this is the briefing. i'm sally bundock. 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. the world's two biggest economies head back to the negotiating table, but can they stop the trade war from stepping up a gear? britain's acting royalty meets the royal family — for the baftas — the british film industry's biggest night. why russia's wild — and hungry — polar bears are getting a little too close for comfort with their human neighbours. and in business briefing: and when the daily grind gets too extreme — we look at how employers injapan are trying to bring good to have you with us.

it isa good to have you with us. it is a brand—new week for the briefing. we have a packed programme for you as ever. we will tell you all you need to know in global news, business, and sport. and we'd like to know what is your work—life balance is like? is it hard for you to clock off? do you have much choice? get in touch and we'll discuss your comments — just use the hashtag bbcthebriefing. the top military commander overseeing american forces in the middle east says the withdrawal of us troops from syria will probably start within weeks, though the exact timing depended on the military situation. the us—backed fighters are meeting fierce resistance from the so—called islamic state group — as they clash over the last remaining is enclave in eastern syria — around the town of baghouz near the border with iraq. sebastian usher has more.

yet another ferocious battle between the kurdish—led sdf and islamic state fighters is playing out in syria. as the us—led coalition adds its firepower, both in the skies and on the ground. but this time the sdf says it's their final decisive battle with the jihadists. an sdf fighter said there were no more is gangs left to fight in their region. as of today, he said, it was over and the deaths of those killed by is had been avenged. it's been a long campaign for the sdf, which has been the most effective force on the ground in syria against is, driving it inexorably to the east after it lost its de facto capital, raqqa. in recent months the kurdish—led alliance has captured one town and village after another. with hajin being the last

urban stronghold. now is fighters are reduced to a sliver of land hard against the iraqi border, and to those still there it may well be their last stand, as iraqi forces with the help of coalition troops have sealed the border, the very line that is boasted of having wiped off the map. for the anti—is forces though, there are still unfinished business, especially over the fate of is leader abu bakr al—baghdadi, who once declared a caliphate. translation: until now we have no information on the presence of al—baghdadi in syria. we do not think he is in syria. wherever al—baghdadi is, the threat posed by is has not vanished with the territory it's lost. even though isis is degraded, it is not defeated yet. it has moved into a second phase, insurgency. few people realise that isis carries out frequent attacks in iraq, almost on a daily basis. they still have have between 10,000 and 15,000 active combatants in syria and iraq.

thousands of civilians have once again been displaced by the fighting, as millions have during the war in syria, just as in iraq where shattered lives and the lack of any government to provide redress may be fertile ground for the anger and desperation that has provided jihadists groups with willing recruits for decades. sebastian usher, bbc news. this is a really important week for an issue that has got the minds of eve ryo ne an issue that has got the minds of everyone in financial markets very focused. top—level us officials are heading to beijing this week for the latest round of us—china trade talks — with less than three weeks to go until the march the first deadline for a deal. without an agreement, us tariffs on $200 billion of chinese imports will rise from 10% to 25%. fiona cincotta, senior market analyst at city index joins me now.

good morning, fiona. we talk about this deadline of march one. to remind our viewers, this was agreed and announced on the sidelines of the 620 and announced on the sidelines of the g20 summit in aboyne azeris stockily gas. it is something investors were extremely pleased to hear. it really put a floor under the sort of fall in stocks we have been seeing prior to that. it has lifted optimism that there would be progress in a trader before then. lifted optimism that there would be progress in a trader before thenm was a 90 day truce that was called and we are getting quite close to that date now. this week is quite important. exactly. we are very close now. investors are starting to get rattled about how close we have got without any solid evidence of an agreement being done. the fact that donald trump has said he is not going to personally meet with president xi before the truce is

also really rattling investors. they will be looking closely at the headlines. many eyes 82 at the time, when they did say, look, we will call a truce for 90 days whatever, many said there was no where they would overcome the big issues like intellectual property rights, that kind of thing, within that timeframe —— many eyes spoke to. they saw that has very optimistic. it was extremely optimistic. they haven't really made a huge amount of progress or that we have seen, on the key issues such as intellectual property. there is a huge distance they need to ghost by having said that, steve mnuchin, robert lighthouse on, they will be in beijing later the week. lighthouse on, they will be in 8eijing later the week. elky laying the grounds for a productive week. how optimistic can we be? -- they will be laying. the markets this week were not that optimistic. the

worst week this year for stocks falling in financial markets. that suggests that sentiment is feeling a little low. before that last week it has been very optimistic. the sensation has been optimistic. investors are going to be looking extremely closely at the headlamp come out. 0k, thank you, fiona for now. fiona is returning laterfor the news briefing. let's brief you on some of the other stories making the news. fears of a second us government shutdown have risen after negotiations between republicans and democrats in congress broke up without agreement. the two sides must strike a deal by friday. the disagreement centres on president donald trump's insistence on a bill that funds a us—mexico border wall. four new positive tests for equine flu have been confirmed in vaccinated thoroughbreds at one of britain's main stables. no racing has taken place in the uk since last wednesday and these latest cases increase the chances of that suspension continuing. the authorities were expected to announce when racing could be resumed on monday evening. the british prime minister,

