>> this is focus on europe. i'm lara babalola, happy new year and a warm welcome to the show. hope for a new beginning. it's a dream that is prompting migrants to seek a better life here in europe. despite the freezing temperatures, the number of asylum seekers arriving here has spiked compared to a year ago and applications within the eu are at their highest since 2015. in northern italy, franchesco chibati's hometown of triest has become a popular spot for asylum-seekers.

he's on hand to receive them, providing information and a hot meal often their first in weeks. many of the migrants have just completed an arduous journey on foot, often crossing borders illegally. they flee along the so-called western balkan route, which typically begins in turkey and leads through northern italy. that's where they often receive a less-than-warm welcome. the hopes of many migrants and asylum-seekers are crushed as they're left to fend for themselves on the street. >> it's cold behind the railway station in trieste. in the ruins of an ancient granary, ismail shows a group of young men where they can sleep. ismail is originally from pakistan and has lived and worked in the port city for years. but he's never seen so many people arriving in italy through the balkan route. >> there are almost 50 people staying here at the moment.

some want to continue the journey northwards; others have applied for asylum in italy. they're here because there's no room at the arrival center. some have spent three months in this ruin. when it started getting cold, these barracks were built. 18-year-old amer and his friends have been here for several weeks. amer tells ismael that they left pakistan more than three years ago. they crossed through iran and ended up turkey. it took them several tries to manage the illegal border-crossing into europe. >> he kept gting phed back to turkey, 14 times s from greece and 5 times from bulgaria. >> they leave the hideout and head to piazza della libertà freedom square. it was their first point of

arrival for hussain and erfat too. >> one month, two months serbia, three, four months bosnia then i come here. >> it was very difficult, they don't give you any foreign center, we just travel in our walk etc. >> in 2021, about 4,000 migrants and refugees arrived in the port city. in 2022, around 5000 came in october and november alone. francesco cibati and the volunteers from the linea d'ombra association provide them with clothes, information on their rights, and a hot meal. >> we order 15 to 40 roast chickens every day, depending on the situation. so we feed between thirty and forty people a day. sometimes it's 120. the record was in the summer, 174 people on one day. >> francesco says the state and the city authorities are providing little by way of support.

>> we've been coming here to help out every day for three and a half years a few ordinary citizens. the authorities are indifferent, even though it's their duty to find the refugees a place to stay. many of them have applied for asylum and have a right to accommodation. but they still don't get it. >> the mayor dismisses these accusations. he says he's done a lot in his 16 years in office. but he rejected a plan to create housing for 80 people, saying that it wasn't the city's responsibility. in italy, only a few politicians are willing to speak out on behalf of refugees. >> if i create accommodation for x number of refugees, then more and more will come. that's the problem. and i'll remind you that's it's not our responsibility; it's the prefects'. the prefecture should open the empty military barracks and

make room for these unfortunate souls. >> the lucky ones find refuge in this former scout home. but it is already hopelessly overcrowded. not even the unheated tents of the initial reception center provide enough space for all asylum seekers, as davide pittioni from the organization ics tells us. >> we're very close to the slovenian border. that's why the reception center is so overcrowded. normally, people arrive and just stay a short time; then they're distributed to another part of italy for the integration process. but it's not working now. there isn't enough space. >> davide works not far from the piazza della libertà. refugees can warm up in this day center. on the upper floor there are some places to sleep. >> to get a shower. okay, and we try to find something like to change yourself.

