♪ >> hello, and welcome to the "journal." i am brian thomas. >> here are our top stories. >> kofi annan says there's still time to implement his peace plan for syria, the clock is ticking. anders behring breivik is a declared fit to stand trial after a new medical evaluation. >> and germany's exports are forecast to grow by a record 6% plus this year. ♪

>> welcome. there is concern at this hour about the future of the u.n. peace mission in syria. special envoy kofi annan has been in the region today and says the peace plan is to love life, but the hard-line u.s. senators have been in the area and claim diplomacy has failed and that it is not time to give american military support to rebel forces. >> syria's key ally russia says troops are now withdrawing from key cities as agreed by damascus. that is what the russian foreign minister heard from his counterpart in the country earlier today. a key deadline expires in two hours for a cease-fire. >> kofi annan was treated to a raucous welcome at the turkish refugee camp. his choice of words was uncharacteristically terse. in a message to the security council, he accused syria of failing to send a required

signal of peace. >> one of the things we're discussing is the deployment of a u.n. monitoring mission to monitor and supervise the cessation of violence, and that is also something that is before the council. that will give us better capacity to monitor, observe, and report. >> kofi annan says all indications are that neither syria nor rebel forces are meeting the requirements laid out by the cease-fire agreement. eyewitness accounts but the death toll at over 40 on tuesday alone. still, the u.n. envoy is helpful. >> i believe we cannot say the plan has failed. the plan is still on the table. it is a plan we're all fighting to implement. >> kofi annan proposes to give both sides in the 48 hours to withdraw to positions spelled out by the agreement. he says a ceasefire is unheard

of, and he has appealed to both sides to the two u.s. senators also paid a visit to the refugee camps and urged international support for syria's freedom fighters. >> the only way to reverse this situation is by helping the syrian opposition to change the military balance of power on the ground. this means and delivering all of the nonlethal assistance that has been pledged, but it means doing a lot more. it means a concerted international effort to provide these great fighters in syria with greater capabilities to defend themselves. >> in the security council has once again demanded that syria meet the terms of the ceasefire agreement. >> with events moving so quickly, we're joined by our mideast expert. as ever, good to have you here. what are we to believe at this point? our troop withdrawals, as far as the syrians are concerned, happening? the russians have said that is the case.

>> both sides are playing games. yes, there are certain troops withdrawing from certain cities. but they are being redeployed to other places in the region. at the same time, the opposition is no longer the expression of people trying to defend themselves. the opposition is being staffed, being financed more and more by saudi arabia, qatar, and other states, including western countries. that makes the situation very dangerous and typical. we have different foreign forces intervening into syria, which means that we will see a protracted war going on in syria with very little change is to really solve this issue peacefully. >> you mentioned the help for the syrian opposition. two u.s. hard-line centers, joe lieberman and john mccain, have called for more help for the rebels. what do they have in mind? >> they want a regime change. we have to be clear and frank. this is not only to help the civilian population that is

suffering so badly from the atrocities of the syrian regime. lieberman and others want to see a regime change because the syrian regime is closely linked with the one in iran. they are friends. should the regime in this area toppled be toppled, and this means a weakening of the regime in iran. for this reason, we have to look at things from a larger perspective. there is a strong likelihood of either the united states or israel attacking iran, and for this matter, syria is in focus. it is not convincing sing american the senators criticizing the syrian regime for very good reasons but remaining silent when it comes to criticizing the regime in bahrain, which has crushed its own uprising in that country as brutally as the syrian regime did. but bahrain is a close ally of the u.s., so there's no criticism whatsoever of the bar any regime. >> these two senators were in turkey when this happened. the call for more action and support. briefly, turkey said it is

considering military action inside syria to help civilians. what do you think? >> the turks are very worried that this conflict might spill over into turkey, and they're ready to intervene militarily, at least into the northern strip of syria. but they're very fearful to be involved in a protracted civil war that cannot be won. for the time being, we're listening to rhetoric, not action. but things are moving forward quickly, and we might see military action in the near future. >> as ever, thank you so very much. >> islamic law is being given too much power in the new egyptian constitution. that is the ruling handed down by a court in egypt. the court has also suspended the work of an assembly in charge of drafting the country's new constitution. >> this rowling backs critics of the 100-member panel who say it is dominated by islamists. the judges say the body failed

