>> hello and welcome to the "journal" coming to live on dw in berlin. another fiscal deadline set to expire in washington as president obama urges republicans and democrats to compromise. >> the shocking plight of young syrian women. >> and leave our wall alone -- protests as real-estate developers remove part of the berlin wall.

the united states is facing another fiscal crisis -- automatic spending cuts totaling $85 billion are due to go into effect if the white house and congress do not reach an agreement to reduce the deficit. >> it probably sounds familiar from the beginning of the year when republicans and democrats battled their way to the brink of the fiscal cliff. now the language is not quite as dramatic. "the sequester" is the buzz word this time. >> but it could still spell big trouble for the u.s. economy and knock on effects for the whole world. alabama the clock is ticking. if no deal is struck, president obama will order the cuts known in washington jargon as the sequestered at the stroke of midnight. >> the case and taking to the american people and my strong hope is that we can once and for all these all this in a way that is equitable and a way that is

focused on growth, in a way that provides opportunity for everybody in this country who is willing to work hard. >> but hopes are dwindling for a last-ditch compromise. republicans and democrats are still a engaged in a war of words over who is to blame. the cuts will affect 1/3 of all government programs. predictions vary on how much and how quickly they will impact everyday life. some estimates suggest 1 million jobs are threatened. the military will be hardest hit. the pentagon will be forced to cut spending by 8%. the international monetary fund is warning that the cuts could slow u.s. economies. >> everybody is wondering what it means i of the sequestration takes effect. what it means is we will have to reevaluate our growth forecast of the united states and also our other forecasts.

>> the cuts would come into effect over seven months. if the republicans and democrats can overcome their differences, they will still have time to avoid the worst-case scenario. >> let's crossover to frankfurt and talk about those scenarios. >> cutbacks in spending will mean that the economy might not grow as readily as it was forecast to do, which could have repercussions here for firms. people are holding onto their money in light of this scenario. still, there are a lot of optimists who say that time and time again, and politicians in washington in the end pulled through to avoid the worst out of concern for their jobs but also of concern for the economy and the many people in the labor market. >> looks like the optimists may be returning to the floor of the

new york stock exchange, but there have been pretty disappointing figures out of the eurozone. >> the eurozone is not a pretty picture at the moment. germany is doing well, but a lot of other countries are in deep trouble, which translates to record unemployment in the eurozone. thousands of companies were polled, and the result points to further continuation of recession in your land -- euro land. inflation is down, which is good news, but it mirrors and the problems in the economy. the euro is barely holding on to that $1.30 level. >> the u.s. soldier at the center of the wikileaks scandal has pleaded guilty to 10 out of the 20 charges against him. >> he admitted giving information to expose what he

called america's disregard for human life in iraq and afghanistan. but he denied more serious charges including aiding the enemy, which could bring a life sentence. >> as an army intelligence analyst, bradley manning had access to large amounts of confidential information, and he's accused of passing hundreds of these files to wikileaks. he said he never thought the documents would damage the united states. in a statement, he said he wanted to embarrass his country. the information includes dossiers on u.s. diplomats along with videos of u.s. air attacks in afghanistan and iraq. some of these strikes are said to have killed civilians. prosecutors accused manning at having download the material from government computers methodically and on an ongoing basis. manning has pleaded guilty to 10 of 22 counts in hopes of receiving a more lenient prison

sentence, but prosecutors are so far refusing to drop any of the charges. manning's court-martial is scheduled to begin in june. if convicted, he could face life in prison. and a german tv crew has been attacked while filming in northern china. >> pictures released by ard television showed the damage to their vehicle. the journalists were held for 16 hours at a police station. the chinese foreign ministry says local authorities are investigating the matter. for more on this story, we are joined by dw's asia correspondent. who is likely to be behind such an attack on a group of people who were clearly journalists? >> local investigators would not find out.

we had a story that one of the five chasing cars appears to belong to to the local party poses secretary -- the local party's secretary, so i believe they must have some link to the government. >> china has put a huge efforts into portraying itself as a country that is opening up. how does this sit then with the image that it is trying to portray? >> obviously, the central government is trying everything to make sure that the image of the whole country, especially internationally, would be fine, but the local government does not care. they care about their own power and their own money, which means in case a foreign journalist team reports anything bad about the village, it would take responsibility from the central government.

