these people are so hospitable, so friendly. they're very open—hearted. she didn't stand a chance. but pam took part in a pioneering trial and says it saved her life. that's how we brought our kids up — without having those drugs to be connected, to be generous. like that, i might not have got the first thing that we do is, to see my grandchildren. ah, have a cup of tea. she would have been among her own kind here, so... no doubt about that. because it's just over the five years now since it happened and my youngest grandchild, he was six at the weekend. the lives of the kurds so, you know, i wouldn't have in syria today have undoubtedly been transformed. seen him growing up and the other grandchildren as well. the rojava revolution has given them the chance to govern themselves. traditionally, the kurds have been ten years ago, people an ally of the west. usually died within 6—9 months of being diagnosed. the question is, what will happen this trial on 916 patients tested a combination of immunotherapies and showed 52% were still if us troops pull out of the region? alive five years later. the doctor who's presenting the data at a cancer conference said the ongoing civil war in syria the impact was an amazing surprise. and the turkish military pushing at their border means the future it's been the most extraordinary

transformation from a disease that was regarded amongst is far from certain for rojava. all the cancers as the most difficult to treat, with the most serious prognosis. pam has not been cured. her cancer halved in size after treatment and has not grown in five years. others are in complete remission, with no sign of the tumour in their body. we are so encouraged by today's news, and now there's this air of positivity and it's given lots of melanoma patients and families a lot of hope and a bit hello there. of a spring in their step. immunotherapy is nobel prize—winning science that is making the untreatable treatable. james gallagher, bbc news. after a very soggy, blustery night, sunday morning will bring more wet and windy weather to some parts of the uk. this swirl of cloud on our earlier wales play their 2nd match satellite picture, a developing area of the rugby world cup on sunday. of low pressure, and it's they face two—time winners been bringing cloud, outbreaks of rain there, gusty winds on the southern flank as the lows slides across australia in tokyo. the southern half of the uk, through sunday morning we will see further wind gusts, 40—50, maybe 60 mph in exposed spots. in the shadow of tokyo skyline, some of these showers passing through could be accompanied by some really squally with.

but across the south of england, wales, the midlands, whales are standing tall. a east anglia, it's going to turn into a day of sunny spells and scattered, heavy, convincing win in their opening game thundery showers. for northern england, well, has got them off and running at this heavy and persistent rain will continue to pine world cup. now the intensity is set to rise, heavyweight clash with australia is just around the corner. we perform in big games,, this is the biggest test we have in front of its way in here. us the biggest test we have in front of us and we won't shy away from that. i think we've trained well, there has been a few guys frustrated but selection but that's a good thing, anywhere where the rain persists that breeds competitiveness within for any length of time the squad so there was a bit of red there could be some localised flooding. northern ireland and scotland seeing stuff flowing yesterday, which was the driest and eventually the brightest of the weather with just the odd shower, all well meant because it was for temperatures of 13— 19 degrees. the betterment of the team. but, now, as our area of low sweat and tears is nothing out of pressure slides away, eastwards, on its back edge, noticed the light lines, the isobars, quite tightly squeezed together. that shows were going to have the ordinary from alan jones another swathe of strong winds that sweat and tears is nothing out of the ordinary from alanjones who will become his country ‘s most capped player when he leads them out could affect eastern coastal counties at the same time against the wallabies. his part of as the high tides. an unchanged side since the six so there could potentially be tribe victory over georgia as well some coastal flooding. as keep faith with the team that as we go through the night, went on the attack. the southwark some showers feeding into northern really impressive in the first half scotland, on a brisk northerly wind, elsewhere, some clear spells of the win over georgia but they and some mist and fog patches.

know they will need to perform for 80 minutes if there are to beat australia. the wallabies have won 13 of the last 1a tests and always seem to raise their game at the world cup. australia needed all the strength to come through a bruising encounter against fiji, while many have the two times champions as underdogs for a match that should but essentially, quite a quiet start to the new working week decide the pool, one former world because of this little bump cup winner expects them to rise to of high pressure here. but, it is a very transient affair. low pressure once again will be racing in from the south—west the challenge. they look really, really fit, like running fitness and and as we go through monday, well, they are not kicking the ball too we'll see outbreaks of rain much. maybe they have to adjust that splashing northwards again there are this tournament but the ability to play and hang onto the ball, create a lot of pressure. both teams i think bring the best out of across england but particularly each other so i think it's going to bea each other so i think it's going to be a really special game. but while being consistent, they really have. the other grandson champions. it was i think wales, where rain is really going to pile up over the hills and mountains over the next few days. that does certainly bring a consistency that saw them claim the potential for some flooding. the grand slam and this is six some of that rain getting nations for a country that leaves into northern ireland, scotland largely dry, and breeds — reckless and breeds but really chilly here. just 10 degrees in aberdeen. through tuesday, as that area of low by, and breeds — reckless and breeds pressurejones eastwards, rugby, the other men of the world we will see rain mostly affecting england and wales. cup. now would be the team to prove but on its back age, their —— time to prove the other winds switch around to northerlies tea m their —— time to prove the other team for the occasion. now on bbc news it's for all of us, and it will drag some time for our world. cold air southwards across the uk. explosions. you will really notice

