all right scott roxboro the trial itself from phil thank you guys catch up later. and you're watching you know we news or so have a lot more to tell you about including after allegations of meddling in the u.s. election how the russians tried undermining a lot the us upcoming poll that suggestion coming in from the defense ministry that things would well have all the details and also going to the top of the hour. every journey begins with the first step and every language with the first word published in the. rico is in germany to learn german why not learn a simple online on your mobile and free stuff d w z e learning course the crucifix german meetings the. freedom of expression. a value that always has to be defended and new. all over the world.

of freedom freedom of art. a multimedia project about artists and their right to express their views freely. d.w. don't come to freedom. as president calls for a swift resolution of a bribery probe into his central bank chief the governor himself says the corruption claims are nothing more than a smear campaign. the deep sea transport industry in deep trouble it's a whole bunch of international companies with fines for operating cartels and for the very first time in oil major predicts of peak in the demand for crude oil let's know when why and what's next. i've been physical and let's do business laughing as

latest says his country must improve its efforts to tackle corruption the nation's third largest lender is accused of money laundering. central bank governor. is under investigation for bribery the defense ministry says the claims could be a disinform ation campaign from abroad intended to erode trust in the eurozone state and influence upcoming elections investigation has rocked the small baltic nation which is pointing the finger at close neighbor and former political master russia. says he's a victim of a smear campaign he's accusing private latvian banks of trying to get revenge for tougher financial regulations by accusing him of demanding bribes of one hundred thousand euros a month. i have become a target have an obvious and well coordinated campaign of some latvian commercial banks to discredit the latvian state. but one day after him ship which was suspended from office the defense ministry said the accusations appeared to be

a foreign disinformation campaign in a statement it said there is a high possibility that this is a white information operation from outside and its aim is to show latvia as an untrustworthy ally. to ministry didn't say which country was behind that campaign but there's little doubt it meant russia the russian foreign ministry in moscow refused comment but the bribery accusations come from a russian businessman and with elections due later this year fears are mounting that the kremlin could be attempting to sway the outcome the defense ministry says that dissin from ation campaign closely resembles others that preceded recent french german and us elections. is editor of the german language newspaper. in warsaw. let's start off with this so-called disinformation campaign how likely is that and what evidence is there.

well first off we have to make sure that everybody understands was speculating here because nobody knows the and so you get if it is a misinformation campaign from brussels some other country or whomever but i would say it's quite likely because the u.s. has shown and i'm sorry russia has on them demonstrated in the past that they're willing and ready to interfere in elections in the democratic process in other countries such as the us elections and they tried to do the same in the french and german elections so it's quite possible especially in a country like lafayette which has been dependent on russia for so long and which has been a thorn in russia side you know joining the european union nato and also the euro currency so it's. there are other factors that could play a role here monday lost money laundering charges by the u.s. administration against the third largest bank and stuff like that but it's quite

likely that it's russia involved too but we're not talking about meddling in the affairs of the world's top economy the u.s. we're talking about a tiny opaque nation what what would most i hope to change. well i would say they tried to meddle militarily and politically and countries like ukraine and georgia who are not safe in terms of being nato members and e.u. members in latvia estonia lithuania of all small baltic countries that were once part of the soviet union they can't do that so they have to be more subtle they have to find other ways to do it i'm as i said before i'm speculating here but if russia wanted to meddle they would have to do it in the most subtle way such as this putting a wedge between lots of other european union euro currency countries for example what is the response from the kremlin. well there hasn't been

a response yet as far as i know there will be i think all there will be just all we do have nothing to do with it because if they did it we have to stress this point we don't know yet but if they did it they don't have to do anything more those days so the seeds of distrust between lotfi and the european union and it's going to be a success for them but. it's not clear yet the other interesting thing here is that levy has a year as a member so wouldn't this be not only good attack on latvia but also an attack on the e.c.b. well you know that's absolutely true. if they did it that's what they were trying to do because this man has been chairman of the lot of the on national bank for i think seventeen years now he's also a member of the council of the european central bank and the this is all pretty much in the connected so that it's in direct if not even a direct attack on the european central bank as well that's why they might be

