tonight at five... a critical vote in the us senate on president trump's nominee for the supreme court. in a test of support for brett kavanaugh, senators narrowly back a motion to advance his nomination to a final vote. on this vote, the yeas were 51, the nos were 49. the final senate vote could take place this weekend. we'll have the latest live from capitol hill. the other main stories on bbc news at 5. in an interview with the bbc, stormy daniels speaks out about her alleged affair with donald trump. i would have never included any of those things or had a kiss and tell for lack of a better explanation if it was not for the fact i was being called a liar. one week after an earthquake and tsunami hit indonesia, more than 1000 people are now feared still buried under mud and rubble.

a man who pushed a 91—year—old passenger onto tube tracks in central london is found guilty of attempted murder. also tonight... what i did on my summer holidays — the eight—year—old girl who found a 1500 year old sword, while swimming in a swedish lake. and did mark kermode go gaga over a remake of a star is born? find out what he thought of that and all the week's top releases in the film review. it's five o'clock. good evening.

our main story... the us senate has narrowly voted to approve the next step in the nomination process of brett kavanaugh, president trump's nominee to be the supreme court the president has accused anti—kava naugh protestors of being paid professionals funded by the billionaire donor, george soros. in a tweet, mr trump referred to them as "rude elevator screamers looking to make senators look bad". more than 300 people were arrested during protests on thursday in washington dc. thousands of people took to the streets to protest about the nomination of brett kavanaugh. let's get the latest on all of this. our correspondent, jane o'brien, is in washington. bring is right up to date. it is

interesting usually give a protest is because those demonstrations have been going on the full—time in the corridors while the senators were on the floor in the chamber moving this process ever closer to a full confirmation vote and then alex beck back to take place as early as tomorrow. they have 30 hours to finish off their debates, get over there in decisions and there are still many in decisions, and then make a final vote. what is an impassioned speeches on the chamber floor, senator dianne fiennes line, the ranking democrat on the committee, said not only did she oppose brett kava naugh‘s committee, said not only did she oppose brett kavanaugh‘s nomination but she also to issue with his demeanour as he defended himself against those allegations of sexual assault. here's what she said. —— diane feinstein. judges are invented to be, quote, evenhanded, unbiased, impartial and courteous, end quote. however, at the hearing last week, we saw a man

filled with anger and aggression. judge brett kavanaugh raised his voice, he interrupted senators, he accused democrats of, quote, lying in wait, unquote, and advise and consent with search and destroy, end quote. he even went so far to say that doctor ford's allegations were nothing more than, quote, a calculated and orchestrated political heat fuelled with pent up anger about president trump and the 2016 election, end quote. walt, revenge on that half of the clintons, end quote. how could he? this behaviour revealed a hostility and belligerence that is unbecoming of someone seeking to be elevated to the united states supreme court. that was democrat diane feinstein,

mitch mcconnell, the majority leader, said brett kavanaugh was in fa ct a leader, said brett kavanaugh was in fact a victim of political partisan ship. the cross round of anger, fear and partisanship of lows from these past weeks. they have harmed a good man and his family, they have tarnished the dignity of this institution but all of it can end to day. the time has come to vote. the senate stands on the threshold of a golden opportunity. we have the opportunity to the nomination of incredibly well—qualified and person to a post. we have the chance to prejudge brett kavanaugh on the supreme court for his distinguishable service that will make us and our nation proud. by

by proceeding with a confirmation vote, the republicans have certainly cemented —— surmounted a major hurdle but it is not yet done because one of those who could hold the key is senator susan collins who isa the key is senator susan collins who is a republican and voted yes to proceed but we are expecting her to make another statement and she could still change her mind. thank you gary march. —— thank you very much. let's talk about broader social attitudes towards all of this. the political divisions this nomination process has so sharply thrown up. we can now speak to laura mcgann, managing director of vox, which recently carried out a poll into public attitudes towards brett kava naugh. very good evening to you. hello.

your thoughts first of all about the extraordinary divisions that we have seen here because our correspondent there is talking about the fact that it was notjust protest is on the street on thursday, there have been protest is throughout. speak to that if you can. yes, i think the thing to understand about this big fight is the context in which it is playing out. since donald trump won the 2016 election, there has been a huge cultural movement amongst women particularly liberal women and democratic women in opposition to donald trump joining the democratic women in opposition to donald trumpjoining the me democratic women in opposition to donald trump joining the me too movement and calling for big changes around how women who suffer sexual assault, harassment are treated and how we both politically, substance the and culturally deal with this.

