welcome to bbc news. i'm maryam moshiri. our top stories: syria's government says it will send troops to "confront turkish aggression," as turkey continues its military operation against the kurds. new tactics from hong kong's hardcore, pro—democracy protestors, attacking pro—beijing targets, while dodging the police. japan deploys thousands of troops and rescue workers, as the true scale of typhoon hagibis becomes apparent. and we talk to one of the most acclaimed directors of all time, martin scorsese, about his latest film, the irishman.

it film, the irishman. is about power, love and betrayal, it is about power, love and betrayal, and ultimately the price you betrayal, and ultimately the price y°u pay betrayal, and ultimately the price you pay for the life you leave. -- lead. the united states is to withdraw all its remaining troops — up to 1,000 soldiers — from northern syria, as turkey's offensive against the kurds intensifies. the us defence secretary said kurdish fighters would now be backed by syria and russia, and america could not be caught between two opposing armies. tonight, syrian government troops are said to be heading towards the border after agreeing a deal with the kurds. the turkish operation is aimed at creating a so—called "safe zone" in that area. the un says more than 100,000 people have been fleeing, and families of is fighters are said to be among those who've escaped from a camp that was guarded by the kurds. aleem maqbool reports from inside northern syria.

the anguish that only comes from loss. this brother and sister mourn theirfather, who was killed in the shelling by turkey of their residential neighbourhood. the kurds here have already suffered so much, and every day of turkey's offensive brings new chaos. these are thought to be just a handful of the hundreds of women and children who, as turkey's attacks got closer, escaped a kurdish camp that held them. most were relatives of islamic state group fighters. it is not the first massive security breach brought on by the turkish aggression. five captured is fighters escaped from a prison here, too, after it was shelled.

we found it abandoned, the remaining prisoners moved into other already overwhelmed facilities. the authorities here say they are already struggling with the resources to hold many thousands of what are among the most dangerous prisoners in the world, from the so—called islamic state group. what they warn is that with any further destabilisation caused by this assault from turkey, many more could escape and potentially regroup, undoing the massive effort it took to capture them and take their territory back. already, is says it was behind this car bomb that killed three people. the fear is that far worse is to come. all the while, turkey's offensive goes on. this evening, a convoy travelling

close to the border was attacked with more kurdish casualties, and with us troops having now been ordered to leave this part of the country, and syria saying it is sending troops into kurdish areas, more turmoil is on the horizon. aleem maqbool, bbc news, in northern syria. wael alzayat is ceo of an organistaion that promotes muslim american civic engagement and political mobilization, and a professor at georgetown university school of foreign service. he joins us from washington. these reports are saying the kurds have done a deal with the assad regime. if that is the case, how significant would it be? quite significant, potentially. it would enable the syrian regime to move into areas it has long sought to reclaim its control over. quite frankly, it hands the regime the areas on a silver platter because those are the areas that the international community and other

countries fought a very hard to liberate from isis. we have heard from the commander of the kurdish lead syrian defence force, saying that a compromise was preferable to the genocide of the kurdish people. how likely do you think a genocide could be? from the perspective of the ypg, these kurdish militias, one can sympathise with their view is that this could be a genocide against them, their fighters, that this could be a genocide against them, theirfighters, their families. certainly i would be worried if i were them. their turks and the allied arab militias moving against them, these particular militias were actually evicted by the ypg in an ethnic cleansing campaignafew the ypg in an ethnic cleansing campaign a few years ago. so there is some bad blood between them. i do not accept the statement that there is an impending genocide against all kurdish syrians, kurdish syrians account for about 10— 12% of the

population. the turkish operation and the syrian allies of theirs are not interested in annihilating the syrian kurds. they are specifically going after the ypg. in terms of isis in northern syria, how worried should we be about what is happening now and its impact on isis fighters that are there? we should be worried as well. this chaos, this fighting between a nato ally and isis partners and the possibility of the regime and the russians are benefiting from it creates a vacuum, clearly, there are some prisoners who have already been attacked and some people who have escaped from them. so this group can easily merge into the local population, go underground, and recruit again. and soi underground, and recruit again. and so i would be concerned, though i don't assess this to be a major crisis yet, because the caliphate, as it was called, was defeated physically. and it is going to take a lot of things happening for it to

come back to the strength it was before. it is certainly a security challenge and they have the capacity and willingness to carry out suicide bombings and other attacks against "soft ta rg ets" bombings and other attacks against "soft targets" in europe and elsewhere. in terms of the united states and its role in all of this, how do you view the last moves by the united states? how big a mistake do you think it has made here? well, it was a major mistake by the... well, it seems it was mainly trumped himself who made this decision, arbitrarily, without notifying the pentagon or other key cabinet officials. —— trump himself. we really need to go back to 2014 and ask ourselves whether it was prudent for the 0bama administration to bet its entire counter isis strategy on the ypg, knowing fully well that the turkish would never accept them on the southern border, and a lot of the southern border, and a lot of the syrian people don't identify with the ypg. but what alternatives... with the ypg. but what alternatives. . . they with the ypg. but what alternatives... they are a minority within a minority. what alternatives did the admonish that the 0bama

