this is news coming to you live from berlin and the race to replace is on has led germany's conservative c.d.u. party for eighteen years today the party elects a new leader we'll tell you what you need to know about who could become germany's next chancellor also coming up the eiffel tower and other parisian landmarks prepare to close says french authorities brace for more violence this weekend best protesters are planning more rallies despite the government's u. turn on a controversial fuel taxes. on the program it's man versus beast in

a nice sport in eastern china. kung fu bull fight here puts a normal legal twist on the traditional practice but animal rights activists have been voicing concern. thanks for joining us germany's conservative c.d.u. party elects a new leader to replace later today plans to remain chancellor until the end of her term in two thousand and twenty one but whoever takes over the helm as party chief will be ideally position to become chancellor some day and could even push merkel out of the job before her term and the race for party leader is expected to be close with three candidates vying for the position the winner will be chosen by city rep. percentage is from all over the country. of the told this is an important

duty for the one thousand and one delegates to set the tone for their future team that will lead the party which is why i am looking forward to this and of course i am just as anxious as everyone else it is democracy in its purest form when there is a range of candidates to choose from everything else will be decided by the delegates and. their speaking as leader of the sea the saying she's a bit anxious about what's happening there let's bring in. to talk about all this you know this is a critical moment for germany's conservatives with leadership of the c.d.u. party up for grabs what can you expect today it's not just a critical day for the c.d.u. a critical day for germany because of course ultimately the potential successor as party chief could also potentially become the next candidate and so that has

a huge impact which is why everybody's looking so closely at what's happening there in hamburg and you have to say that the c.d.u. will have to decide today where it wants to go in the future because neka has of course been criticized for shifting the party too much to the center by some and giving up some conservative policies and opening the right side to the right wing populist. other people have said that she has modernized the c.d.u. and all the candidates stand for very different interpretations of where the. people are interested in these candidates there are three as you mentioned vying for medicals mantle a c.v. you chief let's take a close look at that. lisa other three candidates want to replace uncle america let's see you party leader they've been crisscrossing the country making their pitch for the leading role migration into the european union have been big issues

where do the candidates stand first up the comeback kid. twenty years ago he was the rising star of the party until markel snatched away a key post for a self he ended up leaving politics now he's back and has tough words for germany's asylum laws he's been shown that. it's long be my opinion that we should be ready to discuss openly the right to asylum where they can really stay this way if we are serious about a european refugee and migration policy. politike. he softened his stance in the face of intense criticism but matts remains a migration hardliner party members wanting a younger face for conservative values may go for the new kid on the block in spawn the thirty eight year old has given me a healthy dose of grief blaming the party's bad poll numbers on the refugee policy . the party is for rule of law and domestic security we are for public safety in

the parks on the street and also on the borders we are the party for europe a europe that protects and protects itself protects its citizens that defends its values a europe that helps us because germany alone is too small. but not everyone is out to bury the past those looking for continuity could lean towards the favorite daughter and a great come come power position she shares with merkel relying less on the us for germany's defense. steep side than there are now to view the days when we would say to nato the us so whoever sends the materials and the people and we as germany look on from outside or do little things those days are over. not unless i. on the other we have to take more responsibility for security and that also means spending more money for it to just do it over in this new india in the hunt. for.

an agreed to come combo they staked out where they stand and now the party gets to choose and its conference on friday where every place is on glum america now as party chair may replace chancellor counted in future elections until then the two will have to work together. so those are the three candidates vying for merkel's job as head of the c.d.u. party each has a distinct profile what are the main differences between these three i think the report gave a good idea of this is the race between three very different candidates they're all conservative but this is a race between an intimate ally on the could come combo of maqbool so very much a continuation of demeanor and also political style if they choose her then a long time nemesis of angle of michael's is still resentful because of what uncle michael did to him

a couple of years ago that she effectively oust him from politics that's how he perceived at the placemats but to many people he represents the good old days of the c.d.u. was gemini's strongest biggest party and nobody questioned it and then there's the unspun who has created a profile for himself. as a vocal critic of a girl michael has helped create this debate about policies and about what to do with a legacy ok the crucial question for many people at this point is will medical stay in office as chancellor for the full length of her term given that she's no longer going to be party chair will she last until twenty twenty one or could she leave earlier and make room for her successor as party leader well new. new figures from polling company in for test team up for the new trend survey asked germans what they prefer the figures show that a clear majority fifty seven percent want machall to stay in office as chancellor