this nomination, much as it was a partisan fight, about whether or not judge cavanagh should be on any supreme judge cavanagh should be on any supreme court, it really laid bear this and bring clash between these two points of view in america. —— whether or not brett kavanaugh should be on any supreme court.“ it because this hearing is taking place just a it because this hearing is taking placejust a month before mid—term elections? the proximity to the elections, and that made worse? absolutely because the stakes are just higherfor absolutely because the stakes are just higher for republicans. they wa nt to just higher for republicans. they want to hang on to congress, they wa nt to want to hang on to congress, they want to hang on to congress, they want to hang on to hang onto the semi—and the house, and it looks like they could very well lose the house and the senate is tight. —— they want to hold on to the senate. they want to use this to galvanise their base and failure making good on keeping conservatives on the court. meanwhile democrats are saying, hey, thisjudge represents

the very attitude and the very type of person that speaks to this cultural movement that erupted around the election of donald trump. we're talking about people on capitol hill and protesters who can get to capitol hill. if the polling tells us more broadly across the country what regular people are making of all of this and the way a woman has been treated? whether you believe or you do not believe her. this has not been tested in a criminal court but what has polling shoulders about people's attitudes do this? by and large, more americans believe the accuser in this case. our name is doctor christine ford. they believe her overjudge brett christine ford. they believe her over judge brett kavanaugh. christine ford. they believe her overjudge brett kavanaugh. —— her

name christine blasey ford. this breakdown along party lines, though, will usually democrats saying brett kavanaugh should will usually democrats saying brett kava naugh should not will usually democrats saying brett kavanaugh should not be on the supreme court and republicans saying he issued. that is part of a broader trend in american politics where many issues are becoming increasingly partisan, where it becomes sort of a test of who you are politically, not who you are along gender lines or other lines and that is important to keep in mind in this fight that this movement and groundswell of women is really a groundswell of a liberal and democratic women, so the fight is becoming about two parties clashing, 02 genders clashing. interesting, so very much on party political lines. we will see how that plays out. we may very well be speaking again around election time. a week after the earthquake

and tsunami that hit the island of sulawesi in indonesia, officials say they fear up to 1000 people could still be buried in the area. the number confirmed missing is more than 100, but rescue teams now believe more people may have been unable to escape the buildings as they were submerged under mud when the tremor hit. emergency workers are still pushing into previously inaccessible areas. more than 1500 people are known to have died. from sulawesi, our correspondent, hywel griffith, sent this report. one week ago, this shopping centre was full of life as palu's people started their weekend. today, it is where the search for hundreds of bodies slowly continues. there is little family members can do but wait. hope of finding anyone alive has almost disappeared. in some places, it's hard to know where to begin, like here, where homes are encased in meters of mud. it means the final death toll could eventually double. i think it will be increased,

as in many places, houses are buried, and we still don't know how many, but maybe double. law and order has been restored, but palu's jail is still missing 600 of its inmates after the earthquake turned it into an open prison. when the ground started to shake, the prison started to collapse. this is what's left of the internal wall of the cells. it came down, the prisoners could just walk over, and this is what is left of the external wall. jump over this, and they were out. the governor said he tried to stop them but was attacked as prisoners started to flee. translation: we panicked when the earthquake happened, then there was more panic as hot water, mud and sand started coming up through the ground. but remarkably, a few, including

andy ahmed, decided to hand themselves in after checking on theirfamilies. he is injailfor shooting someone. translation: i have less than one year left to spend in prison. i have been injail for a long time, about six years,... so why should i stay away? humanitarian aid is now reaching many of those who need it. shelter kits and solar lamps from britain have now arrived in indonesia, but it will take another day before they arrive on sulawesi. the need for help here will last for many months, if not years, as people try to rebuild their lives. the irish prime minister, leo varadkar, has suggested that a deal between the uk and the eu could be reached within a fortnight. speaking in brussels, he said there is a good opportunity for an agreement — though he urged the government

