this is you don't need to do is live from berlin moment of truth the most important u.s. midterm elections in a generation is under way after a fierce campaign americans are casting their ballots we'll tell you what is at stake and why the poll matters also coming up indian doctors sound the alarm over dangerous levels of pollution in delhi with the fireworks of the duvali festival about to make the situation worse we'll look at india's struggle to clear the air and cameras present a poll below begins his seventh of term in office with a pledge to confront the country's english speaking separatists even as the hunt continues for dozens of kidnapped children. and also coming up

a nazi concentration camp guard goes on trial here in germany he's accused of being complicit in hundreds of murders and time is running out to prosecutors prosecute those like him. down little rock it's great to have you on everyone we begin in the united states where polls have opened in the most crucial midterm elections in decades president donald trump is not on the ballot but if you didn't know better you think he was running for reelection the voters being seen as a referendum on the u.s. president's agenda democrats are hoping a good result for them forced the president to rein in his policies meanwhile 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 tight. polls have opened in the u.s. midterm elections. and early indications suggest it will be a record year for turnover. there and it's all because of dismay he's divisive and he's energizing for those that love him and those that don't. the 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 midterms i 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. the presidents republican party is touting a booming economy in the united states. and republicans are accusing democrats of being weak on migration. democrats are inviting

caravan after caravan of illegal aliens to pour into our country overwhelming his schools yassmin those and your communities. the democrats not so secret weapon former president barack obama he's been on the campaign trail taking aim at the president's often abrasive personality. the character of this country is on the belt who we are is on the ballot. what kind of . 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 on both sides across america in deeply conservative texas

a surprisingly strong showing for democrat beda will roark seeking election to the senate. conversation. doesn't matter to you just a few weeks ago democrats vote fairly sure of recapturing both the senate and the house but polls suggest the race is still wide open. and the midterms are first and foremost about congress with seats in both the house of representatives and the senate up for grabs the republican party currently controls both making life relatively easy for president trump but democrats hope to flip one or both and limit the president's power the entire house all four hundred thirty five seats are up for election democrats need a net increase of twenty three seats to win back control of the house in the senate republicans hold only a narrow majority and sounds like good news for democrats but all a thirty five seats are up for election most of those are ones that democrats need

to defend making victory harder now as well as electing members of congress americans will vote for powerful governors in many states and the washington correspondents and maya schrader has more now on what those races could mean for u.s. politics going forward. every state every ballot issue every candidate has a pivotal role to play in these midterm elections some campaigns could prove to be a bellwether for where the country is headed as a whole let's take a look now at just a few examples will begin in texas one of the most populous states in the nation and currently the biggest solidly republican voting state texas hasn't elected a democratic senator since one nine hundred eighty eight now bit over ark a democratic upstart is challenging incumbent republican ted cruz and for such a red state the race has become unusually competitive cruz is still ahead in the polls but her work has attracted national attention. even if beto recluses

democrats are excited by the idea that he could generate enough voter enthusiasm to take texas from a reliably republican state. to a swing state during presidential elections over to georgia where voters might elect the first black woman to ever run a u.s. state stacy abrams has pulled another solidly republican state to the left with polls having abram's and the republican incumbent within a few points of each other this campaign has thrown the issue of voting rights into sharp relief democrats in the state of georgia are accusing republicans of trying to purge the voter rolls in the state specifically targeting african-americans republicans of course fiercely deny this saying they're simply trying to protect the integrity of the election last but not least california a huge reliably blue state in presidential election years and nonetheless has a large republican voting contingent democrats are heavily targeting these seven districts which are currently represented by republicans but all voted for the

democratic candidate hillary clinton and the twenty sixteen presidential election the california races are a big hurdle that the democrats need to cross if they want to accomplish their main goal of taking back the house of representatives these elections have been described over and over again as one of the most important of america's lifetimes a lot is at stake and a lot could change. maya shooter reporting there from d.c. and joining me now on the set is that pseudo david will she is with the german marshall fund of the u.s. here in berlin so happy to have you here on this very exciting day how closely are these midterms being watched here in europe you know i do think that people are really interested in the midterm election because this is a referendum on president trump and it's also about what kind of direction the country decides to go toward and i think for europeans president trump has been such sort of a shock to the system so they kind of want to see what are americans thinking do

