Choice to define the future of the poles in liberia in the countrys president ial runoff. Hello again my name is peter watching aljazeera live from our headquarters here in doha also coming up about a Million People are forced to move in vietnam ahead of a Violent Storm thats already brought death and destruction to the philippines. Perus president defends his controversial decision to pardon a jailed. Plus. The russian Opposition Leader. Calls for an election boycott after his bid to run in next years president ial votes is blocked. We begin in liberia where the polls are opening this hour in the president ial runoff thats expected to lead to the first democratic transition of power there in seventy three years now the former football of george weah is taking on the current Vice President joseph unemployment and corruption with a big campaign issues. Is in the capital monrovia. In the contest for the liberian presidency this month all my International Footballer do it with a head start he deceived thirty eight percent of the votes cast in the fuss around held in october hes opponent in the current liberian Vice President just a walk i got twenty eight percent of the vote its in the cloud. That where i grew up has been hyping his humble upbringing and style himself as the pull of pork and to date a man who knows exactly what led bill. As one from the Government Protection of politics we have traditional voting along ethnic religious and regional languages where you were born and grew up is important there is hope here thats when he becomes president he will help his community where dropped out of school at an early age to concentrate on playing football he plied his trade in liberia until he got a break to play for the french club a its more like oh and from there on to some of the worlds most glamorous clubs in two thousand and three where now is his intention to run for the presidency after taking on the incumbent president Ellen Johnson sirleaf to a second round vote in two thousand and five the footballer was bitten this is known as walk in the park this could be we as the he led in the first one in two thousand and five and phil to win in the second round this is wide open it could be president we have a president. A former head of liberias Petroleum Refinery company and agriculture minister seventy two year old joseph. Has served as liberias Vice President since two thousand and six his tenure as Vice President will be remembered as a period of an interrupted peace most small feat in a country torn apart by years of civil. Buckeye is considered a safe pair of hands by many given his long experience at the highest echelons of power in liberia ambassador walker strongest point is his credentials in Public Policy and the broad perception of him as an honest man true this line around he has an honesty capital. And in liberia where theres been so much reports of corruption hes managed to escape on touched he will have to persuade many liberians though that he can do differently than he has done for more than a decade many here hold the government responsible for failing to improve their lot ok lets take you live now. Joining us from the capital of monrovia mo any predictions yet as to what the turnout is likely to be. Well pitts its hard to tell of this point the polling stations five thousand three hundred ninety of them of course liberia opening their bills just now for up to two point one million voters who have reduced it to vote but how many of them will cast their vote today its hard to tell so early in the morning these momentum though many liberians feel that this is a very crucial elections and that they need to cast their vote many of them have even postponed their christmas celebrations to ensure that they vote today now joining me to discuss this is ron both small town cindy a voter that cathartic couple a Cathedral School here in monrovia now. How important are these elections to. This election is very important to me because it will determine the future of mine children and grandchildren for the five matters that they have been over due we have spend. Of of time trying to verify. If when you station are suppose of this elation and so im so happy and delighted for to be this morning to cast my vote of course it will be the fos time in almost seventy years that there will be a democratic transfer of power in diabetes and you know very important also for the countrys future the possum who is going to replace Ellen Johnson sirleaf. But the been the least in this process how much has this affected the momentum do you think many people will turn out to look today yes yes im very sure were going to be having millions of people liberian attending this photo. Photo restriction are supposed to be what is your expectation of what is going to replace the outgoing president and also city for what is the thing or that the things that liberias need most from the next go. Well. Liberia would be very happy if after president Ellen Johnson sirleaf attention can you do when you do will be for a president that will lead a country peacefully. And through a democratic form of government that is do we need a bed to have rules in education for our children and our grandchildren and take on a. Small town there with the expectations of liberians from who is going to win this elections back. To. Thanks very much nigerias military has stopped an attack by suspected book fights as on the outskirts of the northeastern city of mine to go to heavy gunfire was reported in the more lie area as the army fought off the attackers while the number of casualties remains unknown is that many women and children were injured a powerful storm