to confirm plans to avoid a hard border between northern ireland and the republic as soon as possible. four of northern ireland's pro—remain parties have been meeting the eu's chief negotiator, michel barnier, this morning, as pressure grows to reach a solution to the irish border problem before the eu summit later this month. our reporter, adam fleming, is in brussels. afternoon. ambassadors from the eu member states have just had a meeting where they have had an update on the very latest on the brexit negotiations because even though the tory party conference has been happening, there have been informal talks between officials here in brussels this week. the mood music is very good, it would like there was progress on all the outstanding areas of the brexit treaty which was about 15—20% left but there is still one massive sticking point and it is this back—up plan, this insurance policy

for preventing the reintroduction of checks between northern ireland and republic of ireland and that is the subject of a big diplomatic about of activity that has been taking place to day. a broken leg didn't stop the leader of sinn fein in northern ireland joining the dash to solve the irish border issue, with three other parties opposed to brexit making their case to the eu's chief negotiator. we want to protect the special relationship which we have, north—south and east—west. we need to see the protection of citizens' rights, we need to stay in the customs union and single market, so we'll be seeking assurances in terms of the eu stance which they have held to this point, but as we reach the end stage of the negotiation, it's important that they stay firm. michel barnier is sticking with his plan that northern ireland could stay in the eu's customs arrangements and parts of the single market, but he is tweaking it. it's still opposed by the uk, though, and the government's drawing up an alternative, one that could involve a customs deal covering the whole uk. and powers for the northern ireland assembly at stormont to approve any

new regulatory checks. guys, are you making progress on brexit? on his own visit to brussels yesterday, the irish prime minister was optimistic a deal could be done, only if the uk publishes its proposal well before an eu summit in two weeks. very important now over the next couple of weeks that everyone gets down to business. i think we are entering a critical and decisive stage of these negotiations, and there is a good opportunity to clinch a deal over the next couple of weeks, running through october into november. it's also the case that theresa may will have to satisfy her partners in the democratic unionist party as well. we've been very, very clear that we leave the eu as one country, because to do otherwise, to separate our economy and to put barriers up, that's the test, put barriers up, would do real damage to the economic future of northern ireland. the dup will be ushered through the eu's doors next week in a search for a solution.

if there isn't one, the whole brexit deal risks being hobbled. so, plenty more activity to come. i've heard rumours that the might be some brexit talks over the weekend then on monday, northern irish businesses are going to be here to get we've done the latest on the backstop, then on tuesday, arlene foster, leader of the dup, absolutely crucial what she has to say about all this and we are waiting to find out when the uk will come forward with its own proposals for alternative to that backstop being proposed by michel barnier which the uk has rejected. i have to say and remember the period in december last year when writing the last minute it was big strides forward in the first phase of the brexit talks? this period is starting to feel very similar to that. goodness. no time for you, adam. thank you very much. thank you. i think that is a wry smile. the time is 5:17pm.

the headlines on bbc news... in a test of support for president trump's supreme court nominee, brett kavanaugh, us senators narrowly back a motion to advance his nomination to a final vote. one week after an earthquake and tsunami hit indonesia, more than a thousand people are now feared still buried under mud and rubble. a man who pushed a 91—year—old passenger onto tube tracks in central london is found guilty of attempted murder. in sport, pep guardiola said they should not need the police to protect the team bus on his manchester city team's first return to liverpool since last season's hostile champions league tie. a quick reaction saved lewis hamilton from crashing in the grand prix as he went on to the fastest in both sessions, nearly 0.9 of a second quicker than anyone else. and british number one kyle edmund

reaches the final of the chinese open after a wind in straight sets in beijing. i'll have more sport for you just after half past. —— after a win in straight sets in beijing. thank you. a man has been found guilty of the attempted murder of two london underground passengers who he pushed as they waited for trains. paul crossley, who's 46 and who was homeless at the time, said he hadn't meant to kill either of the men, one of whom was 90 at the time. —— 91 at the time. richard lister has been following the case, and explained more from the old bailey. there were actually two attacks by crossley on that day, april 27th, this year. the first was on a guy called tobias french who was standing on a platform quite close to the edge, at tottenham court road station when he suddenly felt himself pushed violently from behind. that was paul crossley who was filmed on cctv doing so. he was able to get away

