he's in the people of uganda hear their story on and talk to al jazeera. al jazeera. and for you. the first polls are closed results are beginning to come in from crucial midterm elections across the united states at stake every season the house of representatives one third of the senate and possibly donald trump's political legacy.

plausible raman you're watching al-jazeera live one headquarters here are coming up in the next thirty minutes turkish media suggests that saudi arabia has sent a team to a raise the evidence of journalist jamal khashoggi is murder. a week activists urge the international community to stop china's detention of large numbers of ethnic muslims. it's midnight g.m.t. and in the eastern united states the polls are closing across half a dozen states will soon see the first results from america's divisive and closely watched midterm election president donald trump isn't on the ballot but the results will inevitably be seen as a referendum on his first two years in office now the states where polls have just closed clude georgia indiana south carolina virginia for mont and

kentucky one race to watch is for the senate in indiana where the democrats are trying to hold on to their seat there is a key senate race in indiana and we'll be watching that very closely as the night goes on and in georgia is the site of one of this year's most closely watched governor's governor races stacey abrams's bidding to be the first female black governor in a contest that's been marred by allegations of voter suppression also closing in less than half an hour are several key states with close races including ohio west virginia and north carolina. here's no reminder of what we'll be watching as the night unfolds all four hundred thirty five seats in the house of representatives are up for grabs the republicans have got one so far both parties still have a long way to go to reach that magic number of two hundred nineteen the democrats need

a net gain of twenty three seats to take control of the chamber while in the senate it's a different story remember only thirty five out of the one hundred seats are up for grabs this time stover a third an out of the remaining seats the democrats have twenty three and the republicans forty two can they retain their hold on the senate or come the democrats take control and galahad is standing by for us in orlando florida the swing state with close senate time governor races this time but first let's go to indianapolis and in indiana the home state of vice president mike pence where polls have just as we've been talking about the very close senate race what's going on. that's right i'm here at what is what joe donnelly hopes will be his victory farty when it's all over he is the democrat the current sitting senator in indiana and he's been called the accidental senator because this is a largely republican state but he's neck and neck with his challenger mike brown

president trump has come here twice including yesterday in order to back braun and to try to put him over the top that's all important because the senate has a fifty one forty nine split right now in favor of the republicans so the democrats really need to hold on to every seat they have and to flip a couple and joe donnelly is actually in danger here of losing is she is it conservative democrat but his people tell me that so far in the urban areas that tend to favor him turnout has been exceptionally high in some cases higher than in twenty sixteen and that she just said them that they have driven turnouts. significantly and that might help put him over the top but it's very early the numbers are starting to trickle in and so far they're they're pretty meaningless because we've got just a few percentage points and by his people hope that this will help put him over the top and it's the math is really against the democrats when it comes to the senate

because there are thirty five seats that are up for election twenty six of them are now held by democrats nine are held by republicans and that means that republicans have a lot more targeted states that they can try to flip now there is one potential bellwether here in the state of kentucky in fact these is solidly republican state we don't normally think of it as a bellwether there is one district that trump won by fifteen percentage points and a female democratic candidate is made that a neck and neck race her name is amy mcgrath she's running against a republican congressman named andy barr and she is the first female f. eighteen pilot to go into combat that has helped boost her story and made that race neck and neck now if she manages to win in solidly republican kentucky where trump won by fifteen percentage points that could suggest that that democratic wave that the democrats have been talking about could actually be happening we should know shortly we'll get the results from that race but that would be kind of

a bellwether as to what might happen in the rest of the country as those other polls continue to close so indeed for the moment i will leave it and come back to get more all not in indianapolis let's call siva. who's live for us in orlando florida we talk about whether states under your watch and standing in the sometimes is the pulse of the united states depending on the sort of political news and. here . you. may know florida is the largest swing state in the united states but also that an archetype or bellwether state has a good reason for that not because the demographics said tend to reflect the entire country you have to think of this state somewhat as a miniature version of the united states and that divisive mood of the electorate across the country is being illustrated here in two very important and two very tight races the first for senate between bill nelson and we're at bill nelson's

