this is bbc news, i'm lukewasa burak. the headlines at four: division and protests across america, but senators are expected to approve president trump's supreme court nomination later, despite sexual assault allegations. a government review reveals that toxic air pollution is much worse in eight areas of england than previously thought. the doctor will see you all now — gps trial a scheme where some patients share their appointments. one of the fathers of british sitcom, ray galton, has died at the age of 88. with his co—writer alan simpson he created classics steptoe and son and hancock's half hour. going, going, actually gone — an original banksy self—destructs moments after selling for more than £1 million at auction. and coming up on dateline london: the panel will be discussing those

talks of a breakthrough in the brexit negotiations. thejudge nominated by donald trump to serve on america's supreme court, looks set to be confirmed today despite allegations of sexual assault. brett kavanaugh is expected to receive a formal endorsement in a vote in the us senate. here's our north america correspondent, chris buckler. with the final vote nowjust hours away, campaigners have made clear they intend to keep up the pressure on america's politicians. i am so angry. i do not want to leave this place or leave the streets. they are not listening to women and they are not listening to survivors.

four days, the senate's corridors of power have been filled with protesters, each one trying to influence the few senators still wavering over whether to support brett kavanaugh‘s nomination to the supreme court. he has angrily denied claims that he sexually assaulted christine blasey ford decades ago when they were both teenagers. after wrestling with her political beliefs, the simple question of who to believe. republican senator susan collins finally decided she would vote in favour ofjudge kavanaugh. the facts presented do not mean that president... professor ford was not sexually assaulted that night or at some other time but they do lead me to conclude that the allegations fail to meet the more—likely—than—not standard.

do you believe doctor ford? i believe dr ford that something happened to dr ford, i do not believe the fact shows that it was brett kavanaugh. this confirmation process has been nothing short of a bruising and divisive political fight, but all the indications are that president trump is quietly confident that his nominee is now likely to secure a place in america's highest court. these are live pictures of the debate ahead of the vote later today expected at 9.30, we'll have special coverage here on the bbc news channel. speaking at the moment is the senator from massachusetts. speaking at the moment is the senatorfrom massachusetts. this will be going on until the moment of the vote is announced, various

senators saying their piece on the issue. it has been very divisive across the country. a lot of criticism that it has been a long, partisan —— it has been a long artisan lines theirs along partisan lines. we will bring you the outcome at 9:30pm. levels of nitrogen dioxide in eight areas of england are much worse than previously thought, official figures show. the poisonous gas, emitted from cars and other vehicles, can cause serious heart and lung disease. several councils have been told they must reduce their nitrogen dioxide levels at pollution hotspots. as sophie long reports, they far exceed legal limits. air pollution in our towns and cities has been linked to health issues like heart disease and asthma. the government's uk plan for tackling roadside nitrogen dioxide concentrations says councils

with the worst levels of air pollution must take robust action. it says it will ensure funding is there to enable ten local authorities to implement new measures. they include fitting hundreds of buses with technology to reduce emissions. changes to traffic signalling to limit congestion. and campaigns to get people to take individual action and reduce their own contribution to air pollution. client earth, an environmental law charity, labelled the uk's air pollution a national embarrassment. it has taken so long to understand the true extent of the problem, the government, instead of passing the buck onto local authorities, has to take action now to protect people's health from illegal and harmful levels of air pollution. the royal college of physicians says it contributes to around 40,000 early deaths per year. at least 50 people have been killed in the democratic republic of congo

after an oil tanker collided with a car on a major road. the accident happened near kisantu, around 100 miles west of the kinshasa. more than 100 people suffered second degree burns as the flames spread rapidly to nearby houses. one week after the indonesian island of sulawesi was hit by a devastating earthquake, officials say more than 1,000 people could still be missing beneath the rubble. around 1,500 people are known to have died in the disaster. hundreds of buildings were destroyed in palu on the island of sulawesi when it was hit by a wall of water. yet alongside the despair, there have been some stories that bring hope, as our correspondent nick beake reports. within this devastated city you find incredible stories of survival. 12—year—old football fan rizki was in an internet cafe in palu watching highlights of his beloved

manchester city when the earthquake struck. "suddenly the earth started to shake," he tells us. "i started to run, my hand was crushed, but i was able to stick out my other hand. i waved it, someone saw me and helped me out." rizki survived with a broken arm and is now reunited with his family. he still hopes to achieve his dream of becoming a footballer, joining his heroes at his favourite team. who is your favourite manchester city player? riyad mahrez. algerian international riyad mahrez became manchester city's record signing when they bought him for £60 million this summer. we thought manchester city may want to know about their young fan's amazing story of survival thousands of miles away. so we got in touch. and it turns out riyad mahrez wants to send a personal message. now, rizki doesn't know anything about this. hi, rizki. somebody wants to say hello to you. hi, rizki.

