in syria, america's top military commander says the withdrawal of us troops will probably start within weeks. the us—backed fighters are meeting fierce resistance from is as they clash over the last remaining is enclave in eastern syria. a chinese state media outlet has released a video appearing to show abdurehim heyit, a prominent uighur musician previously reported to have died in a detention camp. turkey had said that it had confirmation of his death and had called on china to close the camps. pressure is growing for tougher rules on new mines and dams in brazil after the collapse of a dam last month left hundreds dead or missing. the mayor of a town in which a mining dam collapsed in 2015 says the mining companies have learned nothing since then. now on bbc news, dateline london. a state of the union address

at last, but what did it tell us about president trump?s next two years and plans on fighting for four more? and seven weeks to go till b day. is anyone going to blink and if so, who? with me today: polly toynbee, columnist for the guardian newspaper american writer and broadcaster jef mcallister, agnes poirier of weekly french news magazine marianne. and stefanie bolzen of german daily newspaper die welt. welcome to you all. to fire and fury, locked and loaded, we can now add greatness

or gridlock and revenge, resistance and retribution or co—operation, compromise and the common good. so beyond the president's passion for alliteration, what did we learn from the state of the union? well, i think we learned that he actually does have speech writers. they must have been relieved that he read it. finally! as opposed to the usual off the cuff that he likes to do. it was competently done, it was a little too long, especially for him. there were moments that looked like other presidents, which for donald trump is probably an impressive achievement. in substance, it seemed to me to be confrontational, he talked about all those nice things about cooperation and you could see nancy pelosi behind him going "clap,

clap, sure, buddy." i would like to see it. when you do it, please call me. you talked about abortion, the wall, socialism. it is essentially what you expect from donald trump. he was tweeting before and after. all the women representatives in white saying "here we are" and that is the reality of what he faces. he is 90% approval in the republican party, still. he has 39% approval in the country. if he is going to continue to try to be president, he goes to play with his base, continually, talk about socialism, the democrats, harassing him, and i don't think we are going to see an awful lot new, except from what the investigations from congress and mueller, developed for him. we will come back to the investigation. you hear a vision, a bid for four more years? definitely a bid for four more. but there has been from day one. i don't think anyone thought this man was going to walk away. in terms of a vision, it is this vision of constant division,

it's my lot against your lot, absolutely not, and if this was a moment for reconciliation of any kind, it is beyond him. it is impossible. he did talk the language. yes, he started with that. but every single issue he raised, right down to abortion, you can't get much more incendiary than that, was designed to divide. designed to summon his base. the thing is his base has shrunk since last time. after all, he didn't quite get a majority of the popular vote last time. and his base has shrunk considerably since then. can he win another election just on that? perhaps he can. perhaps he can summon up more votes. —— more fears. there were outright lies. for instance, when he said the great crimewave from the caravans of people coming up through south america to the mexican wall, causing a crimewave in america,

actually those are the people that commit fewer crimes statistically. the undocumented migrants. but, you know, that has never worried him. may it can work again. he did make some accurate claims about prescription costs and economic growth in the country. it was not all contested material. he has been very lucky on growth and job growth, phenomenal as it has been in this country. you are not going to give him any credit for that? it is hard to know quite exactly what he has done to create that but there it is, on his watch. it does look as if it is going to peak and maybe about to tip over, we don't know. the trade war that he started with china is potentially going to undermine that good economic stuff, we shall see. agnes, what did you gather from the speech? well, it's good that he has speech writers that can actually write.

but we know who he is. we know from his never—ending tweeting, so the disconnection between the words, he is a champion of women, he is riling against anti—semitism, while we know he defends anti—semites. all this. it creates a collective hallucination because we know it is untrue. and what i was very triggered by, you talked about nancy pelosi doing her clapping, and apparently it is called the hate clapping. which i find terrible because the level of violence we see in american politics, but everywhere, in brexit land, britain, and in france with yellow vests and in italy and elsewhere, if you don't want to clap, you don't clap, but you don't do that hate clapping which is even more violent. it was overstated, i think. it was quite classy. no, it was not classy,

it was scary, it was scary. you don't clap if you don't want to clap. you don't do this strange thing like this. she was sending daggers. and i am a fan of hers! it's this level of subtext of violent subtext, is scary. i think a french person can find violence in a subtext that perhaps an american does not see. whose hallucination do you belong to? the gesture of the women standing up in white was magnificent. that was peace and humour and wit. he did not expect it. he said we have got more women in work than ever before. it was more women in the house than ever before which was great. that was friendly and peaceful. that was a striking moment. what about the message to the outside world from the speech? did you hear anything for europe? europe looked at the speech and especially in germany,

