time i think when your thinking about arizona is again those practicalities have is that overkill. voters at the day of the dead festival spoke of the dark state of politics in arizona and around the u.s. they say they're ready to move on the question is in which direction. and if you look at arizona's turnout numbers among early voters there appears to be a late surge among democrats who've already cast a ballot at the polls democrats say that's a sign of enthusiasm among their ranks though notably still more republicans have turned down early voting is in comparison however the the two candidates the republican candidate who are vying for that senate seat in arizona are at a statistical tie and this is a seat that democrats must pick up if there's any hope of winning the majority in the senate so he will certainly find out when the results come in for the moment. joining us from tucson well pretty good. midterm elections

for us midterms are held every two years between presidential elections and as seen as a nationwide referendum on whoever is in the white house this year it's no different donald trump isn't on the ballot but in many ways says he and this presidency are the main issues on voters' minds. so here's what's a stake in congress which is the country's legislature it splits between the house of representatives of the lower house and the senate which is the upper house in these elections all four hundred thirty five seats in the house are up for grabs the much number for a majority here is two hundred eighteen right now the republicans have an edge over the democrats with two hundred thirty six seats there are also six vacancies now the senate this time thirty five seats are being contested here the republicans have a slim majority most of the contested sees them across

a trying to hold all to our interim friendly states and they need fifty one seats to take control of the senate the republicans need only fifty to retain their hold because vice-president mike pence can break a tie with this costing vote now the outcome of these bitter melech sions will decide policy and legislative agenda of the trump administration a democratic senate can also reject many of donald trump's nominees to the u.s. scolds and if the control of either the house all the senate we can expect investigations of the trump administration to become both more numerous and move it . well still more ahead here on the al-jazeera news hour including kidnap dozens of children from a school in western cameroon. saudi arabia's rights record is put under the spotlight by the u.n. and in sports which receives a boost in its bid to end the year as the world's number one tennis player peter will have those details later.

well the u.s. is calling the latest sanctions against iran its toughest so far to iran has accused washington of bullying and said its tactics were backfiring because the u.s. was internationally isolated the measures implemented on monday targeted iran's oil and financial sectors the president said they were taking things slowly. we have the toughest sanctions ever imposed but on oil we want to go a little bit slower because i don't want to drive the oil prices in the world this has nothing to do with the rand i don't want to drive the oil prices in the world up so i'm not looking to be a great hero and bring it down to zero immediately i could get the iran oil down to zero immediately but it would cause a shock to the market i don't want to lift oil prices. diplomatic at the james bays has moved from washington d.c. . the message the treasury secretary and the secretary of state wanted to send was

that the sanctions lifted when the u.s. during the obama administration joined other international partners in the twenty fifteen iran nuclear deal a rule now back in place but if you read the small print that's not exactly the case some of the iranian nuclear facilities have been given waivers so they can still work producing nuclear energy for civilian use the trumpet ministration wants all countries to stop importing iranian oil but for now secretary of state might come pio says age nations who get temporary waivers the u.s. will be granting these exemptions to china india italy greece japan south korea taiwan and turkey the two cabinet secretaries said they'd keep a laser focus on iran but why single out just one country in the region james face from al jazeera english you talk about the destabilizing behavior of iran in the region how does that differ from the bad behavior of saudi arabia. so let me

just go through the list underwriting lebanese hezbollah that presents a threat to united states of america and to israel underwriting the hoodies and yemen causing an enormous conflict to take place there in that country the efforts in iraq to undermine the iraqi government funding shia militias that are not the best interests of the iraqi people their efforts in syria the list goes on the difference in behavior between the. two countries is. remarkable. that france perhaps needs some fact checking the un says there's no evidence iran has recently supplied the who peace with weapons while the saudi led air campaign has been responsible for the majority of civilian deaths in yemen saudi arabia certainly has its own destabilizing role in the region just look at the blockade of carrots are and if you are criticizing iran for its human rights then saudis appalling record also needs to be scrutinized particularly in the light of the

murder of jamal khashoggi in istanbul james. washington well part of trump's administration's efforts to put maximum pressure on iran's economy is getting the switch to global banking network to cut off and rein in banks swift says it's complying reluctantly so what is swift and how does that actually work well it was set up in the one nine hundred seventy s. it's basically a messaging system that banks use to communicate payment instructions to each other it makes it possible to move trillions of dollars around the world every day tens of thousands of financial institutions and almost all of the world's nations are connected to the system exclusion will make it more difficult for iranian companies to get paid by partners based elsewhere further damaging their trade. iran's president says it will be business as usual despite sanctions. that the era of simply chanting death to america is and the time has come for the u.s.

