this is news coming to you live from berlin a stark choice for israel in crucial elections that comes down to whether political newcomer. a fourth term prime minister binyamin netanyahu it's a vote certain to have a long term impact on the region. guilty verdicts for the defiant leaders of the pro-democracy demonstrations in hong kong their home for all of the peacefully shut down the city for months in a battle alternately with beijing will tell you what the burdock speak for free

expression in the chinese territory. the deadline is late friday night so there's just not time for british prime minister theresa major cross the channel please to berlin and paris. breaks it extend. and the woman who ventured across the syrian border seven months pregnant to film a friend who'd become a just harvest them enough in dies and eventually gave birth in captivity she tells us her story of the year in islamist detention. flow i'm terry march and welcome to the program it's election day in israel voters are deciding whether to extend prime minister been in me netanyahu has long conservative tenure he's up against military cheap. benny god seen here at the

polls earlier today he's a centrist who's made much of corruption allegations against netanyahu bot he's new to politics voters expected to be so close that it could lead to frantic goshi ations to form a coalition government once results oriented as ever the choice of israeli prime minister will have a major impact on the future of the region. over the very latest let's cross over to our correspondent tanya kramer who's standing by at a polling station in jerusalem tanya israelis are casting their votes today what can we expect. that's right i'm just standing here right in front of a polling station is school it's a bank holiday today people have are off from work to encourage them actually to go and vote in the last elections in two thousand and fifteen there has been a rather high turnover of over seventy percent so we have to wait and see how it looks this time and of course then it's a long waiting time until twenty two hundred local time when the first exit polls

are expected to be published by all the television stations here and to see how israelis you know get this in the case and how israelis have voted today. and you've been talking to voters their polling station this morning what are their main concerns in this election. well usually israelis would say you know it's all about cannot make issues it's about the economy it's about security but in these elections it has been a bit different all the people i talked in also all that and then said been talking about it is more about. rather a referendum even you could say about benyamin netanyahu he has been in the post for over ten years now and there's the come that says you know we can't run the country without giving it to you know as he's called and there are those who are saying it's too long there should be a change of government they are hoping to to. well the political landscape in

israel is very fractured generally no single party gets anywhere near a majority in the knesset how tough could it be for the winning party to build a coalition this time round. yeah that's right i mean there's never one party that has some authority so it's all about coalition building so what usually happens is once the results are in then the party leaders who it recommends who they would like to see as prime minister that doesn't have always to be the strongest party and the president will then tossed the leader of the party leader. who has the most chances of forming that government that can be sometimes rather difficult at least to have a month to do so and we have to wait and see and wait for the exit polls tonight to get an indication who that will be what about the other countries in the region surrounding israel time you know they're watching this election very closely to

what are they expecting. what i mean obviously there will also watch very closely what happens to benyamin netanyahu has been around for a long time and that is probably the main and the decisive point of these elections to see whether he will continue to be to form the next government and to be the next prime minister and to continue with the politics that are very well known here in the region or whether we have maybe another party at the helm of the government a more centrist party with many guns he's not so well known i mean he has been the army chief of staff but he you know what he stands for really in politics is a new come into politics that is still to see so i think this is what also the other countries in the region will watch out for tony thank you so much for bringing us up to date tanya kramer in jerusalem. now to some of the other stories making headlines around the world today heavy gunfire has been heard at

anti-government protest outside the defense ministry in sudan. say ten begun peacefully during the day after nightfall though witnesses said security forces and riot police fired shots and tear gas and. had to disperse demonstrators from the military complex. a libyan militia group advancing on the capital tripoli has launched an air strike on the city's only functioning airport and forcing it to close down the self-styled libyan national army has ignored international calls to halt its offensive united nations says thousands of civilians in tripoli are fleeing the fighting. brazil's president shire both scenarios says he told president donald trump that he wants the united states to take part in a joint development program for the brazilian amazon region in a radio interview both norah repeated his previous criticism of rain forest reserves for indigenous communities which are home to about twenty five million

