mr trump's presidential rival, joe biden, has urged the senate not to vote on the choice until after november's election. now it's time for a look at the weather with darren bett. following the sunshine today it will turn cold quickly and the clearer skies. overnight the winds will continue to drop in east anglia and the south—east by them it will stay cloudy. much milder in northern ireland than it was last night. it was the coldest september night on record. 9 degrees in belfast. in the west cou ntry record. 9 degrees in belfast. in the west country there is a risk of a touch of frost and short lived mist and fog patches as well. rain in northern ireland and western scotland. head of the cloud and

patchy rain we have some sunshine. because we have atlantic influences, it will be warmer, particularly noticeable across the east of england. quite mild again on tuesday and wednesday. later in the week it does tend to at the same time, the weather more unsettled. —— turn cooler. as thousands of students across the uk are forced to self—isolate due to coronavirus outbreaks — the labour party calls on the government to promise students will be able to go home for christmas. cardiff and swansea — wales‘ two biggest cities — are preparing to go into tighter lockdown restrictions from 6pm this evening, with neath—port talbot,

the vale of glamorgan and torfaen also going into local lockdown from 6pm tomorrow. police investigating the murder of sergeant matt ratana at croydon in south london on friday — have arrested a man on suspicion of supplying a firearm. president trump has nominated the conservative judge, amy coney barrett, to fill the vacant seat on the us supreme court. back in half an hour. now on bbc news... an investigation by bbc news arabic into russian oligarch roman abramovich, who controls companies that have donated $100 million to elad, a settler organisation operating in occupied eastjerusalem. a small neighbourhood at the outskirts of jerusalem's old city. it's home to about 20,000 palestinians. they call it silwan. but to the growing number ofjewish settlers, the neighbourhood is ir david, or the city of david.

it's of a special importance to thejewish people because that is our ancestral heritage and so everything we find, the entire story of the city of david is really our story. the settlers are backed by an organisation called elad, whose aim is to assess or strengthen thejewish presence in this palestinian neighbourhood. he speaks hebrew. over the last 15 years, nearly half of elad's donated funding has come from offshore companies in the caribbean from an anonymous donor, but a leak of bank documents has found the man behind these companies, chelsea football clubs owner, israel's richest man, roman abramovich. he speaks hebrew. bbc arabic investigates.

speaking arabic. the sumarin family is on their way to thejerusalem district court. they are fighting to stay in their home in eastjerusalem. speaking arabic. the family are palestinian. their legal battle in israeli courts has been going on for almost 30 years. speaking arabic.

the sumarins have to prove to the court that they have the right to stay in the house members of their family have lived in since 1959. speaking arabic. the biblical city ofjerusalem, captured by king david

over 3000 years ago, is here according to an organisation known as elad. hello everybody and welcome tojerusalem once again. the city of david. it is amazing to have you back with us. my name isjerome stillman. i am the director of global communications in the city of david. you can imagine we're climbing underneath ancient jerusalem right now. elad is short for to the city of david. it is an organisation whose stated mission is to strengthen the jewish links to jerusalem. when i came here and spoke with both local residents, arab and jewish and other people here, i realise that this was the site of king david — he is known by different names in hebrew, english and islam — and that this is an incredible opportunity for some of a billion people around the world opportunity for four billion people around the world to connect the original site of the city of david. when i heard that story

i left my own career in high—tech and have dedicated my life to this area. to the millions who have visited the city of david, elad presents itself as an archaeological organisation focused on telling the story of the city ofjerusalem. of ancientjerusalem. the city of david is the actual underground city ofjerusalem. our mission is to really reveal that and bring that to be explored by the world and experience by the world. do you know that 3000 years ago, the same view we're seeing right now was seen by king david himself? he could get up every morning with his coffee, walk out to the porch, and see this beautiful scenery. david, king david from the bible, he went under the walls and overtook this. took it for the first time for the jewish community, so that's pretty cool. but there is a debate about some of the claims made about the city of david, the bible, and historical fact. archaeological digs in occupied territory are governed by much—debated laws. israel could be breaking

international law by allowing elad to carry out exploratory work in silwan. israel doesn't consider the area to be occupied, and elad says it is necessary to carry out the work to protect jewish cultural heritage. elad has been criticised for the less—advertised part of the mission, strengthening thejewish connection to jerusalem byjewish settlement. the united states condemns the occupation of residential buildings in the palestinian area of sirwan in eastjerusalem. by individuals who are associated with an organisation whose agenda by definition stoked tensions between palestinians and israelis. speaks hebrew. this man spent over a decade working at a senior level in elad as their marketing director.