to truly iran. one of the reasons president donald trump gave to pull out of the twenty fifty nuclear deal and re-impose sanctions on iran was the country's growing military influence in the middle east. and their ballistic missiles program. so it was perhaps not a coincidence that iranian scheduled one of their largest military exercises of the year on the same day as u.s. sanctions kicked back in. multiple air defense units took part in war games spanning half a million square kilometers across the country. and as the missiles took flight on the ground the iranian president lobbed insults at the american president. was able to go scout that i don't think any other administration in the history of the united states has been as opposed to the law and international treaties i've not seen any administration in the white house as racist as these people and you cannot expect anything else from them in

a speech to his recently shaken up economic team rouhani laid out a broad plan for the future come what may iran will sell oil and will break u.s. sanctions in the face of american threats iranians put their faith in the basic principle of supply and demand i believe the sanction was. but that they couldn't sanction is not. suddenly. had something in their mind and then put sanctions and you give me. you cannot expect the prize good though. simple price goes up iran has used unmarked ships to sell oil in international waters traded oil using the barter system and rouhani has also floated the idea of selling oil in alternative currencies to the u.s. dollar iran is also counting on a european bypass to the american banking system but months of promises and public

support by the european union have not led to practical solutions behind closed doors some iranians are asking if that was the plan all along despite rouhani is insistence that european support is a big deal for iran keeping iran's trust will not be the only challenge for europe to keep iran in the nuclear deal with american sanctions at full strength and more said to be on the way they'll also have to figure out how to turn the temperature down between hops into iran and washington. media have reported that saudi officials sent to a stumbled to investigate the disappearance of. focused instead on removing evidence of his. among those in the scene that arrived nine days after he was killed was a chemical toxicologist. another

leak to the pro-government newspaper this time implicating two members of the official search and investigation team sent from saudi arabia nine days after his murder these banned a comment i bill as easily general be reported to be a chemical expert and the have any said to be a toxicologist are accused of trying to destroy evidence and cover up what happened they are reported to have been active in the consulate and the consul general's residence had of the turkish investigators being allowed into the buildings to start their own inquiries later a call was made for inquiries into reports of attempts to destroy this body in acid after it had been dismembered the call came from the turkish vice president who

said the investigation would reach the highest levels. who gave the order for the murder to be committed on our soil we are searching for this answer it was more than a month after his murder his two sons have spoken for the first time. lives in saudi arabia and has to get permission to fly to the us to be with the rest of his family or what we want. is to bring him back here with him and you know with his with the rest of his family in saudi arabia yes i talk to talk about it with. the saudi authorities. i just hope that it happens. but you need to find somebody needs to find his body yes. i mean that the searches are going. to be

hopeful about that turkish officials fear they may never be able to find the remains of jamal which they believe was dissolved in acid something which is likely to prolong the agony of his family which has been hoping to bury him as soon as possible in saudi arabia. a stumble. the human rights council has been reviewing the actions of saudi arabia and its record on rights violations a saudi delegation in geneva faced questions over the murder trial because she would counsel it restated the kingdom's position that is investigating its killing and will prosecute those responsible paul brennan has more from geneva. the conflicting perspectives about saudi arabia's human rights record were highlighted before the session even began and documents submitted in advance firstly the national report from saudi arabia itself detailing what it says are the reforms that have been enacted the royal decrees which have been passed improving the role of women and improving the human rights record but in contrast to that two reports

were put before delegates firstly one from un committees and another from n.g.o.s which complained about the operative detentions about the use of the death sentence about the stonings amputations against children on the issue of jamal khashoggi could not be a scaped. the kingdom of saudi arabia has already expressed its really good and came for the death of. king and in a season has already instructed the prosecution to proceed with the investigation into this case according to the applicable laws in preparation to reaching all the facts and bringing more be perpetrators to justice to the facts to live probably. the interrogation here in the chamber split along broadly partisan lines close allies of saudi arabia chose to simply pack the kingdom on the back and encourage them to continue the existing progress of reform