to reflect the diversity of emergency -- of egyptian society with underrepresentation of christians and other minorities and women. they talked -- church and secularists feared the panel would be based heavily on the islamic law. to china now worry human rights campaigner has been sentenced to two years and eight months in jail by a court in beijing. he is a former lawyer who litigated on behalf of citizens fortune -- evicted from their own homes. >> she was arrested with her husband last year. authorities arrested dozens of dissidents in early 2011, fearing the uprising seen in the arab countries could spread to china. >> the chinese authorities wanted to make sure that there were no protests outside the court were the two activists were on trial. foreign diplomats and journalists were kept out of the hearing. but once the court had delivered its verdict, a spokesman read

out this statement. >> the court has found the defendant guilty of disorderly conduct and a disturbing the peace. she is sentenced to two years and six months. >> she has been locked up twice before. she says one time she was beaten so badly by police that she now cannot walk without crutches. the european union was critical of the new sentence. >> we are concerned and ask for immediate release. there is the deterioration of the situation for human rights defenders in china. we continue to follow these cases. >> ni yulan's husband was also convicted of of causing a disturbance, sentenced to two years in jail. >> the former u.s. senator rick santorum has abruptly suspended his campaign for the republican presidential nomination. santorum made that announcement in his home state of pennsylvania just a short while

ago. the social conservative has been struggling in recent weeks to compete with front runner mitt romney. the move clears the way for romney to claim the nomination and stand against president obama come november. >> german exports rose 1.6% in february, a driven mainly by demand from asia. the rise surprised analysts who had forecast a dip. >> a german companies enjoyed the most success in non-european markets, which could be a sign that germany's economic fate is increasingly in the hands of trading partners outside of the eurozone. >> the chinese are working hard on their economic expansion. but thousands of kilometers away in europe, some feel that china's rise will spell europe's decline. but the german organization that represents exporters says these fears are unfounded, at least for germany's economy. >> china's boom will help us grow, too. we will increase our percentage of world trade over the next few

decades significantly. asian markets, especially china accompanied german products and services, and we are ready to supply them. >> asia's boom is helping german companies achieve record exports, and sales of german products abroad are expected to grow more than 6% in 2012. >> for the first time in this country's history, we're going to surpass the two jaleel -- trillion euro mark for total exports. this is positive information. >> economists said that even though china's economy has been slowing down, asian growth is still strong enough to compensate for a shortfall in its demand for a crisis-stricken european nations and keep germany's export machine hu mming. >> let's turn to the markets. this is from the frankfurt stock exchange. >> traders here in frankfurt were very happy to hear the news about the german foreign trade, but it was not enough to

pull the market into a positive close. instead, the market got worse and worse as the day wore on. there was increasingly nervousness that surfaced again over the european sovereign debt crisis. specifically, people are looking at spain and the nervousness there was expressed in rising yields. that is a falling bond prices of spanish sovereign debt. and there was not that good economic news from china and from the united states. important customer countries for those german exporters. so all that made for a pretty poor start into this post-easter week. >> thank you for the firm of frankfurt. let's take a closer look is some of the latest numbers. in frankfurt, the dax closed -- where is it? seems to be missing. well, we seem to have some technical problems. so we will continue on with some other german news. >> here in germany, the new

pirate party and a libertarian free democrats are riding high in opinion polls but analysts say citizens are so dismayed with increasing government encroachments on privacy and freedom that there is a backlash against politicians calling for ever more surveillance. >> the pirates are pummeling the mainstream parties, including the environmental greens, with their anti-4, pro-freedom message. and that, even though they have internal divisions. >> it is not the pirates policies that have been making headlines recently, but their in-fighting. for example, about rules for party leadership. the discussion has been going on for weeks. but voters are not deterred. many view the public squabbling is evidence of the parties transparency, and they like the idea that the pirates of promised to approach politics differently. if parliamentary elections were held next sunday, chancellor merkel's conservatives would get 36% of the vote. social democrats would get 24%.