and, thankfully for mr french, he did not fall in front of the tube train which wasjust, he told the court, metres away when he was pushed. crossley made his escape, he got onto an underground train and emerged at marble arch. he came behind sir robert malpas, then 90, standing on the platform, he pushed him violently across the platform and he flew into the air and landed on the train tracks. as he did so, he struck his head, he was quite severely injured and had a big cut on his head. he fell down under the safety pit below the tracks and he had a broken pelvis. you could not get up. clearly there was a train expected within a minute or so and one very brave member of the publicjumped down onto the tracks to try to save him, to try to rescue him. he did manage to pull him up but as he did so, he put his hand down on one of the electrified rails and burnt his hand quite badly. he managed to pull him to safety. crossley was arrested after being detained by members of the public.

he told the police he did not know either man and he had not had enough sleep. it emerged he was diagnosed with schizophrenia some time ago. he was taking medication for that but still after considering, the jury went out yesterday, the jury decided he was guilty of the attempted murder of both men. and some more stories on bbc news... the anglo—dutch consumer goods giant, unilever, has abandoned a plan to move its corporate headquarters from london to rotterdam, in the netherlands. unilever, which makes goods including marmite and dove soap, said the proposal hadn't received the support of some significant shareholders. french police are investigating the disappearance of... which is clearly not related to

these pictures, as you can gather. i can tell you, french police are investigating the disappearance of the head of the international police organisation, interpol. the family of meng hongwei, seen here on the left, say they have not heard from him since he left to travel to china a week ago. and this year's nobel peace prize has been jointly awarded to two campaigners against the use of rape as a weapon of war. the nobel committee said the congolese gynaecologist, denis mukwege, and the yazidi human rights activist, nadia murad, had made a "critical contribution" to the fight against sexual violence in conflicts. a criminal investigation has been opened by the environment agency, after it emerged that hundreds of tonnes of medical waste, including human body parts, have been stockpiled by a contractor working for nhs hospitals. the private company blames the backlog on a shortage of appropriate incinerators. the government says there is no risk to the public. lauren moss reports. hundreds of tonnes of medical waste, backed up inside this treatment facility in west yorkshire.

pharmaceutical refuge including chemicals and even body parts are waiting to be disposed of. there are also delays at five other sites in england and scotland, delays which have been described as staggering. this is a scandal that simply shouldn't have happened. this is a really solid example of what happens when we start to regard services that should be central to our public services, services like cleaning, catering, portering, as ones that can easily be contracted out and we can absolve ourselves of responsibility. the environment agency says that healthcare environmental services, the contractor in charge of removing and incinerating hospital waste, is in breach of its permit, and has launched a criminal investigation. here, 350 tonnes of waste is piled up, five times the amount there should be, stored in secure, refrigerated containers. the health secretary chaired a cobra meeting to discuss

the backlog last month, but there is anger that this was not made public sooner. if this issue was serious enough for a criminal investigation to be launched, serious enough for the environment agency to raise concerns about the wider environmental health consequences, and serious enough for the health secretary to convene a meeting of cobra, why was it not serious enough for parliament to be informed? today, the department of health says it is monitoring the situation and insists there is absolutely no risk to patients or the public. a spokesperson says: on its website, healthcare environmental describes itself as the uk's leading independent provider of health care waste management. the contractor says it has

repeatedly told authorities that there has been a reduction in the capacity to use high—temperature incineration facilities. for now, the focus is on disposing of the waste. questions will need to be answered about how this happened in the first place. an eight—year—old girl in sweden has found a sword believed to date from 1500 years ago — before the viking era. saga vanecek stepped on the sword in a lake this summer, when the water level was low because of a drought. the discovery was kept secret until now, to give archaeologists time to search the lake for other artefacts. richard galpin has the story. despite the approach of winter, this lake in southern sweden is still a popular destination for those in search of ancient treasures. because earlier this year, there was an extraordinarily discovery here of something that had

lain under the water for up to 1500 years. and this is it. a sword dating back to the sixth century, before the vikings, and it's surprisingly well preserved. translation: scientifically, culturally and historically it's very important for us. it's an important piece of history for this area and it's attracted attention abroad. and the discovery was made not by a seasoned archaeologist or treasure hunter, but by an eight—year—old girl who had been playing in the water here while on holiday with her family. translation: i felt around with my hands and knees when i noticed something that felt like a stick. so i was on the verge of throwing it away but i didn't. then i picked it up and i said to my dad, "i have found a sword". it felt very cool and also a bit scary. since then, archaeologists have found a relic dating back to the third century.

