ice melted, because the weather turned warmer again. reporter: he has one last breakfast with s wife, mara, and then he will setff, all ale. tamara: of course, i worry a lot. he hi can't sleep at night.ith the road conditions out there are unpredictable. sometimes you get through u don't. and i sit here and wonder, did he make it or not? reporter: andrian has a lot on his mind toy.

will h caran old sovt-era my jeep, hold up? will his dog be attacked by a pack of wolves again, like lt time? he's got one stop to make before setting out. andrian: this is a sacred place. there are sacred places like this all over. you make a little offering for good luck on the journey and so the car doesn't break down. it's a local tradition. reporter: and off he goes, on tracks that just kp getting rse. weollow anian in our bukhka, a russn all-teain and off he vecle.on tracks that at night, our path is blocked by fallen trees.

we have to cut our way through the forest. we final reach theiny at night, obstacle.is blocked vithe river we have to cross isn't frozen over. the next morning, andrian ferries the gas canisters he brought for the villagers across by rowboat, leaving his jeepehind.

the people here live from hunting and fishing. normally at this time of the year the river wouldave frozenver long a. anian livers the mail, peion paymen, and many otr things tthe 17 residents of the neighboring villagchinonga. andrn is nadyaarnakova's ly remaininadya:to t andrian brings me my medicing and everything i ask for. he never says no. he jt brings meverything yes, thas our mailn. reporter: nadya has to get by on the

equivalent of about 50 euros a month. elsewhere, the vareniki she's makingould be fied with ground bf. buthat's a total luxury for elsewhere, nadya.reniki she's her neighbor, nina skornyakova, al lives iabject povty, bushe says that isn't the real problem. the worst thing is the absence of a doctor or any other health care in the village. nina: if someone gs riously ill, we call a doctor who comes by helicopter. or they'll say, bring the patienhere. but how can we transport a sick person? recently, someone here suffered a roke. w are we supposed after a few days, he improved,

lbut en this fral existenfver is threaned by rutess: exploitation of natural resources, as hunter fedor fonov explns. fer: thiss the lastlace in th region where people live with nature. t they're killing the animals and catching too many fish. our river is the last one with fish in it. everything's getting scarce. the forests are being cut down for timber. that leads to the rivers getting shallor and the sh ardisappeari. reporter: we return to tyrka, passing by stark reminders of the climate crisis in siberia along the way. summer, fest fireravage vast are. the charred remains of trees stretch for kilometers. deite all the difficulties, andrian feels home in tyrka.

this is where he wants to live after he retires. he says it's one reason he does this job. it's not so much about t few roubles earns. andrian: it's the feeling obeing eded. it nice to knothat someone needs you, to see the shining eyes when you bring the pension. that makes me forget all the difficulties, when i remember that i've done a good deed for someone. reporter: in a few weeks' time, andrian the siberian mailman will set off again on his rounds through the russian taiga. liz: it's january. and for many people across the globe, it's the month they decide to go without animal products in their diet. veganuary. now, for lovers of french cuisine, that means saying no to foie gras, the delicacy made out of duck or goose liver.

french chef alexis gauthier believes that people can enjoy the taste of foie gras without animal cruelty. in his fine dining restaurant in london he has come up with a vegan alternative. reporter: it looks like the french delicacy foie gras, a pâté made of duck or goose liver. but no animals had to sacrifice their lives for this pâté, as it is a fake -- a faux gras. alexis: it doesn't taste of torture. which is one of the core ingredients of the real foie gras, and not in this one. reporter: these geese supply the liver for real foie gras, the epitome of luxury. but in order to fatten their livers, the geese are force-fed. for the so-called faux gras, on the other hand, no geese must suffer. it's made of mushrooms, lentils, and seasoning. alexis: the flavors we are trying to create in this dish is what the animal would actually eat in

the field itself. so, there would be a lot of grains, there would be a lot of herbs as well. and so it's very vegetal. reporter: to make the vegan pâté resemble real foie gras, beetroot is mixed in at the end. alexis: the beetroot puree is really like the blood in the preparations. so, you have to be careful not to put too much, otherwise it is a little girl pate, it's pink. but if you put the right amount, it becomes just like blood. reporter: for a french top chef, making do without real foie gras is almost revolutionary. foie gras used to be a big hit in gauthier's restaurant. he sold up to 25 kilos a week. that made him a target for animal rights activists. and so, he decided to look into their arguments. alexis: for me they were just ingredients, that allowed me to

express my skill, and my creativity. and so from then i decided that i need to still be a french chef, still do gastronomic food, but i need to remove all the ingredients, so we started fresh. reporter: his michelin star has since been revoked. nowadays, he cooks and eats exclusively vegan. restaurant critic joe warwick doesn't have a problem with eating less meat either. but he is very skeptical about vegan pâté. joe: it definitely doesn't resemble foie gras. i mean, i suppose maybe in terms of the texture a little bit. but not the flavor on it, not the finish on it. it hasn't got that fattiness, it hasn't got that richness. yeah, it's quite a weird thing. reporter: alexis gauthier is undeterred by such comments.

