it for good malaria must die so millions can live. this is g.w. news live from berlin masters of manipulation now mired in scandal political consultancy cambridge analytical suspends its c.e.o. after undercover reporters filmed him boasting about using dirty tricks to screen elections and facebook is also under fire over imports a consultancy illegally harvested millions of users to. also coming out near mars

first civilian president resigned coaching job was largely a proxy for de facto leader aung san suu kyi will ask what his departure means for the country. plus as part of our coverage of the un's international day against racism we take you to a paris suburb to meet the activists fighting back against systemic racism. i'm sumi so much going to thank you for joining us a british academic who created the app that harvested data on millions of facebook users says he is being used as a scapegoat by both the social network and the political consultancy behind the data grap facebook says alexandre kogan violated its policies by passing the data to cambridge analytic or the u.k. based firm is now in hot water after its c.e.o. was filmed by undercover reporters boasting about the dirty tricks he uses to swing

a lection results. the center of london high into cambridge analytical. the firm c.e.o. had a reputation for enjoying media attention but in the past few days alexander nick seemed less happy in the media spotlight. on tuesday cambridge analytic has suspended makes following an undercover investigation by british broadcaster channel four he was secretly filmed by a reporter posing as a client seeking to get candidates elected alexander nix outlined some dirty tricks to help things such as blackmail. be effective to be just to get. that speech to be against. it if it. is to treat it as a sexual text video recorded. or entrapping politicians by filming them in

compromising situations that. the cat is out of. it. shortly before being suspended next told b.b.c. he was exaggerating the company's work. we may be. meeting and spoke with. some of the things that we do but these latest accusations on the only problems dogging cambridge analysts the company had previously bragged how to use facebook profiles to help get u.s. president donald trump elected now the u.k.'s data protection agency has social warrant to search cambridge analytic is headquarters and it's investigating whether the company illegally connected the facebook. this comes after a former employee spilled the beans on the company's tactics he says people were asked to download a facebook app which secretly stole private data about the user and their facebook friends i only need to engage fifty thousand seventy thousand one hundred thousand

people a really big data really quickly and it scaled really quickly we were able to get upwards of fifty million plus facebook records in the span of a couple months and that's how one of the biggest breaches in facebook's history came about. facebook's mark zuckerberg has been dodging the media for days british lawmakers have summoned him to appear before a committee and accuse facebook of misleading them at a previous hearing the hashtags delayed facebook and where is trending on social media amid calls for the internet giant to take responsibility for the breach we realize how important these companies are for example to elections right across europe and i think this is the year when politicians have woken up we as the public are woken up and it's time for the tech companies to wake up because they don't get their act together they are going to face serious repercussions. social networks

one celebrated as a save his of democracy now critics are starting to ask why the social media should be more closely regulated. bopper of a soul is in london following the latest developments for us from there hi barbara a british academic is one of the people at the center of the scandal why does he say that he's being used as a scapegoat yeah everybody seems to be pointing their fingers at the other party in this affair accent of kogan says that it wasn't him it was of course cambridge analytic that committed the breaches of privacy and that sort of dealt with the data in a way that it should have never done coke and says that he is a genuine academic he was using the data only for research purposes but he did give them to cambridge analytic and they in turn to sort of reassured him that

everything they did was completely legal and was completely within the norms and he believed that and so now he says yeah i'm innocent it was me and he points at cambridge analytical they again say that no we didn't do anything that was illegal of reaching the norms it was really facebook that sort of let go of these data in the first place and so we have the perfect circle here what are the next steps for the investigation there in britain. it seems that the commissioner the data commissioner here in britain is still waiting for the scored warrant to enter the premises off cambridge analytical it's not quite understandable why it would take a british court so long already yes it is day it was completely clear that the company had plenty of warning to wipe every server that they have ever used in to sort of get rid of any incriminating material but she is then supposed to get and on also

the parliamentary committee this afternoon is going to hear some manager ex manager of facebook a video link from the us a man called send her a keyless and they really hope that he can explain what happened there at facebook he's a former facebook employee barbara and there are also current calls in the parliamentary committee for mark zuckerberg himself to appear what are lawmakers looking to hear they are of course going to want to hear from circuit work himself why the privacy regulations at facebook where so incredibly lax because what's her killer is the next manager is going to tell them this afternoon which she told to the british press beforehand is that there was absolutely no control once the data had left facebook there was no control what was happening with it afterwards and that was something that she said even use ago he told the company to stop and they didn't so

