19/02/2017 World News Today

This is BBC World News Today, broadcasting in the UK

Phase two of the operation to retake the city of Mosul gets under way.

It's the last stronghold of so-called Islamic State in Iraq.

Iraqi forces say they've captured several villages as thousands

of troops advance on the western half of the city.

I'm now above the village and they are about to do smarter it strikes.

You look at what happened last night in Sweden. Sweden?

Sweden asks for clarification after the US President refers

to an apparent terror attack there, which never happened.

The American company, Kraft Heinz, withdraws its proposed takeover

A SpaceX rocket successfully blasts off from the historic Cape Canaveral

launchpad used for the moon landings half a century ago.

Iraqi government forces are making significant progress

after stepping up their offensive against the Islamic State group

in the city of Mosul - hundreds of armoured vehicles

and thousands of men are involved in the operation.

The battle could see Iraqi forces denting the militant group's hold

across parts of northern and western Iraq that were seized two years ago.

Last month the government won back the eastern part of the city

and the advances of the last 12 hours or so take them within

Fears have been voiced about the safety of thousands

The BBC's correspondent Quentin Sommerville

is with the Iraqi army and sent this report.

Just after sunrise, Iraq began what it hopes is its last major

battle against the so-called Islamic State.

Thousands of men and hundreds of armoured vehicles in a line

The Iraqi army are starting their assault on Western Mosul.

They have reached their own defences.

Armoured vehicles are lining up, getting ready for the Islamic State.

They are only a couple of kilometres over that way,

They are dug in, the assault in Western Mosul has started.

Leading the attack, Iraq's emergency response division,

Some of these men were surrounded by IS two years ago.

Today, they threw everything they had at IS.

We are now above the village which is their main target.

They are about to call in some artillery strikes.

The captain tells me there are three IS fighters in a yellow building

down there and car bombs were targeting them now.

There were four car bombs in total, but soon government

They killed 13 IS fighters without taking any casualties.

This village is small, but it's important, it's

the gateway to Mosul proper and the city's airport.

Hidden inside another house, away from surveillance aircraft,

another car bomb disguised as an ambulance.

In these streets, though, a critical advantage - no civilians.

In western Mosul there are three quarters of a million people

It took these men just six hours to take this village.

They made good progress but with overwhelming force.

Beyond here is another town and another village.

That town overlooks Mosul Airport and the city itself.

From here on in, the going will not be nearly so fast.

