this is bbc america. and now live from london, "bbc world news." >> hello. i'm david eads with "bbc world news." our top stories -- scuffles in hong kong as protesters continue to occupy key streets despite police calls for the blockade to end. the battle rages as islamic state fighters try to take the syrian border town of kobane. australia is also joining the campaign of air strikes against i.s. militants in iraq. >> it is in everyone's best interests that the murderous raid of the isil death cult be

checked and rolled back, and that's what we're determined to do. >>. the british prime minister pays a surprise visit to afghanistan to bolster the new leadership. president ashraf ghani thanked the contribution from british troops. >> your presence here has meant that london has been safe, as well as the rest of the world. >> also, what does faith mean to families in these modern times? we meet a catholic family in the philippines. hello, thanks for joining us. student leaders at the forefront of the pro-democracy protests in hong kong have told the bbc that talks with the government will not be beginning at any stage on friday. the demonstrations go on, despite that offer of talks,

over demands for electoral reform. we can give you the scene live in the city center. clearly, the numbers of protesters have dwindled, but security is still pretty tight. the mood pretty tense. some angry confrontations between occupy central protesters and pro-government groups. roads have been blocked here for some days, hence the tension. there are reports that police have to step in to separate the two sides. they've now renewed their call for the protesters to go home. >> this behavior is not only irresponsible, but also law-breaking. i urge the protesters to leave the area peacefully and orderly, so that everyone can resume their normal routine. i would also like to point out that there are police officers inside the city, they have the

duties to protect the buildings from charging by the protesters. however, the delivery of milk and water to the officers. >> which he described as inhuman, in fact. c.y.leung rejected any suggestion he should step down, but he did open up the prospect of what he's calling constitutional development. >> i am now appointing the secretary to meet with the hong kong federation of students to discuss constitutional development matters. >> well, the bbc's allie moore is in hong kong for us. it's beginning to see the end of the day now. are these numbers becoming a problem? it seems everyone's dwindling, sort of fizzing out. >> reporter: very much so in the sense that how this protest has worked has been very, very busy at night. it tapers off during the day. in the evening, around about

now, the numbers start to swell again. as you can see behind me, they're well down, from what they have been in recent days at around about this time. it's down to really a very small number of protests. here the mood is -- well, not quite so tense, and certainly the scenes that you've seen over where the frustration was starting to build up. but also, of course, locals who were just sick and tired of having their roads blocked, and you've seen that sort of vision of scuffles over the barricades. we haven't seen that here. there's been a little bit, but on the whole, the mood i guess is one now of waiting to see what happens with those talks. in terms of trying to keep up with momentum and continuing to have a show of support here, there is a leaflet that's going around suggesting the protesters might like to put themselves on some sort of roster systems, and those who work, not here during

the day, but here during the evening. >> certainly the organization remains there then, but what of those talks? we're told nothing -- clearly there's been nothing in the course of friday. any indication when they would be? >> absolutely no indication at all. in fact, speaking to some of the protesters, they've accused the government of making this a delaying tactic. so last night, they very successfully defused the situation and now they can just wait until they hold talks. they can't put that off indefinitely because i'm sure the protesters will regain their momentum if there is no move to have discussions. that said, whenever those discussions take place, they're going to be taking place against the background of two things. one is c.y. leung being very, very definite that he will not be stepping down. the other, of course, is the communist party newspaper in beijing, "the people's daily." it made it very clear that the

government in beijing would not be backing down in terms of how it sees the chief executive being elected in this city in the future. so that's the background. it makes it very hard to see where concessions might come from. >> ali, thank you very much indeed, as evening just starts to drift in there in hong kong. if you want more on the story, do go to the website. we've got all the latest news and analysis from our correspondents on the ground. we've got analysis also from our china editor, carrie gracie. there it is. bbc.com/news. the australian cabinet has given its approval for fighter jets to join that u.s.-led military action against islamic state targets in iraq. now, under the plan, around about 600 armed forces personnel in all have been sent, at the request of the iraqi government, along with six war planes, which can launch air strikes from a base in the united arab emirates. australia's prime minister tony abbott says only iraq can defeat

