this is d.w. news live from berlin a hopeful step toward resolving the conflict in eastern ukraine with a hero's welcome in key for 76 men and women released earlier in the day by separatists in ukraine's east in return to keep the release of all the prisoners it have been holding we'll go there live for the latest. also coming up a man with a knife turns a hanukkah celebration near new york city into a bloody crime scene new york's governor says it was an act of domestic terror.

i want him glucose welcome to the program the ukrainian government and a russian backed separatists have completed a prisoner exchange a plane landed at key the airport sunday evening after the swap took place at a checkpoint in the separatists stronghold of done tests in eastern ukraine the exchange covers prisoners being held by both sides since hostilities broke out in 2014 the move stems from an agreement that russia and ukraine reached earlier this month brokered by germany and france. correspondent david stern is key to airport for us where the freed ukrainian prisoners arrived not too long ago david you were there when they came off the airplane describe the moment for us . well it's a scene of very intense emotion for some joy in general for those who may

have seen or remember those scenes of p.o.w.'s were returning from the vietnam war somewhat reminiscent of that we saw the soldiers exit the airplane 1st they were greeted by president bloody mary zilinskas zelinsky sharpe salutes and then they turned and were and were welcomed by their families by their loved ones by their relatives with flowers with balloons with kisses but and sometimes even with tears but in general it was a jubilant scene especially since some of these people have been in captivity since 2015 but it wasn't just p.o.w.'s there were also civilians among them so it was a large crowd that greeted them people from all types and and as i say a one of very strong emotion. and beyond the loved ones there at the scene what's

been the response from ukrainians more broadly is this being seen as a success for president selenski. it's a good question it will remain to be seen in the coming days and weeks how this plays out but it should be said that these prisoner exchanges in general and this is the 2nd one in just a matter of months are are generally well you could say agreed with the same same jubilation with the general population obviously people coming back people who have been in captivity but the big question is of course how this will how this will contribute to the peace process and there has been a bit of controversy about this this particular exchange there were 5 riot police who were handed over to the moscow backed separatists they were accused of being involved in the deaths of protesters in. central kiev during the revolution 5 years ago all right david stand by for us for a moment as we take

a look back at this big day for ukraine. i carefully coordinated in ukraine's rebel controlled region $200.00 people in total were released in the exchange some returning to the ukrainian side said the exchange was a good start but everyone needed to be freed. i'm grateful to the president who agreed and freed us. but there are still a lot of guys jailed there and we need to help them just everyone for everyone. the pro russian separatists returning home on the other side were equally happy to be free some used strong language to describe to form a captors. we are happy that we are free you know after 4 years for some 5 years for others and liberated from the shackles of ukrainian naziism. it's the 2nd major prisoner exchange this year september sort of

a swap that brought an mates home and fostered hope that the war in eastern ukraine could soon be over and victory for ukraine's new president of law to me is the lenski. for more than 5 years the craniotomy has been fighting russian backed separatists in the country's east the war has cost more than 13000 lives and turned a key industrial region into a conflict zone. efforts to stop the fighting have so far come to little when selenski was elected in april he promised of restarting the peace process that culminated in a meeting this month with his french german and russian counterparts in which sunday's exchange was agreed. the deal is again raising hopes for us with preselection to the conflict but major hurdles between russia and ukraine still need to be overcome before peace is possible. and turning back to our correspondent

david stern who's outside the airport and for those prisoners just landed david now i can imagine this prisoner exchange is one big part of finding some kind of final settlement to the conflict between the russians back separatists and ukraine what else is on the table what else needs to be cleared for there to finally end to this conflict that's cost so many lives. well that's exactly it this is just one part of the the general push towards a peace settlement we had the summit in france earlier this month with russia ukraine and the french and german leaders there are a number of issues and this is just one this is a very positive step obviously but it's not going to be the big breakthrough the big breakthrough is all the ultimately what is going to happen in the east the fighting needs to stop we know as we've heard it continues but also there's the issue of what exactly the political settlement will be there and the ukrainians in particular are insisting that they need to have control over the area the control

over their border in particular with russia before they're going to allow elections take place and so it will remain to be seen if that will actually take place david starting keith thank you very much for your reporting. now let's turn to some of the other stories making news around the world at least 10 people were killed when a missile hit a military parade in its hound in southern yemen ceremony for new recruits was being held by a south yemen separatist group a spokesman blamed the rebels for the attack. more than a 1000 demonstrators have gathered in hong kong to mark a turbulent year in a semi-autonomous region protest began in june over a proposed extradition law grew to include demands for more democracy protesters say beijing and the local government are eroding freedom and democratic norms. the 8 day jewish festival of hanukkah is meant to be

