his appointment cements conservative control of the court. 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. the uk government has voiced its concern over hong kong's decision not to renew a work visa for a british journalist. victor mallet is vice—president of the city's foreign correspondents‘ club. it was criticised by beijing after it hosted an event in august this year — featuring a pro—independence activist. ray galton, one half of the galton and simpson comedy writing duo, has died at the age of 88 after a battle with dementia. he and alan simpson created iconic sitcoms including hancock's half hour and steptoe & son.

david sillito takes a look back at his life. give us some of your blood. well, you just had it. that's just a smear. it may be just a smear to you, mate, but it's life—and—death to some... it is a comedy classic. tony hancock, the blood donor. a sample? how much do you want, then? well, a pint of course. a pint? have you gone raving mad? the work of ray galton and alan simpson. i don't mind giving a reasonable amount, buta pint? that's very nearly an armful. it had all begun at milford chest hospital. ray galton had met alan simpson while recovering from tb. 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?" and we thought, should we own own up or not? and we said, yes.

and he said, "very funny." and walked on. and that was our first words with tony. after hancock came came a one off comedy playhouse. the offer, about rag and bone men. steptoe & son. their 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. it'll be 110 by the time you've finished. ray golton, a pioneer of the british sitcom. now on bbc news — hundreds of people are killed by the police in the us each year. much of the media attention has been on the race of victims, but there is another disturbing pattern to the deaths. a large number of those killed in interactions with police have a disability. many of the dead had been living with a serious mental illness, learning difficulties or a physical disability.

north america correspondent aleem maqbool has been investigating some shocking recent incidents. some of the content is of a violent and distressing nature. police in america are often in the spotlight, accused of abusing their power. but there is a disturbing trend that rarely gets talked about. put your hands behind your back. 0k! put your hands behind your back. i'm sorry! a huge number of people injured and those killed by the police in the us each year have a disability. in this investigation, as unthinkable as it sounds, we find people with serious mental illness, learning difficulties

or physical impairment in fear of their lives. but why are so many dying at the hands of the police? woman on phone: this is the police. caller: there is a young man here standing naked in the hallway. is hejust naked, nothing else, he's not carrying any weapons? no weapons, he is saying something about his brother. police, we want to make sure you are ok. can you open up the door. this is your last chance, we need you to open up, we just wanna make sure you are ok. otherwise we will have to come in. 0k, stand clear of the door.

after responding to a call from a neighbour, police broke into the apartment of adam trammell, who it appeared had been having some sort of breakdown. his family said when he got stressed he took a shower to calm down. that is where they found him. we can see exactly what happened from one of the police body cameras. and what it is about to show is very distressing. police say they wanted to check how adam was, but when he doesn't respond to commands and splashes water at the police, he is given an electric shock. brandon, we need you to come out. you are going to get tased. screams now you need to relax, 0k. we don't want to tase you again. adam, not brandon as they were

shouting, gets distressed and is tased many more times. screams he is later dragged out of his apartment, several officers on top of him, as he screams one word over and over — jesus. he is sedated, but moments later, the 22—year—old stopped breathing and died. he is not breathing any more. where is the imminent danger? there was none. for him to suffer like that for no reason at all. he didn't deserve it at all. you don't tase him 15 times, there is no threat, you are saying "oh, oh, we were waiting for backup."

he is in a tub, dying. but even after seeing the same footage we have, the district attorney said that in his words there was "no basis to conclusively link adam's death to the actions of the officers." i'm sure we are all left with so many questions after seeing something as shocking as that, and a little later we will hear about how the police involved justified their actions. as extreme as that seemed, it is a staggering proportion of the people of killed by the police in america each year who have a mental illness like adam, or a physical disability, or an intellectual one. 26—year—old ethan saylor had down syndrome, and idolised police officers.

