>> hello, and welcome to the "journal" on dw-tv. i am brian thomas. >> i am steve chaid with your business update. >> our top stories -- the new iaea report on iran's nuclear program has russia calling on it restraint as the west looks for tough new sanctions. the greek prime minister announces he is stepping down as the search continues for a successor. and russia's high profile mars mission is facing a lawyer with the probe stuck circling the

earth. -- is facing fell year. ♪ >> france and britain had joined washington in, calling for sanctions against tehran after the latest report on iran's nuclear program by the iaea. the oversight group says it has credible evidence showing tehran's interest in nuclear weapons. israel has responded by renewing its threat of military strikes against the country. and russia has called for restraint and has ruled out supporting the western push for sanctions. >> the latest iaea report on iran's nuclear program has heightened international concern. the most worrying finding is credible evidence that tehran had worked on developing nuclear weapons, at least until last year. the iranian president responded promptly and with familiar defiance. >> we do not need atomic bombs.

iran is a wise nation. we will not make two bombs for your 20,000. iran will build something you cannot respond to. morality, belief in god, and justice. >> iran's nuclear program continues to forge ahead. iran maintains its nuclear sites are peaceful, for generating power. but the iaea report contradicts those claims. the german firm in -- the german foreign minister says the international community has to take action. >> sanctions with maximums go. we refuse to discuss military options. >> france is also calling for tougher sanctions, as both paris and berlin look to increase the pressure on tehran. >> we will have much more on iran's nuclear program coming up later in the program. the greek prime minister, george

papandreou, has formally announced he is resigning, adding that the country will do everything in its power to stay in the european this is after three days of critical power- sharing in talks between the governing socialist and the opposition conservatives. he announced he was stepping down to ensure that the austerity plan would be quickly implemented. last week he called for a national referendum on the measures, an idea that has since been dropped. he did not name a successor. with papandreou's official resignation, what will happen next in the country, and he will replace the prime minister? i put that question to our correspondent in athens. >> all the latest reports seem to suggest that filippos petsalnikos, the speaker of the parliament, is likely to now take on the unpopular job of serving as greece's interim prime minister. outgoing premier george papandreou does not name his

candidate in his last address to the nation, but now the two party leaders were locked in conversations. the far right leader stormed out of this meeting, and it has been postponed to tomorrow at 10:00 a.m., after which time we should expect the presidential palace to come up with a statement officially naming who this premiere will be who will then have to go through a vote of confidence in parliament. >> thank you so much for that update from happens. as greece continues its search for a new leadership, italy is sliding deeper into crisis. and its president has now stepped in to calm nervous financial markets after the country's borrowing costs raised to catastrophic levels today. the president says urgent action will be taken to end the crisis and that there was no doubt prime minister silvio berlusconi would resign once economic reforms were implemented by

parliament within days. >> it is all over for silvio berlusconi, says this headline. the italian papers are clear, it is a historic event. surrender, says another. after three separate times as pot -- prime minister, he says he will resign as his economic reforms a burst through. many italians are not sure to make this announcement. >> once again, we're in the middle of an election campaign. it is very confusing. i do not know where it will take us. >> i still do not believe he will resign. i think he will find a way to stay in power. >> italians have plenty of reasons to be fed up with the 75-year-old berlusconi. his sex scandals that made headlines around the world. but now that italy's mounting debt is the issue, berlusconi said the reforms he wants will sort out the problems, and he is

determined to crush them through parliament. then he wants early elections. berlusconi has put forward the current justice minister to lead his freedom people party. but the markets still are not happy. they want a transitional government, not elections that could paralyze the country for months. >> let's go now live to rome and our correspondent who is standing by. president napolitano is now planning a very active role at the moment. why is that? >> he is the man who actually has a key role when there is a political crisis, according to the italian constitution. if and when mr. berlusconi resigned, and it is thought it could be as early as saturday evening, it is up to president napolitano to appoint a successor. this is normally a fairly leisurely process which can take days, weeks, or even in some

