exclusive reports from a destroyed city in the philippines. starts people are living longer t.w. . play live. play . misty w. news live from perth that polls begin closing in thailand's first election since a military takeover and twenty fourteen ties are choosing between a military backed party and outside the country's populist old guard but there are fears the military has already stacked a political deck in its favor or live in bangkok for analysis. of the.

terrifying moments at sea a cruise ship breaks down in dangerous waters off the norwegian coast we'll have an update on the rescue efforts for hundred stuck on large. plane. thanks for joining us. polls have just begun closing in thailand as the country wraps up its first general election since a military coup five years ago prime minister and former army chief is hoping to extend his hold on power as the country returns to civilian control to see off the challenge by the populous type party which is the ally to the ousted prime minister talks in shadow watch critics say that changes to the political system since the coup mean the electoral system is biased in favor of parties aligned with the military after casting his own both home to back prime minister appeared to

encourage a large turnout there that it will be my hope everyone will vote today to exercise their rights everyone wants democracy and that means everyone should have a limb selves of those rights in transparency and the country will be developed through our own hands. i can say that and so i. will depend on the people but i think. we convene in this election. that's very and d.-w. correspondent he joins us from bangkok election day is coming to an end do you have any indication on how it went. yes you can see behind me they're closing down the polling stations because they just closed in they're going to start counting now and we're going to expect or we expect preliminary results by next in the next few hours the official results will not come in until may from

what we've heard it all went fairly smoothly no major disruptions as far as we know there have been some reports of meddling we'll have to wait and see how that how that plays out but overall it seems to have gone fairly well here in thailand people talent's been waiting for this vote a long time it's been postponed again and again a lot of first time voters this time around what are people hoping for. well i think first of all people were excited about the fact that they got to go to the polls at all and i think you can tell that when you look at the turnout figures they're not official yet but from the few polling stations where we asked around this area in central bangkok they said they had a turnout of seventy five to eighty percent of the election commission all over the country they're expecting a turnout of eighty seven percent which would would be extremely high and that

shows you how excited people were to go to the polls after such a long time of not voting after five years of military rule where people weren't allowed to freely express their opinions and the voters that we spoke to earlier today a lot of them said they want the economy to be reformed especially the younger voters you mentioned the first time voters they call there are seven million first time voters this time around and they're saying a lot of them are saying they want the education system reform so they really want change and that's why they came out in force today to call the military change the constitution and order to enshrine power no matter the outcome of this election what chances does that leave for a true democratic. process. well it's not a democratic process at all if you look at what's happening people voted today for the lower house of parliament that has five hundred seats they didn't get to vote for the senate that has another two hundred fifty seats and that's entirely

appointed by the military now the two houses together will vote for the next prime minister with a simple majority you know that means that the military having those two hundred fifty seats already you only need one hundred twenty six more seats out of five hundred to elect the next prime minister so that's not a very high hurdle so you can already tell that it's not really a democratic process now on top of that opposition parties have been or one main major opposition party has been dissolved in the run up to these elections there have been there's been a campaign banned for political parties until late last year where the military government on the other hand they were campaigning all the time touring the country up and down so you can already tell the love the playing field here isn't level at all nicole. following the elections in thailand thank you very much. now to some of the other stories making news around the world. the mozambican

government says half a million people have been affected by the devastating cycle. more than six hundred people have been confirmed dead after the storm raged across most and beaks them bought way and malawi the true death toll is believed to be much higher efforts are still underway to assist survivors. members of australia and new zealand's indigenous communities have come together in sydney to show solidarity with the victims of last week's gun attacks on two mosques in christ church new zealand has announced it will hold a national remembrance service on march twenty ninth for the fifty people killed in the attack. british prime minister to resign may is coming under fresh pressure over her handling of pranks that media including the sunday times say that may's own cabinet is plotting to oust her a soon as monday while there was little sign of that pressure as may visit at

church with her husband this morning she is reportedly planning a last ditch attempt to win support among lawmakers for her exit deal which parliament has rejected twice people who reject breck's that itself have also been making their voices heard yesterday hundreds of thousands hit the streets and london to demand a second referent. central london packed with protesters their message to the government give people another say on drugs and. water we walk through but everybody. with britain's intended departure from the e.u. just weeks away politicians and the country remain divided demonstrators think there needs to be a second referendum to settle the issue i just think that we didn't make an informed decision we were both on voice sides we were given enough information we want to walk breaks it would actually look like the country is in a mess brought on by all government their incompetence. london mayor study says it