theresa may, has responded to a letter from the leader of the opposition setting out his five demands for a brexit deal. she's queried jeremy corbyn‘s call for the uk to stay in a customs union with the eu, but welcomed more talks with labour on a brexit agreement. what does brexit mean for the fashion industry and high street clothing? across europe, many large brands have been warned to prepare for the implications of no deal, in an industry where fabrics and materials are often transported between countries to make the product. this week it's stockholm fashion week, where our europe correspondent gavin lee has been looking at the potential impact on the industry. what have fashion brexit got in

common? follow me. i will show you. music plays. well, this is stockholm fashion week, here in sweden. and some of the biggest high—street brands of sweden, the biggest companies for what couture, designers, too, have had an emergency no deal meeting to work out what happens if the british and eu don't come up with a deal in the next few weeks. 0ne and eu don't come up with a deal in the next few weeks. one of the leading design any is here has a base in stock and london.“ leading design any is here has a base in stock and london. if there is not a brexit, a border would not bea is not a brexit, a border would not be a dealfor me is not a brexit, a border would not be a deal for me as a fashion designer. as a designer you have to travel, you have to go and meet people and show your work. that is the nature of the job. in downtown stockham, the main fashion show is

starting. 0ne stockham, the main fashion show is starting. one big factor affecting british and eu companies is how materials are bought and sold across the company and moved as they are sold. the end of free movement of goods and the models as well is a big concern. of course it will be ha rd big concern. of course it will be hard hit by brexit. from monday to another you can to the wto rooms with all the tariffs coming on clothes and not least shoes, which have tariffs of up to i6%. clothes and not least shoes, which have tariffs of up to 1696. there will be people watching this and wondering how will it affect me on the high street and the clothing that i buy. on the price, of course, if you put tariffs on the fashion and issues and the close and everything, it is going to be paid by somebody. that somebody is the simple consumer. for the swedish high—street store, the uk is the

biggest market. its founder says in the event of a no deal british customers will have to pay a lot more. is tariffs go up and the price points girl will go up a lot. it will be 20% or something like that. it could really affect our business and our it could really affect our business and oui’ presence it could really affect our business and our presence in uk. there's a saying in fashion, you can have anything you want in life if you dress for it. the hundreds of he waiting for the uncertainties of brexit to unravel will be hoping so. gemili, bbc news, sweden. —— gavin lee. a remote russian region has declared a state of emergency over what's been described by authorities as a "massive invasion" of polar bears. there have been reports of the animals entering buildings and even attacking residents. caroline rigby has more. imagine opening your front door to this. polar bears are not uncommon in these parts, but the frequency and sheer number of these visitors is unprecedented. entering homes and offices, the animals are also reported

to have attacked people. local officials have described the situation as a massive invasion, and as the world's largest land predators, that has led them to declare a state of emergency. the remote novaya zemlya archipelago in the russian arctic is home to around 3000 people, and since december, more than 50 bears have been reported in the region's main settlement. officials say around 6—10 can regularly be seen in and around a local military garrison. climate change has caused arctic sea ice to melt, which has driven polar bears to spend more time on land in an effort to find food. but this change in behaviour, from hunters to scavengers, has seen them increasingly come into contact and conflict with humans. and with the bears ever more present, some residents are now scared to walk down the street or even leave their homes. polar bears are recognised as an endangered species in russia, so hunting them is banned. police have tried to scare them off with signals and patrols.

even local dogs have had a go. but so far, these efforts have proved largely ineffective. now the federal authorities have promised to send a commission to investigate, and a cull to control this beautiful but unwelcome visitors has not been ruled out. stay with us on bbc news, still to come: as the stars come out for pop music's most prestigious awards ceremony — we're live in los angeles with the latest on the grammys. there's mr mandela. mr nelson mandela, a free man, taking his first steps into a new south africa. iran's spiritual leader

ayatollah khomeini has said he's passed a death sentence on salman rushdie, the british author of a book which many muslims say is blasphemous. the people of haiti have flocked to church to give thanks for the ousting of their former president, 'baby doc' duvalier. because of his considerable value as a stallion, shergar was kept in a special secure box in the stud farm's central block. shergar was driven away in a horse box the thieves had brought with them. there stepped down from the plane a figure in mourning. elizabeth ii, queen of this realm and of all her other realms and territories, head of the commonwealth, defender of the faith. you're watching the briefing.

