hello and welcome to bbc news. i'm reged ahmad. the battle to claim the last pocket of territory from the so—called islamic state group has slowed, because thousands of civilians remain trapped inside the area. us backed kurdish forces launched an attack on is's last remaining stronghold last week. but the american vice president, mike pence, says is in iraq and syria has been decimated. 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. mike pence there. our chief international correspondent lyse doucet is at the security conference in munich, where the us vice president was speaking. well, it was president trump who

said that he would be making a major announcement about the caliphate very soon. the caliphate of course is the territory controlled by islamic state since 2014, it was large swathes of iraq and syria and 110w large swathes of iraq and syria and now they are down to one last mile and syria and once that is gone, it matters. the caliphate is magnet, this lodestone and which was attracting is a must in the region, indeed the world, foreign fighters streaming into iraq and syria. but the problem is that islamic state is not just about territory, it is the problem is that islamic state is notjust about territory, it is this powerful idea which bet on local grievances in iraq and syria and those grievances 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. us airforce transport planes carrying humanitarian aid for venezuela have landed at the colombian border, 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 say the aid had been requested by the venezuelan opposition leader, juan guaido, who declared himself interim president last month. jon ironmonger has the latest. us aid arrives in the colombian border city of cucuta. three military cargo planes carrying food, medicine, clothes and toiletries for the people of venezuela. this is not the first shipment, nor will it be the last shipment, not only from the united states, but we know that many other countries are joining as well. aid has been stockpiled at the request of the venezuelan opposition leader, juan guaido, with further collection points opening up in brazil and the caribbean. speaking at a rally on saturday, the self—proclaimed interim president appealed to volunteers to carry supplies across the border and restated his ultimatum to the armed forces.

translation: once again, the message to the venezuelan armed forces, seven days for humanitarian aid to enter, a week for you to do the right thing and to put yourselves on the side of the constitution. we are authorising the entrance of not only humanitarian aid, but also humanity. us aid administrators say venezuela is in the grip of an economic crisis — leaving children hungry and hospitals without basic medicines. while migrants have been trekking to neighbouring countries in large numbers. the latest airdrops will intensify the stand—off with nicolas maduro, who has called the operation a us—orchestrated show and continued this week to stoke up resistance from the armed forces, saying "yankee, go home".

nicolas maduro: yankee, go home. guaido said he would announce further details on monday about how he planned to get aid into the country, but it's a promise he'll fight hard to keep. maduro‘s still loyal military have barricaded bridge crossings and show no signs of giving way. jon ironmonger, bbc news. let's get some of the day's other news. donald trump's choice to be the new us ambassador to the united nations, heather nauert, has withdrawn her nomination. in a statement, ms nauert said that she believes the decision is in the best interest for her family, after what she describes as a "gruelling two months." the former catholic cardinal theodore mccarrick has been dismissed from the priesthood over allegations of sexual abuse. mccarrick, who's a former archbishop of washington dc, resigned last year and has been living in seclusion. he'd said he could not remember the alleged case of sexual abuse of a 16—year—old boy, which took place more than 50 years ago. flybmi has announced that it

has ceased operations and is filing for administration. all flights have been cancelled with effect from saturday. the airline operates 17 regionaljet aircraft and covers routes to 25 european cities. the carrier had seen a dip in profits in recent months. our business correspondent rob young reports. flybmi, no longerflying. it's cancelled all flights with immediate effect. the company is also filing for administration. the carrier flew more than half a million passengers last year. its smalljets operated on routes from aberdeen, bristol, newcastle, east midlands, sta nsted and others, to 25 european cities. passengers who've been affected are anxious. i'm in belgium at the moment and ijust got the bbc alert that flybmi have gone into administration. all the flights for me to return home are really expensive and flybmi

have said they won't return the £134 that i initially spent, so i don't know how i'm going to get back. flybmi, based here at east midlands airport, says its collapse was unavoidable. it's blamed a spike in the price of fuel and changes in the cost of carbon permits. it said these had undermined efforts to turn a profit. the company statement said: today's news was a surprise to passengers and staff, but the airline is just the latest carrier to get into difficulties. we are now most of the way through what's been a miserable winterfor a large number of airlines. we've seen failures, including germania, small planet, cobalt of cyprus, primera air of iceland, all these small airlines have been collapsing and i'm afraid that flybmi has flown for the last time. passengers booked to travel with flybmi are being told not