should be up to the voters to undo the brags that chaos is. the british people a final say you know. people. who go to move to gunboat. the british people do vote for them not just the crazy. parliament is due to resume debate next week and must still give its approval to extending the march twenty ninth briggs it does line. britain would then leave the e.u. on april twelfth without a deal unless m.p.'s approve prime minister may's plan or propose a different way forward that would mean having to ask the e.u. for another extension and to taking part in european elections if parliament approves may's deal london would have until may twenty second to finalize its brags of preparations then there's also the nuclear option of revoking article fifty and

cancelling brags that millions have already signed an online petition demanding just that. piling on more pressure as lawmakers face a week of high stakes decisions. a dramatic rescue mission is underway in southern norway crews have been racing to bring cruise ship passengers to safety after their boat was stranded and dangerous waters the ship broke down on saturday with over a thousand passengers on board efforts are being made to tell the vessel to land but the ship stranding has already led to harrowing moments for passengers. passengers rushed to shield themselves from sliding furniture and falling ceiling panels as heaving waves tossed the cruise ship from side to side some said those waves that smashed chip windows and sent cold sea water gushing in. elsewhere on board the mostly british and american travelers could do nothing but

sit and wait for their turn to be airlifted to safety. amid winds of nearly ninety kilometers per hour and waves over eight meters high the viking sky sent out a mayday call early on saturday afternoon it had suffered engine failure and was beginning to drift towards the rocky shore fearing the ship would run aground the crew managed to anchor in the bay an area known since viking times is treacherously difficult to navigate. the cult and of course it will not think this is clearly a serious situation because this is a cruise ship with one thousand three hundred passengers on board is stuck in one of the northern europe's worst stretches of water scattered with reefs so this is a serious situation as it will show him the authority is mobilized five helicopters for the operation though some had to be diverted to help a second vessel nearby the freighter with a crew of nine also suffered engine failure delaying the cruise ship airlift.

rescue passengers have been brought to a reception center on land clearly this was not the kind of adventure they'd had in mind when they booked their cruise. very frightening we were on a helicopter with a sling to it was to gather and it was quite scary the severe weather is preventing rescue workers from using smaller boats to take passengers ashore so authorities now aim to tow the cruise ship itself and the hundreds of passengers still aboard. for the latest on this rescue operation i'm joined on the line by aina knutson he's with the joint rescue coordination center for southern norway mr knudsen how is the rescue unfolding what's the latest. well it's going call it apply. to turn the ship. on its no having. a place called.

which is on the western coast of norway. the captain. to stop the immigration for the time being he would like of that eternal not a ship if you'd like to see how. stabilize the ship is. considered he will decide whether or not to continue with the operation the captain is of course. his decision will be. decision of the captain. the ship is moving with some whole engine. blocks. to talks. to front. one of the banks of. the situation is on the control of passengers on board a ship those remaining all record to the captain safe. to see how it

develops next a couple of. so as you said nobody's being evacuated at the moment what's being done for the passengers who have been airlifted to land already. they are being taken to shore to to rescue some to a truck. representatives from from those who don't associate. the local police. to take care of them and i have been very came forward to. a place of the on the mainland. they all been those who came in last night and you only know it has been the hotel in the area. people know willems side of to take out food cause when the ship is coming into the port of hopefully to soften. the crew and the remaining passengers will be taken home show and then of course they will be taking care of them for years they really are shipped back

home where they are where they belong. thank you very much in arkansas. to sports now germany's national football team is in the midst of a changing of the guard on wednesday their first match of twenty nine thousand and and disappointment when their new look scientists are one all in a friendly against serbia later on sunday to kick off their qualifying campaign for the next major tournament euro two thousand and twenty they face neighbors the netherlands and amsterdam the last time the teams met there and october the netherlands celebrated a three no victory now germany's youngsters have a chance to take sides with the draw back. and reminder of the top story we're following for you polls of close in thailand's first general election since a military coup five years ago more than fifty million thais were casting ballots between the military already and allies of the country's populace for cars. you're

watching news live from berlin coming up next reporter this week we need a man who throws green in the arctic and don't forget you can get all the latest news and information around the clock on our web site that's d w dot com thanks for watching. the. president took. to the concrete.