>> welcome to "the journal" here on dw-tv. i am brian thomas in berlin. >> and i have the business news. welcome. >> keeping up the pressure on hosni mubarak, with negotiations failing to have an effect. and someone has claimed responsibility for the moscow airport bombing that left dozens of people dead. and in austria, the super g at the world championships in bavaria. germany takes bronze. tens of thousands of egyptians

have joined the latest mass demonstration in cairo today for a 15th day of protests, believed to be the largest thus far. today's anti-government rally comes despe a slew of concessions, among them the release of 34 political prisoners. organizers say they have seen a surge of newcomers to the demonstrations, who are adding their voice to the calls for hosni mubarak to step down and for free and fair elections. >> the demonstrators' numbers have waned over the past few days, but many have returned to tahrir square. even in alexandria, this increase has led to the support of even loyal followers. >> i used to be a member of mubarak's party, but i have now resigned from the part of the people have protested agains >> they are not giving up on

their demand that the president to resign. his deputy, omar suleiman, went on television and talked about further concessions. suleiman said that he had been told not to limit people's expression. mubarak has also added setting of legal and constitutional amendments that could pave the way to a transition of pow. these could include easing the rules for presidential candidates, shortening the presidential term in office, and conducting better presidential monitoring. this was enough for some of the demonstrators, but with mubarak and vowing to stay in office until september, the anti- government protesters have vowed to continue the rallies. with the anti-government protests in egypt attracting even more citizens, i asked our

correspondent what is motivating thdemotrats. >> well, i think it is still the same thing. they are waiting for mubarak to go, and what is also motivating them a is these kinds of things that have happened in the last days, and there is the security record. today, there was a very famous and video on youtube shown all over the television stations, and we could see about the release of psoners, and the office has told the prisoners which direction to go, so that were shown all over the place. that was the same people a few days ago that were looting the place with the direction of the video, you can see. these are the kinds of things that made people really angry.

also, for example, there are the lists of how much money they say, how many billions of dollars are involved. all of these things made people angry, and that is another reason why they came out on the street today. >> we heard vice president suleiman talking about the transfer of power, but is there really a willingness for change? or was that just window dressing? >> they really just do not care about what omar suleiman does. they say they 1 hosni mubarak 2 lead. they are trying to put it upside down -- they say they want hosting a bar to leave. -- kosovar -- hosni mubarak to

leave. most of the demonstrators are very skeptical. at the square, they were dancing, they made something with paper around his neck. "do not worry, i will not stay for 30 yrs." theyre basically making fun of suleiman. >> thank you so much again for those insights. in other news, the war crimes trial of the former liberian dictator has entered its final phase in the hague. and the closing arguments, they said that taylor bore the most responsibility for the eight problems in sierra leone in the 1990's. taylor denies the charges, which includes inside the murder and . after a brief adjournment, he refused to return to the koran. earlier, his lawyer walked out from the courtroom after they

refused to accept me to documents. and one man said he ordered last month's deadly suicide bombing at moscow's international airport that left 36 people dead and dozens wounded korea already declared public enemy no. 1 by russian officials, he has threatened further attacks in a new video message. he says the airport attack was carried out to avenge russian crimes in the caucuses. >> the video was posted on the website that is hosted -- associated with islam gravel's in the caucuses. in it, the chechen leader says he was behind the bombing at moscow's domodedovo airport last month. >> this was carried out on my orders, and, god willing, these will continue in the future. >> the bombing killed 36 people. he said it was revenge for the kremlin's anti-terrorism

campaign in the caucasus. he also ordered the bombing of the subway, which killed 40 people last year. islam and terrorism remains a major worry for moscow. >> this is not just about him. if we arrest or even kill him tomorrow, that will not stop the terrorism. that is the problem. >> this is a challenge to all of the security forces for all of us. if we will respond accordingly. we must solve the crimes and eliminate thoseho a responsible for them. >> moscow has tried for years to settle the conflicts in the caucasus region, but neither brutal special commandos or millions and financial support that helped calm the situation, and the russian government appears incapable of protecting its citizens from extremists, like him. >> italian prosecutors say they want prime minister silvio berlusconi to stand trial in connecon with the

investigation looking into his relationship with an underage girl. it is alleged that he paid for sex with a moroccan exotic dancer, who was 17 years old at the time. they also accused some of abuse of power, saying that he used coercion for her release. china is trying to get a grip on their overheat the economy. >> the chinese central bank raised its key interest rate for the second time in a few weeks on tuesday, moving it 25 basis points, up to 3%. beijing hopes the maneuver will help cool the markets and ease inflationary pressures. >> chinese consumers have been getting a taste of inflation recently. qfor months, prices for food hae been climbing steadily, and wages are rising in line to compensate. a major inflationary factor is

