>> welcome to "live from paris," world news analysis from france 24. i'm mark owen. the midterm elections ongoing in the usa, a country finally and sharply divided. president biden's agenda hangs in the balance. we will have analysis from across the usa countries badly affected by climate change call for help. their voices heard at the cup 27

climate summit in egypt. the u.s. has confirmed secret talks with putin to avoid nuclear weapons being used against ukraine. kyiv denies western negotiations with russia, doubling down on its assertion that talks can only be held if russia gives back all occupied territory. this is "live from paris." thank you very much for being with us. the united states is voting in midterm elections. many predicting the opposition republicans are set to win control of congress. ahead of today's vote, the --

these midterms are the most expensive ever. almost $17 billion has been forked out by candidates on their perspective campaigns. analysts say republicans are outspending democrats. pennsylvania, arizona, ohio are among the places seeing the highest ending. georgia tops a lot. let's take a listen to some of the voters there. >> i think that bottom line is that we really have to save lives, ok? that's the crucial thing. if you don't save democracy, it's over. i put a lot of importance on everyone voting. >> a think the issue that matters most is a woman's right to choose. i understand that our current governor is ok with getting

abortions up to six weeks. >> i think there is such division. i think in my lifetime i have never seen my rights threatened like the state of this democracy. i never imagined this would be the country. >> let's bring in our reporter in atlanta in georgia. what are the issues making people get out and vote in georgia? >> we are here at the martin luther king center, a polling station nearby, and i can tell you that for people in this area were martin luther king was born, were martin luther king used to preach. for people here, what matters is reducing cost.

such a high cost of living. there is also the issue of abortion with this ban, called by many, for republicans across the country, and also the expansion of medical health care. that is very important for the people we speak to here. raphael warnock, the democrat, of course, is set to get a very good result here. also stacey abrams, best-selling author. she gives talks around the country, notably regarding voting rights. that's how she became famous. she is an icon for many here. she could either first black governor of georgia, and that would be a huge symbol. those are some of the issues that when we speak to people outside of atlanta in small-town suburbs, when we meet republicans -- because those

areas tend to be more republican -- where people tell us they want no gun control, they want a total ban on abortion, and they want lower taxes -- that's what people tell us. then republicans and democrats, of course, all say the cost of living is too high, and republicans, of course, blame that on joe biden. mark: record spending on these elections, georgia very much top of that spending. i wonder how that has affected or not people getting out to vote. is there anything you can tell us about how that is going so far? >> bear in mind, there has been a record level of early voting. 2.5 million people managed to cast their ballots before this election day and still there is high turnout. that is what the secretary of state georgia has just said saying it has been tremendously smooth in polling stations, and

that is why you got no lines, but there were allegations of irregularities in past ballots, and therefore, you have had monitoring agents, officials dispatched all across georgia. we have seen many here in atlanta and fulton county, and also some from the carter center , and also some sent by the republican party members of the republican party coming to various polling stations to see if everything is running smoothly. it is the case for the time being. another important point, republican candidates have been saying there are risks of cheating, of irregularities, and that they will not tolerate any of that. that gives you an idea of the level of animosity in the country -- divisions between republicans and democrats, the huge level of animosity. you have seen that in ads, on tv, georgia, all eyes on

georgia, swing states. it could decide the fate of georgia or at least the senate. mark: thank you very much indeed. all development on that particular race, where record spending has taken place. director of the center on u.s. politics, thank you very much for being with us. abortion, gun control, the economy -- there's no shortage of big issues in these midterms. does one overriding subject stand out you? >> i think it has to be the economy. as the election has gotten closer and closer, voters have really zeroed in on the issue that is most important to them, and if you look at polling data, a huge percentage, more than any other issue, is the economy and inflation, and that's not

surprising. 8% to 9% inflation. joe biden, of course, initially said it would just be transient, temporary. turned out not to be the case. in recent months, we have seen significant rate hikes by the federal reserve trying to curb increases in cost. democrats have not been able to do it, so republicans have really been laying on hard, trying to make the case that they are the party that can tackle this number one issue. so far, it looks like the polls are swinging in their favor. mark: indeed. the issue spoke about in the economy was really picked up by voters in georgia, the issue of abortion is one of the things that clearly is something people feel very passionately either way. i wonder if that could be an issue that maybe cuts across party support guidelines in some way, shape, or form. women thinking about their right to choose.

