>> this is the "journal" coming to you live from dw in berlin. >> thanks for joining us. first, our headlines -- rebels in ukraine inflict serious losses on the army. they have shot down a helicopter, killing 14 soldiers, including a general. and the nsa whistleblower edward snowden gives his first interviewer to a u.s. tv network . he says he would like to go home.

thanks for being with us. we start in ukraine. there's been more fierce fighting in the east of the country. >> ukrainian troops sustained heavy losses after a military helicopter was shot down near the city of slovyansk. 14 people were reported killed. >> cities in the middle east have been under the control of separatists since april, and kiev is struggling to regain control of the region. >> the helicopter was bringing troops to government checkpoint. the government about the rebels would not go unpunished. >> i am confident our armed forces and security agencies will flesh out the terrorist. all the criminals financed by the russian federation will be destroyed or will stand before a court. >> government fighter jets flying over slovyansk in a show

of force. at a press conference, the city 's self-proclaimed mayor said they will soon be free. >> at present, they are in the luhansk -- in the luhansk region. they have questions for the osce team, and when they get the answers and ask -- inspect their gear, the monitors will be released. >> internet, someone hundred kilometers south, there is an atmosphere of tense calm. earlier this week, fighting left as is dead. the separatists say they will use force again if provoked. >> i hope kiev decides against bringing troops into the city. the city is already surrounded by them. that's enough. if they want a war, it will be a

bloodbath on both sides. >> separatists are erecting fresh barricades all over donetsk. russia has called on kiev to start a national dialogue to avert what it called a national catastrophe. >> the crisis in ukraine started last november when the country's then president shows an economic union with russia over an association deal with the eu. that union has just come into being without ukraine. >> this morning, the presidents of russia, the logos, and cause extensive and the pact to create the eurasian economic union. >> it took years of negotiation to reach this point, and differences remain among the signatories, but belarus' leader says the deal is a mutually accepted compromise. russian president vladimir putin said the new union was of historic significance. >> the economic cooperation

between russia, belarus, and posix dan -- kazakhstan is widening. >> the pact covers free trade among the member states. the coordination of their financial systems, and the regulation of industrial and agriculture policies, labor markets, and transport networks. the founding members are already in a customs union. the group may be set to grow. armenia and turkestan -- turkestan -- kyrgystan have shown that justin joining. it is set to go in effect at the start of next year. >> earlier, we spoke to our correspondent in moscow and asked whether this was an attempt to revive the soviet union or to compete more effectively against the european union.

>> none of the experts we have been talking to this day believe that this is to revive the soviet union, but rather to build a cutaway to the european union. many doubt that this will be successful. all the countries taking part are ruled by authoritarian leaders who are unlikely to be willing to give up some of their power for further integration, and secondly, mostly, kazakhstan is fearful but of political pressure from moscow after the annexation of the crimean peninsula. they are afraid something might happen to them. >> egypt's former army chief has won an overwhelming victory in the country's presidential election with nearly all the votes now counted, he has over

90%. >> voting was extended for a third day because of low voter turnout. in the end, just 44% of eligible voters participated, not be sweeping approval el-sisi was hoping for. he ousted mohamed morsi last year. the islamist muslim brotherhood boycotted the vote. turkey's high court says a ban on youtube is unlawful, a big blow for prime minister erdogan. >> he moved to ban the site after a recording surfaced that went into corruption allegations. another recording appeared to show officials discussing a possible military intervention in syria. the court ruled the ban violates freedom of expression. we are joined now on the line by correspondent dorian jones. does that mean the ban is lifted? >> not yet.

they will have to give a written explanation for the decision, and that will be sent to the government board that controls the internet, and only then will they be expected to enforce the court's decision. like they did over a similar ban on twitter. but it will take some time. this is not the first court ruling. several lower courts have already ruled this is unconstitutional, and the government has ignored it, but they are expected to observe the constitutional court's decision. >> this is another setback for erdogan. how has the government responded? >> they have not responded yet, but it is not expected to be treated well. the prime minister in reaction to the lifting of the ban on twitter slammed the court for the decision, saying that he will accept it, but he will not respect the court tossed decision, and he has accused the constitutional court of being politically motivated.

