Im nick spicer welcome to the program the Ukrainian Government and russian backed separatists have completed a major Prisoner Exchange among those released are captives held by both sides since hostilities broke out in 2014 the swap follows an agreement between russia and ukraine reached earlier this month in talks brokered by germany and france. Home for the new year dozens of joyful reunion splayed out on the quay of airports tama many of the captives hadnt same friends or family for years on hand a visibly moved president flaw to me is a lenski he greeted the exchange during talks with russias fled he made putin earlier this month. As we deliver on our promises to each so these people will celebrate new year with their loved ones with their parents and children at home just each night. And this is the moment prisoners were afraid earlier on sunday russian backed separatists late ukrainian prisoners go at a checkpoint in the countrys aist the men were lined up to be collected by the red cross for some it was a chance to voice their anger over their treatment here you know i spent 5 years in a basement how can this happen in the 21st century in a european country paragraph of our. Heading home to dozens of separatists many of them have also faced hosh conditions in captivity. In this conflict volunteer militias have often ignored the rules of war conditions in captivity and the tourists n. G. O. S say the Ukrainian Government too has violated detainees rights. Which is you know they tortured me 5 times in jail on a good movie i did my they said hes dead take away his body but i survived despite them words were not. Many of those have been released for the new year will bring horrifying stories with them. But whatever theyve enjoyed now is still a moment to celebrate. For the families and others in a war torn country. And reporter Charles Mcphedran who brought us that story is with us now charles. So this is the 2nd exchange in the space of a year does that mean the chances of peace are going up nick is still not quite those chances of face were going to say more talks in a few months in the normandy format which is involving france germany maybe adding and russia and ukraine but the chances still arent quite when we talk about a new crane got to remember there are people dying almost every day were saying basically constant shooting along the front lines every day and the issues that remain in terms of these the pace and the plaid for you cried is still not inside we have on the one hand of lebanese selenski at home on under pressure at home to come up with basically order to to stick to the red lines that the opposition is sit down from violating ukraines National Interest and on the other hand we have rusher and the separatists and they themselves want to have more influence of ukrainian politics and the quasi states within the so for climb states those are basically a leyva to having that influence really saw president take center stage and in the story you put together for us is his popularity like duty to be boosted in his negotiation negotiating position strength and consequently i mean hes really got points i think it harmful but these exchanges i was incredibly emotional what weve seen is as the package of the report illustrated blood ms lewinsky is there a lady who really is great at reading the crowd so we saw basically when the. Plane docked down at the airport we saw in midst of the lenski great the hostages form a captives and we saw him read the crowd he shared the emotions of the crowd and thats something thats really new feed crime in politics previously does have been kind of remote and here we saw as a lansky getting close a peek a boo some of the families and then giving a rousing speech really using kind of everyday language so that through. Right from the pos and ukraines tradition of really remote sort of soviet style a does a youve been actually working with. To make a documentary one of the families involved in the Prisoner Exchange can you tell us a bit about that not everybody is entirely happy with whats happening there right its a controversial part of the exchange which is really gonna missed as alinsky a lot of criticism especially from the opposition ive been working on a documentary concerning a prominent court case it involves the shootings on the my dime you might remember the end you know for a very 24 tane really convulses center of the city we had 48 people die on one morning and among people who were swapped today we had 5 Police Offices who were accused of killing the 48 protesters on my down. Now this had been involved in the court case which had been going on since i pro 24. 00 tane some of them and lawyers believe it was close to reaching a conclusion now the evidence against the offices is circumstantial still disputed the court hadnt got to the end but will now never hear from those offices they would do to give testimony before the trial wrapped up so no justice sense son not justice and that is really a blow to some of the families to the majority of the families id say i was still who especially those who have families in a sneak crime they understand why and date this Exchange Went ahead but its a difficult issue for the country as a whole all right charles veteran thanks for that. Now we will take a look at some of the sorry onto texas church goers in the u. S. State of texas have shot dead a gunman who opened fire at a sunday Service Police said the gunman killed 2 parishioners attack took place in the west Freeway Church of christ in the texas town of White Settlement but the attack ended quickly after 2 Church Members who are also