bora or purporting from beirut thank you. iranian president hassan rouhani has warned the united states that pulling out of the nuclear deal would be a terrible mistake the twenty fifteen agreement lifted sanctions against iran in return for terrans promise not to try to make a nuclear bomb us president donald trump has condemned the deal as flawed and threatened to leave while tehran says if it is complying but not seeing the benefits rouhani told a rally in the city of sabs afar he was ready for any decision trump might make. out if the u.s. to pull out of the nuclear deal they will soon realize that this decision will become a historic regret for them or you will. we tell the whole world america europe the east and the west we will not negotiate with anyone over our country's weapons and defense. oh we will build and stockpile weapons equipment and missiles as much as our country requires. and they are some other stories making news around the world for turkish opposition parties have sealed and it looked or alliance and c

bora reporting from beirut thank you. now here's some of the other stories making news around the world around president hassan rouhani has issued a warning to u.s. president donald trump against pulling out of the iran nuclear deal rouhani said abandoning the deal would be an historic mistake but said plans are in place should it collapse trump is due to decide on the deals fate by may twelfth. a tarantula flood has swept through a district in the turkish capital ankara injuring six people the powerful water sent vehicles downstream through the streets dozens of homes and offices were also flooded authorities say crews have already started cleaning up the affected neighborhood. russian opposition leader alexina vall me has been released from custody after being detained yesterday at an anti putin rally in moscow some one thousand six hundred activists were arrested in other demonstrations across the country against president putin's inauguration for a fourth term as president on monday. to bundesliga football now and i'm

is live in beirut now and hashem met the first election of its kind in nearly a decade but turnout is low why. mahdi about how to say these are extraordinary times in lebanon voting has come turn and turnout is asked to meet at something around thirty six percent we're waiting for final official result of results from the government about the turnout in the coming hours with getting reports of clashes between supporters of the future movement which is the movement of the prime minister saad that heidi and also of hezbollah supporters in the southern suburbs of the. capital beirut this is an indication of the mounting tension that we've been seeing over the last few days here in the capital of beirut because everything is now a new the new election law is creating the lows of anxiety and also the hope among many people particularly civil society candidates and joining me to talk more about their hopes for the future are gilbert dermot and laurie hi ted thank you very much indeed for joining us you are been given a chance for the first time in lebanon to take part in elections an indepe

let's go to our own data is correspondent who's following the story from beirut so until the elections are underway let's talk about prime minister saad hariri are we expecting these elections to confirm the status quo or has he lost the confidence of his supporters well i'm right now in beirut to this is the district where fighting off to the episode last year when he resigned from riyadh even though subsequently upon his return to lebanon even to the resignation his popularity has climbed it's gone up and people in lebanon have blamed saudi arabia for that incident timing set that house on the future movement party of palms is an open question because hizbollah has cracked never mind says and many of the sunni candidates opposing zawahiri these party have a very decent terms with. so saw the movie is going to perform when or whether it's going to be future movement that's going to the leading party or whether they'll be sunni candidates that saudi arabia i mean look at as an option to sovereignty is a question that's still unanswered but these are the first elections that happened si

bora or purporting from beirut thank you. now here are some other stories making news around the world an explosion at a mosque in afghanistan has killed at least ten people and wounded many more victims of the blast had gathered for afternoon prayer in the eastern province of khost local police have the mosque doubled as a voter registration center for elections set for this year. iran's president hassan rouhani has issued a warning to u.s. president donald trump against pulling out of the red nuclear deal honey said abandoning the deal would be her historic mistake but the plans are in place for the collapse trump is due to decide on the deals fate by may twelfth four turkish opposition parties have sealed and look toward alliance aimed at challenging president birchip type are the ones ruling party he called a snap general election for late next month the opposition alliance says it's seeking a return to freedom of speech and the press and an independent judiciary. to bundesliga football now and i'm joined by tom de noise

