this is d.w. news coming to you live from berlin polls open elections to the european parliament that includes the u.k. a country that is expected to have left the european union by now will have more on health populist looks set to make big gains and make life even more difficult for britain's beleaguered prime minister also coming up vote counting is underway in india's merits on the election early results showed a clear lead for prime minister narendra modi's to be j.p. party all eyes now on whether it will secure an absolute majority in the country's

parliament. and abandons plans to expand the already troubled 2022 world cup in qatar usual $32.00 teams instead of $48.00 will slug it out for soccer's most coveted 1st. hello i'm terry martin good to have you with us polls open across a divided u.k. today in a vote that more than half the country never wanted 4 days of european parliamentary elections take off with the country and gulf and yet more political turmoil over brags that british prime minister theresa may is fighting for her job with even some of her tablet ministers revolting over her latest brags that withdrawal plan. to keep pro breaks its minister on. let's quit over the good byes deal saying it

does not deliver breaks it. is rejecting calls to stand we need to see prick 6 through to honor the results of the referendum and deliver the change the british people so clearly demanded i sincerely believe that most members of this house feel the same but for all our division and disagreement we believe in democracy that we want to make good on the promise we made to the british people when we asked him to decide on the future of our you membership or more now let's bring in d.w. correspondent baerga who's covering this in london barry good choice i'm a seems to be on a sinking ship how long can she survive as prime minister under these conditions. well terry it seems that it's maybe days rather than weeks or months who knows who's next in the cabin and there's a lot of speculation that other cabinet ministers old say going to tonic and sad

that she'd be basically alone and government by monday to anything can happen any moment and all of this as a movement and a consensus party should have really been fighting for this election for this european election where they are really doing extremely badly in the polls where the big parties are set to get a big beating the country is effectively fighting over who's going to be the next prime minister the conservative party is preoccupied with many other things but not with the european elections will britons or boating today whether they want to or not is a rather strange situation and they're being expected to vote in parliamentary elections even though they voted to leave the e.u. 3 years ago all they able to muster are britons able to muster any enthusiasm for this election under these conditions. but this election election is really

all about rex and sets a b. and b. m. barry is meant for for the because he's the conservatives and also labor us you know as the politics who just don't get through with threats and you doing make it happen and people are just they have lost patience that they voted so long ago and still the situation is it's very unclear who is sajan is nigel for us is his brakes of party it's a new party basically a one man band that niger for osh has set out to say we don't want this deal with the european union we don't need a deal necessarily let's just get out and he makes it all about the incompetence of the politicians and westminster and makes him the savior of the country the man who can push the country forward i think to some of his rallies and let's listen let's have a look. what the it was that. piece back wherever nigel farage goes he's welcomed back stuff here in wales for example was meant to recently has

betrayed the country but he's unconditionally accepted all of brussels demands during the withdrawal negotiations of the bracks referendum bird i don't know what do you. it's a document drafted by the 1st year on the air. without to leave out looking over his shoulder or rather suggest britain doesn't need to do you presses the main thing is to leave the queue he doesn't mention that would probably cost jobs right when you get there i'm afraid that there is no chance of bricks being delivered with our current 2 party system our current government will have to fight for it again but i believe we can do so i think the british referendum acted rob about the sort of the genie coming out of the bottle it's not going back. in the city of peterborough over a 1000 people come to check out the new party many of them used to vote for the

conservatives the carbon going to china or lawyers you see and i are nothing but crooks so far as are concerned they treasonable people people are very angry and feel very hurt and upset that their vote is being ignored and democracy is being trampled all over them to this day the party claims to have gained more than 100000 new members in just a few weeks. she made it a page in the internet of the wall of change u.k. can only dream of such numbers greater johnson is in the spotlight and bar in southwest england the political newcomer who has one main goal we have to stop or for our just take this country with all the lack of values and all the lies that stamps campaigner represents he says it's a one man show it's a vehicle to get him into downing street he's taking the got the country up the garden path and over the cliff the new a main party change u.k.

