this is the news from berlin free at last hundreds of nigerian schoolgirls abducted from a boarding school have been released local leaders in the northwest northwest of the country say they secured their freedom despite many obstacles being placed in the box also coming up international concern grows out the situation in myanmar as the military steps up its use of force to quell the ongoing protests more reports of live rounds being fired at civilians southeast asian foreign ministers call the

coup leaders to compromise. us in 2019 this secretly filmed video brought down the government of australia now the man responsible is prison fighting extradition to vienna our correspondent find out why he fears becoming the victim of political persecution. and the berlin film festival open spot this year goes digital because of the coronavirus panda. welcome to the program and we start with the release of hundreds of schoolgirls who were kidnapped last week in northwest nigeria government authorities say the girls are safe and well students were abducted from their boarding school by an armed gang last friday government officials have been in talks with the kidnappers known locally as bandits they say banda. since some for

a state often kidnap for ransom money and to press for the release of their members held in prison it's not a jury of 4th mass abduction in less than 3 months and has sparked anger against the government let's hear now from some for a state's police commissioner. so the condition known for her to be on. board in this on the police investigation is after those things over your will to. our plane did get to us all how when receive your circumstances doubles employable in the industry and then getting out of school. and his mission is on for a state and our correspondent fred is following this story for us on the ground close to where the girls were kidnapped fred what more can you tell us about the girls were lease. yes the girls have been really is 279 they're now going through

a series of medical checks to see well. we know that the government the government did tell me this morning that they did not pay for ransom but did are that they gauged dicky did not pass as. they had sees of me it was c. asians and they call them because you know mary designed for us to eat and dickie do not pass on the bandits have agreement they pick a couple of millions and millions of money to these kidnappers so that they can be integrated into society so they're tell me that this is what they were discussing and their money is to quote reese they could not pass through these. big hours but no one actually most nigerians don't even believe that that's the case they believe that the government could have been could have paid some ransom money. for and how the family's reaction to this. it's a big relief it's

a big relief to families who have been waiting since friday morning they have been waiting for these gals to retire and back home we are talking about the gals who are between tall vias to 18 the can you imagine what they have been going through in the hands of these dudes so they find news where. but they're there if he's being they're happy they're grateful that their daughters are now but there must be great relief or do we know more about the kidnappers who of. these are the bandits the. people who are not far from their communities these are the people the government know very well these are the people who have been engaged in series of discussions with government officials so they are now known and

whenever they can of people the government knows how to contact them and they know how to contact the government so these are not just. sort of boko haram. inside. the norm. and they walk with the government and they are known by door thought it is a correspondent for vanity thank you very much for. international pressure is growing on me and miles ruling military to stop its crackdown on the pro-democracy movement foreign ministers from southeast asian countries are holding talks with the military junta today in an attempt to tackle the crisis security forces meanwhile have stepped up their response in recent days using tear gas and rubber bullets police opened fire to disperse protesters around the country on tuesday the u.n. says at least $800.00 protesters were killed on sunday when forces used live ammunition protesters are calling for a return to democracy of the military seize power

a month ago. let's bring in utah an activist in young gone you've been protesting today what's the situation situation like where you are. repeat this question you were protesting today so what's the situation like. peaceable. well. it's. not going to be. very clean on any. other night here as you seem. to deal with the real know what rather this or that gets you so can you confirm that they've been using real bullets yesterday or today. or. yesterday but today i saw.

you but yesterday i should be a police. so clearly protesting is becoming more dangerous are you worried about your personal safety. well yes we'll worry because. we don't know what was. told but it doesn't mean that we really said wonder who we're not at all was. that. so we'll you know worry about. that now. and also in your. own. ears yes. but i have to say that i'm sure that i will not surrender do you think. that there is enough international support for you you mentioned the e.u.

