we're on facebook and twitter and you can twitter me. see you next time. . >> hello and welcome to the news hour. these are our top stories. kurdish forces and airstrikes fight off an isil on the syrian town. thousands of people have fled. yemen houthi rebels sign a peace deal with the government. one of india's top politicians is jailed for corruption after an 18-year

court battle. and spanish region of catalonia pushing ahead for votes on independence this year. the madrid government said it is illegal. >> but first isil fighters in northern syria are being targeted by airstrikes. nearly 150,000 people who already fled in the past week alone. syria's kurds are spread across large parts of the north. and isil fighters have surrounded large areas o kobane. and that's until the intervention of kurdish fighters. more than 200,000 people have left there and gone to other

places. now kurdish forces continue to battle near isil fighters. these are pictures that were released, and they are said to show the kurdish forces defending the town and are said to come from two days ago. let's go live now from our correspondent stephanie decker who is not far from kobane. bring us up-to-date to what is happening today. >> that's right. just to let you know where we are. you see a refugee camp in a cruel twist of fate. in the back that is the syrian kurdish town of kobane. that's how close it is to the kurdish border. we were here around 10:00 we heard jets in the sky. we heard one explosion, heard a

jet fighter pull away. then we moved around ten kilometers to the east of this city, and we saw a fire fight between an isil position and kurdish fighter position. there were just a couple of meters away from each other. then we came back, and it is still a very active front line across this border. they're being besieged from the east, south and west. we saw shelling on the eastern side of kobane. and we heard another two-fold. the airstrikes don't seem to have done much at the moment. we've also seen a lot of people streaming back into turkey, people who had left this morning after hearing news of those airstrikes because of the shelling. >> i was going to ask you, who is responsible for the shelling, then, these isil fighters or fighters for the ypg, the kurdish peshmerga. >> the shelling we've been seeing on the town of kobane

landed inside. these are isil fighters. many were trying to cross the border because of the intensity today. one man told me i left this morning and i had to come back because we thought everything would be fine. how can we divine ourselves with ak-47s against a force who are animals. they come into the town. they kill us. no one is doing anything. there is a feeling that these airstrikes are not doing very much. can they do much because isil has now spread across small pockets and they're besieging across all sides. the stories we hear are heartbreaking. they've lost everything. they can't bring their livestock across. they have nowhere to stay. there are so many people there is not enough food. it really does go on and on an

many say they don't will be going back any time soon. it will be a very active front line there. >> the very latest from the border area between syria and turkey. two raf have taken off earlier on saturday. this will make it the first time that british aircraft have been involved in military action. parliament in london authorized the strikes. >> we are one part of an international coalition. and the crucial part of that coalition is that it led by the iraqi government and it's security forces with our part and to help deal with the supporting terrorist organization. >> and the very latest has come from iran's parliament. criticizing david cameron for

his speech and their role. >> the british prime minister made strange and peculiar comments particularly the parts that concerned iran. there was some sort of arrogance in his words. he said that iran must do this and must do that. who are you to dress us that way. where do these "musts" come from? >> everybody waiting to see how far they're prepared to cooperate. what do we think that the irans are prepared to give to this coalition that is growing? >> it is very critical. the speaker of the parliament, he basically said that the coalition against isil is just to protection for the u.s. and western powers to move forward with their agenda in the region. it is critical. it's illustrating the nuclear

reluctance is part of the story, and that iran needs to move forward on the fight against isil. >> it has moved in iraq and has gone up against these forces. there seems to be a realization at this point or acknowledgment, would be a better word, that airstrikes are not going to do it. we heard from chuck hagel, the defense secretary, that the prospect of troops on the ground is a reality. the best question is who will compose this force? who will they be? >> airstrikes are effective to a certain extent. they're effective to getting the refineries and the source of income out of the line of equation.

but it will not be enough. we're looking at syria and iraq as two different cases here. in iraq there is a demand from the government to intervene, which could open the doors for the potential of on the ground operations. in syria there is no demand from assad to intervene. that's why iran is an important part of the equation. >> of course, we're awaiting the russian speech at the united nations general assembly, which might reveal more about their plans as to whether to join or not as international coalition. but the talks seem to be very much of arming and enabling, if you like, moderate syrian fighters. who might they be? >> the different groups inside the syrian fighters, and this also arms groups inside syria. the reaction from the russians

is very interesting. the developments regarding ukraine trying to maybe not get from a position from russia will put in perspective to get the russian support and potentially not a veto from this council. >> thank you very much. >> my pleasure. >> now the houthies till remain in most of the capitol of sanaa. mohammed, tell us about the mechanics, the signing of this document which was causing so much alarm just a few days ago when the other parts of the deal was signed.

