angela merkel's chief of staff faced a grilling by lawmakers. the accusation -- the government knew about american and british activities long before edward snowden's revelations. that is a view held by the opposition and a majority of the general public, but the attempt to turn the scandal into a campaign issue has so far failed to sway voters. with two months to go until the election, a new opinion poll suggests a slight rise in support for angela merkel's conservatives. social democrats move down to just 25%. the greens are up to 14%. the left stay on numeral seven percent. chancellor merkel's free democrats coalition partners stay under the five percent threshold needed to enter parliament, and the outrage over the snooping scandal has not helped a pro-transparency pirate party, either. their support remains unchanged. with her poll numbers holding up, angela merkel has one less thing to worry about as she leaves on vacation. >> over to our political correspondent. can the chancellor breathe easy going into those holidays? >> the opinion pol

chancellor angela merkel says she only found out from media reports. the opposition wants her to than send her minister. >> your story convinced that the clarification we need should come at the level of the u.s. president -- i'm convinced that the clarification we need should come at the level of the u.s. president. there should be a clear statement from americans that they will desist in future from listening in and spying on their friends. >> first of all, he has the task of getting answers. with elections approaching, a lot of people will be watching to see how he does. >> for more on the story, we are by our washington correspondent. there's, of course, a lot of potential for controversy here. what are are the expectations for this visit? >> i have low expectations for this visit. i do not think that americans are willing to reveal the details of what the national security agency is doing in germany and also in europe. he is going to meet with the national security advisor of president obama, and he will also meet with attorney general eric holder

are following angela merkel on facebook. it's a good way for us to reach lots of people, but the numbers on their own do not tell us much. what really counts is user activity -- how often users share our content, how many likes we get, but even in that area, we are doing better than the spd, and that is what is crucial. >> campaign workers and spd -- at spd headquarters beg to differ. their candidate may be well behind the chancellor and online fan numbers -- he has only got 67,000 compared to her more than 300,000 -- but spd campaigners say the difference is that they use the internet to encourage and mobilize supporters to campaign for them off-line. >> i think the days when campaigns just ran ads are over. it is not just about being online. it's about being off-line, too. we have had very strong dialogue with voters. for me, the mark of modern campaigns is to approach voters and interact with them, not just to run ads. >> still, it is no secret that neither of the front runners is a whiz when it comes to the internet. ste

german chancellor angela merkel faces stiff questions over just how involved germany was in the n.s.a. prism spying program. the us invasion of iraq is applying for an epidemic of birth defects and cancer due to the military use of depleted uranium we report from a former war zone where the health cost is turning out to be even worse than originally thought. britain's prime minister admits this too much extremism among the syrian rebels his clearest indication yet that london's i'm willing to go for full scale arms deliveries will be asking what's behind the apparent you to. international news and comment watching r.t. coming she's live from sky. a german magazine claims that burns intelligence services have been making good use of the u.s. national security agency secret spying program that's raised questions over chancellor merkel's earlier condemnation of washington's surveillance tactics peter all of the reports from birthday. german chancellor angela merkel had to rigidly said that she only found out of the extent of the united states's spying programs through the media and it no

angela merkel's chief of staff faced a grilling by lawmakers. the accusation -- the government knew about american and british activities long before edward snowden's revelations. that is a view held by the opposition and a majority of the general public, but the attempt to turn the scandal into a campaign issue has so far failed to sway voters. with two months to go until the election, a new opinion poll suggests a slight rise in support for angela merkel's conservatives. social democrats move down to just 25%. the greens are up to 14%. the left stay on numeral seven percent. chancellor merkel's free democrats coalition partners stay under the five percent threshold needed to enter parliament, and the outrage over the snooping scandal has not helped a pro-transparency pirate party, either. their support remains unchanged. with her poll numbers holding up, angela merkel has one less thing to worry about as she leaves on vacation. >> over to our political correspondent. can the chancellor breathe easy going into those holidays? >> the opinion pol

most people want to see angela merkel reelected. >> ms. merkel enjoys a positive image along the -- with a lot of people. that makes it difficult for any challenger. be it steinbrueck or anybody else. >> her popularity has allowed her to break with her party's conservative mold, and the compulsory military service, pushing for same-sex marriage, shutting down nuclear reactors and plans for a minimum wage. steinbrueck has to appeal to the left without alienating the center ground, difficult but not impossible. he will have to play to his strengths during the campaign to have a chance of defeating merkel in september. >> irish lawmakers have passed a new law that will allow abortion when the life of the mother is at risk. >> this caused very intense debate in the catholic country. ireland has banned abortions for any reasons but discussion on the issue reopened last year after the death of a woman who was turned down for an abortion. >> celebrations erupted in the middle of the night. pro-choice activists celebrating the legalization of abor

