yours has been decriminalized or if you join us on sex no evil person just wakes up of it in the morning and says i want to color the world in darkness this is a dialogue and that could be what's leading to some of the confusion on line about people saying they don't actually know what's going on join the colobus conversation at this time on al jazeera. al-jazeera. swear every. this is al-jazeera.

and i'm rob matheson this is the news our live from doha coming up in the next sixty minutes a warning from the united nations children the world wide out under attack in conflict zones at what it calls a shocking scale. a large scale prisoner swap between the ukrainian government and pro russian rebels is now complete plus. and that will lead for us to go back to war. to be president of this country. when the vote counting ends in liberia's presidential runoff officials say don't expect riots in the streets also if people have the leisure to do whatever they want to do they will be less frustrated by the hassles they have of work preparing for a world where robots take over and do most of the labor.

in a report released just hours ago the u.n. is warning that children in conflict zones across the world are under attack and what it calls a shocking scale the unicef report says children have become frontline targets used as human shields killed maimed and recruited to fight rape forced marriage abduction and slave meant have become standard tactics in many conflicts the report highlights children's deaths linked to conflicts during twenty seventeen seven hundred killed in afghanistan one hundred thirty five child suicide bombers linked to boko haram in west africa and at least five thousand killed or injured in the war in the yemen the agency is calling on all parties of conflict to abide by international law and stop targeting children schools and hospitals and reports. winter in the moderate refugee camp in lebanon's eastern because valley is not easy . last year for several months shelters which are made out of bits of wood and

plastic sheeting were blanketed in snow warm clothes are often in short supply in fuel can be expensive or hard to find. really to help vulnerable refugees prepare for the cold temperatures the u.s. refugee agency offers cash and other assistance to those who most need it so far around six hundred fifty thousand refugees have received some form of help but many others are still doing without they need more c one in winter to keep warm they blankets they need more food they need medicine because of the diseases that spread more easily in the winter season. according to the u.n. h.c.r. more than three point eight million refugees and internally displaced people in syria lebanon iraq turkey jordan and egypt need winter assistance a cold weather program which began last month is aimed at helping the most vulnerable families they receive a mixture of cash assistance building materials to repair and weatherproof shelters

and winter items including thermal blankets gas heaters and warm clothes but of the two hundred twenty eight million dollars needed to finance this year's winter program so far only one hundred forty three million dollars has been received a shortfall of nearly forty percent today we are facing funding shortfalls which forces you and other aid agencies to target the assistance that we are able to deliver to the families who are most in need the poorest of the poor unfortunately we know that many other families who are also in need do not have access to this assistance today and while syrian refugees and internally displaced children face another winter away from their homes according to unicef children have been used as human shields trapped under siege targeted by snipers and lived through intense bombardment and violence unicef is demanding all parties involved in the fighting abide by international laws so that children like bees don't have to suffer in

al-jazeera. just in forsyth is the deputy executive director of unicef and he's joining us now from new york on skype thank you very much indeed for your time what has changed over the last year or so that has meant that things like rape and forced marriage and enslavement have become standard tactics in conflict what we've always had a situation where children have been collateral damage i know that's a terrible freight in conflict but what we've seen in recent years and even more so in twenty seven is children being deliberately targeted i mean we've heard stories from our staff on the ground in bangladesh but also in mean maurice south about reading to children who stood by us soldiers of rate that mothers have shot their father even brutalizes children a cell and they're saying to those children they're deliberately doing this we have stories from within syria and from a school that we worked in with snipers deliberately targeting the children in the

playground i was in northern nigeria recently and i met our children who would who had to talk to me about being forced to be i'm human bombs football her arms in this deliberately targeting of children to make them part of the conflict to brutalize army is a is a is a new development yes it's always happened in part but it seems to be growing and growing and fortis change to a low people or to a lot of people fighting in these conflicts to believe that they can actually get away with this because it used to be that there were some areas in a conflict that were sacrosanct there were some lines that were perceived not to be crossed but your report seems to suggest that that's nor longer the case what's changed. well all the norms seem to broken down it seems normal now that you can target a hospital a group of doctors in syria told me recently when i was in northern turkey how the armed groups wouldn't even come near the hospital because the hospital was more of a target than the armed groups so hospitals and schools are being deliberately

