the real side effect. was. what i did was. illegal drugs. just because something's legal doesn't mean it's something. that lining the north korea warns that a missile strike on the united states is inevitable after american bombers fly close to its coastline and president trump takes another swipe on twitter. mass protests under arrests in the spanish region of catalonia this week as it pushes for independence from madrid. and that's just an hour to go until polls open in germany's federal election we'll look at the main candidates and their final bids to win over voters.

there was today's news on the biggest stories of the past several days this is the international they call them right welcome to the program first for you the north korean foreign minister says a missile strike on the u.s. mainland is now more inevitable following president trump's latest insults he was addressing the u.n. on a day that saw american bombers fly off the east coast of north korea trump fired back on twitter saying that the foreign minister and the country's leader one be around much longer if they continue their rhetoric so amerikana is the latest. the crisis has escalated today even more after the u.s. flexed its military might according to the pentagon the u.s. send b. one b. bombers from guam as well as f. fifteen fighter jets from okinawa japan on a mission in international airspace off the eastern coast of north korea. this is

the farthest north of the demilitarized zone that any u.s. fighter or bomber has flown in this this century the pentagon says that this mission sends a clear message to the d.p. r. k. that the u.s. has a many military options to defeat any threat this all comes amid a heated dialogue between the two leaders both issuing insult on time sounding identical we will have no choice but to totally destroy north korea. rocket man is on a suicide mission for himself and for his regime no one other than trump himself is on a suicide mission if innocent american lives at home because of a suicidal attack trump will be held entirely responsible yes it looks like the north korean leader was particularly affected by trump's comments because the foreign minister responded saying that trump's actions were an irreversible mistake

you can't have med men out there shooting rockets all over the place. rocket should have been handled a long time ago. he tried to insult the supreme dignity of my country by referring to it isn't rocket but by doing so he commits an irreversible mistake of making a visit by all rockets to the entire u.s. mainland all the more inevitable the russian foreign minister urged the u.s. and north korea to end its saber rattling and engage in political dialogue accusing both leaders of behaving like a kindergarten children china and russia will continue to insist on a movie reasonable approach in contrast to the emotional one we see now where they behave like children fighting each other in kindergarten and nobody can stop them with the tensions escalating between both countries the situation remains quite unstable at the moment so it's unclear where this is all headed as day president trump imposed new economic sanctions on north korea after meeting with the leaders

of south korea and japan in new york is to order provides us with powerful new tools but i want to be clear the order targets only one country and that country is north korea. tempus fled and both sides dug and we got some expert opinion on the escalating crisis the rhetoric surrounding north korea has really reached very dangerous levels north korea and certain way bear their share of fault because they they have been extraordinarily provocative in what they have done and then we in turn have. been rather bellicose in our response both sides need to deescalate the rhetoric because of the risk that if if there should be a nuclear exchange the people the people always suffer from these games the

nations play hopefully there will be some movement towards diplomacy. this time next week the spanish region of catalonia could be voting in a referendum on breaking away from spain saturday so rival crowds face off in the regional capital boss alona. was there are there were was i was i was i are hiring god i was on wednesday spanish authorities arrested fourteen senior catalan officials including a junior economy minister they were all charged with misappropriation of funds

breach of official duty and disobedience and also find up to twelve thousand euros for every day they continue organizing the referendum the catalan leader says madrid's actions are an act of aggression. i don't look at them when you're the catalonian government has been subjected to coordinated aggression from the police force of the spanish interior ministry was. god god but he had to defend our. future state students are very important part of our society the youngest so we need to make them conscious of what's governing here it is really important for for this process to have a students on their side because we're really going to put these to take this forward and to go all the way to independence you know my words spain is government spends. it will try to do our gains that will be on the streets madrid's used

a range of measures in an attempt to stop the referendum taking place next sunday it declared the upcoming vote illegal and conducted numerous raids to seize program for end of material currently more than seven hundred mez are under investigation over their support for the vote but it also announced plans to take control of catalonia its budget in order to ensure that the money isn't spent on the referendum here's how events have unfolded since the first non-binding vote on independence took place in twenty fourteen. thank god. thank you. thank you.

remember barcelona city council says the international community should be stepping in to prevent madrid abusing the region they don't want to let us vote but people are voting with their feet they are actually crossing the street going over to wherever the intervention has taken place and defending the institutions from the street massively this is an attack on democracy this is actually a state of exception we ask the international community to intervene and stop this abuse this abuse for the catalan people on democracy in catalonia and in europe in general this concerns all of us because right now it's catalonia tomorrow it could be the rest of spain or even other places in europe. on thursday a russian military police unit was ambushed by al nusra front militants in syria

and according to the defense ministry the russian forces managed to repel the attack despite being heavily outnumbered here's some of the latest video of the russian strikes targeting al nusra positions as part of the counterattack moscow said that one of the main goals of the terrorists was to capture the unit operating inside the deescalation zone russian submarines also launched missiles at a number of positions. meanwhile almost ninety percent of syria has now been liberated from the terrorists us according to the latest figures from the russian defense ministry but a major battle is ongoing india is or where the syrian army backed by russia is trying to eliminate the last pockets of resistance locals told us what it's been