he says that these rulings are examples of not judicial decisions but being politically motivated, and much of his anger has been aimed at the head of the constitutional court, who ironically 10 years ago was the key man in defeating a move to shut down the prime minister's party, but now the prime minister sees him as his main political opponent, and he has accused him of being politically motivated and even challenged him to give up his judicial robes and to fight him politically and elections. he has criticized the prime minister for removing judges and prosecutors who are investigating his government, and accusing the government of undermining separations of power. with this latest decision, he is expected to further add tension between the two, but the prime minister will be looking for further later this year.

>> it has been a year since mass protests against the government. how important are issues of internet freedom now to opponents of the government? >> it is key. they do see social media sites facebook, twitter, as key to their campaign, and they are again using it, calling for mobilization on saturday to mark the first anniversary of antigovernment protests. equally, the government are equally determined, using all sorts of methods to try to block the use of twitter and facebook, so there is this ongoing battle between government supporters and opponents of the government over the internet. >> thanks for joining us on istanbul. >> police say the attack occurred on a village. >> the region is the heart of the insurgency by boko haram

militants fighting for an islamic state. nigerian president goodluck jonathan has promised what he called a full-scale operation against the insurgents. his government has come under fire for its handling of a mass kidnapping of schoolgirls by boko haram. click the controversy surrounding a young woman who was stoned to death in pakistan continues to deepen. >> she was killed by her family outside a courthouse for marrying against their wishes. her husband is demanding justice for the crime, but it turns out he killed his first wife, the woman he married before. >> the case has sparked outrage, and the prime minister is demanding to know why nobody stopped the crime from happening. >> demonstrators gathered in pakistan's capital to protest the killing of the 25-year-old woman. they are calling for an end to so-called honor killings. news of a father stoning his

daughter to death has shocked many here. >> they need to stop this barbarism, and i think it is the government's responsibility to a rest all those people. it is a shame that only one person got arrested. >> on tuesday, the 25-year-old was attacked by her family outside a courthouse. her lawyer told journalists what happened. >> she arrived at the main gate of the high court. her attackers had been lying in wait for her in the parking lot. they attacked her, repeatedly hitting her with ricks. >> a young woman died shortly thereafter. witnesses say policeman just stood by and watched as she was murdered. except for her father, all of the suspects have escaped arrest . human rights organizations say more than 1000 pakistani women are killed in similar attacks every year. >> authorities in india are investigating the rape and murder of two teenage sisters

aged 14 and 15. >> they were found hanging from a tree. villagers have accused the police of not responding when the girls' father reported that they were missing. four men have been arrested. two of them policemen. a wave of attacks across iraq have left at least 60 people dead in the northern city of mosul. twin car bombs killed more than 20 people, most of them security officers. >> dozens more died in suicide bombings and shootings across shiite areas of baghdad. the violence comes just weeks after april's national elections and threatens to undermine the prime minister to form a new coalition government. it has been a month since rival palestinian groups hamas and the plo agreed to create a unity government. the palestinian president has made his pick to head the cabinet. >> a man you see on the left of your screen is currently the premier of the west bank and

administration. the transitional government will be the first in seven years to govern both the west bank and gaza strip. it has been nearly three months since malaysia airlines flight mh370 disappeared shortly after taking off. >> since then, an international search effort to locate the missing plane and find out what happened to it has come up empty. nearly 240 people were onboard the aircraft. >> estrella and officials say the area of the indian ocean where they have been searching for weeks is definitely not the plane's final resting place. >> search crews were hoping this underwater drone would lead them to the missing aircraft, but after scouring 850 square kilometers of sea floor off the west coast of australia, officials now say they have been looking in the wrong place. >> the area can now be

