welcome to bbc news, broadcasting to viewers in north america and around the globe. my name is lebo diseko. our top stories: donald trump's nominee for the us supreme court and the woman who accuses him of sexual assault, give dramatic testimonies on capitol hill. dr ford, with what degree of certainty do you believe brett kavanaugh assaulted you? 100%. i swear today, under oath, before the senate and the nation, before my family and god, i am innocent of this charge. senior republicans are now discussing a timetable for the next votes in the process to confirm judge kavanaugh. also on the programme: cast out for refusing to kill their disabled babies. we meet the kenyan mothers standing up for their children. and the invisible threat that could wipe out half the population of killer whales in the world. it's been emotional day

of testimony at the us senate, as president trump's nominee for the supreme court, brett kavanaugh, repeatedly denied allegations that he sexually assaulted a teenage girl some 30 years ago. earlier his accuser, professor christine blasey ford, insisted that the attack did happen, and described its devastating impact. here is what both had to say at the beginning of the hearing. are here to do because i want to be, iam are here to do because i want to be, i am terrified. to as i believe it is my civic duty to tell you what happened to me while brett kavanaugh andi happened to me while brett kavanaugh and i were in hospital. —— high school. my family and i intend no ill will towards dr ford or her family, but i swear today under oath, before the senate and the nation, before my family and god, i am innocent of this charge. earlier i spoke to our

correspondent in washington, chris buckler, about the testimony and what stood out for him. yeah, it was striking to hear two people, both with incredibly powerful testimony, but strikingly different approaches, different tones to how they gave evidence to thisjudiciary committee. we had christine blasey ford, who was very calm, very controlled, but nonetheless very emotional, her voice shaking as she talked about what happened 36 years ago and she talked about that alleged attack. on the other hand from judge kavanaugh, we had someone who was angry on occasions. what republicans will undoubtedly refer to as a kind of "righteous anger", he spoke, often shaking at times, saying he was not responsible, carefully not saying that christine blasey ford had not

been attacked, but simply saying that he was not in any way involved. but what we got were two different people saying two very different things about many years ago, and it was left to the committee to decide who they believed. i was pushed on the bed and brett got on top of me. he began running his hands over my body and grinding into me. i yelled, hoping that someone downstairs might hear me and i tried to get away from him, but his weight was heavy. he tried to take off my clothes, he had a hard time because he was very inebriated and because i was wearing a one piece bathing suit underneath my clothing. i believed he was going to rape me. i categorically and unequivocally deny the allegation against me by dr ford, and never had any sexual or physical encounter of any kind with dr ford. i never attended a gathering like the one dr ford describes in her allegation. i have never sexually assaulted dr ford, or anyone. so, chris, you said there

that the republicans really tried not to go after doctor ford directly, but they did accuse the democrats of politicising this? yeah, this is ultimately a political process. this hearing to try to appoint a new supreme courtjustice. and it is a deeply political one in terms of washington. but it also felt incredibly personal today. and there is no doubt that when you talk to a democrat or a republican, they will tell you there are people who are having their reputations dragged through the dirt, or alternatively people have been forced into difficult questions about things they say happened many years ago and they're having to relive them. and as a result, we have democrats and republicans essentially fighting

with each other as they listened on this committee to two people telling two very different stories. but you could tell particularly, as far as republicans were concerned, there was a great deal of frustration. just listen to senator lindsey graham hit out at the democrats. to my republican colleagues, if you vote no, you are legitimising the most despicable thing i have seen in my time in politics. you want the seat, i hope you never get it. i hope you are on the supreme court, that is exactly where you should be, as i hope that the american people will see through this charade. and i wish you well, and i intend to vote for you and i hope everybody who's fair—minded will. chris, this has become so politicised, it is so politicised, just remind us why this matters so much in what is at stake for each party? yeah, it is incredibly important because it is about appointing

a justice to the highest court in america, the court that essentially can decide and influence america's laws, and judge kavanaugh is undoubtedly the peak of president trump. he wants him to sit on that court and partly that is because he is a conservativejudge. the democrats are concerned that he could push the court further to the right. and this is ultimately important because a supreme courtjustice sits there for life, that means that judge kavanaugh could influence the decision of that court for decades. who exactly was each side trying to convince? because they were not going to, republicans were not likely to convince the democrats, the democrats were not likely to convince the republicans, but there are a few senators that are undecided, aren't there? yeah, an infinitely small number, ultimately you could argue