the rapid gain in raw material prices, which is pushing up production costs, but the economy continues to expand exponentially. in 2010, theountry's gross domestic product grew by a stunning 10.3%. at the same time, inflation averaged out at 3.3% for the year, an unemployed was also too low to bring in wage levels. analysts say the chinese central bank will be forced to hike interest rates again, as beijing tries to bring in growth. this could prove difficult for the german export sector. the car industry is only one of many that of their current upswing to demand in china. >> the chinese rate hike has not caused any serious damage on european stock markets which closed on tuesday at less last seen in late 2008. we have this report from the frankfurt stock exchange. >>7 it could not stop the rally

of redacts -- of dax-listed shares. lower investments in china. car shares of bond -- been among the major gainers, mainly driven by the fact that japanese competitor toyota raised the forecast for the rest of the year, so they are pretty sure that the car business, especially in germany, stays on track. the results of toyota have been rather poor. >> he is in frankfurt. let's take a look at some closing market numbers now. and frankfurt, the blue-chip dax closed higher, its highest close since january 2008. the euro stoxx 50 closed at 3042. in new york, the dow industrials are currently going up, and the

euro is trading at $1.36. the world's number one steer vehicle -- steelmaker posted a loss. it blames the loss on higher raw material prices and the cost of spinning off its stainless steel unit. but over the years, they had profits of over 2 billion euros. sales were up compared to 2009, and the company is optimistic about the year ahead. europe's biggest car maker volkswagen has reached an agreement with a union. vw workers will receive a 3.2% raise starting on the first of may. the agreement will last for 16 months. vw has also agreed to a one-off payment of 1% of a worker's annual base salary or a minimum of 500 euros. they went into talks demand is 6% rise under a 12-month

contract. if you want to recharge or cptelephone in europe these day, you had better have the right connector. this makes it possible to mix and match telephones with connectors from other manufacturers. on tuesday, a new universal charging cable was unveiled, to finally put an end to confusion and waste. >> beginning in november, mobile telephone charges will be compatible -- charges will be compatible. only those with micro usb's will be available. >> this is the beginning of the new phase, the beginning of a revolution. >> these have been a thorn in his side. mobile phone manufacturers now have 30 different systems for their funds. until now, anyone buying a new one has usually needed a new charter until now.

>> the new cable not only simplifies our everyday life, it will also benefit the environment. >> the current recharagers -- rechargers ka-ching need to waste. pressure was put on the system. -- rechargers create waste. >> it makes sense also for the proder. >> besides eliminating cable clutter, the universal phone charges are also designed to last at least a decade. -- the universal phone chargeurs -- chargers. >> outline embryo screening, which allows parents to have

them destroyed, should the screening reveal possible birth defects. embryo screening has also been opposed by the catholic church, which says it is a form of abortion. >> every expectant mother wants a healthy baby. modern technology now allows doctors to test embryos for possible genetic disorders, but only if the embryos were conceived by in vitro fertilization. with pre-implantation diagnosis, a cell is removed from a days- old embryo. it is only implanted in the mother ithere is abnormality. opponents what this banned. >> a life with a disability is also a valuable life. we do not want to tell people who are alive today or parents whose children are disabled that

they really should have been winnowed out. >> but other politicians have long wanted to the procedure to be allowed in special circumstances, such as a risk of serious genetic disease. >> at the moment, we expect the families that are affected to either not have children at all or to have sevely disabled children or miscarriages or abortions. these are our unreasonable demands on one should not expect of people. or, they just go abroad. -- unreasonable demands no one should expect from people. >> they warn the list of diseases that can be screened out is getting longer, a situation they say that germany should not permit. >> in winter sports, the austrian has beaten favorites from germany and the unite states to snatch the women's super g gold in the opening event of the alpine skiing world championship. two bronze medals were won last

year, but today's went,garmisch, was serve first ever in a world championship -- but today's one, garmisch. >> she found the shortest line between the gates, made fewer errors, and turned in the best time of the day. the on the competition came from julia mancuso. th was shortly before her 30th birthday. germany's maria managed with no problems. >> i have a lot of expectation going into what championships. so winning a medal in my first race takes a lot of the pressure off. now, i can be a bit more relaxed about things, and the motivation for the next race is just as high. >> the favorite, lindsey vonn,