the difference in the feel of the weather by wednesday. 1a in london, 12 degrees i wanted to support the revolution, in edinburgh and by the end and, because i wanted to participate of the week, we have the chance 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. of some more wet and windy weather. she joined the all—female kurdish militia, the ypj. one year later, she was killed. she knew that her this is bbc news. welcome if you're watching here in the uk or around the globe. life was in danger. i'm reged ahmad. our top stories: i want to know that my daughter marking five years since did not die for nothing. the umbrella protests, hong kong's democracy movement takes to the streets for another night of clashes with police. five years ago the umbrella movement began on this spot. they gained no i want to experience political concessions. that's why these people what it was like for anna. say their far more militant

tactics are justified. anna's father is travelling to northern syria, to learn votes are being counted about the kurds and find out in afghanistan after an election what his daughter was willing marked by low turnout to die for. and attacks on polling centres. special secrecy for president trump's conversations with foreign leaders leads to questions about his international dealings. and christian coleman, is the fastest man of the year, 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, when she went to university. she fell in with a group of quite radical left—wing thinkers. there were student protests at sheffield, which she took quite

a central part in, and here she was, a cause 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 weak. this is mrs koala, she owns a hotel. this is mrs fox, and the reason why she is holding a flag is because they are going to have a barbie war, they are always having wars against the barbies. woman: what, even the women fight? sadly the women and 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 extent if her mother hadn't died. two days after andriana died, anna said "dad, come to the anarchist book fair". and there was a meeting on about rojava. i did not actually know a lot about the ins and outs of the situation in the middle east. shejust 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 banned,

and their leaders imprisoned. i'm trying to learn as much as i can, find out what life is like for the locals, just get a sense of this whole place, the dynamics going on here. in 2012, a civil war swept through syria. the kurds in the north—east of the country took control of their territories for the first time in 100 years. reporter: the kurds say they will not be silenced again. they're 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 ypg for men, and the ypj for women.

over the past 4 years, 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 internationalists 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 herfirst months, anna lived and trained with rojbin, 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 consists of? but 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.

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... avesta. is that a kurdish name? meeting the ypj internationals 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 i came here to fight. i am ready for this, as so many people are. it is notjust fighting, it is like building up a really, really beautiful world

of hope, of freedom. a key part of the rojava revolution is the liberation of women. one village in particular is trying to help by putting this feminist ideology into practice. it's beautiful. i love all the colours. so, so bright, so cheerful, so positive. can we see inside the 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 fiercest fighting yet between kurdish forces and so—called islamic state jihadists who are trying to seize it. 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 at any time. during the three month siege, the 115,000 population fled, leaving the ypg and ypj to defend kobane. after three months, the coalition declared their support for the kurds and air strikes began to turn the tide against is. air strikes, not the first, but by far the most concentrated. again and again throughout the day coalition war planes hitjihadi targets.

these turkish tanks have been in position for about a week now. kurds are infuriated that while kobane suffers they've remained still. officially, turkey was an ally of the coalition forces in the fight against is. but the kurds now accuse the turks of fighting with the jihadists. we don't need their weapons. we don't need their support. theyjust stop supporting isis. they claim that turkey wants 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. a historic victory for the kurdish forces. but it reignited a decades long campaign for kurdish independence in turkey. many of the 1a million kurds in turkey support the idea of a nation—state, 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 unleashed

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, anna engaged in discussions of ideology and politics. she trained under nisrin abdollah, senior commander in the ypj. you knew anna, my daughter, what was your relationship?

nisrin 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 ypj to do anything about. she was desperate to be of some practical use and to measure herself against her comrades. the feminist ideology and social views of the ypg and ypj have their origins in the teachings of abdullah ocalan, one of the founding members of the pkk.

ocalan were a supporter of violence against the turkish 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 ypg in syria. it believes the link between the means the ypg also poses a risk to their national security.

in january 2018, turkey launched a military offensive on afrin in rojava, named operation olive branch. operation olive branch was a turning point in the war. the kurds, who were fighting is, were now pulled away to defend afrin from the turks. many international volunteers didn't go as 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. i'm very happy and proud to be going to afrin. the attacks of the turkish state

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

today, afrin remains in turkish—backed control. there have been multiple claims of human rights abuses of against both kurdish militia and civilians. i heard about the death of your daughter. what happened ?

you think this was your daughter? this video? we don't know where anna's body is. my daughter, anna, was fighting with the internationals of the ypj. 00:24:58,166 --> 2147483051:49:13,798 and she was killed, 2147483051:49:13,798 --> 4294966103:13:29,430 she became shahid in afrin.