welcome to the "journal" on dw-tv. >> and before joining us. >> the german finance ministry forecasts a huge increase in tax revenues. grounded, airbus a380's. and germany's jewish community ordains its first female rabbi in 74 years.

the german government has announced an unexpectedly large tax windfall, 65 billion euros, by the end of 2012. with exports booming and unemployment at an 18-year low, taxes are flowing into the coffers. so far, chancellor merkel's government says that cash will only be used for debt consolidation. >> business is booming in germany, and the better than expected recovery from the downturn has been -- has meant tax revenues will be better than expected. it is a major upward revision that experts would have thought fanciful until recently. it all the same, berlin is warning against complacency. >> despite the upward revision, are receipts in 2010 it will be well under the 2008 levels.

>> the revised projections for the current and following two years foresthe feral gion,ocalcoffers will take in 61 billion euros more than expected, leading to calls for tax cuts from some quarters, including within the coalition. but the chancellor is sticking to the priorities the government has set for itself. >> i am saying simplify the tax system. we're taking steps in that direction, but cutting the budget deficit is the top priority. >> the projected increase in revenue will not be enough to avoid the need to take on new debt, but will be at a lower rate than before. >> earlier, we spoke with our correspondent and asked how the german government plans to use the extra cash. >> there is some disagreement between the government parties on what to do with the extra money.

the free democrats would like to see a tax cuts, and that after all was a key election pledge of the government. but chancellor merkel has said the emphasis should be on balaing the books. she says streamline and simplify the tax system, yes, but broad tax cuts, no. germany continues to sit on a mountain of debt. from 2016 onwards, under the constitution, the government will not be allowed to run out new debt, so this extra money that they are seeing now is very welcome toget the nation's finances in order. >> simon, thank you. air france has no plans to ground its four airbus a380's

after an operator was forced to make an emergency landing i i singapore. they say they are not equipped with rolls royce engines like the one on the qantas airliner. they have granted their fleet after one of them made an emergency landing -- qantas grounded their fleet after one of them made an emergency landing. >> shocked passengers are not likely to forget this flight anytime soon. >> i was sitting behind the wing. we felt this loud thud. everybody was shaken by it. i said, the pilot did a fantastic job. >> an explosion appeared to have destroyed the engine casing and damage the wing. eyewitness is in indonesia said they heard a loud noise. the fligh wa on i w to sydney and stopped on its weight and singapore. six minutes after takeoff, the

engine failed. the pilot had it back to singapore. a passenger filmed the damaged wing as qantas began their investigation into the incident. the carrier said it would ground its fleet of six a380's. >> we will suspend all a380 take off until we have sufficient information on the flight. we wi susndhose a380 services until we are completely satisfied that qantas safety requirements have been met. >> specialists from airbus and rolls roroe are on their way to singapore to help in the investigation. singapore airlines has also grounded its a380's, while three other airlines said their super jumbo's would keep flying. that earlier we asked an expert about the engine failure that forced the emergency landing.

> we don't know the exact cause. we know that it was an contained an immaterial, which means that bris left the engine, penetrating the wing. that is a very serious incident that should not have happened. engine manufacturers are required to prove during testing before the engines are delivered that that does not happen. everybody is looking into what has happened. >> ho damaging is thifor qantas? >> it is very damaging for them. it is also very damaging for rolls royce, the engine manufacturer. that particular type of engine has had several ?ncidents on the a380 since it entered service three years ago, and in my view, there have been too many incidents. they're not related, but there is an issue with the engine that

urgently has to be addressed. >> thank you. police in greecehave carried out a controlled explosion on a parcel bomb in athens. the culprits had put the name of an orthodox archbishop aon the package and also found several more suspicious packages. the latest find comes days after parcel bombs were sent to a number of embassies and european leaders, including german chancellor angela merkel. two alleged members of a great anarchist group have been arrested in connection with the bombs -- two alleged members of areek anarchist group. riot police used stun grenades and tear gas against protesters as scuffles broke out when the police tried to push the firefighters back. greece has implemented a severe austerity measures to deal with

the massive debt, including job and wage cuts. the german defense minister guttenberg has made an unannounced trip to a combat zone and afghanistan. he visited german troops at the german base, where he wanted to get a firsthand view of the situation. german, american, belgian, and afghan forces have been engaged in heavy fighting with taliban militants in that region for several days, aiming to secure a new outpost close to an area controlled by taliban fighters. steve has news about the ecb. >> the ecb is holding the rates steady. today at the u.s. fed announced pls to buynother six uer llion dolls ofonds with newly created money -- to buy $ 600 billion of bonds with new decree at money, it has prompted other action by other central banks.

