this is bbc news. i'm tanya beckett. our top stories. the us vice president says america will keep a heavy presence in the middle east to help hunt down the remnants of so—called islamic state. the united states will continue to work with all our allies to hunt down the remnants of isis wherever and whenever they raise their ugly head. british—based airline flybmi cancels all flights and ceases operations. nigeria's electoral commission says it came under no external pressure when postponing elections at the last minute. the vatican defrocks the former bishop of washington. he's the first cardinal to be sacked for child abuse. hello and welcome to bbc world news today. the battle to claim the last pocket of territory from the islamic state

group is being held up because thousands of civilians remain trapped there. us backed kurdish forces launched an attack on is‘s last remaining stronghold last week. the american vice—president mike pence says is in iraq and syria has been decimated. he told a security conference in munich that the final battle is now under way. the united states will keep a strong presence in the region. we recognise it will not be enough to simply reclaim the territory of the caliphate. as we enter this new phase, the united states will continue to work with all our allies to hunt down the remnants of isis whenever and wherever they rear their ugly head. just four years ago is controlled vast areas of syria and northern iraq. it had taken control of raqqa and mosul. but the group's so—called caliphate has continued to shrink since then,

and is now less than one small square kilometre on the euphrates river. the last militants there are reportedly retreating and hiding among the local population. a short time ago i spoke to our chief international correspondent lyse doucet, who's at the security conference in munich. it was president trump who said he would be making a major announcement about the caliphate very soon. the caliphate is the territory controlled by islamic state since 2014, large swathes of iraq and syria, and now they are down to one last mile in syria and once that is gone it matters. the caliphate was this magnet, this lodestone attracting islamists in the region, indeed the world over with foreign fighters streaming into iraq and syria, but the problem is that islamic state is notjust about

territory, it is this powerful idea that fed on local grievances in iraq and syria and those have not gone away, and for that matter there are thousands of islamic state fighters. last year alone they carried out hundreds of attacks in iraq and also dozens hundreds of attacks in iraq and also d oze ns of hundreds of attacks in iraq and also dozens of assassinations. so it also begs the question, what happens to the iss fighters? they are regrouping? the iss fighters? they are regrouping 7 they the iss fighters? they are regrouping? they have been for the last 15 years about how to take on us and other security forces and for them, taking the territory is just another tactic, and therefore they are there for the long run as they see it, and so everyone is concerned that there will be the return of so—called islamic state and in fact as the us vice president mike pence announced the caliphate would soon be over here at the munich security conference, he said us forces would

$0011 conference, he said us forces would soon be on the ground and if not their partners would be there to help them. the problem with united states and the region is that the americans have been largely relying on the syrian kurds to help them fight these battles against islamic state in syria and now they feel betrayed by the americans pulling out and they are worried it is a nato country, turkey, which will fill the back blue vacuum, and they see the cards as a threat, an ally to their turkish rivals. the uk government says its main priority has to be the safety of the public, when considering the case of shamima begum. the family of the pregnant teenager — who left britain to join the islamic state group — say they'd welcome a police investigation into her actions — but want the government to help bring her home. sophie long reports. this is the al—hawl camp in northern syria where the 19—year—old from east london is living as she awaits the birth of her third child. shamima begum says both her son

and daughter died, and she wants to come back to britain so her unborn baby does not suffer the same fate. herfamily, who had feared they would never see her again, have asked the government to help them get her home. but the justice secretary says there are risks to allowing people like shamima begum to return to britain, and they would look at her case very closely. what has to be the priority of the british government is ensuring the protection of the british people as a whole. we do have a number of powers in this area. we have to act within those powers. but we need to make sure that the british people are not unnecessarily at risk. in a statement, shamima begum's family says as a british citizen she has every expectation to be returned to the uk, and be dealt with under the british justice system. her child, who will also be british, has every right as a total innocent to have the chance to grow up in the peace and security of this home. shamima begum's case is not unique.

some 850 people left the uk to join so—called islamic state. around half have already come back. some working against extremism say there needs to be more focus on what caused her to go, to prevent others from doing the same. i realise that she is a bit of a poster girl of that phenomenon of those young girls going off tojoin daesh. but if we take stock of what is happening, we need to see how she got there and we can stop other people from going down that route. the home secretary has said he would prevent people in terrorist organisations returning to britain. if they do make it back they will be questioned and potentially prosecuted. it is unclear what that will mean for shamima begum, who was just 15 when she left the uk for syria. if she is allowed to return home she

