♪ >> you're watching the "journal" on dw. i am brent goff. >> and here are our top stories. >> another massacre committed by assad's men. >> the first tally is in. ireland said yes to the fiscal pact on stricter budgets. >> and germany in their last friendly. they go with a less than sparkling performance. >> it has been a week since the massacre in houla, syria where 100 people, many of them children, were brutally

murdered. >> now reports of another mass killing of civilians. rebels released a video showing bodies they claim were factory workers who were rounded up and executed by regime thugs. >> the u.n. human rights council is holding an emergency session in geneva, calling for an investigation of the houla massacre. damascus released its report yesterday, saying it had nothing to do with the killings. >> announcing preliminary findings of an official state probe into the houla massacre, the general categorically denying government involvement. instead, he said rebel gangs had been responsible. >> the dead were not enemies of the state. they neither demonstrated against the government nor were they armed. they supported the government and were against bandits and terrorists. these actions had one aim, to provoke foreign military

intervention. >> the news conference in damascus was broadcast live on state television and came at the same time that activists posted these pictures on the internet. they show recent violence in homs, they say. the peace plan brokered by the u.n. arab league special envoy kofi annan is in disarray. u.n. secretary-general ban ki- moon issued a stern warning to the syrian government. >> the massacre of civilians of the sort seen last weekend could put syria into a catastrophe, a civil war with which the country would never recover. >> now diplomats at the u.n.'s top human rights party -- body are demanding an inquiry. they have directed condemnation of the killings, saying those responsible would be held

responsible. most eu states with the case to be taken up by the international criminal court in the hague. >> it is a safe bet that syria will dominate talks between russian president vladimir putin and german chancellor angela merkel today. >> putin is in berlin, his first visit to germany since taking office again last month. russia, along with china, has blocked condemnation of the syrian government by the u.n. security council. >> vladimir putin arrived an hour away from his previous stopover in belarus, lasting just a few hours, perhaps the surest -- jordis visit yet to berlin by a russian head of state. the meeting was not cordial. chancellor merkel's these are far removed from the russian president's. the 90 minutes of talks were dominated by the situation in syria. germany supports the international peace plan for the violent country. merkel has been scoring her position with the american and

french presidents. >> prospects in syria look really bad, and we absolutely candid the human rights violations taking place there. >> in the u.s. security council, russia and china had been blocking international action against syria. the u.s. secretary of state says russia is only further destabilizing the situation by supporting the baskets. >> we are focused on supporting kofi annan, reaching out, both inside and outside of syria, bringing together those that are most directly affected, particularly in the region. >> as putin arrived at the berlin chancellery, a small but vocal group of demonstrators protested outside the gates. the accused the russian president of worsening the crisis. both putin and merkel could hear the protest. >> for more, we're joined by our political correspondent. do you think chancellor merkel has told president putin that now is the time to change course

on syria? >> well, we do not ultimately know what angela merkel told president putin behind closed doors. when they emerged from that meeting, angela merkel said they had talked about the situation in syria. they both recognized that it is a very grave crisis. angela merkel said that she pushed for additional political action, as she called it. she went into this meeting today hoping to persuade him that it is the case that there needs to be much firmer political action, a u.n.-mandated political action on syria. when putin was asked to enter the same question, what they talked about -- to answer the same question, what they talked about, he simply said, yes, we talked about it. he was pressed later by a journalist who mentioned hillary clinton's comments. he said, no, we're not citing either with the assad regime or the opposition. we're sticking by the assad plan

-- the kofi annan plan in syria. angela merkel said she believes that plan is getting close to resulting in chaos. >> what might be the implications of this meeting for the future? >> the implications for the time being is that no progress has been made. what happens next is that president putin travels to paris to meet with francois hollande. he has also been hoping, much more vehement, hoping to persuade president putin to come on line for political action against the assad regime. i would not give that a chance after what we have seen today. >> thank you. >> ireland has said yes in the referendum on the european union's fiscal pact. counting is still underway, but early results showed the majority of voters back the new treaty and the budget rules. the yes camp had been worried by the low turnout, run 50%. ireland received a bailout in