that there were two audiences here, one was president trump, and certainlyjudge kavanaugh was trying to impress him, because there was some suggestion he was not impressed by the way he spoke in a fox news interview earlier this week, he wanted him to be more aggressive and to defend himself more, and he certainly got that today. but there is no doubt that america was watching closely and listening to all of this, but what is important as far as senators is concerned is to try to convince those few senators who could sway one way or the other. there are a number of senators in what are generally regarded as republican states who will be watching very closely to see how both of these people get across today. some of those small group of senators, three republicans and one democrat, have been meeting and having conversations. the republican party have also been having conversations and at this stage, we understand the republican senators are going to push ahead without vote in a matter of about 12 hours time, they want to try and get that committee vote through and that means that there can be a final senate vote as early as next week. the bbc‘s chris buckler

in washington. let's get some of the day's other news. financial authorities in the us have filed a lawsuit against the head of tesla, elon musk. they accuse him of lying to investors when he claimed he had secured the funding to take the car maker back into private ownership. mr musk has described the charges as unjustified. china and russia have called on the un security council to consider easing sanctions on north korea to make progress in denuclearising the korean peninsula. the chinese foreign minister said sanctions needed to be accompanied by a political process. the israeli leader benjamin neta nyahu has revealed what he says is a secret location, where iran has been storing nuclear equipment and material in order to build a nucear weapon. addressing the un general assembly, mr netanyahu demanded that international inspectors investigate the site.

the iranians say their nuclear programme is peaceful. a new study has found that nearly half of kenyan mothers with disabled babies were pressured to kill them. the two—year research was carried out by the charity disability rights international. it also found that women are often blamed for the conditions of their children. our senior africa correspondent anne soy reports from nairobi. it's a life fraught with difficulty. even with the best care, things would have been tough for this boy. born in a rural kenya, where disability is considered a curse. he is literally lucky to be alive. if some of his relatives had their way, he would have been killed as an infant. translation: i was chased from home. a friend took me in. but after three weeks,

she asked me to put acid in my son's food. i refused to poison my child and left. florence has struggled ever since, doing odd jobs to survive. and she can't even afford a wheelchairfor her son. she's not alone. many women in rural kenya say they're pressured to kill disabled children. no one knows how many of them give in. but infa nticide has deep cultural roots. i'm trying to understand the cultural context, why people would kill children with disabilities, so i've come to a village near the maasai mara to meet with a traditional birth attendant. she spent her whole life delivering babies. she says it wasn't an easy choice for parents of disabled children. translation: they didn't know what to do. they had no alternative.

even though they loved the baby, if the mother asked the man for a solution, he didn't have one. those who choose to defy tradition do not always keep their babies. compassionate hands is a care home in nairobi. i have a new—found friend here. these children have learning disabilities but, as you can see, they need love, just like all other children. but the reality is their mothers and families have faced a lot of stigma, and many of them have been forced to abandon them in institutions like this. this home was started entirely by accident. my idea was to start a day care. but in a week, we had ii abandoned children. in a month, there were 30. a child is best—placed at a home setup but, well, when there is no other option.

their parents simply never returned. such is the demand, there are now 86 children here, living in conditions experts say will only make their health worse. and she says the only thing the government gives them are more children to care for. every month, florence meets up with other mothers who have gone through similar things. like lydia, she was asked to insert needles into her son's wrists, she was told it would cause a slow but secret death. they draw strength from each other in a society where some would rather their children did not exist. stay with us on bbc news. still to come: tributes have been paid to the creator of postman pat,

john cunliffe, who has died at the age of 85. in all russia's turmoil, it has never come to this. president yeltsin said the day would decide the nation's destiny. the nightmare that so many people had feared for so long is playing out its final act here. russians are killing russians in front of a grandstand audience. it was his humility which produced affection from catholics throughout the world, but his departure is a tragedy for the catholic church. israel's right—winger, ariel sharon, visited the religious compound, and that started the trouble. he wants israel alone to have sovereignty over the holy sites — an idea that's unthinkable to palestinians. after 45 years of division, germany is one.

in berlin, a million germans celebrate the rebirth of europe's biggest and richest nation. this is bbc world news. the latest headlines: donald trump's nominee for the us supreme court and the woman who accuses him of sexual assault have given dramatic testimonies in front of the senate's judiciary committee. senior republican senators are now discussing a timetable for the next steps in the process to confirm mr kavanaugh, with a first vote expected friday. let's stay with that story, the hearing in the senate judicial committee. earlier, i spoke withjocelyn frye, a senior fellow at the center for american progress.