will have to answer for her actions. sophie long, bbc news. the british based flybmi airline has announced that it has ceased operations and is filing for administration. all flights have been cancelled with effect from today. the airline operates 17 regionaljet aircraft and covers routes to 25 european cities. the carrier had seen a dip in profits in recent months. for more on this with me is our business reporter rob young. tell me, what is the airline saying so tell me, what is the airline saying so far about this? flybmi have said that all flights are cancelled with immediate effect. they have advised passengers to not go to the airport if they are booked to travel over the next few days. they should contact either a credit card provider, travel insurance or travel agent to see if they can get some kind of refund. they have some

detail about what they say were the insurmountable challenges they faced, so they see a spike in the price of oil, it rose quite sharply last year around october time when it hit its peak. that was affecting it, and they also say a change in the price of carbon permits was also a fact. they also say that current trading and future prospects have been seriously affected by the uncertainty created by the brexit process. they say that led to the inability to secure valuable flying contracts in europe. so what does this mean for europe's other airlines? the news of the collapse has come as a surprise to many passengers, particularly those who turned up at airports to find that theirflight had turned up at airports to find that their flight had been cancelled, but it is not a huge surprise to many people who watch the aviation industry closely, because there has already been a few quite small carriers in europe going under, we had the big airline norwegian who

say they need to raise cash, and even the biggest in europe, ryanair, hasissued even the biggest in europe, ryanair, has issued two profits warnings, and its chief executive michael o'leary, who knows the airline industry very well, he said a few weeks ago that he thinks there would be a bit of a shake—out in european aviation and companies would be taken over, some might go to the wall as has happened. pointing out that there arejust happened. pointing out that there are just too many cheap seats on their craft, too many airlines and planes chasing too few passengers and that had driven down the cost of and that had driven down the cost of an airline ticket. let's take a look at some of the day's other stories. us airforce transport planes carrying humanitarian aid for venezuela have landed in the colombian bordera where food and medicine is being stock—piled for distribution. president maduro has refused to allow the aid in, accusing the us of trying to organise a coup. us officials said the aid had been requested by the venezuelan opposition leader, juan guaido who declared himself interim president last month. the bodies of policemen killed in a car bomb attack

in kashmir have reached their homes in small towns across india. mourners held flowers as they walked behind funeral processions. prime minister narenda modi has warned pakistan of a strong response to the suicide attack, which killed 44 on thursday. frustration is growing in zimbabwe as relatives of miners wait for rescuers to reach their loved ones. at least eight people have been rescued so far, a further 20 bodies have been recovered. the government has declared the collapse of the illegal gold mine on tuesday a disaster, but water underground tunnels has slowed rescue efforts. the electoral commission in nigeria has denied politics played a part in the decision to delay the election. the president muhammadu buhari said he was ‘deeply disappointed' by the decision. his main rival atiku abubakar said the move was intended to deprive people from voting. however, the electoral commission insists the delay is for logistical reasons. our correspondent tomi oladipo is in the capital abuja. the electoral commission has blamed

operational reasons, logistics, logistic problems for them changing their minds and putting off or postponing the vote. they said they had problems with bad weather when it came to flying a lot of the voting material across the country and so they had to resort to long haul road transport which was part of the problem. they also pointed out the use of sabotage where some of the offices around the country were attacked and set on fire. but, you know, all the time they had been saying that all was fine and they were going to go ahead with the election and that none of these problems were grave enough to affect the vote and then with a few hours to go, they changed their minds. a lot of people are saying there must be something else. but the head of the electoral

commission, mahmood yakubu, insists that these were the main problems. the one week adjustment was a painful one for inec but necessary in the overall interests of our democracy. our position is entirely taken by the commission. it has nothing to do with security, nothing to do with political influence, nothing to do with the availability of resources. that was the chair of the nigerian election commission. stay with us on bbc world news, still to come, all the latest sports news. despite a late advance, newport fail to seal the deal on their fa cup tie against man city. this is bbc world news, the latest headlines. us vice president mike pence says

with the final battle against so—called islamic state under way the us will stay in the region to hunt down remnants. the us regional airline flybmi has cancelled all its flights and stopped operations, partly blaming rises in fuel costs for the company collapse. a memorial service has taken place in argentina for the football player, emiliano sala — who died in a plane crash last month. over 2,000 people took part in the public vigil in the player's hometown of progreso. the 28—year—old was killed two days after signing for cardiff city when his plane came down in the english channel. from progreso, natalio cosoy reports. emiliano sala's body leaves the grounds of his childhood football club in progresso in central argentina. his relatives, friends and neighbours came to say goodbye to the local hero at a private funeral. translation: he never forgot his roots and that

means people have a very fond memory of the kid. of emiliano. sala spent his early years developing his football skills here, he left at age 14 to pursue bigger opportunities. he was flying from france to cardiff when his plane disappeared over the english channel on january 21. they played a club record of £15 million for the player's transfer from league 1. player's transfer from league 1 nantes. two weeks later the wreckage was found and shortly afterwards, sala's body was recovered. the pilot is still missing. representatives from his new club traveled to argentina for today's service. people say, he's never played for you, but he was my player and the feelings i had, i chased him, wanted him and he said to me, i will get you the goals that keep you up in the premier league and i said i know you will.