has a clear enemy niger for raja's bragg's a party but the n.t. brags that vote is splintered and that might be one reason why the pro europeans have not been able to tread nearly the same crowds as a brags of party who had seen bomb. 4 rows of chairs are enough to accommodate a crowd many of those who have come are disappointed by the establishment parties. this is an opportunity to see what a remind party a new voice a fresh voice has to say to me and i was very impressed actually the passion with which they spoke on the question your opinion changing for head of one of the only parties to really really support the people and to support. the big parties are being punished in the e.u. elections and it looks like the populists will be the biggest witness. so yes the big parties are being punished the conservatives are just the fad or

even 4th party in the latest polls in the brics a party is leading with a fatty percent so those were the latest polls and it really looks like they're going to say on the mood of the brits many all to really fed up with president i just want to go forward and i don't accept that it's complicated to leave so it seems british politicians will be represented in the next parliament what role are they likely to play in that parliament. well i guess they have to assume that they have to play a big role because at the moment we don't know what the future of the country is it could be one the outcome that that britain is going to revoke article 50 and everything stays the same and they have to play pay the full road so they don't know you have to assume they have to prepare for for a full term it is unlikely that the next government whoever that's going to lead it

is going to just revoke article 50 because we know that at the end of october there is a deadline and the u.k. is supposed to leave but if politicians decide that they don't want to leave without a deal then it would be one option just to stop the whole process and and think again so it is there as an option the other option is to crush out to just leave without any deal at the end of october which is the default position to get thank you very much she'd always better get my ass there in london. well this sunday will be having special coverage of the european elections from germany and around europe until then here's a reminder of what's at stake $400000000.00 voters in $28.00 countries will go to the polls between today and may 26th to decide who will represent them for the next 5 years at the european parliament the number of seats each country gets is roughly proportional to its population europe's most populous country germany it with

nearly 82000000 people will be electing 96 m.e.p. is while the smallest country in the e.u. multi will have 6 m. e p's to represent its population of less than half a 1000000 once elected the members of parliament join transnational groups with similar views at the moment there are 7 such groups representing the center right the socialist the greens euro skeptics and others the m.v.p.'s vote on new laws and approve the e.u. budget they also help choose the president of the european commission and the current president is this man john claude yoga the favorites to replace him our german conservative m.e.p. month put on the left and dutch politician plans to months for the party of european search socialists. now it's not just the u.k. voting today polling is also underway in the netherlands let's go to amsterdam where our correspondent max sunda is standing by max as we just heard there the

dutch politician funds to mons is one of the key candidates to become president of the european commission has that done anything to boost interest in the selection in the netherlands. well that's right terry wants to moments is a popular candidate and he has become the face of the european elections at least if you speak for the netherlands and he has gotten a lot of publicity media publicity not necessarily one from the netherlands but also internationally speaking but his party the social democrats are not expected to come in 1st or 2nd and traditionally in the netherlands the european elections don't mean that much they are not that people here are not that interested in the european elections ever since 1989 the voter participation has never exceeded 40 percent and i'm standing right in front of a polling station if you look behind me you can see it's still kind of quiet there's not much going on occasionally there is voters coming in and out but to be

fair at today's a work day. pace is expected to keep pick up a little bit during the lunch hours or after work the polling stations are going to be open until tonight o'clock i'm talk to the people there they told me that these you elections do they feel they do matter a lot more people have organized themselves in groups young people's young people have come in groups to cast their vote together but if that's really true or if this really makes a difference we'll have to see and wait for the results max says we'll know populists have been on the rise in many european countries including the netherlands how are they fairing in this election and what issues are they and other parties pushing. so one political party has taken center stage in this european elections it's the forum for democracy it's a far right party they used to be a think tank back in 2016 they became a party there campaigning. on populist issues anti islam anti migration they want

to hold a referendum on the common currency the euro and even proposed an exit netherlands exiting the european union their stance on that has become a little bit softer after people in the netherlands witness what how things were going with the brics and in great britain. but there is still strong they're expected to come in 1st actually. yeah but you have to add in order to understand all of this that the political landscape in the netherlands is extremely scattered you have 26 seats in the. in the in the european parliament that netherlands is going to take but 10 parties are expected to send politicians to brussels so it's actually scattered you've got the far left all over to the far right here thank you very much that was must sound of there chorus in amsterdam. now to some of the other stories making news around the world today call has

returned to the indonesian capital jakarta after deadly clashes between police and supporters of defeated presidential candidate sabean to. urge supporters to go home he has told them he would launch a legal challenge against president djoko would out of his reelection. u.s. president donald trump has walked out of a meeting with democrats refusing to work with them unless they drop all investigations into him senior democrats however say that trump's walkout was a premeditated stunt an increasing number of opposition lawmakers want impeachment proceedings launched against trump. and germany's biggest lender deutsche bank holds its annual general shareholder meeting today the board is set to face a grilling from investors with the share price of an all time low questions over the bank's strategy and leadership are expected to dominate the meeting.

