hello. you're watching "gmt" on "bbc world news." i'm lucy hockings. our top stories, the battle for a crucial town on the border with syria and turkey appears to be intensifying. these are live pictures of kobane, which islamic state militants are trying to seize. our correspondents there say a ferocious gun battle has engulfed the eastern edge of the town. we're going to take you live to the border for the very latest. did turkey secure the release last month of dozens of its hostages from islamic state by handing back militant fighters in exchange? one week on, protest

numbers, as you can see, have dwindled in hong kong. which side has emerged as the victor in the standoff between pro-democracy campaigners and the authorities? and a british man pleads not guilty to murdering his wife while on honeymoon in south africa. he reveals as well that he was bisexual. we'll have more from outside the court in capetown. aaron also joins us looking at the brazilian election of what policies could win or lose this election. >> absolutely. seven years ago, brazil was a shining star reporting record economic growth, but not now. the country is in recession, so there is no doubt it's the economy that's likely to decide this election. we're going to take a look at which policies the people of brazil are voting for. it's midday here in london,

7:00 a.m. in washington, and 2:00 p.m. in the besieged syrian town of kobane, where a fierce battle is taking place. kurdish fighters trying to hold back an advance by islamic state militants at the town, which as you can see, just lies inside the border from turkey. let's take you to live pictures that we're getting from the border now. fighting has been taking place here for nearly three weeks. you can see some smoke rising there in the town at the moment. it's really become a crucial battleground in the fight against the jihadists. islamic state want to cement their grip over this stretch of the border, and what we have been hearing from our correspondent who is there as the entire eastern edge of the town appears to have been engulfed by some kind of gun battle. this has caused thousands of refugees to flee from kobane over the border into turkey, a real crisis being created in terms of the refugee situation on the border as well. and perhaps the other development from kobane over the

weekend, we were hearing that a female kurdish suicide bomber attacked an islamic state position just east of the town. now, we do have a correspondent paul adams who is right on the border for us. we're hoping to talk to him in a moment to bring you right up to date, but another angle we're closely following here at the bbc on this story is that british officials have told us that reports of a prisoner swap are credible. these reports have been published in the "times" newspaper and they claim that two british jihadists were among dozens of militant prisoners who were handed back to islamic state, all part of a deal to secure the release of turkish diplomats. following this angle for us is the bbc's mark lowen, who is in istanbul. we can take you to mark now. mark, what more do we know about these reports of the prisoner exchange? >> back to 46 turkish citizens who were kidnapped in iraq by

islamic state back in june. they were released about two and a half weeks ago, and there was a lot of speculation as to what was agreed behind closed doors between the turkish authorities and islamic state. all they said at the time was that there was no money that changed hands. but there was immediate speculation that perhaps around 50 prisoners were exchanged with islamic state. now, what we've had today is a report in the "times" newspaper of london saying that actually that number is as high as 180 people who were, they say, released by the turkish government, foreign fighters who were trying to fight with islamic state. and the "times" says that ten of them were eu citizens, two of those were brits. as you say, the british foreign office saying that a report of the prisoner swap are credible. the two are named as an 18-year-old student and a 26-year-old. we're trying to get more information from the turkish authorities, but they're

remaining extremely tight-lipped. it's also slightly bad timing because it's the eid muslim holiday, so no government office is working. but all we've heard so far is no information on our side, and the british embassy also saying no information, no comment at this stage. so for now it is that single source which has come out in the british newspaper. >> thanks for that update from istanbul. we are going to take you now live to the turkey-syria border. the bbc's paul adams has been there for us over the past few days. paul, what seems to be happening in kobane at the moment? >> reporter: it's a little harder to tell today, because we have been pushed back several kilometers from the position that we've been in from the past week, overlooking the town of kobane. that's where we're sitting right now. we have been able to drive around a little bit to get some impression of what's going on there. i can tell you that even from

two or three kilometers away, the sound of the gunfire around kobane is deafening. it is still going on. intense overnight. sounds like it's intense again this morning. occasionally we see large plumes of smoke rising over the city and we also heard reports that overnight, there might have been one more u.s. coalition air strike. although we have not had that confirmed by the pentagon. but the situation still appears to be pretty dire. there were some reports suggesting that islamic state fighters had begun to approach the top of a hill that sits right behind kobane with a couple of radios on it. were that to be the case, were they to take that hill, that really would mark the beginning of the end for the defenders of the city. i don't think we've got to that point yet, but the situation looks critical. >> paul, what are the turkish security forces doing? >> reporter: well, i think the short answer so that is nothing

