make sure he didn't want to. bring factory starting march twenty fourth on g.w. . this is the deal the union is live from berlin this eerie a town of a frame is now in turkish hands and go back to fighters raising the turkish flag after a lightning advance against kurdish militia overnight the battle for a free man has forced more than one hundred fifty thousand from their homes we ask what's next for the region. and russians go to the polls to choose

a new president vladimir putin is expected to easily win a fourth term in office but can he mobilize voters turned off by the predictability of the contest which. i'm michel henery and berlin thanks for joining us on camera back forces have taken control of the northern syrian town of the frain the town has been the target of turkey's two month offensive against the syrian kurdish militia if used as terrorists its capture marks a major victory for turkey but as less thousands of civilians homeless and desperate. this is the moment taiki has been working towards for two months. the raising of the turkish flag over the town of affray in northern syria. this footage is said to show turkish

backed rebels entering the town on sunday morning. i was there at the time these men have been fighting since january to ask the kurdish militia known as the people's protection units a white b.g. over the plans it does allow us are going to have to take he says the group is an offshoot of the band p k k terrorist group and as such a threat to its national security. across the border in turkey news of the dick she was met with jubilation by president added one and his supporters. most of the terrorists have already fled with their tails between their legs our special forces and members of the free syrian army her cleaning the remains and the traps they left behind in the center of power for in the symbols of trust and stability are waving instead of the ranks of terrorists. for this a billion population of a fraying turkey's offensive has been devastating more than two hundred thousand

people have been forced to flee for their lives in the last week as turkey attacked the city from the air and the ground. at the bottom of the we fled because of the airstrikes and the bombardment in our villages by turkish troops says this man there is no united nations or international community anymore they have forgotten all morality what can we do as civilians turkey is a monster country. it's unclear what will become of these people or if and when they will be able to return to their homes. journalist but american vogue and monitoring the situation for us from the courtesy of city of erbil in northern iraq vladimir explain to us exactly what is happening in a free right now why was it so important to turkey to gain control of the city. well. turkey didn't want to have any form of kurdish self rule in northern syria

and that's what they also told americans and because there were no russians in africa it was there were no americans and i think they could attack the city because russia ruled this operation to attack it and so after two months they finally the respect the rebels they and thirty city a three. hundred more than hundred fifty thousand people were displaced to areas outside of that. and now that turkey has claimed i think gain control does this mean that there that there's an end in sight after weeks of relentless fighting while depends on what turkey is going to do because the turkish president there don't always say that we're not going to stop with our freedom we're also going to at that moment we're going to take the whole area on till the iraqi border so that there is present make clear they want to destroy this kurdish so all ruled ministrations all the way to directly border so we will depend on the americans because the americans there in eastern syria and until now the americans so there

will not leave so we depends on what the americans are going to do are they going to protect the kurds from turkish attacks or not. and as you said more than one hundred fifty thousand people have been displaced in the fighting what can they expect to happen to them and to the region well it's going to be very difficult for them the syrian government doesn't allow them to go through aleppo they're now like two small villages also i think so the pens on the turkey also thirteen of us they said they'll allow civilians or return but i think most of them will be not be willing to return because they're afraid of repercussions because they were supporting kurdish fighters most of them but you have to see maybe some of them who are there and are also still sons of the inside i think so we have to see what's coming in the next few days vladimir then looking back thank you for your insight. to russia now we're voting is underway in the country's presidential elections

vladimir putin is on course to win a fourth term in a vote many say is a foregone conclusion as this report shows many russians if putin as their only choice. casting his vote in an election he's bound to win on paper vladimir putin faces seven opponents but in reality his only real challenger is voter apathy he sent to want at least seventy percent of the vote to prove he has a strong mandate to govern and although that's not what he says in public. approval of the us a what percentage of votes would you consider successful he's asked you would do any percentage which gives the right to fulfill the role of the president he replies russians have known putin as their leader for eighteen years and many still consider him their only option. younger girls although i have voted for putin because i don't see any alternative if you are the euro we should have made the

right decision i think are voting for putin everything he does works for me. you know i voted putin there's not much of a choice shall we say. that you. might choose the lesser of two evils. there are claims that in some parts of russia employers have been pushing pressure on staff to turn out and vote something one of putin's presidential challenges says she is trying to highlight. it but i don't think we will observe what happens we will monitor irregularities as you know our campaign team works as a poll observer to cast i want to do that in a war that is that is the only opposition leader who's seen as a real challenger to putin is alexei no valley and he's been banned from standing in this election over what he says are trumped up fraud charges he may have called on russians to boycott this election but it looks like

