And germanys defense minister criticizes the United States for moves to cut its spending on the United Nations and europe she says must take on more of the military burden in nato. Plus we will be live at the Berlin Film Festival where they are showing a comedy western involving a miniature horse damsels villains and Robert Pattinson. Im sorry kelly welcome to the Program Thanks for joining us. The turkish german journalist denys you child has been freed after a year in a turkish prison but on the same day six turkish journalists have been jailed for life for their alleged involvement of the failed coup in twenty six seeing as for you cho he is free for now but he is still facing charges in turkey accused of spreading terrorist propaganda and prosecutors are seeking a jail term of up to eight years as part of what has been a major crackdown on free speech in the country for the time being however his supporters in germany and his family are celebrating his foreign minister was the bearer of good news and. Yes its a good day then issue chalis free hes on his way to istanbul at a point from your money speaking at a press conference at the headquarters of denis you told some lawyer of the german daily developed told reporters that you just release was a victory for diplomacy. We talked extensively to our tarkus partners this started with me asking for more chancellor Gerhard Schroeder to open doors for us in istanbul should i went there twice for us. You took it as i thought it was always of particular importance for the turkish government not to politically influence a Court Decision not to infringe on the independence of the court and its good its but they did agree to help in the process and turkey did on that promise and im particularly grateful to turkeys foreign minister for that. Earlier in the day this photograph of dennis you just released from jail was posted by his lawyer you joe in the arms of his wife after a year behind bars german chancellor Angela Merkel was one of his first well wishers. As many other people im very glad that he was able to leave prison today i am of course happy for him and his wife and his family who had to endure a very difficult year of separation. Also. One year ago dennis you cho was detained in Istanbul Turkish authorities accused the correspondent for the german daily developed of terrorist propaganda among other things but until today he had not been charged with any crime the German Government campaigned vigorously for the release of each zero as well as other journalists imprisoned in turkey many civilian organizations also demonstrated for his release it is very likely the turkish president is behind the decision he may have been released from jail but in their indictment turkish prosecutors have demanded up to eighteen years imprisonment. And for more lets bring in our correspondent oliver salah who is standing by with the very latest from berlin where we know that dennis you child is set to arrive back in germany perhaps even as early as today so all over tell us you charles case has strained ties between germany and turkey what might this release mean for those relations. Well of course if you look at it at first glance says this means a major improvement for the german turkish relations we should not forget the chel was held in custody for a year there was no trial there was no accusation officially until this point and it came as a major as a big surprise that he was released that quickly just yesterday the turkish Prime Minister yielder him met german chancellor Angela Merkel here in berlin and merkel stress tel strained the relations really are that they were at a historic low and now just a day later dennis you chill was set free so this came really as a big surprise here in germany although signs of rico silly ation were seen there before already now since then this should chill is set free this is of course highly appreciated but it does not mean that relations will go back to normal just that quickly the German Government stressed today very very often and everybody who spoke to the press repeatedly said that there were still five other german citizens in custody in turkey in addition to that about one hundred fifty journalists who do not have german documents so the German Government and germany itself is not very happy with the political path and the policy of turkey under president ever to one at this point and what they are stressing is that this can only be regarded as a first step of reconciliation but that many major efforts will have to be undertaken to go back to normal in the bilateral relations began on a very you mentioned all of those other cases and we have to keep in mind that you child he was perhaps the most prominent one of all of those especially him being a chairman said its and talk to us a little bit more about those other cases because we know in addition today for example there were six other journalists who were sentenced to life in prison in the country. Thats right and thats what we should not forget when this very prominent case of dennis you chill we were talking about this case of course he is celebrated today and people are happy that he is released and that he will come back to germany but the situation in turkey the human rights situation the rule of law there if you look at the situation the country is in is still largely unchanged we have the case you just mentioned of other. Six people in custody there who were sentenced to life time so such a stark contrast to the release often as you challenge in addition the other