attacked children are being brutalized and it feels like all the rules in war as you say that used to at least protect civilians and children in particular in these terrible wars have all disappeared and if feels like there are no rules to protect the most vulnerable children in these conflicts and our appeal is unicef is to all the warring parties whether their governments or rebel groups is it surely we can all agree that we need to protect the children how much of this is also down to a level of accountability are people doing this simply because they now believe that they can get away with it. yeah i think that's definitely the case i mean you know inside saddam in northern nigeria in yemen people feel they can do anything and get away with it as you say and so we have to have on the rule of law we have to have the security council we have to have the political action to resolve the root causes of these conflicts what we're doing is unicef and are the u.n.

agencies often sticking plaster jobs but we need also to be able to protect children in these terrible circumstances i met a group of eight girls recently who had been kidnapped by baccarat all of them have been forced into marriage all of them have been great one young girl as young as eleven had been raped for five months now there will be no justice for her book or iran rape case but what we can do hopefully is deal with some of those conflicts in other places where we can still protect children even in these terrible circumstances there unicef along with other aid organizations are calling for international pressure to be put to in order to try and reestablish those lines that cannot be crossed but there are some world governments i mean the trumpet ministration is one of them which appears to be less interested in putting pressure on countries about their human rights records how frustrating is that likely to be for ages agencies like yours and how confident can you be that you're actually

going to get any results. well we need all the members of the security council to put the interests of children to put the interests of civilians in the protection of civilians front and center in order that deliberations is no one country this falling short all of those members of the security council need to do all of the need to use their influence to stop this brute this brutalization of children whether it's reading to children me in me in mark or syrian children in syria or neighboring countries or in yemen all of those different members of the security council have influence over those different parties in different ways and combined they could actually make a huge difference even in these terrible conflicts even if we can't resolve the to protect children and to make sure that aid gets to those children even in these dire situation just emphasizes deputy executive director of unicef thank you very much for your time thank you aid workers have started evacuating critically ill patients from eastern guta

a rebel held on flavor of syria's capital damascus at least eighteen people have died because of delays in allowing them to receive treatment isn't go to is one of the last remaining rebel strongholds it's been under a tight government siege since twenty thirteen and the target of hundreds of airstrikes and artillery attacks that's cause severe food and medical shortages for about four hundred thousand syrians trapped there last month the u.n. called for five hundred people in need of urgent medical aid to be allowed to leave but it was only after long negotiations twenty nine critical cases were approved for medical evacuation al-jazeera is in a harder has latest let me give you a warning you might find some of the following images disturbing. it's a start but it's not enough only a handful of east scooters 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 who reached others

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 official islam agreed to release some government prisoners it's not clear if new deals will be reached it has been four years since east hooter 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 i'm sorry 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 i know 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 and. the lack of medical

equipment of vaccines have affected children also they are malnourished and this has that to a number of diseases unfortunately that children are facing dire conditions there have been three reported deaths because of malnutrition in the past two months. well 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 four hundred thousand people. are believed to be children. despite the russian guaranteed deescalation that was supposed. to. the area for the first time in months but it was only 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 starvation tactic as a military strategy and as the situation worsens the likelihood of a surrender becomes more real. the ukrainian government and pro russian rebels have swapped prisoners in war torn eastern ukraine this latest exchange is said to be the largest since the start of the conflict it happened near the city of kut which is mainly controlled by pro russia separatists the conflict in eastern ukraine began on april twenty fourth teen soon after russia annexed ukraine's crimean peninsula the united nations says more than ten thousand people have died in the don't yet see. a series of truce has scaled back the fighting but that hasn't ended the bloodshed several of the ukrainian prisoners have been speaking about their release. i'm very happy that i'm going back to ukraine and i thank everyone for the work that's been done to be able to help me see my loved ones again. spent a year and a half in a cell one by one and

