this is g w news line from berlin voting is now getting underway in russia's far east as the country goes to the polls to choose a new president but it's likely the new one will be a familiar face but in your putin is expected to easily win out for the turn in office also coming up. the tide of misery continues in syria as thousands of people stream out of the problem held the mass consumption of these turned to top this as a syrian government forces intensify artillery bombardment of the area with the

support of russian airstrikes. and germany's kurdish communities take to the streets to protest turkey's military operation in the syrian city of friends and call for more international support for their people. also will have all the latest from the bundesliga would byron fans have something to cheer about as they wash most foreign oil blues last could help the very end as they seek to wrap up the bundesliga title this weekend's. and welcome to the program voting is underway in russia's presidential election seven candidates are in the running of president vladimir putin is expected to secure a victory and his fourth charm in office voters and lot of focus. in

a far eastern part of russia lined up to show their identification to cast their ballots a russian election monitoring group says it has registered an alarming rise in complaints that employers are pressuring their workers to prove that they turned out to vote. earlier i spoke with u.w. correspondent yury were shadow i began by asking him what the government is doing to motivate russians to head to the polling stations and cast their ballots well different things have been done to motivate russians to go tomorrow to the polls famous russian singer cold to their competitors to vote russian cosmonauts from space spoke on television local authorities organize some prize draws where people could do a smartphone on another elective devise also that it was an unspeakable homophobic and sinful b. commercial on state television its message was if people in russia don't go to the polls and don't vote for their rights president or the so-called right president

then dark skinned soldiers would sort of in the russian army and gays would infiltrate into private apartments as if that would be a big threat to russia ok so some scare tactics there but what does a low voter turnout mean for president putin. well look people in russia are traditionally very reluctant to vote the belief in democracy generally and in democracy democratic elections particularly is low it's not like in the west that you go to the polls to vote for you know favorites the overwhelming majority of russians think the election isn't decided by the people but by those up there which means by the authorities so many of them who like putin don't necessarily go to the polls to elect him that means even if the participation want to be you that's huge . nevertheless millions of russians feel like putin the question is rather why they did it and here comes again again the popular myth of stability that he has created

however this myth is very carefully maintained on the state television so that the opposition has little chance to criticize putin and to show to people a future of problems in this country ok and observers are pointing to a clear victory for president putin another term for him what should what are some of the things that we should be looking for now post vote while the putin will certainly win this election is election you write the question is what is the position is going to do with putin's victory except to the communists we haven't heard of any big protests so far actually we have an extremely cold to be into this year and even this weekend when you face minus twenty degrees here in moscow you have to be extremely angry to hang around on the streets for hours to express your political attitude will see. correspondent yury were shadow thank you thousands of people are fleeing the rubble how damascus suburb of eastern ghouta

for the third day in a row backed by russian airstrikes syrian government forces have intensified artillery bombardment of the area russia's military says some three thousand people are leaving hourly for humanitarian corridor or monitored by russian troops more than thirteen hundred civilians have been killed and thousands more wounded amid weeks of relentless fighting. the tide of human misery leaving the rebel held eastern suburbs of the capital damascus reached flood proportions on saturday as russian bombers gave air support to syrian government forces on the ground russia's military said some three thousand people an hour were leaving nearly forty five thousand in the last three days meanwhile syrian and russian forces have stepped up their offensive on the rebel enclave the russians are determined to turn a humanitarian disaster into a public relations victory. we have information that militant units

are ready to lay down their arms and leave eastern gota but they are awaiting commands from their western sponsors we call on all forces that have influence over the bandit units to encourage them to leave the area to avoid unnecessary loss of life it. also said he believed the united states was preparing for cruise missile strikes in the mediterranean the persian gulf and the red sea meanwhile in syria's north turkish led forces are attacking kurdish rebels in the town of a free in more than two hundred thousand civilians have fled their homes in the last three days according to the kurdish red crescent which also said that turkish bombers had destroyed the city's only hospital. is a journalist speaking to us tonight from airball in northern iraq and he recently returned from syria. a lot of civilians from africa have fled where are they heading. actually they're fleeing to the syrian government held areas of the well

