>> dw-tv -- at the heart of europe. captioned by the national captioning institute --www.ncicap.org-- >> welcome to the "journal." >> welcome to the show. >> coming up -- the integration debate heats up in germany as politicians clash over islam and immigration. protests gather pace in france. the government vows to continue with plans to raise the retirement age to 62. the u.n. calls on the world to act now before the loss of plant and animal species affects humans.

german president christian wulff has embarked on a five-day trip to turkey and its the heated debate about the instant -- immigration of moslems into germany. he is the first german president to visit the country in a decade. his trip comes just days after the german chancellor angela raquel said that germany's attempts to create a multiculturalism -- angela merkel said germany's attempts to create multiculturalism had failed. >> german president christian wulff depicted as a muslim on a popular magazine. it declared that islam had become part of germany. that provoked criticism from conservatives. the coalition partner supports his open approach. >> let me put it this way, it is key that germany develop a kind of welcoming coulter. the president described it with respect to our -- welcoming culture as the president described. with respect to our mentality, we have to become more

welcoming. >> a turkish-german also supports wulff, calling on him to keep the presence business- like. >> the integration of turks in germany will be on the agenda. they will be trying to seek a resolution, rather than making headlines. they could be disrupted by the noise from horst seehofer. >> they recognize the need for immigration. the debate is how best to attract an immigrant -- attract immigrants who can make a voluble contributions. >> the german contribution -- who can make valuable contributions. >> the german government announced they would try to attract workers by adopting a point system. >> germany needs skilled foreign workers like i.t. specialist from india. they work for i.s.p. -- an

i.s.p. in berlin. it would like to hire more foreign workers, but it is even hard -- it has been hard to attract staff. the german government is proposing legislation to make it easier for skilled foreigners to work in germany. >> we want to make sure that foreign degrees are recognized within three months of the original application, or that applicants are told which documents they still have to present. >> these measures are expected to attract an additional 300,000 skilled workers. in some business sectors, the shortages are becoming increasingly acute. >> for the moment, technical provisions are hardest hit -- professions are hardest-hit. technical engineers and foremen are needed. the government as an ambitious agenda. >> the coalition hopes the legislation will go into effect by the end of the year. >> will have more on that integration debate later on in this half-hour. stay tuned for that. turning your attention to france where the government shows no

signs of backing down, even in the face of massive protests against raising the country's retirement age. a blockade by strikers of oil refineries led to the shutdown of some 1500 gas stations. as france faces real shortages, president nicholas sarkozy has called a crisis cabinet meeting to respond. >> police clashed with writing youth in several french cities -- rioting youth several french cities as the riots escalated. police responded with tear gas. the interior ministry took almost -- says almost to wonder people have been arrested were -- 200 people have been arrested nationwide. >> i was scared. it is one thing to see on tv, but very different experience. it is really difficult. >> unions are targeting the country's fuel supply. for seven days, workers have been striking at all french

refineries. gas stations are running out of fuel, especially diesel. >> my wife is annoyed because she has a diesel. we looked all weekend, to no avail. >> the strikes are affecting rail travel in france and belgium. rail employees are fighting for improved work conditions. eurostar service between belgium and london is completely interrupted. an end to the protest is not in sight as demonstrators plan to start the country's airports and airlines on tuesday. >> earlier, we spoke to our correspondent in paris who told us more about the popular support for the strikes in france. >> there is a lot of popular support. the french people -- opinion polls show that they know that some sort of pension reform has to go through, but they do not want this one in particular. they want to keep the age of 60

as the retirement age. the latest poll this morning said that 71% of french people who were asked said they either support or had sympathy with the current protests. they're very popular. >> that was one of our correspondents in paris. the leaders of france, germany, and russia are holding talks aimed at approving europe's security ties with russia. presidents are cozy, chancellor angela merkel, and president dmitry medvedev -- president sarkozy, chancellor angela merkel, and president dmitry medvedev our meeting. ♪ moskow -- ♪ they regard this as a threat to security. our correspondent is covering the talks in france. we asked her what the three

sides want and can achieve on the issues. >> angela merkel and presidents are cozy tried to get -the russians to get- pres. sir's -- angela merkel and president nicolas sarkozy are trying to get the russians to build their missile defense. there united states wanted to locate one in the czech republic and poland and that was considered a threat by the russians. this is a completely different product. the united states want to make it an nadal project. -- and nato project -- a nato project and they want to include russia. the atmosphere might help create trust. merkel and sarkozy said this is a summit for brainstorming. they want to define common interests. this might be a turning point so

