any hour with special need to make the refugee journeys like germany and the prospects for those returning. join the discussion on g.w. dot com and on facebook. specs for return issues w. made. and. this is due to the news live from in a major prisoner exchange between ukrainian forces and separatist rebels but as the two sides prepare the swap there's no end in sight to the country's simmering conflict could the move heralds

a rest bite for the war weary people of eastern ukraine but also on the program a nomination ceremony in moscow plays the part for russian president vladimir putin to run as an independent candidate in next year's presidential election the move coming a day off to putin's main challenger i like saying i've only was barred from standing against him. and votes being counted off to liberia's presidential runoff as the country prepares for its first peaceful transition of power in over seventy is the poll gave liberians a choice between a former soccer star in the country's current vice president. hello and welcome my name is christopher spring and good to have you with us it's a rare moment of deescalation in the bitter conflict between ukrainian government forces and pro russian rebels in the. of the country the two sides agreeing to

exchange a significant number of presidents later today the move comes after talks in moscow mediated by the head of the russian orthodox church gives a representative at those talks as ukraine will be releasing three hundred six prisoners and expects the separatists to release seventy four of its captives in return. but for ordinary people on either side of the front line the conflict is still demanding great sacrifices what began as a russian backed separatist insurgency back in twenty fourteen has since claimed over ten thousand lives the pros in fighting gives these people in the donetsk time to repair their homes as best they can without enough glass available people are living with plastic sheets whether windows used to be their homes a freezing cold. one of the there was a ceasefire at the beginning of the school year and another one now but we still

get shells coming over it's happened seven times in our neighborhood. the winter weather has exacerbated an already die a situation waterpipe to frozen and there is no heating local residents have come up with stopgap solutions for the cold nights the cool i fill plastic bottles with hot water and they keep us warm in bed i still can't get over the shock that there is fighting going on here where i live. shells aren't the only danger hundreds of people have been killed or injured by landmines including dozens of children parties to the conflict on both sides have deployed mine clearance squads but even as they carry out that work more mines are planted als where. four hundred thousand violations of cease fire agreements have been reported as the year goes to a close there's little hope that peace will return to eastern ukraine anytime soon . russian president vladimir putin is eyeing another six year term in office after

winning formal endorsement yesterday to run in next year's presidential election almost six hundred supporters including prominent. has gathered in moscow to declare that backing for his fourth in has decided to run as an independent in a bid to make the most of his personal popularity among russians these young russians came to see the kremlin new year's tree but were treated to a surprise appearance by vladimir putin. one of the children had the courage to ask the president how he feels about the opposition. i got that. positively. but i will have died. the opposition has little chance of victory after the country's election commission barred alexina volley from taking part in the vote. the opposition leader is considered the biggest potential threat to putin and he has called for

a boycott of the election. but there's still plenty of support for putin more than six hundred prominent russians including lawmakers actors and athletes gathered in moscow to officially endorse him as their candidate. but he is. our country has changed from a devastating one without future prospects to a powerful country. or putin is the only leader who said our health care isn't good and under him maternity clinics and cardiological and other medical centers where both. you live it is good you see how the army has grown and grown stronger it now has powerful new weapons at its disposal and the person now are doing well with its. now putin can submit his documents to the election commission after his bid is approved you also need to gather three hundred thousand

signatures to take part in the race. with polls showing more than an eighty percent approval rating putin is expected to cruise to victory in the march eighteenth vote. staying in russia or international organizations operating in the country have had to become more cautious in recent years as legislation that governs the right to two thousand and twenty twelve law requires n.g.o.s and political foundations that receive foreign funding to register as so-called foreign agents and since twenty fifteen russian prosecutors can declare foreign organizations undesirable forcing them to shut down a case in point is germany's free drink foundation which has become embroiled in a scandal it has nothing to do with. the news it started as a simple school history project and turned into a scandal last month. was one of a group of russian and german teenagers to give speeches before germany's

parliament about the fate of world war two soldiers spoke about a visit to a german war cemetery. that issues which had upset me a lot because i saw the graves of innocent people many of them wanted to live peacefully and didn't want to go to war. his speech ended with a message of peace but in russia where the victory in world war two is a huge source of pride many accuse the sixteen year old of belittling nazi crimes now the scandal could have a knock on effect for the german people about foundation. wants the general prosecutor's office to label the organization undesirable in russia he cites media reports that it funded the boy's trip. of course we can see that the money is being put into brainwashing russian schoolchildren and that money is being invested with the goal of fighting the russian motherland and its ideology which is essentially in extremism so we asked for this situation to be investigated at. the foundation

