polls are now open in turkey you're looking at live pictures of the first of voters at a polling place in. line as i'm speaking this is live from doha also coming up. as fighting continues in syria's southern province rebels say the u.s. has told them you're on your own. zimbabwe's president survives an apparent grenade attack on the campaign trail. and two years after the break tens of thousands marched through london to demand

another referendum. in turkey polls have just opened for sunday's landmark elections these are live pictures from a polling place in istanbul more than fifty six million turkish citizens are eligible to vote six candidates are seeking the presidency including the incumbent to win a second round of voting will take place next month if no candidate wins more than half of the votes in today's first round after the election sweeping constitutional changes will come into force vastly expanding the powers of the president those who approved in a referendum last year let's speak now to bernard smith who is in the turkish capital ankara so bernard polls have just opened how close is this race expected to be. well i'm in central anchor of the turkish capital has i'm this polling station

had just opened we are not many arrivals yet it's eight o'clock on sunday morning most people having a lie in on the weekend but there are there might be a lot closer than president originally thought they were going to be when he called this election polls in the last few days in the days running up to the election suggested that it's going to be a very very tight race indeed president needs to get more than fifty percent of the vote this time around to win the presidency outright if he doesn't then he's forced into a second round of the presidential elections this is what the opposition is hoping they're going to be able to do the main the most significant opposition a contender muharram n.j. from the c.h.p. the republican people's party has made it seem significant process in whittling away the present leader has drawn enormous crowds to his rallies crowds significantly similar to the size of president early and often draws to his rallies and for the opposition that alone is something of an achievement also parliamentary

elections going on today and again the opposition parties who've united into one particular group hope they can take away the uk parties majority parliamentary majority from them if they can take away that party's parliamentary majority that may act as something of a check on the powers of the president because if president one wins this time or indeed in a couple of weeks hence if it goes to runoff he will be given sweeping new executive powers and the opposition hopes they're going to be able to check those powers has them and then of what's been put in place to make sure this race we free and fair. well this time around again the opposition parties put out a call they united together to get a group of observers together to try and more much of the vote in as many polling stations as possible and there are one hundred forty nine thousand for all of the opposition parties fanning out across to to see what they consider significant

polling stations just to keep an eye on the vote to make sure it's fair to make sure mark the ballot papers go into those ballot boxes particularly they're looking in the southeast of turkey the kurdish parts of turkey where some polling stations have been moved a long way from what the government calls security reasons a lot of people in the southeast are having to travel up to seventeen kilometers to post to make their vote to register their vote in those polling stations particularly they'll be observers making sure that everything that goes on there is above board and fair and well those ballot boxes a move to the counting stations they'll be watching to make sure everything is as fair as possible indeed and we will be checking in with you again throughout the day for the moment bernie smith live for us there in ankara. i want to the main opposition parties vying for a share of sunday's vote is the pro-competition people's democratic party or each deeping although kurds make up only seventeen percent of the electorate h d p's

performance could have a decisive impact on the election hundred of our reports from one of the party's biggest strongholds in the southeastern city of the yardwork here. supporters of the pro kurdish people's democratic party d h d p cheering their presidential candidate from his prison cell. chose the last minutes of the election campaign on saturday to give his final t.v. address through every duty cording going to sit on the i congratulate all our people who will stand for democracy by going to the polls i hope the result of this election are going to be for the good of the country i invite all voters to respect the ballot boxes and the will of the people you. run for president in two thousand and fourteen with a nine point seven percent of the vote became third after president after one and then opposition leader. but in two thousand and sixteen who was thrown in jail for

allegedly next to the band called the stand workers party or p k k which turkish authorities consider a terrorist organization now many kids look up to matusz as a symbol of their political aspirations then they. it's not going to be a fair election since our leader. is not free but even with him in prison we're going to do our best to with. for decades the kurdish parties struggle to get the ten percent of seats needed to enter parliament it finally restart to go on in the two thousand and fifteen elections now the caird say that the least they can aspire to achieve is to preserve that success. at the headquarters of the party there was only one expectation parts is jingoism so be curious and so we expect great results from this election you've seen the last rally of our party and how excited people have been even more so than in twenty fifteen i think the average here has given

