>> you're watching the journal -- "journal." but the door for business use. here are the headlines. -- let head over for the business news. neo-nazi terrorists have read it list, including high-profile members of problem . a new cabinet for italy without any politicians in the mix. the biggest attack yet against president assad's regime. the neo-nazis have a hit list. police in germany said they have discovered a list of 88 possible targets, put together by a list

-- and the nazi group under investigation. have shaken the country. serious mistakes on following up on leads -- admitting intelligence agencies have made serious mistakes on following up on leads. service failed to arrest a suspect, despite having had him under surveillance as far back as 1999. >> in the fall of 1999, the suspicion arose that the suspect was looking to meet with a contact here in lower saxony to enquire about the possibility that someone outside germany might be able to help get the right-wing terrorists who were already in hiding out of the country. >> the intelligence agency took the suspect for a mere helper

and dropped surveillance of him. blunders like this have brought on a barrage of criticism. each federal state has its own intelligence agency. if any of the agency's uncovers leads pointing to a threat to another federal state -- agencies uncovers leads pointing to the threat to another federal state, they are required to report a threat. interior ministers -- the interior minister has plans to improve cooperation between the agencies and form a national registry of right-wing extremists. angela merkel's government is clearly alarmed and has called a joint meeting of the agencies involved for friday. but though your of germany -- >> the failure of germany's intelligence has called -- has begun calling for better cooperation between agencies. i asked our political correspondent to tell us more. >> the interior minister is suggesting that a nationwide database be put together by the intelligence services and poli

ce, gathering information about everyone on the far right who is believed to pose a potential threat to society. this is something that is already done in the case of suspected islamist terrorists. it could make sense. as you have said, one of the problems here seems to have been that the different agencies have failed to store and to use information that they did have about some of these people, specifically one of the men in custody. he was under observation by intelligence services more than 10 years ago, but some of that information was destroyed after that lead was dropped. at any rate, i believe there are the seeds of a political battle here. the justice minister is saying this proposal is not necessary. there is already sufficient material and information in the existing cost in the existing --

in the existing databases. they are just failing to share the information with one another. >> that was our political correspondent. now to italy. it is being called the crisis- busting cabinet. new prime minister mario monti unveiled the people who will help him leave the country -- lead the country out of the economic crisis and there was not one politician to be found. monti, himself a respected economist, says he will wear the hat of economics minister as well. president your jim nicole itano -- >> president giorgio nicole itanapolitano -- >> mario monti, a former eu commissioner, was the first to take the oath. new prime minister is a respected professor of economics. he also takes over the economics

and finance minister's portfolio. made up of technocrats, not politicians. >> the fact that there are no politicians and the government will mean that parliament and the political institutions will have confidence in the government, because there will be no political reason to hold things up. >> many italians believe that the government of technocrats will offer the best chance of weathering the crisis. >> if you look at what politicians have done so far, having a government like this can only be an advantage. >> can only hope that they are not worse than the last lot. >> the important thing is that they cooperate with each other. we're in the firing line in europe at the moment. >> monti is set to present an austerity program and is set to hold the vote of confidence to

ensure his government has the support it needs to push through tough reforms and cuts. >> let's talk about this more. we have a guest in rome. good evening. we have a cabinet now without politicians. the public seems to like this. is this what the economy and that is the policy of italy like -- italy need now? >> i think looking at the crisis on the debt markets, for sure, italy needs radical surgery and probably very soon. the only problem m onlyr. monti -- problem with mr. monti is that he cannot rely on a full parliamentary support. also, the center-left democrats. he could find that his hands are tied. >> you said that his hands may be tied. there are no politicians in the mix. how much of an indictment is this on the political establishment of italy?

>> i think that is hard is seen widely in the eyes of the italian public, that the existing political class is so discredited, not just on mr. berlusconi's side, but also the opposition, which has suffered from disunity and their own corruption scandal. to bring in the unelected, it gives them quite a lot of credibility in the eyes of the public. >> to go so far as to say that this cabinet could be a model -- would you go so far as to say that this could be a model for other troubled eurozone members? >> i am not sure about that. italy has had technocrat government before, the last in 1995, lasting for 15 months, passing pageant -- pension reforms. it was reasonably successful. will be ready to go to the polls and choose a new one in -- they will be ready to go to the polls

and choose a new one. >> thank you so much. to do about your son and it's a problem members -- what to do about the eurozone and its prob lem members. >> they are scrambling to come up with a solution that does not involve the this -- the disintegration of the eurozone. the president of the euro commission is calling for more convergence. he wants to use the crisis to take a big step towards a united states of europe. >> the eu leaders are calling for tighter urals on governments to ensure the euro's survival. in the european parliament -- tighter eurozone governments to ensure the euro's survival. >> we are indeed now facing a truly systemic crisis that requires an even stronger commitment from all. that may require additional and

