♪ >> live from berlin, this is the "journal" on dw. i am brent goff. >> i am steve chaid. >> the leftist party in greece abandoned its attempts to form a government. with a record export figures. >> ukraine's former prime minister yulia tymoshenko is moved from prison to a hospital and ann's her hunger strike -- and ends her hunger strike. ♪ again, the future of grease's economy and its membership in the eurozone are up in the air. three days after national

elections, the major parties have failed to form a government. >> as greek party heads struggled to forge a new coalition in the wake of the may 6 elections, the german finance minister has now said european governments cannot force greece to stay in the eurozone of the country decides to leave. speculation about just where greece is headed has caused major storm oil on financial market as worries grow about whether athens will stick to the austerity measures agreed to as part of the mass of the you- i.m.f. bailout. >> the radical left-wing leader has given up his bid to forge a coalition deal. he had vowed to reject the terms of the international bailout for greece, which could spell doom for its membership in the eurozone. let's get the latest on what is going on. i am joined by our correspondent brian williams on the line from athens. he says he is abandoning his didn't -- it tends to form a cabinet. where do we go from here?

>> i imagine it will be picked up by the leader of the socialist party which won the last election in 2009. they literally are the third party, and they are the last party that will try to get to a coalition. but frankly, with both the leading party and the latest election and the second party both far, far apart, there seems little hope that pasok will be able to bring them together. >> and that will lead to fresh elections. >> that is the one last throw of the dice after pasok has its try. there will be a meeting of all the party leaders for one last effort to get them to agree. there's little hope of that happening. we seem as though we are inevitably going to have new elections on june 10 or june 17. >> is anyone in the country

warning of the consequences again of abandoning austerity and the country basically turning its back on brussels and the imf? >> i think that is one of the things that people are starting to ask questions about. i mean, it does seem that greek politicians, and frankly, the eu itself, has not done as much as it could to bring home to the greek public just how devastating an exit from the eu could be. there has been a lot of talks about the effect of the greek exit on the other eu countries, but actually, the affected will have on greeks themselves as a somewhat been underplayed, i think. >> brian williams reported from athens, thank you very much. >> not surprisingly, the future of a eurozone with or without greece is again dominating talks among european leaders. >> on wednesday, eu and national officials met in brussels, and it was difficult to find much support for the path that greece appears to be on now.

>> political uncertainty in greece dominated the talks. the european commission president jose burress 0 had a clear message for athens. -- jose barroso, had a clear message. >> i want to be very clear, all the euro area member states -- greece has to respect the agreement. >> other words, warrants luxembourg's foreign minister, future bailout installments could be blocked. >> i only know we will not be able to release the 130 billion euros if there is no government in greece that supports our policies. >> former german finance minister believes the rest of the eurozone should prepare for a greek exit from the single currency. >> if i were in a position of political responsibility, i would prepare a plan b for a eurozone that no longer has to have 17 member states.

>> the german foreign minister, guido westerwelle, also fears for the future of greece. >> the fate of greece is now in the hands of the greeks. greece has to decide itself what road it wants to take. >> . mr. burke cautioned against german arrogance towards countries struggling with debt -- westerwelle cautioned against german arrogance. the eu needs to show unity and strength to overcome the debt crisis. >> despite the eurozone debt crisis, germany said in a monthly record for exports in march. exports grew by nearly 1% by the end of the first quarter. >> the rise came despite the fact that trade in a germany's your son and neighbors was actually weaker in march. >> consumers in non-eu states like china and the u.s. had a strong appetite for german goods. foreign demand for german cars

keeps surging. and buyers and brazil, china, and the u.s. are making business brisker than ever for german and industrial technology. the global economy is rebounding, and german firms are riding the crest. german companies exported 98.9 billion euros of goods in march, more than ever before. in the same month, germany imported goods worth 81.5 billion euros, also a new record. that translates into a trade surplus of 17.4 billion euros. the stellar figures for all the more surprising given germany's sagging trade with debt-ridden european union states. and since almost 60% of germany's exports are within the single market, companies continue to see the debt crisis as the biggest threat to their business. >> blame it on greece again. european stock markets ended the session down. the strong export numbers from germany did helping fuel the