its final word a big victory on sunday. there are more than three million kids living in the region of the albuquerque but the total kurdish population in turkey is about fifteen million about seventeen percent of the electorate should the army other candidates are courting their votes including the president who campaigned earlier this month just to offer a coalition of the kiddush vote could be decisive in this election and if a second round will be needed carrots could be the king makers. turkey and the united states has reportedly told syrian rebels not to expect military support in southern syria near the country's borders with jordan and the israeli occupied golan heights and the escalation zone was a stablish their last year including parts of the provinces of their r. and connector syria and russia been carrying out as strikes on the rebel territory according to reuters the us government send the messages to the heads of the free

syrian army groups whom it has supported in the past thousands of civilians have fled their homes in their our province asher madera has that story. this is the first time government forces have used battle bombs in daraa in the year. helicopters struck several villages in what appears to be a major advance to take over the city but this violates a truce that was brokered by russia and the united states in africa to bring an eye and to the seven year war the rebels who are losing ground remain defiant. we don't recognize assad's law for a t. he has destroyed our cities and killed our people he destroyed syria to stay in power we will never recognize him and we reject the presence of the reigning and afghan militias only syrians who should decide the future of the country. the

syrian army is massing troops in the area the opposition says thousands of shiite militias are also moving in dar was the focal point of the syrian uprising in two thousand and eleven but in recent years the rebels have been retreating they now control one neighborhood in the city and a few areas on the border with jordan this is a show of force by the free syrian army. for years the f.s.a. was trained and armed by the u.s. europe and gulf countries but that support has diminished over the last. anti as forces are largely outgunned and outnumbered. zimbabwe's president has survived what looks to have been a grenade attack at

a campaign rally before next month's election emerson called the attempt a cowardly attack and said it would not influence the upcoming vote the bomb was thrown at the zimbabwean leader as he walked off stage with others that have p.f. party officials in the city of bull a way of. escape don heard one of his vice presidents and another minister were injured there's been no claim of responsibility for the attack but i gather says the attack was one of many assassination attempts he's survived. this is just. losing jobs sixty. ottumwa tasa has more now from johannesburg. right now on social media people are talking about how safe is it to attain these rallies what if there's another attack so people are concerned about that of course they're also asking who could have been behind this could it be

a specific individual is it a group of people all these attacks like it increase as we head up to those elections so far the campaign has been relatively peaceful so people are quite surprised as actually happened they also surprise how this individual managed to get so close to the president and throw that grenade so a lot of uncertainty right now but again the president telling zimbabweans keep calm the security forces have things under control people much as prepare for these elections which he is will happen at the end of july still ahead on al-jazeera a new political alliance in iraq but can he really bring stability to the country. and as european leaders prepare to discuss migration policy we speak to refugees who've reached a dead end and greece's northern border. welcome

back to look at weather conditions on the levant and western parts of asia region then we've got a scattering of showers across kansas down into specter stand the temperatures looking pretty good there thirty one in tashkent generally fine around the caspian sea to ron is looking pretty warm there in the upper thirty's backed out of forty one these aside to the mediterranean generally looking fine but we have got some heavy showers still across the black sea coast of turkey extending into the caucasus are some really heavy downpours are certainly possible here over the next twenty four to forty eight hours for the arabian peninsula on the western side find light winds forty four degrees the mecca here on the gulf side to them we still got a fairly brisk blowing down so temperatures of forty two degrees a little bit of dust perhaps but not really all that bad. temperatures are likely to rise of anything as we head on through into monday forty three. now as i head across into africa is also fine weather wise but obviously this time the

temperatures way down fifteen degrees the high in cape town eighteen in johannesburg so really not much to focus on there's plenty of sunshine everywhere and that is we have a central parts of africa a lot so showers likely here particular across parts of west africa a lot i think for our current ghana it shouldn't be a bright day. a land funny tim did you know people. plundered for. a long held resentment attorney violent with deadly consequences. cannot. go over human rights people empower travels to south america to discover the finds of the earth can chew.