he even wanted to be one. one evening he had been at the cinema with a carer, but at the end of a film he went back to his seat, wanting to see the movie again. hearing someone was inside the next screening without a ticket, three off—duty police officers went in. even‘s mother takes up the story from evidence given in the investigation. by all reports one of them said to the other gentlemen, "come on, fellas, it looks that we are going to have a fight on our hands." at some point it becomes "you need to leave or you will be arrested." and ethan still doesn't move, and so the officers put their arms under his arms to lift him up and to remove him from the theatre. so somehow in those next seconds or minutes, ethan ends up on the floor, face down, and is not breathing. ethan was restrained, handcuffed, and had been crying out before he died — though the circumstances were not made clear to his family,

who thought he had just passed away from a medical complication. 1.5, 2 weeks later we were called to the sheriff's department, the autopsy was back and they told us the medical examiner had ruled this a homicide, and the death was caused by asphyxiation. that was probably the most dramatic and traumatic moment in all of this, was realising he had been killed. at this time ethan's death did spark a debate in the us about police interactions with people with disabilities. but the deaths keep on coming. we are in oklahoma city to look into the case of a man who was confronted by police in front of his own home. he was carrying what they perceived to be a weapon — actually it was a piece of steel piping, and they shouted instructions to him to drop it, but he didn't. that confrontation ended with him being shot and killed on his own front lawn.

the problem was, as all the neighbours around here were shouting at the police, he couldn't hear their instructions, and that is because he was deaf. in oklahoma city, authorities launched an investigation after police shoot and kill a deaf man. police say it is unclear whether the two officers heard what the witnesses were yelling. they both discharged their weapons after sanchez did not respond to verbal commands. police said they went to the home of the man because they suspected his father had been involved in a hit—and—run incident where someone had been injured. surveillance footage from the house across the street from magdiel sanchez‘s home shows that he did at one point run towards officers before walking away again, pausing at one moment to point the pipe. the officer follows him away and moments later, out of shot, he was killed. i came to the window after the shots were fired, and i looked down and seen the young

man and the two offices. by what was clear, speaking to neighbours like regina, was that magdiel sanchez, as well is being deaf, also had learning difficulties. i knew it was him because i know his build, and i have seen the back of him. i knew it was him. and i was like, what could he have done? what kind of person was he? he was a special needs child and he was deaf, and he was real timid, and he was an older boy, but he was like a child. the question many had was, why was he holding a piece of pipe? we met the neighbour who encouraged him to carry it. he would see me going up and down the street with a stick, and one day, one morning he came by the house and he held his stick up and he smiled, he goes, you know, and gave me the thumbs up. you inspired him to carry the stick?

idid. why was he carrying the stick? the dogs scared him. not to go out and hurt anyone in any shape orform. under the circumstances at that moment, what they had to work with, it was the best possible outcome. police said the officer killed him in self defence. he knew they were police officers. even if this person could have heard, ithink he was in a position... he may have known they were police officers, but if he was deaf and had learning disabilities, he may not know how to interact, and what was happening, he obviously would have been startled. ok, i'm not going to argue with the level of disability that he had. in our findings, in looking at it, this person was capable of understanding what the situation was. already this year, right across the us, at least 130 people with a range of disabilities

are confirmed to have been killed by police officers. these are just the ones we know about. in hundreds more cases, it was never determined whether the person killed have a disability at all. but what of the officers who have taken the life of someone with a disability? i was involved in this critical event where i had a subject who was armed with a knife outside a school, and... i was forced into a situation where i made a choice to shoot and kill the individual, we were outside a school, she was armed with a large knife, she was not responding to my instructions. after the incident was over i was able to be told that she had a history of mental illness. i didn't know that at that time, i didn't understand what was going on at the time. you said at the time you felt you had no choice, do you feel differently about that event now?

no, i don't feel differently about it now. outside of that event, outside of the pressure cooker, outside of those milliseconds that the officer has to make a decision — many people have the benefit of looking back at that with minutes, if not hours or even days to contemplate what they would have done, and then theyjudge the officer because, they didn't do the thing that i would have done. the sergeant told me of his anger at those who believe police officers in the us are too eager to use their guns. the reality is is that no one wants to be involved in that moment, where they have to point a weapon at another individual and pull the trigger. then why does it happen so often, with so many people with disabilities killed by the police? well, all police here are of course armed,

and they face members of the public who are as well. often. show me your hands! you get a sense of why police would be on their guard, and so much of their training is geared towards protecting themselves. when you talk about police killings in america, of course the biggest stories over the last couple of years have surrounded those that have sparked massive race riots. butjust because we are talking about disability, it doesn't mean that race and poverty don't also play a part.