party headquarters at the moment he's hoping to celebrate late seventies in a very tight race with florida's governor rick scott we're seeing some of the early results coming in the probably say she's just close so it's too soon to say what's happening some indications that rick scott may be pulling add but again we're getting this county by county the other race to watch and perhaps a more interesting one is the one for florida's governor between rhonda senses a man who very much as moles it himself in the image of donald trump and andrew guillen tallahassee is man who is a progressive african-american candidate who hopes to be the state's first democratic governor in more than twenty years and its first african-american governor so those are the races that we are watching here in the reason we watch florida so closely is as i say what happens here at tends to reflect the national mood remember the last six presidential elections voters in florida vote was voted on the winning side that's why we watch the sunshine state so closely indeed it will be watching very closely as the hours the rest of the moment thank you. michel

is this is to professor in residence at northwestern university here in qatar she teaches american government and politics nice to be back on the ongoing coverage of the midterm elections when we spoke earlier we talked about the issues and what people really felt let's talk about that the states we should be keeping a very close eye on now that the polls have closed during john hendren talking about that really close race in kentucky. also indiana was the polls are closing though of course florida what should we be looking for yes i know now we're finally having real things to talk about if the great so as you mentioned kentucky's already close we're watching the results come in right now maybe six or seven percent has already been reported a very tight race between amy mcgrath who is a challenger a first time challenger for the democrats against an incumbent andy barr amy amy mcgrath is does not have political experience she has military experience she

was a marine pilot to this is something that we've actually been seeing a lot of more and more democratic women with military experience going out and contesting the polls mickey cheryl in the new jersey eleventh is another example so we're watching to see what happens in this district in kentucky as a state it's eleven points more republican than the national average this is a republican state went for trump in two thousand and sixteen but this particular district centered around lexington we will see what happens exactly with with this in terms of the eastern states that are closing we move towards the west. people talk about. the changes in the political landscape what should we be looking for in terms of what's going on in the eastern states so we'll let them reflect to give us an idea of what happen across the country yes we have besides kentucky which is

that first house race that's up for grabs we have three other states that have significant possibilities of toss ups in the house possible flipping seats that's virginia georgia and florida so we have to watch very specific house races there to see if we start to see that beginning of a democratic shift of power we also have two very important governor races going on in florida and georgia as previously mentioned andrea gillum in florida would be the first african-american governor of florida if he wins he is a democrat and we also have stacy abrams who would be the first female black governor of any state in the u.s. and certainly of georgia the state that she's running in terms all used in just a moment ago that a lot of the democratic candidates all. political novices to a certain how much of a risk is that for the democratic party to actually put people who have no real

experience of governance or electro real success into races that are all so crucial this moment in time in american history they have to start somewhere you have to start somewhere and as a figure some were very well but i think that what's more important to keep in mind expression when it comes to the house races is that is precisely where we see many people begin their political their political careers and a strength of the governor of the of the democrats in this particular election is that they actually have more candidates running for these house elections than the republicans do maybe the exact numbers i think it's about eighty percent of the house races that are up for grabs. are we see republican candidates in them but ninety percent of those elections we see a democratic candidate so that means that sometimes you have to kind of recruit so i actually think the recruiting of the first time candidates should be really seen as a strength of the democrats not

a weakness because you do have to start pulling polling that pool of candidates osha see how well they do or not in the coming hours for the moment just in thanks for joining us we're seeing a little while. other news developments in the jamal khashoggi murder case just over a month when he was killed inside saudi arabia's consulate in istanbul turkish sources have told al-jazeera that the kingdom is willing to pay blood money to could show cheats family and his fiance it comes as the director of the cia gina housefull has reportedly seen all the evidence related to his death she was dispatched to turkey last month meanwhile turkey's president or the one is insisting the killing was ordered by the highest levels of the saudi government has more from istanbul more than a month since he was killed jews body has yet to be found and there are more questions about his murder but turkish authorities having creased the pressure on

the saudi government by slowly leaking vital information according to turkish sources cia director general hospital was briefed on the murder and had access to crucial evidence suggesting the order came from the highest levels of the sergeant government. insists no member of the ruling royal family has a role in. but during his visit to istanbul last month sandie chief prosecutor. reportedly told turkish authorities that the king was willing to pay blood money to hush up his family and fiance he also said he had no idea about the whereabouts of the slain journalist body and as the investigation continues turkey's foreign minister. says his country has more information wants to give

