this special edition of talk tells us that at this time. a choice to define the future of the poles in liberia open in the country's

presidential runoff. alone will compete. with your top stories from al-jazeera also coming up about a million people are forced to move in vietnam ahead of a violent storm that's already brought death and destruction to the philippines. president defends his controversial decision to pardon a jailed predecessor and the russian opposition leader alexina calls for an election after his bid to run in next year's presidential vote is blocked. to liberia first where the polls have opened in the presidential runoff that's expected to lead to the first democratic transition of power there in seventy three years the former footballer george weah is taking on the current vice president

joseph unemployment and corruption with a big campaign. in the capital monrovia. in the contest for the liberian presidency this month all my international footballer do it with the head start he received thirty eight percent of the votes cast in the foster round held in october he's opponent in the current liberian vice president just a walk i got twenty eight percent of the vote it's the costs. that where i grew up. he's been hyping his humble upbringing and style himself as the pro of pork and to date a man who knows exactly what liberians want from their government protection of politics we have traditional voting along ethnic religious and regional lines where you were born and grew up is important there is hope here that's when he becomes president he will help his community where dropped out of school at an early age to concentrate on playing football he applied his trade in liberia until

he got a break to play for the french club a is more to go on from there on to some of the world's most glamorous clubs in two thousand and three where now is his intention to run for the presidency after taking on the incumbent president ellen johnson sirleaf to a second round vote in two thousand and five the footballer was bitten this is known as walk in the park this could be we as there's a vote he led in the first one in two thousand and five and phil to win in the second round this is wide open it could be president we have a president. a former head of liberia's petroleum refinery company and agriculture minister seventy two year old joseph. has served as liberia's vice president since two thousand and six his tenure as vice president will be remembered as a period of an interrupted peace most small feat in a country torn apart by years of civil. book is considered

a safe pair of hands by many given his long experience of the highest echelons of power in liberia ambassador walker strongest point is his credentials in public policy and the broad perception of him us on this man at the last true this line around he has an honesty capital. and in liberia where there's been so much reports of corruption he's managed to escape on touched he will have to persuade many liberia's though that he can do differently than he has done for more than a decade many here hold the government responsible for failing to improve their lot and mohammed joins us live now from the capital city monrovia how long do we think until we get the final result. while pitter the electoral commission here has two weeks within which they can

release the results but officials say expect to release the results much earlier than bought we're already or observing long queues at polling stations five thousand three hundred and ninety polling stations across the country two point one million people have registered to vote out. of the time out in the october around was a. pretty impressive seven to five we don't know whether this is going to be the case to. some. want to see an extension to school from years of continuous. ellen johnson sirleaf they want. continued economic progress this is an election that's being. in the morning by both local and international observers and i'm being drawn by christine l.w.'s some buses to liberia she is one of the observers. so

far so good this morning we've got we're in one of the largest polling stations in central liberia and central monrovia we've got good lines this morning despite it being boxing day so far things opened on time at this polling station will be going to some others throughout the day and people are moving through the line set at a good pace and certainly much faster than in october so i think the elections commission trained well for today and is ready the voters are ready many came early this morning but i think they'll be a steady flow throughout the day. of the liberia was founded by freed slaves most of them from the united states this is a country. whose people have to come actions with the united states hope who full of these elections to a country i think it's first and foremost crucial to liberia and the international community the united states and other partners to europeans the japanese help with

the security forces all across the board people want to help liberia and succeed in this election and they're determined to do it so we've each helped in our own ways whichever ways we could in many ways with the international regional and domestic observation team so sir crucial aspects so that there are a lot of eyes on the process throughout every county in the country but they're going to do it today and we're here to help them as partners it's been a mixed. from the. point where the abuse. this is a fork to. jobs how are you helping you know i think we always had confidence that the runoff would happen needed to run through there were challenges that needed to go through the courts the courts handled those expeditiously and and we are able before the end of the year to complete the process and i'm confident that that will also complete before the inauguration in january third week of january so that's part of the democratic process with respect to the economic impact any