to go to the airport unless they have booked an alternative flight, but with school holidays at the moment, the airline's collapse comes at an inconvenient time for many families. meanwhile, the deactivation of a second world war bomb recently discovered in paris could cause major disruption to eurostar services on sunday. five trains between london and the french capital have been cancelled, one will be diverted, and others are expected to be delayed. travellers are encouraged to change their plans. the unexploded bomb was discovered during engineering work at the railway station served by eurostar. the government says its main priority has to be the safety of the public, when considering the case of a british teenager who left the country to join the islamic state group in 2015. the family of shamima begum, who's now 19 and pregnant, 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 put 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." 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 the poster girl of, you know, of that phenomenon of those young girls going off tojoin daesh. but if we take stock of what's happened, we need to see how did she get there and how can we stop other people from going down that route? the home secretary has said

he would prevent people in terrorist organisations returning to britain. and if they do may it back home, they may be prosecuted. it is unclear what that will mean for shamima begum, who was just 15 when she left the uk for syria. but if she does return home, she will have to answer for her actions. eight illegal miners have been rescued from two flooded mines in central zimbabwe. at least 22 bodies have also been retrieved from the mines to the west of the capital, harare. authorities believe up to 70 people were trapped underground near the town of kadoma, when heavy rains flooded mine shafts on tuesday night. the bbc‘s zimbabwe correspondent shingai nyoka has the story. no—one expected there'd be survivors. families, mostly wives with young children, had camped on site for days, watching, waiting, hoping. an unusually risky operation unfolded here. illegal miners working shoulder to shoulder with mining companies, police and soldiers. in the background, the constant

buzz of pumps draining the shafts of water. as the days wore on, hope was fading. translation: we have never experienced such floods in this area and it is so painful to lose our friends in such a way. but then this — one by one, some miners were pulled out off the shafts. —— of. muddy, exhausted, but thankfully, alive. their stories are harrowing. the lucky ones had found air pockets underground, but were neck—deep in water. the grim task of retrieving the dead continues. many bodies remain 40 metres below the ground, trapped in a vast labyrinth of tunnels the illegal miners had dug in their search for gold. many of the dead are young men. the tragedy highlights the dangerous conditions under which small—scale miners here operate. the backbone of the gold economy,

they produce more than 40% of the country's gold with little to no assistance. for now, the rescue operations continue, and the celebrations are intermixed with grief. the families hope the events of the last few days will force authorities to act to prevent future tragedies. shingai nyoka, bbc news. this is bbc news. the headlines: the us vice president says america will remain in the middle east to help hunt down the remnants of so—called islamic state, even after the miltants‘s territory has been reclaimed. us military planes carrying aid for venezuela begin arriving at a colombian border city, where food and medicine are being stockpiled. let's get more now on that battle to claim the last pocket of territory from the islamic state group. cbs correspondent charlie d'agata sent this report from the front line in syria.

the final battle is in its final days, with isis pinned down to an area of around a quarter of a square mile. that's the update we got today from the commander of the us—backed syrian democratic forces, jia furat. he says the final isis village baghuz had not yet fallen, but his ground forces were holding fire and moving forward cautiously because so many civilians remain trapped as human shields. military officials here say they severely underestimated the number of civilians inside that village, when they launched the offensive to crush the last remnants of this so—called caliphate one week ago. first estimated to be around 1500 people, more than twice that many have since flooded out this week, including many isis families. hundreds of isis fighters reportedly surrendered this week, of the 450 or so militants who were thought to be making a last stand. but there's no fighting in here...

and when we last visited the front line on thursday, we found sdf fighters on a more relaxed footing since the final offensive began. apart from sporadic gunfire, a relative calm suggested that the brutal last battle might be coming to end. today, commander furat vowed to broadcast to the world in the coming days the military end of isis. now, we stressed military end because even us—led coalition officials have said isis will remain a threat as an underground insurgency, which raises an important question about exactly when america's 2000 troops will withdraw. charlie d'agata, cbs for bbc news. let's return now to venezuela, where us military planes carrying aid have arrived just over the border in colombia. from caracas, wew no speak to dimitris pa ntoulas, who's a venezuela political analyst. thank you very much for a time.