but it's the discovery of this iron age sword which is now the prize exhibit at the nearby museum. what a story! gareth williams is a viking specialist and advisor to the yorvik viking centre. he's in derby. thank you very time. how significant is this? it is a very interesting find because they do not get turning up find because they do not get turning up all the time. it is not unknown but every time a new sword is found, it adds to our knowledge. —— you do not get swords found all the time. what will people be looking at an edge? what signs are they looking out for an edge? what we really need to do first is the properly conserved because, at the moment, it

is covered in corrosion. we can see from the shape of it that it is around about 1500 years old so initially when it was first put thought, everyone thought viking because 1000 years old but when specialists would at it, the shape looks too early for that. there are some fantastic swords already known from sweden in this period, very often with beautiful gold fittings so often with beautiful gold fittings so it will be interesting to see if it has that gold or if it is made of something else. we cannot say that yet so that'll give us an idea of the stages of it. one of the things thatis the stages of it. one of the things that is important about swords in this period is they are notjust functional weapons, they are symbols of status and identity, so you'll get some insight into the sort of people who were in that part of sweden at that time. that is interesting, their place in society, as it were, whether it they will wealthy, powerful or not. exactly

and you have a sword at all, you have to be both wealthy and powerful. it is high status. the question isjust how high powerful. it is high status. the question is just how high status that the sword of society in this time... the society in sweden is not to different to some in this country, there are parallels drawn between thumb and the material found in some of the swedish material. it'll be interesting to see just how things in this country found an ally as well as in sweden. thank you. much more coming up in the next 30 minutes, including the film review. time for a look at the weather. here's chris fawkes with the forecast. much cooler air has spread into scotland and northern ireland, the cold air is on the move.

temperatures into the 20s but some places will see a nine celsius drop between judaea and places will see a nine celsius drop betweenjudaea and tomorrow places will see a nine celsius drop between judaea and tomorrow so places will see a nine celsius drop betweenjudaea and tomorrow so you will notice that change the changes dined the band of rain pushes its way southwards. all easily missed and put forward patches across southern part of england's. —— mist and fog patches. it is clear and with those clearer skies, we have cold air. patches of froth around to start the day on saturday, that they bring a north— south script, cloudy and wet. that lack a split. winds are picking up as well. where it is are picking up as well. where it is a cold day, it will be about to celsius wherever you are. northern england, northern wales having the best of the weather, plenty of sunshine. the rest of fortunes for sunday with england and wales having the best of the funny weather and scotla nd the best of the funny weather and scotland and northern ireland turning cloudy, wet and windy. that

is your latest weather. this is bbc news. the headlines... in a test of support for president trump's supreme court nominee, brett kavanaugh, us senators have narrowly backed a motion to advance his nomination to a final vote. one week after an earthquake and tsunami hit indonesia — more than 1,000 people are now feared still buried under mud and rubble. a man who pushed a 90—year—old passenger onto tube tracks in central london has been found guilty of attempted murder. a criminal investigation has been launched by the environment agency, after it emerged tonnes of medical waste, including body parts, have been stockpiled by an nhs contractor. let's get the sports news with

lizzie. premier league leaders manchester city travel to liverpool in the weekend's big game on sunday and city boss, pep guardiola, has called on the home fans to live up to their friendly reputation, after the ugly scenes as they arrived at anfield last season. you may remember city's team bus being attacked outside the ground when they last visited, for a champions league match in april, including smashed windows. no arrests were made but merseyside police have announced this week that extra security measures will be in place and guardiola says there should be no need for fans to turn up early. when the people go to the stadium and go to see a football game and enjoy it. that is the best way. we should not need the police. why should not need the police. why should the police be there? for what? we are there to play a premier league game, why do ourfans have what? we are there to play a premier league game, why do our fans have to protect our bus. are you kidding me?