>> our 20 beds are nowhere near enough when you think of the hundreds of people we see every day, all waiting for a place in the reception center. but at least we can offer the most vulnerable a safe place for the night. but for amer and his friends another cold trieste night awaits amidst the rubbish and cardboard boxes. >> ukrainians are also contending with a cold and bitter winter as war rages across the country. russian attacks on critical infrastructure continued through christmas and the new year. heat and electricity in ukraine are sporadic, making daily life a struggle. this includes places far from the front lines, like the capital kyiv. hospitals here are also feeling the impact of war. olegh korny-chook is working hard to keep his intensive care unit operational and provide

medical care to his patients. his main task: to shield the fragile preemies and newborns in his ward from the violence unfolding around him. >> neonatologist oleh korniychyuk is arriving for work at a children's hospital in kyiv. he's always a bit worried, because the power keeps going out. he and his team care for premature babies and newborns with serious complications. in this intensive care unit, most infants need ventilators to breathe and other technology that requires electricity. unlike adults, babies aren't mable to regulate their bodys to breathtemperature.technology they're don't have the body fat and are too immature. if the power were to go out, we could ventilate the infants manually for a while, but in the end, they wouldn't make it.

hospitals do have safeguards in case the power goes out. but this cable leads to the diesel generators he obtained himself. the russian invasion has put the entire hospital staff on crisis mode. >> it's like the end of the world in the movie armageddon. the winter feels endless. some things are a bit better now, because the electricians have repaired a lot. we hope this horrible situation will come to an end. >> a few kilometers away, this dentist's office is near the city center. here, too, they have to deal with frequent and often unannounced power outages. >> power is the least of our worries. people are dying in this w. if the power goes out, we just wait two or three hours. as long as everyone's safe

we'll manage. >> this patient is lucky and gets his filling. the day before, a young soldier arrived with a toothache, and then the power went out. >> we sad there waiting. he was patient, because he knew he needed treatment he was heading to the front in a week. we tried to help him as best we could. >> olha schetynina has been a dentist for years. she takes the situation in stride. >> if there's no power here, we just don't come. we stay home, with our families. my husband and i live on the 16th floor. >> living on the 16th floor is a problem because no power means no elevator. olga's husband, oleksandr, has a heart condition and can't take the stairs. this winter has been hard on them. even cooking can be difficult. >> when there's power, we cook everything straightaway, the

starter, the main dish, dessert. when the power is out but i have to cook, i can usually do it at night. at night, there's almost always power. from eleven or twelve at night to about three in the morning. >> people here have to make do. the government has set up thousands of heated tents across the country which they call invincibility stations. it's a place to catch their breath, with hot tea, warmth, and electricity to charge their phones. back in the neonatal intensive care unit, oleh korniychuk is tending to his tiny patients it's his life's work. >> i could have gone to germany a while ago. i've got relatives there, who've been there for more than thirty-five years. my family is with them. they left after about six weeks under russian occupation near

kyiv. but i won't leave. i can't. who would take care of these babies, who need all the help we can give them? oleh korniychuk is determined to stay. right now, he's gathering donations to buy portable incubators. to take infants down into the shelter when russian bombs rain down. >> his resolve and dedication to his patients is indeed remarkable. >> to love and to be loved that's what life's all about. and in the decades since that romantic ballad was written, our collective acknowledgment of love and its possibilities has become increasingly more open and inclusive. that's also true for this young couple in poland, voitek and agatha, who are newlyweds with no ordinary love story. they've been documenting their everyday life on the instagram channel life on wheels with openness and breaking with

stereotypes surrounding love. >> hello, we're wojtek and agata. >> together we run the life on wheelz channel. we want to fight intolerance against people with disabilities. >> wojtek and agata are newlyweds. their relationship may not always be easy, but they make it work. wojtek has duchenne muscular dystrophy, an incurable disease that leads to progressive muscle weakness. he's been in a wheelchair since he was nine years old. >> my disease is progressing. but i try not to dwell on it and i'm still trying to achieve my goals. i want to fulfil my dreams and to be in this relationship with an astonishing woman. >> the couple wants to use social media to raise awareness about muscular dystrophy and to show what life and love looks like in a relationship where one partner has a disability,

and the other doesn't. >> being disabled doesn't mean that we can't share a relationship based on equality, or that sex and love have no place in our lives. it's all part of our life. >> people often ask us: so how does it work? how do you have sex? i always say: you'll have to try it for yourselves and then you''ll see there are no setules. >> posting openly about their lives together also means talking about sex. agata and woitek met five years ago and have been married for a few weeks. humor goes a long way in breaking down taboos. >> i really glad toys like this exist. it doesn't know its way around as well as i do, but you can't have everything.

