>> this is dw news, live from berlin. in africa breadbasket, zimbabwe voters have gone to the poor. -- poll. this is the first election. they waited in long lines. we will go to the capital for the latest on this landmark vote. also coming up, donald trump makes the italian prime minister. a european leader he actually agrees with on several issues.

in fact, trump has praised italy's increasing hard-lined approach on immigration. the united states and the european union are attacking the vote. the white house says it was neither free nor fair. we will hear from the opposition leader. also, german farmers are betting the government for aid -- begging the government for aid. in germany it hasn't rained properly since april. farmers are having a hard time. ♪ brent: i'm brent goff. the countiting of votes has begn and zimbabwe's landmark election. the name of the former

authoritarian leader was not on the ballot. zimbabweans turned out in large numbers, forming long lines at polling stations around the country. dw was on the ground with the voters. > it has been very long, for the first time since robert mcgarvey wasas chased, people ae allowed to go to the politicians and the turnout is huge. >> i am very excited. i hope we will bring a change to our country. >> thihis is our first time as a new generation to choose who we want, ever sincece we were born, we never expressed our choice. >> everyone is able to put his thoughts freely. not being intimated but it is just free. everything is goining to be free

and fair. >> after wedding with people, people are a allowed to cocome n here to cast their vote. before this they have to come over here to pick the paper where they have a total of 23 candidates. on that races are expected. this is -- he is portraying himself as a reformer. in his short time in office, he tried too open up to investors and allow zimbabweans to express their opinion for your. -- more freely. they have been supprpressing the opposition p party for years. this could be the first relatively free e and fair election in the history of zimbabwe. the candidates were allowed to campaign withohout fear. for the first time since 2002, the election of the service

mission was invited. >> there was no physicacal violence but perhaps s some inmidadation. there was unfairly about the procedure to come to the elections concernininthe ballott sheets. wewe have to cheheck that. >> there is reason for optimismm but also reaeason for concern fr the future of zimbabwewe. the question is how the opopposition will react if the presidident wednesday's electio. how w will the powerful militity react? they have been interfering in politics in the past. will they allow a transition of power peacefully? brent: good evening, melanie. the ballot count is underway. how did the election itself go? were they able to cast ballots

freely and in peace? >> it t has been truly amazing o see how significant this day has been here in zimbabwe.e. there were 6 million voters. people were out in line to vote. this was three hours before the polling stations even opened. after talking to the people, they say it -- they do believe it will be a free and fair election and that they will be able to put in their vote. they are really excited that this will be the first time in history that their vote will count. brent: we know that there were some observers from the european union there in zimbabwe. have we heard what their assessment of the voting is mark ---- voting is?

melanie: we have been talking to the observers from the eu commission. this was the chief of the observing mission. he said he does think people will be able to cast their vote and that everything he has been seeing in the early hours has been very peaceful. later today he was saying that throw zimbabwe there were some areas where it was truly distressing to see how disorganized the voting was. some people were waiting in line for hours and hours and some people even left when they weweren't abable to put in their vote. that has been a bit upsetting r some zimbabwe ends. we -- zimbabweans. wewe will be able toto see how crititical the observers will b, how high they will set the bar in order for this to b be a truy free and fair election. there have been some elections

in kenya that did not put the bar higher. brent: we know this is about the future of zimbabwe. we can't escape the past. not with the roller of the past four decades, robert mugabe. do some zimbabweans miss him? melanie: maybe. i think some miss him. he still has some political sway with a lot of them. he has been trying to use that. for him it has been upsetting that his name was not on the ballot paper. he was in the polling station for 10 minutes. people thought that he was looking for his name on it. he brought a lot of supporters with him to the p polling statations. we donon't know if he asked them to come workrk there weree ther. of course, as you know, yesterday, robert mugabe said

that the only thing you can do is vote for him. we will now listen too him putting in the boat. brent: this can be an interesting side effect of this process. if the opposition candidate were to win, what would change in the country immediately? melanie: he has promised to change a lot. he has been using big words and big statements, saying that he will fix the country's economy. that is in a disastrous state in the moment. he has also been saying that he will take care of the infrastructure that he is going to introduce. we don't know if he can actually attain the things that he is promising. if you were to win, what we can

say is it would be a big change for the country because it would show that there is an alternative to who has been running the country for four decades. brent: thank you very much. we will have more on this election coming up today. you can find more information on the election on our website. you can follow us on twitter at dw news. donald trump has been meeting with the italian prime minister in washington. the talks came amid a simmering trade dispute during the u.s. and ththe european union. the prime minister ararrived on monday. he was received by president trump at the white house. they share similar views such as closing bororders to o migrantsd a friendlier stance toward russia.