is it enough for the what you hear from from from brussels and other competent. i think they would start by. yes they are supporting very very. well i think they were. i don't think i don't i don't see. that right. away that they were so what you built they we still wait a bit to me this is not even about anything by art i mean. i mean it just it just. if you thought of pro-democracy activist in young gone young off thank you very much for your time and i did some of

the other stories making headlines around the world today 3 activists in poland have been acquitted of offending religious beliefs the women seen in an earlier court appearance were arrested after leaving images of the virgin mary with a halo in the style of the rainbow flag on here g.b. teaching that he around the church. 2 by not ministration is defending its decision not to go after saudi arabia's crown prince for the death of journalists to market shorts and white house press secretary jen psaki pointed to precedent the need to quote recalibrate the relationship with geopolitically important ally declassified report revealed that prince mohammed bin someone likely approved shorty's killing in 2018 american the middle east. u.n. secretary general antonio good terrace says he's disappointed that only $1700000000.00 have been pledged at a donor conference for yemen either hopes to raise more than twice that amount to help people facing starvation 6 years of war in yemen have created the worst

humanitarian crisis in the world. indonesia's amount of cinnabon has been spewing volcanic ash as high as 5000 meters into the sky activity has increased in the last week but there have been no new evacuation orders the volcano was dormant for for centuries before erupting in 2010 previous eruptions of killed dozens of people. the man responsible for secretly filmed video that brought down austria's government in 2019 is making a final bid to avoid extradition from germany the video appeared to show the leader of austria's far right freedom party offering government contracts to russia in exchange for political funding the man behind the video says he will be persecuted if forced to return to his native austria. see if spoke to him in the berlin prison where he's being held. it was this covert recording that brought down austria's

governing coalition the man on the couch soon to be vice chancellor heinz christiane's to discuss his plans with a wealthy russian to buy out a major austrian newspaper for political advantage. when the video was published by german media in 2019 straka was forced to resign and the chancellor called new elections it was a political earthquake. and the video had been a set up the russian had been an actress and the man who arranged the sting remained unnamed. in december however the alleged producer of the video was arrested in berlin and is being held in this jail a whistleblower to some a conspirator to others yulian age faces extradition charges that appear to be unrelated to the so-called abuse if air cocaine trafficking an allegation based on

the testimony of 2 witnesses. speaking to the w m o of the prison mr abe said the case against him is politically motivated. if all you need to lock someone up is 2 people with questionable reputations and strange statements and you can lock up anyone you want to absolutely anyone and that's in austria which already has autocratic tendencies. said in a b.z. he pictured having a system like or bonds hungry for being honest austria isn't so far away from that anymore he says. mr h. was also charged with making an illegal recording but a berlin court ruled that the video did not break the law mr h. believes the separate cocaine charge is being used to punish him for making the video while only appearing to be unrelated. the berlin. justice department says it

has no authority to get involved in an extradition case. left wing member of the german parliament believes germany should take a stronger position oh you look at what they're showing i think we ought to look very very closely at the motives for this extradition request and whether we want to comply with it. or whether that would set a totally wrong tone in terms of intimidating those who expose wrongdoing. i believe exposing wrongdoing like this is extremely important and that should be kept in mind in this case. without an exceptional intervention from german authorities really an age might soon face a judge in vienna a city where his name is political dynamite. but it's bringing them as if this report i mean you met with julian age in the prison where he's being held he

says that the cocaine challenge is a set up is there any evidence to support that. well julian h.'s claim is speculation but he admits that and on the other hand there's not that the evidence against him is quite thin now it's based on it's based on the testimony of 2 witnesses both of whom knew yulian age one of whom has already been convicted of giving false statements against an age and the other of whom was convicted for possession of drugs now his lawyers allege that this is a tactic that's often employed against whistleblowers by throwing a charge at the wall to see which one sticks and they say that because a court has already decided that the video making the video itself was not a crime they're looking for another way to get him and front of a court talking with a video what was his motivation for making this if it's on video well you

