news. this is news live from berlin hong kong prepares for local elections on sunday but authorities warn they'll call off the boat if violence breaks out again oh democracy demonstrators want citizens to send beijing a message at the ballot box also coming up people in paris and around france take to the streets to vent their anger as the message abuse reaches unprecedented levels in europe to take a look at what the french government plans to do about it. i'm

going to ask and welcome to the program we start in hong kong where polls will open in just a few hours in the city's unisa pola lections the vote is seen as a test of kerry's lam's pro beijing governments and a referendum on the pro-democracy movement that has rocked the city for months authorities in hong kong afraid to call off the elections of violence breaks out campaigners hope the election can send a peaceful signal about the direction of the city chris chan is back out on the street the pro-democracy campaigner hopes he can persuade people to give him their protest vote. after a massive moment i think an election can reflect public opinion to some extent another point is it's time for us to calm down and tell the government in a civilized way what we want to do. hong

kong has been rocked by almost 6 months of under arrest some of it violent protesters have been calling on the probe aging government for more democracy many here fear their legal and political tommy is under threat from china student chowpatty was shot by police during one demonstration he's now calling on people to use their vote. i hope the people of hong kong can cast their ballots and achieve more democracy in a peaceful way please cherish your vote i hope everyone can come out and vote tomorrow night and. meanwhile the siege at hong kong polytechnic university continues the scene of some of the most violent intense clashes with police in recent days is still the site where a small group of protesters holed up they've been there for a week determined not to become one of the 1000 or so who've been arrested for taking part in a siege that turned violent. those running for election say they want to pursue

a peaceful route forward but everyone knows that these local elections won't change policy all the pro-choice attitude at the top of home comes government. let's bring in clifford conan who has covered that region extensively 1st of all in terms of these elections these are local district elections how much can the results on sunday really shape the future of hong kong well it's ironic in a way because these elections were traditionally about you know getting your garbage collected and putting a park bench and and they've taken on this huge significance because until now we've had no indication really beyond these pictures of mass demonstrations and counter protests and police by. all of the things that we've seen we've no indication of how people feel on the ground in hong kong so they take on a new significance in that case because people actually go to the ballot box which as we know is also a limited thing that you can do in hong kong right now and should give us an

indication that way or these demonstrations are the big issue hovering over these election how have these protests factored into campaigning adding up to the vote well in the companies i notice that some of the protests protest. independents are pro democracy comes they said been putting information on the handouts and things that they've spent very much into the camps that we see on the streets of hong kong but the probation side you've got the pro-democracy side. basically we're going to get an indication what they're expecting is that people will possibly make their feelings known that but i'm going with the government who they are they're holding responsible for causing this chaos in the city so it could be a slap in the face for the government i think i mean really hong kong of course is a mixture of democracy and also some direct rule from china this is one of the few chances that hong kong gets through to really practice democracy in full this is a direct democratic vote absolutely the other main votes like such as the vote for chief executive are largely weighed skewed in favor of beijing and this is

a direct vote so it is going to be a very democratic vote i think will give us an indication no and everyone's worried about calling it because we literally have had no idea until now how these mass demonstrations will translate into people exercising their vote now we heard about those threats that this vote could be suspended if there's any more violence is that an empty threat or a comment actually happened well talking to people in the run up and they were saying that they could very well suspended because how much worse can things get you know short of beijing actually intervening but i think the government is also perhaps indication that it could be ready for compromise by allowing these to go ahead and they're prepared to show that there that they were. it's the 1st time they've actually made any kind of concession so maybe this could be the start of something you could be an indication that we could see perhaps a road to dialogue ok and the vote taking place in a few hours sunday in hong kong couldn't think of

a much. activists in paris are demanding the french government take stronger steps to combat deadly domestic violence the more than 130 women killed so far and 29000 bind their partner france as one of the worst countries for deadly domestic violence in europe. was put pressure on politics and solidarity with the women there loud and determined to be heard thousands of demonstrators gathered in paris to vent their anger france has been discussing the issue of violence against women for months. so that's what you should just term interests we fight for all the women everyone knows at least one person who is affected but. we're going to sink actually just to see if what i do here in memory of my mother who was murdered before my eyes in 1982 when i was 13. in march our daughter was murdered on corsica by her ex partner was 1.