the talks focused on migration, trade and military. here is what trump had to say, earlier. >> i am focusing on the urgent need to protect our need for -- ourselves from terrorism. for security and national security are one and the same. like united states, italy is under enormous strength as a result of illegal immigration. they fought it hard. the prime minister is with us today because of illegal immigration. italy got tired of it. brent: that was the u.s. president saying that italy got tired of illegal migration. let's go to washington. our correspondent is on the

issue. we know that the u.s. president has welcomed thehe german chancellllor, the french presidt and at first it looked rosy and later it did not. is this any different with the italian prime minister? >> there is an ideological closeness between the u.s. president and italian prime minister. he praised him for the firm stance on the border. he also called on other eu leaders to follow italy's lead on this issue. i think mr. trump sees mr. conte as an ideological ally in the european union as opposed to angela merkel. we have seen time and time again that the trump administration seems to be interested in aligning with and supporting some of the new right-wing

leaders in some european countries such as hungary, poland, the czech republic, austria and now italy. that is the difference. mr. trump often says one thing today and a completely different thing tomorrow. but there is an ideological connection between the two leaders. brent: those leaders are like-minded when it comes to russia, are they not? >> absolutely. mr. conte was the only other leader to support donald trump's idea to readmit russia to this exclusive club at the recent g-7 summit in canada. obviously, a close connection between the italian conservative and the russian leader. that is not new. the former italian prime minister was seen as a close personal friend of vladimir

putin. he invited vladimir putin two parties at his home in italy. giuseppe conde -- conte is not a party animal but on the issue of how to deal with russia, he is closer to president trump and other european leaders like angela merkel or emmanuel macron. >> he was asked about the situation with iran. trump said that he is willing to meet with the iranian president. how serious was that? >> i think it was serious in the sense that donald trump was trying to emphasize that he believes in dialogue and sitting down with other leaders. even adversaries, just to hammer out a deal. donald trump got criticized for

his meeting with len mickelson in helsinki and his summit with the north korean leader kim jong on. in both cases, critics said that these meetings were just talk with little to show for it. basically he was handing those adversaries of propaganda when with low benefits. donald trump said i believe in meeting people and discussing things and establishing personal relationships even when it comes to iran. he said i would meet with an iranian leader without preconditions. he mentioned that is little likelihood that this meeting will actually take lace because the iranians might not be ready for it. brent: thank you. here are some of the other stories making headlines around the world. wildfires in northern california have killed at least six people

and destroyed vast swaths of land. around 10,000 people further south have been ordered to evacuate. india has effectively stripped citizenship 4 million peoplen some. -- assam. critics say the measure targets muslim population. malaysia's government says it cannot determine wife this flight disappeared into thousand 14. -- 2014. some wreckage has been located but it is still unclear where the plane carrying 239 passengers went down. the philippine president looked on as bulldozers flattened

luxury vehicles with almost 59 euros. the government was to crack down on smuggling and this destruction is a warning. this is the second fleet of cars destroyed in this way. the international community has widely criticized sunday's election in cambodia. the official result will not be declared until the 11th of august. longtime prime minister has already claimed victory. his willing partrty says that al parliamentary seats are up for grabs. this boat was dissolved by court order last year. the leader was imprisoned for treason. earlier we spoke with the vice president of cambodia's main opposition movement known as the crp -- cnrp. after this election, the mock

receipt is dead she said. >> he cannot claim himself to be the l legitimate leader of the government of cambodia. he will not be the legitimate governor of cambodia. reactions from the eu, the united states, other countries show it very well. it was a scenario for him to run without a real competitor. we will present the will of the people. we cannot accept that we were not part of the selection because the will of the peole was dead. democracy is dead in cambodia. mr. hassan has been given wanting to bring back a democracy. he does not care. the only thing that he is hungry for is more power. we do care what is going to

happen -- it is economic sanctions. if imposed, it will be a disaster for the economy.. if he wants to be recognized as a a legitimate leader, we, a government who has a legitimate leader has to have a reelection. brent: you're watching dw news, live from berlin. is this soccer club starting a revolution?? that is what the united nations is hoping. you have to be that way on the pitch these days. you have to get air-conditioning. the hot weather in german is taking its toll on us and the farmers. >> i hate to rain on the parade. the fact of the matter is that

