damien: hello and a very warm welcome to focus on europe -- with some of the very best personal stories behind the headlines, giving you an insight into the lives of europeans from all over the continent. i'm damien mcguinness. thanks very much for joining us. on today's program -- in france -- surviving the trauma of the "charlie hebdo" terror attack. in russia -- surviving a growing economic crisis. and in germany -- back to school for man's best friend. france is still trying to come to terms with what happened on january 7th, when islamist extremist gunmen stormed into the offices of the satirical

magazine "charlie hebdo," and shot some of the country's most famous cartoonists. three days of terror followed as the attackers went on the run. paris was in a state of shock. in total 17 people were killed. "charlie hebdo" was a target because it had made fun of the prophet mohammad -- something which a lot of people, and not just muslims, still think is provocative and offensive. but the magazine has also achieved world-wide hero-status as a champion of free speech. but the journalists themselves are still struggling with the memories of the trauma, as our correspondent in paris found out, when she went to meet one of the survivors. reporter: zineb el rhazoui finds it hard to come here, to the place where her colleagues were killed. it brings back too many memories. the journalist was on vacation back in january. otherwise, she'd have been at the editorial meeting when gunmen stormed in and murdered seven of her colleagues, her friends.

zineb: it's sealed off, because of the police investigation. this is where we worked. reporter: she's trying to move on. but almost half a year after the attack, there are more questions than answers. zineb: now we have to refocus on the basics. why was "charlie hebdo," a little magazine produced here in paris, the object of such immense hatred and violence? it's because it represented something. and that's what must survive in spite of the crime that took place. reporter: like all of the satirical magazine's surviving employees, el rhazoui is traumatized. at present, she's unable to work. her thoughts keep returning to her murdered colleagues.

she was especially close to editorial director stephane charbonnier -- known as charb. he hired el rhazoui after she was forced to flee morocco, due to her human rights activism. zineb: charb was the brother i never had. he was really important to me. reporter: she can't imagine just going on without charb and the others. the columnist still thinks it was a mistake to keep on publishing right after the massacre, as if nothing had changed. zineb: like some of my colleagues, i thought we should take a long break. we took a few weeks, but i wanted to take a longer break to rest, reflect and grieve. toive people time personally, t al colctivy toeflect

on the future of "charlie hebdo." and to see how it could rise like a phoenix from the ashes -- while remaining true to the editorial line for which our colleagues died. reporter: but not everyone felt like she did. some favored taking a new direction. others immersed themselves in work -- like "charlie hebdo's" editor-in-chief gerard biard. he's under police protection, so we must meet him at a secret location. gerard: personally, i need this. i think it's a necessity, it's indispensible, to show that what happened hasn't killed "charlie hebdo." reporter: the magazine's staff are now housed in the offices of french newspaper "liberation." no outsiders are allowed in. editorial staff work under armed

guard, for their own protection. that's hard on everyone's nerves. cartoonist luzier, known as luz, is leaving in september. he can't take it anymore and says it's been the worst time in his life. the magazine looks much the same, though some readers feel "charlie hebdo" has lost its bite. relious cartoons have become a rarity. >> they didn't care before, and they shouldn't now. they should keep on provoking people. whether they change topics or not -- they must keep shocking us. reporter: but nothing at "charlie hebdo" is like it was before. during editorial meetings people used to laugh and joke around. now gerard biard says tempers flare easily. the staff feel under pressure to meet the public's high expectations. >> they became a symbol for

freedom of expression, and that's not easy to take. now some have the feeling that people believe in them and they must keep on in this role. but for some it's too hard, too complicated and they can't do it. reporter: "charlie hebdo" must find a new direction -- mainly because its editorial staff has shrunk. the expertise and popularity of its former cartoonists is sorely missed. gerard: >> we receive lots of rtoons, but can publish few of them. the bar is simply set too high. we had -- and have -- people whose tale is replaceable. and the problem is that we can't lower the bar. reporter: el rhazoui has also thought about quitting. but she thinks that as a muslim woman and a activist for human rights, it's her duty to keep