a half meters without anything no deliveries nothing they treated us as if we were dogs rory chalons has more. well both sides are now confirms that this prisoner swap has concluded with people being handed in both directions across the front lines in eastern ukraine the numbers that actually did scruffs the lines a bit different from the earlier advertize figures of three hundred six people going from kiev territory back to the east and seventy four people going from the eastern regions back into kiev territory the reasons why the numbers are different is because some people were transferred earlier and some people on both sides it seems didn't actually get want to go back to where they come from this is an events that has been quite a long time in in the making the final impetus though came as a recent meeting in moscow there was attended by the heads of the two separatist

regions in eastern ukraine by the head of the russian orthodox church patrick carroll and by representatives from kiev but the the real political will it seems as come from both kiev and also from moscow with vladimir putin saying that he was going to use his influence with the with the separatist regions to make it happen it's a breakthrough undeniably a step in the right direction and the sides now are talking about keeping this going they're doing more prisoner swaps but while people are still dying while moscow is still supplying the rebel regions with weapons and hardware etc and while there doesn't seem to be a final drive for peace this is just a step in that direction we haven't got to the destination that we want to get to yet which is a final political solution sophia and zeneca of as a senior research associate at the george washington university in the u.s. and he says this latest exchange is politically significant for both sides. first

of all it is. one of your realisations of the agreement between ukraine russia friends and germany that was agreed upon back in two thousand and fifteen and the article six of those agreements implied that ukraine and the two separatist republics with the exchange all the prisoners so this is the first step since then however not all the prisoners were exchanged and there are dozens of ukrainian prison their wrists and the separatist prisoners. on both sides detained and the sides don't want to give them up yet so this exchange was conducted very fast and efficient and it is very important for both russian leader put in who is running for reelection soon and.

ukrainian president poroshenko who is face in major demonstration in chillan just from the opposition it seems that there are politics behind did though it's not clear but some contacts we'll show us that maybe something's going on politically as i mentioned the presidential elections that putin is facing and for promotion it was very important and this was kind of a breakthrough for him in domestic politics and even his main opponent mikhail saakashvili praised him for doing this. at least ten people have been injured after a bomb went off in a supermarket in st petersburg in russia it was caused by a homemade device packed with shards of metal police say it was hidden inside a locker where shoppers used to store their belongings and no one's admitted responsibility for the attack. budget more ahead on the news are including.

that. it's off to the so-called capital of the world colombia as i knew a christmas parade is all about the diamonds plus. i'm wayne hay reporting from thailand where the military government says democracy will return at the end of two thousand and eighteen but we'll tell you why many believe it won't happen. and one of africa's greatest players makes a major u. turn details in sport. argentina's president is pressing on with a reform agenda that he claims will modernize the country the congress has approved the twenty eight hundred budget plan and a bill that tackles taxes which will reduce growth in south america's second largest economy but as to the sobota ports from botticelli's the debate inside prompted an innovative protest outside. three vegetables in front of

congress when a well senators gather to vote inside in the last session this year farmers brought twenty thousand kilos of their produce to give away to those in need like we are here so that senators know that what they vote for has an impact on people's lives costs have gone up for everyone inflation transport energy but we want to share and draw attention to the demand that this government needs to do a lot more. was elected two years ago with a mandate to rein in government spending and rejuvenate argentina's lagging economy after years of the center left press. didn't see of cristina fernandez the commissioner of the government of the so much he has pushed to have a series of laws that it says will make argentina's economy more competitive like reforming the pension and tax system but there are many here who disagree they say that the government's reforms are benefiting corporations and north the country's

most valuable. among them i people. she's retired and says she couldn't miss the opportunity of getting some free food for us you know he finds the pension i get is not enough and what i'm buying now would cost me a lot i worked all my life and now i can barely survive. despite scoring a resounding victory in october's congressional elections mackley spent reform sparked a violent protest last week when a situs that left dozens of people injured and new legislation changed the way pension increases are calculated which could end up hurting the elderly and those who depend on social security. the government said there were four aim to restore order to argentina's chronically imbalance fiscal accounts as in italy and. the path of the argentinean economy is very tight with the possibility of crises along