that left a trail of death and destruction in the philippines is now being downgraded typhoon tendin also defied weather forecasts and didnt make landfall in vietnams mique on delta where hundreds of thousands of people were moved from their homes but experts say heavy rain and strong winds from the weather system could still cause damage to infrastructure across the region the storm left at least two hundred people dead in the philippines bright has more now from the island of mindanao in the philippines where relief and aid efforts and now underway. This is the township of too bad its probably one of the worst affected areas of one of the worst affected provinces in mindanao we are down river that was the site of a surge of water that came through here if i can stand back and just give you a quick look at the kind of damage and trail of destruction that it left a torrent of water came down here leaving all of these boulders some of them the size of cars these werent here a couple of days ago taking with it the surge of water more than one hundred houses sadly twenty nine people are confirmed to have died here a number of the bodies are being kept at a makeshift mortuary just a short distance away while the search continues in this area for a further sixteen people who are missing and the search is being conducted some six kilometers downstream it gives you an idea of the strength of the power of the water that came through here all of mindanao like this area are assessing the damage from this storm and looking at ways of being more prepared the next time and the philippines as it is one of the most disaster prone countries in the world does take Disaster Preparedness very seriously and invest a lot in infrastructure also in Awareness Training to be ready for the next time but here in mindanao given the security situation it is an added complexity it makes it harder to introduce any of those plans but the philippines has to think in terms of introducing those things given what we are seeing people tell us here about stronger storms and people certainly here believe it is the evidence of Climate Change that these storms are going to be the shape of things to come. Thousands of peruvians have been demonstrating after the former president Alberto Fujimori was pardoned because of bad health protests took place outside the clinic where hes being treated. Had been serving a twenty five year sentence for crimes against humanity and corruption the seventy nine year old was released from prison and sent to intensive care on saturday after a severe drop in his Blood Pressure through as president petro public oshinsky called granting the pardon the most difficult decision of his life i thought most a. C. V. Then its obvious to all of us that the government he inherited at the beginning of the ninetys the country was in a chaotic and violent crisis incurred significant transgressions of the law as far as democracy and human rights are concerned but i also believe his government contributed to National Progress im convinced that those of us who believe in democracy cannot allow Alberto Fujimori to die in prison. The russian Opposition Leader alexina valmy has been barred from running in next years president ial election hes been told he is in eligible because of a criminal conviction which he says is politically motivated novelli is now calling for a boycott of the vote in march but the polls show the president Vladimir Putin is on course to be reelected comfortably which would keep him in the kremlin until twenty twenty four were a challenge has more now from moscow. This was no surprise at all really how mean i have been talking with colleagues yesterday and weve been speculating that there was maybe a small chance that the tightly controlled russian president ial system the electoral system here would be given a bit of a shake up and maybe there would be some fresh life breathed into it most people are assuming that putin is going to march towards a fourth term in office when the elections are held in march next year but no that was not to be the thirteen member panel of the Central Election Committee decided twelve votes with one abstention they were going to bar the from running against putin now the argument they use is that he has this prior conviction and therefore is ineligible no valley has always said that although that may be the election rules actually the constitution which should have primacy says that any one of sound mind who is not in jail can run in the elections so hes going to take this to the constitutional courts to watch them to make a decision this was a Heated Exchange at times he was saying that the panel should do the right thing for once in their lives that nobody is holding a gun to their heads and that they should stop messing around with the election the panel fired back saying that he was brainwashing kids that he was disrespecting the Election Commission and that they hinted he was politically irrelevant anyway now what is now and we do next well of course are said hes going to take this to the constitutional courts but he is also saying that his supporters should boycott the election and he is saying that yes there will be street process he hasnt set a date for these yet but hes saying that when the protests hits they will be nationwide. Still ahead here on aljazeera a major earthquake has soul questioning the decision to build more Nuclear Power plants in serve korea. And well tell you how a centuries old way of crafting lives in a man remains a symbol of national identity. From a fresh breeze. To watching the sunset on the australian outback. Hello and welcome to International Weather forecast