islamic state, but they won't have to do it alone. >> yes, it is a combat deployment, but it is an essentially humanitarian mission to protect the people of iraq, and ultimately, the people of australia from the murderous rage of the isil death cult. >> he also pointed out, mr. abbott, that the australian troops will be involved in iraq, not in syria. let's give you a view across the two countries. islamic state's areas of control are shown in the orange here, spanning both those countries, right over to aleppo, of course. in syria itself, there's a key battle intensifying in the strategic town of kobane there, two weeks after islamic state fighters began their assault. and on thursday, the turkish parliament backed a motion al w allowing turkish forces to be deployed against i.s. the bbc's chief international correspondent lyse doucet has more on that. >> that motion by the turkish parliament last night was absolutely crucial.

you will remember how with the u.s.-led invasion of iraq in 2003, the turks held back, deprived the forces of a vital base close to iraq, a case to refuel, a case to launch strikes from. now the turkish have joined the battle. it strengthens this international coalition. there is now even permission for turkish forces to be used on the ground, so we'll have to wait and see and watch to see how exactly they do become engaged in this -- on the side of this growing coalition. i have to say it's good news here for the new leadership in baghdad. the prime minister told us this week that he wants as many countries as possible to be part of this international coalition, because he said the threat posed by islamic state fighters is still an existential threat to the very survival of iraq, and he wasn't going to be taking any chances. so to use the phrase used by tony abbott, the australian prime minister, in very big terms, he said that i.s. is a threat to the entire world.

well, you feel it most painfully, of course, here in baghdad and the rest of iraq where they now control, depending on how you pressure it, anywhere from a third to a quarter of iraqi territory. >> yeah, it's an important message to get the sense that that is being brought onboard by so many other countries. can i just ask you about kobane, lyse, upon the turkey-syria border. because the turkish government does seem to be quite clear it will not allow that town to fall. how important, whether as a symbol or in reality, is one town like that? >> it's extraordinary in this kind of a world when you're talk about vast areas of land, how one small area can be a microcosm, can be such a powerful symbol of which side is the winning side. this one small area kobane is right on the turkish border, and if the islamic state fighters take it over, they have a corridor right there, right on turkey's frontier. the prime minister yesterday was

absolutely clear that turkey will not allow kobane to fall. now, we're getting counterterrorism from socritici from some of the fighters, the kurdish peshmerga who say they're not bombing the right targets. they're taking the fight to the streets. so even with the air strikes. first of all, they said there's not enough air strikes. now with the air strikes, they're not sure they're engaging in the right way with the right targets. >> that's lyse doucet in baghdad. after months of unrest in yemen, which have left more than 270 people dead, a new prime minister is expected to be named shortly. it's a move which is hoped will bring some stability to the country, but the underlying issue which sparked the violent protests has the rise of fuel prices is still there. >> reporter: this man is a fruit and vegetable farmer. like many in yemen, he and his extended family of 60 rely on

their farm to provide for them, but their main source of income has taken a direct hit from the recent rise in fuel prices. >> translator: because of the rise in fuel prices, we haven't been able to plow or farm anymore and we can't sell it either. i had to take my children out of school because we couldn't afford it anymore. >> reporter: the yemeni government's decision to lift subsidies on fuel in july accelerated a political crisis in the country. hundreds died in weeks of clashes between shia rebels and the powerful sunni islamist militias. now a new political agreement is in place. but many yemenis are still having to pay 20% more on fuel. high fuel prices has made farming uneconomical for many yemeni farmers. this in turn has had an affect on the price of food, and in a country where almost half of its people live on less than $2 a day, yemen's poor are being

threatened with being plunged deeper into poverty. despite the mounting political and security pressures facing the current administration, yemenis feeling that the government is not tackling the real issues behind the country's failing economy. >> translator: if we manage our resources well, and address corruption, we will build a strong economy. >> reporter: the newly-agreed power sharing structure might have defused political tensions, but the worsening economy risks imposing more burdens on yemenis like fadel, who has had to give up on his dream of offering his children a better future. >> stay with us here on "bbc world news." still to come on the program, the family of a man diagnosed with ebola in texas are confined to their home under armed guard. you tap the bumper of a station wagon. no big deal... until your insurance company jacks up your rates.

