hello and welcome to bbc news. i'm reged ahmad. the battle against the spread of the so—called islamic state has raged on for years, but now a spokesman for the kurdish—led alliance in north—eastern syria says its forces are launching their final battle against the group in the tiny pocket of territory it still holds around the village of baghouz, near the iraqi border. the announcement comes just days after president trump said he believed the end of the self—declared is caliphate could be announced in the coming week. but as sebastian usher reports, the threat still remains in the region. the us backed sdf has played a key role in the war against is in syria. its biggest victory was to drive the jihadists out of their de facto capital, raqqa, in the past few months it ‘s picked off one town, village, or hamlet after another in the corner north—eastern of syria to which is fighters have been driven. all that's left for the jihadists there are a few square miles next

to the iraqi border. a far cry from the caliphate the group once declared across huge swathes of syria and iraq. the sdf delayed its final attack until thousands of civilians in the area could get out. now they say a decisive battle is under way. the united states military, our coalition partners, and the syrian democratic forces have liberated virtually all of the territory previously held by isis in syria and iraq. last week, president trump said the total defeat of is could be defeated within days. that certainly suits his agenda of withdrawing all us troops from syria. but he's been criticised before for declaring final victory over is prematurely. caution is still needed. is holds other sliver of territory in syria further west. while its sleeper cells remain active. and it's the same story in iraq. the group's ability to continue a guerrilla insurgency persists.

the fate of his hostages, such as the british journalist john cantlie, remains unclear, as does that of its leader, abu bakr al—baghdadi. its most effective foe, the sdf, faces an uncertain future, if and when its us backers leave. sebastian usher, bbc news. let's look at some other stories in brief: in tunisia state prosecutors have appealed against the acquittal of 27 suspects who stood trial for the 2015 terror attacks. 60 people were killed in those attacks, most of them british. it comes as a court sentenced seven people to life in prison for their involvement in the attacks. the first one hit the bardo museum in tunis. the second targeted a beach resort near the town of sousse. pakistan's federal investigation agency says it's arrested a well—known journalist for posting anti—government comments on social media. but the family of rizwan razi say he was seized outside his home in lahore by unidentified men,

who beat him and then bundled him into a car. the senator of the us state of massachusetts, elizabeth warren, has officially launched her bid to become the democratic presidential nominee. shejoins a growing list of democrats keen to take on republican president donald trump in 2020. the man in the white house is not the cause of what is broken. he is just the latest and most extreme symptom of what's gone wrong in america. a product of a rigged system that props up the rich and the powerful and kicks dirt on everyone else. the cost of college has nearly tripled. and 40% of americans couldn't find $400 to cover an emergency. that is millions of hard—working people in this country whose lives

would be turned upside down if the transmission fell out of the car or somebody got sick and missed a week at work. the middle—class squeeze is real and millions of families can barely breathe. it is not right! cheering. turkish officials say 18 people are now believed to have been killed after a apartment block collapsed in istanbul on wednesday. rescuers are still continuing their search for survivors in the rubble of the eight—storey building. 14 people are said to have been injured and the country's president visited some of the victims in hospital. you're watching bbc news. the duke of edinburgh has voluntarily given up his driving licence. in a statement buckingham palace said that prince philip had made the decision after careful consideration.

it comes after the 97—year—old duke apologised over a car crash last month, near the sandringham estate in norfolk, vehicle landed on its side after a collision with a car carrying two women and a baby. 0ur reporter andy moore gave me more details. according to the statement from buckingham palace, it is a decision taken by the duke after careful consideration so it is an admission that he feels he is not safe to drive. we understand from palace sources it is a decision he took himself. he felt it was not right. we do know that about five days after the accident, he sent a letter to one of the women involved in the accident and said he was very contrite about the consequences. it

was basically an admission that he had been at fault. a few days after the accident he was seen in another car, without a seat, and he took a lot of criticism that. maybe it is a combination of both a little bit of bad pr and that at the age of 97 he hasn't realised he is not fit to drive and there are plenty of other people to drive him. does this resolve the matter or is there an ongoing investigation? he could face a charge of driving without due care. local police had completed their investigation. they have sent a file to the crown prosecution service. the crown prosecution service. the crown prosecution service said they will deliver their decision in due course and will take into account this decision to surrender his licence. there are art

experts in the field saying it is less likely to be a prosecution if the driver surrenders his licence. the government's under fire with calls for the transport secretary to resign after it cancelled a multi—million pound contract awarded to a company in the event of a no—deal brexit. seaborne ferries won the deal to ensure ferries would keep crossing the channel in the event of the uk leaving the eu without a deal, but there was widespread criticism after the bbc found the company did not actually have any ships and had never run a ferry service before. our business correspondent rob young reports. preparations have been under way for weeks. dredging started at ramsgate port at the beginning ofjanuary. seaborne freight was due to run regular services to 0stend, in belgium, in the event of a no—deal brexit, once it got hold of some ships. but the company has now been stripped of its contract. the £14 million deal was controversial from the start. the contract‘s cancellation has intensified the criticism of ministers.

we first flagged problems with seaborne freight in april of last year. and we've been tracking it since then both in terms of its attempts to find vessels, which have all failed without exception, largely because this port is very small. the government has defended the checks it carried out on seaborne. it says the company's main backer, arklow shipping, has pulled out, meaning seaborne could not meet its contractual requirements. it wasn't paid any public money. ferries haven't operated at ramsgate since 2013. the government hopes new services from here could help reduce congestion at dover if there are delays come the end of march. but there is now a big question mark over whether ramsgate will be used if there is a no—deal brexit. the department of transport says it's in advanced talks with other companies to supply freight services, possibly from ramsgate. with less than two months to go until brexit, timing is tight.

it is a disappointment. i don't know the commercial reasons why arklow have pulled out. but i want to make sure this port is ready for brexit resilience. however the cash—strapped local authority is considering a cut to the port's funding which might prevent a ferry service starting in the future. rob young, bbc news. and before we go, i want to show you some pictures we've had in from chile which has been hit by heavy rain in the past few days. this is the moment a waterfall was re—activated by a torrent of rain. the atacama desert is normally one of the driest places on earth and the 60 metre waterfall had run dry for ten years. a lot of dirt in that waterfall. you can reach me on twitter. i'm @regedahmadbbc. i'll be back at the top of the hour with a full bulletin. now on bbc news,

a special edition of global questions from rome. with brexit approaching, will the remaining nations of the european union bind themselves together ever more closely, or are there insurmountable fault lines that will continue to divide europe? hello, and welcome to roma, the eternal city. it is a city steeped in romantic history but the people here, it is the pressing concerns of