this is d.w. news live from berlin tonight turkey's is stamboul election rerun international outrage as the mayor of istanbul is told he is not the mayor of istanbul opposition parties say that the order to repeat east is dan balz municipal election is an outrageous attempt to silence dissent by

a dictatorship we'll hear from one of the opposition parties and ask them why are they participating in the repeat election also coming up thousands of civilians flee renewed fighting in syria as in the province observers say scores of people have been killed in a surge of violence with government forces targeting rebel held town. and the two leading contenders to be the next president of the european commission go head to head in a televised debate but can a dutch socialist or a german conservative unite a polarized europe. i'm brink off to our viewers on p.b.s. in the united states and all around the world welcome tonight turkey's opposition parties say they will run ystem boles new may oral election that's after officials

an old the original election results turkish president richard tell your better ones a k party narrowly lost the vote in the country's economic hub. back in march everyone then claimed the humiliating defeat was the result of vote rigging but istanbul's ousted mayor he has promised to beat the ruling party when the city returns to the polls in june. this is the man who inflicted a shock defeat on president added one by winning the race to become men of istanbul akram in my motives victory now snatched away by the decision to rerun the votes. today the ousted mak came out fighting. us the music does so is a big blow to our democracy. we have to repair this together. of course we're very concerned. and we say this to the people of east envoy. everything is

going to be all right. on the streets anger at the decision to overturn the original vote. this is a preplanned game and the election authority is a part of it what else can i say and this decision doesn't represent voters it clearly has been made ignoring the people's will. can they didn't know this came from somebody who doesn't want to lose his power so it's no surprise the vote should not have been cancelled. and this is the man that angry with president unrepentant in parliament cut out of high hopes the decision will be good for istanbul as well as our country. says you notice numbers it became clear that certain people with dirty hands had become involved starting before the elections and they brought the situation to this point he's gone step by step. we

sincerely believe that there was organized corruption full illegality and irregularity in the istanbul mayor election. news. the turkish lira fell sharply on news of the new election another thing the result has unsettled investors and raced fresh doubts about democracy in turkey the rerun on june twenty third will be closely watched. him bowles alstad mayor is from the opposition republican people's party that party's deputy chair person is joining me tonight his name is you know because mr chair because it's good to have you on the show we just want to confirm for our viewers your party is going to participate in the rerun of is there was a white sheet in june is that correct. that is correct and if he had taken the decision made by dissipating of all the members of the five to saturday and all of the parliament is in

a joint meeting today and why are you participating in this rerun do you agree with president airtel one that the vote in march was rigged no definite in that he does if it isn't atlanta i would love to show that game equality into a little slow and according to the principles of democracy this is enough to hide it action war unfortunately it is it on the schedule of a digit and it is out of it in elections and that is the reason law even to show that you do see it is frederick and this is the republican it was five it is the father of the of it by the book that he he had to prove at the hip to teach that the us. that in this country democracy and rule of law it mr ship because i ended i hear what you're saying but it's hard to really understand that because if you say you want to respect the rule of law why are you not challenging the decision made

by turkey use alexion commission you say that that decision was not made based on facts so why are you cooperating with it. the advocate making the action the challenge and the decision he didn't challenge a decision since the thirty first of that much and they're all the appeals and all the objections of to truly be if that's the full effect that by that i had actionable but that finally they found inside and if it did the opposite of the objections it is not any good justification there is no legal grounds for refusing it is out of elections this is simply a political decision and it is the take that under the political pressure of this ruling without it will you respect the outcome of the election in june even if your party is the loser of the second time around you don't think that it was ing is an option because we have won the election once and the entity confident that the

athlete given it again and this time and is that the model is not going to be the present or a candidate of the people's ideas is claimed to be the candidate of all the people of istanbul or our sixteen million strong mysterious i want to ask you though again if your party does not win will you respect that result certainly a.v.r. is expected to give the actions and it s. be adding to the need actions we don't think that it is a possibility but it is up to the elections will be in our favor at this point you have no concerns you're not worried at all that in the rerun of the election that the a party perhaps could try to sway the vote to rig the vote to ensure that it wins. that is a possibility it's certainly taken all the measures and this is the elections to