discounted as the final resting place for mh370. >> in april, searchers were hopeful after detecting acoustic things in the indian ocean. they thought the sounds could be from the black box of the malaysian airlines jet. survivors of the 200 -- 239 passengers and crew are disappointed. >> what really is the original data? they should show the whole progress of the flight to its end. >> now the international team of investigators will analyze additional data before determining a new search area. the expanded search could cover 60,000 quick kilometers. -- square kilometers. >> several crew members being treated for burns after a large fire occurred on an oil tanker. the captain is still unaccounted for. >> the shipping company said the tanker had unloaded its cargo of

crude oil days earlier and was practically empty when the blast occurred. we are going to take a short break, but coming up, edward snowden speaks to an american tv network. we listen in. >> that in the business news -- apple >> welcome back to the show. it was the biggest leak of classified u.s. documents in history, and it revealed the extent of the surveillance being carried out by u.s. intelligence agencies. >> almost one year on, the man behind those revelations, edward snowden, has given his first interview to a u.s. tv network. we got a preview of that interview earlier in the week. it was broadcast in its entirety earlier in the states. >> snowden argued he had leaked classified documents of the u.s. national security agency. in order to defend the constitution from violation by the government. >> i think the most important

idea is to remember that there have been times throughout american history where what is right is not the same as what is legal. sometimes to do the right thing, you have to break the law. >> he said he had not intended to end up in russia and that he had shared no information with the russian authorities. >> i have no relationship with the russian government at all. i have never met the russian president. i am not supported by the russian government. i am not taking money from the russian government. i am not a spy. >> russia granted snowden and for every asylum. he said he would apply for an extension. u.s. secretary of state john kerry challenged snowden to man up and come back to the united states to face trial. but snowden said he would not simply walk into a jail cell. >> i don't think there has ever been any question that i would like to go home. i have from day one said that i'm doing this to serve my

country. >> u.s. authorities have ruled out amnesty for snowden and said that he should trust the american system of justice. snowden, for his part, says he sees no chance of getting a fair trial if he goes home to the u.s. >> moving on to business news, the u.s. economy shrunk in the first quarter for the first time in three years. analysts say the severe winter had a far bigger impact than previously thought. >> figures from the commerce department show the national economy contracted, but analysts are still expecting robust growth for the year as a whole. there was a bigger than expected drop in weekly jobless claims, and consumer spending remains strong. >> it is a done deal. apple has confirmed it is buying beats music and electronics for $3 billion, and it is apple's largest acquisition to date. >> analysts say the deal will boost apple's cool factor, not only because the purchase includes a popular line of trendy headphones.

>> big headphones are in fashion, especially those made by beats electronics. the brand has long been a staple in apple shops. now the corporation has taken over the manufacturer completely, but it's not just the hardware apple is interested in. beats also offers a music streaming service. customers pay a flat monthly fee to stream as much music service as they like. subscription music services make up the fastest-growing market in the industry. customers are less and less eager to download individual titles. >> if you look at the current music market, downloads are declining for itunes, so apple needed to do something. our bones are declining, streaming is growing. >> still, apple has a weight to go. -- a way to go. with the takeover, apple also gains new blood at the top.

>> onto thursday's market action , much of europe was closed. >> it started off as a rather good day at the frankfurt exchange. the dax climbed to another record high, and 10,000 points were really not that far away. to business here, the volume sort of went down, and traders said goodbye to the goal, and they really said goodbye. the thing is, the traders here were scratching their heads and saying, "the ecb is saying that? it is the one who is

contributing with all that cheap money to the creation of possible bubbles in equities, that is stocks, and fixed income, that is bonds ergo >> the dax changed by zero, flat as a pancake. euro stoxx 50 also barely moving, finishing the thursday session at 30 to 44. the euro a tad higher against the greenback, trading at a value of $1.3 602. >> argentina has reached an agreement to repay outstanding loans that read -- that date back to its debt default in 2001. when srs still owes nearly 7 billion euros -- buenos aires. >> argentina will make a first payment of just under 500 million euros this summer with annual payments following that. argentina hopes the move will help it reentering world