they what do are they going to reaffirm him the power to continue for. toward the end of his administration or is this going to be a check on his power write the checks and balances that everybody is reading for him in terms of foreign policy what type of impact do you think the outcome of this mid-term election will have if any well i mean to be honest with you president trump will still be able to wield quite a significant amount of authority when it comes to foreign policy but of course if there is a change in the majority of the house flips for example which most pundits are predicting he will be distracted by investigations by hearings and it will be harder for him and his staff and the white house to carry out the goals that they have especially when it comes to trade for example i mean there is the. old nafta deal that's now been needs to be. legislated in the house or voted on in the house and also future trade deals for example with europe so

a lot is at stake indeed in terms of transatlantic relations so they've been quite strained to say the least in the in the past couple of months do you foresee this becoming a turning point. well you know i think europeans probably will have to get used to a different america even after this after this mid-term and maybe even beyond two thousand and twenty. whether or not president trying gets reelected or if a democrat wins certain things will probably stay you know i think america is going to always expect europe to play more of a sense of role when it comes to collective security i think trade deals will be harder i mean people are skeptical both democrats and republicans about open trade deals and this election is also about the make up of america is it going to be a country that believes in immigration so i mean all these factors is the country going to be protectionist naida nativist or anti internationalist that will all

have an impact on europe ok let's narrow view a little bit what what does this mean this this particular mid-term election for bilateral relations between washington and berlin right well i think you know officially of executive to executive it's still going to remain strained and somewhat difficult especially as leadership changes also occur here in berlin but you know the german government and others foundations civil society there are a lot of ties between subnational leaders between actors and civil society in arts and culture so even in this difficult time between the leaders of germany in the united states or in transatlantic relations there are other networks that exist that will be there to help the relationship when it is ready for the rebuilding phase or in birth country seem to be in a moment of transition so quite interesting times ahead of us david a will from the german marshall fund of the us here in berlin thank you so much for

spending time with you. art was for you to speak out with some of the other stories making news around the world. secretary of state mike pompei o has said that the u.s. will relentlessly pursue iran all this after president trump ordered renewed sanctions on the country washington wants tehran to end its ballistic missile program and abandon regional conflicts iranian president hassan rouhani says tehran will defy american demands. around twenty palestinians have been injured by israeli forces while trying to break the decades long maritime blockade of the gaza strip israeli military fired tear gas and live ammunition at protesters nearly forty fishing boats were forced to return to shore. french judicial sources say they've uncovered a plan to attack a president in money when my call police have arrested six members of the radical far right wing official say the plan was vague and not final but that it was

violence. cameron's veteran president paul biala has been sworn in for a seventh term following elections marred by violence and allegations of fraud beyond has ruled the majority french speaking west african nation for thirty five years and his inauguration address he dismissed hopes of secession for some troubled regions where the english speaking minority is calling for more autonomy now his comments come a day after seventy nine school children were kidnapped in the angle of phone northwest region unverified video showed the voice held by people claiming to be separatists. alright let's bring in our correspondent major increase in nigeria he just came back from cameroon a you and i believe you were in that very region do we have any news about the

whereabouts of the kidnapped girls and boys. unfortunately not although a mess of search operation has started by the army of cameroon we however have more information on what has really happened on the night from sunday to monday some of the children who managed to escape soltis how the abductors came to the school managed to get access to one of the dormitories then rounded up all the children there beating some of them and before taking them to the bush they also tried to get access to more rooms to more dormitories to get more kids so unfortunately this didn't work out because otherwise most likely the number of children away affected would have been even higher no of course was mind boggling adrian is why would some separatists kidnap sello anglo from children what's the point. well you need to know that for about two years now most of the schools in the

