genie: this is france. time for 60 minutes live around the world to read i'm genie godula. these are the headlines. belgium marks the one-year anniversary of the worst terror attack in its history. blew suicide bombers themselves up in brussels at the airport and in the subway. a new nepotism scandal in france. the interior minister abruptly a probe isafter

launched into reports he hired his daughters for johnson parliament when they were 15 -- jobs in parliament when they were 15 and 16 years old. a congolese president sentenced to a year in jail for bribing people during his war crimes trial. resilience state oil giant petrobras -- brazilian state oil giant petrobras lost over $4 billion last year. details coming of it in business. it is french language week around the world. we will look at a new language made up of french and arabic and english. first our top story live from paris.

one year ago today three suicide bombers attacked brussels. the first blew themselves up at ae airport and the third in metro station. 32 people were killed and hundreds more hurt. there was a moment of silence in memory of the victims. of those who were killed were read out this morning at the airport accompanied by a single cello. momenttim spoke of the he lost his wife. whatny times i ask myself if we would have left minutes later? what if we had driven a bit slower? what if? but it happened. in a split second my world changed. from the excitement of going to new york together to the horror i found myself into.

i alsothat very moment started seeing the best in mankind. chaos, a totalf stranger laid his jacket under my head and stayed by my side. for more let's bring in our brussels correspondent meabh mcmahon. you are not far from the european union headquarters. there ande mood like in the rest of the city? despite the spring sunshine the mood is pretty somber. rather emotional. people are being a little bit nicer to each other. little bit more respectful when trying to pass each other on the metro. everyone remembering where they year when thelast attacks came out. many use this metro station on a daily basis because there are so

many offices around here. the european commission building is just up the road. we saw this morning as well a number of dignitaries including the king and queen come to this neighborhood to inaugurate a monument in honor of all of the victims. not just here in belgium but all around the world. since gone tohas the city center where a number of people have started to gather to listen to music and bring flyers to that square. people lay candles and gathered for a number of weeks to try to come to terms with the atrocities. later today with the citizens marched taking place as well as the prayer service in the main cathedral later in the evening. genie: in addition to the 32

people who were killed, there been declarede victims of physical and mental trauma. what is being done to help them? enoughe frankly not based on all of the information i have from the victims i have spoken to. uptims associations were set after the atrocities. we saw one man, a former u.s. ambassador to denmark who lost his son-in-law and he has been very critical of the belgian government saying they should have reacted the same way the american authorities did after 9/11 when the u.s. congress passed a very generous fund that was directly available for all the victim of those attacks around the world. all we have seen our talks and lot of pledges to set up a

effort for terrorism. they feel they are victims of bureaucracy. reimbursedot been and insurance companies are not footing any of the bills. now to the united states. a meeting is being held in washington for the 68 countries taking part in the u.s. led coalition to fight the islamic state group. ministers from those countries will hear more about donald trump's plan to destroy the remaining isis strongholds in syria and iraq. budgetlan to slash the means there will be fewer resources to stabilize the region once the conflict is over. we are just hearing from the pentagon that that u.s. led coalition is going to throw as activistsalties

in syria today say dozens of civilians are dead or still missing after an airstrike on a shelter for the displaced. a schoolist groups as that was sheltering 50 families was leveled by airstrikes on tuesday morning. west of the de facto capital to the extremist caliphate. 33 bodies have been pulled from the rubble so far. the former congolese vice president has been sentenced for bribing witnesses during his war crimes trial at the international criminal court in the hague. he got one year in jail and a $300,000 -- euro fine. he is serving an 18 year sentence after being convicted of war crimes.

give us the details of the verdict from today. the sentencing very quite a lot. the main character was the person who orchestrated the witness tampering. he basically steered it from his cell. using phones and coded language to coach witnesses ahead of the war crimes trial. most of those sentences were suspended. any additionalnd time in jail because of the prearrest time.

