brent: this is dw news live from berlin. a possible setback for benjamin netanyahu after voting ends in israel with a race e that is too close to call. exit polls show the prime minister and his hard-line allies are short of a parliamentary majority, following a strong challenge by centrist benny gantz. what is next for israel? a third election? also on the show tonight, with his russian exile running out, edward snowden is planning his next move. >> i it i is one o of the sadadt

lessons from this storory. whatat does it s say t to thehet whistleblolower and whwhat doest say to the world when the only place americacan can be heard is places we would not expect? brent: we ask what are the chances of edward snonowden getting asylum here in germany? and with two weeks until afghanistan holds elections, 50 people are killed in two taliban attacks. the campaign rally was targeted though he was not harmed. ♪ brent: i'm brent goff. to our viewers on pbs in the united states and around the world, welcome. it is too close to call in israel. it is now in our sense of owning ended in the country's second general election in less than half a year. most exit polls predict a very

tight a result between benjamin netanyahu and his biggest rival, the centrist, former army chief, benny gantz. netanyahu tried to form a coalition government after elections in april, but he failed amid disagreement with ultraorthodox parties. he then plunged israel into months of uncertainty by dissolving parliament, calling for fresh elections rather than allowing another candidate to try to form a government. let's go to our correspondent, tania kramer. she is following the results for us from jerusalem. good evening to you. this is a close race. we knew it would probably be ththis way between the centrist blue white party. what does this mean for the possibility of anyone being able to form a governing coalition? tania: as you know now, the exit

popolls came outut an hour ago,n the polling ststations close. usuauay they comome o out in the main tv channels.. none of them seeses a clear winr tonight. thesese are exit polls that coud change when the votes arare beig counted,d, and the resultsts are coming inn overnight. what we can say is that blue-and-white, benny gantz''s party is leadiding in those exit polls exexcept for one. there is a tie e between likud d blueue-and-white the right wing blockck, this is what analylysts are lookining at tonighght, to see how coalititin could bebe formed. in i israel, it is allll a aboug abable to build a c coalition.. this is s what they y are lookig atat. hahaving said that, the right wg bloc would have b between 54 4 57 seats. mr. and --- mr. netananyahu woud neneed 61 ses s out of the 120

seats to be able too have that coalition and he is far from that at the moment.t. brent: if it r remains that way, dare i ask, are we looking at the possibibility of a third election in israel? taninia: there couould be that possibility. peopople i talked to today alsls said maybe we gogo to a third election. but i think there is the sense here that most people would like to avoid that because that would mean another stalemate for a couple of months. and we heard president riffling being quoted that he wants to see the party leaders soon because usually what happens, once the results our published, then the parties would recommend their candidate

who should form the next government. and then there will be consultations with the president, and he would then task the person who would have most chances to form a coalition. at that point, you could say both bigger parties, likud and blue-and-white, benjamin nenenyahu or benny gantz could claim to get this manandate. brent: let me ask you, you have covered all of the elections in israel. if you compare what happened in april 2 what is happening now, is the situation different now? is there any reason to think, regagardless of the election results tonight, is there any reason to think it will be easier for netanyahu or for mr. gantz to form a coalition government easier now than it was five months ago? tania: definitely not. definitely not for benjamin netanyahu.u.

at the moment, he is fallingng short of the 61 seats he needs. what we are looking at isishe other smaller parties. you haveve those parties who already have pledged loyalty to the likikud, traraditionally foe coalition, like the ultraorthodox parties and the right wiwing party. but then he needs another coalition partner. we all know that the last time he tried to form that coalition, it was victor riley big men who did not want to go into coalition with him. he could be the kingmaker a aga. the question isis, would he g go with netanyahu this time? this i is a really big question mark. i think most analysts would believe he would n not do so. it is nonot easier than before. you hahave to remember, primeme minister netanyahu hasas actualy

given n the mandate last time to form a c coalition. hehe failed. he did not give back the mandate. he pushed for new elections. now we areren the sameme situatn almomost again. brent: and what do we know, since we are talking about t the exit polls, what about voter turnout compared to april? do we have any numbers? tania: the votot turnout w was ightly higher than in the last elections. that's quite a bit surprising becaususe there was a lot of tak that maybe people feel like a second t time this year,r, it is unprecedented you have twoo elections in one year. also, that campaigning was only picking up in the last two weeks d the lastst days because it was a long sumummer vacation. but i think that alalso has to o to say thahat peoplee felt thisis was imporortant now to gt d votote. it is aa bitf some k kind of

