this is d.w. news from berlin tonight the german government says it has been hit by a cyber attack the suspects russian hackers and there may be a u.s. presidential connection confirming a government firewall was breached and sensitive information stolen from both the defense and foreign ministers hackers are said to belong to the same group that attacked the democratic national committee ahead of the twenty sixteen u.s. presidential election also coming up banned no more the international olympic

committee lifts its doping ban on russia athletes tests at the winter olympics came back negative so does this draw a line under moscow's massive state run doping scandal. plus one war in two different stories russia says it has evacuated civilians from eastern guta in syria but aid workers say the people trapped in the rebel held on plane afraid to leave. also in search of a soldier our moscow correspondent travels to the ins hoping to get information about the russian mercenaries fighting and dying in syria no find why few people in this town are willing to call. and a new survey reveals there has been a change in attitude so among germans towards the united states we'll tell you why .

i bring golf and it's good to have you with us reports tonight coming in that the german government's computers have been hit in a cyber attack berlin confirming that a hacking group infiltrated the foreign and defense ministries and may have stolen sensitive data sources say a hacking group with a wedge links to the russian government broke into the government network here in berlin the attacks were apparently discovered back in december but were only made public today and the ministry of the interior has confirmed that the attacks did indeed take place system has been attacked and breached what sort of attacks are we talking about here that's right the german ministry of the interior confirmed this attack they say it's isolated now and under control apparently the foreign ministry concerned as well we do not know exactly how big the damage is what we do know is

that malware was installed on the government's servers and also all of that data was stolen this attack might have started up to a year of bill it was then only discovered in december and published today and we know the german media are reporting that a group known as a p t twenty eight was behind the attack what do we know about this group. well these so-called a.p.t groups in general are concerned or are considered the most among the most powerful and professional hacking groups worldwide and security experts believe that there are about one hundred fifty groups like this operating internationally and they're extremely well prepared well equipped with financial resources also with personnel and the and the necessary know how to carry out these kinds of attacks so that security experts believe that state actors are behind them

or supporting them at least simply because otherwise they wouldn't be able to operate on such a high highly professional level now with regards to that group you mentioned a p t twenty eight of this group is also known as fancy b are an alleged russian hacker group and that might ring a bell because this is the same hacker group that is considered. considered in charge all for carrying out or having carried out the attack on the server of the conservative party in the run up to the us elections in two thousand and sixteen and the german government also believes that they are in charge of an earlier attack on the german bonus talks server in two thousand and fifteen a year before that so we might have rochelle behind this attack that's right over and we know the german intelligence has warned repeatedly that more cyber attacks could come from russia targeting the governments of me we've been warned do we know

there what type of data may have gone missing. well we're talking about a data network that is used by the government by the various different ministries the interior ministry obviously and the ministry of the foreign ministry that were targeted here today but also by the chancellery by the bonus talk the german parliament and several other of very important all forwards and as you can imagine they're hosting a valuable sensitive information there now these a.p. teams were talking of all they're not after money they're exactly after this kind of information which is politically valuable and authorities are now trying to find out how big the damage really is in their biggest fear of course is that the whole data network off the government is concerned our political correspondent overselling the story tonight on that cyber attack here in germany all over thank you very much. the international olympic committee has confirmed that russia's

olympic ban has been lifted with quote immediate effect despite two russian athletes failing doping tests at the winter games the country was reinstated after all remaining tests came back negative. i. they competed as neutrals the welcomed back is russians now the country's illin peak reinstatement means the russian flag absent from peeling chance to fly again she gains in total the band lost in less than three months but the i.o.c. has moved on surprisingly welcomed by russia's and unpick committee. none the less than yours to sure that issue today's decision of the i.o.c. is one of the most important for us because the russian olympic committee is once again completely reinstated in its rights and is now a completely full fledged member of the olympic family. the station. it was

revelations from this man. that it helped lead to the ban the former moscow director of the whistle on a state backed plot to cheat doping tests at the twenty fourteen sochi games as a result clean athletes from russia were only allowed to take part in chiang under the olympic flag the red white and blue kept firmly out of sight. and to though two of them including alexander a crucial need ski failed drug tests while in south korea the i.o.c. agreed on sunday to lift a ban if no of the athletes tested positive they didn't and russia's reinstatement was complete it's like going to impact the story a little bit to do that i'm joined by jonathan crane from our sports desk good to have you on the show so was this decision a big surprise interest for and i don't think it was i think it was always going to be a case of if. if the russian ban was lifted we've been building up to this really ever since the i.o.c. decided to allow one hundred sixty eight russian athletes to compete as neutral as

