this is bbc news. welcome if you're watching here in the uk or around the globe. i'm mike embley. our top stories: in a major victory for donald trump, amy coney barrett is confirmed as a justice on the us supreme court. it is the job of a judge to resist her policy preferences. it would be a dereliction of duty for her to give into them. tracking the trump wall — we report from arizona on the role immigration is playing in the presidential campaign. 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. and why patches of hidden water could boost plans to build a permanent base on the moon.

the newest member of the us supreme court, justice amy coney barrett, has been sworn into office at a white house ceremony. she is president trump's third appointment to the nation's top court, and cements a conservative majority on the bench. the republican—majority senate voted largely along party lines, as expected, to confirm her to the lifetime post. she is 48. the democrats had accused the republicans of hypocrisy for confirming a newjustice so close to an election, when they had refused to consider president obama's nominee, back in 2016. this is the momentjudge barrett's appointment was confirmed by the senate. on this vote, the ays are 52, the nays are 48. the nomination of amy coney barrett of indiana to be an associate justice of the supreme court

of the united states is confirmed. events then moved swiftly to the swearing in ceremony on the white house lawn. president trump described ms barrett as a towering intellect and her appointment as a momentous day for america. justice barrett was sworn in by the longest serving supreme courtjustice, clarence thomas. and that i will well and faithfully discharge... the duties of the office on which i'm about to enter... the duties of the office on which i am about to enter... so help me god. my fellow americans, even though we judges don't face elections, we still work for you. it is your constitution that establishes the rule of law and the judicial independence

that is so central to it. the oath that i have solemnly taken tonight means at its core that i will do myjob without any fear or favour and that i will do so independently of both the political branches and of my own preferences. i love the constitution and the democratic republic that it establishes and i will devote myself to preserving it. thank you. our correspondent, lebo diseko, told us how important this supreme court appointment could be for the president's election campaign. we've just had a statement from the trump campaign actually saying justice amy coney barrett is a reminder to millions of americans why they voted for president trump in the first place. she's now the third conservative justice appointed to the supreme court and you will remember that donald trump had

promised conservative voters that he would appoint more justices that aligned with their thinking to the supreme court. he has done that. he has now appointed or nominated a third of the justices on that court which is really, really historic. people may be wondering, the democrats really had no chance of resisting this in the senate. the republicans had a majority. if they won the election, the democrats could fight back against this, couldn't they? they could rule that there should be more justices on the supreme court, impose term limits on the people who are there, they are noticably very reluctant to be drawn on this at the moment. why? this is the question that, as you say, the democrats and, in particular, joe biden have tried not to answer at the moment. initially when he was asked about it, joe biden said i will tell you after the election. now he is saying what he would do is appoint a special bipartisan commission

to review what they might do, but lots of people, maybe on the more progressive side of the democrats, are really angry and they do want the party to come out and say, yes, we would appoint more supreme courtjustices, we'd extend the number ofjustices on the court. the other thing they could do is set term limits. interestingly, that is more difficult to do than expanding the number ofjustices on the court. in other news, 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 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. several hospitals in the belgian city of liege have asked doctors and nurses who test positive for covid—i9 to carry on working 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 in the wallonia region around liege have got to, to say

that they have no other choice. i was in one of the hospitals just a few days ago, montlegia hospital in the centre of liege. they had quadrupled the size of the wards in the space of a week of covid patients and basically by saying to everybody else, all nonurgent surgeries to leave and that they had to cancel so they could maximise space. and they say, that one particular hospital, within about 2—3 days' time, they will collapse, they will not be able to cope. so what you're looking at now is ten hospitals in that position are saying to — well, they're basically looking at the amount of staff off sick. 25% of doctors and nurses are now off sick with coronavirus. on top of that, there is about 10% of staff who have 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." the czech government is to introduce a night—time curfew in order to try to bring down the number of new infections.

from midnight on tuesday, for a week, people will not be allowed to leave the house between 9pm and 5am unless they're going to work or attending to urgent medical orfamily matters. all shops will also be closed on sundays. lockdown measures are being toughened because the number of infections is rising sharply. security officers in belarus have arrested several hundred people taking part in the first day of a general strike aimed at forcing president lukashenko from office. some private businesses closed. a number of state workers halted production and students protested. but a government minister said the strikes had caused no economic damage. mark lobel reports. the protesters' latest move — to paralyse the country with strikes, urged on by exiled opposition politician svetla na ti kha novs kaya to topple, in their eyes, an illegitimate president. the strike action spread to several cities across belarus, students taking to the streets

almost three months after a disputed election. translation: first, we have to address the freedom problem and then it will be possible to get a good education because until we have solved the country's problems, how can we study? translation: we want just one thing, the man who rules our country, who pronounced himself the king or tzar, to leave us alone. we want competent people to lead our country and for our economy to grow. translation: perhaps there isjust no peaceful way. i don't know. it's a horrible thing to say, but probably only resistance fighters can help us. as the government insisted businesses weren't affected, masked officers dragged people away, the security services warning the protesters they may be treated as terrorists. the authorities are really afraid of this form of protest. it seems this is the only form which really works. i think this is perhaps

the only way right now. there is no possibility to organise a dialogue within belarus. the strike came a day after police fired stun grenades and detained scores of the tens of thousands of protesters taking part in the 11th straight weekend of rallies... as well as hunting down some in their apartments. official media insisted president lukashenko was at work as normal on monday with a busy week ahead of him. the stand—off continues. thousands of people have blocked roads in cities across poland to protest a court ruling that effectively introduces a near total ban on abortion. demonstrations against the ruling took place in 50 polish cities, despite coronavirus restrictions that ban gatherings of more than five people.