they must have known about the dangers inherent in this. barbara they still covering the latest for us there from london thank you barbara. to me and more now with the country's first civilian president has resigned from his post with immediate effect saying he wants to quote take a rest from his current work whot enjoy as a close ally of the country's defacto leader aung san suu kyi who was barred from the presidency under the constitution and rules under the title of state councilor now a statement from his office says the successor will be appointed within seven days you know if. you don't and let's speak to dave brubeck on he's a journalist in me and mark covering the story for us hi dave what do we know about the reasons for this resignation if he stepped down for health issues i mean it had been there been concerns for months in the local media about his his weight loss if he could really carry on with his job of the government have been denying he had

health issues until today when the state counters office said he was stepping down to recuperate after undergoing multiple treatments and surgery so this is about health issues so this was the first civilian president how did to come to be the president made a mark and what impact will his resignation now have. yes so he became the president because as you said before on some suit she cannot be the president she cannot be because of a clause in the constitution that says if you have immediate family members who are foreign nationals you can't be the president her two sons or both british nationals suchi though want somebody in that place who is going to be loyal to her when she campaigned during the two thousand and fifteen election she made it very clear that if her and all the party won the majority which it did she would basically be above the president so she picked tendulkar because of his loyalty to her when she was under house arrest for about fifteen years he was her position so there's

a long relationship of trust between those two essentially he was really her proxy or as many would say her puppet he did what he was told as far as what this means going forward well i would say two things one person appears to be the front runner to be the next president is when me and he it was announced today that he was stepping down from his position as speaker of the lower house of parliament but he's a very different personality from ten jaw much stronger personality so it's really hard to say he would be willing to jest be the sort of puppet figure that tinge are was or would he insists on having more decision making power certainly not more than on some suchi but when he look and expect that some of that power from on some city to be decentralized so he could have some more autonomy in there and one more important thing to keep in mind so there is an acting president for perhaps a week that is sway he is the first vice president he's

a former military general and he got into this position of first vice president because of this country's complicated power sharing arrangement between the civilian government and the military and he's acting president for a week there's a lot of things he could potentially do so the question mark is during this time period until they formally pick this next president you know what if anything significant what he tried to do my journalist gave group for us from me in my day thank you for bringing us that today. sure now some other stories making news around the world the so-called islamic state says it is responsible for an explosion in afghanistan's capital kabul that has left at least twenty six people dead and about twenty others wounded the afghan interior ministry says a suicide bomber on foot detonated his explosives on a road leading to a shiite shrine. the government in nigeria says boko haram has freed seventy six of the one hundred ten girls abducted from a boarding school in northeastern nigeria

a month ago the extremists are reported to have said they freed the girls out of pity and warned parents not to send girls to school local media in texas are reporting that a man believed to be the austin serial bomber is dead but police have not yet confirmed this now according to reports police were trying to arrest the suspect when he set off an explosion and twenty three russian diplomats were ordered out of britain over the poisoning of an ax by arrived in moscow this morning the diplomats who u.k. prime minister theresa may said were spies have been given a week to leave. you're watching news still to come meet the activists fighting back against the institutionalized racism they experience. of paris part of our coverage of the u.n. international day against racial discrimination. but first for one of germany's best known carmaker turbulent times over at b.m.w.

prosecutors raided the company's headquarters on tuesday as they searched for evidence in the ongoing diesel scandal now b.m.w. c.e.o. says the company's diesel vehicles were not manipulator today's publishing of the twenty seven thousand financial results are in stark contrast to the company's legal worries b.m.w. posted record profits of ten point seven billion euros for last year the spicing it spent big on e-car research and development the company believes that twenty eight will be its ninth record year in a row. well for more let's bring in our financial correspondent in frankfurt now another record year for b.m.w. despite that raid what do investors make of this mixed bag of news. well the m.w. share price is up close to zero point seven percent this morning so it's receiving a pretty positive reception on the part of investors there and you know it would

seem that investors especially one with regard to the german car industry they're getting used to this almost counter-intuitive mix of chinese sales numbers alongside scandal. going any indication they're in exactly the same boat even news of the raid yesterday in both these companies didn't seem to affect the share prices at all but of course there are still questions that loom over b.m.w. future like how is it going to react to the steel and aluminum tariffs how will it be affected by diesel bans burgeoning in many cities around the world so there are so this is still a story to watch closely now in other news germany's leading economists have elevated their economic forecast for twenty eighteen but also see risks increasing tell us more. yes we're talking about the german council of economic experts christophe they're forecasting two point three percent growth this year so that's slightly up on the last forecast that they made in the fall that another closely