administration have at that point? it could have supported the moderate syrian opposition and be fsa fighters who were in aleppo, and throughout the country, fighting against the syrian regime and the russian air force. but that was going to be your most reliable, credible ground force. and u nfortu nately credible ground force. and unfortunately that was not the decision that was taken. thank you so much forjoining us. thank you. there's been more violence across hong kong for a 19th consecutive weekend, with protestors smashing buildings and clashing with the police. disturbances were not on the scale of previous pro—democracy demonstrations but still dozens of arrests were made. in a highly symbolic move, a group of protesters have dragged a large statue depicting a masked demonstrator onto a famous outcrop overlooking hong kong. the 3m—tall lady liberty, a key fixture of the huge anti—government protests, now rests on lion rock. the authorities say one officer was injured during sunday's protests when he was slashed in the neck. a warning — you may find some details in nick beake's report

distressing. with no organised mass rally in hong kong today, the hard—core took matters into their own hands. trying to add fuel to a protest movement which feels like it's losing momentum. although they will tell you their so—called fight for freedom will not stop. as the battle lines were drawn, the police held back. and soon government buildings, including this post office were being targeted, as well as chinese businesses. well these hard—core protesters aimless for a long time but basically they are snaking their way through the streets, and when they spot a place that they deem to be linked with the mainland, they attack it. in this case, it's a chinese shop, we imagine they will disperse pretty soon before the police can arrive and they will keep on going through the streets.

this area, tai po, was one of many across hong kong where mobile mobs roamed while they could. well, the inevitable has happened, the police have finally turned up, in numbers, the protesters have already left and this is a game of cat and mouse that is playing out across this part of hong kong. once again thousands of police had to be deployed to keep the peace, and found themselves under attack. this was the moment one officer was slashed in the neck, the assailant was detained and the officer taken to hospital, conscious. hong kong police have been stretched forfour months now and have been forced to deny repeated accusations of heavy—handedness. they're now trying to find protesters, but to be honest it's like looking for a needle in a haystack, they're running through the streets. but it seems a lot of the hard—core protesters have simply melted away into the night. all the while life goes on, but it's far from normal. this week the city's leaders

will say more about how they intend to tackle its deep—rooted problems. it is an almighty task. let's get some of the day's other news. details have emerged about the brexit negotiations which have taken place over the weekend, with the eu's chief negotiator, michel barnier, briefing other european diplomats. the eu believes british proposals for tracking goods in northern ireland are unworkable, and it's understood the uk has dropped a demand that the northern ireland assembly have a veto on new customs arrangements. britain and the european union have both said that a lot of work needs to be done to reach a revised brexit deal, following further talks in brussels. eu leaders will meet on thursday for their last scheduled summit before the current deadline for the uk to leave the bloc on october 31st. exit polls in poland's general election suggest the governing right—wing party, law and justice, will win almost forty—four percent of the vote, giving it a majority in the lower house of parliament.

its main challenger, the centrist civic coalition, has twenty—seven percent in the exit polls. an exit poll in tunisia indicates that the independent candidate kais saied has won a resounding victory in the presidential run—off election. the poll showed mr saied with more than 70% of the vote against his rival, the media magnate nabil karoui. emergency teams injapan have been working through the night as the true scale of the damage caused by typhoon hagibis becomes clearer. huge swathes of land in several prefectures remain under water, after record rainfall caused rivers to break their banks. more than thirty people have died, and many others are missing. 0ur correspondent rupert wingfield—hayes travelled north of tokyo, where rescue efforts are still underway. this is a town in the japanese alps, much of it enveloped by brown dirty floodwater. on saturday night the levees burst, unable to withstand the onslaught from typhoon hagibis. all day the military has been racing to pluck those stranded from rooves and balconies. it is a story that has been repeated over and

over. this afternoon we made it to kawagoe, an hour north of tokyo, here to the rivers have burst their banks. what's truly remarkable about this typhoon is its scale. there are floods and rescues like this going on in at least eight different prefectures right across the main island ofjapan. people we talked to are shocked and numb. translation: i have lived here 32 years, this the first time i've seen anything like this, i was shaking with fear last night. translation: i watched the live camera with the river, and i could see it coming up and up, getting closer and closer to the top. i never thought something of this would happen in my neighbourhood. i was so surprised. japan is just starting to count the economic cost of this single storm.