most people want to see angela merkel reelected. >> ms. merkel enjoys a positive image along the -- with a lot of people. that makes it difficult for any challenger. be it steinbrueck or anybody else. >> her popularity has allowed her to break with her party's conservative mold, and the compulsory military service, pushing for same-sex marriage, shutting down nuclear reactors and plans for a minimum wage. steinbrueck has to appeal to the left without alienating the center ground, difficult but not impossible. he will have to play to his strengths during the campaign to have a chance of defeating merkel in september. >> irish lawmakers have passed a new law that will allow abortion when the life of the mother is at risk. >> this caused very intense debate in the catholic country. ireland has banned abortions for any reasons but discussion on the issue reopened last year after the death of a woman who was turned down for an abortion. >> celebrations erupted in the middle of the night. pro-choice activists celebrating the legalization of abor

chancellor angela merkel. her tactic is to promise everyone a little something without committing to anything too specific. a winning strategy so far, much to the frustration of her opponents. >> we have time to turn to a sport that germany dominates in europe like virtually no other. >> we are talking about a women's soccer. if european championships sixth in a row. >> the captain led the way, trophy in hand. around 5000 fans filled up to cheer their soccer euros. the team spent the night celebrating their victory in sweden, but no one showed signs of tiredness in front of their followers. coach sylvia has complement to their players on the win. >> beginning with the finals, our team really pulled together. we grew closer and play with a lot of courage and passion. we had a great team spirit and held each other. >> in the hard-fought final, it was the substitute who had just been brought on who scored the match winner. the germans worked hard to defend their lead. the team's experienced player warded off two

chancellor angela merkel. her tactic is to promise everyone a little something without committing to anything too specific. a winning strategy so far, much to the frustration of her opponents. >> we have time to turn to a sport that germany dominates in europe like virtually no other. >> we are talking about a women's soccer. if european championships sixth in a row. >> the captain led the way, trophy in hand. around 5000 fans filled up to cheer their soccer euros. the team spent the night celebrating their victory in sweden, but no one showed signs of tiredness in front of their followers. coach sylvia has complement to their players on the win. >> beginning with the finals, our team really pulled together. we grew closer and play with a lot of courage and passion. we had a great team spirit and held each other. >> in the hard-fought final, it was the substitute who had just been brought on who scored the match winner. the germans worked hard to defend their lead. the team's experienced player warded off two

some opposition even say that angela merkel has broken her oath of office. i think it is a big issue. it will be a big issue because the opposition is quite clearly an issue. they are relatively unconcerned about it to the extent that angela merkel has not lost in the popularity ratings. that is because most voters are concerned about the economy and that germany has escaped effects. >> moving onto other news now, a senior u.s. devote has visited egypt for the first time since the ousted morsi two weeks ago. he called for a transition of the elected civilian government. >> they urged egyptians to end of violence and overcome divisions. meanwhile, supporters took to the streets demanding they be returned to office. >is china's economy in trouble? today, new figures confirmed the slowdown continues. >> so from seven .7% to 7.5% in the quarter. but that was not as bad as some observers had feared. >> they want the economy to move to steadier growth rates. the question is if it could manage that transition. >> the roads are congested and the air is thick with po

hot seat, facing committee which wants answers. >> angela merkel's chief of staff is the man responsible for coordinating germany's three intelligence agencies and for informing parliament about their work. in a special committee session, he answered questions about germany's role in the nsa scandal. he promised parliament 100% transparency and assured lawmakers that germany's intelligence agencies did not break any laws. >> it has been secular did that massive amounts of data on german citizens was given to the nsa. that is positively not the case. >> the committee also questioned the heads of germany's office for protection of the constitution and intelligence services. operatives -- opposition politicians afterwards said they were not reassured. >> we still do not know what prism is or what the government knew about it. how is it possible for millions of e-mails and telephone conversations to be recorded without the government knowing any details about what was going on. >> two more hearings are planned to take place before the end of august. there are still a lot of questions to be a

some opposition even say that angela merkel has broken her oath of office. i think it is a big issue. it will be a big issue because the opposition is quite clearly an issue. they are relatively unconcerned about it to the extent that angela merkel has not lost in the popularity ratings. that is because most voters are concerned about the economy and that germany has escaped effects. >> moving onto other news now, a senior u.s. devote has visited egypt for the first time since the ousted morsi two weeks ago. he called for a transition of the elected civilian government. >> they urged egyptians to end of violence and overcome divisions. meanwhile, supporters took to the streets demanding they be returned to office. >is china's economy in trouble? today, new figures confirmed the slowdown continues. >> so from seven .7% to 7.5% in the quarter. but that was not as bad as some observers had feared. >> they want the economy to move to steadier growth rates. the question is if it could manage that transition. >> the roads are congested and the air is thick with po

