i'm sharanjit leyl in singapore — the headlines... is the end near for islamic state's last syrian stronghold 7 as fighting continues, donald trump calls on world leaders to take back is members and put them on trial. we go inside venezuela, as the standoff over humanitarian aid continues — and visit a town where the lack of food and medicine is claiming lives. i'm kasia madera in london. also in the programme... is this a me too moment for medicine in australia? the problems facing female surgeons — that could be forcing them out of the operating theatre. and preparing to make its asian debut, the multi—award winning musical, matilda, is opening in singapore. good morning.

it's 8am in singapore, midnight in london and 2am in syria, where reports say extremists have been blocking roads out of the last area held by the so—called islamic state, preventing hundreds of civilians from fleeing. us president donald trump has been predicting the final defeat of is on the ground. earlier he urged europe — and the uk — to take back hundreds of so—called islamic state members captured in syria and iraq and put them on trial. he warned that if nothing was done, america would be forced to release the is detainees. shaun hassett reports. this smoke is rising above the village, part of the last pocket of

land still under the control of state. us air strikes are providing the assyrian democratic forces cover to clear out the remaining militants. booze is largely a ghost town but some civilians are still trapped inside. stf fighters say they are cautiously going from house to house looking for militants who say they are using civilians as human shields. translation: thanks to the efforts of our colleagues, islamic state is generally over, only a few number of houses remain, home is too many people, including civilians and iis militants. with total victory in sight, attention is turning to what happens next. earlier in a series of tweets, the us president donald trump urged britain, france, germany and other european allies... technically it would not be the us

who releases them. that would largely fall to the kurdish authorities but with american forces withdrawing they would struggle to cope. this is a big problematic issue because these prisoners, these is fighters prisoners are still pending here, they are european countries refused to take them back and at the same time the authorities don't have that capacity already to don't have that capacity already to do trials for them because the region here is not stable yet. while islamic state might be facing military defeat, the legacy of its attempt to create a caliphate remains. the us president talked about 800 fighters, it is not only 800 fighters, there are hundreds of theirfamily 800 fighters, there are hundreds of their family members in 800 fighters, there are hundreds of theirfamily members in north syria. accepting fighters and their families back create security issues

and is often unpopular. that is being underscored by the case of the british citizen who travelled to syria four years ago. she now wants to return home and a lawyerfor her family says she has given birth to a baby boy in a syrian refugee camp. they want the uk company to accept its responsibility to a one—day—old uk citizen and have that may be repatriated in the uk where it is safe, hopefully with the emergency travel documents. opinion is split as to whether mother and son should be allowed to turn —— return. if although it does admit some responsibilities. we are obliged at some stage at least to take them back. that doesn't mean we can put in place the necessary security measures to monitor their activities and make sure they are not

misbehaving. with a campaign against islamic state almost over, european governments will have no shortage of complicated cases to deal with. on the bbc news website we have an extended article detailing how different countries treat islamic state returnees. now an interview done on american television. the former acting director of the fbi says the deputy us attorney general, rod rosenstine, considered measures to remove president trump from office in 2017. andrew mccabe told cbs television that mr rosenstein discussed with him how many cabinet members would support such a step after mr trump abruptly dismissed the fbi director, james comey. here's a bit of that interview. a discussion of the 25th amendment was simply rod raised the issue and discussed it with me in the context of thinking about how many other

cabinet officials might support such an effort. rosenstein was actually openly talking about whether there was a majority in the cabinet who would vote to remove the cabinet? that's correct. that interview aired on cbs television. also making news today.... the saudi crown prince, mohammed bin salman is visiting pakistan where he announced investment agreements worth twenty—billion dollars, including an eight billion dollar oil refinery. he described it as just the start of an economic tie—up. the prime minister of poland, mateusz morawiecki, has cancelled a visit to israel in a growing row over anti—semitism. mr morawiecki was angered by comments from the israeli prime minister, benjamin netanyahu, was quoted in israeli media as saying "poles co—operated with the germans" during the holocaust. he later stressed he was not referring to the polish nation, or all polish people. british prime minister theresa may has called on conservative mps to put aside their "personal

preferences" and support her brexit deal in the house of commons. her plans were rejected in a vote last week but one of her senior ministers has indicated that there might be a solution to the disagreements within the party, that doesn't involve reopening the withdrawal agreement. protestors have been back on the streets of paris again, after police used tear—gas to try to control them on saturday night. the gilets—jaunes, or yellow vests, as they're called, started as a protest against high fuel prices. take a look at these pictures that a viewer, sarah church, sent us of a flock of starlings behind her house here in the uk. she said it was "an amazing natural event to behold." popular theories suggest flying like this is either a way to confuse and avoid predators; a way to keep warm; orjust a massive signpost in the sky for a safe place to roost. a fire has swept through