>> yes, i just attended that ceremony. they simply said, look, we're watching violations upon violations every minute in sanaa, so what are the guarantees that the houthies are going to adhere to this, when we see them violating it every minute in front of the gate of the government itself in sanaa. there was a moment when i thought they would refuse to sign, and they said we'll do this only to save yemen, but to have a lot of lack of trust of what the houthies might do next. they are still in the streets, and there are no guarantees. >> and mohammed, just remind us,

if you will, what exactly is in this so-called security annex? what exactly have the houthies agreed to do now that they didn't do four or five days ago? oh, i think the line has given up on us, so we'll have to give up on that. sad to say, but hopefully we'll get back to mohammed with more details on what is going on in the yemeni capitol later on. but we have a lot more to come here in al jazeera. including hong democracy scandals. students with a fifth day of protest. and former president on trial faced his verdict today. we'll tell you what happened. and in sport robin will have the latest from the ryder cup where the u.s. has staged a rather

dramatic fight back. >> now to india where an act threat turned politician has been sentenced to prison in an 18-year-old corruption case. the chief minister of southern state was found guilty of amassing wealth beyond her known sources of income. india has ordered her to resign and spend four years in jail. we'll go to new delhi, a very colorful character, but it has taken them eight years to find her guilty of corruption. >> it has, indeed, 18 years, and in the conventional sense for many people that's an awfully long time. but for people in india politicians across party lines saying look, as long as justice has been delivered that's a step forward. and in some ways you can see

many ordinary--millions of ordinary indians who have campaigned against corruption in the higher echelon of indian politics feeling vindicated. saying, look, at least the courts are saying yes, this is a problem in indian government and we're helping one case at a time to help clean it up. >> central government is about dealing the issue of corruption, which you say is widespread. but what about the response to the top politician having been found guilty this way? >> absolutely. a very delicate and sensitive state as you mentioned in indian politics. it will be an interesting scenario of how things go forward. the chef minister has been ordered to step down. perhaps sending the state into disarray. we'll see in the next hours and

days to come to see how that shakes done in the political video. perhaps it it creates quite a problem or roadblocks going forward for her political future. we should mention that she had prime ministerial aspirations, so it could present interesting scenarios for her and her party. >> thank you very much, indeed. updating us with what is going on in india. meanwhile, the prime minister of india narendra modi is in new york at the u.n. assembly. without what he called the shadow of terrorism, and there he is speaking. we'll keep a close eye on for any news lines that come from narendra modi. in the general assembly. south sudan president said he's already made his speech at the u.n. general assembly, and

he used it to blame his political rival. >> i have no doubt that the world has followed shock and disbelief of the violent count country. my former vice president wanted to cease-fire by force. he was too impatient in his for power and did not want to wait for the re-elections scheduled to take place in 2015. >> let's go to editor james bays. he did not hold back. he gave it all that he could,

and directly accused his vice president of being behind all the problems, and it wasn't long before when we welcomed him to the u.n. three years ago, when everyone was happy to see this leader of the world's youngest nation. >> absolutely. only three years old, and what is mess it is in. the international community desperate to get things back on track. they wanted reconciliation. they wanted perhaps an olive branch in this speech, and instead direct accusation that his former vice president was the cause of all the trouble. let me tell you what ban ki-moon said to both men. you opened the wound and caused so much suffering. now heal them. well, there doesn't look like there was much healing talk from the sudanese leader and attacked the u.n. itself, saying that the u.n. security council, which came up with a new mandate with

the u.n. mission in south sudan where there are thousands of people sheltering because they have been displaced from their homes. they said the u.n. mandate was not the right mandate. they needed much more help to the government of south sudan. of course the u.n. being very careful not to tang sides in what is close to a civil war. >> gyms, there has been other echoing a common scene, there being criticism all of the u.n. advisers and other international workers who helped them in the establishment of south sudan, and they were saying they were ill-advised. >> i think the international community now knows they made serious mistakes in setting up the international structures around south sudan, and remember there are still so many other unresolved issues. if we weren't talking about the fighting in south sudan, the

desperate humanitarian need, 4 million people don't have enough food, according to the united nations, we would be talking about other problems. there is still no settled boundary between south sudan and sudan, you still have this area that is disputed territory. there is another u.n. mission there, but no one has decideled that should be in sudan or south sudan, and rather provocatively, susan, which has a general election in 2015, said that they will be allowed to vote in that election, suggesting they believe it is very much still in sudan. >> james bays, diplomatic editor outside of the u.n. and the east side of manhattan. the conflict of south sudan is just one of the emergency as james is suggesting around the world that is putting a huge strain on the u.n. humanitarian placings. the u.n. said it does not have enough money to fund all of its

