berlin. tonight, a message from the trump administration to the leaders of iran, i'd like a normal country or watch your economy crumble. the u.s. slept until this anxious -- slapped the toughest sanctions yet on iran. coming up, u.s. voters are gearing up to cast their votes. this is seen as a referendum on

president trump. with the right outcome, the democrats could stymie his plplans. and ththe fate for a christian woman accused of blasphemous me -- blasphemy in pakistan. we will talk about the woman's future. i'm brent goff, it is good to have you with us. iran is bowing to resist u.s. sanctions. this is targeting the oil and financial sectors. washington is promising to pile relentless pressure on iran. after pulling out of a nuclear deal can make, the u.s. wants to force iran to ban its weapons programs.

the president of iran says his country is in an economic war withth the u.s. and that the sanctions will cause ordinary iranians to suffer. >> iranians think carefully about what they buy these days. especially when it comes to luxury goods. this woman says she mostly window shops because of economic hardship. >> high prices negatively impacts every individual and every family. people used to be happier. now whenever they want to buy something, they have to ask whether they really need it or not. food prices have doubled over the past year just under the threat of sanctions long before they took effect. iran plus national currency has lost more than two thirds of its value over the past two months in relation to the u.s. dollar.

>> the do valuation of the currency threatens my existence, other people's existence. the psychological pressure means that people queue up to buy dollars. >> now that u.s. sanctions are enforced, the situation is likely to deter further. high prices have put medicine out of reach for many. >> prices for medicine have changed a lot, maybe 80%. i can buy my own medicine anymore. i have not taken it into months. >> some are angry at the u.s., some at their own government. >> we have never lived without sanctions. we don't know what it feels like or whether our lives would improve. that is thanks to our own government. christ facing economic

isolation, they have pledged to overcome the sanctions. they said the measures are unfair and illegal. >> we are in economic war. today, we face trump, it is no different than her dumb same -- saddam hussein. >> it is the ordinary people of iran is uppermost. brent: here with me is teresa trevor. she is here at the big table with us. it is good to see you. let's talk about what the top u.s. envoy t to iran said. he said iranians have lost their competence in the clerical establishment. how supportive do you think iranians are of their leaders tonight? >> that depends on the you ask. iranian society is split between those who support the government

and those are critical. the people are right in between those two groups and they matter. to commence the iranian government was trying to reduce the impact of the sanctions on ordinary iranians, they are already handing out food baskets for families with low incomes. that is a thing they're hoping to ease there. there might be more protests. brent: is the regime afraid of the poor people or middle-class rising up? >> they are always accusing them of this. >> the stated objective is to stop all iranian crude exports. >> right now, the answer is no, the u.s. administration issued eight waivers to expand on buying iranian oil to several

countries like china, india,, japan, turkey. they have demonstrated that they are reducing the amount that they are buying. it is a special situation. oil prices went up after sanctions went into effect. brent: there is a huge exception, china, turkey. tehran has tried to enforce their influence. >> they have not shown any signs of backing down. the government is always rejecting fresh negotiations because they are saying they would not get anything in return if they make changes to their ballistic missile program. it is very important to see that those are the issues that the iran government does not even fully control. they are very powerful group that was designed to o save the.

brent: tehran says they will bypass the sanctions. how will it do that? >> they have a lot of practice. there were sanctions in place and some people got very rich by passing the sanctions. this time, iran is not alone in this task. the europeans, china and russia survey what ways to trade with iran. quest that was our correspondent. thank you very much. brent: the trump administration is talking about one topic. democrats and republicans are making the final repeals -- appeals to voters. this is seen as a referendum on balance on. the democrats want to win back control of congress.

we will cross, live to washington. what is at stake in these midterms? >> the midterms are about congress. they can make or break a president's agenda. republican control of the house of representatives and the senate has made trump life very easy. if democrats flip one or both houses, the good times be over. the entire house, all 435 seats are up for election. the republicans hold 235 to the democrats 193. that is a lot of distance. the democrats hope that this little of republicans leaving their seats with enough anti-trump fury among voters will deliver them the e house. while all eyes are on the 30 or so tossups, this is too close to call. on the senate side, republicans

will with the slimmest of majoririties, 51 of 100 seats. it sounds like good news for democrats. most of these are seats that democrats need to defend. polling data suggests just may 6 seats in all our tossups. the democrats have been limited in effectively assisting trop. what if they win? they could block his agenda and introduce their own. they could investigate the myriad of allegations and abuse. democrats could reject trump appointees and impeach a long and fraught process that starts in the house and ends in the senate. democrats have history on their side as the president's party usually suffers in the midterms. whether that trend stays true won't be clear until balance iran.

