this is d.w. news live from berlin the votes are being counted in hong kong after people turn out in record numbers the city's local elections are seen as a test of support for the territory's pro beijing government and the months long pro-democracy demonstrations will have team coverage also coming up a potential battle of media moguls billionaire michael bloomberg joins a crowded democratic field in the hopes of running against president donald trump in 2020 but does bloomberg have what it takes to attract democratic voters we'll

take you to washington d.c. to work analysis plus pope francis takes a stand against nuclear weapons the pontiff making a symbolic visit to japan he calls upon the world's nuclear nations to scrap their arsenals. i'm calling aspen welcome to the program polls are now closed in hong kong's district council election and as a result start to trickle in we know one thing for certain this vote was historic turnout has topped 70 percent higher than in any election in the territories history it's being seen as both a test of support for in battle the chief executive kerry lamb and as a referendum on the pro-democracy movement that has rocked the city for close to 6 months now. the pro-democracy movement urged people to vote and they turned out

in record numbers these elections are to closest thing hong kong hours have to direct representation and nearly half a year for unrest has left many feeling that enough is enough. people have been long thought long you know their time. cooperate. this is worth of my mortal thank you. this and to do was to the people. hong kong's chief executive kerry lam also encouraged voters to turn out and appealed for a smooth and peaceful voting we are facing an extremely challenging situation all the nice in this year's elections but i'm pleased to say that with the concerted efforts of all parties we should have a relatively peaceful and calm and vironment to conduct these elections successfully the polis to choose council representatives who handle community level

issues like garbage collection that may not seem particularly exciting self district councillors don't have any direct political power and steam early offer advice to cover meant but a song kong's district councils have long been dominated by the probe aging establishment pro-democracy voters are hoping to win majorities in some of the 18 districts this could earn them seats on the committee that elects hong kong's next chief executive. and we have team coverage of those elections 1st we want to head to hong kong and our correspondent charlotte shell's until she's been tracking today's vote for us charlotte a record turnout in hong kong today mean you're out of polling center right now update us on the latest do we have any results yet. well those vote results all starting to trickle in called what we've seen so far is the vast majority of seats that have been announced have gone to pro-democracy figures that really was unexpected here in hong kong

a lot of pro-democracy protesters had hoped for some gains but just to be clear these district council elections are usually dominated by pro establishment figures so these gains are really being considered very significant so far we've seen a number of protests stablish with heavyweights losing their seats to pro-democracy figures including pro beijing lawmaker genius hope we've heard and seen images of people celebrating on the streets with champagne at that announcement now in this particular seat at this polling station pretty moxy activists and convener of the civil human rights front which is behind a number of the rallies in recent months jimmy sham he has won his seat pushing out the incumbent in his victory speech he said that his win was a victory for all those people who have lost who have given up so much for this pro-democracy movement in recent months now there is still a long night ahead as hundreds of seats are still to be announced but for all those

people who said that this was a litmus test for the popularity of this pro-democracy movement particularly given how violent the clashes have become in recent months they will be watching these results very closely and looking to see whether this is a contest a trend that continues throughout the evening all right champagne in the streets instead of tear gas at least so far tonight charlotte pilin hong kong thank you very much. and joining me in studio is clifford cowen and he's reported extensively in the region not clifford hong kong citizens of course they've been protesting for months this is really their 1st opportunity though to have a direct say in the direction of the city i mean just could this election be a turning point for hong kong i think it definitely could i think you mentioned in your introduction earlier about how historic moment this is and i think as we're seeing the results come in it's just showing up there is huge support for having their voices heard in hong kong i think even regardless of what side you know the

that this is an indication that hong kong people want to want to speak their minds and they want to be heard we've had no we've had there been no incidents today there's been incredible discipline in the way that the elections has just taken place without any without any tear gas as you say so i think that it's a real definitely of historic moment now just walk us through this again because this particular election when people are elected in these local district races what sort of powers do they have to actually affect the direction of the city well this is basically about trash collection and putting a park bench into your local park per se they're not actually that significant their district councillor's but because this is the 1st time that there's been any kind of referendum if you like or any kind of indication what people on the ground are thinking they've taken on this massive significance the fact that so many people register to vote we've had this very very high turnout of over 70 percent which is again historic so even though they're not important per se they've taken

on this massive significance there is of course as you pointed out a lot of stake a lot at stake for both sides in this election can we expect though that this vote will deliver their results well there's still some suspicion i noticed on social media some people are still worried because even though the early indications are showing that it's very heavily as we need to wars the democrats there's still worry there could be some vote rigging. there were fears that having police outside polling stations could be could be counterproductive there were some reports of people handing out these. were possible bribery who knows so there is always the fear that this could happen but just the sheer fact that so many people have registered in the early indications are so strong i think it makes it quite difficult really for any significant vote rigging to take place for a flea were you surprised that we saw a relatively violence free day today i was not surprised i sort of figured that the protest movement would it's actually been incredibly organized there have been