place on the thirty first of march there correct and says it x. they thought that it was a fraud which is not true of course and perhaps they edited this is it imagine for them to make it possible that they had leaked of in this act but this time at the end when the make it showed that all the democratic forces of the start will outweigh you joined their forces and this is really good if the last one they've been inside of the elections because all of it in the out made it by the bodies i think their candidate is in favor of this to my mother so the democratic platform and the democratic alliance is growing inside of you you have a very positive outlook on the power of democracy in your country mr job because what about help from outside the country there has been massive criticism of this rerun decision here in europe is there anything that the european union can do to

ensure that this repeat is a fair and free election but first of all i have to express our gratitude to all the support that we have received particularly from germany and from the foreign minister from the minister of state in the foreign ministry from the sister party to see it from the party and also from the european union and across there are from the smug eight all these supporters giving us more on it and it is it your hope that this up i want to continue because this is something to it is it out of the turkish people who still believe that in this country full of law and democracy could play that. i'm going to ask you if the election results in june do come out in your favor and you win the second go around if that election is contested again by the a.k. party and perhaps a third election is ordered i mean that is that is within the realm of possibility

will you respect the decision of the election board after june election i think if you leave it. at all the orderly. each day to send to all of it out of the nation is this for me it is ok well you know because from turkey's opposition c h p party mr geragos we appreciate you taking the time to talk with us tonight thank you thank you very much. well here are some of the other stories now that are making headlines around the world u.s. secretary of state has canceled his planned trip to berlin at short notice he was expected here to day u.s. embassy here in berlin saying that the visit had to be postponed due to urgent matters a news agency report cites international security issues as the reason me and maher has freed two journalists that it imprisoned after they reported on the country's

treatment of its root muslim minority white loan and. were arrested in december two thousand and seventeen and convicted of violating the official secrets act they were sentenced to seven years in jail they were given their freedom under a presidential amnesty after a global campaign for their release pro-government forces in libya are we born into a clash with forces supporting rebel general khalifa have top on the southern edges of the capital tripoli these pictures were posted on the facebook page of half tars self styled libyan national army he's been trying to take the city since the beginning of a. syrian government forces have intensified their shelling of rebel held in towns and villages in live province the area is supposed to be demilitarized following a truce which was struck in september between militias and russian backed syrian forces but reports say fresh shelling has destroyed schools and medical clinics and

that it's killed scores of civilians the united nations says that a hundred and fifty thousand civilians are now trying to escape the fighting. this woman was hoping to be treated in the clinic and kafr novel than bombs began to fall emergency workers carrying patients from the rubble this is just one of three hospitals in italy that activists say has been completely destroyed by fighter jets . like. the syrian and russian air forces have been constantly attacking targets there still circling over us including helicopters with barrel bombs. this wave of attacks in southern india has been going on for a week and spite of the cease fire agreement activists say nearly eighty civilians have already been killed nine schools have also been hit according to the syrian army they are targeting the positions of militias close to al qaeda with the military says control the province. one hundred fifty thousand people have fled

their homes since the start of the violence many are from other parts of syria. we have been praying for six months first the house next door to where we lived was bombed then we moved here now this house is also being destroyed. by the refugees and the no man's land at the turkish border hope it's safe to stay here but they have no roof over their hands electricity or food the united nations is warning of a looming catastrophe for more on this bill i'm joined here the big table by christine helberg she's a journalist and author she has lived in syria she is one of those western journals one of the few western journalists with extensive contacts in the country it's good to see you again although it seems like every time we meet here it's the same as the same story renewed fighting in what are you hearing from them well actually we have quite some personal stories coming from them especially from activists who have tried to keep some civil resistance up there in the past few years and will

tell their partners in germany for example what they are living through is this media activist talking about how she decided to left their houses with her by. they have to leave the parents behind because they decided to to prefer to die there than going for the fate of the refugees that they see around them so they left the house they left the parents behind we have this little two year old girl who is the only survival of. the rest of the family verbal you know if we have this is that women waiting in the house eating up whatever they have some activists from the women's center that we have personal stories from out of there we have the regular accounts of the union of medical relief organizations we have on a daily basis accounts on attacks on their own hospitals they built up a very functioning health directorate in the area with the help of western money german money american money in the last few years and now we're seeing this infrastructure being targeted by the bombs and and the refugees there are more than one hundred fifty thousand people who are fleeing their homes right now where they

