this is bbc news. welcome if you're watching here in the uk or around the globe. i'm james reynolds. our top stories: president trump says he hopes to name a woman within the next week as his choice to replace the supreme court judge, ruth bader ginsburg. the proposal triggers a battle between republicans and democrats about choosing a replacement before the us presidential election. stiff financial penalties for anyone in england who tests positive for coronavirus but fails to self—isolate. the us delays plans to ban downloads of the chinese social media app tiktok after president trump approves a deal for oracle to buy its american operation. and in sport, the slovenian tadej pogacar is set to be crowned tour de france champion after a dramatic turnaround.

hello and welcome to bbc news. a political battle is shaping up in america following the death at the age of 87 of the supreme courtjudge ruth bader ginsburg, a champion of women's and minority rights. donald trump says he's likely to put forward a woman as his nominee. he told reporters he expected to make his choice next week. but his democrat rival, joe biden, insists the decision must wait until after the november poll. here's our north america editor, jon sopel. no, not the death of a rock star or a movie legend. this spontaneous vigil in washington last night is for a judge. the supreme court plays a critical role in american life and ruth bader ginsburg, or rbg, became a cultural icon.

it was beyond my wildest imagination that i would one day become "the notorious rbg." i, ruth bader ginsburg... she helped define modern america with the force of her legal argument on equal pay, abortion, the disabled, healthca re. and a determination that women should play as big a part in american public life as men. it contributes to the end of the days when women, at least half the talent pool in our society, appear in high places only as one—at—a—time performers. in herfinal years, despite multiple cancer diagnoses, she never missed a day of oral argument, feisty and formidable to the end. so what's the big deal? isn't this just another judicial appointment? well, no. a strong conservative majority now within sight on the supreme court will help shape america for decades to come.

rbg's death has electrified the presidential election campaign — and who should fill her boots, and when, has become political dynamite. last night donald trump, who seemed stunned by her death, was playing his cards close to his chest. whether you agreed or not, she was an amazing woman who led an amazing life. i'm actually saddened to hear that, i'm saddened to hear that. thank you very much. the flag at the white house may be flying at half mast, but politics goes on. donald trump making clear he's going to nominate a conservative replacement without delay. democrats though, led by presidential candidate joe biden, say no decision should be made until after a new president is sworn in. let me be clear that the voters should pick the president and the president should pick thejustice for the senate to consider. just before ruth bader ginsburg died, she made it clear

she felt that her position shouldn't be filled until after the election. it seems unlikely she will get her dying wish. john sopel, bbc news, washington. a little earlier i spoke to ilya shapiro, who's the director of the robert a levy centre for constitutional studies at the cato institute. i asked him whether the nomination and confirmation process for the us supreme court was fit for purpose in 2020. well, as i just well, as ijust wrote in my book that is coming out in a couple of days, supreme disorder, we are at a point where the supreme court is enveloped by the same toxic miasma that covers the rest of oui’ miasma that covers the rest of our public discourse. but how we've gotten here is an interesting story. politics, turns out, has been part of the process from the very beginning

and political controversies. george washington, the first resident, any nominee to the supreme court rejected, for example. what is different now as we have the combination of several trends where different interpretive theories map onto partisan preferences at a time when the parties are more ideologically distinct and sordid than they have been at least since the civil war, if not ever. so as the supreme court and the federal judiciary has played an ever larger role in american life, deciding the largest political controversies, of course every va ca ncy controversies, of course every vacancy is going to be fraught, given, again, that zero—sum game with the culmination of those trends. in many countries, including uk, supreme courtjudges countries, including uk, supreme court judges face countries, including uk, supreme courtjudges face a mandatory retirement age and we hear almost nothing about that confirmation processes. by contrast, because, us supreme courtjudges get to server for life and the balance of the court then can depend on the health of elderlyjustices. can