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you're watching "bbc world news" with me, david eads. the latest headlines. scuffles have broken out in one of hong kong's main shopping districts after supporters of chinese rule tried to end the street occupation by pro-democracy activists. police are trying to keep the two sides apart. the battle rages on as islamic state militants try to take kobane, the syrian town close to the border with turkey. the british prime minister david cameron says that the uk has gone a long way towards achieving its objectives in afghanistan. he pledged continued support for the country, but warned that the fight against extremism is far from over. he was speaking after meeting president ashraf ghani in kabul. mr. cameron is the first world leader to hold talks with the newly inaugurated president and he said afghanistan's been transformed in recent years. >> together we've made afghanistan safer and we've made britain safer. of course, the new government of

national unity faces many challenges ahead. but president ghani and chief executive abdullah have already shown the leadership that will be necessary to build a better afghanistan, and in britain, you will always have a strong partner and a good friend. >> as for ashraf ghani, he thanked britain for its support, but added the two countries were facing common global threats. >> your presence here has meant that london has been safe. as well as the rest of the world. we face joint threats. they cannot be for just europe or for just america. we live in an integrated world, where global forces, both for good and for evil, coexist. >> so, as britain prepares to

end its combat operations in afghanistan, what about the future for the two countries? the bbc's david loyn gave me this assessment just a short while ago. >> ashraf ghani was intriguing in his comments about the future of the insurgency. the first comments he's really made appealing to people in this country who want to be loyal afghans, patriotic afghans, to join in a new project, but saying very clearly that the battle would continue against those who do not. so very much dividing between people who he would see as wanting to join in this new project. but as far as the conflict continues, it is now afghan troops fighting for themselves, taking very heavy casualties and very heavy fighting with the taliban in recent months, and ashraf ghani hoping to change the tone in his relations with the taliban at the same time as keeping up the military pressure on them. >> now, let's catch up on the business news, because aaron has

it all for us. we've got to start in hong kong really. >> yeah, absolutely. sort of big focus on the economics of that city. thanks very much, david. let's start with this. hong kong's stock market was back open after a two-day holiday, amid the continuing pro-democracy protests. the benchmark hang seng index fell around 1% but recovered ground to close up just over half of 1%. as hong kong's businesses get back to work after that two-day holiday, they will be assessing the damage done by those protests to the city's economy. we know for example chinese travel agents have suspended tours during a week that normally sees thousands of mainland visitors descend on hong kong to do some shopping. so, some are now warning that the instability will certainly be a big deterrent to future investment. also this, it was the b in brics, the group of countries were tipped to shake up the world economy. problem. brazil, it's now in recession, and, of course, frustration is

growing. brazilians, they go to the polls on sunday for the first round of presidential elections with the economy high on their list of priorities. we're going to have more on this from our reporter on the ground in brazil throughout the rest of the day for you. and in the business friday, you may remember these scenes from the summer. angry taxi drivers blocking the streets of major cities, including london, paris, we saw it in boston, and madrid. they were protesting against the arrival of uber, that smart phone app that promises to arrange you a taxi ride or a ride share within five minutes. they say it's putting them out of business. despite the controversy, let me tell you, uber's popularity has snowballed around the world. it's operated in 200 cities. earlier this year, it attracted a record investment by venture capitalists valuing uber at just over $18 billion, and now this

bloke, the ceo and founder of the company, they went for a little ride to find out where uber is going next. more on all of that throughout the rest of the day. follow me on twitter. you can tweet me @bbcaaron. that is it with the business. >> you might want to watch this, however, aaron, from a business perspective. we've got more pictures coming in from hong kong now. these are live pictures for you, as evening celts in there. the numbers are up, as you can see once again. there have been further signs of tension to say the least. we were showing earlier a real sense of antagonism between pro-government supporters and if we can call them the pro-democracy protesters really, because this area has been blocked off for days now. and a real sense of frustration building across the sector. we do know, of course, now that hong kong authorities, the government have said we'll have talks.

