president trump has repeated his threat to shut the us border with mexico, unless congress agrees to fund his controversial plan to build a wall between the two countries. the dispute, prompted by illegal immigration, has caused the partial shutdown of the us government. a tourist bus in egypt has been hit by a roadside bomb near the giza pyramids, killing three vietnamese tourists and a local guide. the authorities say 12 other people were injured, two of them are in a critical condition. the british home secretary has declared a "major incident", after a surge in the number of migrants trying to cross the english channel in small boats. 75 people have reached the uk in the past three days and at least now on bbc news, some of the world's most important news stories in 2018 have been brought to us by freelance journalists, often working in difficult and dangerous places.

the rory peck awards recognised their work, and our presenter yalda hakim found out more about this year's nominees. you may find some of the scenes in the firing line upsetting. the white races under a full assault. some of the most powerful images of this year. often filmed in difficult and dangerous places. but who are the people who bring us these pictures? why do they do it? how do they do it? and what impact does it have on one person? each

year, we stepped behind the camera and speak to the men and women who bring some of the most important stories of our time, often under extremely difficult circumstances and under great personal strain. these freelance video journalist honoured by the rory peck awards, named after british freelancer who was killed in moscow covering the october coup in 1993. his memory lives on to the rory peck trust, which now works to support freelance journalists and their families worldwide. this year, the films chosen by thejudges worldwide. this year, the films chosen by the judges reflect the troubled world we live in, racism, warand troubled world we live in, racism, war and the refugee crisis which made headlines in 2018 all part of the final entries. first up, the rory peck awards the news, the films that capture the immediacy of a story. since last year, hundreds of

thousands of rohingya muslims have poured into bangladesh, fleeing persecution and violence in the northern iraq rhine province of myanmar. this has become one of the world's worst refugee crises. freelancer al—emrun garjon from bangladesh has been covering the plight of the rohingya for many yea rs. plight of the rohingya for many years. as a journalist, plight of the rohingya for many years. as ajournalist, it plight of the rohingya for many years. as a journalist, it is our duty to keep clear i on the emergencies taking place around us. i understood the problem and emphasise with the suffering. —— and understand the problem. ifelt emphasise with the suffering. —— and understand the problem. i felt the only way i could help was to capture what i knew and so on broadcast to the world. al—emrun garjon‘s footage ca ptu red the world. al—emrun garjon‘s footage captured the displaced men, women and children risking their lives crossing the sea and muddy rivers to safety. exhausted and uncertain of

what lay ahead, they carried whatever they could on their backs, but some did not make it. this woman said the monks killed her husband, and the younger son went missing as they cross the border. al—emrun gadon they cross the border. al—emrun garjon found it difficult not to get emotional while filming these harrowing scenes. i have seen many debts, blood and fire in the line of duty, but i really have not witnessed anything on this scale before. i was struggling to hold back my tears and hold my camera still. the only thing that kept my focus was that i can only help these people if i can film. the judges saidi people if i can film. the judges said i think you know everything about a story, you know about what caused the rohingya exodus but what is striking about al—emrun garjon‘s piece was the individual moments, the attention to detail is

incredible. rohingya people are still in crisis, it is not over yet. on the beginning, they demanded citizenship, security. ithink on the beginning, they demanded citizenship, security. i think the world needs to act. syrian freelancer humam husari lived under the siege in ghouta for five yea rs, under the siege in ghouta for five years, documenting the tragic toll on the ordinary citizens caught between the rebels and the government forces. during the height of the conflict, humam husari film the video diary of the conditions inside an underground shelter. there is nearby shelling, this is why we had to go underground in the tunnel. i witnessed so many tragic stories

of people trapped in the random bombardment and siege. i actually lived in fear with them under shelling and i start with them. —— starved. humam husari's footage shows the plight of the families, often to the stories of the children. one of the most heartbreaking stories was that of three—month—old karim. most heartbreaking stories was that of three-month-old karim. karim's mother was in the local market, trying to get food for children. karim was with her in her arms when an airstrike karim was with her in her arms when an air strike targeted people there. humam husari was badly injured and his mother was killed. i was in the field hospital, when i met with the dot retreated karim's injury. the doctor was crying out of sympathy. thejudges said despite

