this is bbc news. the headlines at 11. theresa may will ask mp5 for more time to rework her brexit plan and offer parliament another vote, but labour accuses the prime minister of trying to run down the clock work and pensions secretary amber rudd warns company bosses they could be jailed for up to seven years if they "wilfully or recklessly" mismanage their employees‘ pension scheme. kurdish—led forces, backed by the united states, have launched a final push to defeat the so—called islamic state group in syria. the scientist who discovered the link between eating too much processed meat and bowel cancer accuses the government of not doing enough to encourage people to cut their consumption. the duke of edinburgh gives up his driving licence, weeks after he crashed his car near the queen's sandringham estate. and monkeying around at belfast zoo, visitors were surprised to find a chimpanzee wandering outside its enclosure after it managed to make a ladder out of branches to escape its pen. coming up on dateline —

the president's state of the union address and what it tells us about trump's next two years and his plans for fighting for another term in office — that's at 11:30. theresa may will attempt to head off further turmoil over brexit this week, by urging parliament to give her more time to achieve changes to the plan to avoid a hard irish border. she's expected to promise mps that they'll be given another vote on brexit, if she's unable to recommend a fresh deal by the end of the month. joining me now is our political correspondent, tom barton. what more do we know about the

government's brexiter plans? we know that there are fewer than 50 days to go until brexit, and this week ministers will head off around europe speaking to eu officials and european politicians to try to solve those ongoing disagreements with the prime minister's deal. there is a key parliamentary moment on thursday with mps holding a series of votes to discuss the next steps in the process. one of the big threats 1a may is a backbench move to delay brexit. —— one of the big threats for theresa may. several ministers are said to be considering resigning in order to support that. today the government has been saying they will return to parliament at the end of the month and give an option for a vote. this was james brokenshire on the andrew marr programme just a few minutes ago. the government will commit that if

the meaningful vote, in other words the meaningful vote, in other words the deal coming back, has not happened by the 27th of february, we would allow a further motion to take place in parliament to give that sense of place in parliament to give that sense of assurance as to place in parliament to give that sense of assurance as to the process moving forward. to be clear, there will be a meaningful vote this month or not? if the meaningful vote will be a meaningful vote this month or not? if the meaningfulvote has not happened, so in other words, you know, things have not concluded, then parliament would have that further opportunity by no later than the 27th of february. now, the government hopes that that opportunity to potentially delay brexit at the end of this month will be enough to pacify some of those ministers who are considering resigning. also, though, today in a move that is likely to enrage brexiteers, james brokenshire confirmed that the government is considering, essentially, keeping the controversial northern ireland

backstop, this insurance policy on the irish border, in the withdrawal agreement. this is what he had to say. those of your colleagues who say bin the backstop, your answer is that it is impossible? we need to see a free—flowing arrangement in relation to the island of ireland, knowing what that means for unionists and nationalists in terms of how people live their lives. i think you are saying the backstop stays, yes? there needs to be an insurance policy there. that is what the government have been saying, what about labour? on that question of whether or not mps should vote to delay brexit, or at least to force another vote later this month, keir starmer, the shadow brexit secretary, has said that labour and parliament should hold the prime minister to her word and should vote on thursday to force the government to return to parliament before the end of the month.

meanwhile, discussions are ongoing over labour's suggestion to the prime minister, in this new mood of apparent cooperation between the conservative government and the labour party, that the government should consider pivoting towards a customs union. today tom watson told andrew marr, though, that they are not taking the possibility of another referendum off the table. we have been pretty consistent on a red line is, we are duty bound to ta ke red line is, we are duty bound to take the prime minister's offer of consensus talk seriously, and i hope that the letter represents that, and lam that the letter represents that, and i am pleased that a number of her colleagues in the conservative party recognise that, but if it fails, the final option, because it is the only way to deal with the impasse, is a public vote, and john mcdonnell has said it this week, keir starmer has said it this week, keir starmer has said it, and i am saying it. so talks going on between the government and the labour party, and

within the conservative party on the so—called multi was compromised to find alternative arrangements and talks going on between the government and the europeans, an awful lot of talking going on this week — whether we will find any action, we will find out. the government is planning to create a new criminal offence, to target company executives who "wilfully or recklessly" mismanage pension funds. the legislation could see offenders jailed for up to seven years and face an unlimited fine. steve webbjoins me now from bristol. he's the director of policy at royal london and is a former lib dem pensions minister. what to make of these government plans? it is worth saying that we have heard this before, it was announced in the run—up to the 2017 general election, nearly two years ago, it is a long way from being low and put into practice, and the danger is that it is a great headline grabber, but in reality the