i'm joined now by a correspondent in beirut who's following today's vote for us thanks for joining us lebanon has started its first parliamentary elections in nearly nine years why has it taken the country so long to get to this stage. well there are several reasons but if you talk to the lebanese they say that's only because the ruling here wanted to keep the power they do extensions of the cabinet in the elections have not taken place to fourteen different reasons at different times remember after the civil war ended according to type of agreement this power sharing agreement was a right that under which the president would be a christian the prime minister a sunni in the speaker. after that you've seen the syrians on lebanese territory under two thousand and five you've seen israeli invasions of levanon and then we've seen this war in syria and all of these have been courted as a reason by the lebanese by the ruling lebanese to sort of seek an extension having said that the lebanese also feel very proud of themselves they say that this is sort of a shining light in all the middle e

beirut. there was a clear winner at eleven on election day. hezbollah and its political allies won the majority of seats in parliament it's being seen by some as a victory for iran the group is backed by iran it's the only lebanese party that has an armed wing and its editorial gains further empowers it politically hezbollah's leader called for cooperation. and that can all be for the poli stressed that there is a reality in lebanon and that is that no one can eliminate the other even if we have disagreements we want political stability we need to cooperate. the general elections was a loss for lebanon's prime minister saddle had a no longer heads the largest bloc in the legislature but he still retains the majority of seats allocated to seventy muslims how did he faced opposition from within his own community have accused him of being too lenient with hezbollah which is fighting in neighboring syria when asked if he plans to change that approach the prime minister said the focus should be on

have one in beirut -- who have one in beirut. it is quite a liberal area. christians had one of the lowest turnouts in the country. they are both prominent journalists. they had such recognizable faces. 50 candidates, quite a surprise -- those two candidates, quite a surprise. 10% of 86 ran. women here say it is a start. >> thank you for that. putin has just been sworn in for his historic fourth term. his inauguration expenses almost two decade rule by another six years after he predictably one of russia's presidential election in march. joshua, what is interesting this year is that the inauguration ceremony was a lot more low-key. why? it seems like the kremlin the not want to call attention to the ceremony like they did in 2012. moscow was cleared of all signs of life. occurred alongon the background of street protests. there were protests in moscow and other cities on saturday. over a thousand people were arrested. the idea was to have putin continue his presidential term. he is effectively empower for almost 18 years. it woul

a short while ago a bit earlier we saw the prime minister saad hariri voting in another booth in beirut. olds are lie and god willing all every lebanese citizen has to vote and perform their national unity the lebanese can vote for whoever they wish this will make the country stronger so let's try and understand this a little bit more nearly six hundred candidates are vying for one hundred twenty eight seats in parliament and eighty six of them a women lebanon's parliament is evenly divided between muslims and christians the president has got to be a maronite christian the prime minister a sunni muslim and the speaker must be a shia muslim the prime minister saad hariri belongs to the future movement with his popular with sunni muslims and he says the election is a contest between his party and hezbollah or which is the most powerful political movement in lebanon it's the only political faction within armed to an active armed wing and of course it is shia the conflict in neighboring syria is one of the main issues for voters because there are one and a half million syrian refugees. in l

also from beirut we have made she's a lawyer who is also running as a candidate within the national coalition this year in two thousand and fourteen she became the first woman to run for the lebanese presidency. is a lawyer and member of the liberal of the civil society movement within the national coalition she's also in beirut and also from beirut we have her be an investigative journalist and a filmmaker he's founder and editor in chief of the beirut report that's an online news site welcome everybody i have to say that i have been very close to you he's in lebanon but we have a very long delay because he's in the studio so excuse the satellite delay it will be an exercise in patience it's good to have you here can you describe what it must be like for a country to have their first elections after nine years what is the this fear like how are people reacting and treating this upcoming election. people are actually very excited it's. happy people are talking over each other but i'll just continue you know i mean it's a very competitive environment for the first time we're seeing a

hoping to shake up levanon political establishment under prime minister saad hariri we'll go live to beirut for the latest. the. president. kicks off his election campaign called a little early to go ahead next month and now faces a credible threat to his power from an opposition alliance. and welcome to the program german president. has spoken out strongly against anti-semitism in the country after a series of anti jewish attacks in recent weeks and a televised interview he also criticized a new ordinance in bavaria that requires crosses to be displayed in regional government buildings. the various state premier marcus has rekindled a dispute about religion and patriotism by requiring various state premises to display the christian crucifix as president of the federal republic frank was that dime a dozen cars involved in day to day politics but as a committed christian he believes religion and its symbols are a matter for the church not the state. that's if people don't go to church on sundays putting crucifixes in government offices isn't going to make them religious . has been in office