the most interesting one is his lead counsel. he was handed down a sentence of 2.5 years in jail and 30,000 euro fine. interesting one is his lead counsel. that was the most serious sentence handed down to a lawyer. he will actually have to serve his time and he will pay the huge fine of 300,000 euros which is supposed to act as a serve to and he will 12 months on top of that 18 year sentence that was handed down last july. are truly the first of their kind in the history of the icc. tell us about the deterrent factor. it is the first time the icc has handed down a sentence on witness tamped during. surprised quite a lot

of people that these lawyers will not end up going to jail. they were also not disbarred. up toould have been given five years. wastold because it tampering with witnesses from the defense rather than interfering with witnesses who were supposed to speak for the prosecution. how much this will affect their legal careers is unclear. i'm told he has found a new job for himself as the director of the tourism ministry in the would eatr hearing he receiving a guilty verdict on this case in january. there hask in france been another political scandal this time bringing down the

interior minister. he abruptly resigned tuesday and has been replaced by trade and tourism minister. just hours after prosecutors opened an investigation into a report he hired his daughters for jobs in parliament when they were 15 and 16 years old. simon harding explains. handoverlitical official rising bruno le roux's resignation after accusations of misuse of public funds. he is replaced by the x minister of state for foreign trade. >> i would like to salute your decision. the decision you announced yesterday to resign. your words were very clear that you acted responsibly in solidarity with the government. we want the world to establish your innocence and defend your honor.

>> his resignation came after a series of damaging revelations made public by a tv program. he is accused of hiring his teenage daughters as parliamentary assistants between 2009 and 2016 while he was a lawmaker. they were given 24 short-term contract in total, earning them some 55,000 euros. he admitted to employing his daughters during school holidays. >> they were given summer jobs. during the summer. >> the former interior minister insist she didn't break parliamentary rules but he is under pressure to explain how at least two of the contracts coincided with an internship and a pre-study course. the financial prosecutor opens an investigation into the affair.

the revelations bear a striking resemblance to a series of scandals that have damaged the candidacy of francois fillon. this week we are language.g the french we will take a look at a new language on the rise that is made up of french in part but also arabic and english. languagethis report from our tn beirut. translation, hello how are you. idiom which mixes french english and arabic was repeated throughout the evening. lebanese who works for an american country speaks it fluently. it's part of everyday life. i think overall it is positive because english is starting to

replace every language in lebanon. this is a way of keeping french in everyday language. >> this year the secretary of state chose beirut to celebrate the event with a the theme of arts and technology. >> french is a living language. today's event is proof of that. we can have technical terms taken from english and certain phrases from arabic and it's natural. mathematics and science are taught in french or english. it has decreased slightly against english. 61% in schools today as opposed to 65% 15 years ago. the trend is clear in higher education. francophone institutions retain their prestige.

the majority of new institutions opt for english. today everyone in our region speaks english along with arabic. the lebanese have an advantage. the fact that they speak both french and english gives them extra value in the labor market. there are often recruited from the gulf countries because they are also francophone. >> lebanon has the highest number of students in french curricula out side of france. there is no doubt the language is alive and well. genie: time for a business update with brian quinn. he will start today with some major lawsuits at resells state oil company. >> it is only the latest scandal. the petrobras corruption case centering around kickbacks to political leaders and executives. that has led to the imprisonment of a number of politicians.

say the company .ost over $4.2 billion in 2016 there was a silver lining. as the company managed to turn a $700 million profit during the years final quarter. these are really very positive very significant operational results. i would like to remind you our business still has significant debt. our objective is to continue to reduce the in order for it to reach a more reasonable level. we are seeing good economic news in france thanks to foreign investments. >> it is at a 10 year high with companies from around the globe building new factories in the country. injecting some much-needed

momentum into the economy. spanish planes, american tractor assembly, chinese manufacturers of led bulbs. all of these international in 2016. chose france a record year for foreign investment hitting a 10 year high with just over 1100 projects. head of a big chinese on the foundation stone of his french company with the prime minister at the time. a 100 million euro investment and 200 jobs created. he explained why he wanted to set up in france. to have products made in france is very good. of foreignamples investment, fedex has doubled its capacity in paris. spanish carrier has started service at charles de gaulle airport.

