>> these are the headlines. the pivotal return u.s. election is underway. it could change the balance of power halfway through the president's second term. analysts say the republicans could win a majority. hundreds of thousands of shiite pilgrims have to the iraqi shrine city of karbala. they are braving the threat of the jihadist attack to mark one of the holiest days of their faith. and ukraine plus rebel leader is sworn in as the separatist region in the east, this is the president holds top level security meeting in the wake of

sunday's vote that is backed by russia but not by the u.s. or eu . bad economic news for the european union. problems predicted for the rate is the kindest, including france. and a polite little bear is popping up all over london. more on the celebrity-designed statues of paddington bear on the way. i am in paris. thanks for joining us. america is voting today in one of the most pivotal elections in years. traditionally the party of the sitting president tends to fare badly in elections in the middle of the second term, but this time seems like it could be particularly bad for barack

obama. let's bring in our washington correspondent. very early there in the morning. taking a look forward at this day, these kinds of regular midterm elections are truly an american phenomenon, i would say. why are they so organs and one is truly the biggest issue at stake? >> one third of the senate is up for grabs. the senate is the most important institution in these midterm elections. it has been under democratic control since 2006. indications and polls and expert opinions all indicate that the senate could very well be in republican hands at the end of the day for the first time since 2006. what these midterm elections don't do is they don't get rid of the president. president barack obama will remain in the white house for another two years. but if the senate indian will be under republican control for the next two years, that will blunt

the white house agenda significantly. it will be very difficult for president obama to get anything done that he wants to get done in the final two years of his presidency. if you want to take a look at how important these midterm elections are, as usual you only have to look at the money being spent. $4 billion in the midterm elections have been spent. this is my candidate, but also by outside groups and lots of the campaigning, as has been the norm over the last few years from a very negative. a lot of attack advertisements have been seen and the republican tactic is that a vote for a republican candidate is a vote against obama. if this turns out to be true republican control of the senate, we are in for 2 pretty painful years for the obama presidency, the final two years. >> many people tend to vote with their pocketbooks.

given that the u.s. economy is actually doing pretty well at the moment, unemployment is at a record low why are voters still so against the president? >> that is a very good question. democrats have been using any economic statistics they have been able to find, and unemployment going down is probably the best one there is. but republicans will still say that the president should have done more. the truth of the matter is that this is an unpopular president. his lack of popularity is nationwide. it is particularly acute in some of the swing states that we are looking at today. some of the states where democratic incumbents in the senate might lose control of their seats to republicans. this is why democratic candidates have been shying away from their own president. they don't want to be seen on stage with him because he is so unpopular. what republicans are saying largely is that this is a president who has been

overreaching. for example, imposing the affordable care act, or obamacare, as republicans are calling it, that is something that republicans want to get rid of. the truth of the matter is that this is an unpopular president and is he who will be punished in the elections. it is always incumbents who get punished, and that is why so many democrats risk losing their seats in the senate and may also be losing in the house of representatives. it looks like a night of losses ahead for democrats. the big surprise would be if democrats were to keep control of the senate and the u.s. congress. >> we will be keeping an eye on this election throughout the day and through tomorrow. there are several tight senate races and one of the hardest fought contest is in colorado. that is where the incumbent democrat mark udall faces a

stiff challenge from republican cory gardner. >> the crowd goes wild for political star. hillary clinton is in the room. for the former secretary of campaigning for herself yet. she is on the stump for democratic colorado senator mark udall, who is fighting the battle of his political career. two days later it is first lady lady michelle obama who is on the ground in denver rallying voters. her husband is cheating clear, though. the president's popularity ratings are seen as toxic by many democratic candidates. >> if you all want a senator who truly shares your values and will keep on standing up for you and your family, every day out there in washington, then you need to do everything in your power to reelect mark udall as your senator. we have got to get this done,

and i know that we can. >> the higher the stakes, the bigger the names, and the stakes for the democrats have hardly been higher. republicans only needed to gain six seats to take over the u.s. senate, a goal that looks within reach. in colorado, republican cory gardner came late to the race but he has raised more funds than the sitting senator, who he says is just playing politics. >> what this comes down to his leadership. somebody in office who makes sure that we put colorado first but it wouldn't it be nice if we had more colorado in washington unless washington and colorado -- and less washington in and colorado? >> this is one of the tightest races in the country and could determine who controls the u.s. senate. >> hundreds of thousands of shiite pilgrims have packed the iraqi shrine city of karbala in midst of the threat of a

jihadist attack to market one of the holiest days of their faith. the islamic state group has claimed two bombings that left 20 dead in baghdad sunday. more now on shiite pilgrims who are determined to commemorate the data matter the risk -- the day no matter the risk. >> each bag and each individual is meticulously searched. pilgrims are faced with stringent security checks, as they observe the morning they have one of the most important -- the morning date of one of the most important dates in their religious calendar. islamic state militants could strike, but pilgrims say they are not intimidated. >> movement is smooth and security forces are deployed everywhere. they will not stop us. >> we are not afraid of the islamic state organization and we are all united, god willing.