last year how far is live in beirut for us to following these elections there is so hashem the polls closed a few hours ago any indications yet on the outcome. in nischelle turner limon or e results of just the hezbollah and its allies made some major gains in the early and also in the in southern lebanon this is quite significant development because hezbollah was eager to consolidate its political gains in those areas which are widely seen as a hezbollah stronghold now we were waiting to see what hizbullah survival which is the future movement led by sad how dearly has made particularly here in the capital beirut and also in the northern city of tripoli and these two districts are crucial for saddle heady if he makes major gains there would consolidate his chances to be reelected as prime minister of lebanon but he faces some tough resistance from news certainly candidates particularly here in the capital and also in tripoli it remains to be seen whether president michel our own and his party which is the free patrick movement is going also to be the biggest. when are among the chri

and sean voer he is following and she is following the election forced from the lebanese capital beirut so we understand lebanon has waited a long time we said a decade for this vote so what is the atmosphere like there on the streets in beirut. but i want to we've been hearing celebrations in the form of gunfire from supporters of all factions in lebanon on his beloved supporters started gunfire last evening they were pretty certain they're going to be doing well along with their allies has blessed such may not get more seats. with their alliances they from very clever alliances this time around leading parties and along with then they have done very well you're right lebanon has waited a long time indeed for this election this election took place on was after a decade the last was in two thousand and nine people were expecting many different things one of them was that hizbullah disarms they do not want an internal party so to say to the armed david like lebanese army to be stronger but that's not going to happen now because it's been less trouble than every legislation that goes to h

refugees who fled the palestinian territories decades ago lebanon is formally at war with israel beirut demands the establishment of a palestinian state and the return of refugees as conditions for a peace agreement lebanon maintains close relations with israel's main critic iran mainly through hezbollah. time and again the country has run the risk of being drawn into the regional power struggle between shiite iran and sunni saudi arabia despite its attempts to maintain good relations with all muslim states in the region. that was the case in two thousand and seventeen when prime minister hariri a sunni supported by saudi arabia suddenly announced his resignation jaring a visit to riyadh possibly under saudi pressure and according to his statement fearing assassination by hizbollah but after mediation by france hariri returned to beirut and withdrew his resignation. it's unlikely much will change in lebanon after the elections whatever the outcome of the vote parliamentary seats and key political offices will continue to be divided proportionally among religious groups that means lebano

correspondent who is following the story for us from beirut how these elections are underway what is the current state or mindset of prime minister saad hariri are we thinking that these elections are going to confirm the status quo or has he lost the confidence of his supporters sorry the person who has gained in popularity after last year's incident when he was signed even though when he came back to lebanon he did do the resignation but he has gained popularity in the lebanese are blaming saudi arabia for that misadventure as. having said that house are very spotty the future movement of problems is an open question at the moment even though they may get more seeds socrates parties facing a lot of competition this time around you mentioned briefly how the political system in the country has changed from a simple majority to a proportional representation system which means a lot more electoral math has undertaken even the candidates will win seats would be those in deserve categories depending on the sects from muslim or christian sects they come from but they will be a much sharpe

in beirut we've had a day of of given that long list of of malays the libyan the lebanese people. voting for what sort of turnout have we had lots of enthusiasm generally has it been among the people. there hasn't been enthusiastic relatively high voter turnout a lot of people we've been speaking to say they're voting for change but they know it is an uphill battle this is really the first time we're seeing so many independent candidates vying in an election race trying to break the hold on power the ruling classes hold on power taking advantage of this new law but even these independent candidates acknowledge that it's not going to be easy that they if they win any seats is just a few seats but it would be a small but meaningful change a lot of people are worried about the economy as well as the high rising rate of unemployment in the country many lebanese graduate from universities and they can't find jobs and they're forced to leave so some people will be looking for change but of course there are others the more traditional voters in lebanon who really are hard core supporters

