captioned by the national captioning institute --www.ncicap.org-- >> welcome to "the journal" in berlin. >> welcome to the show. >> the headlines at this hour. in a speech to turkish parliament, germany's president urges turks and germans tou see they are closely connected. more strikes and protests in france over plans to reform the pension system. >> the first on the tracks. germany's rail carrier prepares for business in the eurotunnel. >> for the first time ever, a german head of state has

addressed the turkish parliament in a much anticipated speech. president christian wulff called on germany's turkish community to actively engage in society. he reiterated that are a welcome part of germany. this comes amid an ongoing debate in germany about the integration of immigrants into german society, especially turks, who make up the largest ethnic minority. >> the turkish president gave his german counterpart a warm welcome. prior to the trip, wulff had made headlines for his comment that islam is part of germany. in turkey, the german president continued his call for mutual respect. in a speech on tuesday, he appealed to his host to protect the religious freedom of minorities. >> we expect that christians in muslim countries have the same rights to live their fate publicly, educe new clergy,

and build churches. >> it is hard to gauge what the turkish property in -- turkish parliament made of the appeal, but in germany his words resonated with politicians. >> religious freedom is enshrined in our constitution. we hope this can become possible in turkey as well. >> we made it clear that religious freedom is the world's future. >> wulff also struck a conciliatory note, praising the recent move to amend the constitution drafted under military rule. he said the constitutional changes brought turkey closer to eu membership. in the end, polite applause for the german president. during his visit, he is also expected to address a business forum and attend a christian religious service. >> our correspondent has been following president wulff's

visit to turkey. we asked how his spch t turkish parliament wareceed >> with a little bit of bewilderment and puzzlement. actually, all the problems he enumerated are unknown in turkey. he was speaking more to the german public. obviousl his speech was also being broadcast there, where the integration debate is raging. but some of the doors of the speech in the parliament today would have been puzzled but all the problems which he called "our problems," without saying whether he meant the germans or turks or both together. the problems in german cities are not really problems the turks have to do with on a daily basis. there is a rage to educate yourself in turkey. all the young people try to get education and work hard. they are taught to be very respectful to elders. all these are problems of one society dissolving into another quite far away from turkey.

he was received with some bewilderment, actually. >> ok, then. could you tell us more about the other main points of his speech? >> actlly, the way he really hit the hot spot was when he was speaking about the rights of religious minorities, especially christians in turkey. that is a hot topic here. the government has been trying to improve the loty of the tiny christian minority in turkey, but the opposition is opposed and has gone to constitutional court every time the government has tried to do something, blocking every step of the way. that part of the speech was received well by the turkish president in his press conference, and by many parliamentarians on the opsiti benches. >> thank you for that. the debate over integration of immigrants in germany has followed the german foreign minister to india. he is on his first official

visit to the country. at a conference at the deli institute of technology on tuesday, -- delhi institute of technology on tuesday, he distanced himself from comments made by angela marco. sheaid that integration in germany had failed. he said that anyone could practice their culture and religion in the country. a leading french union says 3.5 million people took to the streets today to protest the government's pension reform plan, a number far higher than official estimates. workers in the oil refineries joined in the protest, crippling fuel surprise. the french president has vowed to take action to overcome those fuel shortages. at times, violence has erupted during the protest in some cities. >> demonstrators clashed with police in the streets of nante rres on the outskirts of paris.

youngsters hurled rocks at the police, who responded with tear gas. there were also crashes -- clashes in lyon and le mans, where proteste burned down a school. despite the violence, many french still support the strike action. >> transport workers, trash collections, blue and white collar workers should all be united. if there is no transport today we are not going to die from it. >> the sixth day of a nationwide protest is filled with refuse piling up on the streets. things ground to a standstill at the train stations and airports. a third of flights across france were cancelled on tuesday. while airlines have continued to fly into france, they have been told to ensure they bring enough fuel to fly back out. french car drivers are also having to cope with the lack of

fuel as well. president nicolas sarkozy says he will push ahead and have the retirement age proposal voted into law this week, despite the protests. >> i asked our correspondent in paris if the situation was likely to be escalate soon, given that neither side is prepared to back down. >> the situation seems like it will no longer be as violent as it was today, but the crisis may continue for some time. it has just been revealed in cal newspapers in france that france had to import electricity for the past two days, the past 48 hours. if you count in terms of petrol shortages or transport problems, that are likely to continue. but the scale of violence we have seen today may not be repeated. >> what effect is this having on sarkozy's popularity? >> in terms of his popularity,

it is too early to say what is going to be the case in the coming days. however, one of the only surveys showed that the people in the age bracket between 50 and 65 may not vote for president sarkozy if there were elections today. they will vote for some socialist party candidate. but the elections are still far away from 2012 and we are still far from elections. >> thank you very much. our reporter in paris. deutsche bahn is charting new territory in europe. >> that is right. it is all aboard for germany's rail carrier, deutsche bahn, in e real conction e euro tunnel between britain and france. it raced on the tracks as a preview of what will become routine in 2013. here is the wolf. >> it arrived on time on platform five of london's st. can crustacean -- st. pancras

