of modern times january. documenting street father john. was inspired to transform perceptions that we had a chance to see and capture the vibrancy of the emerging black youth culture now is one of the people that they're. give. to the new african photography. at this time on al-jazeera. aid agencies evacuate critically ill patients in syria's besieged eastern ghouta

but at least eighteen people die before they can be moved. no i mariama mozzie and london you're watching al-jazeera olds are coming out we hear firsthand about the alleged rights abuses in yemen by a political prisoner who says he was kidnapped and tortured. hundreds of new shelters set up in the philippines for the thousands displaced by fighting and flooding. and we visit the christmas auser parade in colombia that's taking place in self-titled itself the capital. aid workers have begun evacuating critically ill patients from eastern guta and syria's capital damascus at least eighteen people have died while waiting east is

one of the last remaining rebel strongholds it's been under a tight government siege since two thousand and thirteen and the target of hundreds of as strikes and artillery attacks that's course of the a food and medical shortages for about four hundred thousand syrians trapped there asked month the u.n. called for five hundred people in need of medical care to be allowed to leave but it was only after long negotiations that twenty nine critical cases were approved for medical evacuation. order has the latest and a warning that some of the images you'll see here might be disturbing. it's a start but it's not enough only a handful of east critically ill are being allowed to leave to hospitals in damascus which is less than an hour's drive away twenty nine patients the majority of them women and children a six month old baby was on that list but when the aid workers reached house they found out she died weeks ago the syrian government is allowing them to be treated outside the besieged opposition stronghold after the armed group. agreed to release

some government prisoners it's not clear if new deals will be reached it has been four years since i was besieged by the syrian army the siege has tightened in recent months there are according to the united nations almost five hundred urgent medical cases. man has brain cancer she says her condition is only deteriorating the u.n. says more than a dozen people have already died while waiting to be evacuated for treatment. there is no treatment available for me here i have nothing no medicine no money i'm just waiting for god's mercy it's not just the lack of medical supplies there is a lack of food the united nations says the area is experiencing the worst case of child malnutrition since the start of the conflict. of medical equipment of vaccines have affected children also they are malnourished this has that to a number of diseases unfortunately the children are facing dire conditions. there

have been three reported deaths because of malnutrition in the past two months. savva and we're all not even two months old when they died the u.n. says more than one thousand five hundred children are at risk among them two hundred thirty two who are acutely malnourished more than half of the four hundred thousand people trapped in east are believed to be children the area is not just under siege it remains a war zone despite the russian guarantee d.s. go. that was supposed to. reach the area for the first time in months but it was for forty thousand people there is suffering in this region and the fear is that the worst is yet to come the government is using this starvation tactic as a military strategy and as the situation worsens the likelihood of a surrender becomes more real. and just as the president of the

international federation of the red cross says the group has been struggling to get aid into eastern. or look these areas are years of busy justice for years now but in the last month that was rather a big very difficult go to reach to the areas in the ear out there usually we do want to red cross requests and very you know in other parts of the of syria our last very very our last convoy allowed when getting the area was in november but only for a good start and food for only seven thousand people it might be the numbers out exactly because four hundred thousand people are stuck into him is our people are really starving out and this is not a modern music saga. great daily larry for that these people these expediency that every day especially the children and the energy and younger the arabs suffering

and the level of suffering and yes reached really pretty got going that we we cannot wait any more we have to increase our capacity to believe in these out and it is that while we are pushing for the you might get an axis. france's president emanuel back on his saudi arabia's king salmon to lift the blockade on yemen the blockade which has been in force since october is limiting supplies of feel food and medicine that grant says he's concerned about the humanitarian crisis in the country by millions of people on the brink of famine of yemen are also in the grip of a cholera outbreak all in other news a political prisoner in yemen has spoken to al jazeera about his brutal experiences behind bars human rights groups say thousands of yemenis have been arbitrarily detained and tortured during the country's two and a half year war and a warning that some of what you're about to hear now is graphic it's are going to

