>> welcome to the "journal" coming to you live from dw in berlin. >> coming up, nato warns russia against making an historic mistake against ukraine. police in italy recovered to works of art stolen nearly five decades ago -- two works of art stolen nearly five decades ago.

nato's secretary-general says it would be an historic mistake for russia to intervene further in ukraine. >> this warning came as a nato summit wrapped up in brussels. moscow says that it's reviving cold war rhetoric and that suspending cooperation with moscow would help neither side. >> rasmussen struck a defiant tone when it came to russia, telling nato ministers that moscow had only one goal -- to restore its sphere of influence in the former soviet union, and he warned russia not to escalate the situation. >> if russia were to intervene further in ukraine, i would not hesitate to call it an historic mistake. it would be a miscalculation

with huge strategic implications. >> he did not set out what consequences a russian invasion would have, but he made it clear moscow had no veto over the alliance. he suggested that georgia, which fought a war in russia in 2008, could aspire to nato membership. >> our support for georgia's sovereignty and territorial integrity within its internationally recognized borders remains unequivocal. we continue to support georgia's euro atlantic aspirations. >> nato membership for georgia and ukraine is a redline for the kremlin, which is already upset about nato's decision to freeze all cooperation. >> the decision by the nato council of foreign minister's to suspend practical military and

civil cooperation with russia creates a sense of déjà vu. the language of the statements resembles the verbal jousting of the cold war era. >> even within nato, not all agree with the secretary-general, but the u.s. and germany have already ruled out jordan -- georgian membership. >> for more on this, we spoke to our correspondent in brussels and asked what steps nato members had agreed upon to ease the concerns of member states with borders close to russia. >> we have already heard that nato has in protest to that annexation of crimea canceled all tactical -- that is to stay military -- cooperation with russia, but orrin ministers agreed that they want to for the moment still uphold diplomatic ties with russia. nevertheless, air patrol in baltic states has been stepped up, and nato has said that it

wants to rethink its strategy in the area and possibly even send troops to the ground. that is to be discussed, but we have to say that at the moment, it is still sort of a diplomatic political threat rather than proper military action that is being put into place. >> to afghanistan, now, where at least six police officers have been killed in a suicide attack outside the interior ministry in kabul. >> a suicide bomber disguised as a soldier blew himself up outside the compound. the taliban have claimed responsibility for the attack, which comes on the last day of campaigning before afghans elect a new president. the militant group has vowed to disrupt that poll. >> read bombs have exploded outside cairo university. at least two people are confirmed dead. several others wounded. >> the first two blasts went off in quick succession, followed by

a third a couple of hours later, which was caught on camera. the bomb had targeted police officers stationed outside the university to prevent student protests. let's get an update. tell us what happened and what you saw. >> basically, this is some kind of homemade bomb. the third bomb exploded a few hours later when authorities were gathering at the scene. the first two bombs were targeting police officers, and a very high-ranking police officer died. the head of the criminal investigation unit in cairo.

it targets protests, so it is kind of like, "we kill one of you, you kill one of us." it is clear that we are moving towards more installation. these kind of bombs are becoming more or less normal. if anything, it is a bad sign for the presidential election at the end of may. >> thank you for the update. the united states is struggling to keep peace talks between israel and the palestinians on track after both sides made what the u.s. is calling unhelpful moves. >> the palestinian president defied israel by taking a step towards greater united nations resolution in response to israel's failure to carry out a promise to release palestinian

prisoners as one of the conditions for resuming peace talks. how much of a setback are these developments? for more, let's bring in dw's correspondent in the u.s. capitol. what are they trying to achieve at the u.n. right now? >> what has happened is that abbas signed resolutions for treaties, so the practical value is that the -- first and foremost is that the palestinians are engaging themselves to whatever is written in these treaties, but it does not have a practical effect, but it has highly symbolic value because the palestinians are acting, sort of, as a state, but they did not go as far as they could have. for example, they could have

asked to join the international criminal court, which is what israel is afraid of because they could have attempted to try israeli officials for war crimes in front of the international criminal court. they have not done that so far. basically abbas is saying, "as is more pressure, but we are keeping the doors open." >> what can the obama administration do to reach a breakthrough? has the peace process come to an end? >> what the americans are trying to do right now is to extend the deadline for the negotiations because it is, for now at least, april 29, and the palestinians will only extend it if the israelis release a fourth batch of prisoners. they have already released three batches of prisoners so far, but the israelis, as it is right

now, do not want to do that, so americans are looking for some kind of way to pressure israel into doing it nevertheless. the tickets bargaining chip they have is an american who spied for israel almost dirty years ago. ever since, he has been an american prison. netanyahu wants him released, so the americans are thinking about releasing him. the logic behind it is if the americans release him, israel releases that batch of prisoners, and the deadline gets extended. of course, that's no guarantee for any peace process being successful, but it would avoid immediate failure. >> still some options out there right now. thanks so much from washington. >> to some business news now, and a three-day pilot strike will cost lufthansa tens of millions of euros. >> it is also testing the patience of the general public with tauzin's of flights affected. some airlines say passengers will think twice about booking with lufthansa in the future.

