hours after being confirmed in the tightest vote in the senate for more than a century. his appointment cements conservative control of the court — and ensures president trump's legacy. mr kavanaugh has denied allegations of sexual assault. the vatican's announced that pope francis has ordered a thorough review of all the documents related to accusations of sexual abuse against a former us cardinal — theodore mccarrick. the pope accepted cardinal mccarrick‘s resignation in july. he'd been accused of sexually assaulting a teenager nearly 50 years ago. on the eve of brazil's presidential election the far—right candidate and front—runnerjair bolsonaro has vowed to tackle crime and reduce record high murder rates. mr bolsonaro accused previous governments of leniency in the treatment of criminals. he's denied claims he is racist, sexist and a homophobe. air pollution in parts of england is much worse than previously thought, according to new scientific data released by the government. it shows that nitrogen dioxide — which is emitted from vehicles and can cause heart and lung disease —

will not fall to legal levels for another ten years. ministers have ordered eight local authorities to reduce levels of nitrogen dioxide at pollution hotspots. but environmental campaigners accuse the government of trying to pass the buck. jon donnison reports. it's easy to see why parts of broxbourne have some of the worst air pollution in the country. around 30,000 cars go up and down the a10 every day. the government has been forced to acknowledge this is one of eight local authorities where efforts to tackle air pollution are failing. not great if you live next door. it does worry me, because obviously you don't want to be breathing in all this crap. i mean, they are always on about london but we really, really do get bad traffic along here. it's been ten years since the eu set maximum legal levels for nitrogen dioxide. the government had been aiming to comply by 2021. but admitted today it

won't achieve that until 2028. meanwhile, doctors say air pollution is linked to the early deaths of 40,000 people in the uk each year. the government has told local councils they need to do more to tackle pollution hotspots. but here in broxbourne, research says it could take ten years to bring air pollution down to legal levels. but client earth, the environmental law charity who won the high court case, forcing the government to improve its air quality plan, said ministers had shown a shocking lack of leadership. we're astounded it's taken so long to find out the true extent of the problem. and the government, instead of dragging its feet and passing the buck onto local authorities has to start taking real action now to start to protect people's health from illegal and harmful levels of air pollution. in a statement the government acknowledged further action was still required but said air quality had improved significantly in recent years. jon donnison, bbc news, in broxbourne. now on bbc news a special edition of the travel show from kazakhstan.

this week we are in kazakhstan. the view from the top! a vast country in the middle of central asia... full of stunning landscapes and nomadic traditions. you can feel the fish tugging on the net. nature and the great outdoors have always been central to that kazakh people's way of life. birds chirping, fish jumping, sun setting... i get it. and i am here to explore how they are now combining both ancient and modern ways to stay in touch with their wild side. grunts. it feels good to make the sound, but i don't know what they are saying.

woo! this is a lot of fun! i've arrived in kazakhstan‘s biggest city of almaty. once, back when the country was part of the ussr and long before that, it was the capital city. now things have changed. back in 1991 it was the last soviet republic to declare

independence, ten days before the collapse of the union. since then it has been under the president nazarbayev who moved the capital north to the purpose—built city of astana. one thing is clear, this country has undergone a tumultuous period. but through it all nature has continued to play a vital role for the once nomadic people here, and for travellers who visit. you start to get a sense of that at the green bazaar. there has been a market here since before soviet times. this is fermented horse milk, which has been around since the nomadic times and they say it is a cure for tuberculosis. it is a strong taste. the aftertaste is almost like you are smoking a cigar. i don't know why, but that is exactly what it tastes like. very sharp, though, very intense taste. some russian influences have remained, but some of the old kazakh

traditions that had been suppressed under the soviets have once again been bubbling to the surface. like faith in tengriism, calling on nature through shamans, known as baksys. arman, my friend! i wanted to find a baksy, so i'm meeting up with someone who says he can get me an introduction. can you tell me a bit about what exactly a baksy is? ba ksy are spiritual servants who are create by nature to help people. these days in modern culture, do people still go see a baksy? yes, of course, it is part of our life. if official medicine, european medicine doesn't help, people go to baksy. well arman, i can't say i know what to expect, but i feel ready.

arman takes me to a far corner of the city, and an old, unmarked apartment block. we are on our way up to the baksy‘s apartment, she will be waiting for us outside the door. not exactly what i expected. chanting. we have just arrived here in the baksy‘s apartment, we are in the middle of some kind of ceremony. there are two ladies who are getting their souls cleaned, i guess — it's hard to know what's going on. chanting and grunting. this is extremely intense.

