this is you know we news live from berlin russian president vladimir putin has been formally nominated for a fourth term all this comes one day after opposition leader alexina volleyed was barred from next year's election he's calling on supporters to boycott the poll

also coming up. liberia prepares for its first democratic transition of power in more than seven decades a presidential runoff it's a former soccer star against the country's vice president and. clashes erupt in fruits capital after x. present alberto fujimori has been pardoned for medical reasons the move causing an uproar protesters accuse peruse the current president of political opportunism issuing the party to save his own career. welcome supporters of russian president vladimir putin have officially officially nominated him as a candidate in next year's election at least five hundred citizens have to back a presidential candidates and with their support putin can now summon documents to

take part in the march election he's running as an independent candidates and none for his united russia party. the nomination comes a day after russia's election commission rejected a bid by opposition leader alexina vali to take part in the presidential race. all right so we can now go to moscow to do sure when who is monitoring developments there why is putin running as an independent candidate. well putin announced the decision to run as an independent candidate in december at his yearly press conference and he gave no official reason now there could be several reasons one could be to do with the polls if you look at polling when it comes to trust a much more people many more people trust putin then they trust the government for example the ratings of putin are much higher than of the prime minister need to you

need to be a diff who is the head of the government so putin may be trying to distance himself from the government and also from his united russia party this candidacy leaves him kind of floating above the party structure and it could also be a way of trying to keep public interest in these elections after all putin is running for a fourth term he's very likely to win according to polls and it's important for the kremlin to have turnout be high in fact there were media reports on the weekend that they wanted to turn out to be as high as seventy percent that's their goal apparently and that's of course important to show that these elections after for putin to or after three put in terms are legitimate still and they're trying to keep public interest perhaps by presenting putin as this independent new candidate or let's talk about putin's most outspoken critic alexina volley he won't be allowed to run against him let's watch of all these reaction to being barred. the

election commission's vote was a setback for no vaal me twelve of the thirteen members supported the motion to bar him from running in next year's election with one member abstaining earlier the commission argued the opposition leader was in eligible due to a past conviction for embezzlement. or used. in a crime which alexei on the totally of it was charged with is a serious one which deprives a person who committed that crime of the right to run for the post of russian federation president. of the us. no valving can sense the charge was trumped up to thwart his political ambitions speaking before the vote the kremlin critic said a candidate was needed to confront the country's problems. it's not about an avanti but a candidate is needed who will finally speak openly about everything taking place

in our country now one who will describe our reality honestly the lack of any future prospects and the poverty i did that and that's why you want to allow me to take part in the election. that me and i will better just moments after the commission's decision to reject his bid volumnia released a prerecorded message calling on supporters to boycott next year's vote. we announce a boycott of the election but the way they want to carry out the vote is not a real election it will feature only putin and the candidates he has personally selected the ones who don't pose any threat to him if they haven't campaigned and they will not campaign but it's mccomb point of. president vladimir putin is campaigning as an independent polls show him on course to win a fourth term. allowing him to stay in office another six years.

emily so no volley is out is there any other credible contender who can challenge the incumbent that's the question well there are two people worth mentioning two people potentially worth watching but the keyword here is credible i think. there is first of all senior sub shock a well known public figure and journalist she has had her presidential bid accepted by the election commission today and she's a fierce critic of putin. and she has said that not only could join her campaign if he so wished so far that seems unlikely he's been rather scathing about her in the past and the question here is a lot of people have been saying that she is as a candidate actually a kremlin plot to make these elections look more legitimate a real opposition figure but potentially just an instrument of the of the kremlin that's the accusation and the other candidate who is interesting at the moment is

that is largely unknown the communist party put him forward also as an independent group d.m. and the communist party often does well in in elections so we'll have to wait and see but so far opposition candidates have always polled in the low single digits or are polling in the low single digits and we sure are reporting from moscow thank you. well meanwhile the upper chamber of russia's parliament has ratified a deal to extend the lease of a syrian naval port by forty five forty nine years excuse me the vote means moscow can now access syrian waters from the port of tartus the development as part of a deal between russia and syria that allows russia to boost its military presence in the war torn country as part of the deal russia will also be allowed to maintain a permanent indefinite presence at the who may remember air base.

