>> announcer: this is al jazeera. ♪ welcome to this al jazeera news hour. good to have you along, and these are some of the stories we'll study in detail in the next 60 minutes. [ explosion ] >> inside kobani, kurds and others fighting for survival as isil fights and shoots its way through the syrian town. fighting ebola, spain quarantines four people, but

experts warn the virus will spread elsewhere in europe. and the musical technology that is moving children from the back of the auditorium to center stage. ♪ i'm going to show you first all of the very latest pictures that we have got from kobani, the town on the syrian turkish border. isil fighters there, as you can see bombarding the town. shells are dropping on the population. the small population that is left there, and also as we move in just a moment, we can see fighting street-to-street the kurdish forces in there as well. the kurds themselves say they need help, because they fear a massacre. a repeated question where are the weapons promised by turkey and other powers. let's go to the turkish side of the border near kobani, just

back from very close to the fighting. as we take a look at the pictures of the aerial bombardment here. tell us, you can see the black flag of isil on the hill top. tell us what you have seen from where you are. >> reporter: we actually got inside a house 20 minutes ago to air strike again -- an air strike happens in kobani. west of kobani, this time targeted by coalition air strike, and we saw very big black smoke after that, and we can also see the fires from where we were, and right now we put ourselves [ inaudible ] because after that ire strike we have seen a lot of heavy clashes happen, especially middle of kobani, city center. we saw also some bullets coming close to turkish side, and we

tried to find a safe place, and we're at the zero point which has been evacuated by the governor of the province. we just got inside the house and we are following from here to this fight. >> in terms of weaponry, because we hear from the kurds that they don't feel like they are very well equipped. but in terms of what you saw, is it an equal fight? >> reporter: actually from this town it has been under siege for 23 days. and last 23 days, i saw isil using really heavy weapons. we can see tanks, and all of the shells landing in the city center. we can see how it's like damaging. but when we see the response. we see the response is not to fast, not to massive like isil. because these people only have

anti-craft -- anti-craft weapons, that's why it's like there was a huge unbalanced situation going on about the weapons situation here. >> thank you very much indeed. that eyewitness report just back from inside kobani. take a look now at this. it's all happening in turkey's backyard. turkey has these tanks, these are just a few of them, which are pointing towards kobani. they have yet to intervene. in fact the turkish authorities say it's routine that they are there. we're going to hear now from bernard smith on the turkish side of the border with syria. >> reporter: from across the border in turkey, it's clear that the battle for kobani is more intense than it has ever been. fight fighters from islamic state breached defenses from the east and south of the town. since then kurdish fighters have been taking on isil street by

street, building by building. the kurds are motivated and determined. kobani is different. u.s. air strikes have hit isil positions, but the kurds say the strikes aren't enough on their own. they want turkey to provide more weapons. turkey's president visiting a refugee camp for syrians, says he thinks kobani will fall to isil. erdogan says a ground operation is needed. >> translator: the problem of isil cannot be solved with air strikes alone. we had warned the west, no fly zone, a secure zone, and the training of moderate syrian rebels. >> reporter: there are some groups fighting eye long side the kurds. this video was posted online.

erdogan wants the kurds to join with fsa to fight against bashar al-assad and isil. kurds protested along the border again on tuesday. there have been similar protests elsewhere in turkey. turkey's president believes assad's regime in syria is part of the problem, but the united states with its focus on isil have shown little enthusiasm erdogan's campaign. so for now it looks like all of the syrian kurder fighters in kobani can expect are some u.s. air strikes to help to keep isil from advancing on their town. now we bring in our a spokesman on behalf of the kurder fighters. what do you think will be the position for you and your

fighters given that it looks like only air strike help is coming. >> thank you for having me. we have already air strikes around kobani, but these air strikes are not enough to defeat these terrorist groups who -- who are attacking in -- in small groups and [ inaudible ] in wide land around kobani. so the international coalition also agreed they need strong forces on the ground. and although we have this, you know, strong fighters on the ground, which -- who are the -- the people protection uni units that defend kobani for more than a year now, but we

need munitions and heavy weaponry to respond. >> just so you're aware of what we're seeing. we're seeing views down into kobani, and the smoke and the dust rising from the air strikes. give us an idea of how many of your fighters have involved versus how many members of isil there are. >> i don't have, you know, exact numbers of isis or ypg fighters, but i -- i believe there are thousands of fighters and also local fighters of isis who attack kobani for 24 days and today, and also we have thousands of fighters of wpg who resist and during this long time

too. you know, if we -- we bring in mind what has happened in mosul, how mosul fell in two or three hours, we will be sure that kobani is resisting strongly for 24 days, even kobani is a small town, you know, and surrounded by isis and besieged by isis for more than a year. so the resistance is very strong, just by fighters of ypg and the international -- >> what do you believe it will take for turkey to come in and get involved in the fight, given the antipathy that there often is between the kurds in that area and also in turkey and the turkish authorities? >> we don't need fighters on the ground. we don't need any foreign forces on the ground because we have enough fighters.

