welcome to bbc news, broadcasting to viewers in north america and around the globe. i'm ben bland. our top stories: president trump announces his choice to fill a critical vacancy in the united states supreme court. it is my honour and privilege to announce that i will nominate judge brett kavanaugh to the united states supreme court. in thailand, the third day of an operation to rescue the remaining five members of a youth football team is getting underway. and in the uk, two big brexit supporters resign, but prime minister theresa may appears to have strengthened her position. hello and welcome to bbc news.

president trump has named has nominated brett kava naugh for the supreme court, setting the stage for a bruising confirmation battle. judge kavanaugh is a 53—year—old conservative justice who serves on the us court of appeals in washington. he worked as a white house aide under president george w bush and president trump praised him as a brilliantjurist. judge kavanaugh has impeccable credentials, unsurpassed qualifications and a proven commitment to equal justice under the law. a graduate of yale college and yale law school, judge kavanaugh currently teaches at harvard, yale and georgetown. throughout legal circles he's considered a judge's judge, a true thought leader among his peers. for the last 12 years, he has served as a judge on the dc circuit court of appeals, with great distinction, authoring over 300 opinions

which have been widely admired for their skill, insight and rigourous adherence to the law. among those opinions are more than a dozen that the supreme court has adopted as the law of the land. there is no—one in america more qualified for this position and no—one more deserving. myjudicial philosophy is straightforward. ajudge must be independent and must interpret the law, not make the law. ajudge must interpret statutes as written and a judge must interpret the constitution as written, informed by history and tradition and precedent. tomorrow, i begin meeting with members of the senate which plays an essential role in this process. i will tell each senator that i revere the constitution. i believe that an independent judiciary is the crown jewel of our

constitutional republic. if confirmed by the senate, i will keep an open mind in every case, and i will always strive to preserve the constitution of the united states and the american rule of law. i'm joined from polona, california by professor amanda hollis—brusky, a key expert on the conservative legal movement that plays a central role in the administration's court picks. given the shortlist of four being made up of people with strong legal credentials, what gavejudge kavanaugh credentials, what gavejudge kava naugh the credentials, what gavejudge kavanaugh the edge? judge brett kavanaugh the edge? judge brett kavanaugh is an establishment republican. he's been known to the federal society, a conservative and egalitarian organisation that influences republican nominations

for the supreme court. he has a solid record on the bench of the dc circuit court of appeals. he's a solid conservative who will help the conservative bloc on the supreme court push the conservative counterrevolution further and deeper for the next few decades. what do you think the effect will be on the direction the supreme court will go if his selection is approved by the senate? the supreme court has leaned conservative, it has leaned republican since the 1990s, but during that time there's always been at least one and at times two moderate centrists on the court, swing justices, who have moderated the far right faction and the far left faction of the court. this bend over the last 20 years, while the law has moved in a more conservative direction, the centre on the court, comprised of anthony kennedy over

the last few years, and he is stepping down, has ensured neither side has moved the law to two fast, too farc. side has moved the law to two fast, too fa rc. —— side has moved the law to two fast, too farc. —— too fast. —— too far. it seems some senators will be looking for a clear steer, or as clear as possible, from the nominee on some of the big social issues of the day, including potentially where he stands on the argument about roe vs he stands on the argument about roe vs wade, the constitutional right to abortion throughout the united states. how much of a roll do you think questions about his approach to those kinds of social issues are going to play in the hearing? -- roll. he will be asked those questions certainly by moderate senators, who have said they will not confirm a nominee who has expressed outright

hostility to roe vs wade. but these days, the nomination hearings are more like political theatre. we don't learn anything real about the nominees from the hearings. they are masters at evading questions and equivocating. so no one is going to give a straightforward answer on whether or not they would overall roe vs wade on the hearing —— during the hearing. we've learned everything we need to know about these nominees, given the fact they're on this list in the first place. this list was curated by leonard leo, vice president of the federal society, a staunch catholic and anti—abortionist. senators know all they need to know by virtue that judge brett kavanaugh was on the list in the first place. are you suggesting if this goes ahead that the supreme court could revisit that case, that president? it is certainly a possibility. my sense is that oncejudge brett kavanaugh is confirmed, if he is confirmed,