referendum about thehe political fufuture of benjamin n netanyahs well. but also of other topics that are very imporortant to israeli. brent: our correspondent, tania kramer, on n the story for us in jejerusalem. as thoho resesults come in i ine second israeli election. thank you. here are the other stories making h headlines around the world. officials in the usa they have evidence that saturday's attack on saudi arabia's oil facilities originated in iran. the unnamed sources are telling reuters news agency that the strike involved jones -- drones and cruise missiles. iran has rejected all claims over spots ability for the attack. spanish voters are heading to the polls, the countries tear -- caretaker announcing fresh elections after it emerged that no party in parliament could win enough support to form a government. sanchez's socialism won most

seats in april's election but fell shohort of an absolute majority. elections are scheduled to be held november 10. britain's brexit battle has moved to the u.k. supreme court. it has become -- began hearing a case claiming that boris johnson acted illegally when he suspended parliament last week. johnson says the shutdown was necessary to present a new legislative agenda. opponents say the real reason was to prevent parliamentary scrutiny. an american woman who has become the first person to o im the englglish channel four times without stopping. sarah thomas f from the u.s. ste of colorado performed the feat less than a yeyear after completing treatment for brereat cancer. she spent 54 hours in the city. -- in the sea. she admitteded she felt "a litte seasick." she has a right to. a surge of anti-violence is

taking place in a south african city in addition to an economic downturn hurting the country. businesses are keeping their doors closed and visitors are canceling trips to one of the city's most popular areas because of the unrest. it is a toxic mix and it is threatening a decade-long effort to turn islam's into neighborhoods -- turn islums into neighborhoods. reporter: angry mobs looting and destroying anything in their path. with foreign-owned businesses feeling the brunt of their anger. >> it has sparked any form of discomfort between south africans and foreign nationals. we are dealing with criminality rather than xenophobia at the moment. reporter: whatever it is, the effect has been devastating.

an inner-city gouda for tourism, culture, cuisine, and entrepreneurship. >> this is what the damage looks like. there is a big crowd of people throwing stones, bricks. reporter: businesses have seen a significant drop in visitors since the unrest began. serious pressure from the hospitality and tourism sectors, which rely in the city's estimated 5 million annual visitors. >> how are we going to sustain these two industries through the chaos? that always worries me. that stresses me out. reporter: police have increased their numbers on the ground, conducting raids and patrols across johannesburg. >> we want to make sure that people were looting, that it does not happen again, or d does not spread to other areas.

all the areas that we are -- that are affected until we are sure everything is back to normal. reporter: analysts argue the damage is already done. >> this city is the most unequal in the world and it took a long time to begin to get people in the metaclass go and say eat on the sidewalks, restaurants, go out on the town. this definitely is psychological barrier to continuing the reintegration of class and race in our awfully divided cities. it is a tragedy. reporter: and it is not only restaurants. hostels, bars, and hotels feeling the pinch. inner-city comommerce is takinga serious hit.. >> i just have this feeling that they might come back. my customers are scared. they have been calling me. they cannot collect their staff. some of their stuff has been damaged. it will never be the same again.

reporter: although authorities claim the situation is slowly normalizing, the unrest has already cost 12 lives. the city of gold remains on edge. brent: authorities in indonesia are battling to contain forest fires that have sent thick clouds of choking smog across the country. the fires happen every year but this year's dry weather has made the situation worse than usual. the worst affected d are the islands of bourdais oh and sumatra. reporter: breathing here has become a struggle. eyes sting and headaches abound. heavy smog has forest people on the indonesian island to leave their homes. large-scale forest fires have burned more than 9000 square kilometers of indonesian land since the beginning of august. ththe islands of sumatra were ht especiallyly hard. schools have been closed.

people are exposed to a thick haze day and night. tiny particles posted several health risks including strokes and respiratory infections. the youngest are especially affected. >> he has asthma. everything was fine before. but since he was playing outside, he started having shortness of breath and difficulty breathing. that has never happened before. reporter: the fires are allegedly cacaused by indonesian farmers. they want to convert the burnt down rain forests into profitable farmland. police have arrested 185 people, but the blaze is hard to -- hard to get under control. the smog has now spread to neighboring malaysia, and the capital. the air quality has been officially declared unhealthy and local residents are angry. >> we are facing the same haze problems year after year.

