this is d.w. news live from berlin indonesia decides its future in a pivotal presidential election and estimated two hundred million voters went to the polls to choose between a reformer with the past you rights record and an axe general linked to the country's former military regime polls are closing there now we'll get the latest from jakarta also coming up i don't reckon struck the cathedral not going to be even more beautiful than the whole truth and i won't be going to be reached within five years and france's president demand on my call sets an ambitious target to

restore notre dame cathedral after fire death at a paris lab. and japan's cherry blossoms have become a symbol of spring but what about mexico's have got on the trees there vibrant flowers are a well loved springtime spectacle in the country but it was a japanese immigrant who made them popular there and in a march to his homeland we'll tell you more about the blossom secret history. i'm sumi so much fun it's great to have you with us. voting has just wrapped up in landmark elections in indonesia it's the first time both presidential and parliamentary elections are being held at the same time but it's the presidential election that's getting the most attention and could define indonesia's future indonesia is a mainly muslim country and religion has been a major factor in the presidential election let's take

a look now at how voting went. the scale of the elections is vast one hundred ninety million potential voters living on over eight thousand populated islands stretched across three time zones with hundreds of different ethnic groups and languages. thousands of legislative seats are up for grabs in this election but the main focus is on these two current president djoko we doto and his challenger proposals will be untold who holds close ties to popular islamist movements indonesia has a reputation for being a pluralistic society but the rise of political islam loomed over the election campaigns. especially in the. five or so years it has become. again isn't it political issues because the entrance

of the islamist groups. the impacts of cuts national. radicalism and internet. that left both candidates vying to burnish their muslim credentials but it was provoked who trumpeted his connections to conservative muslim groups. indonesia has seen an upsurge in discriminatory attacks against minorities but these voters are optimistic at one time the roof yeah my hope for indonesia is that it will become a country civilised a country where there is love where there is mutual respect between the religions as well as tolerance. that you can see we're going to get that whoever wins we have to remain united we shouldn't bigger as long as it's fair and honest if djoko wins then we'll support him and if pro bowl wins will support him too what's important is that we don't fight there and we find in. indonesia has been

praised as the. democracy in a region where authoritarian governments are the norm but the outcome of this election could have the power to move the country in a different direction. and our reporter claire richardson is standing by outside a polling station in the indonesian capital jakarta hi clare good to see you so as we said some two hundred million people going to the polls there now they've closed how did the vote go. that's right this is an absolutely enormous democratic election and i'm here in jakarta at one of some eight hundred thousand polling places across the country and the mood here has been one of celebration there's been live music a band was just striking up people have brought their food from home and everybody's got the day off to come out to the vote and now we've just had the polls close in just a moment ago there was cheering from the election workers behind me and i think

most remarkably the streets here in jakarta which is a city that is notorious for traffic and congestion have been empty no cars anywhere to be seen as everybody comes out to exercise their right to vote. so clearly. appears likely to win a second term here at least that's what some of their survey seem to indicate so how popular is he still after five years in office. that's right president joko widodo has had a strong lead against his one challenger be on joe in all of the polling most of the people who i spoke to here said that they were going to vote for him again to give him another five years to carry on with his policies on a superficial level this election has been a largely about the economy and on those we as he said passionately known has not met the seven percent growth of g.d.p. that he promised in his first campaign the economy is strong the poverty rate is

down and many that i suppose you hear. but they're happy to see more of what he has to offer. this election is also about religion claire indonesia has the largest muslim community in the world and both candidates really in the lead up to this vote have been a fighting to win over conservative muslim voters what does that mean for the country could we see conservative religious groups gain a lot of influence. well that's right sunni religion based identity politics has really overshadowed this entire electoral campaign now indonesia is a democracy with almost a ninety percent of the people here are muslims but it also does have protections for other religions as guaranteed by its constitution. in the last few years i would say many of them some of the islamist groups that had previous maybe committed considered have really found the ears of politics and managed to make religion a part of politics and this election cycle one example has been that the current

president i was criticised for not being a muslim enough and in part to try and shore up those credentials he's brought on as it is as his running mate one of the country's top muslim clerics a man named i mean who wants to impose a sharia law has said he would ban homosexuality has made overtures to these conservative muslim elements as a way to try and shore up jacoby's popularity among those elements so no matter who wins today whether it's his competitor who is even more good favor with muslim conservatives or whether it is job widodo i think it's safe to say that those who want to make religion a part of politics and into need to have found a strong footing in this last election cycle as you said the polls have just closed when will we get an idea of who the winner is. but they've said they're going to start counting within the next hour we should know today from the president as people are celebrating and waiting for the most eagerly now. clear