going. zineb: if my colleagues were killed for their religious cartoons, then it's out of the question for me to just give up. that'd be letting the terrorists make the rules of the game, through violence, and they'd have won. it's our duty as survivors to ensure they don't win. reporter: gerard biard, zineb el rhazoui, and their colleagues will likely have to learn to laugh again before "charlie hebdo" can get its bite back. for now, putting the magazine together is a bittersweet experience. damien: joining me here in the studio today is our paris correspondent susanna doerhage who did that report. thanks for coming in, susanna. you've done a lot of reporting at "charlie hebdo" over the years, and really got to know some of the cartoonists.

how has the mood changed since the attack? susanna: before, it was always very funny to interview them. there were always a lot of jokes. one of the cartoonists had drawings everywhere in his living room. you could not sit anywhere, you know? he showed us the drawings he made a former president sarkozy, and then he was walking like sarkozy to show us how he made the drawing. in the end, his wife came in, and she told us to go out because we were laughing too loudly. i think this kind of atmosphere is not possible anymore because there has been people murdered. it's not possible to live like that, to laugh like that. damien: it is such a traumatic experience. i guess they cannot live normal

lives now. do they live under security measures you can susanna: they have the highest degree that exist in france of security measures, but the gentlest themselves -- one wanted to give interviews also outside, to talk quite normally, but i have never seen policemen be so concentrated. i think they tried to do everything that now these people will be protected because they were not protected before. the policeman who were with them , sometimes they were even laughing with them or doing other things and not really thinking of how to protect them. damien: because you knew the cartoonists, it has got to be a painful experience or you, too. thanks for coming in. for many "charlie hebdo" has become the ultimate symbol for free speech. but others believe that the magazine simply insults minorities, who already have a hard time in france.

let me know what you think by getting in touch. earlier this month the g-7 agreed to stop using fossil fuels by the end of this century. but one small danish island has already pretty much hit that goal. samso uses only renewable forms of energy, such as solar and wind, for all its household energy needs. and more interesting still, this isn't some impractical hippy green dream -- but rather a lucrative business. reporter: the danish island of samso in the kattegat. the 3700 residents are almost self-sufficient -- an achievement that has cost them around 100 million euros. the energy switch has been funded in part by subsidies, but mainly local authorities and the residents themselves. including soren hermansen. soren: we are producing much more electricity then we are consuming. reporter: scattered around the island are renewable energy units, such as solar panels

. residents could afford to invest in them -- and did. and so did local government. jorgen tranberg is a dairy farmer. 15 years ago, he invested some 2.5 million euros in an even more lucrative source of renewable energy -- wind turbines. jorgen: all people from the island who wanted to buy shares in wind turbines was able to. everyone who has a share earns money and thinks, oh, they are nice. you see? that's the point. reporter: there's also no shortage of biomass energy being generated, thanks to this wood chip-fired heating plant in the north of the island and all the straw produced down on the farms in the south. district heating units then deliver hot water to households. 80% of households now use this system. >> the math is very simple.

if we used oil we'd be paying the oil sheiks 2.5 million euros a year. this way we only have to pay farmers half a million euros worth of straw. reporter: but there's one problem that the islanders still haven't solved and that's traffic. trucks, tractors, and ferries still use gasoline or diesel. but a switch is under way. this is a new ferry operated by locals that runs on liquid natural gas. construction has just finished on a filling station that's the only one of its kind in europe. community representative carsten kruse regularly shows visitors around. carsten: it's very exciting. samso is a small island in the center of denmark and of course we're very glad that people want

