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♪ [applause] >> and now, "bbc world news." jane: this is "bbc world news america." reporting from washington, i am jane o'brien. six days, 8 states, 11 stops -- esident trump is on a midtermsh da that kicks off tonight. the u.s. demands a cease-fire and peace talks in yemen in 30n days -- cait bring an end to the world's worst humanitarian crisis? and from "hairspray" to the museum, director john waters has nways been known for his signature style, a his art is on display in baltimore.

jane: welcome to our viewers io public televin america and around the world. fuel up the plane, president trump is going on a midterm blitz. his name may not be on the ballot next tuesday, but looking at t schedule, you would nev know it.in he next six days he will 11 rallies in 8 states to support republican candidates, and in some places places like florida and indiana where the races are tight, he will be there twice. for more on the frenetic pace and the president's focus on imygration, i'm joined the bbc's rajini vaidyanathan. what is the strategy? rajini first of all, these states are all states that in 2016thbutn cruciall are states with very close races in the midterm elections, whether iis the house representatives, genate, or governor races. he is hoping to br his personal touch to rally the hard-core base to get out and vote.

that is the other reason this part is i.t. strategy, because almost all be visiting in the breakneck schedule have early voting. about waitingking to vote a few days time. in places like florida and georgia he will say vote as soon as we finish the rally. there are very tight races where he coulde potentially make difference for republicans. jane: let's talk about the issues. yesterday he was talking about birthright for citizens. today he was talking about the thing up tros -- beefing up troops at the mexican border to almost 15,000 troops. pres. trump: as far as the ravan is concerned, our military is out, we have 5000, we will go up to 10,000 to 15,000 military personnel onop of border patrol, ice, everybody also t border. nobody's coming in. we are not allowing people to come in. ja he clearly thinks

immigration is a hot button issue. rajini: it is an important issue to his base, and it is about getting poor voters on the democratic or republican side to turn out. the news has shifted away from what the president would like to talk about in many ways. we had news events like the tragedy in pittsburgh and the bomb threats. i know from going to ump rallies many a time thatt is issues like immigration and the economy that donald trump likes to talk about the successes that he likes to make sure that he highlights so that is based can say he is doing what we want and we will vote for republicans. jane: how is that likely to go down in florida, a state you know well from 2016? itw tight and how important is rajini: we have two key races -- , ma course, but the ones we are watching r races for governor and senate for the both of them are looking close. the latest polls show democratic

candidate in both races are slightly ahead. i remember in 2016 when we looked at the pls, hillary clinton and donald trump right between the final stretch were neck and neck. donald trump really did invest in the state of florida. he did more rallies, he had more passion. in many ways he had a connection because we had that he had in his home oral -- he had a connection because he had his home mar-a-lago there. the democrats have big hitters florida as well. on friday former president barackba will be addressing a rally in followed a. jane: early h votin much impact could it have? rajini: it could have a big stpact. let' with florida -- $3.4 -- 3.4 million ballots alreadyle cast. pere saying this is a record from 20 and he could make a dierence if people already vote. ini vaidyanathan, thank you for joining me. buong the key voting blocs in

this election are an women. in states like new jersey, they are mobilizing, but will that enthusiasm carried to the ballot box? democrats hope so, as the bbc's nick bryant reports. nick: it is in the suburbs of america's major cities that the battle forprhe house of entatives is being fought. residential havens like the 11th district of new jeey, where this time of year the houses are festooned with phantoms and the lawns are studded with placards. >> really heavy! nick: amidst the pumpkins, and emergent pink wave of female activists who have never before been involved in politics. she used to work for the trump organization, but now heads up a woman's group trying to turn this republican seat democrat. >> across the board, democrat and republican woms are sick of sogynistic comments about women, the way he treats women like second-class citizens, and they are ready to do something mpout it. nick: donald tru remains

popular among blue-collar voters that helped wihim the presidency. but theres lot of white-collar discontent in the suburbs about his tone and style. amongst much more affluent voters, amongst more highly educated voters, and especialey amongst feoters. when democrats gathered tohi canvasneighborhood, three quarters of the volunteers were women. >> there are three people here we need to talk to. nick: eleanor comes from a republican family and has voted republican in the past, but not this time. you are angry? >>ery angry. nick: does trump anger you? >> does trump anger me? i think i've gotten past that. it is beyond anger. he motivates me. >> for the navy m lfly one of these, i had to pass a lot of tests. nick: democrats are fielding a record-breaking number of e.male candid here it is a former navy