that russia will join the common mesaba funds with -- common missile defense with nato. >> i got the name right this time. >> it is monday. >> it is your fault. >> the big story -- the european union is working to convince the market that it has learned its lesson from the great debt crisis. finance ministers agreed to toughen penalties for countries that lived too much beyond their means. the new rules of the country's six months to rein in deficit spending before penalties are imposed. chancellor angela merkel and french president nicolas sarkozy said they want to change it to punish countries with excessive budget deficits. the notion of a change in the lisbon treaty is huge. the treaty was passed just one year ago. the agreement among finance ministers marks a compromise. germany wanted immediate penalties for countries without fiscal discipline. france wants punishment as well,

but it wants more time to enact. spoke with our luxembourg correspondent who has been -- we spoke with our correspondent in luxembourg who has been watching these talks. i asked him about the compromise. >> if there is an agreement between the 27 finance ministers reached in luxembourg, they say that there will be further sanctions against member states who are raising huge buffett -- huge budget deficits. many critics say this is not enough. fiscal france wanted to have a six-month time before they say that you are raising and illegal -- and illegal budget deficit and sanction them. these governments will now have time and a hand in the process to fight the budget deficit. many analysts say this is not enough. the commissioners should have the hand on it. the fact that the commission

could not do so is one reason why we had the grace budget crisis at the beginning -- the greece budget crisis at the beginning of the year. >> that was our correspondent in luxembourg. the electronics giant philis as reportedps -- philips as reported its profits tripled last quarter. it is pointing to growth in lighting and health care. despite those results, they offered caution in fourth quarter guidance, saying that the global economy is still weak. future sales remain unpredictable. shares of the company sank more than 4% on a cautious forecast for the fourth quarter. phiips could not -- philips could not hold back the rest of the market. >> the dax posted a small gain, but sent a strong message.

over 6500 points in the end. the last time it was that i was before the collapse of lehman brothers in september, 2008. citigroup, the largest bank contributing to the good mood, posted surprisingly strong quarterly results. a lot of people expect more quarterly results to lead to higher share prices in the coming days. others warn as soon as people get too optimistic, too many people get too optimistic, that is a recipe for lower share prices. they ended up higher, at the beginning under pressure because the pessimistic statements from the dutch competitor. >> let's get that check on the market ended today. the dax index closed higher by about 1/3 of 1%. the blue chips, similar story. in new york, investors ignored

fresh data showing industrial production was down 2/10 of 1%. the dow industrials ended the day by almost 1% higher. on currency markets, the euro is trading for $1.39. it will be europe's biggest ipo in three years and it looks mighty green. italy's biggest power utility, nl, is hoping to raise 3 billion euros from spinning off about 1/3 of its renewable energy business. egp has been valued at 10.5 billion euros. the price target has been set at 2.10 euros per share. it is heavily indebted. they hope this ipo will help ease the debt burden. >> german foreign minister has pledged his country will work closely with india during their

two-year term on the un security council as non-permanent members. reform of the body was under discussion. the top german diplomat urged delhi to sign on to the nuclear test ban treaty while adding that german companies were interested in helping india modernize its military. the social networking sites facebook is once again getting some unwanted media attention. the wall street journal reports that many popular facebook applications are forwarding information about users to advertisers and internet- tracking companies. this comes on the heels of a report in a leading german newspaper which pointed out how easy it is to acquire contact information for people on the internet. >> it does not take much to spy on fellow internet users, thanks to facebook. that is needed is an existing e-

mail address. enter a made-up birthday and registration is complete. facebook immediately displays which members have the entered e-mail address in their contact list. facebook knows who knows whom. >> facebook surreptitiously uses e-mail addresses of people who have nothing to do with facebook and possibly do not want anything to do with facebook. facebook molex e-mail addresses from its users, using its -- collects e-mail addresses from its users, using address books. this allows facebook to compile more precise profiles. german consumer protection ministers have stopped using facebook. one is calling for international standards and the application of german law. >> if this site is available in german, it is aimed at consumers. there was another company that breached the data protection

laws, and they stopped their service immediately. >> facebook had unwanted attention from the wall street journal, as it reported that a host of facebook apps, including farmbille -- farmville, or providing members names to outside companies. >> warnings of ongoing losses in nature such as the destruction of rain forest could impact humans in the long run. delegates at the convention were told the world must act quickly to stop a rapid loss of animal and plant species not allow humans to exist. -- that allow humans to exist. >> the mandrake plant is prized for its medicinal qualities. the species once grew wild. it has now disappeared. experts estimate 1/4 of animal and plant species are threatened with extinction. the conference aims to stop the decline by finding ways to protect wildlife.

measures to deal with the contentious issue of bio-par receipt are also -- by road- piracy -- bio-piracy are also under discussion. some of the materials are used to make medicine. this botanist says human survival depends on a wide variety of plant and animal species. plants are an essential force -- a source of food, oxygen, climate stability, and medicine. >> they might say we do not need every single plant. we do not know which one are the essential, keystone ones that hold us together. we need to keep them all. we cannot afford to keep losing them. >> the baldness has called on delegates to look beyond short- term -- botanist has called on delegates to look beyond short- term gain to the long-term

wealth provided by nature. there could be disastrous consequences to numerous species. >> "in depth" is coming up next. don't go away.