we have expert fighters who fight for a long time against isis, and they, you know, assure for the international community that they are able to defeat these terrorists groups but just what they need ammunition and heavy weaponry. this is what we need. this is what we called for the international community to give us. we don't need fighters on the ground. we have enough fighters. >> okay. thanks very much indeed. talking on behalf of the kurdish forces involved in that battle. we're going to get the turkish view on this. we're joined now live from washington, d.c. i was putting this point to the man speaking on behalf of the kurdish fighters that perhaps turkey is disinterested in some ways in the fate of the kurds in that town because there has been a history of antipathy,

antagonisms between the two sides for so long. >> that's not true. turkey is very worried about the humanitarian aspect of this and doesn't want kobani to fall to isil forces. but the ppk has a long history of fighting turkish army, and turkey doesn't want the fighters to get heavy weaponry, but it doesn't also want isis to be able to capture this town. turkey would like the u.s. strategy to be broadened, and a safe zone to be created and no fly zone to be reat itted and take the fight to assad, which is the source of instability and the reason why these terrorist groups emerged in the first place. >> does that not undermine the premise that the kurdish may be

pushed to the side. the turkish forces only want to take on assad, and that's the bigger picture that they are thinking of? >> no, close to 200,000 kurdish refugees have come in to turkey -- >> i'm talking about the bigger political picture. i'm talking about what happens geopolitically in that region. >> exactly. when -- when left alone, if there is no broader strategy, you will have -- have continuous vacuum, political vacuum that will be filled by various different groups who will -- who will be only concerned about holding on to their little area, and it will effectively mean the -- sort of disunity of

syria, so to keep the country together, and make sure that there's a political transition in -- in damascus, which seems really far away under these conditions right now, you need a long-term strategy. u.s. and turkey have to come to an agreement and allies have to come to an agreement on that. >> let me ask you about one name that hasn't surfaced very much up until now. it's a place called solamen shaw's tomb. it commemorates somebody deep in turkey's past. it is so important that the president has said if there is trouble there, then we will go in. is that a flash point that we could expect? >> sure. that's -- that's turkish territory actually. it's inside syria, but it is considered part of turkey, so if

there's an attack, there's insecurity there, turkish army will almost certainly move in and help -- help secure that area. there is no doubt about that. >> appreciate your time. thank you very much indeed. and the name is one we should remember for the future. thank you very much indeed. >> thank you. we should not forget that isiling stands for islamic state in iraq and the la -- levant and iraq is where we go next. >> reporter: battle damaged and brittle until ten days ago this town was in the hands of isil fighters, but a week ago the iraqi army and kurdish peshmerga forces swept in. isil was defeated, leaving

likely armed residents to protect the it will thal is left. so it is now a ghost town, uninhabitable due to isil's habit of booby trapping buildings before they leave. >> translator: only the main roads and streets in the city are clear and safe, while almost all of the houses, schools, and government directrates have been wired and could blow up at anytime. >> reporter: the army and peshmerga forces have now had to leave to fight isil in other areas. this is an indication of the challenges that iraq faces. it doesn't have the kind of troop numbers to leave behind once it defeats isil fighters, and because the troops have left, residents fear that isil fighters will simply return. >> translator: now we only have handful of families remaining to defend it. we are hearing that there are

huge congregations by isil in nearby villages and we will afraid a they will reattack us. >> reporter: for now residents try to secure things as best as possible, and wonder if one day anyone will come back to this town, and if they do, whether they will be protected. a little bit later in the news hour, we're off to hong kong where there are still plenty of signs which call for change. mexico's president promises to hunt down those behind the disappearance of 43 students. and what track officials in japan have to say a about the crash that have left an f1 driver fighting for his life. ♪ in spain three more people have been quarantined to try to stop the spread of ebola after a nurse became the first person to

contract the virus. let's go live to paul brennan in madrid. and you'll tell us who these other three are, and the significance of the fact that it was contracted outside of africa, and this is the first. >> reporter: well, it -- firstly, it's hugely significant that this is the first case which has been contracted outside of west africa, and the reason why it's significant is because when previous cases have been brought to europe and indeed to america as well, that has been on the strict understanding that when they are brought to these continents they are under strict quarantine that there are stringent safeguards preventing the virus from escaping into the wider population. so for this nurse to have become infected apparently after contact with one of the two christian missionaries who was brought here, it is of great

concern. as far as who it is who has been confirmed so far, rather frustratingly the hospital authorities are still being very, very guarded about identifying the main nurse who fell ill on september 30th. didn't present herself to hospital until five days later, but now confirmed as being been infected with ebola, but the three other people who are hospitalized, one is the nurse's husband, and he has been described as at high risk of ebola. another person was a man who we're told was recently returned from abroad. and another is a member of the staff here who so far has not presented any symptoms but has been hospitalized purely as a precaution. and that's what the authorities are underlining here, and i think we have a couple of clips here showing the amount of

effort they are putting in, firstly identifying the people who have been in contact with the nurse, and secondly, the efforts they are going through to try to figure out how she was infected in the first place. >> translator: the department has identified 22 people who have been in contact outside of the hospital and who will be subjected to continuous observation to see if they have any problem. >> translator: the procedures being used in the hospital are the same as other hospitals treating patients with ebola. using the same recommendations, the same type of supervision. >> paul it's these five days that are crucial, isn't it? between when she first became ill and when she first went to the hospital. so the search for those others is absolutely vital here. and i suppose the concern is if she has passed it on, then those