that we can see. when we were running around just about an hour ago, we did come across a group of turkish tanks sitting on a hillside with their guns pointing over the border. now, those were either tanks that we had earlier seen during the week parked right next to the border, which may have been moved back for security, or another detachment moved forward in some kind of gesture to the two warring parties on the other side. not to fire again across the border. because we know that that happened yesterday. we went to a house that had been hit by a rocket that came across the border. and we are told, though we cannot confirm, that another round landed on an empty shop on the turkish side, very, very close to the crossing point. so the situation right there on the fence is pretty precarious. that i think is one reason why the turkish authorities have been so determined to push not only us, but also civilians back from the border area. >> paul, thanks so much for that update. that is paul adams on the border for us between turkey and syria.

very fluid. paul has been pushed back to his position. as soon as we get more details of what is happening in kobane, we will bring them straight to you. we're just looking back to what mark lowen was talking about, the reports of the prisoner exchange. the issue of prisoners and hostages has been central to what has been happening with the battle with islamic state. and the parents of an american aid worker who is being held hostage right now by islamic state militants in syria have released a letter that was written by their son since he's been abducted. in the letter, the muslim convert says he was saddened by the pain his ordeal was causing to his family. the 26-year-old formerly known as peter kasag wrote, i was obviously pretty scared to die, but the hardest part is not knowing, wondering, hoping and wondering if i should even hope at all. he went on to say, if i do die, i figure that at least you and i can seek refuge and comfort in

knowing that i went out as a result of trying to alleviate suffering and helping those in need. his parents ed and paula received this letter in june. they say they've released part of the letter so the world could understand why they and so many others love and admire their son. and later, speaking to the parents of jake foley, the american journalist who was held hostage, then murdered by the islamic state. watch that interview here on "bbc world news" at 1330 gmt. let's bring you up to date with other news now. a powerful typhoon has brought many parts of japan to a standstill and briefly hit tokyo before heading out to sea. typhoon phanfone has killed at least one person, a u.s. airman who was washed away by high waves. there's also concern about possible landslides. india and pakistan have accused each other of resorting

to unprovoked firing along the disputed border in which at least nine civilians have been killed. india says five people died after pakistani troops fired shells in kashmir. pakistan accuses indian troops of killing four people on its side of the border. the formula one driver jules bianchi has undergone surgery on a head injury. it was raining heavily at the time of the crash and several drivers complained of not being able to see properly. let's take you to hong kong now, where a number of pro-democracy protesters has dwindled since talks began with government officials after more than a week of demonstrations. student leaders say the sharp fallen numbers is part of a tactical retreat as the exhausted protesters regroup. but has beijing actually gained the upper hand by simply letting the demonstrations run their

course? let's take a look now at the scene right now in hong kong. there are hundreds of campaigners there still on the street. the numbers, as i mentioned, have hugely dwindled. just compare that shot that we've been bringing you over the past days to say five or six days ago. really, the numbers considerably less, and we do know that life is returning to normal in some parts of the city. let's take you to babita sharma, who is covering events for us in hong kong. do you get that sense, babita, that with the schools open that life is returning to normal a little? >> reporter: it does feel like that, lucy, because as you say, the government ultimatum for the students to leave here by monday appears to have passed without any incident whatsoever. thousands of government workers were able to gain access to buildings freely, and as you say, thousands of secondary school children returned to school here. and all the while, a fair few

hundred demonstrators still occupying this one route into hong kong's financial districts. but as you said, the numbers have dwindled considerably. could be two key reasons for that. the first, that they are -- tiredness is setting in. the second reason is they have chosen to tactically withdraw overnight, not wanting to engage in any possible ugly showdown with the authorities here. we understand that the hong kong federation of students say that they are having conversations with the authorities, trying to work out some kind of timeframe or timetable for negotiations to take place. now, if that is the case, it could just signal a small step towards the negotiating table between the two sides here. lots of groups involved in this protest movement. one of them is the chinese university student union. they represent 6,000 students who say that they kick started the demonstrations here back in september 22nd.