how do you has stepped up his campaign beirut is his stronghold while not is eager to make more gains in the big. and the south. in addition the regional influence paralyzes the government paralyzed political life lebanon had no president for two years and this was a result of regional disagreements. in two thousand and sixteen saudi arabia and iran set aside their differences paving the way for the election of a new president and a new government led by how to but it's not clear if that deal with hold amid the growing tension between the regional rivals. this is a caution over not only for lebanon but also for the two political heavyweights saudi arabia and iran both will ensure their local allies will consolidate the gains in the election. beirut simple ways willing party has launched his campaign in july as a presidential vote present him as a man and remains the new pm candidate in the poll the party lost several seats in recent primary elections suggesting a victory it will not be easy for him to be the first election without the former leader robert mugabe let us slave. to wield

beirut. it's the last day of election campaigning opponents trade accusations and lebanon's main political parties why for a bigger say this is a country that is divided along sectarian lines prime minister saad hariri the most powerful sunni politician here has told his supporters that this election is about protecting against iran's growing influence. this election is a confrontation between two visions one that wants to protect its identity while the other aims to change its identity well beirut the house really accuses has been rival and hizbullah leader has some muscle a lot of controlling lebanon's decision making process see it in the arm and the lebanese should listen to anyone who wants to drag the country into civil war. a saudi arabia and iran remain locked in a battle for regional influence people here are worried about their future. so hearing he has its men in lebanon and iran has its men in lebanon want the country will continue to be the battlefield for the struggle for now it

that was and for a speaking to us from beirut thank you. the world's largest song competition has a new champion israel has won this year's your vision song contest the winning chair in cold toys was inspired by the may ten movement the israeli artist that tank cars and why the scene here is that a grazing with a team won the competition held in the portuguese capital of less than three. months but. this year's euro vision delivered its usual mix of a tactic style. extravagant sets. and show stopping costumes. but against some stiff competition is radie when and that are delivered perhaps the one he is performance of all. the. song choice was inspired by the need to movement against sexual harassment the singer said she didn't expect it to strike such a chord with the audience i always start with the fact that people people want to get this right i know that but but. but now i'm super glad it's a problem that. people recognize and realize the different this is it's wonderful. that it's message inspired delighted finds a total mentality. of

correspondent in beirut who explains how different parties try to counter the low voter turnout before the polls closed. what's happened this time around is that a few hours before the polls were supposed to close the political leadership of different political parties appealed to their waters to get to the voting centers to the polling booth and vote in huge numbers why that happened because in a certain sunni dominated districts the sunnis are dominate had voted no i beg your pardon so the shias lost their will just to go and the christian parties did the same so in a way in the towards the end the political parties have asked their voters to go ahead and cost their ballots in huge numbers and we've also seen some minor skirmishes between the supporters of hizbollah and the supporters of saddam heavy these future moment now as you mentioned these are the first election since two thousand and one that's a lot has changed in the last nine years what are some of the domestic issues that are on the minds of voters well this is actually the first election for this generation the two thous

divided along sectarian lines raising questions over what political changes may result to reports from beirut's. it will be the first parliamentary election in nearly a decade polls were repeatedly postponed until a new electoral law was agreed proportional representation has replaced winner

not not very good prospects that in beirut many thanks. kenya's top prosecutor has ordered an investigation into the collapse of a dam on a large scale commercial farming the country's rift valley that's amid allegations that that dam was illegally built at least forty five people were killed after the dam burst on wednesday night sending a wall of water down a hill or thirty's are still searching for dozens of missing people the farms manager has blamed the collapse on heavy rain but officials say the dam and others on the property lack the necessary permits and with illegal. now the fifth race of the formula one season gets underway this weekend it's the first on european soil most sadie's dominating during the practice run of the spanish grand prix on friday with lewis hamilton finishing fastest the reigning world champion clocked in at a time of one minute and eighteen seconds to finish ahead of the chasing pack strong winds in catalonia made it tough for the drivers as you see here red bull's daniel ricky otto failing to keep his car

