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should endure the test of time -- because with time comes change and what matters in the end is that you are strong enough to support it. mufg -- we build relationships that build the world. "bbc world news america. >>"and now katty: -->> and now "bbc world news america." katty: this is "bbc world news america." the islamic state launches a series of bomb attacks. the white house is a major victory i has health care reform. president obama says it means the law is here to stay. if we cannot protect them better, they will disappear from the wild within decades. >> i never expected to be so close. this is the largest of the

lemurs and madagascar. there are 106 different species but they are nearly all in trouble. katty: welcome to our viewers on public television here in america and also around the globe. islamic state fighters word driven out of a syrian city in january. today, they came back launching a series of attacks in the town. suicide bombers killed at least 30 civilians and kobani. it is not clear how the militants got back into the town which was devastated in the last round of fighting. our middle east correspondent has more. reporter: even from a distance the tremendous force of the bombs in kobani can almost be felt. and this was only just the beginning. kobani was again a light and

under attack. i.s. fighters began attacks from a number of directions. news came that the attackers had been captured or killed. i.s. may have infiltrated the kobani hiding among turkish immigrants. kobani's liberation was a hard-fought. it took five months of heavy street to street fighting. this was a town i.s. promised would fall in days. in the end, it was error -- it was air flights from the coalition that made the difference. i visited. the devastation was breathtaking. tens of thousands have returned but little has been rebuilt.

much of the town still looks like this. the islamic state crows in their propaganda videos but in recent weeks they have lost ground in northern syria. they are far from eaton. while this morning's attack in kobani was going on, they launched another offense. this attack shows that kobani still matters to the islamic state, and the town is still determined to resist. quit in somerville, bbc news. katty: four more on this fight for kobani, i am joined by my guest. thank you for joining us. why would anyone try to retake it? there is nothing left. guest: that is the thing. to us it looks like complete and

utter destruction and that is what it is. territory means power and isis is looking at grabbing as much territory as they can. if they lose in one area, they will go back to where they once were. we see them going back to where they once were, in this case kobani, and they are not only making life miserable for the refugees living there, but they are in essence telling the west, the coalition in particular, this is not sufficient. what you have done in terms of air power is not sufficient. if you want to beat us, you have to do more than you are doing now. katty: the turks are angrily rejecting theories they came from inside turkey. where to you think they managed to launch the assaults from? guest: it is possible to game from turkey but that was reported by syrian state media. i would give it less credibility than other sources. i think they may have come inside the refugees stream.

those are not only in turkey, but also parts of syria. it is fairly easy to the skies once off in certain ways. they could have come from areas around kobani and i think they blended in as much as they could. but they also requisitioned vehicles and one of the things they did was use the vehicles as improvised explosive devices. so, they took those vehicles and launched vied attacks and that has terrorized the kurdish fighters and kobani -- katty: back in the winter it was the combination of kurdish fighters, incredibly courageous sticking it out in kobani and airstrikes from the coalition. as you suggested, airstrikes are limited. what are the coalition's options now? guest: in essence to double down

on their ability to work with the kurdish forces. that is option number one. they also have to have a much better strategy when it comes to isis, and we do not see that strategy evolving right now. we see certain elements of it. we see pieces of it, but we do not see any sustained campaigns. katty: what would you like it to look like? guest: i would like it to look like this. a sustained campaign to provide sustained pressure against isis. right now, isis is like an amoeba. it basically morphs to whatever spaces given it and we need to eliminate the space isis operates in. katty: ok, thank you for coming. guest: you bet, thank you. katty: supporters celebrate as the supreme court rejects a major challenge to president obama's health care overall. the president trumpeted the victory and says the changes he implemented are here to stay

area -- tuesday. reporter: the goal of the affordable care act was to increase access to health care in a country where there is no state run system. it means that lower and middle income emily's can continue to benefit from subsidies -- families can continue to benefit from subsidies. president obama: if this partisan challenge to the law had succeeded, many families would have had lost subsidies. ultimately everyone's premiums could have gone up. america would have come backwards. reporter: the president has faced challenges. when it comes to moving health care forward, health care has his name written all over it. by the time he got to this point in 2010 and had waived off