financial markets. this time, every year, a german city presents the charlemagne prize. >> this year, it was awarded to the european council president. ukraine's prime minister spoke to thank him for his support. moving onto sports now, tennis superstar rafael nadal has moved a step closer to defend a case french open title. >> the a's-time champion cruised to victory against a young gun from austria -- the eight-time champion cruised to victory. germany's andrea petrovich also advanced after hanging on to beat the swiss player in three sets. it's just two weeks away -- the

world cup in brazil, and problems continue in the host country. fifa is now worried that the stadium will not be finished in time. seating still has to be installed in the stadium, which is due to host its first match on the 13th of june. >> now added the tournament, our sport desk has been analyzing the various squads. over the next two weeks, we will be profiling front runners and dark horses. we start out with the reigning champions. >> spanish fans have gotten used to celebrating victories. with the major titles in a row, the euro 2008, the world cup two years later, and in the world cup championship again in 2012, spain has a fearsome reputation to defend. >> specifically in times of economic crisis, spain's soccer stars have shown brightly.

>> it's incredible. european and world champions at the same time. >> the challenge now is to defend their title at the world cup in brazil. some of the stalwarts -- because just sticking with his winning strategy of ball possession and perfect combination play, which appears to work whoever sends out on the pitch. he is sending plenty of young talent. >> everyone in spain thinks that if we are not the champions, it's a bad result, and that's good. it did not used to be like that. >> he has recently be worried about the top scoring striker, who just won the spanish league. he is suffering from a hamstring injury. it's not clear whether the muscle tear will heal in time. spain will face strong competition in their group

matches with the netherlands, chile, and australia. >> it's a tough group. we meet the netherlands first. we played them in the final last time, and they have been excellent in the qualifiers. >> last saturday's champions league final showed clearly that spanish football is still at the top of its game. the national squad aims to hammer that message home in brazil. >> as old cold war tensions heat up over the crisis in ukraine, there is a rare bright spot where we can see some successful cooperation. >> a crew of russian, german, and u.s. astronauts docked with the u.s. international space station -- docked with the international space station thursday. >> we had a chance to follow one of them on his journey. >> the astronauts on the international space station opened the hatch to admit their new colleagues. the first to come aboard is from

germany. for him, working at the iss is the fulfillment of a childhood dream. he joined the space station scientific team, working at the station until november. >> when i was a child, i was very curious, interested in my surroundings, in the earth, how storms were forming and earthquakes, and of course, it was one of my biggest dreams to find out how the earth looks from space. >> his journey to the iss began 400 kilometers below the station in kazakhstan. shortly before blastoff, he tweeted to his fans, "see you soon. i would love to take you all with me." the geophysicist will conduct around 100 experiments onboard board the station. one will involve using a specially developed melting furnace to test new building materials. his work could help engineers produce airplane engines and cars. researchers all over the world are looking forward to the

results of his experiments. >> the space station is an international laboratory. it was built by more than 100,000 people from many different countries. it is a place of peace in which we will research together. it is a place that shows us why it is important to work together. >> this kind of international cooperation may not last forever. russia is currently the only country that is sending people into space, and moscow says it plans to quit the iss in just six years, so he is likely to be the last german astronaut to work at the iss for the foreseeable future. >> that's all for now on the "journal." thanks for watching. >> more news at the top of the hour. keep it on dw. captioned by the national captioning institute --www.ncicap.org--

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>> to our top story, the pakistani prime minister has weighed into the outcry over the stoning to death of a woman by her family. he has described the killing as being totally unacceptable. she was three months pregnant and stoned by relative serious because she had married against their wishes. >> bloodstains marked the spot where she was stoned to death. the