towards to algis even. the first votes are cast in elections at polls the biggest challenge to turkey's president and his party in years. though this is al jazeera live from our headquarters in doha fully back to bill also coming up rebels in southern syria say the u.s. has told them they're on their own as the army and its allies close in class. zimbabwe's president declares it wasn't his time after surviving an apparent grenade attack on the campaign trail and from a lack of hospitals to fake anti-venom we'll look at the factors behind

a worsening health problem in nigeria and around the world. thank you for joining us voting is underway in turkey's high stakes elections that will complete the country's transition to a new executive presidential system present to one is seeking a new five year term with vastly increased powers under the new system and his ruling party's hoping to retain its majority in parliament types main rival is n.j. whose who would voters with an unexpectedly engaging campaign in all they are five men and one woman in the race for the top job the top two we've mentioned typo to one who's never lost an election is trying to extend his time in power the leader and founder of the ruling party has been in power for fifteen years first as prime minister and then as president why remain j. is from the center left republican people sponte all c.h.b.

which is the main opposition says that if he's elected he'll bring back the parliamentary system then there is action there from the nationalists i y i party she's also promised to reestablish turkish foreign interests. system and the state of emergency slide teen time she's a candidate for the pro kurdish h d p party he's campaigned for from jail where he's been held on terrorism charges the other two candidates to mail. from the site its party and the group are in check standing for the leftist patriotic party or baton party c well we have correspondents covering the elections across turkey simcoe is live for us in istanbul mohammed is in the kurdish stronghold of the in the southeastern part of the country but first we go to burnish smith who's in turkey's capital ankara good so sunday morning the polls have opened for two hours now how tight is this race expected to be. i think it's going to be

a lot tighter than president one thought he was going to be when he first called this election two months ago in those two months the main opposition parties have formed an unprecedented alliance and they hope with this alliance they can rob the ruling out party of its parliamentary majority and the main presidential contender against him in jail from the republican people's party he's drawn hundreds of thousands of people to his rallies across the country and really given president this time a run for his money the sort of competition that one has really not before elections in turkey that said one remains the most popular candidate in turkey but the opposition hopes that at the at the best they can stop or one this time around getting more than fifty percent of the vote and therefore forcing a second runoff in two weeks time most of the polls suggest that one would still win but they also suggest that today it's going to be tight fully thank you for fan

from ankara we go to. take its largest city is live for us and. of course is our no one city gave him an easy victory in twenty fifteen but is also voted against a constitutional reforms last year what's the mood like there and where will the candidates be voting. yes foley's stumble is very important for all parties because it has been a castle for the main opposition c.h.b. longer go but uk party to call over the city but as you said the referendum shows a different support from istanbul and as a tradition since president aired on used to live in a stumble every year he comes and votes in the school right behind me and he always comes around noontime old press are waiting for him to take the pictures and videos of his voting he comes with the first lady and the other candidate who votes in

istanbul is medal action as the only female candidate she will be voting in a stumble to. will be voting in yellowstone again a city close by a stumble where others like her in jail and other candidates will be voting in cairo for now says it's the early hours early hours of the day it is a bit slow but i have to remind that participation level in voting for turks is very very high so probably many people will be hitting the ballot box within a few hours ok thank you and we'll be checking in with you throughout the day of course go live for a same istanbul let's get the view now from deandra care the kurdish heartland here is expected to pose a challenge i imagine for president i don't want tell us about the mood there. yes forty so far it doesn't look like a big crowd behind me this is one of the polling centers in the center of. a little

bit. somehow and you know people are expected to you know come in bigger numbers later in the day remember it is a sunday morning. also here as you said this is this is one of the hot spots for most of the one in this election because this is where people are most concerned and most upset with the continued state of emergency that has been placed for a long time now and has been extended several times this is also the area where fighting took place just two years ago twenty fifty twenty six sixteen in the streets of the isle book of some of the areas inside the city are still closed because of that the kiddush the long history of the kiddush issue here in turkey. is still going on the aftermath of that the impact of it is felt in the streets will be yesterday talking to people and they've been telling us this is not a fair election because our leader the leader of the h d p party the main kurdish party is in jail since twenty sixteen in

a fair election he should be let out to do with his campaign in a normal way and addresses the crowds so there is a lot of this content here even though this said. ok party also has its support here the headquarters here where very active during the last few days and one himself was here earlier this month at dressing the crowd the kurds are not quite united in their vote because some of them are saying that one is the president who gave the kurds more throughout the history of turkey when he allowed the use of language when he when he began a peace process in turkey but also that according to many has been reversed since twenty fifteen when he stripped them from their biggest victory when they got there plus thirteen percent of the votes of the seats in parliament and then he called for another election later in november and they went down to about. percent so they can't forget that for him however let me also tell you that if they have an axe to