opposition from republicans. it did not take long for more than half of americans' states to call it unconstitutional but they lost their challenge in the u.s. supreme court. obamacare remained a bone of contention. john boehner: the only way to fully protect the american people is to scrap this law once and for all. there is no way to fix this. reporter: when it was finally rolled out, website glitches made it tough for people to sign-up. embarrassing for the white house and they could not blame the republicans for this one. but republicans continue to fight obamacare. it looks like the president's legacy of sweeping health care reform has come out unscathed despite many challenges. katty: the first funerals up and help for victims of the charleston shootings in which nine people were killed. tomorrow president obama will be

in the city to deliver the eulogy for pastor clementa pinckney. there have been impacts right across the american south. reporter: across the water from the site of the charleston massacre is where the opening shot of the american civil war rang out. it is where confederates achieved their first victory and one that stubbornly repelled union forces for most of the war. it is the american flag that flies here today, but there are many who would be happy to see confederate colors flying. >> it is part of the southern blood. leave it alone. >> it is about liberty. it is not about hate. reporter: but many disagree and think the confederate colors should be a museum piece. >> i understand the south has a strong feeling for the flag, but it's time for the south to move on. reporter: the killings have

brought about a reckoning. not just here in charleston and south carolina, but across the american south and a strong re-think about how the states of the confederacy commemorate their history and remember their past. we have seen more attitudinal change in the last seven days than in the last 20 years. it is these images that have completely transformed the debate, the killer dylann roof brandishing the confederate flag, vowing to start a race war. campaigners have protested these battle colors are stained with slavery and hate. politicians have demanded their removal from south carolina's capital. major retailers have's top selling the flag. >> what is this? >> we will not sell the confederate flag. reporter: but now residents want

the confederate flag band completely. -- banned completely. years ago there erected barriers to block the view. >> it is a slap in the face. that is what i see, to any black american who walks the streets. reporter: today, funerals for the victims of the shootings. often in american history it has taken racial atrocities to bring about reform. the shootings at charleston fit within that narrative. bbc news, south carolina. katty: remembering those who died in charleston. a quick look at news from around the world. a criminal investigation recommended into pleas over the death of 34 miners during a strike in 2012. president jacob zuma said that

they were wrong to proceed with the plan. myanmar's parliament has voted to keep the constitution largely intact, keeping the military at the center of power. it also means the opposition leader on sunk to cheap -- aung san sui kyi is banned from becoming president. she says she was surprised and has urged supporters not to lose hope. a protest over slow inaction in promoting energy efficiency. authorities are investigating what they call a serious breach of security. lemurs are only found in nasa gaster -- madagascar and soon may not even be found there.

they are under a threat and that stark warning from a lemurs specialist. to blame -- hunting in deforestation. our science correspondent david shukman went to find out more. david: our first sight of some of the world's most adorable and vulnerable animals, the lemurs of madagascar who only live on this remarkable island. we found this one with the baby peeking out, a poignant image of an infant with an uncertain future. with its spindly limbs and curious nature, it is exploding -- exploring a world that has never been so threatening. at the numbers are so low, they are not easy to find. we tried to approach them. at one point, we hear the cry of a family of lemurs marking out there territory. i never expected to get so close. this is what is called an injury

, the largest of the lemurs and madagascar. this is one of the most critically endangered. the lemurs face several serious threats. the forest they depend on are being burned down around them. the trees cleared for farmland in a country short of food. the effect is to turn the landscape into the aftermath of a war zone. madagascar's original forest has less than 10% left. >> i would believe that we build the next 25 years if the speed of the deforestation is the same, there will be no forest left. there will be no lemurs left in the silent. david: there's another threat. this lemur has just been shot

and handed down the back of a hunter. they have been killed any. a baby lemur left confused and abandoned after its mother was killed. in this desperately poor country, many people see lemurs as food, and as the population grows, demand for what is called lush meet is rising -- bushmeat is rising. children who have been taught about lemurs what to save the animals rather than eat them. >> for the kids to attended these awareness in campus, they are thinking they would be happy to see lemurs. they would be very sad if the lemurs would be disappearing. there are the kids who have not been. those kids are thinking that lemurs are bushmeat.

