ask w. your questions about germany put a kid and a medicare kid they were. right to us on facebook we'll answer your questions. this is d. w. news live from berlin germany prepares for an election that could change the country's political landscape chancellor angela merkel is still leading in the polls in the run up to sunday's vote but the far right alternative for germany party looks on course to enter parliament what does this need for germany will have

to show coverage also coming up. waiting for help in towns and villages shattered by tuesday's huge earthquake in mexico three days after disaster struck ditto be america's correspondent visited one village that's digging itself out of the rubble . hello and welcome i'm michel henery it's good to have you with us with german set to vote on sunday the leading candidates for the post of chancellor have been making their case to voters marco and her challenger martin schulz both held election rallies on friday the latest polls give merkel's christian democrats a double digit lead over march unsheltered social democrats but that didn't dampen shows enthusiasm at his rally in berlin. martin schulze meeting his

supporters two days before polling he's determined to fight on despite being given almost no chance of beating merkel tomorrow some say his main campaign issue social justice has failed to energize voters yet this is the issue to which he returns at a rally in berlin. when we talk about fair wages about collective wage agreement the jobs with permanent contract should be the norm in germany which is the basis for a good future for the next generation. the passion of schulz's speech left many supporters frustrated by his low standings in the polls. i just don't get it because i think these are the issues that should be important in germany still hope he will win it. shouldn't always listen to what the polls say whether they're representative or not is another question but after what he talked about today i don't understand it. hundreds of kilometers further south in munich the

scene is very different crowds cheering the whistle of the rally by chancellor merkel didn't survive as the highly literate but we can agree on one thing we definitely won't shape germany's future by whistling and screaming his style to. the critics are angry about the way she handled the refugee crisis in twenty fifteen she says that will never happen again. that was planted those who voted to learn what happened in two thousand and fifteen must not and will not be repeated the mission if you don't let us know those are welcome words for the leader of michael's bavarian c.s.u. allies horst say her first they too are now almost certainly looking forward to another term in office. joining us for more is d.w. political correspondent hans brandt ons the latest polls continue to give merkel's

c.d.u. a double digit lead why has it been so hard for any candidate to pose a serious threat against her it's got to do with personal issues not only popular amongst us but quite far beyond that even as far as the left wing left party or even the green party the environmentalist greens and obviously also amongst versions of the social democrats amongst all of these people as a person is popular despite all maybe also because of her policies what's a very crucial in that is that she has been governing for twelve years and people are basically satisfied with her record and she is a kind of guarantee of continuity of a kind of calmness in the in the political sphere in a situation where the rest of the world is in a lot of upheaval the same polls have also placed the right wing populist a.f.d. party and third place what their election into parliament need for germany. well

you could say that this is in a sense a kind of normalization if you look at other countries all around germany in europe there are right wing populist parties in all of those countries and some countries even in government in poland for instance or in hungary and it's also beyond that in britain and it was those kind of voters that decided at the bricks of decision and in the united states it was kind of that. donald trump into power in germany has not been a party of this right wing spectrum that has been able to establish itself for historical reasons in germany with its nazi history there was a very strong to do against such a party that would seem to be weakening now it will change it has already changed political debate in germany it's made it a lot more vociferous a lot more raucous in a sense as we've just seen in the campaigns that are under marco has been running and that will be the case in parliament as well and there is some question about

how committed this party is to the democratic process so it's not quite clear if it does get into parliament which seems very likely to what extent it will actually support parliamentary process there's a day to go before voting begins what is the mood in the country for a long time people in germany were saying well this election is pretty boring because we all know what it's all cover is going to be called is likely to win. martin shows from the social democrats is very likely to come in second place but in the last week or two what's become crucial and pretty exciting in fact is the question who comes third to what extent the right wing populist the f.t. can be stopped or to what extent their gains can be at least to some extent reduced and so the other smaller parties the greens the environmentalists the far left left party and also the democrat market liberals they are all at around ten percent in

the polls and they're all fighting very hard to comfort you political correspondent hans brandt thank you very much. so as the campaigning draws to a close ahead of sunday's elections why not join our conversation online you can get all our coverage on our website d.w. dot com there's also plenty of content on our facebook page and on twitter just look for a hash tag germany decides don't hesitate to get involved and tell us what you think. here in berlin voters heading to polling stations will have to compete with tens of thousands of athletes taking part in the berlin marathon city officials say they've made arrangements to make sure that everything goes smoothly for both runners and voters. the forty fourth britain marathon meets the german elections. forty four thousand

