"journal" on dw. >> and i am steve chaid. >> the headlines. dozens are dead and several hundred have been injured in a train crash and argentina's capital plan is iris. >> being there in afghanistan, six people shot dead in more protests over the burning of copies of the koran. >> the u.n. nuclear inspectors say their mission in iran has ended with no breakthrough. ♪ >> restart in argentina, were at least 49 people have died in a commuter train crash. >> it happened in buenos aires. a packed commuter train slammed into a barrier at the end of the line at one of the city's busiest stations. more than 600 people injured.

>> there were reportedly problems with the train's brakes. first, this report. >> the accident occurred at the height of the morning rush hour. the train was packed with an estimated 2,000 commuters. several hundred injured people have been rescued from the wreckage. officials say it will be some time before a final figure is known. >> they are pulling people out from between the first and second carriages. there are survivors and there could be victims. but we do not have a number. >> some of the injured were treated on station platforms. the more serious cases are being brought to nearby hospitals. the train entered the station at a high speed and hit the buffers at the end of the platform. officials believe there may have been a problem with the brakes. after hitting the barrier, the train derailed. hundreds of thousands of people use the buenos aires underground every day, but the network is

beset by problems of overcrowding on often dilapidated trains. >> we have a reporter on the line from our buenos aires bureau. what do you know about the casualties and the cause? >> the bad news is that the numbers of dead will increase. many people in hospitals are badly injured with fractures in schools. there could be more dead during the hours to come. for the moment, more than 600 casualties. 200 badly injured. 49 dead persons. the accident happened at 8:30 local time this morning. the train came into the station, one of the largest in the area, and slammed into the barrier at the end of the platform. three carriages were driven 6 meters into the next two people flew about 50 meters forward due to the impact. many travelers were trapped. rescue teams, ambulances, and helicopters work for hours to

save people and brought them to nearby hospitals. >> ok, this is the third major train accident in argentina within a year. we understand that the trains in this crash where rather old. is safety being neglected? >> yes, this seems to be a problem. and the problem with the brakes on the train today, the transport minister -- the train companies says that it passed technical checkups yesterday, and everything was working perfect. on the other hand, eyewitnesses said they noticed problems with the brakes that earlier stations, so this has to be investigated. many people complained about safety problems in the old trains. this one from the 1960's. security features are old and lacking. many people were injured because they lack of security glass and the windows burst apart. very often, there is a lousy

maintain it of the trains, and the train companies and do nothing. too much money. this is a common problem in public transportation in argentina. >> thank you very much. >> to afghanistan now, where anger is still running extremely high over the burning of copies of the koran that a u.s.-run military base. ed least six people have been killed and dozens wounded in protest across the country. >> the protests began after afghan workers found burned copies of the koran in the rubbish of the bagram airbase north of kabul. u.s. officials have apologized for the incident and ordered in lockdown at the u.s. embassy until the situation stabilizes. [shots] >> afghan police fired into the air to disperse a crowd of part -- of protesters. hundreds gathered in kabul, home to foreign contractors, police, and a coalition military personnel.

death to america, shouts this man. there were reports of street battles with police at the demonstrations entered the second day. >> it is their right to demonstrate. we're also muslims, and we say it was wrong from the point of view of islam. they have the right to demonstrate. but only if they do not break the law. >> and there continues to spread throughout the country. holy scriptures are usually handed to police are given to a mosque. muslims in jalalabad are outraged. the copies of the koran were burned, they see as deeply sacrilegious. >> they have this respected the koran many times, such as in bagram, guantanamo, and other places, and they should leave. they're insulting islam and muslims. >> an official apology from the u.s. government has done little to calm tempers. many opposed the stationing of foreign troops in their country.