but we also know that they have not taken place in the course of friday, as i'm sure many of the pro-democracy demonstrators would have hoped, and the police also in the last couple of hours suggesting that these demonstrations must come to an end. so those are the live pictures for you. an american cameraman working in liberia has tested positive for ebola, and is to be flown home to the u.s. for treatment. 33-year-old ashoka mukpo was part of an nbc news crew reporting on the outbreak of ebola, and at the same time, the family of a man diagnosed with ebola in dallas, in texas has been -- well, the family has been confined to its home under armed guard. thomas duncan, who contracted the disease in liberia before traveling to the u.s., is now seriously ill in an isolation

ward. some other stories for you as well. the united states is partially lifting an arms embargo on its former foe vietnam after three decades. the announcement came after talks in washington between the u.s. secretary of state john kerry and his vietnamese counterpart. the state department said the move was to boost vietnam's maritime defense. it said it was not a move against china, which has been promoting its territorial claims in disputed waters. thai police say two workers from myanmar have admitted to killing two british tourists on an island in southern thailand. the bodies of david miller and hannah witheridge were discovered last month. a third myanmar national is also being questioned. this weekend, hundreds of bishops will be descending on the vatican to discuss some of the most important issues affecting the catholic faith. pope francis has suggested maybe it's time to review some parts

of the doctrine in light of the fact that many countries have legalized gay marriage and divorce rates are rising. but what does catholicism mean to modern day families? we've been speaking to catholics around the world to find out. we start in the philippines. >> this is our church, and we go to church every sunday. first to give thanks for all the blessings we received during the week. and also to help us sustain us for the coming week. our parents are very traditional catholics. especially my mom. she goes to mass every day. prays before she sleeps. >> and even in the morning. >> even in the morning. so issues like living together, cohabitation before marriage is --

>> no, no. >> it's a no-no. it's not allowed. premarital sex as well, definitely she wouldn't approve of it. and everything else. >> i am against family planning because having five children, god will help you in really planning howe how many children you can really fake care of. >> we should be realistic. raising a family with two kids is hard enough. >> if you don't have stable jobs. so the kids will suffer. >> the church teaches one thing. it gives them the opportunity for family planning. but it's much more difficult. and we believe there should be room for family planning, the

more modern way, not as the church teaches. we've been brought up with the catholic faith all throughout our lives. and that's how we in turn plan to raise our kids. and hopefully they would grow up and continue our tradition of being catholic. >> well, some thoughts there for you of catholics in the philippines ahead of this weekend's gathering of bishops at the vatican. over the course of our series, we'll also hear from ghana, ireland, and brazil. if you want more on all that, go to the website, bbc.com/news. okay, let's have a throwback in time now. a bit of a treat for you, especially if you like baseball. anyone who likes the old archive footage should enjoy this. 1924, major league baseball world series between the washington senators and the new

york giants. 40,000 packed in to enjoy it. among them, the man taking his hat off, president calvin coolidge there to see all the fun and games. walter johnson pitching. freddie lindstrom out. it was won in the end by washington. lovely pictures, well worth playing again and again. thanks for watching "bbc world news." and when weather hits, it's data mayhem. but airlines running hp end-to-end solutions are always calm during a storm. so if your business deals with the unexpected, hp big data and cloud solutions make sure you always know what's coming - and are ready for it. make it matter. action. (british accent) the passport is clearly a forgery. is the audition to play a portuguese guy? no, british. oh. (british accent) the passport is clearly a forgery.