2010 and is the only eu country putting the budget pact up to a referendum. for more on the referendum, let's go live to a correspondent in doublet. not much of a surprise and the results that we are hearing about. the no camp was saying that there was not a choice, that people were being scared into saying yes. >> people were concerned about the possibility of not being able to access the new european bailout funds from the esm which is supposed to go into operation in july of this year. because of the uncertainty generated by this situation in greece and the banking situation in spain, people were concerned that there might not be a possibility of ireland returning to normal at the end of next year when the existing bailout program runs out. that is a concern, that fear was the government's strongest suit in trying to get people to vote for this trading. it is a boring technical trading

with not much to like. the resorted to selling it on the negative. >> what do we know about the people voting yes and the people who voted no? >> looking at the constituency map, about half the constituencies have reported results. it is looking 61-39, yes to know. very few constituencies going to be no side. in they seem to be areas where that party does quite well. the more working class constituencies. but for most of the country, it is a cross-mix between middle- class voters, a rural voters, some working class voters who have backed the treaty. a fairly broad spectrum in support of it. >> all right, thank you for that report in dublin. in kosovo, two germans and nato

soldiers and three serbs were injured in a gunfight on friday. soldiers were trying to remove a serb roadblock. hundreds of people from the town threw rocks at the soldiers. witnesses said that shots were fired, but by people in the crowd and nato troops. the barricades had been put up by serbs want to prevent the albanian-dominated kosovo government from imposing its rule. >> iran has canceled a $2 billing contract with the current -- chinese from to build what would have been the tallest hydroelectric dam. army is good will to visit china for a security summit. -- ahmadinejad will be visiting china for a security summit. the dam was designed to produce 1,500 megawatts of electricity. chinese media say it was canceled because of financing problems. >> the fight to save the

insolvent german drug store chain schlecker has ended in failure. at a meeting today, the creditors decided to liquidate the company. last week, schlecker's two potential buyers were asked to approve their bids and concepts, but by today's deadline, an acceptable offer was not on the table. that means the most likely, unemployment for the 14,000 workers who are still on the schlecker payroll. >> new figures show german exports keep growing. goods worth 276 billion euros were shipped abroad in the first quarter, up 5.9% on the same time last year. exports to the u.s. were especially strong, growing by 21%. within the eu, experts agree bike 2.2% in total but fell sharply to the trouble mediterranean stennis -- exports grew by 2.2%. >> economic woes in europe are claiming more jobs. unemployment figures in the

eurozone hit a new high in april. >> data shows 17.4 million people were out of work, a jobless rate of 11%. >> unemployment remains high in the eurozone as a whole. it has soared in the southern tier countries, especially italy. joblessness is been declining in only a handful of countries, such as austria. austria had the eurozone's lowest unemployment rate in april at 3.9%. in terminally, seasonally adjusted figures put it 5.4 peas and out of work. portugal, 15.2 peas and unemployed. more than a fifth of greece put a work force and almost a quarter of spain's workers did not have a job. these countries are mired in recession, and analysts fear that unemployment there may have yet to reach its peak. >> we're going to have more on eurozone unemployment later in the show. let's switch gears and go to the frankfurt stock exchange.

jobs numbers also a big topic this friday. they're not putting us in the mood for a party this weekend. >> that is right. the worst possible entry into the weekend. the u.s. and released job market data for the month of may, and it is deeply disappointing. you can see what the tax did with that. it dropped. -- you can see what the german dax did with that. it dropped. the labor market in total going down because the unemployment rate went up. that was a shock to the people here, adding worries for the -- and added worries to the u.s. added to eurozone worries. >> the first trading day in june, and investors keep talking about how bad may was. when you start looking at the numbers, you realize it was a terrible time to buy and sell. >> that is right. in may, the dax lost 7.5%.