watched economic institute of course is that you folks they're predicting even better numbers with two point six percent and that's down to a combination of factors like a very high performing job market and improving global economy as well as loose monetary policy as as it happens also the us income tax cuts are also boosting demand for german exports but if we're going to talk about exports then you can't get around the fact that of course on all sides that there are risks to be seen with regard to escalating trade tensions and the potential of a trade war stemming from these tariffs coming from china will have an effect on the global economy despite how good the fundamentals happen to be right now and you know briefly we ought to be glad that we're able to talk to you at all because this morning people at the stock exchange came to work to a very unpleasant surprise. exactly it seems that a pipe burst late last night here at the stock exchange and causing lots of water

damage also how so water gushed forth from the ceiling also happened to be on the side where we usually have our equipment so sorry guys now we've done our best to dry everything off we've moved to and unaffected part of the stock exchange now trading itself hasn't really been affected but the markets are looking pretty droopy so maybe it's a good occasion to use all the puns that i've been saving for this moment like stocks taking cover stock slipping so if you have any suggestions you can send them to me on my handle all right you know them a lot in frankfurt thank you and do stay dry venezuela is racked by hyper inflation prices are almost doubling every month and cash is in short supply in our search for solutions the south american country even founded its own cryptocurrency the petro now one town near the colombian border has come up with its own idea on how to deal with the monetary crisis. looking for a currency more stable than the bowl of our how about. that's the new bill being

printed by a venezuelan town of the same name city offices are selling it to coincide with a local festival that's drawing thousands of tourists with cash hard to come by the lord's offers another system for buying goods the notes can be purchased cashless with a bank transfer the city then lops off an eight percent commission the notes come in fifty thousand and one hundred thousand denominations some have a picture of local independence leader jose andres a lot so early reviews are positive. this is the perfect solution and you could just see how easy it was to get the notes and then come here and buy take city. venezuela's poor economy is pervasive meanwhile the central bank has responded by printing more money something critics say is only boosting inflation. that means the celebration will be brief. but a celebration nonetheless. i expect to see now and many people will be watching i'm

going to mark today that's right because the german chancellor is there to lay out her government plans for the next four years in an address to parliament today that's after being sworn in last week for a fourth term after months of wrangling to form a government many in parliament are still deeply unhappy with the result a coalition between merkel's conservatives and the social democrats now that the machall to win their confidence. back after the longest coalition negotiations in decades will swarm in us chancellor for a fourth term she can look ahead to some challenges. the new government's plans for the coming term take up one hundred seventy seven pages the coalition agreement devotes its opening chapter to europe and also references the e.u. in its title that's a first europe has never taken such priority. meanwhile he's been waiting patiently for a german partner before forging ahead with his own plans for euro french president

. wants the eurozone to have its own budget and finance minister germany hasn't taken a final stance but is prepared to spend more money. in the past germany and france have achieved a great deal working together were family committed to doing so in the future as well. the new government is also facing challenges on the domestic front with initiatives on education pensions and digitization including a major expansion of broadband internet. one of the toughest tasks ahead is not spelled out in the coalition agreement but looms large non the less germany's new government is determined to prevent a trade war with the us. now today kurds around the world are celebrating now for us which marks the beginning of spring and the kurdish new here but the community is also mourning losses in a free

a semi-autonomous region in syria the turkish forces invaded last month kurds are planning protests across turkey later today festivals went ahead in iraq and other kurdish areas where the biggest celebrations takes place in the historic kurdish town of create known as the capital for us the festival is also a show of support for kurdish independence iraq is home to more than eight million kurds. our correspondent yulia han is covering the story for us from istanbul hi yulia around five hundred thousand people expected there in istanbul for demonstrations today what's been happening. well we're here at the major demonstration the major event in istanbul thousands of people already here maybe tens of thousands it's really difficult to say it's a huge area for proto. yes here and many more people are joining as we speak the katter spring festival is

a really important event for kurdish identity here in turkey kurds are the largest ethnic minority making up about twenty percent of the population so people come here dressed in the kurdish colors red yellow and green these are the colors of the kurdish nation even though there is no kurdish nation state so it's a celebration music is being played on the stage behind us here also broadcasting the other major rally in d r occur in the turkey's mainly kurdish southeastern region so it's a celebration but as you already mentioned this event is also overshadowed by turkey's military offensive on the syrian kurdish enclave of afrin so it's a celebration but also a major protest here today you'll hear one of kurds there been telling you about how they see this turkish military operation in a free. well first of all the pro kurdish party the h.e.p.a. here in turkey has called on people to come to this event and rally in support in solidarity with the people of african and indeed people we talked to here at the