>> flight after flight canceled. frankfurt airport has turned unusually quiet. a lot quieter than lufthansa would like. hundreds of thousands of passengers have had to make alternative travel plans. many are staying home or lying with other airlines -- flying with other airlines. >> fortunately, i am not affected by the strike. if i were, i would not be a muse. this happens too often. >> i cannot say whether pilots should earn more, but they are paid well, so it's a bit over the top for them to cause all these cancellations. >> pilots see it differently. they have walked out over lufthansa's decision to scrap their early retirement plan. >> pilots need to have the option of being able to retire early.

not every pilot is physically capable of working in this job until the age of 65, and they must have the opportunity of stopping work with a reasonable pension package. >> but lufthansa says it can no longer afford to pay such pension packages, especially in light of tough competition. the strike could cost the airline as much as 50 million euros and require from passengers a lot of patience. >> lufthansa shares ended the day up 1.3%. >>. chip pass shares -- deutschepas shares ended up mainly because dhl is positioned very well in the emerging markets where a lot of growth will come from. at the same time, they plan on

benefiting from a general trend that more goods are ordered on the internet. in general, the trading day was rather friendly. we are seeing small gains for the benchmark index dax. >> let's take a closer look because analysts not that long ago were talking about 10,000 for the dax. it is certainly pointing in that direction. the euro stoxx 50 also going up. the dow jones up at this hour, and the euro slightly down a little -- $1.3760. two paintings have turned up in italy years after they were stolen from their owner in italy. >> the paintings were recovered from a former mechanic in sicily. the man had bought both works of art, which were worth millions, for 25 euros at a legitimate

auction in 1975. >> our report takes a closer look at the remarkable tale. >> italian police revealed the stolen paintings in rome almost 44 years after they were snatched from an apartment in london. the work by paul gauguin is worth about 35 million euros, but it was not recognized as a modern masterpiece when, as police suspect, it was abandoned by thieves on a train. the paintings were apparently on a train from paris. railway staff found them and apparently, having no idea of their value, they were placed in the lost property. they were then put up for auction and bought by a man who was an art lover. for decades, the pictures hung

in the man's kitchen until his son stumbled on their true identity. the man's sun started to study architecture, and one day, he was leafing through a book of art when he noticed a picture by gauguin that was painted in a similar style to the one his father had hanging in his kitchen. it is unclear what will happen to the paintings, as the original owners are now dead and police have been unable to identify an obvious air -- heir. >> good bet that sun did not tell his dad, "that's old. throw it away." we will be back after this short break. >> later, germany looks at easing noise ordinances so soccer fans can get as noisy as they want after 10:00 p.m.

more on that when we come back. >> and what's a good game of soccer without a beer? >> there has been price-fixing on beer in germany, so hope oley, they will be able to get the price down before the world cup starts -- >> welcome back here at the "journal." another earthquake has struck latin america. officials say the magnitude 5.8 quake hit panama. >> there have been no reports of damage or injuries. >> this follows tuesday's massive quake in chile which triggered a soon army. at least six people died, thousands were injured. >> -- this follows tuesday's massive quake in chile, which triggered a tsunami. >> when the earth moved, they fled their homes for higher

ground, often with nothing more than the clothes they were wearing. >> we are really cold because it -- we slept up there in just how you see us. all we could grab is what you see. we did not even bring food. >> tsunami waves wrecked boats and equipment, a disaster for people who depend on fishing for their livelihoods. >> we sacrificed so much to get a bigger boat, and now look at it. >> the epicenter of the 8.2-magnitude quake was about 100 kilometers north. earthquakes are fairly common in the region, so people knew they should get out of buildings and away from the coast. it was the strongest earthquake in 100 40 years, but seismologists warned it was not the big one that they say will hit sooner or later -- it was the strongest earthquake in 140 years. >> there's a gathering of

brussels aimed at political cooperation. >> u.n. secretary ban ki-moon and several governmental officials are in attendance including chancellor angela merkel. >> the issues facing the summit are as diverse as the continents themselves. economic relationships, immigration, and security. european leaders and their counterparts from africa have much to discuss, but on day one in brussels, the focus was on war-torn central african republic. france already has soldiers in the country trying to restore security. another 1000 soldiers from other eu countries are expected to arrive by may. germany will provide financial and logistical support. >> germany will provide strategic air transport as well as traditional development aid, which is of vital importance to the country. the same goes for somalia and other countries.