their president tommy jeong joins me now. what is your plan? >> we have to continue.cheung joins me now. what is your plan? >> we have to continue. stay we still have a lot of students participating. also do some work to organize in the universities. and also, we have different parts where we have demonstrations. we have some students who will be the start of demonstrations. >> reporter: but how coordinated are you as a protest movement? are you speaking to the other groups like occupy central? are you all joining together? we get a sense in the last eight or nine days that you haven't been unified as a movement. >> communicating with different

parties like occupy central, different political parties. but we have to have a unity with different parties. if we have the same issues as the campaign, then we have to combine the demonstrations on the streets and also the council. because we will have the meetings this week in the legislative council. >> so you're hoping to have talks with the authorities here, but your numbers of protesters here have really got into hundreds, not the tens of thousands that we saw at the start of the week. does that mean that the protest movement is losing its momentum here? >> i think most of the people here are exhausted last week, and also they may think that they have to go to other parts

to support the occupy. >> we have to leave it there, but thank you very much for joining us. tommy cheung. as you just heard there, the protesters are choosing to step back a little bit, regroup, get their energy levels back up. but if the authorities make any bold moves here, they will come back in the thousands. lucy, back to you. >> babita, thanks for the latest from hong kong. but how involved has mainland china been so far? let's talk now to the editor of the bbc's chinese service raymond lee who is with me. how much of a hand did beijing have in terms of orchestrating the official response in hong kong? >> i think so far, it's quite difficult to say, because we haven't seen any of china's leaders coming out by saying anything or commenting on what's going on in hong kong. even more interesting is the top china official in hong kong

hasn't come out either. which is quite unusual, because normally, if anything happened in hong kong, he would actually come out to say anything. so i think it's fair to say beijing has been trying very hard to not -- you know, coming to the front line and trying to be behind the scenes. >> what about on the ground, though? there were reports that police were speaking mandarin, not cantonese. >> well, some of them may, because you could argue with that. but it is unusual, i would say. quite strange. but then you can't, you know, from that, draw the conclusion that there may be something coming from china. >> but would you imagine that the leadership in beijing are feeling pretty happy right now, that this has been handled well, they stood back, and now we're seeing the protests dwindle?

>> i think certainly perhaps they feel relieved a bit. but then they should know that the situation is still very dangerous because everything would depend on the talk between the government and the protesters. if nothing coming out to watch, suitors are believing. i think they will come out again and make it big. >> raymond, thank you very much for joining us here on "gmt." do stay with us. still to come on the program, just weeks after all eyes were on the oscar pistorius trial, we'll take you to capetown for the trial of shrien dewani. [ male announcer ] ours was the first modern airliner,

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we now know that brazil's presidential election is going to go to a runoff between the

incumbent dilma rousseff and aecio neves. president rousseff gained 41% of the poll, 80% turnout, which is huge in brazil. the centrist candidate aecio neves capturing 34% to guarantee his place in the runoff. however, the environmentalist marina silva has been eliminated after getting only 21% of the votes cast. with me here in the studio is a brazilian journalist based here in london. thanks for being with us. a week ago we were talking about this and it was dilma versus marina. she seems to have completely lost ground, marina, in the last few days. >> a week ago, aecio neves was considered dead and buried, and we were thinking of this runoff between two women for the first time in brazil. however, aecio mounted a fantastic comeback in a matter of a week. a lot of voters in brazil more leaning to the left felt that

marina was smug. >> do you think now, though, that she must be the king maker? because they're both going to be after her votes. >> 21% of the vote is huge. she has this power. if she declares public support for any of the sides, whoever the benefit will be, they're going to be happy with that and i think she's leaning because of anti-dilma, i think. she never went well with dilma. one of the best elections in brazil in a very long time. very polarized, though. rousseff won in the poorer states, and neves in the richer states. so it's an old game, but more balanced. >> the economy has been central to the whole debate so far, but in the next few weeks, do you think things could get a little nasti nastier? >> yeah, they'll both have nasty things in the pockets for each other. it was kind of balanced because marina silva after the candidate