the pirates get 13%, making them the third strongest party. the grains slipped to 11%. the left party is at 8%. the ftp, merkel's coalition partners, recovery bit from their plunge in popularity in would scrape into parliament with 5%. that is likely to be a relief for the chancellor, giving her home for a national coalition partners might also be a help in upcoming state elections. the ftp is one party not affected by the pirates. right now, it looks like the new political force will be grabbing votes from the greens and social democrats. >> sports. it is being billed as the big soccer match. bundesliga reigning champions dortmund hosting bayern munich, trailing in the standings by a mere three points. >> a lot of fans are predicting this year's title. but whatever the outcome, this has the makings of a titanic battle. >> dortmund winter final

practice session at of the big one. iraq still a fair for teammates and head coach alike. they are aware of what is at stake. they want to be six points ahead in the standings come wednesday evening. >> these could be three very important points, but once the match is finished, this is and will not be over by any means. the experts agree on that. >> the injured dortmund superstar took part in practice, but the coach decided he will have to watch this one from the bench. but the polish national has been in marvelous form, with 19 goals this season. the third highest tally and the bundesliga, and he is eager for more. >> we're very difficult to be. that goes for bayern, too. >> the pressure is greater for munich. a loss will put them six points behind the reigning champions.

but the fans are optimistic. >> dortmund will be tough, but our prospects are good. the way we're playing, we will win. we have managed to get within three points, so i am optimistic we will overtake dortmund. >> we will see how that goes. and we will be back in one minute. >> stick around. ♪ ♪

>> welcome back. in a major turnaround, and the psychiatric report found that anders behring breivik, the man church would massacring dozens in norway last july, is sane and can face trial. >> this means that anders behring breivik can be held criminally responsible for his actions. the initial report sparked a public outcry, prompting the court to order a second evaluation. he will now face trial as early as next week. that has been hailed by many norwegians. >> the experts say anders behring breivik is not mentally ill and so can be held to account for his actions in a

criminal court. the document was the result of weeks of observations and examinations. >> we have additional information. we had more time. and we have also done a lot of second metric testing. >> an earlier report said anders behring breivik was suffering from schizophrenia and so was not criminally responsible. his lawyer said he was pleased to be found sane. >> he is satisfied with this report. he contenders -- he considers himself to be of sound mind. >> on july 22, he planted a bomb in also oppose the government quarter and shot and killed 69 people, many teenagers, at an island summer camp run by norway's social democratic party. is rampage left 77 people dead. alexandra was on the island. alexander -- anders behring breivik shot her in the leg, but she survived. she says it is important that he was found unfit to have a trial. she hopes justice will be done.

>> there are those days and i am really sad, but i try not to think so much about it. but i am thinking that if i think about it too much, then he wins. in i am not letting him win. >> the trial will be an ordeal for survival's and relatives of the victims. privet's lawyers says the mass murder plans to tell the court he regrets not going further with his killing campaign. >> for more, let's go live to our correspondent. first of all, this unexpected finding really throws this case into a spin, doesn't it? >> it does. i mean, you have two conflicting psychiatric reports. one claiming his paranoid schizophrenic. and the one from today that says he is not psychotic. this opens now for the prosecution to change the current indictment, which recommends that he be sent to a mental institution. instead, now the can change that

to a 21-year sentence in prison. >> quite a difference. how have the family's been reacting? >> there's a sense of relief. even though the conclusion was partly expected because it was the victim's rights lawyers which argued for a new report -- there were dissatisfied with the one from november. but you sense now that there is a feeling justice will be served in a different way now, and the victims say that the trial be even more important when it begins. >> yes, it will become more important. will this trial address the possibility, as many in norway hope, that anders behring breivik had outside help? >> it is not expected to focus on the cells he has been talking about in connection with that night. but he will be addressing his ideology in this case. he believes he is fighting a crusade against the islamic conversation and or in europe,

and that is why he did his attacks on the government, because they're responsible for multi-cultural is a bit of this report is exactly what he wanted. it says he is sane, and it shows that his ideology is stronger. >> thank you so much for the update from stockholm. to poland which has been marking the second anniversary of a plane crash that killed the then-president and many top political and military leaders. they were traveling to russia to mark the massacre of polish officers by soviet secret police and world war ii when the aircraft there were traveling in came down. >> because of this crash is still hotly disputed in poland, and the issue cast a shadow on evens to remember the victims today. >> the prime minister led the ceremony that took place at 8:41 a.m., the exact time the plane

