And im adrian for again this is the news hour live from doha coming up in the next sixty minutes aid workers begin to move syrians desperate for medical care from a rebel held area of the capital damascus. The government of the philippines reaches out to help people displaced by storms and Political Violence in morocco we. May have my extends its detention of two loiters journalists by another two weeks and im far as well have all the sport including iraq or it has been smashed in one of the most grueling races and thats where. We begin in syria where aid workers have begun evacuating critically ill patients from eastern guta in the capital damascus eighteen people have died while waiting east and goes as one of syrias last remaining rebel strongholds its been under a government siege since twenty thirteen it has been the target of hundreds of airstrikes and artillery attacks thats caused severe food medical shortages for around four hundred thousand people who are trapped that last month the u. N. Called for five hundred people in need of Urgent Medical care to be allowed to leave but. It was only after long negotiations that twenty nine critical cases were approved for medical evacuation the first four of those cases have now been taken to hospitals in damascus lets take you live now to beirut and a honda is monitoring developments across in syria so they have four people have been removed what happens to the other twenty five that have been cleared for evacuation. Well what we understand is that the remaining twenty five will be evacuated in the coming days but like you mentioned the United Nations has a list of four hundred ninety four people urgent cases critically ill patients patients who suffer from kidney failure cancer blood disease they cant receive any treatment in eastern because this is a besieged area has been besieged for for years and in the past few months the government tightened that siege and even close the smuggling routes so people really suffering there and the United Nations really appealing to the Syrian Government for months now telling them you need to evacuate these people so loud twenty nine people will leave what we understand is that the Syrian Government allowed them to leave after reaching a deal with the main rebel group. Assam is releasing twenty nine prisoners so this is definitely a welcome move but it is not enough a lot of the four hundred thousand people still in eastern guta what are conditions like for them. Supposed to be a deescalation zone far from it remains a Battle Ground there airstrikes shelling people are getting killed or wounded and its not just the lack of food the lack of food means that many children according to the United Nations one thousand five hundred children are at risk acute malnutrition already in the past two months three children died all of those children under the age of two months old so its a lack of food lack of medical supplies it remains a war zone people are really suffering and activists will tell you is that this is part of the governments star tactics. To an area you starve the people you force them to surrender theyve used the strategy in the past it is a military strategy what we understand is that the government wants the rebels to lay down their arms to agree to be evacuated to the rebel controlled province of idlib in the north weve seen that happen in the past but so far rebels are resisting a surrender but the. The pressure is growing all right on the what does this say that the situation in east and go to say about the the politics of the war in syria. Well many people are saying that the war is winding down well to a certain extent yes but the war is not over. Like i mentioned it is a Battle Ground even though that there is a deescalation zone no doubt violence has been reduced and what were seeing now really is russia which is really the main player in syria what russia has been trying to do is push forward a political process but its own political process that wants to be the architect of this process is trying to sideline the un led geneva process and the rebels the opposition theyre rejecting this but right now they have they dont have much power on the ground so russia trying to push forward for this political process but at the end what is a political settlement if it doesnt amount to peace if people are not able to return to their homes if people feel that if they return to certain areas that theyre wanted by the state so in two thousand and eighteen we are going to see russia trying to push forward this political process but the opposition is not onboard many thanks live in beirut the government of the philippines is setting up more than six hundred temporary shelters for some of the thousands of people displaced by conflict and two Tropical Storms in the city of. Bride reports. For people displaced by the more we fighting life in a muddy camp with open drains was already miserable then came the floods sometimes were washed away and all of them with. The poor families possessions all still wet pile and they go to sleep in the. Neighbor foreign and her family lost their home and business in the fighting now her daily battle is with the water and mud to keep it out. You have to constantly thing. About where to put your things in my diary we had money and could eat properly and i could go to school in the city bears the scars of the months of conflict between Government Troops and fighters linked to eisele for now which is quiet but theres still a threat of renewed hostilities and martial law in mindanao has been extended for another year but on the edge of the city signs of hope new permanent homes are being built for displaced people president rod rigo deterred whos from mindanao has promised to find a lasting solution