♪ >> hello, and welcome to the "journal" on dw. i am richard walker. >> i am monika jones. coming up in the next half-hour -- >> euro 2012 kicks off with a thriller between poland and greece. >> u.n. observers in syria go to the site of this week's massacre. one of them will tell us what they found. >> and could spain be asking the eurozone for help? it looks that way after the country is downgraded by fitch. ♪ well, the wait is over. euro 2012 has kicked off in

warsaw, and it did not go too well for host poland. >> they only managed a brought against greece and they failed to convert a penalty that could have given the penalty. -- they only managed a for draw. >> we will have plenty of analysis on the match and the three weeks ahead. first, this on game number one of euro 2012. >> it was a turbulent opening match and a disappointing start for poland, who failed to beat greece. in the first half, the poles dominated with lewandowski and blaszczykowski managing near misses. on the 17th minute of the first goal of the tournament. and the lead for poland. across from captain blaszczykowski found lewandowski who dispatched a header with ease. the poles piled the pressure on their opponents. but a chance for poland to make

it 2-0. just before halftime, greece lost sokratis to read card, leaving them with little hope for the second half. but dimitris salpingidis came on after halftime and rapidly turn things around for them, profiting from a chaotic polish defense. 1-1 in the match was wide open. the polish hosts were rapidly losing control. disaster struck in the 68th minute. a red card for the keeper and a penalty kick. the substitute goalie and the shot. in the end, poland failed to deliver. the score the final whistle was 1-1, reflecting the run of play. >> ok, let's bring in our sports car responded to talk about this first match in euro 2012 -- our

sports correspondent. >> it was not a dull opening game. this was an entertaining and unpredictable game. i think the poles will be kicking themselves today. they looked so good in the first half-hour. the right side of the team were fantastic for the first half hour. it is only really when the greeks went down to 10 men in equalized that poland started to look scared, like, we really should be winning this. they could clock -- could not quite put it away in the end. >> it is always a good thing when the host of a tournament, and in this case two posts, stay as long as possible in the tournament. it is a good for the mood in general. what other matches of the early ones can we look forward to? >> we hope poland and go further. tomorrow, the group of death kicks off, germany's group. they are up against portugal.

holland up against denmark. that will be interesting. on sunday, spain versus italy. spain, of course, on this quest to win a third tournament in a row. while italy, summit in battle, but you can never write them off. i am sure they will be doing well. these great early countries are what this tournament is all about. it is an exciting format, our last chance to enjoy this format with 16 teams. as the next time, there will be 24 teams. it will be diluted a bit in quality. >> that first match giving us a pretty good taste. thank you for that. we're going to have much more from him later on in the show. >> but moving on to the crisis in syria. u.n. observers have gained access to the site of wednesday's a legit massacre, and they have been telling her rent is discoveries there. >> the smell of burnt flesh was in the air in the village of

mazraat al-quabair and body parts laid scattered around. >> a dangerous journey getting to the village for the monitors. they were shot at for the second day in a row. >> there is no confirmation yet of how many people were killed in the massacre or who was responsible for it. the opposition and the assad regime are blaming each other. >> these demonstrators in syria are protesting against the assad regime but they refuse to be intimidated by the recent massacre. >> my voices for god and for freedom. and no one is going to take away from me. we will not give up until week to feed this a dictator. >> united nations observers have gained access to hama province, to the side of wednesday's massacre which claimed the lives of 80 victims, some of them children. the syrian regime does not dispute that a massacre took place in mazraat al-quabair but

blames the violence on a group of armed terrorists who were then killed by government forces. the u.n. observers had tried to enter the village on thursday but were shot at, leading them to turn back. and when it tried again on friday, they were also met with gunfire. the shots were of the ball during the dw interview with a spokesperson. weapons are clearly being used near a u.n. convoy. there seems to be no let up to the violence in syria. >> we can now go back to our reporter who, as we saw in that report, was close to the sound of gunfire outside that village where the massacre took place thank you very much for joining us. as we saw there, you're a team, there was the sound of gunfire, reports that your team was shot out perhaps for the second day. did you get out safely? >> to clarify, we were in the

