this is bbc news, i'm ben brown. the headlines at midday. theresa may will ask mp5 for more time to rework her brexit plan and offer parliament another vote, but labour says the prime minister musn‘t keep running down the clock. it seems to me we are now at the point where we could have meaningful talks to get a deal between the main political party leaders, or the only way to break the impasse is a public vote, and that remains our policy. 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 bbc click — extreme weather conditions and how virtual reality is being used in healthcare to help recovery. that's at 12:30. 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. we have been hearing from various politicians this morning, what has the government said about their brexit plans? this week, theresa may's ministers heading off to europe, meeting eu officials, other european politicians as they try to find a solution to the difficulties within the brexit deal, and particularly her challenge getting through that through parliament. on thursday, parliament will have a say on what happens next, and we have had several ministers saying that they are considering resigning in order to delay brexit and avoid a no—deal. well, today the government

has essentially said to them, don't do anything yet to to give you another say at the end of this month. this is whatjames brokenshire said on the andrew marr show earlier. the government will commit that if 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 assurance as to the process moving forward. to be clear, there will be a meaningful vote this month or not? if the meaningful vote 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. an important point to note there, ben, is james brokenshire saying that if a meaningful vote has not happened by the end of the month, in other words the government acknowledging that, four weeks out

from brexit, they may yet not have reached a new deal, which is quite remarkable. there was also an admission today from james brokenshire, something which is likely to aggravate brexiteers within the conservative party, that it is likely that the backstop, these controversial insurance policy on the irish border, will remain within the withdrawal agreement. those of your colleagues who say bin the backstop, your answer is that 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. so that was james brokenshire for the government, what about labour? in terms of the timetable, labour as saying that parliament should really

hold the prime minister's feet to the fire on this promise around another vote at the end of the month, saying that if the government can't come back with a meaningful vote, come back with a deal at the end of february, then it should be down to mps to take more control over the brexit process. there are, of course, discussions going on between the labour party and the government at the moment over whether there could be a cross—party approach that could be taken on brexit. tom watson, the shadow labour leader, saying to andrew marr today that if that can't happen, another referendum should be on the cards. we have been pretty consistent on our red lines, we are duty bound to take the prime minister's offer of consensus talk seriously, and i hope 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, and i am saying it.

so the labour party talking to the government, the conservative party talking to itself with these discussions around alternative arrangements, the so—called malthouse compromise, and of course we have still got the government talking to the european union, all sorts of talking. action? not much sign of that yet. 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. the former lib dem pensions minister, steve webb, is now director of policy at royal london. he says the focus of policy should be to ensure pensions are not underfunded, before they run into trouble. 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 law

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? proving after the event that someone recklessly failed to put money on a pension is very difficult, and you need to get there 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 deterrents, but they need to bite much sooner. 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. 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.

our arab affairs editor, sebastian usher, reports. 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 of 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 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. and sebastian is here now. is this the end of the road for

islamic state, do you think? not for is in terms of its ability to continue the insurgency that it had run for years before it suddenly exploded in 2014, its ambitions suddenly became massive, a caliphate was declared, a huge swathes of syria and iraq. but in a sense, once the international will was there, it was a matter of time that it would fall one by one. now, it has been a difficult coalition to keep in place, what we are seeing now with sdf, the kurdish alliance, that has problems inherent in it. us troops, vital in the hour, other coalition troops will give them a push, but as we know, president trump is preparing to remove us troops at any moment, and sdf‘s future is in doubt. what will happen to these last is fighters? where will they go? if you remember, each time is lost its big strongholds, there were

often lost its big strongholds, there were ofte n d ea ls lost its big strongholds, there were often deals done for them to go with theirfamilies further often deals done for them to go with their families further east, but this is as far east as they can go in syria. many will have gone to iraq. other areas in syria, count of ungoverned areas, there are many in a sense in syria, remote mountain areas where they are able to take refuge. but then many who are syrian, although the majority have been from outside, from iraq or other nationalities, they can go to ground. there are still hundreds of attacks that are taking place every month by is, claimed by is, in syria, targeting the sdf, trying to continue the instability which laid the foundations for the extraordinary burst to prominence in iraq, you know, in 2014. so they are not going to go away in that sense, but at an incredible ambition they had to be the place to go, to be the