region have been closed because of pressure from the separatists size they don't want the children to attend schools where they're taught in the french system so the obvious answer would be they try to duck the good of the children to force other schools to also close down but the thing is that none of the ten groups that operate in the in the region none of the ten separatist groups have claimed responsibility all that we have is a video with an unknown man talking to the hostages and it is not clear if he belongs to any of those groups some of the separatist groups already said these children quickly have to return they said these are not separatists behind it and there's a lot of speculation going on right now in cameroon some people even blaming the government saying they will use this to justify further attacks on the separatists and as you know there's been a lot of allegations on human rights abuses against the military and the police forces in cameroon in the past but as of now this is all speculations it's very

difficult to say what's really going on because independent journalists or observers are not allowed to enter this region right now and local journalists are not free to report from there right here krishna reporting thank you very much for people across india are preparing to celebrate deval or the festival of lights but in delhi it's turned into a time of protests or demonstrators are worried over dangerous air quality in india's capital current pollution levels measure more than thirty five times the world health organization's safe limit and the approach of de volley has brought more concern because traditionally people set off fireworks during this holiday which could dirty the air even more. in most indian homes this is what the valley the ferry. but the pollution spiking in the city of dead some are questioning the age old tradition.

the last time the kentucky family celebrated the body of the car wasn't that he had a cold now the best of the season meet the end of outdoor activity where the cons heidi just the aussies and i she's better off going for. them other pub being dropped by a caucus on the run but now as a campaigner. she thinks it's time to change this is a festival of lights as well not as to a crowd goes nowhere you know over the years that you feel but i do not miss it one minute or one second because it's a matter of my own children it's a matter of my one hell that you know this is there is no compromise on that. already the goods have missed a crucial tone in the us but back to sessions to extend these talks look at the situation has become so dire that this that these doctors have declared a public health emergency. this is becoming a familiar scene and complaints of respiratory problems shoot up everything the

doctors say the elderly and the young are the worst affected. in the north. dr other than a long surgeon has long campaigned for the right to be born there in the capital over thirty years he says he has seen lungs and benito interim a healthy bank to black everybody breathing in the city of delhi including you and me smoking twenty cigarettes and unfortunately that includes of a newborn's we are a country who presents a bag of cigarettes to its newborns on the day one of their light and fire crackers he says only act to the problem as opposed to the pollution coming from those sources crack good presidents a very cute and very highly and very toxic level i call it the lowest hanging fruit as far as the direct defining a cause of pollution is concerned. even in jest supreme court has weighed in on the

issue two years ago it's temporary band the scene of fire crackers it's this you know it tighten these limitations for them but not everyone is happy with the band traders are angry deceive the destruction the hurting business and destroying the festive environment daily even mean firecracker market usually wrong with crowds that this time of the you can't get any quiet being put on a hired gun down the hall thing then not selling environment friendly fire but shopkeepers see these do not exist. on the streets of dandy precedents have mixed belief that. if we can bust crackers in the hole and would on john response to ana doesn't do it so much what harm is being done by one day of the body in india i feel it's my personal responsibility to give a green in my men to my kids and the generations to come so i would like them to

breed without wearing the mask on throughout and that's what constantly i've been telling my kids that you know having been the i believe it's important because also because that some of it brings families together on the other side it does on the environment. some are beginning to acknowledge that the valley is about more than firecracker it's a deal of light a deal of celebration and a deal to get to. and the more who feel this way the easier and he made great. art now over to christophe and trouble for the world's biggest hedge fund that's right we're talking black rock prosecutors searched offices of us had from blackrock in munich today trying to thirty investigators were reported to have looked for evidence related to disputes tax refunds between the year of two thousand and seven and twenty ten a spokesman for black rock told german daily humble slab the company was working with prosecutors in an ongoing and missed it and here's what the fuss is about on the so-called come x. arrangement blackrock repeatedly told investors. stocks more than one hundred

different banks and funds the securities will move back and forth between several participants was the results that the was holding tax or to fit gets were issued several times but never paid the german government has long been criticized for not doing anything about these tax dodges which were worth billions of dollars and the case could become fresh could get fresh urgency is now as for the mets seen here he's the head of the supervisory board of blacks from sturm an entity is a contender to succeed i'm going to america and leading germany's christian democratic union for more of this that's close over to where big money plays a big role conrad boson is our man for the markets in frankfurt conrad any reaction on the trading floor to these surges today a black mark in munich or i can tell you because of this was really the talk of the town here in germany's financial center frankfurt where black rock also has large offices but i can also tell you that people i talk to here find it difficult to

