well you. know. this is d w news live from twenty nineteen begins with a bang and that you. can call her brings in the new year with victoria harbor providing the backdrop to a spectacular fireworks display. tracks elections in bangladesh in congo two countries hoping twenty nine thousand will bring them increased ability bangladesh's prime minister shaikh rejects calls for

a new vote consecutive election victories been mauled by deadly violence. and tensions are running high in congo the votes are being counted in sunday's landmark presidential poll made widespread allegations of voting irregularities. by man on a home free glad you could join me. rev lists around the walls all ringing in the new year hong kong is one of the latest to welcome the start of twenty nine t. the traditional fireworks over the. are accompanied by music and the light show watched by hundreds of thousands.

and the australia kicked off the proceedings in spectacular style sydney staging its largest ever fireworks display and of course there are still many more parties to come and we'll have updates from around the globe as the world says goodbye to twenty eighteen and good morning twenty eight ninety. now in other news bangladesh's prime minister has been declared the winner of sunday's national elections the country's election commission says that she has seen as alliance one two hundred eighty eight or three hundred parliamentary seats but her victory has been overshadowed by allegations of vote rigging and now opposition members all demanding fresh elections. for someone who's just won a record fourth term as prime minister shake a scene that has kept a low profile her party reportedly told supporters not to celebrate their lopsided victory on monday she dismissed allegations of vote rigging commission listeners are totally free i mean independent no doubt about it. this comes amid mounting

concern over voter intimidation there were reports of voters forced to cast their ballot openly in front of ruling party officials but the electoral commission dismissed these as stray incidents yet several voters told you about intimidation at the polls. one man who wishes to remain anonymous says a voting official took his thought and in a ballot that had already been filled out for him without his permission. it was before me be a pro want to get speedy and it was definitely a common experience and. i actually experience whatever you feel right the moment but i just feel like i was. there somewhere and an expert on bangladeshi politics described the effects of intimidation on a generation of young people who had never voted before. young.

expected but there are some. so this is this is a very good for. during the campaign the opposition said thousands of its members had been arrested for political reasons. and opposition leader khaled it has been in jail since february but shaikh has seen a says the opposition would have done the same if they had been in charge and she's the one leading the country now for a record third time in a row. well now to congo where there's a tense wait as the votes from sunday's presidential election accounted millions of people took part in an event that could see the first peaceful transfer of power in decades but questions over its fairness amounting with accusations of delays and irregularities especially in opposition areas. so too is in many parts of

congo returns to polling stations today to study lists of initial results posted outside provisional nationwide results and not to out for another week day was plagued by technical problems and allegations of vote rigging. i don't think the elections were credible too many people found their names want on the electoral lists they were told to go to other centers and even there they didn't find their names so as a result many didn't get to vote the way. scenes like this one in the net are district of conscious or not uncommon long lines formed as voting machines malfunctioned. we've been here since this morning and it's dark already but we're here and we will vote on. the national conference of catholic bishops deployed thousands of observers across the country they reported numerous problems but declared the vote over rule relatively calm. to ensure the credibility of the

results we asked the electoral commission to continue posting the results of the manual count in front of the polling stations and to undertake any other action that guarantees the transparency of the process. as vote counting go to way across one of africa's largest countries the significance of the election was clear this could be congo's first peaceful transition of power since it gained independence from belgium in one nine hundred sixty long time leader joseph kabila is stepping down after nearly eighteen years at the helm. opposition candidate martin for you though is considered one of the front runners he and others allege the vote was fraudulent with wreaked machines. in manual roma sanish adare is president kabila is preferred successor a former interior minister he's in the european union sanctions for violent

repression of protests there are now fears that violence could return to congo particularly if kabila candidature diary is declared the winner. let's take a look now at some of the other stories making news around the world u.s. senator elizabeth warren has taken a key step towards running for president in twenty twenty the democrat from massachusetts has formed an exploratory committee she's had several run ins with president donald trump who called her pocahontas pointing to doubts about her claims of having native american roots or. at least four people are dead in the dozens of missing following an explosion in an apartment building in russia the blast in the nine story block in the city of back neato groups happened early in the morning when many residents were silly or thought is beneath it was caused by a gas leak. security forces in sudan have fide to gas up protesters who were planning to march on the presidential palace anti-government