first of all, this is a lot of aid on the border and is being stopped piled. is it being used as a political football? absolutely, it is an excuse for political footballs. the opposition would argue president maduro tries to make argue president maduro tries to make a big deal of the humanitarian aid just to ensure that it is the opposition that cares about the venezuelan people and also, it is the challenge president nicolas maduro to stop the aid and the show to the world that nicolas maduro does not care about the aid and welfare of his people. so is absolutely a global show now, but everybody... it looks like u nfortu nately we have everybody... it looks like unfortunately we have lost the line there, that was dimitris pantoulas,

there, that was dimitris pantoulas, the venezuelan political analyst and we we re the venezuelan political analyst and we were talking about humanitarian aid being stockpiled on the border. of course, we will return to that story when we can, as it develops. an expected visit to china by the chancellor will now not go ahead. it follows reports that beijng pulled out of trade talks after the defence secretary indicated that britain may be willing to deploy a warship in the pacific. the government says that trip had never been confirmed. ben wright reports. theresa may courting china last year. as the government looks to life after brexit, beijing is important to its plans. the uk wants closer trade links and eventually a new deal, and plans had been made for the chancellor, philip hammond, to make an imminent visit to see chinese officials. the treasury says nothing was ever confirmed, but now the trip is off. why the hiccup? well, it comes days after a pretty bellicose speech by the defence secretary. china is developing its modern military capability and its commercial power. i can announce the first operational mission of hms queen elizabeth will include the mediterranean,

the middle east, and the pacific region, making global britain a reality. pledging to send a british aircraft carrier to china's backyard in the pacific, and possibly create a permanent british presence in the region, are remarks that will have been noticed in beijing. an mod source said it was completely untrue to say the speech had anything to do with philip hammond's trip not happening. but the former chancellor george osborne, who was aggressively pro—china during the cameron government, today said the current british approach was confused. you've got the defence secretary engaging in gunboat diplomacy of a quite old—fashioned kind, at the same time as the chancellor of the exchequer and the foreign secretary are going around saying they want a close economic partnership with china. and ultimately, it's the responsibility of theresa may as prime minister to sort this out, ‘cause at the moment, it looks all at sea. it is a challenge balancing the need to have close economic ties to china

with security and strategic concerns. philip hammond's trip may well be rescheduled, but the uncertainty around it is another reminder of how sensitive relations between the uk and china can be. ben wright, bbc news, westminster. a memorial service has taken place in argentina for the football player emiliano sala, who died in a plane crash last month. 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. applause. emiliano sala's body leaves the grounds of his childhood football club, san martin de progreso, 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, aged 14, to pursue bigger opportunities. he was flying from france to cardiff when his plane disappeared over the english channel on 21 january. the bluebirds had paid a club record of £15 million for the player's transfer from ligue1 nantes. two weeks later, the wreckage was found, and shortly afterwards, sala's body was recovered. the pilot, david ibbotson, is still missing. representatives from his new club travelled to argentina for today's service. people say, well, he's never played for you or... but he was my player, you know? and the feelings i had, i chased him, iwanted 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. the whole club feels very sad, and cardiff, in general, feels very sad after the incident. and today, i think it's good for the family to have some closure. no cameras were allowed

inside the building where 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, "your legacy will be eternal." ahead of today's service, sala's boyhoood club, san martin de progreso, 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." natalio cosoy, bbc news, de progreso. (pres) international observers have jointly appealed to nigerians to back the democratic process, after the electoral commission made a last minute decision to postpone elections there. the group, which includes the african union and the commonwealth, has called for calm, while the electoral commission says politics played no part in its decision to delay

the election, blaming logistical problems. 0ur correspondent tomi 0ladipo 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 at issues 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, and 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 interest of our democracy. 0ur decision is entirely taken by the commission. it has nothing to do with security, nothing to do with political influence, nothing to do with availability of resources. that was the chair of the nigerian electoral commission. bruno ganz — the swiss actor most famous for playing hitler in the film downfall — has died at the age of 77. it's believed he'd been suffering from cancer. he collaborated with some of the world's leading film—makers, including germany's wim wenders and the american director,