helicopter pilot. at aime when the party is moving to the left, they have tried to field moderates in these republican-held seats. this race, like so many others, re close, but at this republican rally for their cossional candidates, female voters were untroubled by the president's often insulting behavior towards women. >> i have no problem with donald trump. i loonald trump, and that is why i am here today. >> iupport him 100%. nick: suburban women are supposed to be deserting donald trump. >> they're not asking suburban women. they are not asking me. i'm not. i support the president. nick: pink wave or not, this election looks like reinfo the realignment of democratic politics.de cratic strength is concentrated in the cities and the suburbs, and donald trump's america lies beyond. nick bryant, bbc news, new jersey. jane: do stay with the bbc as the continue our election

coverage with the resnits on tuesdat. turkish authorities have given their first official statement lion how they believe jour jamal khashoggi was killed. they say he was choked to death immediately after entering the saudi consulate in istanbul. officials say they remain -- they are frustrated by what they see as a lack of cooperation from the saudis, who have refused to extradite the 18 men arrested iconnection with the murder earlier this month. pressure is also building on saudi arabia over its role in yemen's civil war. it is a conflict which has created the world's worst humanitarian crisis, withio mi at risk of starvation. america, along with britain and france, have supported the saudis, who are helping yemen's government fight mhe rebel houtement. our international correspondent orla guerin has returned from yemen with this report, which contains distressing material. orla: in yemen, it has come to this. more than three years of war had brought the nation to the ink of famine.

we filmed these distressing images earlier this month. after years of inaction, there is a new sense of urgency, and from the united states, a new push for peace. sec. mattis: 30 days from now we want to see everybody around ae pe table table-based on a cease-fire, based on a pullback , from the border, and seizing dropping of bombs that will permit the special envoy, who is very good, he knows what he is doing, to get them together in eeeden and end this war. orla: a war that filling new graves. here for 42 schoolboys killed by the saudi-led coalition in gust. we met survivors of the devastating airstrike. one more attack which raised concern internationally about the saudi boing campaign in yemen. but if a turning point is coming, it maye because of the

brutal killing by saudi officials of dissident saudi journalist jamal khashoggi. that in turn increased thepr sure on key saudi allies and arms suppliers like the u.s. an. brit the prime minister today emphasizing the need for a lasting peace deal. prime min. may: a nationwide cease-fire will only have effect on the ground if it is underpinned by a political deal between conflicting parties. my right honorable friend the threign secretary discusse with the u.n. special envoy last night. they agreed that you can will -- they agreed that e u.k. will encourage all parties to agree to de-escalation. orla: but will yemen's houthi rebels be willing come to the table? this senior leader seemed to be in no hurry for talks, and was dismissive of peace efforts by the n. envoy. >> we are always ready for the peace talks, but i don't think they will be successful.

i have told martin that they will not have positive results. orla: for now, the houthis have a tight grip on the capital and of the populated areas the country. it is unclear if they were the -- they or the saudis will be ready to compromise. orla guerin, bbc news, sanaa. jane: a brief time ago i spoke with a former u.s. ambassadoto yemen. ambassador, thanks very much for joining me. >> great pleasure. jane: is it possible to have peace in yemen right now? is anybody listeni to america's calls for cease-fire? >> i'm not certain that the principal parties to the conflict are listening carefully. thk they are both at the moment hoping to find some way to claim victory and walk away from this, but it is still to be seen how they will define that.t hey're doing is trying to set up a sense of urgency, but t it neebe supported by some real exercise of influence on our part, and it remains to be

seen what we are prepared to do about this. jane: the state department says the climate has changed. what has changed? stephen: well, i'm not sure that we know. there has been this terrible u.n. report about another famine, or another level of famine about to exist in yemen. we've see the suffering grow exponentially, which is terrible and heartbreaking. that hasn't been enough thus far, thoknh. i don', maybe the saudis, as more and more scrutiny is paid to leadership decisions around the world, sees yemen as a reputational problem and decide to find the exit door sooner rather than later. that remains to be seen. i hope we are helping to reinforce that message to them, because we are also suffering reputationally. y jane: wh say reputation, are you referring to the murder of jamal khashoggi? stephen: that is certainly one thing, a miscalculion the saudis have made.

