this is deja vu news live from berlin this syrian town of a spring is now in turkish hands ancora back fighters raising the turkish flag after a lightning advance against kurdish militia overnight the battle for a free has forced more than a hundred and fifty thousand from their homes we are asking what's next for the region also coming up russians go to the polls to pick a new president in a vote many call a done deal vladimir putin is expected to easily when a fourth term in office can he mobilize voters turned off by the predictability of

the context. and byron munich will have to wait another week to wrap up the blenders league title i.x. after the close rivals shall go over temples for its own won't lose long skirt have put the bavarians just three points away from their sticks successive championship will have all of the action from the game. on michelle henery in berlin thanks for joining us. that forces have taken control of the northern syrian town of a frame the town that's been the target of turkey's two month offensive against a syrian kurdish militia it fused as terrorists its capture marks a major victory for turkey but as lost 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 she said to show turkish backed rebels entering the town on sunday morning. was these men have been fighting since january to oust the kurdish militia known as the people's protection units a y p g o's are. going to have to tell you 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 victory was met with jubilation by president adeline 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 are cleaning the remains of the traps they left behind in the center of power for in the symbols of trust and stability are waving

instead of the regs of terrorists. for the civilian population of a fraying turkey's offensive has been devastating more than one hundred fifty thousand people have been forced to flee for their lives in the last week as turkey attacks the city from the air and the ground. at the bottom of the levels 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 is monitoring the situation for us from the kurdish 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. there if you didn't want to have any form of cortisol through 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 three and they could attack this city because russia through this operation to attack it and so after two months that they. respect the rebels they and thirty city are three. hundred more than hundred fifty thousand people were displaced to areas outside of that. and now that turkey has claimed that they can control does this mean that there and 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 they're occupied or so that their is present make clear they want to destroy this kurdish so all rule ministrations all the way

to directly border so we will depend on the americans because the americans there in eastern syria and i don't know how the americans out there will not leave so we depends on the americans going to do are they going to protect of course from turkish attacks are not. and as you said more than one hundred fifty thousand people have been displaced in the fighting what do 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 to aleppo they're now like two small villages also i think so the plans on the turkey also thirteen of us they said they'll allow civilians to return but i think most of them there 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 some sort of the inside i think so we have to see what's coming in the next few days vladimir park thank you for your insight.

to russia now we're voting is underway in the country's presidential elections but only putin is on course to win a fourth term in a vote many say is a foregone conclusion as this report shows many russians say 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 the 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 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 also i have voted for putin

because i don't see any alternative if you know who you're with you 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 stuff to turn out and vote something one of putin's presidential challenges says she is trying to highlight. it i don't think we will observe what happens we will monitor irregularities as you know our campaign team works as a poll observer. cashflow will 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 a 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 has 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 who didn't will win anyway and when 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 if they don't what's looks like a foregone conclusion that will win so the only as the main goal that the kremlin has in these elections is to get turned out to be high and that's because they want these elections to be legitimate to look legitimate despite the fact that of course pushing 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 are have also been a bunch of kind of attempts to pull the voters to the into the polling stations there have been selfie competitions where you can win an i phone there

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 turnout seventy percent they say and it looks like it may. the working of the electoral commission earlier said that there is currently a higher turnout than at the previous presidential elections is it sounds like the kremlin is going to considerable effort to galvanize voters but we've also been hearing reports of irregular they were irregularities 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 in the moscow region there have also been videos circulating online of ballots nothing 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 because to do with the pressure that we mentioned that employers are putting on their employees to go out and vote to take a picture with their ballot showing that they have voted correctly and will but we'll 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 only sure when in moscow thank you very much. and now to some of the other stories making news around the world china's parliament has elected premier league to a second five year term only two delegates voted against the second most powerful man in china's communist party his reelection comes a day after chinese president xi jinping was unanimously reappointed with no limit

on how long he can serve. with the u.s. still tariffs looming german chancellor angela merkel and china's president xi jinping have said they want to tackle overproduction in world still markets in a phone call to to agree to seek solutions within the agreed framework of the g twenty two group of industrialized nations is that to meet monday in argentina. germany's new interior minister horses a offer says he wants to increase checks on the country's borders until the e.u. secures its external frontier germany resume some border controls after the twenty fifteen migration crisis observers cause they hover stuff line on migration a bit to draw voters away from the far right alternative for germany party. and to the bundesliga where byron fans were closely watching shaka took on those

park on saturday a defeat for the world blues would help the bavarians as they seek to wrap up the bundesliga title this weekend but wins have been hard to come by for all spurred could they finally turn their season around here's what happened. those were forced to be reckoned with what now though is wearing their colors now with the royal blues the defender is hungrier than ever for goals he's already scored five times this season. those but on the other hand are having a hard time of it they were without a win in three games under coach bruno love a day. his team got the first real chance of the game maximilian arnold with this shot after ten minutes i offer to tease like this were few and far between. shall get in particular were in no hurry to threaten the valves gulf their first chance came just before half time that's not good enough to be a champions league contender i sixty minutes in and shonky were beginning to get

their act together brandon bolo got as close as you can get without scoring my only some super goalkeeping from countries stales kept the ball out of. those photographs bondage after some desperate play in the books the referee pointed to the spots available in the replay clearly showing the tie in the stars it's taking down recently visited by the hog took the shot stops by rather than that it was the third penalty he said this season shall be made another push in the dying moments of the game the most the defense was caught napping and bowler with the cross and the ball touched in a close range by anything rubbing konopka he turned the ball into his own net i shouted with their fifth win in a row they keep their champions league hopes alive and tonight by a new take the chance of an early point is a good title even more cause for celebration i am. you're watching the

news from berlin more coming at the top of the hour and don't forget you get all the latest news and information around the clock on our website at www dot com i'm still here in berlin see you. the whole g w one out. for instance his global insights the news outlet for local heroes. d w made for miners.