again you're watching i just here a mind of our top stories this hour in turkey polls have just opened for sunday's elections these are live pictures from a polling station in istanbul more than fifty nine million citizens are eligible to vote vote will bring changes that expand the powers of the presidency second round of voting will take place next month unless a candidate wins more than half the votes. the united states has reportedly told syrian rebels not to expect military support in southern syria deescalation zone was a stablished there last year syria and russia have been carrying out air strikes on rebel groups trying to expand their territory. zimbabwe's president survived an

apparent grenade attack at a campaign rally before next month's election emerson called the attempt a cowardly attack and said it would not influence the outcome in front the bomb was thrown of the zimbabwean leader as he walked off stage in the city to pull away of . iraqi prime minister hey diddle abadi and cleric moved to other side to say they are entering into an alliance the leaders say their partnership will cross sectarian and ethnic divisions souther syren party won the largest number of seats in the may elections while the baddies victory alliance came in third both leaders say they are open to remaining parties joining them nordin on the album we announce across sectarian cross ethnic alliance to speed up forming the next government a strong new government that serves the interests and aspirations of the iraqi people and how do you seen. that the we are key to form this coalition and cool

upon all other political parties situate us we call for a high level meeting with all of the political blocs nor to rid the country of its current crisis retired iraqi brigadier general ismail i was so danny says the new alliance as big challenges ahead but we heard this is just to all the political concerns in iraq to make any change because although you know the public is accusing the political with nothing political figures or accusing the carriers iraq since two thousand and three how significant were the political significance but at the time. looking forward to seeing a government there will be. cross which i doubt they have you know the willingness to growth the second syria or ethnic. groups in iraq who want the government under the palestinians protested in the west bank on saturday against

sanctions imposed on gaza by their own government tens of thousands of govern employees in gaza have gone without pay for months are reports imran khan is in ramallah where the palestinian authority is based. it's likely that the organizers are going to be very disappointed in the size of this crowd it's about a couple of hundred people but these people are making their voice very clearly heard only really demand and that's lifting the sanctions by the bill. and giving some relief to the people of gaza now in recent weeks. are being criticized for heavily. against the protesters but this one seems to be a lot more peaceful there is a palestinian authority police presence but it's not nearly as heavy handed as it has been in previous weeks women in saudi arabia are now officially allowed to drive for the first time this video is from just hours ago when the ban was lifted at midnight local time some saudi women used simulators to take lessons in advance

of the law change the decision is expected to boost the economy with a rise in car sales a french president emanuel says he supports financial sanctions on european countries they refused to take migrants with proven asylum status mccall held a working lunch in paris with spain's new prime minister pedro sanchez is the spanish leader's first official for the boards of taking office three weeks ago. that there was usually system us about the system of sanction mechanisms which could be implemented in cases of non solidarity it's a debate we will have within a framework of financial possibilities i am for myself in favor of having mechanisms that indeed take this into account we can't have countries that massively benefit from the solidarity of the european union and that massively voice their national selfishness when it comes to migrant issues you know attachable has more on this now from parish. well the main message from these two

leaders in paris was that the european union simply has to have a coordinated strategy when it comes to migration it has to be united now the french president emanuel markhor praised the new socialist prime minister pedro such as from spain saying that he had showed a gesture of solidarity when he decided to open up their doors in spain to the aquarius migrants and refugees those who were rescued by that charity ship or blocked by italy macross said it was indeed an important gesture but the migration cannot be solved in that way on a case to case basis what is needed is a much wider plan now both pedro sanchez and model michael will be at a mini migration summit in brussels on sunday and this meeting in paris is really an opportunity for these two leaders to get to know each other the first time they met and also discussed some of the strategies which may be talked about at the summit on sunday later in the week at the main summit there is no doubt they are on

the same page or they believe new solutions must be found they also both pro e.u. young dynamic leaders who really want more e.u. integration and what that means for them is that there must be solutions found to the migration crisis because they see the divisions that it is causing and they worry that that could threaten the future of the european union the future of the bloc in fact a model mark or even said that we could see a wave of populism and nationalism unless something is done or many of the refugees and migrants trying to make their way across the continent are losing hopelessly reports from the greece macedonia border where people have travelled from turkey found themselves at a dead end. dogs live better than this stinking piles of rubbish the air thick with mosquitoes they're mostly afghans and they know full well the not even germany will take them in nowadays their war has been deemed less

