>> you are watching "the journal." glaxo wellcome. >> here are the headlines this hour. syria rolls out tanks to stop protesters. hackers breaking into sony's database. nuptial nerves around london, just two days to go before the royal wedding. the u.n., the u.s., and the

european union are weighing options on how to pressure syria to stop shooting at its own people. the u.n. security council is meeting this hour to discuss the crackdown on anti-government protesters. washington is considering toughening sanctions on damascus and europe's biggest powers warned they may have lost they may do the same. syria rolled tanks out across the country. -- europe's biggest powers have warned that they may do the same. >> this footage shows armored vehicles. army tanks entered the southern cities where the protests first began. footage is also emerging from the region itself appearing to back up reports that soldiers are firing live ammunition against soldiers. the use of force against opposition has garnered international opposition. the german foreign minister is

demanding action. >> if the syrian leadership does not change course immediately, the international community will have to draw consequences. sanctions would be unavoidable. >> the security council is continuing its talks on syria and the parent to russia and china opposed calls for sanctions. -- the security council is continuing its talks on syria. russia and china opposed calls for sanctions. the syrian opposition remains wide open to pro-government suppression. >> we will have more on this in our in-depth report. muammar gaddafi appears to be preparing his troops for a new offensive in the east of the country. there are reports of troop movements near the front lines. the rebels are bracing for what

they feel will be a harsh government attack. the fighting is continuing in misrata. government troops bombarded the city overnight. the shelling is taking a severe toll on the civilian population. this is stopping ships with aid supplies from docking. the european union has welcomed an agreement brokered by gulf states to end the political unrest in yemen. under the deal, the president would give power to his deputy in exchange for immunity from prosecution. thousands turned out across the country on wednesday to protest against the government. witnesses in the government said security forces opened fire on demonstrators killing at least 10 and wounding a hundred. rival palestinian factions hamas and fatah have struck a surprise

deal after holding secret meetings. the deal was brokered by the new egyptian leadership in cairo and it could end a longstanding feud between the two parties. the rift came to a head in 2007 when they fought a brief civil war. this left islamist hamas in control of the gaza strip and the talk in control of the west bank. the new agreement foresees the formation of a new interim government and a general election. we're joined by our correspondent who was in gaza. >> good evening. >> how significant is this deal between fatah and hamas? >> it would be very significant for the palestinians. they are talking about a possible unity government. unity is seen as the key to speak with one voice again and

then to negotiate for their state. this all depends on the details. we don't know exactly the details of this agreement. gaza is very cautious about this news coming up from cairo. how will the possibility be practiced because they have seen other times when this has failed. >> the deal was brokered by the egyptians. the reactionon is israel. >> israel has made clear that they have a choice between hamas or peace with israel. for israel, dealing with hamas is out of the question. hamas is seen as a terrorist organization. they did not recognize the existence of israel. they also issued at israel. in addition, it is crucial to see how the international community will deal with this.

but some groups to not choose to deal with hamas for the same regions. >> we have seen pictures of prime minister or benjamin netanyahu reacting to this deal. thank you very much. it is one of the biggest hacks ever and someone now has access to the personal affirmation of 77 billion people. sony says that computer hackers broke into its databases and now they have access to personal affirmation from the users such as addresses, e-mail addresses, and credit card numbers. >> playstation at work allows players to compete against each other on-line, chat, and watch films. about 77 million users have signed up for this service. they have stored their names, addresses, birth dates, and credit card details on sunday

service. they have now been breached. -- othey have stored their names and other personal information on sony's servers. >> this goes beyond anything we have ever seen. this also shows how fragile and vulnerable the digital society is. >> sony became aware of the security breach on april 19th. they did not alert customers until this tuesday. many users are alarmed. >> they have been investigating the bridge for a week. that is fine. but they could have told users about it first and then we could have taken action ourselves. -- they have been investigating the breach for a week. >> they've are telling people to watch the accounts for signs of fraud. >> we spoke to our computer and

i.t. expert and we asked if this was a failure of one company or an entire industry. >> well, we have to be aware of the fact that we don't know anything about the company's security policy. this policy has failed. it has failed big time in this case. sony is not just any other company, so we can expect that they have been a special target of a hacker group or even a single actor. that is quite possible since it has drawn the ire of the community. there has been a couple of lawsuits against hackers recently. it could be that sony was a special target any data that is stored anywhere in the internet is not safe -- it cannot be protected from a targeted

attack. >> ok, there was an attempt to stop a week of fighting between cambodia -- cambodian and thai forces. bangkok stopped the peace talks. it people have been killed since hostilities have flared up. thailand and cambodia each blade each other for provoking the latest clashes in the dispute over a temple complex. about 50,000 civilians in both countries have fled the violence. in afghanistan, nato says 8 of its troops and one contractor have been killed in a shooting at the airport. the pentagon has confirmed that all nine were americans. officials said there was an exchange of fire after a dispute between a veteran pilot and international troops. the incident follows a series of deadly attacks inside of government and military installations.