a time of light and warmth but for one jewish community in new york city it became one of terror and confusion a man with a knife burst into a rabbi home on saturday night and started slashing those gathered there now community members and investigators are left to wonder why and what's next. the mass stabbing its a rabbi's home in a town outside new york city center shock waves through the local jewish community and far beyond the incident is the latest in a wave of anti semitic attacks in the u.s. tensions over such hate crimes are on the rise among barged into the rabbi's house during celebrations for the jewish festival of hanukkah and stabbed 5 people with a machete 2 of the victims are said to have been critically wounded one person was stabbed several times. i saw him walking in by the door. i ask who's coming in in middle of the night with her own braless well i was saying that he pulled it

out from the think and he started running to the big room which was on the left side and i throw tables and cared only to get out of here and the guy was a carry a rest guy. he was leaving here bleeding in his hand although i ran into the other room closer tried to save my life i saw him running down this way so ran out to a lady. came along with me they're still steranko what time is not only we know them time now and they still stare call right now. the attacker fled the scene but was caught in new york city by the police within hours of the knifings. new york governor andrew cuomo said in a statement he was horrified by the despicable and cowardly act. this is violence spurred by hate it is mass violence and i consider this

an act of domestic terrorism let's call it what it is these people are domestic terrorists and the law should reflect that and they should be punished as if it was an act of terrorism. the suspect a 37 year. man has been charged with 5 counts of attempted murder and one count of burglary he has a pleaded not guilty and for more let's go to do that your correspondent carla bleicher who's in washington with more on the story carlo what have been the reactions and what are authorities doing to deal with this alleged crime. well there's no official word on a motive. officials are believing that this crime has an anti-semitic background and new york governor andrew cuomo has called it an act of domestic terrorism as we

have just heard and described as intolerance needs ignorance. u.s. president donald trump went on twitter to say quote we must all come together to fight confront and eradicate the evil scourge of anti-semitism but in the jewish community it voices are getting louder that politicians are not doing enough to protect them they are calling for more police protection at their houses of worship and they're calling for more political action so that something like the horrible stabbing has never happened again now andrew cuomo in his remarks he said this is the 13th anti-semitic incident in the new york area in just the last 3 weeks and these are places with large jewish populations often seem to be safe for for jewish communities but what's behind the rise in these attacks. well this most recent attack on a cause celebre ations so it's can be

a belief that perhaps the attacker the attacker specifically picked this day to to inflict harm on a jewish holy day and that perhaps there was there was more attention on the jewish community during a special time like this but with all these all these recent attacks critics have been saying for quite some time that's a the rhetoric that's president donald trump uses does doesn't courage hate and fear of anything or anyone that's different and that is also something that governor of cool mall referred to when he was saying that these are intolerant times in the united states and quote we see anger we see hatred exploding all right g.w.s. car the like her reporting from washington thank you very much. and an unrelated attack has taken place at a place of worship in the u.s.

as well at least 2 people have been killed and one injured in a shooting at a church near fort worth texas we will keep you informed of this story as it develops. australia is bracing for another week of bush of bush fires as temperatures are expected to soar firefighters have been trying to contain the fire since september 8th people have died 2 of them firefighters themselves many of those on the front line are volunteers and now the government says it will pay them for their efforts. it's one of australia's worst seasons over. with so many blazes to basle it's often volunteers who answer the call for help. giving their time and paying the costs. of some. 1516 hour shifts in a row you're exhausted at the end of that you might have one day break and then they want you to go again it. just takes its toll physically and emotionally on the

family they don't see you and maybe it means i use my annual leave maine said i you know i use my tommy lee time. now there is help for the helpers some volunteers to be called been saved for about 20 days worth of income lost while fighting the recent fires. as this is a very prolonged for us lisa this is putting additional demands on our firefighters in particular and it means that the turnouts in the call outs have been far more extensive than in previous years going well and beyond and above what is normally expected of those who are engaged in volunteer service. already public servants have been pledged additional leave to join the fight. with us truly is some of just getting started the country needs more helping hands to step up to the challenge.

you're watching t w news from berlin coming up next all stories the weekend reports and don't forget you can always keep up with the latest news and information anywhere anytime at our website w dot com follow us on twitter at g.w. news i'm way in thanks for joining us. 50 years of religions for peace people from many different things all working together toward a common.