Zero. Hello im Maryam Namazie this is the news hour live from london coming up aid agencies evacuate critically ill patients in syrias besieged but at least eighteen people died before they can be moved. We hear about the alleged rights abuses in yemen by a political prisoner who says he was kidnapped and tortured. Hundreds of new shelters set up in the philippines for the thousands displaced by fighting and flooding. And we visit the christmas sounds of parade in colombia thats taking place in the wild self the capital. With all the sporting clothing for time african football of the year the ivory coast as yards away says hes planning to make a return to International Football. Aid workers have started evacuating critically ill patients from eastern goods here in syrias capital damascus at least eighteen people have died though while waiting easton is one of the last remaining rebel strongholds its been under a tight government siege since two thousand and thirteen and the targets of hundreds of as strikes and artillery attacks thats course of a a food and medical shortages for about four hundred thousand syrians trapped there last month the u. N. Called for five hundred people in need of medical care to be allowed to leave but it was only after long negotiations that twenty nine critical cases were approved for medical evacuation zone to hold the reports from neighboring lebanon and a warning that some of the images in her story might be disturbing. Its a start but its not enough only a handful of east critically ill are being allowed to leave to hospitals in damascus which is less than an hours drive away twenty nine patients the majority of them women and children a six month old baby was on that list but when the aid workers reached house they found out she died weeks ago the Syrian Government is allowing them to be treated outside the besieged opposition stronghold after the armed group. Agreed to release some government prisoners its not clear if new deals will be reached it has been four years since i was besieged by the syrian army the siege has tightened in recent months there are according to the United Nations almost five hundred Urgent Medical cases. Man has brain cancer she says her condition is only deteriorating the u. N. Says more than a dozen people have already died while waiting to be evacuated for treatment i know there is no treatment available from here i have nothing no medicine no money im just waiting for gods mercy its not just the lack of medical supplies there is a lack of food the United Nations says the area is experiencing the worst case of child malnutrition since the start of the conflict. Of medical equipment of vaccines have affected children also they are malnourished this has that to a number of diseases unfortunately the children are facing dire conditions. There have been three reported deaths because of malnutrition in the past two months. Savva and were all not even two months old when they died the u. N. Says more than one thousand five hundred children are at risk among them two hundred thirty two who are acutely malnourished more than half of the four hundred thousand people. Are believed to be children the area is not just under siege it remains a war zone despite the russian guaranteed to ask. That was supposed to have silenced the guns and allowed in. Its september reached the area for the first time in bonds but it was only enough for forty thousand people there is suffering in this region of the fear is that the worst is yet to come the government is using the siege and starvation tactic as a military strategy and as the situation worsens the likelihood of a surrender becomes more real so whether. Well in the set a spokesperson for the International Committee of the red cross in syria she joins us now via skype from damascus thank you very much for taking the time to speak to us how many people have been evacuated from now and where are they been taken well since last night we started an operation in order to evacuate the most critical place thats medical pieces. Last night we managed to evacuate four people around them they are Children Together with their family members and they have been taken to hospitals it inside Damascus City how many more waiting to be evacuated when put the current operation the number should be twenty nine people dont ration is still ongoing and that maybe it might take a couple of more days and can get together with trust and its very hard for us to know right now when it will and however that we do all we can in order to speed up the process can you give us a sense of whats behind the delay. Well you know what lets not forget these people are in a very critical medical condition and that is this should be handled with special care and in order for them not to suffer but even more basically this is one of the reason but also. This whole operation is that required from us like to coordinate with the different groups and the different parties who are fighting is like eastern in order to get the necessary security guarantees for us and also for the patients and sell them to make sure that there will be evacuated in a safety man i know its a very sensitive matter but is there anything you can tell us about the talks the negotiations which led to this agreement. Well i try our side actually i think is never involved in any political negotiation between the parties so this is activism and words. By the party themself. And it is them who came up with the abdomen we were requested together with the Syrian Arab Red Crescent to carry out a role as a neutral human intermediary in the facilitate that argument but we are not involved in any