richardson reporting for us outside a polling station there in jakarta thank you very much. now france's president is set to lead cabinet meetings today on how to deal with the aftermath of the fire at notre dame cathedral in paris the meetings will focus on raising funds for the restoration work mccall has set a target to rebuild the cathedral within five years we'll get the latest from paris but first this report on how the blaze at the cathedral has left her shocked but also hopeful. a moment of unity for present is coming to terms with the fire at notre dame. they drew together to sing and pray during a candlelight vigil close to the cathedral. for many it provided an opportunity to reflect and hope that no to topple one day be restored. to.

the spontaneous gatherings tonight has led to small moments of prayer but also a lot of hope we can at last say that this fire which seemed so insurmountable and caused great damage to the cathedral still left the most important parts preserved and it remains a place of prayer. thoughts are now turning in earnest towards reconstructing the to tom it's restoration has become a matter of state france's president manal mccollum says the cathedral will be restored to its former glory. we are a people of builders and we have so much to rebuild so yes we don't reconstruct the cathedral to be even more beautiful than a full and i won't buy gold to be reached within five years. that won't be an easy task footage from inside the charred building shows debris everywhere however the bell towers and walls are intact. that's thanks to the hundreds of firefighters who

fought the raging blaze at the vigil a spontaneous show of gratitude for the paris fire brigade. a moment of optimism and gratitude as friends faces the damage done to a beloved landmark. and correspondent. for us in paris barbara good morning to you and i know michael has pledged to rebuild at the cathedral within five years that is very ambitious so what have been the reactions to the president's words. it's hugely ambitious but that's emmanuel mccrone the french president for you he really reaches for the stars whatever he does experts had already during the day yesterday been talking about the reconstruction which is supposed to start as soon as possible but some of them said that it could take up to fifteen years to sort of reconstruct the inside of the kissinger to make it

structurally safe to mend the huge gaping hole that is sort of in the middle of the nave of the truth and plus to reconstruct this huge ancient roof using maybe modern methods however it needs to be done in the historical correct sense so it is very difficult and the main problem is the money seems to be not an object more than seven hundred new year is have already poured in most of it from the big french corporations and family enterprises the hidden wealth of friends bought the like the craftsman they simply don't have the arch isn't anymore for decades they've been neglecting their lent mark monuments and many of them are in dire need of restoration so if they're smart they will set up a school in port outages and send craftsman from all over europe from poland for instance and rekindle the sort of expertise that will be needed to

reconstruct this huge building here behind us barbara the president chairing a cabinet meeting later focusing solely on the fire's aftermath tell us more about what we can expect from that meeting. there will of course a look at how much money there heft is still of public fund drive under way so the money will be there i mean the first to idea is a man how much could discuss this start with a cool billion euros and mounting from there but the money is going to be there they will need some sort of plan some sort of emergency plan how they will go about it where can they draft experts in where can they find people to sort of start as soon as possible with the reconstruction because if mark wrong really wants to even come close to this emissions goal of doing it within the next five years he really will have to push it and he really will need to find and get people on his side art historians and and engineers and structural architects and all these people that i

needed to for a huge task like this so when you look at it in the back here you see the roof is completely missing underneath the scaffolding there so that will be the first class they need to they need to attack and so there is a lot of determination needed in the cabin at this morning. barbara meanwhile more information is now trickling in about what happened on monday night in the minutes after the fire was detected tell us what you've been hearing there. there more it's more detailed information now and it seems the firefighters are not to blame during that night people were saying why did they arrive so light late on the scene and they didn't if there was a mistake made and probably was with the personnel of the cathedral that raised the alarm much too late if fire alarm went off at twenty past six the second and the church was evacuated because there was a mass underway and twenty minutes later as the second fire alarm went off and only

then that they realized that it was burning under the roof and there was only one single call made to the fire service and they were they are they were on the scene pretty immediately six minutes after the alarm was raised however they didn't have equipment of course to to reach this roof which is more than sixty meters high you need specialized equipment and so that came in then the police didn't evacuate the island and pushed tourists back quickly enough so there were a lot of things in the end you look at it you think the firefighters were heroic they went in there and then went on to the towers trying to save the toes which they did manage in the end so they really fought very strongly and was a lot of determination but they seem to be not really have been in the merge and see plan if force for an event like this and that may be the main fault to find afterwards and tried a lot of lessons learned there barbara thank you so much for reporting for us there barbara vessel in paris. and there have been