reports. yousif knew the opposition newspaper he edited made him a target of the armed rebel who thiis it was time to take precautions but it was too late last year he says he was kidnapped outside his home in sanaa. i was repeatedly tortured and interrogated due to my job as a journalist before my detention i openly declared that i was suspending my work because of the harsh conditions facing journalists opposed to the who he's in sanaa and so began more than a year held in several prisons in yemen's capital. to have the. i was threatened with physical abuse and rape so was my family i was put in solitary confinement for twenty six days my health deteriorated. human rights groups say thousands of people including children have been arbitrarily detained and tortured

by both sides in the war yemeni forces and who the fighters are accused of beating using electric shocks and forcing prisoners to strip others taken captive have simply disappeared this human rights attorney says families have reported the deaths of almost one hundred twenty prisoners in one of us isn't severe and if there are secret prisons human rights groups have documented four hundred seventeen alone in sana from residential houses to schools and even places of worship the kidnappers have abducted individuals from all walks of life and juniors doctors and even journalists they are subjected to brutal torture but journalists are given a harder time ashlan was eventually transferred to a military prison camp where he says he was housed along with prisoners of war last month he was released as part of a prisoner swap. but if i thought about it i wished it didn't happen that way simply because i was not to convict

a person i was kidnapped outside my house. is lucky to be alive days before he was released the camp was bombed dozens of his former cell mates die natasha to name. now russian opposition leader and he says he'll organize a nationwide rally in january to support his call for a boy cos of the presidential election and valley has been barred from running in the much election of an embezzlement conviction that he says is politically motivated meanwhile the russian president vladimir putin has officially filed his documents to run for reelection if he wins putin's rule will be extended until two thousand and twenty four making him the longest serving russian leader since dictator joseph stalin. moves in one of our choices by shook up our news out of the way we will start a big campaign on one hand to persuade everyone to participate in the boycott and not to take part in the election and on the other hand to con time many people really come to the polling stations not to let putin fabricate the number and of

course to be needin all russia my street action ukrainian government and pro russian rebels have completed a major prisoner swap in the water on east and happened in the city of her lift which is mainly controlled by the pro russian separatists exchanges reported to be the largest since a pro russian uprising in eastern ukraine in two thousand and fourteen or a challenge joins us live from moscow now henri what's the latest on this prisoner swap. well as you say it seems to have wrapped up now with prisoners going both ways across the front lines the numbers that have been handed over a slightly different from the the advertised numbers that we were given earlier which was that three hundred six people were going to be going back. to the east and seventy four people were who were going to be going back to the west now the discrepancy in the numbers actually handed over. because some of them were

already handed over in sort of early. earlier exchanges and also that apparently on both sides there were a few people at least that didn't want to go back where they came from but this really is the culmination this prisoner swap of sort of long an intricate negotiation process which got so it's sort of final impetus in a meeting recently in moscow that was attended by the head of the russian orthodox church patriarch kirill the heads of the separatist regions. the ets and representatives from kiev as well of course it was a high level meeting but the support for all of this came higher up even than that so we know the let me add putin had given is personal push to this he said that he was going to use his influence as he put it with the separatist regions to get this done and of course it was supported by the governments in kiev so everyone seems to

be in working together in the last few days to get this thing nailed and how much optimism is there from the fact that you've had this contact between the opposing sides even if it's in direct contact how significant a breakthrough is this prisoner swap. it is certainly a step in the right direction you can't deny that that the you know this is the first big prisoner swap for fifteen months or so and people are talking on both sides now about carrying this on that this won't be the last there are other prisoners on both sides and they'll be working in the coming weeks and months to get those exchanged as well there are of course question marks because there are prisoners that are held in russia the ukraine wants back people like sense of who was arrested after the attic sation of crimea he's