cases in the past, months. the markets are clearly not going to wait for italian politicians to come to some form of agreement. so there are urgent calls for new government quickly. that is the problem at the moment. there's an interesting development tonight, because the president has nominated a former european commissioner as a senator for life. this is a clear signal that he would favor a new emergency government held by this man. it does not matter that he has no parliamentary experience. he has never been an mp. but it is not necessary, according to the italian constitution, for italian prime minister to be a member of parliament. >> ok, thank you so much for that. we're going to go to steve. he is standing by with the latest on how this is going to impact italy. >> it is too big to fail, and

unfortunately, looks like it might be too big to bailout as well. european stocks plunged again wednesday after the spread between italian and german government bond yields widened the most since the introduction of the euro. interest on italian 10-year bonds shattered the 7% ceiling that famously force ireland and portugal to seek international balance. the surge in interest on italian bonds reflects investor concern that rome will not be able to pay the money back. italy is the second most indebted country and the eurozone, right after greece. intervention and the bond market by the european central bank had held interest rates down earlier in the week, but on wednesday, uncertainty about italy's future and it speculative pressure became too intense. >> with italy now paying crushing interest rates on its bonds, let's bring in our brussels correspondent. with italy in the midst of a political crisis surrounding berlusconi and the ecb running

at of ammunition, what can be done at the eu level to help the country? >> in the real short term, the idea is for mr. berlusconi to step down right this minute. clearly, the other day when there was a wrong or that he left the market soared. that of course is a short-term answer. the other answer is that bailout fund would keep talking about. a meeting yesterday of the eu finance ministers failed to find a financial mechanism to want to leverage the existing fund, which is worth about 250 billion euros to one trillion. estimates are that it goes down this route, italy could need maybe 650 billion euros. it is a phenomenal sum of money, and everybody knows that this is the crisis we did not want. in other words, greece is its own country. italy is one of the largest economies. people eat -- people were saying italy was too big to fail. but tonight they are saying that may be true, but it also may be

too big to save. >> let's talk about greece. it remains at the epicenter of things as well and may now not be getting the net -- next tehran to the ballot. will brussels led athens go bankrupt? >> frankly, i cannot see how it will. but, of course, there are a lot of bluffs going on. there has been a lot of pressure on greece to name a new prime minister. then to get its government have national unity in place. and then it signed a conditional clause and the next charge about money. that is, yes, we will abide by even tougher austerity measures. and that is something domestically that maybe the incoming government, maybe it cannot go down the road with the mood of the greek public. but if they do not get that money, greece will default very quickly and markets will simply fall further. >> thank you very much. so, as stated, italy's record-

breaking bond yields and european stock markets plummeting on wednesday. we got this summary of the day's trading at the frankfurt stock exchange. >> when in late morning trading, the yield on the 10-year italian government bond rose above 7%, the stock markets all over europe reacted with a large storm. leading the decline for the shares of the financial sector. here in frankfurt, for example, the shares in deutsche bank and others were the biggest dax losers. people are concerned that as in the case of greece, the private investors in italian bonds might have to take a larger cut when it comes to some sort of restructuring of the italian debt. this concern might still be a bit irrational, but in times like this, investors want to play it safe. >> thank you for that. we will stay in frankfurt for a look at the market numbers. the blue-chip dax finished down

by more than 2%. the hero stoxx 50 indian down 4.3%. in new york, the dow down by more than 3%. 11,801, not looking good. the euro trading in the value of $1.3544. a german government panel of economic advisers is now also predicting that the eurozone sovereign debt crisis will put the brakes on german growth next year. the so-called panel of wise men says the eurozone is caught in a vicious cycle and then not even europe's leading economy will be able to escape. >> a big read for the chancellor, 300 pages in which her economic advisers bisect the iraq crisis and germany's economic situation. there find it -- and dissect the year of crisis. this year, analysts expect

robust economic growth of 3%. 2012 will be slower, with the economy growing at less than 1%. still, they do not expect the jobless rate to rise to the report says unemployment should stay below 3 million in 2012 it policymakers get a grip on the eurozone debt crisis. >> in an age of global capital and monetary markets, anyone wanting to reap the benefits of open markets must ensure that any result in instability does not cause permanent damage. and that protection does not come for free. >> the report advises eurozone countries to transfer some of their debt into a fund that would be jointly guaranteed. but it remains to be seen which of its many recommendations are eventually implemented. >> profits at british banking group hsbc took a hit in the third quarter.