the way but for now i believe the government has a clear idea of what it wants to do it's trying to open up the economy to the world after years of financial isolation. argentina has a history of economic crises that have left millions living in poverty even though the government insists economic reforms will lead to a brighter future there are many hold out that the government's plans will turn out well. peru's culture minister has resigned following the pardoning of ex-president are better for him already salvador does so a lot was a fierce opponent of the decision jim moret was sentenced to twenty five years for ordering massacres carried out by military death squads his country receiving cancer treatment and was granted a presidential pardon due to his ill health liberia's election commission is expected to announce official preliminary results in the presidential runoff on thursday presidential hopeful george ware says he's on track for victory the former

football star is up against current vice president joseph buckeye mohamed atta reports from the capital monrovia. liberia and sweet for the outcome of tuesday's runoff election many priests what they call a peaceful vote vote counting is underway and the process of telling results trickling in from more than five thousand polling stations across liberia why the national nation are pulling out. there were. very small number of incidents to report where injured in a corner and i should mention they have been dealt with on this but in most of these cases if not all the contest pits fifty one year old former football star where against seventy three year old joseph walk i who has been the country's vice president for the last twelve years but polling coincided with christmas and many chose to stay home or say the tunnel close much lower than the fos round held in

october their electoral commission says it will announce the results in four days it's what happens after whether the losing side will accept defeat the cosmos led billions consigned. liberia is one we're not willing to destroy the women and that will mean for us to go back to war for anybody to be president of this country and we will not do it we are going to have peace the children of this country need peace and they also want peace and we're going to call for whom ever we decide is president of liberia international observers to a calling for calm so one person was without basis in liberia. so the issue is now when you know. if you when you celebrate what is celebrated why should be because you need to be president of everybody if you lose you also accept for the first time in more than seventy years this was founded by freed american

slaves will see one democratically elected government hunt power to another whoever wins will inherit tonic or me but by forming prices of liberia's exports of rabat and i don't want to force depreciating currency in the past twelve years ellen johnson sirleaf has guided this country through the process of recovery from civil war on the horrors of the outbreak but she too has been criticized for not doing much to talk all poverty and corruption in how government behind it all does it or monrovia liberia an ex-military chief who led the takeover against zimbabwe is former leader robert mugabe has been appointed as vice president the promotion of constantino she work has deepened concerns about the close ties between the military and zimbabwe's new president president emerson my god why is under pressure to implement political reforms after mugabe's thirty seven year rule and

at last month's. experts in artificial intelligence say the world is unprepared for the enormous changes automation is beginning to have on the global economy futurologist say ai could help us create an almost perfect world but they also say it could lead to the collapse of democracy and civilization within a generation or in sleep explores their fight concerns in the final part of our series brave new world. the future is coming and it's going to affect all of us it's widely accepted that millions of jobs are going to disappear but we may not have to work we might get paid for having fun and in this future the robots and algorithms that will replace us could either reduces to poverty or set us free this is the time of apocalypse and utopia and it's a time where we have to start thinking concretely about how so in vision

a better world out of the kind of. the collapse of this one. optimists say things could be wonderful machines do nearly all the work money disappears as things are created for us automation in science negates climate change crops are grown in the deserts we create meet in our own homes. and as a species we develop because we no longer spend our time doing boring tasks to feed our children i think we might well experience a near a nice sums of creativity and of social interaction in a very positive way if people have the leisure to do whatever they want to do they will be less frustrated by the the hassles they haven't worked. they will be more fearful because they'll be doing the things that interest them. it may sound a long way away after all at the moment robots only do one thing at a time like this one making car doors but what if one can do all the things that

week in previous industrial revolutions change was measurable people. linea the difference with the fourth in this revolution is that change is exponential which means it goes faster faster all the time and it's expected that within about a generation from now a machine will be built which is better than a human and that changes everything futurologists point to a problem where are the world politicians discussing these things with their electorates artificial intelligence is barely mentioned in western election campaigns yet already jobs are disappearing as the robots take over the global tech giants who in future will control vast resources are discussing privately what their responsibilities to us will be but they would rather not talk about it in public. every ai experts believe the transition to worklessness that we as humans are in barking all must be addressed now we all understood this was coming i

