this is d.w. news live from berlin indian voters get closer to the finish line it's the final day of voting in the country's marathon general election prime minister narendra modi is seeking a 2nd term in both 2 bodies' own constituency also coming up. austrian chancellor's about's and 4 it's called snap elections this comes after his vice

chancellor quits following the release of couldn't camera video that appears to show him offering government contracts to a safe russian supporter. thanks for joining us i'm married to evanston today is the final day of voting in india's general election is the biggest election in the world with 900000000 eligible voters one of the seeds being contested today is the city of daraa nasi which is holy to hindus and where prime minister narendra modi is up for reelection modi is expected to win comfortably but a controversial development project in the historic temple district has dented his popularity some want. to. travel to see and sent us this

report. the holy city of water is a piece of better through much for. devout hindu and consider the spiritual capital of the country. but now and i comic bought of the temple city is in ruins. close to 300 houses some of which did back to the 17th century have been torn down around kashi which will not stand the. devoted to the hindu gods shivah. on the temples are left standing. the demolition is all to make way for the cos she caught her daughter and ambitious infrastructure project off prime minister noda into more the. more these represents wanted to see him follow him and. when he was elected 5 years ago he promised to modernize the ancient city while preserving its rich culture and ahead of the model michel grew

up in the not only inside. he down the shop here but when the parties came knocking to tell him to get out but decision the high court. but after 15 months of fighting he gave up for what he claims is not enough money and the promise of a new shop in the quarter dollar. the a.v.r. around the temple has traditionally been a stronghold for more these b.g.p. but now bonnie says locals feel that the party is crushing the soul of caution. removed what's made the city of shiva the city of modi whatever changes modi wants a happening here. it was the city of temples now it's a city of ruins. the prime minister wants to be directed from water in the sea. and the controversy seems to have little impact on his chances. on the campaign

trail modi is treated like a celebrity. his stop are has been the main draw for the b.g.p. across the country. moby has said that the wood for the b.g.p. is a vote for him. many who could see no alternative to walking for the prime minister . even the opposition has speeded week candidates practically giving him a walkover. hindu nationalism has been a bold plan for the b j p and the prime minister is counting on this holy cities indorsement to once again be the country. just well who filed that report now joins us from far and say hello to you misha so as we heard in your report modi's development plans for the city of r n r c are quite unpopular among many locals is this likely to cost him support at the ballot box. well why is the region from plants around the world be cautious not dampened have brought in criticism it

actually looks like it is not going to cause a loss for the prime minister at all a lot of voters who we have spoken to at this polling booth have said that they are actually quite impressed with the prime minister's leadership on a national level there's also been some improvements to infrastructure in other parts of the city that people are supporting. other than simply supporting him because he's an i couldn't for the be chippy so the question that is being raised here is simply about how large a margin the prime minister is going to win the seat with not about if he's going to win are not so even though the area around the temple was a bastion off b.g.p. support that's the ruling party some people told me that they will not cost their vote or they will choose a none of the above option but they're so against the opposition that it is still unlikely for the opposition to meet gains at the cost of prime minister more big $12.00 are not see is as we've been hearing a sacred hindu city just how important is religion in this election.

religion of definitely going to play a role in part of the b.g.p. did come in on a plank off hindu nationalism even though in 2014 the key agenda was development but there has been a rise of hindu much a majority of muslim across the country that has been the rise of hate speech as well as violence against minorities across the country and for many people they view b.g.p. as a hindu party that supports the hindu cause but of course on officially the region has also propagated an idea of nationalism there were strikes there was a there was a standoff between india and pakistan earlier this year but has actually played in the region is fearful and that is another factor that's going to favor the b.g.p. heavily and of course they have clearly come out and express their support about a controversial temple that is to be built in the state we're actually standing in right now so hinduism as well as nationalism important for plants for the region be

. already doubly is their mission just 12 reporting for us from vajra nasi thank you very much. to austria now where it's been announced that snap elections will be held in early september president oleksandr found a bell and now owns the vote after a corruption scandal brought down chancers a bus in courts is far right. well listen. we'll have more on that from our correspondent in just a moment but 1st we have this report was. shortly after the vice chancellors resignation thousands of people gathered at the chancellery to express their indignation with the far right freedom party and demand fresh elections and the protesters got what they wanted. chancellor sebastian cortes announced the end of his coalition fees saying the populist freedom party had finally gone too far but that's the biggest of it after

yesterday's video i must honestly say that enough is enough. the chancellor asked president alexander funded beland to call snap elections the president who can just solve parliament's backed the move and he had strong words for the alleged corrupt deputy thanks. for lugar that able to leaders of the republican have broken the trust placed in them off this is outrageously disrespectful to the citizens and i cannot tolerate this lack of respect these are those big closer to live here the. this is the video behind the scandal austria's vice chancellor. caught on tape apparently soliciting campaign funding in return for lucrative government contracts as a meeting in a villa on the spanish island of i beats a staffer thought he was talking to the niece of a russian oligarch in addition to illegal donations they discussed the possibility of her buying a stake in austria's biggest tabloid to generate favorable coverage ahead of the