>> that will be this time tomorrow night. let's go to the u.s. capital. oliver joins us. why is there so much interest in an election that doesn't involve picking a new u.s. president? oliver: donald trump is not even on the ballot himself but he made this an election all about him. he is fighting for approval off his america first policies. his policies of protectionism, tariffs, the tax cuts and withdrawals from international agreements. what is at stake is the control of two chambers of america in congress. -- american congress. if the republicans were to defend their majority here that they currently hold, that would not only mean and approval of donald trump's politics but it would also empower him to carry

on just the way he did in the past. if the democrats would gain the upper hand in the house which is the most likely scenario right now, that would weaken donald trump. the democrats could block certain policies and they could also trigger an impeachment process. something that donald trump wants to avoid at all costs. brent: what key races should we be looking out for? oliver: it is about the battlegrounds and certain states. in some states, the situation is pretty clear. in other states we are looking at very tight races. one of the closest watched races is in the southern state of georgia. democrat stacy abrams, the former minority leader is trying to become the first female african-american governor in american history.

her opponent which is the current secretary of state is fighting fiercely against her. he launched a probe of the democrats of georgia over an alleged hacking attempt. he doesn't have any proof of that. the democrats called this an election stunt. it reflects the overall atmosphere here in the midterm elections. they are all about rhetoric of the division -- rhetoric of division and winning at all costs. brent: in washington, oliver, thank you. the fate of the pakistani christian woman is back in the hands of the country's supreme court tonight. islamist hardliners have filed an appeal and a at reversing g r acquittatal on blasphemy charge. she spent eight years on death row before us up in court ruling counter innocent last week. she has been stopped from living

pakistan pending the appeal. speaking at a press confererenc, her lawyer said that he had fled the country fearing for r his le after hard-line violence arrested following news of the acquittal. dw spoke with understand's administer. we asked if she was safe to remain in pakistan. is it save given the violence and the intense anger over the case? >> the security around her is very tight. we are confident that she is ready. because ofof her security, she s under security. brent: that was the security

ministster of pakistan speaking with us. here are stories makaking heheadlines around thehe world. videdeo has emerged showing arod 80 students kidnapped from a school in the city of amendment. this is in the western english-speaking part of cameroon. it was believed they are taken by a group of separatists. this is in the majority are speaking country. saudi arabia has told the united nations s that it willll prosece the alleged perpetrtrators in te killing of journalist jamal khashoggi. they said they saw as him center is -- investigate his slaying in istanbul. instead, they worked to remove evidence. this man has been ordered to take immediate retirement. he has been under pressure to

drop them ever since back in august when he appeared to downplay violence against migrants. staying here in germany, the parties in the fragile coalition with a have been confronting their futures at a second day of talks here in berlin. poor showings in recent state elections have left the christian democratic partner, the social democrats scrambling to chart a nupathe. they are facing deep skepticism over their role in this grand coalition government. the race is on to succeed angela merkel as leader of the party. > since angela merkel annound that she will give up the conservative party leadership, many have been worried that it could weaken her international standing. but she refuted that. >> i think the democratic search

for a new party leader is common practice in other countries as well. i am not worried about that in any way. >> at the start of the second day of the party leadership meeting, the mood was visibly good. it is as if her decision to step down as party leader in the upcoming race for her successor have lifted the conservative spirits. >> it is good that we have a selection process now. it is going to get really exciting at the regional conferences. party members are looking forward to meeting the candidates and finding out what they stand for. it will be democracy at its best. >> i think other parties would welcome this. it invigorates the cdu. it motivates the party. >> across town, the social democrats have also gathered to discuss their future in the governing coalition. after bruising results in two recent state elections, their leader was under pressure to

sharpen her party's profile. her message was one of solidarity. it was underlined by nihilists giving the statement find by her party colleagues. >> we stand united, we believe in the power of cohesion. we are convinced that nothing is missing from our country more than a political party that stands for solidarity within society above all else. that party is the spd. , her answer was brief. >> that did not come up. >> after weeks of speculation about the future of the television, it seems they are sent to carry on. until angela merkel's successor is chosen based. -- at least.

