>> live from berlin, this is the "journal" on dw. >> here are our headlines this hour. >> in syria, more heavy fighting in the capital, but china and russia blocked a new u.n. resolution, saying it would only make matters worse. >> and the billions for spanish banks as german lawmakers say yes to another bailout plan. >> investigators in bulgaria work to identify a suicide bomber who attacked a bus load of israeli tourists. >> in syria, rebels appear to be widening their reach and control.

>> rebels say they control the country's border crossings with turkey and iraq. >> diplomatic efforts to cut off support for the regime failed yet again. russia and china vetoed a united nations security council resolution threatening sanctions against damascus. >> in language we have heard before, russia said the draft would have opened the door to foreign military intervention in syria. >> we will get reactions in washington in just a minute, but our coverage begins on the ground in damascus. >> activists have posted videos on the internet that reportedly showed the chaotic situation on the ground in damascus. they say the army is mobilizing more forces but that anti- government forces are holding out. reporters say the fighting has spread to the presidential palace. the display of force follows wednesday's suicide bombing, which killed three key members of the regime.

rebels say its days are numbered. >> the chain is breaking. the regime has lost control, and the people bashar al assad relies on are gone. the foundations of the regime have been shaken. it is just bashar who is left. >> but the regime shows no sign of easing its grip on power, and a diplomatic solution appears more remote than ever following thursday's veto of a draft resolution that would have threatened sanctions. earlier, the german foreign minister made a heartfelt appeal. >> i am not going to be around the bush. i regret the behavior of russia and china thus far. i think that neither veto power has yet fulfilled this responsibility in the security council, and i think it is high time to put an end to all this political and strategic

maneuvering, and instead, to help people. >> his plea appears to have fallen on deaf ears. by blocking the resolution, russia and china have rendered kofi annan's international peace plan all but utile. -- futile. >> then the vetoes are another slap in the face for the u.s., which has tried several times to impose sanctions on the regime let's get more on this and go to our washington correspondent. where do we go from now? what does washington have in the works now that it has been blocked basically three times at the united nations? >> u.s. ambassador susan rice said that they would try to work as closely as possible with allies outside the security council to ramp up pressure on the assad regime. that could include measures like economic sanctions or financial sanctions against syrians who are on a so-called

u.s. blacklist. that black list has been continuously in margin. i of those measures include military measures as well, it can be highly doubt it because the u.s. do not want to get involved in something like that, especially not in an election year. there could be one exception to that. >> there has been a lot of talk about the chemical weapons arsenal, and if assad used those chemical weapons against his own people, he would have to be held accountable. for whatever that means. >> whatever that means is that -- should we put all this diplomatic window dressing to the side now and admit that this is the end o the line for diplomacy as far as the united nations security council is concerned? >> yes, you would not find anybody who put diplomacy to rest entirely in this case, but it is clear that there is no common ground for any meaningful compromise in the security council that would actually have an impact on the ground in syria.

the positions from russia and the west are just too far apart, and it is safe to say at this moment that the peace plan from the united nations special envoy kofi annan has failed. >> as always, thank you very much. tunisia's former dictator has been sentenced to life in prison. a military court found him guilty of complacency in the killing of 43 protesters during the jasmine revolution, which led to his downfall. >> it is the fourth time he has been sentenced, though it looks unlikely he will spend time behind bars because he fled into exile when he was toppled in 2011. the germans agreed again on thursday to open their wallets for a fellow eurozone members in trouble. >> that is right. germany's parliament approved an aid package for spain's troubled

banks. the bailout could be worth up to 100 billion euros with germans financing about 1/4 of that. >> this is the 10th time the parliament has voted on a bailout package since the eurozone crisis began, and support for all the best use is wearing thin in some places. -- support for the rescues. >> german lawmakers have already backed several packages, but concern is growing about how much europe's debt crisis is costing taxpayers. the finance minister says it is essential that the stability of the spanish banking sector is protected. he denies there is a risk of losing the money and says madrid will be liable for the funds. >> anyone going on about the liability of collective banking debts in the eurozone does not understand the seriousness of the issues, the -- the economic and political concerns at stake. >> spain will have to fulfil certain conditions. it will have to restructure its