like living in a conflict zone. had no money to buy food for my children i've only been able to feed them properly once in the last few months shell exploded and killed many innocent people children it is all has been soaked not. that i would play with them i wouldn't push them and trust them i was like a mother and a father took them but. suddenly when i went outside for ramadan he took us through it and that's it for my mother she was sick she had a strange kind of heart attack when i was out i was injured by a shop and asked what can i do now i used to do all the housework and stand in line

to buy food now i can only see and cry. you're watching altie international version gets under way in germany in less than an hour the author elections will have all you need to know after the break. a hundred years ago the first computers were actually. people who were hired to do you know i did multiplications that's gone that is now done entirely by computers. fortunately i think translation is not yet there but it is one of the easier things to do by computers that will be gone in the next in the next twenty years most translators will probably be out of a job i mean i'm sorry for them but this will just happen this is inevitable.

sell you on the idea that dropping bombs brings peace to the chicken hawks forcing you to fight the battles that still. produce offspring to tell you that the gossip the tabloids but. i'm telling you on the pool and. all the hawks that we all. want. welcome back it's election day in germany of course where the first voters will cost that ballots in just over forty five minutes from now and we're going to be

live in the german capital from the next hour as polls open for the federal election now though to bring you up to speed is kevin and nikki. yeah a big thing if the polls are right angle of merkel heading for four more years but . welcome to our special election coverage from the heart of bollywood make kevin owen and me make the error and have now the results of sunday's vote will determine whether chancellor angela merkel will remain in power for a fourth term it's complicated all picture this election sixty one of the half million people able to vote those polling stations open it's poker morning so in case you missed any of the build up to this we've squeezed together the highlights of the election season for just fifty seconds. because if. i was and here's a. funny stuff. thank you

thank you in advance i don't think a few people copied us and fired up the whole question hunch thing that's what i do these are. what i'm going to find that be all this once a month. i disappear to skip to. the final campaign rallies have taken place in major cities across the country with candidates doing that most to breathe new life into their political image. and. quite literally their charms from the merkel showing her first aid skills at a rally in northern germany to the sounds of the results yes if you're old enough to vote for you she said the law is talked to say that some temple is hardly suited

for performing c.p.r. if you have a woman that there was fear quite cheerfully of the event in contrast the key to the rather embarrassing or a little bit of. this month i went on a big rally in munich early. on the only thing. i. knew. the chinese you know glued to the funded through college village jones the shining this has started to be. not quite the same atmosphere there is anglo american was very down to the way still while she was trying to win over any floating votes is around two hundred protesters had called the chancellor and a number of well lasting. so i'm going to be elected chancellor for a fourth time about the end of a little bit of a new generation literally of germans that have seen no other leader in office microsoft notes many of her rivals indeed have come and gone through her twelve

years now at the top of the show to do bensky reports next how merkel has become somewhat of a political survivor that not just political survival she is known as being the mother of not just germany but for some the mother of europe and some describe her as being a political dinosaur now under merkel hopes that the results of that election tomorrow will see her win that fourth term in office and you'll see her back at these offices that she's called home but for the last twelve years let's take a look now at some of the political leaders from europe and across the world angle of merkel has seen off during her time in office.

during that duration three terms sir paul anglo merkel has seen highs and lows let's start now by the fact that germany has for a long time during her first term and even into her second term in office seen as the powerhouse. all of europe in terms of its finances that was hit slightly during the euro crisis that we've seen over the last ten years or so with germany having to bail out many other countries and forcing them to help many other countries including of greece we've also seen the money good crisis with around a million refugees coming here to germany and then of course having many incidents

of terror. anglo-american actually saw a big dip in the polls in two thousand and sixteen with some people thinking that she may not even contest this election for full time but two thousand and sixteen was a long time ago and she has rebounded in the polls since that she is also a person who is kani enough to know that when her own policies are not reflecting well in terms of the public opinion and she's been known to take ideas from other parties some of described as being a bit of a flip flop when it comes to policies elizabeth and those who have been persecuted who are refugees displaced by war should be allowed in europe that is currently if i could i would turn back time many many years to prepare better together with the entire government and those responsible for the refugees there are many ups and

downs in anglo merkel's twelve years in office her three terms it is very likely if the polls are correct that her party will come out. top to morrow but it will still then have to form a ruling coalition if she is to gain another few years in this building our correspondent daniel hokkien says being busy gauging the political mood finding out what the public really think about this election and where the main fight will be playing out there's no major surprises being expected no shock results being anticipated this election is more about the changing landscape of domestic politics in germany and more of a litmus test for her popularity and voters confidence policies will put out in central but it all day speaking to people this is the word on the street we have kind of a stalemate you know that nothing's really moving politicians i would translate she's pretty good on one hand side on the other hand side sees since twelve years