importance than a syrian woman so they're stuck with people going to stay here but the system is too slow i.e. trying to move rules even to move no one to stay here do you hear but there's no company that can avoid this day there because of all this one year some have lived in a half built car park nearly a year so cornered mohammed had arrived the day we turned up he thinks he would like to risk the crossing through albania which thousands have already tried this year but how to afford it you have money for this or not i have one month in one year or even now one euro yes. as banished if you want in person just ahead no one money is the northern pass to greece from turkey over the wide river the route revealed by al-jazeera several months ago that is causing this new humanitarian crisis everyone we spoke to would come this way and the total lack of hope in greece is forcing them to consider any route out if you have any money you

can get a bus from thessaloniki to a port and try your luck on a boat to italy but most don't have the luxury of this option until a couple of years ago either many was full of tents and journalists before the so-called balkan routes was closed by macedonia the media's all gone now but we'd been told dozens were still attempting this route every day and so it proved we found them a shepherd's track in a forest right on the border all of them pakistanis many of them teenagers where do you go do you know. macedonia serbia and to germany this way. trying to do what hundreds of thousands managed a few years ago but europe isn't the same anymore according to the united nations there are now getting on for ten thousand more refugees and migrants in greece than the were when this border was basically a refugee camp two or three years ago and frankly these people have got absolutely

no chance of getting asylum in any western european country if anything germany's likely to tell greece to take more and more people back this place has become a complete trap and surprisingly the new waves of refugees coinciding with the new hostile european environments make local officials nervous either making it less bigoted and there are many happened because they wanted to fulfill their dreams and go to europe things that were done a traps that. phrase but we hope there will never again be an informal camp of refugees and migrants. for the refugees living rough in greece there is not even war so let alone hope they may as well pray because no country in europe will help them now largely al-jazeera not in greece. the u.s. department of homeland security says it's reunited more than five hundred

unaccompanied unaccompanied migrant children with their families roughly two thousand three hundred children taken away in recent weeks some two thousand children separated from their parents are still in detention facilities president of the splitting of families to stop on wednesday. a father of a young migrant girl photographed crying on the us mexico border believes the picture has affected president donald trump's immigration policy the widely shared photograph of the distraught honduran go has become a symbol of the trumpet ministrations zero tolerance immigration policy although she was not separated from her mother at the border the picture drew international attention to the issue. i think my daughter situation will touch someone's heart yes maybe the president of the united states or the migration authorities that someone has to help my daughter but her picture was published in the united states and so the route for migrants has now changed

a freight train carrying crude oil has derailed leaking about eight hundred seventy one thousand liters into flooded fields in the u.s. state of iowa several homes nearby were evacuated in lyon county in the northwest nobody was injured but oil has lead into an overflowing rock river already swollen from heavy rails authorities fear there could be lasting contamination and local drinking water could be affected. tens of thousands of anti brags in protest as a march through central london they're demanding a second referendum on the e.u. membership once the terms of the country's withdrawal become clear need baka reports. united against break said politicians from across the u.k.'s political divide walked side by side of the head of a munch attended by thousands they arrived outside parliament with one demand a final vote on any u.k. exit deal among the demonstrators members

a prime minister to resign may's own political party committed to overturning bricks it we want a people's fact deal or no deal and i think that's right it can't be right that six hundred fifty politicians sitting in parliament who are amongst themselves as indeed our government and cabinet is divided on this question i think sixty five million people in our country should have a vote on the final deal the protests is part of what's being called a summer of action to put pressure on britain's leaders two years after the u.k. surprizes cision to leave the e.u. britain is still an odds of the countries who lation ship with europe the countries from the bitter divide in the fray those divisions have deals and the reason for that i think is that since the referendum we lost the referendum was a factor but since the reason i use government as if all of these people kind of don't exist so what this is about is basically saying that we have to at least hold

