this is bbc news. i'm lukwesa burak with the latest headlines for viewers in the uk and around the world. judge amy coney barrett is almost certain to be appointed to a lifetime seat on the us supreme court shortly, in a major political victory for president trump. this is the scene live in the senate where the final vote is expected in the next hour or so. a call for europe to step up its battle against coronavirus, as some hospitals in belgium ask infected staff without symptoms to carry on working. as australia braces itself for another summer of bushfires, growing concern about the effects of the smoke on pregnant women and babies.

hello and welcome to bbc news for president trump's reelection campaign is expected to receive a major boost within the next couple of hours, with the confirmation of his latest supreme court nominee, amy coney barrett. so, let's just take you to the scene live from the centre forward democrats have been trying to delay the vote making speech distressed the vote making speech distressed the debate to its maximum limit. but the debate to its maximum limit. but the republican chamber has all but certain to confirm judge barrett to the lifetime position. that would result in a 6—3 conservative majority on the 9—member court to its ideological balance to

potentially decades to come. lebo diseko is on capitol hill for us. where are we with this? as you said the senators are at the moment on the senators are at the moment on the floor of the house, they are making speeches and we are expecting in the next half—hour or so they will take that vote and probably ta ke will take that vote and probably take between 15—20 minutes. republicans have a slim majority but they are so confident that they will be able to get this through they have scheduled a press conference for 8pm the vote only starting at 25 past local time and we're hearing from us local media here that there is an event is scheduled at the white house later this evening and that justice clarence white house later this evening and thatjustice clarence thomas will preside over her swearing—in. thatjustice clarence thomas will preside over her swearing-in. there isa preside over her swearing-in. there is a lot being made at the speed with which this is all happening and people pointing out that she could be behind her desk tomorrow. yeah,

it has been so quick. you will remember it was literally about a month ago that she was nominated at that event at the white house. technically speaking she could start work tomorrow, many people saying it is more likely to be next week but technically she could start tomorrow and the reason that's significant is because we don't know but she could because we don't know but she could be able to have her say on another of cases about how mail—in ballots are treated in terms of the election, the time given to count them, also democrats are concerned that she may also have a say if in the event of any challenge to the actual election results if that comes to the supreme court. there is a lot at stake here. it is noise great to speak to you. thank you very much indeed. —— always great to speak to you. we will stay with the subject. i'm joined now from wellfleet, massachusetts by professorjoel goldstein

from st louis university of law. thank you forjoining us here on bbc news. in our introduction to this news for our reviewers, we said that president trump's reelection campaign could receive a major boost ifjudge barrett does indeed win that seat. why? i think one of the major agenda items of the trump presidency and senator mcconnell‘s leadership in the senate has meant to put conservative justices on the supreme court and conservative judges on the lower federal courts. that has really been a priority. so this would be the third conservative justice that president trump would have appointed to the supreme court infour have appointed to the supreme court in four years. so i think that would fulfil one of his major agenda items. i think so far though, there doesn't seem to be an indication that it has helped him elect

horribly at least yet. his numbers have not risen over the last month oi’ have not risen over the last month or $0 have not risen over the last month or so of have not risen over the last month orso of —— have not risen over the last month or so of —— hasn't helped him elect horribly. i to or so of —— hasn't helped him elect horribly. ito explore or so of —— hasn't helped him elect horribly. i to explore the or so of —— hasn't helped him elect horribly. ito explore the point about the reelection campaign and maybe he has been forward planning when it comes to the issue of a possible dispute over the election results and her position and her potential role in this. president trump has been very outspoken. he made the statement that it was critical that the nomination be rushed through because so the court would have nine justices rushed through because so the court would have ninejustices on rushed through because so the court would have nine justices on the court and clearly what he is concerned about is a 4—1; split if chiefjustice roberts sided with the three so—called liberals and it would split the court whereas he is obviously banking on judge would split the court whereas he is obviously banking onjudge barrett to ta ke obviously banking onjudge barrett to take his position if there is a

dispute over the election as there was 20 years ago in the famous bush versus gore case. it is been pointed out that the supreme court is starting to get split very much along partisan lines. how does that sit with americans? shouldn't the courts and politics be separate?” think it is an important point that you raise. it used to be that justices were confirmed by bipartisan votes. really, justice stephen pereira who was confirmed in 1994, there were only nine votes cast against him, even chiefjustice roberts received half of the democrats support for his confirmation. —— justice stephen breyer for confirmation. —— justice stephen breyerfor supper now confirmation. —— justice stephen breyer for supper now increasing at the justices confirmed aren't partisan lines. i think this will be the first time that it justice partisan lines. i think this will be the first time that itjustice has been confirmed with only members of