people. and italy's far right interior minister matteo salvini has announced plans to form a new populist alliance in the european parliament salvini was hosting other populist talks in milan ahead of next month's european elections among the groups attending were germany's far right parties the danish people's party and the finns party from thin. air. in hong kong a court has found nine pro-democracy activists guilty on charges of incitement and conspiracy to cause a public nuisance they were charged in connection with the twenty fourteen umbrella protests so named for the yellow umbrellas carried by activists receive the shield themselves from tear gas the mass rallies held over a period of several weeks call for greater autonomy from china. joining us in studio to talk about all this is

a reporter in hong kong native one schwinn league good to see you thank you so hung trent tell us more about the activists and why they ended up in court so these nine these nine activists all played a role in either leading or promoting the protests back in twenty fourteen so they are all used to be university professors. and students and among them three of three are seem to be like the face of the protests and fourteen so back in. back in that time they called for a six. and hong kong because beijing decided to allow people to directly elect their leader that sounds like it sounds pretty like nonsense right but it's it comes of course with a prize because. people can only choose a candidate from a list that is approved by beijing pre-approved by beijing and so these activists

civil disobedience calls for protest and then that they join forces with some other student led protests and that became the movement that we know today and then during these movements they got arrested it's. just they ok so the activists are calling for for a greater say in their elections affecting hong kong what kind of sentences could the defendants and the. who are found guilty of these colonial era charges what kind of sentences could they face well they could face up to seven years of jail but we don't know that yet however a lot of them already said that they are not afraid if they are going to come back and that they will continue to fight for their political rights and what do these verdicts mean for hong kong and the pro-democracy movement there well. some say that this is sending a very very strong message to political activists and hong kong and that this will

have a chilling effect on the freedom of speech in hong kong and. hong kong is in fact already facing string political freedom and there's a long list that i could tell you but obviously we don't have the time but just for example last month government proposed to amend its extradition which theoretically allow syria to have to be sent back to mainland china and that's for many political activists it's. very dangerous and there are many other examples so the verdict today is just another blow to the political freedom and her call so it's possible that these defendants could end up serving time for in jails in mainland china we don't know that we don't know that yeah ok. reporter thank you so much fun. you're watching the news still to come what is it devolved in iran's

revolutionary guard that makes them terrorists in the eyes of the u.s. government speaks to washington special envoy to iran about what's behind that now official terrorist label. british prime minister theresa may is heading across the channel today hoping to secure french and german backing for another brags that extension may's tour will take her to berlin and paris for talks with the german and french leaders ahead of an e.u. summit later this week may wants the e.u. to extend the deadline for the u.k.'s withdraw all to june thirtieth a monday the british parliament voted to require may's government to request an extension rather than crash out without a deal as it stands now the u.k. is due to leave the e.u. without a deal on friday. mr no two larger. for weeks the british parliament has been this enough chaotic debates with prime minister

terrorism a no caught in between britain could see and no deal exit from the european union as early as friday may is hoping for lifeline a deadline extension from brussels on wednesday she plans to ask the two for move time prefer until june thirteenth but she needs help. may is heading to mainland europe with the first stop in belen with german chancellor merkel opposes a hot breakfast it but will she support mais timetable probably not if it means breaking ranks with other this. even. as the twenty seven even member states will stand together and we want to do everything possible up to the last hour to avoid a disorderly exit by britain's. merkel supports an orderly backset something may won't get to hear in paris. french president has voiced concerns about another

extension of the breck said negotiations. cannot be held hostage to the resolution of the political crisis in the united kingdom on a long term basis and britain best little hope there to reason make unresolved the brics it issue despite her charm offensive around europe's capitals. political correspondent. so we've got three some may coming across the channel talking to european leaders she's going to be visiting. asking for another extension what kind of reception can she expect from chancellor well that's the great question his american has always said. is going to do everything in order to prevent no deal breaks this is the ground on which the two leaders are going to talk today to find

a way to avoid this disorderly breaks it but at the same time it is full that. you can't really expect great concessions because. european leaders have been fairly clear that there won't be any touching up on the withdrawal agreement i know america wants to avoid a disorderly breaks of because. this would have a negative impact on german economy and with all the uncertainty. with this whole brics issue this is the one point that analysts can agree on this would have a heavy impact so the chancellor has said where there is a will there will be a way but it's not for i'm going to america to cats this way she expects off may that she has a draw from attorneys have way she has to say she has to present an idea what she