states will start passing abortion restrictions, marriage bans against 93v restrictions, marriage bans against gay marriage, just to test the new appointee to the supreme court to see if they can get a fivejustice majority on the court to revisit and perhaps overturn those key precedents in the areas of abortion, reproductive rights, lgbt queue rights and likely affirmative action as well. professor amanda hollis—brusky, thank you for your thoughts. appreciate you having me. now let's get the very latest on the daring mission to rescue the remaining boys trapped in a cave in northern thailand. rescue divers say they will try today to free the last four members of a youth football team and their coach who are still trapped in an flooded cave. eight boys have already been rescued. they became stranded underground more than two weeks ago, after being caught out by sudden torrential rain. lucy williamson reports. police helicopters over chiang rai have come to signal hope. inside this one, a fifth boy, pulled today from deep inside the mountain and flown to join his team—mates in hospital. his identity kept private

even as his arrival here makes global news. a week ago, this mission was seen as almost impossibly risky, but with every success, confidence in the team here has grown as the monsoon rains have so far largely held off. ivan was one of the rescuers in the cave that first day. stationed near one of the route's most difficult parts to replace the divers' empty tanks, he helped guide the boys through and deal with problems. i was very scared because when i saw the diver and the kid on the horizon, we can't see that far, maybe 50 metres, i still didn't know if it was a casualty or if it was a kid. so i was very scared. it didn't feel good. but when i saw that he was alive and breathing and seemed to be

all right, it felt very good. it felt very good. what did you learn from that first day? one of the difficult things in the cave is communication. talking inside the cave is difficult. you need to be very close. if you are more than five or ten metres away, the echo and the water and everything, it's incredibly hard to understand. misunderstandings and the high complexity leads to very bad situations. so we need to plan for that. we need to keep communication very simple. thai children are warned about this mountain by their grandparents, that it swallows people and does not let them out. so far, this operation has proved that adage wrong. eight children have been counted out of its caves, four more are waiting with their coach for the rescuers to return tomorrow. the battle with this mountain is being won through careful planning and tight control, but it is also relying on a sense of unity among the country, the divers and the boys themselves. lucy williamson, bbc news, chiang rai. the rescue efforts at the cave

system have continued to capture the attention of thailand and the world. fergus walsh looks now at why the operation to bring the boys to safety is so complex and challenging. the operation to rescue the remaining boys and their coach from deep beneath this mountain has been risky, complex and daring. they've been stranded about 2.5 miles from the entrance of the tham luan cave system. getting them out one by one involves them walking, wading, crawling and, for long periods, diving through murky, muddy water. there are narrow passages, sharp inclines and descents. two divers accompany each boy. the youngsters, aged 11 to 16, are given full face masks and air tanks so they can breathe normally. there's a guide rope to help them through tunnel and replacement air tanks at key points. now, where the tunnels are flooded, the escape method involves the boys being attached to a diver,

hugged underneath their body. but there are pinch points. 0ne hole narrows to around 15 inches. so they have to squeeze through on their own, with their air tank being carried on ahead. 0ne diver in front, the other behind. it's a perilous operation. just how dangerous was underlined last week, when this former thai navy seal died from lack of air while travelling through the flooded chambers. but the thai authorities say the threat of monsoon rains causing further flooding made this rescue essential. the whole exhausting journey takes several hours. once the boys emerge, they're given a rapid physical check, and there are fears, though, that some may have dangerous lung infections. longer term, it's the psychological impact which is a key concern. helping these children, some not yet teenagers, to come to terms with the trauma of their terrifying ordeal.