died. but now it will be vicious. the government has been attacked a lot because of corruption stories. and the government has been quite quiet, the reception in quite quiet in reception to neves. i think she's preparing something to be released in the next few weeks. we only have one for the second round. >> and it seems brazilians quite passionate about politics. 80% turnout. is this something that has -- >> voting is compulsory. 10% of the people cancelled their votes or voted blank. so there is a huge dissatisfaction. but when people see -- crunch time in brazilian politics, peel always go and vote because it's one of the few democratic rights we've had in the last few years. only the seventh straight presidential vote we've had since the end of the dictatorship. so it's something very powerful still. but the country is very

polarized now, so we need to see how it's going to go. the congress is actually fractured. 28 parties in the brazilian lower chamber, for example. they don't even have 15% each of the new parliament seats. >> it's going to be an interesting few weeks. fernando, thank you very much for joining us. we'll keep following the brazilian presidential runoff. in a few minutes time, aaron is going to be with us and take a closer look at the economic policies of the two presidential contenders because as we were just saying, that is absolutely fundamental it seems to the way people have been voting. a british businessman accused of masterminding the murder of his wife on their honeymoon is on trial in south africa. shrien dewani denies plotting to have his wife annie murdered. this happened in a township near capetown. he fought and lost a long legal battle to avoid being extradited to south africa to stand trial. let's talk to our correspondent who is in capetown for us. what have we heard so far in

court today? >> reporter: yes, we heard that shrien dewani denies the charge of murder. he's facing five counts, including murder, kidnapping, robbery, and defeating the ends of justice. he has also told the court through a statement that he considers himself to be bisexual, and he said that annie was supporting him in his hormonal treatment. he described how they came to capetown and the sequence of events, how he was thrown out of the car. before then, he said annie was screaming. he said, they won't hurt us, they just wanted the car. but soon after, they threw him out threatening to shoot him, and he said, my world came crashing down when i heard that

an nie had been shot. >> thanks so mup fch for that update. he was known as one of the most influential designers in his nation, only to leave the fashion industry in disgrace. but now john galiano is back. the british designer will try and relaunch his career. these pictures you're seeing right now were of his drunken tirade, which saw him sacked from dior after 15 years with the label. it was hugely controversial at the time. the video showed mr. galiano shouting anti-semitic abuse at people in a parisian bar. he was convicted. he did apologize, but he blamed his addiction to alcohol and drugs for what happened there. but here you can see part of his new collection. john galiano is back.

do stay with us. coming up in the next half-hour, we explore a shocking crime and a grisly discovery in mexico. it could become one of the worst mass murders that mexico has seen in many years. the authorities saying at least 28 bodies found in a mass grave. we'll be asking who could be responsible and why. stay with us. means keeping seven billion ctransactions flowing.g, and when weather hits, it's data mayhem.

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this is "gmt" on "bbc world news." i'm lucy hockings. in this half-hour, the shocking discovery of a mass grave in southern mexico. investigators are working to identify 28 bodies. they were believed to be student protesters who clashed with police last month. is apartheid really over in south africa? we're going to visit a town where africanas have built their own all-white community. aaron is back, and big trouble for one of europe's biggest tourist attractions. >> i tell you what, the magical kingdom perhaps not so magical,

because after 20 years of falling visitor numbers, euro disney, the owner of disney land paris agrees to $1.25 billion finance. we're going to go live to paris to find out if this will plug the problems, or could this be the beginning of the end for the theme park? it is being described as a shocking crime. it could become one of the worst mass murders that mexico has seen in many years. the authorities say at least 28 bodies have been found in a mass grave near the of iguala. the bodies were so badly burned, it could take weeks to identify them, but the grave was found just outside of iguala where a group of students went missing last month. 43 of them disappeared after taking part in a protest over job discrimination. police opened fire, killing

several of them. the missing protesters last seen being bundled into vans. thanks for being with us. again, just give us a bit more of a background of what happened because it's such a shocking case. >> i know, yes. as you said, it started friday 26th of september, when there was a big protest for students. they were protesting about discrimination for rural teachers. they said they feel discriminated in the state. and there was a big clash with police and security forces, and some said there were masked gunmen who shot at the students. there were six people dead, three students among them. and 58 students at first at the beginning disappeared. 17 of them appeared on tuesday. they said they were hiding because they were scared and they were either in their homes or the colleges. but 43 still disappeared. >> who were these masked men? who do we think is responsible?