grind with one of the ikea party they also have an axe to grind with the republic of the people republican people's party led by india because that bloc that opposition bloc has left them outside the coalition during the parliament parliamentary elections so i mean the also it's not clear depending on this whether if one doesn't get the fifty percent whether they will go and vote for him in the second round or four will have an easier right so the way the kurds fold will have a huge impact on the makeup of turkey's parliament thank you very much mohamed van with voting there live from here in turkey's kurdish region now on to other world news and the united states has reportedly told syrian rebels not to expect military support in southern syria near jordan emmy's really occupied golan heights a deescalation zone was established there last year which includes parts of the provinces of iraq and can a try rebels there are now facing a syrian government offensive and in the latest developments syrian activists

report that at least twenty five russian air strikes hit eastern parts of iraq overnight reports. this is the first time global build forces have used battle bombs in daraa in the. 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 authority 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 iranian and afghan militias it's only syrians who should decide the future of the country. the syrian army is massing troops in the area

the opposition says thousands of shia 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 in daraa for years the f.s.a. was trained by the u.s. europe and gulf countries but that support has diminished over the last. anti assad forces are largely outgunned and outnumbered. zimbabwe's president has survived a grenade attack at a campaign rally. and heard several others were injured including one of his vice

president. says the incident will not affect their vote next month as a first presidential election since former leader robert mugabe was ousted. this is. james sixty. al-jazeera is hiring more tasa has more from johannesburg in neighboring south africa right now on social media people talking about how safe is it to attend 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 are these attacks lakita 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 surprised 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 officials have things under control people much is prepared for these elections which he says will happen at the end of july. we'll have a look at the weather next and then want to tell you what happened when protesters tried to stop a by scaring migrant children near the us mexico border plus. my five year in jail and finds out the defending world champions leave it to their time and hopes to live. hello and welcome back we're seeing some big changes in europe's weather at the moment so pretty chilly across the central areas the winds coming in from the north so berlin really strong in temperature wise the same with much of poland plenty of rain around as well but here temperatures will eventually rise as this area of high

pressure from the west begins to push in and as we move through sunday into monday temperatures were covered little bit for berlin but you give it until next friday and temperatures then could be up to thirty three degrees in the mean time i think over the course of the next day or so we're going to be see temperatures pushing the thirty degree mark across parts of the u.k. and much of fronts not far behind thirty six degrees the high in madrid moving into north africa here we've got fine conditions all the way thirty seven as the high in colorado as we head into monday might just be the odd showers through the northern coast of libya but otherwise no real problem snow into central parts of africa we've got some really big storm system to get across in the flow particularly across parts of west africa i'm not commits but a particular area of rain towards mali but nevertheless the risk of showers is there could be one or two showers for lagos in nigeria and then as we head into southern portions of africa is largely fine here with highs of fifteen expected in

cape town. eighty percent of the visually impaired could be cured without access to treatment . and where there was a will there is a way. to toss better coverage over seventy seven countries. with every expression he seems to say every little pakistan. provides free treatment over one million patients. revisited. iraq.

welcome back our top stories on al-jazeera voting is underway in turkey's high stakes here actions that will complete the country's transition to a new executive presidential system sweeping constitutional changes will come into force vastly expanding the powers of the president activists in syria say more than twenty five russian air strikes hit the province of there are overnight as the government offensive continues the u.s. has reportedly told syrian rebels there are now not to expect their support and zimbabwe's president has survived a grenade attack at a campaign rally he escaped unhurt but several others were injured and mr non-god was says the incident will not affect the presidential votes next month. now we've reported about the grenade attack on zimbabwe's president only hours earlier someone threw a grenade at a political rally in ethiopia killing one person and injuring more than one hundred others prime minister abbey ahmed had just finished addressing the crowd when it

happened victoria gate and he has more. this was the moment the grenade exploded close to where prime minister ahmed was sitting. for a few moments there was confusion before members of the security forces came onto the stage and led the effort to safety. witnesses say they saw the man who targeted the prime minister there's a prime minister we're just concluded his speech and that moment there was a grenade. but i think the guy was just trying to stroll to the stage. beside him just took him so they just went off and on sunday it was a bloody end to a day that is started with say much optimism hundreds of thousands of ethiopians had gathered in the capital addis ababa mescal square to support the new prime minister since taking office in april the forty two year old has announced

