>> welcome to the jnl. jrnl. >> scores killed in a suicide bombing in pakistan. the taliban says it's the first revenge attack for osama bin laden. economic growth across the eurozone almost trebled driven by powerhouse germany. the nation in mourning, spain remembers the victims of this week's earthquake with an outdoor mass. captioned by the national captioning institute ---www.ncicap.org---

>> at least 80 people were killed today in a suicide bombing in northwestern pakistan. the taliban says the attack was revenge for the death of osama bin laden with more attacks on the way. some 100 people were injured in the twin blasts as young police recruits were boarding buses outside a training school. >> the first suicide bomber blew himself up just outside the entrance to the military academy. he struck as the recruits were leaving for vacation. many buses pull up to take them home. some students were already on board. >> i said goodbye to my friends and went back to my room. then an explosion went off. we rushed out to help the wounded. >> soon after, a second attacker set off his bomb. he had slipped into the crowd as rescuers gathered at the scene. >> we ran for cover in a shop when another blast went off. it was chaos.

we tried to gather the dead and the injured until the rescue forces arrived. it was horrible. >> the taliban in their statement claiming responsibility, said they were revenging the beth of osama bin laden and warned of more attack. to locals, it was another blow. >> the americans killed soom and the blood of our people is being spilled. why is this happening to us? >> closely rinked to al-qaeda, the taliban appeared to be directing their anger towards the pakistani security forces in protest against islamabad's alliance with the united states. >> the libyan leader muammar khadafy has condemned a nato attack on his compound on thursday as cowardly and says he's now in a place where nato cannot kill him. khadafy's remarks were broadcast on state television as audio only. earlier italy had suggested the libyan leader was wounded in the airstrike and had left the capital. a libyan government spokesman

rejected the claims as nonsense saying khadafy is in good spirits and still leading the country. on thursday libyan state tv aired footage of khadafy greeting tribal leaders. its authenticity has not been verified. >> a prominent syrian human rights campaigner said at least six protesters have been killed and many injured as nationwide demonstrations continue. that's despite orders by the president that security forces not open fire on demonstrators. activists are major clambings clashes in hama and dara following friday prayers. troops have reportedly deployed throughout the country to counter the protests. the government has pulled soldiers out of several hot spots amid calls for a national dialogue to begin in the coming days. to egypt now where the wife of former egyptian president hosni mubarak has been detained. susana mubarak was arrested friday in a corruption probe. investigators are looking to into allegations the mubaraks

120e8 millions in public funds and property. in the egyptian capital thousands of people once again filled the city's square on friday with two rallies going on. one was a plea for unity between continuic christians and muslims after clashes that left 13 dead. the other called for an independent line prior to sunday's planned's mash into the gaza strip. amnesty international has issued its latest report on countries with poor human rights records. singling out the u.s. where the guantanamo bay prison camp and its use of waterboarding and china for its rounding up and jailing without trial democracy activists. the e.u. has come in for criticism for its treatment of north african refugees. >> these refugees have fled north africa for the italian island. more than 30,000 have risked the dangerous journey since january, many to escape the war in libya.

italy says it is overwhelmed and the rest of the european union has been unwilling to share the burden. instead, they're discussing tighter controls to prevent the mi grants from crossing over their borders. the refugee crisis is one consequence of the uprisings across the arab world. amnesty sees the push for greater freedom and democracy as an opportunity to end repression. by closing their doors to refugees, it believes e.u. members are undermining arab calls for justice. it wants a different message in a watershed year for human rights. >> i think there's no question that what's happened is unprecedented. we haven't seen anything like this after the fall of the berlin wall. >> and he says it's optimistic that the organization also founded a note of caution, saying developments in the arab world could go either way. it says the international community should support the uprisings to ensure the arab

spring does not become a false dawn. >> the white house has confirmed the resignation of its middle east envoy, george mitch. mitchell led mostly fruitless missions between the palestinians although he did start peace negotiations in 2010, the talks broke down over israeli settlement building in the west bank. the resignation comes days ahead of a u.s. visit by israeli. benjamin netanyahu. >> over to ben now, the german economy is proving to be the locomotive of the rest of europe. >> it sure has. topped the precrisis level from the financial crisis which is a positive thing, something to look forward to as the pace, as germany's economy and growth gathers pace, rather. some comment it aors say it's as good as it gets gets, others describe it as stellar. pushed ahead from .3% last

quarter to .8% in the first quarter of this year. that's despite the ongoing debt crisis some members of the bloc, but it's mainly because europe's biggest economy as brian mentioned, germany is performing even better than expected. >> analysts point to various factors which have driven german economic growth in first quarter of the year. they include ongoing expansion of the construction secretaryor and investment in manufacturing plants and machinery. and people have been out shopping. strong consumer demand has driven the economy. germany's traditionally strong export market played a role in helping the gross domestic product grow 1.5% in the last quarter. >> the development is impressive. and the speed at which the german economy is working its way out of the crisis continues to surprise us every quarter. >> germany and france, europe's two largest economies, are powering the economic growth right now. italy and spain continue to lag

in the first quarter. spain is coping with high employment and deep budget cuts. while portugal's economy shrank 0.7%. on the back of these promising first quarter results, the government predicts economic growth for 2011 will hit 2.6%. some economists believe it might even be higher. >> and with growth come jobs. germany's unemployment rate is the lowest level since reunion fifi education. but more and more people in germany can't live off what they earn. the federal employment agency estimates that 1.8 million workers have to top up their wages with state benefits. that's an increase of 4.5% over the last year. employees in the construction and catering industries are most likely to turn to the state for help. steel giant tutan corps has forecasted profits and set a date for a vast restructuring.