here in germany, it hasn't rained properly since april and it is a problem. the record drought is threatening the livelihoods of many farmers. they want government aid to the tune of one billion euros to make up for lost crops. this unclear whether or not they will get it. >> from horizon to horizon. wizard -- withered crops. >> we have had to wait -- raid the feed. we can't put the young animals out to graze. the fields are totally scorched. turner expect his losses to top 200,000 euros. he is one of only many farmers to face ruin. >> we are facing the worst harvest of this century. many farmers say it is the prospect of going under. crop losses are in the range of

50%-70%. we are calling on the government for a crisis aid program. the farmers association would like a billion euros from berlin. they say that would ease the effect of harvests that are projected to be well down. farmers are not likely to see any fast cash. the agriculture minister wants to wait and see what the final losses are before deciding at the end of august. climatologists say the parched fields, droughts and rising temperatures mean the future could alalready be upon us. if we keep going like we have been then by mid century we will be at a 2.4 degree increase. there would make torrential rain and heat waves more frequent. this year, even the far north is struggling with unusually high temperatures. >> germany's one producers --

wine producers are better able to without too temperatures. they harvested their graves lot earlier this year. the german wine institute said this is the earliest that they have ever started picking. it is expected to produce a very tasty lunch. -- tasty bunch. the world's biggest earthmoving equipment -- caterpillar has raised its outlook after posting second-quarter earnings. the illinois-based company credits the results down to rising global dememand, especiay in its business with china. as well as increasing oil production in america. they were expected to lose revenues because of the u.s. and china trade dispute.

let's go to our financial correspondent. caterpillar seemed to shake up any trade tensions with china. can this last? >> there are challenges ahead of caterpillar. especially if you look at the higher tariffs on steel and aluminum him -- aluminum. they announced that because of the tariffs, this year may go up as much as $200 million. they are quite confident that they can come up with increasing prices. the overall environment is not better for caterpillar. we saw mattel your prices -- material prices go up. they are bigger producers of machinery for the mining industry. have hired their forecast for this year. wall street seems to be a bit skeptical.

>> talking about those tensions, we have tyson, the biggest meat producer in the u.s. issuing a profit warning. >> the broader agricultural industry is one of the few in the u.s. where you see a trade surplus, winning those companies export more than import. with tariffs and countermeasures from countries like china or mexico, we do see that there was quite some pressure on the meat industry. prices are falling. these prices hit the lowest in about nine or 10 years. that is why tyson food saw the need to lower earnings expectations quite a bit. they will come out with their earnings reports next week.

this stock got hammered by almost 7.5%. >> in new york, thank you. this is another brexit related blow for london. this will be handled by a division of the frankfurt stock exchange. clearing houses as middlemen between buyers and sellers of financial instruments. london dominates the business with daily transactions of one trillion euros. the move would cost jobs. over to brent, now. brent: this english soccer club's change in the game when it comes to caring for the environment. forest green rovers has become the first sporting organization to be certified as carbon

neutral by the u.n.. they bandmate from being served at the stadium. this is the first the good soccer club. >> home matches on the surface appear just like any other otball gamame, players give their all on the pitch. fans cheer them along. forest green, known as the green army, vastly differs. only vegan food is served because of animal welfare and health reasons. secondly, this pitch at forest screen is organic and rainwater is recycled. in fact, the entire facility is powered by green energy. now the club has signed up for a united nations initiative called climate neutral. >> we have become the first sports club to be climate neutral according to the u.n.. that is quite exciting. hopefully we will do more with them. i think we will.

they are on the same page as we will. this looks to be a great vehicle to carry the sustainability message. >> they hope that this will set a precedent for others to follow. >> we are working on this sports for climate action initiative. we hope organizations will step up for the climate. the forest green rovers will be an example. >> their green credentials have been matched by strong performances on the pitch. forest green was promoted to the english football league for the first time in its history. brent: here is a reminder of those top stories we're following for you. log line started - -- long lines started forming at dawn in zimbabwe as they are voting on the replacement for robert mugabe. donald trump is having talks

with the italian prime minister ---- you are washing dw news, live from berlin, i will be back to take you through the day. stick around for that.

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