a name and nobody can stop him to do that so he emphasizes in the article that the instruction didn't come from king solomon but it is also views that those fifteen people. didn't come to stumble to murder kushnick to themselves so they got instructions from somebody so we have to find out these instructions this is the. simple question that we have put according to the turkish daily newspaper staff of the saudi consulate try to tamper with security camera outside the consulate but turkish police managed to retrieve the footage providing the now famous image of hotshots you walking into the building on the day he was killed and we're finding out more about the teams that were sent to turkey from saudi arabia al jazeera learned from the source there

were three teams involved in the killing of. a surveillance team the death squads and the cleanup team sent later to cover up the murder for turkish officials this confirms that believe the case was premeditated and ordered by someone senior in the saudi government. is the board. well still ahead here on al-jazeera more on the u.s. midterm elections we'll check in with our white house correspondent kimberly held it. from long flowing on in winds to an enchanting desert breeze the. helo the rain is back with a vengeance but i think it is probably the winter front you see the clouds coming off of it and clattering going in that direction which suggests it's got cold

a within of cody's to the north and we're not talking really cold yet it's cold enough to snow quite a long way north of one hundred for the yangtze valley cross to shanghai sporadic rain now the rain is trying to kick lower income further south but even once it's gone through iran is enjoying the sunshine same as chung do so it's not really wintry weather but he's certainly a spell of last with little late rain to be honest doesn't get as far south as hong kong and china southeast asia largely fine and dry that's true for the philippines too but as you can see there's a line of fairly obvious showers a big wide top clouds going west and for a time being i think they're going to concentrate not just in peninsula malaysia where it's been particularly wet recently nor indeed as far south as jakarta which has been sharing recently but it's going to policies of up through the gulf of thailand and make a sudden off of talent in possibly in bangkok where it is a little late in the year for that and the prospects that bali are not good either showers strout indonesia and a wet spell there now in northeast monsoon is in most of india is dry and fine but

for this far south and sri lanka it remains of course a pretty wet time. the weather sponsored by cattle and these. wish the world innovation summit for health one community of two thousand health care experts in of ages and policy makers from one hundred countries. one experience sharing best practices and innovative ideas. one goal hopefully a world through global collaboration. apply now to attend the twenty eighteen wish summit.

welcome back you're watching all this there are so hold rob to remind of all top stories polls have closed in half a dozen your states for midterm elections that could reshape the country's political landscape but in indiana some polling sites have been ordered to stay open for another two and a half hours after the voting was delayed the nonpartisan election protection hotline has received nearly double the amount of calls from voters experiencing problems at their polling places that they did in twenty fourteen most of the seventeen and a half thousand calls were related to malfunctioning voting machines in other news take your sources have told al jazeera that saudi arabia is willing to pay blood money to jamal khashoggi family and his fiance sources also reveal that cia director gina hospital has seen all the evidence related to this murder. transfer of the republican party is bracing for a life in loss of seats in the house of representatives their rivals the democrats

need to gain twenty three seats to take control of that chamber of congress if this happens. that could allow the democrats to launch several committee investigations of the trumpet administration and possibly even. proceedings for the senate several democrats are fighting to keep their seats in states that trump one in twenty six republicans believe they can retain control of this chamber and thirty six of the fifty us states are electing governors ten of which are considered tossups republicans control twenty nine governorships the democrats have twenty one the first results from the u.s. midterms have started trickling in this is the state of play in the house right now . two to the democrats five to the republicans midterm elections are traditionally seen as a referendum on the incumbent president and this year is no different our white house correspondent kimberly health that joins me live now and kimberly one can

only assume with the president perhaps inside the building behind you a little bit of nervous nailbiting going on. yeah and it's not just the president it's also his staff sitting there in the west wing we had a chance to travel up there to kind of gauge the mood in all the doors were shut there seems to be an eerie quiet that has descended over the west wing much because of what you just talked about in the lead up to our segment here and that is the polls that certainly show that it's likely that democrats could gain control of the house of representatives and that would spell some difficulty for donald trump in terms of the investigations but also for his staff who would then be you know tasked with coming up with documents producing and answering questions for the various committees it could be very very tedious so there is some nervousness because donald trump is essentially made this about him he said this is a referendum on his presidency on his style of governing which is been