german chancellor angela merkel had to rigidly said that she only found out of the extent of the united states's spying programs through the media and it now comes out thanks to n.s.a. internal documents that have been reported by dish big news magazine that well they were far more involved than she let on that indeed in fact they quote in the dish people article the internal memos that say that there was a willingness to take risks and pursue new opportunities for cooperation with the u.s. that was shown by the german authorities they also were talking about the head of the b n d germany's foreign security service that he showed an eagerness under desire to cooperate turns out that germany actually operated one of the main parts of the the expansive spying program it's called x. keyscore program that basically anybody who they were looking into they could find out exactly what was being searched online by that particular person and it's estimated around five hundred million. connections were being monitored every month by this spying program here in germany alone so it was quite an ext

hot seat, facing committee which wants answers. >> angela merkel's chief of staff is the man responsible for coordinating germany's three intelligence agencies and for informing parliament about their work. in a special committee session, he answered questions about germany's role in the nsa scandal. he promised parliament 100% transparency and assured lawmakers that germany's intelligence agencies did not break any laws. >> it has been secular did that massive amounts of data on german citizens was given to the nsa. that is positively not the case. >> the committee also questioned the heads of germany's office for protection of the constitution and intelligence services. operatives -- opposition politicians afterwards said they were not reassured. >> we still do not know what prism is or what the government knew about it. how is it possible for millions of e-mails and telephone conversations to be recorded without the government knowing any details about what was going on. >> two more hearings are planned to take place before the end of august. there are still a lot of questions to be a

currently, angela merkel enjoys very high ratings in all opinion polls, i think probably for the same reason that the business leaders seem to like her. her cautious and conservative approach to the eurozone crisis is what most germans think has shielded them from its adverse effects. the german economy is doing well, and there's good, high business confidence, as we saw in the survey, and most people, i think, just do not want to rock the vote. >> was there anything surprising in this poll? >> the surprising thing to me was the fact that the spd, social democrat politician, thought steinmeyer was rated the third most popular politician. he has been sidelined by his own party, so that is quite surprising. on the other hand, the is this in need of germany also said that they had more confidence, more respect or the left party politician than they have for the leader of the main opposition party, so what do we make of that yet to >> i'm sure he will be fascinated to hear that. thanks very much for joining us from our political studios. >> the democratic republic of congo, renewed fighti

chancellor angela merkel says she only found out from media reports. the opposition wants her to than send her minister. >> your story convinced that the clarification we need should come at the level of the u.s. president -- i'm convinced that the clarification we need should come at the level of the u.s. president. there should be a clear statement from americans that they will desist in future from listening in and spying on their friends. >> first of all, he has the task of getting answers. with elections approaching, a lot of people will be watching to see how he does. >> for more on the story, we are by our washington correspondent. there's, of course, a lot of potential for controversy here. what are are the expectations for this visit? >> i have low expectations for this visit. i do not think that americans are willing to reveal the details of what the national security agency is doing in germany and also in europe. he is going to meet with the national security advisor of president obama, and he will also meet with attorney general eric holder

currently, angela merkel enjoys very high ratings in all opinion polls, i think probably for the same reason that the business leaders seem to like her. her cautious and conservative approach to the eurozone crisis is what most germans think has shielded them from its adverse effects. the german economy is doing well, and there's good, high business confidence, as we saw in the survey, and most people, i think, just do not want to rock the vote. >> was there anything surprising in this poll? >> the surprising thing to me was the fact that the spd, social democrat politician, thought steinmeyer was rated the third most popular politician. he has been sidelined by his own party, so that is quite surprising. on the other hand, the is this in need of germany also said that they had more confidence, more respect or the left party politician than they have for the leader of the main opposition party, so what do we make of that yet to >> i'm sure he will be fascinated to hear that. thanks very much for joining us from our political studios. >> the democratic republic of congo, renewed fighti

german chancellor angela merkel faces stiff questions over just how involved germany was in the prism spying program. the u.s. invasion of iraq is a plane from epidemic of birth defects and cancer jus to the military use of depleted uranium the report from a former war zone where the health cost is turning out to be even worse than originally thought. britain's prime minister meets there's too much extremism among the syrian rebels his clearest indication yet that london's i'm willing to go full scale arms deliveries will be asking what's behind the apparent need to. khloe alchemy watching our take coming to you live from moscow with may and pharma . now a german magazine claims that lynn's intelligence services have been making good use of the us national security agency secret spying program and that's raised questions over chancellor merkel's earlier condemnation of washington's surveillance tactics peter all over reports from berlin. german chancellor angela merkel had originally said that she only found out of the extent of the united states's spying programs through the media an