suspect the shocks will be lower and we can start to try to mitigate against it immediately if you understand that eventually most of the population will be unable to do traditional work then you can start introducing systems to cope with it was at the moment that just sounds like saying that spend more benefits. which when you have that linea view of the world isn't really an accepted way in british or western european politics to think that the question is what we're going to do about it and so for us we believe that we need to organize citizens worldwide to recognize festival this is actually going to change a lot of things and already is but crucially where do you stand on this what do you believe and how are you going to get involved in debates actually needs to progress in and how you perceive it. artificial intelligence could be the best thing ever to happen to humanity but in the absence of a global political debate about its benefits the risk is that it's seen instead is

a terrifying a direct threat to us. the world will be a very different place in a generation from now it is surely time for the people to be involved in what it will look like lawrence lee al-jazeera still ahead on al-jazeera as tensions rise on the korean peninsula one family's hopes for a reunion faked. and the art exhibition that glimpse the public a rare glimpse into life of guantanamo bay from the perspective of its inmates. and a record smashed in one of the most grueling yacht race in the world. from the clear blue sky of the doha moony. to the fresh autumn breeze in the city of la. hello winter rain is returning to the middle of china it's still eleven

degrees in shanghai and still fourteen in chengdu and whilst the rain exists it will probably disperse what and we get to friday but rather than temperatures dropping is the wind turns we go thirteen in shanghai and twenty four in hong kong very hard winters there in china is just a long way for the north now after recent resurgence tropical storms we now should watch very carefully this line from mindanao to vietnam there are certainly big thunderstorms there but that's all there are they could still go across mindanao the could still reach in the fact continue on the coast of vietnam and the remains of former truckle storms are probably producing this mass of showers in the gulf of thailand which will probably affect doesn't island more especially malaysia in the next day or so and for western jobber fairly frequent seem likely once again there's been flooding here on and off the last few weeks and the reason why that should stop the northeast monsoon through the bay of bengal usually brings rain or shasta's for lying karen tell about it's been trying to recently and he may well be

again and this obviously cloud visible from the north of pakistan but of the you'll come to very much if anything it's dark quiet weather once again and the air quality on the northern plains still pool. the weather sponsored by cats own race. after years documenting street violence in john this book not so much was inspired to transform perceptions we added elizabeth chains to south africa and capture the vibrancy of the emerging black youth culture now is one of the people that i am kept that are behaving as they hit all of us this way you can't deny the new african photography the neo not so much at this time on al-jazeera.

witness documentaries that open your eyes at this time on al-jazeera. you're watching al-jazeera a reminder of our top stories this hour the ukrainian government and pro russian rebels have completed a large scale prisoner swap in the war torn east of ukraine it happened near the city of which is mainly controlled by separatists exchange is reported to be the biggest since the conflict began in twenty fourteen. and

a report by unicef warns that children in conflict zones across the world are under attack on what it calls a shocking scale but a port highlights children's who died in afghanistan child suicide bombers linked to. at least five thousand killed or injured in the war in yemen. aid workers have started evacuating critically ill patients from eastern rebel held on plague of syria's capital damascus last month the un called for five hundred people in need of urgent medical care to be allowed to leave but only twenty nine cases have been given approval at least eighteen people have died while waiting. syrians in rebel held tonnes are struggling to survive with many of them surrounded by government forces supplies are running shorts and with little access to international aid locals are forced to enervate in order to get by as more. it's under siege the basic necessities of life here are in short supply through the

hardship locals are learning to improvise with what little they have. here at this makeshift tailor shop blankets and old clothes are given a new life and i'm sitting at home is that on the outside of the not over the years of war life is getting tougher and harsher residents come to me with the blankets handed out to them by the relief agencies to tailor to miss clothes some asked for gloves to be made out of the blankets others ask for jackets or even pajamas. but it's still not enough the u.n. has struggled to get aid into besieged areas but agencies complaining of overwhelming challenges to access after five years under siege locals are getting desperate. these blankets are handed out to us to use to keep warm but residents here cannot afford to buy fuel or a daily meal they are forced to make out of blankets and they wear them day and night in this cold winter people here are fed up. it's