a ukrainian filmmaker and he was charged and convicted for twenty years on on terrorism charges that ukraine of course wants his him to be returned back home it's unclear at the moment whether he'll be included in the future prisoner swaps because he's held in russia not in the eastern regions of ukraine it's a step in the right direction though what we've seen today of course while the conflict still goes on though we can't say that this is. a culmination of anything particularly it's you know a step down the path but people are still dying on both sides and until there's a grand political settlement this isn't over yet thanks very much rory roy chalons in moscow. watching our kids there are still to come liberians await the outcome of the presidential election runoff but polling suggests a record low turnout. in order to be in london with

a solution routinely use reportings around in this delicate operation but could robots be taught to use when the old remove. hello there is turning a little bit milder for some of us in the southeastern parts of china that's all thanks to the wind direction you can see it here pulling up from the south dragging in a fair amount of moisture with it as well so for some of us in the southeast they'll be more cloud than we've got used to in a few outbreaks of rain but as that air all pushes up northwards we'll see the temperatures rise so eleven degrees is the maximum in shanghai fair amount of clout if you outbreaks of rain possible on thursday but on friday the skies should be a lot clearer we should get to around fourteen degrees that milder air also extends through hong kong to get to around twenty four as we head across towards india is

just really in the far northern parts of the cloud at the moment to further south it's looking fine and dry it's just a couple of showers around sri lanka and some of those are pretty perky giving us over fifty millimeters of rain the chance of one or two more showers here as we head through the next day or so but for the majority of the island it should be fine in that fine weather extends through many parts of india as well new delhi looking at a top temperature of around twenty two or twenty three degrees as we head through the next couple of days now here in doha our temperatures are also around twenty three seventy three in fahrenheit the cloud staying way to the north of us so most of us should be fine.

witness documentaries that open your eyes at this time on al jazeera. back you're watching al-jazeera recap the stories making headlines aid workers have started evacuating critically ill patients from besieged suburb of syria's capital damascus but at least eighteen people have died while waiting france's president has called on saudi arabia to completely lift its blockade on yemen so aid can be delivered to millions of people on the brink of starvation and the ukrainian

government and pro russian rebels have completed a major prisoner swap in the war torn east of the country. the philippine government is setting up hundreds of new shelters for some of the thousands of people displaced by fighting and flooding in the city the army we took the area from fighters lent to. after a five month siege tropical storm tambon to vent sweep through the city all mcbride reports from. for people displaced by the more are we fighting life in a muddy camp with open drains was already miserable then came the floods some tents were washed away and all of them was that of the poor oh families possessions are still a wet pile and they go to sleep in the damn things their neighbor for an hour and her family lost their home and business in the fighting now her daily battle is with the water and mud to keep it out. you have to constantly think about where to

put your things in made out he had money and could eat properly and i could go to school in the city bears the scars of the months of conflict between government troops and fighters linked to i still for now it is quiet but there's still a threat of renewed hostilities and martial law in mindanao has been extended for another year but on the edge of the city signs of hope. new permanent homes are being built for displaced people president rod deter who's from mindanao has promised to find a lasting solution to the conflict for him this project is an important step on the road to peace we will. do my job or no one of course above remember it's an ongoing dialogue for mended out the conflict holds up development the lack of money and jobs then fuels the underlying

discontent and none of this is helped by being battered by storms from her tent home for an ample one can see the new houses being built on the opposite hillside but doesn't know if she will get close to moving into one martha i hope one day we can make a new start and living in one of the new houses would help for now the new houses are far outnumbered by the thousands of tents. look bright al-jazeera the city southern philippines. iberia is national elections commission is expected to begin releasing the provisional results from the presidential runoff election pitted former football star george where against current vice president joseph akai local newspapers are reporting a low turnout among the two million people who are eligible to vote is the first democratic transition of power in the west african nation in seventy three years how many are down has more from the capital monrovia. of to a day of orderly queues and peaceful venting in move on five thousand polling