was quite interesting across europe at the moment weve got roughly High Pressure across central areas and then weve got frontal systems pushing in from the west and theyre going to bring about a significant change to many Western Areas so as we look at the forecast through the course of choosing a little bit of snow over the out falling but this next area of low pressure is going to give some very heavy rain and on its northern side its going to turn to snow across central parts of the u. K. When shes standing toward southeastern areas more heavy snow across the alps again and some pretty unsettled weather across central parts of the med of training but generally cross more eastern areas not looking to palin terms the temperatures vienna that eleven and temperatures above freezing in both minsk and moscow on the other side of the Mediterranean Sea weve got to showers affecting coastal parts of old syria and later on chuen is here which move further towards the east can draw and find for karo highs there of twenty one degrees for central parts of africa really most of the rain quite a long way south no still picking up some showers but much of west africa dry and fine sunshine in akron ghana with highs of thirty one for the towards the south is heavy showers of parts from goa zimbabwe and some beer further south sunshine across much of south africa highs of twenty four in johannesburg. The weather sponsored by cattle and race. You are making very pointed remarks where on line the main u. S. Response to drug use and the drug trade over the last fifty years has been criminalized or if you join us on say no evil person just wakes up of in the morning in the sense i want to cover the world in darkness and this is a dialogue that could be worth leading to some of the confusion in lima about people saying they dont actually know whats going on join the conversation at this time on aljazeera. Ok lets recap quick reminder of the headlines for you so far this hour the polls have just opened in liberias president ial Runoff Election the pits a former International Football star against the current Vice President the vote is expected to lead to the countrys first democratic transition of power in seventy three years. Powerful storm that left a trail of death and destruction in the philippines has now been downgraded to Tropical Storm tembin also failed to make landfall in vietnam but experts say heavy rain and strong winds from the weather system could still cause damage to infrastructure in the region. And thousands of peruvians have demonstrated after the former president Alberto Fujimori was pardoned because of poor health. For the twenty five year sentence for human rights abuses and corruption perus current president had republicans keep called pardoning for more of the most difficult decision of his life. Twenty seventeen saw the emergence of driver those cars and trucks being tested on roads in the u. S. And the u. K. Developers say more than a million lives a year could be saved without humans behind the wheel as accidents would be almost eradicated but that could also mean a loss of millions of jobs and unions representing drivers are calling on politicians to explain where the new jobs would come from lawrence lee has part three of our series on Artificial Intelligence. In this brave new world of dance official intelligence the first direct effect on all our lives will be in transport its already begun and it will change humanity in many ways its well enough known by now that Driverless Cars and lorries are being trials the future were told may involve our children not having to learn how to drive these plants the automation badminton plays the car to go to meetings no scenario where this one even sitting in a simulator you feel a lack of control if you dont grip the wheel or press the brakes driving on for real involves a leap of faith you know that is true and anything to the Steering Wheel you are now free to engage in other times the engineers here assure the technology is good enough for driverless travel on motorways if not in congested cities because theres too much going on. You know that this is extremely busy and complex environment with lots of potential who destructors people running across roads. So i think thats probably too complex weve certainly tried contemporary vehicle automation both on the motorway and in urban environments. They dont work at all in urban environments and even on motorways they require regular interventions by human drivers. The future it seems may be a combination of systems moving us from port to driverless port modern rail systems near airports are driverless and people use those quite happily the paths of the cars through space would be similar to if there were you know some physical guide to them so i think in some cases so long as the as the speeds are fairly low its probably a safe proposition true believers in driverless transport say we will be able to sleep or work in our vehicle but if that sounds good it will also mean the loss of millions of jobs no wonder trades unions want to know how those jobs will be replaced were looking to see massive massive investment in electric vehicles driverless vehicles future mobility we need a great leap forward its easy to understand this concern in the u. K. There was a massive shock when car factories which had traditionally employed thousands of people all shut because of foreign competition this used to be the jackie were factory in the West Midlands now its going to be a warehouse the advent of Driverless Cars and wide automation could be a far greater shock still the British Government reckons that Driverless Cars could create