this is d. w. news live from berlin tonight in what was once called africa's breadbasket voters in zimbabwe have gone to the polls to sow the seeds of real democracy this was the first election since independence without robert mugabe on the ballot zimbabweans we did long lines beginning at dawn to cast their votes will go to the capital harare for the latest on this landmark election also coming up president meets the italian prime minister to step back on to european leaders actually agree on when it comes to certain issues in fact trump has praised italy's increasingly hard line

of four inch to immigration. green rovers go green totally green the english club even has a new wind certificate to prove it will tell you how. i'm going to have you with us for the first time in nearly four decades people in zimbabwe have voted in a while where long term leader robert mugabe was not on the about polling stations closed a few hours ago and the turnout we understand was talking averaging about seventy five percent of the electorate accounting is now underway and the final official tally is expected in about five days the move to replace the ousting of mugabe seen voting here is expected to be tight. the two presidential front runners are.

successor president emerson and he got one from the zanu p.f. party he was seen voting here and the opposition leader nelson chamisa. and the pastor. we want to go now to our correspondent melanie griffith ball she is in harare the capital of zimbabwe good evening to you melanie the ballot counting we understand is underway right now how did the election itself go were voters able to cast ballots freely and in peace. fran it's been truly amazing to see how significant this day has been here in zimbabwe there was six million voters and people were out queuing to put in their vote to put the cross next to that candidate from the very early hours three hours before the polling stations even opened and i've been talking to the people of them they've been telling me that yes they do believe it will be free and fair elections that they will be able to to put in their vote and that they're really excited that

this time it will be the first time in zimbabwean history that that vote well actually count this is the first election in sixteen years in which international election observers have been allowed into the country we know there were some observers from the european union there in zimbabwe have we heard what their assessment of the voting is. we've been talking to observers from the e.u. commission here throughout the day and they've been telling us in the morning broke the chief of the observing mission and he's been telling us in the morning that he does think people will be able to cast their vote that everything that he has been seeing in the early hours has been very peaceful and later today he was saying though that throughout zimbabwe there was some areas where it was truly distressing to see how it does organize the voting was that some people were waiting in line for hours and hours and some people even left and they weren't able to put in their

vote so that of course has been a bit upsetting for some zimbabweans we of course have to wait until later this week until there is the official statement outs and then we'll be able to see as well how critical the observers will be how chris how high they will set the bar in order for this to be a truly free and fair elections we've been seeing in of the elections for example in kenya they didn't really put the highest so maybe it will be different this time and we know this election so much about the future of zimbabwe if we can. past in the past four decades with the robert mugabe we saw crowds today cheering him when he turned up to vote do some zimbabweans do they missed them. maybe i think some zimbabweans do miss him he does still have a political sway with a lot of them and he's been trying to really use that for him it's been upsetting

that his name is not on the ballot paper he was in the polling station for ten minutes some people were thinking that he's maybe still looking for his name on it he just couldn't believe that it's not fair anymore that he brought a lot of support us with him to the polling stations we don't know if he asked them to come or if they were there from the very beginning and they were tearing his name they were also cheering chummy says name and of course as you know yesterday said that the only option for him would be to vote for tunis and not for the senate passed so we'll see if that maybe we'll have a big effect on the maybe a lot of people who would have voted for this and otherwise well now listen to mcgovern put in the vote for to me so you have the point it could be an interesting side effect of this entire process and it's the opposition here that should be so we're to win what would change in the country you're meeting stiffle to say what we can say is that he has promised to change

a lot he's been using big words and big statements saying that of course he will fix the country's economy which is in a disastrous state at the moment that will be a difficult task to fix he's also been saying that he's going to take care of the infrastructure that he's going to introduce fast speed but the train is not clearly outlining where he's going to take the money from that so we don't know if he can actually attain the change that he is promising but if he were to win what we can say is it would be a big change for the country because it would show that there is an alternative to the senate here which has been ruling the country for almost four decades our correspondent on the ground the ball on the story for us tonight in the zimbabwean capital harare melanie thanks very much. and we will have more on the zimbabwean election coming up on the day and you can also find more information about the election on our website that dot com slash africa you can also follow us on twitter at the new. u.s.