i started by asking what she made of the criticism that this was not the right forum. well, i think that criticism is a little unfair. dr christine blasey ford wanted to remain confidential, she wanted to figure out a way to tell her story but do so in a way that protected her privacy, and she, for reasons that were not in her control, privacy was violated, and i think, now the question is how to make sure that the process is fair and not really point fingers at who is to blame. i think quite frankly, the process in terms of the nomination was broken long before dr christine blasey ford came forward and there has been extreme partisanship on the committee for a while, so now the realfocus partisanship on the committee for a while, so now the real focus focus should be on trying to make sure that the best information is put before the committee. —— real focus. what did you make of the process? i

mean it was so emotional, so emotionally charged, but we did see the republicans, they would say they made an effort to make sure that she was treated fairly? well, i think she had an opportunity to present her testimony, which was important, but i think overall the process was woefully inadequate, when you look back to the 1991 hearings involving anita hill and clarence thomas, the process was far more robust than what the leadership did this time around. doctor christine blasey ford was given an opportunity to speak that there really was not an effort to provide opportunities for additional witnesses or experts who could bolster her testimony, and the process was rushed. play it tried to push forward at breakneck speed, even before all the documents were provided. —— they had tried to, and

before an investigation could be done, so i think the process has left something to be desired and it has hurt the overall process and it impaired doctor christine blasey ford's opportunity to be heard properly. it is interesting that you make the comparison to the anita hill case. i mean i was listening back to some of her testimonyjust the other day, and the questions that were put to her, a lot of people would say so degrading, so dismissive of her account of what happened. that did not happen today, we heard rachel mitchell, that was the prosecutor who the republicans put forward, so that she did not have two phase a panel entirely made up have two phase a panel entirely made up of white males, begin by saying i am sorry up of white males, begin by saying i am sorry that you are so terrified. well, i think that, the prosecutor

in this case is inexperienced prosecutor who works on sexual assault cases, however, i think, this is not a courtroom, this is the senatejudiciary this is not a courtroom, this is the senate judiciary committee, and every member of that committee has an obligation to understand the witnesses coming before them and engage on the substance, that is why they are elected. so i think what we saw from the male members in the majority, is really a refusal to engage dr blasey ford directly at all. sorry to interrupt you, do you think it would have been better if she would have faced questions from republican members of the senate directly those yellow i think it would have been, it would have been getting terms of them having to to her directly. —— directly? getting terms of them having to to

her directly. -- directly? and basically what he saw as they had somebody else do their work for them and then when judge somebody else do their work for them and then whenjudge kavanaugh came before them, they had no problem engaging with him directly and talking about his pain in his experiences, so i think it was fairly dismissive ofjudge —— dr blasey ford in just a different way than they treated anita hill. one of the things that really stands out from the anita hill case is just how vilified she was afterwards, both by wider society and also within her own community as well. what would you like to see in place now for dr blasey ford, to make sure that she is not re— traumatised by that? well, i think she spoke herself about the tremendous support that she has received from people across the country, and i hope she continues to get that support. she isa continues to get that support. she is a survivor of sexual assault and thatis is a survivor of sexual assault and that is important for any survivor, but i think the other larger issue

here is to also be treated with respect and credibility by the committee itself, and i think that, quite frankly, the process did not treat her well. that was jocelyn frye, a senior fellow at the center for american progress. now, the world's killer whales are under threat, that is according to scientists. they say a banned chemical has built up in the mammals' bodies — stopping them from reproducing. scientists from the zoological society of london say they could be extinct in british waters within a century. our science correspondent victoria gill has more details. just to warn you: there are some distressing images in this report. the ultimate marine predator is falling prey to an invisible threat — manufactured chemicals lingering in the ocean. polychlorinated biphenyls, or pcbs, that were once used to heat—proof everything from electrical components to paint and glue, are leaching into the marine

environment and are found at toxic levels in the bodies of killer whales. the very highest levels in the killer whales are actually levels that we think would completely suppress reproduction. the effects of these chemicals have been at the heart of years of investigation by scientists, including this team from london's institute of zoology, who have carried out detailed postmortems on the bodies of marine mammals. the pcbs alone, no other threat, just the pcbs alone, is enough to cause the extinction of more than half of the world's killer whale populations, which is really devastating, really. this is a killer whale apocalypse. polychlorinated biphenyls are extremely stable, heat—resistant chemicals. they were used in a huge range of products, including paints and sealants, until research revealed them to be toxic. they were widely banned in the 1980s. their legacy, though, has proven just as toxic. the un estimates that 1a million tons of pcbs have yet to be disposed of safely, and they may still be leaking from landfill sites today.