up to thirty thousand jobs in the u. K. Which sounds ok until you hear evidence that says that in this part of england alone automation could cost three hundred thousand jobs it becomes pretty clear that governments like the one in britain see the job strategy for automation and quickly when asked to consider a world in which no humans at the wheel of a vehicle means accidents will not happen more than a million lives will be saved every year driverless vehicles will be on the roads and soon but will human souse jobs rely on transport except them and can we learn to trust the machines to safeguard the lives of those we love lawrence lee al jazeera london. And on wednesday well have part four of that series on Artificial Intelligence well look at how robots are changing health care. The final public hearing on plans to construct two Nuclear Power plants have been held in south korea now there are concerns over just how safe theyll be after a magnitude five point four quake hit the country in november until last year the country was considered a seismic free zone kathy novak now reports from all sun. This is south koreas scenic southeastern region a popular Tourist Destination home to stretches of coastline and eighteen uclear reactors so when a magnitude five point four earthquake forced more than a thousand people to evacuate their homes in november some wondered if those Nuclear Reactors are safe she on why is so worried shes been protesting in the streets that its almost impossible but. I was so scared when the earthquake happened here i had evacuated from my building but when the tremors continued the thought of the Nuclear Power plants exploding hard to any. More reactors are on the way during the Election Campaign president monday and promised to halt their construction but he reversed that position after public consultations found the majority of people wanted the existing projects completed the Environmental Organization greenpeace want safety reexamined we saw the. Significant increase of the people who are concerned about the safety of Nuclear Reactors to terrorists. The twenty eleven fukushima disaster in japan happened just across the sea its not hard for South Koreans to imagine the worst Case Scenario but a tsunami triggered by a magnitude nine earthquake caused of that catastrophe and experts say that sort of event would be extremely unlikely here in a statement korea hydro a Nuclear Power the company that runs this plant says the newest reactors being built here are designed to withstand earthquakes sixty three times more powerful than the five point eight magnitude quake that hit the nearby city of film due in twenty sixteen that was south korea strongest earthquake since records began in one nine hundred seventy eight. Locals are still rebuilding many replacing traditional ceramic roof tiles with more affordable and sturdy metal sheets even if you church quakes damaged homes again uclear power advocates say the plants are designed to contain any radiation leaks that define a physical barrier the caption containment is Strong Enough to withstand any kind of the significant creek john young hoon says Nuclear Power must be part of south koreas Energy Supply the government still wants to phase it out over time in the meantime the Energy Ministry has told South Koreans that close inspection of power plants revealed no damage from the latest earthquake Kathy Novak Al jazeera olson south korea. Chian is here demanding an apology from the United Arab Emirates after the country banned female chin as he and citizens from landing in the gulf states Emirates Airlines flights were barred from tunis here in response is demanding an apology from the u. A. E. We are not part of emirates we have are suffering country and they should deal with us according to what normally happens in relations between two countries up to the continues calls with the m. E. Righties through our ambassador in abu dhabi it appears they have lifted the ban but they did not give us details on how the ban was lifted. The u. S. Decision to recognize jerusalem as the capital of israel is being discussed around the world the city of course is holy for people from three religions but at the core of the a c is an occupation that shows no sign of ending so how do you reconcile a conflict without disrupting the right to worship for all we spoke to historian widely known as the atlas of palestine. Jerusalem is palestinian longer than london is. Is a muslim and christian population have been living there for thousands of years they have no theory that they have been there long time ago and now they are authentic they have never left jerusalem and they were absolute majority of population until recently when the colonial jewish european settlement started in palestine there are no legal basis whatsoever for israel to occupy or to declare sovereignty on jerusalem there is a natural right for anybody from any faith Muslim Christian and jew to live there and worship peacefully what shipping peacefully doesnt mean that you kill people take their homes and kick them out there was no motivation by airlifts ernests about jerusalem from a religious point of view they wanted only to expand the area apartheid in palestine to make israel and when that includes at least western jerusalem that will attract more jews from abroad to come to become citizens and palestine the palestinian claim is very simple they always lived in palestine they all lived in jerusalem even before it became christian and then after that it became largely muslim even before that cananites the palestinians are the natural inhabitants of palestine and the goddess of the religion they have