how are you? i hope you're getting better. i heard that you are a big city fan. so ijust want to wish you a good recovery. i hope you get better and we will give you the best wishes from man city. he also said that he'd like to send you a signed shirt as well. "i can't wait to get better and wear it". in the city of sorrow, where they have lost so much... thank you. ..a smile goes a long way. the head of the european commission, jean—claude juncker, has said the chance of the uk and the eu reaching a deal on brexit has increased in the last few days. speaking to journalists in austria, mrjuncker said he was not sure an agreement could be finalised by october, but he said brussels was determined to reach an accord,

saying "our will is unbroken". further rail strikes have brought disruption today, as industrial action continues in the long—running dispute over the role of guards on trains. members of the rmt union on south western railway are staging a 48—hour walk—out, and workers on northern are holding their seventh consecutive saturday stoppage. scientists and representatives of 195 governments have a approved a report on limiting global temperature rises to 1.5 degrees. the finalised report — due to be published on monday — will sound a warning about the speed and scale of measures required to protect countries vulnerable to global warming and rising sea levels. it's expected to prompt calls for urgent steps to cut greenhouse emissions to zero by 2050. and we'll bring you the full details of that report in our special coverage of the intergovernmental panel on climate change on monday. the former chair of a parliamentary

body overseeing mps expenses has criticised the disability benefits assessment system as a "hostile environment" after being he doesn't qualify for support despite having parkinson's and terminal prostate cancer. andrew mcdonald ran the independent parliamentary standards authority before retiring on health grounds. he had his benefits stopped after assessors decided he was no longer ill enough to qualify for a personal independence payment. a short time ago i spoke to mr mcdonald who described his experience of the process. ididn't i didn't realise that this assessment, unlike the previous ones, was going to determine whether 01’ ones, was going to determine whether or not i had benefits at all. it was said at the very start i would have annual assessment is essentially with a view to reducing the payments

as my conditions worsened. what became clear this time was that the rules had changed, they had not been clearly explained and the issue at sta ke was clearly explained and the issue at stake was whether or not i was to receive pib at all. the process after that was certainly kafka esque. it was bureaucratic, i have dealt with bureaucratic professionally, i found it unprofessional that those making the decisions did not have relevant skills and i also felt that there was an agenda which was not being fully disclosed to me. what agenda is that, do you think? when i saw the full medical notes which i had to apply for, i noted that on a fewer occasions, they would be sentences which would begin informally, one said "informally, i

know that mr macdonald works for a0 to 50 hours a week for scope, visibility charity." it was unpaid work but the knowledge to the decision—makers was if he is able to do that sort of work, surely he must be all right. it is those nudges and winks that i found most troubling and most dismaying. give our listeners an idea of what pip is worth to people paying it. and varies according to the assessment made but in my case i was receiving about £3000 a year. and if you don't have this allowance, if it is not awarded to you, what happens to you? how do you cope? firstly, this is not a story about me, i have chosen

to go public with my experience to illustrate the experience which hundreds of thousands, indeed millions of other disabled people are having. many of those are amongst the most disadvantaged in oui’ amongst the most disadvantaged in our society, so this is a big deal and it matters and matters crucially that the system is one anyway which is transparent and that it is there. and macdonald speaking to us earlier. some patients could see their gps in groups, under plans being considered by the nhs. doctors have been trialling shared appointments for up to 15 patients with the same condition, ranging from raised blood pressure and rheumatoid arthritis, to chronic back pain and asthma. the royal college of gps says patients like getting the support of others while gps say it stops them having to repeat advice. earlier, i spoke to dr fraser birrell and patient mary henfrey, who has taken part in group—led sessions.

i used to go to sea doctor beryl each week and it was a three—hour group session and the good part about it when people ask questions that you might not have thought of asking yourself and also it was nice to see other people and talk to them and get their experiences as well. were you ever made to feel uncomfortable, sharing your experience? no, never, everybody who was there seemed pleased to be there and asi was there seemed pleased to be there and as i say, people ask questions that you hadn't thought of asking yourself. doctor birrell, ifi could turn to you now, is this a good thing for everyone? no, it won't

suit everyone. i think what we're trying to do is offer people choices and the big trouble here is that we don't have enough nurses, we don't have enough doctors, waiting times are worse than we wanted, that this is one possible solution where if we see people together, we can offer them better care and it's better personalised care which means we have better access, we can see the people with chronic conditions more regularly. i have to say, it's nice that mary considered that i saw each week, i ran monthly clinics for two hours but once you have parked up and the whole experience, the thing is people get enough care and they get all their questions answered and this is an efficient way of delivering high quality care to more people. this trial has been going on, we first piloted at ten years ago and be presented the data as one of the british society for rheumatology meetings where we were awarded an innovation prize. it