this kind of indicated a reinstatement was maybe on the cards sooner rather than mesa and i think actually we would have seen them marching on their own flag of the closing ceremony had it not been for those two. that really kind of changed the i see fit thinking to some extent i think a lot of members there. fear a backlash a bit of nervousness about reinstating russia because they had been impressed by the behavior of chan. an athlete did compete in the young winter games they were apparently clean so was it really enough for the i.o.c. to justify lifting the. lever i think for the i.o.c. right from the start have been not preventing clean athletes use their lifelong dream really was to compete and then pick games for not being able to take populace that punishing russia as a country does not fit that the reason for this state sponsored doping uncovered by grigorieva chang called a huge huge down there it's been dragging on for years it overshadowed not only the build up to pyongyang it overshadowed the build up to the rio games two years ago

but it was the have the mcleod report helped by gregory one thousand athletes across thirty sports implicated in this program and i see so that undermined the integrity of the entire game pick movement in this bay and i mean what does it mean it doesn't mean that doping has stopped in russia and what does it mean for the next olympics in the russian athletes i think as far as russia is concerned it's now business as usual they as well as the i.o.c. thinking to draw a line under with this sort of day president vladimir putin there is welcoming the russian athletes who took part to the kremlin presenting those who did win medals ordering then because i think as far as russia is concerned these are russian athletes that won those medals they weren't neutrals no matter what anyone else said forget the fine print and i think that's been the problem for those people who advocate things because for them the punishment was not hostile they wanted a complete ban and blanket ban of russian athletes and i think they'll be very

disappointed that this reinstatement has come very very quickly so that's a good point jonathan green from our sports desk thank you you're welcome. well the syrian government has stepped up its airstrikes on the rebel held on claim eastern ghouta after a temporary truce ended at least six hundred people are feared to have been killed there in the last week including many children earlier today russian president vladimir putin said that his troops and managed to evacuate some civilians but humanitarian workers say people are too afraid to leave. the so-called humanity and cut a door in eastern guta as yet seemingly empty of chill humans and says stand ready to cheat the wounded and provisions that aid stations are apparently plentiful. chose who want to leave can do so after a month or twenty days or they can stay even for two years because there is a school and everything they need is here to get new supplies every sixty days. but people seem too scared to risk the journey airstrikes were reported during the

first five hour ceasefire and observers say that syrian government warplanes resumed their bombing almost as soon as it ended but russian president vladimir putin claims that one group did make it through. the middle east we have managed to get out quite a big group of those who wanted to leave from there but the second group that was prepared could not leave because the militants just did not give them an opportunity to do that. putin's face haunts these ghostly aid stations he blamed rebel groups on the grown for not respecting the ceasefire. but france today said that the syrian government was to blame. me the syrian regime didn't feel worried about it and more of our is continuing it feeds and large scale military operations with dramatic consequences on the civilian population of eastern police needless to say a complete violation of resolution twenty four one. the u.n. has been in talks with russia that's accelerating and heedless to the resolution on

all sides perhaps then some of the people whose lives have been shattered by the conflicts and start to stream than these empty roads to get the aid they so desperately need. here's some of the other stories now that are making headlines around the world students have returned to the florida high school that was the site of a mass shooting two weeks ago an x. student used an assault style rifle to kill seventeen students and teachers the incident has intensified the u.s. debate over gun control with students organized in calling for measures to limit access to guns at least ten people have been killed in sectarian violence in northern nigeria locals have reportedly fled a conflict between christian farmers and muslim herders the army says its soldiers killed ten herdsman we were responsible for an attack on the village on tuesday. at least ten people have been killed after two trains collided in egypt but there were a province northwest of the capital cairo

a further fifteen people were reportedly injured in the crash the cause of the accident is still not clear. still to come on the show the reporter. who was found dead with his girlfriend at his home yesterday was writing a story on the links between the italian mafia and the slovak government. in search of a soldier our moscow correspondent travels to the euro melton's to get information about the russian mercenaries who are fighting and dying in syria. over the creators of aspirin i think they've got some headaches of their own javier what's the story. well it's the case that we sometimes have headaches because we're under pressure to perform and that is happening to buyers shares in the german life sciences company tumbled more than three percent after it announced disappointing financial results for twenty seventeen by air faces challenges on multiple fronts

