captioned by the national captioning institute --www.ncicap.org-- >> welcome to "journal," here in berlin. these are our top stories. fifa announces the host of the 2018 and 2022 world cup. >> qantas threatens legal losses -- legal action against rolls-royce for its losses.

>> we began it with the announcement that russia is to host the world cup in 2018 with the gulf state of qatar winning the right to host the 2020 to a tournament. them the president is a traveling to thank the organization for choosing his country. the announcement was made a couple of hours ago. >> the 2018 world cup will be in russia. >> the russian delegation understandably delighted by the results, a result that caught many of the other candidates by surprise. their presentation was not thought to be the pick of the bunch. the executive committee decided to go forward and chartered a territory. >> i can promise, we all can promise, you will never regret.

let us make history together. [applause] >> russian president vladimir putin decided not to travel to zurich for the announcement. he said that the corruption scandal was a smear campaign. his presence was not necessary to win. the russian candidacy clearly stood out as the most attractive to soccer's governing body. they have lined up sponsors should money in the millions of dollars. the outlay will be substantial, some $4 billion will be needed to build a 13 stadiums and improve transport connections across russia. four years after the winter olympics, russia will post a global sports extravaganza. -- host a global sports extravaganza. >> we are joined from moscow by

our correspondent. >> i imagine that people here are delighted. i think that this is being seen as a personal victory for vladimir putin, the prime minister. he was very closely associated with the russian bid. he will be flying to zurich soon. the other thing about this is that this is another boost for the russian economy because it will involve overhauling the country's aging soviet infrastructure and that will require billions of euros at it appears that one now be lined up. >> that is one of the issues in the buildup to the tournament in the making. are there any doubt that russia can stage a successful tournament? >> there certainly are. they have not had a great deal of experience of this in the past. the last time they hosted a tournament of this size was in 1980. that was the summer olympics when they where the summer --

soviet union. there's also the problem of corruption. that is something that is likely to affect construction. this could cause delays and a lot of the money could actually disappear. a lot of concerns are also about racism. there has been some disturbing incidences' involving fans making racist jobs to -- racist jibs to some players. russia is very happy tonight. >> thank you for that report from the russian capital, moscow. we have already seen, qatar will be staging the 2022 world cup. this is another interesting decision with the country being staged in a country that does not have muchof a soccer pedigree. this is a daring decision on the part of the fee for executives. -- fifa executives.

>> anticipation was high when the president stepped up to announce the winner. >> qatar. >> the matter which team wins the world cup, the fact that they were chosen as host for the 2020 to avert it -- tournament is a victory in itself. for soccer fans back home, this is a dream come true. some of the 13 stadiums where the games will be played will be newly built, high-tech wonders, which will include air- conditioning. this is crucial in a country where temperatures can reach 50 degrees celsius. never before has a tournament hosted in such a hot climate.e. many were surprised that qatar applied to host the games. they are not exactly a heavyweight in the world of football but there is no doubt tha the oil and gas-rich land will stand up to the occasion.

this will be a task for one of the richest countries in the world. >> let's go to our sports correspondent who is with us in the studio. qatar is certainly a traumatic departure. what do you make of this? >> this is very interesting. -- qatar is certainly a dramatic departure. >> they have come up with some very interesting proposals. first of all, the heat. we all know how hot it is in the middle east. it will be in the middle of summer. they are pumping $4 billion into the new stadiums and they will have cooling systems. they are guaranteeing that it will never be over 27 degrees. they have solar panels which will cooled liquid and they will pump out water and pump cold air into the stadiums. it is very interesting. this will also be in the training grounds. this will be a green as and and

with a new technology. 20 of the stadiums will be within 25 kilometers of each other. it will be very easy to get around them. >> what about russia, 2018? what are the concerns? >> first, they have a direct comparison to qatar. they are the biggest country in the world. if you have stadiums in st. petersburg, to vast areas. a vast expanse that people have to travel. russia has not got the best infrastructure in the world. they have said that they will invest in this. there are security concerns. crime is always an issue in russia. of course, there have been terrorist attacks in russia. all of these things will weigh on people's minds. >> after all of that we have heard from 0 to today, what is

your take on whether this was entirely above board? >> -- after all that we have heard from zurich today. >> we have rarely seen things going on behind the scenes like we did in this process. especially the allegations that have come out. the english press has announced a few different things. there was a bbc documentary that might have harmed the english bid. wewe possibly will never be it - know what goes on behind these closed doors. i don't think that everything was above board. that is the way it looks. this has been a bi tainted, i would say. >> thank you very much for that. we move away from the world cup and we go to israel. tragedy in israel where emergency services say that 40 people have been killed in a massive forest fire. this broke out in the north of