a series of reforms including the release of tens of thousands of prisoners the opening of state owned companies to private investment and to propose peace deal with eritrea in an address to the nation after the attack abby said that those trying to divide ethiopia would not succeed in your my fellow why not but that i'm not certain groups planned and coordinated to destroy this large gathering to kill innocent people and to spill blood on our streets they have tried very hard but their entire plot has failed questions are being raised about whether the security operation for such a large rally was adequate some of the officers have been saying that this is an attempt on the life of the prime minister and the definitely. supporting the rally was a great the most patient that there is a solid support for the reformist by the prime minister but at the same time the

the great attack have revealed that the reforms are still fragile prime minister abbey says he is determined to bring change to ethiopia but this attack highlights the lengths some will go to to try and stop him victoria gave him a al-jazeera. sprains coast guard has rescued nearly eight hundred refugees and migrants trying to cross the mediterranean sea from north africa they were picked up on saturday from about twenty five small boats in waters between morocco and spain e.u. leaders are holding an emergency meeting on sunday to address recent tensions over migration policies meanwhile french president emmanuel mccoll says he supports financial sanctions on e.u. members refusing to take refugees and migrants with proven asylum status michael held a working lunch in paris with spain's new prime minister federal sanchez it's a spanish leader's first official trip abroad since taking office three weeks ago which means that there was usually 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 natasha butler has more now from paris. 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 emmanuel markov 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 tomorrow mark or will be at a mini migration summit in brussels on sunday and this meeting in paris was 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 and later in the week at the main summit there is no doubt they are on a 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. protesters are trying to block a bus carrying migrant children near the u.s.

border with mexico. crowds briefly stopped the bus as it was leaving a processing point in texas police were called to disperse the protesters and enable the bus to proceed border patrol agents didn't say where it was going now about two thousand three hundred children were taken away in recent weeks as part of the trumpet ministration zero tolerance policy on immigration the u.s. department of homeland security now says it's reunited more than five hundred migrant children with their parents but it remains aloof about their plans to reunite the others from the gable elizondo has this report. at a bus station in mckellen texas u.s. authorities released dozens of migrants from detention centers as before donald trump zero tolerance policy most have to wear electronic monitoring devices on their ankles so they can be tracked to ensure the show up for court appearances with their asylum cases can be heard one of them was but he had zero carbon and her

small child they were kept together she's relieved to be free but says she was separated from her fifteen year old sister melissa who had to stay behind. my sister snuck out to say bye to me she told me to take care of myself and take care of the baby they both were applying for asylum in america the department of health and human services confirms to al-jazeera they have just set up a task force to begin the process of reunification of families separated at the border but provided few other details on how or when it might happen journalists are not allowed inside this detention facility but i'll just zero spoke to a human rights lawyer who was it's dismal there's probably they told me that there are about at capacity which is five hundred people if they have is rare they haven't been at that level we met with probably between our entire group we have you know six or seven female lawyers who are in there probably to. detainees over the last two days alone and they're still there this afternoon meeting with more

and they say there's more and more people coming in most of them every single one of them across the border with children separated almost immediately from immigration asylum seekers still face hostility from the very country they look to as their hope for a better future the trumpet ministrations zero tolerance policy is still in effect so families seeking asylum that cross into the u.s. illegally are still apprehended the families are just kept together and sent to homeland security detention centers like this one where they all been face criminal prosecution it's a crisis on multiple fronts with little sign of any changes even though the top administration has said that they're not separating families anymore they haven't ended the policy that is actually at the root cause of the search of asylum seekers from central america has actually eased off since its peak in two thousand and fourteen yet the u.s. navy has been asked to build more detention centers on military bases the intent is

twofold keep families together but also in custody which also keeps trump's hardline zero tolerance policy a law gabriels on to. los fresno's texas. and a french teenager who accidentally cross from canada into america want jogging has been released after two weeks in the u.s. attention to deal a roman straight across while on a beach on canada's specific coast despite protesting her innocence she was apprehended and taken to a center two hundred kilometers south of the border roman described the ordeal as the frights of her life and has been banned from entering the u.s. . snakebites kill more than one hundred thousand people every year the world health organization says reducing the number of fatalities is a global health priority many victims are in nigeria where as on the dangerous reports doctors a struggling to save lives. this man was bitten by

a snake three days ago but he's only now arriving at hospital for treatment two hundred kilometers away a medical crisis is unfolding in nigeria why distances between medical facilities can prove the difference between life and death and medicines are either too expensive for many who are in short supply. before the doctor here can finish attending to the patient his call to another victim who's just been brought in we had a severe instance daily now. and as time goes on and so we're entering the rainy season properly we'll be having more because people are. under fire. and also because of sleeping i'll say thousands of people are bitten by sneaks in nigeria every year but health experts can't be sure exactly how many died because of poor access in rural areas. this is the only hospital treating victims of

