captioned by the national captioning institute --www.ncicap.org-- hello, everyone. welcome to the "journal." welcome to the show. britain announces the biggest spending cuts since postwar history. strikes and protests continue in france of a government pension reform plan. europe, as a whole, received good grades in the index by reporters without borders.

britain has announced sweeping spending cuts to tackle the country's record deficit. a five-year austerity plan was unveiled. it includes slashing billions of euros in public spending. the opposition, unions, and some retirement have warned that the harsh measures could bring the country back into a recession. >> painful cuts to social welfare are key part of the package. most apartments would face reductions of 25%. finance minister announced details of the spending overhaul in the house of commons. >> today is the day when britain stepped back from the brink -- steps back from the brink. when we confronted the bills from a decade of debt, and a day

of rebuilding. we set up a four-year plan. >> he called the cuts a hard road, but said they would lead to a better future. the opposition was quick with their criticism. >> the present government is saying that -- that is taking a real risk of the recovery. >> hardworking public service workers to bear the brunt. it is wrong. it is immoral. >> britain's have taken to the streets, activist plan further protest in the coming days and weeks. the government has taken a first step. the next one is facing an angry public. >> earlier, we spoke with our correspondent in london and after he was going to be at the hardest.

-- be hit the hardest. >> it depends on who you listen to. the government says we are trying to be fair. we are all in this together. the taxpayers will have to shoulder the major burden. on the other hand, welfare, cuts in social housing have been announced. you have seen building programs for schools being slashed. university fees are going up. people that do not have any private insurance or large savings, they will definitely feel like this will hurt over the next years. >> she was talking to us earlier from london. there is no let up in the protest in france. paris says is essential to deal with the country's deficit.

unions insist there are alternative ways to deal with the shortfall. they vow to intensified their protests. >> this french senate is due to vote by the end of the week on the way -- on raising the public retirement age. protests continue throughout the country. demonstrators blocked access roads to paris' airports in an effort to cause as much destruction as possible. that is having the desired effect. >> we had to walk with the luggage and it took about 30 minutes to get here. to the streets are blocked. it was really hard to get here. >> protesters also picketed france's zero oil refineries in an effort to disrupt the country's transport systems. authorities have sentenced --

send and police in an effort to end most of those blockades. >> it seems to me that we are starting to act like we are in a police state. repressing the social movement by force. >> with nearly a third of the filling stations out of petrol, the government says it had to take action. >> we will continue to break the blockade if necessary because the wide majority should not be have to be held hostage by a minority. >> the government has also vowed to take tough action against those who would use the demonstrations as a pretext to criminal behavior. >> the council of europe plans to trade mediators and lawyers

to help those access housing and services. numbering between 10th and 12th million, roma are europe's largest majority. the justice commissioner has warned that france may still face legal action over recent removal from 8000 roma back to romania and bulgaria. we will have more on that dispute. afghanistan electoral commission has brought out 1.3 million votes cast in last month's parliamentary election. the boats were invalid because of fraud and other irregularities. -- the votes were invalid. there were widespread allegations of -- over 200

candidates are now being investigated for fraud. french and german plans for budget reform are coming under fire. >> it is a big conflict there. germany's chancellor angela merkel coming under fire for being too soft. earlier this week, germany agreed to a french plan that called for penalties, but only after a grace period of six months. many say that she should have stuck to her plan for immediate and automatic punishment. >> members of the european parliament are up in arms over the sudden change of direction on sanctions for countries that breached deficit rules. they were especially disappointed that chancellor merkel succeeded to france. >> the self determined directive is an attack on the institutions of the eu.

