i asked d.-w. your questions about germany. and the medicare is good they were a lot of fun for the employees. write to us on facebook we'll answer your questions . this is d w news live from girl end germany begins voting to elect a new government will it be four times in a row for angela merkel as chancellor or will challenger martine schultz pull off a shock victory and pin her up to the post. and what about the a f d polls predict

that the far right party will enter parliament for the first time what could this mean for german politics we will have all of the analysis. plus in other news north korea ups the ante against the united states beyond yanks foreign minister tells the un that an attack on the u.s. mainland is now inevitable this after u.s. bombers and fighter jets fly near north korea in an unprecedented show of force against the isolated state. and fortress dortmund undefeated at home for more than two years and yet to concede a goal this season tops the table as they posted much of blood back to the folds maintain their unbeaten run. i'm sorry kelly welcome to our special coverage of the german elections the polling . stations are open and germans are deciding whether angela merkel serves

a fourth term as chancellor voting began just a few moments ago and will continue for the next ten hours you're looking at live pictures of a polling station right here in the capital berlin more than sixty one million people are eligible to cast their ballots polls indicate that merkel's on course for a clear victory but could a surprise be in store like greggs it or tromp well if merkel wins as expected the big question is who she will end up governing with will it be another grand coalition with the social democrats or will she join forces with another party. let's get more on that now we are joined in the studio by political correspondent hans brandt so hans what's at stake today well any election obviously is an important election for the for the titians participating careers are at stake. questions about what they're going to do where they're going to stay in parliament

or not in fact it's very likely that many that have been in parliament for the last four years will lose their jobs as it will lose their post in parliament but really the big question is who's going to be sued in this election because it seems very clear that i'm going to marcos christian democrats the c.d.u. will come first that the second place will stay with the social democrats of martin shows a third place is really what's crucial here. and there is the question what the populist right wing alternative for germany the a of fifty how well they are going to do if they are going to be a third largest party that will carry quite a shock to the political system here so what are the polls then saying and can we rely on them. at the moment the most recent polls giving the christian democrats angle americans party about thirty six percent of the vote there's a plus or minus two percent in all of these figures which are due to statistical

error or margin of error in these statistics the social democrats are likely to get somewhere on twenty to twenty five percent of the vote and in the most recent polls the alternative for germany has pulled ahead somewhat is now at about thirteen percent of the vote that look to make it clearly the third largest party. there is a margin of error as there is in all of these statistics and there is some doubt about whether voters who voted for the right wing party for dave actually saying so in the polls because there is still quite a strong to boo in germany against such properties that comes from german history from germany's nazi history such rightwing sentiment has turned to germany into a pariah in the world too in the second world war and caused the second world war with all its crimes against humanity so for many many decades there's been a strong two blew in germany against rioting prolific politics which seems to be

gone and given that historical significance it's actually quite surprising that many have described this campaign in this election just generally speaking as a lackluster and a boring one we know that that the german populace tends to be relatively engaged usually the voter turnout figures come in at around seventy percent what are we expecting this time round. well everyone is saying all the mainstream politicians are saying what's very important now is to go and vote. so that the outcome will be as strongly as legitimate as possible legitimized by the participation in the vote there are still large numbers of people in recent polls who said that they're undecided how they're going to vote if you take the roughly thirty percent that tends not to go and vote at all there's a figure of maybe ten or fifteen percent that are still swing votes and that every image everyone's been trying to get to come to the polls the weather will play some

role it's been raining and that's not good for to not so we'll have to wait and see but we have to mention rain not abnormal here at least in the german capital in berlin where we are based on we just saw some shots there of some voters already exercising their democratic rights to go to the polls and you're watching live special coverage just to remind you of the german election here in berlin the conservative c.d.u. c.s.u. led by angela merkel of course and the social democrats led by martine schultz are widely predicted to be the two largest parties in parliament they may be in election mode now but both have been in a coalition since two thousand and thirteen that means that it has become difficult to tell them apart when it comes to their major stand on major issues. two parties to many festivals at least in theory because in fact the conservative c.d.u. c.s.u. and the social democrat s.p.d. party have more common ground than differences. one of the most

pressing issues in german foreign policy is their relationship with turkey both parties agree on a tougher stance against turkish president. at the t.v. duel the two candidates had only slightly differing standpoint so in turkey. while s.p.d. front runner martin schulz called for ending economic and financial relations the customs union and e.u. accession talks the c.d.s. anglo-american supports freezing accession talks but stresses that diplomatic relations need to continue. the differences between the parties are slim in many areas but not when it comes to defense. c.d.u. agrees with the us president and nato who want to raise defense spending to two percent of gross domestic product the social democrats are opposing such plans by saying that will not happen with the s.p.d.