and we'll have more on the bank shareholders meeting coming up in business later in this bulletin now vote counting is underway in india after its marathon election early results show the hindu nationalist b j p party of prime minister narendra modi heading for victory the poll was widely viewed as a referendum on modi's leadership the prime minister is seen as a popular but also divisive figure some are calling the election a contest for the soul of the country. finally the counting is underway at centers like this across the country hundreds of millions of votes are being tallied each one bringing indians closer to finding out who will lead them through the next 5 years it's the culmination of the largest ballot the world has ever seen . central to the process the electronic voting machines some $2300000.00 were in action across the country they have sped up the counting

immensely meaning results emerge within hours but opposition parties say they also pose a risk after reports of some tampering they protested to the electoral commission demanding verification with paper voting records. either here or the election commission. that. on. board the. international observers say the election has been largely free and fair and the ruling party says the opposition claims a just a distraction they have already sensed it that this 200-1000 looks a by election is not going in their favor however much they do night it. wants and distance to prime minister. the b j p c's only one possible winner in

this election incumbent prime minister narendra modi his coalition met on tuesday to discuss its agenda for a 2nd term modi campaigned hard to keep a commanding majority he won 2014 he's promised better incomes for farmers and more infrastructure spending but the opposition has highlighted slowing economic growth and increasing religious divisions modi's main rival is congress party leader. he wasn't expected to stage a major upset if neither of the main parties claims an outright majority smaller regional groupings could prove kingmaker tipping the balance of power in parliament . joins us now from the indian capital delhi sagna the vote count is underway what can you tell us about the initial results.

well you know the leads are increasingly prime minister narendra modi's part of the party is really surging ahead across many constituencies and the opposition congress party is vote for me truly in many of these places so these kind of leads are to be believed the national democratic alliance i would say is really comfortably you know cruising to a commanding majority in parliament and really to a 2nd successive. and this is really in line with several exit polls that were released earlier this week that showed that predicted huge wins for the p.g.p. now these leads also show that the b.g.p. is really doing well in several states in several hindi heartland states like roger son. but also crucially the states off with asia which is a bellwether state which sends you know the maximum number of m.p.'s to parliament and that we should be actually also seems to be making huge gains in states such as west bengal with pushing hard to make inroads so really all in all this really

points to a kind of landslide victory for india's ruling party song the opposition party is of the mind to account of paper ballots which would be a huge undertaking given the hundreds of millions of votes in the selection how likely is that. well that's not likely to happen you know the election commission of india has already rejected demands by the opposition to kind of tally these people slips with the electronic voting machines before the votes are counted that's totally been rejected and of course the backdrop to this is several opposition parties this week complaining of water fraud off the emergence of videos on social media allegedly showing these machines being tampered with or being transported without without sufficient security but you know those demands of really been rejected by the election commission who say it's all above board and there are no irregularities in the process is really free and fair it's so nice thank you very much for the you saw your father in delhi. politicians and other

public figures are taking part in celebrations here in berlin today to mark the 70th anniversary of germany's constitution or basic law the constitution came into effect in may $949.00 after being drawn up under the supervision of the allies its aim was to ensure that after the years of nazi dictatorship and the destruction of the war the new germany was built on solid democratic foundations 40 years later when west and east were reunited the constitution was adopted in the new uniform. all this week we're looking at how the constitution is translated into reality every day by ordinary people today we focus on article 5 of the constitution which guarantees freedom of expression we met activist ahmed shah one originally from iraq to find out how he uses sometimes provocatively his right to say what he wants in public.