As we have heard, eastern Mosul was liberated by government forces two

months ago, we got this view on life in that part of the city. The long

awaited operation to take the western side of most was happening,

in this side there is mixed feelings about people who are happy about the

news of the operation. Suicide attacks took place. And this year 's

presence has been increased, however that has not stopped people from

coming out to the market. We're so happy that our brothers in the Iraqi

army are liberating our brothers in the West. The Westerners had been

heard by the tragedies of IS. They have really suffered from hunger and

thirst. So we are so happy about the start of the operation. Thank God we

are in high-spirited and there is good relationship between Mr G

forces and the people, we feel safe, God willing things will be stable

soon. A senior member of the new US

administration has distanced himself from Donald Trump's assessment

of the media as "the The President made

the comments during a rally on Saturday in Florida -

but his Defense Secretary, James Mattis, had this to say

when he was asked what he thought I've had some rather contentious

times with the press, but no, the press as far as I'm concerned

are a constituency that we deal with, and I don't have any issues

with the press myself. Mr Mattis is not the only

Republican to speak out Senator John Mccain told the NBC

programme 'meet the press' that attacking the media had overtones

of dictatorship... If you want to preserve

democracy as we know it, you have to have a free and many

times adversial press, and without it, I'm afraid

that we would lose so much of our individual

liberties over time. That is how dictators get started,

with tweets like that? With - no, they get started

by suppressing a free press. In other words,

a consolidation of power. When you look at history,

the first thing that dictators do is shut down the press,

I'm not saying that President Trump is trying to be a dictator,

I'm just saying we need to learn Let's go live to

Washington and speak to our correspondent -

David Willis. There is little sign that he's

trying to censor the press but he's certainly trying to discredit it and

in turn led Subasic we have got the media fighting back against that,

and catching him out if and when they can. How is that viewed in

America, in a country that according to recent polls doesn't trust the

press anyway. That is a good point Chris, what we have had from

President Trump over the last few days, is increasing bellicosity if

that is the right word, towards the mass media. He went on Twitter the

other day, to say that they were the enemy of the American people. That

is strong stuff, it is going a lot further than he has gone in the

past. Body clearly does believe that the media has misrepresented his

first month in office, there have of course been protests. There have

been problems though the administration links to Russia, has

been the resignation of General Mike Flynn, the National security

adviser. But President Trump believes it is all going swimmingly

and that is why, he went on the campaign trail. Last night, going to

Florida, giving that speech, as if he was campaigning for office, he

says he is campaigning for office in 2020. This is because he can

circumvent the mass media at gatherings like that, he can get his

message directly to the people who act should put him in the White

House. Let's just talk about Sweden if we can, the comments that he made

about Sweden in Florida, at that rally. Any response from the White

House or any of the governmental departments to Sweden's request for

some clarification. Not yet, this is very interesting because this is

something that came up at that rally in Florida last night. He was

talking about immigration controls, one of his pet subject and he talked

about open borders in Europe and how they had led to terrorist attacks,

and he cited attacks in Paris, Nice, Brussels, and only the day before in

Sweden. He said. You look at what is happening last night in Sweden, who

would believe this? Sweden. Well Sweden didn't believe it because it

was pretty quiet on Friday night in Sweden by all accounts. The most

ulcers thing going on by all accounts, was a contest to narrow

down who would represent Sweden in Eurovision Song contest. That has

prompted the Swedish Embassy in Washington to ask the State

Department to please explain what on earth the president was talking

about. And as soon as you get a response, we will bring it to you in

Sweden and I look forward to that. Let's have a look at other

developments around the world. Russian opposition activist,

Vladimir Kara Murza, has left the country after spending

more than two weeks in a critical Medical discharge papers said

he was suffering from the effects He has flown out of Russia

accompanied by his wife and a medic, A policeman has been killed

in an explosion near the bullring Police had been deployed ahead

of expected protests by animal The bullring reopened last month,

four years after being closed Zimbabwe's president

Robert Mugabe says both the governing party,

ZANU-PF, and the country's people see no viable successor to him

in next year's elections. Mr Mugabe - who turns 93 on Tuesday

- has been in power since 1980. His wife says he's so popular

voters would support him Malaysian police are hunting

for at least four more suspects in the death of Kim Jong-nam,

the half brother of in the death of Kim Jong-nam,

the half brother of He died on Monday after

apparently being poisoned Four people have already been

arrested over the death but many questions remain unanswered,

including what will The assasination of this man

appears to have involved Four have already been detained

in the poisoning of Kim Jong-nam, including a woman holding

a Vietnamese passport who could be this person from the crime scene,

and this woman who says She says she thought

she was on a television prank show. One North Korean citizen

is in custody, thought to be the man And now the authorities have asked

for Interpol's help to find at least four more North Koreans,

who all entered and exited Malaysia I can confirm today they have

left our country the very same day People of interest who might

know how Kim Jong-nam's Four suspects has been identified,

which could assist us very much Still the question of

what will be done with. Malaysian law requires his

family to come in person If still they don't come forward,

we have to look for the next option. It is unclear whether Mr Kim's

children could travel to the morgue Or perhaps the law requires

the presence of this man, the victim's half sibling

North Korean leader Kim Jong-un. South Korea's unification ministry

say they believe Pyongyang orchestrated the poisoning of Kim

Jong-nam. The man once poised to rule

North Korea before falling out While Kim Jong-nam was alive

the thinking goes he remained a threat to his half brother

and to Kim Jong-un's fragile grip One of the biggest potential

takeover deals in corporate history is NOT going to happen -

after the American food giant Kraft-Heinz said

it was dropping its bid to buy The Anglo-Dutch company rejected

a bid from Kraft on Friday. Now Kraft has said it has 'amicably

agreed' to scrap the plan. Our business Correspondent Joe

Lynam has been watching Didn't quite turn out how we

expected it? I have never seen such a corporate U-turn, I calculate that

within 55 hours of the bid being submitted and initially rejected, it

has now been withdrawn entirely. This brought together some major

Grable brands that you and I know. Such as -- Major global brand. Such

as that Adelphia and Heinz baked beans, which is owned by

Kraft-Heinz, and that would have brought over marmite and other ones

from Unilever to create a huge player. Worth 55 billion. But it is

no more, what has happened is that basically it has become very clear

that it was never going to work and that Kraft-Heinz would have to

launch a hostile takeover bid and that would have cost it an awful lot

more money than it was prepared to pay and it wouldn't have made the

deal worthwhile and also it wouldn't have been a friendly and amicable

divorce. And if you're wondering why we should care, it is not just such

a huge takeover bid, a lot of jobs and products at stake? You are

rights to mention jobs, there are thousands of people working for

Unilever at the moment to breathing a sigh of relief, simply because

Craft Heinz is controlled by a Brazilian outfit called the 3G, they

have a deserved history for cost-cutting, taking a side to

factories and jobs for the companies they take over. They certainly would

have run the rule over Unilever factories all over the world saying

this one has to go. Stay with us on BBC World News,

still to come: A hat-trick from Harry Kane

who eases Tottenham Hotspur A full round-up of

the action coming up. The army defeated in the task it had

been sent to perform at retreating in good order. It had a terrible

effect on the morale, and terrified of the repercussions on the streets.

As the airlift got underway, there was no letup in the eruption itself,

lava streams in the greater flow down to the sea on the east of the

island, away from the town at the time being but it could start

flowing again had any time. The Russians heralded their new

generation space station with a spectacular night launch, they

called it, mir, the Russian for peace.