the u.s. president is expected to reshuffle his national security team. he is said to point the current cia director to replace robert gates as defense secretary. gates plans to retire this year. david petraeus will become the head of the cia. an official announcement is expected on thursday. this will require senate confirmation. the white house has released a detailed birth certificate for president obama in a bid to silence critics to maintain that he was born abroad. obama had initially released a short form of the document during the 2008 campaign but there was claims that persisted that he was actually born in kenya. obama told reporters that he was taking the steps to put the issue to rest and let washington

get back to the serious issues facing the country. u.s. politics and birth certificates. i hope we can put that aside for a while. let's talk about something more important like money. >> exactly. >ben bernanke held a news conference and answered questions on monetary policy. this has long been at this as is usual for the european central bank but this was never part of the u.s. fed pause culture until now. >> the world's most powerful banker on time for a historical first. the president of the federal reserve stock to the facts. the fed is going to keep their benchmark interest rate at its current low level, effectively 0. the assembled journalists wanted more details. they pressed bernanke on how lonhe plans to keep interest

rates so low. >> it suggests it would be a couple of meetings before action but unfortunately, the reason we use this terminology is that we don't know with certainty how quickly a response will be required. therefore, we will do our best to communicate changes. that would depend on the economy. >> bernanke said he expected growth to be slower than originally forecast. growth in the first quarter was under 2%. he did highlight the positive developments in the job market. all in all, a convincing performance from bernanke. perhaps because he has special coaching before the conference. >> good news for the idaho industry, volkswagen shares have rallied after they posted a record first quarter. they said demand from emerging markets will boost sales and earnings for the rest of the

year. >> volkswagen plants are working at full capacity. many of their suppliers are short of supplies following the disaster in japan, but not falls flat again. they are producing more vehicles than ever before. -- but not volkswagen. they are up on sales than in any previous quarter. revenues rose to 37.5 billion euros. profits rose to letter 43%. the hopes to a clips' toyota. -- profits rose to 243%. they hope to eclipse toyota. >> let's get a closer look at the market numbers in frankfurt. the benchmark closed at 7404. the blue chips added 3/4 of a

percent higher. the dow jones closed higher at 12,690. german consumers remained upbeat even though rising prices are causing caution. the market research group consumer confidence index fell slightly. it remains at relatively high levels but analysts see no immediate cause for concern. >> germans have been out shopping for a while in all retail sectors from clothing and household appliances to the latest television. confidence has slipped a little recently but remains relatively high. >> job security is decisive for consumers and the situation is positive right now. unemployment is low. rising interest rates do not bother consumers at the moment. if rates are going out, interest

on savings is on the rise. >> the unrest in north africa and the middle east is unsaddling many consumers and has resulted in skyrocketing prices for commodities and oil. inflation is rising. that means that the money in people's pockets is not go as far as it used to. >> there is not as much left over as expected but inflation has not reached the level at which it exceeds rate hikes. >> consumer researchers are optimistic about the future. they think domestic consumption will contribute significantly to german economic growth. >> i have my dress ready. i am just waiting for my invitation to the royal wedding. >> i will see if i can get you one. preparations for the wedding of the year are in full swing. >> the pavements outside of westminster abbey have become an urban campsite where royal

watchers are reserving for receipts. campers were treated to the pre- dawn wedding rehearsal of british troops. >> when they all got going and they were all marching, it was exciting. that was exciting. i cannot imagine what will be like on friday. it will be amazing. >> it is the atmosphere, the excitement, the tension is building. always great to hear the band play. this is very emotional. traditional. that is written for you. -- splitbritain for you. >> a coach will take william and take back to the palace as man and wife. there might be showers that will rain on their parade. 30,000 flowers are decorating westminster abbey. most of them are from the

grounds of windsor council -- windsor castle. the church is not closed to the public. royal watchers will have

>> it appears that the syrian president is waging war on his own people. tanks are on the street across the country but the security forces shooting protesters. more than 400 people are believed to have died since the demonstrations began in march. this is not unprecedented. in 1982, president assad's father silenced on islamist uprising inin brutal repression that claimed up to 30,000 lives. will it get that at this time? president assad has promised to implement reforms and yet the protest continues and the violence grows.