but what was really interesting was the history teacher allies such as the united kingdom and the united states pointedly make reference to the jamal khashoggi murder and to criticize a broad raft of other problems that they see with saudi arabian human rights record . united kingdom is great be concerned about the deteriorating human rights situation in saudi arabia progress on women's rights has been overshadowed by severe construction of political space mass arrests of human rights defenders increased use of terrorist groups to political dissidents and continuing extensive use of the death penalty but most concerning is the murder of to mount a shock it was indicative i think of a greater willingness here to hold saudi arabia to account for a whole raft of issues that the international community is concerned about on the back of the murder of shoji and the final report when it comes we are very interested to read in the letter to african. special separatists in cameroon have

kidnapped at least seventy nine high school students and three staff members but they were taken from the presbyterian boarding school in the city of abandoned them and is part of the english speaking region which has seen a surge in violence over the past year an armed group known as the freedom fighters is fighting for an independent state apart from the government dominated by the french speaking majority called but there is a journalist in the bomb and he says he's heard the separatists have taken students into the bush. men invented a school in the arse of some of their bragging monday and then took away some of the the children and as they did brag and as the events are on or there were seen videos of some eleven to then have been are being dealt with by the groups after them while they have to go to school when they know that they're fighting for independence and people are living in the bushes and some cannot find

that their parents and that they will have to stay with them in the bushes on. the war is over and that was in the independent before they released them this group operates in various ways and in various functions and just last month a prominent an article actually determine the way this group of functions and that kidnapping is becoming the new more those apparently with the new cartridges for for the i'm group so they are not resort to kidnappings. more four four four four four economies for her around some done for political ends and the longer but it is becoming very interesting studies on group i stress and our schools were not going to the oven especially in the english speaking areas but spose to militarize the resumes after the presidential elections across france are that the programme was just about the presidential elections and after the president said presidential

elections schools over two million resilient and lovely and that prove. well still ahead here on the al-jazeera news hour china lays out its plan for more open trade as it fights a trade war with the u.s. and its march in support of newly appointed prime minister mahinda rajapaksa as the political crisis deepens over his comeback. floyd merryweather is set to return to the brain but it's not what you might have thought piece of that story and. we got some rather lively weather for the voters for the mid-term elections across the eastern side of the us least a fair amount of class sweeping across the midwest through the great lakes pushing

further raises lots of clout there already gathering across eastern seaboard just around the mid atlantic states where we are let's see some of the heaviest rainfall through tuesday some heavy rain pushing up through pennsylvania new york right into new england through the course of the day into that eastern side of canada as warm rain for days see temperatures around twenty one degrees celsius cold as you make the way to central and western powers the cold enough for some snow over the northern plains central parts of canada are bits and pieces of snow too over the other mountain states that will clear through as you go through where to stay crisp sunshine coming in behind north of the border a high of minus one celsius there for calgary minus four for when you pack a fair bit of snow into central and eastern parts of canada by this day says the scotch wine into ontario into quebec's in some of that snow drier weather by where the state across much of the eastern side of the u.s. still a chance for some showers down towards the deep south just as michelle was to into the caribbean lots of dry and fine weather you could catch one of two showers over

towards dominican republic. eradicating leprosy in cambodia relies on education and treatment in equal measure . on him by early you know disability yet we will be waiting until three year old four year more he will have this ability but used to it and then no wait for the next generation of antibiotics may just be way taking place at the bottom of the ocean maybe this could have it. took you away revisited on al-jazeera when the news breaks on the story it's the fight against isis still continuing in the desert when people need to be helped. and the story needs to be told by families and status and wealth has benefited from their choice translate people al-jazeera has teams on the ground to bring you more award winning documentaries

and live news on air and online. welcome back you're watching the al-jazeera news arms the whole room with a reminder of all top stories donald trump a new supporters that the media is treating choose days midterm election as a referendum on his presidency as both republicans and democrats hold the last minute rallies on the eve of the folks republican party is trying to protect its majority in the house of representatives and the senate also turkish media is reporting that saudi officials sent to stumble to investigate the disappearance of