very important merits. >> both barroso and and ben rompuy said the time had come for eurozone nations to deepen -- herman van rompy sa the time had gone -- herman van rompuy said at the time had come for eurozone nations to deepen their unity. >> to link our policies, demonstrate that we share a common destiny. >> that common destiny is the eurozone, but many lawmakers oppose the idea of the 17 eurozone members dictating economic policy in the eu. >> they want to be europe's economic policy makers, whose decisions would apply to the 10 non-eurozone members without giving them a say. that would divide europe. >> that decision -- division might already be under way. >> the non-integrationists

want the government a buyout that directly from governments. enda kenny called for the ecb to began taking a bigger role to prevent financial attention. the germans are putting up stiff resistance to the idea. they say that if the ecb starts bailing out governments directly, it will start losing its independence. >> ireland appears to be on the road to recovery. german's chancellor is redoubling their efforts to reduce deficits. ireland is now posting modest growth. >> we are -- can fathom what it means for the people of ireland to shoulder this harsh program. that is why we can mend ireland's success of the more and fully support its -- commend ireland's success all the more and fully support it. >> the country is still marked by the collapse of its banking

sector and unemployment remains at more than 14%. many have left to work abroad. for kenny, there is no question of reverting to the era when ireland lived beyond its means. >> people continue to make enormous sacrifices. i have said quite clearly to chancellor merkel -- we're absolutely determined to continue with the reform process. >> there remain at odds over europe's central banking division. dublin wants the ecb to sell eurobonds. some are opposed. they say it will only buy a little time, for which they will pay a higher price. kenny admitted there were divergent views on the issue, but both sides played them down. >> the economic prospects keep getting bigger -- dimmer.

>> business is still brisk at most german companies, but survey respondents were pessimistic about expectations for the coming year. the global economic climate deteriorated again in november and is falling below the long- term average. the mood is downbeat in places other than europe, too. >> we are also seeing signs of deceleration in north america, where prospects have dimmed. nowhere on the globe do we see zero -- see clear signs of growth without problems. pace is slackening even in the threshold countries, although their economies continue to grow. >> the biggest problem is a lack of confidence in the policy makers. after that comes that -- high public debt and unemployment. >> the volatility was the name

of the game on wednesday. we can start our look at the numbers with the german deutsche -- german dax in frankfurt, finishing the day down 3% at 5913. u.s. stocks higher. the dow jones industrial average also lower at 12,035. the euro $1.3522. there are fears that the country's sovereign debt rating could be downgraded in hungary. their debt rose. their currency has tumbled against the euro. they have scrapped the shell -- sale of short-term bonds. the eu and the imf had to rescue hungary in 2008. budapest has been regularly criticized for not doing enough

to cut spending. we go to syria. it is the opposition's strong as show yet of firepower -- strongest show yet of firepower. soldiers attacked a military checkpoint. attacks in the capital have been rare since the uprising began. >> a group calling it a free syrian army has launched a campaign against the regime -- itself the "free syrian army" has launched a campaign against the regime. they carried out attacks on wednesday, including against homs. the authenticity of this footage cannot be independently verified. the regime does not allow international media into the country. a member of the free syrian army explained why he had gone over to the opposition. >> as a result of the continuing acts of oppression by the assaad regime.

we declare our defection from the baathist army. >> this amateur video is said to show protest in hama. mahler images are coming out of other cities. the un -- similar images are coming out of other cities. the un says that this has been the bloodiest month so far. syrian state television shows a different picture. large crowds of supporters are rallying in the capital of damascus. >> what to do about syria? the arab league and others are holding a meeting in morocco to discuss that, reportedly considering measures against the syrian regime. the league agreed to suspend serious membership last week. -- syria's membership last week. turkey has denounced the assaad regime. they say they will. -- will pay dearly for what

has been done. hamid karzai is negotiating an agreement with the u.s. the announcement came as he met with rebel leaders in the grand assembly. karzai says afghanistan is prepared to of host u.s. troops beyond 2014 -- to host u.s. troops beyond 2014, as long as the arrangement is one of the -- of equals. the taliban have threatened to attack the meeting. a prominent poet has been shot dead in moscow. he was shot several times as he got out of his car at his home on tuesday night. russian police believe that chechen separatists may be behind the killing. stay with us. we will be back with more business news in a moment. >> stay tuned.

