phil: this is "dw news," live from berlin. could some reports of violence in germany last week be fake news? this video of an alleged attack on a foreigner was widely circulated, but the domestic intelligence chief sayays he has no reliable evidence it actually took place. his remarks appear to contradict those of the german chancellor. no cease-fire for syria's last rebel stronghold.

iran and russisia reject a proposal i in debt-t-- aimed at averting a catastrophe in idlib province. sweden's populist right-wing prepares for a breakthrough. the scandinavian nation has long been a social democratic stronghold, but is expected to see a far right searcsurge amid discontent over migration. phil: i am phil gayle. welcome to the program. the eastern german city of chemnitz is tense tonight as demonstrators march against migration policies. chanting " we are the people" and "this is our city," they carried placards calling for the halt of the arrival of asylum

seekers. there are no reports of violence. the city has seen a series of protests on both sides of the migration issue since a man was stabbed to death last month allegedly by an asylum seeker. the aftermath of the fatal knife attack has sparked disagreement between the chancellor and her domestic intelligence chief. the chancellor and her spokesman highlighted reports that far right mobs hunted down foreigners in the city. germany's domestic intelligence chief is raising doubts about the accounts, saying his agency has no reliable evidence that such xena phobic activity template -- xenophobic activity took place. reporter: videos like this are circulating online, said show far right mobs cararried out attacks in chemnitz. in a controversial interview, the domestic intelligence agency chief said he had no evidence

that the racist attacks are grateful to be said a widely circulated video could be fake, deliberate misinformation, but he did not say which one. his remarks contradict reports from eyewitnesses, journalists, and alleged victims, and angela merkel's comments just a few days ago. chancellor merkel: we have seen pictures that clearly show hatred and the persecution of innocent people, and we must distance ourselves from such behavior. reporter: there has been something of a consensus among members of merkel's governing coalition that the racist violence should be condemned. several politicians have criticized him for second-guessing what really happened. >> instead of speculating in public, he should present evidence. >> i have seen the pictures.

i have heard the eyewitness acaccounts. i know the many reports from journalists, and i think a prudent agency head would be well advised to prprovide facts for such a controversial thesis to avoid exacerbating matters. reporter: but germany's interior minister has defended the controversial statements. "as interior minister, i have always said that in such difficult, terrible events, one must be accurately informed about what actually took place." a spokeswoman for the interior ministry said investigations of the disputed videos are ongoing. meanwhile, he has been asked to clarify his position. phil: let's get more from our political correspondent who has been following this story. how has the minister backed up

his statement? reporter: this is the crucial point at the moment -- he hasn't at all. we only have the interview he has given germany's biggest tabloid newspaper today come in which he makes the claims but does not back them up in any way. we have the statement from the domestic secret service itself which it says they are still investigating the claims that this video may be fake. there is no proof so far. the bigger question is if there have been concerns by him or the agency, why have they not brought them up with the chancellor? a spokesperson for chancellor angela merkel said there has been no conversation between the head of the domestic secret service agency, and the chancellor. phil: he appears to be contradicting chancellor merkel.

why is he likely to be doing this? reporter: that we don't know. we have no idea how the situation occurred and what he has come out with these allegations in an interview rather than a statement and political briefing with the government. so far what we know is that because, the underlying issue we are seeing in germany, is the question of what to make of the events in chemnitz. there is a big debate, question between different political sides as to how to address the issue. it is the question of how we are going forward with right-wing violence and xenophobia in germany, and if there has been institutional oversight in the country, in the government on this issue. phil: tell us about the concerns that have been raised about maassen's lyrical independence the last few weeks. maximiliane: yes indeed. the controversies about the head of the domestic secret service, hans-georg maassen, have been

piling up in recent weeks and months. there was the claim by the former member of the far right afd party saying that he himself has been advising members of the party on how the far-right party could avoid being observed by domestic secret service. there has also been the claim that he has been trying to hide the constitutional informant was part of the group of the attacker on the german christmas market in berlin in 2015. somebody from the domestic secret service with of the group that planned the attack. also come there have been claims and allegations in recent years that the domestic secret service hasn't been paying attention to right-wing violence and extremists has maybe even been dodging investigations in these directions. phil: so now we have the deputy leader of the sbd, one of the

coalition parties, and the greens and left saying maassen should resign. he is under quite a lot of pressure. maximiliane: he is certainly. he has only been in the office since 2012, and he said when he got the post that he thinks he and the domestic secret service will be a great fit. as we have spoken about, there have been controversies about him and the way he has conducted his management style within the secret service have been quite controversial. what is now happening is that the social democrats have asked for a meeting of the parliamentary oversight panel that overlooks the secret service agencies, but that the domestic -- both of the domestic and international branch, and they want to meet with him and get answers. phil: thank you.

