live from berlin germany's president has given a television interview calling for a decisive rejection of religious intolerance. responded to a recent spate of anti semitic attacks by emphasizing that intolerance destroys the sense of home for all want to make a life in germany also coming up. votes are being counted in lebanon after the

first parliamentary election in nearly a decade and number of independent candidates are hoping to shake up lebanon's political establishment under prime minister saad hariri. and turkey's president. kicks off his election campaign call for an early vote to go ahead next month and now faces a credible threat to his power from an opposition alliance. come to the program in a television interview german president. has called for increased vigilance in the country against anti semitism this comes after a series of anti semitic incidents including an attack on a man wearing

a jewish skullcaps on the streets of berlin and the country's largest music awards ceremony was also canceled recently after controversy over apply is winning album with lyrics widely interpreted as anti sematic. steinmeier has been in office for just over a year and helps launch chancellor angela merkel's new grand coalition government in his t.v. interview he called for a more decisive rejection of anti-semitism. you wouldn't whether the jews christians or muslims were believers all nonbelievers whether they have lived here for years of just arrived all want to make a home in germany that would be possibly fun to some as are some spreads here because in the end it destroys that home for everyone good and. steinmeier also delivered a putdown to the state premier of the varia who recently instructed all but there in state offices to display a crucifix the president may be a committed christian but he clearly had little time for such

a blurring of the line between church and state. if people don't go to church on sundays putting crucifixes in government offices isn't going to make them religious that simple. warned that democracy must be nurtured if it is to be preserved it's clear that the fight against populism is to be the theme of his second year in office. which is what i believe the task of the federal president is to warn that as the world becomes more complex as these problems become more complex the answers become more simple. the rule of law may operate in germany said steinmeyer but freedom and democracy are not guaranteed the ballot count is underway in lebanon after voting in parliamentary elections and in a few hours ago it's the first election held under a new lot meant to give smaller parties a chance but observers expect the race to come down to the western backed prime minister saad hariri and iran backed militant group hezbollah. lining up to elect

a new parliament for the first time in nine years the war in neighboring syria security concerns and disagreements between rival parliamentary blocs delayed this vote until now many vote is deeply frustrated. with had enough of clans that have ruled us for fifty years. tried with the old guard but nothing's changed you will add obsessiveness yet another man's old prime minister may well become its new one billionaire businessman saad hariri heads up the coalition campaigning for votes from simians and moderates but he is under some pressure his company's are foundering and many resent his cooperation with hezbollah. the radical shiite group has pointed to its military successes in syria in an effort to secure more votes get set to profit from electoral reform.

but we are going through difficult times military success and hezbollah are particularly needed without hezbollah we also have terrorists in this country and every few gee crisis similar to dance of syria and iraq a view to your. new non-denominational protest parties are hoping to challenge the political elite in this election but that chance is a slim due to high electoral thresholds and old political alliances. the voter turnout is about forty nine percent according to the country's interior minister that's compared to fifty four percent in two thousand and nine earlier we spoke with d.w. correspondent bora and beirut who explains how different parties try to counter the low voter turnout before the polls closed. what's happened this time around is that a few hours before the polls were supposed to close political leadership of different political parties appealed to their waters to get to the voting sent us

to the polling booth and vote in huge numbers why that happened because in a certain sunni dominated districts the sunnis that dominate had voted no i beg your pardon so the shias lost their will just to go and the christian parties did the same so in a way in the towards the end the political parties have asked their voters to go ahead and cost their ballots in huge numbers and we've also seen some minor skirmishes between the supporters of hizbollah and the supporters of saddam heavy these future moment now as you mentioned these are the first election since two thousand and one that's a lot has changed in the last nine years what are some of the domestic issues that are on the minds of voters well this is actually the first election for this generation the two thousand and nine elections you had voters who had witnessed the civil war and they had a very different bent of mind at that stage but this time around you have hundreds and thousands of first time voters it is not yet known how many of their water the playing on their minds are dominantly civic issues like office prices electricity

prices and several other issues but they feel it has not been as levanon continues to have into ferentz from reasonal powers like saudi arabia and iran the country cannot move forward and that is because of the sectarian divide in the country hizbollah and its allies the christians and so needs to mention the sectarian divide the country has a new electoral law based on proportional representation how could this impact the outcome of the vote. well essentially how this would impact the outcome of the work is that in a sunni dominated area perhaps it would get a seat or a bruise would get a seat in opposition would get a seat and vice versa but broadly it's not expected to impact the elections as far as the sectarian politics in the countries that sound because the seats are still designed for sectarian candidates essentially means that your walks will not be forgotten if the list that you watch it fall has got a minimum number of seats so you will see some surprises but not too many because the established political parties have done this it didn't match pretty well this