>> we need to talk about guerrero state southwest of mexico. this is one of the poorest states in the country and one of the most violent. it's a lot of violence related to drugs and gangs who are battling power for power in the state. also there's been reports of mass corruption with local authorities. so it's a lot of factors that have been working. obviously the teachers, they have a history of protests and the police always trying to suppress them as well. so there's a lot of factors there. >> every time we speak, it seems to be because something terrible and gruesome has happened in mexico. this is particularly shocking i think because people think they were just students. >> i know. it's quite shocking. even though the government hasn't -- they say they're identifying the victims, it hasn't said they're the students for sure. wouldn't be surprised if they're the students because this is not the first time they've found mass graves in mexico. as you remember, there's been a

lot of -- a few massacres discovered, especially in the north of the country. so wouldn't be surprised, but still, very surprising. very, very shocking. >> for ordinary mexicans at the moment, how do they feel about this sort of sense that the country is lawless? >> mexico is a huge country. if you go to mexico city, i'm sure people are very scared about violence. each state have very different problems. there's the drugs in the north. the immigration in the south. human rights violations. it's a huge country with a lot of problems, so it depends where you go, people will talk about their own problems. mexico city has a lot of problems as well. so it is a huge country with a lot of countries. >> thank you very much for joining us. >> thank you. let's take you to iraq now. a catholic church leader there has said that western air strikes haven't done enough to protect the country's christians. the arch bibishop of erbil says more force needs to be used to

keep christians safe. tens of thousands fled villages and towns near mosul in early august as islamic state militants advanced through the area. from erbil in northern iraq, here's the bbc's quentin somerville. >> reporter: the peace and the quiet of st. joseph's cathedral in erbil is no more. the chapel gardens have become a crowded sanctuary for iraqi christians. most arrived here with only the clothes on their backs. when the islamic state overran their towns and villages. this was in june. the catholic church bells ringing out in defiance of i.s. in near mosul. a congregation refusing to flee. >> this is our land. we will fight for this land and we will stay here. we are not leaving, actually. >> reporter: but three months on, we find her again and discover that like every other christian, she did flee.

so you fled in the middle of the night? >> yes. >> reporter: and she has little expectation of returning home soon. >> first, we need them to -- our lands to be under control. the government or the peshmerga or anything. and then we need protection, actually, from the surrounding, because they are the people who attacked us, who betrayed us. >> reporter: a kurdish soldier looks down on i.s.-controlled territory. from mosul outwards, through sunni muslim villages, the islamic state spread. christians have lived in this part of iraq for centuries, but as the islamic state swept across this plain, they abandoned their towns and villages and now none are left. the church says it will only be safe for them to return when mosul has been liberated and the islamic state defeated. the archbishop of erbil says air strikes so far have done nothing

to help iraq's christians. >> it's strange for a catholic bishop to say that please, we need more force, but it's self-defense really. i could see that my people are really dying. dying in a way that is terrifying, it's painful, and we have to defend ourselves. >> reporter: even if the islamic state is forced back, christian and sunni neighbors won't easily trust each other again. there's little faith left here. quentin somerville, bbc news in northern iraq. aaron is with us now with the business. you're going to talk to us about the brazilian economy. such a huge factor in the presidential runoff. >> absolutely. so much to be done. seven years ago, shining star. real big difference at the

moment. let me explain. thanks very much. hello there. yes, as you've been hearing, more than 150 million brazilians went to the polls to vote for a new president. current leader dilma rousseff won most of the votes but not enough to avoid a second-round runoff. now she faces aecio neves in a second round at the end of this month, at the end of october. it has been a campaign with plenty let's say twists and turns, but the main issue, as lucy has suggested, has been about getting the economy moving again. take a look at this. in the first few months, the economy shrank by 0.2 of a percent, but it got even worse in the second quarter. that second three-month period, it fell by 0.6%, and that sent the economy into recession. let's go straight over to sao paulo and join katie watson. great to see you. let's get straight to the point. which of these candidates is seen as more economically friendly? >> reporter: well, i think after

the huge surprise with ra mee th -- marina silva, what we're seeing now is very traditional politics in brazil. we've got the workers party with president dilma rousseff, who is very much under dilma rousseff and under her predecessor, millions of people have come out of poverty in brazil. there have been social spending programs. that's why they're supported. when you come to talk about business, aecio neves is probably the man. he talks about trying to make a more independent central bank, trying to make much more of a -- really trying to make a much more business-friendly and approachable really. that's one of the issues. you've got full investor sentiment. you've got the economy in recession. so people really are looking for an alternative. but it's still a very big gap between the two sides really in brazil. you've got the wealthy and you've got a lot of people who are very much reliant on those social spending programs. >> absolutely.