rnally with the arrests of the royals and business people. clearly the leadership and mohammad bin salman in particular have demonstrated poor judgment. yemen stands as one of the worst boneheaded plays yet. jane: even if the saudis th listen to the u.s., whewill iranians listen to? a this ioxy war. stephen: i'm not sure the iranians are that involved. it is really the houthis.av theydemonstrated some independence and stubbornness, which suggests are not engineered by tehran. the houthis will accept some support, but i don't think the iranians snap their fingers and the houthis stand up straight and say we will do exactly what you would like us to do. they have their own mind. jane: it is not sound like you are positive about the outcome. what are the chances of a cease-re? stephen: slim. martin griffiths is doing an excellent job of working quietly and getting paies to listen to him and hopefully to agree to

see some roadmap they can follow. that is what the u.s. can do most usefully now, go to the saudis and allies and say what are the compromises you neednd what can we do to make this more comfortable and make it moreti po in terms of how you make the decisions that are hard for you?th janeks for joining me. stephen: my greatk pleasure, thu. ofne: quick look at the day the news. there have been protests in pakistan after the supreme court overturned a christian woman's conviction for blasphemy. asia bibi had be sentenced to death and spent almost a decade in prison. indonesia belie they have picked up underwater sounds from the blackbox data recorder from the lion air airplane that ashed on monday with 189 people on board. the boeing 737 went down shortly after it took off from jakarta, and no survivors have been found. lion air's technical director has been sacked.

the tanzanian government says av llance squad has been created dedicated to hunting down gay people. the team will check social medit to iy and arrest same-sex couples. homosexual acts are illegal in tanzania, where anti-gay rhetoric has been on the riseti since the el of the president in 2015. d you are watching "bbc wows america." still to come on tonight's program, we meet the man completely paralyzed but now walking again anks to an implant in his spine. as we mentioned earlier in tonight's show, president trump has threatened to raise the military presence on the border to up to t 15,000 troo protect against migrants attempting to cross. rowill grant reportssouthern mexico on the current caravan.

so far, they have refused to be blown off course, but the remaining obstacles may p tve greater th inclement weather. president trump has described the migrants as an invasion, the pentagon announced that more than 5000 troops will be sent to the border to meet them when they arrive. at this rate that is several weeks away. even the mexican migration authorities admit they have noee seen this def commitment in the past. >> in previous years we have seen otherans fall apart, but this one appears very strong, very large, and still united. will there seems little doubt h the troop deployment, the trump administration is trying to dissuade tm se migrants ftempting the rest of the trip. however, they may have underestimated the she determination within the group to at least make it to the border and have their cases heard. a minority, the military threat is working.

alessandro is already frustrated by the caravan's slow pace and missing his daughters left eehind in honduras. the idea of a ho reception h om u.s. soldiers was eno make him turn back. >> my family told me all about it. when i asked what was happening, they said the border is full of soldiersso figured why go all the way to the border only to be turned away? will: it is a difficult and n to abandon the trip come almost as tough as leaving home in the first place. the remaining migrants believe their strength lies in their numbers, andlan to ignore ymore messages from washington telling them their journey is in vain. will grant, bbc news, mexo.

jane: scientists in switzerland have developed a spinal implant that has allowed people who were told they would be paralyzed for the rest of theiral life to unexpectedly, theo implant a seems to regrow some damaged nerves. reporter: david said he would never walk again.ot now among the lls of the alps, he is able to travel more than half a mile. an implantround his spine has changed his life. >> to me it means a lot. you have got to try to do the impossible to make that possible possible. i am surprised over and over agaiwhen we get there. it is a lo very good. it feels reporter: this is david training with his implant a year ago. stem on means it is turned on. when it is turneoff, he can't move. back on, and he contins to walk. nerves in the spinal cords and --al send sifrom the brain

to the legs. some people are paralyzed when they are damaged from injury. in most cases there is still a small signal, but it is too weak to create movement. the implant boosts the signal, enabling david to walk. not only that, the restored movement seems to repair some of the damaged nerves. and here's the result. david walks eight paces with the implant turned off. >> what was very unexpected was the spinal cord repair we observed. we need to understand the underlying mechanism. what we are observing is it seems that nerve fibers are growing again, recbrnecting the n to the spinal cord. reporter: david had his implant surgically inserted by o switzerland's leading neurosurgeons. a chronic case, he was paralyzed seven years ago after a sporting accident. >> i have been working inne oscience for a long time,