they do — in a lot of cases we are looking into, many of the people killed by police with disabilities happen in low—income areas. that's partly because of the greater police presence and greater potential for violence, but also according to people who look into this issue, the attitude of police when they come into contact with people like this. chicago's southside is predominantly african—american, has serious challenges in terms of crime and poverty and is one of the most heavily policed areas in the country. the complaint from many here is that officers too often command and control, shouting orders then physically taking charge, especially when someone does not immediately comply. and that can include the use of lethal force. the problem is, some people, as we have seen, just can't comply. candice works with young people who have autism, schizophrenia and

learning impairments. she sees a clear reason why so many may be injured or killed in interaction with officers. if they do encounter police, it's a scary situation. they don't know this person, they never seen who's this person with the gun, or in blue, or why these lights are flashing. these loud sounds — what are all these things? and the reason is because, again, that enforcement of control on the body, like i have to control you. if i'm not used to that, then i'm going to respond in a way that would look as if i'm being defiant. the parents of adam trammell, who saw their son repeatedly tased in that bodycam footage can relate to that. there were times where you couldn't touch adam. he would get withdrawn and excited. i would listen to him,

back off of him, and say, "think about it." he had that understanding. but if i went in and used my authority like "i am your father, do this and this," it didn't work. don't get up. don't move. larry says his son, a schizophrenic, would often have delusions and hallucinations, and that the police could not have done a worse job of handling that. they escalated it and the point is if adam was going through one of his emotional things is that when the police came in, and he looked at them, he might have not thought that was them. relax, relax. and by calling them by different names, that fed into it. by calling him not adam, he was thinking it was not real. brandon, can you listen to us? if you hold on one moment, i will put the district attorney on. great. this is john chisholm. after weeks of trying,

we finally managed to speak to the district attorney who ruled adam did not die as a result of the actions of the officers who tased him numerous times. they're not doing this because they wanted to harm adam. it is the exact opposite, right? but it doesn't look like that, does it? but it does, though. their expressed intent any number of times is that they were there to get him, that they wanted to get him out of that... they kept saying that as they tased him. right, right, because they had to get him under control so they could get him to some medical attention. you are saying that it was not unreasonable that they tased him? that's correct. not based on their training. if that's what their training tells them to do, there's

clearly a problem. this ain't a big deal, i promise. but more and more because of a mental health system widely thought to be failing, police are being forced into encounters that trained medical professionals should be handling. put your hands behind your back real quick. i'm sorry! can you please let me go? and so man people go untreated because of a lack of access to healthcare. i guarantee i'll smoke you. i guarantee it. but if the police are the first to be called, how can things improve so that no one gets harmed? didn't work, did it? patty saylor took the devastation caused by her son's death and has tried to turn it into something positive. the world is frustrating to somebody with an intellectual disability. today, she's taking her first full training session with police officers, to teach them how to deal with people with disabilities. it includes lessons from what happened to her son.

ethan didn't have the cognitive ability to recognise those officers needed an explanation. like, oh, officer, i'm going to watch this movie a second time, my mum is coming and will pay the ticket when she gets here. he would not have known in his mind that they needed an explanation. see how complex it can be? sadly, the department whose offices were involved in ethan's death has not engaged with patty. the made a financial settlement with her, but never so much as apologised or admitted any wrongdoing. they refused all our interview requests. we are going to be in route to a husband who has called in on his wife, he believes that she needs help with a mental health issue. i adam 1—22 we'll respond out to there with adam 70. not every police force

takes steps like training to try to stop its dealings with disabled people go disastrously wrong. but sergeant nooner now has been trained to be one of those called out to such incidents... you are the homeowner so you need to walk us in. ..often dealing with those with serious mental illness. i think your family is worried about you. i guess it, but they are not in my head. and who are, as in this case, delusional. it's an anomaly, i see it on the computer, i see the tick, and unlike, oh, they're watching me. so we have to take you to the doctor so you can talk to the doctor about what is going on. they are taking me without consent. ok, that's right, you're not consenting. i did not consent to this. you're not consenting. i'm leaving voluntarily. but disability, mental health history, or not, people often still and up in handcuffs. i am a crazy woman.

