this is deja vu news live from berlin british russians relations in the deep freeze in moscow said it's to expel twenty three british diplomats as a ground over the poisoning of a former spy and his daughter escalates further also coming up. another scalping in washington former deputy director of the f.b.i. and you're mckay it is fired the dismissal ending the veterans' issues career came just before he was due to qualify for a pension once this removal politically motivated will have a full analysis. on

michelle henery thanks for joining us the dispute over the poisoning of a russian former double agent in britain is deepening russia says it will expel british diplomats in a tit for tat response to measures the u.k. has taken against moscow over the case the british consulate in st petersburg and the british council cultural organization well also be closed. that it will go to reach and send messages to russia summons for an edge meeting he was informed that twenty three british diplomats have a week to leave the country it's russia's reaction should britain expanding its diplomats earlier in the week. in london british prime minister to resign and russia was in flagrant breach of international law russia's response doesn't change

the facts of the matter the attempted assassination of two people on the british soil for which there is no alternative conclusion. the russian state was culpable. the kremlin has fiercely denied being behind the attack which involved a military grade nerve agent that british officials saying was developed in russia russia has also said it will shut down the activities of the british council a government backed organization for cultural and scientific cooperation. on the streets of moscow russians were split over the country's actions. there must be retaliatory measures so that we are respected so i support our side taking action. but. this is very bad i think they should be peace on earth especially now times where we see such problems everywhere. people should live to be happy and also war is bad

. moscow announced the measures just ahead of a presidential election which president vladimir putin is expected to win comfortably. and voting in the presidential election is already underway in russia's far eastern regions although the hour with the u.k. has threatened to overshadow the vote internationally it's unlikely to have any effect on the outcome as we just heard president vladimir putin is expected to win another six year term but the kremlin is concerned about the possibility of low voter turnout with tomorrow's result largely a foregone conclusion many russians don't see the need to cast their ballot. well one could say it's the end of an election campaign that hardly happened no one expects any surprises on sunday when up to one hundred nine million registered voters go to the polls the president. is nurse every one of us cares about

the destiny of our russian fatherland. that's why i'm asking you to cast your ballot on sunday just. make use of your right to make a choice about the future of our beloved russia i see blood put in he's worried that people choosing to stay away from the polls could weaken the legitimacy of his presidency the kremlin would like to see a voter turnout of seventy percent with seventy percent of the ballots cast or put in. a lower voter turnout could strengthen the position of kremlin critic alexina even though he's not allowed to run in this election he could claim a moral victory from a low turnout. we're calling on people not to vote this procedure is no election it's only a race between putin and the candidates he's personally selected. since a victory for putin is all but a foregone conclusion some russians say they don't see any need to cast their

ballots you know i'm not voting of the decisions already been made by voting by all means and with pleasure. and you know i don't think it's really necessary devote. in the end pop music and glitzy ads may not be enough to persuade everyone to go to the polls. thousands of people are still streaming out of the rebel held damascus suburb of eastern ghouta for the third day running syrian government forces have intensified artillery bombardments of the area and russian airstrikes russia's military said some the reason thousand people an hour were leading to a humanitarian corridor monitored by russian troops more than thirteen hundred civilians have been killed and thousands more wounded amid weeks of fighting. and here in germany members of the country's large kurdish community have gathered in

the city of hanover to protest against the ongoing turkish offensive in syria the demonstration falls during numerous the traditional kurdish festival marking spring german police originally wanted to ban the demonstration because of fears of clashes between kurdish and turkish troops but a court overturned the ban police have warned that images of the kurdish jail pleader a below the line and ban flags would be confiscated. oh. a search and rescue operation is underway after a boat carrying more than twenty people capsized in the aegean sea at least sixteen people including four children have been confirmed dead the migrants were trying to get to greece from turkey their bodies were recovered off the greek island of i got the neic near the turkish coastline several managed to swim to the coast and alert authorities. another high level firing by the trumpet ministration former f.b.i.

deputy director enter mccabe has been dismissed the veteran official worked for the agency for over twenty years and questions are being raised over the timing of his removal we'll get full analysis in a few moments but first here's a look at what happened. as you know senator as deputy director of the f.b.i. and room mccabe played a key role in the investigations into hillary clinton's female affair and alleged russian involvement in the twenty sixteen election he stepped down in january but remained on the f.b.i.'s payroll he was fired twenty six hours before he would have become eligible for retirement the justice department released a statement from attorney general jeff sessions saying mccabe had quote made an unauthorized disclosure to the news media and lacked candor including under oath on multiple occasions president onil trump immediately praised the move in a tweet he called it a great day for the hardworking men and women of the f.b.i.