in the ocean, it's killer whales, apex predators, who suffer the worst consequences. it's killer whales' position at the very top of the marine food chain that leaves them particularly exposed to these chemicals. the killer whales eat everything in the sea, from penguins, to seals, to even other species of whale. and because pcbs are everywhere in the environment, they're in every marine animal, so each contaminated meal is another dose of these chemicals. they're also transmitted from mother to calf — pollution passed from generation to generation. but while this study forecasts a bleak future for many killer whale populations, scientists hope it will also provide a catalyst to clean up this chemical legacy, ensuring that populations that escaped it will continue to thrive. victoria gill, bbc news. tributes have been paid to the creator of postman pat,

john cunliffe, who's died at the age of 85. the popular children's tv programme, which began in the early eighties, was sold to more than 50 countries around the world. tim allman has more. # postman pat, postman pat. # postman pat and his black and white cat... # early in the morning... whimsical, nostalgic heartwarming. postman pat and his black and white cat — a television favourite for generations of children. in the fictional town of greendale, everyone was your friend, and every new day was an adventure. it was a place inspired by creator john cuncliffe's own home in the lake district. who else lives in the countryside? and a postman, well, he travels around, he meets a lot of people, friendly character and they said, "ooh, sounds quite likely, i don't think anybody‘s done it." ok, you go back to kendal and write an outline for 13 episodes. # rosie and jim, rosie and jim.

# chugging along on the old ragdoll... john cunliffe also wrote and appeared in rosie andjim, another gentle programme aimed at entertaining and educating youngsters. born in colne in lancashire, he had been a librarian and a teacher. he would go on to write nearly 200 books, and also several volumes of poetry. but he will be best remembered for postman pat, a character of genuine warmth and charm, who lived in the hearts of millions of children. john cunliffe, the creator of postman pat, who's died at the age of 85. elephant keepers at san diego zoo got a big surprise when they came in to work on thursday. they discovered that a 28—year—old elephant had given birth to a healthy female calf. while zookeepers were expecting

the birth, it came a little earlier than they had expected. the calf, yet to be named, began nursing shortly after it was born. shall be introduced to the remainder of the herd in the next few days. the adults were rescued in 2003 from d country formerly known as swaziland. as you can see, mum and baby doing very well there. you can reach me on twitter. i'm @lebo? diseko. i would love to hear from you. we'll have the short headlines shortly, thatisit have the short headlines shortly, that is it for now. —— will have the headlines. hello, good morning. it's fair to say that yesterday across england and wales felt a bit more like summer.

in the sunshine in lincolnshire, we had temperatures here as high as 25 celsius. now, today, still going to be dry in most places. there'll still be some sunshine around, but it will feel much, much cooler. we've got high pressure sitting to the west of the uk. the warmth is getting pushed away into the continent, and around the top of the high pressure, we've got these cooler winds coming in behind a band of cloud, which in the morning is affecting southern counties of england. it'll clear away, could get one or two light showers coming in on a north—easterly wind into the south—east corner of england. the north—westerly will bring more cloud into the highlands and islands, and a few scattered light showers here. temperatures, though, will be significantly lower for the likes of newcastle. six degrees lower than yesterday in london. and those temperatures will fall away sharply underneath the clear skies, with the winds falling light. the northern half of the uk sees a little bit more breeze, some cloud perhaps pushing into northern ireland, more especially the north and west of scotland. not quite as chilly here, but it will be much colder further south, 2—3 into rural parts

of england and wales. sunshine, though, will boost those temperatures on saturday, lighter winds too. a bit more of a breeze across the north, more cloud coming into scotland and northern ireland, some rain in the north—west, perhaps arriving into the central belt later on in the day. but ahead of that, it may feel a bit warmer, temperatures 17 or 18 degrees. that weather front that's coming into the north—west, actually, is very weak. it's not going to amount to very much, and as it heads south, more a band of cloud with little or no rain on it at all. there's the band of cloud moving into england and wales. sunny spells following on behind that north—westerly wind will start to drop the temperatures, and there'll be a fair number of showers coming into scotland. some of those in northern scotland could be quite heavy as well. so sunday will feel a little cooler, those temperatures 12—16 typically north—south. so we've got high pressure out to the west of the uk, those showers getting pushed away into the north sea.

a northerly airflow as we head into monday. that's never a good direction, and that means some sunny spells, yes, but we will see quite a chilly feel on monday. and into the north—west of the uk, the next weather system arrives, clouding over in scotland and northern ireland, some more substantial rain into the north—west by the end of the day, but temperatures struggling to 11—14 degrees on monday. that rain will push southwards overnight, leaving us with more of a westerly airflow, so not quite so chilly by day or by night. there'll be a lot of cloud, and probably not much rain. this is bbc news. the headlines: the woman who accuses donald trump's nominee for the us supreme court of sexual assault has given a powerful testimony in front of the senate judiciary committe. dr christine blasey ford told senators she's100% certain that it was brett kavanaugh who tried to assault her. and she said the alleged incident changed her life dramatically. appearing in front of the committee after dr ford, judge kavanaugh emphatically denied the allegation of sexual assault. he accused democratic senators of destroying his family and his good name for political reasons. senior republicans are now

discussing a timetable for the next steps in the process to confirm mr kavanaugh. a first vote in the judiciary committe is expected on friday. now on bbc news, hardtalk‘s stephen sackur talks to former conservative party leader, lord howard.