that change? is it a good idea to have a system like that? what are you are talking about is term limits or mandatory retirement, as a process. term limits get talked about a fair bit. the typical proposal is an 18 year term, so there was a va ca ncy 18 year term, so there was a vacancy staggered every two yea rs, by vacancy staggered every two years, by definition every four years, by definition every four year presidential term would then get two appointments. it is an interesting idea. i think the public generally would support it. if it is a confidence building measure. but it would necessarily change the operation of the court. for example, if it were in place currently the board would have three george w bush nominees, four obama nominees, three george w bush nominees, fourobama nominees, and three george w bush nominees, four obama nominees, and two trump nominees, or five republican appointed, four democrat appointed, which is what it has now, well, counting justice ginsburg's see. and thatis justice ginsburg's see. and that is the way that things would work stop and it wouldn't necessarily lower the average age because all of a sudden people in their 60s would be considered again. so something

worth considering, but, in addition, so difficult to get to what would ashley take a constitutional amendment. if there is the legal will and unity to amend the constitution any problem you are trying to resolve might be obviated in the first place. so it is a bit ofa the first place. so it is a bit of a catch—22. we are basically left with muddling along through this political brinkmanship until something happens with the product of what the supreme court is doing, making the court less important by pushing federal power back down to states and localities and shifting power within washington, within the federal government, and congress to actually debate those big political controversies and classes of values, rather than pushing everything into the executive branch, the administrative agencies and the presidency that then gets sued and thrown into the courts. so it has taken us decades of a shift in the law and the way that politics is conducted and they have no magic bullets will stop

i don't think rearranging the deck chairs on the titanic with these mild structural reforms would really do it. we are talking deep substantive problems. let us talk them. president trump has said he would pick a woman. he said that in his rally in north carolina. two key being mentioned, amy tony barrett, and barbarella go up. what can you tell us about them? trump now has a list of 1m. you take off the older folks and it is going to be a woman so that ta kes going to be a woman so that takes it down to really six or eight and you are right, those two who are named, amy is a judge on the seventh circuit in the midwest, the court is based in chicago. she has been a judge only a few years, was a professor at notre—dame university law school before that. somewhere along the lines ofa that. somewhere along the lines of a skelly or thomas type, meaning an original list on the conservative side, meaning viewing the constitution as it was an act that is the public meaning of the words that were enacted. barbara nogoa is a newcomer, she has only been on

the 11th circuit based in atla nta. the 11th circuit based in atlanta. and she is a cuban—american, has a longer experience on the state bench as well as in the private sector. it really comes down to whether the president decides to go with someone more of a deeper kind of intellectual record and that would be barix, oi’ record and that would be barix, orfor more political record and that would be barix, or for more political purposes, florida being a key state and hispanics being a key demographic, because barbarella go doesn't have as long as a track record on that. those are really the kinds of the considerations going on —— barbara lagoa. ilya shapiro there. anti—government protesters in thailand have installed a plaque near bangkok's grand palace proclaiming that the country belongs to the people and not the monarch. protests calling for the resignation of the government and reform of the monarchy have continued on sunday. activists camped out overnight in a field near the royal

palace after tens of thousands joined the demonstrations on saturday. 0ur correspondentjonathan head is in bangkok and joins me now. jonathan, how unusual is this protest movement? well, protest movements aren't unusual but this one has got a whole lot further than any in living memory in terms of addressing theissue memory in terms of addressing the issue of the monarchy. i'm right here in this field. behind me you can see the littering historic royal palace, that is where the coronation of the current king took place, the funeral of his much loved father and a little bit over in that direction is where they put down this very small block today, a blood that was removed from another part of bangkok commemorating the overthrow of the absolute monarchy —— plaque. the history of the monarchy, its place in thai society, its powers, its spending, all of these are on the agenda of this protest movement. they have dispersed in the last few minutes. but they have held onto this ground for 2h hours, a symbolic challenge, if you like, throwing a glove down to the

monarchy itself, demanding changes, and they say they will keep it up. they had quite significant numbers of people here, it was quite a festive attitude here. the points they we re attitude here. the points they were raising on the seriousness we re were raising on the seriousness were lost on no—one. even discussing the monarchy has been djabou in this country for decades. it is considered unacceptable —— taboo. it is nonnegotiable, untouchable, and cannot be mentioned. some of theissues cannot be mentioned. some of the issues being mentioned by those people on stage are very personal. they directly criticise the current king for spending large amounts of money ata time spending large amounts of money at a time of economic crisis induced by covid—i9. they have raised the issues of his increasing control over units of the military. this isjust a debate that people have only ever whispered about. these stu d e nts ever whispered about. these students are pushing to make it public. in the past, you would quite simply have gone to prison for a very long time or you might even have lost your life or just these you might even have lost your life orjust these things. we just don't know in this current climate with a very unpopular