0ur headlines: 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. us officials head to beijing this week for the latest round of us—china trade talks, with less than three weeks to go until the 1 march deadline for a deal. pop music's most prestigious awards ceremony has just drawn to a close. the 61st annual grammys have been taking place in los angeles. so who took home the big prizes? let's cross live to la and speak to the bbc‘s peter bowes, who can tell us. childish gambino stole the show, donald glover is the actor, for this is america. it also won song of the

year. this will be popular with his fans, although he was sadly not actually at the show to accept the award. as you can tell, we are having trouble hearing peter which isa having trouble hearing peter which is a real shame. let's move on to the baftas and let's see if we can move back to peter and get those microphones working. the historical drama the favourite lived up to its name at the uk's annualfilm awards, the baftas, collecting a string of awards including best leading actress for 0livia coleman as queen anne, and best supporting actress for her co—star rachel weisz. the spanish language film roma was named best film. thom geier is managing editor of the wrap magazine. he's in new york. iam i am really hoping we can hear you clearly. tell us about the baftas,

and to what extent they will tell us who will do well at the oscars. as you said, the favourite was the favourite coming into the baftas today, with a homegrown favourite, classic tradition historical drama, it won seven awards, but did not bring home the top prize, that went to alfonso cuaron‘s film roma. bring home the top prize, that went to alfonso cuaron's film romam bring home the top prize, that went to alfonso cuaron's film roma. it is a netflix film which has got some backlash —— backlash, it has not got a lot of play in movie theatres. this this give us a sense of what might happen at the oscars, that roma will win best film? might happen at the oscars, that roma will win 8est film? this is the most wide—open 0scar race i have seen most wide—open 0scar race i have seen in. because most wide—open 0scar race i have seen in. because we most wide—open 0scar race i have seen in. because we have seen no film that is kind of a frontrunner. roma has some momentum, it has one the critics choice award and the

ba fta, the critics choice award and the bafta, but there are a lot of other films, and there are lots of resentment in hollywood towards a netflix film that is not getting play in cinemas. we are also seeing a lot of affection for a star is born, and also green book, which is a classic race willjust as from the 19505 a classic race willjust as from the 1950s and 60s sort of film. what is your money on, do you think roma might get snubbed? your money on, do you think roma might get snubbed ?|j your money on, do you think roma might get snubbed? i think roma might get snubbed? i think roma might emerge in the end. what is different about the academy awards than any other award ceremony, but certainly the baftas, is they have a rated voting system. it is not who ta kes rated voting system. it is not who takes the most votes that wins, but it is more of a consensus choice, so that the least popular films among the eight nominees are redistributed, those votes, so where you vote number one, two, three, if you vote number one, two, three, if you are an academy member, those

three and four vote count. you get a consensus winner, not kind of the extremes you sometimes see. so that may favour a film like green book or even roma, which may end up on a lot of people's lists as their number two or three. thank you so much for joining us to talk us through the ba ftas joining us to talk us through the baftas and a look ahead to the oscars course. let's hope now we can talk to peter a little later about the grammys. now it's time to get all the latest from the bbc sports centre. hello, i'm chetan pathak with your monday sport briefing. our top story: manchester city have moved back to the top of the english premier league, and in some style, as they thrashed chelsea by 6 goals to 0. sergio aguero scored a record equalling 11th prermier league hat—trick — he's level now with alan shearer. city are top ahead of liverpool on goal difference, but with one more game played. top of the league, we will have to

wait when liverpool go to old trafford and after that game we now have one more game. so if they win that game they are the leaders. so still we are behind in that term. but important is the performance, is being their indie 11 games, so we are going to try until the end to retain the title. in italy, christiano ronaldo scored his 20th goal forjuventus as they won 3—0 at sassuola in serie a. the italian champions, who are still unbeaten, doubled their lead on 70 minutes thanks to ronaldo's header from that corner. the win takesjuve 11 points clear of napoli in second. in tennis, romania are into their first ever fed cup world group semifinal after a 3—2 win over the defending champions and hosts the czech republic. as part of that victory, french open champion simona halep, who's vowed to win a first fed cup

for her country before she retires, dug deep to get the better of former world number one karolina pliskova in three sets 6—4, 5—7, 6—4. also through to the semifinals are belarus, australia and france who swept aside belgium, that the winning moment for caroline garcia who beat elise mertens in straight sets. in basketball there are 9 games in the nba on tuesday including toronto raptors in action against brooklyn nets, and the houston rockets against dallas mavericks. on sunday the philadelphia 76ers hosted lebronjames and the los angeles lakers, and won 143—120, thanks tojoel embiid who scored a flurry of points at the end of the 2nd quarter. the la kers looked towards their star man in the second half — but despite lebronjames‘s efforts, his side were still unable to contain embiid.

