♪ brent: this is "dw news," live from berlin. tonight, an emotional homecoming and a chilling morning. dozens of kid not -- kidnapped schoolgirls return home. the same boko haram extremists who abducted them dropped them off, but with a warning from their parents. do not try educating your daughters again, for we will be back. also coming up, the facebook data scandal gets the attention of german chancellor angela merkel in her first speech since starting her fourth term. she lays out her new --

and mark zuckerberg breaks his silence, offering users a feature to turn off third-party apps. but not a word about facebook's role in the u.s. presidential election. ♪ brent: i'm brent goff. it's good to have you with us. tonight, the homecoming in nigeria known was expecting. militant islamists boko haram has freed many of the 110 schoolgirls they snatched from the town of dapchi and month ago, but their act clemency came with a haunting warning to parents. do not try sending your daughters to school again, or we will be back. we start tonight with this report. reporter: there is no happier place today than dapchi in northern nigeria.

the unexpected release of the town's kidnapped schoolgirls transforming the square into a priest -- plays of unbridled joy. earlier in the day, boko haram militants drove back the girls and set them free to the delight of dozens of frantic parents. >> i saw with my own eyes 11 boko haram vehicles. they were with the children. when they got to the road, they stopped and blocked the road. they did not talk or agree to anybody. they dropped the children at one corner. everyone came and i got my child. reporter: the girls are back in their community, but some are clearly marked by their months of captivity. aged between 11 and 19, they are still coming to terms with today's unexpected freedom and mourning the friends who did not make it.

>> there were five of us that died. those that died were not killed by boko haram. they died because they were trampled upon. it was stress and trauma that made them tired and weak. reporter: while their relatives reflect on a month of uncertainty, the nigerian government has denied paying a ransom for the girls, saying what they call back channel efforts brought the breakthrough. >> it was agreed it would be no force. that is why it was possible for them to drop the girls. it was part of the agreement. released the girls. reporter: most of the kidnapped girls are now recovering from their ordeal at a local hospital. authorities will be keen to question them over the coming deeds -- dazed and finally they will return home to their families. brent: understandably very emotional. rdw correspondent in nigeria

joins us now. he has been on the story since day one. we can't even imagine the sense of relief the girl's parents must be feeling tonight, but there must be a lot of anxiety as well. guest: indeed. it was a very emotional day. from what we learned from people on the ground, as you said before, it was a big surprise to a lot of people in the town that those people came in the city today. there were no indications whatsoever that the girls were going to be released today. in the morning apparently the military withdrew from the town. shortly afterwards, several pickups came into town with boko haram fighters. a lot of people thought it might be another attack happening, but it turned out they were just going to the school to release the girls and that of course triggered a lot of happiness. shortly after the abductions i

was invited by a family whose child was missing. today i called the father and i asked him if he -- it was true and he said yes. he was so glad -- he was so relieved and thankful. you could hear that she was still very exhausted and tired, but she is very happy to be back with her family. brent: so you are able to talk to one of the girls who had been abducted. we know net -- that not all of the girls have been returned. do we know the condition of those still being held, and what about those who are home again? adrian: it was 110 girls who were abducted in month ago. only 101 girls were reunited

with their families. the ones we managed to talk to told us they were treated relatively good by the terrorists. they were given food and drinks, but the government until now could not clarify what happens to the remaining nine girls. we heard from some of the abducted girls who said five of them were killed while they were abducted. there was a sort of car accident in the abduction process. that also we learn from another eyewitness he said at least one of the girls is still with the terrorists because she is a christian and she refused to denounce her religion. brent: this is a surprising turn of events, adrian, watching boko haram bring back and drop off the girls in person. the same militants who had kidnapped the curled -- girls. has this ever happened before? adrian: no, not in that form.