>> yes, but at the same time, i think the data are a little more nuanced than is often presented. certainly democrats thought this would be a galvanizing issue for them in particular, and if we go back to the summer, we saw democrats get a lot of money poured into pro-choice candidates. there was a referendum in the state of kansas that protected abortion rights. democrats really thought they could ride that momentum into this election, but i'm not really sure if it is turning out to be as salient as they hoped. if you look at the polling data, only about 1% or 5% list abortion as their number one issue -- only 4% or five cent list abortion as their number one issue. a recent poll by harvard showed 37% of americans were more likely to vote republican as a result of the dobbs decision compared to 40% for democrats. it is an issue whenever you get into the details of when life begins and went abortion should

be allowed that it's a little more split than is often believed. mark: we are already hearing allegations perhaps thrown in advance of electioneering, of rigging, of fixing the election, those kinds of things, coming from republicans, it seems. i wonder if there is a different way of defining libel or defamation in the u.s.. where i grew up in the u.k., that kind of accusation thrown like that could be libelous. it could be actionable in law because there is no proof ever provided by these people tt are claiming that the election has been rigged. >> it is a really good question. united states' law on freedom of speech is quite broad. i'm not aware of any cases that have been lodged on this particular issue. of course, something that is often talked about and discussed when it comes to social media, on twitter, on facebook, all this fake news and false claims

of the election rigging that are made by oftentimes republican candidates, those supportive of trump, but absolutely it is a huge concern, and i think it is particularly a large concern this year because looking ahead to 2024, a lot of state-level races for governors and secretaries of state, those will be the individuals who will be responsible for certifying elections in the next presidential contest, so as we know, there are lots of election deniers on the ballot, a lot of individuals who think donald trump had the election in 2020 stolen, and if a lot of them come to power and have the responsibility over certifying these election results, we could be in store for an even more turbulent election in 2024 than we saw in 2020. mark: thank you so very much for joining us and sharing your analysis with us. greatly appreciated. thank you.

leaders from poor countries criticize wealthy governments and oil companies for driving global warming, using their speeches at the cop 27 climate summit in egypt to demand that they pay up for having damage inflicted on their economies. pakist has been subject to record flooding with heavy monsoon rain in the himalayas, combining to inundate 1/3 of the country. small island states buffeted by storms, called on oil companies to shell out some of their huge recent profit while developing african states called for more international funds for developing adaptation. >> the world leaders summit has wrapped up, but for delegates, staying behind, it is a beginning of two long weeks of discussion of how the world should respond to the urgency of the climate crisis. the list of heads of state taken to the podium to sound the alarm over the last two days kept

growing longer and longer, especially among the most vulnerable nations. cruel and unjust, a living nightmare -- just some of the words used by world leaders to describe the reality of climate change, but who should pay for climate devastation? the question of loss and damage? the question of climate reparations has always been taboo in climate diplomacy. well, not anymore. cop 27 putting the plight of climate victims at the heart of discussions. the world leader summit will end at least one major pledge in that respect. oster has committed 50 million euros for loss and damage -- austria. a far cry from the sums needed to recover from the losses inflicted by climate change, but a symbolic gesture nonetheless. the scottish government has also committed an additional 5 million pounds in loss and

damage finance. concrete action on climate reparations -- that's what developing nations have been calling for for the last 30 years, and turning a blind eye to the devastating impacts of climate change is no longer an option for the north. cop 27 could mark a turning point in a long fight for climate reparations. mark: ukraine denies it is under western pressure to negotiate with russia and is doubling down on its insistence that talks can only be held if russia relinquishes all occupied territory. united states has confirmed there's been secret talks held with vladimir putin aimed at preventing an escalation towards his threatened use of nuclear force. putin, of course, has threatened this a number of times since march. the russians accuse ukraine of developing a so-called dirty bomb, a conventional shelf laced