journalists and many people here detained without a trial without without you know their human rights being respected and all of this needs to change of course in the other german cases by the way are not dealt that publicly with their rather kept more privately so we dont know a lot of all these other cases oliver salad with the latest from berlin thank you all over and were going to go now to our correspondent you leon who is standing by with the latest from turkey she is in istanbul this evening yulia oliver was telling us a little bit more about you charles case about the german view on it also on those others who were sentenced today received life sentences walk us through how events unfolded. Well sarah thats true while i think it was a really happy day for dennis you jel he is why his family was supportive it was a very unlucky a very sad day that shocked many here because several takes turkish journalists were sentenced to life time in jail today over alleged links to the coup that movement and these are the people on couple aims for having masterminded the failed military coup here in turkey and among those journalists are really prominent journalists mention that and. For example two very famous journalists and they face jail time a lifetime in jail now thats a really really tough word makes i myself im not sure if we ever heard of such a word when it comes to journalists cases so yes this day is a really terrible day for them and given that you tell us case was so prominent now it appears to have at least been resolved for the time being is there a sense of concern especially there in turkey that perhaps some of these other paces might be forgotten about and both the weight of the German Government might not be behind them in terms of advocating for these individuals. Well there might be such as i havent heard about those yes. Im sure that there are also of course civil Rights Groups here in turkey journalists themselves who keep advocating for these cases who try to work to raise attention forty cases but really seen as usual case was one of the major off signals in german turkish relations my feeling was that uncle was now really trying to get rid of that off to go because they really want to mend ties with the German Government say they noticed they realize that the contest go on in a permanent crisis mode when it comes to bilateral relations but it remains to be seen and im sure there are people in germany as well who have an eye on these adjourned the cases here turkey as well even though that as usual is no longer in turkey yulia han with the very latest from turkey thank you were going to head to the United States now were a u. S. Grand jury has indicted thirteen russian nationals and three Russian Companies for alleged meddling in the twenty sixteen president ial election Deputy Attorney general Rod Rosenstein an announced the charges of the Justice Department said that the defendants Information Warfare food with the goal of sowing discord in the u. S. Political system the charges included conspiracy fraud and Identity Theft the indictment was brought by the office of special counsel Robert Muller who is overseeing the probe into alleged russian meddling in the twenty sixth vote. For more lets bring in our washington correspondent alexandra phenomenon alexandra what we have here is basically dozens of pages in this indictment detail in this russian operation to influence the u. S. Election what are we to make of it. This is the first time we are getting such details information about how russians allegedly tried to interfere in the u. S. Election in twenty sixteen how they tried to undermine the public trust in the us political system and the special counsel has indicted stare russian individuals and three russian entities and among them is one Russian Oligarch youve given the free goes in who is well known here in the United States he is said to be a member of the kremlin kremlins in their circle and he was saying sions by the United States in twenty sixty four hes rolled in russias aggression in Eastern Ukraine and now hes in houston of funding the russian meddling in the us election now when we look at the special counsels investigation i mean this is really the crux of the crime that he was charged with investigating here is russian meddling in the twenty sixteen elections now that weve seen charges brought alexandra what does this say about where he is in the investigation and could there be more shoes to drop here award what we can say sure is that he is continuing his investigation and that this insta investigation produces results and what we see today would make it more and more difficult for president s to argue that the whole russia and this investigation is a hoax alexander phenomenon with the very latest from washington thank you. Well in germany it was the first day of the annual Munich Security Conference germanys defense minister ursula funder lined used her speech to criticize u. S. Moves to cut spending on the United Nations she also argued that diplomacy and Development Aid were as necessary as military strength and she spoke about europes role in nato have listened. More in times of london we want to remain transatlantic we also want to become more yorkey and i know that we want to enable europe to carry more weight sin terms of military power so that europe can be more independent and selfreliant and ultimately that includes nato. Lets get a quick check now some other stories that have been making news around the world a vigil in parkland florida has paid tribute to