government how far they are going to allow this protest movement to go. picking up on that, what might you think the authorities will do with this movement? well, considering the sensitivity of the issue and the anger of hard—line royalist, they are really furious these issues are being raised. they consider it an unacceptable insult to the monarchy. you could argue that authorities are being very restrained. they did a rex a massive concrete barriers all around it to stop the protesters from marching towards other royal sites, to keep them here. beyond that they allow the protest leader to walk through and deliver a petition which the police commissioner promised to hand over to the office that manages the palace. at the moment they are charging some of these student leaders, the repeated serious criminal charges that can carry long years in prison, but they haven't actually been jailed. so there is something ofa game jailed. so there is something of a game of cat and mouse stop the government recognises it is unpopularfor a the government recognises it is unpopular for a number of

reasons and they won't say this, but, of course, this king is simply not as popular as his father. and there are real issues about his choice to live in germany and stay away at a time of national crisis. all of these reasons are making the government bores. it seems uncertain how we should respond. it keeps wanting the protesters, saying they shouldn't come out on these numbers should mention the monarchy. we just don't know how far they will go. crucially, the palace never comments publicly, we don't know how it will respond, whether it is willing to tolerate these unprecedented criticisms of the king or whether it will find some way to get back at them. jonathan head, thanks so much. the uk government is to introduce stiff financial penalties for anyone in england failing to self—isolate, after a positive coronavirus test. from the 28th of september, those who break the rules will be fined £1,000. this rises to £10,000 for repeat offences. the prime minister, borisjohnson, is also considering further restrictions after warning the uk is "now seeing a second wave" of coronavirus. here's our political

correspondent, iain watson. here in preston, households are already banned from meeting other households in their homes, gardens or indoor venues. from tuesday, curfews will be imposed on pubs and restaurants in most of lancashire and merseyside, and tighter restrictions have already been imposed in other parts of northern england and in the midlands, covering around one in five of the country's population. i have close family that passed away with covid so i know exactly how this is serious. something needs to be done, but it's a shame we'll not see our families as much. and as the prime minister warned of a second wave of the virus, restrictions in lancashire could be a glimpse of the future across the whole of england. we had to be careful about making sure we can keep the r rate down so we're looking at the data, we have a far better set of data now than we had a few months ago and we won't be afraid to use any restrictions necessary. the government introduced its rule of six only six days

ago, yet this weekend, borisjohnson is poring over the data to find out if he needs to go any further. he wants to avoid a full national lockdown — he knows that could shatter a fragile economy. so any plans emerging from downing street in the next few days are likely to keep schools and offices open. but the prime minister also wants existing restrictions to be more tightly enforced. the government's scientific advisers have suggested that as many as four out of five people could be bending or breaking the rules on self—isolation. from the 28th of september in england, anyone with a positive coronavirus test or who has been contacted by the track and trace system will have a legal duty to self—isolate. those who don't could be fined £1000 initially, and up to £10,000 for repeat offenders. but if you're on benefits or on a low income and can't work from home, you will receive a £500 lump sum to encourage self—isolation.

in preston, there was support for the idea of fining those who tested positive and who broke the rules. the people going out of their way to ignore the guidelines, it's quite fair and proper that they should get punished quite severely. that's really not on, for them to be going out and about, and they should be fined. but i think the rules now are really, really complex. labour say they will support moves to control the spread of the virus but they wouldn't have started from here. i had to say i think this could have been avoided if the government had got their testing and tracing system in place and now we are having to look at more extreme measures because the virus is out of control. the cabinet was briefed by the government's medical and scientific officers today. the task now for the prime minister is to balance the health of the nation with help for the economy. iain watson, bbc news, westminster. the us secretary of state, mike pompeo, says virtually all un sanctions against iran have been restored because it's