part of the volunteers used their own weapons to shoot the assailant dead best the gator said they were working to find a motive heres what local authorities had to say about the attack and the response of the church goers it to. Good people well. Before. This country has seen so many of these that weve actually. Gotten used to it to this point. Its tragic and its this is terrible situation especially during the Holiday Season i would like to point out that we have a couple of heroic parishioners who stopped short of. Just anything that you could even imagine saved countless lives and. Going out to them and their families as well now lets take a look at some of the other stories making news around the world. At least 10 people were killed when a missile hit a military parade in a town in southern yemen a ceremony for new recruits was being held by a southern yemen separatist group allied with a government spokesman blamed the rebels for the attack. The United States says it has bombed 5 locations in iraq and syria controlled by a Paramilitary Group with suspected ties to iran secretary of state said the strikes were in response to earlier attacks that threaten American Forces in iraq its not clear if there were any victims that have taken place in the middle its estimated that a government let us. Has caused nearly a quarter of a 1000000 syrians to flee their homes recently neighboring turkey is warning that they could end up in europe if that happens one crossing point for migrants is the border between turkey and European Union member both area correspondent nina drugstore it traveled there and talked to both guards and a refugee who started a new life in europe. Mohammed jamal a professional syrian hairdresser fled his war torn hometown of aleppo 6 years ago. He made it as far as bulgaria and opened a salon in the capital sofia. Like it is here in bulgaria when one can work here and i can build a future but you know but its. Like other refugees in bulgaria he was allowed to start working 3 months after his arrival mohammed has 7 children to support along with his ailing parents who live in turkey says hes not a bulgarian he cant send for them yet hes applied for citizenship but its still pending. On the german. I am muslim is there still more. Money than i think the most important thing is to be a good person. And that whatever your religion is. Its the only. The turkish bulgarian border is over 200 kilometers long. But because some areas like fences or other barriers officials were powerless to keep tens of thousands of refugees from syria and iraq from crossing over last year. The situation is different now police say only about 3000. 00 people have tried to cross the border illegally this year. Because. We started up creating Border Security and the technical infrastructure on the bulgarian turkish border. If someone tries to cross the border illegally we can be there in 10 minutes in the but this not to sit the pigs. And fewer refugees means less of a burden for bulgarian reception centers. Like this one at her monthly near the border not many refugees are housed here now but until a few years ago overcrowding led to frequent fights. With. Migration increases again well have a bigger problem but at the moment we only have 120 refugees so there is no problem. But this is of little concern to mohammed all he wants to do is leave the past behind him and look ahead towards a Brighter Future in bulgaria. The sporting year is coming to a close of course after 3 months of joy tears and amazement the u. S. Lifted the womens football world cup and spawned a new global superstar while the russian doping saget dragged on heres a look back at an epic 29. A parade of champions the United States won a record extending 4th womens football world cup and their star Meghan Rapinoe took home every individual award possible as much for her passionate pleas for gender equality as for her on field exploits in mens Club Football liverpool remained supremely winning the Champions League and the Club World Cup in tennis the womens majors were shared 4 ways but french open winner ash party ended the year as number one. For the men it was 2 grand slam titles each for rafa nadal and Novak Djokovic the greatest comeback came in gulf where tiger woods won the masters age 4311 years after his last major victory fall and personal injury problems athletics had its usual up and down year kenyas cho gave became the 1st person to run a marathon in under 2 hours but it will not count officially. The World Championships in doha were overshadowed by lower spectator numbers the heat and doping but shelley and fraser pryce stole the show for the women adding to multiple record hall of 9 golds that World Championships the russian doping scandal intensified with the country now banned from all major sporting events for 4 years after being accused of manipulating data clean russians may compete as neutrals must say these last form of the one great nicky loud at age 70 and Lewis Hamilton secured in the motional 6th title underdog south africa beat england in the mens ruby World Cup Final lisa became the 1st black male captain to lift the trophy proving lechner pino that politics and sports can go hand in hand. A rhinoceros thought to be the worlds oldest has died at the age of 57. 00 in tanzania. A black male eastern black rhino living in a Conservation Area died of Natural Causes the typical Life Expectancy of a rhino is between 37 and 43 years old there are less than 6000 rhinos left in africa and im nick spicer thanks for joining us more news at the top of the hour. Up to. Me colby printers have. Never defeated in the