rally said they came here to show their support to show their resistance as well many people here are making the victory sign there are shouting freedom for kurdistan so they really want to show that they have grave concerns about what's going on in our friend about the human rights violation. that are taking place over there as we hear from reports over there so yes it's a really political event this year. because yulia han reporting for us from istanbul good to talk to you. now every day all over the world people suffer discrimination because of the color of their skin to draw attention to the problem the u.n. has declared today international day for the elimination of racial discrimination and that's also the goal of a group of activists in france they grew up in the suburbs of paris feeling the

effects of what they say is institutionalized racism now they're working to make france a more tolerant society. franco has decided to fight back against what he calls france a structural racism he arrived from good loop with his parents at the age of two but he's always felt like a stranger in this country. i presume there is an implicit insidious racism in france black people hardly ever feature in advertisements or movies we are erased from the public sphere which is like killing us in the public mind we don't exist and that makes it easier to exclude us from society we don't get access to good jobs and it's hard to find a flat. in two thousand and five he founded the brigade against negro phobia they're fighting for black people's place in society and frequently organize events against racism just like this demonstration in paris last saturday.

most people aren't even aware of this underlying racism that's why we're here today to remind them that we exist. but finding his voice it wasn't easy is taking us to where he grew up this is one of paris most dangerous suburbs he used to be a member of a notorious youth gang here. journalists rarely get access to this area. paradoxically this place made me feel safe despite all the data the violence. i was suddenly among equals for the first time i didn't feel like part of a minority anymore i felt proud and no longer shame to be black. franco eventually moved away from here and found a job as a social worker he's now helping young people in the suburbs but not all of his childhood friends have managed to break out of the vicious cycle but i'm doing what i can to find work but it's very difficult. when you come from

a suburb like this employers tend to think you are good for nothing even just because of your address. the. phone call and his brigade are trying to empower people in the suburbs they tell them how to react idea checks by the police black and arab people feel they are constantly being stopped because of this french appeals court even couldn't damn the police practice as long as twenty sixteen because the other day in the metro station the police was i mean someone they saw me instantly let him go when they asked for my i.d.'s said no i haven't done anything and i have a metro ticket the police officer grabbed me and said put your hands against the wall or off throw you on the floor. you should always look out for c.c.t.v. cameras they protect you especially if you're facing a malicious police officer who claims you try to attack them you can be sent to prison for twenty years. the police say such obvious free stops are necessary in

the fight against the drug trade but the checks are also having another effect we don't leave our suburbs because we know our i.d.'s will be checked in paris it's better to stay here at least we know the police officers. because number less phone call has hope that one day things might change. the french constitution says we are all equal that's obviously a myth but if we flag up these inconsistences the french will realize what's happening they will hold the state accountable. franco knows that winning the fight might take a while but he's not going anywhere. our minder now of our top stories we're following for you here in the political consultancy cambridge analytical has suspended its c.e.o. after he was filmed boasting about tricks the company uses to swing elections

that's what facebook also under fire after reports that illegally harvest the data for millions of facebook accounts. and me and maurice president has resigned from his post for health reasons with immediate effect put in jaws a close ally of the country's defacto leader aung san suu kyi treat his office as a successor will be appointed within seven days. well don't forget you can always get you give you news on the go download our out from google player from the app store that will give you access to all the latest news from around the world as well as push notifications for any breaking news and you can also use the data to send us your photos your videos will be back here at the top the hour.

i was was spring in spain jumps off to an explosive start. the moment you know for us festival is a celebration. was looking for additional costumes think tank your perception and clear in wonder arabs and loafer. decades dog was an industrial powerhouse with a famous football team through central asia. but the heyday of cold steel and heavy

industry is long gone i want to find out how all of this stuart month past and present shapes the city to this day. explores the city's rough and ready chunk of god. in sixty minutes come to w. d w media center see it find it here it discover. video and audio podcast to language courses in the g.w. media center at media center dot dot com. i dreamed about changing the world. but i was a woman in egypt some things turned out differently forced marriage genital mutilation humiliation. so i know all else and all we read about. the

written word to stand up for women's rights i am now while also going the free voice of egypt people ate. here we are again a warm welcome from our studios in berlin where every day we collate the best of european culture and lifestyle and here's what's in the mix for today's program.