>> you are watching "the journal ." good to have you with us. our top stories at this hour -- and the sunni militants mass execution of government troops. growing anger in ukraine as demonstrators blame russia for a deadly plane attack. and in switzerland's tom of the win over -- switzerland grabs the win over ecuador in stoppage time.

the insurgent islamist group isis is continuing its offensive in iraq with heavy fighting being reported in the northwest of the country near the syrian border. isis fighters not appear to be advancing posted to the capital where dead, however, defenses have been bolstered -- the capital of baghdad, however where defenses have been bolstered. there have been bombings, however. >> images posted on twitter showed dozens of men eating rounded up and executed at an unknown location. the images have not been verified, but they are attributed to isis, the jihadist sunni group that has taken over large portions of the rat. it is claimed isis killed the men because they were shiites who wanted to fight sunnis.

the government has recaptured baghdad. north of this amateur footage is said to show damage caused by government airstrikes on a school in falluja. more than 20 people were wounded and another incident. that if the isis advance is not stopped, iraq could plunge further into anarchy. washington has responded by deploying an aircraft carrier group to the gulf. election officials in afghanistan are proceeding with the lengthy process of vote counting and say that voter turnout far exceeded expectations. they estimate more than 50% of eligible voters took art. the counting process will take until july. currently both candidates and the presidential runoff claim

they are in the lead. the contest pitted former minister abdullah abdullah against minister of shrub ghani. killed in were taliban attacks on election day. pakistan's army says it has launched an offensive against taliban militants in response to attacks on the main airport in karachi. almost 80 militants were killed in government airstrikes that hit hideouts. families in tribal areas have fled their homes to escape the fighting. tensions between ukraine and russia continue to escalate after the downing of ukrainian military plane by pro-show -- row russian separatists. 49 people died in that incident and kiev has vowed to retell or eight -- retaliate. her testers have been venting

anger outside the ukrainian embassy and the ukrainian foreign minister has been trading insults with moscow. meanwhile allegations that russia is providing arms to bearatist fighters seem to verified by satellite images for nato, but moscow family denies these claims. >> they are blaming moscow. hundreds of ukrainian demonstrators attacked the russian embassy in kiev saturday, saying russia was behind the shooting down of ukrainian air force plane. the ukrainian president petro patrician go also stepped up the rhetoric. later he spoke to the nation on television. we will do everything to bring legal teacher justice. beginning today we -- to bring the guilty to justice. beginning today, we have a new offensive. satelliteleased images that show tanks deployed

on ukrainian territory. they are said to be in use in donetsk. washington, a statement that these were decommissioned ukrainian tanks that were driven across the border. the ukrainian foreign minister insulted the russian president as cameras rolled. moscow has called for his resignation. to honors gathered victims of the plane crash, but demented the government do more against the separatists. >> the russian oil producer ross dead in aporting one massive refinery explosion in siberia. it reportedly sparked a fire near a town. jet fuel,ry produces

diesel, and liquefied gas. a search-and-rescue operation is underway for a number of an employee's -- of employees unaccounted for. ofael accuses hamas responsibility of the disappearance of three israeli teenagers. israeli prime minister benjamin netanyahu says there will be "serious consequences." >> is really soldiers began searching palestinian houses in the west bank city -- israeli soldiers began urging palestinian houses in the west rank -- was pink city before dawn. they have no doubt who is responsible for the kidnapping of three seminary students. the three teenagers, between the ages of 16 and 19, disappeared on wednesday. it is believed that they were snatched from a settlement near

have run. -- hebron. before.eal what i did hamas has kidnapped are teenagers. this has serious implications. >> hum us has denied the allegations. it accuses israel of stirring up trouble. >> netanyahu's comments are stupid. there have been many arrests of hamas leaders and argument leaders in the west bank. >> palestinian security officials say they are helping in the missing it. so far, no one has claimed responsibility for the kidnappings. cultureommissioner for and media is currently in israel. she signed a new agreement to boost i lateral cooperation aimed at identifying art looted by the nazis. experts are tracing the

rightful owners of a painter's eastrk. our dw middle correspondent had a chance to speak to the german culture commissioner. to says it remains difficult quantify how much looted art is in circulation, but she says progress is being made. here is what the commissioner said. a lot happened at the washington conference in 1998. we've examined and returned more than 90,000 objects. but that is just the beginning. inspect cases in museums and also private collectors. >> that is the german culture commissioner speaking to dw's tonya cramer after signing a bilateral agreement with israel on looted art. spiegel says there are more

than 200 u.s. diplomats working as intelligence officers in germany. they are reportedly allowed to monitor german terror suspects from the station in bavaria. former nsa contractor edward snowden says the intelligence gathered resulted in the arrest or killing of at least 40 terrorists between 2002 and 2005. world cup soccer now. we had a dramatic and to the game between switzerland and at with your. it looked as though the match was headed for a rather boring draw, but the swiss power forward in the final seconds in time to snatch a very late victory. here is the action. win in the opening match, and it came literally in the last seconds.

