people. want to express. spoke with today in touch. welcome to focus on europe i'm michelle henery thanks for joining us after defecting to the west a former russian double agent is found poisoned on a park bench in england this isn't the plot to aspire movie nor is it a tale from the cold war this attack happened in modern day britain and the government is convinced that the kremlin is behind it in the city of solsbury in

southern england the former russian spy circuit script seen here shortly before the assault and his daughter were found unconscious after being exposed to the deadly nerve agent nervous shock both are now fighting for their lives just a few days later another russian exile fell victim to a suspicious attack nicholai glitch caught a businessman one didn't russia on fraud allegations was found strangled in his home in london these attacks are both the chilling echo of the murder of alexander litvinenko in two thousand and six the russian spy was considered a traitor after settling with his family in britain he too was poisoned our reporter met with his widow who talked about how other exiled russians now fear for their safety. it's a difficult time to be a russian exile in london marina litvinenko is a critic of the kremlin her husband alexander was killed in london by russian

agents and now another friend of hers has been murdered. and choli. is a person i knew very well and. i just can't believe . who wanted his this and why he was killed. off was a russian businessman who's fallen out with the kremlin now police are investigating who killed him in his house in south london. litvinenko shows us a list on the website of the russian embassy in london the kremlin had accused of fraud and wanted him to be tried in russia. they gave a list of names of people who they want to be extradited and it's just a list. of it's a leg humor about all this what we saw in russian looks like he's least. litvinenko own husband a former spy who turned against the kremlin fled to britain with his family in

london he was poisoned with radioactive polonium the later inquiry ruled that president putin probably approved his assassination it was a message very serious russian. crime i don't like we need to wait for it not at this understand what we have to do. alexander litvinenko his widow is now meeting with british politicians she wants the u.k. to take a tougher stance against russia the chair of the all party parliamentary russia group m.p. chris bryant is on her side. he has himself been the target of attacks by the russian ambassador in london. he has tried to get the speaker to stop debates on russian affairs he's tried to interfere in the internal elections of the house of commons he's tried to get me removed as chair of the all party russia group because i'm gay. is

a very old way of doing diplomacy. the new attacks made many in london's russian community in mayfair uneasy alexander litvinenko was poisoned here another putin critic you have gainey to track him has set up a luxury wine shop here nothing will stop to kill the next person the secret service has killed a few people and the idea that people who live here have to be live in fear and move. mountains. together with politicians like chris bryant marina levin yankel was lobbying for tougher sanctions against russia such as personal sanctions like this of restrictions against putin's entourage. we need to show to people who just take a minute from russia state from ordinary russian and bring this to u.k.

and joins this all lakshya lifestyle and most of them there are members of very close circle of mr putin as this need to be a distinct it in the whole of europe and nato needs to take a very long steady look at how the russian state is trying to eat away at the soft underbelly of the liberal democracies of the west is trying to turn what is good about our countries in britain and in germany against ourselves because we do believe in fair play and the rule of law. for marina live in yonkers it's about continuing her husband's fight against the dirty money being brought to the u.k. and against corruption in russia which she feels is behind the murders in london streets. turkey's conflict with kurdish nationalist is at a boiling point in a frayne a kurdish majority city in syria an ongoing turkish military operation to gain control over the area has angered many kurds and that anger is spilling over into

germany people of kurdish origin here say they feel like down by the lack of response from europe now tension between the two communities is escalating. every day more images of carnage and bloodshed in african syria appear on chance of us as computer in berlin he's dedicated himself to the struggle for the independence of his kurdish people you can barely control his outrage. but some things even how would you feel if you saw people injured like this in the field it just keeps going on and especially when you realize it's being done with arms from germany i'm completely disappointed i really am. germany's kurdish minority are taking action not always peacefully german authorities suspect and not just in the berlin office of the not dam which has ties to the p.k. k.

. the kurdistan workers party is banned in germany investigators are following up indications that the kurds might be behind a series of attacks on businesses and facilities save us blames the turkish dominated mosques with a ten cent this fear. every week they reach tens of thousands if not hundreds of thousands of people in the solomons things like that can ruin our democratic coexistence here and have very direct consequences for us activists. it can be personal threats or just the not atmosphere or personal animosity of. one such mosque or what's left of it stands a few hundred meters away in berlin somebody can go up district in early march it was destroyed in an arson attack it had been run by the turkish due to poor going to zation a branch of the religious affairs presidency and korea. the head of the youth league at the mosque would rather not say who he suspects was behind the attack.