one day, they hope, they'll have a more accessible apartment, and children. a shared life, together, like any other family. >> what to do with relics of the past that have outlived their heyday? some can be torn down but others like this iconic british powerplant in london are simply too grand to be destroyed. barry reminisces with his son about the good old days when he used to work here as a young electrician, it used to service buckingham palace and the houses of parliament. it was even immortalized in a hitchcock film. but the battersea power station was decommissioned in 1983 and fell into ruin. now the spark has been rekindled on the river thames as the colossus caters to a new set of customers. >> it was a temple of the industrial age and one of london's most famous landmarks the battersea power station.

but after the last generator was shut down in the early 1980s, the former power station fell into disrepair. for decades, londoners feared for their landmark. but now it's reopened and visitors are flocking there to rediscover the iconic building. paul, for example, used to climb into the ruin secretly at night. >> i'm hoping the spaces will have retained some of their grander and size. but also a little bit don't know. i'm a little bit worried some of the commercial aspects have taken some of the magic away. >> the power station owes its resurrection to international investors who have made it the heart of a new luxury development. for the first time in 43 years, barry has also come back to the plant. he's brought his son with him. as a young man, he worked here

as an electrician. >> it is a bit unnerng. yeah, it does. oh dear. unbelievable feelings. it's bringing back all the memories. >> back then, barry tells his son, electricity was generated with coal and steam. the smoke and steam that rose from the chimneys contributed to london's famous fog. all sorts of other things that needed to be disposed of were also burned here like expired banknotes. and those packs of banknotes didn't always fully incinerate. barry says that explains why some of his coworkers suddenly appeared in very expensive suits on their days off: >> i mean because what they used to do was, the outside of it used to get burned, because it was tightly packed. the outside of them used to get burnt at the seams, but the inside money, you know, absolutely fine. and it was untraceable. original money laundering from

battersea power station. >> paul is exploring the other side of the old hall. this is where a few remnants of the former architecture have been preserved. >> kind of what i expected. it's a bit sad, really. all of the vastness of the space is gone. just kind of cluttered up with the shops and that could be any shopping center anywhere. >> today, the battersea power station is a temple to money, consumption and luxury for barry that takes some getting used to. >> for me this was, this was home. you know. as i said before. it was a family. it really was a family. well that building up there. that place up there. that control room. yeah. when you think about it, you had 250 megawatts of power in your control. you was controlling a sizeable proportion of west london. the power at your fingertips. yeah. and that just tells you something, really.

i was amazing. it really was amazing. >> the control room where barry worked was the heart of the power station. these days it hosts luxurious private events and is off-limits to regular visitors. >> yeah, in a way, i am sad that i can't get in the control room. maybe i can get smuggled in at some stage. >> the vast control room was built entirely in the art deco style of the 1930s. a center of power from a time when industrial buildings still had a touch of the sacred to them. meanwhile, paul has found another relic from back then, a smaller control center that's now a champagne bar. paul used to sneak in here, back when the power station was a ruin, and took photos of what he found. >> there is a whole bar here. if you ignore that, this is almost exactly the same. it is really cool.

and they have kept it really beautifully. so it's good. >> the former cathedral of red brick, a temple of the industrial revolution, has been brought into the 21st century. the surrounding neighborhood is also being transformed. for barry it's almost unrecognizable, until he finds a found a pub he still remembers. >> there is a sense of sadness. i think not just for battersea but for london as a whole. for vauxhall, where i was born. anywhere along the river thames now is a rich area, you know. and it wasn't going to be long before they have eaten battersea. and they have now. they've eaten battersea now. >> but paul says there are some upsides, too. >> it is also really great, i guess, that everyone gets to see it now and not just crazy adventurers who break in. you know, it's a really beautiful thing to be able to see and it is a very magnetic building. and so i am glad it is being saved and people can come and