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i'm david eads with "bbc world news." scuffles in hong kong as protesters continue to occupy key streets, ignoring police calls for the blockade to end, after another offer of talks with the government. the battle is raging as islamic state fighters try to take the syrian border town of kobane. australia is also to join the campaign of air strikes against islamic state militants in iraq. >> it is in everyone's best

interests that the murderous raid of the isil death cult be checked and rolled back and that's what we're determined to do. the prime minister pays a surprise visit to afghanistan to bolster the new leadership there. president ashraf ghani thanked the contribution for british troops. >> your presence here has meant that london has been safe. as well as the rest of the world. > back from the brink. the rare breed of hairy pig that could become a hero of the heathland. student leaders at the forefront of the pro-democracy protests in hong kong have told the bbc talks with the government are simply not happening on friday, as i think

they had expected. the protests, though, go on despite the offer of those talks over demands for electoral reform. now, police have been interve intervening as scuffles broke out at various points between occupy central protesters and pro-government groups. this is in the business district. roads have been blocked here for days. police earlier renewed their call for the protesters themselves to just go home. >> this behavior is not only irresponsible, but also law-breaking. i urge the protesters to leave the area peacefully and orderly. so that everyone can resume their normal routine. i would also like to point out that there are police officers inside. they have the duties to protect the buildings from charging by the protesters. however, the protesters are obstructing the delivery of milk

and water to the officers, and the entrance of emergency vehicles. this is inhuman and obviously unacceptable in all corners of the world. >> earlier, hong kong's chief executive c.y. leung rejected any suggestion that he should step down, but he did open up the prospect of what he called constitutional development. >> i am meeting with the students to discussion constitutional development matters. >> he, of course, answers to beijing. we get a sense now of the response to all this from the chinese leadership. >> china's leadership has made very few direct comments about the hong kong protests since they began. the country's president said

china would safeguard the country's stability and prosperity. instead, if we want to know beijing's stance on the protests, we have to look to china state media, and in particular, the people's daily. this is a state newspaper that's thought to be the mouthpiece of the communist party, and in today's editorial, the language was particularly fiery, saying the protests were doomed to fail. there was no room for compromise and that beijing would not change its stance on its decision to hand-pick candidates who would run for officer for hong kong's top job in 2017. said that decision was unchallengeable. some of the bosses in beijing won't budge and the hong kong pro tests die off, they've managed to effectively censor news of the protests in china's mainland and managed to stop the spread of the protests across china. just yesterday, our bbc team in beijing was blocked from

attending an artist gathering that was meant to show support for the hong kong protests. we know that at least five of the organizers of that event were detained, and so far, several of those people have yet to be in contact with their worried friends and family. and who knows how many other people in china who wanted to show support for the hong kong protests have also quietly been taken away by the mainland authorities. >> so the view there from beijing. if you want more on the story, do go to the website. you've got our correspondents from the various corners of the region giving perspective for you, including our china editor carrie gracie. interesting stuff about the iconic use of the umbrella as well as a symbol of that protest. bbc.com/news. the syrian town of kobane is still under siege some two weeks after islamic state fighters began their assault. we've got some latest pictures of kobane. there is some heavy shelling on the town. that's gone on through the

night, in fact, as well, despite coalition air strikes on nearby positions of so-called islamic state. turkey's prime minister has said that turkey will do whatever it can to prevent kobane from falling, but so far, there's been no sign of actual turkish military involvement. the bbc's paul adams sent this from the turkey-syria border. >> as we were driving down here, we also heard reports of an air strike, and we could see a big, big column of smoke way off to the southeast of kobane. but if i just step out of the shop for a second and ask the counter man to focus on the hill top there, that hilltop sits right above the town of kobane. we've just seen in the last few minutes a couple of impacts close to the top of the hill. we saw a bit of that going on yesterday, too, and those rounds are being fired from

positions -- islamic state positions somewhat to the southeast of kobane, and some of those rounds are hitting both in the town itself and also on the top of that hill. clearly you can tell it's a fairly strategic location. if you control the top of that hill, you're going to be in a very strong position to take the town itself. so it does seem as though once again we're seeing very much a focus of activity on this eastern side. this is where islamic state fighters are much, much closer to the town than they are on the west, where the front lines are probably seven or eight kilometers away. they're also quite close to the south, behind that hill. so we've been watching for the last several flying. we've seen vehicles, i.s. vehicles moving around. it doesn't give me the impression that there's been a dramatic change overnight. but certainly that is the focus of activity this morning. >> paul adams there up on the

turkey-syria border. growing anti-vietnamese sentiment is behind a five-day protest due to start in the cambodian capital this weekend. there are fears they may boil over. it highlights increasing animosity towards vietnam and the ethnic vietnamese living in cambodia. >> reporter: this baby boy will never know his father. she was eight months pregnant when her husband was killed by an angry mob after a motorbike accident in february. >> translator: i'm left alone, i have no way to make my living and have to rely on my family. >> reporter: this is her husband. one person was arrested over his murder, but no one has ever gone to trial. like many ethnic vietnamese in cambodia, he was born here and spoke the national language. but his parents were vietnamese.