at the things that were not in there. he mentioned nato only once, which anyway might be a good thing because especially in germany they were expecting he might say that germans have to pay more into nato funding. he didn't say that but at the same time, the us pulled out of the imf treaty and the context of the speech. intermediate nuclear forces. exactly. it is suspended. the russians are not sticking to their side of the agreement. that no—one expects the russians to move on. they have announced they will put money into another missile. from central europe, especially germany, this is now putting finally completely into question the post—cold war order. germany now, and france, have to look at themselves and say, what are we going to do with our defence? yet, is there a point that old order is dying, germany like everybody else has to live in the zist—century? yes, absolutely. intermediate

nuclear forces. some of donald trump's points are fair, aren't they? there was a poll out yesterday in germany which i think is really striking which was saying that the majority of germans feel more threatened by the us than russia. this is a problem for a german government, where to position itself now. but it's clearly showing the old order is falling apart. let's go round and try and find some positives. the impending summit with kimjong un, the second after lastjune in singapore. do you think that this can provide what donald trump's envoys now calling concrete deliverables on the dismantling of nuclear armaments? i've been covering the korean nuclear matter for 25 years and we always get to this point. it seems i can't really believe that they are going to cut a deal that is real. i think the whole nature of the regime depends on the support of the people

who make the nuclear weapons, it is their bid for greatness, it is what they think keeps the americans from destroying them, despite all the happy talk, which is great, better than a war, i have a hard time seeing what the us can give that will make it possible or desirable for kim to give up his regime guarantee card. is there a risk that trump, when he realises that nothing has happened and actually he has been taken for a fool, does it actually become more dangerous? i sort of doubt it. i think he'll properly pocket whatever is given to him and say it's a great victory and move on. that is what he has to do. he really does not want a war. he wanted to see what he would get by threatening one and now he has happy talk and that is working for the tv cameras. if he did succeed in making progress on the trade war with china, on something to help venezuela out of its humanitarian,

political crisis and getting troops out of afghanistan, is that an issue on which the world could kind of group behind him and that bipartisan support could come in in the us? i think the pulling out abruptly out of the middle east, out of syria and iraq, and afghanistan is quite frightening. and you see... there is some isis left and you see how much danger there is comedy taliban are talking and they are sort of talking peace, but really he should listen to the experts and his generals who say don't going till the time is right, help this peace process along. if he gets out of it with no problem, americans will be glad but it is high risk. i think he is not believable on anything. even his own administration.

so we should listen and he should listen to his own administration. we are just waiting and hoping for the best. you are not doing the hate clap are you, you are sitting on your hands. if i don't want to clap, i don't clap. we know what he is going to campaign on in two years' time for his re—election, because this creeping socialism menace he is talking about is interesting because it puts the democratic party in a difficult position because they are now thinking about who they are going to present and of course socialism for the americans is, for us, it comes naturally, it means health care, universal health care and free education, that is what we have in france and we are not a socialist republic,

but i think that is the next battle, political battle in american politics and that is interesting to see. just before we move on to events closer to home, you mentioned the mueller investigation, is it going to give him two more years to get to that point where he goes for re—election? i wish i knew. and it is also the southern district of new york independently prosecuting parts of his business empire, possible russian dirty money his own inaugural committee that took double the money and there is a lot of money sloshing around. yesterday became evident that 107 $175,000 a day was charged by the trump hotel to the trump committee to go to donald trump. and yet in the state of the union address, he talk talked about predictors partisan investigations. is that presidential pressure going to allow mueller to carry on? is he going to put one foot in front of the other? that is what he has

been doing so far. hejust does indictments, he does not leak. they have all been solid so far. they have gotten close to the president. if he has the evidence, he will follow it. i would say to be close to the end of the year and there may be things, that make donald trump and republicans worried. so far, he has been the impregnable shield. let's leave the us and come back to the uk and europe. another week in the brexit countdown. 0ne eu leader talked of a special place in hell for brexiteers without a plan and the british prime minister shuttled busily between belfast, brussels and dublin but she ended the week as she began, uncomfortably jammed between a rock and a hard place on the irish backstop. 0ram i misreading the situation, polly? it is a special place in hell for everybody involved in this process. i think on the whole, the european negotiators and indeed the 27 other countries have been

remarkably restrained and patient with us. we arrived there, we triggered this thing, we have no clue what it is we want, we wasted all this time and rundown two years and they sit there patiently saying, here are our rules, you helped to draw them up, britain was part of that process, we had a veto over anything you did not like — these are the rules, which of these options do you want? nothing happened and now we are right at the last moment and it is all of the possible options, none of them seem to be able to command a majority as yet in our house of commons. the danger is falling off a cliffedge in 49 days' time. nobody wants that. the only thing there is agreement about really is that we don't want that to happen. i'm not surprised that they are quite politely beginning to lose patience. we will come back to the european angles in a moment, but before i move on from you, you are no fan