the group supervisory board approved the overhaul due to be complete by late next year. >> it's set to be the most radical restructuring in the history of the company. germany's largest steelmaker is shedding assets worth a total of 10 billion euros. among the assets up for chop are the stainless steel operations and car parts unit in brazil. in their place, the company wants to invest in new markets, particularly the engineering sector. >> we want to reduce the company's debt but at the same time able to invest sufficiently in our commercial operations. we want them to be successful against the competition and bring in revenue and sustainable value for the company. >> is superry board approved the plans on friday friday. it announced there will be no

compulsory redundancies among the 35,000 workers affected. the management is hoping the changes will boost the company's fortunes. and there was a good owe men. the company has just posted a 21% increase in turnovers to 12 billion euros for the last quarter. >> conrad pohl has more on the mood on the trading floor. >> the company was the last company to report first-quarter earnings, also this report came in stronger than expected. so a very strong earnings season in frankfurt is coming to an end. but this did not really inspire stock buying on the trading floor. neither did the strong growth figures from germany's first quarter inspire optimism. very few people here believe that the german economy can continue to grow as strong as it was in the first quarter of

the year. >> european stocks took a slide today, frankfurt's dax ended down, and the index and blue chips closed at 2894, a drop of .75%. in new york the dow industrials closed down a similar amount at 1595 points and the euro trading for $1.496. consumers in the u.s. are having to dig deeper into their pockets as inflation hits a 2 1/2 year high. the government says the year on year inflation reading rose to 3.2% last month. consumers are feeling the pinch hardest at the gas pumps and grocery stores. other consumer prices were mostly stable. the rise was in line with analysts forecast and the fed has ruled out immediate action. but ordinary americans fear that word inflation as a threat to their standard of living.

>> spain is mourning the victims of the worst earthquake to hit that country in half a century. it killed nine people and left thousands homeless. the prime minister and crown prince or on hand in lorca which was especially hard hit for an outdoor mass for the dead. >> a community is in mourning. members of the cleveragey and the government joined residents in a funeral mass for the victims. many here are still in shock after the country was hit by its worst earthquake in decades. representatives of the royal family including crown prince felipe paid their respect. the spanish prime minister toured the devastation and met with rescuers. he promised to help homeless residents and rebuild the historic city.

>> with unity, with coordination, with goodwill, with promptness and with resources, we will bring lorca back to normal as soon as possible. >> officials have marked thousands of buildings to show the extent of the damage. the devastation was acute in some places. the people of lorca are unlikely to forget the quake and all they have lost for a long time to come. >> here in germany the junior coalition partners and the governing coalition have a new chair. phillip westerwelle -- westerwelle will stay on as the country's foreign minister. >> finally, the anticipation, the nerve wracking wait was over.

both received over 95% of the vote a not overwhelming mandate as he takes the helm of the f.d.p. his predecessor, foreign minister guido westerwelle was the first to congratulate him with the party's full support, rosler faces a difficult task. >> i am very pleased to take on this position. thank you for your fantastic support. let's get to work. [applause] >> the rank and file are looking to rosler to bring new life into the party. >> he's the right man in the right place at the right time. >> it's great. we're overjoyed to have a new party leader and are placing our hopes on him. >> it's a good start. he was my personal voice chris:. this marks a new beginning. philipp rosler has a solid concept for revitalizing the f.d.b.p. >> he will introduce his own leadership team as he seeks to breathe new life into the

f.d.p. the 38-year-old will count on strong support from his predecessor, guido westerwelle. >> with philipp rosler at the helm we support him and he has my personal support. i will not grab the sfeering wheel whether from my successor. >> with rosler in the driver's seed the f.d.p. hopes the road ahead will be just a bit smoother. >> our political correspondent simon young has been covering the conference in for us. we asked him if the new team has the potential to turn around the party's fortunes. >> well, that's what everybody here is certainly hoping. from the free democrats' point of view this party conference is all about renewal. the party at one of its lowest points in its history, had two disastrous state election results just this year and in

national polls they're doing very badly, indeed a poll just out today suggests more than half of germans don't believe that the free democrats are fit to join the government which is astonishing when you consider they are actually part of merkel's coalition government. so guido westerwelle said he didn't manage to get his message across, he's stepping aside for philipp rosler, a younger man who has been health minister, now moved to the economics ministry. some doubt he can really turn this party around, but he has the weight and personality to do so and he has to show here that he is the man for that job, starting i think with his big speech to the conference on saturday. >> simon young there. about 24 hours from now the 56th annual you're owe vision song contest will be getting underway in deucele dore of. germany's 19-year-old leno will try to become the first person ever to win the contest twice in a row but she faces stiff

competition from ireland's hair raising jedward twins there. the swedish entry is an odds-on favorite. >> stay with us. i'll be right back with more about you're owe vision. -- eurovision.