he helped the city of david make it into all the top guidebooks. he speaks hebrew. he witnessed first—hand the rapid rise of elad. he even wrote a phd about them, so knows the organisation inside out. he speaks hebrew. from their launch in 1986 to 2005, he says that settling jewish families in silwan was elad's main activity. he speaks hebrew. in 2005, he says, they change their strategy.

he speaks hebrew. 2005 was a game changing year for elad. big money started pouring in via offshore companies based in the british virgin islands. it made up 65% of the total funds donated that year. elad did not comment on whether tourism was a way he speaks hebrew. elad did not comment on whether tourism was a way to enable morejewish settlement in the area. in 1967, during the six day war, israel occupied the west bank in eastjerusalem. very soon after the war, israel extended israeli law to the area of eastjerusalem, and in 1980, the israeli government

move to formally bring the whole ofjerusalem and its holy sites under its control. there are 220,000 jewish settlers in east jerusalem, living among at least 3a1,000 palestinians. under international law, the area is considered to be occupied territory, and the settlements are deemed illegal. israel does not accept this view, and neither does the trump administration. hagit ofran has been opposing settlements for years as part of the organisation peace now. she speaks own language.

this family live right next door to elad's city of david. they even share a fence. she speaks arabic. she is at their home for a conference call with pro—palestinian activists ahead of the family's next quarter period. speaks own language.

she speaks arabic. the sumarin house was claimed by the state of israel under the controversial absentee law in 1987. this law gave the government the right to seize the property of palestinians who have fled or were expelled during times of conflict. in 1991, the israeli government then sold the house to a subsidiary of the jewish national fund.

one of thejnf‘s stated objectives is to buy and develop land on behalf of the jewish people. with funding and support from ngos and the palestinian authority, the family have been fighting to keep the home ever since. we asked elad if they had any part to play in this case. while the new legal case of the home is being carried out by... it is obviously of great interest to us because it is directly located within a few feet of our visitor centre. but since that interview, bbc news arabic has obtained new evidence which suggests elad has more than just an interest. another 2020, they submitted a letter to court that the founder of elad sent them back in 1991. he listed various land plots in silwan including that of the house and writes that...

asked by the bbc whether they were still funding the case, elad did not respond. and neither did... and neither did hemnutah. she speaks arabic. he speaks hebrew.

over the years, the total number of visitors to elad's city of david has increased dramatically, and some never left. there has also been a gradual but steady growth in the number ofjewish settlers who have been settled by elad in silwan. all this growth has cost a lot of money, and elad relies heavily on donations to fund its work. she speaks hebrew.

elad does list many donors that are easy to identify, both individuals and organisations. but nearly half of elad's donations between 2005 and 2018 came from just four bvi based companies — the ones highlighted onscreen. they were all registered on the same day in the british virgin islands. the way these companies are structured makes it impossible for the public to know who's behind them. the names of these four companies also appear in a set of bank documents leaked to buzzfeed news. they shared them with the international consortium of investigativejournalists and the bbc. in the documents, banks report information about financial transactions and ownership of companies. the name roman abramovich appears again and again.

he is named as the ultimate beneficial owner of three companies and controls the fourth. those companies have donated more than $100 million to elad between 2005 and 2018. that makes roman abramovich the single biggest donor of the settler organisation. the donations from his companies, which started in 2005, have enabled elad to become the organisation they are today. in 2007, these companies were responsible for almost 90% of elad's donations. in that year, the majority of donations were used to fund various projects of development and settlement in the city of david. in some cases, settlement means the eviction of a palestinian family. elad has told the bbc that they abide by the laws and regulations israel set for nonprofit organisations, including in terms of transparency requirements, and on the question

of whether roman abramovich is a donor to elad, they say... it's our policy to respect the privacy of our donors. one can very easily walk around the city of david and see the names of the donors who have decided to put their names there. this man has been the family's lawyer for ten years. he speaks arabic.