vicinity of gunfire on the way back to damascus. we had already left mazraat al- quabair. actually, it was closer to damascus that it was to hama, for clarification. but we are fine now. we left. we're safe and sound in denver places. some in hama, some in damascus. >> some were shot dead yesterday when trying to reach the village. do you have any idea who has been shooting at york teams? >> what we can confirm is that there were two small caliber bullets that hit a car. it is unclear if that was the target. as to who is doing the shooting, we cannot point fingers. we did not see who did the shooting. >> you have now been into the village where this alleged massacre took place. tell us more about what you found. >> basically, a week -- it took us a long time to get there. we had to coordinate to get

access from the government to go in and from the local community and those who know the village well. by the time we got in, we found that there were no residents, no local inhabitants of this village remaining in that village. so the village was empty, and most people found out we were there and we got people from neighboring villages who came to speak to us. they were scared and had their faces covered. >> and you did find evidence -- she found a body parts and the smell of burning flesh. >> yes, we found several difficult residences. one of them had the mp tracks on the road. one of the house is was completely damaged.

it was shelled with rockets from the mp's. inside the house, there were several different caliber weapons. we found bullets and other things, grenades, some that had not even exploded. the house was cordoned off. we did not want them to explode with civilians in the neighborhood and the villages. the other horrific scene was a bird house with the bodies inside -- the burnt house with the bodies inside. there was a heavy stench of burning flesh. we also saw body parts and scattered blood on the walls. we saw a dead animals and livestock. >> thank you very much for bringing us up to date from damascus on what you found in mazraat al-quabair. from the u.n. monitoring

mission. a three-month dispute could be nearly over in egypt. its political parties have agreed to form a commission to draft a new constitution. >> in cairo, protests continue ahead of next week's runoff presidential election. demonstrators marched to the military hospital where hosni mubarak is being treated. the military council that took over following his ouster had promised to hand over power to an elected president by july 1, but there is still no constitution in place. in europe, a spanish bailout looks increasingly likely. it would be the fourth country to seek assistance since the eurozone debt crisis began. >> on saturday, eurozone finance ministers will be holding a conference to discuss a possible spanish request for aid. an announcement is expected as early as saturday afternoon. >> the dramatic development gained momentum after ratings agency fitch downgraded the credit worthiness of madrid

within two steps of junk status. >> an apartment building illegally occupied by squatters who say they have a right to a roof over their heads. with unemployment soaring, more and more people are moving into an unfinished buildings left over from spain's property bubble. bad loans have pushed many banks to the edge of bankruptcy. some members suggest germany is pressing madrid to ask the eu for financial assistance -- rumors. but berlin denies that. >> we have everything that is required for the stable development of the eurozone. now is up to individual countries to come to us if they need to. so far, that has not happened, and that is what germany is not applying any kind of pressure either. >> european financial stability facility is believed to have sufficient funds to bail out spain, but so far there has been no request for help.

spain's deputy prime minister says the government is still analyzing the situation and waiting for the international monetary fund's assessment of what the banks need. but financial analysts say it is only a matter of time before spain makes the call. >> spanier needs help, and i think it will seek assistance this weekend. >> the ratings agency fitch estimates that rescuing spain's banks will cost between 6 billion euros and 100 billion euros. >> another day of uncertainty for financial markets with that question hanging over spain. let's get the latest from conrad at the frankfurt stock exchange. >> with all the fuss about spain and with the rumors if and when spain might seek rescued from the euro rescue fund, a few hard economic facts nearly got forgotten. german exports receded for the first time this year. the u.s. reported less exports to china and to the european

union. in italy, industrial production contracted at a larger rate than anticipated. and in france, the bank de france corrected its growth forecast downward. this did not really give reason for the markets to be optimistic. in light of this, it can be posted as very good news that the dax ended the week with a slight weekly gain. >> let's get a look at the market numbers in more detail. let's start off with the dax. the dax ended only very slightly the euro stoxx 50 almost completely flat, 2143. trading is still underway in new york. the dow jones is currently about two-thirds of 1% higher. and the euro is currently going for $1.2512. so, monika jones --