this incident has fuelled their resentment even further. >> let's go straight to kabul for more. "times" correspondent is on the line with us. do we know why the koran was found burned down in the first place? >> from the information we have, it appears these books were seized by guards at the detention center, a prison holding some 3000 taliban and al qaeda detainees, because they have been used to pass extremist messages to each other. it was ordered that these books be disposed of. some soldiers took it upon themselves to take them to and consideration area used for rubbish at the edge of the military base. >> this is another public relations disaster for the u.s. in afghanistan. we know there has been an official apology. is there anything else u.s. officials can do to make amends? >> well, the commander of all

foreign troops in afghanistan, american general john allen, has tried to act swiftly on this. he spoke on television all day yesterday explaining how this was a mistake, a bad mistake, and he went to pains to explain how an investigation has been launched. the outcome should be known as soon as tomorrow. he has ordered everyone of these troops under his command to undergo training over the next 10 days in dealing with religious materials in the future. the next few days, especially after friday prayers, should reveal whether this explanation and appeases the afghan population and prevent further violence. >> critics say that u.s. and other foreign troops in afghanistan are culturally insensitive. what is your take on that? >> well, i think that is a slightly unfair assessment. in my six years in afghanistan, it has been rare for me to see examples where foreign military

personnel have either deliberately or, what appears to be the case to become unintentionally been insensitive towards islam or the afghan population. yeah, of course, there will be incidents when you have 100,000 foreign troops stationed in the country. one of the real problems with the nato-led mission here is that the impression with many afghans is that foreigners, especially military, have been deliberately and sensitive to afghanistan's culture and predominant religion. >> all right, thank you for the report from kabul. the u.s. and france have strongly condemned the killing of an american war correspondent and the french photojournalist in syria. the state department calling it another example of the shameless brutality of the assad regime. french president nicolas sarkozy has gone even further, saying that "enough is enough, that syrians should have the right to freely choose their destiny, and the journalist deaths showed

that the assad regime must go." the journalists were killed during a government attack on the city of homs. >> a witness points to the house one was a french photographer remi ochlik. the other, american war reporters marie colvin. >> of the trellis work for the sunday times. the bodies are still here. the shelling continues. we need a ceasefire to rescue those still alive. >> 11 others were reported wounded in the shelling. the french foreign minister said he would probe the incident. >> i will try to find out the exact circumstances of this murder. it is another sign of how the situation in syria is worsening and repression is becoming increasingly intolerable. >> syrian human rights groups now the number of those killed since the uprising began in march at 7600. this unverified internet video claims to show so -- the

soldiers who have defected to the rebels. president assad may be losing support, but he is clearly not giving up. >> well, iran is refusing to cooperate with inspectors from the international atomic energy agency over its nuclear program. >> it is a sobering report from inspectors who just returned to vienna. they say talks were inconclusive and that no progress with the iranians was made. >> iran has consistently denied that its highly secretive nuclear program involves the development of weapons. despite the imposition of tighter international sanctions, iran's supreme leader says nothing will hinder tehran's atomic program. >> no and trends. international inspectors have been denied access to an iranian military facility. they suspect it is aside for testing explosives, believed relevant to producing nuclear warheads. it is still not clear whether iran is developing a nuclear weapons program. tehran has also refused to

cooperate on a joint document that would clear up questions surrounding the programs alleged military dimension. the iaea delegation was trying to find out more about all that, and they expressed disappointment that iran had not met their requests. >> we approached this in a concerted spirit. unfortunately we cannot get agreement. so we cannot get access. we could not finalize the way forward. >> speaking in tehran on wednesday, iran's supreme leader, ayatollah all of it -- ayatollah ali khamenei, said they will not change the nuclear policy, regardless of international sanctions are other kinds of pressure. this could raise is really concerns. government officials have long discussed the possibility of a pre-emptive strike against iran's nuclear facilities. meanwhile, tehran is conducting military maneuvers near the persian gulf. officials say the exercises are

aimed at improving air defenses around nuclear facilities. officials at the iaea say they still support constructive talks with iran, but for now, they have made little progress in coaxing to iran to reveal more details of its nuclear ambitions. >> and we will have more on iran coming up later in the "journal ," but let's talk about business news. ratings agency fitch is not impressed with this week's 130 billion euro bailout agreement for greece. it has downgraded the country's debt rating to c, the lowest possible level prior to default. a greek default is highly likely in the near term. fitch warned last summer that it would take this step to any further bailout deals included a big debt write off. that is part of the latest plan, of course, which asks private investors to take a 107 billion euro hair cut on their loans to athens. on to the equity market action

