the bridge. in detroit an exclusive report starts nov seventeenth w. this is d w news live from berlin and they are being called the most important midterm elections at a generation and the most fiercely contested republicans and democrats make their final pitch to the electorate and ahead of today's voting polls are so close in key races that tuesday night could see plenty of surprises. also coming up

fears grow for the safety of some students and teachers kidnapped by armed separatists in common room the hostage takers say they will not be released until their demands are met and the nazi concentration camps did hold was a place of pure horror and as one of the suspect suspected guards goes on trial in germany today at camp survivor tells t w why it is so important to keep talking about the past. time sarah kelly welcome to the program and the united states polls are opening in the most crucial midterm elections in decades president trump is calling the vote a referendum on his agenda democrats are hoping that a good result for them would force the president to rein in his policies survey suggests that the republicans will keep control of the senate and that democrats

could take back the house of representatives but the battle promises to be close. early voting has begun for the u.s. mid-term elections and early polling suggests it will be a record year for 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 you got to go out to. republicans our town seeing 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aliens to pour into our country overwhelming his school yard spittles and your communities i'm. u.s. networks have withdrawn this trump ad about a mexican migrant convicted of murdering two police offices it originally claimed democrats allowed him into the country and c.n.n. called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. character this country's on the bell who we are is on the ballot. counting. 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. 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. today oliver salad it has been following the campaign from washington and he sent us this analysis donald trump is not even on the ballot but he made this an election come pain 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 where as 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. all of our salat there in washington and here on d w we will have extensive coverage of the midterms throughout the day bringing you all the results and europe's perspective on these elections also you can follow us on twitter for updates. but first some other news because gunmen in cameroon have kidnapped seventy nine students and three staff members at a school in the english speaking part of the country the kidnappers say that they will only release the students if they are allowed to set up their own breakaway state violence between the military and separatists fighting for independence has

escalated over the past year. this footage purportedly shows the dozens of students kidnapped it was released by the perpetrators. it was taken to school and sneak it in on the loose. on last evening and. 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 all of us. i am going to school. 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 kill 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. the local governor came to the school to meet with some of the parents assuring them their children would be brought back home. despite what's happened she. just needs a good man with no sort and. it is good to make. the student the book to brag about to do classrooms. but disagrees and then inductive gods. the incident deepens the atmosphere of fear and is likely to lead to more students

staying at home in the future. for more let's bring in our correspondent andrea and krishna standing by in nigeria he just came back from cameroon and i'm trying to we have any more news about the possible whereabouts of these kidnapped children. at the moment unfortunately not so although according to the school for to use they have met the demands of the abductors to close down the schools we're still not sure where the kids an extensive search mission has started by the authorities on the list what we do know however is what actually happens in the night between sunday and monday a couple of men showed up at the school this is what some eyewitnesses some kids who managed to escape told us they managed to get access to one of the dormitories rounded up the people there the children the beds up some of them and before taking them to the bush they also tried to get access to more rooms to more dormitories where the boys and girls were hiding fortunately they did not manage that otherwise

it was it would have been likely that more of the kids would have been missing by now and so the search now for those seventy nine students and these three staff members who were kidnapped continues creation bring us up to date thank you. let's get a quick check now of some other stories making news around the world around twenty palestinians have been injured by israeli forces while trying to break the decade long maritime blockade of the gaza strip israeli military fired tear gas and live ammunition at protesters before the fishing boats were forced to return to shore. the u.s. secretary of state my pump ale has said that the u.s. will relentlessly pursue iran this after president trump ordered new sanctions on the country washington wants tehran to end its ballistic missile program and abandon regional conflicts ronnie and president hassan rouhani says that tehran will defy american demands and in peru a truck crashed head on into

a passenger bus on monday local media reports say that at least eighteen people are dead among them twelve women and children the bus has been traveling along a highway near lake titicaca. the trial of the notorious mexican drug lord joaquin guzman also known as el chapo has opened in new york prosecutors allege that he smuggled tons of drugs into the united states including cocaine and heroin and oversaw a campaign of killing and kidnapping if convicted he faces life in prison the first day of jury selection was held on monday. he's been notorious for decades as the head of a multibillion dollar drug cartel accused of a ruthless campaign of murders and kidnappings now mexican drug lord joaquin guzman known as el chapo faces seventeen criminal charges in a u.s. federal court in brooklyn under unprecedented security measures which include

deployment of a special gas detection device chapo has been held in solitary confinement at a new york prison for nearly two years after mexico agreed to extradite him to the u.s. he does skate twice from jail in mexico in two thousand and one in a laundry cart and in two thousand and fifteen through an underground tunnel dug by accomplices that dramatic escape triggered a worldwide manhunt but there were few clues until chapo invited american actor sean penn to interview him at his hideout for an article in rolling stone magazine together with mexican television star. who wanted to make a film about his life. u.s. prosecutors have spent years piecing together the case against chapo with more than three hundred thousand pages of evidence the trial is expected to last more than four months and will cost millions of dollars but even as all chapo faces the prospect of life in prison the cartel that he founded nearly thirty years ago is

still incredibly powerful and violent drug trafficking continues unabated in mexico . in germany a ninety four year old former concentration camp guard has gone on trial today he is charged with involvement in hundreds of murders at the concentration camp prosecutors say that the defendants knew that inmates were being murdered there and must be held accountable one survivor of the camp has made it her mission to tell her story and she spoke with debbie is tanya kramer sometimes it is still difficult to tell her story daughter of wood says as a child she spent several years in the statoil of concentration camp her parents and her sister were killed in the holocaust born in poland doris family fled the jewish ghetto in walsall to lithuania from their store of those deported to the state of concentration camp near done thick i can only tell you what happened in

the in the years things 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 gave to me. it is estimated that over sixty thousand people were murdered institute half gassed executed or killed by extreme labor conditions and frequent epidemic's. 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 door 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 which they what the germans put on our shoulders. it's incredible therefore i sing there to ever knows it and when it all ever knows how to share it with others i think they should that 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 them memory alive. you're watching news still to come on the program the web summit gets underway in lisbon it is the world's fastest growing tech event but questions are mounting

about the dark side of the internet. all that and more coming up and it's time but first it is one of the world's fastest growing tech events as we mentioned the web summit getting underway in lisbon as governments and campaign companies around the world are discovering the darker sides of the internet and as everything becomes digital more and more people go in the opposite direction. stick with us we're back in a few months. and . what's coming up for the book is when you have plenty to talk about you want the job you. want to sleep go every weekend.