the party of the nominating president supporting the nomination. so, it really is a change from what had been historical pattern. justice cobia, justice ginsburg were both confirmed by unanimous or near unanimous margins. and that used to be the norm. —— justice scalia. unanimous margins. and that used to be the norm. -- justice scalia. joel goldstein will have to leave it there but thank you very much. thank you. the world health organization has called for europe to "seriously accelerate" its fight against coronavirus. a string of countries have reported record increases in cases, led by france, which registered more than 50,000 daily infections for the first time. the czech republic has followed spain in introducing a nationwide night time curfew. the who's emergencies expert mike ryan said europe now accounts for 46% of global cases and every citizen needs to take responsibility. if every individual did everything

today to reduce their exposure to this virus and reduce the chance that they may expose others to this virus and if every individual did that through physical distancing, through wearing masks, through ensuring they avoid crowded spaces, through hand hygiene, and they were supported in doing that and if every person who was a contact or who knows themselves to be a contact of a case was to quarantine themselves and be supported in that by government, then we would have significant success as has been demonstrated in many countries in containing this virus. the lockdowns and all these huge measures are in effect a replacement for what is a comprehensive approach to containing, controlling this virus and mitigating its impact. that was the who's mike ryan speaking there. several hospitals in the belgian city of liege have asked doctors and nurses who test positive for covid—19 to carry on working anyway if they have no symptoms.

0ur correspondent in brussels gavin lee told us the health system in the city is overwhelmed. that is the state of crisis point that hospitals will live in the region around the city say that they have no other choice. i was in one of the hospitals in the centre of the city, they had quadruple the size of the lords in the space of a week of coven patients and basically by saying to everybody else, all nonurgent surgeries to leave and that they had to cancel so that they had to maximise space was up and that lasted in about 2—3 days' time, and that they will collapse and not be able to cope. so what you're looking at now are ten hospitals in that position and looking at the amount of staff of 25% are now sick with coronavirus. 0n amount of staff of 25% are now sick with coronavirus. on top of that there is about 10% of staff left tested positive in the past few days, they are asymptomatic. all of

those hospitals are saying "you have no choice, we are giving you no choice, you have to come in and work." parts of england are facing tougher new covid restrictions. the city of nottingham and some other parts of nottinghamshire are moving into tier 3, the highest level of covid measures in england. as cases rise, hospitals are facing more pressure and nhs staff are having to juggle competing demands. 0ur medical editor fergus walsh and his team were given extensive access to the royal victoria infirmary in newcastle and this is what they found. the royal victoria infirmary is part of the fabric of life in newcastle. 15,000 staff work at the trust. they're always busier as winter approaches, but this will be the first with coronavirus. we've got a very tired workforce.

we know the beast that is covid pneumonia. it's devastating if you get a setback. for a couple of months in summer, there were no covid patients in intensive care — now staff are back in full ppe. covid continues to make people critically ill. it continues to make people's organs fail. it continues to cause death. that is still a frightening prospect for many people out there. but patient numbers are half that compared to the first wave, and very few are on ventilators. to me, this feels very different from the peak in april. doctors now know so much more about covid and how best to treat the disease. and that means many more patients are surviving intensive care. we feel we can offer every patient the best possible opportunity to get through it based on some much firmer science that we can draw on now

compared with april. half the patients, like brian, are on clinical trials. the 62—year—old is usually behind the bar at a local social club, then he got covid. terrifying. absolutely terrifying. i've had a traumatic few days. we'lljust build our strength up, get better. they will get us better, i know that. covid patients in intensive care are given remdesivir, an antiviral drug, plus medications to stop potentially fatal blood clots. they also get dexamethasone, a steroid. trials in the uk showed it reduces the risk of dying by up to a third. mohammed came to england from pakistan in the ‘50s. a former bus driver, he's 87 and suffers confusion, so his daughter, who has also had

covid, is allowed to stay with him. very close to dying, he was, honestly. it was very, very scary. he lives with his son and grandchildren, his daughter is on the next street. covid has swept through the extended family. thank god. he's going to thank god. he's going to thank everybody that's helped him get home as well. the hospital is confident it can cope with coronavirus this winter the hospital is very much open for business, and staff want to continue all services this winter. but so much depends on whether coronavirus can be kept under control. thousands of thai protesters demanding reform of the monarchy have marched to the german embassy in bangkok to try to put pressure on king maha vajiralongkorn, who spends much of his time in germany.