>> along with other european governments from sweden to the netherlands, germany is debating the role of islam. they're discussing tighter immigration policy and how to integrate muslims already in the country. the debate heated up when chancellor angela merkel said that multiculturalism had failed completely. the german president began his trip to turkey. he recently sparked controversy at the other end of the debate by saying that islam is part of germany. >> christian wulff, on the 20th anniversary of german reunification, in his address to the nation, he made his contribution to the integration debate. >> christianity doubtlessly

belongs to germany. and today is an doubtlessly belongs to germany. -- judaism -- leslie belongs to germany. it is our judeo-christian heritage. islam also belongs to germany. >> his speech drew positive reactions. he was seen as extending his hand to the 4 million moslems in germany. >> what do i think? it is wrong. >> it is good for muslims to see that they are recognized by politicians. >> it really moved me. i expected something like that from him. >> that was great. it was nice the way he said it and it was interesting. >> there was criticism, too. many conservatives worry that his comments. islam and christianity on equal

footing. that is-- many conservatives worry that his comments put islam and christianity on equal footing. >> if he means that islam belongs to german culture, i woudld say no. our culture is western christian. >> politicians maintained a consistent -- maintain the consensus that islam and christianity live side-by-side peacefully. the head of the bavarian conservatives stoke further debate by saying the german labor market by saying that it did not need more turks or arabs. >> that is my contribution. >> i think that or super has gone up in the wrong direction. -- mr. seehofer gone off in the wrong direction. we need an orderly debate. >> when he took office,

president christian wulff promised to focus on integration. the fact that his strongest critics come from within his own conservative bloc was not unexpected. >> what do ethnic turks make of these comments by the president that islam is part of germany and by the german chancellor that multiculturalism has failed? i put that question to someone from the turkish association in berlin and brandenburg. >> of course islam is part of germany with over 4 million moslems. -- muslims. what angela merkel said it does not make sense -- multiculturalism has failed. multiculturalism was the way of living in germany. it is the ideology. i do not think she understood what multiculturalism is. as does not make any sense. >> chancellor merkel said that

immigrants must do more to immigrate -- integrate and learn german. what is your response? >> you can always do more. i do not like the discussion that has such a tendency, as if people do not want to integrate or people do not want to learn german. it is not true. of course it depends on what you are doing, what is your education. how long have you been in germany? the younger germinate -- the younger generations speak good german. >> which the government do to improve integration for turks? >> they should stop discussion about turks. this is the first thing. the second thing is they should accept that german is an integration country. we should stay here. we will stay here. they should motivate us more. they should take us more into the society. people will then be motivated to do more for integration and to

be part of society. >> would you support a quota system like they do in the united states to get turks into jobs like the police force or private industry? >> generally, yes, but it does not conform with the german constitution, so i do not want to discuss quotas, but discuss what measures could help people to be official servants. >> what is the biggest challenge turks in germany right now? >-- facing turks in germany rigt now? >> the discussion if immigrants belong to germany, islam belongs to germany -- this must be stopped. >> we thank you for talking to us. we are concerned -- there are concerned opponents who point to

the deep difference in birth rates between germans and the country's moslem communities -- country's muslim communities and what that means for demographics. 8000 more turks return to their homeland and arrived. many of those returning to turkey are highly-trained. >> it is a natural -- here, she advises patients on relaxation methods and suggests the use of essential oils. learned her trade in berlin, the city she grew up in. the 42-year-old decided last year to move to her parents' country of origin. >> we are the generation who are realizing our parents' dreams. then they came for a couple of years and stayed for eternity. we're the generation which senses the possibility of returning to the homeland. with the knowledge that i gathered in germany, i can

return to turkey and be successful. >> the pulsating mega-city is on call is attracting more and more german tourists. turkey is -- make a-city -- mega-city istanbul is attracting more and more german tourists. turkey is making a comeback. this man says it is true for him. he is a lawyer and he now anruns a law firm in turkey. he said he was sick of the constant need to justify himself to the majority germans. >> i do not want to talk about it anymore. let them get on with it. if i see anything interesting or of intellectual substance, fine. when people say, used the good german, you are a lawyer -- you

speak good german, you are a lawyer -- i can only say i do not need this and i do not want this. >> as one of the world's great cities, istanbul is a magnet. does the city of capitalist possibilities for newcomers. -- it is a city of capitalist possibilities for newcomers. there can be a period of adjustment. >> i went to a government agency and i thought there would be a porter to tell me who to go to, but there was not. you have to fight your way through floor-by-floor until someone eventually tells you who to see. then they are out of the office. >> for many newcomers, that kind of experience is only a small point to the minus side. >> that those are "in depth" look at the integration of turks into german society. thank you for joining us.

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