they want to stir up hatred. but we won't be provoked until as you can see by the posters we won't fight hate with hate. hate can only be defeated with love. friday prayers are held on the street in front of the burnt out mosque in frosty temperatures there is talk of love and understanding but worshippers in detail at mosques have also prayed for victory for the turkish military in northern syria representatives of turkey's governing party don't see anything wrong with that. in spite of the appeals for peace and understanding young turks in germany are increasingly calling for retribution for its one case we caught one of them red handed why not. there could be trouble of course there could be trouble. and german authorities hope to prevent trouble between the two fronts by posting more police in front of turkish institutions the berlin neighbors are worried. to

have them fight it out in germany is just not right and this whole gathering is all out of proportion. if something had happened in a church you certainly wouldn't see such a crowd here. the police are also out in force for the main event celebrating the kurdish new year in hanover. emblems of the band p.k. cape keep turning up so the police threaten to close down the event. tensions are rising. any. chance events from berlin follows the event from inside the organizers sound truck he sees the band of the p.k. k. is couto into the turkish government at the same time you can't accept p.k. k. linked websites. calling for attacks on turkish facilities and even offices of germany's governing parties but he does see germany as an ally of the kurds turkish

enemies i think we're getting a lot of sympathy but the state and government are pursuing the wrong policies and we oppose that just like we oppose the turkish state and government but not the turks themselves. while the german government tries to appease ankara the rage among kurds like john c. of us is growing as is the danger of more violence between kurds and turks in germany streets. imagine discovering that you lost your job by finding someone else sitting at your desk that's exactly what happened to one of poland's most famous t.v. personalities she was known for being impartial objective and critical in her reporting values that many say of set the ruling law and justice party as poems government seeks to gain more control over the media journalists like beata toddler are coming under increasing pressure. journalist and presenter.

is getting ready for an apparent some private broadcast on t.v. . she was once among the most recognizable faces on the public channel t.v. p.c. but then the broadcaster came under the control of the right wing conservative government to have pictured her future differently. in the morning i came to work in the newsroom but sitting at my computer was somebody else who was supposed to go on air for me. the director said he liked and valued me but unfortunately i didn't fit into the new concept i guess that the concept issues when you were. a concept. the new concept was largely the government line from one moment to the next she and over two hundred coworkers had been replaced by broadcast journalists close to the ruling party the government labeled the measure of the mine a media avail those that hear the battles of the sales it was

a very touching moment for me to see all the people take to the streets in protest against it. to know that people didn't want propaganda and they knew very well that this bill would make polish television the mouthpiece of the government of its they've. a new director general of loyal to the governing party was appointed for t.v. since then the proton schedule has undergone major changes but the news reporting reflects state interests haunting out that the party has kept its word on building new roads while frequently criticizing the european union and germany yanno densities a former t.v. journalist as the head of a journalist's association he's been watching the restructuring of the nation's media with some concern. but the very same is absolute control of the mass media the standardization of news reporting of the kind the government wants to see. there's another association of journalists closer to the government they describe

the changes that t.v. as an almost natural process. of the public media have indeed changed radically now there's a kind of media balance in poland. the private media tend to follow the opposition and the public media stay closer to the government can. work for. private broadcast t.v. and has been questioning the government's political motives and feeling the consequences in the form of demands for back taxes penalties friend legibly illicit reporting on the demonstrations over the podcast is owned by an american investment group under pressure from the united states the charges were dropped. oppositional newspapers have not been spat to get the child was born in the solidarity union movement of the one nine hundred ninety s. the government keeps a close unsuspicious eye on its editorials now its economic basis is coming under

attack. editor in chief jaroslav course looks over the articles for the next edition. one deals with the power of the state security services the paper has already had a response to its criticism. that there's that they won't let us run advertising anymore we're having problems with circulation because we can't sell at the state airports are filling stations anymore and the state agencies have cancelled their subscriptions. there were even plans to break up the entire publishing group on the pretext that paper's internet and video portals should no longer run under the same corporate. but with right wing conservative media using the. these very same structure as this attempt has been nipped in the bud what remains is an initiative to limit foreign ownership to fifteen percent beyond to tantalize current employer broadcasts a mix of politics local content and entertainment and it serves as

a refuge for her and other coworkers coming from the public t.v. . show about. it's too bad it happened like this i wouldn't call the current staff a t.v. journalist any more. but unique us for journalism is supposed to describe the world and tell us how it really is but they only repeat the party line. with us but they're not all the workers find from t.v. we're lucky enough to find other jobs in journalism some gave up and went into other professions. time is a very hard right now for journalists in poland. having a holiday home on a beautiful island is a dream for many people but for some owners and new yorker it's become a nightmare squatters are blighting the balearic island and getting them out is often slow and costly squatting has become more common in spain since the financial