heineken has expanded. factories, research and development centers, 36 foreign companies have chosen to set up their headquarters in france. many are drawn by the lower labor costs. the cost of labor was too high in comparison with germany. thanks to the competitiveness we are now on the same level. maybe even a little cheaper. >> the biggest foreign investor is germany with 17% closely followed by the u.s. and italy. european countries represent 60% of all foreign investment. the biggest sectors receiving that investment are in manufacturing and the service industry. in total foreign firms have created 30 million jobs in france in 2016. genie: for the markets today? wall street took a beating

day with consumer confidence cemented evaporate. mines and banks leading the way across the board. downrankfurt and dad spoke at midday after asian shares posted their worst losses in monster in wednesday trading. it looks like the trump administration is having a positive effect on an unexpected sector of the u.s. economy. one industry is seeing a tangible boost from the new president. posterboard sales skyrocketed in the u.s. during the final week of january as women's marches across the country do -- drew protesters with homemade signs. pink markers also seeing a major

boost. keep an eye on the administration in the news and invest wisely and craft companies. genie: thank you, brian quinn. time for the press review. lots of focus in belgium. papers are marking the first anniversary of the terrorist attacks that left 32 people dead. special is a five day on the commemorations. we had a tax in belgium that left the country in mourning. the families of those who died have a message of hope today. win life that will always in the end. the message of hope starkly contrasting with the editorial

which is much darker. it asks, what if their hate has contaminated us? one year later it seems like the dark side of the world has gotten either. society is divided. there is climate of suspicion. islamophobia is on the rise. westernast year democracies have seen their fault lines widen. we're living in an era of donald trump. it tries to look at where the solutions to fill in those gaps. the solution is education, culture and focusing on fundamental values that unite us to make sure the worst is not yet to come. belgian media have been going over these events for about a week. some papers have commemorations 15. -- fatigue.

yes toof people answered a poll asking, are we excessively commemorating the attacks? thought we were doing too much, particularly politicians. this article comes back on criticism. a lot of people accuse politicians of trying to exploit this tragedy for personal gain. this article says the media has been accused of exploiting the pain of victim to sell articles. this article quotes the partner of one of the victims from the attack says it's important to run for what happened but we want the media circus to end so we can get back to building our lives. focusing ons are another political scandal in france.

the interior minister resigned hours after it was announced he would be under preliminary investigation. here's a pretty good punt today. here's the wheel of fortune. here's the wheel of misfortune. this week it emerged that bruno le roux had hired his daughters as parliamentary a when they were teenagers, paying them quite a lot of money for summer jobs at taxpayers expense. the daughters were given 24 contracts while he was a member of parliament and they were paid 55,000 euros of public money for these jobs which is a pretty sweet summer job if you ask me. echoes one scandal that has been plaguing franaois fillon. say the socialist

government is trying to set an example. his resignation came less than 24 hours after the scandal emerged. this message, bruno le roux is leaving and this is a message for franaois fillon. a thinly veiled criticism because he has drawn a lot of criticism for staying in the presidential race despite the placed under formal investigation over allegations he paid his wife and children for fake jobs using public funds. there's an interesting analysis piece in the business daily. franaois fillon says he's the victim of a judicial and media conspiracy to stop his race to the palace. even the president has been of exploiting the justice system. here. to act very fast

it's a way of putting a little salt on francois fillon's wound. they originally leaked the penelope gate scandal. it has a new article that is probably going to make some waves as well. >> let's take a look at this article. franaois fillon earned 50,000 euros for setting up a meeting. he said at this meeting between lebanese billionaire, russian president vladimir putin and the ceo of total. ins allegedly took place 2015. prudence team has said the report is fake. it definitely brings to light his position on russia. he has said france knaves to have a closure -- closer relationship with russia.

a lot of papers wonder if there could be a conflict of interest. genie: today is world water day. the day to raise awareness on universal access to clean water. >> there's an interesting article in an indian paper that says water waste management receives too little social or political attention. ins often an afterthought the problem is water waste management and proper water waste management is one of the most effective means of addressing the global water crisis. the world economic forum last year warned that the water crisis could be the greatest global risk faced by people in economies over the next 10 years. access to clean water is something we should be thinking about. there's an interest in cartoon in the china daily which talks about world water day.

the tap seems to be running dry. thank you for that look at the papers. thanks for watching france 24. you can get a closer look at the press review on our website. cócócócócócó

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