no cameras were allowed inside the building while the whole club feels very saddened cardiff in general feels very sad of the incident and today i think it's good for the family who have some closure. no cameras were allowed inside the building while the funeral took place. the mourners sat in front of emiliano sala's coffin. they were silent, some of them were praying, the coffin was surrounded by wreaths and there was a banner that read, the legacy will be eternal. ahead of today's service, sala's boyhood club posted a message on social media saying: "we are waiting for you like the first day you left, but this time to stay with us forever eternally in our hearts." john watson has all the sport. we will begin with football.

the dream cup run of newport county, from the fourth tier of english football is over, perhaps inevitably as they come up against premier league champions manchester city in the fifth round of football's oldest cup competition. leroy sane opened the scoring for city, newport goalkeeperjoe day will be frustrated he didn't manage to save it. city were cruising when phil foden cut back inside to double their advantage. but newport were given a lifeline when padraig amond scored with two minutes to go. he has kept up his record of scoring in every round of the cup this year. but there would still be time for two more goals first from phil foden again, with the goal of the game, before riyad mahrez made the result comfortable. 4-1 it 4—1 it finished much to do to disappointment of newport manager. millwall have booked their spot in the last eight as they saw off fellow south london club wimbledon 1—0. the only goal of the game came early

on from murray wallace. it means the 2004 finalists are now one win away from a semi—final spot at wembley. i thought today my boys showed ideal great character. the calmness they showed at times, we could have been better on the ball, but for us to be in the quarterfinal again, second time in three years, fourth and 15, thatis time in three years, fourth and 15, that is a great achievement for us. and brighton are also in the last eight after beating derby county 2—1. anthony knockaert scored their opener before yves bissouma doubled their advantage on the stroke of half time. former england defender ashley cole pulled one back — it's the 38—year—old's first fa cup goal. it isa it is a year when a lot of premier league teams are out of the competition and i think probably the likes of ourselves and others are still in there, had that opportunity

to progress one step further, and i think ultimately it is generally a top six team that wins it but it opens the door a little bit this season. it will probably go down as one of the great test match innings in history. kusal perera almost single—handedly dragged sri lanka from the very edge of defeat to a sensational one—wicket win over south africa on day four of the first test in durban. defeat had looked certain for the lankans when, chasing a target of 304, they lost their ninth wicket for 226, still needing 78 runs. but the wicketkeeper batsman scored 72 of them, finishing unbeaten on 153. he and vishwa fernando set a new test record for a last wicket partnership in a successful chase. it's only sri lanka's second win in 14 test matches in south africa. here's how it looked in the end. perera hit 12 fours and five sixes as he hit a career—best 153. if you can believe it his top score in his previous 10

innings wasjust 32. sri lanka will now go in search of a first test series win in south africa when the second and final match is played in port elizabeth next week. belgium's elise mertens claimed the biggest win of her career on saturday, coming from a set down to beat world number three simona halep and clinch the qatar open. the world number 21 won 3—6, 6—4, 6—3. that's despite being outclassed in the first set, overcoming an eight—minute medical timeout for back pain, and losing 18 consecutive points at one point in the second set. it was bertens' third victory over a top ten player in doha this week and thoguh it's her fifth title, it's her first at a premier—level event. and finally, the nba's all—star weekend is well underway in north carolina. the big one is on sunday night but they've already had the celebrity match—up, with a few special guests, including hall of famer ray allen. the man with the most

three—pointers in nba history, showed that he still hasn't lost his touch. american comedian famous loss made one of the plays of the game, though with this effort a three—pointer which drew a foul as well, he was the game's mvp with 22 points. that's all the sport for now. thank you. a group of american researchers has announced a plan to develop gene—edited animals to help poorfarmers in africa. they'll work alongside scientists in scotland, who are looking at ways to develop animals that are more resilient, productive and resistant to diseases. here's our science correspondent, pallab ghosh. just a few hours old. these are among the world's first gene edited