go what will the majority of them comes from the southern part of the prop and some of them to the villages and awaiting on the outskirts under trees you know on their camping kind of outside waiting if they could go back if not if there will be a major assault in the city if which is the biggest. amount of people there then they would all try to get as close to the took it as they can get close to you has no way to let them in but they feel a little bit safer there and i mean the basic problem is that assad's really wants to get rid of these people on hold because his understanding of the understanding of the sea and regime these are people who have already stood up against his you know they have already decided once before that they don't want to surrender to his room to his understanding these are terrorists that these are the last you know opposition forces in a way. that are are still willing to say that the steering forces say that they're fighting al qaida. yes i mean the province of controlled by

a jihadi alliance that is called tired to have a shop that has taken control over the province. in january this alliance was supposed to be fought off by turkey's allied forces some nationalist and islamist groups that were supposed to take control and to get rid of these jihadists didn't which didn't take place everybody is kind of frustrated with the turkish war here so these jihadi militarily controlling the area giving a hard time to all these activists that i've talked about in just place the civilians hate them they suffer from their rule but the regime and russia are not targeting jihads they are targeting civilian infrastructure but when when bashar al assad's forces say that they are trying to get rid of the kind of the jihad is there is some truth to that even if their bullets are hitting civilians the yet militarily it is controlled by jihadi friends and but the wall that we are seeing is not against jihad it's a war against civilians because assad is really wanting to get rid of these people

he's trying to change the demography. of his own country because you know whoever left the country wherever decided to not surrender whatever left who are other places the south of syria is not supposed to be under his control because he feels you know this should be only loyal in the sense yet another purge christine helberg as always we appreciate your insights thank you thank you. britain's prince charles and his wife camilla are here in berlin on an official four day visit to germany charles became a grandfather for the fourth time yesterday that was all the talk here in berlin when he arrived he spoke about the new baby and he also addressed a topic that seems to never go away. germany welcomed the british head to the throne and his wife camilla with whether fit for a king charles and camilla's started their tour of bilin at the chancery meeting and kick but this was only a short meet and greet germany's president was waiting. and dined my

head a special present for prince charts a teddy bear for his grandson who was flown on monday. and there were more vicious waiting at the brandenburg gate berlin's iconic landmark hundreds lined up to see the prince of wales and the duchess of cornwall prince charles has been in germany more than thirty times but if you went by the crowds you'd think it was this first time that people are very excited and all hoping to catch a glimpse of the royal couple at to about the fact that the duchess of sussex has just given birth to a baby boy another grandson for charts and what you have is a double treat for the fans of the house of windsor. excitement was running high and charles and camilla didn't stand on ceremony the crowd of course were keen to find out more about the latest royal arrival. wouldn't at least as i'm

a bit surprised that elin seems to be more important for him and then being with us grandchild. i was delighted after i got the news yesterday and we're all betting on possible names here i think it's important symbol. for the british it's a continuation of the line it's a continuation of what it means to be monarchy and brittania return your rules the way. late in the evening of oil party was held at the british embassy residence in berlin to celebrate the queen's ninety third birthday and he a child stressed something that many germans are happy to hear although the times may be a changing and you know german relations remain a priority. and speaking of breaks that britain has confirmed that it will take part in the upcoming european parliament elections despite its plan to leave the european union prime minister to resign may wanted to avoid holding the vote by

passing a break deal in time but now the british government has admitted it isn't legally bound to hold the european parliament elections to field candidates on may the twenty third the finance minister philip hammond saying the obligation is challenging giving that the country has voted to leave the e.u. meanwhile to recent days government has resumed cross party talks aimed at reaching a compromise. deal. and in preparation for that upcoming e.u. parliament elections later this month the two top candidates for president of the european commission have been debating on german public television tonight german conservative politician munford vapor of the european peoples party and friends timmermans of the party of european socialist who was from the netherlands they battled it out for the hearts and minds of voters on subjects likely to affect the future of europe whichever political group in the e.u. performs best at the polls has a good chance of replacing outgoing commission president john called you i'm crying