the seventeen victims of wednesdays High School Shooting many of the people attending called for stricter gun control Authorities Say that the nineteen year old suspect used a semiautomatic rifle to carry out the second deadliest School Shooting in u. S. History just a day after being sworn in in south africa and South African president still run a post has delivered his first state of the nation address he held a new dawn for the country and pledged to root out corruption south africas ruling a. N. C. Party forced from a post his predecessor jacob zuma from office amid a series of corruption scandals. And prominent trump critic and former republican president ial candidate mitt romney who has announced his bid for the u. S. Senate hes running to represent the state of utah romney ive been a potential candidate for secretary of state under president trump. But before that hes been one of trumps harshest critics during the twenty six Team President ial campaign heres what i know five people have been injured in clashes between students and police in the intaglio city of bologna yeah the violence broke out as students protested a planned rally by a far right politician and it comes nearly a week after a mass rally against right we were speaking with them in the town of nasiriya. Oh its time now for Business News with Helen Humphrey and facebook might be in some hot water here in europe thats right in belgium and sarah it seems that a court that has hit facebook where it hurts because talking about data and privacy to really important issues for facebook essentially the court has threatened the social network with a fine of up to one hundred Million Euros if it continues to break the countrys previously laws by tracking people on Third Party Websites now Facebook Says it will appeal the ruling the code or that the American Company must elite all data gathered illegally on belgian citizens including people who are not facebook uses the court said that quote facebook informs us insufficiently about gathering information about us is the kind and the kind of data that collects what he does with that data and how long hed stalls it for the African Union says it is stepping up the fight against corruption which is says is an urgent problem across the continent now a new un study shows that billions of dollars a plundered every year lining the pockets of the powerful widening the gap between the rich and poor as well as hurting growth. Nepotism Money Laundering and endemic corruption is a scourge for development in africa this is especially true in countries rich in rule materials the revenues often end up lining the pockets of corrupt Civil Servants and various a leads such crime intensifies inequality hurting the poor especially. According to experts at the United Nations africa loses one hundred fifty billion us dollars to corruption annually whats especially problematic that stolen revenue doesnt flow back into local economies. Rather its spent or parked outside the continent. That translates into a twenty five percent drop in africas Economic Growth all the while exacerbating poverty migration and terror. And im joined now in the studio by samuel can endure from Transparency International thank you very much for joining us now corruption or rather waiting it out seems to be a bit of a buzzword at the moment we just heard from ciro am oppose it regarding not valuing to crack down on corruption was the first thing he needs to do the first concrete action he needs to implement to make sure that he does well thanks for having me i think what he needs to do is really to work on rebuilding trust of the people because hes produces the one reason jackal tomorrow just lift just resigned under fire because of all these allegations that of corruption and goes really make sure that the party lost the you can see the African NationalCongress Lost support among the people is it was shown in the twenty sixteen look on how do you rebuild trust so when this such little trust was one positive may well he will have to find a way to show people that he would do differently being more transparent talking about hes a sense we know thats coming from the business sector hes been a political i mean you have. From the business sector and theres also more maybe suspicion that it may be collusion is this been in the past with the private sector so you will need to show through these dealings through the way in which you separates. Driving the affairs of the state and running its business that this is indeed business unusual and that its about weeding out corruption so it will be more in the actions as opposed to what we heard him say so far condition where the private sector is in demick its a big problem and we heard today from the director general of the South African a treasury here will raise the idea of what he called lifestyle so essentially going into the Bank Accounts of ministers Civil Servants politicians would that be a concrete move do you think is that something Transparency International would recommend estate goes in line with what we call transparency in this in the form of allowing those were sitting in high office is political of his appearance but also id receive officers to be able to declare has its more ability so industry be checked so if that would go according to what the laws in south africa provide we would support you to the extent that it would boost transparency and also allow people to track and to hold leaders accountable if this doesnt transfer if you ladies for example serum opposer or zimbabwes god woul