doctor was crying out of sympathy. the judges said despite the chaos around him, humam husari managed to find characters around him that he revisited in later places. that is difficult to do, especially in these places. in doing so, put a human face to the conflict. i will always remember the people i lived with ghouta. i feel that i remember the people i lived with ghouta. ifeel that i have remember the people i lived with ghouta. i feel that i have an obligation to give back to them in the future and see how life treats them, how will they continue their lives with all the tragedies they have been to? —— through? injuly 2017, a spanish ngo whose main mission is to rescue refugees in the mediterranean sea faced the most dramatic and complicated rescue operation they had ever been involved in. winner of the news

award, mikel konate, was with the rescu e rs award, mikel konate, was with the rescuers in but says 15 miles north of the libyan city. they received a call that there was a vessel in need of help, with over 160 mike in africa on board. mikel konate in the rescu e rs we re africa on board. mikel konate in the rescuers were confronted with a desperate scene. one of the things that shocked me the most was the conditions of the women. when we started to take them from the boat, most of them, they were naked or nearly naked. they have clear evidence of violence, some of them, they were raped in libya and some of them were in shock. i will never forget the faces of these women's. as space cleared, it became evident that the floor was covered with bodies. five men and eight women, two of them pregnant. when the rescu e rs two of them pregnant. when the rescuers started to take the

survivors of the raft, and the bodies started to appear, then we realised that the situation was worse than we could imagine. people we re worse than we could imagine. people were stepping on the bodies to reach oui’ were stepping on the bodies to reach our boat. one of these bodies was a man with four kids, that we rescued just before. four kids from nigeria. overall, the rescue took nine hours to co m plete overall, the rescue took nine hours to complete and despite this harrowing experience, mikel konate knew he had to keep filming. harrowing experience, mikel konate knew he had to keep filminglj harrowing experience, mikel konate knew he had to keep filming. i also think myjob will remain, forfuture generations, so they will look back and see what we allowed to happen in the central mediterranean. the judges thought this entry really stood out, as mikel konate's footage

was never mechanical. this is one snapshot in time, it revealed so much more about the migrants crisis in the mediterranean. can i was told injust ten minute. next, the award for news features, for films that look beyond the immediacy of the news. in august 2017, hundreds of far right protestors descended on charlottesville, virginia to voice their anger against the removal of their anger against the removal of the statue of a pro— slavery civil war leader. described as one of the largest whites premise is the events in recent us history, hundreds of counter demonstrators were out in force to face them. orlando de guzman teamed up with fellow freelance cameraman zach caldwell to

cover the story. shot over 72 hour period, theirfootage cover the story. shot over 72 hour period, their footage captured the escalating violence. i really wanted the audience to feel what it was like to stare at haight in the face, to have a completely unflinching look at what it is like to feel this unleashed hatred, that has been stirred up by our very own president. as the violent clashes spiralled out of control, a car driven by one of the neo—nazis ploughed into the crowds, killing one person and injuring several others. we told city council we do not want them here! they are not going to come! we told the police we do not want them here! they let them come! thejudges do not want them here! they let them come! the judges thought this was top tierjournalism, carrying a story of great magnitude and for orlando himself, his coverage of the

events throughout the weekend has had a deeply disturbing effect. the other weekend, i was watching spike lee's film black kkklansman. what i did not realise is that the film ends with my footage looking at the violent in charlottesville, ending with footage from the civil rights movement to last year, and watching my footage at the end of that film, it felt like somebody had blown be right into my chest. ifelt despondent, by this problem here in the united states, which i do not think we really know how to get rid of. javier manzano's film catches the