german chancellor angela merkel faces stiff questions over just how involved germany was in the n.s.a. prism spying program. but toxic legacy of war the us invasion of iraq is accused of causing an epidemic of birth defects thanks to the use of uranium to weaponry. we found out the problem could be much worse than originally thought. elections not tanks the son of egypt's ousted president tells r.t. that's the only way to change the country insisting his father's rule was truly democratic . a very warm welcome to you on this monday morning this is r.t. live from moscow with me rory sushi now it just moments after ten am here in the russian capital. germany has been working hand in glove with the u.s. spy agency who sweeping global surveillance was revealed of course to the world by edward snowden according to news magazine both germany's foreign and domestic intelligence have been spying and using n.s.a. spy programs but that hasn't stopped from demanding that washington explain its snooping activities in europe as a tease peter all of us now reports. german chancellor angela merkel h

german chancellor angela merkel faces stiff questions over just how involved germany was in the prison spying program. an epidemic of birth defects and cancer in iraq is blamed on the u.s. led coalition's use of depleted uranium in military assaults we report from a. health cost is becoming increasingly visible. and britain's prime minister admits there's too much extremism among the syrian rebels his clearest indication yet that london is unwilling to go for full scale deliveries. what is behind the apparent top stories. live from studio center in moscow this is with you twenty four ounce a day a german magazine claims that intelligence services have been making active use of the u.s. national security agency secret spying program now that has raised questions over chancellor merkel's earlier condemnation of washington's surveillance tactics of the reports from. german chancellor angela merkel had to rigidly said that she only found out of the extent of the united states's spying programs through the media and it now comes out thanks to n.s.a. internal documents that have been reporte

german chancellor angela merkel faces stiff questions over just how involved germany was in the prism spying program. the toxic legacy of war the us invasion of iraq is accused of causing an epidemic of birth defects thanks to the use of uranium tipped weapons are to be found the problem could be worse than originally thought. and elections not tanks the son of egypt's ousted president tells r.t. that's the only way to change the country insisting his father's rule was truly democratic. welcome you watching r.t. with me and tree farm. now germany has been working handing gloves with the u.s. spy agency who sweeping global surveillance was revealed to the world by edward snowden according to do spiegel news magazine both germany's foreign and domestic intelligence have been using n.s.a. spy programs that hasn't stopped then from demanding that washington explains its snooping activities in europe as artie's peter all of our reports. german chancellor angela merkel had to rigidly said that she only found out of the extent of the united states's spying programs through the media and it n

german chancellor angela merkel had to rigidly said that she only found out of the extent of the united states's spying programs through the media and it now comes out thanks to n.s.a. internal documents that have been reported by dish big news magazine that well they were far more involved than she let on that indeed in fact they quote in the dish legal article the internal memos that say that there was a willingness to take risks and pursue new opportunities for cooperation with the u.s. that was shown by the german authorities they also were talking about the head of the b.n. de germany's foreign security service that he showed an eagerness under desire to cooperate turns out that germany actually operated one of the main parts of the the expansive spying program that's called x. keyscore program that basically anybody who they were looking into they could find out exactly what was being searched online by that particular person and it's estimated around five hundred million. connections were being monitored every month by the spying program here in germany alone so it was quite an e

spy programs but i wouldn't stop the chancellor angela merkel from demanding that washington explain its snooping activities in europe let's get now more from peter all of a joining us live here in berlin good morning to you from moscow peter good to see you this morning as we know germany's been indignant over u.s. surveillance of but now we're learning surprise surprise it was actually involved itself. well german chancellor angela merkel had to rigidly said that she only found out of the extent of the united states's spying programs through the media and it now comes out thanks to n.s.a. internal documents that have been reported by news magazine that well they were far more involved than they were letting on then she let on that and indeed in fact they quote in the dish beagle article the internal memos that say that there was a willingness to take risks and pursue new opportunities for cooperation with the u.s. that was shown by the german authorities they also were talking about the head of the b. n. d. germany's foreign security service that he showed an eagerness and a desire

