this is bbc news. the headlines at eleven: president trump's nominee for the supreme court, brett kava naugh, who's accused of sexual assault, moves a step closer to getting the job for life. as protests continue in washington, two undecided senators announce this evening that they will vote to confirm judge kavanaugh tomorrow. the head of an nhs trust at the centre of scores of allegations of poor maternity care says he won't be resigning. are you... i have a difficultjob to do andi are you... i have a difficultjob to do and i intend this eitherjob through. the government faces criticism for not alerting mps to problems in disposing tons of medical waste and body parts, despite convening an emergency committee to discuss it last month. a week after an earthquake and tsunami hit indonesia, there are fears more than a thousand people could still be buried under mud and rubble. a u—turn for unilever —

the consumer goods giant scraps its plan to move its headquarters from the uk to the netherlands. and at 11.30 we'll be taking an in—depth look at the papers with our reviewers benedicte paviot, the uk correspondent for france 2a and claire cohen, the women's editor at the daily telegraph — stay with us for that. good evening. president trump's controversial supreme court nominee, who's facing sexual assault claims, looks likely to be appointed this weekend after two previously undecided senators tonight said they would back him. susan collins, who was regarded as a republican waverer,

announced she would support brett kavanaugh. a democratic senator, joe manchin, also said he'd vote in favour of thejudge. several women have accused mr kavanaugh of sexual assault, allegations he denies. our north amereica correspondent nick bryant reports from washington. this uniquely american melodrama is reaching its conclusion. capitol hill now the scene of protests night and day. this is for those who love democracy! donald trump claims these were professional protesters, paid for by the liberal billionaire george soros, but they came to the nation's capital of their own will in a last—ditch attempt to block brett kavanaugh's nomination. there's still time to stop this, please! their pleas directed at his republican backers. so many of the fault lines in american politics converge on the supreme court, abortion, gun rights, gay marriage — which is why this debate

is so very passionate. the vote in the senate was procedural, but it had the potential to kill off the nomination. so the republican majority leader made what sounded like a closing argument. the uncorroborated mud and the partisan noise and the physical intimidation of members here in the senate will not have the final say around here. the senate will have the final say. when the vote finally came, it passed, by the narrowest of margins. on this vote, 51—19, the motion is agreed to. america has been transfixed by the allegations from christine blasey ford that brett kava naugh sexually assaulted her as a teenager, a claim he strenuously denied. i am innocent, i am innocent of this charge! tonight, a key wavering female republican senator announced she would back his nomination in the final vote tomorrow. i do not believe that these charges can fairly preventjudge kavanaugh

from serving on the court. i will vote to confirm judge kavanaugh. applause. who would have thought back injuly, when donald trump first nominated him, that this suburban dad would be the focus of such a fight? but it has ended with a major victory for the white house, donald trump will get his man. the supreme court will soon have a more decisive conservative majority. this brutal and ugly confirmation fight has felt like a clash between two divergent americas. in a washington that is ever more tribal, in a country that is ever more polarised. the death toll continues to rise in indonesia a week on from the earthquake and tsunami. at least 1,500 people are known to have died, but rescuers fear the final death toll could be much

higher as they try to reach remote areas on the island of sulawesi that have been cut off. 0ur south—east asia correspondent, jonathan head, has been speaking to people in a village just south of palu, one of the worst hit areas, where people are struggling to cope. if you want help in palu, you have to turn up and demand it. and even that doesn't always work. these men have come from a village submerged under a sea of mud. i met them yesterday after their request for government aid had been turned down. but today, when we went to see how they were living, camped in the local mosque, our arrival coincided with that of a police truck carrying some much appreciated rice and noodles, albeit enough only for a couple of days. "they showed up out of the blue", said this man, one of the men i had met in palu just as the supplies were running out. "we're really happy. "

it was a welcome opportunity, too, for some community outreach by a police force accused by some locals here of insensitivity to their plight. these officers wanted to correct that impression. "this is actually our own food", said the colonel. "but we heard about these people and we felt sorry for them." so many of palu's inhabitants are still living like this. day—to—day challenges are hard enough. but their biggest concern is over when and how they can get back to their homes. i was taken to see where the torrent of mud had swept across the village. so they are telling me there were four houses here that have just completely disappeared. yes, totally buried under the mud. there is nothing left of them at all. without heavy machinery, which they don't have, there is no hope of clearing out this much mud.