>> there is a parts from the beach and some beautiful hotels, there is a casino. maybe we should [unintelligible] >> on monday and tuesday, the german chancellor agreed with the french president on significant changes to deficit sanctioned procedures. germany had wanted the european commission to impose immediate and automatic sanctions on countries that agree to the deficit limits. now sanctions will require a six-month grace period and a qualified majority of euro zone government. the commission president says the only want from progress on the issue. >> was the clear. the overall results must present a real change from the current situation. >> critics say the euro will stable honorable even under the

new regime in a week's time. the 27 leaders will discuss the changes in brussels. >> the german chemicals giant says the surest and not to be better than expected. the company has boosted its outlook for 2010. the global economy has improved. profits in the last quarter soared. for the year, it expects to earn 63 billion euros. much of that growth is coming in its chemicals and plastics unit. >> the strong forecast was like a magic potion. the stock market in europe on wednesday, they recovered from morning losses to end the censure -- and the session higher. >> this is what people like to hear. they are looking at a record year. we also heard the born and spent growth around the world might be slowing. this might slow business and the

future. that only prevented a share from going through the roof, did not prevent it from gaining. a competitor profited even more from optimism. the people banking on a more corporate good news coming in the next few days. there are already people to -- who are fearing that the market may be overheating. >> let's take quick look on how the market ended the wednesday session. it closed about half a percent higher. on wall street, held the earnings from boeing and delta airlines. up more than 100 points on the day. our currency markets, the euro

is continuing to add muscle against the greenback. who will build the train that runs through the euro tunnel connecting france to britain? the french engineering company is taking legal steps to make sure that it remains the sole manufacturer. also reportedly wants to prevent its german rival from building the next fleet of trains. tunics' ago, they ordered 10 high-speed trains. -- two months ago, it ordered 10 high-speed trains. germany's economy will have the financial crisis and recession completely behind by next year. that is the forecast of the country's chamber of industry and commerce. it expects gdp growth to be strong enough to erase all losses since 2008. the chamber says that 300,000 new jobs could be created in the coming year would strong growth

in the i.t. sector. unemployment is predicted to fall below the 3 million mark. >> reporters without borders has issued its latest report and the organization says that europe remains at the forefront of media freedom worldwide. six european countries, including the netherlands and switzerland, were tied for the top spot. it is a different story at the other end of the spectrum. it morocco, a journalist face persecution and prison for doing their jobs. >> he has worked as a journalist for more than 50 years. he is being both persecuted and taken to court. the government has barred him from working and arrested them. he says officials have found new ways to crush the journalists and morocco. >> officially, iraq wants to demonstrate that it respects human rights and freedom and the press -- morocco wants to

demonstrate that it respects human rights and freedom in the press. >> three newspapers have shut down this year due to court rulings and economic problems. the last case ended just a few days ago. all three newspapers were independent and all of them filed for bankruptcy. activist said the state is partly to blame. >> but government pressures advertising agencies and companies not to buy space in certain papers. that puts pressures on the newspapers. it can even silenced them. some papers just stop publishing. they have not been banned outright, but they have to shut down because they ran out of money. >> journalist hope for the day when the words that guarantee freedom of the oppressed become enshrined in the country's constitution.

>> the german government has agreed to raise benefit payments for the long-term unemployed by five euro a mont. the opposition slammed the increase as too small. the government is defending the measure and highlighting a new measure designed to help the children of welfare recipients in germany. >> the german government says its new education package aims to help parents pay for extra tuition for their children for school materials as well as leisure activities. the government plans to use the voucher or a similar system rather than cash to ensure that the money is spent as intended. >> for the first time, we have the opportunity to invest in children at the beginning of their lives. rather than paying out for a repair system later on when things are more difficult. >> but the government needs the support of the opposition to get

the legislation through parliament. it would rather invest directly in the education system. >> we want to give the money to local authorities and state government said they can open more day care centers for children and all state schools and so that social workers can get in schools that are faced with challenging conditions. >> she is willing to negotiate, but time is running out. the changes have to come into effect by the end of the year. >> pope benedict has appointed 24 new cardinals, including two germans. he is considered a strong advocate for the socially disadvantaged. he felt honored by the conscious

decision. cardinals are the highest ranking representatives of the catholic church. fifa has six -- suspended to committee members on charges of corruption. they had been barred from all disconnected would be sports until the probe is completed. the ethics committee has started the two and a world cup gold selling scheme. they're also investigating whether to countries engaged in collusion. a photograph of a john lennon and his wife taken just before the light musicians death has been sold at auction for practically 10,000 euros. the image was taken by annie leibovitz just hours before he shot and killed. the photo was sold by a private collector. stay tuned. i will be back after a short

break.