breaching the nuclear deal it signed in 2015. president trump tore up the nuclear accord two years ago, but the us insisted it could still trigger a clause to re—establish sanctions. 0ther signatories to the deal, including britain, france, and germany, dispute this. you are watching bbc news. the headlines: president trump says he hopes to name a woman within the next week as his choice to replace the supreme court judge ruth bader ginsburg. who tests positive for coronavirus stiff financial penalties for anyone in england who tests positive for coronavirus but fails to self—isolate. president trump has approved a deal that would see american firms take significant stakes in the us arm of tiktok. the deal allows the app, which is currently wholly— owned by a chinese company, to continue operating in the us. mr trump had previously threatened to shut it down, saying it posed a security risk. oracle and walmart are set to become partners in the business, but tiktok‘s current chinese owner, bytedance, would retain a large stake. conceptually, i think

it is a great deal for america. they will be hiring at least 25,000 people. it will most likely be incorporated in texas, it will be a brand—new company. it will have nothing to do with any outside land, any outside country. it will have nothing to do with china. nicholas thompson is the editor in chief of wired magazine. he says a deal with oracle and walmart wouldn't end the controversy with tiktok. first of all, the deal has to be finalised. so, trump has given his blessing to the deal, but walmart and oracle and bytedance are going to have to finalise it. we will also have to see what the chinese government does. my guess is that it does get us much closer to an end point, where there is tiktok surviving, and where 0racle will be a minority partner and her store the data, but it is not done yet. the white house premise has been that tiktok,

owned by china, is a national security threat. is that true? potentially, yes. tiktok does have a lot of data on individual americans, and you can imagine a scenario where the chinese government would request that bytedance give data on individuals they wanted to follow, or where americans' movement could be used by the chinese government. there's no evidence... sorry, even if most of those people are teenagers, doing dance videos? well, some of them are teenagers in the military doing dance videos. i mean, there are — i don't think that the trump administration's motivations are primarily about protecting american national security. i think they are primarily about being tough on china, which has political benefits. but there are some genuine national security concerns. what's the road

ahead for wechat? wechat will be fine. there only 19 million americans who use wechat, it's a very small percentage of wechat‘s user base, and wechat is a small percentage of tencent. so, those two companies will be fine. the people who are really hurt are americans with friends or business partners orfamily in china with whom they communicate through wechat. it is the fundamental way that many americans keep in touch with people in mainland china and what that also hurts is the ability of the two countries to understand each other. to sever a major line of communication between the us and china — not a great idea right now. beijing has threatened retaliatory measures threatened if the us continues down this path, what might those be? well, they could take a lot of action against apple. apple manufactures in china, apple sells a lot of iphones in china, and if i were tim cook, i would be quite frightened. beijing could take action against any american company that has a lot of business in china and they could take it for almost any reason they want, given the haphazard nature of the trump administration's policy on tiktok.

nicholas thompson there. let's get some of the day's other news two people have been killed in greece in a rare mediterranean hurricane. the storm, ianos, brought torrential rain and high winds to the ionian islands and western peloponnese. police say at least two other people are missing. meteorologists say cyclones were virtually unheard of in the area until the 1990s — when the mediterranean began to warm. the fbi and the us secret service are investigating the origin of a letter addressed to donald trump which media reports say contained ricin, a deadly toxin. officials have given no details, but say the item was intercepted before it reached the white house. they said there was no threat to public safety. the us secretary of state, mike pompeo, has praised colombia for its efforts to promote regime change and restore democracy in venezuela. after meeting president ivan duque in bogota, mr pompeo accused the venezuelan leader of promoting terrorism and drug trafficking in the region.

mr duque said that mr maduro's position in power was untenable. hundreds of opposition activists have been detained by the belarusian security forces at the latest women's march demanding the resignation of president alexander lukashenko. men in green uniforms and black balaclavas surrounded chanting. another saturday, another anti—government protest in the belarusian capital, minsk. 2000 women marching against president lukashenko against the allegedly rigged election which he claims to have one legitimately six weeks ago. "people united will never be defeated" they chant. and then... ..the men in balaclavas arrived. men from the government, taking away its own people. "shame, let them free," shouted these women, trying to stop their fellow demonstrators being dragged away. 0thers shouted "0nly cowards beat women". the police wouldn't say how many were detained but one local human rights groups claims it was 300, including this 73—year—old great—grandmother, nina bahinskaya, a regular opposition activists and now an icon for this protest movement. she was taken to a police