to come and have a look at the set-up we have. normally it's big countries with companies that do that but we're a very small island and ferry company so it's exciting for us of course. admittedly, the gas comes in tankers from rotterdam. three times a week. local authorities want that to change. in future, biogas will be produced from raw materials such as agricultural waste and food waste. and from rape seed. residents are invited to participate in the construction of biogas plants and to share in the profits. >> the role of the local community has changed a lot in the last ten years. it's become a lot more active and willing to support projects. the international interest in samso is a motivating factor. reporter: as for cars -- last

year a private association was founded in samso to help locals make the switch to electric cars. a private initiative, meanwhile, has arranged for sheep to keep the golf course looking well-manicured. a lawnmower is used for the larger parts of the course -- but at least it's solar-powered. >> this green innovation kind of created some inspriation new person who suddenly had a chance of leading their own project. reporter: above all, the people of samso have shown courage and commitment in managing over the years to work together on an exemplary project. damien: the last time i was working in moscow, a couple of years ago, the city was booming -- foreign investment was flooding in. and bars, cafes and shops were springing up everywhere. but not any more. since the ukraine crisis,

friends living there tell me that every day they see more of those same bars and cafes closing or good. that's because it's becoming harder than ever for businesses to survive: because of the sanctions foreign investors are pulling out; and with the ruble and oil prices falling, goods in the shops are more expensive, which means domestic consumption is down. so how are ordinary russians surviving? our reporters in moscow have been to meet a few to find out. reporter: sasha lives in a 14-square-meter room with his mother viktoria and four brothers. they share the kitchen with the renters of the other rooms in this communal apartment in moscow -- known in the soviet era as a communalka. viktoria has written letters to various officials and representatives asking for a proper apartment with a kitchen of its own -- but so far without results.

she's sent her eldest son to a school for military cadets, where he's fed, clothed, and housed. but she has to feed her younger boys by herself on the equivalent of 300 euros a month -- not easy. prices are soaring. now, she says the money only lasts her about ten days. bread, butter -- even sugar is more expensive. she saves wherever she can. viktoria: when my kids ask me if they can come home from daycare earlier, i tell them no, not until you've eaten there. i've even scolded them over it. reporter: viktoria says the rising inflation has nearly doubled prices, but her social benefits have not been adjusted. viktoria: recently, i was at the welfare office, and they said to me, 'look, crimea's being integrated -- that costs money. there's a war on in donetsk and the donbass, and they need money there, too.' so now, the subsidies for social housing have been discontinued.

reporter: here in the center of moscow's taganka neighborhood, social workers handle 700 families and single mothers. one social worker, alla, counsels the mothers, but her own resources are minimal. viktoria is a post-office employee, but she's been on parental leave since october. her employer gives her fifty rubles a month -- less than one euro -- as a child-rearing allowance. that won't get her very far. at least once a week, the women get together to chat and discuss their problems. viktoria: we used to get one food parcel per child at least once a year, but not this year. or we'd get a piece of clothing -- a jacket or sweater or shoes. reporter: alla explains that

hardly anyone here has any savings. observers have estimated that another ten million russians could slip below the poverty line in 2016 -- joining the ranks of the country's 16.1 million poor. >> i've noticed that many of the mothers who come here say they have enough money to eat, but prices on clothing have risen, and they can't afford anything for their children anymore. reporter: more and more university graduates are turning up to seek counseling. for many of them, unemployment is a new experience. among them is 40-year-old yekaterina. she lost her job as a speech therapist at a school in taganka because of budget cuts. yekaterina: my salary of twenty thousand rubles was divided up among the teachers, so they'd earn a bit more. apparently, my services as speech therapist are no longer needed.