station, a first for the german high-speed train. it ends the dominance of the french rival eurostar. the german transport minister is reaching the end of a long bureaucratic struggle which should soon start paying off. so far, the french have vetoed attempts by deutsche bahn to use the tunnel, allegedly for safety reasons. >> they want to put together trains in brussels arriving from frankfurt and amsterdam. they want to send them jointly through the narrow tunnel, which means passengers could not walk the whole length of the train, a clear breach of safety legislation. >> authorities finally yielded to the pressure and amended regulations to allow them to pass. a test evacuation of the german train last saturday took less than 20 minutes. 15 trains daily could soon

connect amsterdam, cologne, frankfurt, and london. >> our market analysis shows that in the frankfurt-cologne region alone, 1.1 million passengers alone want to travel to london a year. there is huge market potential we do not want to ignore. >> travel time between frankfurt and london will shrink to five hours in 2013, the some say there is a chance the first i.c.e. could arrive just in time for the london olympics in 2012. >> meghan and i will be on that train. stock markets around the world got a wake-up on tuesday when china hiked. it is the first time money has become more expensive in china since 2007. it is a clear sign beijing is serious about fighting inflation. prices are rising quickly in china as the economy continues to grow at 10% a year,

inflation clocking in at 3.5%. stocks and commodity prices dipped slightly after that announcement. markets do not like any sign that china, the world economic engine, may be slowing down. the news of the interest rate hike sent commodity prices falling, pulling down stocks. we have a wrap up from the stock exchange. >> the news from china came as a total surprise here. it immediately led to share prices and the euro falling. people are afraid that higher interest rates over there will hurt demand for german products, for example, for the important exports. for a long time, the dax was supported by financial experts, their expectations to the negative but not quite as negative as people feared. contributing to the leiter decline in share prices, high- tech companies from the united states had quarterly results that did not quite meet high

expectations, one must say. chip maker shares suffered, one of the worst losers. >> thank you from the frankfurt stock exchange. let us check from markets ended on tuesday. the dax closed lower. same for the euro stocks but the index, down 0.5% on the day. the dow industrials move some sizable losses, about 1.5%. on currency markets, at the euro is $1.373 a lot of bond traders are talking about good use for the eurozone finally. bond yields across europe are falling, even bonds sold by the greek government. the european central bank has stopped buying bonds to stabilize the market. on tuesday, eu finance ministers took an important step to make sure another debt crisis does not happen. we have this report from their

summit in luxembourg. >> german and french finance ministers were visibly relieved after the talks. a compromise between the countries paved the way for tuesday's deal. in the future, a two-thirds majority vote by e.u. government, rather than a european commission decision, will determine when disciplinary decisions will be -- when disciplinary measures will be taken against countries that breach deficit limits. there is an argument that germany and france are going against the interest of other member states. >> we could have reached a little bit further, but we have made such progress is good. to me it is surprisingly did not get 100% fiscal discipline from germany. >> germany explained why. >> without a german-french compromise, which would not have reached an agreement yesterday. would that be better? we would still have the same stability pact. it obviously was not working. >> besides annual budget

deficits, the monetary affairs commissioner now becomes responsible for policing the state's -- eu states' overall debt as well. they set up an early-warning system to avoid a repeat of prerty bubbles in countries such as ireland and spain. in 2012, the european hedge fund industry also comes under tighter legislation. the e.u. parliament has to approve tuesday's deals. >> a legal speed bump volkswagen's takeover of porsche. the c.e.o. confirmed that a lawsuit by disgruntled investors in the u.s. could delay the deal. investment funds in the u.s. accused portion of manipulating its stock price and lying about the attempt to buy a bmw in 2008. that deal failed and volkswagen ended up purchasing porsche.

they are demanding damages. a volkswagen had planned to complete the takeover by 2011. we will be on that train to london, right? >> yes. as long as they bring the prices down. thank you very much for that. we turn our tention back to france, but away from the strikes. dmitry medvedev has signaled his willingness to discuss his country's participation in nato's planned missile defense shield, but stopped short of saying moscow would sign up. he has agreed to travel to a nato summit in lisbon next month for more talks on the issue. this development came after a meeting with german and french leaders in france. >> security corporation has not always been easy in russia's relations with the west and the issue dominated talks between the three leaders. with the president set to return to next month's nato summit, germany sees progress in the relationship.