and there is another worry. the bodies of those caught by the mudslide. well, we have reached a point in the village where there is a really strong smell because of a body that is buried in some of this debris. they cannot get it out. it is really distressing the people who live here and it gives you an idea, with all this mud, just what an immensejob it is going to be to get these villages back to some kind of normal life again. that worry was brought home to them later, when a search and rescue team brought a corpse to the mosque. a reminder these people really don't need of the immense human cost of this disaster. let's go live to palu and speak to iris van deinse from the red cross. think if speaking to us. can you update us on the search and rescue effort? the latest information right

110w effort? the latest information right now is that our teams have made it to reach one of the most affected areas they have seen so far. all the houses were just totally damaged, because of the tsunami. we are still busy with search and rescue, one team. decides that are helping the community with all... we don't have the best line but i am going to continue. why is it so difficult to find people that are trapped in the rubble? it is a difficult task, and right now we have heavy machinery to help us with the work. it took some time to have it over here. access is

still a major concern over here. roads are still cracked, we cannot go to certain areas with trucks, for example. so it is still very difficult to get there. but if we are talking about relief, we see that it are talking about relief, we see thatitis are talking about relief, we see that it is getting better day by day. planes are coming in with relief goods. yesterday for example, 70 tons of tarpaulins and generators we re 70 tons of tarpaulins and generators were flown over to this area. so it is getting better day by day, but it is getting better day by day, but it is still very difficult. iris, thank you for that update, speaking to us from just outside palu. the head of an nhs trust at the centre of scores of allegations of poor maternity care says he won't be resigning. his comments come after a former nurse told the bbc that problems on maternity units have not been properly addressed for almost two decades.

the chief executive of the trust, simon wright, who's had the job since 2015, has apologised to any families who've been failed over the past two decades. michael buchanan's report contains some distressing details. forceps used. the baby comes out, there's no cry. i thought, "no, she's dead." i know. julie hughes' daughter should be 16 today. but memories and medical records are all that remain. she says staff failed to spot baby elisha was in distress. i can remember saying to the lady who's got the little pink badge... sorry — i get upset. "she's dead. leave her." "no, no, no." and these people are around her, trying to recover her. they worked on herfor 20 minutes.

i said, "please leave her alone." and that was it. no more. i held her, said goodbye. and. . .went home empty—handed. her daughter's birth was brutal. a forceps delivery that leftjulie needing reconstructive surgery. she says no investigation was carried out into what happened to her baby or to her. this former nurse, who wishes to remain anonymous, spent more than a decade at the maternity unit of the trust, and she says mistakes were rarely investigated properly. when i was there, i don't think they learned from it. i think it was a case of, "we will dot the is, cross the ts, and cross our fingers that it doesn't happen again." if you don't learn, you risk repeating errors. eva is three, happy and healthy. but her mother andrea is anything but. her daughter's forceps delivery left her with an open wound for nine months and ongoing

incontinence problems. she has had two major surgeries and may need more, and now suffers with depression. it has just totally changed our life as a family. my daughter is ok, and i am gratefulfor that. but we haven't had any more children. i feel upset, the fact that i am perhaps not the only person this has happened to. more than 100 allegations of maternity errors over nearly 20 years are currently being investigated by an independent review. nhs inspectors have also raised concerns about current maternity services, although the trust insists its care is safe. it's all adding to pressure on the trust's chief executive. are you out of your depth, mr wright? he refused our several interview requests, so we went to see him. are you out of your depth, mr wright? no, not at all. i have a difficultjob to do and intend to see thatjob through. i want to take the opportunity once again to say that for any parent,

any mother, who has had any issues to do with their mums, please come and talk to the organisation. we want to make sure we take that learning on board, and we are deeply sorry for any harm that has occurred to any baby in our organisation over the last 20 years. for those families who have been failed by the trust, an apology matters less than demonstrating lasting improvements in care. the consumer goods giant unilever, which makes products from dove soap to marmite, has decided not to move its headquarters out of the uk after all. the company had planned to close its uk headquarters in london and operate instead out of the netherlands, but most shareholders were against the idea. our business editor, simonjack, explains why. you either love it or hate it, and enough people hated the idea of unilever scrapping its uk headquarters for the company to shelve its plans.

formed nearly a century ago, when the dutch company margarine unie merged with british soap maker lever brothers, the company has always been headquartered in both london and rotterdam, employing 7500 people in the uk and 3000 in the netherlands. since then, it has grown into a global consumer giant, producing brands such as pg tips, persil washing powder and magnum ice creams. its london home was opened in 1932, and it has been in the ftse100 index of leading firms for decades. that means some pension funds that track the index have to own it. leaving would have meant they would have had to sell it. bad news for savers — and why this investor voted no. unilever is a very profitable company, with growth prospects all over the world. and if it had left the uk index, many uk pensioners and savers would have lost the ability to benefit from the future profits and dividends of the company. so a determined group of city institutions managed to shut the exit door in the face of a company management who still believe abandoning its london hq was the right idea. scrapping their uk headquarters