criminal offence is very hard to prove, and the danger is they might get off scot free. so you think this is, what, a bit of a sledgehammer to crack a nut, is that what you are saying? it is more that it could be vacuous gesture politics, it is funny it has come down on the day that sir philip green is in the papers, surely no coincidence, and the government wants to be looking to be tough, but proving after the event that someone recklessly failed to put money on a pension is very difficult, and you need to get 12 yea rs difficult, and you need to get 12 years earlier. if you get to the point of someone being in court charged with not finding a pension, jobs have been lost, it is too late in the process. but some people would say there is no harm in having a big stick, a deterrent, to any company bosses who want to behave in a reckless way. we do need deterrence, but they need to bite much sooner. in other words, one of the problems with the bhs case under the, carillion, things were going

wrong for years, warning signs were not heeded, action was not taken, and rather than draw the wrong conclusions from bhs and other cases, all the attention needs to be focused on those times when companies are still in business and money is not going into the pension that could be. there is more that could be done to protect pensions, but a big headline grabbing announcements, which we hear almost every six months, isn't very convincing, i'm afraid. you think fines are enough in terms of a deterrent? fines are part of the mix, but you can act much sooner. in other words, if you get to the problem when you are fining or imprisoning people, that is at the end of the journey where things have gone wrong. proving that a business person sat down, put some money into investment or dividends instead of the pension fund and that was reckless and wilful, that is tough to prove, and to make it a criminal offence, the standard of proof is even higher, so there is a danger that it sounds great and we will feel we have done a good job, but nobody gets convicted of the offence. meanwhile, pensions are

still not properly funded. good to talk to you, thank you very much for your time. kurdish—led forces, backed by the united states, have launched a final push to defeat the islamic state group in syria. more than 20,000 civilians have been evacuated from land still held by is near to the iraqi border. here's our arab affairs editor, sebastian usher. the us—backed sdf has played a key role in the war against is in syria. its biggest victory was to drive the jih9adists 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. the sdf delayed its final attack until thousands of civilians in the area had been able

to 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 announced 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 another 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. with me now is hazhir teimourian, he is a middle east commentator and joins us from tunbridge wells. his final push to defeat islamic state, is it likely to be successful? can they be defeated, do you think? there was a two different questions, ben. first of all, this claim that it can be reduced to rubble from the air, from the ground, quite quickly, as sebastien said, two or three years ago, is control the territory as big as britain, now it is possiblyjust two miles square. unfortunately, as he said, it is a sliver of territory

further west, and there are groups in afghanistan, somalia, yemen, who have declared affiliation to the caliph. what would happen to them if he is killed, i suppose there would bea he is killed, i suppose there would be a loss of morale, but i think com plete be a loss of morale, but i think complete defeat of the ideology will ta ke complete defeat of the ideology will take a long time. what would those islamic members who are left, where would they go? —— is members?” think they had to go is in this enclave, there is so much evidence of barbarity against them that very little mercy will be shown towards them. some fear, apparently, that they will be taken to guantanamo bay in america. we can't know with al—baghdadi himself, if he is captured, it will be a headache what to do with him, he will have to be

put on trial, but many have decided either to fight to the death, or their commanders have not allow them to seek refuge elsewhere. 20,000 other children and women have come in recent days, given themselves up. what you think has gone wrong for islamic state? as you are saying, they held territory as big as britain, now it has shrunk to almost nothing. what has gone wrong?” think it was there she —— sheer barbarity, the videos of hostages being beheaded, the way they put ca ptu red being beheaded, the way they put captured pilots in a cage and set them on fire with petrol, this revolted the whole of the world and created a willpower to annihilate them. but equally, militant groups such as al—nusra, affiliated with al-anda, still active in the province of ed leigh further west, but i think is revolted the whole of

the world and created enemies everywhere. —— the province of a —— the province of idlib. the scientist who discovered the link between eating too much processed meat and bowel cancer has accused the government of not doing enough to encourage people to cut their consumption. the department of health says it's committed to ensuring that all food products are as safe as possible. well, earlier i spoke to professor denis corpet, the man behind the research, and asked him to explain more about the link between processed meat and cancer. the link is not huge, it is not like smoking, of course, but when i give ham or bacon to rats and mice, if this bacon contains nitrite, it gives them cancer. if it does not contain nitrite, it does not — that is it. the survey shows clearly in humans that there is a link which is not amazing but it is a true link. to give a figure, every day