for the full term thirty nine percent water to make way for new leadership and leave the chancellery earlier oh nina after this party conference you'll have this awkward situation were merkel is still leader of germany as chancellor but no longer leader of her own party could could that be a problem for her that's not that unusual to have these two different positions folke by two different people but as always or has managed to keep these positions in one hand and of course it depends very much on who the c.d.u. delegates souse as success that if she is to work together with on the could come catherine by that will probably be smooth sailing and she will be able to continue her full term as chancellor until the end of twenty twenty one if they finance becomes the party chief of course that will be

a lot more friction potential for friction he is also not as popular with the governing coalition patna they had the social democrats so that could create some tension that could potentially challenge the s.p.d. to a point where they would have to sort of fresh elections for example and then i'm going to step down citing times indeed nina thank you so much for insights from our political desk and as you can see we are closely following the race to succeed hunger makola c.d.u. party leader will have full coverage of the vote about who's going to succeed her when that happens we'll also have michael's last speech as party leader all that coming up later today here on t.w. news. now to some of the other stories making headlines around the world today the aquarius migrant rescue ship has ended its operations the charity that ran the vessel blames a smear campaign by european governments the aquarius was the last charity run

a rescue ship operating off of libya and save tens of thousands of migrants from drowning in the mediterranean. u.s. state department spokesperson heather now it is expected to be president donald trump's nominee for u.s. ambassador to the u.n. now it would replace nikki haley who steps down at the end of this year now if he joined the state department last april after spending more than twenty years as a television journalist or ukraine and u.s. comedian kevin hart has stepped down from hosting the oscars just days after being named to the job thirty nine year old drew criticism after anti-gay comments he'd made in the past resurfaced part apologized to the l g b t q community in a statement announcing his decision. in frets more than seven hundred students have been arrested and hundreds of schools disrupted as protests unleashed

by the yellow best movement escalated in mar say thousands of high school students marched to demand the government stop planned changes to university fees and entrance exams police fired tear gas on protesters as boiled over there were similar scenes of violence in several other cities so. the french government says an extra twenty five thousand police personnel will be mobilized this weekend in key landmarks and paris will be closed many fear another weekend of riots triggered by stagnant wages and rising living costs among other things. to get my relying on food banks for his daily bread. as an unemployed former soldier. he feels he's hit rock bottom left behind by the system a feeling propelling many of the yellow vests to protest to achieve i told myself why not join this cause we were to salt

a mine because if we don't act nothing will change and drop us struggling to pay the bills he wants to see fundamental reforms basic to skip tax lower texas texas only profit the state that way people could breathe a bit creased people's buying power because the minimum wage is to learn they should increase it cool and of course they should stop making poor people poor and rich people richer of it only should they wish. a the government's retreat from a planned fuel tax hike is too little too late like for many yellow vests although the movement was sparked by that tax hike it's grown into more widespread anger at the government. various groups and making merry out demands with some resorting to violent attacks on the very symbols of the french republic. its

home president emanuel michael the target of much of the anger. start is just to stay involved until mr mccrone cruz says i won't stop protesting i'm ready to do anything to quote i'll even go into police custody for my cause macos with online calls for further action fronts is bracing for more protests and perhaps more violence. now a bit of sports news of a sort it's one of ice hockey is best loved festive tradition sent that out the sports oldest team has set a new record for it we're talking of course about the teddy bear toss when riley barber of the hershey bears fired in his team's first goal of the night fans showered the ice with thousands of cuddly toys look at them fly.

nearly fifteen thousand of them rains down in total especially the previous record by almost six thousand it's all for a good cause course the toys are collected up and donated to children's charities still we. come in handy around christmas time. just reminder of the top stories we're covering for you here on d.w. news today germany's conservative c.d.u. is electing. successor to a magical as party leader at its annual conference three contenders are in the race saw the decision is likely to shape germany's politics for the next generation. don't forget you can always get the news on the go just download our from google play or from the apple store i'll give you access to all the latest news from

around the world plus push notifications for any freaking news can also use the v.w. up to send us photos and video yes. so i use for now we have much more for coming up for you coming up at the top of the next hour sumi will be with you then thanks for watching.