he was targeted because he was just a bystander in the crowd. >> translator: i don't understand why they killed him. he can't do anything. >> reporter: anti-vietnamese sentiment runs deep among some in this area. concerns about immigration and political influence from vietnam have raised tensions across cambodia, and there are also allegations that vietnam has occupied cambodia's land and has led to attacks on the ethnic vietnamese community and their businesses. one of those angry with vietnam. he is the leader of the minority community and a member of cambodia's national rescue party, which has been accused of having an anti-vietnam agenda. he and his supporters have staged several protests this year, demanding that vietnam acknowledges.

>> translator: we want vietnam to recognize history, apologize to the cambodians and stop meddling with cambodia's politics. >> reporter: under pressure from the opposition, the cambodian government is reviewing its immigration laws and starting with a national census. but many vietnamese feel they've been deliberately singled out. this man's parents are also vietnamese. he says he has cambodian nationality, but like many people living here, he doesn't have any identification papers. >> translator: now the opposition has joined the national parliament, i'm afraid there will be some kind of backlash against the vietnamese because the opposition doesn't like it. >> reporter: the cambodian government says no one will be targeted unfairly. but with fresh anti-vietnamese protests expected, it will take a lot more than words to convince these ethnic vietnamese that they have nothing to fear. bbc news in cambodia.

do stay with us here on "bbc world news." still to come, we'll be taking a look at whether the slowdown in the brazilian economy is going to affect sunday's presidential election.

you pay your auto insurance premium every month on the dot. you're like the poster child for paying on time. and then one day you tap the bumper of a station wagon. no big deal... until your insurance company jacks up your rates. you freak out. what good is having insurance if you get punished for using it? hey insurance companies, news flash. nobody's perfect.

for drivers with accident forgiveness, liberty mutual won't raise your rates due to your first accident. see car insurance in a whole new light. liberty mutual insurance. you're watching "bbc world news." i'm david eads. the latest headlines. scuffles have been breaking out in one of hong kong's main shopping districts after supporters of chinese rule try to end the street occupation by pro-democracy activists. police are trying to keep the two sides apart. the battle rages on as islamic state militants try to take kobane, the syrian town close to the border with turkey. afghanistan is a country transformed. that was the verdict of the british prime minister david cameron, who became the first

leader to visit kabul since ashraf ghani took over as president of a new unity government earlier in the week. speaking after their talks, mr. cameron said that britain had gone a long way towards achieving its objectives in afghanistan. and he pledged continued support for the country. also warning, though, that the fight against extremism is far from over. and in thanking britain for its support, president ghani stressed they faced shared global threats. he did add that afghanistan had the political will to tackle the challenges. well, the talks all came as british combat troops prepare to leave the country by the end of the year. let's have a look at what all this might mean, because with me now is dawoud from the bbc's afghan service. david cameron is quick to get in support for this new unity government, which from a british perspective has got to work. >> there seems to be a tradition here, the 12 years ago in

january 2002, that then-british prime minister tony blair was the first western leader to visit kabul, and to meet the then afghan president hamid karzai, and now david cameron has become the first western leader again to visit kabul. it was more about showing commitment and showing the afghan people that you will keep engaged after the withdrawal of foreign combat forces by the end of 2014. and britain is also leading another important initiative, a trilateral summit between britain, afghanistan, and pakistan and the fourth meeting took place last year in london. so that meeting might come up again in the near future between the three leaders. >> it's interesting you draw on that, because we can't be surprised at the warm words at the start of a presidency. but david cameron did also say, referring to the pal bataliban,