believe how the simple act of lending stocks to someone might be illegal short selling is another speculative strategy where the lending and the borrowing of stocks is involved making the lender responsible for what the borrower does that would be like making the issue of money responsible if this money is being used in crimes so it's likely that blackrock here is more of a witness than a suspect all right let's talk about philly's mats the man of the eye of the potential storm he'll really be managed damaged by this. well you know you said it so the deals. we are talking about here have happened between two thousand and seven and two thousand and ten that's before mats became the chief of black rock supervisory board here in germany but it's quite likely that it was that

his critics won't be interested in the fine print for them mats is a nasty capitalist anyway and he's also a millionaire conrad bosun in frankfurt thank you for now we'll come back to you in a moment italy is putting pressure on the european union to place a e.u. wide tax on big digital companies by the end of the year. e.u. finance ministers italy's giovanni said rome will go ahead and apply international tax if there's no deal within the e.u. member states are divided on a potential plan of the e.u. commission to place a three percent tax return over a bit of big companies countries like germany and ireland oppose the idea and fear of retaliation by the united states because the levy would predominantly hit us first. cannot back to you in frankfurt why is italy leading the charge here. you know italy desperately desperately needs money

and it's popular to tax the large tech companies popular with voters that is many people in italy and not only in this country also here in germany are angry that the large tech firms pay so little tax on their income you know by seeking the most favorable legislation in terms of taxes and here in europe they find for example in ireland or in luxembourg that's why countries like italy have come up with the idea to tax the revenues the sales the turn over of large tech corporations this of course might be against internationally agreed rules for trading for taxing. corporate incomes and that's why the european union wants a common approach here colorado's in frankfurt thank you expect a lot out of court case that is drawing

a lot of attention in germany absolutely christophe a former nazi concentration camp guard has gone on trial here in germany a man is facing hundreds of counts of accessory to murder for alleged crimes at least a tough camp in nazi occupied poland over sixty thousand people were killed at the camp and time is running out to prosecute those responsible. it is likely to be one of the last cases of its kind ninety four year old johann arriving in court today accused of being an accessory to murder. from one hundred forty two to nine hundred forty four the form assessment served as a garbage concentration camp in the polish city of dun sc over one hundred thousand people were imprisoned too tall for sixty five thousand of them were killed most of them gassed or shot. there is no evidence of the defendant being involved in

individual murders but the prosecution argues he must have known about the killings and was therefore an accessory. we have information from old interrogations from guards and witnesses people knew all too well what was going on in the camp. in addition the camp was structured in such a way that you had a good overview of the whole care from the watchtowers you could also see through the fence that's why we assume that all the guards knew what went on especially when you served in a camp as long as the defendant did. seven years ago the case against the former guard at a different camp the extermination camps will be bor such a legal precedent in that case the guard john demjanjuk was convicted as an accessory to twenty eight thousand murders a german court ruled that the defendant did not have to personally commit murder to be found guilty. the ruling sparked several new trials against former concentration

camp workers. in this latest trial seventeen survivors and relatives of starter victims from around the world are represented as co plaintiff's lawyer owner is arthur acts for an elderly couple from israel who are interred at start off as children. for my clients this isn't about a prison sentence for the defendant they don't want to see him suffer they want him to engage with his past to tell the truth and not to obscure trivialize or deny these crimes like so many s.s. men and others who were responsible have done in the past. year one are has never denied being a guard at start off but claims he knew nothing of the killings and was never a nazi due to his old age the trial hearings will only last up to two hours a day the case against him will continue until mid january.

and our minder now our main story that we're following this hour. u.s. . voters are casting ballots in what many describe as the most pivotal midterm elections in decades the poll is being seen as a referendum on donald trump's presidency with a strong showing democrats could take back control of congress. thank you so much for watching it did every news on leyla rock in berlin on behalf of the entire team thank you so much for spending this part of your day with us the news continues at the top of the hour see. what. the.

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