only got seventh place and had to make do with congratulating

>> welcome back. central cairo has seen another day of massive anti-government protests, perhaps the largest bus bar with hundreds of thousands of people calling for the end of the regime of hosni mubarak and a complete dismantling of the police and apparatus that have supported it. should the protesters succeed and bring democracy to egypt, what would it look like? in our next report, we take a look at democracy and the role of islam in egypt and two of its neighbors, lebanon and jordan. >> egyptians young and old, female and male, religious and secular are calling on mubarak to step down. but what kind of government and they want to see replace his

dictatorial rule? that is a lot less clear. a survey conducted last year shows support for democracy is weaker in egt than, say, in lebanon and jordan, though all three have a majority in favor. in egypt, some 20% say in some circumstances a nondemocratic government may be preferable. >> they have no experience with democracy. they have experience with democratic theater, with elections that have been completely flawed, with a lot of fraud, and this was sold to them by the government as democracy. >> islam plays a ctral role in egyptian society, even during the massive anti- government demonstrations. many participants stopped to say their prayers. religion and politics are closely intertwined, more so in

egypt than in other mideast societies. in last year's survey, 85% of egyptian muslims questioned said islam played a positive role in political life. that is considerably more than in both lebanon and jdan. only 2% describes it as negative. in lebanon, by contrast, almost one-third regarded it as negative. many in the west and in egypt itself fere the role the muslim brotherhood is likely to play in egypt. it is the largest opposition movement, even though it is officially banned, and is widely expected to lead least share power. -- to at least share power. >> they said that they stand for freedom, social justice, development, and regional leadership. i think the comparison to iran,

at least in iran, it is not at all standing. >> so will need to become a theocracy or a democracy, with some parties with roots in islam? some say that younger religious egyptians look more to turkey, a candidate for secession to the european union, and then the role of the mullahs. >> turkish prime minister erd uan has given support. he has been steadily increasing the role of islam in the state created from the ottoman empire. although that is being rejected by some. >> recep tayyip erdogan had

reason to celebrate, winning an absolute majority in elections that are deemed free and fair. erdogqagan issued an appeal to hosni mubarak. >> listen to the shouts of the people and they're extremely human demands. without hesitation, satisfy the peop's desire for change. >> erdogan is a strict muslim. yet, under his leadership, religion has found its way back into politics. when some visited turkey last october, the wife of one of the

visitors wore a head scarf. that was something new. many saw it as a deliberate challenge to restrictions on wearing a scarf in public. secularists fear a creeping islamification. for decades, they considered themselves the guardian. four times, they launched a coup, but observers say those days are over. they now except that not they but the politicians are in charge, a result of changes to make turkey fit for possible eu membership. that makes turkey very different from egypt. >> the egyptian president's, nasser, said., anbar, they are all military men. now, for the first time, we have a government that has stood up to the military. that makes jerky and attractive

role model. >> despite recent democratic reforms, they say turkey still has some way to go with regard to freedom of the press, freedom of expression, human and minority rights, and the quality of the sexes. >> the popular uprising in tunisia that sent president ben ali into exile. already gone are some of the legions of so-called journalists who worked for the state run and sanctioned radio and news outlets. they are being replaced by a new generation of truth seekers, willing to ask softball questions or coddling in their guests. >> just a few weeks ago, an open and free discussion on the state-run television would have been unthinkable.

among those taking part is this person. named head of news programming after the downfall of ben ali. >> the people rule indonesia today, and we are trying to listen to them, -- the people role- rule in tunisia. if we do not, they will reject, just like they did ben ali. many journalists have left the station, making way for new ones who enjoy editorial freedom. >> the key to everything in tunisia is press freedom. people used to mistrust today, and they say journalists do not serve their country. they have their own agenda. we used to get the blame for all of their problems. >> in addition to the electronic

media, newspapers are also able to take advantage of press freedom and have criticized the interim government. they have been covering strikes, protests, and uncovering scandals of the former regime. the tunisian daily "the cot idien" is enjoying it. >> the manner in which information interpreted shifted 180 degrees. in our newspaper, for example, we have got real and important changes. we no longer have restrictions imposed on us. >> falling more than two decades of dictatorship and censorship, journalists in tunisia are free to express their opinions -- following more than two decades.

they say it will take longer for democracy and freedom of the press to take a strong foothold in tunisian society. >> thanks for joining us.

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.