adjusted pre-tax profits came in at 36% lower than a year ago. europe's biggest bank was especially hurt by a rise in bad loans in the united states and the market turbulence, which is held back investment banking activities. the bank says headwinds in the world economy are hurting its results, but is making good progress on a global restructuring plan. now back to brian. >> syria looks like the area -- arab league's peace plan is not working. but at least eight protesters were shot dead in damascus by a a division and of the army headed by the president's brother. and human rights chief says more and more syrian soldiers are defecting in the country's moving towards civil war. tuber to now were thousands of students have marched through central london to protest plans and the conservative-led government to triple the cost of university education at state schools but the job by cost would put a college degree of bounds for many of the nation's

young people. what tuition alone at more than 10 of the euros a year. of the police officers were on the streets of the british capital to ensure there is a repeat of the violence scene is similar protests last year. a russian space probe bound for marses had any commitment fell year, raising fears it could come crashing down and spell tons of highly toxic fuel. the spacecraft could become the most dangerous man-made object ever to hit the planet. the mishap was the latest in a series of recent rush in failures in have raised concerns about the condition of the country's space program. >> the launch shortly after midnight was picture-perfect. the mission is to travel to the martian moon and return. but now, the 13-ton profit is stuck in earth's orbit. >> we have found its coordinates and are now looking at the real- time telemetry.

after that, we will reload the control program on the vehicle to make his second attempt. >> the mission is to take a chinese satellite to mars and then the pro ban ki-moon in about one year. there, it is to collect samples on the surface and return them to the earth. europe is supporting the mission with its ground control station. failrure would be a major setback for moscow. the space program in russia has struggled. >> since there was little financing for state-run programs, including aerospace, many experts at the the left and the institutions or the country. and that, of course, has led to major gaps in the space program. >> the batteries at three days a reserve energy but that is how much time the russian space agency has to reset the computer system so it can continue on its journey to mars. >> how much of that threat is

iran's nuclear program? we will be looking at that question when we return here on dw-tv. ♪ ♪ ♪

>> welcome back. the united states says it is looking at ways to put additional pressure on tehran after the united nations released a report underlining suspicions that iran is seeking to build nuclear weapons. britain and france are calling for tougher sanctions against tehran, a move russia says it will not support. moscow has, for decades now, been helping iran to build its nuclear program. the country's leaders say it is strictly for civilian uses. >> it all began in 1974 in the port city of bushehr in the persian gulf when it's the shah

was still in power. the west stopped cooperating after the islamic revolution in 1979. the building continued with russian help. today, iran has several nuclear plants. plutonium is reportedly being produced in the heavy water reactor in iraq. this was discovered on satellite photos in 2002. the focus of the display over the nuclear program involves the enrichment of uranium. new facilities have been built in the north since 2006. the u.n. nuclear watchdog's in vienna has been negotiating with iran since 2003 and complains about a lack of transparency. in the 2010's, the u.n. security council demanded that tehran of its uranium enrichment program in the first of four resolutions. sanctions were imposed on iraq in's atomic energy program. but north korea provided

support. as did pakistan. the network was greeted by nuclear scientist -- was created by nuclear scientist. >> it there had been advances in the international regime to sort of limit these sorts the proliferation since this is happening, particularly with respect to the aq khan network. and the 1970's and 1980's, 1990's, it would be extraordinarily difficult to do many of the things that the khan never did in those days. courts in recent years, tehran has become less cooperative. it's a missile tests have caused discomfort in the west. western governments expressed concern that iran was not only developing the bombs, but also the missiles to carry a nuclear warhead. >> i think that the leadership in tehran has shown itself historically to be provocative, to be destabilizing in many