just one of many besieged areas in syria where tens of thousands of people are struggling to survive and with little help coming from the outside world the people of all hope will have to continue to find ways to fend for themselves and monaghan al-jazeera french president emanuel mccrone has urged saudi arabia's king solomon to lift the blockade on yemen since october imports of fuel food and medicine have been limited by the saudi led coalition which is fighting who the rebels says he's concerned about the humanitarian crisis with millions of people on the brink of famine parts of yemen are also in the grip of a cholera outbreak a political prisoner in yemen has spoken to all 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 that 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 is 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 in seventy year 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 as line 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 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 in a zero heir to south korea's other tonics giant sung song is appearing against his conviction and sentence in a corruption case major young was sentenced to five years in jail for his part in a bribery scandal but also saw the impeachment of the country's then president pagano hate prosecutors are also appealing the ruling and are calling for a twelve year sentence the high court is expected to rule next month. that's right the seventeen draws to a close we're looking back at some of the biggest stories of the year through the eyes of five families in our final report we focus on the crisis between north and south korea and its impact on the people there found slowly spoke to a man who's been separated from his father for nearly five decades this is one of

hong and charles treasured possessions it's the only photo he has of him with his father he was two years old when he last saw his dad nearly fifty years ago it wasn't until he was nine that he found out the truth you know when. i asked my mother when he was coming home she told me he was on a business trip to the united states and will be home for christmas i believed her and waited and waited his father. had been traveling on a domestic flight in south korea but it was hijacked and flown to north korea. the incident sparked an international outcry north korea eventually returned most of those on board the flight but refused to allow eleven of us to leave including kwan's father. there was a time i hated my father so much because i was told by my family that he stood out too much during ideologist sessions in the north he would argue with the of dorothy's and that's why he wasn't sent back to. hong has spent much of his adult

life campaigning for his father's release setting up a group to the south korean government and international community to pressure north korea to release the remaining crew and passengers. when there were tensions around the korean peninsula intensified my father's case was pushed aside going ever dare work any issues between the core yes and our story became the least priority when it's a tragedy my family has to carry looking inward. and security concerns on the peninsula have deepened this year in september north korea tested a hydrogen bomb weapons experts also say north korean scientists appear to have made rapid progress with each missile test and could possibly combine nuclear and ballistic missile capabilities by next year one realizes these developments will make a reunion more unlikely but he's certain his dad still years for hope. to try to

defect in two thousand and thirteen i heard that the rest of the people in his group who made the same attempt were all executed by one then in march two thousand and sixteen i heard he was living in punk song but was told last december you know that those surveillance was too strong for anyone to approach him or talk in that i've been proven but one is not giving up determined to be reunited with his father no matter what it takes florence lee al-jazeera saw. south korean president says a deal with japan to settle the decades long comfort woman dispute is serious flaws dozens of protesters gathered outside the foreign ministry in seoul to denounce the twenty fifteen agreement japan agreed to set up a nearly nine million dollars fund to help korean women who were forced to work in japanese military brothels during world war two but survivors say they want to direct compensation promising to follow up on the issue but japan's warns that any

attempt to revise the deal would make ties unmanageable thailand's transitional period will continue in twenty eighteen with a coronation expected for the new king following the death of doing a day who reigned for seventy years and the military government says it will hold an election towards the end of the year signaling a return to democracy after a coup in twenty fourteen but as wayne hay reports from old on tie in the northeast there is concern about the type of democracy that's going to be introduced. along dusty dry season is well underway on the plains of northeast thailand by the time this crop of kosov is harvested in about a year thailand should be a democracy again most ties here back to the government ousted in the military coup three years ago including parrot borne hometown a torn a coordinator for a pro-democracy group called the red shirts she says people in the northeast doubt the military will honor its pledge to hold an election in november but.

i would say seventy percent of the people here don't believe the election will happen and thirty percent think it might happen even if the election is held the type of democracy will be different to what thais had before the coup the military and the establishment in the capital bangkok know that it's very difficult for them to win support in parts of thailand like this that's partly why they've designed a system that will result in weakened political parties after the next election. the military will hand pick senators to sit in the upper house of parliament who will also have the power to install an unelected prime minister the plans are being criticised by the major political parties i think everybody will recognize that the us fall short of the kind of standards that we would like to return to the leaders of the coup in two thousand and fourteen are also drafting a twenty year strategic plan that future governments must follow everything is is

