>> dw this is news live from berlin. tonight americans decide the biggest election in decades. pres. trump: i am not thinking about concession speeches yet. winning is easy. losing is never easy, not for me brent:, it is not. brent:with record numbers already cast in early voting, tonight we look at the choice

that is facing the u.s. voter anchor: austria in morning. chancellor sebastian kurtz is condemning what he calls a compulsive terrorist attack, for people shot dead by supporter of the --state. hospitals say that they have enough beds, if infections keep climbing, they may not have enough nurses to care for patients. ♪ brent: i am brits -- i am brent goff. welcome. tonight, millions of americans are casting their votes in one of the most polarized u.s. contests in recent history. voter turnout is expected to

shatter records, around 100 million. that is nearly three quarters of the total number that voted in 360. long lines have performed in many states, and joe biden made a stop and his childhood home, scranton, pennsylvania. the race and many battleground states is looking tight. u.s. president donald trump has been thinking his campaign team. reporter asked the president today either he had prepared an acceptance and a concession speech. pres. trump: i am not thinking about a speech yet. hopefully we will only be doing one of those two. winning is easy, but losing is never easy, not for me, it is not. when you see rallies, and the likes of which in the history of this country, probably in the history of this world, no one

has ever seen before. there is a tremendous love in this country and tremendous unity. brent: surprisingly somber sounding. must take this to stefan simons, our washington dc correspondent. president donald trump is not sounding as a bs usually does. is he preparing us for a reality that he may had to -- that he may have to concede defeat? stefan: given the performance of the president and the last couple of weeks, going across a mad -- across critical states, florida, pennsylvania, florida, and so on. it is not expected that he would put focus on a concession speech. he does not really want to prepare one of the other,

because president trump wants to prepare the succession speech. will it be the case, that she's -- that he is only best advised i only preparing for success? no, as you mentioned in the intro, over 100 million people have already voted. before the mad --, rally frenzy of donald trump. before the president is striking a more conciliatory tone. brent: you said 100 million votes have been cast. what is election date looking like safari? --election day looking like so far? stefan: record-breaking. a big day. long lines, and evething seems

to go smoothly. no reports of any disturbances. one little problem, and that is with the united postal service. a federal judge ordered the ends factor general to sweep certain post offices that are underperforming in delivery, mail in ballots. that is a little bit disturbing. hopefully the postal service takes care of that. there is a deadline from the federal judge. there is a major turn out on-site and of voting today. brent: there are businesses in washington, that have been boarded up. why are people preparing for unrest? stefan: the quick answer is because this is still a country divided. there is division and

polarization in this country. that is why authorities and department of homeland security expect the worse. it does not matter who will win this, there will be the other side that is not happy. may be prepared to take matters into their own hands, and a very unpleasant way. that means riots and unrest in the streets. that is why you see those preparations being made. that is unfortunate. the 100 million votes already cast, that is a celebration of democracy. that should be celebrated. we will see how this is going to turn out, one way or the other tonight, when darkness falls. unrest, no unrest, we will see group brent: we will be covering it live throughout the night. stefan simons, thank you very much. no doubt about it, 2020 has been

a difficult, traumatic year for the united states and for most of the rest of the world. president donald trump may have started 2020 hoping that his reelection was a foregone conclusion, but as time has passed, it did not work out exactly as he had planned. reporter: for president trump, this election year was supposed to be great. pres. trump: the best is yet to come. reporter: but it did not take long for 2020 to turn into something quite different. lives lost, jobs lost, a virus that shut down much of america. covid-19, not the democratic hoax that trump alluded to. pres. trump: it would disappear. one day, like a miracle, it will disappear. reporter: in the middle of a

pandic, a black man pinned to the ground by a police officer who has his knee on his neck. minutes later, george floyd is dead. [chanting] america, erupting in protest. anger that yet another black present has died in the hands of the police. -- that yet another black person has died and the hands of the police. at timesappearing out of control, president trump, seem to restore law and order by force. pres. trump: today, i have strongly recommended to every governor to deploy the national guard in sufficient numbers, to dominate the streets.