open the option when she does come up with a deal for the people who are to say yeah that's what we voted for is perhaps unsurprising here in london a city that voted overwhelmingly to remain part of the e.u. that there are such vast crowds at this demonstration but what is surprising is that two years after the referendum a year after crucial negotiations began between the e.u. and the u.k. there is still so much. there is so much confusion public opinions remain largely stable since the referendum despite increasing pessimism from business is about what breaks it will mean for them this week the airplane manufacturer airbus said that it would have to pull out of the u.k. if the government fails as a cure a post breaks a trade deal putting thousands of jobs at risk. the u.k. faces a fifty billion dollar divorce bill for leaving the e.u. complications over its border with the member island and the us president he might not be as welcoming about british trade as first thought. the world's changed since

britain backed breaks it's only another vote say these people can correct past mistakes. london. germany have revived their hopes of successfully defending their football world cup crown. if they've made their fans back home in berlin away to the final minute a late goal sealing a two one win over sweden germany hoping to become the first side to retain the world cup in more than fifty years correspondent andy richardson has more from moscow. well there was a collective holding of breath for everyone concerned with this world cup here in russia as for long periods of the game against sweden it looks as though germany were about to be knocked sounds that coach yogi love had made for changes to the starting line up but the same defensive frailties still seem to be there the defensive frailties we saw in their one nil opening loss to mexico sweden took

a first off lead through even and germany started the second half with an extra striker on the pitch and they dropped an equaliser through marker royce but it still didn't look set to be the night they had to defend your own words saying get sent off lights in the game but it was still time deep into injury time for them real madrid midfielder tony tries to smash i'm a free kick and completely change the world cup outlook see one win means they'll go into the final round of group games level on points with sweden sweden will play mexico while germany will take on south korea if lost by thank games sorry for now this is a notoriously difficult title to defend successfully the last team to achieve it brazil back in one thousand nine hundred sixty two but perhaps germany will look at slightly more recent history for some inspiration in twenty ten spain lost their opening game but still went on to lift the trophy. but still top of germany's group mexico they defeated south korea two one to make it two wins from his many matches

. and looking ahead to sunday's action in russia england are in action for their second match of the tournament on sunday against panama whoever wins out of japan and senegal will go to the top of group h. or poland then colombia will be chasing their first victory of this world cup. this is al jazeera let's get a roundup of our top stories in turkey polls have just opened for sunday's elections live pictures from a polling station in istanbul six candidates are seeking the presidency including richard tired when the current president a second round of voting will take place next month if no candidate wins more than half the votes into today's first round after the election constitutional changes will come into force vastly expanding the powers of the president those who

approved in a referendum last year president anyone who's been in power for fifteen years called the snap election eighteen months earlier he attacked his opposition for lacking vision is main challenger mohajir i mean che painted a bleak picture of turkey underwent saying its currency would remain weak and its refugee problems unresolved the united states has reportedly told syrian rebels not to expect military support in southern syria need jordan and the israeli occupied golan heights a deescalation zone was a stablish their last year including parts of their own and cornetto syria and russia had been carrying out air strikes on the rebel territory according to reuters the us government send a message to the heads of free syrian army groups whom it has supported in the past zimbabwe's president emerson manning ghagra survived an apparent grenade attack at a campaign rally before next month's election the bomb was thrown at the zimbabwean

leader as he walked off stage in the city of bull away or. this is just. still. losing jobs some sixty. the u.s. department of homeland security says it's reunited more than five hundred migrant children with their families roughly twenty three hundred children were taken away in recent weeks at the mexico border because of donald trump's hardline immigration policies those are the headlines we're back in half an hour right now it's people in power. it was a war that united egypt and syria are against israel but in the heat of the battle that different agendas soon became apparent as a total eclipse green was to avenge the defeat of nazi sixty seven when president sadat came to power he told us just give me ten centimeters of land in the east the

second of a three part series the israeli population were told that their troops were on the west bank of the so is can exploit the second week of the war in october on al-jazeera. from a pretty people of southern argentina and chile have long protested the loss of from so strong lands at the hands of colonial era settlers territory that's maraton limited by huge temporist states which have left the region environmentally depleted and the indigenous inhabitants mired in poverty but recently the simmering resentment have been coming to the core we've been to find that one.