station and later released. so too many others, because the police simply didn't have enough vans to take them away. a sign that the authorities‘ crackdown is having little effect, with more protest planned for sunday. the sixth consecutive weekend. paul hawkins, bbc news. the slovenian cyclist todaj pogacar is to be crowned the tour de france champion on sunday, following a remarkable turnaround on the penultimate day of the race. atjust 21 years old, pogachar is set to become the youngest winner of the race in 111 years, and the first ever slovenian to wear the winner's yellow jersey on the final ride into paris. jack kilbride reports. it's been described as one of the greatest time trial rides in the history of the tour de france. tadej pogacar started

the penultimate stage 57 seconds behind the man in the yellow jersey, primoz roglic, so to snatch the yellowjersey from his fellow slovenian rider, he had to be quick, and quick he was. crossing the line a minute and 21 seconds faster than anyone else. for roglic, still on the road and knowing he let the leader's yellowjersey slip through his fingers, the last stretch of the ride was agony, finishing 59 seconds behind pogacar in the race standings. and for pogacar, who is also set to win both the polkadot and white jerseys for taking out the king of the mountain and young rider classifications, adding the yellow jersey as well was a bit of a shock. i didn't know that i win the yellowjersey until i saw roglic‘s time just at the finish line. i couldn't believe it myself, i was just out of the world and my mind wasjust out of my head. for cycling fans in slovenia, the day started with the hope that roglic would be

their first ever tour de france champion, but by the end of the day they were cheering for a different hero. translation: we are happy for today, bit sad for primoz, it didn't work out, however we did not give up. primoz is still the winner for us, slovenia won today. delayed due to coronavirus and then eventually held under special restrictions, with riders and their teams kept in a strict race—wide bubble, the tour itself has been a success. now, after 20 stages and more than 3000 gruelling kilometres, all that's left is the final, largely processional ride into paris where a maximum of 5000 fans will be allowed to cheer the riders on to the famous finish on the champs—elysees. and as long as everything goes to plan, both pogacar and the tour organisers alike, will be celebrating a job well done. you can reach me on twitter. i'm @jamesbbcnews.

you can get more on all our stories on our website. hello. the first half of the weekend was dry, sunny and warm for many of us, and sunday promises more of the same. more dry weather, more warm sunshine, but there will be some exceptions. down towards the south, still the potential for 1—2 showers. you can see on our earlier satellite image, this swirl of cloud, low pressure across western europe that has thrown a few showers through the channel islands and the south of england — could be 1—2 more of those around through the day ahead. also, quite a lot of cloud across a good part of scotland, particularly around the northern and eastern

coasts, through the central belt, and then down the eastern side of england. now, that low cloud of mist will tend to retreat towards the coast as the day wears on. so many spots will brighten up with some sunshine. but for northern coasts of scotland, and certainly shetland, it will stay, likely, quite grey through the day. for many other parts of scotland, though, it will brighten up with some spells of sunshine. a fine looking day for northern ireland, 17 degrees in belfast. some north sea coasts of england staying grey, cloudy and cool. still a bit breezy further south, but with quite a lot of sunshine, temperatures getting up to 23—25 degrees. now, that breeze will be easing all the time. the winds falling light through sunday night into monday.

that will allow some patches of fog to develop across some parts of england and wales. not as much fog further north — where it will be a rather chilly night, temperatures for some spots down into single digits. so, monday morning will dawn with some areas of cloud and fog across some parts of england and wales.

this is bbc news, the headlines: president trump says he's hoping to name a woman within the next week, as his choice to replace the supreme court judge, ruth bader ginsburg. the proposal has triggered a battle between republicans and democrats about chosing a replacement, before the us presidential election. the british government says it's going to impose stiff financial fines, on people in england who fail to quarentine themselves, as part of coronavirus restrictions. anyone who tests positive for the infection, or is contacted through the test and trace system, will be legally required to self—isolate. the chinese owners of the tiktok social media app have agreed to form a new company with two major american companies, oracle and walmart. the new partnership will run tiktok‘s us operations, after president trump threatened to ban the app as a danger to national security.