the most efficient way to prevent it is to cut off the source, which means they will make sure that no foreign correspondents come into their village. if they were there, they would try everything to prevent them to take any bad news from the village. >> we thank you very much for that. staying in asia, south korea has urged north korea to end its drive for nuclear weapons. >> in a speech marking korean independence day, the president said p'yongyang will become more isolated and face deteriorating ties with the rest of the world if it continues on its current path. will google germany have to pay for citing news articles on the internet? that is with the german government has been trying to push through parliament. >> the bundestag has voted in

favor of copyright legislation that would force the search engine to pay a fee for extended content. >> the long battle has pitched big publishers against the giants of the internet. >> google is a big player in the news world. google news collects reports from publishers all over the world, and it does not pay a cent for those reports, at least for the time being. germany's governing coalition wants to change that. i of their draft laws passed, search engines would have to pay fees to publishers for using their reports. >> we want journalists and publishers to get paid enough for their work. the internet is really efficient, but the content that people search and save does not just right itself. >> the opposition says the draft

law is too vague about what search engines would have to pay for. the draft law says search engines would not have to pay to show snippets of articles, but they would if they publish full articles. however, it does not say what a snippet is. the greens said opposition is also strong outside parliament. >> german journalists and the freelance journalist association are against your bill, and so are well-known constitutional law professors and basically every copyright expert in the country. >> many net experts in the government are also skeptical about the bill, but the government has the numbers in the bundestag, so the bill passed. it is however expected to meet resistance in the upper house. >> the second chamber of germany's parliament is where we are going next because things have changed their in what could be a big way. >> since january, the opposition has taken on the majority in the

house, and it is trying to make the post -- the most of that new balance of power. >> usually, angela merkel's cabinet will come up with a law that will go to the second chamber for approval. >> today, the greens tried to turn that process on its head, introducing their own bill. >> angela merkel coalition may still control the lower house, but after a key regional election in january, the opposition in majority in the bundestag, the second chamber that represents the federal states. they are now using it to pressure the government. >> we are pleased things have changed. >> we want to improve things. regional governments often have to lead the way, and of course, we have to be clear in our position. >> one thing that both parties want to see is a minimum wage introduced in germany. as of yet, there is none.

with the result that some workers are so poorly paid they need a job and welfare just to get by. the social democrats and the greens took to change that using their new advantage, but leaders from conservative regional governments do not want to hear it. >> it represents the state's interest. it is my duty to represent the various interests and not to undermine the federal government -- it is my duty to represent bavaria's interests. >> in order for germany to get minimum wage, it would need approval from the lower chamber of the bundestag, which is very much still in conservative hands. >> a lot of political issues, and the political process itself to talk about.

what are the chances of a new minimum wage now being introduced? damage germany's social democrats and greens obviously feel the time is right to push a blanket minimum wage in germany -- >> germany's social democrats and greens obviously feel the time is ripe to push a blanket minimum-wage, but this is a highly politicized debate and always has been in germany. the government is clearly not in favor of a blanket minimum wage to. the government coalition parties control the lower house of parliament, the bundestag, so this bill simply will not get passed. it will probably not see the light of day. in order to seek a blanket minimum wage introduced, we will have to see a swing to the left in the government. it would need to be a center- left government in place, and right now, it does not look very

likely. >> that makes it sound like the shift in the bundesrat does not make that much of a difference if the bundestag still has blocking power. >> the two chambers of parliament in germany are diametrically opposed. the bundesrat is taking advantage of its right of initiative to propose legislation -- that is something new -- and it is going in the opposite direction of what people are used to both politically and in the legislative process. we have also just seen -- this should be mentioned -- that the fiscal pact the government was promoting has just been rejected and sent back to the mediation committee. >> we will keep our eye on that. many thanks for joining us. when will be back in just about

1 minutes time. >> yes, with more news out of syria. join us after the short break.

>> welcome back. the conflict in syria has been raging for nearly two years. some thousand people are dead and hundreds of thousands have fled their homes -- several thousand people are dead and hundreds of thousands have fled their homes. >> for some young syrian women, the war has not just meant losing their homes. it has meant an unwanted marriage to a man from another country. we go to our reporter in jordan to find out more. >> it is a big day. she could meet her future husband. her grandmother is there, her mother, and a marriage broker.

all of them fled syria and were forced to leave their belongings behind. 50 dinners -- a little over 50 euros -- is with the groom will pay for the privilege of seeing her to a -- 5day. she does not want to get married, but she believes she has to please her family. >> every man here just wants to get married. even men from aid organizations only give something if a girl was pretty in hopes that she can be married off. it is ugly, we are told to get out of here. >> arranged marriages happen often in syria, but since the war began, the brides are younger. some men are just looking for one thing -- sex. >> of course this is a form of

prostitution. she will only stay with him for a year or two, and then he will divorce her. it would already be a challenge if there was a 10-year difference in age, but how is it supposed to work if he is 70 and she is 14 or even 12 years old? >> this is the capital of jordan. syrian refugees are everywhere. an islamic aid organization provides basic supplies to the displaced who have almost nothing left to their name -- nothing, that is, except for their daughters. many mothers hoping new husband will support the family, but a lot is left unsaid. >> a father wants to maintain his daughter's honor. that is why he tries to find her a husband. that is his best hope for. >> of the international community, the united nations and arab nations, lived up to their obligations, no syrian would ever think of marrying his daughter in jordan -- marrying off his daughter in jordan.