other people could do the same. >> reporter: well the problem is that the incubation period can be up to 21 days, and in the early stages could perhaps be mistaken as an ailment. it's a fever, a bit of a temperature to start off with. when you get to the hemorrhagic blooding and vomiting, clearly you are in trouble, but in those early stages how do you inside if you are at risk of passing on ebola or being sick in the first place. and the lack of identity of these people is causing a huge amount of concern, and the wonder and fear of the medical staff here have been predominantly, because as far as they were concerned they were following the world health organization protocols. they are baffled as to how this nurse could have possibly become infected as a result of what she was doing here at the hospital.

and while there is a gulf in knowledge, then fear fills that gap. >> paul, yep, absolutely. thank you very much. we're just looking another pictures of the worried staff there. showing their feelings pretty close to where we saw paul brennan. well, the president of sierra leone is urging more help from other countries to combat ebola. he presented 46 survivors with certificates of health to prove they are disease free. >> translator: we should be mindful that ebola is still around. we need at least a thousand more treatment centers in the whole country. what we are doing is our responsibility, and as a government and sierra leonians, it's our responsibility to do this. but we need partners to come help as soon as possible. we needed them yesterday. they should not wait another day. they should get her tomorrow. moving on, the president of

kenya is on his way to the international criminal court in the hague where he'll face charges of crimes against humanity. simon mcgregor wood is in the hague, and kenyatta denies he organized mass killings. >> reporter: tuesday's hearing was a largely technical procedure, but beneath the surface there was a crackle of tension and animosity, mainly between the prosecution and kenya's attorney general, the country's senior legal officer. it is the prosecution's assertion and has been for some months now that the kenyan government has not done enough to cooperate with the court and the prosecution. the prosecution wants a lot of stuff to help build evidence in its case. it needs his telephone mobile

phone records, his tax returns, his bank statements, and the prosecution says the kenyon government is not doing enough to provide those records. far from him according to the attorney general. he was very robust in defense of his actions and the kenyan government. at times you could feel the animosity between the two parties. the kenyan government's position is it is doing everything it can, considering the legal constraints upon it. tuesday, of course, despite the occasional dramas, that is really the warm-up act. tuesday is when kenyatta appears before this court. his supporters are also attending the session on wednesday. and we expect a very noisy reception for mr. kenyatta when he rives tomorrow to be questioned by the prosecution

for the first time. the prosecution will admit it lacks evidence at the moment, and unless it gets the stuff that it needs to build the case, there is an outside possibility this week that it may have to drop the case. we'll find that out during what promises to be a very dramatic day in court on wednesday. >> okay. let's go to nairobi, and tell us where you are and the significance of your position given the events of 2007. >> reporter: that's right. we're -- at the moment we're in a place which is a camp for people who were displaced by the violence in early 2008. it's actually near the city, but the people who live here now werelying in different places all over western kenyan. they were attacked by kenyatta's

political opponents. and they were generally quite skeptical of the icc, first reason being simply that they are still here. they lost houses, farms, businesses that were destroyed at the time. they say no one has come to help them. so in that sense they haven't really seen any justice. many people say they knew individual politicians in their neighborhoods who have never been investigated or looked into, people who are still at large and were responsible for orchestrating violence at the time. and another thing that a couple of people here have raised as well, is they were puzzled that the two most senior politicians in the country at that time weren't prosecuted, the incumbent president and the opposition leader, who were competing in the election at the end of 2007. people say they are puzzled that

it wasn't those two. >> how is it going to go down, malcolm if it's very difficult to prove the cases. as we understand at the moment, a few years ago it might have been easier, but a lot as been lost and witnesses have decided they don't want to come forward anymore. what is going to be the general sentiment if the case collapses? >> reporter: well, it will be very different in different parts of kenya. amongst supporters of kenyatta, then that will be seen as a great victory. the case here has been framed by kenyatta's aids and allies is a standoff between africa and the west, and that narrative has gained quite a lot of traction amongst some supporters. but there are still victim's groups and human rights activists who want the trial to go ahead, and those who believe

that kenyatta was responsible for the much of the violence. but there's now a lot less people who are willing toment -- to come out and speak vocally about what has happened. there has been allegations of bribery, and even killing of the witnesses, and there is still very much a climate of fear, so it's something that a lot of people won't want to speak openly about. >> we'll leave it there for now, malcolm, thank you very much indeed. stay with us if you can on the news hour. this is coming up. i'm daniel lack in alberta. canada's oil sands are an opportunity for many indigenous

people here. and the washington nationals, was it enough for them to stay alive in the playoffs? stay with us if you can. ♪

>> can an employer make a worker do something and not pay for the time? can an muslim inmates demand the right to wear a beard in prison? time for the supreme court to get to work. it's inside story. >> hello, i'm ray suarez. autumn brings cooler nights, falling leaves. baseball playoffs, and nine