this is something completely new. bazaar. -- it's bizarre. authorities are trying to trace down where boko haram took the girls and a beefed up efforts, increased aerial surveillance. now after one month to just come back and return those girls, that is indeed something that is very questionable, something that is hotly debated here in nigeria. was there enough effort in the military to trace down these girls to find them or not. brent: also a warning that boko haram made to the parents telling them not to send their girls to school again. our correspondent in nigeria tonight, thank you very much. german chancellor angela merkel has laid out plans for her fourth term in office. in a speech to the country's parliament today, she conceded that the migration crisis had split the country and she vowed to return unity to german

society. she also addressed foreign-policy challenges from syria, to donald trump's steel tariffs, as she saw to -- saught to reassure voters she just ready to get down to business. reporter: it took angela merkel six months to form a coalition government, six months in which she addressed parliament only wants. now she says her goals for her fourth term. >> when the storm is over i want people to say this government has learned his lesson from the election results. i wanted to say the government understood and really has achieved something. reporter: one of the lessons learned, the refugee crisis has deeply divided germany. merkel defended her decision to take a nearly one million

people, but also told parliament a situation like this should never happen again. nevertheless, she also put the interior minister in his place after he said islam does not belong in germany. >> there is no question the historical character of our country is christian and u.s.. -- anti-jewish. -- christian and jewish. but islam has also become a part of germany. reporter: in about one hour, merkel touched nearly every policy area. migration, free wi-fi for everyone, and call for transparency from russia. the afd party was the first to answer. the afd leader tuesday consequently -- leader chose to concentrate on the refugee policy. >> neither the election campaign, coalition agreement --

not even the fact that the migrant crime rate is higher than document the germans. reporter: the tone for angela merkel's fourth term as chancellor is set. also what can be expected from the leading opposition party. brent: here are some other stories making headlines around the world. former french president nicolas sarkozy has reportedly been released from police custody. this follows 1.5 days of questioning over allegations he accepted millions of euros in campaign financing from the late libyan dictator moammar gaddafi in 2007. an explosion in the afghan capital cabell has left at least 26 people dead and 20 others wounded. the afghan interior ministry says a suicide bomber on foot that needed his explosives on a roll leading to a shiite shrine. today, kurds are celebrating new

laws which marks the beginning of spring and kurdish new year. festivals went ahead here in southeastern turkey as you see there, as well as iraq and other kurdish areas. the festival is also a show of support for kurdish independence. a teenage palestinian girl will be sentenced to eight months in prison for slapping an israeli soldier. she reportedly accepted a plea bargain for the incident which was caught on camera and made her a hero to many palestinians. all right, javier is here now with business, and had to happen eventually. interest rates are going up. javier: they have once again raised short-term interest rates. the quarter-point uptick is the fourth such rise in the span of a year, an indication the recent economic growth in the u.s. is

expected to continue. the latest meeting of fed governors is the first of new chairman jerome powell, was nominated by the much of last year. fed members predicted they would raise rates twice more this year in an effort to control growth. and of course the financial markets were listening very closely at the words of the federal reserve. jens korte is on wall street and has been following the story for us. jens, it is good to see you. we saw the announcement by the federal reserve and mixed reactions on wall street, we could say. jens: yeah, it was an up-and-down session, especially after the fed's meeting. it is not unusual that on the day of the fed meeting itself, traders need some time to figure out what actually has changed and what has not, so we might get a better picture in thursday's trading. but what is showing from this fed meeting is that the federal

reserve might become a few more aggressive, more rate hikes in the next two years than expected. this is in general good news from -- for banks. but on the other side, especially if you look at some technology companies, for them, money becomes more expensive and therefore also their investments. so we especially saw technology companies getting under some pressure here in the late hours of trading and at the end of the day we finished in negative territory on wall street. javier: jens, let's focus on jerome powell. we know this was his first such press conference as fed chair. we know that first impressions count. so what was that first impression? jens: jay powell, as they call them, is a trade lawyer, which is also not unusual here on wall street. he obviously prefers very clear