this wednesday. german stocks were treated for a second day, running in reaction to weaker than expected economic data. investors indulging in profit- taking in light of the dax's impressive 16% climb so far this year. stefan wolff sent us this summary of the midweek trading session. >> not only investors think that the rescue packagees for greece might be not enough to save greece from default. rating agency fitch downgraded greece to c, which means that the danger of default is bigger now than before. investors they now that the two other big rating agencies may follow. it has not been such a big surprise so far, because the few traders here also think that the risky packages might be not enough. so this news dragged to the market's down, especially financial shares have been hit

again. >> we can stay in frankfurt to look at the numbers. the dax ended the day down by almost 1%, 6843. the euro stoxx 50 down by similar amount. in new york, the dow pretty much flat, 12,956. the european trading at $1.3251. >> adele has done it again. a week of your cleaning up the grammys, the pop sensation walked away with two brit awards, the british music industry's top prize. her second album won best album, and she also took best female artist. ♪ >> song of the year. we're back after a short break. stay with us. ♪

>> dw on the internet with a new address and a completely revamped online presence. journalistic quality in 30 languages. insightful, the first, and in multimedia format. visit us at dw.de. >> vibrant and colorful. critical. entertaining. and profound. classical and groundbreaking. arts 21 on dw. ♪ >> welcome back.

what to do next about iran? the international community is again dealing with a recalcitrant to iran, a country refusing to prove to u.n. inspectors that is in a building a nuclear bomb. >> the team from the iaea has returned empty-handed from iran after being denied access to top nuclear officials or suspected nuclear sites. there are reportedly plans for new talks between iran and the u.s., britain, france, germany, russia, and china. but israel has also not ruled out a preemptive strike on iran's nuclear facilities. to talk more about that, i am joined in the studio by a member of the german institute for international and security affairs, the swt. thank you for talking with us. why did iran agree in the first place to meet with these inspectors that it was not willing to meet demands? >> i do believe that iran wants to show its principal willingness to call -- to

cooperate with the international committee and international organizations. it wants to show that it is not completely and entirely isolated. it wants to show that it is cooperating with the iaea in the framework for the safeguard agreements it has signed with the iaea. not less, but also not more. it is not obliged to give access to the military site that the iaea wants to visit. >> what happens next? what can the international community do? >> i believe the sanctions that have been adopted by the european union and other western countries go into force on july 1. i think these are very strong sanctions, and they will have an effect on iran. we can already witnessed that. they're already becoming very nervous, and i think we still have some time to wait, whether these sanctions have an effect on the iranian calculations. at the same time, international community needs to be open for discussions and negotiations if iran is prepared to make

compromises. >> what is your opinion on an israeli pre-emptive attack on iran? >> i am not sure whether israel would really attack the iranian nuclear facilities on its own. there are lots of targets that israel would need to hit that is not such an easy job compared to the attack on the syrian reactor and the iraqi reactor in the past. therefore, i have my doubts but also, israel has to take into consideration that iran, of course, would react. there would be ramifications. iran could put terrorist assaults on the israeli territory and other activities. at the time that israel would gain through the attack on the iranian nuclear facilities has to be waged against these ramifications. >> still lots of questions. as always, thank you for talking with us. >> here is a quick round up of some other news stories from around the world.

>> brussels says it will freeze almost half a million euros in eu funding for hon. the country does not tighten up its fiscal policy by the start of next year. the european commission said the move was prompted by budapest's failure to cut its public deficit. >> in new zealand court has freed the accused internet pirate kim dotcom on bail. he was arrested last month. the german national is accused of costing the entertainment industry millions in lost revenue, and he faces extradition to the u.s. >> divers searching the capsulized costa concordia cruise liner say they found four more bodies inside. authorities say two have been recovered, and women and a 5- year-old girl. the costa concordia ran aground on january 13 of the italian island italiangiglio, with some 4200 passengers and crew on