a great day for democracy but mccabe rejects the accusations against him in a statement he said this attack on my credibility is one part of a larger effort not just to slander me personally but to taint the f.b.i. law enforcement and intelligence professionals more generally. d.w. correspondent clear which is and joins us now from washington clear engine mccain had been only from the f.b.i. since january and he was fired shots over a day before he was due to retire why get rid of them now. well for the very reason you said the timing certainly looks like the point of firing them a day before he was meant to receive a full pension is meant to be a callous act he stepped aside earlier this year and so letting him go have an impact on whether he receives his pension now it's important to see this in the wider context of what's been going on in washington this week the city's been abuzz about who's going to be the next to go from trump's cabinet we've seen

a string of high levels of parcher is most recently of course when secretary of state rex tillerson who was unceremoniously fired earlier this week by tweet and so everybody's been asking who is going to be the next one and it looks like. would you say that his foreign was just a fine or some people allege is it part of a strategy by donald trump to silence his critics well certainly he sees it as a good move to remove somebody who he says spoken appropriately to the media but enjoyment and many of his supporters see this as an attack on a career as agents to try and slander not just his personal credibility but also to undermine the legitimacy of organizations like the f.b.i. like the united states top law enforcement agencies and for them this is meant very much as a way to remove people who perhaps saw things about james coney's firing for

example that maybe they should have seen and to make a release or rather extraordinary statement saying something just to that effect saying that it was because of what i said what i knew about james comey that i have been targeted in this way and is there any buzz now about who whose head might be next on the chopping block well everybody's been talking about each our make master he's of course the national security adviser and the headlines all this week has been about him so the engine mccain firing came a little bit out of left field clear richardson correspondent in washington thank you very much. to the bundesliga now and it's been a day to forget for some of the league's cellar dwellers minds were desperate for points as they travel to frankfurt but kevin prince bought ten scored for the host just six minutes in and two more goals soon followed three nil the final score and

a new coach at hamburg has done little to turn their fortunes around they went ahead early on on against her to berlin but the berliners scored two goals in the second half to steal the win. now let's take a look at all the bundesliga results so far this weekend as we saw hamburg went down to hurt and frankfurt hammered lines elsewhere got back to with hoffenheim vertebrae minute put the repass oxburgh wolfsburg take on shock and saturday's late game and friday night's game stuttgart saw freiburg and on sunday dortmund face had over cologne cologne play leverkusen and life's a clash with byron. staying with soccer and think the president johnny infantile know has confirmed that video assistant referees will be used at this summer's world cup in russia despite opposition from fans the system has already been introduced to the german and italian leagues but not without teething problems but

infant brushed off any criticism and was equally unconcerned about the potential english boycott of the world cup. schieffer has finally said yes very for reset the world cup in russia will use video review i it's a matter of easing pressure on officials in the smartphone age when fans can tell almost instantly whether or not a wrong decision has been made seen with the very are a referee commits an important mistake a huge mistake every three much use there is about the use. with the v.a.r. the referee commits an important mistake every nineteen not she's got those are the facts but the use is of some natures. they always introduced in germany has been this we have this season it hasn't been universally popular some fans have complained the interruptions affect the flow of the game but infantile no is having none of it i use them they feel really helps the referee and will help us to have

a more transparent and fair game official us that this what we want that's cool still you know because look again most infantile you know would be drawn on another controversial subject a potential world cup boycott by england following diplomatic tensions between russia and the u.k. you say can put i know that the russian people are waiting for people from the whole world to come to russia to enjoy the world cup political issues have to be solved by politicians we deal with that bull. but russia's world cup chief played down the prospect of a boycott. such intention has never been expressed by either via or. or even the players themselves or the coach of the afifa and infantile now hope neither politics nor technology would overshadow the beautiful game invest

at this summit. well it's st patrick's day the day commemorating the patron saint of ireland and the day when millions of people around the world whether they're irish or not celebrate with food parades street parties and of course plenty of green and the u.s. city of chicago with its large irish community is no exception revelers along the banks of the chicago river were treated to a spectacle city authorities dye the river green the color of the air most aisle it's estimated some seventy million people across the globe will raise a glass to the irish patient stand slawson. and we're just taking a look now at this beautiful stunning river it takes about forty five minutes to die i think it's forty pounds of dye that they use but it's top secret recipe that cannot be revealed to anyone but the organizers and it lasts about five hours it's it's environmentally friendly it's safe for the fish but i i just don't know if you

actually want to swim in it. that's all for now more from us here at the news at the top of the hour i'm michel henery thanks for watching. they make a commitment. they find solutions. they make and stronger.