uncertainty always has an effect on the economy and the fact that it happened at the end of the year when a lot of small traders make up a good part of their profits for the year i think hit them doubly hard and so it's important going in the new administration and the international community can help in some ways going into twenty eighteen to make sure that they're off to a strong start we have a number of programs for instance in the agricultural field that liberians should not have to spend so much of their earnings on importing agricultural products when there are things that they could be growing more here in liberia so helping on that front also roads to help get things to the markets when they're grown in the counties some of these foundational pieces also things like health. decimated the economy of liberia and the other countries affected in guinea and sarah leone and having the ability to help with the underpinnings of that to strengthen the basic

system so they've been able several times now to identify and stop. you know outbreaks of lesser lesser health issues immediately because they've been able to strengthen the health system with the help of international partners so they're there they're firming up the foundation and that's where you know we're trying to help but then they take it from there and we're really pleased with how they've done that in a number air. i simply took their help thank you very much krista now the u.s. ambassador to liberia thank you very much ambassador thank you very much peter back to you mo thanks very much. nigeria's military has stopped an attack by suspected book fighters on the outskirts of the northeastern city of mine to go to heavy gunfire was reported in the more lie area as the army fought off the attackers while the number of casualties remains unknown it's thought many women and children were injured rob mcbride has more now from the island of mindanao in the philippines following on of course from the aftereffects of tropical typhoon tim

band where tens of thousands of people were evacuated from low lying areas. this is the township of too bad it's probably one of the worst affected areas of one of the worst affected provinces in mindanao we are down river that was the site of a surge of water that came through here if i can stand back and just give you a quick look at the kind of damage and trail of destruction that it left a torrent of water came down here leaving all of these boulders some of them the size of cars these weren't here a couple of days ago taking with it the surge of water more than one hundred houses sadly twenty nine people are confirmed to have died here a number of the bodies are being kept at a makeshift mortuary just a short distance away while the search continues in this area for a further sixteen people who are missing and the search is being conducted some six

kilometers downstream it gives you an idea of the strength of the power of the water that came through here all of mindanao like this area are assessing the damage from this storm and looking at ways of being more prepared the next time and the philippines as it is one of the most disaster prone countries in the world does take disaster preparedness very seriously and invest a lot in infrastructure also in awareness training to be ready for the next time but here in mindanao given the security situation it is an added complexity it makes it harder to introduce any of those plans but the philippines has to think in terms of introducing those things given what we are seeing people tell us here about stronger storms and people certainly here believe it is the evidence of climate change that these storms are going to be the shape of things to come. thousands of prove ins have demonstrated after the former president alberto fujimori was pardoned because of poor health protests took place outside the clinic

where he is being treated for two more you have been serving a twenty five year sentence for crimes against humanity and corruption the seventy nine year old was released from prison and sent to intensive care on saturday entrees severe drop in his blood pressure through his current president. called granting the pardon the most difficult decision of his life i thought most a city then it's obvious to all of us that the government he inherited at the beginning of the ninety's the country was in a chaotic and violent crisis incurred significant transgressions of the law as far as democracy and human rights are concerned but i also believe his government contributed to national progress i'm convinced that those of us who believe in democracy cannot allow alberto fujimori to die in prison. now to russia where the opposition leader. has been barred from running in next year's presidential election he's been told he is in eligible because of a criminal conviction which he says is politically motivated not only is now

calling for a boycott of the vote in march the polls show the president vladimir putin is on course to be reelected comfortably which would keep him in the kremlin until twenty twenty four chalons has more now from moscow. this was no surprise at all really how i mean i have been talking with colleagues yesterday and we've been speculating that there was maybe a small chance that the tightly controlled russian presidential system the electoral system here would be given a bit of a shake up and maybe there would be some fresh life breathed into it most people are assuming that putin is going to march towards a fourth term in office when the elections are held in march next year but no that was not to be the thirteen member panel of the central election committee decided twelve votes with one abstention so they were going to bar the from running against putin now the this is the argument they use is that he has this prior convictions