see it. but there is a slight feeling of loss of something else that is gone as well. >> the battersea power station may have lost some of its grandeur, wedged between luxury residential complexes. but the old icon is still standing and in a london ravaged by wealth, that's something worth celebrating. >> a prayer for peace at a sanctuary in france. the area around the capital paris is a melting pot of religions and at times, faith has been used as a tool to divide society. but in this paris suburb, muslim and jewish worshippers are embracing their differences. the multi-faith district of busy-saint-georges has launched a project aimed at promoting dialogue and tolerance. called the ess-plan-aid of religions, it's creating spaces for people of many different faiths to worship and their doors are open to everyone.

>> dominique fontaine is preparing for a church service. he's a catholic priest in bussy-saint-georges. the guests include claude windisch and bernard jacques. they're all connected by their collaboration on an unusual project: >> i'm delighted to welcome you today and that you come here a lot. >> christians, jews, and buddhists are worshipping together nothing out of the ordinary for bussy-saint-georges. >> i find it moving that they come to the church. it shows the bonds of their friendship. >> it's like the whole world is coming together. >> this interfaith day shows us there's another way of living together in this world that's becoming more and more chaotic. >> bussy-saint-george is a typical french suburb, thirty kilometers to the east of paris. half of its thirty thousand

residents have a migration background. that's nothing unusual around here. but the esplanade des religions, or esplanade of religions, is a special place one of a kind in europe. each of the major world religions has its own house of worship here. >> it's a unique opportunity! we can be true neighbors on the same street! >> bonjour. >> miao da has invited everyone to the buddhist temple for tea. they've been holding these meetings for ten years with all religions at one table. together, they work, talk, and celebrate the most important religious holidays. and like all houses of worship in france their only funding is through donations. >> miao da shows the visitors around the temple. it was one of the first buildings along the esplanade

of religions and it's also one of the biggest buddhist centers outside of asia. miao da came to france herself as a refugee from vietnam. >> my neighbors here have become friends. it doesn't matter what their religion is. we live as brothers and sisters like one big family. >> our next stop is the synagogue a temporary setup in a container. >> come in. >> claude windisch is president of the local jewish community. >> i'm very happy to welcome you in our little synagogue. >> he shows the visitors the most holy artefact in the synagogue the torah scroll. much of what is recounted in the torah finds echoes in their own religions. >> we all have similar themes, the same rules for example: thou shalt not kill! that's in the quran, the

gospels, the torah. it's in all religions. >> farid chaoui, the president of the lal islamic community, agrees. he had a special role to play here after the devastating islamist attacks in 2015:>> my friends did me the honor of asking me to speak. after all, it was about muslims and we were suddenly in the spotlight. i publicly condemned the attacks categorically and made an appeal for us to live together in harmony! >> the mosque is one of the most popular places of worship in bussy-saint-georges. magnificent and simple at the same time. like all other religious buildings in bussy-saint-georges, it is open to all and that openness has shaped the political climate here. >> the peaceful coexistence of all religions here has an impact on the community. since 2015, the extremist

parties, like le pen's rassemblement national have been getting 10 per cent less votes here than in neighboring cities. >> the esplanade of religions is not yet complete. a hindu temple is still in planning, and a new synagogue will be built right next to the mosque. farid chaoui has collected donations for the project, including from muslims: >> of course i asked claude for permission, and he said : yes! so i went ahead with it. >> of course, it really touched me and the whole thing ended like this! really. that's friendship, something truly special! >> an example to build on as we embark on a new year. thanks for joining us today we hope you enjoyed our program. bye for now.

01/26/23 01/26/23 [captioning de possible by democracy now!] amy: from new york, this is democracy now! >> further evidence of our commitment to ukraine and our confidence in the ukrainian forces. amy: under nationwide air raid alert as russia launches dozens of missile and drone strikes the day after the united states and germany announced they will send tanks to ukraine in a major poli r