genghis jamal khashoggi focused instead on removing evidence of his murder the saudi team in iraq. nine days after he was killed and included a chemical expert and a toxicologist also the u.s. says its latest sanctions against iran are the toughest so far but some of tehran's leading business partners have got a waiver allowing them to import oil iran has accused washington of bullying and said it's time to back firing because the u.s. was internationally isolated. from beijing or what president xi thinks about the u.s. decision to reimpose sanctions on iran china is the world's largest importer of iranian oil so obviously these sanctions would hit this energy hungry country very hard now earlier on monday a spokeswoman with the ministry of foreign affairs said that the legal trade agreements between iran and china need to be respected she went on to say that the united states and its decision to reimpose these sanctions on iran is regrettable

she also said that china stands with those nations who have vowed to uphold the agreement with iran that the united states has backed out of now obviously this comes at a very interesting time when trade frictions between the united states and china are at an all time high but also it comes at a time when the united states needs china's role in its negotiation with north korea china's president has promised to cut import tariffs and more foreign companies to do business in the country although she didn't refer directly to china's trade war with the u.s. he warned that free trade is under attack he made the remarks during the opening of a traitor in shanghai for our china correspondent ports. it is only from the air that you get the scale of this vast event happening on the edge of shanghai china's commercial hub the expo is part of an effort to rebranded countries global trading image it was planned long before the united states began imposing tariffs

on chinese imports many heads of state and prime ministers are here but none from the world's leading economies at the opening ceremony president xi jinping once more presented himself as the guardian of free trade or at least his version of it . china is committed to further opening up and promoting free trade china will remain a strong advocate of global openness and will be the main driver of global economic growth he didn't refer to china's trade dispute with the united states but warned against a winner takes all mentality the president also failed to mention some of the complaints of foreign executives have about doing business in this country they complain that the chinese leadership public commitment to free trade often aren't borne out by its actions. u.s. companies are represented here even if their government isn't probably flying the flag of

a salt lake city health products company that arrived in china eighteen months ago but is still waiting for regulatory approval the time and length and costs and uncertainty of approving a get in a blue hat has made it so difficult for all external companies to come in foreign firms often have to enter into a joint venture as a condition for doing business here but that didn't bother this tiny and furniture designer who actively sought such an arrangement yes on course that because it was a like help from chinese kind that you know to be a chinese is that we know all a lot of the things that we cannot to be a while for whale. shanghai's does willing night time skyline is often touted as a symbol of china's openness but some economists warn that if its leaders fail to deliver on the promises made at this expo those flashing lights could one day

become warning signals adrian brown al-jazeera shanghai. to reuters journalists jailed for seven years and meanwhile have launched an appeal against their convictions or learning chore saw or sentenced in june for violating the rules state secrets law they say police planted documents on them or they were investigating the killing of ring of muslims allegedly by members of the army. while staying in asia the speaker of parliament said that he's been repeatedly misled a constitutional crisis is now entering its second week it was triggered when the president. said a senate dismissed prime minister we claim a single replacing him with former president rajapaksa parliament is to reconvene on november fourteenth clearing the way for a vote on the appointment and smith reports. he might be able to draw a crowd of thousands but his new prime minister still hasn't been endorsed by

parliament that's a constitutional coupe critics say president might recall a serious saying a smaller in his former ally than rival now ally again and suspended parliament more than a week ago. the speaker accuses the president of repeatedly not keeping promises of an early recall of parliament. jayasuriya says he'll only recognise manda rajapakse as appointment if m.p.'s vote for it. he said it's difficult to remain silent in the face of the severe violation of democratic principles the forcible taking over of the administration of media and other public sector institutions the majority of m.p.'s is of the opinion that all changes made in the parliament are undemocratic and inconsistent with the traditions of parliament but his supporters a pax appointment is justified at the got to get out of but the one that didn't have the internet you know this is a leader who won the war the one who saved the country i mean look all the legal