more than 200 slum dwellings in southern bangladesh. police and firefighters say at least nine people were killed and more than 50 others injured — — in the city of chittagong. sodaba haidare reports. the fire broke out in the early hours of sunday morning when the slum dwellers were asleep. more than 200 shanty homes were destroyed, the houses of bamboo, tin and tarpaulin never stood a chance. these people are already among the country's poorest. now they have nothing. a mother shouts, everything is gone. they can only comfort each other.

amongst the dead, four members of the same family. more than 50 others we re the same family. more than 50 others were injured. the death toll is expected to rise. officials are investigating the cause of the fire but say it may have been generated bya but say it may have been generated by a short circuit. fires regularly break out in bangladesh's slums, where millions live in squalid conditions. safety regulations are rarely followed, and accidents like these kill hundreds every year. humanitarian aid meant for venezuelans has been arriving in us military planes on the colombian border. president nicolas maduro denies there's a humanitarian crisis, saying the relief is a cover for a us invasion, and his troops will not let it through. but venezuela's opposition leader juan guaido has called for crowds to converge on the border to collect the aid. our international correspondent orla guerin reports from yare where the lack of food and medicines are claiming lives. the eyes of the revolution are everywhere.

president maduro's militia still trying to keep the people in line. and in the town of yare, locals queue to sign his petition against the us. many here have given years to the socialist cause, and this was a venezuelan showpiece. but the facade is crumbling. if you need medical help in yare, you don't look to the government. it struggles to provide even a painkiller. you come here, to a clinic run by the catholic church, with support from the european union. outside, the local priest, padre pancho, tries to reassure his suffering flock, urging them to keep faith. translation: it's a catastrophe, a dictatorship. the people are on the

verge of rising up. it's like gunpowder about to explode, because every day is more difficult. the padre says between 10 and 20 babies are dying every month. and when we asked who had already buried a loved one, here was the show of hands. this is just one street corner in one town. everybody here has raised their hands. every single one of these women say they have lost a relative in the last few years because of hunger or because of lack of medicine. and imagine that across the whole country — imagine how many people may have died needlessly. we went from the clinic to the cemetery, with lisette and her granddaughter winifer.

it's a year since they buried winifer‘s cousin. they say the sweet natured, outgoing girl was admitted to hospital with a respiratory infection. there were no drugs to treat her. one day later, she was dead. "every time i remember her, i feel like crying," says winifer. "she was just 22, just beginning to live, and she was studying." "my auntjust cries all the time." and the further you go, the more suffering you find. in the countryside nearby, a landscape of lush beauty — until you look closer. this putrid stream brings parasites and sickness to the village of tocoron. it's the only drinking water. sojusobele has to do

this every day. her dream of being a doctor has been left behind. her family can't afford to send her to school. at 14, her lessons are about hardship. "before, we never went hungry," she told me. if "we always ate well." "everyone is hungry now, and mums and dads have to stop eating so they can feed their children." her aunt, angie, is an example of that — going hungry herself to spare her children. her husband complained at work about how they have to live. the next day, he was dismissed from his governmentjob. her neighbour, esteban, also lives hand to mouth with his family. he can't let go of the dream of venezuela's revolution.

but for others here, it's long gone. orla guerin, bbc news, yare. we have much more on the website. sexual harassment, bullying and a contempt for motherhood are driving aspiring female surgeons out of operating theatres. a new study has found that women account for just 11% of surgeons in the uk and australasia and a higher proportion are leaving the profession. the findings come as a young female surgeon made headlines last week, after exposing the treatment she endured in australian hospitals. dr rhea liang is a surgeon based in queensland and has looked into the conditions for female surgeons working in australian hospitals. of course the case has really hit

the headlines. she is not the only one. explain when you were talking to various different female surgeons what kind of pattern of treatment did you find? so her experience is certainly not the only one, or unusual. all our interviewees reported very similar experiences, many of them are gendered, to do with harassment and discrimination and beliefs about not being able to bea and beliefs about not being able to be a good surgeon if you became a mother. but actually a lot of the things reported affect everyone, not just women, in terms of long hours of work and fatigue, and the efforts required to raise children while doing training. the long hours that we re doing training. the long hours that were being explained during her blog did seem incredibly intense. there was one week when she was doing so