obviously very violent incidents taken place but in general there's been incredible organization so i think when the when word went around that the protest movement needed to behave itself and this particular day it went around all right clifford cohen and thanks very much ok here's a check now of some of the other stories making news around the world security forces in the southern iraqi city of nasiriyah opened fire on protesters killing at least 3 people the demonstrators have gathered on 3 key bridges in the city demanding the overthrow of a political class seen as and serving foreign powers while many iraqis still live in poverty. several people have been killed in a plane crash in goma that's in the democratic republic of congo the aircraft came down in a populated area moments after taking off the rescue services say they have so far recovered more than 20 bodies on the scene. former new york mayor

michael bloomberg has formally announced that he is running for president the former republican became a democrat just last year and is one of the richest people in the world he joins a crowded field of u.s. democratic candidates jostling to go up against president donald trump next year upon announcing his bid for presidents bloomberg said that he is quote uniquely qualified to take on trump. for more on that joining us from washington is d w correspondent oliver solid now all over there are 17 other democratic candidates they've been in the race for months now we've already seen them take take part in 5 different debates why is bloomberg getting into the race so late in the game where you arrive carl and that's part of the reason in fact there are many candidates a very crowded field this time around with no real shining figure where you would say this is the type of political candidate that has all what it takes to beats

donald trump in next year's election so you have joe biden who is currently the front runner a moderate candidate former vice president under barack obama but he's had a lot of weight performances in particular in the t.v. debates that you just mentioned and then you have on the other end of the political spectrum a little bit warren as well as bernie sanders 2 senators who are very much progressive who are exciting for a lot of young voters but they're putting off a lot of these swing voters and in particular the swing voters are very important for the democrats this time around because those were the ones that were eventually made the victory of prism trump in 2016 possible and now this situation basically is where michael bloomberg sees his chance as an alternative to joe biden because he was also another moderate candidate lots of that said he is 77 years old so that is as old as joe biden which is one of the points he's criticized for you would be

another candidate of 70 years and 2 many critics say that this fact makes the democratic field seem a lot weaker in the end what chance does bloomberg really have i mean do democratic voters want another billionaire as presidents and even if you win the nomination do you think you can take on trump. well it depends on several factors of course you have to look at the overall situation in the democratic party right now and as you know the impeachment inquiry is ongoing and it seems according to recent polls that the democrats although all the evidence that they collected in the hearings is overwhelming that they could not really make their point in particular with undecided 1 independent voters then on the other hand you have to add weakened democratic field of contenders but this is exactly where bloomberg wants to fill in but critics of course say that he's just another billionaire with no experience in

federal politics the crowded democratic field gets even more crowded correspond alors i would thank you very much. a pope francis is called upon world leaders to scrap nuclear weapons the pontiff made the appeal during a visit to japan the only country to suffer nuclear attacks. huge crowds turned out and braved the rain to catch a glimpse of the pope it's the 1st people visit to japan for nearly 4 decades and not exactly the pontiff laid a wreath at a growing sea rhythm oriel for the 10s of thousands of people including $8000.00 catholics who perished in an atomic bombing in the final days of world war 2. francis told the crowds that he believes a world without nuclear weapons is both possible and necessary and the money spent on them could be put to better use. the

days world where millions of children and families live in inhumane conditions. the money that is. and the fortunes made throughout the night a fracture upgrading maintenance and sale of even more destructive weapons. from crying out to heaven at the world. view. the pontiff is also visiting her the site of the 1st atomic bombing in 1945 on monday pope francis will meet survivors of the 20 live in fukushima nuclear disaster he'll also meet japan's prime minister shinzo abbey and emperor not he too and he will be hoping that they and other global leaders he has calls for a nuclear free world's. heart to sports now in golf john rom has won the d.p. world tour championship in dubai the climax of the europeans who are season the 25

year old spaniard hit a beautiful shot here out of the bunker to set up a short birdie putt in the. nicely done there that was on the final hole and that 4 didn't attempt from tommy fleetwood to come from behind victory means ron finishes the season as the number one in europe and that gets him a total payday of 4500000 euros. and how's this for an unlikely bromance a baby giraffe is found a new canine friend at an animal rescue center in south africa jazz the giraffe and hunter the guard dog there they are they both live at the rhino orphanage now jass was found abandoned when he was just shoot a golden despite the slight size difference interest protective instincts kicked in and he's been helping take care of the giraffe the 2 have been inseparable ever since.

are you coming up next our series shift living in the digital age of course you're watching the news live from berlin i'm carl kasell and we'll be back with more news at the top of the. they are going to unofficial estimates more than 1200000 venezuelans live in colombia legally and illegally. i'd return to venezuela. to visit friends i don't think i've ever.