this is news live from berlin investigators tried to determine the extent of a cyber attack on the german government this after russian hackers reportedly broke into networks housing sensitive data the same group have launched the previous attacks on the german parliament and the us democratic party also coming up. president trump loses one of his longest serving and most of the day opec's is resigning from her job as the white house communications director. and the last

article of a murdered journalist alleges links to the italian mafia at the highest level of slovakia's government we'll talk about his explosive claims and how they are shaking up in some. thomas a very warm welcome to the show we start out here in germany where authorities say the defense and foreign ministries have been targeted in a cyber attack a group with links to the russian government is thought to be responsible for its hacks were discovered in december but are only made public now the interior ministry has given very few details so far just a brief statement sources say russian hackers have been trying to attack the government they planted spying software. the hackers apparent

targets were the foreign and defense ministry as they searched for information about russia and ukraine lawmakers are now asking why they heard nothing in their intelligence briefings even though the agencies apparently knew about the breach about government to have said nothing possibly for months which is what we have to clarify it's completely unacceptable we're waiting intelligence on the reason something i cannot make sense of this is a clear violation of the law that says refers to us tonight we see germany is clearly not well prepared for cyber attacks it can't be interpreted in any other way as russian hackers appear to be going and i have the foreign and defense ministries for tardiness ministerial i don't always. cyber attacks against german authorities are nothing new insiders say the government server is attacked more than a thousand times a day and the government already sounded warnings about russian hacking last year.

we have noticed that time and again german parties german politicians and individuals have been subject to cyber attacks by the hacking group a p t twenty eight or other collectives that we would associate with russian service providers. but i would like to take the opportunity to again make an mistakenly clear that germany does not tolerate spying activities or intelligence operations of any kind by any country. that came after an attack against the german government allegedly controlled from moscow it said this new breach could have been even more sophisticated and dangerous but this is a real threat a virtual war is taking place against germany possibly with the help of russian intelligence services we now need clarity. but for now you the government is remaining tight lipped about this latest attack even as parliamentarians demand answers. well those resources cover up that blind spot our security

correspondent bob involved mark is with us now actually very serious situation interior minister is confirming the bridge saying the situation is under control what exactly are authorities doing well first of all they have to contain this virus now or this they have to see the full extent how deep actually these hackers went into the data networks of the government we always have to bear in mind that what we're talking about is basically the heart of the i.t. infrastructure of germany this is the network that is used to communicate between the different ministries in germany so this is a very different very important network and yet of course authorities do everything as the ministry said they put this as high priority high priority and pull all the resources in there ok so communications between the defense and foreign ministries was potentially compromised you know and that over

a period of one year you have to ask yourself how is that possible. yes of course this is could have happened or it could have started already a year ago when you talked to authorities in the cyber defense they also often talk about the potential of time bombs so that sometimes hackers plays a meld where in the system but that doesn't start functioning right away it might be in the system without actually extracting for example data that might happen later so this could be one example explanation but still it was discovered in december and. why was the public informed only now three months after it was discovered ok reheard there are security experts admitting that germany has a blind spot you know considering the apparent level of sophistication that russian hackers have it is germany prepared to confront that type of

professionalism. the simple answers obviously not otherwise this couldn't have happened but then you have to ask yourself these attacks happened in very highly capable countries in europe also in the united states so who is really prepared to deal with these highly sophisticated attacks from russia russia puts a lot of effort in these groups a lot of know how but also a lot of resources in terms of time and money so these are very sophisticated compare come pains but then also i mean there is criticism that germany is not doing enough particularly since the attack on the bundestag there was a lot of effort put in germany on cyber security on i t security and defense but this to do more not enough was done maybe and there's also the human factor all of these attacks mostly also go go along with behavior of people that are not prepared

and this is on top of the problems in the systems thanks so much for that of daters security correspondent fabienne fun to mark it's russia now where president vladimir putin is delivering his annual state of the nation address to parliament in moscow right now this comes ahead of the country's presidential election in less than three weeks time we're getting live pictures of his speech right now russian president is tipped to win the ballot by a large margin and today's address is expected to outline and a ray of plans in visions for his country including on domestic spending on welfare and infrastructure we'll be bringing you coverage of his speech throughout the day . now for some of the other stories making the news of this hour ahead of. the incumbent seven challengers in the presidential race. clash during