0utside nagano city, a line of shiny bulet trains swamped by the floodwaters. each one of these trains costs us$29 million. stay with us on bbc news, still to come: the parents of harry dunn, the 19—year—old killed in a fatal car crash, take their search forjustice to america. parts of san francisco least affected by the earthquake are returning to life, but in the marina area where most of the damage was done, they are more conscious than ever of how much has been destroyed. in the 19 years since he was last here, he has gone from being a little—known revolutionary to an experienced and successful diplomatic operator. it was a 20—pound bomb which exploded on the fifth floor of the grand hotel, ripping a hole in the front of the building.

this government will not weaken, democracy will prevail. it fills me with humility and gratitude to know that i have been chosen as the recipient of this foremost of earthly honours. this catholic nation held its breath for the men they called the 33. and then, bells tolled nationwide to announce the first rescue and chile let out an almighty roar. this is bbc news, the latest headlines: syria's government says it will send troops to ‘confront turkish aggression‘ — as turkey continues its military operation against the kurds. hong kong's hardcore, pro—democracy protestors, employ new tactics — as they attack pro—beijing targets, while dodging the police. let's return to our top story now.

as turkey continues its military operation against kurdish forces in syria, the bbc has discovered three british orphans trapped inside an is camp in syria. believed to be from london, their parentsjoined the islamic state group and were then killed in the fighting. quentin sommerville reports. beyond this fence, the lost children of the caliphate. this was the camp earlier in the week, before the turkish advance. the children's only sin? their parents supported the islamic state group. many of their parents died fighting for is. this group are all orphans. countless childhoods violated and put on hold. it's here that we found

amira earlier this week. a little girl who almost forgot who she was. this is her brother, hamza. and here her sister, heba. amira was taken from britain when she was just five years old. now ten, she struggles to write in english. the words "london, the uk" don't come easily. her kurdish guardian says amira is british, but after the trauma of the last five years,

she can't even remember her grandmother's name. this is no place for children. they need to be rescued. many are sick or injured. amira's sister, heba, is eight years old. her body bears the marks of an almost unimaginable horror. it's too upsetting for them to describe. the mental scars of the last days of the caliphate in baghuz run even deeper. the onslaught in baghuz saw hundreds die as coalition bombs set

off is weapons stores. the children cowered in shallow pits. the bbc has informed the government of amira, hamza and heba's plight. but the authorities are facing an even bigger headache, now. as turkish forces advanced on the camp, security was breached today and hundreds escaped. british women and children may be among them. the whereabouts of amira, heba and hamza and the 21 other orphans is unknown. syria was never a safe

place to keep detainees. especially children. now they may be lost forever. and somewhere in london, there's a grandmother waiting, not knowing if they are alive or dead. quentin somerville, bbc news. the parents of 19—year—old harry dunn who was killed in a road accident involving an american woman with diplomatic immunity — have arrived in the united states where they hope to raise awareness about the case. the driver — anne sacoolas — left the uk shortly after the crash in northamptonshire in august. 0ur correspondent duncan kennedy was on board the plane with harry's parents and sent this report. harry dunn's parents left heathrow in what has now become a transatlantic search for justice. harry died last august after his motorbike collided with a car. the car was driven by anne sacoolas, who left britain for the united states shortly after the accident. she has now issued a statement

through her lawyer, which says: but speaking to me on board their flight to new york, charlotte and tim said while they want to meet mrs sacoolas too, its the british police she should be talking to. we felt like we've really got a breakthrough, we finally had confirmed that the immunity that we didn't think she had has been confirmed, that she doesn't have it. certainly since she absconded back to the usa. the statement from her lawyer is promising, that we we may be able to hopefully get a meeting put together. i am unsure, if i am honest. i'm more shocked. but hopeful that something can come of this. at the place where harry died in northamptonshire, new signs have been put up to warn motorists to drive on the left.

it's alleged that mrs sacoolas, the wife of an american diplomat at a nearby base, was driving on the right at the time of the accident. finding out what happened on that road in northamptonshire is why harry's parents have come to new york. yes, they want to meet anne sacoolas to hear her explanation face—to—face, but most of all, they want her to return to britain. charlotte and tim didn't want to come here. but they say they have to do something for harry and will go any distance to honour him. duncan kennedy, bbc news, new york. he's one of the most acclaimed directors of all time — with films including taxi driver, goodfellas and raging bull. martin scorsese's latest, the irishman, is about organised crime in post—war america. about it 0ur arts editor will gompertz has been speaking to him and about the technique he used to turn the clock back

on his actors. management can only fire a driver on very specific charges, so, do you ever show up late? no. drink on the job? no. do you every hit anybody? 0n thejob? yeah. i don't think so. it's about power, it's about power, love, betrayal, and then ultimately, the price you pay for the life you lead. i'm here to defend you, right? right. we could not get any financing from the hollywood studios. what do you want? like, do you want to know if i did it or not? nobody was interested in making a film with me and bob any more. i just don't think they thought the audience was there. the biggest theme going through the whole thing is, of course, it's about old age. old age. yeah? it's about the ageing process and looking back on our lives. the ageing process, yes, the ageing process, ultimately. without scaring an audience, saying, we don't want to go and see a film about old age!