the constitutional court ruling outlawed abortion on the grounds of severe foetal defects, which accounted for 98% of all legal pregnancy terminations last year. adam easton followed one warsaw protest. it's the fifth day in a row of protests against a court ruling that introduces an almost total ban on abortions. on sunday, protesters disrupted church services. today, they‘ re disrupting the traffic, blockading junctions in towns and cities across the country. these protests are spreading. they started off in big cities and now they've spread to small towns. thousands of people are taking part in street demonstrations across the country every day. there is considerable anger here about the way this ban was introduced, without a public or parliamentary debate and also during the pandemic. they thought they could do it behind our backs when we are worried with the covid

situation and go behind our backs and introduce stricter laws like this and itjust keeps on getting worse. every woman should have a choice when it comes to her body. i don't want it to be decided by anyone, especially government or church and i feel the time is up. poland already had one of the strictest abortion laws in europe and opinion polls say that there is a clear majority of people here who opposed making the law any stricter. stay with us on bbc news. still to come: fashion — is it a line or a circle? the new exhibition that explores the history of design.

this is bbc world news. the latest headlines:

in a major victory for donald trump, amy coney barrett is confirmed as a justice on the us supreme court. she took her oath of office at a ceremony at the white house where she stressed the importance of judicial independence. let's stay with this story now. michael mcconnell is director of the constitutional law center at stanford law school and i know you served as a circuitjudge on the us court of appeals for the tenth circuit. thank you very much for your time. what do you expect from her? there is a history, isn't there, of supreme courtjudges turning out perhaps less conservative or turning out perhaps less conservative oi’ a turning out perhaps less conservative or a less progressive than presidents might have hoped when they appointed them? yes, when nominations are made, at least by republican presidents, there are always these dire warnings that this is going to lead to some kind of an apocalypse and it never happens and one of the

main reasons for that is the conservative jurisprudence is actually kind of gorse law jurisprudence, so i would not expect major immediate changes. she has some pretty big question is coming up, doesn't she, she and the other justices? healthcare, same—sex marriage, abortion, possibly deciding who the next president is. well, that's an odd list. it is true there is a health ca re it is true there is a health care case it is true there is a health ca re case coming it is true there is a health care case coming up, it is true there is a health care case coming up, but one which is with very weak arguments, so i do not think there will be much there. the court is not going to decide the election. it will, of course, have to decide legal questions having to do with procedures and counting and so forth, but they have been doing that for about the last month andi that for about the last month and i think the court, it does have a clear republican appointed majority already, but they have been veryjudicious, some cases going one way, going

both ways depending on the merits of the particular case. you know, iam merits of the particular case. you know, i am sure, the concern some people have and the joy other people have in her appointment. she tried to address quite a lot of the concerns, didn't she, with those lines in her speech? it is thejob of those lines in her speech? it is the job of a judge, she said, to resist policy preferences, it would be a dereliction of duty to give into them, but there will be vultures who are disappointed her expression. of course there will. we are a divided country, as is normal in a democracy. what other chances, do you think, for the democrats pushing back against all this if they win the presidency, if they win the senate? is it likely that they will try to bring morejustices onto likely that they will try to bring more justices onto the court? is it likely they might bring in term limits for those who are sitting already? term limits actually, i think, is a very good ideas and i wish we had them but they would be unconstitutional. the cottages and is pretty clear that

justices serve for good behaviour which means life. i do not think that is going to happen. increasing the number of justices, which is happen. increasing the number ofjustices, which is what michal court packing, is constitutional, but the current size has been around for a 150 yea rs. size has been around for a 150 years. the last time a president tried that, franklin roosevelt tried it, he had a large majority of his own party in congress and even then, he was handed his hat because it is so obviously contrary to any idea of an independent judiciary, the notion that whenever a president has a c0 ng ress whenever a president has a congress of the same party, they just congress of the same party, theyjust add congress of the same party, they just add new congress of the same party, theyjust add newjustices to make cases come out the way they want is so offensive to they want is so offensive to the way we do business in the united states. it's really an anti—constitutional move. i'm not saying it's unconstitutional, i'm jesse it's subversive of the very idea of constitutional

government. i do not think it will happen. joe biden has been cagey, he has refused to say whether he is for it or not, but that is because he has a certain wing of his party that will be very disappointed if he said no, but i do not think he is going to be the kind of person to blow—up our constitutional system just for some partisan advantage in the courts. very interesting to talk to you. thank you very much. now let's stay with the us presidential election. and this week, in a series of special reports from the key state of arizona, 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 maybe 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 over from mexico, asylum seekers fleeing persecution and 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. the families just 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.

