and her son both injured by the earthquake and tsunami waiting to be airlifted out by the military but also heartbreaking images of devastation like this one the ruins of a house in a district in palo it's on our website at al-jazeera dot com on to other world news now he is the man who has divided an already fractured country brett kavanaugh president donald trump speak for the u.s. supreme court and depending on where you stand he's either a judge fit to sit on the highest court of the land for possibly decades to come or a man whose character has been called into question in the coming hours common os fate will be decided when the senate votes on whether to approve him for the bench and it's looking likely to keep the senate as enda caitiff their support the vote will cap off it to move to a few months since trot nominated him in july this year at first it appeared kavanagh's confirmation was a short but then several women came forward to accuse him of sexual misconduct one

alleged victim christine blassie ford was question by the senate committee about the night she says was the worst of her life an f.b.i. inquiry was ordered the republican said it found no evidence the democrat slammed it as a whitewash but despite that as well as weeks of public outrage the vote is set to go ahead and we're covering this story both inside capitol hill and outside the supreme court where there are protests happening right now we'll be speaking to gabriel elizondo in just a moment but first we go to mike hanna on capitol hill for us so mike it looks like cavanagh is going to be confirmed talk us through the process how soon until there's a vote. well at ten thirty yesterday morning there was a cloture vote that essentially sets a time period of thirty hours within which the formal confirmation vote has to take place knol senators offering that time making various statements they send through the night in the senate making statements on this whole issue but before that

thirty hour period then the vote has to be taken we understand from the the office of mitch mcconnell the senate republican leader that the vote could be around three thirty local time that's in a few hours but certainly this is an issue that has divided the nation the confirmation of great cavanagh is something that has heightened the already partisan nature of the senate in particular now we do know that there was a number of senators who were wavering for in fact they have made clear which way the vote is going to go to one of them is a republican who says she will oppose the nomination of democrats cross the floor and join the republicans in terms of confirming the nomination so all indications are that the vote will be passed by the narrow margin of two fifty one to forty nine remembering to that should be a lock in the votes the vice president mike pence will have the accosting vote

within the senate so it does appear that this confirmation is going to go ahead but certainly the damage that it has done to the country and the impact that it will have on the midterm elections will think will have to be seen briefly mike if he is confirmed as we expect then what he's on the supreme court bench. is it the end of the saga after that. well know it could just be the beginning of another round of saga remembering that he is the second justice to be nominated to the bench by the trumpet ministration and he'll go as such have been being nominated earlier but what we will see as i said a massive impact on the midterm elections voters likely to be galvanized by the partisan nature of this debate what one might see as well is post those mid-term elections should the democrats get a majority in congress then it is likely all that is.