>> it is a positive message because we need to put the relationship between russia and nato on a firm foundation. many global threats we face are common threats. >> but moscow remains concerned about nato plans to build a missile shield in europe. medvedev told his colleagues he is prepared to cooperate but wants to know more. >> but of course nato also needs to consir what it means if russia were to cooperate. how would it work in practice? >> the meeting may mark the turning point in russia's relations with the west. the three leaders are considering making the meetings a regular fixture. >> let us turn to some soccer news now. the champion leagues stages continue tonight with eight matches in total. english champions chelsea the moscow 2-0 in russia. the first half goals secured the

points. chelsea topped the group f with nine points. stay tuned for in-depth,

>> a good education is the key to a child's future. traditionally, germany has prided itself on the quality of education its students receive, but over the years german students are receiving less satisfactory grades when it comes to international comparative studies. this is causing concern among arents, teachers, and education officials. it is clear that a high quality education is an important resource, not just for the individual who receives it but also for the economy and society as a whole. the fundamentals of education are laid in primary schools and in kindergarten.

there, some parents are getting more involved in what their children learn and how they learn it. >> [singing] >> "frere jaques" in chinese. once a week she comes to give the children an introduction to her native tongue. >> ni ha. >> what does that mean? >> good morning. >> how do you say goodbye? >> his parents pay a lot for his extra tuition. his early learning program costs 85 euros per month on top of the usualokindergarten fee, but they say it is worth it. >> i think a lot is possible at

this age and you need to start as early as possible for the learning. y>> if they want to take part, they can. no one is forced into these early learning programs. >> i think it is important that he enjoys it. as long as he does not feel pressured, i think it is ok. >> parents are increasingly being told they need to do more to guarantee the future success of their offspring. ieducational researchers warn against parents being too proactive, advising them instead to relax. she says nursery children need time, love, and attention, not extra class is. >> people are not able to judge which programs make sense and which do not. people are taking advantage of parents' bed consciousness. parents -- parents' bad

consciences. parents should play with children, read to them, give them emotional security. all that is important. >> most parents say that early learning programs are not all there is to live. whenever they have time, they taken to the playground. chinese is well and good, but a sand pit is a sand pit. >> the desire to oimiz have studentsearn is raising the question of how children can best absorb and retain knowledge. most of us would say an element of fun would make the learning process more interesting. there is no scientific evidence to prove if this is indeed the case. neurological research is providing precise information about how the brain works and how thought develops. but it is not always easy to apply these insights to day to day instruction in schools. >> once we are born, our brains

start to develop gradually. everything a baby sees, hears, smells, and senses creates connections between neurons. researchers talk about the memory traces. the more often these traces are activated, the stronger they become and the better we learn. these children are practicing keeping their balance. their brains are activated. and when we use our brains, we learn. learning changes the brain. >> the brain is a paradoxical shoebox. the more that is in it, the more fits inside. anyone with nothing in it by the age of 20 will not learn anything else. >> we learn with our brain, our heart, and our hands. the hands play a central role in the learning process. large regions of the brain are used for coordinating our movements. for instance, if we paid by hand instead of by using a computer

mouse, larger regions of our brain are activated. >> if youose a brainteaser about things which were learned using our hands or without using them, we think better, is noticeably quicker and more accurately when we have learned using our hands. that is because we then use billions more nerve cells for help completing the task, which is why we do it better. >> experiments show that fear and stress restrict creativity. over the past few years, researchers have established that happiness a learning go together. there is a center in the brain which react when positive things happen unexpectedly. >> then the system is activated and it does two things. first, it leads to positive emotion, and second, we learn really quickly.

instead of just teaching facts, schools should also concentrate on positive emotions. studies show that when pupils can choose for themselves what to learn the results are better. >> letting kids decide what they want to learn. some would say it is a revolutionary thought in conventional educational institutions. but we now take you to a place where this is actually put into practice, a school in bavaria that won the german school prize this year. the school is linked to a local hospital and most of the children are patients. but education experts say the way the school is run could serve as a model for other institutions. >> height in the bavarian mountains, far from the german education debate, a little education module has developed, the sofie scholl school. almost everything is different

here. students start to drift in at the start of the day. there is no announcement of the start of lessons and no common class is for all the children. the children begin work independently. there is a weekly plan for orientation, but each has been draw up individually with the teacher. >> i can decide r myself what i want to do. >> the kids study a mix of math, german, and general studies instead of following a rigid lesson structure. if someone wants to go out to read, that is fine. it seems very free, and was even. but the children have to complete a curriculum like any pupil. they simply decide when to study what. >> the pressure on the children to perform and complete something within an hour -- time. they have it. >> the school is part of an allergy clinic. the pupils are patience and

often stay for only a few weeks. the teaching plan is drawn up for the shiftingoll. the work is decided in a weekly teacher-pupil meeting. >> we still have to repeat the basics. my colleague told me it is not all solid yet. >> meanwhile, this high school student helps 15-year-old sophie. older people's helping younger ones is part of the idea here. the teaching staff grew up -- drew up the concept and is developing it further. that means hard work and dedication. >> i really do believe the idea would work for any school. of course, you have to look exactly at the makeup of the student body and each individual people. -- pupil. >> the pupils and just quickly. >> because it is fun. >> that is what makes th

innovative teaching ideas so successful. >> education in germany, a learning curve. that has been the focus of our in-depth today. thanks for being with us. stay tuned.

ow! of course. thank you. i'd call her honeydew goodbody, not lisa. the very fact that she is called lisa proves that she exists.