and some of them are out of its control. if by investors were hoping for good news on wednesday they didn't get much as if multiple delays in the approval of a sixty two billion euro tie up with aqua chemical for monsanto weren't enough twenty seventeen's consumer drug sales were stagnant. but first among consumers. we're not satisfied with the development of consumer health. on the one hand competitive forces in the usa require extra investment in our brands. and then in twenty seventeen the unusual situation in china where several over the counter drugs became prescription only products you could do. and. by as problems are stacking up it's now willing to sell more parts of its business

that's to convince authorities to wade through the purchase of monsanto the u.s. food and drug administration is threatening to take buy a product off the shelves of a quality control issues and breck's it could force pharma firms to do the splits in europe doubling up on regulatory approval on both sides of the channel. buyers executives putting on a brave face at the results press conference but perhaps they have at least one reason to be cheerful sources quoted by news agency reuters say the e.u. will soon approve the monsanto deal still analysts putting by are under the microscope expect the life science companies other headaches of twenty seventeen to continue this year. police and protesters have clashed in athens ahead of auctions of foreclosed properties the property sales are one of the main foundations of the country's international bailout loan program which expires in just a few months demonstrators from the leftist popular unity party said the auctions

are a tantamount to stealing poor people's homes banks have repossessed many properties after years of austerity measures and increased taxation that have left many greeks struggling to make ends meet. it looks like selling toys isn't exactly child's play following the collapse of toys r us in the usa now it looks like the same will happen to the u.k. brett administrators say they've got not or they have not managed to find a buyer and so they'll begin winding up british stores in the coming weeks up to three thousand two hundred workers are affected. all one hundred five of the toys r us stores in the u.k. are open but their days are numbered the livelihoods of thousands of workers hangs in the balance that customers say they'll miss the shops when they've gone. yeah i think this is one of the cheapest as well compared to other toy stores most of the

time they do have everything in stock so yeah be very very disappointed if that is back in the eighty's toys r us good strategy towards opening big box stores but in the face of massive online competition and a shift of consumer patterns to in a city experience led shopping sold the brand left behind has not just toys r us that suffering in the u.k. . it's pretty tough for the u.k. retail sector at the moment we are seeing a softening of consumer demand we are seeing the absolute necessity to understand to your consumer it and we are seeing it cost explosion through a variety of different areas of retail businesses and finally a significant structural change to retail today the chain collapsed in its home country of the united states last autumn now in the u.k. it's looking like game over as well. let's talk for a business desk thanks very much several slovenian government officials have

resigned following the murder of a journalist and his fiance young was investigating possible links between the officials in the italian mafia and the deaths have left slovakians worried about crime invading the country's politics. journalists young could see x final story was the most explosive in his short career it may also have cost him his life the story details alleged links between the italian mafia and officials working for the prime minister's office it was published by his colleagues days after the body of and his fiance martine of course they're all over were found dead in their bratislava home. ninety nine percent convinced that the murder is connected with his writings about a link between italian mafia and slovak politics. could see at story name two officials who have now resigned pending an investigation one of them mario toskala

a chief advisor to the prime minister another really uncertain chair of the state security department both have denied any link to the killings prime minister robert fits so saying he was told a scholar has cautioned against judging the pair without evidence he's offered a reward of one million euros for information about the murders slovakia's culture minister also resigned ashamed that something like this could happen in his country or that the. culture minister i can't deal with the fact that the journalist was killed during my term in office he said. in brussels european parliamentarians held a minute of silence to honor the journalists. that's what she asks sort out the truth with determination and didn't answer to anyone. the police declared that he was almost surely killed to stop his investigation. in case. many of

could see ex grieving supporters want his work to be continued. clinton is another thing i'm a student of jugglers and yon has been an inspiration to me and i think i admired his investigative work i think that journalists who are involved should not get scared right now because i. could see x. reporting may now have more impact on slovakia than he ever could have imagined. at the end of last year russian president vladimir putin announced that he would start withdrawing troops from syria and russian airstrikes like those from the air base in the country's north where they played a major role in turning the tide in favor of bashar al assad's government forces and the total number of russian troops who have served in syria it remains unclear but in december russia's defense minister said that forty eight thousand soldiers have gained combat experience there since the beginning of the mission forty eight thousand the total number of russians who have fought in syria is likely to be much

higher one reason is that russian mercenaries are thought to be fighting alongside syrian forces our correspondent emily sure when traveled to a small town in the ural mountains where a number of locals are said to have joined a private military company. it's about as far as you can get from syria and yet here in the russian town of kid people are waiting for news about seven locals who reportedly went to fight in syria they allegedly worked as mercenaries which is illegal in russia the topic is sensitive many people here say they know nothing about the man. who in fact we are repeatedly met with rejection and kid but this building is home to the mother of one of the fighters she had agreed to speak to us about her son but canceled the interview after being told her son had been killed. a local gives us the address of the wife of another mercenary