now in office and so i think this is definitely a time for change to have fresh power even if she is a powerful woman i think it will stay more or less the way it is there will be no groundbreaking difference because merkel will carry on and that's good for me to start this morning that is just as predictable as hillary clinton becoming the next u.s. president so you never know and i hope people including myself about trying to vote should teach you to avoid. going together with the f.t.p. because that would be kind of very near a liberal coalition that many including myself want to avoid having or maybe were happy that she did not him many things going to change because i think a lot of things are pretty ok so pick change always come as a big big risk as well as fitness how do you know i think what has to be changed i for one am not a fan of marco no one that i know is a fan of merkel and i hope that will cause

a big change i think many commentators would agree there's no deep divisions or heated passions for this election but really the voters could be divided into several this thing. groups the michael finds who think the c.d.u. is the way forward they're happy with the status quo those who feel it is the for change and for some fresh faces but within the confines of mainstream political discourse perhaps voting for the the social democrats all the freedom democratic party a few people within the centrist framework those voting for fringe parties and those voting to stop those fringe parties they may be the d. they've made some surprise last minute games going up a couple of percentage points they could be in for the first seats in the bundestag the first the right wing party far right politic considered by many to do so in german history can they be the next german opposition party that is could be the biggest change coming out of this election will find out soon enough but you know we're now joined in our studio by mr grunow crown the former chairman of that

imbalance of the pirate party thank you for coming in i know your child a long way to be here with us tonight we really appreciate it now everyone's saying that the outcome of this election is a foregone conclusion do you think that's so are we going to see some upsets in surprise as well i think one surprise for many people will be that i think i'm not happy about it but i think that they will be most likely on position number three and it will change a lot like the balance of power in future coalitions so i think the show will be going quite deep. and of the. party is way out there in friends over ready and speculation part is that michael most of his party the social democrats a comfortable second do you think german photo is really have found much to choose from in this election well basically of course a chance to make it back to the bilby stone the chancellor and she made sure she was sick or face the. second phase in a lot to get this position again basically she was the whole party pushing into the

left direction just everybody so there was no space for the opponents to somehow compete with her so it was sure. she wanted to keep the power and i think at the moment at the momentary secure ation it might be also what the people want because it gives a certain kind of stability and specially when seeing how right wing parties with no ideas with ideas from the past about closing society are coming up having actually no solutions being just protests it's at the moment i think this what most of the people want stability but one criticism of merkel is the she's leading the country what is the future plan she's come and go on with what the public should change your mind on some things what about your policy what are you going to bring to the party i know you're worried about surveillance state to the voters care about you can make a show tomorrow and how well you going to do this is this is actually true for us it's quite hard to come up with our subjects because people are afraid at the

moment you can see hold over the world that nationalistic parties who are more into closing society instead of opening a much more successful empowered party is a party which has an idea like an opening the world like one world this is something what's at the moment people are not interested unfortunately are going to do well very quickly yes or no iraq is going to be you or we're not going to live at night thinking here ok those former chairman of the berlin branch of the power party with us tonight you can be tricky navigating through the numerous parties running in this election the possible alliances they could be formed but don't worry we're here to guide you through to have you back i understand to be in the house of best. put together this little guy unless you all seasoned in german politics understanding the ins and outs of the election isn't exactly a piece of cake for a start says each person will be asked to cause no one but. the fast for eight district representatives for their preferred political party then comes the magic

of proportional representation with each party's share of the vote to. inflated two seats one in the. complex system prevented i think a party from winning an outright majority so unlike in the us so francois the very usually produces one clear winner even once the german results are in this still the mystery of who teams up with who to filter ruling coalition polls put. the christian democratic union well out in front on martin short says social democrats are likely to come behind in second but there's real intrigue in who finishes and could potentially be kingmaker if michael wins she still needs extra coalition partners on top of her sister party the christian social union

already excluded and. see alternative for germany and left wing. this could pave the way for the renewal of the so-called grand coalition between merkel's party and martin says social democrats whether we'll agree to become the cd use junior partner is another question entirely so far he seemed unwilling to play second fiddle. because as governor. if an alliance with shills isn't an option this is the man cole is likely to call next christian. the leader of germany's free democrats the pro-business liberal party that teamed up with coal and allies the full by the way isn't just

a pretty face he could confront cole on some key issues. refugees must return prisoners such human rights for choosing your place in the world i'm not being harsh this is lauren realism speaking. even with lynn this handshake in the bag merkel might still need extra help to get her over the winning line and that's why the green party could come into the fold with their top candidate dubbed green for her similarities to. this cd the f.t.p. and the greens would make an exotic commit acts known as the gym a coalition which is never made it to national government before so in case you're wondering why there is no clear winner come monday morning all the details of the final coalition contract could take weeks to finalize the system is complicated

but it is considered the fairest of them all to vote says it can be frustrating though i caved in the early political parties end up breaking campaign promises and in germany there's always the convenient excuse that it was all the coalition partners fault.

well it would have adopted because we were tired. of being there in the small boat next to the harbor when she and you jane. up in. the limo self did big cold fish already ninety percent of the dots need to fall on the collar and. cons of fifteen scoops seventy five tons too and they do it several times a day with a big fleets of power you get an idea on why ocean which. we have to understand we could not stay still would just. be within this the field going to the. i'm doing this because i want the future world to the future can generations to have and enjoy the ocean we have.