late hour rally in frankfurt. here is a wrapup of the day from conrad paul at the frankfurt stock exchange. >> shares of big exporters were among the big gainers this wednesday. mustang the ban were shares of exporters which also managed to beat market expectations with their quarterly earnings reports, and which also managed to increase their prices further in the course of the first three months of this year. chemical producers and also the maker of fragrances and flavors. their overall mood on the trading floor was not so good. investors are getting worried s. the yield on the 10-year government bond of spain temporarily rose above 6% again. >> all right, let's get a quick look at those market numbers, how they look at the end of the day on wednesday. the dax ended the session up by

about 0.5%. the euro stoxx 50 was down on the day. across the atlantic, the dow down by about two-thirds of 1%. the your boat -- the euro trading very low things to the crisis in greece, $1.2934. ukraine's former prime minister yulia tymoshenko has been moved from prison to a local hospital for medical treatment. she is serving a seven-year jail sentence on charges of abuse of power. >> almost three weeks ago, she went on hunger strike after clinching had been beaten by prison staff. her situation has angered western nations who say the charges against her are politically motivated. yulia tymoshenko is now being treated for a series of back pain under the supervision of german doctors. >> a fleet of ambulances and cars carried yulia tymoshenko from prison to a hospital on wednesday morning, marking the end of a standoff lasting nearly

three weeks. yulia tymoshenko warned she would only end her hunger strike she was treated by foreign doctors she trusted. a german neurologist is now in charge. >> we accompanying -- accompanied yulia tymoshenko here today. she has ended her hunger strike. and we have started to build up to a normal consumption of food. >> this professor said the treatment would take at least two months. yulia tymoshenko has a slipped disk and is suffering from intense pain. she refused treatment from ukrainian doctors, saying she was afraid she might be deliberately infected with the virus or poisoned. now she has ended her hunger strike. the ukrainian government hopes that will also ending the negative headlines at home and abroad and international criticism of its stance. >> we ask our correspondent

alexander in moscow how kiev is dealing with all the attention right now on yulia tymoshenko. >> welcoming ukraine is divided over yulia tymoshenko's case. she is a disputed figure. lange in ukraine, some adore her, seekers -- in ukraine, some adored her and see her as a freedom fighter. others see her as another corrupt politician who enriched yourself in 1990. those people cannot understand why the west is interfering so vehemently in this case. many people i talk to in kiev are irritated by european politicians are now calling for a boycott of the european soccer championships in ukraine. many ukraines are puzzled by the discussions in the west. some european politicians, for instance, in germany, have called ukraine a dictatorship, and that, in turn, has made

many ukraine's furious, even those who are not very fond of the president. of course, the human rights advocates have been warning for some time now that they're rolling back democratic reforms, but they also pointed out that, compared with other former soviet states, ukraine is still relatively free and democratic. >> all right, thank you for that report from moscow. we're going to have more on how ukraine is preparing for the euro 2012 games. that is coming up later in the show. >> now, we put the spotlight back on moscow where victory day ceremonies have been held to mark the end of the second world war in europe in 1945. a huge military parade was held in moscow's red square to commemorate the defeat of naxzi soldiers. vladimir putin and prime

minister dmitry medvedev, who swapped jobs this week, were among those in attendance. police detained a group of opposition protesters ahead of the parade. >> u.s. officials say an al- qaeda plot to attack a passenger plane with a new type of butterball was foiled by a double agent. the bomb in question reportedly contains no metal parts and could have passed through many standard screening procedures. reports say al qaeda in yemen handed over the sophisticated new device to the cia informer, but instead of boarding a flight with the bomb, he passed it on to the u.s. government. >> continuing violence in syria has not put the lives of u.n. ceasefire observers in jeopardy. >> those are u.n. observers in the country to make sure that the cease-fire holds, and there were traveling on wednesday when a roadside bomb exploded close to their convoy. >> a powerful explosion hit the u.n. convoy as it was entering