with nuclear material, an accusation without a shred of evidence presented by moscow. >> despite openly clashing over ukraine, the white house and kremlin are keeping communication channels open. u.s. national security advisor jake sullivan confirmed monday he had been in contact with top aides to vladimir putin for several months. the private talks largely focused on limiting escalation of the war in ukraine and preventing the use of nuclear weapons. >> we in the biden administration have had the opportunity to engage at senior levels with the russians to communicate to reduce risk, to convey the consequences of the potential use of nuclear weapons. >> vladimir putin has repeatedly hinted he could resort to nuclear force if things did not go his way in ukraine, drawing international condemnation and a fierce rebuke by u.s. officials. it remains unclear if the russian president has been directly involved in recent

talks with washington, with the kremlin having so far refused to confirm the information without denying it outright. >> we have nothing to say about this provocation. anglo-saxon newspapers publish a lot of falsehoods. >> during the cold war, the ite house and the kremlin maintained a direct communications channel known as the hotline to help reduce the possibility of nuclear war. mark: we are watching all of those stories for you and we will have much more reaction and analysis to come. time now for business. brian quinn joins us. as americans had to the polls to vote in the midterms, economic uncertainties weigh heavily, but by most indicators, the u.s. economy is in relatively good shape. >> it is indeed a conundrum for democrats who are looking at losing control of congress potentially. household wealth is actually up

30% since 2020. the unemployment rate is at a five-decade low, and the biden administration has delivered on a number of popular measures including cloverleaf funds, student debt forgiveness, but consumer sentiment is near record lows as inflation in the u.s. remains stubbornly high, hitting americans' wallets and souring their mood on the economy. >> it is on many voters' minds, and the words on many american'' lips. >> inflation. >> inflation. >> inflation. >> after peaking just about 9% in june, inflation remained high in september, and consumers are feeling the pinch in the supermarket aisles with the price of flour up 24% and the cost of eggs up 30%. on top of this, mortgage rates are the highest in 20 years at just over 7%. republicans made the economy one of their main campaign issues,

but for some voters, it is not the be-all and end-all. >> people are worried about inflation, but they don't understand that we have global inflation and it's easy to point the finger. >> the big picture shows that the u.s. economy is not doing so bad. household wealth, for example, has increased by $32 trillion since the start of the pandemic. jobs are not hard to come by with unemployment at just three point 7%. gdp, meanwhile, was up 2.6% in the third quarter. figures beat expectations, but growth has still stalled over the last year. a reuters poll showed that a majority of voters from both sides felt worse off financially or no better compared to last year. >> next, renaud has unveiled a massive strategic overhaul that will see its operations split into five businesses. the french automaker announced

plans to spin off its electric market vehicle with a -- vehicle business with a stock market offering next year. renault's internal combustion engine operations, meanwhile, will partner with a chinese operations. in addition, it will split off its sports car brand along with a financial services and yet another for mobility and recycling activities. the move is aimed at boosting profits and attracting new investment as the company tries to expand its share of the growing ev market. >> you can choose to do that with one athlete, it will probably have a mediocre performance, or you decide to win five medals, and you get five aletes with different skills, different talents, different trning, different

diet, whose performance is measured in different way to play each one, and that is what we are doing. >> checking in on the day's trading action, shares lost more than 3% tuesday amid some investor skepticism, but overall, a generally positive trend on european indexes with the tech sector gaining. oil and gas shares down a bit. on wall street, markets gained as well as investors wait for results from midterm elections with potential regulatory gridlock in washington seen as a positive for big business. shares on right hailing from lyft tank. the nasdaq still managing to close up by a point -- about .5%. finally, ngo's are again shining a light on the link between extreme wealth and climate change. oxfam has released a report