there is no difference. it is as if there is no action taken by anyone to handle this. reporter: the forest fires have sparked the blame g game between indonesia and malaysia. the spark from indonesiaia have caused hundreds of malaysian schohools. there is no sign of tensions easing anytime soon. brent: the afghan taliban it has carried out more suicide bombings a week after president trump called off peace talks with the insurgent group. 26 people in char car north of the capital were killed in the first of today's attacks when it bound -- it's bomb exploded near an election rally that was attended by president ghani. he was not hurt. a second blast in the capital killed at leasast 22 people and wounded many more. reporter: panic and chaos. as survivors scatter from the scene of the attack. over 2000 people had come to

listen to the president in the town, when the suicide bomb detonated his explosivive belt. >> suddenly a man on a momotorbe arriveved a a h huge explososion went off.. a lot of people were murdered and wounded. reporter: in the desperate scramble, the wounded were piled on pickup trucks and raced to hospital. >> there was a terrific blast and all my friends got injured. i don't know what happened next. reporter: the second blast went off hours later near the u.s. embassy in kabul. it was also claimed by the taliban and it too caused carnage. >> i heard an explosion. dust rose from the side of the attack. there was gunfire. i escaped from here, but it spread all around this area. reporter: the insurgents opposed the elections, campaigning all

but seized as the u.s. and taliban negotiated a peace deal. flood president trump last week announced the deal was "dead." the candidates are now back on the campaign trail. while the taliban are seeking revenge for trump's snap. brent: for more on this, i'm joined by journalist ali led tv in kabul. i want to ask you, these peace talks between the united states and that taliban, they were called off earlier this month and the warning came there would be more violence as a result. is that what we are seeing now? >> yes. the thing is, we have to remember during the nine rounds of talks between the taliban and the united states, but taliban did not stop their attacks. they continue to their attacks. others say after the peacace tas were called off [indiscernible] brent: the afghan government, it

is a target of the taliban. talk to me a little bit about why that reality persists? >> the taliban considers the government, the one that is aiding and abetting and profiting, they are going to make them the target. it is always civilians paying the price for these things. . his campaign running mates were fine. it was the people who came to his election campaign, the people walking on the streets, not the u.s. embassies that came under attack, that were killed. brent: is there any outcome to these elections that will see the government or the taliban for that matter, more willing to

negotiate into find a way, maybe to coexist? do you think that being possible after the selection? ali: the taliban refuses to speak to the government at all costs. they keep saying that they will not talk with the government, at least until their issues with the united states are worked out. at the end of the day, and the taliban's vision, the first thing that needs to happen is they need to come to an agreement with the united states. at this point, although the current government is saying after the elections, if they are successful, that they will try and work harder on the deal. but yes. brent: all right. journalist ali latifi, with the latest on the situation in afghanistan from kabul tonight. ali, thank you. ali: thank you. brent: u.s. whistleblower edward snowden's memoirs went on sale today and immediately, the u.s. justice department said it is

suing snowden's for the books contents. it says his book violates the secrecy agreement that snowden promised to respect when he worked for the nsa. snowden could face life in prison if convicted of stealing classified information and leaking it to reporters back in 2013, but that would require snowden to first to be in the u.s., which he is not. for six years, he has lived in exile in russia. but his visa runs out at the end of this year. reporter: some see him as s a hero. others condemn him as america's most wanted trader -- traitor.. edward snowden told german television he is concerned abobt the fate of f future whistlebeblowers. >> i t tnk it is one of thehe saddest lessons from the storyr. what does it say to ththe next whistleblower and what does it say to the w world, aboutt ourselves? when the only place on americans can be heard is from places we would not expect.