crash two years ago. the president in 95 others died in the accident in western russia. many from poland's military and political elite were also among the dead. in a private ceremony, the president's daughter laid a wreath at her father's grave at the castle. as his only child, she said the day was a difficult one for her. >> today is very significant for me. the second anniversary of the terrible accident. it really brings back the memories. >> many conspiracy theories about the cause of the crash still circulate in poland. official investigations by polish and russian authorities when the accident on human error on the part of the pilot on -- and on the condition of the pirates plane. but the late president's twin brother, leader of the main opposition what justice party, publicly called the death of his brother's murder. it's party held its own memorial

ceremony on tuesday. a recent survey shows that nearly one-third of poles think they're driven controls caused the crash but almost 20% said it was a russian attack on poland's head of state. >> coming up, a report on the drought in botswana. >> first, a look at some other international stories. >> efforts to free nine miners trapped in a copper mine in peru are continuing. there have been stuck about 250 meters underground since last week. they're getting water, for a share, and food for a metal tube and can communicate with the outside world. >> the european court of human rights says britain can extradite the radical minute -- muslim preacher and four others to the united states to face terrorism charges. the men could face life sentences in a high-security u.s. prison, something they argue would infringe their human rights.

>> greek ferry workers are on strike, halting services to the country's island. the two-day work stoppage comes at the start of the taurus system -- a season -- the tourist season. there have been cuts since world war ii. for our next report, we go to the delta in botswana, the world's largest inland delta. the river takes seasonal rains more than 1,000 kilometers from the highlands and down to the swamp in the desert. >> the resulting floods attract animals from all around, creating one of africa's most diverse and highly concentrated wildlife habitats. but the earthly paradise is under threat. dwindling rainfall is reducing river volumes and rendering once fertile land is dry and barren. >> it is a maze of swamps and meandering rivers, an oasis in the hot african savanna.

the delta in botswana attracts thousands of animals. it is one of the last sanctuaries for wildlife, and it is an attraction for tourists. but the wetland paradises under threat from dust and drought. that is the reality now for a look guess. his fields lie 200 kilometers of bryant namibia. climate changes noticeable here. this land was only fertile for five years. nothing grows here now. >> 10 years ago, there was a lot more rain. just look at the soil. there are more and more droughts, so the plants do not grow that big. traditionally, we would abandon feels like this and clear bushland are forced to get new land. >> land for more and more people. the city here is home to 80,000, making it the second biggest city in namibia. it is not far from his farm.

the area around here is densely populated, and the city is continuing to grow. the city's water comes from the river, and farmers use it to irrigate their land. so the battle for water is a deepening on the banks of the river, and the temperature is rising. german scientists are trying to recover the future holds for the region. their measurements are part of an international research project. the estimates available point to less rain and a 7 degree rise in temperatures in the delta by 2100. >> when it the rainfall drops off, then the river's flood levels will draw, too, which means less water and large parts of the delta will no longer be flooded. they will dry out. that will destroy the habitat and reduce the diversity of species. >> and the farmers living by the

river are under threat, too. the people of his village have come together. the german scientists have come to demonstrate how the locals can meet the challenge of climate change with new farming methods. there is a lot of interest. >> do you only make small holes in the ground with your experiments? or are you going to take all our land away? >> her question prompts some good-natured laughter. the scientists have won over this audience. lucas, too. it looks as if his crop this year will be successful. sometimes small ideas have a big effect. they have started piling cattle dung into the fields, a practice that was not common here in the past. >> this way i can feed my family better. my father tried it with maize,

and it worked there very well also. >> that will not just be good for the family plot. nature benefits, too. lucas will be able to use his land for a long skirt. that means less land will be cleared from the river. these methods will not prevent the rise in temperatures. the fight to save one of africa's last areas of unspoiled nature has only just begun. >> some positive moments there in namibia. >> let's hope it remains successful. >> thank you so much for joining us. we will be back at the top of the hour of the latest from syria and the efforts there for the cease-fire. >> see you again soon. >> goodbye. captioned by the national captioning institute --www.ncicap.org-- ♪

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