berlin. in germany, child pornography's -- child porgraphers receive sentences of up to 10 years. germany's ambassador expelled from venezuela, for backing opposition leader juan guaido. the self-proclaimed president has support in ecuador. the country's vice president tells to wy. and eu court says officials must

release studies on the safety of a controversial weed killer. inspiration for a designer dress in thailand. we look at nazi chic, the fashion craze sweeping into t hai pop-culture. i'm phil gayle. welcome to the program. we start in germany where the trial of one of the worst cases of child sexual abuse on the so-called dark net has ended. the regional court handed down sentences of 10 years to four men who operated a massive child photography platform. one of the defendants was also found guilty of physical child abuse and may be kept in preventative detention after his sentence ends. the platform was one of the biggest child abuse pornography websites in the world until

investigators closed it down two years ago. >> it took prosecutors months to gather the evidence. the four men were accused of setting up and operating a child pornography platform on the darknet. investigators said the men had managed illegallly pornographic content. it is shown every kind of abuse imaginable of children and teenagers. the victims included newborns and babies. the platform was discovered in 2017 and immediately shut down. the case made international headlines due to the large number of subscribers. investigators found 112 user accounts. pedophiles around the world were offered photos and videos of the worst kind of child abuse on a platform operated from germany. prosecutors said the network allow the exchange of illegal material to be as easy as online shopping. investigators will continue to sit through the evidence and

work with international authorities to bring additional prosecutions. >> a psychologist and director of the ngo innocence in danger, which fights the spread of child pornography on the web, joins us. welcome to dw. this is a case, as so many of these horrible cases are, which happened on the dark web. were investigators just lucky to stumble across this? >> yes, they were, because the darknet is a vast web of things going on and the police force does not necessarily have the manpower to seriously tackle everything going on. >> must we constantly be chasing, always be 2, 3 steps behind these people? >> think that is the nature of crime, that they just do what they want to do.

>> the sentences were up to 10 years. quite harsh sentences. duke harsh sentences deter people involved in the sort of thing? >> maybe they might deter people people get -- deter people getting started, but also it helps survivors to let them know that what happened was a serious crime. >> the judge in this case said pedophiles do not make conscious decisions to be where they are, but they can decide if they will act out. people who do behave in this way -- do they believe that what they are doing is wrong, or do they think they are just being misunderstood? >> some think like that, but others think another way, but basically they have to decide their need for an encounter with

the child is more important than the well-being of the child, so they are taking a conscious decision and are responsible for everything they do. >> thank you for joining us. >> pleasure. >> t the european union says it hopes venezuela will reconsider his decision to expel germany's ambassador. nicolas maduro accused him of interfering in venezuela's internal affairs after he held a press conference expressing support of opposition leader juan guaido. mr. gordo, who has declared himself interim president, says the german minister should stay -- mr. gordo -- mr. white oh -- mr. guaido. >> this regime has no right to declare anyone persona non grata. this is simply a threat and that is how it should be seen by the

free world. the german ambassador and this country have helped bring in humanitarian aid. it seems the maduro regime will not tolerate anyone who wants to help venezuela. >> germany's foreign minister has condemned the explosion. >> this will in no way mean we would week -- we would reconsider our support of juan guaido o as president with the task of ordering free, fair elections. >> ecuador is one of about 50 countries to back juan guaido who was actually in the country last week meeting the president. the country's vice president is now here in berlin. political correspondent asked what ecuador could offer juan

guaido. >> support for him. he was proclaimed by the national assembly of venezuela as president and we think since he is offering a way back to democracy, we are backing him up . that is all that he has asked for and we are supporting the idea that juan guaido can call for a new election in venezuela. >> your government has recognized juan guaido as interim president, as has the united states. mr. maduro says the united states is planning a coup against him. what do you say to that? >> that is one theory he has. we are facing issues in ecuador with hundreds of thousands of immigrants coming through our border. there is not proof. over 3 million people have left venezuela in the last kid of

years at least, and it's clear that the only way to solve the venezuelan problem is with democracy, and the country is missing that. >> venezuela has expelled the german ambassador. what does that tell us about this conflict? >> those are issues between venezuela and germany. we do not have an opinion on that. i know germany is also recognizing juan guaido as president interim of venezuela. in essence, we are part of the contact group working on solutions for the venezuelan people. >> how destabilizing is this conflict for the region generally? >> it is the biggest migtion issue we have seen in many years, many decades in latin america. i cannot even think about another comparable issue like that one. as i told you, colombia alone has over 1.5 million venezuelan immigrants.

these are people that are willing to go by foot from venezuela to chile. can you imaginehe situaon th they are leaving? it is a big issue and we are thankful for all the support we get from the international community in order to handle this issue. >> are you hopeful it can be solved without violence? >> that is our hope, yes. we will not back a military intrusion in venezuela. we are working on a democratic solution. >> thank you very much. 2000 troops from more than 30 african and western countries have been taking part in military exercises in burkina faso amid resurging terrorism from armed groups and western africa. the exercise is a u.s.-led bid aimed at boosting the capacity of african arms in the region and especially the g5's a hell group -- g5 sahel group.

