this is deja vu news live from berlin lebanon goes to the polls for the first parliamentary election in nearly a decade security fears and a tug of war over election reform delayed voting for years now an unprecedented number of independent candidates are hoping to shake up lebanon's political establishment under prime minister saad hariri also coming up. the phone from grace from germany's once highest paid blue chip c.e.o. u.s. prosecutors have indicted the former boss of both swag and as german prosecutors

examine his case what's ahead for marching winterkorn. it should have been their wedding day but instead of slain journalist john could siac and his fiance martina were honored in a memorial to the couple was murdered in february in slovakia as could she have reported on a ledge of high level corruption. i'm michelle henery thanks for joining us floaters in lebanon are heading to the polls to elect a new parliament today for the first time in almost ten years so a new prime minister saad hariri and his future movement party are expected to remain in power the election will be the first under the country's new electoral laws with proportional representation replacing the previous winner takes all system the vote brings into focus the struggle for power in a country divided. along sectarian lines among those hoping to make gains in the

country is hezbollah the islamist political and militant group financed by a red which supports the syrian president bashar al assad here's a look at the patchwork of groups and religions vying for power in lebanon on. the graves of lebanese hezbollah fighters who died in neighboring syria. the iran funded parties militias are revered by many shiites in lebannon. in syria the militias find alongside the troops of president bashar al assad and ally of iran. has under its secretary general hossam is not only a military organization but also an influential political force it's represented in the lebanese parliament alongside with other muslim and christian parties and it's part of the national unity government shiite and sunni muslims and christians are sharing power there lebanon is

a diverse country almost twenty religious communities live here but has a ball as involvement in the war in syria is creating tension between them it undermines lebanon's policy of not interfering in other countries it's a principle all parties agree to the objective was avoiding entanglement with the region's interest groups this country of four million has taken in some one and a half million syrian refugees since then poverty and unemployment have risen sharply and growth has fallen to one percent from eight percent before the syrian war in addition there are the hundreds of thousands of refugees who fled the palestinian territories decades ago lebanon is formally at war with israel beirut demands the establishment of a palestinian state and a return of refugees as conditions for a peace agreement lebanon maintains close relations with israel's main critic iran mainly through hezbollah the shiite group is predicted to make gains in the

election but western backed prime minister saad hariri is widely expected to head the next cabinet. whatever the outcome of the vote parliamentary seat and key political offices will continue to be divided proportionally among religious groups . let's go to our correspondent on childe laura who has phoned the story for us from beirut. elections are currently underway but what about the current prime minister saad hariri will these elections confirm the status quo or has he lost the confidence of his supporters. well right now i am in the district where. fighting for the candidates fighting from beirut one of the districts and salaries popularity has in fact been stopped in last year's episode when he resigned from riyadh but when he returned he would use the resignation nonetheless the lebanese name saudis are not. and his popularity has written has

risen i beg your pardon having said that how well this party movement how well the party is a big question mark because from the sunni elite several other candidates have now stood up in these elections in the sunni dominated tripoli but even here in beirut remains to be seen how the saudis will respond to the rise of other sunni strong sunni candidates in lebanon so he's popular but he's facing some pretty tough competition and these are the first election since two thousand and nine can you walk us through the issues that are concerning voters in the country. where the big issue here really is the sectarian divide and foreign meddling but i don't very civic level garbage prices electricity water prices now with a million syrians on the ground palestinians have already been living for decades in camps so there is a quite a burden on the civic facilities so lebanese if you talk to would say well look i

want to check your city i want the garbage crisis to be resolved but broadly they say it cannot be done as long as one is divided on religious lines and there is foreign meddling in our country and that is that iran and saudi arabia really come into the civic problems are linked to the foreign policy. the fact that lebanon a tiny country is essentially a very important tiny country when it comes to the broader conflict in the middle east so you say that outside influence is affecting the country but can you tell us how much influence do international powers hold over these elections. well it meant how many i was allowed home how many the spiritual leader to say all thought iraq has come out in the open and back to hezbollah as well as allies and hizbollah already has deep alliances with the christians here so in a sense she i walked all the walks that is belied its allies will get not played but the award saudi backed candidates anybody gets is going to be split in these

elections so it's expected that they will do better which means you know on the dollars follow route which then means saudis will do something what they will do at this point is not known there is foreign influence often from election experts who hear how different bullet countries like saudi arabia need on fund different political parties how there is no proof set so the elections are very important and we now need to wait and see which side will be heavy a when the results tomorrow come out and depending on that how long it takes after the elections the government formation in lebanon. bora or purporting from beirut thank you. iranian president hassan rouhani has warned the united states that pulling out of the nuclear deal would be a terrible mistake the twenty fifteen agreement lifted sanctions against iran in return for terrans promise not to try to make a nuclear bomb us president donald trump has condemned the deal as flawed and threatened to leave while tehran says if it is complying but not seeing the