let's have a look at it now, 6,056, down severely. it erased almost all the gains it had so far this year. the euro stoxx 50 is also down. the euro holding on because of the troubles of the united states. >> all right, as always come to a very much. >> a gaping wound, that is how germany's environment minister describes a nuclear waste dump in danger of collapsing. the government has promised to speed up the clearing of the depot, which is located in lower saxony. environmentalist groups are worried germany's complicated new clear laws mean work might not even start for decades, too late to prevent a disaster. >> only a few demonstrators turned out for the environment ministers visit, but that did not reflect the seriousness of their concerns. he said he and arrested the worries and promised to make the

depot a top priority. >> the situation here is a gaping wound in nature. and it can affect the lives of many people. it is a major issue for so many people. so it is essential that politicians contribute seriously and openly. >> they won a plan to clean up the waste dump. there's still no sign of that more than two years up to the government ordered the removal of the waste. almost 130,000 barrels of low and medium grade radioactive material were dumped at the former mine in the 1960's and 1970's. now it is in danger of collapse. water is seeping in, and the rockets and stable. engineers hope to learn more about the task facing them by drilling into two sealed chambers containing the waste. only then will they know whether the barrels are secure or if

radioactivity has already escaped. >> all right, we will be back in one minute. >> stick around. ♪ ♪

[elephant roars] >> welcome back. earlier, we discussed the jobless rate here in europe. eurozone unemployment has hit a record high. italy, spain, and greece among those especially hard hit. >> and so is portugal. we followed the quest of one find employment as an actor. his only chance may be to leave this country. >> bartolo strolls through lisbon. the 23-year-old unemployed actor is not interested in at the sites or newspaper headlines. he is looking in the job vacancy section. only four recent -- vacancies on offer. especially bad for young actors like him. >> my friends in the theater

told me things are very bad for the arts scene. if nothing is done, if there are no solutions to our problems, the big theaters in the country and in lisbon will have to close soon because they're going to run out of money. the outlook is very bleak. >> it is not just portugal's cultural scene under pressure. the country is in a financial quagmire and needs to cut costs where it can. politicians promised economic recovery. instead the country is stuck in recession and unemployment is rising by 1% or 2% a month. it has reached a new record high. the facades of the houses and shops are crumbling. businesses are forced to close. the prospects that portugal's economy will turn the corner any time soon seems distant at best. he has not worked in two months. it is a familiar story for his friend. last year, the unemployed social

scientist made an online appeal and 500,000 portuguese took part in the demonstration. he still believes more can be done. >> i have not given up hope completely yet. i do not want to immigrate like many young people have. i still think i can do something for my country, but and not believe anymore that the government is going to do anything. i have to take care of that myself. >> and bartolo also plans to leave. he plans to go to london in july. in front of the opera house, the place where he got his first role, he meets a former college friend, kristina. he has come to meet her to talk about his decision. he is determined to make a go of it in britain. >> i have only bought a one-for a ticket. i want to stay there at work as

an usher in the theater, as a waiter, anything. i have to live in a place where i can achieve something. and where culture and art are respected. >> while he seeks his fortune in britain, she hopes to find a job at home in portugal. but her research will be difficult in a country that is struggling to survive a massive economic downturn. >> spain is struggling to come up with the 19 billion euros that the country's public-sector lender bankia says it needs in his second bailout. >> spain's banks are not offering loans to businesses. some firms have had to resort to creative solutions to keep afloat. >> no matter from what angle, bankia is the new image of the sovereign debt crisis. it has become the symbol for the fear spreading through spanish markets and media of losing the country's economic autonomy. >> i faced the topic on the job.

it affects me everywhere. of course we'll talk about it, whether at work or in private. >> banks are having to write down billions of euros in bad loans after not only houses but even entire motorway projects turned out to be disastrous investments. it is almost surprising to find a construction firm that is actually building anything these days. this 46-year-old man has just completed work on a new production facility. but the subject of banks' bids him fired up. -- banks get some fired up. >> i am ingrid because companies like ours that want to do a good job cannot have it easy in spain -- i am anger. you get the impression those who are not doing a good job are the ones getting the help instead. >> bankia is a hotly discussed subjects, especially among economists.

