but it was much awful when i worked at w. . this is d w news live from girl land germany decides will it be four times in a row for anglo american germany's electing a new government and merkel is poised to become chancellor for another term her main challenger martine schultz started out riding high in the polls we look at how

his campaign lost its early momentum. and what about the f.t. the far right party is on course to enter parliament for the first time what could it mean for german politics we will have all of the analysis. plus in other news north korea upped the ante against the united states foreign minister tells the un that an attack on the u.s. mainland is now inevitable this after u.s. fighter jets fly near north korea and an unprecedented show of force. and fortress dortmund undefeated at home for more than two years and yet to concede a goal this season they topped the table as they hosted luncheon gladbach did the phones maintained their unbeaten run.

i'm sorry kelly a very warm welcome to our special coverage of the german elections polling stations are open and germans are deciding whether angela merkel will serve a fourth term as chancellor with sixty one million eligible voters the polls give merkel a comfortable lead her conservatives are set to head up a new coalition but the far right alternative for germany party is poised to make history by winning its first cvs in the national parliament merkel's main challenger the social democrat leader martin schultz cast his vote earlier today he's hoping that he can still swing undecided voters. go home until i think there are still people who are wondering who to vote for on election day. i hope many will choose to cost their vote for me and for my party. of. so who are they voting for and how many people are turning out let's bring in nick connelly correspondent he is standing by at the polls in berlin so nick how is turned out

looking so far. good morning sarah well we're here in a primary school in a residential part of central berlin where the polling is going on as we speak it was very quiet start off with polls is open to eight but it's really picked up in the last hour or two and as you can see behind me what sort of families with children coming out to vote this is an area that has traditionally seen higher than average turnout for the polls having said that the bad weather and the fact that lots of berlin is shut down for the marathon has led to fears that we'll see a lower than average turnout in berlin but from what i can see here it's all looking pretty busy and when we look at that turnout nick i mean what people are really honing in on is how those undecided or is might turn out undecided voters might turn out today how could they factor into this process. well i think the sort of place where we are now prosperous middle class part of

lynn with the people i've been speaking to in austin they will say i voted the same i voted four years ago these are people who have their party preference and seem to be sticking to it across other parts of germany maybe where people are not as well off as they are in this part of central prosperous central berlin that is the big question especially the smaller parties the bigger two parties merkel's conservative christian democrats and then the social democrats second place policy they seem to have a more clearly defined support base but the interesting thing will be to see whether we'll have six parties in jimmy's bundestag versus the four that are in there now most notably as you mentioned the alternative which are many of the anti immigration and tea. party which looks set to get past the five percent barrier for the first time ever. so as people weigh that decision what is on their minds tell us what are the hot topics here in germany. well it's not the economy interesting enough german the german economy's doing very well we're seeing unemployment at record lows so it's actually issues like security social fairness

wage growth for those lower earners who are in employment but have seen their purchasing power stagnate seeing people talking about immigration about asylum ops a german in the last year or two. welcoming over a million the saddam so you can see that's an issue that really does play very strongly with people but equally we've heard people saying to us that climate change is for them the main issue so it's at the moment seems to be more about personalities than about one single defining issue. that's really interesting stuff their neck and i'm perhaps i can ask our team to bring up we have some live pictures actually of the polling that that is happening today you know as we look at those pictures we're seeing a lot of people there they're placing paper ballots into a box just walk us through the most common ways for germans to vote today is it typically by paper ballot. yes it is sara this is still by far the

most common way of voting the old fashioned paper ballot turning up at your local school community center church to vote on this sunday elections in germany are always held on sundays to allow people to vote on their day off but the postal vote is becoming more and more important it's grown a lot in recent a recent election periods and it was estimated least the berlin that this time around a quarter of berlin is kind of poached by post. may connelly with the latest from the german capital all of germany today we have to remind people out voting in federal parliamentary elections nick thanks so much for your reporting. well if the opinion polls are right incumbent angela merkel well and up with a double digit lead over her challenger social democrat martin schulz here's more on how an east german physicist came to lead europe's economic powerhouse. and that america is her and has become a symbol of a calm brand of power driven by the assumption that. the mother of the nation knows

best after twelve years as german chancellor the e.u.'s longest serving leader is respected by allies and adversaries unlike. unafraid to stand up to u.s. president donald trump when he questions the value base of the west side. and the times when we can't rely on others somewhat over. machall at the height of her unlikely allies to power. when the east german physicist switched to politics after the fall of the berlin wall nobody expected her to ever come this far how much cause girl as the chancellor of reunification called her was initially surprised at her own success. in the final days of the last government of communist east germany did you ever imagine yourself becoming a minister here. no absolutely not in the end. yet this was only the

beginning the political newcomer from the formerly communist east learned fast. it was she who sealed the fate of her political patron home would call after party funding scandal. defying the male dominated dynamics of her own c.d.u. party she became its new leader and won her first term as chancellor in two thousand and five. angela merkel has a reputation of thinking things through to the end before she makes up her mind only her mind can change. when the fukushima disaster struck in japan she didn't hesitate to pull the plug on german nuclear power within weeks several reactors were taken offline. this changes things also in germany. machall forced through austerity measures in the midst of the financial crisis soon she became

