today's "european journal." how the european union is still trying to bring peace to kosovo, and created care. house some germans protect all houses from decay. a huge cruise ship performing a

close sail past is a spectacle, but in the case of the costa concordia, the move had devastating results. luckily, the majority of the more than 4000 passengers were rescued, indeed without much help from the captain, but life is certainly no longer what it was for those who have lost their loved ones. >> january 9, quiet and brisk on the mediterranean island. it is an hour's ferry ride away from the italian mainland, and the ocean liner cannot be missed. an attraction. a piece of rock is still embedded in the cruise liners hall, apparently a fragment of the reef that for a 70 meter long hole in the bottom of the ship. the accident changed everything for everyone and bald.

most of the island residents and their living from the sea. the shipwreck was the impact on the environment is causing concern. this man has been running a scuba diving school for five years. he is worried about the salvage of the mission. >> they are never going to find all the missing people with the vote on its side. i do not understand why no one took seriously the proposal to write it first, using inflatable floats and other methods -- to right it first. they might have been able to get people out, dead or alive. >> he remembers the night of the accident. the cruise ship seemed to appear out of nowhere. >> it loomed up here like a skyscraper and filled the whole horizon. you could not seek out of the

water anymore. >> he has long given up hope of all the missing being found of them that anyone who drowned in the sea was carried off by the current and long time ago. we lost a diver two years ago. for days, we search for him. we even found his spear gun and other things, but not him. >> recovering the costa condordia has altered life here. recovery crews have been given control of the island's only port. there's no question of things getting back to normal oany time soon. during the summer, he uses his truck to deliver for to the restaurant. the bank the ship ran aground, he used it to take shipwreck survivors to neighbors and friends and even put up 15,000

passengers himself. >> they were soaking wet, did not have the right clothes on, and many were barefoot. we first took care of those who needed help most -- children and the elderly. >> then, he worked as a singer on the cruise ship for many years. he still cannot believe what has happened just offshore, that the captain set a course to close to the island and failed to see the rocks just a kilometer away from the port. >> if the captain simply went straight ahead instead of turning to starboard, there would have been less damage. it was only when he turned the ship that the rock was post into the vote was inside, making it sank -- that the rock was forced into the boat's side, making it sink. >> the accident has done more than disturb the winter serenity on giglio.

the tourist office is concerned about people coming just to see the shipwreck. >> we cannot prevent people from coming to our island, but when people call and look for a place to stay that are not on the recovery teams or are not journalists, then we say there are no vacancies. >> for now, the scuba diving teacher is going to have to do without his routine dive. he and his colleagues are getting ready to deal with the consequences if oil should leak from the ship. the rest of the costa condordia -- wreck of the costa condordia has threatened island life and the livelihood of its residents. >> is it just patronizing or plain racist? the belgian comic-book "tintin

in the condo" has never been far from controversy. in the decades to follow, several scenes were altered or taken out. the comic was not even available in english until 60 years later. now, a belgian court has to decide whether or not the book must be kept out of children's reach. >> children read the adventures of tend to not just in belgium but all over the world -- the adventures of tintin. they have followed the young reporter and his dog even as far as the belgian congo, but it is that it venture that is causing problems. some said it is full of racist stereotypes. >> tintin orders the whole

village around and behave like a colonial ruler. he tells them to get to work, but the villagers are tired and do not want to. he asks if they are not ashamed to let his stall work alone. the dog says, "get going, you lazy slobs." even the dog insults' the black people. >> he enjoyed reading the books and when he came to europe, he saw tintin and snowy very different. he himself feels he is treated differently because of his skin color. >> nowadays, the racism is much more subtle. people will say they like you. for instance, if they are renting out an apartment and you want to move in, they will take someone else instead because

they have something against blacks. >> of belgium is full of reminders of the colonial era. a memorial to leopold the second occupies a prominent place in brussels. not only is the statue controversial, so it is his entire legacy, and his rule 100 years ago, what is now the democratic republic of congo was brutally oppressed and its people ruthlessly exploited. plundering the colony's natural resources in ridged belgium, and with uranium from congo, belgium entered the nuclear age. its symbol is still cleaning and, originally built from the 1958 world's fair. tintin's creator drew inspiration from the condo for

from brussels africa museum, and he included most of the cliches. but tintin is a national hero in belgium. and many people are indignant that their cartoon hero is viewed as racist. >> of course it is slightly colonialist, but it is also kind and will meeting. it is a positive book in the spirit of its times. now, 80 years later, the countries of africa are independent, and the points of views of both white and black people have changed anyway. >> he has experience something

quite different. he says all prejudices are often preserved in daily life. now he hopes to achieve at least partial success in court. >> on the english addition, there is a warning that it is more a collector's item for adults, and there is a foreword warning the reader that the general tone of the comet might be shocking. >> during his lifetime, tintin's creator clearly distanced himself from racism in his books, and children nowadays are already reading a version that has been censored in many places. in their imaginations, they can form their own image of congo and its people. kosovo is not a country in its own right, say the serbs who refuse to recognize its borders.