must accept they have to give up violence and engage in the political process. it's not new words, but it's a very important time to be saying it. >> it is. everybody knows that there is a stalemate in afghanistan when it comes to fighting against the taliban. and everybody has acknowledged that there is a need for talks. but talks didn't go anywhere over the past 12 years. so with the new government, there's a fresh start and there are hopes that the taliban political office in qatar might be reopened and activated and there might be some movements in the peace process. and britain can play an important role because it has a lot of influence in pakistan, it has very good relations with pakistani authorities, and afghanistan and that pakistan can play a very big role in the peace process and can help afghanistan to achieve peace and

stability. so britain can play the role of mediator between afghanistan and pakistan to achieve that goal. >> beyond that, and briefly, ashraf ghani has a huge challenge, as any president of afghanistan would have. is he up to it? >> well, it's easier said than done. but he has the vision. he has shown the commitment, and in the first week of being president of afghanistan, he took a couple of major initiatives when it comes to improving governance and tackling corruption. he appointed a special envoy for reform and improving governance. so his job will be to reform the institutions. another major initiative he took was to reopen the kabul bank case. it was the biggest bank in afghanistan. it nearly collapsed. the government had to intervene. so they have issued the order of arresting of those involved in that scam. so it means that he has the commitment, but it is not easy.

it will take a while to fix things. >> we'll see how it goes. thanks very much indeed. to brazil now, as the country go to the polls on sunday, the chance to elect a new president. up until 2010, brazil was one of the fastest growing economies in the world. in the last four years, though, growth has slowed, frustration has quickened, if anything. could this cost the workers party an election in katie watson reports. >> reporter: i've come to the outskirts of sao paulo. this area became very well-known during the industrialization of the 1960s with people coming from all over brazil, especially the poor northeast to come and work in factories here. one of its most famous residents is the former president desilva, who made his name as a union leader before becoming the country's president. he isn't running for another term, but he's very much present in this year's campaign, an icon for the workers party, his

successor and current president needs his support. the surrounding region is still seen as the traditional home of the workers party, but not everybody is convinced by its policies anymore. >> dilma disappointed many people because she's from the workers party and she should give more support to the working class. today the core assembly plants are empty. >> translator: i'm going to vote for dilma because she improved our country 90% and people can't go back. >> translator: you've got to give other candidates of other parties a chance besides the workers party. >> reporter: one of the biggest challenges is support from younger voters. gustavo is one of them. he's an engineering student and works part-time in a jewelry shop. he's voting in his first presidential elections, and like

many of his friends, says he won't be voting dilma. >> translator: when the workers party started, i think lots of the supporters were older. they are used to voting for the workers party. the people who saw it start, all the revolutions and changes that took place, means those people normally vote for the workers party. but i think the generation that's coming up now has changed its mind. that's why we saw lots of protests before the world cup. protesting about lots of things. health, education, public transport. i think that's a sign that people are now changing their minds about the workers party. >> reporter: the arrival of marina silver has shaken up the race. more than a decade ago, the candidate who was illiterate until the age of 16 is seen as the person who represents change. >> translator: the voter has gone hungry in his life, so he's

grateful for improvements in the country in the past ten years. that's not the case with a younger voter. he's a voter that studied more than his parents, more connected than his parents, and is much more worried about what will happen to brazil in the future rather than what got brazil to this point. >> reporter: the campaign has stepped up a notch. the latest polls show that dilma rousseff is still likely to win. it will be a tight race, but she may keep smiling for another four years. katie watson, bbc news. scientists believe they've discovered the origin of the aids pandemic. they're calling it a feat of viral archaeology. they've traced it back to the 1920s, in what is now the democratic republic of congo. hiv only came to global attention, of course, in the 1980s. the united nations says that 75 million people have been infected, and since the start of the epidemic, it's believed that