circumstances. but it places primary value upon its own survival. so i think we can rollout that extreme scenario for the most part. >> he is referring to a nuclear attack by iran. many analysts believe this will not happen. but western governments want to do all they can to prevent iran from joining the small club of nuclear nations. >> the israeli government has been turning up the heat on in tehran since the iaea report and has threatened military action against the country. but it does not appear to have support from key allies, especially the u.s., for doing so at the moment. right now, the focus is on possible sanctions against iran, although israel is keeping the military option very much on the table. >> a simulated rocket attack on tel aviv. security forces and emergency crews practice their drill in the israeli city. officials say it is pure coincidence that this in the ballistic missile test them at a

time when israel is openly discussing attacking iran's nuclear facilities. as israel really planning an attack or is this just saber rattling? opinion is divided. at the market in jerusalem. >> this debate should take place behind closed doors. >> whatever is decided, i think 90% of the population will be behind it. nobody's going to stick up for us. we have to protect ourselves. >> it is the right of that do have. this is not about a simulation. we have to wipe them off the map, otherwise israel will be wiped out. it is them or us. >> i am not happy at all. i have seen a lot of wars in my life. as a child, i lost my parents in the holocaust. i do not want history repeating itself.

>> in that poll in a newspaper, 41% spoke out in favor of an attack on iran's nuclear facilities. 39% were against. more than 80% fear an attack could spark a regional war. >> we should not do it. they will hit us with everything they have if they are provoked. it is not worth it. they would not stop until the last drop of blood has been spilled. like in the iran/iraq war, it will be disaster. >> the threat is ever present here. sometimes it comes from one side, then another. we cannot do anything about it. this is our reality. >> the debate about the iranian threat is not new in israel. what is new are the strong words coming from politicians and the media in recent days. >> with the iaea asserting that

iran has taken steps to develop a nuclear weapon, we go now to all of our from the german institute for international and security affairs. how certain cannon the iaea be that its findings are correct? >> this is the most detailed and the longest iaea report on the iranian nuclear program that has ever been published. and i do believe that the iaea take into consideration many sources, including information from member-states, including intelligence buildup and also its own information, information that iraq has given, information from open surfaces -- sources that are believed the iaea is relatively short that what she says in the report is real. >> much of iran's nuclear technology comes from russia. experts are on location. what is moscow's role as iran's partner and on the u.n.?

what russia is supporting iran with its civilian nuclear reactor at bushehr. this is the water reactor that hardly can be misused for military purposes. at the same time, however, russia plays a significant role in the veto power in the u.n. security council and often tries to soften the sanctions the united states and other western countries introduced into the discussions and in the security council. >> is is really justified in believing that tehran has a nuclear weapon and is a threat? >> well, the aim of sanctions is not to hit the population but to hit those involved in the nuclear program. therefore, maybe one idea is to look into the bank accounts of those people involved in the nuclear program and other research taking place in iran that is related to the nuclear weapons issues. >> there is a lot of talk right

now about tough sanctions against tehran. what could the country looking at? >> yes, i think so. it is hanging over israel. i do not believe that iran would attack israel with nuclear weapons out of the blue. but the crucial question is crisis prevention or crisis management. if there is a conflict in this region with iran or hezbollah or other terrorist organizations, it is possibly very problematic to keep control. moreover, if there's only one single nuclear warhead that would explode in israeli territory, that would most likely mean the end of the state of israel. therefore, for israel, it is really a threat. >> is it possible to stop tehran from making nuclear weapons if it is doing so? >> i do hope so. i hope the international community will keep its act together. >> thank you so very much.

and thank you for joining us here for our "in depth" as we look at iran's nuclear program. we will leave you now with the very latest news headlines. ♪ captioned by the national captioning institute --www.ncicap.org-- ♪