german chancellor angela merkel faces stiff questions over just how involved germany was in the n.s.a. prism spying program. u.s. invasion of iraq is playing for an epidemic of birth defects and cancer to the military use of depleted uranium port from a former war zone where the health cost is turning out to be even worse than originally thought. and britain's prime minister too much extremism among the syrian rebels is clearest indication yet that london is unwilling to go for full scale deliveries will be asking what's behind the apparent need to. welcome it's good to have you company watching r.t. coming chief live from moscow with may and tree farm. now a german magazine claims that intelligence services have been making good use of the u.s. national security agency secret spying program and that's raised questions over chancellor merkel's earlier condemnation of washington's surveillance tactics are. reports from burly. german chancellor angela merkel had to rigidly said that she only found out of the extent of the united states's spying programs through the media and it now come

german chancellor angela merkel had to rigidly said that she only found out of the extent of the united states's spying programs through the media and it now comes out thanks to n.s.a. internal documents that have been reported by dish big news magazine that well they were far more involved than she let on that indeed in fact they quote in the dish legal article the internal memos that say that there was a willingness to take risks and pursue new opportunities for cooperation with the u.s. that was shown by the german authorities they also were talking about the head of the b n d germany's foreign security service that he showed an eagerness under desire to cooperate turns out that germany actually operated one of the main parts of the the expansive spying program it's called x. keyscore program that basically anybody who they were looking into they could find out exactly what was being searched online by the particular person and it's estimated around five hundred million. connections were being monitored every month by this error spying program here in germany alone so it was quite an

german chancellor angela merkel faces stiff questions over just how involved germany was in the prism spying program. the toxic legacy of war the us invasion of iraq is accused of causing an epidemic of birth defects thanks to the use of uranium tipped weapons r.t. found the problem could be worse than originally thought. and elections not tanks the son of egypt's ousted president tells r.t. that's the only way to change the country insisting his father's rule was truly democratic. welcome you're watching r.t. coming to you live from moscow with make a film. now germany has been working handing glove with the u.s. spy agency who sweeping global surveillance was revealed to the world by edward snowden according to do spiegel news magazine both germany's foreign and domestic intelligence had been using n.s.a. spy programs but that hasn't stopped the in from demanding that washington explains it's snooping activities in europe as artie's peter all of our reports. german chancellor angela merkel had to rigidly said that she only found out of the extent of the united states's spying progra

>> reporter: that meeting today with angela merkel and the 20 heads of states from the eurozone with the labor ministers will probably be overshadowed by all the tensions with -- coming from portugal. as well from greece, with their respective prime minister both attending. speaking about portugal, their prime minister is nevertheless, despite the -- nevertheless is attending the summit in berlin. the economy minister of portugal as well is here to speak about youth unemployment and as well to tackle the problem of youth unemployment by, for example, bilateral treaty with germany on combined or on support from germany, when it comes to vocational training or training on the job which germany promotes as one of the key remedies to the crisis of youth unemployment in southern europe. that is mainly what they are discussing here today. they'll probably come up with a more pronounced plan, using not used funds from the european union which could amount to 16 billion euros according to the labor minister here in germany. >> as you say, annettia, you're there, because, of course, we have g

german chancellor angela merkel faces stiff questions over just how involved germany was in the n.s.a. prism spying program. an epidemic of birth defects and cancer in iraq is blamed on the u.s. led coalition's use of depleted uranium in military assaults we report from. the health cost is becoming increasingly visible. and britain's prime minister admits there is too much extremism among the syrian rebels is clearest indication yet that london is unwilling to go for full scale deliveries will be asking what's behind the apparent u. turn. studio center in sco this is r.t. with the twenty four hours a day. german magazine claims that intelligence services have been making active use of the us national security agency secret spying program that's raise questions over chancellor merkel's earlier condemnation of washington's surveillance tactics peter all of the reports now from. german chancellor angela merkel had to rigidly said that she only found out of the extent of the united states's spying programs through the media and it now comes out thanks to n.s.a. internal documents that hav

. >> now, for the very earth time chancellor angela merkel has responded to revelations that berlin has been closely cooperating with america. in a newspaper interview, she said a certain level of cooperation was needed to ensure citizen security, but she underlined that the state needs to strike a balance between protecting its citizens privacy and ensuring public safety. her interior minister is due to travel to washington for talks on this issue. what is an election pledge worth? not much if you ask some people. a lot of money, if you ask others. billions of euros. a new report puts the figure on all promises being made ahead of september's elections. the report was compiled by the pro-business cologne institute for economic research and they are warning that politicians are writing checks for election gifts that the country cannot afford. >> a healthy economy is good for the well-being of the nation. that is the message of german business. that is why they are criticizing some campaign pledges as "poison for growth." they put up to 900,000 dogs at risk here yet >> from the point of