they described themselves as "human beings, not dust" in reference to a thai expression that people are but dust under the king's feet. thailand's prime minister has said the country needs to bring what he described as "illegal protests" under control. jonathan head sent this update from outside the embassy. we have been to a lot of protests in many different places but this one is especially significant. they have come down to the german embassy in bangkok but what they are complaining about here is their king is in effect reigning from a foreign country. now, lots of protesters have come here. we had royalists here early today expressing their support for the monarchy. in effect, the german embassy is caught in a sandwich in between the two sides, in saying they didn't want any changes to the status quo. these numbers are much, much bigger. they blocked off one of the largest roads in bangkok, completely boxed it off, thousands of people here,

but it's been a fairly orderly event and the police have got a very heavy presence here, they are not doing much as you can see. they are simply protecting the embassy. but the fact that you have a foreign embassy dragged into the centre of this conflict at the moment over what happens in thailand tells you how serious this has become. people here feel that the german government should do something about the fact that their king is in effect resident in germany. that is what the demand is in the letter they just submitted. they are not, though, making progress in getting the government and its supporters in accepting there can even be a discussion about the monarchy. there is a debate going on in parliament right now but none of the core issues that these protesters care about or have been fighting for for months now have been discussed. the two sides are still very far apart. stay with us on bbc world news, still to come — he promised to build a wall. we have a report from arizona on how president trump's tough line on immigration is playing out in the campaign.

indira gandhi, ruler of the world's largest democracy, died today. 0nly yesterday she'd spoken of dying in the service of her country and said, "i would be proud if it. "every drop of my blood will contribute to the "growth of this nation." after 46 years of unhappiness, and these two countries have concluded a chapter of history. no more suspicion, no more fear, no more uncertainty of what each day might bring. boost to ignition and lift off of discovery with a crew of six astronaut heroes and one american legend. this is beautiful. a milestone in human history. born today, this girl in india is the seven billionth person on the planet.

this is bbc news. the latest headlines. amy coney barrett is almost certain to be appointed to a lifetime seat on the us supreme court shortly, in a major political victory for president trump. now let's return to the us presidential election. and this week — in a series of special reports from the key state of arizona — my colleague clive myrie will be looking at some of the issues preoccupying voters as they make their choices. he starts today with illegal immigration and president trump's signature promise to build a wall along the border with mexico. the heavens were no barrier to american idealism. but, on earth, how best to protect what it means to be american? a nation of settlers that, for some, is turning on outsiders. as america votes, immigration

is high on the ballot. build the wall! the biggest beneficiary may be happens to be arizona. that wall, how good is the wall? it is the iconic idea of trump's america. and this... cowboys and big skies, part of the iconography of america. all right, all right, guys, 0k. bill mcdonald's ranch in arizona is just a few miles from the border with mexico. illegal immigration and drug trafficking are live issues here, yet for him, a republican, billions spent on a border wall is a waste of money. people think, well, you build a wall, you've solved a problem. they've already got saws that cut through that wall. you can do it with technology and do it just as well. it's political, he made a promise, he was determined to keep it. he thought, if he kept it, he'd get re—elected. it's the only reason he does anything. i'm not crazy about everybody that crosses the border, but i'm not crazy about everybody

that already lives here either. i mean, there are good people and bad people in all stripes. but secure borders are a necessity. we saw drug cartel spotters across the wall in mexico, checking if the coast is clear to send over human mules. these ones went that way, so yesterday i followed these guys... tim foley often spots them too, videoing the mules camouflaged with their backpacks of drugs. from his remote base in southern arizona, he leads a group of armed volunteers that patrols the border. is the wall making america great again? it's making it safer. tim represents a strain of american patriotism donald trump tapped into, giving up everything he knew in san francisco to come to arizona. why are you involved? what is it about this situation that gets you angry? i didn't trust the government or the media to tell the actual truth of what was going on.

some apple sauce... but what is the truth? there's another group of volunteers on the border. they are from a charity that leaves water and food supplies for people crossing overfrom mexico, asylum seekers fleeing persecution in migrant families with children reaching for a better life. in this one area, the remains of 181 people have been found this year. you see young... young people, old people, you see everybody. and you see their families. their familiesjust reach out to us, desperately looking for their loved ones. it's an unimaginable pain and anguish. donald trump's wall speaks to us all. we project on the barrier our own values. this election sees millions of americans casting their votes, in line with who they believe they really are. clive myrie, bbc news,

in southern arizona. as australia braces itself for another summer of bushfires, a major study is under way to determine the effects of last season's fires on expectant mothers and their unborn babies. a participant in the study discovered she was pregnant with twins at the height of the blazes injanuary. she told the bbc about the complications she experienced when giving birth. it was discovered on the doppler scan that the present health of my baby girl was not doing really well and she was putting on not that much weight. my blood pressure had also reached where the high side of the blood pressure was 145. so immediately we decided that we willjust have a surgeon do this. they gave me two doses of steroids and then they were born. so, when they were born, they were 35 weeks and one day gestation. my daughter, she was just 1.7kgs. and my son was 2.2kgs. so, both of them were quite lower

