why are people more concerned. sure it's may 31st t.w. . plane . plane. plane. this is today when the news live from berlin europe goes to the pulse hundreds of millions cast ballots in a mammoth election that promises to bring about big changes in the european parliament will bring you all the latest on this type of day for the e.u. also coming up. sporting goods company $0.90 it will stop penalizing athletes and its sponsors who become pregnant nigel came under fire when it was revealed that

vastly reduced female athletes contract when they decided to become mothers. welcome to the program. millions of voters across europe are going to the polls to elect representatives to the european parliament it's the final day of voting with $21.00 countries taking part today including some of the biggest germany france italy spain and poland results are expected this evening e.u. citizens across the block up and voting from thursday with some 427000000 people eligible to cast their ballot. the european parliament that emerges from this vote will go on to elect the next president of the european commission that person will succeed john claude junker whose 5 year term is coming to an end and europe's top

job so the stakes are high let's take a look at the candidates. i will do everything to defend this year i think we as greens take the battle hard to propose rather. we have work to do migration is an opportunity we've reduced minimum wage to every member state they're all running for the e.u. commission president's job margaret divest are off for the liberals scott for the greens monthly to be about for the conservatives funds to moments for the social democrats young conservative reform the candidate. is for the party they are the 6 leading candidates but hang on a minute who all day and does anyone know anything about them do you know any of them. and do you know him. any idea or. have you ever seen her. having. a dutchman frantz to moment speak some

language as he once more social justice german month will be by is calling for secure europe for example by european f.b.i. denmark's moderate best star is standing for self confident and women's rights left wing likud from budge and is a trade unionist and the starting for social. right. helo's promoting a european climate friendly future the czech republic xians idealism favor of the e.u. but once more sovereignty for individual nation states they are all committed to the european union but what are the biggest challenges what solutions do they need to offer for the future the fragmentation between member states a lot of distrust which we have which has increased over the past years between member states also between national capital and brussels liberal moderate heat of a star and social democrat plans to moms are the only candidates who have already had some experience as

a minister is that an advantage for the job obviously it is an asset if you have had experiences at national level because in many cases political parties are not really supportive of their european and they're not pushing them they're rather pushing their own national candidate so you don't see visually that they exist but one man has definitely been in the spotlight on the european stage michel barnier who could be the joker in the pack he's not officially a candidate but he might just end up getting the job that's the role regarded negotiator he enjoys the rest back trust of many hats of state and government and in the end that could be way more important than a load of t.v. debates. joining me now from brussels as d.w. correspondent. thanks for more candidates for the years talk job but there could still be a surprise how so. the reason for that is that the exact mechanism of how the head

of the european commission the called powerful executive of the european union is exactly selected is subject to debate what is clear is that the heads of state in government of the 28 you member states are the ones who will select that candidate that person who runs then the european commission and that person there needs to be confirmed by the european parliament but the question is will they choose that candidate from the lead candidates from the european elections or could they possibly pick someone else like the chief negotiator much michel don't you the e.u. treaties say they have to take the european elections into account and we'll have to see what they make of that next week the e.u. and e.u. elections are incredibly complex as our viewers might have gathered from one threat now. known as have switched off in great numbers in the past elections how big is interest in the election this time around. it's

a sensible issue that when really this morning when i went to cast my ballot in the voting station in beer in brussels i talked to a number of people who were confused how it actually works so i had to explain to them even explain to some what the european parliament is how it functions what this election is all about so that is a big problem however the european parliament as been very key dedicated some quite some money some substantial effort into educating people how it works there's been particularly from the environmental side a number of people have been campaigning that people participate on the far right there's been people complaining and if you look at the early turnout numbers from states these are quite some encouraging signals seeing that over the past decade turnout numbers have come continuously dropped it looks like this time for the 1st time around today we could see an increase but in polling for example the numbers have doubled in france they're up in romania they're up i think there's only 2

exceptions of the countries who are voting today it's portugal and mulder where the numbers have dropped slightly compared to 5 years ago the most recent polls point to substantial gains for a nationalist euro sceptic newmans are they really drawing that much motor support . it looks like that is the case i mean the opinion polls have predicted that they could grab 20 percent of the seats in the european parliament which would be a big gain the key question is and if you look at france for instance the opinion polls say that the far right is even a have of the french president's party and that is also true for a number a number of other states where the far right appears to come out very strongly from this european elections a big question will then be on monday when the groups in the european parliament have to form whether the far right individual parties from all the member states will be able to sit down together and agree to form such