david: a community project making honey. local people encouraged to earn a living in ways that you not involve cutting down forests or hurting lemurs. a new technique to increase yields of rice. a new incentive to make money without harming the wildlife. a decent business at a small scale. despite bold attempts to save lemurs, the pressure on the last remaining pockets of forest can only intensify. david shukman, bbc news, and madagascar. katty: how cute are those lemurs? who would not try to save them? you are watching "bbc world news america." still to come -- cashing in on china's changes. we look at how one family has gone from the field to building an empire. now to a very special trip to

the white house and will reversal when it comes to who is doing the interviewer. the world famous presenter and naturalist sir david attenborough has been to the white house at the personal invitation of president obama. the president wanted to discuss the future of the natural world with one of its greatest experts. we have this report on a special visit. reporter: an invitation from the white house is special enough, but this? being told the president was to discuss the future of the planet with you and it is in this tv interview he will be asking the questions. president obama: sir david attenborough, i have been a huge admirer of your work for a long time. reporter: life can still throw you surprises even when you are 89. and the reason? barack obama grew up watching sir david the natural world's

great communicator. he won it to talk about conservation, climate change the need for global solutions, and the hope the next generation will do more than the current one. president obama: the interesting thing, my daughters, malia and sasha, are very environmentally aware. they do not dispute climate change. sir david attenborough: i never met a child who is -- president obama: not interested in natural history? sir david not brought -- sir david attenborough: so, -- reporter: a chance to tell the most powerful man on the planet how to save the planet face-to-face. bbc news.

katty: all week, we have been airing reports from whitehorse village, a chinese farming community that has been transformed into a modern city. carrie gracie has tracked the progress over the last 15 years. the most ambitious become the most impatient. tonight we bring you the tale of the self-made millionaires. >> the family says they have a

hard working and achievement is good for business. for as long as i have known them their ambition has outstripped the rest of whitehorse village. >>[speaking foreign language] reporter: work is well behind schedule. >> what are we going to need? reporter: a decade ago, they have left their farming days behind. the new rich of whitehorse village, taking a rare afternoon off. >> [indiscernible]

>> [speaking foreign language] reporter: eight months later, she left. hundreds of miles from home, married and pregnant. >> [speaking foreign language] [laughter] reporter: behind all the big talk building the family business was a long, hard struggle. they worked for every penny.

we watched as the city was built on the fields of whitehorse village, china's vision for a rich urban nation. change could not come fast enough. they made their money from demolishing the past and building the future. their daughter came home with husband and baby to take a look. they were not impressed. reporter: change was too slow. this was too small for their ambition. they left whitehorse village and moved to the nearest boomtown. now this was a real city.

they are normally too busy to sit down together. today they have gathered in my honor. we have seen him since he was born, an only child. china calls them "little emperors." born into the rich and china, it is too early to tell whether he has inherited the groundwork for a business or granddad's gene for hard work. it is often said we live with the highs and the lows of the last 10 years. for someone who spends all of her time thinking about the future, it is a shock to confront the past.

the films remind her how hard the journey has been, and it's not over yet. onward and upward always. rich, urban, and aspirational. exactly what china hoped for turning a nation of farmers into city dwellers. but this success is hard one. his grandparents have gone back to work to pay for his lifestyle. carrie gracie, bbc news. katty: working hard and doing well as china changes. do make sure to join us tomorrow as that special series concludes. you can find today's news on our website and if you would like a daily digest sent to your inbox, be sure to sign up at bbc.com

/newsletter. for all of us, thank you for watching. i will see you back here tomorrow. >> make sense of international news at bbc.com/news. >> funding of this presentation is made possible by the freeman foundation newman's own foundation giving all profits from newman's own to charity and pursuing the common good, kovler foundation, pursuing solutions for america's neglected needs, and mufg. >> they say the oldest trees bear the sweetest fruit. at mufg, we've believed in nurturing banking relationships for centuries, because strong financial partnerships are best

cultivated for the years to come, giving your company the resources and stability to thrive. mufg -- we build relationships that build the world. >> "bbc world news" was presented by kcet los angeles.

captioning sponsored by newshour productions, llc >> the affordable care act is here to stay. >> ifill: a big win for obamacare, and a big day at the supreme court justices preserve nationwide tax credits for insurance and protections for fair housing. good evening, i'm gwen ifill, judy is away. also ahead this thursday, overcoming tough odds and raising the bar, a seattle high school under threat of closure, adopts rigorous international standards to turn students towards success. >> these kids are so smart and a student can read you if you do not think that they can do something they will perform to your expectations. >> ifill: plus, misbeh