isn't a trial, this is routine practice, and certainly gps who are doing this, around 300 practices across the country trained including 67 and north east, the way to do it is to embed it in practice and if you offered to patients, there is a bit of reluctant initially but once they have tried, people are generally happy to stick with it because satisfaction levels are probably a bit higher, access is better and outcomes are better so it's not going to suit everybody but it's not going to suit everybody but it's about offering people choices. the headlines on bbc news: president trump's supreme court nominee is expected to be approved by us senators later today despite allegations of sexual assault. toxic air pollution is much worse in eight areas of england than previously thought. ray galton — one half of the writing duo behind hancock's half hour and steptoe and son — has died at the age of 88. in sport, and the japanese grand

prix, lewis hamilton and his main rival rival sebastian vessel are in first and ninth position. anyone know victory over brazil in a warm up anyone know victory over brazil in a warm up game. and it's understood thatjose mourinho has the backing of the manchester united board despite pressure mounting on the manager head of the game against newcastle later this evening. all the latest scores are on the bbc website. i'll be back at 5:30pm. the spanish opera singer montserrat caballe has died at the age of 85. her career spanned 50 years, and she became a world renowned star in the 1960s, playing in the world's leading opera houses. she was extremely well known in spain, but here in the uk, there's one song, recorded with freddie mercury for the barcelona 0lympics for which she will best be remembered. they recorded this, as a duet,

in 1987, five years before the games, but freddie mercury died in 1991 so monserrat caballe sang barcelona at the opening ceremony withjose carreras and placido domingo. a funeral service is expected to be held for her on monday. the arts broadcaster, sean rafferty, shared with me his memories of montserrat caballe. you can see why they call her la superba, she could fill this news and bounce off the walls and he would not need to turn the volume down. i met her years ago when radio three were doing a weekend from barcelona. she was extraordinary, she had the presence that great stars have. it's very hard to define when people get to a watershed and they come over the other side and emerged suddenly from the chrysalis.

the doors were flung open, the red carpet went down, people bowed, she parted people like the red sea, she really was quite something. in the uk, we know herfor really was quite something. in the uk, we know her for barcelona and thejulie edge —— the duet she did with freddie mercury but tell us more about her wider career.m these overnight sensations people talk about, it is long, hard work, barcelona, singing and basil and in the ‘60s, she stood in for marilyn horne the ‘60s, she stood in for marilyn home and people were knocked sideways by her. it's almost a gestation period, almost like a good wine coming to its optimum, the cork p°p5 wine coming to its optimum, the cork pops out and you think, this is perfect, it is just ready, and she was just ready. powerful and amazing, a singular voice. it's hard to compare her to anyone else because all these singers bring

their own inward passion to the projection of the sound. what was she most proud of, do you think? in the world of opera, what do people know about her work?|j the world of opera, what do people know about her work? i think what she loved, one critic said she had the most beautiful voice from maria kallis. she brought to many roles in the opera that might have been overlooked and with her power, expertise and beauty of tone, she brought a lot of works back. and opera singer and diva often go hand in hand. dealer can be a good thing! it often has negative connotations but it just means it often has negative connotations but itjust means you have standards. she had a troubled time, she had had cancer, she almost broke

down during the interview, she was very human, she was very proud of where she came from, barcelona, and it was a great thing with her and freddie mercury. she could housing freddie mercury. she could housing freddie mercury. she could housing freddie mercury —— out sing. freddie mercury. she could housing freddie mercury -- out sing. what is your favourite piece? yellow freddie mercury -- out sing. what is yourfavourite piece? yellow mac like everybody else, it's the iconic barcelona because it is the meeting of two different sort of an artform and it shows there should not be any lines. remembering montserrat ca balle remembering montserrat caballe who has died at 85. ray galton, one half of the galton and simpson comedy writing duo has died at the age of 88 after a battle with dementia. together they created iconic sitcoms including hancock's half hour and steptoe and son. david sillito takes a look back at his life. i thought you came here to give us some of your blood. that is just a smear. it may be a smear to you but it is life and death to some people. it is a comedy classic.

tony hancock, the blood donor. how much do you want? a pint, of course. have you gone raving mad? the work of ray galton and alan simpson. a pint? that is very nearly an armful. it had all begun at milford chest hospital. they started to write for hospital radio and then sent a script to the bbc. eventually, they got the attention of a comic, tony hancock. as he went past he said, did you write that? we thought, should we own up or not? we said, yes. he said, very funny. and walked off. and those were our first words with tony. alan types on and ray takes up his favourite position for inspiration.

shutting out the hungry cry for more, as they develop new themes, dream up more ideas. after hancock came a one—off comedy playhouse. the offer about rag and bone men — steptoe and son. in the ‘60s it was so popular, the bbc were contacted by the then labour leader harold wilson. he was worried voters would not turn out if it was on before polls closed. harold thought we wouldn't get a turnout of labour voters. he wanted the bbc to put it on after 9pm or cancel the programme. the partnership, apart from one venture in the ‘90s, was essentially over by the late ‘70s, but their brand of comedy, rooted in class and thwarted aspiration, was, in its day, all conquering.