so they must rely on the european union to maintain their sovereignty. the eu has deployed its so- called ulex mission to the region, but the men and women are struggling to be taken seriously. >> sonya and robyn are heading for work in of kosovo. they are germans working for eu border police in the region. a helicopter takes them to their 48-hour shift on the border. >> normally, you get in the car and go to work and start working. everything is a bit more complicated. the eu pays 4000 euros an hour for the rented helicopter. aircraft rather than police cars are used here. since costs of a became independent four years ago, and eu mission has been active here -- since kosovo became independent. the mission includes police and

customs officials. >> as for now, there has not been much to do. there have not been many pedestrians or cars coming over. >> it sounds like a dream job, but it is actually a sign of tension. some 30,000 serbs live along the border. they do not recognize kosovo as an independent country. the dispute has become increasingly fractious since the summer. radical serbs have positioned themselves near the border checkpoint and are deciding who can cross. officers from the e you are not allowed over. that is because the europeans are bringing kosovan police and the albanian minority, aimed at showing the serbs that there is a real border here. but serbs are unwilling to run the risk of having an ethnic albanian stamp their passports. no serbs come to the country

this way, not even bus drivers. they wait here along the smugglers route, just a short distance from the border crossing. >> we will cross there again when they take away the container from the customs officers. >> people cross the border illegally because they do not accept it. bus drivers drop them off around a kilometers walk away. >> i do this every day. you should see when it is cold in the morning. >> they are forced to do this because radical serb leaders refused to accept the border. the serbian and kosoan governments have been negotiating for months. >> like this will only ever be sorted politically. the idea of force or anything is just nonsense, quite frankly.

it has to be political and bilateral political solution. at the north coast of a town with the largest number of ethnic serbs is just half an hour away. the bus from the border is headed here. there are many signs indicating that medical science hold the mission responsible for the situation. there is a barricade on the bridge between the serbian and albanian parts of town. reconciliation seems even further away than brussels, even after three years of eu operations in the region that have cost more than 400 million euros. it is the eu's biggest foreign mission. but there is now more attention than before. even on the bridge over the river. at albany and provokes by trying to cross over to the serbian side. the police have trouble stopping him. in costs above -- in kosovo's

capital, the albanian-dominated government is also dissatisfied with the results of the mission. >> i do not think that the purpose was to be extremely popular. we are here to do a job. we are trying our best to do that, and we are in trott -- we are trying to improve the capacity of the local institution. >> in the north, eu police officers on the allison is trying to check the documents of serves on a train. there are four e u police officers for two cars packed with serbs who do not accept their authority. >> just from the body language, i would say they are slightly to fairly agitated. >> radical serbs continue to impede the officers as they try to get to work, making it clear the success for brussels' most

costly foreign mission is a way off. the health of tens of thousands of women in countries all over the world is at risk because of the french plant that made breast implants from cheap, industrial grades silicone. the implants have a high rate of rupture, and governments have advised their removal. in britain alone, some 40,000 women are affected. but those who want the faulty implants removed are not getting much sympathy from private clinics who performed the original surgery. >> these women are marching in protest, venting their anger on private clinics in london that fitted women with cheap breast implants. >> they owe us to take our implants out and replace them. we paid them a lot of money, at

least 5,000 pounds per person. we did not ask for faulty implants. we thought we were paying for general -- genuine medical grade silicone. >> women have come from across the country to demonstrate at the headquarters of the medical group once considered a reputable and expensive address for breast augmentation surgery. most of the faulty implants used in britain were fitted in their clinics. >> we will be going to speak to someone. i probably am going to borrow money from my friends to have surgery to remove them. having had cancer, i cannot take the risk of leaving them in. >> 28-year-old kate is one of 40,000 women affected in britain by the press implant scandal. in december, she had the feeling that one of her implants had ruptured. >> i was frightened, massively.

i wanted to be able to phone somebody and be reassured, and they did not do that, and they would not do that. >> when i said that my employer has erupted, i was told they would not accept a rupture as a diagnosis until i had got a scan, which they were not prepared to do. >> eventually, the young mother learned that her breast implants were indeed filled with industrial grade silicone, but no one advised her what to do, and for weeks, she was worried about her health. >> i blame the medical group for knowingly using the cheaper option when there are better and more expensive and plants. >> the americans, i gather, understood that these implants were faulty. in the u.k., the surgeons have been pointing it out and so on. >> kate has had her implants removed and replaced.