as of which are two small towns close lastly. according to syrian observatory there's like around on the fifty thousand civilians that's left there but they're still on kill now civilians also inside i think city and villages around i think and assad's forces as we know are advancing they're backed by russian airstrikes could this potentially be the final stages of the fighting in the area and what does it mean for the people who remain trapped there while such force is going to around sixty seven percent now. side up there will be a much change because the international community will not intervene neuter the u.s. or europe so most likely but i'll be over this month or maybe next month so for this food is they don't house and the chance to escape so eager to go to the most or they state are most likely about what some point will be over and

what hope is there for a ceasefire you just mentioned the reaction from the international community we know that the u.n. security council called weeks ago for a cease fire but if syrian and russian forces feel that they're advancing and at the end is near what hope is there for a cease fire or a station of hostilities while the u.n. security council called for a forty day cease fire the need of turkey or russia they're listening to it so in attacks on. three in there are continuing and this is five not implemented on the fingers so there are two days ago the u.n. chief basically called for again calling for u.n. cease fire to be implemented by till now both both actors both russia and turkey they're not listening to this u.n. screw us resolution that american village in bergen airball thank you very much. and here in germany members of the country's large kurdish community have gathered in the city of hanover to protest the ongoing turkish offensive in syria police

originally planned to ban the gathering due to fears of clashes between kurdish and turkish groups but a court ruling allowed the demonstration to go ahead. anger on the streets of hanover where the biggest demonstration took place coinciding with the kurdish new year celebration of never was anger but also a sense of helplessness. we stand together with the people of africa who right now are being massacred we suffer in the depth of our souls because these are innocent children who are dying civilians who have a right to live. as good it's not about our free nor kurds or turks it's about humanity as the international community they need to say we support african way with the kurds have been good for thirty's at first refused to allow the demonstrations suspecting that the banned kurdistan workers party that p.k. k. was behind it but of course as the green lines the rally was heavily policed mostly

to prevent clashes between the kurdish protestors and turkish nationalists. among the organizers was one of europe's biggest kurdish associations. with this process we wanted to send a signal condemning the war in a freeing the attacks carried out by nato ally turkey would go against international law and we want to ask the german government to intervene immediately and stop their ally turkey to. the turkish military launched its offensive against a frame almost two months ago and chrissie's the y.p. g. militia who control the region as an offshoot of the kurdistan workers' party and is determined to stop them. absent the other stories making news around the world greek authorities have been searching the aegean sea for survivors of a migrant boat capsized at least sixteen people are confirmed dead three people

managed to swim to land and raise the alarm they've been taken to the greek island of samples along with the bodies of those who died. engineers concluded that cracks in a pedestrian bridge in florida pose no safety risk just hours before the bridge collapse of the six people were killed and cars below were crushed when a nine hundred fifty ton bridge at florida international university collapsed on thursday and saturday crews began removing the debris. landed in moscow are trading more than just insults in the wake of the poisoning of a russian spy in england with a soviet era nerve agent russia now says it will expel twenty three british diplomats after london made a similar move moscow says the british consulate in st petersburg and the british council cultural organization will also be shut down. it will try to reach and send messages to russia summons for an urgent meeting he was informed that twenty three

british diplomats have a week to leave the country it's russia's reaction to britain expanding its deployments earlier in the week. in london british prime minister to resign may stand russia was in a flagrant breach of international law russia's response doesn't change the facts of the matter the attempted assassination of two people on british soil for which there is no alternative conclusion other than that the russian state was culpable. the kremlin has fiercely denied being behind the attack which involved a military grade nerve agent that british officials say 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. but there must be retaliatory measures so that we are respected so i support our side taking

action but it works. this is very bad i think there should be peace on earth especially now times when we see such problems everywhere. people should live to be happy and also war is bad but. moscow announced the measures just ahead of a presidential election which president vladimir putin is expected to win comfortably. two united states now or another high level firing by the trumpet ministration former f.b.i. deputy director andrew mccabe has been dismissed the veteran official worked for the agency for over twenty years it questions are now being raised over the timing of his removal. as you know as deputy director of the f.b.i. and room mccabe played a key role in 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 don't forget you can always get d.w. news on the go just download our app from google play or from the apple store

that'll give you access to all the latest news from around the world as well as push notifications for any breaking news you can also use the app to send us photos and videos. the bundesliga show is coming up with chris harrington stage and for that i'll be cool awesome see you soon thanks for watching. learn german with w. anytime anyplace. whether with jo jo and her friends. it's going to be doing. spreadsheets vs.