the haves and have nots. you mentioned some of the problems. recession. inflation that is higher than the country's target. the stock market's taking a pummelling. the currency is taking a pummelling. but everybody points to neves as being pro-business. i'm wondering what sort of track record does he have? >> he was the governor of the second most popular state until 2010. he's very pro-business. one of the things that's quite interesting, during the campaign, the issue of the central bank came up, which you wouldn't think was particularly interesting topic of conversation for a lot of voters, but the fact that the central bank isn't seen as being very independent, that actually there's not very much autonomy under the worker's party, that's one of the things that the candidates, aecio neves has said, it's important to have an independent central bank because then you can rein inflation. you speak to people on the streets here, and very many people are fed up with high

inflation. nothing like the inflation in the 1980s and '90s. but that's the sort of thing that people are very frustrated by. it's about solid economic policies trying to get back that confidence, and trying to get brazil going once again. >> yeah, absolutely. that higher inflation erodes brazilians' spending power. katy, great stuff. we'll talk to you very soon, no doubt. thank you. katy watson joining us live from sao paulo there. let's talk something closer to home. euro disney, the struggling theme park on the outskirts of paris, has agreed a $1.25 billion debt restructuring deal, backed by its biggest shareholder, walt disney. walt disney owns a 40% stake in the theme park and a further 10% is in the hands of the saudi billionaire prince al walhid. now, it's known as a rights issue. it will also convert a portion

of the group's dead that is owed to walt disney into equity. the news, let me tell you, though, it's sent shares lower. earlier they were down around 14% on early trade in paris. let's go straight over to hugh schofield. great to have you with us. we were talking about 20 years roughly since 1992. it's been a series of problems for this park. but agreeing to a $1.25 billion refinance, how serious is the situation? >> i think the problem of euro disney is that its growth is limited. i mean, all sort of success or failure is relative. it's been hugely successful. more than a quarter billion people have been there since it opened in 1992, and it is the prime tourist attraction in europe. so you can't talk about it being a failed company. but the numbers are the problem. it indebted itself enormously at the start and it's struggled to

turn in a profit. and it needs to grow, needs to bring in more punters, and right now, it's almost at capacity. and the problem is there's been a falloff the last couple years. a number of french people, for example, who are going to euro disney, has tailed off. there's an element of relief now. certainly that's being expressed by the euro disney officialdom about this, because they can disengage some reserves to start building new rides, which is what they desperately need in this part of the tourist industry. you need novelty, and to get novelty, you need lots of money and lots of free cash. >> indeed. and the president of euro disney blames europe's economic environment for the downturn. so i can suggest that you're not hearing where you are now, you're not hearing that this could be the beginning to the end of the theme park?

>> no, i don't think so. it's a huge endeavor. as i say, a quarter of a billion people over the last 20 years, 14 million every year. obviously there's a solid base there. but they do have an economic structural problem, linked to this inability to boost income at the moment, which is because they can't get in the punters and they can't shove up their prices anymore because that would put off the punter. >> great update. we appreciate your time. hugh schofield joining us live from paris. the role of airlines in spreading infection has once more come under scrutiny. that's following a mers infected woman who flew to austria from the middle east. this man recently infected with ebola who flew from liberia to the united states. could airlines find themselves subject to legal action from others who catch the disease or a virus? at the moment, there is no coordinating body advising on

when flights to and from a region should be stopped on health grounds. the decision actually remains pretty much up to each individual airline. but with ebola continuing to spread, is the current system sufficient for today's intersected world? earlier, i asked simon calder from the travel show where the airlines could be liable if a passenger contracted a disease onboard? >> well, if you go back to the original legislation, the 1999 montreal convention, it looks pretty clear. if there is an accident that you suffer onboard a flight, and that includes getting an illness, then the airline has a strict liability up to about $150,000. however, if it can prove that it's done the right things, it hasn't been negligent in any way, it might get some kind of

defense. but if you've got a nasty disease, there's also disability rights legislation which actually obliges in many countries airlines to carry people with contagious diseases and they may well have to take certain precautions against it. so they're in a right old muddle. >> a right old muddle indeed. let me just touch on a couple other stories making headlines all across the world. greece earlier today released gwill new twizzlers mixed berry bites ever end their rivalry