now, we've become used tojose mourinho's increasingly strained press conferences but today's effort ahead of manchester united's game against newcastle lasted just three minutes. after summoning the journalists to the training ground for 8am, united's manager was then reticent to comment on the possibility of his side going five matches without a win. it's the club's worst start to a season for 29 years and when mourinho was asked if it was good enough — this was his reply... are, we're not going to hear his polite willey reply. it was not good enough. very short. meanwhile, newcastle united's manager rafa benitez has been fined £60,000 after accepting a football association charge for commenting about the refereee. it refers to comments benitez made about andre mariner prior to newcastle's premier league game against crystal palace last month. the game was a goalless draw. formula one's runaway leader, lewis hamilton, laid down a marker ahead of this sunday's japanese grand prix — quickest in both practise sessions. but he was lucky not to crash early on — only avoiding it with some very quick reactions after pierre gasly

drove dangerously slow in his toro rosso on the racing line at the chicane — hamilton had to run into the escape road. they were both summoned to see the stewards to discuss the incident and gasly was handed a reprimand. hamilton didn't appear phased — laughing as he crossed the line. he was nearly point nine of a second quicker than anyone else. hamilton has a 50 point lead in the drivers' championship. he's won three of the last four races in suzuka. british number one kyle edmund is through to the semi final of the china open after beating serbian qualifier dusan lajovic in straight sets. edmund, won the first set 6—3 but was taken to a tie break in the second which he won 7—4. it's his third semi—final of the year andhe's guaranteed a new career—high ranking on monday. a big blow for england's rugby league side, their star forward sam burgess has been forced to withdraw from the squad to face new zealand in the upcoming tri—series. he captained england in last year's world cup final, but shoulder and wrist surgery means he won't feature in wayne bennett's side.

burgess, who plays his club rugby for south sydney, will remain in australia in preparation for the 2019 season. the three—test series starts at the end of the month. finally to moto gp and a huge crash at the inaugural thailand grand prix. about halfway through second practicejorge lorenzo crashed, falling across the track as his bike broke into pieces. it temporarily stopped the session and lorenzo admitted he was scared during the incident. he was taken to hospital for precautionary checks but "has been declared fit" to race following the accident. we'll have more for you in sportsday at 6:30pm. stormy daniels, the porn star who had an alleged affair with president trump, has given an interview

to newsnight‘s emily maitlis. the president has always denied her claims but has admitted that she was paid hush money. ms daniels explained why she had gone into such intimate details about donald trump in her book. by recounting every detail, i think it is obvious that i know things that only somebody who had actually experienced and been there would know and i would never have included any of those things or, you know, kissed and tell, for lack of a better explanation, if it hadn't been for the fact that i was being called a liar. so it was a decade or so later, 2015, 2016, his lawyers, his henchmen, arrived to ask you to sign a nondisclosure agreement. did you understand what that was about then? i did understand. yes, isigned in a hurry but i did understand. i had every intention of upholding the terms of the agreement. i wasn't the one that broke it or leaked it. the only reason i ever came forward was to defend myself. so you didn't have to take the money, you could have said, "i'm going to tell my side

of the story before they even come near me." what stopped you? lots of things. i had been asked to tell the story and offered money numerous times. honestly, i thought it was tacky. that's not what i wanted to be known for, it's not what i wanted to drag my family through. it's not what i wanted to expose friends to. i didn't want people showing up and knocking on my door and having my young daughter be like, "oh, what's this man with a camera? "why are these people following us?" if you look at the brett kavanaugh scenario that is being played out as we speak, do think it has emboldened women, more women, to come forward? or do you think it has made men feel that they will be protected? i think both. everyone has their own experience and takes their own feelings away from it. i think that his actions have infuriated some other women, which has driven them forward in solidarity because they are so angry. and at the same time, it has probably scared a lot of victims into continuing hiding. they don't want to be shamed or attacked, called names, because it does happen, trust me, i am living it right now. how do you think trump will be remembered as a president? i think time will only tell.

