[Lu Stout:] Welcome back. And now to a behind the scenes look at the battle against ISIS. A CNN crew managed to get inside Kobani, the city at the heart of that battle in northern Syria. It is a key target for ISIS as it fights to expand its territory to the Turkish border. And CNN's Nick Paton Walsh went to the front line with some of the fighters trying to keep the city from falling to the radical militants. And a warning, some of the images may be disturbing to some viewers.
[Nick Paton Walsh, Cnn International Correspondent:] From inside Kobani, the days ferocity gets no respite at night, a prize so small, but so valued that violence seems to swallow it whole, grinding its streets down to the bone. We're heading to the front line where nightly, daily, ISIS hoped to advance with Meedya, a Kurdish female fighter also in their egalitarian world this unit's commander. Coalition air power did this, pushing ISIS back. They abandon their dead as they retreat, the decaying smell haunts these front lines. Some call it Kobanigrad after the city Stalin sacrificed to make a point. Little left here, but a bulwark of Kurdish defiance 20 meters from ISIS. They think they see something in the rubble.
[Walsh:] Even after coalition support, desperately in need of better arms. It's the kind of exchanges that happen here hourly. ISIS literally meters to that side shooting at this position, but receiving return fire as well. This surely wasn't the death ISIS recruits were sold in their propaganda videos. Mortars are often used, so we pull back.
[Unidentified Male:] Up against the wall. You against the wall.
[Walsh:] Meedya is 22 and has been within five meters of ISIS. Here, friends are made and lost. Her best friend Reeban died saving others.
[Meedya Raqqa, Ypg Kurdish Commander:] There were very heavy clashes with ISIS. We were outnumbered and out of ammunition. She herself was injured, but she advanced to help save the other injured with her. ISIS surrounded her, because girls are very prized by them. She then blew herself up and killed a lot of them with her. I was near her then. Her last words were to me were, we will liberate our land with the last drop of blood in my body.
[Walsh:] The men bring us tea. This is the polar opposite of ISIS's worldview. They cannot afford to stop the fight, even if that means there's little left to live on when they do.
[Lu Stout:] Our senior international correspondent Nick Paton Walsh is with us now from Gaziantep in Turkey. And Nick, in your report just then we got the opportunity to meet Meedya. She is 22-years-old. She is a Kurdish YPG commander. She is certainly brave. And she's also young. I mean, how well trained are the YPG fighters in Kobani fighting ISIS?
[Walsh:] Well, they have been doing this for awhile. And obviously in any war, particularly Syria now, those doing the fighting get younger and younger. But in fact Meedya said to us she'd been involved in the fight against ISIS and whatever different forms it had in Syria's civil war for a couple of years now. So, certainly experienced, but obviously not trained as part of a professional army, as we would say in the west, but making the best of what they have. And you saw there the weapons often old, often jam on them. They do have Iraqi Kurdish Peshmerga in that town with their own heavy weaponry assisting them. But they still lack ammunition and they see the coalition in the skies and high-tech war planes, but themselves are holding ISIS back on the ground there with Kalashnikovs as you saw Kristie.
[Lu Stout:] Thank you very much indeed for your reporting. Nick Paton Walsh reporting live from Gaziantep, Turkey, a witness to war, a witness to that damage caused by that savage fighting in Kobani. Thank you, Nick. Now a same sex marriage becomes legal and a growing number of countries. Gay couples in some places are still forced to live secret lives. Japan is one country that does not officially recognize same-sex unions, but as CNN's Will Ripley reports, there are signs of change.
[Will Ripley, Cnn Correspondent:] There is perhaps no greater symbol of ancient Japan than its former capital Kyoto, home to some 1,600 temples, centuries of time honored tradition.
[Takafumi Kawakami, Buddhist Priest:] It's not like we have to keep the tradition the way it is.
[Ripley:] This Zen Buddhist priest is breaking with old idea.
[Kawakami:] We welcome every couple regardless of their faith or sexual orientation.
[Ripley:] A controversial decision, making Shunkoin Temple the first in Japan officially offering same-sex weddings. The ceremonies are only symbolic. Japan doesn't recognize gay unions.
[Kawakami:] Some people say, oh, this is against Japanese traditional value about marriage.
[Ripley:] Open sexual relationships between Japanese men date back to ancient times. Greater western influence in the 19th Century made it taboo. Today, many gays and lesbians lead secret lives. What is the state of gay rights in Japan? "Japan still has not LGBT protection laws. Lawmakers aren't even talking about it," says LGBT activity Maki Muraki. She says coming out can mean getting fired, evicted, or denied health care. And there's no legal recourse. "If more people come out and get married, it will increase LGBT awareness. It'll lead to marriage equality and workplace equality," she says. Equality for couples like Kaziuki Menami and Matsumi Yoshida, together for 14 years. "I like him. I love him. I love being with him. He makes me want to work harder," he says. They hope some day Japanese law will allow them to start a family. "I'm a man who loves a man, but I have the same life as a straight person." The same life, but not the same rights. In traditional Japan, things are slowly changing. Many in the gay community say there's still a long way to go. Will Ripley, CNN, Osaka, Japan.
[Lu Stout:] All right, coming up, a new launch time for the Orion. It is set to launch 8:26 a.m. Eastern time, that's just minutes from now. We're keeping an eye on the launchpad in Florida right here on News Stream.