banking sector, but the opposition social democrats remain skeptical and fear madrid may need much more assistance. >> is the majority votes yes, it is only because we believe the damage caused by germany refusing to help spain would be catastrophic, including for germany. ladies and gentlemen, this cannot continue. >> the left party says the government just wants to calm financial markets without carrying out any real reforms of the banking sector. >> whenever the going gets rough, it is the taxpayer who has to step in and take the losses. it is socialism for the wealthy and bank executives, and capitalism for the rest of the population. that is a sick and absurd model. >> but the chancellor got her majority. if all goes to plan at the meeting of eurozone finance ministers on friday, spain should have the first 30 billion euros installment by the end of the month.

>> let's bring in our political correspondent. are we close to reaching a point where german lawmakers say enough is enough, no more bailout money from us? >> the crisis is almost over, it is perfectly plausible that -- the crisis is far from over, so it is perfectly plausible back -- that german parliamentarians could have to vote on another bailout package for europe, but the debate that preceded the vote today reveals why they keep saying yes, and it is basically this -- it is fear that if an economy the size of spain or italy were allowed to collapse, it could bring the whole european house crashing down around them. there still is an option for a big no on the horizon. the german constitutional court is supposed to decide on september 12 with the permanent bailout fund is constitutional. if they say no, that would be a very big know for europe indeed.

>> indeed. the on the bailout mechanism, the german chancellor remains firm on her position that troubled eurozone economies must push through austerity, and that is exactly what voters want to hear right now, is it not? >> it certainly is. a recent public opinion poll about a week ago showed that the eurozone crisis is the main political concern among german voters. a large majority of them feel that chancellor merkel is handling the euro crisis well. she remains the most popular politician in the country, so indeed, her austerity course is very popular in germany. >> as always, thank you very much. >> it is not just germany that has to approve this bailout. other eu member states have to do the same. for more, we spoke to our correspondent in brussels. >> all eurozone countries have to ratify this bailout, and six

or seven are going through parliamentary processes. other member states have different processes, but the only one of concern was germany. even then, the european commission was not too concerned and fully believed it would go through. there is another black cloud around the corner, and that is this constitutional court verdict on september 12, it will be, on a new bailout mechanism, the european stability mechanism. if it is thrown out, that would really throw a spanner in the works, but the point about the simply is that where is with the spanish deal, the state does remain reliable, -- the state does remain liable, even though the money would go directly to the banks. under the bailout, we would have to rely of the banks being able to repay, and that is what is the big change, and germany once again will be in the spotlight when the constitutional court ruling decides one way or the other

whether we have got another big hurdle to overcome in this continuing saga of eurozone bailouts. >> the vote also dominated trading at the frankfurt stock exchange. >> the traders here were full of confidence the whole day that the government would say yes to develop. ailing banks. that is the main reason why shares were able to climb. the hope is that spain will be able to stabilize with that money from the rest of europe, but there were also many skeptics, who say that the problems in spain have to be approached fundamentally, not just with a whole lot of cash. the skepticism showed in the bond market. spain got a lot of money from investors but for a lot higher interest rates than the last time, investors being very careful on the question of spain.

>> let's take a closer look at some of the latest market numbers. the dax closed about 0.75% up -- over 1% up now. euro stoxx 50 also ended the day up 0.75%. across the atlantic, the dow jones currently going up about 0.25%, and the euro trading at $1.2272. >> the germans said yes to a bailout for spain today. the spanish said no to more austerity. there are protests across the country today. we have our correspondent in madrid on the line for us. tell us about what you are seeing where you are. >> we had another day of protests. what we are seeing at the moment now are almost daily protests across spain in response to the latest austerity

package. what is interesting is that whereas before, as we have seen protests on the streets of spain and on the streets of madrid, we are now seeing another type of person joining in. this latest austerity package really has started to touch sparge of spain which have not been touched before -- touch parts of spain which have not been touched before. >> who is the new member of this protest movement? >> generally speaking, these latest austerity measures have really had public-sector workers very hard. it is really the sorts of people -- spain is an economy where they have a large number of public sector workers, and whereas before, some people were feeling these measures. now, there are things like scrapping christmas bonuses, things that affect a wide range of people, not just people in specific places as had happened before. it is really a broader constituency.