i'll be 110 by the time you've finished. ray galton, a pioneer of the british sitcom. gambling addicts say a new app, available from two mobile—only banks, has helped them to tackle their addiction. tens of thousands of people have signed up to the service which allows a "gambling block" to be activated by the customer. the app then identifies any transactions with a bookmaker — either online or in a shop — and blocks money from leaving the account. dan whitworth from radio a's moneybox explains how it works. i'm literally surrounded by it. i've got one in that direction where i used to spend every penny. bookmakers seemed to be everywhere for danny cheetham, and walking around manchester city centre brings bad memories where he spent most of his 20s addicted to gambling. i lost in excess of £50,000 to gambling. that's not including how much i've

gambled and won back. i haven't got much material things in my names. i see friends getting their first deposit and first car. i am starting from zero again. danny tried to stop. he sent e—mails asking to ban himself from dozens of individual bookmakers, but whenever his addiction would take hold, he could always find a new one willing to take his bet. until, that is, his bank cut off his gambling funds at the source. this new type of gambling block being offered by online banks like monzo and starling can spot any transaction a person might try to make with a betting company, whether at a shop on a mobile phone app and stop it from happening before the money leaves the recount. we've had about 25,000 people self—exclude from gambling. not all those were problem gamblers. we ran a survey and asked people how they were using it. probably 7—8,000 people did have a history of gambling

and we saw gambling transactions on their account previously and we've monitored their usage since and saw a 70% decline in gambling—related transactions. so a really big impact. with at least a30,000 problem gamblers right across britain, the royal college of psychiatrists is now calling on the five big high—street banks to introduce similar blocks for their customers. this type of gambling block can make an enormous difference. we see people in our clinic who have lost their family homes because of moments when they have not been able to control their spending on gambling. if you can't access your funds, not just managing funds and getting spouses to help, but if you are unable to do it because you cannot spend that money, you can save people's homes and families and their mental health can be preserved. the five main high—street banks say, while they don't offer this type of gambling block yet, they are always looking at new ways

to help vulnerable customers. while the gambling commission, which regulates the industry in britain, says it supports the idea and is already talking to banks about how to improve existing protections for problem gamblers. as for danny, put simply, this new type of gambling block has turned his life around. i'm feeling a lot better, happier, getting goals, getting on with my life and i can see where i want to be. i literally don't want to gamble any more. i don't see that as being the first thing i want to do now. swarms of ladybirds are being reported in homes and buildings across england and wales. experts suggest the hot summer has boosted numbers of the invasive harlequin species, which first arrived in the uk in 200a. as the temperature cools, the harlequin hibernates for the winter in buildings including homes. scientists say the ladybirds are mostly harmless and can be left alone if they are found in your house. sotheby‘s auction house has admitted

that it was banksyed after a stencil spray painting by the mysterious artist shredded itself after being sold for more than £1 million. the girl with balloon painting, which is one of banksy‘s most widely recognised works, was auctioned by sotheby‘s in london on friday. moments after going under the hammer, attendees were shocked to see the 2006 piece suddenly pass through a shredder hidden within the frame. banksy — whose true identity is unknown — posted a picture of the moment on instagram with the caption "going, going, gone..." now it's time for a look at the weather. it's a reversal tomorrow which will be good news for those in the channel islands. not a bad end to

the day, plenty of sunshine but with clear skies in place, it will be a cold night tonight. the rain in east anglia and the southeast channel islands clears, turns cloudy towards scotla nd islands clears, turns cloudy towards scotland later on with outbreaks of rain but in between, clear skies will lead to a chilly, frosty night away from towns and city centres is why crisp start to sunday morning, a much better day for england and wales, plenty of sunshine around, most are staying dry, more cloud into northern england and wales but for scotland and northern ireland after today was back sunshine, cloudy, outbreaks of rain, most persistent across parts of scotland, windy with gales but all temperatures are starting to rise and rise further into next week, still wind on monday and maybe tuesday in scotland and parts of northern ireland but england and wales, dry, sunny and quite pleasant. hello this is bbc news. the headlines: president trump's supreme court nominee is expected to be approved by us senators later — despite allegations of sexual assault. meanwhile, during a visit to egypt,

the first lady said she was against abuse and put her support behind brett kavanaugh. i think he is highly qualified for the supreme court and i am glad that doctor ford was heard. toxic air pollution is much worse in eight areas of england than previously thought — as a government review reveals. ray galton — one half of the writing duo behind hancock's half hour and steptoe and son — has died at the age of 88. now on bbc news it's time to join jane hill and her guests for this week's dateline.