our correspondent has been embedded in the military exercise and send this report. >> soldiers meet a simulated attack designed to be similar to one armies would encounter on the battlefield. this is just an exercise supported by the u.s. and africa, but it has been led by an african nation every year since 2005. >> when this exercise is over, we have established relationships, interoperability training, and left behind real capability for security forces to be confident in their ability to deal with the security

problems they face in their country or regional organizations. >> burkina faso has climbed into a hotbed of extremism. this official memorial reminds the people of their loved ones who perished in the attacks. >> burkina faso was once a secure country, but since 2015, 200 70 people have been killed in terrorist attacks. in 2016, 30 people in this restaurant were killed in a single day. since that time, ouagadougou is different. >> we lost many people.

we were badly hit financially. we lost our cars, motorbikes. we lost all those things. the government said they would help us but nothing has been done. still, we have the courage to carry on. >> the area is flooded with challenges ranging from terrorist related security threats to the negative parts of climate change. the u.s. government is expanding its programs. >> i would say that we see the situation where burkina faso is in a fight and the fight is getting tougher. all the memories -- all the members are united in that fight, but we don't disabuse ourselves of the fact that we are in a tough fight.

we are making progress against that fight, but we know it will be a struggle over the long term and that is why our investments in developing partnerships are long-term. >> now the training is over. all eyes are on the west african multinational joint forces and how they will defend their countries without relying on the backing of western troops, but to achieve their goal, they need access in order to stand a chance in the fight. >> to some of the other stories making news around the world, police in somalia say at least four people were killed and more wounded when a car bomb exploded in central mogadishu. jihadist group al-shabaab has

claimed responsibility. the government has been battling the radical islamists for years. canada's prime minister has admitted making mistakes in the handling of a growing political crisis but insists nothing illegal has taken place. justin trudeau blamed the scandal, which has cost him to ministers, on a breakdown of trust and communication witthe formerustice minister, who has accused him of pressuring her to help a major construction firm avoid a criminal trial. a french cardinal says he will resign of archbishop of lyons after a court found him guilty of failing to inform authorities about sexual abuse allegations against priests theory that priest has confessed to sexually abusing boys in the 1970's and 1980's and will be tried later this year. turkey's biggest mosque has opened in istanbul. it can hold up to 63,000 people. it took six years to build.

the complex features a library, museum and six minarets, each representing a war in which turkey has been involved. in hungary, the ruling party is to take down billboards attacking the european commission president jean-claude juncker and billionaire philanthropist george soros after the billionaire peepers party -- billionaire people's party threatened to expel them. they suggest there is a plot to bring miants inthungary. prime nister viktor orban is a eurosceptic. on his official website, he is quoted as saying if europe forces them to accept the migration pack, the european commission's decision, a breakup cannot be ruled out. mr. orbach has been a consistent critic of the eu. the european parliament voted to

punish hungary for breaches of europe's core values. >> hungary's ruling party is skilled in the art of provoking critics. this time, even the prime minister's allies were offended. thousands of taxpayer-funded billboards across the country depict the eu president and george soros as conspirators in a plot to bring migrants into hungary. hungary's partners in the european parliament called the posters fake news, saying there is no conspiracy. hungary's government now says the posters will come down next week. according to the original plan, they say, but the leader of the epp welcomed the move as proof that hungary is willing to play ball. >> it is a good signal that they are pulling down the posters. that was one of the requests i made this week. >> the posters are just the

latest flashpoint in a long morning -- long-running quarrel. for hungarian nationalist hardliners, this would not be a bad move. a leading pro-government newspaper called on the prime minister to leave the conservative bloc to form a new populist coalition with italy and austria. he responded to the editorial with a call for cool heads. if it is is a member of the european people's party and wants to remain a member. for or bottom, the goal is to win over europe's conservatives to its anti-immigrant politics, not to go his own way. >> the european union's top court has ruled a safety agency must release details into

controversial weedkiller glyphosate. the european commission had classified it as safe based on studies from the manufacturers, but when eu lawmakers demand it access to the studies, the requests were denied on the basis it might harm the manufacturer's interest. critics suggest glyphosate harms the environment and c cause cancer. >> easy to apply, cheap, effective, glyphosate destroys all unwanted vegetation. the only things it leaves growing are the crops it is meant to protect. marketed under the name roundup, the herbicide is a monsanto product in the use on 40% of germany's farmland. it is also used in over 150 countries worldwide. since it was introduced in the 1970's, over 10 million tons of glyphosate have been sprayed on crops, enough to fill 2003 hundred olympic swimming pools. that makes it the most widely