Iraqi forces say they've captured several villages

in their assault on western Mosul, the last stronghold of so-called

Sweden has asked for an explanation from Washington after

President Trump spoke of a security incident there,

Let's return to our main story - the Iraqi army's renewed

offensive to recapture Mosul from the Islamic State group.

already played you one report by Quentin Sommerville who's

As always, Quentin is also telling the story on Twitter.

incredible insight into that assault on Mosul.

And you can see those photos on Quentin's twitter account -

he is @sommervillebbc - and you can follow him while he's

A SpaceX rocket has successfully launched

from the Kennedy Space Centre in Florida following a 24-hour

delay to replace a mechanical part, known as an 'actuator'.

The Falcon 9 rocket was carrying the 12th Dragon

spacecraft delivering cargo to the International Space Station.

This is the first SpaceX lift off from the Kennedy Space Center -

specifically pad 39A, which was the site of the Apollo 11

The payload is on its way to the Space Station,

but the rocket turned around and touched down on a landing pad.

Here's how NASA spokesperson Jessica Jensen summed up the mission.

Any time we can get a new pad off the ground, we completely modernise

We have run tonnes of tests to ensure that the hold downs

back in a different way than it used to on pad 40.

We have done tons of ground tests, but we have never made it an actual

rocket with a payload on top of that.

So to watch that happen for the first time was just amazing.

I am sure the team will be out celebrating tonight.

As of now we are still watching Dragon and ensuring it is on its way

to the space station safely and it still does checkouts

But all is looking great, we are not expecting any issues.

We'll be out tonight if you want to find us.

There will be some heavy drinking sure among some of our footballers.

Hello good evening, the draw has been made for the quarter-finals

of the FA Cup and Lincoln City - after that giant-killing

against Premier League side Burnley yesterday.

They could face Arsenal at the Emirates Stadium -

IF THEY can beat another non-league side - Sutton United tomorrow...

Jose Mourinho and Manchester United return to the scene of a 4-0

trouncing earlier this season as they visit Premier League leaders

Middlesbrough host the winner of the replay

between Championship side Huddersfield and Manchester City.

There's another London derby for Spurs, who host Millwall

and confirmation of what COULD be in prospect a trip to Sutton

end, Ibrahimovic's introduction made a difference as they beat the

championships I'd buy 2-1. Rovers are second bottle, but they stunned

United earlier on Ewood Park. They didn't hold their lead for too long,

Henrikh Mkhitaryan with a lovely pass for Marcus Rashford and he

rounded the keeper to make it 1-1 before Ibrahimovic's winner. They

gave us a hard game and congratulations to them, because

their approach was brave and strong and a very correct game. He had a

game in his hands easily. But they had a Brent attitude, -- a brilliant

attitude and this professional attitude, focus and responsibility,

we would be in real trouble. Tottenham Hotspur booking their

place, in a 3-0 win. The striker Harry Kane scored a hat-trick

against the championship side. Very good, we have not had a few great

results recently and we wanted to get a win today, we have done that

and played very well and comfortable and properly should have added a few

more goals and it is a great game all around and we are happy with it.

In Spain's Primera Division Lionel Messi's fourth minute goal

for Barcelona narrowed the gap on leaders Real Madrid to one point.

They are currently drawing. Real Madrid still have two games in hand

on the Catalans but the win came as welcome relief after comprehensive

loss to PSG earlier this week. Elsewhere Valencia picked up an

important week the Athletic Bilbao, moving them away from relegation

trouble, also victories for Villarreal and Celta Vigo.

Wigan have won Rugby League's World Club Challenge

It's the annual match bewteen the Superleague winners

The Warriors were facing the Cronulla Sharks at the DW

Stadium, they led 10-nil at halftime and though Sharks mounted

a comeback...Joe Burgess's third try secured the win ...22 points to 6.

Wigan the first English team to lift this trophy in five years.

Pleased with that, and wanting to perform. Really well. It is not the

coaching staff, the players have so much desire and so much guts and

determination to get these winds. Jo-Wilfried Tsonga won

the Rotterdam Open on Sunday with a 4-6, 6-4, 6-1 win over David

Goffin. It's also a first ever

title for the French sixth seed at this event,

having lost the 2011 The victory against the Belgian

third seed who was playing his second final in as many weeks took

just under two hours handing Tsonga That is all of the sport for now.

Now let's just show you some wonderful footage of some blokes.

This is Japan. 10,000 were wearing nothing but soon most I'll staff. To

take part in a 500-year-old tradition. The naked man festival

takes place every year, at a temple. These men have two scramble for

sacred sticks thrown into the crowd in darkness. The winners who find

the sticks are considered lucky men. Not too sure about the spectators.

Before we go, wanted Tony about Asus of interview coming up later with

the Hollywood star Angelina Jolie. She talks about why she wants to

make a film about Cambodia's genocide. From all of us, good

night. Good evening it has felt more

springlike in winter this weekend because the