the cameroonian went on to score 37 points and grab 16 rebounds. lebron deciding not to stick around at the end of the game. and before we go, any lego lovers amongst you will appreciate this. the paris auction house artcurial sold a life size lego car for $108,000 on sunday. it wasjointly built by renault and formula 1, and is modelled on nico hulkenberg's car. in total, 313,000 lego bricks were needed to build it. proceeds went to the charity unicef. that's it, a reminder you can get all the latest sports news at our website — that's bbc.com/sport. but from me, chetan pathak and the rest of the team, that is your monday sport briefing. let's return to the grammys.

pop music's most prestigious ceremony has come to a close. pop music's most prestigious ceremony has come to a closelj asked you stole the show and you are busy trying to tell us. it was donald glover who stole the show, childish gambino of course winning in two of the top three categories, record of the year and some of the year as well for this is america will stop hugely popular video winning for best video. hundreds of millions of people have watched it on the internet. he stole the show, kacey musgraves one in the top category, the most prestigious category, for album of the year for golden hour. not so well—known around the world but very popular here. tell us about lady gaga, she was torn between two awards

ceremonies, bradley cooper was with us ceremonies, bradley cooper was with us in london for the baftas, where they got best original music for a star is born. she picked up some awards, did she perform? she certainly did, i think she was perhaps the most prominent female artist of the night, she won a total of three awards, two with bradley cooper, and i think she really made the right decision to be at the grammys, because obviously she is a hugely popular artist. what is interesting about the grammys this year is that a star is born has featured heavily, it will feature heavily at the oscars in a couple of weeks time as well, we are getting this synergy between the film awards and the music awards. we know how prominent she is likely to be at the 0scars when they take place fairly $0011. 0scars when they take place fairly soon. ariana grande got a grammy, but she controversially chose not to be there, and i want you to fill it in about dolly parton as well. because i am a big fan. in about dolly parton as well. 8ecause i am a big fan. ariana grande had a bit of a dispute with

the producers over what she could sing and perform, so she decided not to come after all. at dolly parton, a great performance by her and a tribute to her, she was the lifetime achievement award winner, she performed herself, some of her own music, but then these beautiful collaborations that she did on stage with artists, a couple of generations younger than her, i think that is probably one of the great moments of the show, singing jolene with miley cyrus for instance. it got everyone to their feet to pay tribute to this remarkable artists. we are talking worklife balance working 9—to—5, in just a moment. see you soon. hello.

the weather's looking pretty quiet over the next few days. high pressure is building across much of western europe, and that means we're in for a lot of bright if not sunny weather. a touch of frost in the morning, bit like on monday. let's have a look at the big picture, first of all, and here is our high pressure that is building across western parts of europe. early on monday, it's still around iberia, just about nudging into france and the uk. the rest of europe still pretty unsettled, low pressure there. some snow across the alps, quite a lot of it, and yes, still pretty chilly. it's coming out of the north, north—west, but the milder weather here will be reaching us in the next 24—36 hours. so, in the short—term, still pretty chilly winds out of the north. that means cold weather first thing in the morning in scotland. in fact, in city centres, temperatures will be below freezing, down at around —2, possibly around “11 or —5 outside of town, and a touch of frost further south across the country as well. it starts off on a sunny note, really a beautiful day on the way. and because high pressure is building across western parts, these weather fronts kind of come in and grind to a halt here in the west of the uk. so maybe some spits and spots

of rain across ireland and into western scotland, but on the whole, it's looking fine for most of us. 10 degrees in london, not far off that in the north of the country. now, here is tuesday. that high pressure builds across much of europe there, but some of those weather fronts trying to nudge in. they will be weak — means there's not an awful lot of rain with them. so perhaps spots of rain getting into the western isles, maybe a bit of a breeze there, but for much of the country it's going to be a dry day on tuesday. best of the sunshine the further east and south you are, and look at these temperatures. that milder air is starting to reach our shores, with 11 degrees expected in edinburgh, and that milder air is well and truly over us on wednesday. you can see it's actually reaching into southern parts of scandinavia, as well, engulfing much of western europe too. in fact, the winds start to turn southerly as we head into thursday and friday, so that means that those temperatures will continue to climb.

in fact, at some point during the end of the week, we could see temperatures up into around 13 or 16 degrees across the south of the country, so the weather looking very pleasant indeed. this is the business briefing. i'm sally bundock. the world's two biggest economies head back to the negotiating table — but can the us and china stop their trade war from stepping u and when the daily grind gets too extreme — we look at how employers injapan are trying to bring about a better work—life balance. today the main markets in tokyo are closed for a public holiday. let us hope they are getting a rest today. elsewhere in asia you can see in mix daily. china's open for the first time in overa daily. china's open for the first time in over a week. the main markets in shanghai are slightly higher.