this is deja vu news live from berlin they're being called the most important midterm elections in a generation and the most fiercely contested republicans and democrats make their final pitch to the electorate ahead of today's voting polls are so close and key races that tuesday i could see plenty of surprise of course also coming up fears grow over the safety of some ph d. students and teachers kidnapped by armed separatists in cameroon the hostage takers say they will not be released until their demands are met. and the nazi

concentration camps to call so thousands of people die there and as one of the suspected guards goes on trial here in germany today a camp survivor tells you wu why it is so important to talk about the past. i'm dr thomas thanks so much for being with us americans are voting in one of the most crucial midterm elections in decades president trump is calling the ballot a referendum on his agenda democrats are hoping a good result for them would force the president to rein in his policies. early voting has begun for the u.s. midterm elections and early polling suggests it will be a record year if the turnout. and it's all because of this man he's divisive and he's energizing for those that love him and for those that don't this

election is widely being seen as a referendum on the man everyone can't look away from if he doesn't say so himself . i mean whoever even heard of mid term they don't even know what it is i've had a lot of people say i don't know what big term is but now i'm watching every single minute and i'm going out to vote but the key is you have to go out to vote because in a sense i am on the ticket. republicans are touting a booming economy. and accusing democrats of being weak on migration democrats are inviting caravan after caravan of illegal aliens to pour into our country overwhelming his school yard spittles and your communities five. u.s. networks have withdrawn this trump ad about a mexican migrant convicted of murdering two police offices it originally claimed democrats allowed him into the country and c.n.n.

called it racist. the democrats not so secret weapon former president barack obama has been on the campaign trail taking aim at the president's often abrasive personality. the character of this country is on about who we are is on the ballot. thank you. what kind of politics we expect is on the ballot how we conduct ourselves in public life is on the ballot how we treat other people is on the belin. so there are likely to be swings to both sides across america in deeply conservative texas a surprisingly strong showing for democratic rule seeking election to the senate. just a few weeks ago democrats felt fairly sure of recapturing both the senate and the house but poll suggests the race is now wide open. to their

views all over salad has been following the campaign for us from washington and sent us his analysis donald trump is not even on the ballot but he made this an election campaign all about himself he was fighting fiercely to get approval off the american voters for his america first policies what's at stake here is control of two chambers of u.s. congress the house of representatives as well as the u.s. senate now if the republicans were to defend their majority they would be able to carry on and govern just the way they did in the last two years whereas if the democrats were to win the upper hand in the house of representatives for instance and that is the most likely scenario this would weaken the presidency of donald trump they could then block certain policies and even trigger an impeachment process a situation that donald trump wants to avoid at all costs. w's all

over solitaire and here on d. w. will have extensive coverage of the midterms throughout the day bring you all the latest results and europe's perspective as well on these crucial elections also you can follow us on twitter for updates now for some of the other stories making news around the world in peru a truck crashed head on into a passenger bus monday local media reports in a cave at least eighteen people are dead among them women and child the bus been traveling along a highway near lake titicaca. the u.s. olympic committee has moved to shut down the country's governing body for gymnastics now this fall's boss reform efforts after a sex abuse scandal team dr larry nasser is now serving life in prison for molesting more than two hundred fifty gymnast's. the trial of notorious drug lord joaquin guzman known as el chapo is set to begin in new york under tight security is accused of leading a criminal enterprise prize and sold vast quantities of cocaine and smuggled

billions of dollars into mexico. it's to cameroon now where separatists gunmen have kidnapped seventy nine students and three staff members from a school separatist in the angle of phone region are fighting an armed campaign for independence from the majority french speaking country the kidnappers say the students will only be freed after they achieve a new state. this footage purportedly shows the dozens of students kidnapped it was released by the perpetrators. those seeking to school and eating on the loose. last evening. one member of the separatist group who is filming the boys also appears on camera before turning it back to the children telling them they will be going to school there now. he's did. i'm good to school yeah

the kidnapped students are from them and in the western english speaking part of cameroon separatist groups like the boys are waging an armed struggle for independence in the majority french speaking country groups have long vowed to destabilize the region and have attacked and killed teachers for disobeying orders to keep schools closed the armed separatists broke into the school building before dawn and of ducted the children from their dormitories as well as three stuff members of the local governor came to the school to meet with some of the parents assuring them the children would be brought back home. despite what happened she. is states a government we're no sir and. didn't have to name.