snakebites in the region of more than thirteen million nigerians doctors and nurses here are struggling to cope with the rising number of patients doctors say many cases arrive year late sometimes too late and patients die or end up with permanent disability it took our people when nearly five days to get help. leave our love i never gone through unbelievable suffering to get here it's just that i didn't day at some point at least a decade copied by police are responsible for eighty percent of the cases in this hospital. i'd also fun to going to cost one hundred fifty dollars but there are some dubious antivenom is being offered on the market and they can help of course death rather than prevent it so many people are dying in the in the bush or india or areas where it is not accessible and or and then they go there so in many. countries and they have enough cycling in the area. but the growing population

there is a need for more land to grow food and that has set humans and dangerous rip dies on a collision course more snakes in their natural habitat are being disturbed as more crops are planted the rising number of snake bite cases has prompted the regional government to build an extension to the hospital in an effort to meet the increased demand for treatment. a few months ago the country was hit by a shortage of i just need venom drugs it's reported two hundred fifty people died in just three weeks with a crop planting season only now getting in the way hospitals are bracing for another surge in the number of state by the victims in need of urgent help i mean to greece al-jazeera comes to nigeria a former vatican deafened that has been sentenced to five years in prison for possessing and distributing child pornography more sinjar connel capella admitted to viewing the images in what he said was

a time of fragility. convicted capella after a two day trial the first of its kind to be held inside the vatican. germany's football team has revived fans' hopes of successfully defending the world cup crown . if the fur's made everyone back home wait until the last minute an injury time free kick sealed a two one win over sweden the germans are hoping to become the first country to retain the world cup in more than fifty was a sports correspondent andy richardson has more from moscow. where there was a collective holding of breath for everyone concerned with this world cup 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 it made for changes to the starting line up at the same defensive frailties still seem to be the defensive frailties we saw in their one nil opening loss to mexico sweden sort of first off lead through toivonen germany started the second half with an extra striker on the pitch and

they dropped an equaliser through mark or royce but it still didn't look set to be the knights they had to defend your own words saying get sent off late in the game but it was still time deep into injury time for them real madrid midfielder toni cross to smash only free kick and completely change the world cup. 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 who've lost both the games so 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. looking ahead to sunday's action in russia england play their second match of the tournaments they're up against panama whether wins out of japan and some guy will go to the top of group poland

and colombia or they're chasing their first victory of this world cup. hello again i'm fully back to go with our top stories here on al-jazeera voting is underway in turkey's high stakes elections that will complete the country's transition to a new executive's presidential system present a shape typewriter one is seeking a new five year term with vastly increased powers under the new system and his ruling ak party is hoping to retain its majority in parliament types main rival is myron n.j. whose voters with an unexpectedly engaging campaign when it smith is in an accord was not a lot tighter than one thought it was going to be when he first called this election two months ago in those two months the main opposition parties have formed an unprecedented alliance and they hope with this alliance they can rob the ruling out party of its parliamentary majority and the main presidential contender against

him in jail from the republican people's party he's drawn hundreds of thousands of people to these rallies across the country and really giving president this time a run for his money and some live pictures from a voting center in istanbul where the main opposition candidate mohamed n j is voting as you can see is getting into that voting center we'll keep an eye on the elections in turkey throughout the day here on al-jazeera of course and other news activists in syria say more than twenty five russian air strikes hit the province of dura overnight as the government offensive continues the u.s. has reportedly told syrian rebels they are not to expect military support zimbabwe's president has survived a grenade attack at a campaign rally unhurt but several others were injured and mr non-god was says the incident will not affect the presidential vote next month. the u.s. president's senior adviser jared cushion or has told

a palestinian newspaper that he is ready to work with mahmoud abbas and other u.s. officials are touring the middle east to build support for a palestinian israeli peace plan which he says will be presented soon the palestinian leader cut communications with the white house after it recognized jerusalem as israel's capital spain's coast guard has rescued nearly eight hundred refugees and migrants trying to cross the mediterranean sea from north africa they were picked up on saturday from about twenty five small boats in waters between morocco and spain e.u. leaders are holding an emergency meeting on sunday to address recent tensions over migration you're upset with headlines on al-jazeera coming up next year it's inside story. candid testimonies from the binny's women who are staying single longer. what's causing this cultural shift in a society already be set by religious and social tensions. and are there

implications for the arrow growth of the whole. by choice on al-jazeera. it's an election like no other roger tire better ones popularity put to the test as voters go to the polls the turkish leader faces real challenges as he seeks to tighten his grip will not power he's held the sixteen years so could there be a surprise but what would that mean for turkey's future this is inside story. hello and welcome to the program dennis turks go to the polls on sunday for what are being seen as the most crucial elections in modern.