"european journal" coming to you from brussels. here is what we, with you today. song and dance. the six grammys to represent russia in the song contest. helping those who help others. and restore with the effects of the debt crisis in europe. the crisis is not over yet. take spain, for instance. they are struggling and they are having to pay horrendously high interest rates when they want to borrow money in the markets. one look at the labor market shows things are getting worse rather than better. it was the beginning of a vicious cycle. without a job, it becomes difficult to pay your bills. what happens next? you lose your apartment. >> no evictions year, they chance. the police are nervous. they're due to be evicted from their apartment in the bailiffs are closing in. they are gathered upstairs. the couple has not paid their mortgage for one year. the stress has made monica sick. they have been given two weeks and then they are out. bu>> we build out an application for social housing but there is nothing for us. we looked at a few apartment but they are all too expensive. >>

i'm actually going to brussels next week to meet with nato. one of the agenda items is in fact, operation unified protection. what we've got to do is we've got to be candid with each other. i can assure you i will be about what they can reasonably expect us to provide. what nay need to provide in terms och isr, the analysis, fusion of intelligence and operations. and investments that hay need to make in order to close some gaps that here to for they've relied almost exclusively on us to provide. i actually see this as a positive thing. >> general, what do you think are the greatest risks if the united states intervenes? >> in syria? >> yes. >> first of all, you know, on occasion i've been portrayed as saying this would just be too hard, so let's not do it. i want to assure you, that's not the case. if asked to do something, we absolutely have the capability. but in terms of my concerns and how they would translate into military vices i have to be very clear about the military objectives that i was being asked to achieve, and i'd have to be cle

>> hello and a very warm welcome to "european journal" coming to you from dw studio in brussels. here is what is on the show today -- france -- what will become of the last farm in paris? coast soon be home to a nuclear power plant? and belfast's new museum pays homage to the titanic. it is hard to believe that rents were once very cheap in paris. one of the most popular neighborhoods was were virtually penniless artists such as painter pablo picasso and write your earning -- ernest hemingway used to live and work. today, it is one of the most expensive areas of paris. no wonder real-estate agencies are desperately seeking every square meeting under a lamp there. this could mean the end for a remnant of the past, that the people have grown fond of, the last farm in paris. >> lived in the middle of the district for 30 years. he says he does not enjoy visiting the district anymore because it has become too classy. >> i am really quite sad about the way the street looks today. this used to be a village where everyone knew each other. >> a bakery, a laundry, a bookstore. back then, s

japan's eu office in brussels set up a post box for collecting haiku on thursday. the first of its kind outside japan. the move is part of efforts to promote cultural exchanges. the box is shaped like an old hot spring building in matsuyama city. the best writer wins a trip to the city. at the ceremony, japan's u.n. ambassador kojiro shiojiri said he hoped to get exchanges between the people of japan and the eu. herman van rompuy also attended. he recited his favorite english haiku and dropped it in the box. >> flowering orchards, born again every year, i welcome the blossoms. >> van rompuy said his -- said the poems suit his character as he loves nature and the seasons. he hopes the post box will help increase the number of haiku lovers and deepen ties between japan and the eu. >>> a curator of an art museum in hiroshima solved the mystery. a portrait by the acclaimed dutch painter vincent van gogh hangs on their walls. it has been restored twice and that gives rise to the puzzle. >> reporter: here she sits, the peasant woman, unaware of the mystery that surrounde

. >> as you know in brussels, hillary clinton calling for another round of sanctions. what has been imposed in the past, and is there any sense that a new round of sanctions would be any more effective. >> sanctions are certainly, you know, weakened the regime. affected the regime in many ways in its ability to import and its ability to export its products. but it is also true that sanctions on their own are not going to, you know, succeed in toppling the regime without any other action. this is a regime which is -- in arabic we have a saying that he who is drowning will not be afraid to get wet. so sanctions are not going on their own to effect the regime's willingness to shoot its own people in order to survive. >> what is life like inside syria, and do the average syrians fully understand what's been happening in villages and towns like homs? >> i would say the majority of the population is against assad's regime but that is not to say that there aren't some minorities that still support it for one reason or the other. the business community does not want to lose it

defense secretary leon panetta in brussels had a meeting and denounced the actions of the soldiers. >> i strongly condemn what we see in those photos as has general allen. that behavior that was depicted in those photos absolutely violates both our regulations and more importantly our core values. >> reporter: as a string of incidents of u.s. troop in afghanistan has strengthened anti-u.s. american sentiment. they have been accused of burning copies of the koran and in one case killing villagers. in brussels, they decided on wednesday to stick to the planned withdrawal of troops by the end of 2014. >> let me stress that there is no change whatsoever. it is in the interest of the whole international community to see strong and highly capable afghan security forces take full responsibility for security by the end of 2014. >> reporter: that statement by the nato execusecurity general the same day that they say the country will need at least $4.1 billion a year from international community to maintain security after foreign troops leave. nato is due to discuss long-term aid for afghanista