and i know that when you have spinal cord ,injury after a while, if there is no progress, it will remain like this.ot what i'veed for the first time is a change from even in a chronic state, and that is for me something completely new. reporter: outside the lab, in the real world, it is much harder for david. without his electrical stimulation, he can only walk a few pace so it is far away from being a cure. but research does demonstrate that paralysis can be reversed at least to some degree. the big question, by how much? sebastian had a cycling accident. before he came to work with the swiss team, he had no movement in his legs. c but now he ride his bike, by -- howard mostly -- powered mostly by his hand movements but also by his legs. >> such a feeling of freedom. everything is working together, and that helps you to be healthy for the rest of the day, the

fst of the week, the rest your life. >> sm on. >> ok, messages sent to implant. reporter: david and sebastian are the first patients benefitingrom the treatment. they cannot keep the stimulation on all the time because it is too uncomfortable for long periods. the system isn't fady y everyday use. researchers say in the journal "nature" they hope to improv be system, and it could tested in the u.k. and other parts of the world in three years time. jane:y. what an incredible st who would have imagined that such progress would one day be possible? mention the director john waters, and movies "hairspray" or "pink flamingos" come to mind. when he is not behind the camera, the baltimore native is also an artist. not ey anyone's surprise, push the envelope with sculptures and video. over 160 pieces are on display

at the baltimore museum of art. he has been speaking to us about the exhibit. jverybody knows contemporary art can be witty, but can it be funny? i think it can be funny, and still be real and still be good. indecent kind of goes along with r me of the pieces in here, and my sense of humod my whole reputation. yes, there can be vulgar art, but there can be bad taste in art and be funny and good. all contemporary art uses a little bad taste in my think, because contemporary art tends to wreck the movement that came right before it. i loved ike and tina turner when they were together. sayow that is that is because just bad to say because

the was worher and she could have killed him and gotten off by the jury. i saw them together when i was young and they look exactly liks she was so good. i got the idea of how often stars are made by one person that is obsessive and orderser their move. their first song, she said "you control every movement," and he did. my favorite one of the collectors -- the michael jackson and manson -- she keeps them in her closet to scare her grdchildren. i love that. there is a thin line between funny and horrifying. that ones that line, yes. i think in the middle of the night it is creepy for the night watchman to wa past. it is a collaborative process that i use people to help me make these, too. i am not like demi moore in host" with the pottery wheel. i had many people help me. certainly the guy who made chucky helped me make the

michael jackson and manson one. i certainly have help, just like a movie. craft is not enough. it is all the ideas. i take images from other people's movies and put them in different order and tell a whole new narrative that none of the directors mad in mind. ho notice the detail that lana turner, the director always held her exit from the scene one beat too long? i think it is bause the women wanted to see the back of her costumes and the w mted to see her rear end. art bus-- alles takes. with photography, i taking real am film in the dark, taking pictures of my own movies. jane: john waters there and his th line between funny and

horrifying. perfect for halloween today. have fun with atur trick-or-tg, and check out our website and twitter. i am jane o'brieat thanks for wing "bbc world news america." >> with the bbc news app, our vertical videos are designed to work around your lifestyle, so you can swipe your way through the news of the day and stay up-to-date with the latest headlines you can trust. download now from selected a stores. >> funding of this presentation is made possible bye eeman foundation, and kovler foundation, pursuingi sos for america's neglected needs. ♪ >> possibilities. your day is filled with them. and pbs helps everyone discover theirs.

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captioning sponsored by newshour productions, llc >> woodruff: good evening, i'm judy woodruff. on t newshour tonight, less than a week from the critical midterm elections, we take a look at some of the close senate races that could decide the balance of power in washington. then, new details in the murder of jamal khashoggi, as the brother of saudi arabia's monarch returns to the kingdom, raising questions about the country's leadership. plus, inside the fig surrounding the mining of phosphorus in florida, which is essential for agriculture but may be linked to devng red tides and algae blooms.wo >> wd work roughly 200 people in this process. a tremendous economic impact on these two counties. >> education is the most important thing we can do to eople understand what th threat is.