of brexit, obviously, in and of itself, i take it that if there was a clear plan, you would say a plan is better than nothing? anybody would. except for the real extremists who actually want a no deal, but they are definitely a minority. the one thing there is an overwhelming majority for in the house of commons is for there not to be no deal. it is a negative majority. one issue that has bubbled up between the belfast and dublin access and all the conversations between political parties in northern ireland is this question of a possible, or warning of, a possible irish reunification. do you think that is realistic or another project fear? i thing it is further along the line but i do think it has brought ireland closer together in a sense in that they understand that any question of a hard border is absolutely catastrophic for both northern ireland, the poorest region in the uk, and for ireland, which would suffer hugely economically if that were a hard border. theoretically, it brings it closer, but we are miles from that. they cannot even agree

in northern ireland on having a parliament at all. they have disbanded themselves. we're not close to that. the real issue is this fantasy... you know, the european union has borders. it has borders because it is a single market and therefore has to have tariffs against people who are not in it. this was always an important border and we somehow dismissed it. the brexiteers who sold this idea kind of said, "ireland is a minor issue," and it is the issue. it is clearly a major issue right now. stephanie, you spend quite a lot of time talking to politicians in brussels and in berlin. do you get a sense at the moment, coming back to that point about the patience of eu politicians, there was quite remarked vehemence, i thought, in brussels last week. we had the special place in hell

line, but also quite a lot of vehemence from other politicians about, we are not reopening withdrawal talks. there are nuances, of course, what the president of the european council says, he does not for example speak for the german government and i heard a lot of voices that were not happy with those comments. i think they were quite flippant comments. you question why... that was the third or fourth time he has been putting out these kind of funny remarks. but i think after that was the vote and there were such a big majority against the deal, only for a deal without the backstop. there was a little bit of movement, i thought, and... for a vote in westminster. the vote in westminster saying they don't want this deal unless the backstop in northern ireland is taken out. i thought there was a bit of dynamic but now it has hardened again because also you must see how many

times theresa may has now travelled to berlin, brussels, with the same message, again and again, i don't want this and that, but she cannot say what she wants. the europeans are quite adamant to play the same game, running down the clock, and seeing who blinks at the end, but the problem is, if you might solve this at the nex european council, you still have to go back to the british parliament and to the european parliament and will they put the green light or not? and if not, there is the possibly of no deal. we have not talked about jeremy corbyn's letter. donald tusk said nothing happened this week. theresa may did not come with any plans or new ideas but there is something in jeremy corbyn's letter and it would resolve most of the backstop problem, which is to remain in the customs union. of course, it creates some inner problems for the labour party, because a lot of people in the labour partyjust want a second referendum or are just plain remainers. but what he is proposing

is a soft brexit. and there should be probably a majority in westminster for a soft brexit? i don't think you'd get very many labour mps who in the end will vote for any deal of theresa may's at all. because they essentially regard any brexit as a disaster. so they'd prefer a corbyn type deal than may's, but when it comes to it, it is a bit of a false play. i don't think he would vote for any deal of theresa may's. he would become a ramsay mcdonald, he would go down in history as having helped brexit. brexit is entirely a tory project. and why would labour back that when most people think it is going to cause as terrible harm? he is the only one to come up with... if you think you would actually vote for it himself.

ijust want i just want to turn foramen that to the economic context. we saw some quite striking things over the past week, the bank of england again warnings and some would say mark carney, the governor of the bank, is another fear monger. but he was saying there would be another downgrade and we have also heard details of free trade agreements which are not happening. do you think the economic fundamentals are going to start concentrating minds over the next few days? i am surprised they haven't already to some degree. i am also surprised business has not been more forceful in combating it because big companies are really against it. we heard it from bae systems and nissan in sunderland. there are the subtle hints but you don't get leaders sayign

brexit is bonkers and we must stop it, because that is not who they are. this is the air going out of the tyres slowly for an economy. it seldom has the kind of dramatic reversals that will make the news cycle. i don't think it is a great place to invest. the pound is down. there are all these little tendrils that say this is not working, there are people not investing in this country, foreign investment is decreasing, all the signs are there, if you want to add them together and say this is not a good idea. but we're not talking about the idea of brexit. because that is still... most people's position is, it is going to happen. across the political spectrum. but the no—deal brexit, that fear is concentrating minds? that is the only thing that seems to be concentrating minds at all. everybody is using it for their own purposes. labour is using it against the tories. the tory moderates are using it against the erg people. the europeans are using it against the british. it isa