now, iran, russia, and turkey have failed to agree on a cease-fire that would prevent a syrian government offensive in idlib province, the last major rebel stronghold. leaders from the three countries did agree that there would be no military solution to the syrian conflict. they said that the war could end only through a negotiated process. motion warplanes mounted -- russian warplanes mounted airstrikes in idlib. eight agencies say it could be a humanitarian catastrophe in syria's seven-year war. reporter: antigovernment protests erupted friday in idlib province, and the prospect of president bashar al-assad's launch of an offensiveve against thee country's last rebel stronghold is looming. meanwhile, at the summit in the iranian capital, russian president v vladimir putin rejected a a proposal f for an b

cease-fire made by his turkish counterpart recep tayyip erdogan on.. russia resumed airstrikes on tuesday. turkey's concern that the situation could cause a humanitarian catastrophe and lead to to millions more refugees streaming to exporters. >> turkey is hosting 2.5 million syrian refugees. idlib's population is 3.5 million people now. turkey does not have the resources or power to host a further 3.5 million people. reporter: tens of thousands of people have been bused to idlib in recent years when other antigovernment areas fell to assad's forces. while turkey's main aim is to provide a new influx of the syrian refugees and stop the kurds from founding an independent state in syria, russia and iran are mainly concerned with extending their influence in the region.

they want to unify syria under president assad. the u.n. security council also met on friday to discuss the situation in idlibb. its special envoy to syria urged extremist groups to leave the region and warned of a looming crisis. >> i laid out to you, madam president, all ingredients for a perfect storm. the danger that any battle for idlib could be, would be a horrific and bloody battle. reporter: what agreement is proving elusive. russia has dismissed warnings of a catastrophe, calling idlib a nest for terrorism. phil: let's get more on this from our middle east analyst. welcome, daniel. let's start with a call for evacuation routes for civilians.

he says he has ideas on how to separate extremists from civilians. is anyone listening to him? does anyone care with the u.n. has to say? daniel: i don't think so. even the syrian opposition has criticized him for this, because they think this is an encouragement to displace people out of idlib. people have been moved there, but also people from idlib. i think this is a very difficult situation. the turks have tried to separate not be civilian population from the rebels, but they have tried to separate what they deem moderate rebels that they can control and a terrorist organizations -- an organization that is branded a terrorist organization by the united nations, and that everybody in the scenario is entitled to bombing an attack, the nusra front, for what they call

themselves now, the liberation front. phil: turkey propose a cease-fire to avoid this potential bloodbath russia and iran both said no. now turkey is looking at potentially, according to the u.n., 800,000 people being displaced from idlib if this assault goes on. they have got quite a lot at stake here. daniel: probably more. yes, of course. totally understand why turkey is try to at least buy time. the problem is, the turks have close to the border -- closed the border, and they want to prevent syrians from entering turkey. they are establishing safe zones inside syria that they can protect with the military. turkey has a powerful military. turkey could of course threatened them and said that if the offense starts, we will counter idlib.

of course, they would be encountering russia. not so much iran, by the way. iran is not the main military player. it is mainly the syrian regime and russia. whenever russia and turkey gather somewhere, it is not always about idlib. trump is always in the room. it is about redefining the relationship between the countries. of course, the global politics have contributed to this difficult situation. at the moment it is very, very difficult to get any kind of concession from iranians, little russia. turkey is very much alone. we don't see that they are supported by europe or the american supervised this crisis in idlib. phil: the point of other people not in the room -- america not in that room today, and syria not in the room. what are we to take from that? daniel: yeah, that's of course

-- america not in the room is no wonder, because they have been out of these negotiations for a long time. they haven't been invited. america is present in syria. america sends very self contradicting messages. a week ago top says we want to pull -- trump says we want to pull out of syria -- nevermind that they are in the euphrates area northeast -- and then they say we want to stay and we will keep our forces deployed until we find a political solution. on the other hand, trump somehow give messages that were interpreted as a green light to this year and regime and russia to attack idlib, because there is not only the fate of the civilian population, but also what to do with the jihadist groups that are there. jihadist groups to which turkey has -- turkey has played a role there because turkey is responsible for the growth of

these jihadist groups in syria, not only the syrian regime and the russians. this is quite a difficult -- phil: it starteted tricky and it got trickier and trickier. thank you. let's take a look now at some of the other stories making news around the world. officials in the iraqi city of basra say one person has been killed and 11 injured in protest. demonstrators set fire to the consulate that link iran and the local government which they blame for corruption and poor government services. israeli forces have shot dead a palestinian teenager in crashes along the border with gaza. palestinian health officials say at least 30 people were wounded. earlier, israel's military said it struck at a group of militants launching balloons towards israeli territory. an intense wildfire in the u.s. state of california has forced

the closure of an interstate highway. motorists had to flee their vehicles as the blaze raged in the national forest. scores of homes are under threat from and many residents have been ordered to leave. crhristoph is here with business, and pressure increasing on the russian economy. christoph: the slope of the currency is adding to russia's woes as the government recently announced an extensive pension reform. starting next year, the retirement age will gradually increase, ultimately forcing people to work much longer. the reform was announced during the football world cup in russia, when demononstrations we prohibited. now russians are taking to the streets. reporter: "putin is a thief,"

