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. Sarah i am sarah kelly. Welcome to the program, thanks for joining us. The turkish german journalist dennis you chill has been Dennis Deniz Yucel has been released, but several journalists have been sentenced for life for their involvement in the queue, but this journalist is facing charges in turkey accused of terrorist propaganda, and you they are saying up to 18 years as part of what has been a major crackdown on free speech in the country. For the time being his supporters in germany and his family are celebrating. Reporter this foreign minister was the bearer of good moves news. Dennis yucel is free. He is on his way to istanbul. Reporter speaking at a press conference at the headquarters of his employer, the german daily, they said this release was a victory for diplomacy. We talked extensively to our turkish partners. That started with me asking the former chancellor to open doors for us. He went there twice for us. It was always a particular importance for the German Government not to politically influence a court decision, not to infringe on the independence of the court. But we did agree to help speed up the process, and turkey made good on that promise, and i am grateful to the Turkish Foreign minister for that. Reporter earlier in the day this photograph of deniz yucel was posted by his lawyer. He was in the arms of his wife after a year behind bars. Angela merkel was one of his first wellwishers. As many other people, i am glad he was able to leave prison today. I am happy for him and his wife and his family who had to endure a very difficult year of separation. Reporter one year ago deniz yucel was detained. Turkish authorities correspondent said he was accused 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 him and other journalists in turkey. Many civilian organizations demonstrated for his release. It is very likely the turkish president is behind the decision. Yucel may have been released from jail, but turkish prosecutors have demanded up to 18 years imprisonment. Sarah for more lets bring in our correspondent oliver who is standing by with the latest from berlin where we know deniz yucel is set to arrive back in germany even as early as today. Tell us. His case has strained ties between germany and turkey. What might this mean for those relations . Oliver of course if you look at it at first glance, this is a major improvement for germanturkish relations. We should not forget he 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, big surprise that he was released that quickly, just yesterday. The per turkish Prime Minister met Angela Merkel here in berlin, and merkel stressed housetrained the relations really are how strained this relations really are. And then a day later they did set him free. This came as a big surprise here in germany, although the signs of reconciliation were seen there before. Since deniz yucel is set free, the court appreciates it, but it does not mean relations will go back to normal that prickly. The German Government stressed today very often and everybody who spoke to the press repeatedly said there were still five other german citizens in custody in turkey. In addition to that, 150 journalists who do not have german document so that germany itself is not happy with the Political Class of the policy of turkey under president erdogan at this point. What they are stressing is this can only be regarded as a first step of reckons alienation, but many major efforts will have to be undertaken to go back to normal in the bilateral relations. Sarah you mentioned all of those other cases. We have to keep in mind that yucel was the most prominent one of all of those, him being a german citizen. Talk to us more about the 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. Oliver that is right, and that is not what we should forget in this prominent case. We were talking about this case. Of course he is celebrated and people are happy he is released and he will come back to germany, but the situation of turkey, the human rights situation, the rule of law, if you look at the situation, the countrys largely unchanged. We have the case you just mentioned of other, six people in custody there who were sentenced to lifetime. Such a stark contrast to the release of deniz yucel and the other journalists, many people detained without a trial, without their human rights being respected, and all of this needs to change. The other german cases by the way are not dealt that publicly with. They are rather kept more privately, so we dont know a lot about these other cases. Sarah thank you, oliver. We are going to go now to our correspondent standing by with the latest in turkey. Oliver was telling us about yucels case and the german view of it. Those others received life sentences. Walk us through how events unfolded. Julia that is true. While it was a happy day for deniz yucel, his family and supporters, it was a very unlucky or sad day that shocked many here because six turkish journalists were sent to lifetime in jail today over links to the gulad movements. Among those journalists are really prominent journalists. Some very famous journalists. They face a lifetime in jail now. That is tough. I am not sure i have ever heard such a word when it comes to journalists, so it is really terrible for them. Sarah and given that yucels case was so prominent, it appears to have been resolved for the time being. Is there a sense of concern in turkey that some of these other cases might be forgotten about, and the ways of the German Government might not be behind them in terms of advocating for these individuals . Julia there might be such fears. I have not heard about those. I am sure that there are journalists who keep advocating, who tried to raise attention, but dennis was one of the major obstacles in germanturkish relations. They are trying to get rid of that obstacle because they really want to mess ties with the German Government, and they realize the cost is in it permanent crisis mode when it comes to finding relations, but i am sure there are people in germany who have an eye on these journalists cases in turkey as well. Deniz yucel is no longer in turkey. Sarah thank you. We are going to head to the United States where a u. S. Ground sorry grand grand jury has indicted 13 russians for the meddling in the 2016 election. Rod rosenstein announced the charges at the justice department. He