and open language and was open as he followed ben bernanke, and also fed chairwoman janet yellen. if we think back to the old days of alan greenspan, the fed policy was pretty wild. a guessing game. people on wall street tried to figure out how the size of his briefcase, how fed policy would change. jay powell also hinted he might be in favor of even more press conferences in the future because only about every second fed meeting we have conferences. so we might have the federal reserve being even more open and even to read which could be a good sign, but we cannot forget what would happen with fed rates in the future depends on the u.s. economy, and nobody really

knows what is going to happen in the near future. so it is still a guessing game how much rates will move in the future. maybe one final comment, what is still interesting to see even if the federal reserve becomes more progressive, the dollar is not moving in the direction you would expect. it dropped almost 1% here on wednesday. javier: thank you very much. european authorities continued to strike down on tax evasion and have now introduced new taxes on tech giants like apple or google. here is more. reporter: ireland is popular with tech giants who want to lower their tax bill. the firms concentrate their business activities in places where tax rates are especially advantageous. that is why apple, google and facebook have their european headquarters on the emerald isle. but the eu commission wants to change that. they plan to impose a special 3% tax on certain divisions within the tech giants. >> today's proposals are simply

about fair rules for all companies. they are about creating the right environment for modern businesses. and they are about future proofing our single markets so that collectively, we can rise to the challenges of our globalized and digitalized age. reporter: and in the future, tech companies would be taxed where they sell their products and not just where they are registered. that would mean a nice windfall for public offers at the same -- public coffers. reporter: earlier we talked to our correspondent in brussels and ask them this would add more fuel to the fire of the unfolding trade more. -- trade war. reporter: he insisted this is not against a certain country, not against the usa. roughly 120 to 150 companies

would be concerned by this. of course if you look at the biggest companies in this field, they are of course american. if there were not tech giants like amazon and google from the united states, we would not be having this conversation. the question is is it -- if you look at the actual numbers, how much money could be made in germany for example just by taxing google, it would be roughly $60 million in taxes annually, and that is nothing compared to the business tax in germany. that's 150 billion euros. javier: it is back to brent now. perhaps now a status update from facebook's embattled leader. brent: facebook ceo mark

zuckerberg has broken his silence over the data scandal involving his company in a data mining firm cambridge analytica. in a statement on his toes -- on his facebook profile, he promised users a new feature to turn off third-party apps, apps which cambridge analytica allegedly used to harvest information. but mark zuckerberg said nothing about facebook's role in the 2016 presidential election. reporter: the center of london. home to cambridge analytica. the firm's's ceo had a reputation for enjoying media attention. but in the past few days, alexander nix seemed less happy in the media spotlight. on tuesday, cambridge analytica suspended nix following an hundred -- undercover investigation. he was secretly filmed by a reporter. alexander nix outlined some

dirty tricks to help, things such as blackmail. reporter: all entrapping politicians by filming them in compromising situations. reporter: shortly before being suspended, nix told bbc he was exaggerating the company's work. >> we maybe undertook this meeting and spoke with a certain amount of hyperbole about some of the things that we do. reporter: but these latest accusations are not the only problems dogging cambridge and a lack of -- cambridge analytica. vic beasley brand how they helped get u.s. president donald

trump elected. now the uk's data protection agency has served a warrant to serve -- search cambridge analytica's company headquarters. this comes after a former employee spilled the beans on the company's tactics. he said people were asked to download a facebook app which secretly stored private data about the user interface with friends. >> i only need to engage 50,000, 100,000 people to get a really big data amount quickly and it skillfully quickly. we got upwards of 50 million plus facebook records in the span of a couple months. reporter: that is how one of the biggest data 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 abuse -- accuse facebook hashtags to delete facebook are

trending on social media. >> we realize how important these companies are two elections -- to elections. this is the year when politicians have woken up, the public as woken up, and it is time for the tech companies to wake up because if they don't get their act together they are going to space -- face serious repercussions. reporter: critics are starting to ask with the social media should be more closely regulated. brent: i'm joined now by paul-olivier dehaye, cofounder of a platform called personal data that helps individuals take back control of their personal data. it is good to have you on the show. are we not in control of our data that we have on social media? paul-olivier: no. we see with this story, many