a hate figure in greece and across much of southern europe but it was her welcoming response to the migration crisis in two thousand and fifteen that became the defining moment of her political career machall decided to go it alone without consulting her european partners. we can do it she won international praise for her humanitarian response now she's often called the leader of the free world but her refugee policy has given rise to far right populist small groups of protesters from the far right alternative for germany. campaign the f.t. party is making a bid to go mainstream. so dealing with xenophobic populism at home in germany may prove to be a medical's next big challenge. and with the c.d.u. c.s.u. in the social democrats slated to be the two largest parties the race is really on

for third place now the latest opinion polls indicate that position could go to the far right alternative for germany or f.t. it's on course to become the first far right party voted into german parliament since world war two and it is likely to shake up the political consensus with its opposition to migrants and islam. a.f.d. election posters leave little to the imagination new germans will make values ourselves reads this one because past this slogan we're into bikini's if there were any down to about the alternative on offer it's islamophobia and anti immigrant stop islamification photo you have to be reads this poster to suppose that threat posed by islam in migrants has been a key campaign message for the have to use lead candidates. politicked often and the policy of 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. not fired as aircraft 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 policy clearly states that a family needs a mother and a father vital even criticize the german government for introducing same sex marriage. 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 allen said last year but they don't want to what tang as a neighbor. the a.s.d. 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 a party in the bundestag she'd be facing vocal far right opponents from the opposition benches. and following the revelations of the russian interference in the two thousand and sixteen u.s. election many experts had expected germany to become the kremlin's next target

ahead of this election today let's bring in jared raid from our social media task you know a lot of people keeping a close eye on social media you know waiting to see if we see this flood of inflammatory fake news from russia we haven't really seen that much instead we've seen something from a much more unexpected source tell us a little bit more about or that's right one of the biggest threats to influencing germany's election hasn't come from russia or actually it's come from the united states and i'm talking about american right wing activists we've seen examples on online message boards like for channel four chan is a forum that's popular with conspiracy theorists and people we've you know more extreme views let's take a look at an example that we've been seeing this thread that you're seeing here is dedicated to boosting the far right alternative to germany party although i have to say we can see a bunch of tools for influencing the election like links to videos talking points and maims attacking rival parties here there are also links to things like how to

create fake profiles to infiltrate other parties and even a link to di night money to directly to the i but sara the push to prop up the i f t hasn't just come from the use dock corners of the internet we're seeing sort of more well oiled machines getting behind them to one of them is the american gates to an institute which is a right wing think tank we can take a look at their website which is more known for striking fees about things like migration with articles like this translated from german claiming that german authorities confiscated apartments to make room for migrants on several occasions these have been picked up and shared by members of the i.f.j. like thomas woody who's a member of parliament in the german state of three so you know really a concerted if. it from across the atlantic to my blinds and rile up verges here in germany definitely no shortage of controversy that's for sure another element of

controversy is this ad agency which is also feeling the a.f.d. is campaign tell us more about that that's right so last month field tended to fit germany hired an ad agency called harris media based in texas and then well known among right wing circles for their work that they've done for people like the u.s. president donald trump prime minister benjamin it benjamin netanyahu of israel and also you keep in britain here in germany it's behind one of the f.t. is probably latest and most controversial campaigns yes they've made a website we can take a look at that it's cold d. i'd because you're in all the oath in english it kind i'm going to medical is having betrayed to the german people claiming that she broke her always to protect the country it also blames her for the victims of past terrorist attacks and her open door policy to refugees for costing german taxpayers so we know we don't know yet what this translates to in terms of voice we just heard that you know that if

he is on you know in the running to become the third biggest force in the bundestag so will you know have to wait till the end of today to see whether things like these have have given them a helping hand a lot of people watching to see how these results will come in especially because it could be so unfair precedented as you have highlighted there jared thank you so much for your reporting on this. and don't forget we are live throughout the day bringing you the very latest developments as they happen you can of course also follow them online our website d.w. dot com has the very latest and there's also plenty of content on our facebook page and on twitter just look for our hash tag germany decides don't hesitate to get involved and tell us what you think. in the meantime we want to get you a quick check now of some other stories making news around the world 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 tension over pyongyang's nuclear program this week using the u.n. general assembly in new york to deliver some remarkable verbal blows earlier this week u.s. president donald trump took to the podium and threaten to destroy words korea now has addressed the gathering of world leaders as well. before and of for the second time this week the united nations podium was used to ratchet up the rhetoric between the u.s. and north korea pyongyang's top diplomat really young who slammed the u.s. president as a mentally deranged megalomaniac. out of money president trump himself is the one on a suicide mission. in the case that innocent u.s. lives are lost because of this suicide attack trump will be held totally responsible for. just hours earlier u.s.

