麻豆社

Jim Muir's on patrol with the Kurdish peshmerga forces in Baqarta, near Mosul - and is moved to wonder whether Iraqi Kurdistan might have to defer its dreams of independence until the forces of the Islamic State are beaten. Analysts have blamed Kurdish inertia, complacency or internal splits for the militants' rapid advances, but can they fight back - and what future deals will they be able to cut with the central governments of Iraq, Syria and Turkey? Joanne Whalley's on once-dangerous ground on the site of "Iceland's Pompeii", the island of Heimaey, where an entire village was engulfed in lava during a 1973 volcano eruption. Touching traces of domestic life can still be seen buried in the ash, and local people still want to keep memories of the settlement alive with a mini-museum and a memorial cafe.

Presenter: Owen Bennett Jones
Producer: Polly Hope

Photo: A house completely engulfed by volcanic lava and ash in 1973, partially excavated by archaeologists, on the Icelandic island of Heimaey. (c) 麻豆社