a more signs of solidarity with the people of paris this time from beyond france at notre dame university of indiana in the u.s. a bell rang in support of the persians. at this bella chimed fifty times in total that universities authorities have pledged to donate one hundred thousand dollars towards notre dame cathedral first restoration and the iconic mostar bridge in bosnia it was lit up in the colors of the french flag the bridge was completely destroyed during the bosnian war in one thousand nine hundred three and later rebuilt. now to some other stories making headlines around the world u.s. president donald trump has vetoed a bill passed by congress to end the country support for the saudi led war in yemen it is only the second time the trumpets used his presidential veto the president described congress's resolution as a quote dangerous attempt to weaken his constitutional powers. the first red cross

humanitarian aid convoys have arrived in venezuela it's part of a deal made between the socialist government of president nicolas maduro and the red cross after ma hutto relented last week and allowed medical supplies to be brought in earlier mother who had rejected aid shipments to the country. supporters of wiki leaks founder julian assange have clashed with riot police in ecuador's capital quito several people were arrested and others were wounded it comes after the country revoked his asylum at its london embassy last week as i'm just now in prison waiting to be sentenced for breaching bail in britain. and egypt's parliament has approved amendments to the country's constitution that could keep president. in power until twenty thirty the parliament which is dominated by his supporters also backed changes to give the military greater influence the changes still need to be approved in a referendum for. in syria paramedics at the whole refugee camp say children are dying because they're not getting enough medical care the kurdish red crescent says

its workers are simply overwhelmed tens of thousands have arrived at the camp in the north east of the country in recent weeks they fled the fighting and the town of the last stronghold of the so-called islamic state among among them are thousands of children who urgently need medical treatment. is heading out on a new mission with the head of the kurdish red cross and he's on his way to the whole refugee camp to get a firsthand look the german emergency medic has been to north eastern syria many times despite the challenging conditions. it was on the problem a camp is over its maximum capacity it was set up for far fewer people there more than seventy thousand there now providing medical and general care is a massive challenge. from coming they drive south on the muddy road. their goal is the mobile clinic of the kurdish red crescent situated behind this

fence in the enormous refugee camp during the kurdish offensive against so-called islamic state built treated the wounded and saw much suffering and death but dramatic scenes are unfolding here as well seven hundred caps residents visit the clinic each day most are malnourished children there are only fourteen doctors working here they'll cleanse a hand and give some advice but his help is limited with a lack of specialists equipment and medicine. materials aren't the only challenge personnel is too and then there logistical challenges it's a battle that's constantly verging on disaster disasters. many mothers are angry they came here hoping for quick help but are often left short while i'm up there's hardly any medicine here we haven't been given any. the situation

is very tough particularly with this rain for my children they're always sick of the day man. no one planned for such a large number of refugees seventy five thousand fled the fighting in which had been the last i-s. stronghold here it's a sad existence with no prospects food supplies are tight and those without money struggle to survive children to have jobs to stay afloat abdullah for instance creches chickpeas for hummus which earns him twenty cents per kilo that means that i need the money to buy bread and groceries with it from my family. and many here still cling to the so-called islamic state and the idea of their caliphate despite the terror and the thousands who died. vilks says he always helps anyone in medical need with no questions asked but he can't always help this

child died from malnourishment just one of two hundred twenty five who have died this year alone among the republican of the most moving thing of course was when they brought in a child who had died and their ever more children dying due to the malnutrition caused by their flight before not in the end they'll believes prospects here are precarious not least because of the toxic legacy left behind by ass. it has been a monsoon cyclonic die swept over southeastern africa the storm child more than one thousand people in mozambique and malawi hundreds of people are still missing as a result of the severe flooding that hit the region the world bank estimates that three million people are still suffering the after effects of the natural disaster one of the worst affected places was a port city of bear out in mozambique our correspondent chris schmidt with the head of the un's resettlement program there to ask or if climate change was complicating the task of rebuilding flood hit communities like better. parts of the region are

below the sea level already your background is town planning is the whole city city in your view under threat in the future i was a mayor before. in my city experience almost the same criteria as bera my city was sixty percent the new area below sea level and the internet was here in twenty seventeen but of course it's not so strong a secular when. we come back and look for solution. for a better planning for a better resilient design building maybe. after a. flood prone area we built on steel and then we look into the design of the building and reducing the local material and it must be affordable. to people a lot of things. we cannot we have to face this.