. after years of crisis and political turmoil things are looking up in europe but the e.u. reforms are urgently needed and expectations are high for germany to take the lead . the s.p.d. has a progressive stance on europe and calls for a european constitution the c.d.u. states rather vague by calling for further development of the euro zone. it's hard to find real differences on key issues like the migration crisis but both s.p.d. and see do you agree that it was right to open the borders in two thousand and fifteen and that migrants should be redistributed within the e.u. . the s.p.d. made a broad statement distribution has to happen in a coordinated way the conservatives agree but in directly appealed to eastern european countries to fulfill their responsibility. for years and government have

led to the cd un s p d closing their ranks if surveys proved to be right they might soon govern again in yet another grand coalition. let's get more now on the prospects for that grand coalition we are joined now by correspondent hans bronson hans as we saw that the lie the lines basically becoming blurred between the c.d.u. and the s.p.d. what does that mean for germany just generally is there too much consensus at the moment i think there is a feeling that that is the case that is why many people have been describing the election campaign as somewhat boring and not very interesting because the differences between these two major parties have been so small that is possibly a result of the fact that they have could and could governs together for the last four years in this grand coalition and as a result specially the social democrats who have had a lot of their content and. their input into the government of the last four years

have lost a little bit of the impact and they're kind of separate profiles separate from america's christian democrats and in the sense i'm going to macro has this strategy of kind of sucking in the opposition's. proposals politics take for instance the minimum wage that was introduced in within this election period during the last food four years obviously something that was very important to the social democrats which the conservative to us initially rejected i'm going to mackinaw says it was her project to. you know possum in a minimum wage so this kind of. strategy of i'm going to americans to take over the proposal of her opponents has left those opponents looking a little colorless looking a little profile this you might so perhaps not too much advantage to governing with angle a mark i want to not use it to getting credit for your own party platforms so just

tell us when voters are heading to the polls today what exactly are they looking at what are the main issues for them. i think in the end if you if you believe the polls the main issues concern the refugee crisis and the role of migration in germany that goes much further than just refugees coming here but also questions of immigration of allowing immigration in some form. not only asylum seekers not only people coming from war zones but people generally looking for a better life looking for work in germany there's been a lot of dispute about that in german politics for many years but then there are what you might call the normal issues issues such as. unemployment pensions education infrastructure things like repair state of the bad repair of things like roads bridges schools and so on. those kind of every day issues that determine hope

that probably will or not well people live in all of those issues i mean that is something that that the a.f.d. party is also really hitting very hard on i just want to briefly turn to them and then we'll get more analysis on their rise from you hons because with the c.d.u. c.s.u. and the social democrats slated to be the two largest parties as we've heard the race is on first third place the latest opinion polls indicate that that position could go to the far right alternative for germany or a.f.d. as we mentioned it's on course to become the first far right party voted into german parliament since world war two and it's likely to shake up the political consensus with its opposition to migrants and islam. a.f.d. election posters leave little to be imagination new germans will make those ourselves read this one berkus pass this slogan we're into bikini's if there were any doubts about the alternative on offer it's islamophobia and anti immigrant stop islamification vote f.t. reads this post or i suppose a threat posed by islam in migrants has been

a key campaign message for the candidates. politicked often an open borders the indiscriminate admission of people from other religions and cultures poses a grave threat to my civil liberties to the civil liberties of homosexuals and above all to the civil liberties of our still free society if you are not fired as aircraft pilots vitalism economist who lives with a lesbian partner a swiss woman of sri lankan origin together they've adopted two children although i have to the policy clearly states that a family needs a mother and a father vital even criticised the german government for introducing same sex marriage. her running mate alexander garland is a founding f.t. member he's drawn condemnation for racist statements about what tank a black soccer player who helped clinch the twenty fourteen world cup for germany people think he's a good footballer down and said last year but they don't want to what tang as

a neighbor. hasn't always been a far right populist party and you come into the german political scene it was founded just four years ago back then it was a single issue set up campaigning against the euro and germany's contribution to the e.u. bailout fund for greece it's almost got elected to the bundestag in twenty thirteen it ended up just shy of the five percent needed. but the f.t.c. electoral fortunes changed when chancellor merkel declared germany's borders open at the height of the migration crisis. the party has transformed itself out in incredible speed into a right wing extremist party with nationalist elements so in that respect it's a challenge for all democrats for the fall of democrat. wherever merkel went during the campaign she was booed by f.t. hecklers with the party in the bundestag she'd be facing vocal far right opponents from the opposition benches.