president almost trump has been meeting the italian prime minister just epic kaante in washington the talks come a bit of a simmering tree dispute between the u.s. and the european union county arrived earlier on monday he was received by president trump at the white house headed there one to one meeting italian prime minister is seen as trump's major ally in europe they share similar views on policy areas such as closing borders to migrants and a friendly your stance towards russia by the top's focused on migration trade and military issues here is part of what trump and to say. that i managed to focus on the urgent need to protect our nations from terrors and uncontrolled migration our countries are learning through our experience that border security is national security you know one and the same like

the united states italy is currently under enormous strain as result of illegal immigration and they fought it hard and the prime minister frankly is with us today because of illegal immigration ily got tired of it. there was the u.s. president there saying that italy got tired of illegal migration let's go to washington our corresponded carson phenomenas on the story for us good evening to you carson before we talk about the issues let's talk about the men and we know that the u.s. president he has welcomed the german chancellor to the white house the french president and at first it looked rosy later at that is this any different with mr cong. well i guess so because there is an ideological closeness between the two the u.s. president praised the italian prime minister for walks he called mr conses firm

stance on the border and he also called on the e.u. leaders to follow its elise leads on this issue so clearly i think mr trump sees mr concert as an ideological ally within the european union as opposed to for instance german chancellor. we have seen time and again that the trouble ministrations seems to be interested in aligning with supporting some of the new right wing leaders in some european countries such as in hungary in poland the czech republic austria and italy that is maybe the difference of course mr trump often says one thing today and a completely different thing tomorrow but once again there is an ideological connection between the two here and both leaders similarly like minded when it comes to russia aren't they. absolutely mr khan to was the

only other g seven leader who supported donald trump's idea to readmit russia to this loose club if you like at the recent g. seven summit in canada is the close connection between an italian conservative and the russian leader is not that you serve your bias kone a former italian prime minister was seen as a close personal friend of russian president vladimir putin he even invited putin to parties at his home in italy now. is a very different person he's a quiet law professor he's not a party animal like a silvio berlusconi but once again on the issue of how to deal with russia he's probably closer to president trump than to other european leaders like. the u.s. president karzai was also asked about the situation with iran today trump saying

that he is willing to meet with the iranian president mr rouhani. how serious was that off. well i think it was serious in the sense that i was trying to emphasize that he believes in dialogue he believes in sitting down with other leaders even adversaries and try to hammer out a deal mr trump got a lot of criticism in recent weeks for his meeting with russian president vladimir putin has and also for his a summit with the north korean leader kim jong il and in both cases critics said these meetings were just talk with little to show for in concrete results and basically he was handing those at the salaries a propaganda win with no benefits for the u.s. and donald trump basically today doubled down on this saying i believe in meeting people i believe in discussing things i believe in establishing personal

relationships even when it comes to iran. so he said i would meet with an iranian leader without preconditions of course he also mentioned that there is little likelihood that this meeting will actually take place because the iranians might not ready for it that's an important point to make or corresponding question the number in washington tonight question thank you all in english soccer club is changing the game when it comes to caring for the environment for screen rovers has become the world's first sporting organization to be certified as carbon neutral by the united nations and it doesn't stop there. home matches it forest green rovers on the surface appear just like any other football game players give their all on the pitch and fans cheer them along but forest green known as the green army vastly differs firstly only vigen food is served because of adam a welfare and health reasons secondly this pichot forest green is organic and

rainwater is recycled in fact the entire facility is powered by green energy and now the club has signed up for a united nations initiative called climate neutral now. so we become the first sports club in the world to be climate neutral according to the un which is quite exciting and. i can we would do more with them i think we will because they're on the same page as we are sport looks to be a great vehicle to carry this insane ability with which the united nations hopes that forest green becoming carbon neutral will set a precedent for others to follow what we're working on base sports for climate action initiative where we hope all are going to say shows we'll also step up their reaction on climate for is when voters will be definitely an example that we share . their green credentials have also been matched by strong performances on the

pitch forest green was recently promoted to the english football league for the first time in its history. and here's a reminder of the top stories we're following for you while the wind started forming at dawn as the barbarians voted in the first elections to take place since the removal of former president robert mugabe counting has now begun in what looks to be as high a race between the governing zanu p.f. and the main opposition party us president ultron has held talks with the italian prime minister himself a conte migration was the main focus conti said that he had one trumps agreement organizing a conference to find where. of stabilizing libya the main departure point for migrants to your. link with the w. news for all of us here in berlin thanks for the company will be back at the top of the young girl was more bold expose.

them a little bit.