crisis due to the rise in poverty but some of the so-called occupiers in new york or are simply doing it not out of desperate need but because they can. normally anyone with a holiday home on the belly eric island of majorca is the envy of their friends but many of these owners are currently faced with an unenviable problem squatters known here as. it's officer carlos a roscoe's job to track them down here he's checking on a community north of the capital palma. what i was just off on this is a newer housing development with comprised of detached or semi detached homes this one here number twenty four is a squatted house you can see it's a large single family home as no one is going to be out and. most of the squatters are here tanos says spain's romani people are called. to do

that but they either climb over the gate or break it down here they remove the lock . they do the same with the entrance doors then they install new locks so no one else can break out in the until they rip out electricity and water meters then tap into these utilities illegally. if beaucoup does aren't driven off the property within the first forty eight hours it's hard for officials to have them removed the front of the facility there's a spanish constitution says every spaniard has the right to a decent home clearly that stands in direct contradiction to the ownership rights of those affected but the police aren't free to make the decision about whether the person inside the home has a right to be there or not that's the job of the justice system in these. this property and play it upon my belongs to fronting a month from hamburg but the last time he came to majorca there was a nasty surprise awaiting him. more i arrived there was

a little surprised to see what looked like a mattress lying in my courtyard. at first i thought maybe a homeless person that climbed over the wall and was i don't want a gate three dogs came running at me forcing me to get back into my car with doesn't mean that's all that i call the police. hopped on the police i go. meanwhile the home invaders are sitting in his kitchen table sleeping in his beds and selling off his possessions like his t.v. . no idea what it's like inside no or whether anything is still there at all. we try to find out. well that's where you are keeping this house it belongs to my aunt the king how many of you are there just my aunt and her daughter and that's all do you know that this house belongs to a german man again this is a monument. and then the situation escalates. clear out or i'll

call the cops and i will or i delete everything and turn the camera off. telling you that you can't fill me up when i got some very here scram or you get a punch in the face. put that down. meanwhile officer orozco has received another tip this house is still being squatted but its occupants will be evicted soon. would you like to come in. has become a long have you lived here. the moment as you will say mr moody greener for around six months. in order came but we haven't left because we have nowhere to go i don't have a job. i live from selling scrap metal and more or less whatever comes my.

son eduardo is seventeen and lives the life of a vagabond at other people's expense. what he wants to change that oh. well. i quit school but now i want to look for job training so i can get work eventually but i'm hard. living on the margins of society they take what they can get. to me and to be worse if i had to sleep in a car or under a bridge. that's why i was quite houses and. it's more humane you know what i'm going to vote for i see it. but few owners of squatter homes are likely to share his point of view. the spanish parliament are working on a law to implement fast track trials for squatting and apply stiffer penalties when i lived in paris friends and i would spend evenings doing that the french are known

for whiling away countless hours over a leisurely meal in a base true all in the name of labelling but of course this was before the advent of smoking bans and smartphones when not all communication could be done virtually nowadays the traditional french bistro is slowly dying but the mayor of a small village in champaign is fighting to keep them alive. the small town of bars in the champagne region of northeastern france was once home to twenty two b. strobes. today just six remain. for mayor fifty board part of the french way of life is disappearing with the beast rose so to make sure the remaining establishment survive he's doing all he can to help their owners. already how ready how are you.

going to next year you're getting a really big terrorists but they do. the cafe du ballet closed two years ago now the mayor has purchased the business with the town's money he wants to reopen it otherwise its liquor license will be lost for good. personally i think it's important to save this tradition because the beast row is a meeting place historically in france the bee straw is a place to meet after work or on weekends. we would only get the mayor's remarks reflect the sentiments of many residents of the town especially the older ones who have already lost their favorite haunts. not yet there was once a by hand back on the cafe diplomats and it was really nice but it closed that now it's an optical glasses that something else entirely i'm supposed to because it

was a really nice place that i've been before. but things have changed in bars sorel. the stroll owner bruno laurie and his daughter nina say that people aren't as spontaneous as they used to be and they fail to appreciate the nicer things in life . mina says things in life are unexpected i meet someone in the bistro have a drink and leave only three hours later that's the unexpected side of life. they could be up to. the town's mayor is pinning his hopes on the younger generation he likes the concept proposed by met you are by the twenty three year old wants to open a champagne bar here in the heart of the champagne region he aims to attract tourists and locals alike. who for a champagne bar. that's something people here haven't seen before.

you've got to make people want to see what's going on inside there were in a town in the champagne region you can find champagne or never resellers see it everywhere but no it's not like opening a bar in a place without champaign and you know but you buy ok. the town's mayor says the experience is about more than the beverage served it's about the company. although when we go on holiday what do we do in the evenings we go out to the village square to be among people who more did not sit all alone in our little hotel room every night little. a little. so it be nice if people did then a bit more often in boston because without its be stroh's trance would lose much of it. it would be hard to imagine france without be stroh's let's hope that day never caught if you'd like to find out more about any of today's stories visit

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