[gunshots\ brent: stefan: reporter: as protesters are dispersed with tear gas, and rubber bullets. clearing the streets to enable trump and his entourage to walk to a local church for a photo-opp. a defining image of 2020. along with this one, painted on a washington street close to the white house. while e flames of racial tension have been burning across the country, many u.s. states have also been struggling with another apocalyptic crisis. the outbreak of wildfires. from the rocky mountains of colorado, to californians why it -- to california's wine country,

millions of acres have gone up in smoke. hundreds of thousands of people forced to evacuate. 2020, setting a record for wildfire activity in california alone. meanwhile, covid-19 has also refused to die down. deaths have continued to rise and so to our divisions on how to best control. the simple face mask has taken on political significance. donald trump, mocking joe biden for refusing to wear one. pres. trump: he could be speaking to hundred feet away from you, and he shows up with the biggest mask you have ever seen. i am going to walter reed hospital, i am feeling well. reporter: days later, president

trump himself has contracted the virus. he is given oxygen and taken to hospital where he is treated with a cocktail of drugs. in a controversial move, and while still fighting covid-19, trump pays a surprise visit to supporters gathered outside walter reed hospital. he is finally released, but the virus has spread throughout the white house. >> how many of your staff are sick? do you think you might be a super spreader, mr. president? reporter: in fact, scientists believe that this event is probably the virus super spreader. [applause] this ceremony in the white house rose garden, where trump formally announces amy coney barrett as his supreme court pick. [applause]

that decision causes another 2020 shock. the death of justice ruth bader ginsburg. the 87-year-old liberal judge, and icon. [applause] now replaced by a pro-life conservative with a job for life. [applause] 2020, a year of anxiety, and one that most americans would surely rather put behind them. brent: and there are still two months to go. it is not just at home that donald trump divides opinion, with his america's first apology --politics, he is authorized -- he is also polarized outside of the u.s.. dw haseen asking who those arnd theorld want to -

>> here in costa rica, we depend on tourism. we hope that the frontier is opened again. >> i hope that biden wins because with trump, tngs are not going very well. i hope at with e triumph of biden, that things with mexico will improve. >> if there were elections and any other country, we would not even notice. but the united states has a big impact on columbia. it will involve us directly. >> biden is trying a very honest and direct strategy, but as we have been understanding since the laselection in016, that is not the way to go in america. in europe, we are more used to a direct and serious approach. opinion of the american elections is getting more into

the soap opera area. >> i think donal trump will win. th is why i think he will win the election. >> it is my goal, either way, for the first time, everyone knew that trump was a racist, but they still voted for him. i think for now, he does not have a clue, compared to barack obama. he may not win this time. >> donald trump is not a good president, when it comes to how he handles people and how he treats black people in the u.s. >> and the time of donald trump, i think the country was not that stable. american people, we need to try joe biden. >> i hope that trump does not win.

he has been handling things really badly when it comes to managing politics and the covid situation, any scenarios. >> i am expecting anything, even a civil war. anything can happen. brent: here in europe, australia has declared three days of national mourning, after four people were killed in a shooting rampage in vienna. gunfire happened multiple -- the shooter has been identified as a 20-year-old islamic sympathizer. please have arrested several suspects. reporter: an eerie quiet on the streets of vienna, as the city woke up to a sense of dread. >> i did not sleep. i feel awful and still feel the panic.

>> i live in the neighborhood next to our garden, and from there, you could hear a lot. reporter: police have regained control over the city center after the dramatic shooting on monday night. the chancellor condemned to he called an islamic terrorist attack. it was an attack out of hatred, out of hatred for our fundamental values, and hatred for our way of life, our democracy, where all people are equal in rights and dignity. one thing is clear, we will not be intimidated by the terrorists. until monday, austria had been shared large-scale terrorist attacks motivated by religious extremism. the countries urged to remain united in the face of this new threat.

we must be aware that this is not a conflict between christians and muslims, or between austrians and migrants. this is a fight between many people who believe in peace and those few who want more. [gunfire] the first gunshots rang out shortly after it :00 p.m. -- 8 ) :00 p.m. the gunman was found dead, 20 years old. the police are looking through videos sent in by eyewitnesses to determine if he was a loan shooter. -- a lone shooter. the video so far give no indication of a second perpetrator. we cannot finally say how many

perpetrators are actually responsible for the crime. the chancellor went to the site of the shooting to pay his respects to the victims, declaring three days of national mourning. brent: for more now, i am joined by my colleague, a correspondent in vienna. good evening. is there any clarity concerning how when people were involved in this attk? was there one or more than one guide? -- one gun correspondent: police are saying that another gunman could have been involved. the prime reason behind this confusion is a vast amount of data, one terabyte of data,

