the move is in line with a un—backed ceasefire aimed at delivering urgently needed food aid. the houthis control most districts of the city, through which the majority of aid enters yemen. on the eve of the presidential election in the democratic republic of congo, opposition candidates have refused to sign an agreement aimed at preventing violence. they say officials failed to make changes in the text that they'd requested. tensions have increased after the electoral commission postponed polls in several regions. the uk government has insisted it's working "very effectively" with france, to tackle an increase in the number of migrants crossing the channel in small boats. more than 200 people have arrived since the start of november. local politicians have called for more coast guard boat patrols. 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 is 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 step behind the camera and speak to the men and women who bring us some of the most important stories of our time, often under extremely difficult circumstances and under great personal strain. these freelance video journalists are honoured by the rory peck awards,

named after a british freelancer who was killed in moscow covering the october coup in 1993. his memory lives on through the rory peck trust, which now works to support freelance journalists and their families worldwide. this year, the films chosen by the judges reflect the 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 award for 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 rakhine 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 years. as a journalist, it is our duty

to keep clear on the emergencies taking place around us, to understand the problem, and emphasise with the suffering. i felt the only way i could help was to capture what i knew and so to broadcast to the world. 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 didn't make it. this woman said the monks killed her husband, and her younger

son went missing as they crossed the border. 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 said "you think you know everything about a story, you know about what caused the rohingya exodus, but what is striking about garjon‘s piece was the individual moments, the attention to detail is incredible." rohingyas are still in crisis, it is not over yet. from 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

years, documenting the tragic toll on the ordinary citizens caught between the rebels and the government forces. during the height of the conflict, husari filmed a video diary of the conditions inside an underground shelter. there was 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 starved with them. husari's footage shows the plight of the families, often through the stories

of the children. one of the most heartbreaking stories was that of three—month—old karim. karim's mother was in the local market, trying to get food for her children. karim was with her in her arms when an air strike targeted people there. karim was badly injured and his mother was killed. i was in the field hospital, when i met with the doctor who treated karim's injury. the doctor was crying out of sympathy. the judges said despite the chaos around him, 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, he put a human face to the conflict. i will always remember the people i lived with in 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 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 rescuers, 15 miles north of the libyan city. they received a call that there was a vessel in need of help, with over 160 africans on board.

konate and 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 had 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. as space cleared, it became evident that the floor was covered with bodies. five men and eight women, two of them pregnant. when the rescuers started to take the survivors off the raft, and the bodies started to appear, then we realised that the situation

was worse than we could imagine. people were stepping on the bodies to reach our boat. one of these bodies was a man with four kids, that we rescued just before. it was destiny. four kids from nigeria. overall, the rescue took nine hours to complete, and despite this harrowing experience, 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 konate‘s footage was never mechanical. this is one snapshot in time, yet it revealed so much more about the migrant crisis

in the mediterranean, and it was told in just ten minutes. next, the rory peck 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 the statue of a pro—slavery civil war leader. described as one of the largest white supremacist events in recent us history, hundreds of counter demonstrators were out in force to face them. orlando guzman teamed up with fellow freelance cameraman,

zach caldwell, to cover this story. shot over a 72 hour period, their footage captured the escalating violence. i really wanted the audience to feel what it was like to stare at hate 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 don't want them here, they aren't going to come! we told the police we don't 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 didn't realise is that the film ends with my footage looking at the violence in charlottesville, 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 thrown a spear right into my chest. i felt despondent by this problem here in the united states, which i don't 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 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 captured it all. the chaos as the civilians fled their homes and the confusion of the soldiers locked 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 running for their lives from, to some extent, sniper fire. it was very, very brutal 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 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. the judges 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." 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 venezuela ns 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 boat journey away from trinidad & tobago. local news in trinidad & tobago 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. —— 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. goodbye.

hello. we've had some fairly quiet weather over recent days with high—pressure mostly in charge. we have high—pressure keating that cloudy conditions. we start sunday with the rain across parts of northern and eastern scotland, eastern england, too. it should clear away, lingering longest for the northern ireland. —— northern isles. the kruyswijk the can offer some spots of drizzly rain for northern ireland and parts of western scotland. heading overnight,

sunday night into monday. monday new year's eve. it is looking largely frost free with all the cloud around and are mostly dry day once again on the day. if you have plans for new year's eve. the day. if you have plans for new yea r‘s eve. light the day. if you have plans for new year's eve. light winds, added a frame for the north—west of scotland which could edge further into the south of the evening hours. of the sunshine in the east with highs around ten or 11 degrees. welcome to bbc news, broadcasting to viewers in north america and around the globe. my name is duncan golestani. our top stories: houthi rebels in yemen say they're beginning to pull back from a key port — as part of a un—backed ceasefire deal aimed at delivering vitalfood aid. on the eve of a critical presidential election in the democratic republic of congo — candidates fail to agree over how to avoid violence on polling day. with more than 200 people arriving in the past two months — the uk government defends it's handling of the increase in migrants crossing the channel.