the way around that problem was to go high—tech and digitally de—age, by several decades, the three septuagenarian male leads, al pacino, joe pesci and robert de niro. are you happy with the de—ageing? yes, we had started out one way, we ended up redoing shots that we did originally in the first week. six months later, we redid those shots because the technology was better. the issue, i thought, with it, wasn't the facial expressions so much, but the bodies. so, bob de niro, a 70—something—year—old man, de—aged around his face but his body is still a 70—year—old man and it moves like a 70—something—year—old man? at times, probably, yes, at times. you make him climb over some rocks to chuck away a gun. oh, well, that... that was, well, it was early in the morning. i mean, give him a little leeway. hello. is that frank? yes. hiya, frank, this isjimmy arthur.

do you like the idea of more and more technology coming in? anything new, as long as it doesn't take away the heart and the soul of the picture. the human element, that's the key. but you wouldn't go all the way and make a comic book movie? i don't know how to do that. i'm also not... it's uninteresting, why make it? it's really more of a theme park ride. it's not cinema, really. it's going to happen. either way, he's going. that shouldn't take away the value and the power of true cinema, real films. for all its digital de—ageing, there is something old school about the irishman. it's a 3.5—hour mob movie spanning half a century, not backed by hollywood, mind, but by a streaming giant, stepping in where the traditional studios fear to tread. it's what it is. what it is. will gompertz, bbc news. ido i do love to robert the niro.

you can reach me on twitter — i'm @bbcmaryam. hello. the weekend brought us a pretty unsettled spell, quick changeable weather. many places saw some rain, particularly on sunday. this was the scene as the sun set on sunday evening over london. fairly dramatic skies and big shower clouds around. more of that unsettled weather over the next week or so. things remaining unsettled through the week ahead. further spells of rain at times, but it's not going to be a washout this week. there will be some sunshine on offer too. what we're going to have today, we've got low pressure moving in from the west, bringing some rain to northern ireland, and also a waving weather front heading in towards the south—east. monday morning, that means we could well have heavy showers

from the word go across the likes of kent, perhaps sussex as well. these showers in the south—east push their way north through the day. they'll be hit and miss, not everywhere seeing them, but if you do catch these showers, they could be heavy, bringing thunderstorms with quite a lot of lying surface water as well. some fairly persistent rain for northern ireland, pushing into western scotland later in the day. the wind isn't too much of a feature for most places, but could be quite blustery with some of those heavy downpours in the south and the east. i think northern england and parts of northern and eastern scotland should have the best of the dry, bright weather through the day, with temperatures between about 13—17 degrees. into monday evening now, and this batch of heavy showers moves further northwards across england. we've got the showers gradually fading away from the west of scotland. so actually, things are drying up into the early hours of tuesday, perhaps just a bit of rain lingering for the north—east of england perhaps eastern scotland as well. quite a murky start with quite a bit of low cloud and perhaps a mist and fog around as well first thing on tuesday. but tuesday will bring us a bit of a respite. a short window of

slightly drier weather. we're in between weather systems during the day on tuesday. so once that rain does clears away from the east coast, quite a bit of dry weather to be seen. any morning mist and fog breaking up to leave some sunny spells. quite light winds, the next area of rain waiting in the wings. but that won't arrive in the west until much later on in the day. before it gets there, temperatures fairly typical for the time of year. 12—15 degrees, light with some sunshine, shouldn't feel too bad. wednesday, this front first thing across much of scotland and england, gradually clears towards the east. more sunshine from the west but also a few scattered showers, particularly for northern ireland. temperatures 12—16 in the sunshine. not too bad. winds should ease after a bit of a blustery start. further ahead, low pressure, often in charge. an unsettled theme, with sunny spells and blustery showers. bye— bye.

this is bbc news. the headlines: the kurds of northern syria say they've done a deal with president assad's government in attempt to stop the turkish invasion of their territory. syria's government has confirmed it will send troops to "confront turkish aggression" as turkey continues its military operation against the kurds. china's president xijinping has issued a stern warning against dissent as protests continue in hong kong. several peaceful rallies in the territory have descended into clashes between riot police and protesters, some of whom have been using the new tactic of attacking the territory's pro—beijing businesses. rescuers have been working through the night injapan to try to reach people affected by floods and landslides triggered by typhoon hagibis. japanese emergency services say at least 35 people were killed by the storm, which brought wind speeds of over 200km/h. now on bbc news, david sillito

reports on the shortlisted