angela merkel convened a summit to discuss how to find work opportunities for europe's young people. critics say the eu should allocate more funds to job creation measures, but merkel says money alone will not solve the problem. >> money is not the problem. the problem is how we want to earn it in the future. how can we offer young people the chance? how can we provide small and medium companies with money to burn -- to afford the interest payments? how do we kickstart the economy? >> eu leaders wanted to put themselves under pressure to act, but the summit was short on specifics. german trade unions and the opposition social democrats organized a protest outside of the jobs summit. they say angela merkel focusing on it makes her partially responsible for youth unemployment in countries like spain. >> no consensus was reached in today's talks. >> the meeting was intended to be an exchange between the leaders on what policies are working best to fight youth unemployment. as the chancellor said, it was a day of rolling up the sleeves in which they did share their best crack this is. sh

back here in germany, the media wants answers on the nsa surveillance kindle, but angela merkel says she does not have them yet. that was the bottom line at a press conference this morning. >> germany's chancellor says she, too, wants answers, but she said she was prepared to wait. with elections just two months away, it's not yet clear if the controversy will blow over before joe meant -- before germans go to the polls. >> reporters were awaiting new details from chancellor merkel on the scandal of espionage in germany, but they were disappointed. merkel put a damper on such expectations right at the start. anyone who has come here today expecting me to share the results of clarification activities has come with misplaced hope. these activities are continuing. they are not finished. >> but when pressed by reporters, merkel admitted germany has little average -- little leverage with the u.s. for getting answers. >> our american partners need time for their investigations, and they have not yet made a statement, so we will have to work on getting them to make that statement. >> otherw

back here in germany, the media wants answers on the nsa surveillance kindle, but angela merkel says she does not have them yet. that was the bottom line at a press conference this morning. >> germany's chancellor says she, too, wants answers, but she said she was prepared to wait. with elections just two months away, it's not yet clear if the controversy will blow over before joe meant -- before germans go to the polls. >> reporters were awaiting new details from chancellor merkel on the scandal of espionage in germany, but they were disappointed. merkel put a damper on such expectations right at the start. >> anyone who has come here today expecting me to share the results of clarification activities has come with misplaced hope. these activities are continuing. they are not finished. >> but when pressed by reporters, merkel admitted germany has little average -- little leverage with the u.s. for getting answers. >> our american partners need time for their investigations, and they have not yet made a statement, so we will have to work on getting them to make that statement. >> oth

. >> now, for the very earth time chancellor angela merkel has responded to revelations that berlin has been closely cooperating with america. in a newspaper interview, she said a certain level of cooperation was needed to ensure citizen security, but she underlined that the state needs to strike a balance between protecting its citizens privacy and ensuring public safety. her interior minister is due to travel to washington for talks on this issue. what is an election pledge worth? not much if you ask some people. a lot of money, if you ask others. billions of euros. a new report puts the figure on all promises being made ahead of september's elections. the report was compiled by the pro-business cologne institute for economic research and they are warning that politicians are writing checks for election gifts that the country cannot afford. >> a healthy economy is good for the well-being of the nation. that is the message of german business. that is why they are criticizing some campaign pledges as "poison for growth." they put up to 900,000 dogs at risk here yet >> from the point of

angela merkel convened a summit to discuss how to find work opportunities for europe's young people. critics say the eu should allocate more funds to job creation measures, but merkel says money alone will not solve the problem. >> money is not the problem. the problem is how we want to earn it in the future. how can we offer young people the chance? how can we provide small and medium companies with money to burn -- to afford the interest payments? how do we kickstart the economy? >> eu leaders wanted to put themselves under pressure to act, but the summit was short on specifics. german trade unions and the opposition social democrats organized a protest outside of the jobs summit. they say angela merkel focusing on it makes her partially responsible for youth unemployment in countries like spain. >> no consensus was reached in today's talks. >> the meeting was intended to be an exchange between the leaders on what policies are working best to fight youth unemployment. as the chancellor said, it was a day of rolling up the sleeves in which they did share their best crack this is. sh

german chancellor angela merkel had to rigidly said that she only found out of the extent of the united states's spying programs through the media and it now comes out thanks to n.s.a. internal documents that have been reported by dish big news magazine that well they were far more involved than she let on that indeed in fact they quote in the dish people article the internal memos that say that there was a willingness to take risks and pursue new opportunities for cooperation with the u.s. that was shown by the german authorities they also were talking about the head of the b n d germany's foreign security service that he showed an eagerness under desire to cooperate turns out that germany actually operated one of the main parts of the the expansive spying program that's called x. keyscore program that basically anybody who they were looking into they could find out exactly what was being searched online by that particular person and it's estimated around five hundred million. connections were being monitored every month by the spying program here in germany alone so it was quite an ex

