the headlines: the us envoy to ukraine, kurt volker, has resigned. it comes after a whistleblower claimed donald trump put pressure on ukraine to investigate the former vice presidentjoe biden. it's claimed that mr volker tried to arrange meetings for mr trump's personal lawyer, rudy giuliani, in the country. in washington, the us secretary of state, mike pompeo, has been ordered to hand over documents to an impeachment inquiry looking into mr trump's dealings with the ukraine government. mr pompeo will have a week to comply with the subpoena. more than nine million people are expected to cast their ballots in afg hanistan‘s presidential election. it's a poll which has been overshadowed by violent attacks, claimed by the taliban, which have left many dead in recent weeks. thousands of thomas cook staff

are taking legal action after losing theirjobs when the travel giant went in to liquidation this week. they claim the firm acted unlawfully in the way they were dismissed and they're seeking compensation. meanwhile more than 60,000 thomas cook customers have been flown back to the uk. judith moritz reports. they flew all over the globe for thomas cook, now their world has come crashing down. jobs gone, livelihoods destroyed. when the airline folded, jo was one of the cabin crew left stranded abroad. when she got home, things went from bad to worse. i'm now homeless, my landlord is now demanding i leave the property, so i am having to wait for the local council to see if they can put me in sheltered accommodation. so you can't pay the rent, the landlord has not been sympathetic? no, he's not being sympathetic or compassionate or anything, he just wants me out. is it here that we sign for the redundancy courses? there is some union help available

and thousands of staff are now starting legal action to claim the lost wages. these cabin crew posed for a photo on what would be their last flight. amongst them, jenna, who was made redundant with monarch airlines two years ago and is in the same situation again. it's like reliving the whole nightmare again. it's just brought back all them feelings of losing myjob. it was a sunday night, middle of the night, finding out, waking up my family to tell them that the company that i loved as well had gone. so it's just a really difficult time to relive the whole process again. no longer in use by thomas cook, during the summer these check—in desks were absolutely buzzing and that is what many of the cabin crew i have spoken to today have said they don't understand. how can it be, they want to know, that when they were working on full plane after full plane their company has gone bust? many are owed seven weeks‘ pay. hundreds turned up to union meetings at manchester airport today, angry and bewildered.

i put my uniform on today and as i got to the airport i started to cry because i thought, i'm coming here in a uniform and i've got nowhere to go. we didn't get a letter through the post... we had a conference call on monday. it wasjust, "dial this numberand listen in. "i'll take a few questions. "ok, that's enough now, no more questions. "over and out, phone down." so that's how we found out. they say they put their hearts and souls into thomas cook and with little information or remorse this is how the company has repaid them. now on bbc news it's time for our world. i wanted to support the revolution,

and because i wanted to participate in the revolution of women that is being built up here. in 2017, a young british woman went to syria to fight the islamic state group. she joined the all—female kurdish militia, the ypj. when you are out here you learn to use kalashnikov. a fighter is never divided from their weapon. one year later, she was killed. she knew that her life was in danger. i want to know that my daughter did not die for nothing. i want to experience what it was like foran i want to experience what it was like for an hour. anna's father is travelling to northern syria, to learn about the kurds and find out

what his daughter was willing to die for. i feel a lot of guilt. a lot of grief. i obviously feel her loss all the time, every day. i'm never going to see my daughter again. well, it began when she went to sheffield, and she went to university. she fell in with a group of quite radical left wing fingers. there were student —— thinkers. there were

student —— thinkers. there were student protests at sheffield, which she took quite a central part in, and here she was, of course to fight for, to engage with it with all her heart and soul, with all her kind of instinct for defending the oppressed and the week. this is mrs koala, she owi'is and the week. this is mrs koala, she owns a hotel. this is mrs fox, and the reason she is holding a flag is because they are going to have a barbie war, they are always having wars against the barbies. even the women fight? sadly the women and children do usually fight. anna kept her feelings to herself. children do usually fight. anna kept herfeelings to herself. she children do usually fight. anna kept her feelings to herself. she was a private person, she probably felt that she had to take on her mother's role as a kind of pioneer activist.