a televised debate on wednesday opposition candidates the senior subject doused the rival with water after he insulted her putin did not take part in that event the. frosty weather is gripping much of europe for another day with heavy snow blanketing longdon and other cities geneva announced a temporary closure departures and arrivals from its airport in light of the ongoing snowfall. that the result of s. and u.s. president signaled support for tougher gun control laws possibly including expanded background checks or raising the minimum age for buying assault weapons the president suggested the measures as he met with lawmakers wednesday in the wake of last deadly school shooting in florida i think you know well saying in the u.s. you white house communications director opec's one of president trumps most trusted and longest serving aides as abruptly announced her resignation never want to seek the spotlight for herself fixin's been seen as

a quiet stabilizing force for the president now it's the latest in a string of high profile departures from the white house perhaps no one else was as close to president trump her departure came as a surprise to most in the white house hope he had a seemingly untouchable role in the west wing as trump's communications director and one of his longest serving advisers she was well known to have the ear of the president he never publicly criticized her as he's been known to do with other advisers as the news broke trumpet her of fun farewell hope is outstanding and has done great work for the last three years she is a smart and thoughtful as they come a truly great person i will miss having her by my side. the twenty nine year old former fashion model worked with the trump on her clothing line six years ago but she had no experience in politics when donald trump tapped her to serve on his campaign higgs was trump's fourth communications director but unlike her

predecessors she kept a very low profile. her sudden exit comes just a day after she testified before a congressional panel probing russian meddling in the twenty sixteen presidential election during the nine hour testimony hicks refused to answer certain questions and reportedly admitted that she did kasia only told white lies for president trump . it's to slovakia now where the murder of a young investigative journalist has sparked protests in the capital brought us law about a thousand people turning out for a march organized by the conservative opposition party to honor a reporter young. and protest against the nation's political corruption the twenty seven year old was shot dead in his home last week alongside his fiance. or shortly after his murder the news website he worked for published his last unfinished article it's explosive claims quickly triggered fall out of the highest levels of

government will have more from after this report. journalists young could see x. final story was the most explosive in his short career it may also have cost him his large. the story details alleged links between the italian mafia and officials working in the prime minister's office. it was published by his colleagues days after the bodies of and his fiance martina kristen over were found in their bratislava home. percent convinced that the murder is connected with his writings about a link between italian mafia and slovakian politics. story name two officials who have now resigned pending an investigation one of them mario toskala a chief advisor to the prime minister another. chair of the state security department both have denied any link to the killings prime minister robert fitz so seen here with toskala 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 . for the demi swim whales as culture minister i can't deal with the fact that the journalist was killed during my term in office. in brussels european parliamentarians held a minute of silence to honor the journalists who have covered one of their minutes you could siac sato the truth with determination and didn't answer to anyone. the police to clear that he was almost surely killed to stop his investigation. incased could see x. grieving supporters want his work to be continued they marched in bratislava demanding safety for journalists and a name to corruption could see acts reporting may now have more impact on slovakia than he could have ever imagined. earlier i spoke with bart about to go over the

editor in chief of his biggest daily newspaper and she told me the journalists in the country are determined to finish the investigation and young could see are started they will continue asking questions and that was our common man for our young that even our company not only the story but all the stories and all the information he looked into like reveal really conti new and trying to define issues of our day at the doors of chiefs in chiefs of the most critical media our meeting we have a meeting and we'll discuss how to continue and how to make sure that the finnish he's reporting and not let you know to be silenced or work here really started i think also public pressure will continue there will be an other rally on friday i myself will speak and other journalists will speak out and even to really stress

the importance of critical reporting critical journalistic wise for maintaining democratic institutions in the country. over there speaking of me earlier from let's get your mind of our top stories this hour germany is trying to determine the extent of a cyber attack on its foreign and defense ministers russian hacking group is believed to have broken into the german government not once accused of previous attacks on the u.s. and german political borders. president trump loses one of his longest serving and most trusted aides hope is resigning from her job as white house communications. but don't forget you can always get news on the go download our app from google player from the apple store that gives you access to all the latest news from around the world as well as push notifications or breaking news you can also use the out to send us photos and videos but. this is the interview news live from berlin don't forget to stay with us for regular updates on president putin's speech

in moscow to the duma the parliament there for now though for me bryan thomas an entire news team thanks for being with us and read this with you again at the top of the hour. we make up over a week watches of africa and educated we all this summer so this is. one to share the continent's future. part of it and join youngsters as they share their stories their dreams and their challenges the seventy seven percent plus for africa.