things have been done and dusted he's now prime minister and i did granted i'm going to be i don't know what rajapaksa accuses create assessor of increasing the tax burden and abusing power the man who was fired to make way run away from a single says he's still prime minister and has the parliamentary support to prove it he won't leave the official residence until m.p.'s get to vote let's just over a week to go before parliament is recall there suggesting the rajapaksa be just a handful of votes to give him a majority if he gets it then he'll probably remain as prime minister but the manner in would be that she power risks polarizing the lankan politics birthrate al-jazeera. the family of a pakistani christian woman acquitted in a blasphemy case is pleading for the international community to help them leave the country protesters have been calling for n.c.l.b. these deaths since the supreme court acquitted her last week he was convicted in

twenty ten of insulting the prophet mohammed after a dispute with her neighbors she spent eight years. he was a president. has met north korean leader kim jong un in pyongyang as part of his first official overseas trip since taking office in april both countries are under u.s. economic sanctions leaders to strengthen their country's links india's canal earlier visited russia where he discussed a b. fifty million dollar arms deal with president vladimir putin voters in new caledonia is referendum voted not to break away from france there were celebrations in the capital after the final results showed fifty six percent of voters chose to remain in french territory but there is concern it could wreak no tension between europeans and connect people who are the original inhabitants of the south pacific nation most connects make up thirty nine percent of the population want

a split from france. israel is attempting to bolster relations with some gulf arab states prime minister benjamin netanyahu is among a number of high ranking israeli officials to visit the region in recent weeks experts say policy alignment particularly on efforts to contain iran have been bold and both sides to go public with their recent talks. reports. it was a picture does surprise some shocked others and left many wondering. been sorry the meeting and greeting israel's prime minister binyamin netanyahu and his wife sarra the first visit by an israeli leader to oman in more than twenty years. perhaps this video resists even more questions israel's minister of culture and education. was visiting the emirate to see israel's winded jew two world championship host countries of international sporting events. including all participants regardless

of their nationality israel has a lot of relations with some of the gulf states and other countries and arab countries and muslim countries which we don't know about. which citizen doesn't really know what's going on we know there are connections we know that there is coordination specifically on issues of security regional security especially with the threat of iran and this has been going on for some turn there was no public condemnation from any of the regional countries except for mildly voiced concerns raised by some palestinian officials but with israel giving the impression that it's on its way to normalization with some of its arab neighbors how long that may take the question is where does that leave the palestinians they still support the arab initiative of two thousand and one in which normalization with all the arab states would come only after signing a peace deal with the palestinians since the takeover of the gaza strip in two thousand and seven relations between the hamas leadership in gaza and fact to him

ramallah have been frosty at best the palestinian legislative council hasn't convened for more than ten years crippling all political and economic life a stumbling block the palestinian factions haven't been able to bypass so far. unity is crucial to face challenges like trying to deal in these really ongoing settlement policy. in the latest nation state law but reconciliation is further away there is real danger that this will turn into secession between ramallah and gaza and that is the worst that could happen the man visit is seen by many in israel as a signal that change could be coming the change of political awareness that's going on. this inevitable adversary that actually could be an hour and a partner and that has existed levels for a long time but now it's starting to filter down to wider audience and

these countries are not going to. open up embassies in jerusalem the day after tomorrow but i think they were explore ways of building relationships piece by piece that serve their national interest arab countries continue to say that resolving these really palestinian conflict we means the priority but it also seems that some countries at least a willing to change the regional order but that that hamid al-jazeera in west jerusalem the pentagon says a russian fighter jet has flown close to or buzzed a u.s. navy plane over the black sea military pilots on their own to use it as a warning or to try to force other aircraft to change course the u.s. navy says the move was unprovoked while russia says it was preventing preventive violation of its airspace it lasted twenty five minutes and happened in

international airspace south of the ukraine and west of russia the black sea is now area that has previously seen tension between russian and nato forces. jury selection is beginning in new york for the trial of the man accused of being one of mexico's biggest drug lords known as el chapo guzman has been held in solitary confinement in the u.s. for the last two years gabriel and it's a wonder has what. for the last two years joaquin el chapo guzman has been held in solitary confinement in a new york jail after his extradition to the u.s. on an array of drug trafficking charges security for the trial be tight considering guzman famously escaped from prison twice in mexico once through an elaborate tunnel in his prison cell. even with guzman in handcuffs prosecutors and the judge worry his associates could still pose a danger to people involved in.