said the defense defendants conducted Information Warfare with the goal of sowing discord. This included charges of fraud, identity theft. This was brought by robert mueller, who is seeing this probe. For more lets bring in our correspondent alexandra. What we have here is basically dozens of pages in this indictment detailing this russian operation to influence the u. S. Election. What are we to make of it . Alexandra this is the first time that we are getting such detailed information about how russians allegedly tried to interfere in the u. S. Election in 2016, how they tried to undermine the public trust in the u. S. Political system. And the special counsel has indicted 13 russian individuals and three russian entities, and among them is run one russian oligarchs who is wellknown here in the United States. He is said to be a member of the kremlins inner circle, and he was sanctioned by the United States in 2016 for his role in russias aggression in eastern ukraine. Now he has been accused of funding the russian meddling in the u. S. Election. Sarah when we look at the special counsels investigation, this is the crux of the crime he was charged with investigating here, russian meddling in the 2016 elections. Now we have seen charges brought , alexandra, what does this say about where he is in the investigation, and could there be more here . Alexandra we can say sure that he is continuing his investigation, and this investigation produces results. What we see today would make it more and more difficult for President Trump to argue that the whole russia investigation is a hoax. Sarah alexandra with the latest from washington. Thank you. In germany it was the first day of the annual munich security conference. Germanys defense minister use her speech to criticize u. S. Moves to cut spending on the united nations. She argued that diplomacy and eight is necessary for military strength. She spoke about europes role in nato. We want to remain transatlantic, but we also want to become more european. We want to enable europe to carry more weight in terms of military power so that europe can be more independent and selfreliant. Ultimately that includes nato. Sarah lets get a quick check of some other stories that have been making news around the world. A vigilant parkland florida has paid tribute to the 17 victims of wednesdays high school shooting. Many of the people attending called for stricter gun control. Authorities say the 19yearold suspect used to semiautomatic rifle to carry out the second Deadliest School shooting in u. S. History. A day after being sworn in in south africa, the south african president has addressed the nation. He held a new dawn for the country and pledged to root out corruption. South africas anc party forced jacob zuma from office amid a series of corruption scandals. Prominent trump critic and former republican president ial candidate mitt romney has announced his bid for the u. S. Senate. He is running to represent the state of utah. He had been a potential candidate for secretary of state under President Trump. But before that, he has been one of trumps harshest critics during the 2016 president ial campaign. Five people have been injured in clashes between students and police in the italian city of bologna. The violence broke out as students protested a rally by a far right politician. It comes a week after a mass rally against another right wing person in a different town. It is time now for Business News with helena humphrey, and facebook might be in some hot water in europe. Reporter that is right. It seems like a court has hit facebook where it hurts. We are talking about data and privacy, important issues for facebook. The third the court has threatened a fine of up to 100 Million Euros if it continues to break the countrys privacy laws by tracking people on thirdparty websites. Facebook says it will appeal the ruling. The court ruled the American Company must delete all data gathered illegal on belgian systems including people who are not facebook users. The court said facebook informs us insufficiently about gathering information about us and the kind of data that it collects, what it does with that data, and how it stores it. The African Union says it is stepping up the fight against corruption, which it says is an urgent problem across the continent. A new u. N. Studies shows study shows billions of dollars are plundered every year, widening the gap between rich and poor and hurting growth. Reporter nepotism, money laundering, and endemic corruption is a scourge for development in africa. This is true in countries rich in raw materials. The revenues line the pockets of several corrupt servant and various elites. This intensifies inequality, hurting the poor especially. According to experts of the united nations, africa loses 150 billion dollars 150 billion u. S. Every year. That does not flow back into local economies. It is spent or parked outside the continent. That translates into a 25 drop in africas economic growth. All the while exacerbating poverty, migration and terror. Sarah i am joined in the studio by samuel from transparency international. Thank you for joining us. Corruption or weeding it out seems to be the buzzword at the moment. We have heard from zercyril ramaphosa vowing to crack down on it. What is the first action he needs to implement to make sure he does . What he needs to do is really work on rebuilding trust of the people because his predecessor, jacob zuma which has left, just resigned, came under fire because of allegations of corruption. Really make sure the process the party lost, the anc, lost support of the people as it was shown in the 2016 election. Helena how do rebuild trust when there is so little . Samuel you will have to find a way to show people he will do it differently, be more transparent, talking about his accent. He is coming from the business sectors, not coming from the politics sector. There is sufficient it may be collusion as in the past with the private sector, that he will need to show from his dealings, the way he separates driving the africans of the state as well as running his business that this is business as usual, and is about weeding out corruption. It will be about this action. Helena corruption is a big problem. We heard from the director general of the south african treasury, raising the idea of lifestyle, going into the Bank Accounts of ministers, civil servants, politicians. With