the party which has really tapped into some discontent here in germany let's bring back hans brock for more on i mean their popularity has we have to talk about it i mean because we just heard there that they're only about four years old how did they get so popular so quickly. well you might say some political political scientists will say that this is a form of noble and these kind of right wing populist parties exist all over europe in all neighboring states in germany they're in power in some of these states and poland and hungary for instance they've been very influential in denmark in the netherlands in france for phone us you know and even beyond that in great britain obviously the brics a decision was also based on this kind of sentiment and so was donald trump's election in the united states in germany there has been this to boo against writing

politics which is held for a long time now it's coming to the fore again and the meteoric rise i think you have to say it like that in the last four years was really based on this anti immigrant xenophobe a racist sentiment that they have stood up as a result of the stream of migrants of refugees coming into germany in those years two thousand and fifteen two thousand and sixteen it's that issue that has really pushed them into practically all regional parliaments and is likely to push them now into the central parliament in germany and we will see if they are able to reach that five percent threshold indeed in order to get in and if they are hons i mean how does that change the dynamic of governing in the parliament one of the possible scenarios well at the moment it's already changed german politics it's already become a lot more raucous we just so saw that they have been hecklers at all appearances hecklers from the right at appearances of angular machall it's been

a lot more contentious on that level this election campaign on another level as we've said it was not very interesting between the large parties but on this level it was quite rochas it was quite vociferous it was quite in some senses racist anti-democratic and that's really. what's going to move into parliament when those party comes into parliament it will be a lot more robust you might say in a positive way debates it may also be a lot more poisonous debate and there is some question amongst certainly certain sections of this of the party about whether or not they even support parliamentary process and democratic processes even though they have participated in these elections there's some thought whether they really think problem and is a place where politics should be made or the way a country should be governed all right and we will see how their popularity indeed shapes up as we mentioned germans just beginning to head to the polls this morning

hans brandt with the very latest our political correspondent thank you. and if you are just joining us you are watching special coverage of the german elections as we mentioned polling stations have opened in germany for the parliamentary elections here polls show that incumbent angela merkel is poised to win a fourth term as chancellor they also suggest that the far right alternative for germany party will enter parliament for the first time. and don't forget we will be live throughout the day bringing you the latest developments as they happen you can of course also follow them online that's on d w dot com our web site there are also plenty plenty of content on our facebook page and on twitter just look at the hash tag germany decides and don't hesitate to get involved and tell us what you think. let's turn now to some other news developing today because north korea's foreign

minister has said that an attack on the u.s. mainland is inevitable just hours after the u.s. flew bombers close to north korea's east coast both sides have been increasing the tensions over pee on yanks nuclear program this week using the u.n. general assembly in new york to deliver some remarkable verbal blows. for the second time this week the united nations podium was used to ratchet up the rhetoric between the u.s. and north korea young stop diplomat slammed the u.s. president as a mentally deranged maglev maniac to tell you on your. money president trump himself is the one on a suicide mission and then. in the case that innocent u.s. lives are lost because of this suicide attack trump will be held totally responsible. just hours earlier a u.s. air force b. one b.

bombers flew further north along the korean coast than ever before the century the pentagon described the flight in international air space as a show of resolve and the military options at hand on friday trump said no one has the right to threaten the u.s. . rocket man should have been handled a long time ago the we're going to do it. because we really have no choice we really have no choice. the u.n. north korea's foreign minister defended his country's nuclear program as a necessary response to u.s. aggression. the only response to violence is violence we will oppose the nuclear weapons of terror any with a nuclear weapons of justice. also had harsh words for china and russia he accused the nuclear powers of offering irresponsible support for the us with the

economic sanctions it's an ordinary north koreans hatami and you know. these powers only want to defend their monopoly on nuclear weapons. meanwhile of two hundred thousand people joined an anti american rally in the north korean capital on the happiness a pledge to defend their leader with lives. let's get a quick check now some other stories making news around the world six people are reported to have been injured in a suspected acid attack outside of a shopping center in london police say that a group of males sprayed a noxious substance in the vicinity of the center causing the injuries one person has been arrested in new zealand's general election no party has secured enough votes to form a government alone the vote was one of the closest in recent history with the governing national party securing forty six percent and the opposition labor party almost thirty six both parties are reportedly considering coalition talks with the