fergus walsh there. it's been a remarkable day in british politics. it's just 2a hours since we brought you news of the resignation of the uk's brexit secretary, david davis. now the foreign secretary, borisjohnson, has also left the government. the departure of two leading brexiteers has fuelled serious speculation about the future of theresa may's leadership. and comes just days after the prime minister secured a ha rd—won agreement in cabinet on the shape of the brexit process. andrew plant reports. taking his first steps in a newjob, jeremy hunt, health secretary yesterday, foreign secretary today. his first task, a tribute to the man he replaces. i'd like to start by thanking my predecessor, boris johnson, and my principaljob at a time of massive importance for our country is to stand square by the prime minister. borisjohnson was the

second high—profile politician to leave the uk government in a single day. in a letter, he said the brexit dream was dying, suffocated by needless self—doubt. but one of the longest days in uk politics had begun at midnight on monday. david davis, the man negotiating britain's exit from the eu resigned, unhappy, he said, with plans that did not go far enough. the point is i was the person to present it to parliament, to the european union, to everybody else. and if i don't believe in it then i won't do as good a job as someone who does believe in it. it's been called the chequers compromise, a plan for britain's exit from the eu, thrashed out at the prime minister's countryside retreat last friday. hailed on saturday as a united approach, now it's clear a very divisive document indeed. mr speaker, on friday at chequers, the cabinet agreed a conference providing a responsible and credible

basis for progress in negotiations with the eu towards a new relationship after we leave on march 29 next year. while theresa may faced questions on the plans in parliament, speculation mounted, would there now be a challenge to her leadership? we've got, what, three months' worth of negotiation with the eu at a critical time. it takes three months to do a leadership election. you cannot have both of those happening at the same time. so i encourage my colleagues to step back and think about this. the political drama in london being watched closely of course by leaders in europe as well. politicians come and go. but the problems they have created for their people remain. and the mess caused by brexit is the biggest problem in the history of the eu—uk relations. as the smoke cleared, theresa may was still standing with a new foreign secretary and dominic raab in charge

of eu negotiations. britains's plans causing earthquakes at home long before they've even been taken to brussels. andrew plant, bbc news. stay with us on bbc news, still to come: fans are getting ready for the first semi—final of the football world cup. belgium and france kick off later on wednesday. central london has been rocked by a series of terrorist attacks. police say there have been many casualties and there is growing speculation that al-qaeda was responsible. germany will be the hosts of the 2006 football world cup. they pipped the favourites south africa by a single vote. in south africa, the possibility of losing hadn't even been contemplated and celebration parties were cancelled. the man entered the palace through a downstairs window

and made his way to the queen's private bedroom, then he asked her for a cigarette. and on the pretext of arranging for some to be brought, she summoned a footman on duty, who took the man away. one child, one teacher, one book and one pen can change the world. education is the only solution. this is bbc world news, the latest headlines: president trump has nominated a conservativejudge brett kavanaugh to fill a critical vacancy on the us supreme court. earlier in his career he worked on the impeachment of president bill clinton. the operation to rescue the remaining boys and their football coach from flooded caves in northern thailand is about to resume and we can go live now

to chiang rai to speak for years, pro—life campaigners have wa nted for years, pro—life campaigners have wanted the court in america to overturn roe vs wade. the bbc‘s katty kay has more. abortion was legalised in america 45 yea rs abortion was legalised in america 45 years ago but today, it is still one of the most divisive issues in this country. resident trump now has a chance to put a serious dent in a woman's right to terminate the pregnancy with this second supreme court nomination. it will define his

legacy and social direction of this country for a generation and abortion rights are central. do you wa nt to abortion rights are central. do you want to see the court overturn roe vs wade? if we put another two or three justices on, that will happen. and it will happen automatically in my opinion because i am putting pro—life justices on the court. could those pro—life or conservative judges do what was until recently unthinkable and overturn the legislation that legalised abortion in the us. in a landmark ruling, the supreme court today legalised abortions. the 1973 case roe vs wade legalised abortion in all 50 states based on a woman's right to prove the sea is laid out in the us constitution but the ruling only applied to the first trimester of a woman's pregnancy. after that, individual states could make their own rulings. more and more are doing so, effectively restricting access