reporter: in 2013, snowden was working as a contractor for the national security agency, or nsa. in interviews, he said he had to become disillusioned and had ethical concerns about the massive government surveillance programs that were part of his assignments. later that year, snowden was accused of leaking classified information to the media. the documents reveal the way governments were using online data from the devices of ordinary citizens to monitor their lives. snowden also sees more immediate dangers on our virtual doorstep, internet giants. >> you can't l look around the world today and go governments are not a threat. they are more of a a threat with each passing year. you can sayhehe same ofof the inintern giants. they have madade an enemy of public privacy. they make their money by selling our lives as a product. reporter: snowden's says his sharing of classified files that

disclose military secrets to america's enemies and endangered u.s. agents was a reckless act. snowden has been living in exile in russia ever since. the u.s. wants him extradited on espionage charges. he could face decades in prison. in his memoir, snowden complains that countries around the world had refused to grant him asylum. it became evident that even the most advanced micro seas were afraid of incurring the wrath of the u.s. government. snowden regards germany as among those countries. the german foreign minister stands firm on his commitment to legal procedurure. >> i consisider it to be fundamentally wrong for ministers to comment on how they think asylum procedures should turn out. these are processed according to the law. reporterer: snowden denies anany cocollaboratioion wi the rusussn government. his russian residence permit runs out next year. he is living at an undisclosed

address in moscow. brent: i'm joined now by martin canova, a reporter with the german -- a german newsmagazine. he interviewed edward snowden. good to have you on this show. did edward snowden tell you why he ireleasinthis boo now? martin: he did, and he told us it is important to him and for the people who know him, to know how the procedure was going o o, that he came to the point where he wanted to be a whistleblower. and that he wanted to discover the most secrets -- the biggest secrets of the intelligence agency in the u.s. and i think everybody, every journalist was asking about his life and now he opened up a little bit about his girlfriend, and how it went all the time,

their relationship. brent: he has been living in russia what, for six years? he claims that he has never been used by the kremlin. did he talk to you about that? martin: of course we asked him, we did an interview two years ago and we asked him the same question. and we did it again. of course he is saying, -- he didn't say no, i'm not working for the kremlin, but he said it would not make any sense and he described in the book how the intelligence services from russia tried to get in contact with him and he said no, i won't cooperate. they let him go. so we said in the interview, we don't believe you. but then he had an explanation which sounded partly convincing. but of course, if he were to work for anyone in russia, he would not tell us. brent: exactly.

there's no way to verify what he's telling you. his residency permit expires this year. he is looking for a new home. last night, spoke with his attorney. this is what he told me about snowden's european hopes. take a lesson. > at this time, mr. snowden s mamade one partiticular asylum application to france. in terms of germany, mr. snowd hahas made it t very clear oveve years that if he i is given th opportrtunity, he woululd like e in germamany, to live in g germ. my understanding of gegerman la, mr. snowden hahas to land on german soioil in order to do th. and he would have to do so directly from moscow. brent: that is what he says. he's asking for asylum in france but not in germany. his attorney told me going back to the united states remains out of reach right now for snowden.

that is not exactly what snowden told you, is it? martin: no, he has some hope that he will be able to go back in some years. i don't know what he means. 10, 20 years, or whatever. he was saying that people look differently on him. i don't believe that, at least until we have that administration. i don't see any way, and i think the law is trying to make a deal and it did not work. brent: a very good point. we have 30 seconds. snowden told you that he never told his girlfriend when he was at the nsa what was happening. not even the day that he left. do you believe him? martin: yeah, i believe him. he had a good explanation. he said if he would have told her, she would have been -- had the duty to inform the police. he wanted to avoid the situation, that she got criminalized through him.

it is really hard, if you believe that. you can't tell your girlfriend what is going on with you. brent: when something that is going to change your life forever, that is an incredible story. it is good to have you on the show. we appreciate you sharing your insights about edward snowden. thank you. martin: thank you for having me. brent: you are watching dw news live from berlin. after a short break, i will back -- i will be back to take you through "the day." stick around for that. [captioning performed by the national captioning institute, which is responsible for its caption content and accuracy. visit ncicap.org]

the best thing you can take to any tape. yeah but it's too slow to life in paparis w world news and a analysiss from france twenty four i marco in these are the headlines. too close to call israel second election this year looks set to deliver another state of deadlock low voter turn out these on last april's electionn we've got more precisisn to comee with guests ththroughout t the evening. wita full analysis of the possible outcomes. trump backtrack survey is locked and loaded threat to around but maintains his stance that tehran is to blame. for the drone strikes on saudi oil installations. confirmation of the two candidates who face off in the

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