used weedkiller in the world. it is also the most controversial. environmental protection activists blame it for the disappearance of many plants which on grew wild in nature and the corresponding loss of bird and insect populations. they say it trickles down into the groundwater. scientists have found traces of glyphosate in humans which has crept into the food chain. the world health organization classifies glyphosate as probably carcinogenic to humans. >> a green party member of the european parliament backed this case and joins us from russell's welcome to dw. have you now got what you wanted ? -- joins us from brussels here and welcome to dw. have you now got what you wanted? >> week are pleased chance pansy has prevailed, but i have to say it is not yet the very top level

of court. they could go and appeal the judgment. we hope they are being reasonable and are releasing the documents the public is waiting for. >> what is the commission's reason for keeping the documents secret? >>here are two different legal principles. business secrets on the one hand and public safety on the other. such a key decision on approval of a pesticide which is so widely used and of which the responsible united nations body is saying is likely to cause cancer -- in such a situation, the studies have to be published because science is about replication, and only if the studies are published which have been put forward by the chemical company, then independent

scientists can check if they are accurate. >> the united nations has one opinion where other countries have others. france and belgium are skeptical, for instance, where germany broadly accepts the use of glyphosate. why this lack of consensus? >> first of all, i would not say germany is backing it. there is also a decision by our government to phase out life estate, but so far, they have delivered on the promise, and it's really high time to do it. generally, to use less pesticides because -- >> forgive me for interrupting the time is short. how do you explain the lack of consensus? >> the lack of consensus is sinfully that economic interests are struggling with public safety and sometimes, unfortunately, even against reason and public safety, narrow

economic interests win. >> thank you for joining us. chinese tech giant quality -- huawei is suing the united states for limiting its access, challenging a u.s. law that labels the country a security risk and bans federal agencies from via its products. the challenge comes to a critical point for trade negotiations between the u.s. and china. >> three years, -- for years ,huawei has sought to reassure the world that it is not under the control of the chinese government and that it does not spy on consumers. now, a shift in town from defense to accusation. >> the u.s. government has long branded huawei a threat. it has hacked our servers and stolen our emails.

>> allegations of american government interference and theft of corporate secrets, huawei's message to the united states -- we can play the blame game, too. hours before the announcement, the backdrop to what is becoming an ever escalating dispute, huewei's chief financial officer leaving her house in canada for an appearance in court. she has been detained in the country since december, accused of helping her company violate u.s. sanctions and iran. she claims the arrest violated her rights and is politically motivated. the decision to sue the american government asked to an already high cost conflict. the u.s. effort to get allies to shun the firm threatens to bar the company from major markets and puts billions of dollars of investment in super high-speed five g networks at risk.

it also adds tension to an already complicated trade relationship between the world's top two economies. >> and unlikely set of symbols is making a splash in thailand's popular culture. nazi swastikas and icons of hitler are making an appearance. >> in thailand, he has become a designer dictator. here in the markets of bangkok, nazi symbols are en vogue and hit lucas the rockstar of fascist fashion. it is a trend that is creeping into pop culture, like this swastika t-shirt worn by a member of a thai girl band, a recent fhion faux pas that

went viral. >> i was shocked. i felt it's my fault. i was not aware even though i should've known. >> this response from the israeli embassy, presenting nazi symbols by the band's hurt millions of singers around the world whose relatives were murdered by nazis, but this fan calls for forgiveness saying not everyone may know that nazi symbol, please let her learn from her mistake. at this university, students say heclaim of ignorance rings true and that growing up, they learned little about the full scale of nazi atrocities. >> in thailand high school, we are not taught much about that. even myself, i've studied german since high school, but we get only little knowledge about nazi germany. in the youtube or social media like facebook or twitter, i see

thai people talking about hit late in a good way quite a lot. they see him as a strong dictator or a good leader that bring the nation to something better. >> a twisted fascination that despite the recent outcry shows no sign of disappearing. >> in football, premier league powerhouse manchester city is being investigated for possible breaking financing monitoring rules. they are related to officials discussing the source of revenue from sponsorship deals tied to club owners in abu dhabi. it found guilty, the club could get a champions league ban.

here's a reminder of our top story at this hour -- a german court is handing prison sentences of up to 10 years to four men accused of operating a vast child pornography platform on the darknet. one of the men was also found guilty of sexually abusing two young children. coming up next is "the day," and a world news update is at the top of the hour. you can get updates around the clock on our website, dw.com. have a good day.

ten year bond from politics. control to france before i'm james creed and now if the verdict is in in that the trial of the accused brussels jewish museum killer. at french meant made an image was found guilty of killing four people. in may twenty fourteen and he now faces a life sentence the case has got a huge amount of tension here in france and in neighboring at belgian. earlier we spoke to apostles correspondent david keating about that verdict. the jury just decidedha