correspondent is following this from the lebanese capital of beirut so welcome private side hariri gave a press conference a short while ago what's it been saying. well essentially he says that he's ready to return as the next prime minister of the us in a sense he's very to continue interestingly also seventy offices support to his hand any group that wants stability in levanon that is his message to the hezbollah that he would be ready to share power with that once again not that he has another option because his bloc does have a majority in the parliament along with its allies and he would have to work along with the his law but at least during the election campaign in his beloved fight against each other don't campaign against each other but here he would be ready to return as prime minister and despite the comments being relatively poor office party he cannot be broken and he's going to continue to fight for the causes of lebanon so there's been an interesting shift in the power dynamics their. party seems to have lost influence while hezbollah has gained what's behind that. well t

has been following this story from neighboring beirut welcome on trial just looking at the context of this escalating these few the attack on the golan heights was not the first chapter of this story was it. no absolutely not in fact of all work few years israel has attacked stance oblique iranian assets and city are over one hundred times and in this region israel has also corked of the and d.s.r. the rebel forces by providing the medical help and also by other means up us we met doctors who treated some of these anti us are the rebels but now it has escalated to a very worrying level because israel itself says that they have hit all of our infrastructure allegedly in city of what has he done completely not completely denying but is sort of attacking israel back by saying that israel is violating syrian sovereignty it's all rhetoric and i but it's not as wet a bit this time around they're actively that engaged in an active confrontation so that makes things worse so how close would you say the region is to actual war. when it's on as i can tell you that i am in lebanon are been track

in beirut thank you so much for joining the dover. the governments of russia and germany have criticised the escalating tensions in the middle east and underlined their intention to preserve the iran nuclear deal despite america's withdrawal welcoming is german counterpart on his first visit to moscow russian foreign minister sergey lavrov stressed that the remaining signatures to the deal should discuss how best to keep it alive heiko mass expressed of germany's hope that russia would use its close ties to iran to convince them to stick with the deal he then went on to outline some of the issues still damaging relations between germany and russia. this is that the should fly already mentioned some critical issues this republic case for example or the cyber attack that targeted the german ministry of foreign affairs much indicates that attack might have been conducted from russian territory as it gets. you know what it's like times over this i believe that an open and honest dialogue is key for a solid partnership we have to be able t

and reporting from beirut thank you. well now among the vast numbers of photos and video shared online every second many contain forbidden images social media platforms like google and facebook have rules banning posts that contain violence terror or pornography but who actually sift through and deletes the offending comment content a new documentary film tracks down the so-called digital cleaners many of these crews turns out are hired in the philippines for labor costs are relatively inexpensive keeping profits high for the world's internet giants have a look. it is a neverending cleanup job and one that face book in co have outsourced not to silicon valley but monella the soulless grey office buildings or west versions of cleaners calling themselves content moderators get to work sorting the good from the bot. the video. was the cause of the extreme reprisals we ultimately had to decide that we could only show people in front of the camera who had just left the job before filming or knew they would do it soon and that

ok let's talk now to correspondent who is in the lebanese capital beirut. give us an idea of what the mood is at the moment in the middle east are people preparing for an all out conflict with israel. well the region is certainly on an agile and i've not quite seen it this tense thus far last year and how do you need a sign from riyadh and when he came back sure there were tensions that there would be war this always sort of going around the middle east that the reason is preparing for us next war but this time it's quite different even though all sides have been talking to sources in israel as well as a need on in syria and he has eleven on some people in his blood nobody really wants a ball but this is generation is pretty tense and even though we've seen sort of israel a pack a stance of the iranian assets in syria all the as they've conducted over one hundred packs that this is quite a direct hit now is there going to be more of the information war or not that's the big question as we've seen as far as the strikes and sound rhetoric from the iranian sid

warm welcome to you all thank you for being on inside story christine if i can start with you in beirut how hopeful are you that any investigation by the u.s. into the role of american troops in the torture of detainees in yemen secret prisons can actually bring an end to what goes on in these prisons first of all thank you very much for having me and i think the real first question is what's going to happen in the senate so it's a big step forward that the house has pushed some of it through two or reason way from the u.s. in fact investigating and publicly discussing what they find in terms of the u.s. role in torture and abuse and i am decides that because a.p. released there were june twenty seventh human rights watch released or at that scene month and yemeni activists and lawyers have been talking about. even the who are these reports were released and yet we still have very little information regarding the in which the u.s. is eating with the arms issue in the u.a.e. and learned her continued to deny any role in it used to spike the fact that evidence continue to mount not only t