when we tried to speak to her she insists she is someone else but she also warns none of us is going to talk to you. just like the relatives of the mercenaries the russian government has largely kept silent about them and even denied their existence the foreign ministry took over a week to respond after a recent airstrike reportedly killed up to two hundred russians which. reports about the death of dozens and hundreds of russian citizens it's a classic case of dissent from ation according to preliminary data we could be talking about the death of five people presumably russian citizens as a result of an armed clash the causes of which we are currently investigating. i don't see. analyst john but i need ski thinks the russian government is using mercenary groups to keep official military losses low. which you want to look at because this strategy is beneficial for the russian government because it can show

it's doing its job which is like the americans and the british russia can say those aren't our soldiers no soldiers of god but yet we don't know who these people are who you ask whoever sent them there are. in the run up to the presidential elections news about the death of russian soldiers is inconvenient for the government here even from kid they're all over this small town in the year olds seven men reportedly joined a private russian military company to fight in syria the town's population is just over two thousand although no relatives wanted to talk on camera other residents were willing to speak about the man but. he was a good boy he wasn't a thug who didn't care about anything he was a good boy maybe he wanted to earn money towards an apartment there's not much work here that. by you i think the

government is behind all of this it's not like these guys just decided to go there themselves that just went someone must have sent them. but. it's not clear when and if the man in syria will return ticket they're all there for now the town and the government are both keeping their silence. germany has traditionally had a warm relationship with the united states but a new survey shows that things have changed significantly since the election of president donald truong whereas trumps predecessor barack obama had a more than ninety percent approval rating among germans trump enjoys the confidence of just a loving percent of the people here the survey also has some new revelations about americans' attitudes towards the germans. these days the relationship between germany and the us that of the poorly communicating couple one partner is unhappy

and the other does notice is study by the pew research center indicates that white only twenty two percent of americans view relations as poor in germany more than half to a fifty six percent the main reason for this may be president trump as a study shows there's a strong correlation between how germans view the president and how they see the u.s. as a whole well former president barack obama's likability among germans recent lofty ninety three percent president trump has stumbled to eleven percent. she mobile mobile i think obama was a different president and he wanted to have entirely different relations with on. tuesday with president trump it is indeed the case that a long tradition of trusting relations have ended. in this idea if you followed his america first course that's what has made relations worse than the.

about the dislike is not mutual german chancellor angela merkel is very popular with most americans. her popularity has increased constantly with all americans since two thousand and twelve sixty four percent of democrats feel that chancellor merkel is trustworthy and her approval ratings have even been rising steadily among republicans the study also states that americans mainly value u.s. german security in defense ties but germans focus mainly on democratic values perhaps the differing interests make transatlantic relations so complicated. indeed write his remarks at the top stories that we're following for you hackers have attacked germany's foreign and defense ministries and stolen data the hackers are alleged to belong to the russian group used of attacking the democratic national committee ahead of the u.s. presidential election back in two thousand and sixteen the international olympic committee has reinstated russia's olympic membership the move comes after the

remaining tests of the country's athletes at the winter olympics turned up negative pressure had its membership suspended after evidence emerged of a huge stink doping scandal. after a short break i'll be back to take you through the day stick around for that.

into the conflict zone the government of sudan itself from accused of being one of the world's greatest violates this if you will rights just as often it's in the eyes of the challenges ramon who conveys many of those do not pose as the country's for the moost good you bring him guy who is my guest here in the music does he care if anyone's beliefs are. in sixty t.w. . sure. what unites. what defines. the coming of trudging.

what binds the continent to. answers and stories aplenty the. spotlight on people. focus on girls on g.w. . my first bicycle also sewing machine. where i come from women are balanced by the social influence of in something as simple as learning how to write them by side those isn't. since i was a little girl i wanted to have a bicycle off my home and it took me mr been right there. finally gave up and went on buying me and my cycles and three times because sewing machines sewing i suppose was more appropriate for goes than writing about as knowledge i want to meet challenge for those woman back home who are balanced by then to continue until shuttles and inform them of old dead basic rights my name. the amount of people and

they work adds. in one year the united kingdom and the european union will officially part ways a divorce that seems divorced from any and everything except mutual misgivings tonight the battle over breaks it the deadline the bottom line in what could be a political flat lie i'm burnt off in berlin this is the day.