>> we had a report earlier on one of our shows, talking about the mass evictions taking place across spain. people being forced to leave their homes because they cannot pay for their mortgages. how does that tie in to these protests? >> we often do see these images. this is for quite a small number of people, but it is a social problem in the sense that every time someone sees someone who suffer that fate or reads about it, it makes people more and more anxious about the future. there is still a problem in spain of the legacy of this long property bubble we are seeing. people bought houses in the last decade could be sitting on quite a severe amount of negative equity, and it makes people feel poorer. >> as always, thank you very much. we are going to take a break. when we come back, we will look at the war of words between iran and israel over a bus bombing in bulgaria that left seven people dead, most of them israeli tourists.

>> that is right. please stay with us.

>> welcome back, everyone. the 34 israelis were wounded in the suicide bombing of an israeli tour bus are now back home. israeli military aircraft brought them back. >> five israelis were killed in the attack along with the bus driver and the suspected bomber. israel says iran and its allied hezbollah were responsible and has promised a response. >> tehran, however, has denied the charge and condemned the attack. >> this bus was supposed to take a group of israeli tourists from the airport to a nearby holiday resort until an explosion ripped it apart. bulgarian police are busy investigating. they are being assisted by israeli detectives.

they believe the bomber was killed in the attack. they do not know his name, but officials think they may have identified the attacker on security camera footage. the man they suspect had long hair and was wearing shorts and carrying a backpack, like any ordinary tourist. detectives believe he spent about an hour at the airport prior to the attack. the israeli government is saying that iran and the lebanese group hezbollah are behind the attack. >> this attack was part of a global campaign of terror, carried out by iran and hezbollah. this terror campaign has reached a dozen countries on five continents. the world's leading powers should make it clear that iran is the country that stands behind this terror campaign. >> soldiers and doctors from israel have traveled to the resort to fly the dead and 30 of the wounded back to tel aviv.

>> i would have lost my life in a split-second if i had not jumped out of the window. >> everyone who managed to jump from this bus said the others were all dead or wounded. >> no group has claimed responsibility for the bombing. iran is strongly denying it had anything to do with the attack. >> in a moment, nokia used to be the king of the mobile phone market. we will look at how apple and android have knocked it off the throne. >> first, a look at the other stories making news around the world. the former head of egypt's intelligence service has died in the united states. he was undergoing medical treatment. he was a close ally of former president hosni mubarak he was appointed vice-president during mubarak's final days in power.

>> and india's parliament and state assemblies have voted for a new candidate for president. the former finance minister is tipped to win the largely ceremonial post. the result is expected sunday. >> massive job cuts are in the offering at deutsche bank. leaking details said 1000 bankers are being sacked by germany's biggest financial institute. that is 10% of the work force. the ax will fall mainly in london where deutch has its investment banking headquarters. -- where deutsche has its investment-banking headquarters. >> additional firefighters have been sent to a portuguese island where wildfires are burning out of control. >> high winds and extreme heat are hampering efforts to control wild fires in parts of mainland portugal. -- parts of mainland portugal also suffering fires. the mobile phone maker nokia's net loss nearly quadrupled in the second quarter on sagging sales of smartphones.

the company is struggling to gain ground lost to rivals such as apple and samsung. >> nokia posted a net loss of 1.4 billion euros in the last quarter. shares in the company jump, however, as sales of low-end phones buoyed saled. -- lloyd revenue. shipments of the new phone were higher than expected. >> many consumers think nokia's mobile phones look old- fashioned. the sector giant was slow to react to the shift towards smartphones, and now it is paying the price. the company began creating models that could do more than just make phone calls and send text messages well before its rivals. five years ago, nokia was the leading manufacturer of smartphones, with a market share of over 50%, but since then, share has tumbled and is now less than 8%. nokia is hoping to win back customers by teaming up with

