state of the news coming to you live from berlin austria looks out for a swing to the right immigration is on voters' minds today as they had to the polls in national elections thirty one year old sebastian courts could become europe's youngest leader we'll go to our correspondent in vienna oh latest also coming up

devastation in mogadishu medics are fighting to save hundreds of people as the death toll from a massive bombing source in the somali capital plus the novelist known for this dystopian classic the handmaid's tale picks up a prestigious german literary prize more about what is using the spotlight to warn of the dangers of what she calls a moment of turmoil in the world. and sarah holland welcome to the show it's good to have you with us. austrians are voting in a national election that could swing the contrary to the right and pave the way for europe's youngest leader polling stations opened a few hours ago and thirty one year old foreign minister sebastian course is the favorite to become the next chancellor as people's party has taken

a hard line against refugees in the run up to this vote courts is widely expected to go into government with the far right freedom party which campaigned on an anti immigration anti as long platform will speak to our correspondent in vienna for more in just a moment but here's a look at how immigration has been shaping my selection. thirty one year old sebastian could suddenly became leader of the people's party and made since then besides economic reform he's made immigration the cornerstone of his election campaign we've got the guns and i'm going to strike a very clear path which is going to reduce illegal migration to zero who sets off illegally must be stopped at the border taken care of and sent back it can't be that the traffickers decide who gets through and not we as a republic or the european union. his views echo those of the anti immigrant far right freedom party. indiscriminate mass immigration from outside europe

naturally islamist terror into the heart of europe seals and what we have now is that through the many associations structures and mosques there is such a tenacious dangerous structure that i say ban the radical islamic organizations mosques and kindergartens and expel their members i'm sure. his words have found favor with austrians who fear their country is losing its national identity. even so it could still favorites to be austria's next leader but he'll most likely have to form a coalition with the freedom party. meanwhile incumbent chancellor christian can leader of the social democrats has become bogged down in internal scandals and accusations against the media something that's only played into the hands of his opponents who have been busy trying to outdo each other on immigration control head

to the polls you just mentioned immigration is a big topic here and if you look at the geographical situation of austria it's really no surprise it's in the center or at the end of the big migration routes that lead into the huge european union one of them being of course the western balkans route from syria the other one across the mediterranean up to italy and that's why people here are way very worried about this but that's not the only thing you also have to keep in mind this country has been governor for ten years by a grand coalition between the conservative party and the social democrats the s.p.d. are here and the feeling among many here in australia in vienna is that they really haven't gotten anything done there they don't feel good about this coalition they think they've been meddling along haven't done what they promised to do aren't bringing the reforms to the table that they ought to bring to the table so many people vote or we have a feeling that many people are voting against this grand coalition. meanwhile the far right freedom party is widely expected to enter government in

a coalition with the conservatives how is that going to be viewed in europe max. well i think one thing is for certain i'm going to macos course and migration and refugee redistribution in europe will probably not have another country on its side after this if the f.p. or so the right wing populace really are part of the government this means that they will probably be closer to the eastern countries the so-called these are countries hungary poland slovakia the czech republic and less close farther away to germany and even france that's trying to shoot for grand reforms in the european union that's not what we'll expect from a cold coalition between the right wing populist and the conservatives here in australia but of course we're still on election day have to wait and see what the actual result will be of course we'll have to wait and see but this is been one of australia's longest campaigns what's the feeling there max among the voters.

you know this whole campaign was also overshadowed by well some accidents if you could say from the social democrats that have been setting up fake facebook pages against courts who is expected to be the winner of this election we just saw him in the report thirty one year old conservative and then the whole thing has been very personalized especially for the conservatives that have run the whole campaign basically on two issues on immigration and on sebastián courts and self thirty one years old he managed although the conservatives have been in power for many years now to give the party a fresh look something new something credible that people believe that they could actually kick start the country again although they've been in power but he changed the colors of the party he changed the profile and basically had one main point for the whole campaign and that's himself and at least the polls suggest it is working all right we'll have to find out the saving max hoffman he'll be on the story for us throughout the day for now thanks for your reporting. a lot of voting going on

today regional elections are being held in the german state of lower saxony and three weeks after national elections here in germany this phone is being washed very closely as a barometer of public sentiment or chancellor angela merkel tries to form a coalition government it's expected to be a tight race in the us saxony opinion polls put merkel c.d.u. slightly ahead the social democrats are close behind them meanwhile the far right alternative from germany is expected to enter parliament in that state for the first time but it's not expected to do as well as it did three weeks ago in national elections. more let's cross over to our correspondent michelle across her she's standing by for us in hanover michelle good to see you many are seeing this as a test for chancellor merkel why exactly is it such a test well this is all pure psychology this is the first opportunity for people gets to go to the polls poll some six million here in lower saxony and vote for those big parties and americal seaview on the social democrats and what we see in