we are not afraid of bombings. the road is very safe god willing. the banner will remain high. >> in the last couple of days, thousands of iraqi pilgrims have flocked to the city of kampala to commemorate the success of imam hussein. he died in the battle of the city in the year 680 and is one of the most respected shiite figures. pilgrims may say they are not scared, but the threat of the terrorist attack israel. in the last few days -- the threat of a terrorist attack is real. the last two days, terrorist bombings have hit the city. >> in lebanon, the head of hezbollah made a rare public appearance monday ahead of the commemoration. hassan nasrallah spoke to thousands of his supporters in the southern suburbs of beirut. the head of the shiite militant group usually addresses supporters via video link for

fear of assassination. hezbollah forces are currently fighting in syria alongside the troops of president bashar al-assad. meanwhile france's foreign minister is calling for more help to be given to syrian rebels and that country's city of aleppo. the battle for kobane is absorbed much of the focus in syria in recent weeks, but in a column published in three international newspapers today he said the islamic state fighters turning back from kobane would instead turned to aleppo, already torn apart by syria's civil war. >> are unesco world heritage site in an ancient city. aleppo is now a battlefield in ruins. syria's second largest city happened the largest remaining stronghold in the opposition against bashar al-assad, but according to the french foreign minister, it also risks falling to the islamic state organization. in an article published in

three papers including "the washington post," the group is described as two sides of the same barbaric coin. he says aleppo would become the focus of the i.s. organization as it turned away from the money. -- from kobane. >> it would mean condemning 3000 men, women, and children to a terrible fate. >> the appeal comes just days after turkish president erdogan visited paris from urging the u.s.-led coalition to focus its campaign against the i.s. group entirely on kobane. france is carrying out its own airstrikes inside syria. there are no concrete details about how to save aleppo, but he says that the international coalition can leave it to its fate -- cannot leave it to its

fate, a dark choice between the assad regime and the islamic state group. >> francois hollande has spoken out against the crisis in burkina faso for the present since the president there was fresh from our last week. hollande urged the military in burkina faso to quickly hand power to a civilian authority capable of organizing elections. the army stepped into the power vacuum in burkina faso after mass protests forced the president to leave but military officials say they don't want to stay in power and that they will soon name a consensus later tasked with overseeing return to an elected government. hollande told reporters that he hoped that would be confirmed in the coming hours. for more now, let's go to our correspondent there. >> the negotiations between the

military made a big step forward, after a lot of international pressure. the african union, for instance gave an ultimatum to the military and gave them two weeks to name a civilian leader before imposing the sanctions. france, the former colonial power, also asked for a swift transition and a new civilian leader. this is precisely what lieutenant colonel, interim president of burkina faso, promised, a quick transition in accordance with the constitution and a consensus leader would be named by -- would be named to lead a transitional body. no precise timeline was given and no further details were given about what the transition would be exactly, when would the new elections the organized could also, -- be organized. also, the opposition parties

have to work together to decide who will lead the transitional body. there is a lot of work to be done to be certain that a peaceful transition is in motion here in burkina faso. >> now to ukraine, where president poroshenko is holding an emergency security meeting and to examine the already teetering peace accord with progression separatists in the east. it comes after the russians defiantly staged insurrection in the region. the results of the vote have been backed by russia but slammed by the u.s. and eu. >> in ukraine, delicate truce hangs in the balance. angered by sunday's moscow backed elections in rebel-held areas of eastern ukraine president petro poroshenko is threatened to rip about the protocol peace plan. he wants to abolish a law that would have given rebel-held regi

o autonomyn and the possibility tos monday, the ukrainian leader called the elections a sham. >> under the banks of -- barrels of tanks and machine guns, they cannot be called elections by its definition. gangsters, terrorists, and invaders can cram themselves as deputies from ministers, and prime ministers, or even kings and emperors. but whatever they put on their heads, there will still be invaders, thieves, and gunmen. >> rebels say the election confirms the region's independence from kiev. no monitors were present to verify the election where rebel leaders won comfortably. forces and rebels traded gunfire at the donetsk airport adding

fuel to the flame him a the kremlin has asked them to end the offensive end the eastern area of the country, saying that the newly minted leaders have enough authority to hold talks. >> the pivotal u.s. midterm election is underway. the vote today could change the balance of power halfway through the president's second term. at stake, control of the senate, with analysts saying that republicans could win a majority. hundreds of thousands of shiite pilgrims packed the iraqi shrine city of karbala. they are braving the threat of the jihadist attack to mark one of the holiest days of their faith. and ukraine's rebel leader is sworn in as the head of the separatist region in the east. this as the ukrainian president holds a top level security meeting in the wake of sunday's vote back in russia but slammed by the u.s. and the eu. time for the day's business

news. let's start with a gloomy economic outlook. >> sluggish economic growth, low inflation, and in looming budget deficit for france. the european commission says that while recovery is underway, it is slower than had been expected. it is particularly hard to digest -- the budget deficit will rise to 4.7 percent of gdp. >> european commission delivered a grim message on the region's economy. >> there is no single and simple answer. economic recovery is clearly struggling to gather momentum. >> eurozone's two largest economies saw the forecast cut 1% from six months ago.