young age told me that in the beginning it was just a job for him he was. hired by someone to investigate the cause but once he got more deeply involved in the case he said he decided that he wanted to expose a sort of right wing populism that he found dangerous he said that the corruption he saw you know want to expose and that's why you was willing to risk it now a cordon in berlin has pointed out has alleged that he had his own motivations for doing it selfish motivations that he wanted to make money off the video because there was 2 year gap between when he filmed the video and when it was released to the public but aides told me that he would never throw his life away for any kind of money and he said that's essentially what he feels like he's done here that he's that he was punished for taking this risk so if he is a whistleblower always he a conspirator. well that's certainly

a debate now in ages lawyers have drawn parallels between him and julian a songe founder of wiki leaks who was pursued by the u.s. government for leaking sensitive and top secret documents but was ultimately arrested on sexual assault charges again the lawyer said that that's a tactic that's being used against you leon age in this case but of course there's a difference between a whistleblower and a journalist and then the b.'s affair on the other hand which is a case of not stumbling upon corruption or stumbling upon a conversation that's being exposed but rather setting that conversation up so that's why a lot of politicians are hesitant to get involved in this case on 1000000 ages behalf so when one of the politicians are hesitant how likely is that then the german authorities will intervene on his behalf briefly please if you can it would be very extraordinary if germany got involved here they're very close ally with austria they say there's no chance that you can get asylum here because austria is

not an unsafe state or it's a democracy so it's very likely that he'll have to face the court in vienna but they have been stalling they have been looking at this case and he remains here as we speak so the story continues i'm in a safe thank you very much germany has imposed new restrictions along parts of his its border with fronts to try to contain the coronavirus travel a scroll seeing into germany from the moselle region will now face additional hurdles the measures will affect the many people who work on one side of the border and live on the other to be able to travel they must now present a negative covert tests german authorities are concerned about the more infectious fast african valley and spreading in moselle. went to have bought into that border region to find out more. this year to offer you feel there's been no plays

and no music since last year like venues everywhere instead it's been turned into a somewhat unusual vaccination center in the town's mayor who is also a doctor is impatient to get going. to control the cross border workers why not. but it's not through tightening travel borders that we will get on top of the virus. through vaccination. the region has finally received some extra doses of vaccine because the infection rate remains high e. 300 new cases put 100000 citizens every week and dr clooney is ready to pitch in for the 1st 3 words what. right left arm it doesn't matter but why does he think his area is being struck so badly. good.

question because the change of heart. from cuba viewed the border town of schengen is just 20 minutes away where people move seamlessly from france to germany to luxembourg and back every day what worries authorities everywhere is the rise of the so-called south african mutation and differential part of was it. a result of the south african parent is predominant here than in paris where it's the opposite the english mutation. the outer red curve here shows the south african mutation but can this virus be stopped by further measures at the borders. you can. scientifically. citizens however seem largely ready to accept daily life becoming even more complicated because who would actually do what else can i say for people who are. in germany

a little be really difficult. maybe believe the epidemic has already taken hold and it's rising why haven't they done it earlier. it's also normal when people are being fed up with. in the regional capital metz the mayor had feared a total border closure because it would have extremely severe consequences to block everything there will be more controls it will be restrained but maybe it will be necessary in any case the main mistake in the pandemic he thinks has been made in paris. we have very disappointed with the slowness of vaccinations. being to move you dr clooney wants to personally change that and get his citizens vaccinated as quickly as possible. this report and she joins me now from brussels. please briefly through the changes now

at the at the border between germany and france that is really cumbersome for cross border workers in in that whole region there's about 100000 people who work on one or the other side of the border every day so this is a huge crowds there because actually there is no border this is just one big economic region so people have to present a fresh cold each test every 2 days now how do you do that the burden of this measure is being put on individual people because there's not enough testing centers all the long lines already are forming at them and everybody is sort of helpless and sort of also some people are getting angry because they they think we haven't done anything bad now how are we going to handle this above or the e.u. commission has criticized these border measures by germany for limiting one of the use key principle free movement how important. it is a basic problem here because what would sort of contradicts is the principle of