. well the first perhaps most topical issue in that debate was climate change with questions coming from several young people in the audience fronts timmerman from the netherlands from the center left group being the party of european socialist as they're known was passionate about the need for action devolved. we definitely need a carbon dioxide tax and quickly at the european level and what i'd say is that if we don't manage to achieve that at the european level member states will do it individually and that would be very bad for our economy and for sustainability and we have to do this together as europeans and we have to make these economic changes much more quickly. or fronts jim runs rival in the debate was munford vapor from germany he represents the conservative european peoples party in the european parliament faced with the questions about tackling climate change he emphasized the need to preserve jobs in the energy industries but he also

advocated the big change in transportation. to central it imminent is the main issue here is the taxation of air travel in particular the fact that kerosene is not taxed due to international contract chilled agreements while railway companies and drivers on the roads have to pay tax on the fuel they use this unfair situation means flying is much cheaper this is a sole point this imbalance has to change in europe shift as he moves into a pop end it with all right so let's talk about that debate want to bring in a used band leader in brussels he's following the lead up to those european elections given to you baron so can we talk about a winner in that debate. that's very hard to tell because both men representatives of mainstream parties there's not much difference on the main and european issues there was a lot of harmony that was

a lot of agreement those men bond a stronger euro both men want a common migration policy more rights for women and a new partnership with africa but very surprising for me was that they didn't talk about the worst enemy the right wing populist that are gathering the strengths all over europe and that promising to come to the european parliament and turn it upside down those men keep silence about that maybe they don't have a recipe how to fend off this threat to their own parties because these vibes are going to eat into the constituency of the mainstream main stream. so that was surprising for me timmons was a little bit more aggressive acted more statesman like that was the main difference between the two and you know but you bring up a good point the rise in populism across europe people from outside looking in and they may wonder if the populous if these right wing parties are doing so well do

they have a chance of actually getting the top job in the european union in those elections. no they haven't gone so far yet but they can have a major influence in the parliament that some pose that should suggest that they will have twenty two twenty three percent of the seats in parliament if they all team up from west to east and from lost to thousand and that forces the other parties to form a grand could have coalition to vote on anything and also to vote upon a huge commission president the job that to be but in terms of want to have so both of the men have to form a grand coalition to achieve this in this is very very difficult in the future you know there's the big elephant in the room which is populism and also breck's it what do you make of today's news that britain will be participating in these elections later this month despite the decision it made almost three years ago to

leave the european union. may i say it is back who were a on the stage in brussels we missed it a little bit because of a side and it shows that the government in britain has no clue how to come out of this bracks it mess because they have to admit we have to vote and we will be in the european union at least until october of this year and brics it is also a topic for the parliamentary elections because the deputies that come from britain will be all the havoc in the b. euro skeptics and right wingers so they could tip the scale actually in the grouping in the parliament to the right because and the brits could make the difference in the next parliament the brits could make the difference and then be gone in just a matter of months after the election. on the story for us tonight from brussels thank you barry. our tennis news now at the madrid open novak djokovic.

of rink were both in action on clay today they are among the favorites in the capital as they find tune for the year's second grand slam in paris at the end of the month. for world number one novak djokovic it was a routine victory in which he was rarely troubled by american qualifier taylor fritz. off to winning the first set six full the serve raised his game in the second and barely lost a point on serve a six two schools sealed the victory and progression into round three a title win in the spanish capital would see him drop level with rafa nadal on thirty three must this titles. another veteran of the tennis scene was looking for his spot in the second round stand the brink eased to a six two six three win of a p.s. . he will face pay and next. week and here's a reminder of the top stories we're following for you turkey's opposition parties

say though when a controversial rerun of his devil's mejor election for his president to bear to one's ruling party saw a legal battle to have the opposition's original victory overturned and the united nations it says around one hundred fifty hundred thousand civilians are fleeing fighting in syria is in the province just by the truce syrian government forces have bombed rebel held towns and villages reports say schoolwork of civilians have been killed. you're watching t w news after a short break i'll be back to take you through the day tonight we'll be talking with a spokesman from the turkish president a cave party about the rerun of that election in istanbul.

it's time to take stock. and face.

time just such the knowledge and the fight for the truth. to overcome boundaries and connection. it's time for the double. duty of it is coming up ahead. minds. some time in the twenty six to you my great granddaughter the people are. but with the world be like in your lifetime and around half a century. when i was there were three billion people you will share the planet with nine billion. your world will be around two degrees warmer. evidently sea levels rise by at least one meter a century. we're going to have some

climate impacts we'll turn greater responsibility. and. that's really frightening quatro have bad luck. why aren't people more concerned. the first d.w. . how do strongman leaders been and twist democracy to fit their will you can look to russia venezuela and then there is turkey president heir to one's political party lost control of is stamboul in municipal elections back in march it was such a shock to everyone that next month is stamboul will repeat its alexion tonight i'll ask everyone's eight k.

party what's the plan next time to make sure the will of the people follows the plan of the president i bring golf umbrella.