the town of daraa. u.n. cease-fire observers escape injury, but at least six syrian personnel were injured in the blast. one of them spoke to syrian state television. >> we were accompanied the delegation. about 100 meters past the checkpoint, the bomb exploded. one officer and five soldiers were injured, including myself. >> the head of the u.n. mission and 11 other observers or traveling in the convoy. daraa has been a flashpoint in the 14-month uprising against president assad. there and in other parts of syria, the clashes continued between government forces and armed rebels. >> there are still serious violations in the cessation of violence that was agreed and the level of violence is unacceptable. >> the u.n. observer team is

said to be expanded from 70 to nearly 300 by the end of the month. media reports suggest germany is considering sending a group of military experts to join the mission. >> steep -- to london now, were all the pomp and pageantry of british politics was on display wednesday as queen elizabeth opened a new session of parliament. >> her annual speech traditionally sets out the government's legislative program. this year, that includes reforms to the house of lords. britain is planning to introduce a smaller, mostly elected, upper chamber. she also said that prime minister david cameron will prioritize economic stability and make changes. >> quite a crowd. if you can sell that and put a dent in the crisis. >> we will be back in one minute, talking about some religious extremism here in germany. how the interior ministry plans to deal with it. stay with us.

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>> welcome back. last weekend, nearly 30 german police officers were injured when violence started during a demonstration involving salafists. >> the altar conservative islamists group is increasingly becoming the focus of security agents in germany. salafists attention from the press. >> that attention is not welcome. journalists taking a critical view of the group are becoming targets themselves. >> a threatening video posted on the internet shortly before easter. its content, four minutes of insults' aimed at journalists who report critically on salafists. when journalists from a frankfurt-based paper is threatened directly. >> and now you, we have a lot of

information about you. we know where you live. we know your club. we have your mobile number. if you keep spreading these fairy tales about salafists, we're going to publish this information. >> and this is the man who made the video. ben abda, a close confidante of one of germany's leading salafists. ben abda has verbally attacked and ridiculed a journalist before. >> i know you're a little agitated for your silly little station. film and this guy here. >> he does not miss an opportunity to film and ensouled journalists. [mocking monkeys] and he produces videos describing himself as every journalist's nightmare. >> if you would get things over

the past two or three years aren't the internet, then sabri is not unique in this network. he is part of a media campaign which has made use of the internet, of youtube, pointing the finger at journalists and others and declaring them targets. >> ben abda directly hassles and journalists as well. he follows these cameramen around, accusing them of fabricating lies and propaganda. there's little option for the journalists reporting on the salafists but to stand up to the threats and highlight the methods used by the extremists. >> for more, let's go to our political correspondent in our parliamentary studios. some pretty alarming reports. provide us with more background on the salafists in germany and their agenda. >> salafists are muslims to interpret the koran in a very literal way. their understanding of islam is a generally puritanical.

they believe that everyone should follow the teachings of the prophen mohammad -- prophet mohammad, the way he and his followers lived several hundred years ago. not all salafists are violent, it must be said, but some do believe the violence is justified to achieve their ends. the head of germany's domestic intelligence service said that while not all salafists are terraced, all islamic terrorists including the 9/11 bombers have been associated with salafist groups. >> the interior minister has said the extreme activity will not be tolerated. what exactly is he planning to do? >> he is looking at the around 4,000 salafists in germany. not all of them violent. but he says that their groups advocating violence or threaten germany's constitution, they will be disbanded. if they convince -- did they commit violent acts, there will

be arrested. he says germany is going to make it ever to try to stop propaganda from these groups as well and try to protect germany's moderate muslim youth. >> thank you very much. >> last year this time, people in germany were watching very closely what they aid due to an outbreak of the deadly bacteria e. coli -- what they ate. >> the last two months and claimed the lives of more than 40 people in the country. >> and had a devastating economic impact on the spanish cucumber farms that were falsely identified as the source of the bacteria. >> one year on, we have a look at the lingering effects of the crisis. >> one year after she felt ill, anna is still haunted by the e. coli infection. sometimes that feeling of not sure returns, along with memories of the intensive care unit -- sometimes the feeling of anaseau returns.