stations across liberia the people of this country are waiting for the results of the runoff election it pits full muscle pulls todd gold to where against current vice president joseph walker local media is already reporting that told the way a hostage and then an elite in votes counted on tonnage will fall in some of the counties all for this country george where is banking on his support with in the youth which accounts for more than sixty percent of the population of this country. just of walker has tied himself as the much for cutting date of transition as he has been deputising for outgoing president ellen johnson sirleaf for the past twelve years electoral commission is expected to announce the election results in a month of days. it's been ten years since pakistan's former prime minister benazir

bhutto was assassinated at a campaign rally she was part of pakistan's most famous political dynasty hider a poet some like ana ancestral home of the bhutto has. the budget can't be quote commemorating their tenth anniversary of benazir bhutto add milk and. jam packed crowd people have come from across the country from all the four provinces of pakistan but where in the province of. still enjoyed their vote support after all how far do you rule began here in larkana oh father good for girly boy draw for usually popular. drug over the mantle of reforms that really do for the target on people's party. quarter of the preprinted who have turned up their own ordinary for four come from the nearby

religion for the people of. the ledger this is only down yes i think after twelve and peggy and for d.d.i. does take that father she already live in. because she writes for them he died for them. maybe she need to say we five hundred life. and we shall continue her. mission until the last minute of our lives and i.e. military and all the p.p.p. when can we live that the mission of p.p.p. and mission of the shaky mortals will remain continue and the pride of our great trees room for both political parties can enjoy the port. or draw is now the chairman of the project on people's party have a provincial government and a province. or did it all here expect that in the forthcoming elections the people's party may get more awards than other provinces read it really of course

fear death of their popularity across bogard khan. the heir of south korea's electronics giant samsung is appealing against his conviction and sentence in a corruption case young was sentenced to five years in jail face possible bribery scandal but also still the impeachment of the country's former president park geun hey prosecutors are giving young shoots a twelve year prison term the high court is expected to rule on his appeal next month's. the rise of artificial intelligence and robotics is changing health care more operations and now carried out by surgeons using robots aren't say finds out if we should let machines look after us. this guy's hospital in central london and a man is about to have his life chances vastly improved with the help of

a robles he has prostate cancer the surgeon and his team would in the past have cut him open and felt around with their hands. but now they insert choose. and then we let the robot. soon the surgeon is at the console moving the robot remotely it's fine tools stitch up the man's colon before moving in to perform the operation in principle you could have the surgery carried out or part steps of the surgery did a very clearly defined carried out by a surgical instrument that was basically set up and told to go by had laser eye surgery only ten years ago and i know for fat that the op thousand the surgeon did my eyes a he met devaney think he set a machine hit a button and there was a machine that did the surgery was and has. all kinds of surgeries done like this

welcomed by those lucky enough in the rich world to have an operation made quicker and less painful than in the past. but the new frontier is not in medicine but in care the robot succumbing to help the aged to consider the role that robots can have in caring for those we love is surely at the sharp end of the debate around automation in the human world after all robots home to modes that don't have the human touch and so how do we as human beings feel about outsourcing the duty of care to machine. in the coming weeks these dimentia sufferers as a care home in north london will have robots for company the owners run dozens of places like this across the u.k. they want to roll the machines out everywhere because what we're dealing with is the dementia residents people who forget who have a memory lapses and if robots could remember things

about them or their cultural needs aboard that have it's about the back end of living and if they could relate this to a new pierced or even an agency staff was coming in it could be a lot of emotional things that is these people experience because when you forget things you get agitated and you cannot recollect what you really forgotten how are you very and you robots like this is argue could help organize delivery of medicines or relatives could skype their loved ones through it screen but cannot love but it is argued they could help dispenses the agonizing question is whether we want them to i think ethically it's undesirable. robots take the place of carers for the specific issues of being reassured you know being helped to death and so on i think very few people would say that we should staff our hospice with robots i mean at the end of life that's really where you want a completely human type of interaction in parts of the world robotic care