submitted to police by the public. police have so far sifted through 50% of it. and that 50% of it, it does not appear that there is another shooter. there is still a lot of data to go through. to see if there was indeed another attacker. brent: the suspect who was shot dead had even earned an early release from the de-radicalization program. will there be consequences? biresh: this is something that the austrian interior minister address. he said that in his words, he deceived the de-radicalization program. the program is made up of 13

mentors w meet individuals twica month and submit airport based on that. based on that, the report was ma as to whether or not this person was radicalized or de-radicalized. you could expand this question most de-racalization programs in europe. most are quite new across europe, and they are suffering from shortages andot adequate funding. their success is questionable, but they have been able to do something. is an op question as to whether it is a system that requires overhaul, or if it is something else that needs to be looked at. brent: what about austria? it is looking at three days of morning now, how shocked is the country? biresh: shocked is the main word. the other word is nervousness.

one reason is because of how unexpected this was. if you have been to the city, it is a beautiful cultural gem. no one expected this sort of attack here. the other thing, the personal element to it. you do not need to look far to find someone who is directly affected by these attacks. we have friends who have given example of some who were directly impacted. one man was eating outside of the restaurant, and that man upped and ran and left his belongings when the gunfire began. another example, the shooting began, and she and t other presidents were sent to the basin. these attacks feel personal for many viennese. brent: thank you for being on

the story tonight. let's take a look now at some of the other stories breaking headlines around the world. britain has raised its terror level two severe, meaning that an attack is considered highly likely. the decision is a precautionary measure and not one based on any specific threat. french forces have killed or than 50 jihadists -the operation took place near the borders, where government troops are battling an islamic insurgents. a four-year-old girl has been rescued from destroyed buildings in western turkey almost four days after the earthquake. the death toll has now reached one or two, with more than 1000 people injured.

france has reported the highest daily toll of deaths since mid april. the country is seeing a huge surge in cases. a month-long national lockdown is now in force. staying with the pandemic, germany's intensive care units are preparing for an expected increase, as the number of infections hits record levels. the country has come to the pandemic with plenty of spare capacity, but now germany has gone back into a partial lockdown, and hoping to prevent what angela merkel says to be an acute situation. >> this patient serious condition, he has to be ventilated. reporter: a second wave of

covid-19 has arrived, and is different from the first. >> we had a live older patients in the first wave, and now they are almost all young. age 50 and younger. reporter: there is another difference to what happened in spring. the hospital is treating more serious leto patients from belgian. they say that belgium took too long to institute more serious measures. >> belgium is an example of what happens when these decisions are made to eight. there is not enough capacity, so we are taking in more and more those in patients. reporter: during the first wave, just under 50 patients were under ventilators at any one time, putting a huge strain on all of the staff.

they are benefiting now from the huge amount of experience that they gains. >> we had standardized procedures last time, and we are reactivating those standardized procedures. having these standards is very beneficial, even if we get more patients, we can just omit them. reporter: how well the system copes with a second wave, also depends on the staff availability. there are shortages already, because staff going to quarantine after getting affected. those who are fighting have not really recovered from the first wave. >> in summer, even if we had vacation time, we were here. there is no real time off. we still have had to deal with all of the normal cases and paperwork from the first way. reporter: there is little time

to relax because the number of patients who are seriously ill with covid-19 is set to rise again. 2% of code patients and up in -- covid patients end up in icu. >> i am expecting more from the first way. i'm afraid it is going to be more this time. reporter: they are hoping to rise to the challenge, all the way through the second wave. the demands on all of them will be great. brent: let's bring you up-to-date now with some other developments in the pandemic. italy has reported 353 deaths, the highest daily figure since early may. greece has begun a month long lockdown. non-essential businesses have closed, and people are required to wear masks in public spaces. britain will launch a masked

testing scheme, offering all people tests whether they have symptoms or not. you are watching dw news. coming up next, a special edition of "the day" as america decides, do we trust the polling numbers? in 2020, the polls say that the next president will be joe biden. we will be right back. ♪

♪ >> welcome to live from paris. world news and analysis from france 24. these are the headlines. america decides. the world waits. only a fool would predict a winner at this stage. as you expect, we have the analysis throughout. we will start with our correspondent who is awaiting us in new york. see you in a moment. 850 four lives lost over the past 24 hours. the highest in france since april 15. covid-19 cases are still alarmingly high. icu beds are more and more taken