to abortions. it's a bit complicated but nearly 20 states already have bans on abortion after the 20th week of pregnancy. 0thers bans on abortion after the 20th week of pregnancy. others like mississippi and iowa are trying to make it even earlier. we are also seeing more restrictions on waiting periods and the use of private insurance to pay for procedures. so ifan insurance to pay for procedures. so if an abortion case were to come for a new more conservative supreme court, there is a chance that roe vs wade could be overturned. that would bea wade could be overturned. that would be a huge victory to mr trump's christian—based. nearly half of conservative republicans say abortion was a very important factor in our vote abortion was a very important factor in ourvote in abortion was a very important factor in our vote in 2016. for white evangelicals, that number is even higher. what do we want? abortion rights. but here is the twist. polls also show americans want to keep abortion legal. a survey released after the news thatjustice kennedy

was stepping down show that two thirds of americans think the supreme court should simply leave the law alone. abortion is the most contentious issue in this nomination but there are a host of ways that are right—leaning court could change life in america. here in the uk police say it's "shocking and utterly appalling" that a woman has died after being exposed to a nerve agent in wiltshire. dawn sturgess was contaminated not far from where a former russian spy and his daughter were poisoned in march. her partner, charlie rowley, remains critically ill. our home affairs correspondent, june kelly reports. dawn sturgess was a mother of two grown—up sons and a daughter of 11. today, they and her parents are mourning her. she and her partner, charlie rowley, fell ill after being exposed to what's being described as a high dose of novichok nerve agent. it's understood the couple each had it on one of their hands. this was dawn sturgess in a local shop the day before she collapsed. with her death, a murder

investigation has been launched by scotland yard. it is both shocking and utterly appalling that a british citizen has died having been exposed to a novichok nerve agent. but make no mistake, we are determined to find out how dawn and her partner, charlie rowley, came into contact with such a deadly substance. and we will do everything we possibly can to bring those responsible to justice. the couple's last journey together was on a bus from salisbury to amesbury. tonight, the police said there were no traces of novichok on the bus they took. it's understood charlie rowley‘s flat in amesbury is regarded as the key location, police searching for a container which was the nerve agent's source. the work of the teams in their specialist heavy suits is being made harder by the heat. it was novichok which was used in the attempted murder of sergei and yulia skripal four months ago.

here in salisbury, the hostel which was dawn sturgess' last home has been closed, and is now one of the decontamination sites. people in this area believed the novichok crisis had passed. dawn sturgess, no doubt, thought the same. at the cordon by the hostel, flowers have been left with a message — "dawn, you were the innocent one in this." in a tragic twist, dawn sturgess has become the unintended victim of an international murder plot. the hunt is now on for her killers. june kelly, bbc news, salisbury. let's get some of the day's other news. film producer harvey weinstein has pleaded not guilty at a court in new york to charges of sexually assaulting a woman in 2006. it's the third criminal sexual assault case brought against him. more than seventy women have accused him of sexual misconduct, including rape. his lawyer says he's innocent and that all sexual encounters were consensual.

the leaders of ethiopia and eritrea have declared an official end to a state of war that has existed between them for nearly two decades. eritrea, formerly a province of ethiopia, broke away in 1993. a subsequent war between them led to the deaths of around 800 thousand people. the car maker nissan has admitted that it falsified data on car exhaust emissions at several of its factories injapan. the company has not revealed how many cars were involved — but has pledged to carry out a full investigation to ensure it won't happen again. football and after the briefest of pauses — the world cup in russia resumes. we're very much at the business end of the tournament now — with the first semi—final taking place later on tuesday. france play belgium — as the bbc‘s tim allman reports.