board. 21 bodies had been found, with another 11 people still missing. >> most of us know someone whose life has been touched by cancer. >> 12 million people around the world will come down with some form of cancer this year alone. >> oncologist and cancer researchers are gathering here in berlin this week to discuss the latest breakthroughs and patient treatments. >> half of the adults treated for cancer in germany survive. two million former sufferers are still alive more than 10 years after being diagnosed. but treatment has its drawbacks. for the long-term side effects of cancer therapies, it is the focus of the cancer congress in berlin. experts from germany, norway, and the u.s. are presenting the results of their latest research. >> we know far too little about the long-term effects of the cancer patient. i see that as a big obstacle. we can only treat patients well

and appropriately if we know about the long-term effects. >> radiation therapy and chemotherapy did not just kill tumor cells. they can also damage help the nerves and blood vessels and the heart. many cancer patients suffer from chronic tiredness long after completing treatment. it can significantly lower their quality of life. congress delegates are discussing ways to minimize negative side effects and new therapies that might cause fewer problems. expanding medical knowledge is becoming more important. >> we expect the number of cancer cases to increase, including in developing countries do to altered life styles there. people are increasingly taking of western habits, like smoking cigarettes, consuming alcohol, eating badly, and not taking enough exercise. this increase in cancers will be a special challenge for developing countries. >> but new cancer therapies with

fewer side effects are often expensive and bring additional financial burdens. even in countries that conference of health care systems, such as germany. >> all right, steve. some good news for travelers going through the frankfurt international airport. >> ground workers say they're spending their strike. the news came after the union confirmed it will restart wage negotiations with the airport's operator on thursday. >> the strike began last week, leading to hundreds of canceled flights and losses of 5 million euros for the airport. >> by wednesday morning, most flights are taking off on schedule. replacement personnel was sent in to perform the tasks of the 200 or so strikers. in may have failed to seriously disrupt long-haul traffic, but it did inconvenience many passengers. >> i have some problems with this strike, because i think the union is taking advantage of the

situation. i used to be chairman of the works council, but this situation is difficult to understand. >> the airport works council opposed the strike, making it tough for the workers to push through their demands. other smaller unions in germany, including a train drivers' union, have used similar methods to protect their working conditions, with some success. the pilots association has also successfully used strikes to achieve its labor goals. frankfurt airport management have been taking a stand against the gdf ground workers union. they are concerned that meeting the union's demands could set a dangerous precedent. >> if this strike is successful, it could spread across the economy. it would be like britain in the 1970's. >> management may ntb concern, but for now they appear to have the situation under control. >> some soccer news now. here the results from tuesday

evening match up sign champion's league play. a 3-1 win against chelsea. madrid only managed a 1-1 draw at moscow. the final will be held in munich this year. naturally, the home team wants to be there. >> but first, the team will be concentrating on a win tonight as it gears up to play the surprise success story of the tournament so far. >> two scores just over a year ago when they met up. but his team looked average in its last bundesliga outing. the alarm bells and started ringing at the club, and former bayern greats are upset about the current squad's away form. >> we have lost the league lead.

we only have two points from our last three away games. we have lost seven points. we need to play better away from home if we're going to achieve our targets. >> the players themselves say they are determined to turn things around. >> this has to be our final morning for the weeks to come, too. we have to get back to full concentration and motivation. >> it starts with playing tight and well. i think we had the sort of team that can score. that is important. in the end, we will have to prevail over two matches. >> bayern's task will be made it harder through the injury- p depleted squad. >> it is looking to quit his day job, it seems like u.s. president barack obama might have a good backup. the president has been showing off his singing skills at the white house. you can judge for yourself

whether he is stage-ready. >> the concert featured some of the world's best blues singers and guitarists who came to celebrate black history month. among the stars on hand, a blues master b.b. king. ♪ one of the evening's highlights was this a number from the rolling stones frontman, mick jagger, backed by legendary british guitarist jeff beck. ♪ and on "sweet home chicago," the chief himself joined in. >> ♪ come on baby dont' you wanna go sweet home chicago ♪ >> obama letter said the blues music speaks to something

universal in all of us. joy and pain, triumph and sorrow. ♪ >> with a backup band like that, little can go wrong. >> we know what he will be doing in 2016, right? >> maybe so. >> that wraps up the "journal" at this hour. thank you for watching. ♪ captioned by the national captioning institute --www.ncicap.org-- ♪