in the uk there are 100 people who get colorectal cancer, 100 every day and ten of them are caused by processed meats, so it is important. nitrites — just explain exactly what nitrites are and why they are dangerous? it is a natural component you can find in carrots or spinach, but when included in meat and then when eaten, it makes compounds which are carcinogenic in our gut. it is only when it is in the meat and when you eat it, it is not carcinogenic per se, or it would have been banned. it becomes carcinogenic when it is eaten, which is what my team worked on. you have been strong in your criticism of the government, saying they have not done enough

to warn people about the links and they need to do more. what would you like them to do exactly? i think they did nothing, by the way. four years ago, when i was on an who committee, deciding this was carcinogenic, we were not sure there were alternatives, but now there are firms in france and in the uk who are making good bacon and ham without any nitrite. this is safe, and we know it can be done, so the government should really work with the industry, with the meat industry to get rid of nitrite. they have to take some time, they cannot do it in a flash. i think within a year or two nitrite could be banned, really. is that the situation in other countries, are you saying britain is lagging behind other

countries on this? very sadly, it is the same in european countries everywhere, and in the united states it is worse. denis corpet talking to me earlier from toulouse. police investigating the disappearance of the missing hull university student libby squire have been given more time to question a man. 21—year—old libby hasn't been seen for over a week. the 24—year—old man, who was arrested on suspicion of abduction, will remain in custody until nine o'clock this evening. two people arrested in connection with a house fire in stafford which killed four children have been released on bail. the 24—year—old woman and 28—year—old man were arrested on suspicion of manslaughter by gross negligence. the children, aged between three and eight, died in the fire on tuesday. the headlines on bbc news.

theresa may will ask mps for more time to rework her brexit plan, but labour accuses the prime minister of trying to run down the clock. work and pensions secretary amber rudd warns company bosses they could be jailed for up to seven years if they "wilfully or recklessly" mismanage their employees' pension scheme. kurdish—led forces, backed by the united states, have launched a final push the to defeat the so—called islamic state group in syria. sport, and for a full round up from the bbc sport centre, here's olly foster. another big rugby day, we will go to the english match in a moment. six nations champions ireland beat scotland at murrayfield for their first win of the campaign, but wales top the table with two wins out two, and they've equalling their record of 11 test wins in a row.

they last did that over 100 years ago. a much—changed side beat italy in rome. josh adams scored one of their two tries, with dan biggar kicking 1a points. that was the difference as they won 26—15. they will need to improve for their next match against england in a fortnight, but they are in the winning habit. it's a win, and that's it. pat yourselves on the back, you have just equalled a welsh record. you have got to enjoy that moment. an international moment, everything is not about being perfect, and they made it tough for us today. attention turns to twickenham this afternoon. england will top the table if they beat france. england were really impressive last week to upset the irish in dublin. france lost to wales last week but looked really strong in the first half, so there'll be no complacency from eddie jones' team. they have got a massive pack

that can suck you in and make your defence tight, so they can take advantage and score tries in the corner. we know that they come alive with offloads and turnovers and a scrappy ball and things like that. all the teams seem to come to life and punish you. but the main thing for us is that we are at it for 80 minutes on the weekend, that we're focused, that we're engaged, and really ready for anything. england face the champions france in the women's six nations in doncaster at 1245. wales and italy ground out a 3—3 draw in lecce in southern italy yesterday. robyn wilkins gave wales a halftime lead. italy equalised with a penalty in the second half and had this kick to win it in added time, but it drifted wide.

a draw lifts wales off the bottom of the table. liverpool are back on top of the premier league. manchester city will return there if they beat chelsea this afternoon, butjurgen klopp's side have their noses in front, that's after after a much needed 3—0 win over bournemouth at anfield. it could have been more. sadio mane gave them the lead before that lob from georghino wijnaldum. mo salah scored their third early in the second half. after two straight draws, they had slipped behind city on goal difference, but they are now three points clear, and will have a game in hand after city's match. in the scottish cup fifth round, champions celtic face stjohnstone, aberdeen have queen of the south, while hearts take on auchinleck talbot, from the west of scotland premier league. kilmarnock can thank their keeper for taking rangers to a replay. daniel bachmann saved james tavernier‘s penalty early in the first half at rugby park. it was goaless at full time,

and they'll face each other again at ibrox in ten days' time for a place in the quarters. england's are putting up a bit of a fight in the final test against west indies in st lucia. the series is already lost, and it looked like this one could be heading the way of the others, as keatonjennings on his return to the side once again fell cheaply. but an unbeaten century partnership from ben stokes and joss buttler helped england to 231—4. play resumes at two o'clock. the british indoor athletics championships continue this afternoon. laura muir took the 3000 metre title in birmingham yesterday. she'll defend the title over the 1500 next month.