german chancellor angela merkel had originally said that she only found out of the extent of the united states's spying programs through the media and it now comes out thanks to n.s.a. internal documents that have been reported by big news magazine that well they were far more involved than she let on that indeed in fact they quote in the dish people article the internal memos that say that there was a willingness to take risks and pursue new opportunities for cooperation with the u.s. that was shown by the german authorities they also were talking about the head of the b n d germany's foreign security service that he showed an eagerness under desire to cooperate turns out that germany actually operated one of the main parts of the the expansive spying program that's called x. keyscore program that basically anybody who they were looking into they could find out exactly what was being searched online by that particular person and it's estimated around five hundred million data connections were being monitored every month by by the spying program here in germany alone so it was quite an

merkel i would make all the banks especially the periphery of banks. being fraudulent. misrepresenting their reporting mark to market ringfence anything that's considered necessary everybody else has to know play the market you know if you're thinking you think if you can swim you swim now in order to do it if that were to happen then rates would shoot up because you have the average depositor who's been receiving between say twenty five basis points and two and a half three percent on their money despite the fact that money is taking significant market risk credit risk into a political risk when they lose their money and those who are looking at them are going to request significant significantly more compensation so instead of one and a half percent on your savings account you'd be looking for more like eight nine ten fifteen twenty percent you know this would drive you don't want insolvent banks or more of marginally solvent banks out of business but that is real economics that's real finance so if you're taking significant risk you get significant

german chancellor angela merkel had to rigidly said that she only found out of the extent of the united states's spying programs through the media and it now comes out thanks to n.s.a. internal documents that have been reported by news magazine that well they were far more involved than she let on that indeed in fact they quote in the dish legal article the internal memos that say that there was a willingness to take risks and pursue new opportunities for cooperation with the u.s. that was shown by the german authorities they also were talking about the head of the b n d germany's foreign security service that he showed an eagerness and a desire to cooperate turns out that germany actually operated one of the main parts of the the expansive spying program it's called x. keyscore program that basically anybody who they were looking into they could find out exactly what was being searched online by that particular person. it's estimated around five hundred million. connections were being monitored every month by the spying program here in germany alone so it was quite an extensive program

merkel who is you know of course a professional politician showing of rage about anglo irish is very similar to you know an exterminator show an outrage that he found a roach you know in a den of roaches you know if you're going to be so outraged i sleep it and identified and put in specific detail six five i was banks and ensure that essentially insolvent. significant misrepresented books basically from a layman's perspective for you know the legal eagles appear couple of fraud outright fraud explicit many of these institutions or insolvent or close to put if they were to mark to market such as a i b a a b. has roughly a twenty to twenty b. in delhi whole which has to be fought before it's over the e.s.m. the e.u. risk you pool is about sixty five billion dollars so this one bank in ireland will take about one third of the us if you pull. ireland itself is this in two percent of the economic activity the e.u. you have isolated six panics that need assistance to become solve it so one bank could take down the third. you know what you know exactly what is. a bill in a positive recap b

is similar to the type six used in the cold war the german chancellor angela merkel has said that she feels alienated which you know is so obviously very curious as to why germany has been targeted by the n.s.a. programs that n.s.a. have stated that as very few countries which have been excluded from the program including the united kingdom new zealand australia and canada so questions are being off the why germany has been specified as a tog it's and some official in germany commented that of course the us is known for costing a wide net foghat whoever they want under the war on terror so are german citizens now also being treated as terrorists under this n.s.a. program of course it's not just germany that is reeling from the latest revelations that is being outrage across europe so it's not just the u.s. and china relations but in the entire trends that line take relationship between europe and the united states that is under threat that was was the feel of the head of the roughly newsroom in berlin. protests in egypt have swelled so much that the size of the demonstrations is now b

merkel who is you know of course a professional politician showing outrage about anglo irish is very similar to you know an exterminator shown outrage that he found a roach you know in the den of roaches you know if you're going to be so outraged i sleep it and identified and put in specific detail six five i was banks and ensure that essentially insolvent significant misrepresented books basically from a layman's perspective for you know the legal eagles out there couple of fraud right for expose that many of these institutions or insolvent or close to particularly with a mark to market such as a i b a b. has roughly a twenty to twenty b. in delhi whole which has to be full before it's over the e.s.m. the e.u. risk you pool is there for about sixty five billion dollars so this one bank in ireland will take about one third of the us if you pull. ireland itself is this in two percent of the economic activity the e.u. you have isolated six pangs that need assistance to become solve it so one bank could take down the third. you know what you know exactly what is islands out a building d

