the entire country champion. for the last sixty years. for martin's. 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. that intolerance destroys the sense of home for all who 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 an unprecedented 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 erwan calls for an early vote to go ahead next month and now faces a credible threat to his power from an office. and welcome to the program and a television interview german president. has called for increased vigilance and the country against anti semitism this comes after a series of anti-semitic incidents including an attack on a man wearing

a jewish skullcap on the streets of berlin and the country's largest music awards ceremony was also canceled recently after controversy over a prize winning album with lyrics widely interpreted as anti-semitic. 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 and have just arrived all want to make a home in germany that will be possible from to some ism spreads here because in the end it destroys that home for everyone and the high mud. steinmeyer also delivered a putdown to the state premier of 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's in. war and 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 its problems become more complex the answers can 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 then a few hours ago it's the first election held under a new law meant to give smaller parties a chance but observers expect the race to come down to western backed prime

minister saad hariri and the 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 gold but nothing's changed you will add up just as yet another name is 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 it set to profit from that tort reform i love

but we're going through difficult times military success and hezbollah are particularly needed without hezbollah we'd also have terrorists in this country and every few g. crisis similar to downs of syria and iraq a view to your. new non-denominational protest parties are hoping to challenge the political elites 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 g.w. correspondent in 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 the political leadership of different political parties appealed to their waters to get to the voting centers

to the polling booth and vote in huge numbers why that happened because in a certain sunni dominated districts the sunnis are 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 them will walk to the playing on their minds are dominantly civic issues like office prices

electricity prices and several other issues but they feel that it's not going as levanon continues to having to 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 you mentioned 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 walk is that in a sunni dominated area perhaps it would get a seat or a bruise would get a seat opposition would get a seat in wife but broadly it's not expected to impact the elections as far as the sectarian politics in the countries concerned 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 in tunisia and knocked out party has claimed victory and miscible elections the first since the two thousand and eleven arab spring revolution the vote has been seen as a crucial step toward consolidating to museums democracy but turnout was low especially amongst the youth who drove the twenty eleven are prizing but are displeased about ongoing high unemployment and low economic growth police say at least forty five people have died in attack by armed bandits in northern nigeria do not state civilian militias say the bandits attacked residents of village this is the latest in a growing number of incidents of rural violence across the country involving cattle

robberies and kidnappings. pakistan's interior minister us on a bomb has been shot in the arm in an apparent assassination attempt according to a police report seen by the reuters news agency and man believed to have shot him as a twenty one year old follower of a new ultra religious party security forces arrested the suspect following the shooting. turkish president rajah type heir to one has launched his campaign for a snap general election which will be held at the end of june at a rally area one told supporters he would resist any attempt from domestic or foreign actors to divide the country there is much on the line for him in the upcoming ballot winning it with secured a one sweeping new presidential powers that were nearly 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

takings were high that he would announce a major new initiatives but he didn't was 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 on top of his border with syria there will be new offensives in the african region of syria after the election we will not give up on constricting 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 the work up that of those. who once 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 for opposition politics hope to prevent that 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 will be a terrible mistake a 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 has condemned the deal as flawed and has threatened to exit the accord when it comes up for renewal on may twelfth and tehran 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. because if the u.s. offers 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. more we will build on stockpile weapons equipment and missiles as much as our country requires. in france and new campaign is encouraging more women to report their experiences of sexual harassment on public transport and public spaces studies show nearly every woman in the capital paris has experienced sexual harassment on the city's buses and trains to fight back against catcalling groping and pestering in public is now gathering speed. elemental 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. 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 create 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 the perpetrator can be anyone and it can happen to anyone. now six months later both the parents transport authorities and politicians have also taken the problem seriously and are feeling the 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 moved away this is bridge. it's not just on buses or trains either the walk home is every bit as risky for women that something pick on us 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 to get to. this new flexible service is being piloted on just a handful of dust. but what's clear is that the fight against sexual assault in paris is gathering speed and not a moment too soon for me she's had enough of sexist comments and groping hands and is no longer prepared to be either a silent victim for

a silent witness. you're watching d.w. news and don't forget you can get the latest anytime on our website that's d w dot com i'm happy call boston and berlin thanks for tuning in. to. learn german with. any time any place.