and therefore is ineligible novelli has always said that although that may be the election rules actually the constitution which should have primacy says that any one of sound mind who is not in jail can run in the elections so he's going to take this to the constitutional courts to ask them to make a decision this was a heated exchange at times he was saying that the panel should do the right thing for once in their lives that nobody is holding a gun to their heads and that they should stop messing around with the election the panel fired back saying that he was brainwashing kids that he was disrespecting the election commission and that they hinted he was politically irrelevant anyway now what is now army do next well of course are said he's going to take this to the constitutional courts but he is also saying that his supporters should boycott the election and he is saying that yes there will be street process he hasn't set a date for these yet but he's saying that when the protests hits they will be

nationwide plenty more still to come here on al-jazeera including these two stories an unpredictable and volatile election year in kenya triggered violent protests the left many dead including a six. month old baby. will tell you a centuries old way of and crafting knives in amman remains a symbol of national identity. welcome back as we look at the weather across southeastern parts of asia we've seen some pretty heavy showers affecting island of bali of last twenty four hours some significant rainfall totals being picked up in denpasar further towards the north the remnants of tembin and given some large rifle totals on the islands off of vietnam and through the mekong delta itself otherwise looking at the forecast we've

still got some pretty disturbed weather across them parts of vietnam into cambodia heavy showers across the philippines heavy showers again across java and bali up through the malay peninsula we've got some time ports for kuala lumpur singapore but i think has to be a fair amount of dry weather here for the north a chance one or two showers affecting bangkok in thailand down into a straight here and here so look at the satellite imagery see some showers closed popping up across central areas and also across parts of the north we've got some heavy rain here from a circulation which is going to give further rain in the forecast brisbane also seen some large rainfall totals of last twenty four hours some thunderstorms are likely here towards the coastal region cooler in sydney at twenty five pretty woman up late there thirty five meanwhile the circulation continues to give some heavy rain as we head on through thursday further south showers in western australia fine in perth highs twenty four.

architect is like god because you create things shining a career in building full glory yes i mean larry shift our attention to the disaster stricken regions of pakistan and building upon traditional techniques and people with the knowledge needed to sustain their societies redbone architecture a traditional future at this time to see you. again you're watching al-jazeera reminder of the headlines so far voting is

underway in liberia's presidential runoff that's expected to produce the first democratic transition of power there in seventy three years the former football star george weah is vying for the top job up against the current vice president joseph. a powerful storm that left a trail of death and destruction in the philippines has been downgraded to tropical storm tembin also failed to make landfall than vietnam but experts say heavy rain and strong winds from the weather system could still cause damage to infrastructure across the region. and thousands of peruvians have demonstrated after the former president alberto fujimori was pardoned because of poor health it served about half of the twenty five year sentence for human rights abuses and corruption through its current president petro publications can call parking for the most difficult decision of his life. now is twenty seventeen comes to a close we're looking back at some of the biggest stories of the through the eyes of five families in part four we speak now to

a kenyan family who lost their six month old daughter during political violence following the disputed presidential vote algis it was katherine sawyer from consumer. and his wife linda still trying to come to terms of the killing of the six month old daughter samantha pendle. they say she died from a severe head injury when police raided their home in the town of. this was in august just after the fast presidential election when president was declared the winner. supporters of opposition leader the took to the streets in protest. police responding with tear gas batons and live ammunition joseph and learned so however say they were attacked in their home at night.