the country near haifa. the dead or prison guards who died when their bus was trapped by the flames. they had been brought in to evacuate 500 prisoners from a nearby jail. it is a difficult day on the roads here in the german capital. there have been freezing temperatures around the country going right down to - to allow any degrees celsius. -- to 20 degrees celsius. 18 people have died in the past two days in poland. >> berlin is covered in a blanket of the white stuff with a 10-18 centimeters in places. this is a joy for tourists. for commuters, thiss a challenge to say the least with dozens of accidents across the capitol. treacherous conditions were the order of the day across much of central europe like here in the

czech republic. dozens of trucks have been stuck in the snow for hours. >> this is a crazy situation with some much of snow and semitrucks stock and no one to clear the roads. they are still sleeping or they don't know what is going on. i have been waiting for hours. >> western europe has not been scared either. belgium saw traffic jams of up to 500 kilometers mainly around brussels. france has been turned into a winter wonderland. that is short shrift for those who are stuck across the country. there is little choice for rail travelers like here at this paris rail stations. one of the three trains from brussels and the capital were stock -- stuck. delays and cancellations hit

airports in paris, munich, and berlin. gatwick airport was closed for the second day in a row. there is no end to the traffic chaos in sight yet with more snow forecast well into the weekend. >> we have seen some very dramatic news on the soccer world cup today, there has also been a very interesting meeting in frankfurt. >> it has been a very busy day. this is a meeting of the european central bank. they are trying to shore up confidence in the european central currency. they kept interest rates on hold at 1%. this news was expected. they resisted pressure to commit to a massive bond program to contain the debt crisis. the president jean-claude trichet said that the bank would keep the costs of borrowing steady in that they desire to

create a liquidity safety net. >> they kept the interest rate on hold and this was widely expected and was the decision to give thanks liquidity until well next year. they did not pledge to step up the pace of purchasing government bonds. since may, they have bought 67 billion euros of government bonds but jean-claude trichet said thaha the program would not continue indefinitely. >> [inaudible] >> stocks led the broader european market higher. our correspondent has more on today's trading from the frankfurt stock exchange. >> it is an interesting trading session. add to the end of the day, the stocks added more than 1.3%. all eyes were on the ecb today.

what is on cloud two shea had to say about purchase programs as well. -- what jean-claude trichet had to say about purchase programs today. he did not want to comment on how much. they are extending liquidity lines until the end of the first quarter. the crisis is totally over for siemens. they are posting record profit. that is something which people benefited most from because the salary is a whopping 9 million euros last year. >> looking at several markets in more detail, the dax closed up 1 and 1/3 percent. the euros on stocks actually closed up over 2%. in new york, investors are cheering. strong sales data from the automobile and the mortgage home lending sections.

australian airline qantas was said to sue a rolls-royce for damages resulting from an engine failure on one of its airbus super jumbo jets. they have filed a claim in a federal court in australia over the financial and commercial -- of this incident. a panel has concluded that the failure was the result of manufacturing defects in the rolls-royce engine. >> it was a narrow escape for passengers and crew on this qantas light in the beginning of november after one of the rolls royce engines exploded in mid- air the transport bureau said that a manufacturing failure caused the error. >> this made a potential for a fatigue program for the oil pipe that releases of oil into the engine and that led to the consequences that we saw. >> after the incident, qantas grounded its fleet of the same

aircraft for three weeks. numerous flights were canceled and some super jumbo jets remained out of operation. they have filed an initial claim against rolls-royce for the loss in revenue at the resulting costs. they are still assessing the extent of the damage. they said they will sue rolls- royce if they are unable to reach an out-of-court settlement with the company. >> a new report that has just come out suggest that many people in germany are far from open minded when it comes to islam. the report which was put together by ss elegist at the university of munster, only 5% see islam as tolerant. -- to report which was put together by a sociologists at the university of monster. >> surveys showed 2/3 of germans

have a negative view of islam. >> the reason is that germans have less contact than the french do. the east germans have even less contact and west germans. that is not the only explanation. muslims and france are also better integrated in france than they are in germany. they speak french, for example. >> less than 30% of germans supported the building of mosques. they have problems accepting other religions even though they attach importance to freedom of religion and speech. >> another reason could be a cultural of political discussion is more developed because of what has happened there. they have dealt with the issue of rising populism in a construction -- in a constructive way. that is only beginning in germany. >> analysts say the only way to bridge the cultural gap is through more education for both sides. >> up next, more business.