caliphate, that is gone, and to be honest that ambition has been gone for some time. but when they had that, and i had huge, as you said a new report, a huge swathe of territory, the size of britain, what has gone wrong for them, do you think? how have they ended up shrinking to this little ramp? they just had so many enemies, you now, they overextended themselves in one sense, the lightning speed with which they took over so much of iraq, they didn't have great depth to be able to control those areas. there was strength was that the iraqi army was in ruins at that time, but it was rebuilt, other powers came in, in order to make that iraqi offensive finally work, and in syria, again, they depended on the utter destruction of syria as a country that they were able to thrive in. but the one thing that has united all these disparate alliances and factions has been the attack on is. so when i sense they took on more than they could chew,

they declared almost everyone an enemy, even the people who would have been, you would have thought, allies and friends, they turned them against them, so now they have to go back to terrorising local populations into allowing them to operate to some extent. that, i think, will give them a chance to survive to some extent, but not what we have seen in the past few years. the most fascinating story, sebastian usher, thank you. 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? no, very sadly, it is the same in european countries everywhere, and in the united states it is worse. that was professor denis corpet, speaking to us from toulouse in france. 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. 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 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. england face france later this afternoon in the six nations championship. win at twickenham and eddie jones' side will move

to the top of the table. they made a brilliant start last week beating the irish in dublin. france lost to wales in their opener but looked really strong in the first half so there'll be no complacency from england. 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. in yesterday's matches, ireland beat scotland at murrayfield, and wales made it two wins out two, and they've also equalled 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 14 points. that was the difference as they won 26—15. wales play england

when the championship resumes in two weeks' time. they'll need to up their game but they are making winning a habit. england face the champions france in the women's six nations in doncaster injust over half an hour. wales and italy drew 3—3 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. two big games coming up in the premier league this afternoon. manchester city will return to the top of the table if they beat chelsea at home, third—placed tottenham will look to stay in the title race with a win at home to leicester. liverpool moved back to the top of the table after a 3—0 win at home to bournemouth at anfield, it could have been more. georghino wijnaldum scored

their second with a lovely finish. mo salah scored a 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. dundee united, hibs and partick thistle are all into the scottish cup quarterfinals, rangers and kilmarnock will need a replay. there are more fifth—round ties today. in today's games, champions celtic face stjohnstone, aberdeen have queen of the south, while hearts take on auchinleck talbot from the west of scotland premier league. lynsey vonn, one of the greatest skiers of all time, has raced for the last time and is currently in bronze medal position in the downhill at the alpine ski championships in sweden. the former olympic and double world champion, who is 34, announced last week that she would be retiring after these championships.

she crashed heavily in the super—g earlier in the week but made a solid run in the downhill. she was in the gold medal position for a while. she has fantastically hung on for a medal in herfinal race, she has taken bronze. more reaction to that, i'm sure, on bbc news. david law has his first title on the european golf tour. it came at the vic open just outside melbourne. what a way to win it, an eagle on the last for a one—stroke victory. the scot finished on 18 under par. the vic open is the only touranment with male and female fields playing on the same course at the same time for equal prize money. the french player celine boutier also won her first tour title. england 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. that's all the sport for now. i'll have more in the next hour. see you, thank you very much. 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. five paintings said to be by adolf hilter have gone under the hammer in nuremberg but have failed to sell. 26 pieces of art were pulled from the sale because suspicions were raised they could be fakes. the auction sparked outrage, with the city's mayor calling it in "bad taste". tim allman has more. five entirely unremarkable watercolours. that is until you take a look at the signature. these paintings are claimed to be the works of adolf hitler, aspiring artist and one of history's greatest villains. but the planned auction failed to find a single buyer. they were frightened away

by the police, security forces, and because of all the news that these watercolours and oil paintings would be fakes. this is not the first time doubts have been cast over art attributed to the former nazi dictator. last month, three other watercolours were seized by police before a planned auction in berlin. hitler was a prolific artist in his youth, and in his book mein kampf, he claims to have produced as many as three paintings a day. most were destroyed — so how many fakes are we talking about? somewhere between 500 and couple of thousand, which is ridiculous, especially as you know after the second world war only 13 survived. whether these were his or not, the sale of hitler's paintings is hugely controversial. his shadow looms large when it comes to art. 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 make an improvised ladder from a large tree branch propped up against a wall. lets take a look. it's the second time this year 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 scared at first, as the chimp emerged only a foot away. but when she realised he had only 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. at the weather with darren bett. hello there, it's not as windy today but it's quite a bit cooler. still got some rain around as we head into the afternoon. the rain heading towards east anglia and the south—east of england, brightening up behind there with some sunshine and a few showers.