it's been an unpredictable and volatile election year in kenya the supreme court over time to the oldest paul citing irregularities of fast in africa. then withdrew from the repeat election saying the commission first needed reforms. rerun went ahead anyway in october. one thousand percent of the vote but only a fad of the one thousand million registered voters cast their ballots. all the while political brinkmanship deeply divided the country along partisan lines continue street confrontations between police and protesters only making things worse more than thirty people including baby panda have died in the violence since august and are used to play here and on that night in august her family and neighbors say police came banging on doors they used tear gas to force people out of their houses pendle was in her mother's arms when they were being beaten she did

not stand a chance. of a doubt she will ever vote again. i didn't know that. whenever. she also says they'll continue to seek justice for their kathy. west in kenya. and you can watch the fifth and final report in the series one the five families this time our focus is on tensions on the korean peninsula split up families we'll tell you about a father and son who haven't seen each other for more than forty eight years. is demanding an apology from the united arab emirates after the country banned female china sea and citizens from landing in transiting through the gulf state emirates airlines flights were barred from china's here in response to the says it's been

told the ban was the result of u.a.e. intelligence being warned of possible attacks by female and passport holders. we are not part of emirates we are a sovereign country and they should deal with us according to what normally happens in relations between two countries up to the continuous calls with the emirates is through our ambassador in abu dhabi it appears they have lifted the ban but they did not give us details on how the ban was lifted. now in south korea the final public hearing before the government finalize is a plan for the country's energy supply has been held a money is used discussed nuclear power to new nuclear power plants are in the pipeline there are concerns over just how safe they will be after a magnitude five point four earthquake hit the country in november until last year the country was considered a seismic free zone kathy novak now reports from all sides. this is

south korea's scenic southeastern region a popular tourist destination home to stretches of coastline and eighteen uclear reactors so when a magnitude five point four earthquake forced more than a thousand people to evacuate their homes in november some wondered if those nuclear reactors are safe she on why is so worried she's been protesting in the streets that it's almost impossible but. i was so scared when the earthquake happened here i had evacuated from my building but when the tremors continued the thought of the nuclear power plants exploding hard to me. more reactors are on the way during the election campaign president monday and promised to halt their construction but he reversed that position after public consultations found the majority of people wanted the existing projects completed the environmental organization greenpeace want safety reexamined we saw the.

significant increase of the people who are concerned about the safety of nuclear reactors to. the twenty eleven fukushima disaster in japan happened just across the sea it's not hard for south koreans to imagine the worst case scenario but a tsunami triggered by a magnitude nine earthquake caused of that catastrophe and experts say that sort of event would be extremely unlikely here in a statement korea hydro a nuclear power the company that runs this plant says the newest reactors being built here are designed to withstand earthquakes sixty three times more powerful than the five point eight magnitude quake that hit the nearby city of young jew in twenty sixteen that was south korea strongest earthquake since records began in one nine hundred seventy eight. locals are still rebuilding many replacing traditional ceramic roof tiles with more affordable and sturdy metal sheets even if you church

quakes damaged homes again uclear power advocates say the plants are designed to contain any radiation leaks that define a physical barrier the caption containment is strong enough to withstand any kind of the significant creek john young hoon says nuclear power must be part of south korea's energy supply the government still wants to phase it out over time. in the meantime the energy ministry has told south koreans that close inspection of power plants revealed no damage from the latest earthquake kathy know that al-jazeera all sun south korea. fisherman have netted one hundred thousand kilos of catch as an annual winter festival in the northeast of china the surface of the frozen lake was broken to spread to three thousand me to net and after a couple of hours this was the result winter fishing is a big annual event on the lake dating back to ancient times. when hurrican slammed

into the u.s. state of florida in september the damage was extensive since then much of the state has recovered but in one small farming community the daily struggle continues here's an account of. during the storm our house. had several leaks the roof was not strong enough to sustain that when when hurricane ima hit this poor farming community on the edge of the everglades it took maria has his roof since then things have become worse repairs have yet to be made government help has been slow and the hakas family home is full of mold like many here the family couldn't afford insurance it's hard even they even though they give you extra food stamps or whatever to the migrants or whatever it is it's still hard baghdad i said there's twelve of us here and you know we have to split our food our you know you know we know where our portions residents are almost entirely dependent on agricultural jobs but the storm took close to the loss of income and damage to homes is being