last days of the fight against islamic state in iraq. javier manzano and reporter ben anderson we re manzano and reporter ben anderson were embedded with several units of the iraqi military in their efforts to root out is from the northern city of mosul. thousands of civilians were still trapped in the city under siege. traumatised by their ordeal, they ran towards the government positions scattered around the city. women and children screaming and begging for a way out of their desperate situation. despite the huge risks, javier manzano captured it all. chaos as the civilians fled their homes and the civilians fled their homes and the confusion of the soldiers locked in close combat. filmed under co nsta nt in close combat. filmed under constant fire and in intense heat, javier and his team followed what

was happening around them, revealing the true turmoil of war. forjavier, what stood out most in covering this conflict was the level of violence inflicted on the civilians by the islamic state fighters. they would be among the civilians, or again civilians trying to flee the city, typically banned for their lives on to some extent sniper fire. it was very, very brittle to witness somebody do that to allegedly their own muslim brothers and sisters. the judges thought even though this was front—line filming, javier still managed to show some of the real human moments. let's not forget that civilians were under siege

by the islamic state militants, and at the same time starving, suffering from malnutrition, thirst, no access to medicine for over a year and a half. we as journalists always had a ticket out, we could leave whenever we wanted, they did not have that luxury, so that is who we should remember at the end of the day. the long—standing civil war in the nuba mountains of sudan has claimed many lives. here journalists are regularly imprisoned for reporting the violence and human rights abuses.

news of the atrocities in the nuba mountains rarely reach sudan's capital khartoum. winner of the news features award, roopa gogineni's unique film takes a very different approach to telling the story of war and human suffering. rather than using footage of violence and bloodshed, roopa used humour to sell this important story. she met the team behind bisha tv, a satirical puppet show. the writers, a mix ofjournalists and members of a drama group use comedy to expose and mock the authoritarian rule of the sudanese president omar al—bashir and his government. i am always drawn to humour, i think it is a really good way to create empathy, especially in places where you are used to seeing a lot of imagery of violence and war, and it can be really hard to relate to people in places like that. so i wanted to use the comedy that the bisha show was so good at creating to draw audiences who were not familiar with the conflict into this place. roopa filmed the puppet show under

the threat of daily aerial bombardments, but this did not deter her. i was taking cues from people around me who were really experienced in dealing with the aerial i was taking cues from people around me who were really experienced in dealing with the aerial bombardments, they knew how to protect themselves, they seemed very confident and calm despite the fact that there were bombs dropping. people have learned to cope. they have coffee and then they run into a foxhole and then they continue having coffee. it is just sort of constant weird interruption.

thejudges were particularly impressed with this entry, as it showed true originality through the use of grassroots media. and finally, the sony impact award for current affairs, for longform films that examine a single issue. during the war in yemen, the youngest and most vulnerable have been paying a terrible price. besides food and medical shortages, a deadly cholera outbreak has taken its toll. the un says this is the world's largest humanitarian crisis with 7 million people facing famine and disease. mohammed al—mekhlafi's film documents the catastrope unfolding in his own country. while the scale of this tragedy has

been reported by media across the world, mohammed and reporter nawal al maghafi remain one of the very few teams to have reported from both rebel—held north and the government—held south. muhamed filmed inside the al thawra general hospital where he witnessed heartbreaking scenes of severely ill and dying children. one of them was three—year—old alaa. the judges said the pictures that mohammed filmed "..were so powerful. "it's a story of urgency that people need to know about." rampant inflation has brought venezuelans to seek desperate measures. the country is on the brink of collapse. the economic crisis has caused severe food

shortages across the country. rather than reporting on the widely documented caracas and the colombian—venezuelan border, alexander houghton‘s film covers the smuggling trade. there were so many areas in venezuela that there was a complete blackout, so one particular spot was the gulf of paria, which is only a six boatjourney away from trinidad & tobago. local papers in trinidad & tobago spoke of piracy, spoke of a fleet of fishermen seeking to buy basic food staples. but no—one was really reporting on what was really going on on the venezuelan side, so that is what we wanted to do. through a local fixer, alexander and his team metjhan, a fisherman desperate for food and medical supplies for his daughter and diabetic father. the family had expected the government to help, but nothing had arrived for months.