open borders within the schengen area the area of free movement and on the other hand this driving off national governments to somehow keep the infection in check and those 2 things they don't go to gether and so germany has been heavily criticized for really closing down slimming down the border to the czech republic hard more or less overnight a very short announcement now with france they have been more neighborly they have been sitting down together for week and tried to figure out what to do but in the end what they've come up with is that really putting the burden on the people who are have to cross this border every day and that seems not a very effective solution in the end when there are these strict border controls really the right way to spread. limit the spread of the new variance if you asked the experts of experts of course they say not really because i mean

somebody walks across the street to the other side and buy some stuff in the shop how will you. sort of put hit people from doing that it's impossible so it doesn't really help it's a political measure what would help is to really change the system here and to sort of really understand this whole area as one region and to sort of plan your health measures together vaccination testing centers tracing of contacts if france and germany in this area would do this together they could really have gotten on top of this months earlier but so it just looked like it looks like patched up measures politicians being seen to do something anything. in brussels thank you. now let's have a quick look at some of the other developments in the corona virus pandemic the world health organization emergency director says it's unrealistic to think the

pandemic will be over by the end of this year the global number of new infections is on the rise again for the 1st time in 7 weeks u.s. media reports that former president donald trump and his wife melania received their coronavirus shots before leaving wide the white house both contracted and recovered from covert 19 in the run up to the presidential election and health experts in china say the vaccine rollout there is slow because it has the virus largely under control officials say their em to inoculate 40 percent of the population by june. and sports news the quarterfinals of the german cup are taking place this weekend one of the matches on tuesday night features the battle of the boise us mentioned there's a stark moment the game takes on some added spice because gladbach coach will be taking on the team he's going to lead starting this summer. for a coach facing your future employer is never an easy task but glad box mark otos is

doing his best to keep the attention off himself ahead of their german cup clash with dortmund. was kitten kinds of lies and this is in no way about marco those us is on and this is about the team of the our changing rooms bursey a mentioned lot by so many and so there is no exceptional pressure on me. given the shuttle. the last time the 2 mock trial runs back in late january blood put 4 goals past dortmund in a convincing blunder sligo victory. but coach rosario was a lot has happened since then. yes this is saw we've kind of been going in opposite directions dortmund have found their form with 3 straight wins one in the champions league and 2 in the bundesliga whereas we just haven't been getting results and.

so now mark auto czar has to try to reverse that trend against none other than his future employer. and finally the rumors are flying that banksy the famous british street artist has been back at work a new painting has appeared on one of the walls of a former prison in reading. campaigners have been trying to turn the former jail into an art center for several years now its most famous inmate was 19th century poet and playwright oscar wilde is sentenced to prison there after being convicted of homosexual acts. as a reminder of the top stories we're following for you hundreds of schoolgirls kidnapped by an armed gang last week in northwest nigeria after been released government authorities say the girls are safe and well it's the 4th mass abduction of children in nigeria in less than 3 months and has cast doubts over the government's ability to provide security for its citizens.

that's it to update its breaks it has sent german exports to the u.k. tumbling stephen will be finding out what that means for german businesses in. business coming right up for world news at the top of the hour i've got offers. come.

to cause. a dark day for the teams at the bottom of the league last place to shop like to use it as sacks its coach and plans for the 2nd division. but the competition is also struggling for relegation contenders for defeat causing hardly any threat to the team goal the being 16 d. w.

. the but why did this person. the bear are the best model that can be done playing. make up your own mind. different on the islands of the south. here women are in charge. of the archipelago has it a retreat or call system for centuries. the rare form of society.

differently. what do they do with their power. and how sustainable is this culture. the things over rango starts marching on t.w. . breaks it takes a bite out of german companies exports to the u.k. tumbling 30 percent in january depends if it hasn't helped but the rising cost of doing business appears to be the bigger culprit also on the show students in paris are feeling all are feeling the pandemics isolation and worrying their best years are being spent socially distance will meet several of them. and he's no longer china's richest man small in dignity perhaps fred crew founder jack ma but his run ins with beijing have.