this news coming to you live from berlin polls are closing in pakistan killed. millions of voters have been casting their ballots after a bitter and divisive election campaign marred by deadly violence the military is out in force to ensure security but a suicide bomber has already struck outside a polling station also coming up. we're going to. be bright.

greek prime minister. consoles a grieving nation after wildfires in the country killed rescuers are looking door to door looking for survivors. those are closing in pakistan's general election but they have been courts to extend voting with people still waiting to cast their ballots their two leading parties in the fields contested election the cricket star turned politician imran khan is hoping to become prime minister for the fust time his party that they have been soft or justice party is fighting on an anti corruption platform his main rival is shahbaz sharif the pakistan muslim league n he's the brother of former.

cinnabar sharif who is in prison convicted of corruption as voting began a suicide bomber killed at least thirty people outside a polling station in the southwestern city of the so what islamic state claimed responsibility for the attack. which is in baluchistan province also so deadly pre-election violence meanwhile the military was out in force as millions of pakistanis voted. armed soldiers like these are some of the roughly three hundred seventy thousand troops deployed across the country not only are they guarding polling centers but are also helping with general security duties. human rights groups are concerned they have already complained of the army's alleged interference in the electoral process. which is in litigation get it out and all to buckle and keep going to fund that and if it is it

generation one again that you're looking at it as the end. of the intimidation of journalists is believed to have served the campaign of this man former cricket star in one count of the movement for justice party the sixty five year old has vowed to track down on corruption. what it says about it all we will deliver justice to the masses regardless of them being a hindu or christian a sikh regardless of the marine corps or from different provinces or from coffee to stock supérieure or somebody who you know of his closest rival is shahbaz sharif brother of the ousted former prime minister no of us are if currently in jail on corruption charges. but in the head to head race between khan and sharif this man could prove to be kingmaker below why but it's a diary of the left leaning pakistan people's party a son of slain prime minister benazir bhutto he is looking to revive the fortune of

his party. some observers have called this election the dirtiest in recent memory but for ordinary people on the street their hopes are far more grounded. in the country is economically weak at the moment it is standing at the verge of bankruptcy one thing is sure that whichever government comes it will be faced with challenges but we hope whatever government comes it will recover pakistan from a fall. joining me now is the chorus one and only conrad from the pakistani capital islamabad not only we've seen that despite the huge military presence this will already be a suicide bomb attack at a polling station what more can you tell us about it. yes i've been talking to difficult journalists on the ground journalists who were actually at the polling station right after the attack happened it seems that this was attacked trying to

target a very high ranking security official who was in the police station next door a lot of people have been killed the death toll seems to be rising the journalist who's at the local hospital just told me it's also affecting voter turnout in parts of people are afraid they're staying at home or they're voting as fast as possible and then returning home so this may have an impact on the outcome in at least baluchistan now we've seen a very bitter and divisive election campaign what steps are being taken today to ensure that the polling is fair and free. well that remains to be seen the it server teams are out there trying to monitor but the problem isn't actually the polls themselves the problem has been the whole run up to the elections journalists have faced intimidation and threats whenever they've tried to report too much on the p.l.m. on i was sure we use a party there's been a lot of shifting in election coverage so i don't think we can say that these elections have been fair or free we also have to consider that pakistan is not an

established democracy votes here are bought and sold people vote according to what their village strong woman tells them so is definitely a different kind of voting process here and i don't think we can say that these elections are free and fair and the winds probed perception that the military favors. why. that is a very big question as we would have loved to put that to the military itself we try to get interviews we would deny the interviews one of the working assumptions here is that the military fell out with no us really because he's been trying to improve ties with our tribal india that is maybe one explanation another explanation is that imran khan is billing himself as an anti corruption politician maybe that also is what the army perf but this is really also guesswork i mean we're trying to connect the dots but as i said we would have loved to put this to the military but we were denied an interview my only conrad in the pakistani

capital islamabad thank you for that update. turning now to greece which has begun three days of mourning for the victims of the country's worst fire disaster in a decade at least eighty people are confirmed dead and that number is expected to rise the fire broke out monday evening one near the town of connecticut iraq fifty kilometers west of the capital athens another to the seduced east of the coastal village of marty the blaze is spread through the areas in a matter of minutes leaving behind a grim tone. only a few days ago will carry a celebrated her son's wedding here now she finds herself standing amidst devastation her house her life as she knew it in just a few minutes fire destroyed it all it's only when she returned that the extent of the catastrophe became clear kariya her daughter in law and her grandson only survived thanks to her son he wants her the fire was bearing down on them then you