controls any capitals and that is just a fabrication and i assume that your guess and beirut doesn't understand persian otherwise he would know better i would refrain from listening to our arab year so the propaganda and look at the facts themselves before making or passing judgment you rondo's have a great deal of influence but. germany has influence and france britain has influence in germany iran's with a ship with iraq is with a government that has been democratically elected and ironically the americans themselves overthrew saddam hussein and that been onto the iranian allies in that country they have seats in parliament and they are members of the cabinet in yemen ironically saudi arabia did more than anyone else to push the people of yemen and iran closer to each other before the saudis initiated this ridiculous and disgusting and disturbing war against the people of yemen there was no strong relationship between iran and yemen but now that's changed dramatically and just a couple of days ago when hundreds of thousands of people in yemen were participating in the funeral of th

beirut. there was a clear winner at eleven on election day. hezbollah and its political allies won the majority of seats in parliament it's being seen by some as a victory for iran the shiite group is backed by iran it's the only lebanese party that has an armed wing and its electoral gains further empowers it politically hezbollah's leader called for cooperation. and. before the poll i stressed that there is a reality in lebanon and that is that no one can eliminate the other even if we have disagreements we want political stability we need to cooperate. the general elections was a loss for lebanon's prime minister saddle had a no longer heads the largest bloc in the legislature but he still retains the majority of seats allocated to seventy muslims how did he faced opposition from within his own community some accused him of being too lenient with hezbollah which is fighting in neighboring syria when asked if he plans to change that approach the prime minister said the focus should be on de

joining me now is a journalist based in beirut for more on this story. there is so much at stake so how can you actually explain that no or low voter turnouts. well a lot of people in iraq could are disillusioned with the whole process and also if you look at three leading candidates fighting for the most powerful position of the prime minister that all share so there is a lot of resentment among the sunni communities will be hearing from people on the ground rules that have been here three that perhaps are not going to have any say in the political structure so that split an important goal as far as a voter turnout is concern you also mentioned about the blockage is. that have put in place there's also a curfew which was due later lifted in the day people had to walk to the point that discourage them a lot of people who went to the polling booths found out that they were not registered these lapses also played a role. can we say anything about the likely outcome of the elections will prime minister a body be able to secure a second term do you think. we

see if we can pick this with a double correspondent who's monitoring developments from neighboring beirut a welcome so israel says it strikes were a response to this iranian attack why would iran be targeting that area. well iran this is a very clever move by iran iran has been under pressure to show resolve and it's to show to its domestic audience that it is not going to be taking down the israeli aggression on its assets in israel lying down opted for golan because gordon has occupied territory golan was occupied by israel in one thousand nine hundred sixty seven it is city and land israel has an extent but it is not internationally recognized by attacking golan iran is saying look we're not targeting israel we are targeting land that israel has occupied so in a way this is yes. it's a very severe confrontation between iran and israel in syria but it also a limited strike by iran and that's the message that you don't want to send that we want to hit you back but we don't want to present war now to the hour or so before i came out. iran had not confirmed that it sent those missiles has

ben wedeman, cnn, beirut. >>> a stunning admission from a u.s.swoman seeking the governor's office in the state of south dakota. >> i had a few people tell me that maybe i didn't have the right body parts to be a governor. >> next, more on the challenges facing christy and other women seeking political office in the united states. who wants customie options chains? ones that make it fast and easy to analyze and take action? how about some of the lowest options fees? are you raising your hand? good then it's time for power e*trade the platform, price and service that gives you the edge you need. alright one quick game of rock, paper, scissors. 1, 2, 3, go. e*trade. the original place to invest online. dinner date...meeting his parents dinner date. why did i want a crest 3d white smile? so i used crest. crest 3d white removes... ...95% of surface stains in just 3 days... ...for a whiter smile... that will win them over. crest. healthy, beautiful smiles for life. (vo)is ahhhmazing!ful simple goodness meaty morsels. a tender texture. with real meat a