2017 elections but it was a sting and the video was leaked to the media. earlier i spoke to. who is at the press conference about the snap elections i asked her what else she could tell us about what was announced. there is going to be election in early september as we heard and that is the earliest date that rules in austria make possible because the president alexander funded belen who is from the green party and sort of like a moderating figure in the country he emphasized that trust needs to be regained in institutions and that elections just have to be held as soon as possible so that is early september nothing else that is doable here in austria bought people who have been hoping last night during those demonstrations maybe for a more thorough cleaning off the stables they are going to be disappointed because it seems that chancellor courts the prime minister's office austria everybody

situated here on the boat house in vienna in those fabulous palaces behind us that chance recurrences just going to limb on which the freedom party is part of his government that he is not going for a minority government and that he's not going to try something more sort of by courageous not really going to send a signal but that he will just have a change of personnel in his cabinet and they will be just carrying on till september all right so they're going to carry on until september but we will see these new elections coming up after the summer break is it possible that chancellor courts its own party might be punished then by voters at the polls. we don't know this yet it is difficult to say so far the popularity of course has been splendid i mean he has done a very good job of selling himself as a reformer of austria of course the other parties to the opposition can throw all

those big promises back into his face now and say what have you achieved just a may just get. made to austria laughingstock all over europe by by the publishing of these tapes at the corruption and the typical austrian swamp that's been that has been uncovered just one more time this is not the 1st scandal to rock austria in the last decades off a similar sort of course is sort of is a very very astute politician he knows how to sell himself you knows how to sort of get on the good side of the public so maybe he won't be punished but the freedom party will be punished largely and it will be a good day for the opposition so the political work in austria is going to change in all likelihood all right barbara faisal in vienna we thank you very much for that let's turn now to some of the other stories making headlines around the world

. thousands of pro e.u. demonstrators have taken to the streets across europe including here in berlin this comes just one week before european parliamentary elections organizers hope to get out the vote for pro e.u. parties and to take a stand against populism and against the far right. swiss voters have cast ballots in a referendum on gun control early projections show the measure has passed the question was whether access to semi automatic weapons should be restricted and more training required for owners switzerland has one of the highest rates of gun ownership in the world. in colombia former fark leader soissons hernandez was hospitalized in police custody on saturday the 52 year old had been released from prison earlier in the day but he was immediately rearrested in connection with a drug trafficking investigation by the united states hospital officials in bogota say that hernandez is in stable condition. republican lawmaker justin

amash has broken ranks with his party to call for u.s. president donald trump's impeachment the michigan congressman accused trump of impeachable behavior stemming from special counsel robert muller's findings on russian interference that report found no criminal conspiracy involved left open the question of whether trump obstructed the investigation through the broken. all right some sports news now and one does lead a soccer buyer munich have sealed a 7th straight title after a convincing final day win over and talk to frankfurt. this was the moment they got to lift the bundesliga trophy fire and had their fates in their own hands and they made the mistake with a 51 victory on cleavage and are involved in both scores in their final home appearances for biron and in keeping with tradition coach mico cotch was drenched

in beer his side ended up 2 points ahead of boro sued for. in men's tennis world number one novak djokovic has reached the final of the italian open the serbian overcame argentina's diego 2 sets to one djokovic wearing a red here got the crucial break in the 6th game of the deciding set to clinch victory and face rafael nadal in sunday's final djokovic triumphed in last week's madrid open and has a chance to win back to back for titles. well if you've got a beard belgium is the place to be right now hundreds of hairy men from around the world have descended on the city of antwerp for the 2019 world beard and moustache championships the wacky contest sees the well groomed competitors take part in 3 main categories moustache partial beard and full beard with each including several

subcategories while many spectacular styles are on show including majestic handlebars and swirling whiskers as competitors battle it out to become the facial fuzz kings. that's it from t w news american evan steen from me and the entire team here in berlin thanks for watching. 1st day of school in the jungle. first climbing less of a minute door as grand a moment arrives. joining a regular chain on her journey back to freedom. in our interactive documentary.