would do with the time she would gain with that with that extension a memo. to you patty has said. is not acceptable at all is to reason may doesn't come up with an idea what she's doing with that time and in addition and isn't very happy with great britain taking part in the european elections so maybe i'm going to america will back an extension on to the twenty second of may the day before the election but not until the end of june after meeting with chancellor merkel theresa may will then go on to paris for meetings with the french president called. berlin and paris all on the same page when it comes to brics it know is that. america is renowned for her patients. clearly seems to run out of this virtue he's highly skeptical and has said you can't become

a hostage to great britain politics and he doesn't see any benefit off the the possible extension furthermore with that bill the u.k. parliament just passed last night the influence of parliament on the whole process will grow and it is much harder it will become much harder for british government to control. the process off the off the breaks it so that makes it more difficult for the european leaders to accept an extension so my call the probably take a hard on the whole issue then i go america has always stressed that it is really important that the remaining e.u. members stand united to on the question of the breaks it and spokes person yesterday said it is always good to talk and this didn't really sound as if my could expect much concession on your political correspondent thank you so much.

now the united states has formally declared iran's elite revolutionary guard a terrorist organization is the first time the u.s. has applied that label to part of a foreign government white house says it's simply acknowledging the reality in the region claiming there rand is a state sponsor of terrorism and relies on the revolutionary guard to export terror in response to washington's move it ran now the guard says it now regards u.s. forces in the middle east as terrorists. more on this diplomatic confrontation our washington bureau chief alexander phenomena caught up with the u.s. special envoy for rent brian hook she asked him what shinton hopes to achieve by labeling the revolutionary guard together with its special operations unit that could force a terrorist organization. mr hope to deceive nation of the revolutionary guards as a foreign terrorist organization marks the first time that washington has presented

a foreign military a terrorist group what are you hoping to achieve while the costs of doing business with the i.r.g.c. has gone up today and it's important that we do that it we're never going to have a more peaceful or stable middle east without weakening the ira g.c. and the qods force they are the principal driver of iran's expansionist foreign policy and i think since two thousand and seven they have been fairly successful but that sort of success comes a great cost to united states and also to our european allies what are the consequences of the decision today well we have it we have certain authorities that we now can use to prosecute people who provide material support to the ira g.c. in the cards force it also creates immigration issues for people who if they do that you can also come to the united states and it also gives us a range of new tools to essentially stigmatize and isolate the i.r.g.c.

in the cards force and this is important because the i.r.g.c. controls possibly more than half of iran's economy and so when you've got european companies or any companies around the world who are doing business in iran it very well could be an eye or g.c. front company and we know that they use that revenue and they spend it in places like syria and lebanon and iraq and yemen with the huth these and in bahrain supporting their militias so we think this is a very appropriate thing to do it adds a new layer of sanctions on top of our existing sanctions on the ira g.c. critics however say that this move will have that will or limited impact and that that could complicate the work of the u.s. military and u.s. diplomats especially in iraq where many militias and iraqi political parties have close ties to iran and revolutionary guard so how are you going to address those concerns i think it's a two part question on the first part this. it is a tool that congress gave us in one nine hundred ninety seven we have over that time designated almost seventy various terrorist organizations as foreign terrorist

organizations that has not impeded the conduct of our diplomacy and it won't competed in this case complicated in this place the second part the i.r.g.c. and their expansionist operations that is the biggest threat to american troops and if we were to guide our foreign policy on the basis of iran's threats to retaliate we would be playing under their rules and when you play by house rules the house always wins we think this is very important to expose the i.r.g.c. in the ca's force for what it is it has all of the attributes of a terrorist organization and we should not lie to ourselves that this is a benign entity of the iranian government that just has a role in its economy it's much bigger much darker and much more brutal than that. is washington bureau chief alexander from naaman speaking to us special envoy for iran for unhook now to the story of

a journalist who was seven months pregnant when she was kidnapped by radical islamists and imprisoned for a year janina finn aizen went to syria to film a friend who'd become a jihad ists in doing so she took risks she now regrets and dozens trial was born in captivity. not a day goes by without janina finda eyes and thinking about the kidnapping three hundred fifty one days that changed her life it all started in a split second dammam and stopped. when the taxi was stopped six men with kalashnikovs jumped in front of the car and the van door was opened i was really a french unlike his frightened animal i did my best to remain calm and to shut out the foundations of thoughts going through my mind. after her year in syria began in the autumn of twenty fifteen despite being in the seventh month

