Raqqa, Islamic State is making a final stand. Fighting them, a fragile coalition. Gunshots. Of powers, great and small. Of arabs and kurds. Of Men And Women. The enemy they face has weaponised fear. But this is more than the final showdown with isis in its capital. Its also a battle for a kurdish state in northern syria. Theres something bigger than me. Its for people here, the women here and women in the middle east, and maybe potentially the world. Its a fight for territory, both physical and ideological. This story begins not in raqqa, but in kobane. What remains of this largely kurdish city stands as a monument to a brutal Turning Point in the war against Islamic State. It was here that is reached its high water mark. Its territory extending as far as the turkish border. It was here it met its first significant defeat. The cemetery in kobane testifies to just how high a price kurdish fighters, Men And Women, have already paid in their war against is. For the kurds, this is part of
Now on bbc news all the latest Business News live from singapore. A strong earnings season in the us has helped lift asian stocks, but will that continue . And, why this circus wants to somersault into china by linking up with the Blue Man Group. Its a busy week for us companies, reporting earnings. We will hear from companies, reporting earnings. We will hearfrom some companies, reporting earnings. We will hear from some key firms including google, and their parent company, alphabet. They will release the revenue of youtube for the first time. We will also hearfrom General Motors and mcdonalds during the two day policy meeting. On wednesday, we find out how facebook and nintendo are faring, followed by amazon, twitter and starbucks on thursday. We learnt what to expect. There are going to be several 100 American Companies reporting this week. As far as corporate earnings are concerned, what has been driving the market up to now has been Companies Cutting costs, and using those cuts, a