this is d. w. news coming to you live from berlin germany and turkey reboot relations but it was called critics fear german tanks like these used to attack kurdish rebels in syria were part of a deal to free an imprisoned journalist. that says turkey's offensive in northern syria escalates kurdish rebels there reportedly strike a deal with government forces damascus has sent troops to rebel held to repel turkey. then after u.s. officials indict thirteen russians for meddling in the twenty six thousand election

and x. troll tells t w there are just the tip of the iceberg of russia's fake news factory says. hello i'm terry march and welcome to the program turkey has expressed hope of a stronger arms cooperation with berlin it follows what appears to be a rapid evolution of relations between germany and turkey over the weekend turkish prime minister been used to ream but waste his hopes that the country's might soon cooperate on building tanks in turkey a deal potentially worth billions but there are secret there are fears of a secret deal to build a tank factory might have been agreed in exchange for the release last week of imprisoned german turkish journalist aneesh. well the german foreign ministry has denied those claims but free democrat lawmaker gere's so rice says he's

suspicious. i also missed the bit about the foreign minister would never admit it but in my view it's perfectly clear there's a connection there if you look at the whole story that i assume is a direct link to bob says i'm going. to help sort this out let's bring in d.w. political correspondent thomas thomas what do you make of speculation that an arms deal was behind the release of german turkish journalist and you chief. terry as of now that's only speculation there has been a big debate here in germany and not only in recent days after the release of mr chad about that possible deal but there are no concrete deal no concrete details about this if you ask german authorities they will say there was no deal involved in five german foreign minister gabriele said that he didn't request anything and didn't receive anything that the release of mr shadow was

a direct result of diplomatic efforts and nothing else so as of now we can only say that that is speculation now in germany and turkey are need to partners what's the extent of the german turkish military cooperation right now and that's particularly important the fact that they have both nato germany is the second largest supplier to turkey it is very difficult to find independent statistics about this but there was an official inquiry last year which revealed that germany approved around twenty five million euros in arms sales to the first eight months of twenty seventeen that's down the way if you compare it with the statistics one year before that but it is still obviously an important figure and it just reveals the extent of the military relationship between germany and. the anchor his recent

use of german leopard tanks in northern syria has provoked heated debate some here in germany are calling for the government to halt orms exports to turkey under these circumstances tomas' could brylin really be considering closer military ties with turkey well close a military ties terry involved three particular aspect obviously the security aspect which is particularly important for germany and for turkey again we have to stress that they have both nato obviously the economic. and that we also discussed right he had that will be very important for germany the industry here in germany is a very big industry but there's a third component on this that component is the one that really makes this issue very controversial and that is the use of those weapons and in particular the human rights situation in the country where those weapons would be sent to in this case obviously and this is one of the reasons why there are little make us here who have been asking for major controls on these deals or even for germany to stop

completely selling in other deals to protect you so we have to understand these three components of security component obviously an economic component and then the component of human rights and the actual use and those are the three components that will play a key role in basically every deal between germany and. told us thank you very much w.'s total spero there at our parliamentary studio well media reports say kurdish forces have reached an agreement with the syrian government to help repel the turkish offensive in the region it buys or to the kurdish led administration said syrian troops will be deployed to some kurdish border positions and could enter the area within the next two days turkey launched an offensive across its border into syria as a free region last month it's targeting the kurdish white b.g. military which it says is a terrorist group or for moral the let's bring in dorian jones in

istanbul durian hasn't been confirmed that syrian troops will now support the kurds the syrian kurds and offering against the turkish military. well that is what syrian state t.v. are announcing they say a deal has been reached with the syrian kurdish militia and that syrian forces regime forces will be entering the afrin enclave within hours. nature of that deployment is how big that the point is is still very unclear but it is expected that they will be deployed mainly to secure the syrian turkish front here what beyond that has been agreed between the two sides is still very unclear and but we do know that there has been several days of intense negotiations leading up to this crucial deal. tert the turkish military have pushed into northern syria if syrian troops now come to back the kurds against them what would this mean for the turkish

military. well this is the real big question and the major dilemma now facing much of turkish forces are being deployed across his turkish syrian prantera there are other fronts will be inside syria of its this free syrian army militias are alike to turkish forces but the key points of the turkish front here now if syrian forces are deployed on that front here that brings a prospect of a possible confrontation that is the big concern because in the syrian civil war it's been mainly proxy wars but there have not been outright confrontations between two such to neighboring countries that is now the major risk now of possible obvious scenario for our own koreas that it opens up direct negotiations with damascus that is what turkish opposition parties have been calling for but the turkish president reject typer one has ruled this out he says how can i expect to talk to a man who has killed half a million people so it's really unclear where oncor world will go forward from here