$121.00 women were killed in france last year alone by their partner or their ex partner according to the ministry of the interior. worldwide the u.n. says that 137 women a murdered every day these activists are calling for an end to violence against women demanding decisive political action. on the top of your 66 year and their demands are specific better policing judicial protection harsher penalties and an additional 1000000000 euros for assistance and violence prevention. by the look now at some of the other stories making news around the world in western kenya 34 people have been killed in flooding caused by heavy rains most of the deaths occurred when homes were swept away by landslides the rains are battering parts of tanzania as well where 10 people drowned in a swollen river. a car bomb on

a turkish held border town and nor. syria has killed 9 people in monitoring groups and 2 children were among those killed there is no immediate claim of responsibility for the bombing. american led forces and their syrian kurdish allies have carried out a large joint operation capturing dozens of so-called militants took place while u.s. vice president mike pence was in iraq on a previously unannounced visit pencils shirt iraqi kurdish leaders that the u.s. would stand with its kurdish allies. pope francis has arrived in japan during his 4 day trip people visit nagasaki and hiroshima where he is expected to warn of the dangers of nuclear weapons francis is on the 2nd and final leg of an asia tour that began in thailand. on colombia protests have resumed amid growing anger against president yvonne dougie's right wing government that comes as

thousands hundreds of thousands of colombians took to the streets in bogota and other cities earlier this week to protest to case economic social and security policies as part of a nationwide general strike earlier today do pay promised social reforms here's a bit of what he had to say. by the putin approach you must amanda starting next week i will launch a national dialogue to strengthen the current social policy agenda. we will work to develop a medium to long term vision. that what hope is to deal with inequality in our society. are let's get more on that now i'm joined by in the studio by avia i gave us who's been reporting extensively from colombia i mean in fact you were recently in bogota you know colombian citizens in the streets again we've seen those frustrations just describe the situation for us i mean what's it like there and are those frustrations visible and in daily life in colombia well the president

was mentioning inequality directly and that is probably the key word here in bogota colombia is a wonderful place to live if you are rich if you are privileged it's a very tough country if you are under privileged and that is in part because the government does not offer policies that allow people to move up the ladder it is a country where people have to fight day by day to just get the minimum is a country where for 44 percent of the population earns less than the minimum wage therefore do not have access for example to pensions and all of that discomfort and all of that frustration is definitely something that you feel there every day and we heard the president's promising what he calls a national conversation what would that conversation look like what is he referring to that well president came to power with a very clear plan of what he wanted to do and one of the things he wanted to do was do not make any concessions to opposition parties in order to achieve his

presidential goals that means he ended a practice that was very commonplace in colombia in politics of for example offering some kind of public money to a certain party in order for that party to support a project the result has been that he has not been able to get through any of his laws and. office project basically done nothing for the country that means now he has to at least show signs of negotiation in order to at least talk to the opposition parties and that also means that he will have to talk to the sectors that are organizing these protests we're talking about teachers we're talking about universities we're talking about workers' unions in different parts of the country i cannot tell you if this is just an image thing if he's only sane yes let's talk and i'm open or if he actually will do something about that blockade now protests this large i mean we're talking about a quarter 1000000 people in the streets there are in colombia i mean how is this movement become so big and where do we think it will go well the main reason is

that everyone had a different reason to go on the streets students had budgets that were fighting for many people are not pleased with how the government has dealt with the peace process in colombia there are social activists that are being killed every day there's members of the former group that are also being killed the government has not really been effective in solving that problem colombia's problems are very complex it would take a whole program to analyze them so everyone had a different motivation to go on the streets and that's why it became so big and in this particular case it was certainly also motivated by the movements that we've seen in other latin american countries recently where people saw that there's a possibility to force our government into action by going on the streets and that definitely was a factor as well certainly not the only country saying protests in the region javier gave us thanks very much. well it might be small but a group of small islands could become the world's newest country people in bougainville a chain of islands in the western pacific have begun voting on

a referendum on whether to pursue independence from papa new guinea if they vote in favor of the move bougainville could become the world's newest nation that is if up a new guinea approves voters in the archipelago are expected to overwhelmingly back independence the voting will continue for 2 full weeks. are in sports now and in the bundesliga brucey dortmund staged a remarkable comeback to draw off 3 all at home to potter borne sparing the blushes of their coach loose in fara out of born strikers scored twice in the 1st half as the club at the bottom of the tables stormed into a 3 nothing half time lead but dortmund turned the game around in the 2nd half captain marco wants adding in a dramatic equaliser in injury time but a draw still might not be enough to save the under-fire coach dormant fans were during the result at the final whistle. but the bundesliga

saturday matches are in the book so let's take a look at all the results from today rb leipzig defeated cologne newly promoted when young berlin upset table toppers gladbach byron munich dominating dusseldorf laver couzin and fiber shared the points their shock of beat brehm involves berg soaked down frankfurt and on friday dortmund true with potter born on sunday will be looking for 2 hours of work taking on hats of berlin and hoffenheim will beat my ass. well for some people here in the northern hemisphere the start of winter season means more than just having to face i see weather hearty muscovites like to celebrate those subzero temperatures with a bit of a spin on the ice and they'll be huge a rink to skate on it is the largest in europe measuring more than $20000.00 square metres the rink is designed to be used as a kind of slippery foot whiling skaters to explore different parts of the park

while enjoying music and some freezing fun. you're watching the news live from berlin and more news coming up at the top of the hour. it doesn't leave us out there by i don't know it's not easy to go to another country you know nothing about why for i don't do this because we can't stay home and it's way into. the play that. closely global news that matters d.w. made for mines. show head to our feelings this is the new balls speaking welcome to the show with yet ya high end concert.