air force b. one b. bombers flew further north along the korean coast than ever before this century the pentagon described the flight in international airspace as a show of resolve and the military options at hand. for north korea all the more reason to pursue its nuclear program at the un foreign minister read defended it as the necessary answer to us aggression. the only response to violence is violence we will oppose the nuclear weapons of terror any with a nuclear weapons of justice. president trump took to twitter in response to reserve dress writing that really a north korean leader kim jong un whom trump calls little rocket man won't be around much longer trump didn't spell out the substance of this threat at the u.n. really also had harsh words for china and russia he accused the nuclear powers of offering irresponsible support for the u.s.

with their economic sanctions hitting ordinary north koreans hard. these powers only want to defend their monopoly on nuclear weapons. meanwhile up to one hundred thousand people joined an anti american rally in the north korean capital on their banners a pledge to defend their leader with their lives. and for more on the situation on the korean peninsula let's bring in jason strother correspondent in the south korean capital seoul good morning to you jason harsh words there from both sides that we've just heard how is the growing tension perceived there in the region. well as south korea has condemned north korea's foreign minister re young ho's words at the u.n. . both opposition and ruling parties here in seoul have said that his words were only lead to more tensions and that north korea essentially needs to return to

dialogue. meanwhile the south korean government has reaffirmed its commitment to defend. to defend itself with the help of the united states you have to remember south korea is in a difficult position if there were hostilities to break out here the u.s. takes control of the south's military so south korea is going along with what washington has done flying these bombers nearby north korea i want to talk a little bit more about those bombers of course on u.s. president donald trump given the order to send those bombers flying close to north korea territory just how big a deal is this move really. it is something different off even you know under the administration of barack obama the u.s. would fly fighter jets stealth bombers over south korean territory toward the d.m.z. the demilitarized zone that the border between north and south korea but to fly

these jets in international waters but that far north of the d.m.z. that's unprecedented and many decades jason strother putting it all into context for us from the south korean capital seoul thank you so much for your reporting. let's get a quick check now of some other stories making news around the world 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. in australia hundreds of people have protested against a t.v. commercial that they say is insulting to hindus the ad depicts a party of dieties sitting down to a meal of lamb they include the elephant headed lord ganesha who is meant to be

vegetarian and the indian high commission says that it has complained to the australian government. to mexico now where 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 waka very close to an 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 that yes i know my sister's 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 with. 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 we had 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 us. so that we can take our belongings. but i've got much that's better than if you have came out of them to believe that. and the aftershocks keep coming. leaving many here on the street with only what they can

carry. and meantime further north a war of words has broken out between u.s. president donald trump and some of the country's biggest sports stars trump began by lashing out at football players who refused to stand during the national anthem in protest against police to violence against after him african-americans this is what he had to say have a list would you love to see one of these. when somebody disrespects our flag to say get that son of a. right out his five. trump has also picked a fight with basketball champions golden state warriors after some player suggested that they would skip a traditional white house visit trump responded by apparently revoking the of the taishan for the whole team basketball superstar le bron james then hit back by calling the president a bum on twitter he said it was no longer an honor to visit the white house during

the trump presidency. well thousands of athletes are out on the streets of germany's capital for the berlin marathon and for the elite runners kenya has won both the men's and the women's braces. cooper. took the first for the men's he just missed the world record in damp conditions mean time compatriot glad he's cherno was the winner in the women's race the two kenyans both won as well twenty fifteen and we wish them if they congratulations in the bundesliga action dortmund face off against mountain glad buck in saturday's late game dortmund have been flying high at the top of the standings almost scoring at will club back 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 of a look. 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. pedo bush urged his troops on through balls of pm attack obama young who finds maximillian philip to make it one of in the twenty eighth minute. a milestone for dortmund there eighteen hundred one just the get go. then down the left jeremy told young philip began in position to nail the butt bucks defense look to shambles after thirty eight minutes. then it was obama on turn first he made it three kneel before the break then he added two more after the restart bringing his total for the season to eight goals in six games the but 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. julieann by goal rounded out the half dozen minutes 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 that we have been following for you voting is under way in germany's parliamentary elections with incumbent angela merkel poised to win a fourth term as chancellor her main rival has already cast his ballot although he's unlikely to win it could still end up in government as a coalition partner. i'm sorry berlin thanks so much for watching we'll see you next time.

girl max democracy day. places of power the political stage as photo our. origins up our journey into the hometowns of the candidates for tesla. stagings of our photographers and their

takes on politicians. bureaucrats next to. democracy day on d w a reporter has been in solitary confinement since february with no charges filed and no sign of release. and if he has become a symbol of press freedom under fire but the turkish president ever to want he's a political bargaining chip. how his friends and family are trying to secure his release hash tag three deaths. in sixty minutes. 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 know your dreams when you say to us you'll know things are going well but we can still win it. right now the minute the police return fire you can

to the international brand new and. i. pod. international. shared. an exclusive journey into the so my. son 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.