Ukraine. Also on the program votes being counted off to liberias president ial 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 countrys current Vice President. Go go go go go go go go go go to grips with the Monkey Business in south africa conservationists come up with a novel way of keeping pesky primates away from human rights. Hello and welcome my name is Christopher Spring a good to have you with us its a rare moment of deescalation in the bitter conflict between ukrainian and Government ForcesUkrainian Government forces rather on one hand and pro russian rebels in. In the east of the country the two sides have agreed to exchange a significant number of president s like to today this after talks in moscow mediated by the head of the Russian Orthodox church yes representative to the talks said ukraine will release three hundred six prisoners and expects the separatists to release four of its captives in return. But for ordinary people on either side of the frontline the conflict is still demanding great sacrifice 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 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 its 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 cant get over the shock that there is fighting going on here where i live. Shells arent 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 theres 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 years president ial election six hundred supporters including problem of lawmakers and actors gathering in moscow to declare that backing for him her to him has decided to run as an independent in a bid to make the most of his his personal popularity these Young Russians came to see the kremlin new years 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. Positively. But i will not have died. The opposition has little chance of victory after the countrys 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 theres still plenty of support for putin more than six hundred prominent russians including lawmakers actors and athletes gathered in moscow to officially endorse him as their candidate. But it is. Our country has changed from a devastating one without future prospects to a powerful country. Or putin is the only leader who said our health care isnt good and under him maternity clinics and cardiological and other medical centers were built. You see how the army has grown and grown stronger it now has powerful new weapons at its disposal and the person now are doing well its. 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 lets catch up now with some of the other stories making news around the world the red cross in syria says the evacuations have begun of critically ill patients from the rebel held in clave of eastern goutam forces loyal to the government of president Bashar Al Assad account leave besieging that place where almost four hundred thousand people live the u. N. Had called on the government to allow the evacuation of five hundred patients who urgently need medical care. In libya militants have blown up a pipeline pumping crude oil to the port of a see that the explosion occurred near the town of. Libyas oil output has been cut by one hundred thousand barrels a day leaving oil prices to surge to two and a half year highs the countrys state run National Oil Corporation is blaming socalled Islamic State a court in myanmar has remanded to reuters journalists in custody for a second fourteen day period authorities are probing allegations that the to breach the countrys official secrets act they were reporting on the crisis in wreck and state where a military crackdown has forced more than six hundred thousand range of muslims to flee the country south korea says the comfort women raul with japan is unresolved despite the two countries having reached a deal back in twenty fifteen officials in seoul saying the agreement of a south korean women who have forced to work in japans or time bravos fails to meet the needs of the victims. And residents of erie in the u. S. State of panic pennsylvania spent the day after christmas shoveling their way out of breath cold snow fall the town has had one hundred thirty five centimeters of snow over the last two days and more is on the way local media reporting that this is the greatest two day accumulation in the States History now vote counting is underway in the west african nation of liberia after a president ial runoff yesterday there were no reports of violence during the polling and results are expected within the next few days liberians hope the election will mark the countrys first peaceful transfer of power and over seventy years and 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 is the most without this is it. Because it was a source. So the issue is no we know it was that if you win you celebrate it is celebrated in the should it because you go to the president of everybody if you lose your sort of acceptability. Its a runoff vote between former International Footballer george weah and Vice President joseph bok i both of whom join voters in casting their ballots. That are great beer because of the curse of democracy that we when we want to know what you want your work and i would use a tool. We have brought to the process this is what the process that were doing were willing to live with. Born in a slum in the capital monrovia george weah star performances for europes biggest football teams in the ninetys won the hearts of young liberians. This is his second run for president. To. Go to when. 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 weve been looking at some of the technological trends that define the last twelve months and one of those has been official intelligence progress in that field bringing us closer to the dream of sophisticated robots to service work for us and even think for us some robots may even replace all pets these robots talk of players doing well for rookies but maybe theyll improve through learning. Miro the robot dog can already do that he can learn the floor plan 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 to what its supposed to be its. The scope of jobs that robots are able to do is growing rapidly pretty soon farmers wont need farm hands anymore to feed their animals tennis clubs wont 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 seventeen 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 conductors 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 theyll offer serious competition to humans. Imagine coming home from work to find a huge boon trashing your kitchen that nightmare is real for many people on south africas Cape Peninsula where a boon for 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 burglary in south africas keep potential people bashes primate is an almost daily occurrence thanks to brazen boones 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 come into your house and they make an awful mess live with it but not too bad they have been in my house quite often. Theyre not aggressive theyre find them aggressive and theyre not really interested in you theyre looking for food thats what theyre 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. Colors are used to track the baboons movements once the pesky primates get close to town come the boom boxes. Of pertaining to or predators the long course on the prison sounds of being killed theyre scared to go. A few bangs. Reinforces this. And theyre void. With the help of predators such as lions leopards and hyenas the aim is to create what they call a landscape of fear an imaginary birendra that the monkeys do not dare to cross for villagers in nearby her minus its music to their ears weve heard just in the last two weeks since the team arrived with what they call the virtual fence weve had large literally for the last two weeks there will be there are magination are these. But there are. At stake is the regions famed but britain 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. Boxing day football yesterday in the English Premier League giving tottenham forward harry kane the opportunity to break a longstanding record kane netted his thirty seven thirty eight and thirty ninth premier league goals this year in a five to win against southampton the england striker breaking alan shearer as record of thirty six goals in a calendar year which was set back in one thousand nine hundred ninety five can by the way also the highest scoring striker for club and country in all of europe this year with fifty six goals to his name. Youre watching news in berlin more from us as ever at the top of the hour up next here on a documentary focusing on the challenges of egypts Coptic Christians to stay with us for that. Make your smart t. V. Even smarter with the audience for smart. What you do what you want to. Up to date. Extraordinary. Depths