assistance has already been viewed by people a socially acceptable. in japan a nation of technology lovers with an ageing population it's becoming common but will care is ever been replaced by machines it would surely to questions about how much we value our own humanity lawrence leigh al-jazeera london. on thursday will have part five of our series on artificial intelligence a future with robots and ai is coming and it's going to affect all of us in the final part of our series out as there are tools to those seeking to reduce the fallout you don't want to miss it dances in colombia's third largest city of celebrated christmas with their annual celso parade it's enormous with the spirit of carlie and the city's residents have come together to don through the night. reports on the rhythm in the world's capital. it might have been

born in new york to be a cuban. but america's most famous rhythm is truly at home in columbia spared city the self-titled capital where the dance is celebrated with a huge hurry then christmas day. this time under a heavy rain that's about a continuous fall that salsa for the most everything look at us totally drenched we love we are showing it once more today. we live and it's all idiosyncrasy fifteen hundred dancers parade through this demonstrating cali's unique acrobatic style my feet move at an extreme pace to the frantic beat as dancers skip and turn . cali both over one hundred south schools attracting an increasing number of foreign aficionado's so get a good look at what makes cali special is its people's unique passion for dance

salsa dance almost everywhere in the world but only here people with such little means do so much to get here dancers train all year to be chosen for the parade and dream of one day reaching the world's all such championship sixteen year old now. says that for many poor becoming a dancer is a way to make a living and change stereotypes i'm back and this is where we become more than kids from the ghettos we get associated with drug trafficking and prostitution but that's not who we are we dance for ourselves and for our image we work long hours stay out from the streets take care of our wellbeing all our free time all our effort is for dance this is sort of in this part of the kali fair for stevie celebrating its sixtieth anniversary it's the one time of the year when all deeply divided between rich and four come together to celebrate and then through the night

. it's cardio will be great the way out there in your report there will be just a way that the energy of the challenge that was left up to the time. trying to keep the. world subsect capital might sound like a bold claim but seeing used against you can't help but think it through i listened . to you. now is the headquarters of the roman catholic church the vatican attracts millions of visitors a year but perhaps non as colorful as these a circus troupe including two polar bears has put on a special show for pope francis as part of his weekly public appearance the pontiff praised the performance saying circus art is beautiful and brings people closer to god am. i. right so let's update you now on the stories making

headlines aid workers have started evacuating critically ill patients from a besieged suburb of syria's capital damascus the united nations has been calling on the syrian government to allow some five hundred critically ill people to leave east in ghouta for months the area has been under a tight government siege since you since two thousand and thirteen and subjected to hundreds of strikes and artillery attacks at least eighteen people have died while waiting to be evacuated. the president of the international federation of the red cross francesco rocca said needs to be provided urgently. four hundred thousand people are stuck in these are people who are really starving guy and this is not a morbid usada article i read daily larry for good news people use expediency to every day especially the children not only younger ers suffering and the level of suffering that yes reached really really got going but we we can not wait any more

we have to increase our capacity to get even these out and this is why we are pushing for that you might get an ox. france's president emanuel knock on his saudi arabia to lift its blockade on yemen blockade which has been in force since october is limiting vital supplies of fuel food and medicine from entering the country lachlan says he's concerned about the humanitarian crisis in yemen where millions of people are on the brink of famine a russian opposition leader alexina valmy says he'll organize a nationwide rally in january to support his call for a boycott of presidential elections around the has been barred from running in the march election over an embezzlement conviction that he says is politically motivated meanwhile the russian president vladimir putin has officially filed his own documents to run for reelection well in all the developments from the region the ukrainian government and pro russian rebels have completed a major prisoner swap in the water on east of the country it happened near the city

of hard lift which is mainly controlled by the pro russian separatists this exchange is reported to be the largest since a pro russian uprising in eastern ukraine in two thousand and fourteen. today with all of our top stories much more news coming up in less than half an hour's time i'll see you in twenty five minutes to join me then that's off the witness which starts now.