>> welcome back. the eurovision song contest is set to shake it up saturday night with at least 120 million people around the world following on their tv's. germany is last year's victor is hosting the event from dusseldorf. in 2010 it was the vivacious 19-year-old lena who enchanted the continent with her song "satellite" she's back hoping to be the first person in history to take the laurels twice. eurovision is one of those rare tv moments that manage to practically unite everyone in europe. the performers can seem a bit

unpolished but you can't forget it propelled acts like abba and celine dion to international fame. with that in mind it's show time. >> ♪ >> the founders of the eurovision song contest were probably turning in their graves when the finnish shock rockers took to the stage in 2006. at the first contest 55 years ago, the winner was a thoroughly wholesome woman from switzerland. >> in the early days there wasn't the kind of music we have today. it would not have been possible. tastes in music have changed all over europe. people change, audiences change. audiences are younger and there are different styles of music. that's what we're seeing. >> recent competitions have often seen candidates from new eurovision countries such as be

aer by jan and armenia. >> eastern europe has put in a strong showing. ukraine took home the top prize in 2004. in recent contests performers without pretensions have won the most votes like the norwegian who won in 2009. or germany's lena who shot into orbit with a tune called "satellite." >> ♪ oh, my god, this is so crazy! >> musicians and singers are more at ease even on stage. they simply express what they're feeling. that's lena's legacy. they were more informal and came across in a natural way. >> ♪ i'm going to love you either way --

>> in the past the crag greaf was rigid. nobody dared to make a step or look different. performers looked straight into the camera. that's not the case anymore. >> the eurovision song contest has become a defining moment for pop culture in europe partly because tv audiences can vote and fans form alliances through social networks. the event has shrugged off its uncool image. lena is germany's top poster girl this year. she has support at home but plenty of competitions as well. no shortage of pretty brunettes from other countries. an army in fact. but who knows, maybe this year the winner will be a blonde. >> i think ireland has a really good chance with these twins. they're outrageous but they sing well and put on a good show.

>> it certainly does look like blondes have more fun when it comes to the twins from ireland. a pan-european audience is waiting to see whether their hair rising style can also raise votes. >> facebook and twitter are flooded predictions about who will top and who will flop at eurovision on saturday night. from comments we found, how on earth could ireland make it to the final, bulgaria and the netherlands wasted their chance as usual and this one from brazil, sweden ear eric all the way. there is a cybercommunity of eurovision groupies no doubt. we caught up with some nonvirtuals though who can't wait to see the contest in person on saturday night in dusseldorf. >> they have made it to the final round of the eurovision song contest.

their tune "so lucky" is a hit with television audiences and at live performanceness dusseldorf. same thing with cristophe from cyprus. >> ♪ >> hard core fans show up for the elimination rounds. these are lena supporters from frankfurt. they're here for a whole week and they're putting on the ritz for the final on saturday. >> i'm responsible for the outfits. i have interpreted "feel your heartbeat" so there are hearts all over and these little rhinestones and some music. i have ironed on the hearts and the whole thing is washable. that's important so we can wear them again. and then glitter and the whole package. a costume like this costs a

good 200 yure owes. >> the fair travels to the contest each year and their suits get more and more spectacular. do the dusseldorfers share their enthusiasm? the last time a final was in germany was 28 years ago. so hour fair takes to the street to test the mood among the locals. >> i watch it every year. nope, i'm not a fan. >> go lena! >> the hero club in the old town is the place to be for eurovision gossip. they're regularrings fixtures here. thousands of eurovision fans from around the world have arrived in dusseldorf. everybody has an opinion on who should win, will germany's lena

prevail a second time? >> i don't really think so but that's because there are so many better songs in the contest this year, that's a fact but lena has retained her charm and developed her voice and her performance. she is still in the top 10. 100%. >> lena has shown her star quality from the very beginning. >> everything has changed for me. i'm out of school, i have a job, i've got my own apartment. everything is different but it's great. i'm having a lot of fun. >> the competition is tough this year. among the favorites are the jedward twins from ireland with a google survey rating them at first place. lena comes in second. but her fans remain loyal.

>> she's unique. doesn't copy anybody. she does her own thing. >> but some folks in dusseldorf can't be bothered about lena or the contest. >> i couldn't care less. i'll watch it if i have time but otherwise i'm not a big lena fan. >> basically i'd like to feel more of the enthusiasm of the various countries, like the world soccer championships do a better job of doing this than the european song contest does. >> ♪ >> lena rehearsing for the final. some are disappointed with the stage design and the song is under fire for being too slow. still, lena is going out there on saturday night to try to make eurovision history. by being the only performer to win the contest twice in a row.

>> ♪ >> and we wish good luck to all.