and i left my country because of freedom of expression and it was always and still is very important to me to be able to express my opinion. ahmed had to flee his home in iraq because he wouldn't shut up in germany he's protected by the constitution. the arabic word. infidel the 20 year old is an atheist and he talks openly about his opinions on faith and other matters. sometimes he wants to provoke here at a palestinian march in germany he's carrying a poster of 2 kissing men. there's pushing and shoving the police officer steps in to prevent violence no no no. he's

not welcome. there. are many muslims it's a to boot and sometimes you have to be provocative and cross boundaries in order to change something in society and. from all of this and i'm from a religious family there were certain rules about what i could and couldn't do it was somehow clear to everyone that you couldn't be different. and you couldn't think differently. than the. one point i thought it had to be possible to say that you were no longer a believer without being punished for. that and then i decided to do it for myself. so talking not my fault it was 5 days after my 15th birthday when my father suddenly went to the police so he came back with 3 police officers they beat me in front of my parents.

then they looked me in the room for i was so modest they tortured me with cables and electric shocks before and that. and i think. this is. a loss and that was the day i left iraq and we took this picture at night with a photographer with it. at 1st i didn't want to tell my story in germany. to avoid more conflicts and so on. but at the same time i knew that if you express your opinion in europe the states will protect you. ahmed said muslims in germany abuse and threaten him when he openly expresses his opinions but here unlike in iraq he's protected by the police.

force a lot to be here and i won't let anyone here tell me how to live and what i'm allowed to do. theme and especially what i'm allowed to say. i am free. never port they're from going to kettles on the 70th anniversary of the german constitution all sports now football's world governing body fifa has abandoned plans to increase their number of teams at the next world cup encounter chris harrington from sports is here to tell us about a decision that is as much about politics as it is about sports crests what were they planning to do well as players were to increase the number of teams from 322484 this current the next world cup scheduled in qatar 2022 and

it's about money also in some respect because they they also did a study in determining they could earn more than 500000000 more pounds of profit if they did expand the tournaments but that idea was shut down you know the catch was neighboring countries would have to help to talk are they said no fee for released the following statement following a thorough and comprehensive consultation process with the involvement of all of the relevant stakeholders it was concluded that under the current circumstances such a proposal could not be made now so the current circumstances harry you know there's a blockade the neighboring countries the united arab emirates bought for a saudi arabia and egypt cut ties with the tar back in 2017 feet the said the blockade would have to be dropped to actually entertain the idea of the hosting countries jumping board but clearly no the low football does not quite strong enough ok that blockade is still in place yes it fever not to try to host the

tournament alone with the extra teams yeah they did you know that organize a comedic atar they toyed with the idea but the reality is that that. they couldn't find a viable operating model to sustain you know the increase of teams qatar very small real estate you know know if the structure they're working around the clock to really get things finished on time to host the 30 the 32 teams so a tall order qatar obviously rejected the idea at the end of the day now the 2022 world cup has been controversial in qatar for a number of reasons has this decision by fief to keep the number of teams but what it was taking the heat off of qatar to some degree well somewhat you know it's no sheet it's time and knowledge of human rights issues concerning the migrant workers have been hanging over the tars head since construction began there was also outrage because the heat is very intense so the united states the world cup and that's of such a distance and so forth you know the world cup will now be at the end of november until december you know but from the football perspective qatar looking good they

just won the asia cup the asian cup so you know potentially they could shock the world similar to russia did with the cup they hosted chris had her sport thanks so much ok you're watching t.w. news we've got business coming up for you next with jenelle doing the long term go away.

a bloody battle for horns. in south africa it's a grisly reality the trade in price rhino horns is in the hands of a powerful organized crime raises my head was cut short when i see that i should not get the jump on. rhino dollars right now serous mafias $1000000000.00 business . in 45 minutes on d w.

b bursting germany's. constitution in the seventy's. you served as an authority for germany. are seen as the signal to unsettle this week. sometime in the 26 to you my great granddaughter. what will the world be like in your lifetime and around half a century. your world will be around true degrees warmer. inevitably sea level rise by at least one meter in the central. we're going to have some climate impacts mature greater democracy over me. that's really

frightening books. why aren't people more concerned. first. on the defensive. today the board of the beleaguered faces off with investors after the share price hits an all time low. legal and corporate trouble. also coming up transport ministers from around the world discuss how we get from aid to be in the future to go live to the international transport for on in life the. time for us bicycle soccer calls on the president.