but in their view, the problem is a much wider one. >> bankia is not the problem, just a piece of the puzzle. the problem is the entire financial system is being undermined, not only in spain. we are all dependent on the financial system. it is the oil in our engine. >> that is something he is acutely aware of. when his client cannot get any more loans, the engine threatened to cut out. >> we are carrying on working, and we're financing our clients, because it is so difficult to get a loan from the bank. it is not just a question of solvency but also the cost of the loans. >> building contractor and mortgage lender. it has proved to be the key to success for them. during the boom, he avoided risky investments and stuck to his own tested business model. >> why have we got word now?

we offer of financing option, and we build production sites ready for use, especially for firms that deal with exports. that is one of the trademarks of our client space, firms the settle outside spain. they're still functioning and production is even increasing. >> exports could help ease spain's misery, but banks are denying many companies loans for crucial investments. >> in a moment ago we're going to have the action from germany's last soccer friendly before the euro 2012 tournament kicks off in poland and ukraine. >> first, a look at other stories making news. >> an israeli soldier and a palestinian militant have been killed in a shootout near the gaza strip border. the israeli army says the gunman crossed the security fence into israel and opened fire on soldiers who spotted him. >> prosecutors in germany are reportedly close to finalizing charges against a member of a suspected neo-nazi terrorist group suspected of killing 10

people, most of them ethnic turks, over the course of the decade. >> the burmese opposition leader aung san suu kyi has warned against euphoria over the country's recent reforms. speaking in bangkok, she said unemployment in burma is a time bomb, and she urged investors to focus on creating jobs. >> the nigerian military has confirmed that al qaeda militants killed a german hostage during a raid on their camp in the north of the country. the militants were demanding the release of a woman jailed in germany for links to terrorism. the german foreign office says it still needs confirmation of the dead man's identity. >> on it to sports. germany faced israel in their finely friendly before the euro 2012 soccer championship. >> it was a final chance to get the team in shape before they head to poland. >> germany got off to a slow start and had to wait 20 minutes

for their first scoring opportunity. the effort hit the post. bastian watched from the bench with an injury. he witnessed a german side lacking ideas and aggression against a weak opponent. five minutes before the break, mario opened the scoring from close range. in the second half, israel stepped up their game. the substitute almost scored the equalizer in the 54th minute, but the german keeper was there for the save. the hosts were hindered by frequent mistakes but still had a number of scoring opportunities. tomas fell to capitalize. less than 10 minutes before the final whistle, the substitute -- germany's score line by firing a rocket past israel's keeper. germany is one of the favorites to win the euro. but the coach has his work cut out for him before the first match against portugal on june 9.

>> just weeks to go before the start of europe in 2012. england has suffered a major setback. midfielder frank lambert has been ruled out of the contact after an injury on wednesday. the jealously player -- this may have been his last chance to win international championship with the squad. >> staying with the tournament, we continue our team profiles. perhaps the toughest group in the competition, a group b. germany, denmark, portugal, and the netherlands. dubbed the group of death. the netherlands or runners-up in the 2010 world cup. a team filled with international stars. >> the dutch team has proven firepower. one of the english premier league's top strikers. and this player won the bundesliga's golden boot. the coach wants just one big done up front.

who will sit his wingers? the first matches against denmark. >> we play the same kind of football. the players know each other. a lot of danish players play in holland. it is the same situation as two years ago. >> in 2010, the netherlands for world cup runners-up. wesley was an essential part of that team. but he is coming off a mediocre season. he's suffered an injury against slovakia this week. he hopes to be ready for denmark. >> we have to focus on at that game. then we will see. we have germany and portugal. as i said, we are in the toughest group of the tournament. >> defense will play a crucial role. if the netherlands make it through the group's stage, they could be contenders. they won the title in 1988.

since then they have reached the semifinals three times. we get this year's squad five out of six. >> the group of death. >> that is right. if they win, you'll be on your way to amsterdam to see the boats in those canals and the party there. >> that is right. >> all right, that is it for this edition of the "journal." thank you for watching. >> thanks so much. we will see you soon. ♪ captioned by the national captioning institute --www.ncicap.org-- ♪ ♪