even officers who have had disability training ultimately fall back on what they've been taught in their basic police instruction — much of which is based on personal protection. as sergeant nooner knows from the incident when he felt he was forced to kill a schizophrenic woman. i need to make sure i can go back to my family at night. so whether a person is mentally ill or not, they have a knife, they are pointing at me and walking at me and i am turn them to drop the knife, drop the knife, stop, just stop, my priority has to be my safety. then we can talk about the actions that will force to intervene with. but that still sounds like people who — who can't comply, for whatever reason, could still get harmed almost before police could compute that there is a problem there,

a mental health issue. absolutely they can. for some, there is only one major way police across america themselves could help bring down notjust the number of people with disabilities to by officers, but also the hundreds of others who in these exchanges every year. the immediate reaction should not be to pull out your gun or your taser or to yell or scream. so i think all of those policies need to change. i had to watch everybody else play sports because i was in a chair half the time... but as things stand, candace says the young people she works with, such as tj, who has autism, and theirfamilies, are looking at all these deaths and wondering who might be next.

it has made people fearful of calling the police. it is also made individuals with disabilities themselves fearful of being around police. i am an organiser so i organise young adults, and immediately the plan centres around what will we do about the police in this case, how do we protect ourselves? it is extraordinary to hear you talking about groups with disabilities having to talk about walking through how to defend themselves against police, but that is where things are. yes it is. so with few hopes of a major shift in police culture that would save disabled lives, where de—escalating situations is really their focus and even fewer expectations that mental health provision will radically improve here, some of the most vulnerable in american society are being left to work things out themselves if they are not to be added to the grim numbers that are growing

across this country all the time. good morning. saturdays weatherboard mixed fortu nes saturdays weatherboard mixed fortunes over the country. it really brought a north—south divide in the story. if you're underneath the front, the cloud in the rain, it's wetter times. behind that front, it wasn't particularly warm that it was absolutely stunning. now, those

clear skies have continued so at the moment, would got quite a chilly start to a sunday morning and in fa ct, start to a sunday morning and in fact, we could see a touch of light frost sets it's certainly worth bearing in mind. fairly widespread, clear skies with the exception of into the far north—west. here, a weather front starting to show its hand. strengthening winds and rain but it as well. a real contrast to yesterday. some of the rain, could across western scotland. further south, it's a different story. it already talked about a chilly start. lovely spells of sunshine and we will keep the sunshine for much of the day. into the afternoon, temperatures will recover. generally around 11— 11! is still not particularly warm with it. as you move out of sunday into monday,

england and wales under the influence of that high pressure that this weather front moving very far, very fast, acting like a conveyor belt of rain that is the potential that we could see some localised flooding across western scotland. still pretty windy with the chip. further south, more in the way of sunshine. perhaps a degree or so warmer i7 sunshine. perhaps a degree or so warmer 17 or 18 degrees and this is the theme as we move into the middle pa rt the theme as we move into the middle part of the week. we keep the south—westerly flow and the mild air continues to move its way steadily northwards is not just continues to move its way steadily northwards is notjust across england and wales, there is the potential even as far as eastern scotla nd potential even as far as eastern scotland that we could see more weather. take care. welcome to bbc news, broadcasting to viewers in north america and around the globe. my name is lewis vaughanjones. 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. against the backdrop of vociferous protests — the nomination was narrowly approved. 0utside, demonstrators reacted to the vote with fury. they've been condemned by president trump. republicans believe in the rule of law, not the rule of the mob. in other news, turkey says a prominent saudi journalist has been murdered inside the kingdom's consulate in istanbul.