the ft reports on the accusations aimed at arron banks' group over the illegal use of customer data in the brexit vote. the mirror leads with a girl of nine who tried to get a job after her mother's universal credit money didn't come through. and the times claims that the engineering firm which tested the cladding on grenfell tower after the fire had to sign an agreement not to criticise the prime minister. so those are the front pages — let's take a look at some of those stories in a bit more detail. given that we have two american journalists with us, we cannot not start with the american elections. polls of course close in kentucky at about 11am. greg, let's start with the guardian. there is a picture of a polling station in the brooklyn borough of new york. it is fair to say, above everything else, they are not voting for president that they may as well be. this is very unusual

for a mid—term and that it is seen asa for a mid—term and that it is seen as a referendum on donald trump. he has been the most controversial and divisive and the most unusual president of my lifetime and really he has been so front and centre the republican campaign it is almost as if the election is completely about him and not the individual candidates. bizarrely, some might say, the economy, which is booming, has not much of a look in. the american economy is red—hot. we are near 3% unemployment in the united states. the markets have been doing quite well. but interestingly both parties seem to be focusing on other issues. the democrats over the past few months have been focusing quite a bit on health care and, despite certain attacks made by republicans, several elements of the affordable ca re

several elements of the affordable care act remain popular in the united states. and on the other side of the aisle, republicans focusing allan of the aisle, republicans focusing all an identity issues in the united states. we saw a big focus on immigration, whistle trump posting a controversial ad on television of a migrant caravan of people from honduras. so now we migrant caravan of people from honduras. 50 now we are migrant caravan of people from honduras. so now we are not focusing on the american economy. same story, front of the independent, which has got mid—term voters of venice beach, california, so the other side of the country from the guardian on the east coast. a blue wave on the horizon for america, and the post thatis horizon for america, and the post that is a question. how do you see it going? i think the independent is being a bit over optimistic. they wa nt to being a bit over optimistic. they want to see a big democratic surge and a big rebuke to president trump. iam and a big rebuke to president trump. i am expecting it to be a bit more mixed, but i would expect the

democrats to make gains and to capitalise on the fact that trump is very unpopular with a large part of the population, so i would expect the population, so i would expect the democrats to be in a position to ta ke the democrats to be in a position to take one house and take control, which would have very big implications for the trump term and his agenda and his ability to defend himself the various investigations against him. so it is extremely important. would you agree with that in who do you see is keep voters because a lot of stress has been put on women, people in the suburbs and the rust belt? we have had a very data driven predictive model that has democrats probably winning the house of representatives in five out of six. that is pretty specific! but as faras of six. that is pretty specific! but as far as voters, it seems to be suburbanites, so college educated by

people who might typically tend to vote republican but seem to have been put off by the in century rhetoric that has come out of the trump administration. or they might say, we're not that keen on trumpet we will hold a nose because there is more money in our wallets and our kids have gotjobs. more money in our wallets and our kids have got jobs. there are enough. and another important demographic has been women, so one of the big stories we have seen is the record number of women who have been running the legislature, and i think it is about 300 women running for either the house of representatives or the senate. in a way, you could make the case this is backfiring of one of trump's central strategies. steve bannon but for this idea that trump should offend people by making very in century statements, and i think you did not count on the fact that women on both sides of the aisle would be very off by this and vote and run. but the

important thing to remember is we do not know how this will turn out. the last time america went to the polls on trump, people were expecting hillary clinton to wake up as president in the opposite happened, so we president in the opposite happened, so we do not know what the mood of the country is. we will know more in 12 hours and 2a hours. the country is. we will know more in 12 hours and 24 hours. let's move on now to the metro and a story dominating the news agenda here, and it is on the front page of several of the papers today. knifing's peak. a p pa re ntly of the papers today. knifing's peak. apparently on the way home from school, following the death of yet another teenager. this was in south london yesterday, a 16—year—old. greg, this is happening. london yesterday, a 16—year—old. greg, this is happeninglj london yesterday, a 16—year—old. greg, this is happening. i have had the privilege of living here for a long time and my senses this problem is getting worse and britain is fortu nate is getting worse and britain is fortunate that it is not washing

done is the way the united states is, but this is the british version, the spreading of knife crime. i'm not an expert on statistics but you can see happening more and more, i get all the releases from the met police every time one of these events happen, and they are happening much frequently. what you get from the papers coming up tomorrow morning is the victim are much younger, and they seem to be very vulnerable on the way home from school. i do not know if staggering school. i do not know if staggering school departure times makes any difference to that. that is the idea thatis difference to that. that is the idea that is floated on the front of the guardian, change school closing times to curb stabbing, say doctors, the idea for closing times of schools could be staggered. what more do they say about that? what they have said is that between the hours of four and 6pm on weekdays is when most of these stabbings happen, so when most of these stabbings happen, so taking this research, it seems

like a certain number of policy makers are trying to say, let's take preventative solution, and if we can do this staggering, which theoretically might not even cost that much more money, we could potentially prevent these crimes, and that's positive. do either the papers explain why it should be that most of these stabbings take place on the way home from school? to the back—up their stories with evidence of that? they have statistical evidence but no explanation for why that happens. i just evidence but no explanation for why that happens. ijust remember feeling vulnerable on the way home from school. you are on a prescribed route. if you got someone out to bully you, they know where to you, and you are the sort of sitting there. charlie, on the front of the mail, which they have tagged an exclusive, why will they not lock up the knife thugs? they are saying