they dominated the first half and it paid off in the final minutes. the hot, humid weather also played a role. lackluster at was best. the equalizer came as a major surprise early on in the second half. also, a header, taking advantage of a standard situation. they went deep into extra time. the bench for one final attack and scored the game winner from close range. team italy defeated their rivals, england, 2-1. there was punishing heat and amazonn the heat of the rain forest. they did not waste time. they seized their first chance to put in a layup 1-nil.

daniel sturridge said a stuff, but mario balotelli put them ahead five minutes into the second half, and italy never looked back. coastup c action, ivory exceeded japan 2-1. 1-0 in the first half, but ivory coast tied it up. then a stunning header for the ivory coast wihn, which shocked japan. whichry coast win, shocked japan. fans of been flocking to brazil to cheer on their teams. some have the advantage of living in a country that borders on brazil. we met some traveling argentinian fans in high spirits ahead of their kickoff against bosnia herzegovina.

>> wearing blue and white ahead of argentina's opening game. thousands of fans have traveled to brazil to cheer on their national team in its world cup campaign. on theirwill be superstar. with him leading the attack, the traditionally strong side is with the favorites for the title. >> i don't like the word "favorite" much. we let other people decide that. but having a player like him makes things easier obviously. >> the anticipation of these fans is clear to see. and if he does not deliver the argentinians look to pope francis to seal the deal.

expert tightest choke is in rio and sent this itus is an the -- t real answer this preview of the game. >> the game gets underway right here. argentina one of the hot favorites of this tournament. packed with talent. but they are also among the favorites because they can count on something like home support from the thousands of argentinians flooding to rio. already yesterday the copacabana was packed with argentinian fans dancing, singing, even sleeping at the beach because they cannot get hold of proper accommodation here in rio. all agree on one thing. it is great to have the world cup back on latin american soil and they would love to put one over on brazil in their own backyard. normally no brazilian would turn out for argentina, but it does look like they will enjoy the support of a small section of

the resilient population, and -- the brazilian population, and that is a small sector who are protesting and have adopted argentina is there favorite. everyone is looking forward to this. i think that will really raise the excitement here to a whole new level. rio.tus in from theind out more world cup and see all of our coverage including live blogging at dw.de/worldcup. german soccer legend franz beckenbauer has agreed to answer fifaions from a fee for -- committee. this is after he was fans for 90 days for refusing to cooperate awardingnvestigation

future world cups to russia and qatar. he said he would answer the questions and riding by june 25. that is all the news for now. do stay with us here on dw. thanks for watching. >> at the start of the week, the german city of cologne organized a huge rally against racism to mark the 10th anniversary of a bomb blast and me city. a bomb attached to a bicycle exploded in a largely turkish district of cologne. police have long ruled out any racist motive, focusing their on the immigrant population. aree years ago, it emerged white supremacist group was behind the blast.

attendedn president monday's ceremonies and spent times meeting with the victims. those who reject or threaten other members of society, he said, do not do it in the name of germany. >> driven by xenophobia, these people attempted to destroy something that is so valuable to us in germany, namely the natural coexistence of different groups in an open and free society. stand together to strengthen this openness, this freedom, here and across germany. [applause] the themes very much of the festival. together was the motto chosen for the commemorations. ♪ international airport in

the pakistani city of karachi was stormed by taliban fighters at the start of the week. they battled security forces for hours. 38 abel were killed including 10 gunmen. wastaliban said the attack in revenge for airstrikes in the northern regions where the militants are largely based. pressure.me under this time the military were able to repel the assault quickly. since then have -- they have stepped up patrols around the airport. the pakistani air force responded with new airstrikes on taliban positions in the north. and later in the week, the united dave's renewed its drone strikes in pakistan for the statesime -- the united renewed its drone strikes in pakistan for the first time in months. >> a court in moscow jailed five men for the 2006 murder of journalist anna pollitt sky of. politskaya.