>> this jordanian refugee camp is huge, and it keeps getting bigger. the camp administration says 100,000 syrians have already crowded into this place and about 1000 more join them every day. there's food, water, and shelter, and almost every day, there is a wedding. this 19-year-old has just married. his bride is his 15-year-old cousin. her mother-in-law has heart disease. she says if she dies, the family needs a woman to take care of her son, even if that woman is still nearly a child -- merely a child. >> married off young girls

should not happen, but she has reached the married age. that is enough. >> the syrians civil war has traumatized men, women, and children. thousands have died, been wounded, or have fled, and young girls have had to do things they never would if they only had a choice. >> the venezuelan vice president says that the country's leader is fighting for his life. president chavez has not been seen in public since his fourth operation for cancer in cuba late last year. >> the vice-president said that -- the vice president said that chavez sacrificed his help for his country. >> our commander is ill because he gave his life for those who do not have anything and never had anything. that is the truth. he is battling for his life, his health, and we are there with him.

>> no new elections for italy -- that is what the man who could order them says. he has been visiting berlin. italy needs a stable government, not a new vote, he says. >> meanwhile, the center-left leader, bascani, says silvio berlusconi has had his chance to run the country. >> in a moment, death comes to wolfsburg, at least in the imagination of a famous french artist. >> and berliners say, "do not touch our wall." first, here are some other stories. >> protesters in bangladesh have clashed with police for a second day. at least two people died in violence in the capital last night.

more than 40 people have been killed since the death sentence fowas announced last week. >> taxi driver was arrested over a parking incident. >> firefighters are struggling to contain bushfires in southern california. flames of to 10 meters have scorched 60 hectares of land in riverside county. residents are being urged to leave the area. many homes are without power. because of the blaze is not known yet. -- because of the blaze is not known yet. >> in 1989, removing portions of the berlin wall was something to celebrate, but today, people are angry. >> they are upset about the last

portion of the wall being removed to make way for a parking lot. >> the battle lines are drawn. hundreds of demonstrators trying to stop the wall being pulled down. the protests did manage to halt work for now. this is not just about the remains of the berlin wall. investors want to build offices and luxury apartments, but moving a piece of the wall crosses a deadline for citizen'' actions groups, who are concerned about changing the face of this part of east berlin -- a red line for citizens action groups. >> there's lots of abandon parts of berlin wethers buildings that are falling apart. if it wanted to build apartments there, they could. this is just prime real estate. >> the east side gallery was created shortly after the wall

came down. dozens of artists used it as a canvas to reflect on political upheaval and life in the divided city. it was recently restored, and -- at the cost of over 2 million euros. police are now putting up barriers. then work to remove the section will resume along with the battle to keep the east side gallery in tact -- intact. >> arguably no other living artist has addressed the subject of life, death, and memory quite like that of this frenchman is installations use photographs, clothing, or even rested biscuit tins to trigger personal association. >> dozens of his works spanning

30 years give visitors a chance to reflect on their own mortality. the subject matter is complex and difficult, but it seems that for the artist himself, it is nothing more than making a little work. >> christian boltanski said he knew what the installation would look like shortly after producing it. he likens the process to making manas -- mayonnaise. >> perhaps the chairs are like the pepper. we do not exactly register the object, but sometimes you can change the little things, and sometimes you can change the mayonnaise. >> it is an exhibition of that

debt, transience, and remembered. it is made up of 190 photographs printed on gauze fabric. they are taken from private photo albums and magazines. they show children, lovers, and families. >> the people are humans on this wall, and i really do not know who they were. >> he says it is a sobering thought, but one that is as brutal as it is reassuring. his work often revolves around photography, and sometimes it is clothing. like here in his last major exhibition in paris. the temporary and fleeting nature of his own art is intentional. >> this is not career art or for the market where you just do anything. for this artist, there is much,

much more to it than that. >> the exhibition runs until june. >> before we go, we want to recap our top story -- the united states is facing another fiscal crisis -- automatic spending cuts totaling $85 billion are due to go into effect at midnight tonight unless congress reaches an agreement on the federal deficit. >> the imf says failing to reach an agreement could spell big trouble for the u.s. economy and have not gone effects for the whole world. >> you are up to date at this hour on the "journal." >> stay with us. we'll have more news for you in about 33 minutes time. captioned by the national captioning institute --www.ncicap.org--