time we do have civil society candidates but it remains to be seen how they perform . reporting from beirut thank you very much now some of the other stories making news around the world police say at least forty five people have died in an attack by armed bandits and northern nigeria state civilian militia say the band it's a tack residents of a village this is the latest in and growing number of incidents of rural violence across the country involving cattle pfaff's robberies and kidnappings a bombing at a mosque in eastern afghanistan has killed at least a dozen people and wounded several others place and cause save the mosque was also being used as a voter registration center for elections later this year no group has claimed responsibility for the attack. spanish rescue services say they've pulled nearly five hundred people from the mediterranean sea in two days each year tens of

thousands of people try to reach southern european countries from african shores are crossing perilous seas and boats unfit for open water the united nations says more than six hundred people have already died so far this year alone. turkish president won has launched his campaign for a snap general election which will be held at the end of june at a rally area want told supporters he would resist any attempt from domestic or foreign actors to divide the country there is much on the line for error to want in the upcoming ballot winning it would secure him sweeping new presidential powers that were narrowly approved just last year. oh president one is well known for his all singing all dancing rallies tens of thousands attended the unveiling of his party's election manifesto thanks but taken as well high that he would announce a major new initiatives but he didn't with seven weeks still to go to polling day

this time yet for campaign promises he did pledge more investment economic growth and a commitment to democracy and he vowed that there will be no letup in operations against what he calls terrorists border with syria there will be new offensives in the african region of syria after the election we will not give up on constructing terrorist organizations we shatter the terror corridor are being formed on our southern border with these operations our soldiers who wrote an epic enough rain are ready for new missions lots of work up a lot of those. said the election would be a turning point for turkey even opposition parties agree about that they just don't see it as positively as he does if he wins another one will bring in constitutional changes that will give him even more power as president four opposition parties hope to prevent by forming an electoral lives they say they're seeking a return to freedom of speech and the press on an independent judiciary so far

seems to be making all the running but seven weeks is a long time in politics. iranian president hassan rouhani says if the united states pulls out of the nuclear deal it would be a terrible mistake the two thousand and fifteen agreement lifted sanctions against iran in return for tehran's promise not to continue with its nuclear program u.s. president doll trump has condemned the deal as flawed and has threatened to exit the a court when it comes up for renewal on may twelfth and tear on says it's complying with the deal but not seeing the benefits speaking at a rally rouhani says he's ready for trump's decision no matter what it is. i gather that god if the us ups to pull out of the nuclear deal they will soon realize that this decision will become a historic regret for them or you will. see. 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. argued all you. want we will build and stockpile weapons equipment and missiles as much as our country requires. in france a new campaign is encouraging more women to report their experiences of sexual harassment on public transport and in public spaces studies say nearly every woman in the capital paris has experienced sexual harassment on the city's buses and trains the fight back against catcalling groping and pestering in public is now gathering speed. illimitable paris's subway is used every day by many women including a nice meal lou but her sense of safety has changed since a series of unpleasant experiences with fellow male passengers says. they stood behind me and rubbed themselves against me and touched me it's happened three times

it's disturbing and hard to deal with. and she's far from alone studies show that almost every parisian woman has had at least one experience of sexual assault on the city's buses and trains the shocking statistic that propelled into action she started a petition to greet awareness of the issue it was signed by sixty thousand people yes i want everyone to realise that you can essentially harassed at any time of day or the perpetrator can be anyone and it can happen to anyone. just now six months later both the parents transport authorities and politicians have also taken the problem seriously and are feeling to passengers not to trivialize sexual harassment victims and witnesses get in touch. the campaign encourages women to prevent their attackers from getting away with it and other passengers not to look away on the says no one helped her when she was being molested not even when

she cried out. no one did anything they just looked away for it. it's not just on buses or trains either the walk home is every bit as risky for women that something less plans to change the local politician wants night buses to drop women off between bus stops or even to bring them up to their front door. we want women to feel safer on their way home at night especially those who work late at night and have to travel home to the suburbs. this new flexible service is being piloted on just a handful of buses. but what's clear is that the fight against sexual assault in paris is gathering speed and not a moment too soon for. she's had enough of sexist comments and groping hands and is no longer prepared to be either a silent victim a silent witness. and our minder of the top story we're following for you the vote

count is now underway in lebanon's first general election and almost a decade observers expect the race to come down to the back of prime minister saad hariri and the iran backed militant group hezbollah was about forty nine percent last in the last vote in two thousand and nine. in back of the top of the hour with more news but first stick around for the show with my colleague matt herman. in berlin thanks for turning in. your smart t.v. smarter than g.w. for. what you watch when you want to up to date extraordinary. to decide what's. more. cops more. time for an upgrade.