beirut. it's the last day of election campaigning opponents trade accusations and lebanon's main political parties why for a bigger say this is a country that is divided along sectarian lines prime minister saad that had to be the most powerful sunni politician here has told his supporters that this election is about protecting against iran's growing influence. there this election is a confrontation between two visions one that wants to protect beirut's identity while the other aims to change its identity well beirut the house really accuses his main rival and hezbollah leader hassan nasrallah of controlling lebanon's decision making process see it in the arm and the lebanese should listen to anyone who wants to drag the country into civil war. a saudi arabia and iran remain locked in a battle for regional influence people here are worried about their future. saudi arabia has its men in lebanon and iran has its men in lebanon want the country will continue to be the battlefield for the strugg

correspondent who is following the story for us from beirut as well the polls have closed officially but there are still some reports that there are people queuing when they shut. well that is right what's happened is that until this afternoon the watertown arc was pretty low and reports started emerging of how unless such incident invests in their report or not is pretty high so the shia parties have rushed their supporters to watch and vice versa the other parties have done the same thing in afternoon about two o'clock different political leaders appealed to that water to get out in high numbers and walt so essentially what's happened is even though the closing time of the shutting down time of the polls was an hour ago is still going on but they're not letting freshwater scum in that are going to say that only according to the law all those who are inside the polling booths or in the bed of three of the polling booths can watch others cannot but it's been really seen as an exercise to increase of water turnout and have more and more people get out there to vote and since you menti

and have is our correspondent in beirut has been following the story for us as well let's start very simply we know that polls close a short while ago what's the turnout and like. well the interior ministry in lebanon has said that as of six pm the time was about forty six percent but remember even after that supporters have been outside polling booths so at least in the better for the of the polling booths and they have been allowed to watch until after seven pm which is when they were when the polls were supposed to close so we saw waiting for the final figure though by six pm it was forty six percent and this over the last few hours we've also seen different political parties appealing to that was just to go into high numbers and cost their ballots and this is happening centrally because in some sunni areas a lot of sunnis cast their ballots so the shia parties are their supporters to go in and pass their waters but now there's been some reports that even though voting has been stopped officially people are still queuing to vote after they shot what's the story there well as i was

our cnn team is live in beirut. >>> and later -- residents in hawaii facing unnerving scenes like thisme to our viewers joining us here in the united states and of course from all around the world. i'm rosemary church at cnn headquarters in atlanta. this is cnn newsroom.

representation but it's unlikely to upset the overall balance of power in a holder has more from beirut. judd phone is among the eight hundred thousand voters who are eligible to cast their ballot for the first time lebanon hasn't had an election in nine years political wrangling and disagreement over a new alec torah law were to blame now this twenty three year old hopes his vote will make a difference. for people who don't have any money but it shows up with the money you need to read them go. more and more voices are calling for change and it's not just the young lebanese are concerned about the growing level of poverty and unemployment in the country. on the show you know. we want change we want to new generation of leaders who know what the youth meet. this is the first time where so many independent candidates joined the electoral battle the new law which is based on proportional representation opens the door for these candidates to try to break the political elites hold on power but they acknowledge they can only make a small difference. and we know we will win all the one hundre

divided along sectarian lines raising questions over what political changes may result reports from beirut. it will be the first parliamentary election in nearly a decade pulsar were repeatedly postponed until a new electoral law was agreed proportional representation has replaced winner takes all system but some are criticizing the new law for benefiting the ruling political class who have been forging unlikely electoral alliances just to stay in power the main objective is to increase the number of seats. that number of seats in. the new law is supposed to give a chance to first time hopefuls but breaking the establishment decades long hold on power is not easy the problem is that the civil society represents. not one group they say that they are. just to say that. in reality they are. hezbollah and are the only parties that formed a joint and a torah list at a national level they have long dominated the muslim political landscape but they are facing opposition from within limited but a challenge nevertheless and that is why hezbollah has been campaigning extra hard . against a. new thin