he has become an activist. his voice is being heard at the highest political level, as britain discusses banning the import of real foie gras from france. some gourmets find this hypocritical. joe: this is an easy thing to do. get rid of an elite french, foreign, luxury product, and say that you are making a point about animal welfare. but if you really wanted to make a point about animal welfare, what you would do is address the way chickens are being intensively farmed, the way pork is being intensively farmed. reporter: at his restaurant, the chef is proud to break new ground. even without a michelin star, he's fully booked for the next few months. alexis: hopefully it's going to inspire other restaurants to do the same, and most importantly other chefs, who are going to go and put their creative juice into this and come up with plant-based creations that we cannot live without. reporter:

that's good news for the ducks and geese. as well as for the restaurant critic. as long as the chefs don't try imitating real meat. but herb pâté is fine by him. liz: six months have passed since devastating floods hit the ahr valley in western germany. the waters swept away houses, cars, and trees, and also destroyed livelihoods and lives. more than 130 people died in the catastrophe. thousands of volunteers from germany and abroad worked tirelessly to help the flood victims. but how are things now, half a year later, along the ahr river? well, it's a tough winter for those whose heating was destroyed by the flood. they have no choice but to face the bitter cold. nils: through the slush first. it's starting to snow again.

reporter: since the flood disaster last summer, heating engineer nils görres has been under constant stress. in the cold season he's trying to provide some warmth to others, and also a little hope. the first job of the day has an unpleasant surprise in store -- it stinks. homeowner ernst jochemich says the flood water entered the basement through the sewage pipe. since then, it has smelled of feces. at least the jochemich family still has a roof over their heads. but the heating system did not survive the flood. ernst: it's cold upstairs, that's where the bedrooms are. so we hop straight into bed and then it's okay. reporter: the company that employs heating engineer nils and his colleagues, koch und mies, was also badly hit by the suer flood disaster. nils: if we step back you can see it went up to 1.8 meters on the first floor.

you can still see the waterline right at the top. the company koch und mies was swamped, pretty much up to the rooftop. reporter: a trauma for nils görres. more than 130 people died in the ahr valley disaster. thousands of houses were destroyed and are still uninhabitable. like so many other houses, this one was flooded almost to the roof. living here is out of the questi. nonetheless, gerd gasper and his wife elfriede come here every day to keep an eye on things. gerd: every time you come in here and see the state of it, it's just awful. reporter: an electric fan heater has been drying the brickwork for months. but it's not yet clear if they will ever be able to move in here again. elfriede: if it were spring now, everything would probably be

better, including your state of mind. in the evening at 5:00, it's often already dark, and that's when depression sets in. reporter: in the small village of altenburg alone, more than 50 houses have been demolished because they were contaminated or in danger of collapsing. the floods caused around 30 billion euros of damage in all. nils is on his way to his next customer. the gas connection for a temporary shelter needs to be installed. because there's a housing shortage throughout the region, small provisional settlements are being erected in various locations. nils: a whole row of houses is missing here, they've just disappeared. now i have to see where house number 28 is. reporter: nils doesn't take long to connect the gas cartridges. but for the little house to be heated, the water pipe installation must be completed.

it still isn't finished. melina zeyen is happy to have a roof over her head at all. although at the moment she still needs a jacket and hat inside. melina: my parents' house used to be over there. and now i've bought this one as a shelter for myself and for my dog. nils: well, keep up the good work. see you. bye. reporter: the ahr has long since withdrawn to its riverbed. but the effects of the flood disaster will be felt for a long time to come. nils: you actually have a really lovely view from here. if you look down, you can see altenahr with the long bend in the ahr river. there are still some car wreckages lying about, they've only just been salvaged. so my home village is destroyed. but it will be restored.

someday. liz: if you like hiking, then i'd recommend the hohe tauern national park in the austrian alps. it's not just a place where you can get a good workout and enjoy the beautiful landscape, with a bit of luck you may even come across some hidden treasure. maybe you'll find some pure quartz. or an emerald. however, treasure hunters in this part of the alps have to follow some strict guidelines. reporter: ever since they were boys, twin brothers gerhard and hans hofer have spent every minute of their spare time in the profession. they'r. and they' made their you can get addicted to it. geyou look around to see where something might be, veins of white quartz in crevices and

faults. a few eks ago, we discoved an interesti spot, andt's rely looking good. reporter: they have a long, hard climb ahead of them to reach this spot at an elevation of 3000 meters in austria's hohe tauern national park. the rk is not thout risk one them has squeeze dn intohe narrow crevice to get a close look at the rocks. a mple will ow whetherr not crystals can be found here. the result proves positive. gerhard: now we've eaned itp a bit, and you casee that, overall, 's of fantastic quality. reporter: the hofers collect up to 200 kilos a year, about a quarter of which is made into jewelry. many gemstones can be found in the alps including emeralds, amethysts, and garnets. after their successful find, they make the steep climb again the next morning to extract more crystals out of the crevice. might they find even bigger

ones this ti? gerhard: thi: they havto close and secure every hole they chisel out. diing for ge in the natit strict regulations, including that t site bee-natured. and o sell the crystals to jewelry makers after every detail has be meticulously recorded gerhard: is one'll probably be worth a good 1000 euros, maybe even a little more than 1000. reporter: in all, the brothers estimate the haul from this trip will fetch them around 2000 euros, of which 10% will go to the state. but they say they aren't plundering the mountains. the strict regulations ensure that only tiny amounts are removed and nature is left unharmed. liz: and that's it for this week from “focus on europe.” thanks for watching, and see you next time. ♪ [captioning performed by the national captioning institute, which is responsible for its caption content and accuracy. visit ncicap.org]

02/03/22 02/03/22 [captioning made possible by democracy now!] amy: from new york, this is democracy now! >> consist of apartheid is the israeli dominatn on a daily basis. laws and policies and practices that put someplace and implemen to control pastinians daily lives. amy: aesty international, th wor's largt human rights organizationhas for the first time accused israel of committing t