Of americans lining up to cast their ballots three w weeks befe the u. S. Election. Cypress scraps its controversial citizenship for Investment Program after an undercover investigation by aljazeera. Inspections keep rising in the netherlan netherlands. Hello, abortion, obamacare, gay marriage, some of the topics featuring on game two of the confirmation hearings of president trumps u. S. Supreme Court NomineeAmy Coney Barrett. Republican and Democratic Senators have 30 minutes to ask her about subjects that are touch points to many americans. The full senate could vote by the end. Month on whether to appoint her just ahead of the u. S. Policy on november 3. She dliend to say if she would recuse herself relating to the president election. She sidestepped questions on abortion, diane feinstein, the most senior democrat on the committee. A contentious issue which is i know one reason why it would be comforting to you to have an answer. I cant express views on cases or precommit to approaching a case any particular way. Well, that makes it difficult for me and i think for other women also on this committee because this is a very important case and it affects a lot of people, millions and millions of women and you could be a very important vote. There appears to be lines drawn on a number of issues . Interestingly enough just in the last halfhour, she has been speaking with cory booker, democratic senator from new jersey, ran for the president ial nomination for the democrats earlier this year. She was asked whether or not she believes there is implicit racial bias in the justice system. Her answer was coached in terms of, well, in something as big as the u. S. Justice system, and she couldnt believe there wouldnt be some sort of racial bias, cory booker said, yes, there is bias, yes, because its so big and she couldnt believe that that wouldnt be the case. That was quite an interesting line and probably as far as she is going to commit herself on any political issue. She has referred to Ruth Bader Ginsburg during her hearing when asked to comment on certain cases that may well end up in front of the Supreme Court saying there were no previews and no trailers essentially coming up from her because when she gets a case in the court, she wants to look at the law. She wants to look at the constitution and then make her decision on that, not based on all the noise around it, not based on her own personal decision but strictly interpreting how the constitution would apply to that law. Its an act that has pushed her through the several hours of hearings and presumably will push her again through the hearing on wednesday. She denied it was suggested by a senator from illinois that this was a political staging point for her to say that she wasnt going to comment on any cases because it was politically prudent to get through, something that another senator disputed, but she did talk about the whole idea of being appointed by donald trump to push forward his agenda. He said that several times on twitter. He said that he wanted to have a Supreme Court that would overturn euro v wade which is the main abortion law in the United States that would possibly help him if the election became contested and had to go to the Supreme Court for a decision, the same happened in 2000. She first of all said that she would not make decisions and had not, based on what the executive branch wanted and was not under pressure and given no assurances. She was then asked if she would recuse herself if it came to a question on the election and she gave this response. Will you commit to recuse yourself if a dispute arises out of the 2020 president ial election . Senator leahy, i want to begin by making two very important points and i have to deal with the a. C. A. And with any election dispute that may or may not arise. I have had no conversation with the president or any of his staff on how i might rule in that case. It would be a gross violation of Judicial Independence for me to make any such commitment or for me to be asked about that case and how i would rule. I also think it would be a complete violation of the independence of the judiciary for anyone to put a justice on the court as a means of obtaining a particular result. In the meantime, its emerged that dozens of members of Amy Coney Barretts faculty at the university of notre dame have signed an open letter calling on her to withdraw from the nomination. This letter was written a few days ago and just being made public now on the second day of the confirmation hearing, 88 of her colleagues from notre dame suggesting she should step aside. This is a treacherous time in American Public life, it should be up to the next president to make the decision, whoever wins the election in november. If that meant for her, if the Vice President joe biden won the election and then she would lose her seat in the court, that would be unfortunate, but it would help heal some of the divisions in the United States. They say she would be well regarded by fairminded people across the whole of the country, the reality is, were well into this process now, this is the second day, in fact, in two days time, the committee will vote. Its almost certain its going to approve to the full senate that her nomination go forward for a vote and then the full senate will vote somewhere around october 22, which would mean that Amy Coney Barrett could take up her seat as the next justice of the Supreme Court of the United States before the 2020 president ial election on november 3. Allen fisher, thank you very much. Exactly three weeks to go until the u. S. President ial election, democratic nominee joe biden is out campaigning in the battleground state of florida. Biden has been addressing older voters, many of whom backed donald trump in 2016. Thats been the story, the entire story of my view of Donald Trumps presidency, the fact that he has never been focused on what matters. He has never been focused on you. His handling of this pandemic has been erratic, just like his presidency has been and it has prevented florida seniors and people all across the country from getting the relief that they need. Donald trump hasnt just been willing to not do the work. I think its beyond that. Im not sure he cares about delivering any real help. Voters are rushing to cast their ballots ahead of novembers u. S. President ial election, at an unprecedented rate. 10. 