controversial anti immigration new zealand first party which won seven point five percent authorities on the indonesian island of bali are warning that an active volcano could erupt at any time ten thousand people have already evacuated areas near mt gong tourists have been told to avoid camping or hiking with any nine kilometer radius of its crater after tremors were detected in surrounding areas. in mexico at least one person has been killed after another earthquake struck in the south of the country the magnitude six point one quake struck the region of one haka very close to the area battered by an earlier quake on september seventh. rescue workers posting their search for victims in mexico city. a fresh earthquake sent shock waves throughout southern mexico on saturday causing a temporary halt in rescue efforts emergency crews were soon back to work but

tensions are still running high. in mexico city saw a series of small protests after rumors spread online that rescue workers were calling off their search for the hundreds of victims still feared trapped in the rubble. i meet a man i am going to my sisters inside there they have not told us anything they come up with the same thing patients patients patients for how long do we have to be patient right now. the government has assured its citizens that the search will continue thousands of engineers and architects are currently inspecting some four thousand reports of damaged buildings in the capital alone but that's left thousands in the lurch as authorities assess the damages. the riyadh we don't know if our building really has structural damage or if it doesn't. but what we know right now is that at this moment we can't live there. the authorities are

giving us the chance to go up into news. so that we can take our belongings. was that that a big news you have came out of band of the that. and the aftershocks keep coming leaving many here on the street with only what they can carry. u.s. basketball superstar le bron james has lashed out at u.s. president donald trump over his decision to disinvite n.b.a. champions the golden state warriors from visiting the white house in a message on twitter the warriors player labeled the us president a bomb saying that it was no longer an honor to visit the white house during his presidency the latest war of words kicked off when trump slammed several national football league players for protesting during the national anthem against racial injustice one of the basketball players singled out by trump and mentioned in the bron james this tweet had this to say about the president's actions of this

president has the things that he said and the things that. he hasn't said in the rights that we won't stand for and by acting or not going hopefully that will. inspire some change when it comes to what we tolerate in this country and what is accepted in what is what we turn a blind eye to. i mean it's not just the act of not going there are for things that you have to do in the back and to actually push that message into motion steph curry speaking a short while ago meantime and going to see the action dortmund faced off against munchen gladbach in saturday's late game dortmund have been flying high at the top of the standings almost scoring at will blood bath meanwhile have also had a respectable start to the campaign and have yet to lose on the road so could they put an end to dortmund stunning form. the stage was set for the big show in dortmund but it took the home team

a while to get their game on track. back loaded up the back and dortmund had to wait for them to slip up. coach payton bosch urged his troops on through to be a emerick obama young who finds maximillian philip to make it one meal in the twenty eighth minute and a milestone for dortmund there eighteen hundred one just the get go. then down the left jeremy told young philip again in position to nail. but buck's defense looked to shambles after thirty eight minutes and then it was obama turn first he made it three nil before the break then he added two more after the restart bringing his total for the season to eight goals in six games the bad. blood meanwhile at a loss up front but finally they hit the target making it five one. hardly

cause to celebrate. then dortmund were back at it again. rounded out the half dozen best but could only stand by and watch. six one the final score and life is good for dortmund fans young and old. a quick reminder now the top stories we have been following for you here at the polling stations have opened in germany's parliamentary elections polls show that incumbent is forced to win a fourth term as chancellor they also suggest that the far right alternative for germany party will enter parliament for the first time. we of course have live and now it says that german federal election throughout the day here on news. my name is sarah kelly you can also follow us on facebook and twitter you're watching to

see you again at the top of the hour. your old max democracy day. places of power the political stage as photo art. origins of power journeying to the hometowns of the candidates for tesla. stagings of our photographers and their

takes on politicians. your romance next on. democracy day d w whether she business practices in swiss banks or irregularities in german city governments many injustices would never have come to light were not for whistleblowers three courageous people tell why they spoke up and what consequences it had for them whistleblowers alone against the system in sixty minutes on d w. in chicago the stadium was so loud it was a really special event or remember it all my life everybody have a dream. and you don't need your. things when you say do what you will know things are going well but we can still win it all right enough of the mind. returned fire

munich and international brand new and. i. am an. international brand. like shared passion. an exclusive journey into the sun. the moon sun me a phenomenon starting october fifteenth on d w and on line. hello welcome to your max i'm louise houghton and i'm here to take you through this special edition focusing on democracy.