jonathan demme. the bbc‘s tim allman looks back at his life and career. hitler's bunker, the dying days of world war ii, and the performance that showcased the power and talent of bruno ganz. this scene would go on to inspire thousands of internet parodies, but that shouldn't detract from what was a raw depiction of fury, delusion, and impending doom. despite winning numerous awards, ganz himself later admitted he was haunted by the role, portraying a madman, but a madman who was still human. i can't see you, but i know you're here. he was nothing if not versatile, though, here playing an angel who chooses to become mortal in wim wenders's wings of desire. this time, he was displaying sensitivity, vulnerability

and compassion. tributes were soon paid to the swiss actor. germany's foreign minister, heiko maas, tweeted. .. american filmmaker kevin smith said... and the organisers of the berlin film festival tweeted... bruno ganz was born in 1941 and grew up in zurich. he decided to become an actor when a friendly lighting technician showed him around the local theatre. he worked both on the stage and the silver screen, in hollywood and in europe, an actor of nuance, of warmth and humanity. and, at germany's most prestigious awards ceremony, a standing ovation for bruno ganz who, as the host put it, is once more in the sky above berlin.

the actor, bruno ganz, who's died at the age of 77. the canals of venice have lit up with an abundance of light and colour for the annual carnival festivitites. hundreds of masked revellers lined the infamous streets to watch a floating parade, which included elaborately decorated boats and a light show. "blame the moon" is the theme of this year's parade — to mark 50 years since man first walked on the moon. the carnival tradition dates back centuries and is famous for the stylised masks donned by revellers. it'll run for two weeks. i'll be back with the headlines in a moment. first, the weather with nick miller. hello. after hitting a high of 17 degrees on friday,

saturday could only manage 14. of course, it didn't help, it certainly felt cooler if your skies looked like this. but there's still some springlike sunshine to be found here and there. and in fact, parts of eastern england could be as high as 16 degrees during sunday, because we're all going to see a bit of sunday sunshine, either side though of an area of cloud, with the chance of rain spreading east across the uk. got low pressure to the west of us, you see the swirl in the satellite picture here. so it's this cloud which is going to move on through, but it is a weakening system, and some of us could welljust stay dry throughout. so this is how we're starting the day, nowhere particularly cold. and actually, for many of us, it will be a sunny start, but that's away from this area of cloud and some rain to the west. notice how narrow it is, though, as it moves into south—west england, into wales, knocking on the door of north—west england. most of its rain is now done from northern ireland at this stage, it's 9:00am in the morning. there's still some heavier bursts affecting parts of western scotland. there is a stiff, southerly wind out of this, as well. it is going to be a windier day compared with saturday. so what we have, then, is a fairly thin area of cloud, and the chance of seeing some rain,

that's gradually going to push its way further east. so gone from northern ireland, we'll soon have the sunshine back into western scotland, wales, and western england as well, and it'll be dry for much of the rest of the day, bar the odd shower. so cloud reaches into eastern scotland and into eastern england. it's really hard to pick out any rain, because most of it has just fizzled out. it's essentially dry. it is a windier day. these are average speeds, western scotland could be gusting up to around 50 mph or so going into the evening. it's a touch milder, though, through parts of eastern england, helped by some sunshine here. 16 celsius could well be seen. now, we could well hold on to a bit of cloud for east anglia and the south—east of england on through sunday night and into monday, delivering a bit of rain at times. still quite breezy, quite windy going into monday, so no frost, and further showers moving in towards the north—west. this line of showers just pushing its way further south, as well, into parts of northern england and wales as monday starts. monday, many of us will get to see some sunshine, away from east anglia and the south—east of england, with thicker cloud at times and the chance of rain. plenty of showers on the brisk wind coming into the north—west. hail, thunder possible out of these, as well, may merge in western scotland to give some

longer spells of rain. and temperatures are just taking a small step backwards, and another weather system coming in into tuesday could welljust keep that cooler feel going for a time, before it could well become very mild again later in the week. this is bbc news. the headlines: us vice president mike pence says the united states will stay in the middle east to help hunt down the remnants of the so—called islamic state. the battle for the last pocket of is territory is being held up because civilians remain trapped there. us military aircraft have begun delivering humanitarian aid for venezuela to the colombian border. president maduro has warned that aid could be a us pretext for a military intervention. 0pposition leaderjuan guaido called for demonstrations to persuade the military to allow the aid in. eight illegal gold miners have been pulled alive from flooded mines in zimbabwe, but officials fear dozens more are still trapped underground. more than 20 bodies have been recovered since the incident happened on tuesday night.