a group which could then of course mean that they have a lot more influence than they used to have so far because so far they've been split up in different groups or they haven't even been able to form a group at all it's very briefly if you can when issues have that different parties focus on during their campaign of course the migration was for the far right and important issue economic development italy and greece was a big issue and then there was the environment and i think that could be the big surprise from this election in ireland exit polls have already shown that the greens have gained so pushing for the environment for environmental ideas that could be the big surprise in this european elections with a landslide victories for green parties all across europe get months and wrestles thank you very much. now in some of the other stories making news around the world here's president donald trump is spending his 2nd day in japan golfing with prime

minister shinzo ave and attending the sumo wrestling grand finale despite the friendly atmosphere there are tough trade talks ahead as well as differences over the threat posed by north korea. new guinea's prime minister peter o'neill has stepped down following pressure over a multi-billion dollar gas x. or deal but critics say fail to protect the interests of national firms his resignation follows weeks of defections to the opposition he has handed over leadership to former prime minister julius chan. thousands of israelis have protested against legislation that could grant prime minister benjamin netanyahu immunity from prosecution israel's attorney general says he intends to charge netanyahu with fraud and bribery who won a 5th term last month. a missing hiker has been found alive in hawaii after more than 2 weeks lost in the wilderness yoga instructor amanda ellery said it was the most challenging 17 days of her life she was found with minor injuries by friends

who kept searching for her and a forest reserve. he was sportswear company nike says it will change the way it treats its female athletes or returning from pregnancy. after. female athletes. are facing financial penalties if they became pregnant now the company says performance based targets 12 months for any pregnant i think it's. more on the story i'm now joined by our reporter jonathan crane john this is a scandal how is nike handling it. control i would say somewhat apologetic about after a new york times investigation several athletes spoke out against the treatment now . the vice president saying. a humbling event. of the athletes experiences they've also released

a statement we can show you saying we recognize knight can do more that is an important opportunity for the sports industry collectively to evolve to better support human athletes kind of indicates a good guys we're not the only ones here but of course we have to mention these athletes get most of their income from commercial deals if. they contract the stops or together then they're going to really be hit financially because in the way there was significant backlash as a real. sort of a surprise i think because knight really does make a big deal about championing women's rights gender equality but of a disconnect between the message perhaps and the reality and we've heard stories of female athletes rushing back to competition after they got pregnant one of them allyson felix 6 time and then pick gold medalist she said she had a very and and was in so much pain afterwards but still thought she had to get back on track as soon as possible she said she tried to get guarantees from knight that performance pay wouldn't be reduced she couldn't get those guarantees and she's

basically saying look if someone like me can get them everyone else and of course. some people pointing to the hypocrisy of night we had that were in february dream crazy featuring williams was the lines like we show emotion recall dramatic so as i was saying some disconnect between the message and the reality and i think we do have a clip of that i've got to show you now. changing her story. for . 23. and then coming back for more. crazy crazy crazy. so if they want to. show them what crazy can do. so john of the what has been the reaction saying that penalizing pregnant or that athletes are mothers of relief obviously from the

athletes but also of course our character out one of the athletes also told his story to the new york times reacted on twitter she said she was really excited about the decision but added that will knight stop suspending women without pay or is this just about reduction so she wants a bit more reassurance she's yet to hear from knight the company itself says the future contracts will include written sounds that quote reinforce a policy the hash tag dream they've been gaining but attraction a bit of a riff on dream crazy some people saying that this is athletics secret it's an industry wide problem and maybe society in the us as a whole because women really have very little drop protection when they come back from giving birth well it is a 1st step in the right direction thank you very much you are. and in football buying munich have won the german cup adding to their league title and sealing a domestic double and saturday's contest byron faced a light 6 competing in their 1st ever final what most of the early scoring chances

are you can see them here in the white jerseys environ captain manuel neuer was unbeatable in goal and striker all but live on dos he proved to be clinical up front as 1st have goal was followed by a kingley come on strike after the break for $11.00 he struck again to round off a 3 mil victory it's the 19 times at the record champions have won the german cup. the 2019 cannes film festival has come to a close with a star studded award ceremony the festival's top prize the palme d'or went to south korean director june ho for his black comedy parasite a prize for parasites marks the 1st korean film ever to win the honor for best film at cannes the festival's 2nd place to warrant the grand prize went to french senegalese director monte de ups atlantic. and a reminder of the top story we're following for you millions of voters across europe are choosing their representatives to the european parliament in an election

where populist parties are expected to make a strong showing. they will of course continue to follow these crucial election very closely for you with special coverage throughout the day next up is reporter with a look at the dangerous lives of journalists in mexico stay tuned for that the news is back at the top of the hour. for me and everybody here and deal with your elim thanks for joining. us. good to tourist guard. i love berlin to make a cultural metropolis you know you're a backseat.