up to 78 people are reported to have been killed in russian air strikes in northern syria. the attacks are said to have targeted a training base for turkish—backed militia fighters in the province of idlib. the strikes put at risk a ceasefire in the province, brokered and monitored by russia and turkey, which back opposing sides in the war. 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. nasa has announced that there could be even more water on the surface of the moon than previously thought. hidden pockets of ice might cover the surface, patches which may have gone without any sunlight for billions of years. the discovery could be

a boost for plans to build a permanent base on the moon, as our science correspondent victoria gill explains. we're right where we wanted to be for station two. it looks like a great place. half a century since humans set foot on its surface, we've mapped every boulder and crater. but a series of discoveries that nasa revealed today have shown that the moon's surface has been hiding an abundant supply of water. one of the discoveries comes from a telescope onboard a modified boeing 747. by flying above 99% of the earth's atmosphere, it has a clearer view of the solar system. this infrared telescope was able to detect the signature of water molecules on the lunar surface. in another simultaneously published discovery, researchers mapped shadowed areas called cold traps, where frozen water might be stored permanently. what these papers are telling us is that, actually, that the water could be trapped in slightly more easier

to access areas that aren't so hazardous. and this is really important, especially if we want to send crewed missions to the moon. and it gives us slightly more options in terms of where we can go and making sure that it's safe for all those involved. to go farther, we must be able to sustain missions of greater distance and duration... these discoveries will be a boost for nasa's plan to send the first woman and the next man to the moon by 2024. because while the apollo missions already took humans there and back, future missions will aim to establish a base there as a gateway to explore the rest of the solar system. the next generation of crewed missions to the moon are going to have to be far more sustainable, so that means finding and learning to use natural resources, particularly water, that's already there. plans to return to the moon are already in progress. but these discoveries raise the tantalising possibility that our natural satellite isn'tjust somewhere to visit

but a place to stay. mexican authorities have warned residents and tourists on the gulf coast to shelter indoors as hurricane zeta approaches. it's currently still at sea with sustained winds of a 130 kilometres an hour, and could make landfall on the yucatan peninsula in the coming hours. there have been 28 named storms in the atlantic so far this year — forcing meteorologists to turn to the greek alphabet for names for only the second time ever. a reminder of our top story: amy coney barrett has been confirmed as a justice on the us supreme court. she took her oath of office at a ceremony at the white house — where she stressed the importance of judicial independence. the republican majority senate voted largely along party lines, as expected, to confirm her to the lifetime post. she is 48 years old. much more on

the bbc website and our twitter feeds. thank you for watching. hello there. a pretty powerful jet stream will be racing across the atlantic for much of this week, generated by some big temperature contrasts across the united states. so that's going to bring areas of low pressure to our shores, bringing rain and gales and huge waves crashing up against some western coastlines. but it will be turning milder towards the end of the week, particularly across the south. this very deep area of low pressure contains the remnants of what was hurricane epsilon, extending a weather front out in our direction. some fairly strong winds as well. to start the day, tuesday, for northern ireland, wales, the south—west of england, this band of rain will continue to journey its way eastwards. a bright and chilly start across northern and eastern areas before the cloud and the rain arrives, though not reaching the far north—east of scotland and the northern isles until after dark. behind it, skies will brighten, sunshine, some heavy showers, but it will be 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's going to be a blustery one, strong winds in the west and lots of showers, some of these will tend to be heavier. but central and eastern areas again turning drier with clear skies. those temperatures range from 5 to around 8 or 9 celsius. 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's going to bring some very big waves to western areas, in excess of 10 metres across the west of ireland. so some dangerous coastlines to be walking on across the west through the course of wednesday. so, take care for that. the day will be another one of sunshine and showers, blustery, heavy showers at that, may be some hail and thunder mixed in, probably the best of any brightness will be towards the east. those temperatures on the cool side, 10 to 13 celsius. another low pressure system races up from the south—west to our shores on thursday,

that's going to bring another round of pretty heavy rain this time, i think heavier rain for northern and western areas. some strong winds, perhaps touching gale force. the rainfall totals really will be mounting up across parts of south—west scotland and north—west england, northern and western wales. we could see some minor flooding here by the time we reach thursday and indeed friday. but some sunshine in the south and signs of things getting milder, in the mid teens celsius there. turns milder still on friday across the south, but it will stay quite wet across northern and western areas.

this is bbc news, the headlines.

amy coney barrett has been sworn in as a justice on the us supreme court, cementing a conservative majority on the nation's top court. as expected, the republican—controlled senate confirmed president trump's nominee by 52 votes to 48. it is his third appointment, and it is a lifetime appointment — amy coney barratt is 48. belgian officials are warning that the country risks going into a second lockdown due to a worrying increase in the number of coronavirus patients in hospital intensive care beds. ten hospitals have asked medics who've tested positive for covid i9 — but shown no symptoms — to keep working. scientists at us space agency nasa say there's probably more water on the moon than previously thought. lunar researchers think there are many small patches of pristine ice — hidden in nooks and crannies on the moon's surface — that haven't been exposed to direct sunlight for billions of years.