as many as 36 million people have died. a short while ago, the bbc online health editor told me about this recent finding. >> it's an absolutely fascinating piece of research, and we've always known that aides and hiv had a much longer history in africa than the rest of the world. what this piece of research has done, it's like work out your own family history really in tracing it back. so they've taken hiv samples from across africa, combined it with where they've taken those samples, looked at the virus's genetic code, and which ones are more related, where were they from, and came to the conclusion that what was then the belgian congo, going back that far, in around the 1920s. no later than that, but could have been a bit earlier. >> the reason it spread so fast and effectively as a disease was partly the infrastructure available. >> exactly. hiv originally came from

chimpanzees. it's a simeon virus, and we have the human virus. it's made that species jump multiple times, but only once did it manage to become this global pandemic. it's something around not the virus, but what was happening at the time. if we take you back in time to the 1920s, back to colonial rule, you've got leopoldville, growing hugely, expanding rapidly. drawing in huge numbers of male laborers. two men to one women. the sex trade was roaring. and public health initiatives were using unsterilized needles in order to treat lots of sexually transmitted diseases. a ripe environment for fueling hiv spreading. >> just very quickly, but can we make a useful sort of message from this to what we're seeing with ebola now? >> well, they are two very different viruses, and the conclusions you can make are it's not really the same thing going on here. but what it does show you is

that it's not just the virus, it's the conditions. and at the moment, the conditions in west africa are ripe for ebola to spread rapidly, because as we've heard every day on "world news," quite frankly the health care is not capable of matching ebola. >> interesting stuff, isn't it? james gallagher there. right now they're big, fluffy, unusually cute. what am i talking about? it's a rare breed of hairy pig, which has been brought back from extinction and could become a real force for good, actually, because conservationists here in the uk are looking to use this breed of pig to preserve and to restore threatened heathland in dorsett, as tim muffet explains. >> reporter: for a mangaliza pig, restore it to the pristine heathland it once was. >> ordinarily, we bring

contractors in to get this from the trees that have been here for the past 50 years. so instead of using the big machines, what we've tried to do is use our little mini bulldozers to come in. this is quite experimental. i don't know of pigs being used in this way before. >> reporter: they were originally bred for their lard, or pig fat. but as demand fell, so did their numbers. they became extinct in the uk 40 years ago. but having been reintroduced in 2006, their popularity is growing. not just with gourmet butchers, but some conservationists who believe they have another key role to play. >> as a pig, you can see what they're doing. they're shuffling around, going through the roots, turning over that litter layer that we need to reduce. >> more effectively than a tractor or lawn mower or anything like that. >> i think it would be a lot more effective than using a tractor, also a lot more cost efficient and a lot more

sustainable in the long run. >> reporter: the hope is that after a year or so, the site will go from this, to this. heathland typically consists of sandy soil and plants such as heather. it supports an array of wildlife. dragon flies, beetles, lizards. but it's an environment under threat. over the past 200 years, it's thought 80% of it has disappeared. and natural england, which advises the government on environmental issues, believes effective use of natural grazing could be the key to restoring it. >> this sort of slow grazing with pigs and other animals is absolutely fantastic for nature. you don't get dung with machinery and that's a very important thing with insects. i want to take you back to hong kong, because these pictures are coming into us live, actually. this is the mongkok business district. what you're seeing is a number of individuals being picked out

of the crowd and escorted away. we've had a few scuffles, a little bit of -- it's no more than that. they're not riot police, they're just police in uniform in the midst of that. but clearly there are still some tensions. that's the very latest for you on the situation in hong kong. thanks for watching "bbc world news." is the audition to play a portuguese guy? no, british. oh. (british accent) the passport is clearly a forgery. (american accent) the passport is clearly a forgery. that was just... regular. (english accent) the passport is clearly a forgery. but don't do it in a lady's voice. how do you know i'm not auditioning to play a woman? you're absolutely right. ok. you make your own choices. with the best screen of any tablet, the new samsung galaxy tab s is the world's most entertaining device. get it now at these retailers.

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hello, and welcome to "gmt" on "bbc world news." our top stories. hong kong's rulers offer to talk to pro-democracy demonstrators, but the standoff on the streets goes on. amid continued street scuffles, protesters accuse the chief minister of playing for time, while hong kongers count the cost of continued tension. and i'm babita sharma live in hong kong. demonstrators are still on the street. as yet, still no dialogue between the government