5 Million People have mailed in or dropped off their votes weeks before election day despite President Donald Trump unfounded claims that mailin voting leads to fraud, the numbers are growing but not without problems. On the first day of early voting in georgia, people lined up for hours to cast their ballots. In some counties, voters reported waiting more than 10 hours, but it isnt just in person voting thats shattering records across the country as people make their voices heard. More than 10. 5 million ballots have already been mailed in or dropped off, a number that could see voter turnout the highest since 1908. Despite fears over the covid19 pandemic long waits and technical issues in some states, early voting is hitting historic numbers. As a younger person, im ready and willing to stand out here and brave the cold and covid to make sure my vote is counted. With so much at stake and president trumps unfounded claims that mailin voting would cause massive fraud, there are problems. The Republican Party in california installed many of their own ballot dropoff boxes virtually indistinguishable by boxes sanctioned by the state. Officials call them unofficial and illegal and insisted they will be removed. They go through a number of steps that are required in the law and regulations for installation, for security, for placement. So having these unofficial ballot drop boxes that anybody can go to unmanned and not meeting all of those requirements is not appropriate. According to the u. S. Election assistance commission, the popularity of mailin votes has been growing for years. This year it may play into the hands of democratic president ial nominee joe biden. Here in florida, the number of early votes reveals a potentially worrying statistic for President Donald Trump. The number of democratic voters who cast their ballots early tops republicans by more than 350,000 and this is a state the president must win. Many Republican Voters dont trust mailin voting, so those numbers will change as election day draws neitherer, but the biden campaigns push to get people voting early seems to be working. Make a plan to vote early and then get involved. I know youre busy. I know that. I know youre stretched so thin, but this election is too important not to do every single thing we can. Florida is the first state to begin sorting its mailin ballots, but like other states, votes wont officially be counted until election day, for now, only the computers know the results of what will be a historic president ial election. Miami, florida. An expose has forced the government of cypress to scrap its lucrative scheme. The president of the parliament is stepping down. Our Investigative Unit found senior politicians willing to help a foreign criminal buy a passport and access to e. U. Citizenship. Our Investigative Reporter reports. An emergency meeting of the cab p was held at the president ial palace following the release of the aljazeera investigation. They brought us in as the flurry of developments followed, the attorney general was launching a full investigation into the evidence gathered by aljazeera. What has been published in the last few hours by the Aljazeera News Network is causing outrage, anger and concern among the people. I have given clear instructions to the Police Leadership from the outset to conduct a full, thorough and indepth investigation into the possibility of anyone committing criminal offenses. Undercover reports from aljazeeras investigative you want posed as representatives of a fictional client, a wealthy businessman who was sentenced to seven years in jail for bribery and Money Laundering and he is seeking a passport. Our reporters were led to a network of enablers that ended with a meeting with the president of the parliament. When won fronted with the evidence, he denied wrongdoing and claimed that he was suspicious about undercover reporters from the start. He has since announced that he will be stepping down from his duties until the investigation is complete. Opposition member of parliament was also implicated in the documentary. Today in a statement, he announced he is resigning from his post as a member of parliament and from all his positions in the opposition party. For years, there have been suspicions in the European Union that a cypress Investment Program was allowing criminals to enter europe with the proceeds of their crimes. The revelations of our investigation has shaken the Political Leadership of this country. After years of failed attempts to tighten the rules, the scheme will now be abolished. And it seems the attorney generals investigation will examine the full extent of the wrongdoing. David harrison, aljazeera, cypress. More on this investigation, you can visit our website. And you can also see the full program, the cypress papers undercover which will next air at 0100 hours g. M. T. Wednesday, thats just under three hours from now. Still to come in this halfhour, protesters demand protection of indigenous rights on the anniversary of christopher columbuss landing. And using votes like this to make to the European Union, crossing not the mediterranean seas but the atlantic ocean. Its been warm enough in paris, the temperature is coming down now as the next frontal system drags across the pip of western australia. Not a huge change and most of the weather is staying out in the water. 