here was not to do with brexit. the company insisted it was to make it simpler, more nimble, and better able to protect itself against foreign takeovers. but shareholders' insistence that a company like unilever belongs on the london stock exchange will be a welcome pre—brexit boost. this is great news for london. it comes as a real shot in the arm at this time of uncertainty, in particular. it confirms london's status as one of the world's leading global financial centres. unilever is not the only anglo—dutch company. the biggest payer into uk pension funds is royal dutch shell, who are watching this process carefully. the message seems clear. uk investors want the world's biggest companies to call the uk home. the headlines on bbc news: two key senators give their backing to us supreme court nominee brett kavanaugh, meaning he looks

likely to be confirmed this weekend, despite facing sexual assault allegations. the head of an nhs trust at the centre of scores of allegations of poor maternity care says he won't be resigning. a week after an earthquake and tsunami hit indonesia, it's feared more than 1000 people could still be buried under mud and rubble. a criminal investigation is under way after hundreds of tons of medical waste, including body parts, were left to pile up at several sites in the uk. healthcare environmental services has a contract for disposing of much of the hospital waste from england and scotland. the government has been urged to explain why it didn't tell parliament it had convened the cobra emergency committee last month to discuss the problems. here's our health editor hugh pym. one of the main sites at the centre of this medical waste saga,

at normanton in west yorkshire. the company allowed a backlog of waste to build up at centres in england and scotland which should have been sent for incineration. the regulator, the environment agency, told the government injuly, ministers discussed it at a meeting of the cobra emergency committee last month, but it was only revealed yesterday, and the local mp yvette cooper told me mps should have been informed sooner. i think it's irresponsible that the health department and the environment agency still haven't told us the full facts about what on earth is going on, on an issue where there are environmental health questions being raised and we still don't know the full facts. it's completely unfair on the local community. the other main site is at shotts in lanarkshire. the company, healthca re environmental services, is run from here. a new facility was opened only in april by princess anne. the managing director is garry pettigrew, who wasn't available for comment today. the company had a contract to remove

and dispose of medical waste, including body parts, from hospitals. now unions are questioning whether this sort of work should ever have been outsourced. we've seen quite a few now that have all cracked in the same place. and you've got a test that you do on this part of the engine. we've already tested this one, and we know it's cracked, so we'll put some air into it and show you where it's coming from. the department of health and social care covering england

said in a statement... "we are monitoring the situation closely and have made sure that public services, including nhs trusts, have contingency plans in place. there is absolutely no risk to the health of patients or the wider public." the environment agency said as part of its enforcement action it had partially suspended the company's permit here at the normanton site. that means it will not be able to receive any more hospital waste for incineration while it concentrates on trying to reduce the backlog. with enforcement action under way, it's not clear what this will mean for the compa ny‘s future and the ability of the nhs to dispose of its medical waste. the head of the international police agency interpol has disappeared after travelling to china to visit family. meng hongwei hasn't been seen since he left his home in the french city of lyon, where interpol is based, a week ago. this year's nobel peace prize has been awarded to two people who have

campaigned against sexual violence in war. one is a yazidi human rights activist nadia murard, the other is a congolese gynaecologist denis mukwege. the nobel committee said they wanted to send a message of awareness, that women are being used as weapons of war and the perpetrators should be held to account. 0ur chief international correspondent lyse doucet reports. a peace prize to fight one of the worst weapons of war — sexual violence. 25—year—old nadia murad was brutalised by islamic state fighters. it all came back when she returned to her village in northern iraq last year — horrific memories of being raped every day for months, her mother and six brothers killed when islamic state stormed into the yazidi heartland, including their village of kojo. we visited kojo just weeks ago — a monument to a massacre,

almost everyone killed or captured, women sold as sex slaves. nadia spoke of it when i met her in new york with her lawyer, amal clooney. translation: i went to visit my family home a few months ago. it was completely destroyed. isis had left nothing behind. it's going to be hard to forget, but at least we are working now to bring those criminals to justice. at least that is something, a tiny victory. and today, in eastern congo, sweet celebration in a place known for its pain. the clinic where gynaecologist denis mukwege treats victims of sexual violence. translation: the prize has a big meaning that although it took time for the world to recognise us, the world has started listening to women, and notjust listening but getting to know the problems that you face. cheering