can you explain a little bit of what is happening? it is cleaning by fire. for the spirit. like an exorcism? yes, yes. each baksy is different, and this one incorporates elements of islam, kazakhstan‘s most followed religion. there is a power in this room i can't describe right now. i have never experienced anything like this. so now it is my turn, having witnessed the devotion vera

had to the process, i felt it wouldn't be right to go through it without the same belief. so we agree on just a blessing for myjourney. but then unexpectedly, i seem to be getting the full treatment. growling and grunting. it feels good to make the sound, but i don't know what to say. he is coaxing...as an experience alone it is very powerful. as the process continues, the baksy calls on the totem animals as they did many years ago here. i may not believe in everything that is happening here, but i do like to open myself to the experience as a traveller. all i can say is,

i know i feel something. although many muslims here frown on these ancient ceremonies, for some kazakhs, they are a direct link to their nomadic past. it's the world's ninth largest country, but kazakhstan is also one of the most sparsely populated. its people were traditionally nomadic, with their lives tied to their environment. today, travellers come to explore its relatively untouched landscapes. i want to find out more of the kazakhstani people's relationship with nature today. so i am heading east to the aral sea, the world's fourth—largest lake, or at least that's what it was. welcome to the dusty streets of zhalanash. if you can believe it,

this used to be a bustling fishing village, but if you come over here and look down to the ground, you can see what used to be the bottom of the aral sea. there is not much fishing going on now. it has been called one of the world's biggest environmental disasters. the sea which stretches the border between kazakhstan and uzbekistan was once about the size of ireland. back in the 19605 the immense stretch of water began to dry up. around 90% of it was wiped off the map, and with it the livelihoods of many of the people who lived on the sea's produce. i had heard that here in kazakhstan the sea was actually coming back, and bringing travellers too.

so off i go, in search of the aral sea, across miles of the old seabed. i have arranged to meet a guide in this region. he wanted me to see the full extent of what the sea, which was actually a large lake, once was, thousands of years before it dried up in the 20th century. the view from the top! what caused it to recede so far? the flow of water was diverted

to feed the soviet cotton industry. uzbekistan still remains one of the world's top producers of cotton, but while uzbek side of the sea remains mostly lost, interventions have meant the north aral sea in kazakhstan is returning. you approaching the shore, one of the biggest draws for travellers has been the eerie sight of shipwrecks scattered across the old sea bed. spiderwebs everywhere.

here we are. the aral sea. at one stage this was the fourth largest lake in the world, and soon it will reclaim that title. i made it. birds chirping, fish jumping, sun setting, i get it. i get it now. it's a beautiful place. good morning. this is where we spent the night last night. it might look like we're in the desert, but actually it was very cold this morning. the bedding was just a simple roll out pillow mat on the ground with some blankets. but this is the fishermen‘s house. we're up early this morning because they are going to take us

out to catch some fish. they are quite chipper. myself, i'm working on it. but it should be a good day. my hosts tell me i am not the first traveller to stay with them following the sea's return. though not all of them choose the early—morning fishing run. the sun has not yet crested over the horizon of the kazakh steppe. today we are fishing, and on the fishing team, we have one sleepy, inexperienced travel show presenter, we have our hosts, one of whom you know already, our fishermen and his father at the back. these are our boats. 0ut there, there's a lot of fish, and our plan is to catch them and bring them back to shore. 0k. we're maybe 100 metres offshore. we've encountered the first net.

so from what i understand, the net was put out last night right before sunset. and it stays out until sunrise, and they come out and pull it back in, and every day is quite a surprise. but it seems that over the years there are more and more in the nets almost every single day. ok, so it's my turn to give this a shot, pulling on the net. it's not too hard, actually. it's interesting, because it is like when you are fishing with a reel, you can feel the fish taking on the net. you must love it out here.

so we've been pulling the net for about 30 minutes, now. the basket‘s almost full. so i think we're probably getting near the end. we have caught a lot of fish. and besides the amount, they are big fish. myself, being a traveller, being out with people is always special. here you can tell that there's a lot ofjoy in the job this morning. it's not my life being out here covered in fish scales, bor them, you can tell that they absolutely love it, especially when they can bring in a haul like this. i wanted to see how kazakhstan‘s relationship with nature is changing. so i'm meeting up with the mountain guide back in almaty. she's agreed to take me out to some of the places she likes to explore. we begin at the location of one of the country's most impressive historical sites.