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i'm lucy hockings. our top stories this hour. kurdish fighters try to hold back an advance by islamic state militants in kobane, a town just inside the border from turkey. student leaders in hong kong

say the sharp fall in numbers is part of a tactical retreat. it's been two decades since the end of white minority rule in south africa. however, the end of apartheid and the emergence of a rainbow nation hasn't gone down well with everyone. some africanas feel they've been given a raw deal. so they've set up their own whites-only town. it's called oriana. our reporter paid it a visit. >> reporter: this is oriana. it's a small town where only white people live. the south african constitution allows for self-determination of groups. there are only about a thousand residents here, mostly work on farms and in construction. but the town is slowly growing. this couple have just made the move from johannesburg with their two young children.

>> the quietness and the peace, that's what i've expected and that's what i get here. that's how i feel. i think because in the city, you just become a number. but in a small community like this, somebody will -- you just sneeze, and the whole town knows. but if you sneeze in the city, nobody cares. >> reporter: as i walk around town, i struggle to tell whether i am welcomed here. there's no other black face in sight, except mine. all i get are a few stares and occasional hand waves from passing motorists. to many people, it's even surprising that a town like oriana exists, a place where only white people live. and what's interesting is that more and more people are moving in, and to find out why, i'm going to meet the grandson of this man, a man considered the architect of apartheid.

>> the formation became a real political program, when it would take the firm of affirmative action, of black economic empowerment. it made africanas think about alternatives. >> reporter: so why do you feel the need to set up separate oriana in modern day south africa? >> we could just lose ourselves as a cultural community. unless we take certain steps, we may rightfully fear that we could lose our very existence. >> reporter: right now, oriana is a quaint, harmless, cultural oddity, an experiment. but he hopes that in time there will be not just a thousand, but a million, or even two million africanas living here in racial segregation. the creators of the rainbow nation may have other ideas, though.

bbc news, oriana, south africa. if you're a film buff, chances are you might be a fan of gabriel figueroa. he was one of the most influential cinematographers of mexico's golden age of cinema. in a later life, he also worked on several hollywood films. his work has just gone on display at the mexican cultural institute in washington. figueroa died in 1997, but his son has been talking to us about his father's work and his legacy. >> gabriel figueroa wanted to make the mexican landscape more visually important and he started experimenting with different filters to darken the sky so that the clouds would pop up and that was more or less a signature of what's called figueroa skies. my name is gabriel figueroa flores, and i'm the son of the

cinematographer. i inherited his estate, and i've been restoring and promoting his work ever since. ♪ gabriel figueroa was one of the best cinematographers in the '40s and '50s. he worked with john huston, john ford. he was a pioneer of the golden era of mexican cinema in black and white. this epic and romantic stories were told in a very dramatic way. i saw him work many times, and his style of lighting was very particular. he would put main lights first, and then start breaking out the light and put a lot of shadows in the scene. so in that sense, he was

lighting with shadows. figueroa and other people in the industry in mexico created the image of a country that is fiction, but the society still recognizes themselves in those films as mexicans. so the mexican essence is there in those films. and i think it's a classic work, because it's a work that doesn't pass. it's always present. it's always recognized as something valuable, historically, aesthetically, and i think that's his legacy. >> the gorgeous work there of mexican cinematographer gabriel figueroa. let's remind you of our top story. the battle for the besieged syrian town of kobane. as you can see, fierce fighting

is taking place between kurdish fighters and islamic state militants. we are now hearing that islamic state militants control the strategic hill above the city, and in theory, gives those fighters a huge strategic advantage. more coming up here on "bbc world news." do stay with us. we love... love... love... chocolaty, creamy... with a little something extra. mmm deliciousness. cookies or almonds. yumminess. hershey's is mine, yours, our chocolate.

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