reporter: yekaterina can still afford piano lessons for her own children, but she doesn't know for how much longer. her husband is a stage technician. neither of them have any real savings. the crisis is increasingly affecting the middle classes. yekaterina: if you could even describe me as middle class. of course, the crisis has hit the middle class the hardest. reporter: her husband tries to do household repairs himself -- even for the washing machine. >> of course, we don't buy our clothes in expensive boutiques, if we want to get by. we look for sales, even in second-hand stores. many of her friends are worried about losing their jobs. but few are prepared to protest. as times get harder, the government tries to keep up morale by fostering the impression that russia is strong. viktoria takes pride in her son

when he comes to visit from the military school -- even if they'll all have to sleep a bit closer together over the weekend. damien: i can remember when i first moved here to germany being very impressed with how well behaved german dogs seem to be -- very law-abiding, in true german fashion, and always seeming to listen to their owners -- unlike the completely out-of-control jack russell terriers that we always had at home in england when i was growing up. but germany's authorities are now stepping in to try and make dogs even more obedient -- making qualifications mandatory for dog trainers. to find out more, weve tried to bring some rather unruly mutts to heel. reporter: normally, jimmy is well-behaved. but when jimmy sees another dog, he just goes berserk.

>> zwacki! >> sit! sit! and stay! reporter: zwacki does just as his mistress says. but only for as long as he wants. and another dog snaps at the camera. dogs are only really man's best friend if they're trained to obey their man -- or woman. >> you can't do that on your own -- nor with advice from the internet or some tv show. you need a trainer -- an authority figure. reporter: dog trainers are in demand. more and more dog owners are seeking professional help for their pooches. >> i see so many dogs on the street that would jump on my dog, even though he doesn't do anything. i think every owner should be able to handle their dog

reasonably well. i mean, you don't drive a car unless you know how. reporter: in some parts of germany, a dog-handler license is, in fact, required. to get one, the dog owners have to pass a test -- with their dogs. until recently, trainers with no official qualifications have been preparing the owners for the test. now a new law requires trainers to earn their title through a state examination. >> most dog trainers these days have been through qualified training programs, and the current issue is that these qualifications are no longer recognized. that's causing a lot of frustration. trainerss are saying, they spent a lot of money, and they didn't get any support. often they've spent thousands of euros on their education, and now it's worthless. reporter: one such trainer is

kai volker. his clients call him the dog whisperer. he's taken on many a problem dog and made it obedient. but the new law means he's not permitted to operate his obedience school. he says the state examination is just too theoretical. kai: it's a computer multiple choice test. some questions are about veterinary medicine, which a dog trainer has nothing to do with. if i notice a dog has health problems, i take it to the vet. why doesn't the veterinary inspection office look at how i handle the dog in training and make their decision based on that? reporter: but the authorities defend the test, saying what's important is that every dog% trainer is required to complete an official training course. >> it's important so we don't have just anybody coming along, doing whatever they want.

it's in the spirit of european union legislation. some people might prefer every country to have its own laws, but if we want common standards for dogs and their handling, they should be identical across the eu -- or in this case across germany. reporter: many trainers and dog owners doubt that official guidelines will be any help to either man or beast. an obedience school with no certification is still better than no obedience school, at all. >> i have the feeling there'll be an enormous gray area -- people with untrained dogs won't be able to take them outside or only at night or something. training a dog is simply serious business. it's never amusing when a dog doesn't obey. >> chilly, come back here! c'mon. reporter: some dogs hear, but

just don't listen. >> eventually. it's 'cause we're watching. she's coming -- it just takes a while. damien: exactly how our jack russell would react. we need to get him some good german training. well, that's it for today. thanks very much for watching. remember to get in touch any time with your thoughts and comments -- what you liked, what you didn't like. you can get in touch via email, facebook or twitter. always great to hear from you. tweet me. i will tweet you right back. but in the meantime, it's goodbye from me and the whole team. thanks for watching. and see you next time. [captioning performed by the national captioning institute, which is responsible for its caption content and accuracy. visit ncicap.org]

>> hello, you're watching "news line." six world powers in iran are negotiating the future of the country's nuclear program. with a tuesday deadline for a final deal looming, differences of opinion remain. the foreign ministers of the six countries met for the first time in the current round of talks in vienna. all signs are making last-minute efforts to reach an agreement. a sticking point is the proposed inspections of