it is a four dimensional prisoners dilemma. it is who breaks first. it could well be... i can see it because it seemed so impossible but that nobody can figure out a way to stop it. a delay make sense, the easiest way to have a no deal, but people are religiously against it. britain has turned into a leninist country, rather than... a leninist country! yes. ideology above all. it is in a civil war against that ideology. split down the middle. let's look at the next moves, then. theresa may, last time we talked about the vote at the end of january, at that point she talked about another vote on valentine's day, which is this coming week. is that going to happen? there will be a vote of sorts. it's very peculiar. parliamentary procedure being what it is, there will be an option for members of parliament to put down motions, technically they will be called amendments, on a whole load of propositions. so they could say, let's delay for three months, six months, nine months,

they could say, but i don't think they will this time, let's have another referendum, they are delaying that because they want that to be the last option left when everybody has given up on everybody else. you go back to the people and say, we can't decide... are really sure about that? i am not sure it will happen. but the people who support another referendum think that is the only way it could happen. but there is still no majority for anything. i sometimes think there is a lot of wishful thinking about the second referendum. there is also a lot of wishful thinking in brussels. agnes was saying the enthusiasm in brussels for the labour proposal, customs union, do you think that is wishful thinking from those quarters? i think the more realistic position is to think there might be a softer brexit at the end of the day. the more wishful position is that there might be a second referendum but the people who look into this see how difficult it is and it will be difficultjust to get the legal process going to have a second referendum.

a question for each of you, before we finish. theresa may is still saying at the end of this difficult week she will deliver and she will deliver on time. will she? no. neither? i don't think she can deliver on time. i do not think that there will be a deal that parliament can agree by the 29th of march. i don't mean that further down the line she might not get something but she will have to be a much softer and more of a compromise... possible delivery but not on time. agnes? i think she should stop using all those words that don't mean anything anymore. don't mean anything? no. when she says i am being very clear. she lacks complete clarity on the subject. she says she is to deliver. she's not going to deliver. it would be high time for british politicians and western politicians to actually say words and that are in that equation with what they are doing. ijust, one last thing, british civil service

is actually preparing, have you heard about project after? that is interesting. you should look into it. we will look into it next week. stephanie, deliver and deliver on time? i think it is still possible. both. deliver something but not on time. that's it for dateline london for this week. because we are going to deliver on time. we're back next week at the same time. goodbye. hello. well, the end of last week was pretty stormy. gale—force winds across the uk.

this week, steady waters around the uk. high pressure is building. the winds will be light for most of us. we've got some sunshine and some frosty mornings on the way as well, and monday will be no different. very decent weather on the way. this is the big picture across the continent right now. this high pressure is starting to build across spain, portugal, and into france, and you can see it's nudging into the uk, and soon it'll engulf the whole of europe. now, at the moment, it's still pretty chilly because the winds are blowing out of the north—north—west. however, the milder air you can see here, that will be reaching our shores by about wednesday. so nthis is what it looks like early hours of monday morning — a couple of showers maybe affecting north—eastern parts of england and scotland, but on the whole, it's looking clear across most of the uk, and there will be a frost. the coldest of the weather, as you might expect, will be across scotland — minus two in edinburgh, but outside of town, colder than that. and a touch of frost further south expected, as well, but not an awful lot. so monday starts off sunny. many of us will have a sunny day all day long. however, western areas of the country will turn a little bit more hazy.

weather fronts are trying to get in, maybe even a few light spots of rain, but this is pretty much where they grind to a halt because of that high pressure building across many western parts of europe. and here is the high pressure across western parts of europe, as it builds a little bit further towards the east. but notice it's displaced further south away from us. that means that these weather fronts just about nibbling into the north—west of the british isles, so maybe again a bit of cloud, a few spots of rain, increasing breeze here. but really, in the western isles, the vast majority of the country, 99% of us having dry weather through the course of tuesday. and those temperatures are starting to rise, because we have those south—westerly winds. in fact, we're already expecting double figures there in aberdeen, edinburgh, newcastle, and also in belfast. so that's tuesday. by the time we get to wednesday, the mild air has well and truly arrived on our shores. in fact, it's also seeping into parts of scandinavia and western as well as eastern parts of europe. and in fact, by thursday and friday, those winds turn to a southerly, so that means one thing — those temperatures will continue to rise. by thursday it could be around 13 or 11! degrees, notjust in the south of the country, but even in one or two spots across scotland. so the weather this week

is looking absolutely fine. bye— bye. welcome to bbc news, broadcasting to viewers in north america and around the globe. my name is reged ahmad. our top stories: as mainly—kurdish forces clash with islamic state fighters in syria, america's top military commander says us troops will probably start withdrawing within weeks. a video is released appearing to show abdurehim heyit, a prominent uighur musician previously reported to have died in a chinese detention camp. why russia's wild polar bears are causing alarm to their human neighbours. and pop music's most prestigious awards ceremony, the grammys, is underway in la. we'll have the latest.