a done deal for the man who's dominated this country for a whole generation. for more now we'll go to our correspondent emily sure one in moscow. you are there in the heart of the capital polls are open any excitement bearing in mind that many russians believe that this is a one horse race. well there is some excitement where i am at the moment i'm invested all in the in the center of moscow at an election party show that's actually also being partially broadcast on state t.v. and here there's very much excitement there kind of trying to get everyone to come out and vote but i would say overall the people that i've been speaking to ahead of the elections a lot of people say you know what's the point of going out to vote because we kind of know what's going to happen anyway we know putin will win anyway and with putin

set to become russia's longest serving leader since lenin why is voter turnout such an important indicator in this election. well so putin is currently polling at around seventy percent but it almost looks like a foregone conclusion that he'll win so the only the main goal that the kremlin has in these elections is to get turnout to be high and that's because they want these elections to be legitimate to look legitimate despite the fact that of course putting this likely to win a fourth term and we heard in the report that employers have been putting pressure pressure on their employees to go out and vote and there have also been a bunch of kind of attempts to pull the voters to the to the polling stations there have been selfie competitions where you can win an i phone there have been raffles where you can win a car cheap food being sold at polling stations concert tickets up for grabs

and so the kremlin is really trying to achieve a high turn. seventy percent they say and it looks like it may be working the electoral commission earlier said that there is currently a higher turnout than at the previous presidential elections it sounds like the kremlin is going to considerable effort to galvanize fodor's but we've also been hearing reports of regularity around the country are you seeing any of that. there has been some official confirmation in some of the government agencies that there was now officially some ballot stuffing in the moscow region there have also been videos circulating online of ballot stuffing but the only official confirmation has been on that one case and the head of the election as well as the independent election monitor told us said that there were over

a thousand complaints about irregularities in part that it has to do with the pressure that we mentioned that employers are putting on on their employees to go out and vote to take a picture with their ballot showing that they have voted correctly and will but will have to wait and see what election monitors say at the end of the day how serious some of those violations have been and i'm sure it's going to be exciting no no matter what happens i'm really sure when in moscow thank you very much. russia and britain are trading more accusations in the poisoning case of the former russian double agent circa. russia's ambassador to the e.u. vladimir chizhov said russia possesses no chemical weapons and suggested the substance use in the english city of songs very well may have come from a nearby research laboratory britain denies that the foreign minister of course

johnson who called the claims satirical adding all evidence points to the kremlin there were tire double agent service rep paul and his daughter remain hospitalized in critical condition after being exposed to their patient two weeks ago. a new documentary has premiered this week in belgium portraying one family's journey into their traumatic past ninety one year old on reka is a holocaust survivor his son is a renowned cartoonist who is depicted his father's life in a graphic novel d.w. mehta on ahead of the premiere of the new film you know and. i'm one of the last holocaust survivors in belgium. but there's only three or four of us live. in everyone else was burnt. to death. only was fourteen when he was taken by the gestapo he survived more than three years

imprisoned in eleven different concentration camps. i mean he's still my whole family died bye to my mother my father both of my sisters and they're all gassed and burned by. my study one family members who were in concentration camps i'm the only one who survived and returned to belgium. nineteen kiszko was liberated having no family left he started a new life in brussels and married he and his wife had four children but they never spoke a word of the holocaust. that's on the show says the children never dad now he's a well known cartoonist and their relationship with his father is the main theme of his graphic novel second generation published in two thousand and twelve the name of the walk is that the nazi atrocities a never forgotten. on the one

hundred twenty r.p. . and i guess. he did it is here we should be and you should be. invisible. and you can like yeah you know. when the people. he gives up on the city. and if. he. comes. to. your work you believe and i'm lucky not just to have survived but i've built up a big big family with many children and grandchildren around fifty all together. and that's coming my nose at hitler. life is

a cartoon as the title of the documentary about kishka and his family optimism and humor is what kept the now ninety one year old alive she's a horace of the holocaust. that's all for now but stay tuned for the bundesliga coming up next thanks for watching the news and. the top stories followed across social media share your comments and content welcome to. news. starting out with some junk and instructions from a book. page of fourteen william coming to dream.