the u.s. dollar is expected to continue to get weaker, prompting policymakers to consider fresh steps to prevent their currencies from appreciating too uncompetitive lehigh valleys. the ecb has decided to hold its interest rates steady and indicated it will not be following the fed in easing, propelling the road to a new nine-month highs against the dollar -- propelling the of euro to new nine-month highs against the dollar. >> jean claude trichet is not following the u.s. fed's example. >> based on monetary policy, the governing council views the current key ecb interest rates as appropriate. we therefore decided to leave them unchanged. >> the u.s. is relying on a defense strategy to bolster its economy. federal chrman ben bernanke is going to pump an additional $600

billion into the system by buying up treasury bonds. european minister is concerned about the policy. >> the head of the federal reserve made these decisions. he is being nicknamed helicopter ben, because he once referred to the theory of dropping money from a helicopter into the economy. that is not the way i see things. >> many european economists and u.s. economists are critical of the measures, saying that it could lead to a new speculative bubble and large currency fluctuations. german shares rallied as investors reacted enthusiastically to the stimulus package, sending the dax index to its highest level in more than two years. our correspondence sent this summary from frankfurt. >> the u.s. federal reserve is promising a liquidity, and this keeps the market goingt. ithe daxent uto its highest

level in 2.5 years and is now on a level before the lehman brothers crisis. on the other side of the balance sheets, german companies are still very convincing, reporting results that have been far above expectations. for the first three, investors took some profit out of the share price. >> we are staying with a closer lo at thursday'number. the x fished nearly 1.8% higher. the euro stocks 50 index finished better, finishing at 2884. across the at what the, the dow jones closed nearly 2% higher. the currency market, the euro making gains against the u.s. dollar, trading at $1.4209.

ireland has announced plans to push through spending cuts and tax cuts-- and tax hikes, in a bid to tame its debt crisis. they want to cut their budget deficit to below 9.5% of gdp. this year, dublin is expecting its deficit to soar to 32%, mainly due to the cost of the banking sector bailout. finance ministers are set to unveil a four-year plan to cut the deficit below 3% of gdp by the year 2014. germany's banking sector took a beating ding the nancial crisis. t sta owned banks were hit especially hard. the federal government stepped in with billions to keep the banks afloat during the crisis and since then there has been talk about merging the banks to make them stronger. thursday, merger talks between two key banks in germany collapsed.

>> west lb is under pressure to find a new partner. the european banks as they may have to do a merger deal by next year or be sold. at the german government has been increasing pressure on the country's banks, viewing the financial crisis. berlin had to bail them out with billions after risky deals pushed them to the brink of collapse. germany's nine banks are owned by state and regional savings banks. it employs over 46,000 people. now they have suspended merger talks,, the economic advantages it did not outweigh the challenges -- sang the economic advantages did not outweigh the challenges. eneral mots is lebring strongomebk from its bankruptcy and belau. according to third quarter results, they expect third quarter net income around $2 billion, putting it in strong shape to refloat shares on the

stock exchange at the end of the month. gm said robust sales in china have fuelled their strong performance. last year, the u.s. government funded a gm bailout with $50 billion of u.s. taxpayer money. it still owes the government about $40 billion and expecting to raise about $13.6 billion with its planned ipo. that is the business update. it germany's jewish community has ordained its first female community in 75 years. she became a rabbi at a ceremony in berlin today. berlin has germany's largest jewish community, made up of recent immigrants from eastern europe. >> this woman growth in ukraine at the time of the soviet union, where religion was taboo. her parents took her to the

synagogue for the first time when she was 13. >> on the one hand, it was the first time and gained access to the language and religion. on the other hand, it was something natural. i knew i belonged there. >> eight years ago, she came to germany to be trained as a rabbi. she studied at a college in berlin. she is the first woman to be ordained as a rabbi in germany nce 1935. >> it is important me that jews in germany develop a positive i did in a, not something related to persecution and the holocaust but a positive identity. >> she will become a rabbi for jewish communities in lower saxony. as in many other places in germany, the jewish community there is primarily composed of immigrants from the former soviet union.