competitors will be running through the german capital on sunday. plans had to be made to ensure that berlin voters could reach their polling stations without problems. since. well together there are thirty polling stations affected that is when the voters have to cross the marathon route to reach their polling station. the voters were already informed of this when they received their polling card. and they also received another card that shows them how to reach their polling station. crossing points have been set up to help people get to the polls on time. we have staggered starts around fifteen thousand runners at a time take off and we've spread out the groups a bit more so that they'll be more space on the route to allow voters going to the polls to be able to cross. security is also

a concern more than fifteen hundred police will be on duty for the marathon and election on sunday authorities say they have no indications of any possible terror attacks the marathon should be able to retain its usual festive character. this is the first time both of vents are happening at the same time but we think we're well prepared. it all sounds like a pretty normal marathon looting the finisher's hanging out on the lawn in front of the german parliament. iran claims to have tested a new medium range missile in defiance of warnings from the u.s. state television broadcast footage of the launch as well as in-flight video taken from the nose of the rocket the mr list said to be capable of carrying so. for warheads over a distance of up to two thousand kilometers earlier this week u.s. president trump had criticized iran at the u.n.

general assembly washington says iran's missile tests violate the spirit of a twenty fifteen nuclear deal between tehran and world powers. in mexico the death toll from tuesday's massive earthquake has now reached two hundred ninety five hopes are fading that any more people will be found alive international media has largely focused on mexico city where most of the fate televisa occurred but hundreds of communities south of the capital also suffered heavy damage and have yet to get help from the government. reports. this is. a small village about one hundred kilometers southeast from mexico city the church here had to close its doors after the earthquake most houses are built with breaks made of matter and straw known as adults this make them specially vulnerable. knots of houses made of adobe have collapsed apparently were exactly on

the earthquake fault line most houses here all wood and made of adobe. that is yes house was also completely destroyed she knows it will have to be torn down except to do that this is a huge loss for us emotionally too but now are even more united more than ever. her neighbor got him out the u.s. is still trying to salvage things of value from the rubble. we used to just have a roof they have these big dried leaves we brought down from the mountains. so when they finally got a tiled roof that was a huge improvement for our parents. and. the devastated house is much more than a loss for him. this is their work not only my parents work but also my grandparents thank god we're at least alive. his daughter sania was

born and grew up in this house. i was born here i lived in my childhood i have beautiful memories. now she'll have to help her father rebuild it government help has barely arrived in the periphery of mexico city the main help here comes from civilians among those arriving to help our students and teaching staff from universities and schools in other towns and cities look at it and we didn't want to stand around doing nothing we were planning to go to mexico city but then we noticed the villages in the countryside were much more in. need of our help so here we are. this village has never witnessed such destruction the people here were lucky they have been spared that they suffered in mexican capital. and here everyone hopes to have a home again. very soon. after hurricane maria ravaged puerto

rico earlier this week the island is now facing a possible new disaster some seventy thousand residents are being evacuated in the country's west after experts warned a dam could collapse authorities say a drain pipe in the nearly one hundred year old talk of dam had already failed and led to flash flooding downstream heavy rain brought on by hurricane maria filled the lake behind the dam with too much water. bundesliga football now and a shocker in munich last night byron were hosting lowly wolfsburg and all seemed on schedule after are you involved in stock was deflected into the net but poor goalkeeping helped bring back that mistake plus a beautiful header by daniel dopy in the eighty second minute a stunning two two draw for second place prior. the draw in munich is good news for top of the table dortmund they play god bok later today and hope to benefit further from at least one unsung player. newry

shine hasn't just been vital to the change that development he's also profited from the most. boss has made him a leader on the pitch and paid him back by scoring his first goal in two and a half years the the despite the euphoria surrounding him he's keeping his feet firmly on the ground. we've only played five been does league a game so far that isn't much we have to try and win our game on saturday and that won't be easy we have to be on top of our game. love to play the namesake's at the risk. of loss just one of the last count as. has a knack of scoring against grabbing three in his last two home games against the foles something he and the team will want to continue. the feeling within the team is good you can see that the team trusts its abilities playing well

and working well as a team all of that's important to win a game. join us again the top of the hour in the meantime you can check out our website follow us on twitter thanks for watching. she's long been a symbol of hope in syria.