adopted the time so to talk about people who were there and then came back to recover something they claim to have lost two thousand years ago is indian it disingenious is really is very strange in eight hundred seventy one the british said. It a mission to police stand to make a set of eight of but history they spent four years surveying palestine and they produced twenty six maps and ten volumes and in that they have stated that our studies have shown that they produced in this remit and the end of the last century are the same palestinians who have been living there for thousands of years so who is the foreigner a foreigner who came from the ghettos at least in europe to look at pi the country of palestine and to claim that the people who live there for a thousand years are not natives of the country they are who are the foreigners they are the natives and that is something not accepted by any part in the world except those who believe in racism and apartheid for centuries handcrafted knives have been status symbols across the middle east theyre still carried by men during important ceremonies and family occasions in amman the traditional dagger known as the quran job as a source of National Pride is charles stratford. Omanis often say that is a symbol of the national identity. Similar knives are made in neighboring yemen and southern saudi arabia but the craftsmanship here in oman has been for centuries considered the finest in the region. The silversmiths at this workshop in the historical town of from india. People theyve been taught the altar of using traditional omani designs to make a dagger which can take months to cross my grandfather me this is the best things you can do with all of the life because this is the level of almighty the bug every time so thats a fig leaf you know take this walk back out for you and then the. Government recently set regulations on how the omani should be made in order to preserve its specific characteristics the traditional say decongest favored by the royal family for example must have four or seven rings depending on the status of the wearer handles that used to be made from black rhino horns are now called from buffalo horn or would be some of the oldest hunters in this shot but one of the holding here is a sighting one just its at least one hundred years old the cut off the sheet is made out of snake skin the handle is made out of black rhino horn were told that its worth noting less than around Twelve Thousand dollars and tradition dictates that if i remove the blade from the sheet then i have to use it to guide mohamed el cough shows us how the conjurer is worn by helping his son dress as he would for weddings and special occasions with on jerrys either worn on a specially crafted belt or top behind a waistband. A wooden sword but i feel proud to be wearing my arab a money clothes my patriotism runs in my blood and he had the im with the fringe of represents the amount of personality our pride in our nation and it also exalts the sultan the country and our ancestors of them. What was once used as a weapon now crafted as a work of omani. That aljazeera and his work. He should all be here in doha with the sob stories from aljazeera the polls have opened in liberias president ial Runoff Election the pits a former International Football star against the current Vice President the vote is expected to lead to the countrys first democratic transition of power in seventy three years. The powerful storm that left a trail of death and destruction in the philippines has now been downgraded to Tropical Storm tembin also failed to make landfall in vietnam but experts say heavy rain and strong winds from the weather system could still cause damage to infrastructure in the region. Thousands of peruvians have demonstrated after the former president Alberto Fujimori was pardoned because of poor health he served about half of a twenty five year sentence for human rights abuses and corruption perus current president petro public oshinsky called pardoning fujimori the most difficult decision of his life oh most a. C. V. Then its obvious to all of us that the government he inherited at the beginning of the ninetys the country was in a chaotic and violent crisis incurred significant transgressions of the law as far as democracy and human rights are concerned but i also believe his government contributed to National Progress im convinced that those of us who believe in democracy cannot allow Alberto Fujimori to die in prison the russian Opposition Leader alexina has been barred from running in next years president ial election hes been told he is in eligible because of a criminal conviction which he says is politically motivated and the only is now calling for a boycott of the march vote. The Nigerian Military has stopped an attack by suspected book fighters on the outskirts of the northeastern city of mine to go to heavy gunfire was reported in the more lie area as the army fought off the attackers while the number of casualties remains unknown is that many women and children were injured. Cinesias demanding an apology from the u. A. E. Up to the country banned female chain is eons from landing in the gulf states and once Airlines Flights were barred from tennessee in response you are right up to date with all our top stories the news continues after the stream more news in half an hour i will see you very soon. We understand the differences and the similarities of cultures across the world. So no matter where you call home Aljazeera International bringing the news and current a phone is that matter to you. Aljazeera. Hi emily could be making welcome to the stream live on aljazeera and now you