"i was very sick. it was exhausting. i experienced serious pain. >> after contacting the eagle eye bacteria, she developed severe complications, experiencing hallucinations before falling into a coma. >> back then, nobody was sure that i could or would survive it. if i did survive, there was a possibility and would not be able to walk or talk because my brain had been so damaged by the illness that the doctors were unable to say whether it would regenerate or not. >> in may 2011, almost 4,000 people in germany were infected with a potentially fatal strain of the bacteria. hospitals in the affected regions were under extreme pressure, and doctors say they were poorly equipped to deal with the epidemic. >> the consequences of this crisis have been widely discussed and are being currently discussed with the city, authorities, and among

hospitals. we say we should have better provisions, better resources to react. because this crisis was a narrow escape. >> anna was one of the lucky ones. a new antibody therapy helped her overcome the infection, but nobody knows what long-term effects lie ahead. >> i am doing well, no question about it. but some how it is always there. i have kidney damage, and i have to go to the hospital for regular checkups. it is not the case it has been over for a year for me. it is still there somewhere. >> she has learned to live with the effects of the infection but hopes the bad memories will some day dissipate. >> and now for a look of some other stories making news around the world. u.s. republican presidential front runner mitt romney has widened his command of the primary race. the former massachusetts governor has won primaries in

indiana, north carolina, and west virginia. his last major rivals for the nomination, rick santorum and newt gingrich, have both pulled out of the race. >> a russian plane with 50 people on board has gone missing in indonesia. the aircraft disappeared off the radar in mountainous terrain south of the capital jakarta. the sukhoi 100 superjet was on a demonstration flight. most of those on board were indonesian airline and aviation representatives or journalists. >> yulia tymoshenko says that she's giving up the hunger strike she started in protest at her treatment by prison guards. the opposition leader is now in a hospital in the city of kharkiv, under the care of the german doctor. >> the city is one of four in ukraine that will be hosting european championship soccer matches next month. instead of the positive publicity, ukraine had been hoping for, the yulia tymoshenko kansas and other problems have meant nothing but

bad headlines. >> now that yulia tymoshenko is ending her fast, the ukrainian government hopes the negative reports will end. some people in kharkiv have started their own initiatives. ♪ >> kharkiv is part -- is sprucing itself up for the european championships. this city wants to present itself as the perfect host despite the bad publicity. victoria is getting more and more excited as the tournament approaches, but she is worried by the negative headlines coming out of her country. so she decided to act. >> my son used to live in this room. he is working in kiev now, and it is and the, so i would like to take in guests during the championships. >> she says she will not be charging. a few hundred people in kharkiv have joined the initiative. they're worried about the image of the city.

the tournament was a perfect vehicle to up the profile of their country. instead, the run up has been marked by corruption, scandals, infrastructure problems, and massive hotel price hikes. the council department preparing for the tournament in kharkiv is run by alexander. he would prefer to talk football when asked critical questions. >> as far as hotel prices go, we will try to put pressure on the hotel owners in the other profiteers. these problems exist in other countries like germany or britain. >> about 1 billion euros were invested in preparations for the tournament in kharkiv. the stadium was completely renovated. the home ground of medalist kharkiv will host germany and the netherlands. the pitch was put down by an

irish specialist. >> it has perfect traction in terms of stability. we used a traction meter to monitor the interaction between the player's foot and the surface. it meets all the requirements in terms of the international games and the premier league. >> the training ground at the edge of the city is also new. the organizers are proud of the modern facilities which meet european standards. the german team would be able to train the head of the match and even stay here. but kharkiv has been in the spotlight ever since yulia tymoshenko was sent to a prison here. many foreign dignitaries are boycotting the tournament as a result of her treatment. >> a boycott, why? we do not get involved when a politician gets sentenced in europe. we are ruining our relationship

with europe. we really need a change of government. >> what ever happens, the fans will come anyway. >> that is what victoria is hoping. she does not agree with the political direction ukraine is taking, but she says a boycott of the tournament would be a great loss for the city in the people who live here. >> all right, that is going to wrap it up for this edition of the "journal." thank you for watching. ♪ captioned by the national captioning institute --www.ncicap.org-- ♪

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