that's all the sport for now. i'll have more in the next hour. a woman who was injured in the car crash involving the duke of edinburgh has welcomed the news that he's giving up his driving licence. buckingham palace said prince philip, who's 97, made the decision voluntarily after the collision with a car carrying two women and a baby. the crown prosecution service will take his decision into account when considering whether to bring any charges against him. andy moore reports. it was an accident everyone was lucky to walk away from. the duke of edinburgh's land rover freelander was turned over by the force of the impact and landed on its side. a baby was unhurt in the other car, a kia, two women were taken to hospital. one of them, emma fairweather, has told the sunday mirror that the duke was right to take the decision to surrender his licence but he could have done it sooner. she said... just days after the accident,

the duke was seen driving on public roads near sandringham without a seat belt. norfolk police said they had spoken to him about that. he also sent a letter to mrs fairweather saying sorry for his part in the accident and said he had been dazzled by the low winter sun and was very contrite about the consequences. the police say they have now finished their investigation into the accident and the file has been passed to the crown prosecution service. the duke could be charged for driving without due care and attention. the cps said the file will be reviewed carefully before a decision was made. but they also said the duke's decision to surrender his licence would be taken into account. andy moore, bbc news. the bafta film awards take place at the royal albert hall tonight. the favourite, starring olivia colman as queen anne, has 12 nominations. here's our entertainment

correspondent lizo mzimba. as has become traditional, the duke and duchess of cambridge will be the guests of honour this year's ceremony. and it's a royal drama, the favourite, which many expect to live up to its title and win the prestigious best film award. while its star, olivia colman, who plays queen anne, is the favourite for best actress. did you? look at me! look at me! how dare you?! close your eyes! she has tough competition, though, from the wife star glenn close, after she won at the screen actors guild for her portrayal of the wife of an award—winning author. you were seducing the luscious linnea? nothing happened. don't you dare insult my intelligence! four years out of the last five, best actor has been won by someone playing a real—life character. the vice presidency is mostly a symbolicjob. this year, christian bale, who plays former us vice president dick cheney in vice, and rami malek,

who plays freddie mercury in the queen biopic bohemian rhapsody, look to be in a close race for that award. dear dolores... d-e-a-r. this is an animal. similarly for best supporting actor, mahershala ali, who plays a jazz musician touring america's deep south in green book. i'vejust come from having my teeth bleached. and richard e grant, who plays the best friend of a struggling author in can you ever forgive me? are thought to be neck and neck. while best supporting actress looks to be the night's most open race, emma stone and rachel weisz both in contention for the favourite, alongside amy adams from vice, claire foy‘s portrayal of janet armstrong, the wife of astronaut neil armstrong in first man, and margot robbie's queen elizabeth i in mary queen of scots. lizo mzimba, bbc news.

and you canjoin us at the baftas starting with our live red carpet show from 5:15 here on the bbc news channel. we'll be talking to the stars as they arrive at the albert hall, and looking at the films and the fashion with critic jason solomons and fasion designer maria grachvogel. families have described their shock as a chimpanzee scaled an enclosure wall at belfast zoo before escaping. the ape managed to fashion an improvised ladder from a large tree branch which was propped up against a wall. lets take a look. it's the second time this year

that an animal has managed to break out of the zoo. a red panda went on the run last month before being captured a day later. danielle monaghan, who witnessed yesterday's escape with her two children, said she was very scared at first, as the chimp emerged only a foot away. but when she realised he had come to take a closer look at them, she said it was a day she wouldn't forget. now it's time for a look at the weather with darren bett brightening up behind that with sunshine and showers, rain arriving in northern ireland with gusty winds, still the train across the far north of scotland, large parts of the uk seeing at least some sunshine during the afternoon,

temperatures only seven or 8 degrees. wet and windy weather in northern ireland will track into wales and southern england early in the night, gone by morning, and the wet weather in scotland will peter out, some wintriness over northern hills. temperatures will be lower overnight, frost more likely in scotland, may one or two icy patches. decent enough start to the new week, light winds, a fair bit of sunshine around, patchy cloud developing here and there, a dry day, chilly for eastern scotland, north—east england, double figures in south wales and south—east england. hello, this is bbc news with ben brown. the headlines. theresa may will ask mps for more time to rework her brexit plan — but labour accuses the prime minister of trying to run down the clock. the work and pensions secretary amber rudd warns company bosses they could be jailed for up to seven years if they "wilfully or recklessly" mismanage their employees' pension scheme. kurdish—led forces — backed by the united states — have launched a final push to defeat

the so—called islamic state group in syria.