software giant microsoft. certification -- sales of its first models with microsoft's operating system have been strong. the company is set to launch new handsets this autumn -- the same time as the new windows 8 operating system is introduced. analysts believe nokia's partnership with microsoft is its last chance for survival. >> the final word is still not out on where commodity prices are heading in this economic downturn, but china is hedging its bets with plenty of aid money, especially in resourced debt -- resourced-rich africa. >> beijing is pledging money, and some of the money will be earmarked for infrastructure projects, using chinese engineers and even laborers, but other investments will go to exploration for gold and rare earth minerals. >> the chinese president is vowing to increase his country's influence in africa. that an economic forum in beijing, he promised $20 billion in government aid for

african countries. the funds are being earmarked for infrastructure improvements, and to support agriculture and industry. >> china wholeheartedly and sincerely supports african countries to choose their own development path, and will wholeheartedly and sincerely support them to raise their development ability. china will stand together with the african people and will forever be a good friend, a partner, and brother. >> chinese companies are already leading the way in mining resources such as copper, diamonds, and oil in africa. western countries have to take a back seat and have criticized china's aggressive expansion policies in africa as checkbook diplomacy. corruption and human rights issues are just ignored. in addition, many african countries want to develop their economies and not just become suppliers of natural resources. at the meeting in beijing, the south african president recalled africa's negative experience with european colonization.

he reminded delegates to be cautious in developing partnerships with other countries. >> the final mountain stage of the tour de france has ended with race leader bradley wiggins dealing another blow to his rivals. the british writer successfully negotiated stage 17, finishing third and extending the lead over his nearest rival -- the british rider. spaniard alejandro valverde won the stage, his first win in the tour. the london 2012 olympics are just eight days away. >> london has been years preparing for the olympics, building a number of new venues and sprucing up some old ones. >> the government and the london organizing committee hope that the billions spent on sporting facilities will leave a lasting legacy for future generations. >> that will be an important test of the games' success for britain, given how much the cost of the event have spiraled.

>> the olympics are coming, and for london 2012, britain has released lashed out. -- truly splashed out. it has invested about 8.7 bllion euros in the venues alone. many are in the olympic park in east london. the site has been built from scratch, and the expense that has gone into the project has made it quite controversial. this is the new olympic stadium. it will host the open and closing ceremonies as well as the track and field competition. the stadium is located next to the aquatic center with a swimming and diving -- the swimming and diving events will take place. a basketball and rita is a temporary venue that will be dismantled after the games. -- the basketball arena is a temporary venue. then, there is this striking structure, the home of the track cycling event. close by, the copper box. it will play host to the handball competition. >> i think we are in as good a

position as any olympic city has ever been at this stage, and that is a great tribute to the organizing committee, to everybody who has been involved. >> and number of events will be outside the olympic park, spread around the city. critics fear that will be too much for london's transport system. many of the major soccer games, including the men's final, will be held at wembley stadium. it was renovated just a few years ago. as you might imagine, the tennis events will be held at wimbledon. some of the temporary venues have been set up near the city's famous landmarks. the equestrian events will be held at greenwich park. the beach volleyball competition. hyde park's artificial lake will host the outdoor sporting events. there are also venues outside

the capital. the canoe slalom will be held at the specially built lee valley whitewater center. england's south coast will host the sailing. >> facilities here are fantastic. as a team, we are working hard in this final build up to the olympics to get things right. >> new facilities and historic ones. the men who helped bring the olympics to london have done their work. now, let the games begin. >> all right, let's recap our main story for you -- syrian rebels are reported to have taken control of the country's main border crossing with iraq as well as one of the crossings with turkey. footage posted on the internet suggests that the conflict is entering a new and bloodier stage. >> the fighting in damascus has intensified since three top syrian officials were killed in a bombing on wednesday. >> nearly 20,000 syrian refugees

have arrived in neighboring lebanon in the last 24 hours. at the united nations, russia and china have become another draft resolution aiming to impose sanctions on syria. >> that is going to wrap it up for this edition of the "journal." as always, thanks for watching. >> do not forget -- you can find more on our website. that is dw.de. \ we will see you again soon. captioned by the national captioning institute --www.ncicap.org--