they call out, because they are afraid for their pensions. women are supposed to work eight years longer. men, five years. life expectancy is not high in russia. only 67.5 years for men, according to the london school of economics. about 1/6 of men don't even make it to pension age. court vacating matters, -- complicating matters, many older workers cannot find work. "wherever you go to to work, they pay particular attention to your age. it is easier for younger people to find employment. i think that at 50, it is already difficult. if you have a job before that, you can work until 80. if you lose your job at 50, it is hard to find a g good new on" attention is a -- a pension is a critical source of income for many. for many, their only source. >> for those with big incomes,

reasonable pension age. but you know that russia, near half of the population is poor. and from european point of view. reporter: more than 80% of russians are opposed to pension reform. in recent months, thousands and joined protests, and not just on the streets. 2.8 million people have signed an online petition. rallies are plplanned fofor sun, when many russians vote in regional and community elections. christoph: from russia to the united states, the trump administration may be fighting with trading partners. u.s. companies seem unimpressed. wages group at the best grew at the fastest pace in 90's. the u.s. economy at the end of limit rate at 2.9%. the economy is considered to be at full employment. the federal reserve said at such circumstances, it would continue

to raise key interest rates. the government 40 centimeters the end of this month. let's go to our wall street correspondent, jens korte. which matter more on friday, the job figures or donald trump's threat to hit all chinese imports with tariffs? jens: sorry that u.s. president donald trump might impose more terrace much -- tariffs on china. that is the big story on wall street. what would it mean if u.s. president donald trump really would kick another $267 billion in a tariffs? it would mean more or less all goods imported from china would see a tariff, and as we are learning, maybe otheher products might be involved.

that was the big story on friday. christoph: let's take a look at tesla. shares plunged today as footage emerged and ceo elon musk smoking pot in a webcast. any connection. --any connection there? julia well -- jens: well, certainly invesestos were not happy with those images, and it was not the only mishap from elon musk in recent weeks. there was the flip-flop about taking tesla private, he insulted analysts, called someone a pedophile, and now this. wall street is concerned if elon musk is the right person to l ead tesla. the head of bookkeeping quit his job. he was not even the head for even a month. the stock dropped by more than 6%. christoph: the have executives

leaving and the ceo in the headlines for the wrong reasons. tesla is far away from reaching its own production goals. what do investors make of tesla these days and going forward? jens: they probably have a good product at hand, even if goldman sachs, for example, analysts earlier this week said that competition is increasing from german carmakers. this goldman sachs analyst is saying that the stock would drop in addition to 25% or so within the next six months. it is certainly a crucial time. the stock of tesla in the past month has lost about one third in value. christoph: jens korte in new york, thank you. back to phil, and a look ahead at general elections in sweden. phil: voters look likely to give a big boost to a right-wing populist party on sunday. according to opinion polls, the

sweden democrats on a law and order, anti-migrant from, are searching against the established parties. right-wing populists have presence in coalition governments in 8 eu countries, united by nationalism, euro skepticism, and opposition to immigration. those issues are weighing on swedish voters' mines. crime is another subject undermines. sweden democrats have made it one of their key talking points. this report from the city of malmo. reporter: just in time to break of a dispute between young arab immigrants -- he knows that once the fifth begin to fly, someone could end up debt, especially he. with the young man listened to him. >> two hash dealers got into it here. one said the other was muscling in on a deal. these are the kinds of things

that can lead to violence. reporter: he knows what he is talking about. aa lebanese immigrant, he spent four years behind bars in sweden for convictions related to violence and narcotics. now he is trying to prevent crime in his adopted home. at night, he and others like him patrol malmo's streets, talking with immigrants and others interested in dialogue. >> we are here to talk. we want to prevent chaos and violence so please don't have to get involved. it is a matter of prevention. reporter: he calls his initiative no2crimes. supportersrs are recruited via e internet. he knows what life is like for immigrants in the suburbs, and he wants to talk to them. half of them don't finish school. the search in violent crime has become an election issue. other right-wing populists, sweden democrats can have benefited.

the hard-line stance has gained a close to 20% of the vote in recent elections. turkie also wants to talk to the right-wingers. he believes the campaign rhetoric as she blames the campaign rhetoric for souring relations between swedes and migrants. >> you are always talking about more clues, harsher penalties, and deportations. -- more police, harsh appendices, and deportations. shouldn't we be addressing the causes of the violence? >> fine, but we still say that if a foreigner with a resident's permit commits a crime, he must be expelled. >> the country's racists are hoping for wind beneath their wings. what happens if the party wins the elections? everybody should be asking themselves that. will there be more industries?-- war industries? -- in the streets? reporter: an immigrant and

former convict calling for dialogue. phil: in football, the way some why has pulled out of the squad in peru on sunday for personal reasons. he came as a substitute with the world champions france from after his attitude was questioned by a teammate. he failed to make germany's world cup squad. there are reports that his girlfriend is about to give birth. let me remind you of our top story at this hour. germany's the mystic intelligence chief said pictures like this of the violence in chemnitz last week could be fake news. hans-georg maassen said his agency had no reliable evidence that it actually took place. that is it, you are up-to-date. more at the top of the hour and on the website, dw.com.

have a good day. [captioning performed by the national captioning institute, which is responsible for its caption content and accuracy. visit ncicap.org]

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