wow, they look almost like paintings. they are petroglyphs. and these cliffs are covered with petroglyphs, right? this isn't the only site, there are many sites. there are many sites. it's about 5,000 carvings here. wow. it was discovered in 1957 by archaeologist maximova. and it's more than 5,000 carvings on the rocks in this area. and this is the central part, which is very significant and very important at that date, because people was speaking from here, and it was served as a pantheon. so you could clearly hear what they were talking about down in the valley, where the people and crowds were standing and listening. so here we see the 12 dancing men, which is doing the ritual dance. and here it's a women who is giving birth to a child. as you walk around the site, it's amazing how many carvings you see, here. this here is the club?

yeah. karla tells me it's thought they believed the more animals they carved into the rocks, be more animals they would successfully hunt. it adds to the experience today, being able to come just in touching distance of things so old. i'm used to multiple layers of security, men making sure that you don't breath on art like this. but being able to see every little chip out of the stone really makes it special. but what karla really wanted to show me was how some people are mixing old kazakhstan with the new, sandboarding on kazakhstan‘s most famous singing sand dune. famous because under the right conditions, the dune makes a humming sound, almost like an organ. wow.

it's huge. you can see the little dust devils twisting up the sides. it almost looks alive. the skin of the dune, sweeping back and forth like a snake. and it almost is. over the past 150 years it has moved three metres. slowly, but it is moving. it's incredible. i don't know how we are going to snowboard down it. along for the ride was karla's friend and olympic snowboard trainer leanna. the dune stretches for 3km a reaches height of 150 metres and let me tell you,

while it might look placid from a distance, it is a different story when you're up there. it's a little bit windy today, but we're on the singing sands. and i guess that's always how it is here. for myself, i have gone snowboarding before. what are some differences with sandboarding ? 0k. lean back, yes? that being said, it was comforting knowing that i would be going slower than on snow. 0k. lean back, yes? that being said, it was comforting

knowing that i would be going slower than on snow. this is a lot of fun, although i promise you that you get sand in a lot of places you do not want sand. one of those places is your mouth. i've got — i've got a bit of a crunch in my teeth right now. but woah, it is a rush. karla's about to come down. she's standing up. she looks excited but little bit nervous. you've got it, karla, yeah! but before long, we're starting to get the hang of it.

this is a lot of work. what's incredible, though, is when you come down, as the sand starts to avalanche, you can feel it shaking and reverberating underneath the board. it's very cool. it sings as you come down. we've got our final round from the very, very top, if i can — if i can make it. let's stay here and take a break for a sec. yeah!

and with that, my trip to kazakhstan is at an end. and what a ride it was. good morning. saturday ‘s weather brought mixed for auctions across the country with this moving south and east. find it, high pressure builds so there is a north—south divide in the story. if you're underneath the front with a cloud in the rain, it was cool and disappointing and wet at times they we re disappointing and wet at times they were half an inch of rain falling but behind that front, it wasn't particularly warm that it was absolutely stunning, some beautiful weather watchers pictures sent in through the course of the day. those clear skies have continued so at the moment we have quite a chilly start to our sunday morning and in fact we could see a touch of light frost so

it certainly worth bearing in mind if you are up and off early this morning, fairly widespread clear skies with the exception of into the far north—west. here, i weather front showing its hand, bringing strengthening winds and rain we did sell a real contrast in pentre yesterday. 40, 50, 60 miles per hour gusts and rain relentless across what is in scotland pushing into northern ireland but further south, a different story. a chilly start with a touch of light frost but spells of sunshine, keeping it to much of the day. into the afternoon, temperatures recover in comparison to yesterday. generally around 11— 14. still not particularly warm with it. as you move out of sunday into monday, england and wales under the influence of high pressure but this weather front into the far north—west not moving far fast and looking like a conveyor belt of rain pushing and of the atlantic to the

isa pushing and of the atlantic to the is a potential we could see some localised flooding in parts of western scotland. still pretty windy with it. further south, western scotland. still pretty windy with it. furthersouth, more western scotland. still pretty windy with it. further south, more in a way of sunshine. perhaps a degree also warmer with highs of 17 or 18 degrees. and this is the theme as we move into the middle part of the week. keeping the south—westerly flow in the milder moves steadily northwards. not just flow in the milder moves steadily northwards. notjust across england and wales. there is a potential even as far as eastern scotland where we could see some warmer weather for all of us. take care. welcome to bbc news — broadcasting to viewers in north america and around the globe. our top stories — a major victory for president trump, his controversial choice for the supreme court brett kavanaugh is sworn in, despite allegations of sexual assault which he's fiercely denied. shouting.

shame, shame! outside, people believe in the rule of law, not