>> physically, i'm in a bout of pain from the operation. financially, it is going to be -- it has been hard for us. it will be hard for us, and we have a monthly payment now for the next 22 years that we have got to be able to find. >> experts from a government commission are now backing women's demands for routine removal of the implants. they say that private clinics often deployed poorly qualified and badly paid surgeons to replace them. but the british government refuses to take responsibility for the problem. >> i do not see that it is the responsibility of the nhs and taxpayers to fund something which the legal obligation and indeed future care obligation lies with the private sector. >> across the country, women are forming self-help groups. in the city of liverpool, these women share their experiences. susan had breast enlargement surgery 10 years ago.

shortly afterwards, a lump appeared under her arm. for years, she was told everything was fine, until an exam showed the implants had ruptured. >> totally empty. >> the former cosmetician is convinced that the silicone have not just migrated to her lymph nodes but circulated throughout her body. >> it is like a slow death. that is the only way to describe it. every day, you can feel your organs want to close down. you are constantly tired and depressed. >> we don't know, but we've been told -- >> the british government says only women who received implants from the public health care system may have them removed for free. for women who got their implants at private clinics, it is more complicated, a fact that has led many women to go public on a mission.

>> when the berlin wall fell and germany was reunified, hopes were high that east and west would soon become equal parts of the same country. 20 years on, the lack of opportunities in eastern states is still forcing young people to go west to study or work. the result -- in the houses. faced with buildings falling into disrepair, people in the city have come up with a creative solution. >> time to get to work. the building's residents are voluntarily renovating the stairwell, even though it is a painstaking task. >> this plaster is annoyingly a bit because it is softer than the paint. that is not exactly make my work enjoyable. >> but the motivation and team spirit are there and so is the building's suisse boehner, energetically doing her bit. it is the sort of neighborlyness that is rare these days -- so is

the building's swiss owner. >> basically, we are a very good community in this building, and we got along well together. >> that is just the idea because no one in this building is just a resident. they are all its caretakers, so to speak, and as caretakers, they live in a derelict buildings that have stood empty for years. getting them into shape and bringing them to new life. in return, nobody pays rent. just running costs. the rooms first have to be made habitable, but each live-in caretaker has creative freedom, and they all learn a lot about such handicrafts as how to lay tiles. >> i searched on the internet and watched you to videos, just as there are make a tutorials, there are tutorials for artisans, and i think it is great to be confronted with new challenges all the time and just try out new things.

>> the building's owner is also pleased. she lives in switzerland, and without these residents, her building will fall into disrepair. >> repairs would cost about 500,000 to 1 million euros. that is a modest estimate, and i do not have it. this caretaker's says it is the only way to do it. we were the lucky -- we were lucky to discover it. >> the concept goes back to the early 1990's. after the collapse of communism, there was a struggle with a population of texas and a high vacancy rate, especially in less attractive areas. the idea of having people care for the buildings was developed by a group of architects and city planners to protect historic the interesting buildings and revive city district. they brought owners and potential residents together to provide an interim use. >> the buildings are also a social project.

people are supposed to work together on them. the community spirit is something we checked out beforehand, to see whether they are not just looking for some fulfillment but are also prepared to cooperate on the building. >> 15 live-in renovation projects have been started so far. this building will soon be added to the list. first, the owner was word about the ground floor shop. now, he wants temporary residence for the whole building. this used shop fronts that need renovation are also in demand -- this used shop fronts. users can realize non-commercial project like this one dedicated to the history of former east germany. >> i do not think it would be possible for us to pay normal red. as a cultural project, we depend on various types of funding and their nations. >> one hand washes the other here, and they do it often

appear in the house folding organization bonds the renovators from membership dues and lends tools free of charge. ultimately, it is an ingenious win-win situation for both sides. the groups of caretakers have to show a great amount of team spirit, but that is not even an issue here. >> the advantages are that i am making something with a group, that we're working together, and also that you do not move into an apartment as if it were a hotel, where you have to worry about never attracting anyone's notice and leave no traces of yourself. instead, we are creating something. >> the projects have left their mark, and now, other cities in eastern germany have adopted the idea. >> this report wraps at today's european journal. thanks for watching.

until next week. bye for now.