people have been affected and no one knows whether they have actually been affected. we have no idea. brent: who would you say is at fault in this scandal? would you put the blame at cambridge analytica? is the blame with facebook? or is it with the users themselves who created these profiles? paul-olivier: well, it is certainly not with the users. the users had no expectation this kind of thing would happen. some of them have had their data taken without even giving their consent. there's certain responsibility on cambridge analytica, but at the same time there are probably dozens of companies sucking data out of facebook all the time. i think the responsibility with the system is systemic. facebook and a lot of other companies who allowed data collection on a really large scale. brent: when you say this is systemic then, is the answer to

that regulation? do we need to have lawmakers around the world impose laws and regulatory parameters for social media companies to work in? paul-olivier: well, around personal data, that is already done and has been done for a long time. there is a convention on the council of europe that governs data collection. that involves dozens if not hundreds of countries. it is just that it is not been taken so seriously so far and it is really not enforced. but now we see that data protection goes beyond privacy and baby pictures or holiday pictures and really turns into should tj concordance. brent: -- strategic importance. brent: the think europe is being impacted the way that u.s. is? we know cambridge analytica also

played a role in the kenyan election. is it the same for europe? paul-olivier: in europe we have a history of having stronger laws, so it is harder to assemble a larger data set that cambridge analytica needs to act. what is most important is europe is defending itself already by enacting a new law at the european level will come into force in may and promises much better enforcement. brent: ok. paul-olivier dehaye, take you very much, we appreciate you taking the time to talk with us tonight. the united nations has declared today international day for the elimination of racial discrimination. it's a worldwide fight, and one their irrelevant here in germany. human rights activists say some germans dismiss racism as a historic problem associated with the nazis. but for people with color, it's

an everyday experience. reporter: two germans, two foreigners. they all share an apartment in germany. each of them has experienced racism. each of them fights in his or her own way to feel like they belong. he has given up being accepted in germany. a few years ago he was visiting a friend. on his way back to the apartment, a neighbor brutally pushed him. he thought he was a burglar because of his skin color. >> i was really angry. if i were a german, he would not have asked me why i was there. it would have been completely normal. reporter: his roommates have not experienced physical violence, what they heard many racial slurs and one question over and over again. >> did you see -- they immediately asked what country i come from.

a label me as a foreigner, as if i did not belong here in germany. reporter: in his voice is like this man's which stir up prejudice and march of people. andre from the right wing party alternative for germany. reporter: with the rise of right-wing populists, the debate over foreigners has intensified. the flatmates say the question of where they come from is being asked more and more frequently. >> that was not the case in the past. for example, when i lived in cologne, at parties or when i met new people, that they did not care about my skin color or asked where i was from. i was just like them. reporter: the four emphasize the similarities.

they do not want other people to dictate to them who belongs in germany. >> i know i am german. but i have also experienced things that maybe someone who only knows germany cannot imagine. and that is why i see myself more as a german plus. reporter: what he has had enough of not being accepted. after his studies, he plans to leave the flat and return to his homeland in cameroon. brent: after a short break, i will be back to take you through the day. ♪ [captioning performed by the national captioning institute, which is responsible for its caption content and accuracy. visit ncicap.org]

(upbeat music) - [narrator] a major breaking story as we come on. a military coup underway right now in turkey. - [female narrator] there's presumed military coup underway. - [male narrator] tanks on the move, military jets flying overheard. - [female narrator] a very confused and chaotic picture. - [male narrator] we do not know the whereabouts of the turkish president, recep tayyip erdogan. - [female narrator] the military says, they have taken control. turkish president erdogan, has been speaking on national television. - [male narrator] the president made this statement to the public, via facetime. the president went onto say, "millions are now in the streets of turkey, "protesting the uprising" - [narrator] some video here from just a short time ago. showing soldiers surrendering to forces loyal to the government. - [male narrator] turkish officials say, they have stopped the coup. and turkey's president says, the government is now in charge.