this is what happiness looks like. the kind of happiness you feel when your team, your country, reaches the semifinals of a world cup. imagine how much more happy you may be if you reach the final. for france and belgium, the only thing stopping them is each other. their semi—final takes place in st petersburg. the belgian squad looked relaxed enough as they trained in moscow. but they know the scale of the task ahead of them. when you face a team like france you know that you need to concentrate for the full 90 minutes. they are special individuals who can decide a scoreline in a single action. i don't think this is the sort of game where you can walk onto the pitch and think that you will perform in a way where what you did before will help you. not at all. as for the french, they are the favourite. although that is an opinion not necessarily shared by everyone. translation: i think belgium has

been the more complete team during this tournament. they are able to defend, to attack. their aerial game, they are strong everywhere. they have all it takes to be a great team and hence they are a great team. a fantastic generation. and if we want to beat them we must play a great match. a great match. well, that is something that would make everybody happy. and for more on the build—up to the semi—finals of the world cup — go to the bbc sport website. you can reach me on twitter — i'm @benmbland. hello there.

it's been a remarkable run of hot weather really. temperatures over the last five days somewhere in the uk have pushed over the 30 degrees celsius mark, and yesterday it was the turn of kew in west london to push above the 30—degree mark. 31 degrees celsius the top temperature yesterday. many areas did see some decent spells of sunshine. this was the scene in norfolk during monday, but further north—eastwards, in whitby, in that area, we had some thicker cloud and gary spotted a few spots of rain falling from the cloud. this, a cold front pushing through, and later in the day, the same weather watcher, gary, spotted some brighter weather following the cold front through. now, the satellite picture shows extensive cloud over northern and eastern parts of the country. that cold front continues to work its way southwards and significantly, it's going to be bringing fresher air. so the humidity will be dropping

and as that happens, the temperatures will drop further as well. so it's going to be fresher, more comfortable night's sleep ahead. temperatures between around about 10 and 15 celsius for the early risers tuesday morning. a lot of dry weather out and about as well. this is the pressure chart for tuesday, high pressure still with us but we do have that weak cold front moving into the heart of southern england. further north in scotland, a weak warm front will bring some thickening cloud and the prospect of seeing a few spots of rain. nothing to help the gardens mind you. for most areas, it's just going to be a dry day. a lot of cloud to start off with but that cloud will thin and break up with time, some spells of sunshine breaking through as we go through the afternoon. now, temperature—wise, 0k, it's not going to be not as hot, we probably won't see

temperatures into the low 30s, but it's still going to be pleasant out and about when the sun comes through. 2a celsius in london. close to normal for the time of year. 21 in edinburgh. if we see some decent sunshine across the south—west, we could see temperatures in the mid—to—high 20s in the warmest spots here. there could be some changes afoot on wednesday. a weather front threatens the north—west of the uk, bringing the prospect of rain. uncertain how much and where it'll be falling but something the gardeners will be looking out for. away from the north—west corner, it's the same old story, a lot of dry weather with some bright or sunny spells, and again, temperatures widely in the low—to—mid—20s, so pleasant weather really for many of us. towards the end of the week, the dry theme keeps going with further sunshine and what you'll notice is the temperatures tending to build. should see highs in london pushing back into the upper 20s as we head through saturday and sunday. that's your latest weather, bye for now. this is bbc world news. the headlines: president trump has nominated brett kavanaugh to fill a crucial vacancy on the us supreme court. judge kavanaugh is known as a conservative justice who worked as a white house aide under president george w bush. he also assisted with the impeachment investigation into president bill clinton.

rescuers in thailand are preparing for what they hope will be a third and final day of the operation to free the remaining four footballers and their coach trapped in a cave. so far eight boys have been brought to safety. they are now in isolation in hospital. the british prime minister theresa may appears to have weathered an immediate challenge to her leadership. during a turbulent 2a hours, two of her senior ministers, both supporters of brexit, resigned over her plans to keep close trade ties with the european union after britain leaves the bloc. now on bbc news, hardtalk‘s stephen sackur speaks to former us deputy national security advisor, ben rhodes.