>> economic issues are also on the agenda. africa's economies are growing rapidly, and europeans want some of the action, but they face stiff competition from countries like china and the u.s. african leaders are aware of their new bargaining prowess. >> we have grown stronger and stronger in terms of economic development and also in terms of our commitment to maintain peace and security in africa. >> african leaders may still need outside assistance, but one thing is clear here in brussels -- they want to be spoken with, not spoken to. >> german antitrust authorities have find a number of breweries for fixing the price of beer -- german antitrust authorities have fined a number of

breweries. >> it's one of the biggest fines ever handed down by the authority. >> beer is a seven-billion-euro-a-year business in germany, but competition is hard, and the cartel says breweries getting together to raise prices. >> the allegations that prices were fixed on bottled and draft beer in 2006 and 2008. the agreement was a one-euro increase on bottled beer and i've to seven euros on a hectoliters of draft beer -- five to seven euros on a hectoliter of draft beer. >> smaller breweries are finding it harder and harder to compete with big names. this independent brewer from eastern germany welcomed the ruling. >> the additional money they took in would only be used against us to destroy competition in the market. the fact that something is finally being done can only be

good. >> the cartel office says the price-fixing costs consumers 400 million euros in one year alone. the companies fined say they are to appeal the ruling. >> a call to itself the largest marketplace for great ideas. the inventors fair has opened in geneva with adding entrepreneurs from around the world looking for business partners -- with budding entrepreneurs from around the world looking for business partners. >> here's a look at what might make it onto the market sometime possibly soon. from electric scooter to hand luggage in less than 30 seconds -- could this inventor ross big idea take international jetsetters to cloud nine? the international inventors fair showcases while gadgets from around the world, and who to the boundless this of human creativity from doors that open in all directions -- an ode to

the boundlessness of human creativity. >> it's easy to ridicule some of these inventions, but behind every creation is a brilliant idea. it may not revolutionize the world, but it may just change it if only a little bit. >> almost half of all inventions here will find buyers, like this adapter that links home appliances and allows people to operate them from their cell phone. >> for example, you want your air conditioning to be off once you leave your flat. once you leave that geo-fence, your air conditioning will be cut off automatically. >> saving electricity with the touch of a finger -- now that's genius. >> the biggest show to date of ai weiwei's work opens in the german capital on wednesday. >> the work goes on display exactly three years after the chinese artist's arrest in his

homeland, which of course is the subject of the pieces. >> ai weiwei will not be in attendance -- chinese authorities have confiscated his passport. >> the showcase is called "evidence." the centerpiece is a full-scale reconstruction of the jail cell where he was held by chinese authorities. also included is a reenactment of his experience as a prisoner. ai's show is big, covering 3000 square meters. and it is political with lots of ironic commentary on problems in china. one exhibit shows 6000 wooden stools crammed together, simple chairs of the kind used by migrant laborers. another shows a scale model of the islands whose ownership is hotly contested by china and the

pan -- and japan. >> of course it's very political because he is speaking about what is going on in china. he is speaking about what happened to him personally, but he is also speaking about the relations between china and the rest. >> is showcases his trademark humor but also his efforts to fight for freedom of expression. chinese officials keep a close eye on ai weiwei. his shows are banned in china. >> a lot of times, you still have joy. you still feel the effort is worth it. >> ai does not limit himself to ironic jokes about politics. he takes a jab at the japanese love for u.s. products.

>> it's just over two months now until the kickoff of soccer's biggest event. that is, of course, the world cup. this year in brazil. >> lots of fans will be watching, but it will be some hard work. two to the time difference, many games will be aired here late at night. >> normally, you would have to follow them and be quiet tom a but that would not be any fun. the german government is doing something so the party continues. >> noise levels at a kindergarten can reach a hundred decibels. this press conference measures about 50 decibels. that is nothing compared to football fans equipped with vuvuzelas, who can hit an earsplitting 160 decibels and even more.

german law says that's too loud, especially if games are screened late at night, but now the government is stepping in. >> we have decided to temporarily suspend the regulations on noise pollution. normally, it is against the law to make noise outside after 10:00 p.m. that means it would be impossible to have -- that means it would be possible to have public viewings of football games outside even if normal noise limits are not adhered to. >> for fans in europe, 10:00 tm is when many games start. the new regulation means fans can watch those games and cheer and celebrate without worrying that police will spoil the fun. >> it is an important event for the entire nation, and i think the bundestag should intervene. >> i do not really have an interest in it, and i have to say i do not think it is so good . >> if the chancellery is giving a consideration and supports it, then it is a good thing.

>> the celebrations could remain subdued if germany fails to score any goals, but that is a possibility nobody wants to think about. >> soccer's world governing body has proposed a transfer ban on barcelona for breaking rules on underage players. >> the club is barred from signing any new players for the next two transfer windows. authorities say it is because the team took on several under-18 players from outside spain. it's a huge blow for one of the world's biggest clubs, which was looking to replace some key players this summer. >> that's all we have time for right now. thanks so much for joining us. >> see you again soon. captioned by the national captioning institute --www.ncicap.org--

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nextso coming up in the hour, we will hear from our business editor about those appointments at the finance these two menow as likely to get on or not they try to nurse back to health the ailing economy. brigadier general was killed in cairo when three bombs went off near the university. it is the latest in a series of ck