many hours that itjust seemed impossible for her to continue, which eventually she did leave. yes, and they have been traditional in surgery for a very long time. there has been a belief that somehow toughening up people makes them into better surgeons but in actual fact recent evidence has shown that fatigue impairs your performance and makes it more likely to make an error, and that this impact on patient care. so there has been a great deal of effort by the college of sevens and australasia to put in place guidelines about safer working conditions. the difficulty is that this applies really only to our trainees, who fall under the governance of the college of surgeons, whereas this doctor was what we call and an unaccredited trainee, or what we might call a service trainee in the uk, and that is not under the governance of the couege is not under the governance of the college of servants. we would very much like for those guidelines to be applied to all junior doctors,

regardless of their level of training. where you touched upon some of the abusive behaviour as being gender specific, can you just elaborate? yes, so we found that surgical training is demanding by itself, but a woman had additional —— that women had additional work to do to fit into the environment created for them, which is really very masculine because of course 89% of surgeons at the time of the study we re of surgeons at the time of the study were male. so there was gender harassment and discrimination, things like pictures of sex positions put up on the walls of residents common areas. there were some disclosures of sexual assault, but other than those very extreme examples, there were a multitude of exa m ples of examples, there were a multitude of examples of things that might seem quite minor, but they do make a woman feel very much as though they are the other, a different person,,

little comments and discrimination is about why you ought not be there oi’ is about why you ought not be there or why you shouldn't have children. thank you very much for bringing your report to our attention, many thanks. my pleasure. you're watching newsday on the bbc. still to come on the programme... as the musical matilda is set to make its asian debut in singapore — we speak to two cast members here in the studio. this is newsday on the bbc. i'm sharanjit leyl in singapore... and i'm kasia madera in london. our top stories... donald trump calls on world leaders to take back members of the so—called islamic state — and put them on trial. a fire in the south of bangladesh has swept through more than two hundred slum dwellings. police say at least nine people were killed and more than fifty others injured. let's take a look at some front pages

from around the world. we'll start with the international edition of the japan times which is covering china's rejection ofjoining the inf missile treaty between the us and russia. the paper reports that a request to join the pact — set up to curb a nuclear arms race — was turned down by china, which said it would place unfair limits on their military. and the new york times is covering the apparent changing landscape of banking in europe in the face of brexit uncertainty. it reports, a number of wall street institutions are moving away from london — spreading across other eu financial hubs. and the south china morning post reports on some records broken by marathon runners. this years hong kong marathon took place over the weekend with record breaking times for both the men's and women's winners. after seven succesful years on the stage in london,

the multi—award winning magical tale, ‘matilda the musical‘ will make its debut in singapore. it's the first time the show, based on roald dahl‘s book about a little girl with special powers, has ventured to the continent of asia after touring australia and new zealand. but the lead actress is from much closer to home. singaporean sofia poston who plays ‘matilda' joined me earlier with bethany dickson who plays ‘miss honey'. i began by asking sofia what it was like taking on such a big job. well, it is a very big role to be m, well, it is a very big role to be in, unlike last year, but it's really exciting and fun, and ijust can't wait to start. wow, you say it's exciting and fun, but surely a spot of nerves too? how do you get over the nervousness of being on

stage doing such a big role? well, my grandmother said that you have to imagine everyone sitting on the toilet. laughter and does that help? yes. tell us what it is like playing matilda, do you have famous songs?|j what it is like playing matilda, do you have famous songs? i love naughty, because you have to be a little bit naughty, and i'm naughty myself, i'm a little bit naughty myself, i'm a little bit naughty myself, but if you ask my sister, she will say i'm always naughty. so you've got to be naughty but you can't be too naughty, because you have to learn your lines for this, and that's really hard to do. tell us some and that's really hard to do. tell us some of the challenges of being ina big us some of the challenges of being in a big musical show like this. well, it's hard, because some of the lines are really difficult to memorise, but all i do is ijust say them over and over again, and they just become part of me. wright, bethany, you play miss honey, a really lovely character. you come from a theatrical family yourself, so tell us a little bit about what