unprecedented in modern u.s. history so there is no question that there is a feeling of nervousness as these results come in now for part we are told by press secretary sarah sanders that in fact the president will be watching these returns just like the rest of us as they come in in real time he'll be there with the first lady along with friends and family in the residence behind me we also know that he'll be getting real time updates on the senate races the gubernatorial or governor's races and the congressional races of course from his political team so yes a lot of information coming into the white house right now not a lot of information coming out just yet because of course everyone is holding their breath waiting for the results of the lead to this election kimberly we saw the president so you can see in certain states he went back to the states that he thought he had in his pocket all those that were sitting on the fence.

absolutely and we saw the president not only going to rallies where the races were particularly close the press secretary pointed out he went to eleven rallies in eight states in the last few days but we saw him somewhat subdued in his tweets sending out messages of support where he thought republicans were facing very tough races early in the early hours well the voting was taking place it seems that the president has been relatively quiet today but that really contrast to the argument the tone in the tenor in the final days of campaigning the president deliberately chose much to the disappointed of many republicans to use the more divisive message of immigration and fear of illegal immigration in the united states as a way to rally voters as opposed to boasting about the strong economy and some of the historic unemployment rates a rise in wages this was a deliberate calculation and now as these votes come in we even saw the president

at times in a real interview that he gave to a conservative outlet reflecting that maybe he should have taken a softer tone so the president this is the referendum he says on him and now he'll see whether or not that strategy worked you see what happens come back to obviously kimberly as the evening progresses thank you joining me now is the right rigor she's an assistant professor of public policy at harvard university and joins me now from our studios in washington d.c. good to have you with us live on al-jazeera mr go very soon of course we're going to get more and more results i mean in terms of the races that we're seeing now what are you watching which states should we be keeping a very close eye on. well first thanks for having me on i mean there are so many can't you know can't wait to have to watch races but the key ones i think right now are going to be the who wouldn't tauriel races in florida with andrew killing them there's also going to be this race down and georgia where stacy abrams and of course the senate race out in texas between beto roark and ted cruz these are kind

of will give us a really good insights into these kind of big switch is whether or not they'll be able lou wave and is there the potential for something large something massive but something transformative in this election that the likes of which we have never seen you just mentioned the blue wave for our international audience can you just explain what that means and how that is you might say specific to the trends that we might be looking at from the east of the country to the west so what we're looking for right now is that the strength of the democratic party the strength of democratic voting trends towards the democratic party you know the out party the challenger parties always going to have a little bit of an edge moving into moving into a midterm election particularly with the president that isn't necessarily very popular so what we're really looking for is are the people are the american public who want to push back we know that they like checks and balances and so far it's

looking like in the house they are going to push back and the senate not so much but among the governors across america we may also see some significant change there as well changing global ready with a female democrat being elected pushing up the republican incumbent but the g.o.p. has pushed a very specific narrative in the sort of the lead up to this election what couldn't sort of do you have with that message you get if any concerns are told as being quite controversial. well you know that you know people really kind of run on the message of the economy the economy economy we heard this is we've heard this for a generation down in the u.s. which is it's the economy stupid but they didn't run on that they didn't run on the strength of the economy this time around they ran on in their closing argument really was one about fear in immigration that is concerning to a lot of americans particularly as we look at public opinion around immigration which shows that most people are pretty moderate to liberal on ideas of immigration so this idea of fear this idea that most immigrants are bad people that they should

be controlled that you know there should be this there's something to fear there was not one that was a strong closing argument unless you're talking about railing donald trump space so really we're looking at a race that is going to tell us that may actually tell us something about donald trying strengths and his weaknesses in the larger political arena if that's the case to donald trump who posed a question to our guest here in studio and i could make about the democrats fielding first time candidates whether they really had the clout the experience or already been the vote pulling power to say to the electorate in the u.s. trying for the very first time to gain political office trust me have the democrats taken the right calls the bank should considering they are trying something new. well considering that the tea party did this in two thousand and ten and again in two thousand and fourteen with great success you know this idea of first timers