>> a look at europe in 2012. but first, a look at other stories making headlines around the world. >> japan's prime minister yoshihiko noda has asked the public to support his plan to restart nuclear reactors that were shut down after the fukushima disaster. he says there will be a shortage of power otherwise. the role of japan's nuclear power plants have been offline for about a month now. >> a bomb has exploded on the government bus in pakistan, killing 19 and injuring 42 people. it took place in the northwest of the country. police believe the bomb was planted in the rear of the bus and was detonated by a timing device. >> china has promised closer cooperation with afghanistan. president hu jintao and his afghan counterpart ahmadinejad karzai signed a joint declaration in beijing on friday that would give china more influence in afghanistan's to

vomit after foreign troops leave in two years' time. -- development after foreign troops leave in two years' time. coming up, we will have a lot more about euro 2012. ♪ ♪ >> what is so powerful that it can make you overcome your greatest fear, turn your brother into an enemy, and leave wounds that scar long after the fighting is over? >> what passes effortlessly from mother to child, from generation to generation? >> what clouds brilliant minds?

>> makes you confuse right and wrong? >> it is hunger. >> it kills 25,000 people a day. >> help us fight hunger. the "journal the world food program. >> welcome back. russia and the czech republic are contesting righted this very moment the second game in group a at euro 2012. >> the match kicked off about half an hour ago, and the score is 2-0 for russia. both sides are optimistic that their team will win. when the country's last met at the 1996, edition of the two teams in through 3-3 before the czech republic made it all the way to the final. >> ok, titus is back with us in the studio. let's have a word about this match going on now. 2-0, looking like this one is going in one particular direction. >> yes, it looks like russia will be in a good position to win the group. i think they are a strong team.

you know, they are under the dutch coach and are planning free-flowing football. they have a talented players, particularly the midfielder, who is already on the score sheet tonight. and the youngster. they're both said to do big things in this tournament and hopefully replicate the performance from 2008. yes, i think they are in for a good tournament. the one thing that might counts against them is the strength of the feeling in eastern europe. with both the czech republic and their group and poland, it might ignite some emotions and turned it into a grudge match. you never know what will happen. as long as they can handle that and play like they are tonight, i think they will be fine. >> polling got off to a disappointing start, just 1-1 there. does that raise questions about whether they will get much further? >> i am afraid it does. on paper, greece was their

easiest game. looking at how bad the defense was, it does seem like they will struggle against someone like russia. i do worry about poland now. hopefully they will get through and keep the tournament exciting. >> thank you. we will be back with you in a moment. >> germany starts tomorrow with a match against portugal. >> they are in what is being called the group of death. of course, neither team wants to meet that fate. so they're both going to try their hardest. >> germany is being tipped as one of the favorites to win the whole tournament. well, fingers crossed. let's see how the team is looking ahead. i am very objective. we will look at how the team is doing ahead of the opening game. >> it was a travel day for the german squad. a small group of supporters wished them well as they headed

off to ukraine for saturday's first group match against portugal. >> there are opponents to play at a similar level. we will have to be on our best to make a good start to the tournament. >> germany's most daunting task will be containing the former world player of the year, christiano ronaldo. he is dangerous with both his head and feet. the match will be played out in front of a capacity crowd. germany fans see their chances. >> we are confident without being arrogant. we're confident in what we can do. the team has shown that they are right where we want them to be. the first match is crucial. if we can win that, we will generate some momentum. >> the german team and its entourage arrived around midday on friday.

the reception by fans was similar to the sendoff. germany has now completed its last training session before saturday's kickoff. >> ok, so titus is back with us. what do you think about germany? monica things they are going to clearly when. a lot of people are putting money on them. how do think they will do in this first match against portugal, and how are they looking overall? >> i think they're looking good. the have had these recent friendlies which have not gone quite as planned. i think that has a lovely chased complacency out of the players. i think what is important for the first game for the coach is to see that his squad is present and ready to go. a few things have happened, and the coach will want to be able to choose from his whole squad. there is a very little room for error in this group. he wants everyone to be able to win the group.