>> i have the linguistic tools to reach people and key medicate jewish religious content in a more understandable way -- and communicate jewish religious content any more understandable way. >> she says that her new congregation likes to sing, and she is pleased about that because as a former music student she enjoys carrying a tune. the world's oldest person has died at the grand old age of 114 years. she celebrated her birthday earlier this year with champagne. she died of the french caribbean island. she was born on st. barts and 1896. she lived most of her life as a nun in a convent before returning home. th title of the world's oldest person now goes to the 114-year- old american, who lives in texas. i will be right back in one

minute, looking at 60 years of protecting human rights in europe. stay with us for that.

welcome back. europe's convention on human rights turns 60 on november 4, what is marked not only by congratulations but also criticism, including from christian denominations that it is promoting a secular agenda. they point to a ruling a year ago by the court of human rights that demanded italy remove crucifixes fropublic schoolrooms. since then, there has been a new focus on the convention and court, which interprets the rights and freedoms as laid down in that document six decades ago.

here is more on the court and its 47 judges, one from each of the signatory nations. >> human rights are guaranteed in europe, where legal protection is basic values. everybody is equal before the law. european states are often those in the dark. this is where legal decisions are handed down. the european court of human rights in the french city of strasbourg. the judges here are among the busiest in europe. at the dock is constantly full -- the docket is constantly full. some cases question the freedom of press. the princess of monaco feels that the newspapers are infringing on hurt human rights by publishing photos of her. this publishing house argues the media needs more freedom when it comes to celebrities. some ask what that has to do with human rights.

>> society has changed. the court of justice reflects that. it is shown in prominent cases like this, dealing with freedom of the press. >> these are the fathers of the european charter of human rights. the basis for the council of the european court of human rights. world war i ii had ended five years -- world war iii had ended five years earlier. at the founding fathers wanted a unified area of human rights. >> we cannot and that anything less than the union of europe as a whole. >> that vision was impossible in the divided europe and it took decades before the iron curtain fell. once communism and it, those ideas found fresh life. it -- once communisnded, those

ideas found fresh life. >> they were just 23 member states. now there are 47. all former parts of the soviet union and warsaw pact are now members and have subscribed to these basic values. >> membership has consequences. of the 10 countries with the most willing to chance -- of the most rulings against them, nine are in the east. in september, strasbourg ruled a gay pride demonstration could no longer be banned. such bands constitute discrimination and are not just . after russia comes turkey. this summer they ruled they were culpable for the murder of a trellis. security officials had not given him sufficient protection -- had not given a journalist

sufficient protection. >> they look at all difrent countries, fromreec to 11n to russia to turkey, -- from greece to 11 not to russia, turkey, which helps member states have aggressive approaches on human rights. >> that includes western europe. the court recently ruled against germany because of this man, an employee of the catholic church. he was separated from his wife and was fired for violating church law. the court in strasbourg ruled the church had interfered too much in the man's personal rights and he must bkept on as an eloye turkey will take over the chair of the council of europe's parliamentary assembly next week, one week after the e.u. releases its report. turkey is a signatory to the convention and has been a

council of europe members since 1939, but they're also a leading offender. many of the violations are tied with its legal system but it is russia that hashe worst rerd. with many of its violations tied to the battle with islamic separatists in the volatile republics of the caucasus. >> this person is on his way to meet a client who lives in a small village. he has worked as a human rights lawyer of the last seven years. >> i often travel to the scene and interview witnesses or make sketches. that really helps bring a successful case before the european court of human rights. >> this man is expecting the lawyer.

he recounts the events of the year ago, when masked gunmen stormed his house in the middle of the night. they forced him and his wife up against the wall, pushing weapons into their backs. he says he has no doubt that the men were russian special forces. they pulled his oldest s at of bed, tied him up, and took him away. there has been no trace of him since. >> if my son has broken the law, they should put him on trial. but they come here in the morning, firing guns, and take him away like common bandits. >> they are desperate. inquiries of the police and public prosecutor's office have proved fruitless. their son has disappeared. with the lawyer's help, they have taken the case before the european court of human rights. they think this is their only

chance to find their son. >> security authorities are obliged to investigate these incidents. what happens in practice shows they are not capable of investigating objectively. that is why people turn to the court of human rights, in the hope that it will get justice. -- and hope they will get justice. >> disappearance this are common in the northern caucasus, where russia is fighting against islamic extremists. they think civilian casualties are inevitable, a necessary evil, but he says reports of kidnappings by security forces are exaggerated. >> with these alleged kidnappings, it happens that families find the person at work or late in the evening. then they find out they have gone underground to fight alongside the rebels. >> he has heard the other side

of the story. he meets people like this person, whose brother was abducted in public seven years ago. >> the court of human rights has handed down a ruling which decrease the family members are to receive compensation of 70,000 euros. that also calls for russia to find and punish those responsible. >> the lawyer says the state usually pays the plaintiff, but those responsible are rarely found. that is often theost important thing for family members. but he is convinced it was still right to go to court for his brother and all the others who disappear in the northern caucasus. >> there is no point in giving up hope. you have to go this route because it is important, and never give up hope. >> kidnappings, torture, and

executions surround this man. he tries not to let his clies emotns aect them. heust nts do e best job that he can for them. >> that is all for our in-depth. thank you so much for joining us. captioned by the national captioning institute --www.ncicap.org--