kicking out incumbents or long term politicians you know who's to say it wouldn't work for the democrats and in fact this is what we are seeing that in the lead up to this in special elections an off year elections that democrats had great success with first time people running for office but the other thing that we're seeing is that some of these first time people have much experience in say state legislatures political different kinds of political office organizing and that they're looking for new coalitions looking towards unlikely voters nonvoters in order to get these cars that get the strength behind them and they've been very successful in doing so in fact for example for somebody like stacy abrams the democratic challenger in georgia this is why she's been able to be so competitive in this race because she's going the nontraditional route and it has worked so far in her favor so it's one of those things to watch even in those races where say democrats may not win the facts you know that in deep red stronghold areas that they've been incredibly successful

using these new methods and this kind of outsider approach speaks volumes about the future of politics in this country it is a really intimate with the vote code let's just talk in hypotheticals here if the democrats do do as well as they thought how will they then approach the next presidential election what sort of conduct that might they have to look for. well they've already started kind of testing the waters they've really been looking for candidates who are willing to be bold and to show that they're willing to be a stopgap or you know a force against donald trump against donald trump's agenda and to serve as a corrective in congress and you know speak speak very forcefully against these agendas protective against these the genders just more broadly they're also going to be looking for somebody who is very specific who has a very specific agenda hope

a policy agenda that promises people things including things that address the economy health care which is the number one issue in this country you know jobs wages things like that and promises people a positive agenda so you're really looking for this combination of factors and influencers amongst people who've been put forward and we've really seen a lot of politicians trying and testing the grounds in this way so we've seen people who are already in congress somebody like a kemal or harris doing these kinds of things but we've also seen people who are running and challenging like a bet or work in texas i'm andrew killam in florida who are really testing these waters where we should see what does happen the fascinating time for the moment talk about two goals right rekha thanks for your time from washington d.c. of course you can follow the board all of the stories that we're covering including the polls the results on the analysis on the website to see what comes out is there

don't. you all want to know is there i'm still wrong but a reminder of all top stories. counting is underway in half a dozen u.s. states for midterm elections that could reshape the country's political landscape but in indiana some polling sites have been ordered to stay open for another two and a half hours after voting was delayed the nonpartisan election protection hotline has received nearly double the amount of calls from voters experiencing problems at the polling stations than they did in twenty fourteen of the most of the seventeen and a half thousand calls related to malfunctioning voting machines john hendren small from indianapolis in indiana. the map is really against the democrats when it comes to the senate because there are thirty five seats that are up for election twenty six of them are now held by democrats nine are held by republicans and that means

that republicans have a lot more targeted states they can try to flip now there is one potential bellwether here in the state of kentucky kentucky's a solidly republican state we don't normally think of it as a bellwether there is one district that trump won by fifteen percentage points in a female democratic candidate is made that a neck and neck race. and closing just now on several key states with close races including ohio west virginia and north carolina thirty g.m.t. now the first results from the u.s. midterms started to trickle in this is the state of play in the house right now democrats have two seats republicans five on to other news to your sources have told al jazeera that saudi arabia is willing to pay blood money to jamal khashoggi family and his fiance and sources also reveal that cia director gina hospital has seen all the evidence related to his murder.

the u.n. says the humanitarian crisis in yemen is the worst in the world aid groups are warning the country is three months away from a devastating famine putting thirteen million people at risk and government troops backed by the saudi u.a.e. coalition are trying to defeat the rebels israel's transport and intelligence minister is on the two day trip to amman as israel attempts to bolster relations with the gulf countries his arrival follows last month's visit by prime minister of israel benjamin netanyahu the israeli government is pushing a plan for a regional rail line that linked high for with jordan saudi arabia and the gulf states israel has recently stepped up its contact with gulf states despite not having formal diplomatic relations with any of those were the headlines of course we shall continue to follow the results of the midterm elections we're going to

tell you in coverage here on al-jazeera next it's inside story stay with us. china in the hot seat over its treatment of weaker muslims the u.n. human rights council is examining beijing's alleged crackdown on this minority but will the growing international pressure make a difference this is inside story. hello and welcome to the program. the u.n. says it resembles a massive internment camp shrouded in secrecy.