it does not mean that lars bender will not come in. he is normally at midfield play, but he has the energy and ability to play this position and hopefully counter some of portugal's exciting place. so that will be a key role. i think theit they get out right, they should be ok. >> germany is a fairly young team. they played very promising two years ago in south africa during the world cup. but you must never underestimate your opponents. what shape is portugal in? >> they are experienced. they have a lot of exciting players. they're not the one-man team everyone makes them out to be. their real problem for years now has been they have never really had a world class structure to match the creed of players that have had. like louis and nani and christiano. ronaldo is really the man it to

stop. we will see it phillip can do what he did against reale. hopefully things will go germany's way. portugal perhaps not worldbeaters but certainly difficult opponents. >> thank you. we will be coming back to you one last time in a couple minutes. that match between germany and portugal is taking place in the ukrainian city, and the people there are getting to know a few hundred germans. >> our reporter went to see how the fans are getting on in their temporary home. >> 150 tents set up for german soccer fans at a campsite. they were among the first to arrive. they say their trip to the western ukrainian city has already been an adventure. >> the roads are really just one big word. our taxi driver drove pretty fast.

>> i do not think any of us expect this to be your average let's go to spain holiday. we figure we're in for some surprises, but we are prepared. >> the tents cost 100 euros and night. not cheap, but a hotel would cost three times as much. the germans do not mind the basic accommodation, but they are surprised at how far away the city is. with no shuttle buses running yet, the german fans decide to take a taxi into town to the stadium into the city. and this is where the young men from cologne will be cheering for their team on saturday. their expectations are high. they're looking for a win against portugal and a trophy in three weeks. >> it is high time we win the championship again. we have been at runners-up were third so often. munich was runner-up last month.

i think it is our turn now. >> they can look back on a long and turbulent history, but today this is the most beautiful city in ukraine. the residents are proud to have an opportunity to show it off. >> most foreigners do not really know ukraine. all they know is what they read in the press, and that is not always fair. >> this is a chance to present ourselves to the world. so the tourists can get to know our country. the fans from cologne said they are impressed by the friendly people and the atmosphere in the city. they have heard about the of authoritarian government, the poor human-rights record, and widespread corruption. despite that, they think it is good that they have come. >> we thought about how we would

be here, of course, but we're not aware of any problems. >> i think people are pretty pragmatic. the main thing to worry about is their economic situation. you can see how little money they have and how they have to struggle to get by. >> for the euro championships, they want to present the city in the best light. the city has invested some 680 million euros on preparations. now the wait is over and the city and its guests do not want to miss any of th action. >> the biggest question, of course, is who is going to win the tournament. >> some are putting their face and the animal kingdom. who can forget the octopus that spend a lot of time predicting the winner of the world cup, only to die. >> often, he was right. now even elephants are getting in on this.

>> predicting soccer games is a wild business. yvonne that the headlines last year as the cow on the run, evading capture in bavaria for 100 days. now she has gone from fugitive to fortune teller. her prediction, portugal all the way. the elephant sees a different future. she booted the ball straight into the portuguese built, many victory for germany on saturday. >> i faced a lot of elephants in my playing days, but i have never seen one as a technically perfect as nellie. it is too bad she cannot play with the men. >> over in kiev, meet the psychic pig. picking winners is a pressured job, especially for one of the host nations, but it is all in a day's work for this pig. >> he really likes people, and he likes soccer. he watches it on tv with his owner.

for two weeks, we watched him pick local and international matches. he definitely has the psychic ability. otherwise we would not have chosen him. we will see how accurate he is in a few days. >> and oracle's reputation is a shaky thing. a correct choice might quite literally save his bacon. but the pig has been promised a long and happy life, even if completely wrong. >> hopefully a longer and happier life than the octopus. there is no time to go back to titus, the thank you to him. stay with us. we will have more news at the top of the hour. >> thank you for watching, and do not go away. ♪ captioned by the national captioning institute --www.ncicap.org-- ♪