>> german automobile companies are really selling a lot. very strong models. >> ok, statement. >> quite

>> welcome back. german automobile makers have long feared that sales would continue to slump but now it looks like 2010 will turn out to be a record year instead. at home, turnover remains sluggish but outside the country demand for german models is soaring. >> these buyers or are a bonanza for german car makers, especially luxury brands like bmw and audi. four out of five luxury cars purchased in china are produced by germany. diamler sauce sales go up 2 1/2%. -- saw sales go up 2.5%.

they expect an increase in exports to the far east. >> it is clear that five or six years ago, china was an emerging market. now this is one of the most important automobile markets and the world and we're pleased that the german car industry accounts for 1/5 of the vehicles sold there. >> some analysts contend that german car makers are focusing too much on china and neglecting the european market. >> german automobiles remain extremely popular in the u.s.. november was a boom month for german car makers there. volkswagen posted a 24% jump of sales in november compared with a year earlier. bmw reported a similar surge. mercedes sold 13% more viewers in november.

-- vehicles in november. u.s. manufacturers have also announced an increase in sales. toyota has seen a decline due to a manufacturing recall. the automobile market is not the only sector in the u.s. is recovering. let's go over to our correspondent on wall street. it looks as though consumers are starting to go on a buying spree this holiday season. how was the market digesting that? >> well, we got sales figures from the retail sector. we saw a broad gains. if you look at department stores like macy's, if you look at the numbers from limited brands which owns victoria's secret, if you look at abercrombie and fitch, all of those companies did pretty well. this comes at a crucial time, right in the middle of the holiday shopping season.

we saw a broad-based gains and some of those retailers are doing pretty well. >> i see that coca-cola major rival pepsi is having a rough go out of it in the russian market but those things could change, couldn't they? >> yes, they could become one of the market leaders, actually. in russia, pepsi is going to purchase 66% in a russian company. they specialize in dairy products and also in juice and a toddler and baby food. pepsi is paying $3.8 billion for thihi66% stake this is not really cheap acquisition. pepsi is hoping to gain market share if not to become the market leader in some of those areas in russia. >> i see that the dow is up once

again. what is really driving the market? >> well, this seems so far for the month of december is the euro. we caught -- we saw euro weakness in the month of november when it dropped almost 9% in comparison to the dollar. that changed with the month of december. already on wednesday, we saw the euro recovering. this continues on thursday and there is relative dollar weakness together with those retell figures. those are the main reasons why the market is trading higher here on thursday. >> thank you very much for that update. the siemens corp. is holding its breath today as the eu transport ministers meet. the tunnel is expected to be high on the agenda. siemens has been commissioned to build trains for the tunnnn. a french company has complained

about this contract. the trains will have to be delivered in the coming year by contract. > trains and trams have been built here for decades. this is by far the fastest. this is a high-speed train that easily exceed 300 kilometers an hour or will when the new model finally hits the tracks. an engineer has worked here for two decades. it is his job to make sure that the velaro is delivered on time. >> the train rose day-by-day like a pyramid. when you look at the length of the carriages, you can see that each one is in a different stage of production. >> they are assembled piece by piece. these are going to deutsche a bonn. the gaps can not be too big. >> error comes out here.

the window should not steam over. -- air comes out here. >> everything is time so the required construction parts are delivered precisely when they are needed. today, the engineer has a problem. some important materials have not arrived -- the cabling. the whole production schedule is at risk. >> maybe there are problems with the loading. it happens. i will have task. >> the cable harness finally arrives ready to be attached underneath the train. 120 kilometers in total weighing 5 tons. the train is already running in russia at temperatures as low as minus 15 degrees celsius. in spain, it has to contend with temperatures of 50 degrees above zero. this is a truly european train

with compatibility in a number of countries. they would like to sell this beyond that the european borders. >> in china, there is a significant expansion of the high-speed rail networks. look at russia, they have the second-largest network in the world. it is unlikely that they will stop at to the 8 trains they have fought so far. -- they have bought so far. >> manufacturing is at full capacity, so the company is looking to recruit new workers here, especially engineers. they would like to have these riding the rails in germany by qpnext year. >> the operator of the eurotunnel is confronted with a number of challenges. the route under the english channel is not really as lucrative as many as hoped. the prospects are good. our number cruncher reveals more. >> 640 million euros, that is

the amount of sales posted by the operator of the eurotunnel last year. the total declined 16% from the previous year. fire and weather problems triggered cancellations. demand for the train is growing. in 2009, it carried almost 8 million passengers. 3 million additional passengers are expected to travel through the tunnel in 2013 when the german rail giant launches its own service to britain. >> deutsche bank is planning to sell off its headquarters in frankfurt. in 2007, they bought the two glass 36-story office buildings and for over to let its 70 million euros. the rising prices of real estate in the capital, they should be able to make some of the money back from the sale of this. insiders expect the company to lease the property back from the new owners.

that is the latest business news. thank you for joining us and have a pleasant day.