well, if i understand you correctly, you're suggesting to the rest of europe, particularly berlin and brussels, to close both their eyes in case they miss the deficit targets because you think it will be dangerous and it would be bad for those economies to pursue some additional fiscal belt-tightening? do i understand you correctly? also, because, basically, if they miss those targets they will also miss the rules, or break the rules, of the upcoming fiscal combine. >> as i underscored, there is a risk involved in focusing too much in balances. the fiscal balances not adjusted for the cycle. but that we have to keep in mind that the balanced budget rule that based on the fiscal compact has to be implemented in your area country is the defined in structural terms. so the fact that more and more countries in europe should focus on achieving targets on structural bashgszis, i think i acknowledged in the european union. regarding a specific target, i underscored a strong uncertainty regarding gdp growth in these countries. but i think that particularly for 2013, focusing on targets rather than see

♪ >> hello and a very warm welcome to "european journal" coming to you from dw's studio in brussels. life easier for working parents. why the you canadian -- when the ukraine is seeking refuge abroad. -- finish kindergarten making life easier for working parents. balancing your professional and family life can be quite a challenge, especially with a number of 9-5 jobs on the decrease. more europeans have to work shifts in hospitals, 24-hour supermarkets, or in the media, but who looks after the little ones when you have to work a night shift? your partner? mother? family friends? finland now has a solution -- an around-the-clock kindergarten. >> shall be working the evening shift today and stuffs her daughter enter her snowsuit and heads for the day care center, and all-day care center, open around-the-clock. >> my husband and i both work shifts. it is to be a regular center. it was complicated to work out who could take her, who could pick her up, and where she could spend the evening. with a 24-hour day care center, it is much easier. >> it is a big help for her husband as well. he

i was at a nato meeting in brussels and the -- i read in the paper that the belgium parliament passed a law that allowed any one in the u.s. military to be prosecuted in foreign courts. and i thought my goodness, that means we can't have military people go to belgium where nato is. if -- if any rogue prosecutor can decide he wants to enhance his public image he can file a lawsuit which he did against general franks as i recall, and so i called in the defense minister of belgium and not being a diplomat i was not very diplomatic. and i explained that nato didn't have to be in belgium. and that we didn't have to be in belgium. and within a matter of weeks the legislation was defeated, nullified, withdrawn, and it stopped. but it happens all over the world. and my view is, it's a danger particularly not just for us but for the world. think of the contribution our military made in the tsunami in india. indonesia years back. think about the earthquake that took place in pakistan. our people did a superb humanitarian job. any time the u.n. or international organization has to deal with the

before christmas, i was in a panel in brussels with the ambassador who is the iranian representative to the iaea and there was one thing that the two of us agreed. this is that we are probably the only persons in the world who have read all those reports. because they all so different to read. let's go back to the iranian nuclear program. the concern about it for a number of reasons, and maybe the biggest reason is that iran conducted this clandestine enrichment two decades without fulfilling its reporting requirements to the iaea. and moreover, actually irandy verted nuclear matter which it never reported. this is a classical diversion of nuclear material. it also accepted nuclear material from the safeguards and went and did some additional experiments for this. here is lesson number one. that it is called a spade a spade, called black a black, but you never heard that the iaea say that nuclear material was d diverted. the reason was when it came into the light of the international community the reason for that was that the agency didn't call it diversion and noncompliance, because

and hello, and a very warm welcome to "european journal", our magazine from brussels with stories all across europe. here is what we have for you. white jewish families are contemplating leaving france. spain -- while more horses have to be rescued from the slaughterhouse. informants on the church board. france's jewish community is the largest one in the eu, and french jews are particularly shocked at the series of attacks in toulouse. the perpetrator first killed three french soldiers. in his eyes, there were lost souls. then he shot dead three jewish children and a rabbi. the attacks have renewed public debate in france about immigration and fundamentalism. those topics are now dominating the election campaign, and the attacks have already changed the daily lives of jewish families in france. >> the knapsacks are packed. he accompanies his daughters to school. after the attack, french jews are more cautious than before. the rabbi wears a cap over his yamulke. not everyone has to see that he is a jew. his children attend the state's goal, not the district jewish school. that already

♪ >> hello and a very warm welcome to "european journal," our weekly magazine from brussels with stores from all over europe. -- compulsory in armenian schools. paribas in danger. why yorkshire could become a mining center again. and kids keep up -- the controversial ban. armenians do not have it easy. the cease-fire with neighboring as a rise and is very unstable, and the relationship with turkey is difficult because the turks still deny the mass murder armenians during and after the first world war. things are not much brighter when it comes to the country's economy, either. in florida prospects in the small country in the caucuses are low, prompting people to leave the country look for jobs elsewhere in russia or in the u.s.. so how do you make young armenians believe in their future? give them something armenians are famous for. >> they may be only seven, but they already know how to topple a king. these second graders in armenia are learning to play chess. it is a required subject at the anton chekhov school. she says chess is great because it change your mind. it will make some cl