gunned down in the elevator of her apartment building. she was an outspoken critic of the kremlin. advocates are demanding an investigation into who ordered her murder. militants took over large swathes of northern iraq this week, raising international concern. captured iraqi all second-largest city mosul. the al qaeda splinter group swept into the city. civilian fled en masse, many of for. i round half a million people are said to have been forced from their homes. fled. the people have they have left their homes, and many people are lying dead on

the street. will iraq accept this? the situation is very difficult. mortar shells landing on our houses. we left our house is behind. they want to establish an islamist state incorporating parts of iraq and syria. taking advantage of a power vacuum in iraq. freshly elected prime minister nouri al-maliki has yet to appoint a cabinet. he called on the united states to declare a state of emergency. sunni lawmakers boycotted the session. the measure failed. >> also on tuesday, germany felt top court ruled the resident has the right to call members of the neo-nazi party nut cases should he so choose.

they alleged that he had violated his policy to remain neutral in matters of politics. that they were not cases and needed to be put away. >> a former speaker of the israeli parliament is to be the country's new president. he is from the governing the good party, chosen by the parliament, which brings controversial views to the job. he supports jewish settlements andhe occupied territories rejects the idea of an independent palestinian state. but he has won accolades for his commitment to democracy and human rights. he would take over for shimon peres, who is due to leave office in july. u.s. werecans in the

left reeling on wednesday after house majority leader eric cantor faced a shock defeat in the republican primary in virginia. cantor said he would resign. >> while i intend to serve out my term as a member of congress in the seventh district of urging you, effective july 40 -- july 31, i will be stepping down as majority leader. it is with great humility i do so, knowing the tremendous honor it has been to hold this position. >> and this is the man who defeated him, david bratt, a little-known member of the republican party's right-wing tea party movement. >> i owe it to all of you in this room, number one. give yourselves a round of applause. [applause] >> observers say many conservatives sought cancer too soft on immigration -- saw cancer as too soft on immigration issues and too close

to washington establishment. >> according to a new government report that came out on wednesday, last year's arms .2es were valued at eight billion euros. the german government has signaled a more restrictive approach to arms deals in the future, and the concerns that weapons could be getting into the wrong hands. >> the soccer world cup opened in brazil on thursday. plenty tohad celebrate. they won the opening match against croatia 3-1. damper onwas also a the party. the brazilian game showed a number of weaknesses, and not all brazilians are happy about the world cup being staged in their country. before the opening match in são paulo, protesters took to the

streets. many brazilians feel the billions that were spent on hosting the world cup would have inn better invested hospitals, schools, and infrastructure. but overall, a party atmosphere prevailed. millions of fans all over the world, like here in croatia, are tuning in to the matches. and they are excited that the world cup is underway. football fever has even reached out. internationalthe space station showed off their skills in zero gravity conditions to celebrate the start of the world cup. >> rescuers seeking to help and injured man-- an trapped in germany's deepest known cave announced he was well enough to be moved. he was trapped 1000 meters underground. seven international rescue teams

on the several bivouac's route back to the service -- a service. two doctors are accompanying the injured man, but rescuers say the patient will have to do some of the work himself. we supposed to navigate several kilometers with such narrow sections? it is not possible. simply not possible. of course, we will assist him on those tight spots. he will not be able to climb up on a rope himself. he will have to be on a stretcher. >> the rescue is unprecedented in its complexity. the injured explorer has been trapped since last sunday with severe head injuries after being hit by falling rock. >> germany is mourning the death newspaperits leading commentators on sunday.

he published his newspaper for over two decades. books. authored several he died after a heart attack. he was just 54 years old. george bush senior celebrated his 90th earth day with a skydive on thursday. family members looked on as the former president let from a from a plane near his home in maine. the former president appeared unshaken as he was greeted by his wife barbara and other well-wishers. this was his eighth such jump. >> as sunni militants continued their dance on iraq on friday, the u.s. downplayed the likelihood of any immediate military intervention. >> over the last decade our troops have made extraordinary sacrifices to give iraqis the

opportunity to claim their own future. their leaders have unable to overcome the mistrust and sectarian differences that have long been simmering there. >> in iraq itself, the military began targeting the militants in airstrikes. shiite leaders urged all who can to take up arms and fight the jihadist, and volunteers signed up in droves. iraq now faces the specter of an all-out sectarian war. >> government forces in ukraine regained control of a port city, taking it back from pro-russian separatists. four soldiers were reportedly wounded in the heavy fighting. the government in kiev said five rebels were killed. control has shifted back and forth. the city is a major port for exporting steel. >> at the end of the week, more

than a hundred thousand people partied in the israeli city of for aiv