it is not over yet. do you think he will win again? i have no idea. i hope not. leading scientists have been meeting in south korea to discuss the rise in global warming. they will publish a report next week, which is expected to say urgent action is needed to keep the rise in temperatures below 1.5 degrees celsius. many low—lying countries say they may disappear under the sea if that limit is breached. our science editor, david shukman, has travelled to the mekong delta in vietnam, one of the areas most vulnerable to the effects of rising sea levels. he sent this report. i'm in the incredibly hot mekong delta in the south of vietnam. this region is described as one of the most vulnerable anywhere in the world to the effects

of climate change. i'm on board with a team of scientists, so let's find out what they're investigating. one of the scientists on board is professor dan parsons from the university of hull. dan, just to interrupt for a second, what are you trying to find out here? we're using this acoustic sonar technology to map the flows of water, of sand, silts across this large delta plain. how much is this region changing? it's changing rapidly and changing very significantly. you found out that the amount of silt carried by the river has reduced dramatically. the silt is what actually builds the land up here. how serious is the situation? absolutely right, the silt and the sands that are delivered from the basin upstream are the only thing that is offsetting sea level rise across the entire delta, which is home to 18 million people. i mentioned this is a hotspot for climate change. what makes it so vulnerable? it's low—lying, it's a large delta plain and it's sinking. the sea level is coming up.

it's essentially drowning. serious stuff. many, many thanks indeed. let's go see what else is happening. one of the really big concerns is food supplies, because the mekong delta is one of the world's greatest regions for producing rice. professor steve darby, university of southampton, you're looking into this. what are the risks to rice production? well, there are a number. the first and most important is that with rising sea level we are seeing a flow of that salt water onto the agricultural soils in the delta. the sea water's getting into the fields? that's right. during the flooding periods and during the dry season that salt water can flow over onto the rice growing areas and seep into the soils. it can contaminate them for productive rice agriculture. presumably rice can't grow when the water is too salty? that's right. some species or some crop varietals are very intolerant to that salt content. long—term, what are the implications?

if you've got the land sinking, sea rising, sea water getting into the fields, what happens? unless there's a switch to some more tolerant varieties that can withstand that kind of salt pollution, then the current system of agriculture will have to change dramatically in order to be able to continue. to try to end on a positive note, what can be done? all of us need to do what we can to try and limit climate change, but also we need to find ways to learn how to live with the worst impacts. many thanks for that. professor steve darby there of the university of southampton. we're waiting for a report from the un climate panel looking into the implications of trying to limit global warming in the way that vietnam and other countries want. we'll see if that is going to be possible. the winner of the royal institute of british architects' most prestigious award, the riba stirling prize,

will be announced next week. the nominations for britain's best new building include a student housing development, a cemetery, and a nursery school. we're profiling each building on the shortlist — today it's the turn of chadwick hall at the university of roehampton in london. designed by henley halebrown, it comprises three new buildings providing, they say, high—quality student housing on a modest budget. we identified the need, as a campus university, to provide as much residential accommodation for students as possible. the client really wanted as many rooms as they could get on what was a very controversial site, historic landscape, listed buildings and to do that in the least controversial way. the project consists of 210 bedrooms in three buildings in the grounds of a grade ii—listed house.

the building is a marriage of two histories. the brickwork from the georgian house and the concrete frame from the 20th century estate. what i really like about the development that we have done here is the way it sits with the surrounding buildings. they look like they've been here forever. one of the features that really struck us was the bay window. that became the inspiration for a whole series of elements within the scheme. student housing is often very mean. and one of the meanest bits is the window but in this context, in a garden, we thought why not some french windows? generous, kind, and it gives them access to a balcony, wonderful daylight but actually outside space. it is very important students don't feel isolated. it is very easy for them to live in their room. we have focused on making sure

the communal spaces are bigger than you might expect. we've also created, used, if you like, the grounds to develop outdoor space where people can meet and means that they are encouraged to socialise. it's very different from your typical student halls or accommodation. you see the greenery and you see the people. it just adds something different, so you know it's roehampton but it doesn't feel like roehampton, it feels like home. you can find out more about all the nominated buildings on the bbc arts website — and watch this year's stirling prize award ceremony live here on the bbc news channel. that's next wednesday evening, at 8.30pm. the headlines on bbc news...

in a test of support for president trump's supreme court nominee, brett kavanaugh, us senators have narrowly backed a motion to advance his nomination to a final vote. one week after an earthquake and tsunami hit indonesia — it's feared more than a thousand people are still buried under mud and rubble. a man who pushed a 90—year—old passenger onto tube tracks in central london has been found guilty of attempted murder. now on bbc news a look ahead to sportsday at 6:30pm tonight. coming up on bbc news it is the standout game of the weekend, manchester city v liverpool. a meeting of the premier league pa cesetters. meeting of the premier league pacesetters. can