ability actually meant what i can tell you for now is that the doctor number will be twenty nine however we know its a small step a small positive step however it will never end the suffering of the people inside of the ad go to aware that there are much more cases like these two who need also medical care and i say even medical treatment and hope that in the coming. Days will be just solution and reach an agreement in order to allow more cases to come out and get the necessary treatment as we speak to you now were looking at images of Young Children emaciated suffering from malnutrition they they clearly dont have enough to eat can you tell us about efforts to get more food and medical supplies into Eastern Ghouta where the last time we managed to get inside eastern water before the current evacuation was under twelve of the them which is more or less a month and a half and i have to tell you that when he visited there i was myself there and the situation was really dire and it wasnt the first time for me to go to instantly but. November i could be at least see how the situation has deteriorated i was speaking to many mothers who were shouting and screaming just because they cannot provide this is. All right apologies for that we seem to lost our connection to india he said joining us there from damascus you difficult to establish a connection that but nevertheless we got a sense of what she was talking about giving us some insight into the dire challenges facing families civilians in eastern guta frances president emanuel mark on his saudi arabias king salmond to lift the blockade on yemen a blockade which has been in force since october is limiting supplies of fuel food and medicine micron says hes concerned about the humanitarian crisis in the country by millions of people on the brink of famine parts of yemen are also in the grip of a cholera outbreak well a political prisoner in yemen has been speaking to al jazeera about his brutal experiences behind bars human Rights Groups say thousands of yemenis have been arbitrarily detained and tortured during the countrys two and a half year war thats actually going to reports. Yousif knew the opposition newspaper he edited made him a target of the armed rebel who thiis it was time to take precaution but it was too late last year he says he was kidnapped outside his home in santa. I was repeatedly tortured and interrogated due to my job as a journalist before my detention i openly declared that i was suspending my work because of the ha conditions facing journalists opposed to the who pees in sanaa and so began more than a year held in several prisons in yemens capital. To have the. I was threatened with physical abuse and rape so was my family i was put in solitary confinement for twenty six days my health deteriorated. Human Rights Groups say thousands of people including children have been arbitrarily detained and tortured by both sides in the war Yemeni Forces and who the fighters are accused of beating using electric shocks and forcing prisoners to strip others taken captive have simply disappeared this human rights Attorney Says families have reported the deaths of almost one hundred twenty prisoners in one of the events in seventy year and if there are secret prisons human Rights Groups have documented four hundred seventeen alone in sana from residential houses to schools and even places of worship the kidnappers have abducted individuals from all walks of life and juniors doctors and even journalists they are subjected to brutal torture but journalists are given a harder time. Line was eventually transferred to a military prison camp where he says he was housed along with prisoners of war last month he was released as part of a prisoner swap. But if. I wished it didnt happen that way simply because i was not to convict a person i was kidnapped outside my house. Is lucky to be alive days before he was released the camp was bombed dozens of his former cell mates die natasha in a zero zero zero the Philippine Government is setting up hundreds of new shelters for some of the thousands of people displaced by fighting and flooding in mirali city the army returned the area from fighters linked to i still in october after a five month siege only for Tropical Storm tembin to then sweep through the city from mcbride reports from murali. For people displaced by the more are we fighting life in a muddy camp with open drains was already miserable then came the floods some tents were washed away and all of them was at the bureau familys possessions are still a wet pile and they go to sleep in the damn things with their neighbor for an hour 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. Of them you have to constantly think about where to put your things in made out he 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. Hus 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 will. Do my job or know what is going to suburban women its an ongoing di lemma for mindanao the conflict holds up development a 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 i hope one day we can make a new start and living in one of the new houses would have. But now the new houses are far outnumbered by the thousands of tents. Bright aljazeera or are we city southern philippines. And watching the news out watch what i tell you about iberians await the outcome of the president ial election runoff but polling suggests a record low turnout. Families of murder victims in mexico demand answers as the country suffers its bloodiest year on record and then later in sport a wreck or to smash in one of the most grueling yacht races in the world. Now the russian Opposition Leader alexina