now i want to tell you about some of the other stories making news around the world . syrian rebel groups have rejected russian sponsored peace talks planned for january say moscow is trying to bypass the u.n. sponsored peace process the rebels have also accused russia of committing war crimes in syria and failing to put pressure on the syrian government. memorials are being held across thailand to mark the anniversary of the two thousand and four indian ocean tsunami which left well over two hundred thousand people dead and in the show it was the country hit hardest by the natural disaster considered one of the worst in modern history. china has sentenced a prominent rights activist to eight years in prison for subversion who gang is a blogger better known by his online pseudonym a super vulgar butcher and has drawn attention from mocking china's government his lawyer says he will appeal the sentence. the west african nation of liberia is

picking its new president in which could be the first democratic transfer of power in over seven decades voters are choosing between senator george weah a former world footballer of the year and incumbent vice president joseph a book a the winner will succeed president ellen johnson sirleaf who won the nobel prize as africa's first elected female leader for helping secure peace after liberia's back to backs of the wars. and a short while ago i spoke to evelyn today in the liberian capital monrovia and began by asking her to tell us what was at stake and i want to apologize for the picture quality. well. this election is a very critical election like beauty we know is one of the progress countries seem to worry the country has suffered from anything but at the make it is the youngest

one of the youngest democracy and for the fights time power will be transferred to elect leader a democratically elected in some more than seventy years justify stymie many years liberia is going to see such a transition. after the president so you can ministration. evelyn who are the two me or. evelyn who are the two main candidates and what do they represent. well the two candidates are. going to react a wobble this player and to come into vice president joseph white current who has served presidents i mean you strengthen the uniter bazzi what twelve years those are the two people in the election but the issue is emerging from these elections

since the start of campaign i know most people calling for change that they cannot give another twelve year to the unity party where they are all the people on the other side would you will believe that is the time for a younger generation but the i commend the younger generation was represented by the foreign football judge that he does not have the kind of experience so. after twelve years of progress by presidents does not smoke as to each is coming up but this cycle of on of election it seems very critical don't we have a very low turnout for to us funded morning up to now. evan podiatry reporting from monrovia thank you. and we turn now to peru where the country's former president to alberto fujimori has asked peruvians for forgiveness after receiving a christmas eve pardon from current president pablo because inskeep although the

pardon was based on medical grounds it has sparked two days of clashes in the country who was convicted of human rights abuses and has so far served less than half of a twenty five year sentence the pardon is the latest in peru is continuing political crisis. protesters and police cash on the streets of lima the anger over exley dad better to pardon isn't going away. some demonstrators carry photos of victims slain jaring for him henri's presidency. during a decade in power for him henri oversaw extrajudicial executions massacres and the forced sterilization of thousands of women. families of the victims are furious with current president pedro pablo could since the two ordering food he mores release. was coming at a stanley's the rights to justice that we have are being trampled we are here

rejecting that pardon and demanding that all the processes be made more transparent in a manner that must be followed and according to the norms that peruvian laws dictate what the. president pedro pablo christian ski appealed to the people calling the pardon the most difficult decision of his life. i am convinced that those of us who consider ourselves democrats cannot allow alberto fujimori to die in prison or justice is not vengeance. nor is bringing guns. which in ski had campaigned on a promise not to pardon for him henri his change of heart appears to many to be political possibly part of a quid pro quo that's allowed him to stay in office who had just survived a no confidence vote spearheaded by the daughter of our better tofu he mori when he announced to him henri's pardon. fouhy mori now aged seventy nine is in

hospital being treated for heart back and stomach problems his children are delighted by the turn of events. despite being intensive care it has been the happiest christmas of the past twelve years. it was a i know. you have mores legacy and career is a mation divided his supporters credit him with defeating rebels and stabilizing the economy his opponents say he belongs behind bars and now they're demanding that the current president go as well. it's been a dramatic opening to the sydney hobart yacht race one of sailings most grueling competitions blackjack is leading the pack but early on it was a near collision between two of the favorites that stole the headlines command she wasn't too pleased with some erratic maneuvering from wild oats eleven the two yachts almost bumped into each other out other just after leaving sydney harbor

comanche subsequently launched an official protest phase a wins could resume the race record of one day and thirteen hours are focused this year long. and before i let you go and remind you of our main headline right now. a russian opposition leader alexina vollies bid to get his name on the presidential ballot has been rejected meanwhile president putin's supporters have nominated him for a fourth term. but as a first something about iraq and plan on behalf of the entire new steam thank you for spending this part of your day with us today the news continues at the top of the hour. from an isolated country images from the fourth korea. any tell you photographer captured fascinating shots of everyday life regimented society.

a north korean diary starting to see.