dilemma chine by doing some adaptation. of course you can relocate everybody out of the area but we have to find ways to do. climate change by using technology and using some time to technologies in a cult and already. because when. you put on steel and we design. roof with these and be sure. we studied it we know the wind direction and for the last year because unless you have monsoon. in november and december last year he was very he said. that he less so i think we improved the about a year and then again from the s.p.d.m. day we see thank you very much now it is spring in the northern hemisphere and that means trees and flowers are in bloom like the cherry blossoms in japan in mexico hot on the trees are in bloom right now and

a beautiful sight to see and it's all thanks to a japanese gardener who wanted to emulate his home country's springtime cherry blossom. there's plenty of violet petals lying on the streets of mexico city right now but the cleaners here don't seem bothered by the extra workload spring has arrived and everyone's and a good mood but you never can do react that way everyone thinks the jacaranda trees are sort of beautiful when the wind blows the flowers from the trees people love to take foresters. pockets of violence have been blowing across the city since mid march. jacaranda trees are not native to mexico they've only been here since the nineteenth thirties a japanese garden and named to go to matsumoto brought the tree from brazil after trying and failing to cultivate the japanese cherry tree since then the violence has only added to the country's colorful landscape. the sense that

color is something fundamental to our culture. and this south american tree is now deeply rooted in that culture. in western. for residents of the mexican capital have become something more than just a beautiful tree. but a little says for us they are an important symbol in these times i mean heavy debate about migration they show us immigration can be enriching to both peoples lives and cultures. the explosion of violent color only lasts a few weeks then street cleaner diego's daily workload will go back to normal. in football barcelona advance to the semifinals of the champions league by beating manchester united last night he went to suffered a shock to one defeat at home to dutch club i.x. now the home side has struck first with christiana rinaldo putting head i x level down less than ten minutes later thanks to dani then to be the winning goal came

from nineteen year old my ts delish the win puts i.x. in the semifinals for the first time in more than two decades. men's tennis at the monte carlo masters chillis was knocked out of the competition by argentina argentinas. meanwhile world number one novak djokovic had his own struggles against germany's philip and what was their second head to head this year . the red clad novak djokovic claimed the first set among the highlights a delicately sliced backhand too delicate for his opponent to reach. but philipp kohlschreiber hit back in the second set one thrilling rally ended with both players at the mats a school shot by his his opponent with the ball. he had only beaten joke of its twice in ten the times but his most recent victory

against him came in march of this year the german continued to breaks of eventually claiming the second set much to the frustration of djokovic whose wreck it took a beating. would be and get taken care of a close third set was borne by joke of it securing him passage into the monte carlo must his last sixteen. or minder now of our top stories here on day to have you voting has ended in indonesia's presidential and parliamentary elections nearly two hundred million voters have cast their ballots in what is expected to be a close race. and france's president in mind or not kong has pledged to have no time cathedral in paris rebuilt within five years on the huge fire. you're watching still to count china's economy grew faster than expected in the first three months of this year despite the ongoing trade dispute with the u.s. but some analysts say the worst might not be over. that story and all of your

headlines in business coming up with capital firsts.

brax it means britons have to do without their fish and chips. the traditional english dish could fall victim to britain's accept from the e.u. yet british fisherman don't see it that way they tend to favor brax it even though the consequences could be just astra's. good fish and chips. and sixty minutes on t.w. . sometimes books are more exciting than

a real life. brain to create. a whole. book what if there's no escape. for list determined most streets. it's crunch time for european elections are just around the corner of those living in asia you might ask who said why should i care what the european market is one of the biggest in the what's everyone everybody needs to get so watch our special show you will actions why they matter to asia. the super stretch of sight value. the new elections why they matter to asia monday down the. window or start tracing people trying to survive. but all. these could be dangerous. floods and droughts

climate change become the main driver of mass migration you can write any kind of peace not if you want and probably most of them to come to. the clinics it starts people thirty years on t w. china's economy grew ever so slightly faster than expected in the first three months all this despite the company's pong going trade disputes with the us bought some novelists say it's not a return to stable growth. but there are exceptions german premium malefactor as of the shanghai motion so i have to take.