they have attached a lot of political capital to this operation there's a lot at stake here and added to our own chris concerns will be will most what will moscow to moscow at the moment is allowing turkish forces to use syrian air space if this deal with the syrian regime and the kurdish forces is going forward will moscow now stop turkish air forces from using syrian air space if that happens that will be another blow to the turkish offensive into syria and this is a very complex situation dorian includes the u.s. as well because syrian kurdish militias in northern syria have been working with the u.s. in battling islamic state washington obviously as an opponent of syria's president bashar assad or the kurds not at risk of alienating their u.s. allies by cooperating with assad's troops. well that will be a factor here but you have to realize this whole syrian conflict has been characterized by contradictory policies being followed by all sides both inside syria and those countries involved in supporting the various factions the syrian

kurds yes they are being backed by the us but the same time they've had very close relations with moscow as well and in other parts of the syrian civil war the syrian kurdish militia have actually fought with the syrian regime forces but in other parts of syria they've actually fought against it's full of contradictions is conflict that is why it's proving such an intractable conflict and extremely difficult to resolve this latest alliance between the regime syrian regime and the kurdish forces will add another layer of complexity to this conflict dorian thank you so much to his story and jones there in istanbul. now some other stories making headlines today an earthquake measuring at least magnitude of six point one has struck mexico u.s. agencies report it's centered in the state of one haka the quake was also felt hundreds of kilometers to the north in mexico city sounding alarms and sending people there into the streets. hungary's prime minister viktor orban has called for

a global alliance against migration this as his right wing party began campaigning ahead of an april election that it's expected when obama has pushed this anti immigration stance ahead of his bid for a third consecutive term. and mourners in the city of rough have attended the funerals of two seventeen year old boys shot dead in the southern gaza strip israeli forces say they also conducted air strikes against eighteen targets in gaza raids came after an explosion near the border injured four israeli soldiers. the u.s. special council has indicted thirteen russians accused of meddling in america's presidential election and that is putting kremlin backed internet propaganda in the spotlight in an exclusive report to w.'s russia correspondent yury rich chateau spoke to a former so-called troll she worked at the internet research agency in st petersburg that's a body identified by u.s.

investigators as a factory for fake news. we're not allowed to disclose an exact address not even the district this young journalist could face repercussions two years ago she was working among russia's so-called internet trolls she had a job at the russian agency for internet research that's the official name of the sim petersburg troll factory whose buses have now been indicted by the united states. but employees at the troll factory get a list of topics every day that they have to work through bad news about the united states was always one of the more important topics. that it would be in. two years ago we tried to make contact with those working inside these walls to no avail the revelations by luke miller lifted the lid on the trial factory onset riskiness street here in russia second city.

gardens on the windows no sign at the entrance in this that unsuspicious looking building here inside a pit as burke so called internet trolls are supposed to have dramatically meddled in the u.s. election american investigators say. this video from inside the building was sent to us by another was. according to luke miller they're better paid than the average russian more than a thousand people work here according to her but it's not even the only troll factory in russia. boys let's move now today no one can exactly say how far these trolls have really influenced the us elections and individual voters. but it's absolutely clear that there was a meddling going on. it's not for just one person to put out false

information in return for payment that clearly constitutes an attempt to tamper. yes. we did miss says the u.s. charges should serve as a wake up call for many. going in a burning plane that seems worse there weren't just thirteen there weren't even just one hundred thirty of them there were many more that there was and still is an enormous operation going on. basically and the thirteen who have been accused are just the ones the americans have got hard evidence against yet i hope the investigations will continue tendency with them there are simply so many people who are working professionally for the russian propaganda machine i hope that others will soon be investigated when suddenly sean specifically the phone. until that time said petersburg is unlikely to be the sole source of russia's fake news.

a russian medalist at the chang winter olympics as it's is suspected of having tested positive for a banned substance the international olympic committee is currently awaiting the results of the b. sample while the court of arbitration for sport as launched a doping procedure alexander crucial netsky who want to broaden his battle along with his wife and mixed doubles curling is suspected of having tested positive for male donia if confirmed it would be a major blow to russia's efforts to emerge from a drug cheating scandal crush on this ski has travelled to seoul and will depart the country should his failed test be confirmed. and just for we go a reminder the top story we're following for you today on d.w. news said the release of a german journalist imprisoned by turkey has led to a rapid improvement in times between berlin. germany might now consider sanctioning

a tank building a joint venture with turkey despite concerns that the vehicles will be used in syria against kurds. you're watching. phil will be with you at the top of the next hour with another full bullets when you get. called thanks will. show that people have the. information they provide the p.m.'s they want to express g.w. on facebook and twitter to date and in touch.