pigs. they are immune to a lethal lung disease. the animals have been created from fertilised eggs surgically removed from a take. around 20 per animal are flushed out. the plan is to develop farm animals for subsistence farmers in africa that are resistant to a range of diseases. engineering disease resistance and the animals will have a huge impact on a farming community in africa were that are much smaller proportion sizes and the death of one or two animals is disproportionately catastrophic. so how does it work? the virus latches ona how does it work? the virus latches on a specific part of the pig's cells. gene editing is used to cut out the section of the dna responsible for making that part of the cell. the virus now has nothing to stick onto so the animals are immune. these pigs are likely to be among the first in the new generation of gene edited farm animals. the technology can be used

for more than just disease resistance. groups are trying to create livestock that are larger, leaner and more productive. this is a gene edited cough engineered by a us company. the firm's smartphone footage shows she has a thinner coat and sweats more giving her a slick coat that makes her more resistant to heat. the breed produces a much more milk than african varieties. the researchers are investigating whether the slipped gene could be engineered into high milk producing western varieties and introduced into africa, transforming the lives of these farmers. this man leads the african genetic livestock project in edinburgh. he grew up on a small farm in western cameroon. one year,

his father's animals were wiped out by african swine flu. fortunately, his mothers had chickens to sell, enough to pay for his school fees for the year. this is what has driven me, and i strongly believe that genetic innovations can exist here in the uk and actually be used to help livestock productivity and protect smallholder farming is, including the village where i come from. many campaigners are opposed to the use of gene editing to boost production in large industrialfirms in the west. some cd technology could be used to safeguard the futures of the very poorest in the world really is no other option. the swiss actor bruno ganz has died aged 77. ganz rose to prominence as the star of german movies such as wings of desire and nosferatu. in 2004, he played adolf hitler in the movie downfall which was nominated for best foreign

language film at the academy awards. since then it has become almost as famous for a wave of internet parodies deploying a key scene to poke fun at numerous events. north koreans have braved temperatures of minus 8 degrees to perform a dance tribute to kim jong—un's father in pyongyang. kim jong il's birthday is known as the day of the shining star in north korea and inspired a huge choreographed dance as well as tributes around the country. the day is a key anniversary in the nuclear armed nation and ordinary north koreans often express unequivocal support for the leadership and its policies — at its events. that's it from me, thanks for joining us. it's been bad news for the workers hoping the sunshine would continue into the weekend and someone stole

the sunshine. here is the viewer earlier, not as grey as this everywhere, parts of the midlands and northern england fared fairly well for sunshine. some blue sky here in derbyshire, and most of us see sunshine at some stage on sunday. the decent weather system moves the stand with that at least a chance of seeing a bit of rain around this area of low pressure, bringing the cloud east as we go on through the day tomorrow. the cloud today across england and wales is tending to clear, moving its way northwards in pushing out into the north sea. a lot of cloud for northern ireland and to western scotland, some outbreaks of rain pep p0p scotland, some outbreaks of rain pep pop as well as the wind later on. a mild night, 10 celsius in belfast as we start sunday, so heading it in the morning, plenty of sunshine in the morning, plenty of sunshine in the midlands and across the eastern side of england, but more cloud already rolling into south—west england and north england also. a fairly narrow area of outbreaks of

rain. heavier bursts of rain to begin with for northern ireland and through western scotland and gusty winds particularly in western scotla nd winds particularly in western scotland and the western isles. so this area of cloud and occasional rain slowly moving its way eastwards and we start with some sunshine and cloud increasing in the east, but notice, hardly any rain left as it eventually reaches eastern england. brightening up for wales, western england and northern ireland and scotland, a few showers for northern ireland and north—west scotland but another mild day although quite windy, and they went stay with us, blowing and quite a few showers across northern ireland than to scotla nd across northern ireland than to scotland and eventually north—west england, but an area of cloud and patchy rain for the south west and what will be another frost free nights. for monday, quite when the across northern scotland, blustery elsewhere, the showers could be heavy with hail and thunder, especially western scotland and

north—west england, and still could bea north—west england, and still could be a little damp for south—east england with some patchy rain. as the week goes on, fairly unsettled to the north and west but still mild and milder through the week. this is bbc world news, the headlines: us vice president, mike pence, says the united states will remain in the middle east region to help hunt down the remnants of the so—called islamic state. the battle to claim the last pocket of territory from is is being held up because thousands of civilians remain trapped there. the uk government says its main priority has to be the safety of the public, when considering the case of pregnant teenager shamima begum. she left britain to join the islamic state group and now says she wants to return home from syria. mourners have been paying their respects to cardiff city soccer player emiliano sala, in his native argentina. the 28—year—old died in a plane crash last month. nigeria's electoral commisssion denies coming under external pressure when it took a last minute decision to postone presidential and parliamentary elections. it said there had been problems

with distributing electoral material and insisted the vote would take place next saturday.