started you in stage performing, and what do you make of matilda, particularly this asian version? yes, igrew particularly this asian version? yes, i grew up in a very theatrical family and it was a very natural thing for me to start doing with my life. my mother was on stage very much when i was little, so i always watched her and thought, i wonder if i will do that one day. and i've landed up being involved in this spectacular production of matilda. it's an incredible story, and basicallyjust brought to life onstage in a way that people can't quite believe, especially with a child like sofia, who is only nine years old playing this of mammoth character, this incredible body of work that she has to remember and pull off every night. yeah, so do you get quite protective? i mean, your character plays a very protective, supportive role to matilda in the play, so do you feel you are quite protected? what i think the most interesting thing now being a mum is not really protection

or feeling protective, its being amazed at what a child can achieve, andl amazed at what a child can achieve, and i mean, she's nine years old, my little boy is almost two, so in seven years' time, the thought my child could be doing something like that, it's an incredible thought. i feel a sense of pride for their parents. my child has a few words and i'm so proud of him. that'sjust it, yourfamily and i'm so proud of him. that'sjust it, your family will be there on opening it, your family will be there on o . it, your family will be there on opening night? yes, my grandparents are coming and my cousins, and my teacher. and they will all be cheering you on. how exciting. tell us cheering you on. how exciting. tell usa cheering you on. how exciting. tell us a little bit about what it is like to prepare for opening night with all of your family and friends watching. how does that make you feel? well, it makes me feel nervous and excited. nervous cited in fact, and excited. nervous cited in fact, a word that my sister tara made up.

if you could wave your magic wand, what role would you like to take next? there are lots, but i want to be in the sound of music, and somebody should make a musical of bfg. and she is absolutely right, you have been watching newsday. i'm kasia madera in london. and i'm sharanjit leyl in singapore. we will be seeing what it is and whether it's working forjapan. these are nearly 10,000 naked men. and we're going to leave you these pictures from japan — around 10,000 near—naked men have been scrambling to find two sacred sticks. this is part of an ancient japanese festival. whoever find the sticks it will bring them much lunch, so it is believed —— much luck. it has felt a lot like spring in the last few days, temperatures getting into the mid to high teens. looks like the temperatures will ease back down a little bit for at least two or three

days, before they will start rising once again. in fact by the weekend, it could be exceptionally mild across the uk. in the short—term, clouds are drifting across the country, these are weather fronts, also some showers in the forecast too, so not a completely dry picture on monday. in fact, the showers getting into many western parts, some across scotland too, they could be short and sharp through the course of monday but i think as far as early monday morning is concerned, many of us still having a lot of dry weather and very mild. monday morning, 9 degrees in the south of the country, that is closer to our daytime temperature and that is start of the day. monday, lots of showers across western scotland, a bit of a breeze around the coasts, hailand bit of a breeze around the coasts, hail and thunder possible and one or two showers also possible further south, but the further east you are the better the weather will be. i suspect newcastle and hull will stay quite dry and bright. tuesday,

another weather front approaching but ahead had a bit the winds are blowing out of the south—west, so a very mild direction. despite the cloud and rain it will still feel pretty mild in some western areas of the uk. i think it will eventually cloud over, turning quite hazy across eastern and southern areas but it will be dry here, temperatures getting up to 11 or 12 degrees, rain expected for belfast and then overnight that will sweep through. wednesday, notice the milderair through. wednesday, notice the milder air reaching further north. that means the temperatures will start to creep further up on wednesday. the morning is looking cloudy and rainy. then in the afternoon that weather front moves out of the picture, this skies should clear up a bit, and those temperatures will start rising, we are expecting 13 degrees, maybe even 14 are expecting 13 degrees, maybe even 1a in one or two spots on wednesday. come thursday, that is when the winds switched direction, they will

start coming from the south, the clouds will break up, it will start warming up, widely by friday those temperatures will be in the mid teens, not just temperatures will be in the mid teens, notjust in the south but also in the very far north of the uk, scotland could get up to 16 as early as thursday or friday. friday into saturday, this southerlyjet strea m into saturday, this southerlyjet stream will scoop up the warm air. it could get up to 18 degrees. i'm kasia madera with bbc news. our top story. president trump has called on world leaders to put so—called islamic state members on trial. reports from syria sayjihadists are blocking roads out of the last islamic state stronghold. venezuela's self—declared interim leader, juan guaido, is calling for people to cross borders and bring humanitarian aid into the country next week. and this story is raising the odd smile — and eyebrows — on bbc.com. just have a look at this.

around 10,000 near—naked men injapan are taking part in a 500—year—old festival. they have to find sticks called "shingi" which are thrown into the crowd. those who grab one are believed to be the luckiest men of the year. that's all. do stay with bbc news. just after midnight,