relief efforts. kristin saloomey with more. >> the world's newest nation now faces one of the biggest humanitarian crisis. sings september conflict has displaced millions of people leaving hundreds of children at risk of starvation. unicef is doing all it can, but it isn't enough. >> we have about 255,000 children who are severely and acutely malnourished. we've only been able to reach 60,000 children to date. without additional resources we will be hard pressed to scale that as fast as we need to. >> the ebola outbreak effects african countries is another crisis the u.n. is responding to.

dozens of emergencies are straining the budgets of humanitarian agencies which relies on donations from government to meet their needs. unicef based here in new york saw it's largest deployment of emergency supplies ever. 1,000 metric tons of life-saving supplies for children sent to some of the world's most troubled regions. that's enough to fill 19 cargo jets with supplies. in syria where more than 3 million people have fled the country and millions more are internally displaced the world food program is working to cut back its food distribution due to funding shortfall. >> this reduction in contribution to syria. that is not to say that the world has not been there. but what we need is to continue that generosity. >> with so many emergencies and only so much money to go around

a high level of suffering in need is no guarantee of help. how much aid wealthy nations are willing to donate often comes down to the geopolitical importance of the area in need. kristin saloomey. the united nations. >> also at the u.n. general assembly the iranian president himself. he speaks on the sidelines of the general assembly and took the opportunity to say that time is running out for negotiating a long-term deal on its country nuclear rather program. >> wellality no time like that over the last few days have i seen such seriousness in regards to solving this situation. meaning i have been involved in negotiations for the last 12 years with the west, with european numbers, and p5+1. there have been serious words and words alone can't solve

problems. we must also show courage and the necessary action and flexibility. if we can do this we will reach our objectives. >> well, the spanish government has vowed to stop the region of catalonia from going ahead on a vote of independence. cat loan icatalonia has signed a decree that calls for a ref ledge. but the national government of madrid said that any vote would be illegal. >> in the democracy one has to resolve the challenges that lie ahead. no one can be scared by others expressing their opinions by casting their ballot. this is our compromise. that's what we have to mandate about a great majority of catalons. catalonia wants to be heard. it wants to vote. >> catalonia is in northeastern

spain. it's capitol is barcelona, where people have been rallying in support of this dekristin saloomey. this decree. >> it's support. >> everything is manipulated. what can we expect? we have appointed these people to decide that is not the constitutional court, that is constitutional rubbish set up by a rubbish government. >> how important is catalonia to spain? well, it's a region that accounts for 20% of the entire spanish economy. there are 7.5 million cataloni catalonians, and it even has its own language which is distinct from spanish catalans. well, research fellow at the university of barcelona, and he joins us live from barcelona.

i presume you are in favor of holding a referendum in catalonia? >> yes, i mean, we are in favor, and it is the overwhelming majority. >> the prime minister seems absolutely determined that this is not going to happen, saying it's unconstitutional. >> yes, of course, the central government, and the will of the catalan population. >> tell me, why do catalans want to separate from spain? >> i think first there are many

who are undecided. they're supporting the referendum because they see it as the best way to deal with the democratic setting. >> i was going to interrupt you with a fairly cheeky question and suggest perhaps it's because obviously catalonia is a very wealthy part of spain. spain is going through massive problems as a result of the economic breakdown of 2008. spain was one of the worst economic performance in europe. is it an act of opportunism on your part? >> this is not something that came out of nowhere a couple of years ago. in catalonia there has been a strong moment asking for this

for over a century. in 2010, more or less, the spanish constitution asked for the catalonia nation, and limiting the government. i think that was the key turning point. many government, want change because the crisis has been catalonia's way. >> thank you very much, indeed, for taking the time to explain some of the issues surrounding that controversial referendum. thank you. >> we've got a lot more to come here on the news hour, including a church leader in china being

convicted of fraud. but his daughter said that the charges are trumped up. [ yelling ] and the kansas city royals end decades-long playoff drought. we'll get all the mlb action coming up in sport.

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it's my last chance to get out of here... >> the incredible journey continues... on the edge of eighteen only on al jazeera america >> weather you run a gorill guerrilla army or trying to make the jump of creating a new country, you need money, lots of money. where are the fighters finding the cash t to take over syria and iraq. >> you hello, i'm ray suarez.