there is more bad news on the budget front for parents. the budget deficit will rise to 4.7% of gdp by 2016, far above the french government's forecast , and it will make it the largest deficit in europe. difficult to do when the economy is stagnant. >> france is expected to register only slow growth and 0.7%, a subdued pace of private consumption, and still contracting. >> eurozone was also revised down to 1.1%. deep-seated structural problems remain. the figure 70 fears that the eu could be headed toward its third recession in seven years. there was some good news.

after years of tax rises ireland is forecast to grow 4.6% this year, the fastest rate in the eu. >> let's look at how that news is moving the markets. we have seen the indices turn right at the forecast of the european commission was announced. all of the main markets are trading up. note great movement there on the markets. let's take a quick look at what is happening on the oil markets. oil prices have fallen to a four-year low after reports that saudi arabia is cutting its prices for consumers in the united states. the brent crude index is down 2.5%. the news on what is happening with oil prices. a quick word about alibaba, the chinese e-commerce giant which is reported its first set of results. revenues of the company were up 54% in the last quarter $2.7

billion. the company says it has 307 million users almost 10 million more than had been estimated. >> let's go to britain, where a landmark ruling on holiday pay could have an effect on thousands of workers. >> this is a decision from the u.k.'s employment appeal tribunal. calculating holiday pay for workers who regularly do overtime. the tribunal ruled that if a worker regularly does overtime, it too should be counted. the workers could be entitled to payouts of thousands. it mostly affects people in the retail and manufacturing sectors. some are warning that it could cost employers dearly. >> quick look at other business stories? >> jpmorgan being investigated for many leading foreign exchange markets. set aside $1.3 billion to cover

potential costs of inquiry, a total of $5.9 billion. jpmorgan says it is cooperating with the investigation. former banker has been cleared of accusations -- the former employee of this was lender ubs was accused of conspiring with wealthy americans to hide $20 billion in secret offshore accounts. but he was acquitted by a jury in florida of all charges. and carmaker nissan has seen their profits rise by a quarter in the past year. earnings of 2.2 billion dollars from strong sales in north america and the weaker yen. >> just to wrap up, singer taylor swift has found herself in the middle of another break up. >> she does like to write songs about breakups. the singer's music has been removed from the online streaming service spotify. the record label or taylor swift have not explained why the step has been taken, but it is

thought to be that she can make more money from conventional record sales done from online listening. spotify said in a blog post that it hopes she changes her mind. 16 million of their users listen to a taylor swift song in the past 30 days. her new album is when to break record sales in the u.s. this week. >> we will keep an eye on that. time for our press review on "france 24." we have with us today for the press review, high, nick. lots of focus on the u.s. midterm elections. >> let's go straight away to "wall street journal" europe edition. the headline for me personally summed up a lot of the feeling about this, both the u.s. midterms -- saying it signals a change again, and the opening words to the main piece about the midterms, the author that

the united states vote will for the first time in a decade that american voters have ousted a party from control of congress or the white house. it reflects the degree of dissatisfaction generally across the board. let's look at a cartoon on the other side of the country good. "the l.a. times" has this, a flavor of the u.s. vote. "fed up with the choices -- obama stinks or obama doesn't stink. pretty brutal about the state of play. >> turning into a referendum in the u.s. you look at a piece in "the washington post" that looked at where did obama go wrong. >> that is its headline, literally could it argues that what happened with obama, six years of delivering very good speeches but not really ever

translating them into action and that has been the main problem. his second term crises have included edward snowden the nsa scandal where for so much about, immigration issues from the border with mexico, islamists beheading foreigners, including americans, and more recently, we have seen ebola. "the washington post" says he is not delivering in terms of achievement on those crises while delivering great speeches. turning to "the chicago tribune" -- >> oh. >> home territory for him. the analysis piece there was striking, very anti-everything it seems to me. it argues that this election day, the commentators saying, "i will vote against the financial glers in the self-involved the incumbents who are running america into the ground." the whole issue of incumbency is

perhaps falling apart for those people who have the job. very critical comment piece there. one of the great lines that i love in it was "in terms of the people who are running america today, pocket plan to do better." >> ooh that is tufted what about the french papers? >> obama leads in there -- not in the french press. -- not in the polls but in the french press. this has him smiling. what does this translate as? >> wear and tear, too much wear and tear. >> he is worn out. are the democrats headed for a stinging defeat or will they lose the senate to the room republicans -- to the republicans? >>very much on the front pag. you can't see offensive -- you can see a pensive picture of

him. "la cible" which means "target." republicans are going for the jugular as far as the repressedñ

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