trying to do this in his paper at a technical cup i thank you very much for your analysis. can i blues in is in frankfurt following these forests the home of the e.c.b. i should point out conrad way of talking about one of the top officials of the e.c.b. and the top council has been meeting today was this discussed by any chance. well the e.c.v. doesn't talk about what was discussed at this meeting all we know is that in a muslim show vigil was not taking part in this meeting the anti corruption of or a tease in latvia prohibits him from doing his job at the moment so as deputy governor came to frankfurt but i think the fact that the european central bank does not talk that it remains so quiet is very telling as well quite obviously the e.c.b. once to keep this a domestic affair something that has to be solved on the national level and not on

the european level which is if i may say so a shame because not only the reputation of the national reserve bank of latvia is at stake here but the reputation of the whole euro system and the e.c.b. itself well the united states sure is saying something about this it's it says that it has full confidence in latvia as ability to deal with the corruption claims now it flagged this whole affair how do you read into these. i can tell you ben how many people in financial scene have reacted to this why do we need the americans to flag such an affair that's a question that you that is being asked here very often of course it's the job of the european central bank to make sure that the financial flows in the system works you know smoothly it's not the job of the e.c.b. to raise allegations against one bank i'm talking about of course about those

allegations that this bank in russia enabled illegal dealings with north korea but obviously this whole affair shows that our monetary union is an unfinished affair the e.c.b. for a long time has talked about that money laundering should be included in its mandate but it's not. from rebels in there with the analysis in frankfurt thank you the european commission says it's serious about fighting cartels it's just announced fines topping half a billion euros in three anti-trust cases the companies targeted included maritime cock areas spock plug suppliers and brake systems supplies they fix prices and exchanged market sensitive information over the years. well the people the e.u. competition commission emigrate to wanted to send a message that the european commission will not tolerate anticompetitive behavior.

today the commission has decided to fine seven companies a total of five hundred sixty four million euros for taking part in for it difference act cartels relating to cars. and three other companies involved in these cartels well they excrete us getting a fine because they came to us to reveal the contests in the shipping industry the fines effect a chilean car shipping carrier three japanese carriers as well as a norwegian swedish carrier together they formed a deep sea vehicle transport cartel for almost six years. in the automotive parts industry germany's bhatia and to japanese companies ran a cartel supplying spark plugs to european car makers bosch was also involved in running another cartel fixing brake system prices. companies can escape fines

through the e.u. commission's leniency policy which encourages companies to hand over inside evidence of cartels a system which in the cases announced wednesday proved to be effective and exchange commission senses now everyone used to worry about the globe's oil reserves running out now the industry fears demand will start drying up somewhat a.p. reckons it'll begin plateau ing in the late twenty's thirty's as for new bills take . automotive companies around the world are betting on the mass adoption of electric vehicles in the next decades and they're not the only ones and gas giant b.p. is anticipating the same it predicts a one hundred fold growth in electric vehicles by twenty forty and a corresponding hit to the world's oil and gas sector b.p. forecasts continuing growth in global demand for oil and other liquid fuel in the next years but that demand is set to stop increasing after it hits one hundred ten

million barrels a day in the late twenty thirty s. it's the first time b.p. has forecast a peak in the world's appetite for oil. it's not just about electric cars increased fuel efficiency in vehicles powered by internal combustion engines is said to offset consumption but beyond the automotive sector other factors are set to cause demand to sag like tighter regulations restricting the use of plastic as well as an expected increase in the share of renewables in the global energy mix to fourteen percent by twenty forty. i.

entered the conflict zone. after seven years to new zealand remains the one country to emerge from the so-called arab spring as a functioning democracy does it my greatest fear is the munich security conference schedule now we the country's foreign minister has to shine finally come off the resolutions and with some hope and a better future is. next on t.w. . germany state by

state. the most common. cold was. the most traditional. find it all at any time. check in with a web special. take a tour of germany state by state on t.w. talk common. on freedom and home. where i come from the region is rich in history and style and talent. poor education. this makes it special difficult for independent. i see many of the young promising. now making a name for themselves. by the way some. with continue. their experience of freedom. is like unions.

you can visit your car come back. if you want and i work. after seven years to new zealand remains the one arab country to emerge from the so-called arab spring as a functioning democracy or does it my guest here at the munich security conference is. the country's foreign minister has the shine finally come off the revolution and with it the hope of a better future. for .