providing insights global news that matters d. w. me for minds. this is news coming to you live from berlin a stark choice for israel in crucial election comes down to whether political newcomer benny couldn't see her prime minister binyamin netanyahu. could have long term implications for the region. with the next deadline just three days away the british prime minister is crossing the channel asking berlin and paris to back

their efforts to buy more time. on the journalists across the syrian border while seven months pregnant to film a friend who'd become a jihad it's been kidnapped and gave birth in captivity she tells her story of the year it is what most attention. oh i'm terry martin good to have you with us it's election day in israel butters are taking to the polls to decide whether to extend prime minister binyamin netanyahu conservative tenure for a fifth term he's up against ex-military cheap benny gantz a centrist who's made much of corruption allegations against not yahoo but is new to politics that's expected to be a very tight race as ever the choice of israeli prime minister has relevance for

the entire 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. well 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 voter turnout 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 give us an in the case and how israelis have voted today. you've been talking to voters their polling station this morning what are the main concerns in this election. well usually israelis would say you know

it's all about. 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 and also old 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 as the come that says you know we can't run the country without bibi netanyahu 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 achieve that with these elections now 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 so much or it is so it's all about coalition building so what usually

happens is once the results are in then the party leaders will recommend 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. we have to wait and see and wait for the exit polls tonight it's a good indication who that will be what about the other countries in the region surrounding israel tanya they're watching this election very closely to what are they expecting. what i mean obviously they would also watch very closely what happens to benyamin netanyahu 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 in the house in 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 here in the region will watch out for tony thank you so much for bringing us up to date cramer in jerusalem. financial community is urging libyan general khalifa haftar to halt his advance on the capital tripoli or says loyal to the general carried out an air strike on tripoli is only functioning air or on monday a security source said the strike hit a runway without causing casualties. trying to seize property from the u.n. backed government there thousands of play of the fighting so who is general huffed

and why has he started this offensive we have this report. the overthrow of colonel gadhafi and twenty eleven plunged libya into chaos for four decades he had ruled the country with an iron hand holding together libya's disparate groups including some one hundred forty triton clans his death left a power vacuum the government in the capital has limited power even though it's recognized by much of the international community is rivalled by a parallel government in the eastern city of tobruk both of ministrations have parliaments and armed forces adding to the chaos various militias are also fighting for their own regional interests military commander for the hafter who's leading the current attack on tripoli is loyal to the administration in tobruk he took part in the twenty eleven uprising against gadhafi and then initially disappeared from the scene but in twenty fourteen he returned taking fighters to the city of

benghazi. they defeated al qaeda linked militants who were effectively controlling the city and much of the region the operation took nearly two years to get one have to widespread credit in eastern libya and some recognition abroad to you. but he didn't stop there after consolidating his hold on the east he swept through the oil rich south of the country earlier this year and now he's turned his focus on the capital hafter as backing from russia and egypt his supporters see him as the best hope of unifying libya under one government while his opponents fear he would be another dictator like colonel gadhafi. now let's take a look at some other stories making headlines around the world today heavy gunfire has been heard at an anti-government protest outside the defense ministry in sudan . a sit in had begun peacefully during the day after nightfall though witnesses

said security forces and riot police fired shots and tear gas in a bid to disperse demonstrators from the military complex. 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 to iran says the u.s. decision is a mistake and warns it will endanger u.s. interests in the region. a court in hong kong has found nine leaders of the twenty fourteen umbrello of movement guilty on public nuisance charges they could now face jail time for their role in organizing the pro-democracy rallies calling for greater autonomy from china. and in the philippines hundreds of protesters have gathered outside the chinese consulate in manila there demanding beijing remove its specimens from disputed islands occupied by the philippines in the south china sea

they're also calling on the government to take stronger action that's after it filed a diplomatic protest against the chinese presence last week. french prime minister theresa may is heading across the channel today hoping to secure french and german backing for another brags of 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 once the e.u. to extend the deadline for the u.k.'s withdrawal to june thirtieth as it stands now the u.k. is due to leave the without a deal on friday. mr nigel logic is four weeks the british parliament has been this enough pay. debates with prime minister terrorism may now caught in between britain could see a 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 e.u. for more time prefer until june thirtieth but she needs help. may it's heading to mainland europe with the first stop in belen where german chancellor angela merkel opposes heartbreaks it but will she support mais timetable probably not if it means breaking ranks with other this. even though siemens once he says we 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 in manama has voiced concerns about another extension of the breck said negotiations. the union cannot be held hostage to the resolution of the political crisis in the united kingdom on

a long term basis and britain there is little hope that terrorism a can resolve the brics edition despite her charm offensive around europe's capitals. the story of a woman who was seven months pregnant when she was kidnapped by radical islamists and imprisoned janina finned a german journalist went to syria to film a friend who'd become a just harvest in doing so she took risks she now regrets. child 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 demo meant. 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 i'm like a 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 all done 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 guaranteed janina that she would be safe. 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 all donna 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. 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. janine says the most extreme moment of her prison meant 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 underestimated in a very risky situation. janina finn dies and 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. finally some much needed it good news for a group of captive whales in russia whose plight prompted an outcry from the public and even celebrities like live in outer to comprehend authorities have signed a deal with international scientists to free the nearly one hundred whales the orca and beluga whales have spent months in cramped pens near the sea of japan fourth of . that's after a company called to export them china images of the whales sparked a campaign to free them and forced moscow to intervene.

just reminder the top story we're following for you here today on the news israel goes to the polls to decide whether political newcomer benny gantz should one seat for term prime minister benyamin netanyahu it's a boat is certain to have a long term impact on the region. coming up next the implants files are investigated a documentary on medical implants stay with us. the first cloning less of him in his grand arrives. join the ranks on her journey back to freedom. in our interactive documentary. in a regular time returns home on t w don't come to tanks.