understanding our problems is not enough. they must realise that when you commit a crime against anyone, it's not right. they call him "the miracle doctor". in congo's war, sexual violence so severe many require surgery. they've used the world's podiums to fight for justice. now they are armed with a powerful prize — to try to end one of the worst crimes of war. lyse doucet, bbc news. in a moment, we'll have the weather for the week ahead with stav. but first, the winner of the royal institute of british architects' most prestigious award, the riba stirling prize, will be announced next week. the nominations to become britain's best new building include a student housing development, a cemetery, and a nursery school. we'll look at each building in the shortlist over the next few days, and today it's the turn of

chadwick hall at the university of roehampton in london by henley halebrown — which comprises three new buildings providing high—quality student housing on a modest budget. we are in the need as a campus university to provide as much residential accommodation all our stu d e nts residential accommodation all our students as possible. they wanted as many rooms as they could get what was a very controversial site. historic landscape, historic buildings. and to do that in the least controversial way. the project consists of 210 bedrooms in three buildings in the grounds of a great

stylistic 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 like about the development we have done is the way it sits with the surrounding buildings. they look like they have been here forever. one of the features that really struck us was the bay window. and 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 contest, in a garden, we thought why not french windows? generous, kind, and it gives them access to outside space. it is very important for students not to feel isolated. it is very easy for them just to live in a room. we have focused on making sure that the communal living spaces are bigger than you might expect. we have also

created the grounds to develop outdoor space where people can meet and where students are courage to socialise. it is very different to other student halls of accommodation. we see the greenery, the people. it just accommodation. we see the greenery, the people. itjust as something different. so you know that it is the university of roehampton, but it doesn't feel like it, it feels like home. hello. as we had to next week, it looks like conditions will warm up with plenty of sunshine around for many of us. where did this week on a water across the south—east. is reached highs of 23 degrees. the sunshine around and light winds. saturday will be a shock to the system with temperatures at least 10 degrees lower than we saw on friday ina degrees lower than we saw on friday in a cool northerly wind with a lot more cloud around and outbreaks of rain. in fact,

more cloud around and outbreaks of rain. infact, some more cloud around and outbreaks of rain. in fact, some areas have a washout of the day. this area of low pressure is the active weather front that has been struggling several parts of the country for several days. it will bring heavy rain to many parts of england before becoming confined to the south—east corner of the lead through the afternoon. the skies brighten up through north—western england into wales. likely to be a cool and bright date with a holiday in south—eastern areas. on saturday night, a ridge at high pressure builds on. —— original. this will be a reversal of fortunes. a cold start, mind you, on sunday morning, the england and wales. the dry and bright through the day was an sunshine. write in windy to scotland, northern ireland, it was heavy rain for parts of scotland. is better in parts of england, mid teens celsius. but all round. next week, rain in the north—west corner,

but as i mentioned, things will be warming up. the jet but as i mentioned, things will be warming up. thejet stream into next week will be moderately strong, moving out of eastern canada and across the north atlantic steering weather systems and their weather fronts into our direction. meanwhile, we will have an area of high pressure building over the near continent. what that will do is continue to deflect these weather systems and keep them can find more to the north—west corner of the country, we will see the strongest of the winds as well. for monday, this weather front will bring outbreaks of rain to parts of northern ireland in scotland with heavy burst of rain particularly in the western hills. the far west of scotla nd the western hills. the far west of scotland will stay fine, dry, cool, in other areas in the sunshine it will feel warmer, too, in the westerly winds. we could see some brightness into central and southern scotland, northern ireland, with the rain being pushed into the far north—west, with a pleasant day and

england and wales, it could make 17 to 19 or 20 degrees. warmer still on wednesday, and that an sunshine will be rich to reaching northern scotland, with the ranting question to be very far north—west, and the sunshine will allow to reach 23 or maybe 24th, height is further north. heading into next week, high pressure will continue to dominate across it in areas, and we will see some deep areas of low pressure heading towards our shores. but this era of low pressure contains the re m na nts of era of low pressure contains the remnants of ex—hurricane and leslie. with low pressure systems out to the west, a high pressure to the east, west, a high pressure to the east, we will continue to see a feed of southerly winds across the country. so it means that it should stay on the mild side. maybe not as warm as we will see in the early part of next week. stonyfell surroundings to the high pressure, it will stay u nsettled the high pressure, it will stay unsettled to the north and west, just as the low pressure moves in. hello, this is bbc news.

we'll be taking a look at tomorrow morning's papers in a moment — first the headlines. two key senators give their backing to president trump's us supreme court nominee brett kavanaugh, meaning he looks likely to be confirmed in a senate vote this weekend, despite facing sexual assault allegations. the head of an nhs trust at the centre of scores of allegations of poor maternity care says he won't be resigning. an independent review into a series of baby deaths and injuries at the shrewsbury and telford hospital nhs trust is looking at more than 100 cases. one week after an earthquake and tsunami hit indonesia,