to the conflict for him this project is an important step on the road to peace we. Mean that. By doing my job or knowing what is going to bother them and its an ongoing dialogue fomented out the conflict holds up development the lack of money and jobs then fuels the underlying discontent and none of this is helped by being battered by storms from her tent home for an ample one can see the new houses being built on the opposite hillside but doesnt know if she will get close to moving into one martha i hope one day we can make a new start and living in one of the new houses would help for now the new houses are far outnumbered by the thousands of tents robbed the bride aljazeera city southern Philippines International observers have praised liberias peaceful president ial runoff despite the low turnout results are expected in the next few days its said to be the First Time Since nine hundred forty three that the country will see one democratically elected Government Hand power to another aljazeera as Mohammed Adam is in the capital monrovia. After a day of orderly queues and peaceful venting in more than five thousand polling stations across liberia the people of this country are waiting for the results of the Runoff Election it pits former football star george where against current Vice President joseph walk by local media is already reporting that told the way of. A lead in votes counted on talent show far in some of the counties all for the country george where is banking on his support with in the youth which accounts for more than sixty percent of the population of this country. Just as walker has tied himself as the natural kind of date of transition as he has been deputising for outgoing president Ellen Johnson sirleaf for the past twelve years Electoral Commission is expected to announce the Election Results in a matter of days rafiq raji is managing director of a consulting business that focuses on investment in the region he says that weeding out corruption will be the biggest challenge for the next president. The turnout is the result of the time its going to festive period build. Understandably. Quite difficult but some let me turn now to all of us ignites our christmas dinner before i left is not a choice its in the very popular candy this on an incumbent citizens are familiar with a dog very much thats the result will be any difference from what he saw on the first shot in reality what desktop when is he who is succeeding the economy depending on the points if your points. And you give them the political but they need to make bold. Policy actions. To succeed if they do otherwise is not talk all the time so experience as the. Toll it will it will depend on how. Well its got the resort but without wins to ensure that this is on corruption enough gun country is secure attorneys usually much much of what its got from. Here when the worst is a benefit and yet is that if people do something they supposed happening is another guise of corruption when the next one gets to look for the other was used as a relief well to equip the passions of the allies i doubt very much thats on those fronts no again a significant difference on the part of the two candidates. Russias president Vladimir Putin has formally registered to run in the twenty eight thousand election hell stand as an independent candidate but is backed by the pro Kremlin United Russia Party is expected to win his fourth term in march but in the so far refrained from campaigning but has praised his governments management of the economy russias rebounded from its worst recession in two decades and used. It to good schools and of course these would be difficult years for both the country and for those who had to ensure a Stable Development and overcome the difficulties that stemmed from the World Economy i can say that the russian government not only did everything that it could but in my opinion even more than that you have a stench we solved all the economic tasks at hand russias Electoral Commission has allowed t. V. Personality case a the subject to run against putin in next years election subject is nominated by the group Civil Initiative and is the daughter of putins former mentor Anatoly Sobchak the first elected mayor of St Petersburg but critics say her decision to run plays into the hands of the kremlin by creating an os official contest. The first stage of a major Prisoner Exchange between ukrainian authorities and pro russian separatists has just ended both sides have been sending their prisoners towards a site in the city of all of which is mainly controlled by the separatists in total ukraine is expected to release three hundred six separatist fighters in exchange for seventy four of its government soldiers the deal was brokered last week mediated by the Russian Orthodox church in moscow lets just remind you of how ukraine got to this stage fighting broke out there more than three years ago after pro russia separatists took over parts of Eastern Ukraine to agreements to end the conflict was signed in minsk but deals the deals failed to bring peace both sides blame each other the ceasefire violations the conflict has killed more than ten thousand people two and a half thousand of them civilians and its forced more than a million the hof from the homes and school life out of moscow our correspondent laurie chalons can tell us more rory how much work has gone into this deal. Theres been a lengthy process going back months. Years have various stumbles and hiccups along the way the breakthrough i think really came as you say earlier in the week where there was a meeting here in moscow attended by. Coups kievs and voile on various humanitarian matters to the minsk talks it was also attended by patry our carol of the Russian Orthodox church