the student the people in the book to run to the classrooms. but this is a man of god. the incident deepens the atmosphere of fear and is likely to lead to more students staying at home in the future. the u.s. is vowed a relentless pursuit of iran after imposing sanctions on the country washington wants tehran to and its ballistic missile program and abandon its involvement in regional armed conflicts in syria for example president trump earlier this year pulled the u.s. out of a nuclear deal with iran he called the fact of the iranian president hassan rouhani says tehran will not cave in to american demands the sanctions are targeting arounds banking and oil sectors. only to be washington bureau chief

alexander phenomenon that with state department around representative brian hawk here's what he had to say about iran sanctions thank you for having us and it's you who what do you hope the sinks can achieve what we hope it will achieve two things we hope that it will deny the regime the revenue it uses to conduct terrorist attacks in europe and in the middle east and other threats to peace and security we also hope that the pressure will bring iran back to the negotiating table critics say in reality you are seeking a regime change in iran is that true it's not true the future of the iranian regime is up to the iranian people we very much would like to see a change in the regimes behavior a change in his policies so that it doesn't present as many threats to peace and security and that it also then provides a way of life that the iranian people deserve the sanctions are targeting iran's finance and oil markets and the u.s. goal is to cut the runs oil exports to zero nonetheless the administration gave

eight countries exemptions from the sanctions china for example and south korea are still allowed to buy running an old does that mean that the administration's goal was not realistic. no it was very realistic but we also don't really have a lot of control over oil markets and what we found is that oil was increasing because of supply problems out of venezuela and libya and we were enormously successful in taking off a lot of iranian oil exports we have already taken off one million barrels of iranian crude that's a loss of two billion dollars of revenue to this regime and so as we were we have a policy of getting to zero as quickly as possible but we also don't want to do that and then cause the price of oil to go up to ninety or one hundred dollars a barrel so we have been very thoughtful about how we have reimposed our sanctions to achieve a lot of pressure which we have without increasing the price of oil and we also have some countries that have asked for some because of their unique circumstance

a temporary waiver which we have granted to only a handful this is a single digit the the obama administration gave twenty or oil exceptions we have given eight three of those will no longer even be relevant within the coming weeks or months. can the u.s. strategy on iran succeed without the support of america's allies in europe without china and russia who all oppose new sanctions but we have had support by european companies all over europe you've had many many all the major european firms have already announced that they're that they're either leaving iran or canceling planned investments and so i don't think we're alone we have enjoyed very strong support from european companies european come countries like germany france great britain are still trying to save the iran nuclear deal right and so they're still members of the deal and they have to make their own decisions whether they want to stay in the deal we've made our decision to leave the deal but we've seen european

banks and european companies very supportive of what we are doing. i was brian from the u.s. state department well here in germany a ninety four year old former concentration camp guard is set to go on trial today he's charged with involvement in hundreds of murders at the studio of concentration camp prosecutors say the defendant knew the people were being murdered there and must be held accountable one survivor of that camp has made it her mission to tell her story and spoke with the w.'s tanya kramer sometimes it just is difficult to tell her story daughter of would say this as a child she spent several years in this to tough concentration camp her parents and his sister were killed in the holocaust born in poland doris how many flip the jews get involved so to lithuania from their door of us to puerto to the state of concentration camp you don't think i can only tell you what happened in the in the years thinks that i will never forget i will never forget that i was hungry day and

night i will never forget that and my mother died from hunger because the little piece of bread that she got she gave the me. it is estimated that over sixty thousand people were murdered insta tough gassed executed or killed by extreme labor conditions and frequent epidemics. remembers both the fear and the daily violence off the nazis what they did it's not he was not human you dancer or a child in their heart can of water the learned you have done to make a child. pick up a twenty killer cement which i had to pick up. and i couldn't so i was beaten up only daughter and her brothers survived the

holocaust in is version got married and raised a family since then she has made it her mission to talk to children about her experience. syncs ridgeway what the germans put on our shoulders. it's incredible therefore i sing that whoever knows it and when it all ever knows how to share it with others i think they should because i need that way we can prevent another holocaust it is important for her she says to speak out for the many other children who didn't survive to keep their memory alive. and you can find out more on this and other stories that our web site that's d w dot com let's get you a martyr now of our other stories today americans are voting in one of the most crucial midterm elections in decades today some thirty six million people have

already cast their ballots and early voting the president says the poll is a referendum on his presidency democrats have also made their final pitch to voters . and will have plenty of live coverage on the midterms throughout the day for now though for me brian thomas the entire team thanks for being with us. the people the world over information. the pennines want to express g.w. on facebook and twitter up to date and in touch.