thatjudges are the knife thugs? they are saying that judges are flouting the knife thugs? they are saying thatjudges are flouting the two strikes are now rule, they seem to be saying that four in ten criminals caught more than once with a knife are spared prison, so clearly this is something for the daily mail feel strongly about. here we see this national conversation on what we should do about knife crime. in the guardian of course we saw more preventative approach, let's focus on changing behaviour, let's nudge people into avoiding certain times when stabbings might be more likely or try to get more police to observe this at risk time, whereas here we have got a much louder and harder strategy, essentially proposed, which is let's lock people up, let's make punishments stronger. in some way it is troubling because a lot of research on crime tends to show that certain rehabilitation programmes and more preventative programmes can

prevent crimes like this. we have got to talk about brexit! so let's do it now. moving on to the daily telegraph, all it is planned to sell brexit do to britain, a plan that was leaked to the bbc, and it is basically about selling this brexit agreement to the public. what do you make of it? it sounds credible, the government has denied that is what it is about, i don't know the author of this or if somebodyjust scribbled it or how well it is, but it is jacob rees—mogg comparing it to the way blair would try to sell it, it is a pretty sophisticated roll—out of here's our plan and why you should back it. the prime minister makes a speech, they talk about having the prime minister japan supported in a tweet which seems a bit of target! got all of this would build up to a vote in parliament and the final pictures, put your individual feelings aside,

back the country at this crucial historic moment and support the plan. this could well be the way they would like to sell the plan and try and get a vote before christmas, but who knows? the brexit store is all over the map today. some people say a deal has been done, some people say it will never be done. before the seller deal, they have got to make a deal, and how far down the road you think they are? nobody can say for sure. theresa may isn't impossible position. she is fighting a war on three fronts. she's trying to strike a deal with brussels, trying to strike a deal with those who want to sell her deal. we have seen this very story, the three fronts, there seems to be peace none of those fronts. let's finish with a slightly different story in the telegraph as well. meet tax could save 6000 lives a year, a proposal,

who is this from? the national obesity forum have welcomed this idea that attacks on meat, which would almost double the price of sausages, should be brought in to prevent thousands of deaths a year. would you be in support of your bangers being more expensive? no. the idea is preposterous! don't mince words! it is more nanny state staff gone wild. you cannot do public health by taxing. if you will say sausages are too fatty, will people switch to bacon? you could eliminate cigarettes. if you made cigarettes illegal and enforced it, how many lives would you save over the course of the year? this is a very silly idea. silly idea, charlie? it could potentially be a

delicious one. i buy meatless sausages and i enjoy them. this past week, i had a vegetarian and chicken pie, andl week, i had a vegetarian and chicken pie, and i convinced my fellow diner that it was real meat. right, 0k. pie, and i convinced my fellow diner that it was real meat. right, ok. so there is a future beyond traditional sausages. i don't think you are salivating, are you? my daughter is 100% sold on these figures sausages. they can be great but not done by taxation and the government, but there are people who have made this trend profitable, some people are doing really well with this. that's it for the papers tonight on the news channel. don't forget you can see the front pages of the papers online on the bbc news website. it's all there for you — 7 days a week. and if you miss the programme any evening you can watch it later on bbc iplayer. a big thank you to our guests, greg katz from associated press

and charlie wells from the economist. but the pair will be contributing to our coverage of the us mid—term elections. our special coverage with our colleagues on bbc world starts shortly at 11 o'clock. thank you both again and thank you for watching. till the next time — bye—bye. our mild weather is set to continue in the coming days and indeed nights. we're pulling in a lot of airfrom the nights. we're pulling in a lot of air from the south, it will be quite breezy however and rain at times. here we are overnight. temperatures in double figures for most of us, breezy, wet weather particularly in the west for wales in the south—west of england, extending into the southern scotland and northern ireland. heavy showers following on

into the south—west through the morning rush—hour also affecting wales, accompanied by hill and thunder. a showerjust about anywhere first thing on wednesday. by anywhere first thing on wednesday. by the afternoon, prospects drier and brighter across eastern reaches of england but also at the far north of england but also at the far north of scotla nd of england but also at the far north of scotland which may be spared the worst of the wet weather. temperatures though still looking healthy and the best of the brightness in the east with up to 15 celsius. this is a us mid—term elections special edition on bbc world news.

i'm laura trevelyan in washington. voters across the country have been turning out in huge numbers to choose their candidates and also deliver a judgement on the trump presidency. the outcome will determine the president's ability to push through his agenda over the next two years. though his style, he admitted, is also a factor. i would like to have a much softer tone. i feel to i would like to have a much softer tone. ifeel to a certain i would like to have a much softer tone. i feel to a certain extent i have no choice, but maybe i do and maybe i could have been softerfrom that standpoint. and i'm babita sharma in london. the first polls are closing in kentucky. we'll be looking out for the early indications of results as they come in.