? the european commission said it will not pursue immediate legal action against france. this comes after paris amended its immigration laws. the debate over expulsion continues. those who have been sent back often encounter the same problem that brought them to leave in the first place. we visited home to about 7000 roma. most of them live there in poverty with few job opportunities and prospects for the future. >> it is common to hear french

in the romanian town. many residents here are ramallah -- roma. a large number of them have lived and worked in france. until july, he was in france. then he was deported. >> they came to our camp. we were not even able to pack our bags. they took us to the airport. they cater tickets and told us we are not allowed to come back to france for the next three years. >> in france, his family lives off the scrap metal and begging. they did not want to go back to romania. >> here in romania, there is nothing for us. we have nothing to eat. the french are good people, they gave us money. but here, --

>> officials cooperate with their french counterparts. this is the second time the authorities have supported the family. the first time was three years ago. but they went back shortly afterward. >> i planned on staying in france for three or four years to earn enough money for a house in romania. we need a bigger house because we have a big family. 18 people with children. >> some in the neighborhood have already -- and another house is being built here. the owners of this house are still a france, sending money. they say it is the only employment that they can find. out of the estimated 7000 living in this town, only 50 have a job.

>> we left romania once before because we cannot leave it -- lead a decent life here. i am 24 years old and i have three children. how can i offer them a decent life here? >> many years see that future elsewhere in europe, regardless of the restrictions being put on them. >> many countries find it difficult to accommodate the romas. the result is a mutual distrust and discrimination in nearly all aspects of life. some help to education to housing and employment. one young and gary and woman is trying to change that. -- one that young hon gary and -- hungarian komen is trying to change that. she is trying to fight for their

rights. >> i think is extremely important to focus on the question of what is going to happen to these people? why? >> 12 million roma cliff ne each year. many live in germany and france. their ancestors arrived in in germany from india. nowadays, many hold the u.s. citizenship. that does not necessarily make them = in practice. they often live in poverty and are unemployed, partly because they have been shunned for centuries. the debate about the deportation from france has calmed down, it shows how europe deals with its largest minority. >> they are traveling around europe.

the possibility for the children to follow the school. we must involve ourselves. >> this also applies to medical care for children. last week at a conference, experts signal that there would be more money. while they discussed what brussels could do to help them, discrimination continues elsewhere. children go to school here treated but they are not allowed any contact with their schoolmates. >> she is keen to help europe's roma.

above all, by achieving a decent standard of living. >> we are joined by at our brussels correspondent. thank you for joining us. why are they so often the focus of these discussions? >> it is not a new problem. the same can apply to any nomadic group. they are hard to pin down. they do not live by the normal laws of bureaucracy. that is why nomadic groups are subject for persecution down the ages. they lived in nature. they are a source of attraction to illegal trafficking, exploitation of children. that does not mean they are all bad. they are easily identifiable as a group that does not fit into society.

>> white -- has this dispute damaged relations between france and the eu? >> it's certainly did a huge -- it certainly did huge damage temporarily. that cost. in paris. -- the backfield -- the idea now is with france is agreement to modify its laws, change its attitudes toward the treatment, and this can be put in the background. president sarkozy is a material man. he does not forget easily. this will damage relations here in france for some time to come. >> there is a debate going on in europe about immigration and

integration. do you feel that there is concern there about this in brussels? >> i think there is a huge concern. a lot of the public sided with president sarkozy over his actions, not what people are targeting the roma. they recognize the problems that are being caused and migration into europe. but has become easier -- maybe there is some element of racism in not. it is definitely an issue that needs tackling. you are seeing a rise of far- right parties in main street -- in mainstream politics in europe.

>> we thank you very much for that. that wraps up beat "journal." thank you for joining us.