here is the kind of very some of hoped for the national level you see the old parties the big old parties the christian democrats i'm going to mackerels party on the social democrats have a very tight race here indeed there was a fierce debate between the two top candidates and it's a neck and neck race it's very much back to the future it's a kind of election race we're used to here in germany back from the nineteen eighties so the parties feel more comfortable with yet and yet it's much tighter we simply don't know who's going to make it all right it's a blast from the past to say what kind of implications could the result have for the coalition talks with the national government that begin this week. well those coalition talks about until this is all over because the big question here is what kind of coalition could be formed here in lower saxony it seems quite evident that a continuation of the social democrat green coalition we've seen here is most

likely not going to be on the cards there are different mixes indeed we could see a left leaning social democrat green left party alliance and if that happens if the left party makes it here into the regional parliament that could make it more difficult to reach some kind of agreement with the greens at the national level so it could all get very complicated here is well that could feed right through to those talks all right that's michelle a curfew reporting for us from lower saxony thanks very much a devastating attack on the somali capital has left more than two hundred thirty people dead hundreds more are wounded many are fighting for their lives after a massive truck bomb blast reduced buildings to rubble the explosion took place in the capital mogadishu on a busy street near key ministries the government has blamed the al-shabaab extremist group for the attack a second smaller blast also took place in the city's medina district adding to the

destruction. the first blast tore apart a busy street in central mogadishu. it said cars on fire and flattened buildings. offices restaurants and kiosks that once stood at this intersection on no more a popular host was reduced to rubble not far from the somali foreign ministry. security forces had been trailing this truck when it suddenly blew up. locals describe the explosion as the most powerful they'd seen. it's really terrible with a heavy heart i would say this is the worst attack i've ever witnessed a lot of people died and many properties were lost. and this is what's really devastating to know this is that you see before. a lot of buildings disappeared completely became problems. a lot of dead bodies at the scene

a little bit bodies i myself only counted more than twenty five bodies on the scene after that there was a second blast. another bomb more date casualties from the second blast in the medina district well brought to a local hospital some people are now recovering but they lost limbs at this are still fighting for their lives. so. what happened yesterday was incredible i've never seen anything like it it's impossible to cardinal that many bodies were burned so badly that no one could recognize them. at the site families was still searching for loved ones among the debris. somalia's president has declared three days of mourning as mogadishu grieves those

it has lost. let's take a look now at some of the other stories that are making news around the globe u.s. backed forces in syria so that many fighters. have a back door into syria as part of a withdrawal deal they were among the last remaining jihad defending rock which was once islamic states de facto capital. polls have opened in venezuela where regional elections are being held boaters are choosing twenty three state governors in elections that will test president nicolas maduro popularity polls show that opposition candidates could make major gains against the ruling socialists. the academy of motion pictures has expelled star producer harvey weinstein after multiple women came forward to accuse him of sexual harassment and assault weinstein had already been fired from his own production company after dozens of

women accused him of inappropriate behavior canadian author and poet margaret atwood has been awarded the twenty seven thousand peace prize of the german book trade the ceremony was held on the final day of the frankfurt book fair at what is best known for her book the handmaidens tale does a novel about a dystopian future in the united states where women are forced into sexual servitude and she's not one to shy away from commenting on the politics that are shaping our world today take a listen to this. the seventy seven year old is a committed environmentalist and has never been afraid of voicing her opinion on a variety of subjects. at the awards ceremony she expressed her concerns over recent global political developments. is this strange historical moment it is one of those times when the ground which only a little while ago seemed steady enough was a time for living harvest and birthdays exceeding one another and so on that ground

she if beneath her feet and mighty winds blow and we are no longer sure of where we are. margaret atwood has been a keen observer of right wing politics in the u.s. for over thirty years in more than fifty books she has taken aim at current events from the global financial crisis to women's rights. if you album i could add i think margaret atwood's work is a particularly good example of how literature must be in order to have a political impact it shows how to incorporate political and social analyses into literature without warping it away. from the book trades board of trustees so they had chosen that would for her sense of humanity justice and tolerance and the way in which she expressed these values in all of her works. just remind her of our headline story this hour australians are voting in an election that could say

conservative candidate sebastian cortes become the next chancellor is expected to form an alliance with the far right and europe's the latest populist text. box to get the news you're up to date thanks for joining us and don't forget you can always find the latest on our web site that's d.w. dot com from the whole team here in berlin thanks for watching for stay with more the top of the hour. make your smart t.v. smarter with a smile. what you want when you want to. update. extraordinary. depth. you decide what's on. sunday morning at the w john smart.