which she might not have done to the same which she might not have done to the sa m e exte nt which she might not have done to the same extent if her mother had died. —— had not died. two days after she died, anna said" dad, come to the anarchist book there". and there was anarchist book there". and there was a meeting on about rojava. i did not know a lot about the meeting —— about the ins and outs of the situation in the middle east. she just said to me" dad, you know i am going to rojava to fight. " around 36 million kurds live in the middle east. living in syria, turkey, iraq and iran. they share a language, but have never had their own state. syria's 2 million kurds face brutal oppression under the assad regime. even their language was bound and

their leaders imprisoned. i'm trying to learn as much as i can, find out what is —— what life is like for the locals, just to get a sense of this whole place, the dynamic is going on here. in 2012, a civilwar whole place, the dynamic is going on here. in 2012, a civil war swept through syria. the kurds in the north—east of the country took of their territories for the first time in100 their territories for the first time in 100 years. the kurds say they will not be silenced again. now calling for autonomy in a democratic syria. they established a region called rojava. men and women would be seen as equals, and they set up military rings. the ypj for men, and the ypj for women. ——ypg for men.

hundreds of international volunteers have made their way to rojava, mostly to help in the fight against is. we are on our way to the internationalist academy of the ypj, which is where the young women from foreign countries receive their initial training. anna spent a lot of time there. in her first months, anna lived and trained with this woman, who became one of her closest friends. it was here she was given a new kurdish name, helin qerecox. good to see you. this is the shared space that everybody uses. can you tell me what the education consist of?

what is the enemy? what is the aim of education, what do you hope to achieve? i think that is why anna loved being here, because the new movement was creating the ideal society, which was involving everybody. by

by joining byjoining a foreign militia, anna and other international volunteers ran the risk of being prosecuted as terrorists. upon return to their home countries. your name... is that a kurdish name? meeting the ypj international is is a powerful experience. their commitment came through absolutely strongly. in the beginning i wanted to come here, more like to understand, to learn, but of course icame here understand, to learn, but of course i came here to fight. i am ready for this, as so many people are. it is notjust fighting, this, as so many people are. it is not just fighting, it this, as so many people are. it is notjust fighting, it is like building upa notjust fighting, it is like building up a really, really beautiful world of hope, of freedom.

a key pa rt beautiful world of hope, of freedom. a key part of the rojava revolution is the liberation of women. 0ne village in particular is trying to help by putting this feminist ideology into pack this. —— practice. it's beautiful. i love all the colours. so, so bright, so cheerful, so colours. so, so bright, so cheerful, so positive. can we see inside the finished one? ceiling timbers, i wa nt to finished one? ceiling timbers, i want to live here!

the total number of those displaced across rojava is believed to be in the region of 200,000.

since rojava was established, the lives of the kurds in syria have been transformed. but in 2014, they faced a monumental battle for survival. the syrian border town of kobane has been engulfed in the fist fighting it between syrian forces and so—called islamic state forces. the so—called islamic state threatened kobane, a city in the heart of rojava. very trusting the owners of these vehicles. the whole thing could come falling down on top of them in time. during the three

month siege, the 45,000 population fled, leaving the ypj and ypj to defend kobane. —— after three months the coalition declared their support for the kurds and airstrikes began to turn the tide against is. as strays, not the first, but by far the most concentrated. again and again throughout the day coalition war planes hitjihadi throughout the day coalition war planes hit jihadi targets.

these turkish tanks have been in position for about a week now. kurds are infuriated that while kobane suffers they have remained still. officially, turkey was a part of the coalition. because now accused the turks of fighting with thejoe hart is. we don't need their weapon, we don't need the support, we just need them to stop supporting isis. they claimed that turkey was to destroy rojava, a claim that turkey deny.

the battle for kobane was a key milestone in the fight against the so—called islamic state in the region. an historic victory for the kurdish forces. but it reignited a decades long campaign for kurdish independence in turkey. many of the 14 million kurds in turkey support the idea of a nationstate, but their effo rts the idea of a nationstate, but their efforts have been brutally repressed. the kurdistan workers party, or pkk, is a prominent kurdish separatist group in turkey. a classified terrorist organisation in the west. after kobane, the pkk unleased a series of bombings in turkey, killing scores of civilians. the injured were taken to a nearby

hospital. again, it appears the pkk had struck with deadly effect. alongside her military training, and engaged in discussions of ideology and politics. —— anna. she trained under nisrin abdollah, senior commander in the ypg. you knew an hour, my daughter, what was your relationship? —— and

she said she did everything in her power to dissuade anna. so it was quite clear that her strength of purpose was too strong even for one of the top commanders of the ypg to do anything about it. she was desperate to be of some practical use and to measure herself against her practical comrades. the feminist ideology and social views of the ypg and ypg have their origins in the teaching of abby ehler, one of the founding members of the pkk. there

we re founding members of the pkk. there were a supporter of violence against the turkey state and civilians. he later pursued the political route to establish an independent kurdish state before his arrest in 1999. turkey sees little difference between the pkk and the way pj in syria. it believes the link between the means the ypg also poses a risk to their national security.