24 degrees, the streak of blue is towards tasmania. I know its been wet and they dont want anymore rain. Its coming your way. There will be some throwoff into victoria and parts of New South Wales where there has been some good spring rain so far. The concentration is heading down to new zealand and tasmania. The change of season the opposite way around in china, snow falling not far away, the frontal system tails back into the middle of china and the far south. Its warm in the south china sea, of course, and coming on land in vietnam and spreading the rain almost as far as hong kong with a gale warning. Warmish, rain, nothing particularly significant. To india, the same story, disruption in the Southern Movement of the monsoon which means this thing here, the tropical depression has already closed flooding and it will do so as it moves across s to the west coast. A place that they can truly call it their home. Different groups want to meet you, want to know you all ends up with money. Just full of surprises. My nigeria on aljazeera. The top stories from aljazeera. President trumps nominee for the u. S. Supreme court has told senators she gave no commitments to the white house on how she would vote on obamacare or any election dispute. A record 10. 5 Million People have already cast their votes in the u. S. President ial election, polling day isnt for another three weeks, inperson began at 122 polling stations in texas. And cypress is scrapping the sit smip for Investment Program following an undercover investigation by aljazeera. It exposed highranking officials help a convicted criminal obtain e. U. Citizenship. Turning to the coronavirus pandemic now and daily case numbers are rising in 33 states across the u. S. With a surge in hospital admissions. The country reported more than 40,000 new infections on monday. Meanwhile, two major treatment trials there have hit stumbling blocks. A participant in a johnson and johnson vac seen trial has fallen ill and the company says it will take days to uncover the cause. And the u. S. Pharmaceutical firm elie lily says tests of an antibody treatment has been paused over an as yet unspecified safety concern. Irans total of coronavirus deaths has again reached one of its highest levels since the beginning of the pandemic. On tuesday, at least 254 people were reported to have died in the last 24 hours. The authorities have imposed strict new restrictions, but not everyone is complying. Were in teheran where hospitals are overstretched. This hospital is one of the 118 hospitals here in the capitol which has been turned exclusively into a facility which deals with covid19 patients. There are over 500,000 people in iran who have been infected so far and over 29,000 people have died. 4,500 people are currently in Critical Condition across 31 pro vinces which have all been declared red zones by the health ministry. Now in the capitol teheran, one of the hardest hit provinces, the Health Officials have said as of last friday, the hospitals were no longer be receiving any nonemergency patients and that they will set up field hospitals if the cases of patients continue to increase as they have over the past few weeks. Meanwhile, ordinary iranians who are living under crippling economic sanctions imposed by the United States are desperately trying to make ends meet in very difficult circumstances. Its becoming increasingly difficult to expect people to stay home when they receive no Financial Assistance from the government. The netherlands is imposing new restrictions after a record daily increase of nearly 7,400 coronavirus cases. From wednesday, bars and restaurants will be closed and a limit put on social gatherings. We are in amsterdam where hospital intensive care units will soon be at capacity. Alarming numbers here in the netherlands, nearly 50,000 in a weeks time, thats double the number of the previous week, more than 7,000 just today and that means that this reality is only very slowly sinking in here in the netherlands, so people have been reluctant to follow the rules and the government has been accused of being far too lenient, inconsistent, unclear, the measures were voluntarily, the government called it an intelligent lockdown, basically urging the people just to take responsibility themselves for keeping their distance and following the rules and that obviously didnt happen and also didnt work. So now in the last couple of weeks, its especially hospitals, doctors who are ringing alarm bells saying theyre running out of capacity, theyre struggling. The netherlands has very limited number of i. C. U. Beds, around 1,400 and with this rapid increase of patients, that number is going to be reached very quickly. Deaths and injuries continue to rise as armenian and Azerbaijan Forces battle each other. Despite the russia brokered ceasefire that came into force on saturday. Officially part of azerbaijan but controlled by ethnic armenians. We have more from the city. This is the closest town and hosts thousands of people displaced by fighting with azerbaijan. Many arrived here with only their clothes on their back. Volunteers sort the boxes to help provide their basic needs. They do shifts, some of the volunteers are students, but we have School Children as well. They come in early in the morning and they do not want to leave. We urge them to have some rest, but they keep staying and work constantly. On the other side of the conflict, children and their families forced from their homes in azerbaijan take shelter in a school in this town. Loca