demonstrators want to step down crowds gathered in the capital khartoum and they were confronted by riot police who blocked the march. in yemen the latest ceasefire between government troops and who the rebels is holding and it's hope that this will bring relief to the population millions of whom are suffering from starvation but an investigation by the associated press has found that much of the aid arriving in yemen and off in the wrong hands united nations world food program has also said today that its food is being stolen. goods on sale at a market in yemen desperately needed wheat and cooking oil but closer inspection shows these products come from the united nations world food program and charity groups aid that should have been given away after nearly four years of war. twenty nine million people getting enough food. i think we

came here they wrote down our names but they didn't give us anything they gave to other people but nothing to us they left us without anything. in the. large volumes of aid have been flowing into yemen donors sent more than four billion dollars worth in twenty eighteen but the u.n. says it can only track twenty percent of the deliveries observers say who the rebels are blocking or diverting aid some of the food goes to their own troops or is sold on the black markets. this is a it is not present on the ground it has no direct impact. on the contrary the more years pass the worse the situation becomes especially in the areas controlled by the who things we're seeing very painful pictures. to who these were due to hand over control of the whole day to ports under a peace deal recently negotiated in sweden but the u.n. says rebels are failing to fully on of their agreements the residents of her data

are still waiting for relief. data has become a city of ghosts it's an empty city because of the war see jenna gresham prices have become very high in a crazy way you know. how do i get out of buying and selling has become difficult we live in a desperate situation we can't meet our daily expenses it's not living we're physically and spiritually dead at the end of a you know the you know i'm a months long. the geisha by the associated press also found problems with a distribution in areas controlled by the yemeni government and it's the weakest who are suffering the most says some four hundred thousand yemeni children aged under five are at risk of death from malnutrition. the president of the afghanistan a football federation has hit back after he was suspended pending investigation

into accusations of sexual and physical abuse of members of the afghan women's national team karen would encourage him said he strongly denied allegations by our name to play is that he was guilty of violence rape and even holding a gun to a player's head he said the claims may have been fabricated to help the players claim asylum in europe football while governing body for has also suspended korea for ninety days. and as the year draws to a close it's time for us to take a look back and the correspondents have filed reports from all over the world about personal fates political crises wars disasters but they've also given our stories that encourage us that touch us and make us think and here's one from moscow where the force appears to be strong that's right the russian capital is home to the world's first light saber fighting school. in a galaxy not so far away a group of jet i warriors are honing their lightsaber skills students at moscow's

saber fighting school train every week for performances and even take part in official fencing championships. daria has been training here since january and is preparing for her first duel with flood the nineteen year old has loved star wars since she was a child. that could be it up to my it's a great hobby because it's very physical it increases your insurance even your immunity plus of course we're all big fans of star wars for fun don't want those decisions his neighbor in this is the world's first light saber fighting school it was founded in the year two thousand around fifteen august come for lessons regularly and kids get taught for free loving the star wars films isn't a prerequisite for the sport but it certainly helps some differences that the russian people are saber fighting is very popular because by taking a lightsaber in your head. and trying to imitate the movements of the characters in the films you can live your dream and become them. stories and

a devoted crowd has gathered for the school's performance at the moscow comic convention even though the star wars films weren't officially released here until the final years of the soviet union many russians say they consider them classics. there are a lot of reasons why i love the films it's memories from my childhood in many ways for me star wars is a symbol of who i've become the mistakes of the best universe in the world no one has come up with a better one. i've loved star wars since childhood my parents watched it my uncle everyone went crazy for it should be. i adore it. they're both with all my heart. the members of moscow's saber fighting school have taken their love for the film franchise to another level daria and her jet i partner have been training for this performance since summer.

these fights are exact reconstructions of scenes from star wars. i guess they were fighting helps distract me from everyday problems in my studies with my parents and so on so i just dive into this amazing world of fencing into the world of star wars . daria is still in a knish it in the jet i order but patience she must have until then she and the others from the school hope the force will be with them. what is a in china are celebrating a three day long new year's holiday for many it is the perfect john to visit some of the national treasures giant pandas businesses have been flocking to this pad their breeding center in chengdu in southwest china is to see the bez do what they do best.