rejected the duma politicians accusations in a statement to the w. the freedom foundation was in no way involved in the speech. to the german bundestag either in financing it nor organizing it nor providing logistical support we are closely monitoring reports about the event and currently assume there has been a mix up of names for russia analyst who used to head another german political foundation in moscow this is all part of a recurring anti western narrative in russia. the general atmosphere is what putin has outlined again and again. the west is hostile towards us and we have to defend ourselves. russia was supposedly humiliated by the west in the one nine hundred ninety s. and now it needs to get back on its feet and reclaim its inherent and rightful place on the world stage. david. russia's general

prosecutor's office must decide this week whether to investigate the german foundation. time now for some of the other stories making news around the world the red cross in syria says the evacuations have begun of critically ill patients from the rebel held on close of eastern damascus forces loyal to the government of president bashar al assad the sieging almost four hundred thousand people in that on klav the u.n. had called on the government to allow the evacuation of five hundred patients who urgently need medical care. a quarter in myanmar has remount reminded rather to reuters journalists in custody for a second fourteen day period or thorough g.'s on probing allegations that the two breached the country's official secrets act the journalists were reporting on the crisis right kind of state where a military crackdown saw over six hundred thousand range of muslims having to flee myanmar. in libya militants have blown up

a pipeline pumping crude oil to the porch of a sea day the explosion occurred near the town of libya's oil output has been cut by one hundred thousand barrels per day leading to oil prices surging to two and a half year highs the country's state run national oil corporation is blaming so-called islamic state now vote counting is underway in the west african nation of liberia offer a presidential runoff yesterday there were no reports of violence during the polling results are expected within the next few days liberians hope the election will mark the country's first peaceful transfer of power over seventy years. the election has gone off smoothly with only minor irregularities. former nigerian president goodluck jonathan who was there to observe the vote count called on the candidates to respect the result and the will of the people. so as it was without

this is. because all of this is so so. so the issue is no we know that if you win you celebrate this a bit and was sure that it was you go to the president of everybody if you lose yourself except the left. it's a runoff vote between former international footballer george weah and vice president joseph bach both of whom join voters in casting their ballots. that are good beer because it's a test of democracy that we were anyone that would want your work and i will reduce a tool. we have got critical process there's a process that we're through we're willing to live with. born in a slum in the capital monrovia george weah star performances for europe's biggest football teams in the ninety's won the hearts of young liberians this is his second run for president. to do this. they said

i'm going to wind. up back at our window georgia. outgoing president ellen johnson sirleaf several cemented peace in the west african country after civil war ended in two thousand and three but the majority of liberians still live in dire poverty whoever wins this election will face that challenge and will have to prove that he can govern in a way that will benefit the country and its citizens. as the year twenty seventeen draws to a close we've been looking at some of the technological trends that defined the last twelve months and one of those has been artificial intelligence progress in that field bringing us closer to the dream of ultra sophisticated robots who serve us who work for us and even think for us some robots may even replace our pets. these robot soccer players during world for rookies but maybe they'll improve through learning. miro the robot dog can already do that he can learn the floor

plan of an apartment and fetch help if necessary he also makes cute little noises and likes to have his back scratched but without the inconvenience of walkies and feeding times at cbot twenty seventeen pepper got a lot of attention with his coffee service he serves a hot drink of choice without bothering the client with small talk. you go get it and you get back it's a plus and he talks to people it's. like a bill is you from. the scope of jobs that robots are able to do is growing rapidly and pretty soon farmers won't need farm hands anymore to feed their animals tennis clubs won't need ball boys and pizza delivery will become a job of the past even though this delivery robot has a top speed of just fifteen kilometers per hour.

and then twenty seventeen brought us robots that could try to do the jobs that some people already regarded as unnecessary how much better or worse would this rehearsal have gone if there had simply been a metronome on the conductor's podium. the robots are coming that much is clear the small high tech helpers are stepping into our lives but some obviously still have a long way to go before they'll offer serious competition to humans. in the u.s. the sudden grounds of the white house set to change significantly over the next few days that's because a large portion of this iconic tree the so-called jackson is due to be cut down and removed the trees being decaying for a long time and needs an extensive cable system to remain standing it was planted by former us president andrew jackson back in eighteen thirty five to on to his

deceased wife. the magnolia is even featured on the twenty dollars. a quick story for you ukraine pro russian separatist rebels are set to make a major prisoner swap later today in total three hundred eighty prisoners to return home. and that is your world news update for now more from the top of the hour time now for a special edition of kino correspondents. conducting an exclusive interview for you with director peterson that's up next on.