benefits rouhani told a rally in the city of sabs afar he was ready for any decision trump might make. out if the u.s. to pull out of the nuclear deal they will soon realize that this decision will become a historic regret for them or you will. we tell the whole world america europe the east and the west we will not negotiate with anyone over our country's weapons and defense. oh we will build and stockpile weapons equipment and missiles as much as our country requires. and they are some other stories making news around the world for turkish opposition parties have sealed and it looked or alliance and challenging president are the ones ruling party he called a snap general election for late next month the opposition alliance says it's

seeking a return to freedom of speech and the press and an independent judiciary. a coal mine explosion has killed at least eighteen miners and injured several others in southwest pakistan rescue operations have been concluded according to authorities the blast was caused by a buildup of methane gas. the. russian opposition leader alexei navalny has been released from custody after being detained yesterday at an anti putin rally in moscow some one thousand six hundred activists were arrested in other demonstrations across the country against president tetons inauguration for a fourth term as president on monday. it's a scandal that refuses to die volkswagen's diesel emissions fraud case the latest twist us authorities have issued an arrest warrant for former c.e.o. martin winter corn. this is the village in munich where martin venter core has been living since he left fox falcon in two thousand and fifteen as v.w. c.e.o.

he was the highest paid executive in germany not only has he been indicted in the united states there's also a warrant out for his arrest now under german law however he can't be extradited still he is at risk in a new was the u.s. he faces a rest before talking to other countries he'll have to check carefully whether they could detain him and extradite him to the u.s. . he's put the world's biggest carmaker back in the headlines car sales are strong despite the diesel emissions scandal p.w. has a large pile of cash despite billions in penalties but the risk is of intercon could drag him down again american allegations of systematic deception at the highest level of g.w. have not gone unnoticed by politicians in germany. it's not for me to decide if he's guilty or not that's the job of the courts but it's interesting that in the us they're not afraid to tackle executives. for me top managers who've been earning

top salaries constantly claim they knew nothing they must take responsibility. the key question is what did winterkorn know and when did he know it. although he told a parliamentary investigation that he had not known about the intentional cheating and deception there is mounting evidence that he did know about it before the scandal broke in september twenty fifteen. july two thousand and fifteen a senior executive is said to have spoken to vent on the phone and told him we've been cheating in the us the same month a lawyer for the company says he talked of into one about the cheat software and how best to pursue damage control even good public prosecutors in germany are also investigating him to call on suspicion of fraud and market manipulation at a major sunday newspaper is reporting that v.w. is considering suing him for damages under german law executives can be held

responsible for losses whether they knew about misconduct at the time or not if oversight was unduly lax. in slovakia and sort of celebrating i'm a wedding friends and family are mourning murdered journalist yan and his fiance martina. could she have had been investigating high level corruption in the country there are still unsolved murders in february have led to mass protests which triggered the resignation of the prime minister amid demands to balco ruction and protect press freedom. it should have been one of the happiest days of their lives but in place of their wedding friends and family are honoring the murdered journalist you could see a contest fiance martina with a memorial concert. accomplish. as well. it's not known who shot could

siac and his fiance at close range in late february but when he died the journalist had been working on an article about alleged connections between leading slovak politicians and the italian mafia because that in the article could siac named people and companies we have checked all the names and connected them to seventy criminal cases we're looking into possible links prime minister little bad fit so has resigned but behind the scenes many believe he's still pulling the strings that's prompted tens of thousands of people to protest. slovaks are furious there have been recent nations but not enough. above all corruption must stop we need more public scrutiny. that seems unlikely in light of the latest development the country's public broadcaster recently fired several

journalists they'd signed an open letter against corruption in the media. x. manchester united manager alex ferguson is in hospital after undergoing emergency surgery on a brand hemorrhage ferguson who seventy six is recovering in hospital in a statement united said the operation went quote very well the scot were tired as the club's manager in twenty thirteen after twenty seven years in charge ferguson is the most successful manager in british football he won thirty eight trophies with united including thirteen premier league titles. and a reminder of the top stories we're following for you lebanese voters are taking part in the country's first poetry lection in almost a decade previous polls were delayed due to security concerns and looked over for early results are expected this evening. don't forget you can always get d.w. news on the go just download our out from google play or the apple store bella 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 that if you opt to send us photos and videos. your watching to build you news will be back at the top of the hour the bundesliga show follows after the break thanks for watching. the top stories followed across social media share your comments and content welcome to. news. of blessing. and a curse. source of nature and in this skin.