this case is not unique. elad has been linked to numerous evictions, and donations to elad have enabled them to expand their footprint in silwan. he speaks arabic. he speaks hebrew. according to peace now‘s research, elad owns and runs tourist sites on this land and has settled jewish families in these houses. the israeli government permits

and supports elad's work, both the settling and the digging. in 2016, the un security council deemed settlement activity in occupied eastjerusalem a flagrant violation of international law by israel, but israel disputes this and say they do not consider eastjerusalem to be occupied territory. international law has many different views and many different actors. there are many nations and countries who in fact support israeli sovereignty over this area. only the united states, guatemala and honduras recognise israeli sovereignty over the entire city ofjerusalem. roman abramovich is a private man. it's been hard to find people to speak publicly about him to the bbc. he's well known for his charitable giving. a spokesman for him told the bbc...

but until now, mr abramovich has never been officially associated with any donations to elad. he speaks own language. roman co—wrote a book about the impact of a million russian migrants moving to israel. he speaks own language. in 2018, mr abramovich was granted citizenship in israel after facing long delays to his uk visa application.

he speaks own language. later that day, the sumarin family learned that they had

lost their appeal. they were given six weeks to leave their home. he speaks hebrew. elad did not respond to questions about ownership of houses in historic city of david. they say that all of their property in this area has been obtained fairly and legally under israeli law. the city of david is a project that involves also the revitalisation of life injerusalem. we believe that bothjews and arabs, christians, muslims, everybody under israeli law is entitled to buy homes here. no palestinian has ever been removed from their home in the city of david without due process, without the court, but about them being able to present their case on the other side.

he speaks arabic. elad's strategy seems to be working. for many in israel and around the world, silwan has become the city of david. as elad has established itself, israeli government support and income from ticket sales has risen, and donations from abramovich were overtaken by donations from us—based friends of ir david in 2011. oh my, golly! i can think of no better place

than the city of david to express that the united states knows what the jewish people have known for 3000 years, thatjerusalem is the historic capital of israel. the trump administration's recognition of jerusalem as the capital of israel exacerbated widespread protests in gaza and beyond. 58 palestinians were reported killed by israeli forces and over 2000 injured on the day of the embassy opening alone. us ambassador to israel, david friedman, is a strong supporter of israeli settlements. he has taken part in an opening ceremony at the city of david. and in 2021, president trump announced his peace plan brokered by his son—in—law. it named many of elad's sites as historical or spiritual places in need of protection — all of which are in occupied territory. byzantine, roman, muslim, jewish,

christian, palestinian, jordanian, israeli — silwan‘s story is complicated. but within 30 years, with the support of israel's richest man, elad has managed to shift the narrative to their version of the story.

overnight we will find the wind continuing to drop in east anglia and the south—east of it will stay cloudy here and we have got more cloudy here and we have got more cloud coming into western scotland and northern ireland, so much milder in northern ireland than it was last night. it was the coldest september night. it was the coldest september night here on record, 9 degrees in belfast. ahead of that advance in cloud all the way from eastern scotla nd cloud all the way from eastern scotland down to the west country there is a risk of a touch of frost and some short lived mist and fog patches too. main heading into northern ireland in the morning, west of scotland too, that may enlighten patches your head eastwards a cross enlighten patches your head eastwards across scotland into the afternoon into wales, western parts of england, ahead of that cloud and patchy rain we have got some sunshine and because we have got these atlantic influences, atlantic breeze, it will be warmer, particularly noticeable across eastern england where temperatures could reach 19 degrees. quite mild again on tuesday and wednesday. later in the week it does turn cooler and at the same time the

weather more unsettled.

a this is bbc news the headlines at five. a adlines at five. the government defends its decision to allow students to return to university — despite several outbreaks of coronavirus, which have seen many confined to their rooms. labour demands assurances. students have been done over on their a—level. they've been done over on freshers' week. the government is now threatening to lock them up at university. and very worrying for them when they graduate, we may be looking at long—term youth unemployment. it's important that students don't have to give up a year of their lives by not going to university. they are going to university and are paying the fees accordingly. cardiff and swansea prepare for tighter lockdown restrictions from 6pm this evening — with neath—port talbot, the vale of glamorgan and torfaen also going into local