ten million people in the world the stake they have no nationality and a total made up along and. that everyone has the right to. everyone has the right to say or. this is the daily news live from berlin a major prisoner exchange between ukrainian forces and separatist rebels but is the two sides prepared the swap there is no end in sight to the country's simmering conflict could the move heralds

a response for the war weary people of eastern ukraine. also on the program a nomination ceremony in moscow clears the path 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. was bought from standing against him. and votes are being counted after 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. and. hello and welcome my name is christopher spring a thanks for joining us it's a rare moment of deescalation in the bitter conflict between ukrainian government forces and pro russian rebels in the east of the country the two sides have agreed

to exchange a significant number of prisoners later today there's also talks in moscow mediated by the head of the russian orthodox church kiev's representative at those talks as ukraine will release three hundred six prisoners expects the separatists to release seventy four of its captives in return. for ordinary people on either side of the frontline however 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 pause in fighting gives these people in the air 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 cooling 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 on 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 elsewhere. 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 any time 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 over six hundred supporters including prominent lawmakers and actors gathering in moscow to declare that backing for him for his fourth putin 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 this is. positively. that i will cut by. 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 and more than six hundred prominent russians including lawmakers actors and athletes gathered in moscow to officially endorse him as their candidate. but what is. our country has changed from a devastated one without future prospects yes but an end to a powerful country soon that this will. lead to mere putin is the only leader who said our health care isn't good and under him maternally clinics and cardiological and other medical centers were built. here but it is good you see how the army has grown and grown stronger and now has powerful new weapons at its disposal and the person now are doing well but is it. 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. ok let's take a look now at some of the other stories making news around the well the red cross in syria says the evacuations have begun of critically ill patients from the rebel held enclave of eastern ghouta to damascus forces loyal to the government of president bashar al assad besieging almost four hundred thousand people in that enclave the un had called on the government to allow the evacuation of five hundred patients who need medical care at a court in myanmar has remanded to reuters journalists in custody for a second fourteen day period probing allegations that to breach the country's official secrets act journalists were reporting on the crisis in

a wreck and state where a military crackdown more than six hundred thousand range of muslims flee my mom. in libya militants have blown up a pipeline pumping crude oil to the port of se that explosion occurred near the town of. libya's oil output has been cut by one hundred thousand barrels per day leading oil prices to surge due to the hof year is the country's state run national oil corporation is blaming so-called islamic state. and residents of erie pennsylvania spent the day off to christmas shoveling their way out of record snow fall the town has had one hundred thirty five centimeters of snow over the last two days and more is apparently on the way local media are reporting that this is the greatest today accumulation in the state's history. well folk is underway in the west african nation of liberia after

a presidential runoff yesterday there were no reports of violence during the polling results are expected within the next few days liberians hoping that this election will mark the country's first peaceful transfer of power and over seventeen years i'm servers say the election has gone off smoothly with only minor irregularities former nigerian president goodluck jonathan who is there to observe the vote count called on the candidates to respect the results and the will of the people. so what was in the story that this is. because it was a source. so the issue is now we know it was a if you win you celebrate this a bit and we're sure that it was to go to the president of everybody if you lose yourself accept that 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 went in one time there were two right there at work and i would reduce it cool. 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. outgoing president ellen johnson sirleaf rule 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 define the last twelve months and one of those has been artificially intelligent progress in that field bringing us closer to the dream of ultra sophisticated robots service work for us and even think for us some robots may even replace our pets. these robot soccer players doing well for rookies but maybe they'll improve through learning miro the robot dog can already do that he can learn the floorplan 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. it's really that's personal touch but like

a deal is you're 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 seven team 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. imagine coming

home from work to find a huge boom trashing your kitchen that nightmare is real for many before on south africa's cape peninsula weapons often break into homes in search of food but now an innovative new method of deterring the animals could solve the problem once and for all. a boon by glory in south africa's keep potential people dashes primate is an almost daily occurrence thanks to brazen but boone's in search of their next meal. pot riley has seen her fair share of the monkey business there are a lot of them in cape town and they're coming to your house and they make an awful mess. with it but not too bad they have been in my house quite often. they're not aggressive i did find them aggressive and they're not really interested in you they they were looking for food that's what they're looking for to drive the

monkeys out of our brain areas conservationists from the human wildlife solutions organization have been testing a new strategy g.p.s. callers are used to track the baboons movements. once the pesky primates get close to town come the boom boxes. of pretending they are predators are. being killed they're scared to go. a few bangs. reinforces this. and they're void. with the help of predators such as lions leopards and hyenas the aim is to create what they call. an imaginary birendra that the monkeys do not dare to cross for villagers in nearby her minus its music to their ears. i've noticed in the last two weeks since the team arrived

with what they call the virtual friends we've had. for the last two weeks there will be there are magination are these. but there are. at stake is the region's famed boon population until recently the cheeky monkeys would have been shot. following positive results the plan is now to rule out the system in other cape town suburbs hopefully ensuring that fewer and fewer light fingered friends are killed unnecessarily. in the us this the southern grounds of the white house may be changing significantly over the next few days that's because a large portion of this iconic tree the so-called jackson magnolia is due to be cut down and removed the trees been decaying for a long time and needs an extensive cable system to remain standing it was planted by the way by former us president andrew jackson back in eighteen thirty five to

honor his deceased wife. a quick reminder for you of our top story of the moment ukraine and pro russian separatist rebels set to make a major prisoner swap later today in total three hundred eighty prisoners returning home. and you're watching t.w. news in berlin more from us at the top of the up next here a documentary on monday's famous city of play. images from an isolated country images from the north korea. any tell me is a toggle for captured fascinating shots of everyday life in a regimented society.