injanuary in january 2018, turkey launched a military offensive on afrin, named operation olive branch. the operation was a turning point in the war. the kurds, who were facing is we re war. the kurds, who were facing is were pulled away to defend afrin from the turks. many international volu nteers from the turks. many international volunteers didn't go because their only aim was to fight against is. they didn't want to get mixed up in a war with turkey. but anna stayed on. avery a war with turkey. but anna stayed on. a very happy and proud to be going to afrin. the attacks of the devastating is kurdish people are very shocking and heavy. and i'm

happy tojoin very shocking and heavy. and i'm happy to join my friends to defend ourselves. on the 15th of march 2018, anna died in a tokyo/ while defending the turkish retreat from afrin. ——in an air strike. defending the turkish retreat from afrin. --in an air strike. when you see the reality of this huge area of graves and it's like the first world war, you know, there are 70 you can't take it in. ——so many people. in total, nearly 50 foreign fighters and over 10,000 kurdish have died fighting in rojava. today, afrin remains in turkish back

control. there have been multiple claims of human rights abuses of against both kurdish militia and civilians. —— turkish back to control. i've heard about the death of your daughter. what happened?

we don't know where anna's body is. my we don't know where anna's body is. my daughter, anna, was fighting with the internationals. and she was killed. in afrin.

i'm very happy that my daughter helped to bring us together. these people are so hospitable, so friendly. they're very openhearted. that's how we brought our kids up, to be connected, to be generous. the first thing that we do is... she would have been among her own kind here, no doubt about that.

the lives of the kurds in syria today have undoubtedly been transformed. the rojava revolution have get —— has given them the chance to govern themselves. traditionally, the kurds have been an ally of the west. the question is, what will happen if us troops pull out of the region? the ongoing civil war in syria and the turkish military pushing at their border means the future is far from certain for rojava.

hello there. if you do get some clear skies in the next few hours you may be treated in the north to the northern lights. but the story really is one of cloudy skies for the majority. we have had some really intense showers during the course of friday, we have saturday some low pressure building up and we have rain anyway moving across northern ireland into parts of mainland uk as well through the rest of the night. so it is very unsettled picture, we are due another 50—100mm of rain on already saturated ground with high river levels, the concerns really are there for flooding. one band made its way swiftly eastwards and deteriorates to showers, as it gradually gets drier, the showers diminish in the north and some early morning mist and fog that clears away, i think on the whole the afternoon today looks a little bit drier, brighter and it'll feel warmer than the morning. but looming large towards the south—west, the next band of intense rain. now, there's some tropical air mixed in amongst this area of low pressure, so as we saw earlier in the week the potential is there for torrential, persistent rain to move its way in across england and wales, possibly parts of northern ireland and scotland.

as well as the rain this time, it's a batch of strong winds again, gale—force winds, but because we have a new moon, a full moon during the evening and overnight, that will allow high tides, so we could see some coastal flooding as well. and it's a similar problem as we go through sunday, the rain only slowly easing away, those strong winds buffeting many areas, and northerly winds set in for scotland and northern ireland, so perhaps here escaping the west of the rain, but it starts to feel colder and then as those north or north—westerly winds set in, it looks as if they will have a sting in their tail and we could potentially have a spell of gales then later on sunday across wales and england, and if they hit the east coast at the same time as the high tide, that could also cause some coastal inundation because it does look as if it'll be a very strong and gusty north—westerly as well, north—north—westerly. some very inclement weather due over the weekend. there are warnings out, those are on the website, but the heavy rain could lead to further flooding, flash flooding and potential river flooding, gale—force winds as well as high tides. as for the new week, well, it gets colder and remains unsettled. there may be a brief respite from the rain but it is basically an unsettled picture. bye— bye.

this is bbc world news, i'm maryam moshiri. our top stories: pressure on the white house — the us secretary of state, mike pompeo, is given a week to hand over documents relating to ukraine, as the democrats step up the trump impeachment investigation. meanwhile the special representative to ukraine — kurt volker — has resigned after being named in the whistleblower report. live pictures in kabul: afghanistan steps up security as millions of voters choose their next president despite threats of violence by the taliban. 22 years on: prince harry follows in his mother's footsteps, with a visit to the minefelds in angola.