merkel who is you know of course a professional politician showing our age about anglo irish is very similar to you know an exterminator shauna richard he found a roach you know in the den of roaches you know if you're going to be so outraged i sleep it and identified and put in specific detail six five i was banks and ensure that essentially insolvent significant misrepresented both basically from a layman's perspective for you know the legal eagles out there couple of fraud outright fraud explicit many of these institutions or insolvent or close to particularly with a mark to market such as a b. a b. has roughly a twenty to twenty b. in delhi whole which has to be fought before it's over the e.s.m. the e.u. risk you pool is about sixty five billion dollars so this one bank in ireland will take about one third of the u.s. if you pull. ireland itself is this in two percent of the economic activity the e.u. you have isolated six pants that need assistance to become solve it so one bank could take down the third. you know what you know exactly what is islands out a bill in deposit a re

is similar to the tactics used in the cold war the german chancellor angela merkel has said that she feels alienated which you know is obviously very curious as to why germany has been targeted by the n.s.a. program the n.s.a. have stated that there is a very few countries which have been excluded from that program including the united kingdom new zealand australia and kind of so questions are being asked the why germany has been specified as a target and some official in germany has commented that of course the us is known for costing a wide net you know target whoever they want under the war on terror so our german citizens now also being treated as terrorists under this and i say programs of course it's not just germany that is reeling from these latest revelations there's been outrage across europe so it's not just the u.s. and german relations but indeed the entire trends that relationship between europe and the united states that is under threat that was lizzie feel in the hand of the upline islam room in berlin. in moscow an anonymous russian official told the l a times that n

merkel who is you know of course a professional politician showing our age about anglo irish is very similar to you know an exterminator seana richard he found a roach you know in the den of roaches you know if you're going to be so outraged i sleep it and identified and put in specific detail six five i was banks and in the sure that are essentially insolvent significant misrepresented books basically from a layman's perspective for you know the legal eagles out there couple of fraud outright fraud explicit many of these institutions or insolvent or close to particularly with a mark to market such as a b. a b. has roughly a twenty to twenty b. in delhi whole which has to be full before it's over the e.u. risk you pool is there for about sixty five billion dollars so this one bank in ireland will take about one third of the us if you pull. ireland itself is this in two percent of the economic activity the e.u. you have isolated six panics that need assistance to become solve it so one bank could take down the third. you know what you know exactly what is islands out a building deposi

german chancellor angela merkel had to rigidly said that she only found out of the extent of the united states's spying programs through the media and it now comes out thanks to n.s.a. internal documents that have been reported by dish big news magazine that well they were far more involved than she let on that indeed in fact they quote in the dish legal article the internal memos that say that there was a willingness to take risks and pursue new opportunities for cooperation with the u.s. that was shown by the german authorities they also were talking about the head of the b n d germany's foreign security service that he showed an eagerness under desire to cooperate turns out that germany actually operated one of the main parts of the the expansive spying program that's called x. keyscore program that basically anybody who they were looking into they could find out exactly what was being searched online by that particular person. it's estimated around five hundred million. connections were being monitored every month by the spying program here in germany alone so it was quite an extens

merkel who is you know of course a professional politician showing outrage about anglo irish is very similar to you know an exterminator sean outrage that he found a roach you know in the den of roaches you know if you're going to be so outraged i slate it and identify and put in specific details six five i was banks and ensure that essentially insolvent significant misrepresented books basically from a layman's perspective for you know the legal eagles up there culpable fraud right for explicit many of these institutions or insolvent or close to particularly with a mark to market such as a i b. b has roughly a twenty to twenty billion dollars which has to be full before it's over the e.s.m. the e.u. risk you pool is there for about sixty five billion dollars so this one bank in ireland will take about one third of the u.s. if you pull that ireland itself is this in two percent of the economic activity the e.u. you have isolated six packs that need assistance to become solve it so one bank could take down the third. you know what you know exactly what is islands out a bill in deposit

president is trying to smooth relations, he spoke with angela merkel by phone. what was said during that conversation? >> yeah, they talked specifically about the allegations president obama assuring angela merkel, according to the white house, they are taking their concerns seriously and reiterates that washington was willing to discuss the issue and to sort of straighten out what had happened. essentially, it sounds like a lot of explaining for what's going on. germany, in particular is sensitive about data protection and privacy. to them, they have made several strong statements saying this is reminiscent of the cold war and don't expect it from such a strong ally of the united states. germany has been key in the talks. >>> a south african judge intervened in a bitter mandela family feud, ordering the grandson to return the bodies of mr. mandela's three deceased children. all of this as the father of south african democracy fights for his life in a hospital. that's where we have this thursday. the judge was scathing of mandela's grandson. what did he say? >>