>> our guid eie is on the internet. www.dw-world.de. >> you are silly. hold on. [applause] oh, my god! [unintelligible] look! >> oh, my god! oh, my god! >> it's a girl. a child. [applause]

>> inflation in the u.s. has slowed for the first time in recent months. the labor department reported that consumer prices were 3.5% higher than a year earlier. the sharpest rises in food and energy. the official rate would have been much lower without those two sectors. federal reserve expects inflation to stabilize, which could allow more scope to get the economy going again. for more on the u.s., let's turn to our correspondent in new york. -- new york. testers have been looking to the u.s. for days. what are the indications -- investors have been looking to the u.s. for days. what are the indications? >> we had some good economic data. but look at industrial production, up 0.7%, not bad at

all. there might be a little bit of a recovery going on. the homebuilders are crucial sector to for the american economy -- too for the american economy and they are still generally weak. have one problem today -- we have one more problem today, the oil prices up again, over $100 per barrel. that could be a problem for the next couple of months to come. >> in and year, mario monti will be the next italian prime minister. -- looking at europe, mario monti will be the next italian prime minister. what are people saying? >> it is not much of the deal on wall street anymore today, but europe, of course, is. the focus is more to the bank of england. they have quite a dire prognosis out today about their own growth. were weak numbers from other european countries -- there were weak numbers from other european countries.

if the eu does not take tracks -- take drastic action, we will see severe problems for global and european growth. that is not news. ever you have a statement like that, of course it puts pressure -- whenever you have a statement like that, of course, it put pressure on the markets. >> the outlook is gloomy. how did it go down? >> we see the stock is down. profit was up. we had some good news initially, but revenue was down for the quarter. that was because sales are weak, computer sales are weak and the consumer side and the corporate side. corporations, of course, are cutting coursetheir i.t-- are cutting back their i.t. investments. revenues are down. weak sales are expected to say like that -- stay like that. >> thanks for that. the u.s. postal service continues to pile up losses, $5

billion in the red for the fiscal year, on top of an $8.5 billion loss in 2010. they have been hit by declining revenue for years people have switched to e-mail. they said the situation is so dire that they could run out of money next year unless congress stepped in. the bank of england, as mentioned, has warned that the british economy is grinding a halt, and they're forecasting next year to just 1% -- cutting their forecasts next year to just 1%. the number of -- number of young people out of work is more than 1 million 18 to 22-year-olds. one of the worst performers on the european exchanges, a german tech giant, doubled its income this year. they expect sales to fall by

about 5%. they are noticing increasing caution on the part of customers. and you can invest billions and rake in billions when it comes to asia. this german artist -- german pharmaceutical firm does not sound like it is concerned about the economy. china is at the top of its to-do list. >> they go back a long way. they have been producing their painkiller in shanghai since 1986. bayer tends to grow strongly in the region. the german-based firm plans to invest nearly 2 billion euros in the asian operations in the coming four years. the asian peril is supposed to grow from 20,000 workers to more than -- payroll is supposed to grow from 20,000 workers to more

than 30,000. >> we aim to increase sales by more than 60% in asia by the year 2015. this would mean that our sales will be well over 11 billion euros in 2015, at current exchange rates. >> bayer is looking to double sales in china through 2015 and it has said comparable targets for its operations in india and japan -- set comparable targets for its operations in india and japan. >> despite growing uncertainty about the global economic outlook, there are some companies in this sector that are powering ahead. >> this sugar beet harvest airpacks 620 horsepower and has -- harvester packs 620 hous horsepower. beets are a main source of sugar in some areas. george has pooled resources with

other farmers to rent the vehicle for a few days. >> only where there is large machinery can we preserve sugar- beet farming. an individual could not afford this machinery. you could use it to harvest huge areas of land at a good price. >> a family-run business produces the specialized machinery. its revenues have jumped by 40% in the last three years, following a rise in sugar consumption. continued growth depends on how well the sugar beet becomes establish as the raw material for sugar production -- established as the raw material for sugar production. brazil's source the beet's

main competitor -- sugar cane. >> brazil as a very strong sugar-cane grower -- is a very strong sugar-cane grower. but it can be used for ethanol. it is getting more expensive to grow sugar cane. >> crop is more economical? -- which crop is more economical -- sugar cane or sugar beets? this chinese farm machinery deal er has already sold more than 10 of these. a large percent of chinese sugar supply comes from sugar cane. but that is changing, especially in the north of the country. >> it is big-sized. it is easy for mechanization. for the sugar beet harvest in

china, it is more in the -- in demand. >> the german and european markets have gotten too small. company can only expand the most other regions of the world -- the company can only expand if it grows in other regions of the world. >> the export numbers -- >> 12,80.8 billion euros. that was the number last year. germany ranks second to the u.s. in sales of medical technology. japan ranks third. pacemakers are one of the items in the most demand. germany and russia have stepped up their efforts to replace antiquated equipment. >> that is it for this edition

of the "journal." please stay tuned.