planned on the site so in that the military military can hold on to power with the. plans and strategy that he had earlier formulated. a good time i was the party ousted from power by that coup former prime minister yingluck shinawatra who's in exile avoiding a five year jail sentence for negligence related to a failed rice subsidies scheme says her trial was politically motivated as in rural communities in the north and northeast where farm incomes are fulling her party's popularity seems to be intact but while political gatherings remain banned campaigners such as parrot porn have no choice but to get their hands dirty networking in the fields wayne hay al jazeera we don't tony thailand's exhibition in new york is showcasing work by eight artists who are former and

current and it's a guantanamo bay their paintings offer a glimpse of life inside one of the world's most secretive prisons. reports. it's an exhibit where the artists were also inmates in fact some still are all these works painted by eight inmates at guantanamo bay detention center half of them currently being held the other half subsequently released after years in detention and one day i got a call from a lawyer he said would you be interested in displaying my client had made a kuantan a bag and i said what do you mean those are from guantanamo bay and we went from there the theme of some of the paintings is dark not surprisingly for inmates who have spent years imprisoned or were interrogated some tortured sharks in an ocean is the work of some a yemeni inmate who has been held without charge for the past fifteen years he signs all of his art work with his prison number two for two piece work are fairly

skilled there is darkness but as the curator told me there is also some light i was surprised to see how calm and peaceful many of the paintings were i was expecting more more pain more anger but the detainees i interviewed told me we paint to distract ourselves from our conditions like a pair of hands clutching prison bars and flowers created by another yemeni inmate who has spent fifteen years in guantanamo some of the work sorry labrat like this would model ship made with cardboard and bottle caps. as powerful as this art is to fully understand its impact is to know where it came from guantanamo bay prison was opened in the aftermath of the september eleventh attacks to hold terror suspects at its peak it housed six hundred eighty four inmates today the prison remains open

holding forty one prisoners some without charge us president donald trump has talked about filling the empty cells again. it's only in the past few years lawyers for the detainees have been permitted to take the inmates art from the prison there have been some complaints the exhibit glorifies terrorism the pentagon is said to be considering banning artwork from public view the theme of the exhibit is ocean because many of the inmates say the ocean is a symbol of calmness freedom and escape each brushstroke a glimpse into the inmates innermost thoughts of the moment gabriel's on al-jazeera new york. still ahead on al-jazeera. it's all about the dogs in the so-called capital of the world colombia's christmas parade is next. and in sports this winning shot was made with less than

a second left in the game action from the n.b.a. coming up later.

indonesian volcano mung cinnabon has erupted spearing arash more than four kilometers into the sky it's on the western island of sumatra authorities that advising people to be alert and to stay seven kilometers away from the crater. in the northeastern u.s. state of pennsylvania it's been more than a white christmas with a record breaking five feet of snow in

a forty eight hour period the city of eateries had to declare a state of emergency residents have taken to social media to post pictures and videos of a winter wonderland of sorts doubling the phenomenon as hashtags snowmageddon on twitter and it's time for the sport here's santa thank you very much we start with football liverpool are to smash the wall the rack or paid for a defender they've agreed to sign dutch international virgin fenty from southampton for one hundred million dollars the red failed to end their attempt to sign the center back in the last transfer window with the having told southampton he wanted to leave the move smashes the previous record of seventy million dollars which meant city paid for benjamin meant in july the liverpool manager will hope the signing can resolve liverpool's defensive weaknesses while there conceded twenty three goals in twenty e.p.l. games and sit fourth in the table. those just one game in the english premier

league on wednesday a tabletop has to city beat newcastle hope one nail not only does that result take them a fifteen points clear but they're also extended their record of consecutive a.p.l. wins to eighteen games and despite it being being a festive season it hasn't stopped arsenal manager arsene wenger taking a dig at his old rival shows a marine you know the manchester united boss has complained that nobody can compete with the spending a power of the league leaders manchester city telling his also who's spent over four hundred million dollars since taking over as united boss in two thousand and sixteen to just deal with it look i've been in that position for twenty one years so i would not start to complain now i don't resign on the mideast sometimes for will reach of an i was or three teams which of an i was so. learnt to cope.