valley says he will organize a nationwide rally in january to support his call for a boycott of president ial elections valleys been barred from running in the march election over an embezzlement conviction that he says is politically motivated meanwhile the russian president Vladimir Putin is officially filed his own documents to run for election if he wins putins rule will be extended to twenty twenty four making him the longest serving russian leader since dictator Joseph Stalin moved in what is our choice. We will start a big campaign on one hand to persuade everyone to participate in the boycott and not to take part in the election and on the other hand to contact him any people really come to the polling stations not to let putin fabricate the number and of course we need an all russian street action. The Ukrainian Government and pro russian rebels have completed a major prisoner swap in the war torn east happen in the city of her left which is mainly controlled by the pro russian separatists the exchange is reported to be the largest since a pro russian uprising in Eastern Ukraine in two thousand and fourteen or a challenge has more for moscow. Well both sides are now confirms that this prisoner swap has concluded with people being handed in both directions across the front lines in Eastern Ukraine the numbers that actually did scrubs the lines a big difference from the early advertize figures of three hundred six people going from kiev territory back to the east and seventy four people going from the eastern regions back into kiev territory the reasons why the numbers are different is because some people were transferred earlier and some people on both sides it seems didnt actually get want to go back to where they come from this is and events that has been quite a long time in in the making the final impetus though came as a recent meeting in moscow there was attended by the heads of the two separatist regions in Eastern Ukraine by the head of the Russian Orthodox church Patrick Carroll and by representatives from kiev but the the real political will it seems as come from both kiev and also from moscow with Vladimir Putin saying that he was going to use his influence with the with the separatist regions to make it happen its a breakthrough undeniably a step in the right direction and the sides now are talking about keeping this going theyre doing more prisoner swaps but while people are still dying while moscow is still supplying the rebel regions with a weapons and hardware etc and while there doesnt seem to be a final drive for peace this is just a step in that direction we havent got to the destination that we want to get to yet which is a final political solution. They think liberia where the president ial hopeful childress says hes on track for victory in the president ial election runoff but no results have been released so far the former football star is up against the current Vice President joseph because i am at the reports from the capital monrovia. Us liberians wait for the outcome of tuesdays Runoff Election many place what they call a peaceful vote vote counting is underway and the process of telling results trickling in from more than five thousand polling stations across liberia why the National Nation are pulling our gains. There were a. Very small number of incidents to report where the incident occur and i should mention they have been dealt with on his part in most of these cases if not all the contest pits fifty one year old former football star where against seventy three year old joseph walk i who has been the countrys Vice President for the last twelve years but polling coincided with christmas and many chose to stay home observers say the tunnel close much lower than the fuss round held in october they look to a Commission Says it will announce the results in four days its what happens often whether the losing side will accept defeat the cosmos led billions consigned. Five year is one win thats willing to destroy the women and that will mean for us to go back to war for anybody to be president of this country and we will not do it we are going to have peace the children of this country need peace and they also want peace and were going to call for whom ever we decide is president of Liberia International observers to a calling for calm so as in most with. So the issue is now when you know. If you when you celebrate it is celebrated in the show because you have the president of everybody if you lose you also except for the first time in more than seventy years this was founded by freed american slaves will see one democratically elected government hunt power to another whoever wins will inherit tonic or me but by forming prices of liberias main exports of rabat and i dont and are forced depreciating currency in the past twelve years Ellen Johnson sirleaf has guided this country through the process of recovery from civil war on the horrors of a bull outbreak but she too has been criticized for not doing much to talk all poverty and corruption in hog government behind it all does it or monrovia liberia. Mexico is registered its bloodiest year since records began twenty years ago at least twenty three thousand people have been murdered or one every twenty minutes this year the killing spread to states which had previously escaped clashes between drug cartels charlotte dallas reports. That three years ago forty three students were abducted on their way to approach siesta in mexico city their parents want answers remains from just two of the students have been positively identified i mean when they were that they know they may he got the virgin of guadalupe is the patron saint of m