felt across the community and the mark of these communities school built for migrants teachers so even the children are being affected that in a war you have been having jobs then having money for them that's. something you know you have to borrow money to buy the food so there's a lot of stress for the children's too because if they're not eating well they have a hard time coming to school and in a city where more than half the population of thirty five thousand lives below the poverty line they used to fending for themselves. in the weeks following the storm teams of volunteers have handed out food and supplies and demand hasn't slowed we make phone calls as soon as we get product then and that different churches and different organizations show up and everything that comes in here it's not a warehouse it's a distribution center so as soon as it comes in it moves out markedly was a poor farming community before hurricane hit and once it's a media it needs have been met that's not going to change there was some government

help there but what we've seen overwhelmingly is a community through it's just volunteers and members of society coming together to get this place back on its feet i mean gallacher al-jazeera. florida. now for centuries hand-crafted knives have been states the symbols across the middle east they are still carried by men during important ceremonies and family occasions in amman the traditional dagger known as a hand job as a source of national pride his child's prophet. omanis often say that is a symbol of their national identity and similar knives are made in neighboring yemen and southern saudi arabia but the craftsmanship here in oman has been for centuries considered the finest in the region. the silversmith's at this workshop in the historical town of from india. people they've been taught the art of using traditional omani designs to make a dagger which can take months to craft my grandfather me this is the best

things you can do with all of the life because this is the love of all my bebo they find everything. that's of italy you're kicking this water back up for you and then the. government recently set regulations on how the omani should be made in order to preserve it specific characteristics of the traditional say decongest favored by the royal family for example must have four or seven rings depending on the status of the wearer handles that used to be made from black rhino horns are now carved from buffalo who would be some of the oldest hunters in this shot but one of the holding here is a sighted one joe it's at least one hundred years old the cops are called the sheet is made out of snakeskin the handle is made out of black rhino horn we're told that

it's worth no less than around twelve thousand dollars and tradition dictates that if i remove the blade from the sheet then i have to use it. tour guide muhammad l. craft shows us how the conjurer is worn by helping his son dress as he would for weddings and special occasions with on juries either worn on a specially crafted belt or tucked behind a waistband. a wooden sword but i feel proud to be wearing my arab omani clothes my patriotism runs in my blood and he had the i'm with the fringe of represents the amount of personality our pride in our nation and it also exalts the sultan the country and our ancestors of them. what was once used as a weapon now crafted as a work of omani. stuff at al-jazeera news were. welcome

if you're just joining us you're watching al-jazeera coming to live from doha your headlines voting is underway in the liberian presidential runoff that is expected to produce the first democratic transition of power there in seventy three years the former footballer george weah is vying for the top job with the current vice president joseph one hundred zero is in the capital monrovia. we are already all observing long queues at polling stations five thousand three hundred and ninety polling stations across the country two point one million people have registered to vote liberians want to see an extension to the whole three years of continuous peace and ellen johnson sirleaf they want peace and continued economic progress powerful storm that left a trail of death and destruction in the philippines has now been downgraded to tropical storm tembin also failed to make landfall in vietnam but experts say heavy rain and strong winds from the weather system could still cause damage to

infrastructure across the region. thousands of peruvians have demonstrated after the former president alberto fujimori was pardoned because of poor health he served about half of a twenty five year sentence with human rights abuses and corruption the seventy nine year old was released from prison and sent to intensive care on saturday after a severe drop in his blood pressure current president. pardoning for the most difficult decision of his life. the nigerian military has stopped an attack by suspected fighters on the outskirts of the northeastern city of my to heavy gunfire was reported in the area as the army fought off the attackers on a number of casualties remains unknown many women and children were injured the russian opposition leader. has been barred from running in next year's presidential election he's been told he is in eligible because of a criminal conviction which he says is politically motivated novelli is now calling

for a boycott of the vote in march polls show the president vladimir putin is on course to be reelected comfortably which would keep him in the kremlin until twenty twenty four you are right up to speed with all the top stories so far today adrian is here with the news hour in half an hour i'm back after that up next rebel architecture season. and the differences. and the similarities. as defined.