despite the dangers, jhan decided to join the smuggling trade. just beforejhan could board the boat, he had to abandon the trip in fear of the local mafia working with the national guard. alexander and his team were first pull out of the town, fearing arrest by the intelligence services who have a history of detaining journalists for covering stories which the government deem "counter—revolutionary. " alexander hopes that his film has highlighted the plight of the poor and forgotten venezuela ns. i was trying to show how in the face of such misery, there is still so much resilience. so i hope those who view the documentary, people particularly in trinidad & tobago who are seeing these

fishermen coming over to trinidad, begin to feel for these people and notjust see them as refugees, as bandits, but see them as real people who are trying to provide the most basic food items for their families. the judges praised alexander's camera work and thought this was a "unique choice of story." in ourfinalfilm, and the winner in the current affairs category, deeyah khan comes face—to—face with some of america's most influential neo—nazi leaders. freelancers deeyah and her colleague darin prindle spent several days with activists including jeff schoep, leader of america's largest neo—nazi organisation. we feel that the white race in general, western

civilisation in general is under a full assault. i know what neo—nazis think and how they view somebody like me, but i wanted to understand why they believe the things that they believe, and if it was possible for me to find their humanity, and if it would be possible to them to recognise my humanity. the 14 words is "we must secure the existence of our race and a future for white children..." deeyah: and 88? hh. which stands for? heil hitler. this is our pr director, brian culpepper. good to meet you, i'm deeyah.. ma'am. having spent several days with brian culpepper, another member of the national socialist movement, deeyah questioned him about his extreme views. what i would be doing, deeyah, is ensuring the preservation

of our race, my race and my nation. if that is what it comes down to, and that is the only way forward, i would have to make sure sure that everyone who was ordered to do so would have to leave. including me. including you. i do not want to walk in all judgemental and self—righteous, and just have it out and shout at them, and then pat myself on the back feeling as if "yeah, i really challenged them." i want to have a real conversation, i wanted to listen and i wanted to see if i could get them to a place where they might be able to listen. the judges praised deeyah's unbreakable personality and her extraordinary interview technique in what must have been emotionally very difficult circumstances. they felt although the topic had been covered extensively, deeyah got under the skin of every one of the characters in a way that no—one has done before.

wow. hello, brian? two months after the interview with deeyah, brian culpepper resigned from the national socialist movement. now that you have left, do you think you would give me a different answer to that question? so today, brian culpepper would not deport me? and why not? that's it for this year's edition of the firing line, a year in which the rise of racism around the world, civil war and the human cost of the refugee crisis all featured in the winning entries of the 2018 rory peck awards. hello there.

hello, here comes your forecast for the rest of this year. for many of us not too much will change over the next few days. a lot of dry weather around, mild weather, too. for the north of the uk, particularly scotland, there will be some wind and rain at times. certainly not all the time. saturday morning starts off with rain across northern areas. much of that moves away, patchy rain for the south as well. generally speaking, there will be cloud around through the day. a windy start. winds easing through the afternoon, as things brighten up from the north. it is cool as the day wears on across northern areas, it stays mild in the south. through saturday night, more cloud and patchy rain from the west, affecting the northern half of the uk, particularly scotland,

but northern ireland and northern england as well. it will be misty, murky, and milder towards the south—west. into sunday, really cloudy. similar story for new year's eve. welcome to bbc news — broadcasting to viewers in north america and around the world. i'm lewis vaughan jones. our top stories: president trump threatens to close the us—mexico border, unless congress agrees to fund his wall. a roadside bomb has killed four people and injured 12 others on a tourist bus near the giza pyramids in egypt. the rising number of migrants trying to cross the english channel is declared a major incident by the british home secretary. satellite images reveal anak krakatau has lost over two thirds of its height and volume since it exploded last week, killing more than 400 people. and monty python's michael palin and model twiggy are among the stars recognised in the new year's honours list.