and to give was not i think. what is most important is what you deal with your own situation as well as you can and yes. man she's rich of a nice yes she's rich of enormous yes man united's reach of an os but. i don't believe we have to find a way to be successful. for time african football of the tory has announced his intention to return to international football the man city midfielder is one of the biggest stars in the history of african football he got one hundred caps for the ivory coast and in twenty fifteen he won the africa cup of nations before stepping away from the international stage last year he said a four year old concerned his decision on twitter saying. i love my country available for national team selection i want to help the next generation and

use my experience to make all ivorians proud russia's former sports minister vitaly and let's go has stepped down from his post as the head of the twenty eighteen world cup local organizing committee. has been embroiled in a scandal concerning alleged doping at the twenty fourteen sochi winter olympics and is now fighting a life ban with gerhard already stepped down from his role as head of russian football union on monday alex is sort of keen not to take charge of the world cup twenty eighteen organizing committee. over the winter olympics just weeks away ice hockey teams are still trying to figure out their role after the n.h.l. declined to release their players for the games canada is using the ninety first edition of the international ice hockey tournament expanded to help decide their

team chunk the two time defending champions opened the tournament with a victory against czech side field s k five three canada face host next well it was another drama filled night in the n.b.a. as the phoenix suns beat the memphis grizzlies with less than a second left in the game take a look at this shell martin's shot for the grizzlies a tie the game up but ninety seven with zero point six seconds left in the game but we just point four seconds to go tyson chandler made this to clinch victory for phoenix one thousand nine hundred ninety seven the final score the suns have now won four of their last six games. australia eleven has smashed a red cord to cross the line first in the sydney to hobart race one of the most grueling yacht races in the world wild oats finished in a time one day eight hours forty eight minutes and fifty seconds beating closest

challenger come on she by sixteen minutes taking almost five hours off the record time set by purging loyal last year while those however could face a protest by come on to after the pair now live voided the collision shortly after the start of the race in the sydney harbor on tuesday officials could give while those a penalty that could prevent them from clinching their ninth high tall rule is to come in and do it right to be born the whole rosewood fingerboard commercial is going to look very interesting that is the period the really you know the whole thing will rise a lot of. the most powerful work or country role that is paul for we'll have more later on. dunces in colombia's third largest city cali have celebrated christmas with their annual salt support raid said to represent the spirit of the city and residents have come together to dance through the night alessandra romp yeti

reports on the rhythm in colombia's salsa capital. it might have been born in new york to be a cuban where. america's most famous rhythm is truly at home in colombia third city the self-titled capital where the dance is celebrated with a huge hurry then christmas day. this time under a heavy rain. 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 then there's parade through this. unique acrobatic style my feet move an extreme pace to the frantic beat as dancers skip and turn. kelly both over one hundred schools attracting an increasing number of foreign aficionado's so get

a good look at what makes kelly 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 well being all our free time all our effort is for to dance. on this part of the kali fair for stevie celebrating its sixtieth anniversary it's the one time of the year when all is deeply divided between rich and poor. yet. never lets out.

frankly. the world south second capital might sound like a bold claim but seeing a news events you can't help but think it through i descended on the. show kerry is going to be here in a couple of minutes with all the latest news on robot the same place for being with me live from. atlanta.

unbelievably it sounds like an agreement between criminal bosses just like trading in stolen goods that have been taken by the place if anyone ever comes to ask the question then sort of throw their hands up in the air and say i don't know i was just nominee director we're doing a investigation into. ukraine could you say bribes you've been corrupt i'll be corrupt i did just what the president say al-jazeera investigation the only god coming the soon. an underground fire has been burning for over a century beneath india's largest cofield. now open coast mining has put the flames to the surface with devastating consequences for the local population. as communities are destroyed and thousand suffer from toxic fumes what lies behind this human and environmental disaster. people in power the burning city at this

time on al-jazeera we headed to jerusalem bureau covered israeli palestinian affairs we cover this story with a lot of intimate moment to recover includes that we don't dip in and out of the stories we have presence here all the time apart from being a cameraman it's also very important to be a journalist to know the story very well before going into the fields covering the united nations and global the onus for al-jazeera english is pretty incredible this is where talks happen and what happens there matters. united nations reveals in a new report that many children are the victims and clear.