of her pregnancy janina dared to cross the turkish syrian border with the help of a smuggler in the northern syrian town of donna she met her friend who is now john hottest in the midst of the chaos of war for one week they shot for the documentary film her girlfriend guarantee janina that she would be safe as. we trusted each other but the circumstances were so different from the last time that we had seen each other and bone those two different worlds that don't have any connection to each other anymore. when the journalist wanted to leave aldana she was kidnapped the master kidnappers took her to different apartments the pregnant woman was provided with what she needed but was always scared to death. in that scene is that the kidnappers were prepared to cut off my head ruthlessly in front of the camera at any time that was clear. janina says the most extreme moment

of her imprisonment was the birth of her son a few days earlier one of the kidnappers came into her room with a veiled woman it was the gynecologist who helped her bring the child into the world. but they told her if anything happened to me or my child her husband would be killed. she told me that after she'd been there a few times that's when i understood why she was willing to do anything to help the birth go well a few months later janina was unexpectedly released the young mother and her child were allowed to return to germany the circumstances of her release are unclear she was told that no ransom was paid we asked what she now thinks about her decision to travel to the war zone. a dangerous mix of the naive feeling of security that i had and under-estimating a very risky situation. janine if in doesn't wanted to tell the story of her former school friend before the birth of her child today she knows that was

a mistake and she's glad she was able to leave syria alive with her child after three hundred fifty one days of captivity. football now the quarter finals of the champions league kick off this evening tottenham host manchester city in an all england match up city are trying to make history this season to win the quadruple that's two domestic cups in england as well as the premier league champions league next step is a tough away game against tottenham. manchester city barely have time to catch their breath right now pep guardiola side to reach the english cup final at the weekend now they european hopes are on the line star striker sergio of cuero returns from injury to boost a stellar attack also featuring rocky stirling as the campaign for an unprecedented quadruple continues. to knows this will be a tough examination of city's credentials even if you'd like it to be an easy

encounter. who goes into minute. to. miss it. first like. we know each other. we're going to to make it would be. city will have to keep a close eye on harry kane the striker has already scored five goals in the tournament this season. even with the threat he poses there's no doubt the odds are stacked against tottenham and i've lost the last three games against the premier league champions but. as quote the sense of an upset. we want to still to. be in. and then to see from. the game we see we've got the levy that situation another challenge from man city to limber up at the start of a phase that could make albright thank quadruple hopes. and finally some much needed good news for

a group of captive whales in russia whose plight prompted an outcry from the public and even celebrities like leonardo dicaprio authorities have signed a deal with international scientists to free the nearly one hundred whales the orca whales have spent months in cramped pens near the sea of japan for. that's after a company called them to export them to china images of the whale sparked a campaign to free them and forced to intervene. just reminder of the top stories we're following for you here today on the news israel goes to the polls to decide whether to whether political newcomer should seek for term prime minister benjamin netanyahu it's a vote that is likely to have a long term impact on the region. and the defiant leaders of pro-democracy demonstrations in hong kong are found guilty of incitement their umbrella movement

peacefully shut down the city for months in two thousand and fourteen in a battle ultimately with beijing. you're watching news from berlin up next the football program. review of match twenty eight for you and of course get all our latest stories. thanks.

coming. to. the tod. dot com rushing anniversary. and destroy still mumbai india hunted mission to classics. like the most beautiful goal of the day in a curious comeback against me to. take the.

whole. center of the conflict zone confronting the powerful high test the convictions anabel use of the fall of confronting them food sex knowledge all those. people live other people's life in their hands out of their conference so. how good are the arguments of my guests. just excuses. complex on confronting the powerful on t.w. . i think is everything challenging first i'm a muslim. saw much different culture between here and there somewhat challenging for if. the child is the same thing or was worth it for me to come to germany.

i got my license to work as a swimming instructor. and our two children offered us to swim fast. what's your story take part share it on in for migrants dot. com. i i i i. match day twenty eight saw the most important game of the season.