that be a concrete move . Is that transparency . Samuel it is in line with what we call transparency in the form of allowing those who are sitting in high offices, political servants and also as high of offices to declare their assets more regularly. They should be checked, so if that would go according to what the laws in south africa provide, it would go to the extent that it would boost transparency and make people try again to hold their leaders accountable. Helena if this doesnt transpire, if the leaders do not implement these reforms, is there the sense the electorate population may no longer support these leaders . They are more hungry for anticorruptioneasures. What could happen with a new society . Samuel it is clear if you look at the past few years that people are growing impatient because we went as africa went out of colonization, in the case of south africa, apartheid for close to 28 years now, with the new government in 1994, many promises made, but very little deliveries done. People have the feeling that the elite are benefiting out of it, so we are getting into a stage where people will no longer just vote on the basis of the past. It is about how the changes the country, the liberation is benefiting the majority. Helena all right, time for delivery. Thank you very much. Saudi arabias central bank has signed a deal with u. S. Based crypto currency ripple which was designed especially for banks as a Global Money Transfer program. This will allow banks in south them it saudi arabia to send payments in and out of the country. It is their first cooperation with a central bank. Another Bank Including ubs and others are operating with the Silicon Valley startup. Sarah day two of dws coverage of the Berlin International film festival, and our reporter is ready for us. Tell us, what is happening there tonight . We have a close up of you. You are on full focus. Give us the latest. Reporter a little too close for comfort, sorry about that. Our viewers do not want to do that much of my pores or my hair. We saw a great red carpet premiere. Robert pattinson is here with his new film damsel, and this is a sort of western satire comedy. We see Robert Pattinson in a comedic role of the first time as far as im concerned, and the fans went absolutely crazy for him. He has been to four Berlin Film Festivals and still has a lot of diehard fans from his twilight years. Who can forget the iconic vampire series . So as he talked of the red carpet, there were a lot of people with pictures trying to get autographs. He took a lot of time for the fans. He signed a lot of autographs. He was very polite even though one can imagine it probably gets a little old to have people chanting your name everywhere you go. Sarah and we understand that you actually saw the damsel. What did you think . Reporter yeah. This is interesting because this is a film directed by two brothers, the sellers, and they wrote the screenplay and directed together. It takes the idea of a western and turns it on its head. It starts out Something Like looking for a damsel in distress, then you learn this woman is not at all who you thought she was. My colleague caught up with the lead actress in this film and asked her what she thought about her character. Here is what she had to say. Really clever like that we sort of see this idealized, we have this idealized view in perspective of penelope, my character and roberts character from the first half of the film, then when we meet her, she is completely different to the victim that he portrays. That is a clever way of turning it all on its head. So yeah, it was really exciting. I love penelope. I think she is great. Thank you. Thank you so much. Sarah now we have to turn to controversy. The berlinale has been criticized for imitation of a korean director. What is the issue . Reporter you know that me too is a huge issue, speaking out against Sexual Harassment in the film industry. I have been a big topic this year at the Berlin Film Festival. But the Berlin Film Festival actually invited a director named kim kee duk who was accused of Sexual Harassment in south korea. The allegations go back to his 2013 film mobius. When of the actresses that he slapped her and sexually abused her onset. He admitted to the slapping and was forced to pay a fine of several thousand euros, but the sexual abuse allegations were actually dismissed, so he was invited to the film festival, but his presence is causing controversy. People say it is inappropriate for him to be present, particularly at a festival like the Berlin Film Festival which is so political and tries to take a stance on these issues. This year with me to in the spotlight, his presence is making people uncomfortable. Sarah it will be interesting to watch that. It is only day two of the film festival. What are you looking forward to . Reporter there is still so much to look forward to. We have a Film Screening screening out of competition, a biopic of ed sheeran. He is expected to attend. That is something that has got people excited, talking about. That is a special category. In terms of films coming out we have isabel, the famous french actress starring in a film called ava. She is a iconic french actress who is no stranger to this film festival. The fans love her. She is a classic actress. People are looking forward to getting a glimpse of her on the red carpet. Sarah we appreciate it. Now to some video of an attempted robbery in china that gives a whole new meaning to the expression thick as thieves. Surveillance video shows to what it meant to raise chasing a store before they make their move. Their cunning plan was to throw tricks through the store window. It was just a stones throw away when it all went horribly wrong. So as you can see, time for a change of plans. Brick to the head. No choice other than to abandon the plot. [captioning performed by the national captioning institute, which is responsible for its caption content and accuracy. Visit ncicap. Org] meggin hi, everyone, and welcome to our highlights edition, with the best picks of the week. Heres a look at whats coming up. Light motif Lucie Koldova and her awardwinning creations. Flashback how a Swiss Village relives a bygone era every winter. And crossing crete some of the best spots on the greek island. Translate seasonal ingredients into refined and elegant dishes. It expresses the seasonality of ingredients attractively displayed in the presentation of