size, especially my daughter. leading the research into cases like namita's is professor christopher nolan from the australian national university medical school. hejoins me now from canberra. thank you very much forjoining us here on bbc world news. what prompted you to carry out this study first off? what prompted us was the actual severity, the unprecedented severity of the bushfires in our region. just the smoke over the capital city canberra was incredibly thick. but that was not the worst of it. it was where the actual fires we re it. it was where the actual fires were happening through large parts of our region of australia. and what the health consequences would be of this, and one particular group that has potentially been more of

honourable is pregnant mums, mums with young babies. so what were the results than? so, we really arejust halfway into the face of the study and of the women we have recruited, more than two thirds are reporting that they did experience some fear bushfires smoke exposure for over seven days. —— severe bushfires smoke exposure. that is really unprecedented in austrian bushfires. following this, the same mums are going into year 2020 also dealing with covid and the consequences of covid on access to care, having the people around them that need to be around while they're having birth and having young babies, breast—feeding, etc. so, these combinations of crises in our

region, we are really looking at what the impacts are to those mums and babies. of course people in australia, and the alarm bells will be going off because we are heading towards bushfire season yet again. so what should expectant mothers and their partners be doing? so, in australia, we very much are into planning for bushfires. but with that planning for mums that are pregnant or that planning for mums that are pregnant oi’ mums that planning for mums that are pregnant or mums with young babies, the plan is to include what they are going to do to protect their health. and such things as assessing their house. is there house airtight that they will be able to keep the smoke out? and if not, thinking about where can they go to that might be safer? will they need to have masks for smoke available? would they use air pfires for smoke available? would they use air p fires and have them available and be prepared for bushfires? ——

air purifiers. and when it comes to health systems and governments that actually have a plan for bushfires that includes mums and babies. 0k, thank you very much indeed for that. professor christopher nolan thank you from austrian and national university medical school. and you are watching bbc world news. we are going to take you to the united states and the centre for where that debate is continuing ahead of the expected confirmation of president trump's latest supreme court nominee amy coney barrett are currently speaking is mitch mcconnell and we are expecting that vote to go through tonight, there has been criticism that it has moved rather quickly but the republican controlled chamber is all but certain to confirm judge barrett to the lifetime position. that would result in a 6—3 conservative majority on the 9—member court which would tilt its ideological balance for potentially decades to come.

safer that here on bbc news. plenty more coming up. hello there. pretty powerfuljet stream will be racing across the atlantic for much this week, generated by some big temperature contrasts across the united states. that will bring areas of low pressure to our shores, bringing rain and gales and huge waves crashing up against western coast lines. but it will be turning milder the end of week in the south. this very deep area of low pressure contains the remnants of what was hurricane epsilon, sending a weather front out in our direction, fairly strong winds as well, to start the day tuesday for northern ireland, wales and the southwest of england. this band of rain will continue to journey its way eastwards. a bright, chilly start across northern and eastern areas before the cloud and the rain arrives. not reaching the far north east of scotland till after dark. the skies will brighten. some sunshine, some heavy

showers but it will be the blustery with winds 35, 40 miles an hour across the south. 14 degrees or so here. chilly across the north and east after that cool start. as we head through tuesday night, it will turn a blustery one, strong winds in the west, lighter showers, some of these will tend to be heavier but central and eastern areas turning drier with clear skies. the temperatures range from five to around eight or 9 degrees. this area of low pressure will continue to dominate the central north atlantic, got a long fetch of strong winds across the north atlantic and that will bring some very big waves to western areas, in excess of ten metres across the west of ireland, dangerous coastlines walking on across the west through the course of wednesday. take care of that. the day will be another one of sunshine and showers. blustery heavy showers at that, hail and thunder mixed in, the best of any brightness will be in the east. and temperatures on the cool side, 10—13 celsius.

another low—pressure system bracing up from the southwest to our shores on thursday, that will bring another round a pretty heavy rain, heavy rain for northern or western areas, strong winds touching gale force, the rainfall totals will really be mounting up across parts of southwest scotland, northwest england and northern or western wales. we could see some minor flooding care by the time we move to thursday and friday. some sunshine in the south and signs of things getting milder. the mid—teens celsius there. turns mild on friday across the south, but still quite wet across northern and western areas.

this is bbc world news.

the headlines: judge amy coney barrett is almost certain to be confirmed shortly to a lifetime seat on the us supreme court. no supreme courtjustice has ever been appointed so close to a presidential election. there's been a sharp drop in us shares after president trump's economic adviser dashed hopes that another coronavirus stimulus package would be agreed before the election. investors are also spooked by rising covid infections in the us. doctors in some belgian hospitals have been asked to keep working even if they've tested positive for coronavirus, but don't have symptoms. about a quarter of medical staff in liege are reportedly off work with covid—19. thousands of people have blocked roads across poland on the fifth consecutive day of protests against a near—total ban on abortion. poland's constitutional court ruled that abortions even in cases of foetal defects are illegal.