>> showing this kind of disrespect for a syrian ruler was once unthinkable. this is how president assad is used to being greeted. it was only a few weeks ago when he spoke to parliament in damascus. while politicians were clapping, outside more and more demonstrators were marching. [clapping and chanting] >> president assad was elected in a landslide. he was the only candidate. he maintains power through an elaborate allianan that included various secret services, the armed forces, a powerful family clan, the baath political party, and a vast network of informants. his pilot -- his father was an

air force general. he gave up power in 1970. -- he sees to -- he took power in 1970 and ruled for 30 years. his son took over in 2000 when his father died. there was hope for reforms but they never materialized. the state that he inherited from his father stayed in place. measures included severe restrictions on the press and the right to assembly. demonstrators could be arrested without charge. there was no appeal of state security court verdict. after the demonstrations showed no signs of abating, their regime was forced to make concessions. the independent -- the information minister announced his group had ended the state of emergency. conditions scarcely changed.

now, power appeals to be slipping away from president assad. some of his party leaders are stepping down. >> the regime is relying on violence is that of dialogue in genuine reforms. >> two politicians resigned last weekend in protest over the crackdown on demonstrators. >> i spoke earlier to the director of the german institute for international and security affairs. i asked him if we will seeing more politicians deserting the government of president assad. >> guess that some people might desert him but they are probably doing that silently rather than publicly. the interesting question is when people from the army, when captains and kernels are going to dissert assad. >> is anything more that the

u.s. and europe could be doing now to help the syrians? >> i think it is correct at this point to go to the u.n. security council and giving notice to the people of syria that the world watches what is happening. the regime will not be particularly impressed if there is a resolution in the security council but the people in syria i certainly waiting for that. -- the people in syria are certainly waiting for that. turkey, iran, they have a voice in damascus that are heard and they can find an outcome that makes this situation and without too much bloodshed. >> will the demonstrators only rest when president assad is gone? >> i think thatthe end of the regime has begun but this might

still take a couple of weeks, maybe a couple of months. the question really is whether the regional and local actors can manage to make this. shorter. i don't think there will be a return to the status quo and a return to the assad regime. >> what about the chances of a rebel uprising like there was in libya? >> i don't think that we can compare syria to libya. this is a very different society. president assad cannot be a war againstt his population because this is not a country that you can close down. they cannot live in isolation. they are by nature and economy and open country, they need to interact with the world. this can probably go on for a couple of weeks but not for a very long time. >> what do you think will happen

over the next few days in syria? >> i think that we will see more bloodshed but we will also see political moves, maybe even moves in the army. >> thank you for talking with us. >> you are most welcome. >> the military remains firmly in the hands of president assad, the narrative of this revolt is being written by the syrians at home and abroad that want reform. a network of syrians are using a network within the country to bring the news to the outside world. they spoke about their hopes and fears. >> the syrian resolution is planned and carried out from this apartment. -- revolution is planned and carried out from his apartment. this group feels they are part of a larger whole. the party of modernity and democracy is banned in syria. the regime suppresses dissent by shooting demonstrators and by

sending in tanks. >> we are fearful but we are full of hope as well because we believe we will prevail in the end. >> the activists use facebook to follow what is one on in the country. they have heard reports of hundreds of arrests in the city with the uprising began. just hearing what is happening is not enough, they want to influence events by demonstrating here encouraging protests at home. >> we try to organize protests everywhere and syria to keep the pressure on the regime. >> just a few kilometers away at the syrian orthodox church, this you is very different. many of the worshipers here are also from syria. -- thwe view is very different. to many syrian christians, the

president's regime is stability. they are not sure what the process will bring. >> we don't know which forces are behind this movement. we do know that the current administration always makes sure that there is a dialogue between religions and syria -- between religions in syria. >> churches in syria cancel the traditional easter procession. they prefer to keep a low profile. there is no sign of hostilities from the muslim majority but there is nervousness nonetheless. they can find other examples of persecution in the region. >> there are signs of hostility from iraq and egypt. i do believe that this phenomena exist elsewhere in the arab world. >> some in the german syrian community hope for a respite --

hope for a revolution. they have a sense of anxiety for their loved ones back home. >> that has been our "in depth," report thank you for watching.