and the various leaders of the separatists republics in Eastern Ukraine so that was i think what broke through and made this. Swap actually possible but there was also some heavy influence going on from flooding near putin and of course the leadership in kiev. That emir putin essentially said that he was going to use his influence with the republics to make sure app and so yes we have had i think some top down approval of this walk and its bearing fruit as we can see going on right there so right this moment but is this a significant breakthrough in the conflict for you. I think it undoubtedly is because this is the first prisoner swap to have happened in something two thousand and fifteen so there has been a long time with very very little agreement very very Little Movement so to get to a point like this there has to have been serious dialogue on both sides and a degree of good will coming from both sides as well having said that there are still prisoners being held that arms include is in this prisoner swap so we are being told that this is number one. Essentially and that theyre going to be new lists drawn up with with new people on it it remains to be seen at the moment though whether there are going to be some very contentious prisoners the prisoners who were held in russia prisoners like olic sense of who is a ukrainian filmmaker who was arrested in crimea in i think two thousand and fifteen given a twenty year sentence for terrorism now he its unclear whether he is going to be included in any future prisoner swaps that is always going to be the kind of thing that keeps tension high and of course the conflict itself is still bubbling away there is a temporary cease fire going on at the moment for the for the holiday period christmas and new year. The conflict though will drag on until there are significant moves made within the minsk process to bring it to a close and thats a long way off yet rory many thanks indeed for a challenge there live in moscow. There with the news hour from aljazeera still to come on the program a remote road linking amman and yemen has become a path for refugees coming out and aid headed in plus were in mexico looking back on a year of unprecedented violence against journalists and in sport defending cup champions cats are at risk of making an early exit from this years tournament well tell you why with far a little later. The attention of two reuters journalists and media has been extended for a further fourteen days while loan and cure so were arrested earlier this month after Meeting Police officials on the outskirts of yangon man not accuses the pair of planning to share illegally acquired information with foreign media the reporters were covering the crisis affecting Growth Engine muslims in Rakhine State they have been allowed to meet families and lawyers outside the court hearing. We were just carrying out our jobs as journalists we have been detained at the criminal Investigation Department we never violated our journalism ethics. Joining us via skype from bangkok is benjamin so lucky has a wealth and human rights for such a as an advocate specializing in asia could tell he with what grounds does a man have to charge these these two journalists and extend that attention well being charged on the form which is extremely serious. A fourteen Year Prison Sentence that are convicted this to me of the story much more about the current state about the situation opinion of the ethnic cleansing the crimes against humanity than it is about journalistic freedom while there have been a rollback in journalists in myanmar and you know seventeen what this really shows in my view is just that there are graphic areas that are off limits to journalists the human rights researchers the u. N. Officials and others namely were crimes they there are elements in reporting that story that are equally off limits and the b. M. R. Authorities are willing to go to Great Lengths to to prosecute and if you spend it signal to others that this wont be tolerated in the ministry of information and says that these journalists illegally acquired information with the intent of sharing it with foreign media as any evidence spend presented by the government to prove that. Not to my knowledge my understanding is that is that the the journalist obtained information from the police themselves the allegation being that they have changed somehow fraudulent we or through deceptive means and my understanding is that they had photos and mass graves in reclined state that they were either planning or allegedly planning to use in the press or to pass on to someone else again whats most interesting to me about that however is that the world has yet to be shocked into action by the forcible displacement of six hundred fifty thousand ranges from the country thousands of whom according to the Associated Press were killed in the first month alone of this of example to bethink cleansing and therefore it doesnt seem to reason that the disclosure of a mass grave or two is going to somehow shock the world action or shame the b. M. R. Authorities any more than they have been shamed and yet again the authorities are going to Great Lengths to just press this information and make sure the photographs dont dont get out all right so what do you think is really going on here what does this mean for any of the journalists is trying to cover they have all working in the country. Well it doesnt necessarily bode poorly for the situation outside of Rakhine State although i should point out that the rollback in the freedom of expression return left in two thousand and seventeen has been largely limited to the coverage of this particular story and to other and youd want to find out what it definitely says then. Is that Rakhine State is off