brent: stephen is here with a look at the eu's budget problems. >> the pressure is growing on italy to redraw is 2019 budget plan. they lined up behind the eu commission. brussels has rejected italy's spending plan. they give the country a few weeks to submit a new version. they said there is no plan b to his program. is big on deficit spending. let's turn to our brussels correspondent. we have heard a lot from brussels about italy's budget. what did we hear from eurozone members? >> they were pretty united when it comes to the demand of the commission that italy should hand in a new draft budget. they showed some room with less

ability. the advice was very clear. take the hand that has been reached out to you from the eu commission, send in a new budget. >> what is the next step? >> the next step is that italy has time until the 13th of november. the commission could decide to slap them with the financial fine. there is a whole hierarchy of fines. it would be finance ministers that have to decide whether they actually want to finance any of this. >> that would take some time to figure out. which is likely to happen first? that the eu punishes italy and mark or the markets -- that the eu punishes italy? for the markets for the defiance? >> you have to look at the

numbers for an answer. costs have edged up ever since. the commission has rejected the italian draft budget. what i can see is downgraded toward junk territory. you have markets, that will be much quicker. >> the eu is punished as one. can they afford for italy to be punished? whether by itselelf or by the markets? >> the eu is walking a tightrope. they want to emphasize that the rules are working. you have to stick to the rules if you are in the club of 19 countries who have the euro as a common currency. on the other hand, they face the dilemma that they don't want to enlarge the rift between rome and brussels. they don't want to fuel euro skepticism. >>'s liver to cover mise miles

on either side of this debate right now? -- is there room to compromise on either side of this debate right now? >> they have indicated that they are not so flexible. everyone has violated diesels but nobody has been asked as consciously and motivated as the italians have now. >> a bit of brinkmanship there before something happens. thank you. open for business. that has been china's message. beijing has color itself as a champion of global free trade while washington puts up areas. that is the message behind and import their being held in shanghai. the reality is not so simple. our correspondent reports.

>> the chinese government wants this to be seen as an event that stands for free trade. there is and vehicleses are amog the many items on display. this is not your ordinary industry fair. it is a show. it aims to highlight china possible in the business world. 3600 companies are taking part. > the fair appears to be a gd platform to position ourselves politically. we are not here to sell products, we want to continue to position ourselves as a company and promote ourselves. >> the five-day fair targets a wide audience. a variety of forms and workshops underscore the message that the chinese government wants to send amid the trade dispute with the u.s..

>> the fair shows that china is an open and generous country in global trade. whereas the u.s. launched the trade war and symbolizes protectionism and unilateralism. but foreign companies also say that china is not really an open market. they face a number of barriers such as import tariffs. those that worse companies to major in pictures with local firms, it industries that are closed off to foreign countries. china's market remains attractive despite the trade war. we are staying out of it, you're somewhere in the middle. we sell to both countries. both countries are important. washington has increased tariffs and imposed new ones on chinese products in recent months. now the chinese government is ready to hit back.

>> maybe you have heard of the hyperloop. here is the first look at the time of that makes it possible. elon musk is behind the project and has tweeted a video after walking the full-length of a two mile-long tunnel that has been dug out for testing next month. they will buy the shuttle pods once the tests are completed. the ambitious project is supposed to change how we travel by shooting the capsules through the tunnel at 900 kilometers per hour. >> if they can't build high-speed trains, maybe the candles hyperlinks. camilla cabello was the top winner at the mtv europe music awards. she took home the best artist award. this featured a stellar performance by singer r janet jacksoson. >> the ladies took charge of this year's eni -- ema's.

camilla cabello scooped up many awards. she took the stage again and again, picking up best video, best u.s. act, best song and best artist. the cuban-american singer was propelled to start them just last year when her hit "havana" climbed to number one on several charts around the world. ♪ he took me back to east atlanta, na, na, na. ♪ >> janet jackson move the

audience with her me too acceptance speech after fifightg through the male-dominated industry for years. janet jackson: i am one of those women, womomen have b been gaggd bo literally and emotionally. women who have been abused, intimidated, l lived in fear. i stand with you. you are my sisters. >> jackson says artiststs all share reresponsibityty to spk ouout againstst gender inequali. >> it crosses all borders, and recognizes the dignity o of all peoplele and affirmsms the beauf all faiths. >> nicki minaj also went home with both hands full. she won the awards for best look and best hip-hop. this has historically allowed for little room for female megastars.

out on the red carpet, the big winner camilla cabello offered advice about following one's dreams. >> very important, go, go. >> it was a star-studded night led by the ladies in spain. brent: go vote after a short break. i will be back to take you through the day. we will talk about the big night in the eu before the election in the u.s.. stick around for that.

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