go my son called me from work and told me run quickly to the harbor we ran to the harbor that's why we survived there's a large house knew they had a court fire and three or four people i thought were being burned to death inside. this family are the only victims so many have lost everything and the death toll is expected to rise many a still missing. have been about to open his tavern but then it was consumed by flames within minutes he accuses the authorities of failing his town now he doesn't even know where he'll. tell us all the hotels are full and that we should apply for a place in a container in athens disaster what should we do we pay back the bank when we are money and we are the taxpayers the government a must help us all. the greek government has declared

a state of emergency three days of national mourning and has vowed to deliver aid fast. the sorry must. stand together. of the european countries have also sent help in the form of planes and fire fighters hundreds of them still battling to control the flames the trying to stop bit more people losing their belongings or their lives. let's look at some other stories making news around the wasn't in syria at least fifty people have been killed in suicide attacks taunting the southern city of a series of bombings hit the city's marketplace and other targets downtown the attacks are being blamed on the so-called islamic state battling government forces near the city. a mexican editor has been killed at the beach resort of plaid and

conmen ruben paschal was a second journalist from the pioneers to be monitored in a month that's reported on crime in the city which is located in an area with the soaring rate of violence due to drug gangs. now to laos in southeast asia where nine thousand people are known to have died after a hydroelectric dam collapsed on monday following heavy rains the number of deaths leaves rise as riskiest continue to search for hundreds of missing villages in the flooded area thousands need shelter after the floods spectrally their homes at least seven villages were reportedly submerged the dam was still under construction when it collapsed activists are calling for renewed scrutiny of the government's plans for more hydroelectric projects i spoke earlier to correspondent frederick sure and bangkok and he told us about the hurdles facing

the rescue efforts in laos the situation is very wary dangerous right now as you already said thousands of them still need to be rescued they are sitting on the roofs they are sitting on the trees a lot of people you don't even know whether actually are so a lot of work still needs to be done there are some other neighboring countries who offered help for example b.f. nam and talent they offered to send choppers also south korea are helping this is because a south korean company has been involved in building the dam so there are international help is is beginning and there are lots of issues for example who it is a big issue a lot of food supplies of the villages has been drowned or became website so you need to bring a lot of supplies now to that area and this is difficult because it's very remote so clearly allows the same zinc huge difficulties right now and that was correspondent frederick sport talking about the lausd dam collapse.

come to sport and we suffered cycling and there was no shortage of drama on tuesday in the tour de france state sixteen was briefly interrupted by a protest that said ride is requiring medical attention for mistry to block the road with bales of hay police attempted to control the a demonstration street several riders the pepper spit three by mistake but the risk continued after a brief delay. the first peyronie's stage of this year's tour to two hundred eighty kilometers took the riders from carcasses to barnyard. after a scrappy beginning a large group formed up front. on the climb to the cold they portray d.s.p. mountain pass police jill bear attack and reached the top first on the descent however he misjudged and went over

a low stone wall. after one hundred eighty kilometers to tour its or spain as the writers made their last climb of the stage britain's adam gates lay. on his tail was giuliani other fully. less than ten kilometers from the finish line disaster struck yates hit the deck on its final descent giving freshmen julia out of felipe a chance to whiz by and win his second stage of the two. to the two as a. president you know a lot of pain in my legs i think everybody but. i cannot believe. for the second time today the overall ranking remains unchanged get right thomas of team sky retains the yellow jersey. now to a stunning achievement in the world of kitesurfing italian add on cons a lino court a freak gust a wind at a competition off the spanish canary and

a foot to ventura he ended up trying for just one nineteen seconds such a long flight is almost unheard of in the sport. unfortunately for cons of you know he could not follow it up in later rounds and he finished third. still a spectacular achievement and we have some more stunning pictures for you a spectacle of nature in central italy that would remind you of an impressionist painting in on breo while flags of boston to blur during the fields into what looked like vibrant. the mixture of poppies confluence and daisies grow among the area's famous crop and help prop up fragile plants not surprisingly the breathtaking landscape draws tourists to the region every year to take a look. never mind is the top story that we're following for you.

thousands of pakistani elections have closed. in a tightly contested election results should be coming out in the coming hours and also coming up ahead on the unions thousands of passengers. in europe really shouldn't even to cancel their vacations and the budget airline ryan air goes on strike coming up. if you're smart to keep smarter d.w. course more. what you watch when you want it up to date extraordinary. you decide what's on find out more. dot com smart. wished. isn't.