showing that the world's richest billionaires are each responsible for more than one million times the average emissions of someone in the lower 90% of the global wealth scale. the study shows just 125 billion errors produce se 393 million metric tons of co2 annually, roughly equivalent to the entire output of france. those massive admissions come mostly through investments in polluting industries such as fossil fuels and construction. oxfam says billionaire investors at the top of the corporate pyramid have escaped accountability for far too long. mark: calls at cop 27 from countries who are victims of climate change. thank you very much indeed. brian quinn with all the business. time for a midterm election

special truth or fake. good evening. misinformation about midterm elections then. some users claim voter fraud in pennsylvania. truth or fake -- tell us. >> midterm misinformation is flooding social media, especially in the key swing state pennsylvania. we have this post on instagram from one week ago that claims that pennsylvania drop boxes work preloaded with ballots or ballots, together with this caption right here that reads -- nothing says free and fair elections like preloaded drop boxes, with the #2022 elections. this user also links to this story by "the gateway" pundit and similar posts claiming that democrats are committing voter fraud. we have this other post right here on facebook as well from an

account called trump supporters with attitude, and the post claims it is rather obviously democrats are up to it again, once again linking to this article by "the gateway pundit." we have the article right here for you from "the gateway pundit," which is a far right news website with a headline that, breaking: ballots discovered preloaded inside trump dropbox in pennsylvania. it also includes footage originally posted on rumble. we have the post right here that also be pennsylvania ballot box seems preloaded with ballots, so let's take a look at this video right here from rumble. this man is an official unlocking this dropbox right here in pennsylvania in order to insert an official bag for election day where, to their

surprise, right there, they discovered 10 ballots already inserted into this dropbox before the official start of voting. mark: is this video truth or fake? tell us. >> this video right here is not a fake, and at the same time, the discovery of these ballots is not indicative of voter fraud. we will tell you why -- the voters who put these ballots in were simply not following directions and inserted their ballots into the dropbox is too early, so some eager voters that inserted their ballots before the official opening date for voting, which was on october 25 this year, and how did this happen? according to several law enforcement officials, these lockboxes we see right here had

a defect that allowed 18 voters to insert ballots into these drop boxes before they were even open on october 25, so are these boats -- votes valid? they are based on id. the commissioner told "usa today" to validate the ballots for now. 17 out of 18 voters came into their office to show for my id. they basically took the ballot from law enforcement hands and give it back to the person as a way to establish this formal vote and validate the vote, so even be -- even though what happened is completely out of the ordinary, these were just eager voters who dropped ballots in a bit too early due to a defect in the drop boxes. nevertheless, these votes are legitimate.

mark: and the misinformation that comes from people who look like journalists but i assume are just activists goes unpunished. our election special truth or fake. stay with us. you are watching france 24. ♪ >> join the marriott envoy travel program and discover endless possibilities. exclusive member rates and offers at our extraordinary hotel brands. earn points to unlock free nights, late checkout as a free member, and access unforgettable

moments made for you. marriott envoy -- travel that's endlessly inviting. ♪ >> our reporters travel down the mississippi to meet american voters during crucial midterm elections. they tell us which issues matter to them and why some communities feel left behind. >> black men are saying we need economic justice and we need the police to stop killing us, so if you can ensure that then we can vote for you. if not, we are going to look in a different direction. >> racism, women's rights, inflation, climate change. through different voices, we see the face of a fractured united states, marked by increasing divisions and differing concerns. >> i'm afraid, but it makes me hopeful to know that there are people willing to fight for what we all deserve. >> reporters along the banks of the mississippi on france 24 and

france24.com. >> a white supremacist drove his car into the crowdf counte protesters. >> there's still very much a heavy aura that hangs over this place. >> it is a saying that i will never forget. i'm not the same person that i was. >> five years later, have the residents recovered? on the far right and white supremacist still a threat in the country? watch charlottesville we visited . -- charlottesville revisited on france 24 and france24.com. ♪

11/08/22 11/08/22 [captioning made possible by democracy now!] amy: from new york, this is democry now! >> what know islaa is not drinking water. we don't know where he is. we what british authorities to get is proof that alaa is a lie. i cannot get anyone. amy: the family of the imprisoned egyptian dissident alaa abd el-fattah says they no