Dead. Im brian thomas great to have you with us. Well back with family and friends ukrainian and russian backed separatists prisoners were reunited with their loved ones after a Major Exchange between the 2 sides among those released captives who had been in the tension since hostilities broke out in 2014 now the swap follows an agreement between russia and ukraine brokered by germany and france. Home for the new year dozens of joy for unions played out on the kiev airports tama many of the captives hadnt same friends or family for years on hand i visibly moved president flawed to me is the lenski he great to the exchange during talks with Russias Vladimir Putin earlier this month. As we deliver on our promises 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 frayed 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 that 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 or for example there are. 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. They tortured me 5 times in jail youre moving it too much they said hes dead take away his body but i survived despite them. Many of those have been released to 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. Ok and both sides now start leaving the past behind them for more lets bring indeed their views david stern joining us from kiev today to you david is this Prisoner Exchange a step towards a more comprehensive peace deal between ukraine and its a russian backed separatists. Well very emotional scenes yesterday as we just saw in the report in fact we were at the airport when the prisoners returned and there were lots of cheers and and enjoy at the same time but indeed the main question is will this can contribute now to a full out peace the hope is that this is obviously a positive step any type of Prisoner Exchange like this is greeted here in ukraine but then there has to be built upon president selenski met with his russian counterpart. Hooten in paris earlier this month. The talks did not provide the breakthrough but it did they did agree on this Prisoner Exchange and now the question is what are they going to do to move beyond this whether they can actually bring a cease fire a full ceasefire to the east because fighting as weve heard it continues and then eventually can there be a full out agreement which would bring the war to a complete and yeah you mentioned the fighting and the tear filled scenes on the tarmac there that you went witness can you tell us something about the prisoners were they all combatants. No in fact there were combatants as well as civilians there were 2 journalists who had been taken as well it was a mixed group as well as the people who greeted them there all types loved ones and family there was it was over 70 people who were returned here and for the people who were sent back to the rebel controlled territory it was more than 120 among those though it was were 5 controversy all return east they were 5 riot police who in fact were not participants in the in the war but were protests were took part in the revolution of the clashes here in kiev just a behind me in the 5 years ago during the revolution on the my don and they were accused of being involved in the death of protesters so this caused a great deal of controversy here in kiev among certain groups the fact that these people were being returned and would not would not be facing any sort of trial in ukraine ok david thanks very much for bringing us up to date on this from kiev for us this morning thanks very much well churchgoers in the u. S. State of texas shot dead a gunman who opened fire at a sunday Service Police say the gunman killed 2 parishioners but the attack ended quickly after Church Members used their own weapons to shoot d. S. L. And dead in september a new long texas came into a fact that allows licensed gun owners to carry weapons and places of worship for parishioners at the west Freeway Church of christ 11 50 am on sunday morning became a time to kill a man dressed in dark clothing stood up from the pews and opened fire within seconds a volunteer Church Security officer had shot and killed the assailant moments later several of the church goers had also drawn their guns. But to day evil walked boldly among us but let me remind you good people raised and stopped it before it got worse. 2 victims died in the attack more than 200 others were shaken but spared churchgoers said they were grateful for the presence of armed worshipers. Well here in kenya i think it all congregations should have the people there are people people who get served to just sit with the one. For days and 3 yeah thats me and then theyre wonderful people they were there before anything got any worse and it would have been. This year the u. S. Has witnessed more mass killings than any other year on record. This country has seen so many of these that weve actually. Gotten used to it to this point and its tragic and its this is terrible situation especially during the holiday season. Investigators say they are working to find a moshes so this latest tragedy. Lets get you a brief now some the other stories making the news at this hour the u. S. Says it has bombed 5 locations in iraq and syria controlled by a Paramilitary Group with suspected ties to iran secretary of state mike pump ailsa the strikes from his aunts to earlier attacks that threatened American Forces in iraq its not yet clear if there were any victims. Given that. At least 10 people were killed when a missile hit a military parade in a town in southern yemen the ceremony for new recruits is being held by a southern yemeni separatist group allied with the government the government spokesman blamed who think rebels for the odds are. In australia thousands of residents and tourists have been forced to flee vast bush fires burning in southeastern australia. Its the latest emergency in the countrys devastating summer fire season was hundreds of blazes across the country 10 people have been killed more than a 1000 homes have been destroyed so far. Well here in germany towns are all a macro is marking the Halfway Point through which she said would be her last term in office now this comes as her governing coalition with the social democrats is looking shaky and with germanys main Political Parties losing support in opinion polls has this look at how machall is laying down her legacy. In her natural habitat at the most recent e. U. Summit here europes longest serving head of government has been forging compromise for 15 years yet there are telltale signs of a chancellor on her final stretch in office what was supposed to be her latest budget speech became a Foreign Policy roadmap not to be removed from the nitty gritty of domestic politics you know just that its very easy to be critical of the us which no longer wants to take on responsibility in the places that you stay but 1st im full mais that points back to us here in europe. M. P. s increasingly see merkel focused on her european legacy. Constantly at a loss of i believe she is focusing everything on the germany you Council Presidency but that wont be easy that will take more than launching a successful e. U. China summit and the fall in house as a dozen short hearted it will be a tough program if she wants to celebrate becoming the big european leader at the end of her chance or ship out. With germanys e. U. Presidency coming up in the 2nd half of 2020 machall needs to mend the strategically important marriage with france to fulfill her key aim a united europe that can stand up to an increasingly dominant china back home her own party worry that her refusal to actively back a successor could weaken germanys position speaking of Political Leadership i think she. Should think about supporting someone so to give. The germans and the europeans and everybody out there who could play also a role for stability in that someone is still widely tipped to be his successor as party leader anecdotes come catherine also defense minister she recently called for a more active role for german troops on the world stage she offers the kind of clarity even merkel phones have lately been missing at the top i see only one deficiency thats the luck of a National Strategy which shows transparency about german interests and german strengths and weaknesses the current german chancellor isnt a lame duck yet but the clouds of a long goodbye are hanging over her office in belin. Its an open secret here that the main reason why angola machall continues to ride out the coalition woes back home is her concern over the stability of the European Union at the same time many are struggling to imagine what a post machall germany or europe would look like. Now and from football to tennis to golf sports fans are taking stock of the year gone by as they start to dream of what the new year may hold store for their favorite teams and stars heres a look back at some of the sports highlights of 29000. Parade of champions the United States won a record extending 4th womens football world cup and their star Megan Rapinoe socalled 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 much the greatest comeback came in gulf where tiger woods won the masters age 4311 years after his last major victory falling personal and injury problems athletics had its usual up and down year kenya as well it could choke it 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 low spectator numbers the heat and doping but shelley and fraser pryce stole the show for the women adding 2 more to her record haul 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 hes lost formula one break nicky lauder age 70 and Lewis Hamilton secured an emotional 6th title underdog south africa beat england in the mens Rugby World Cup final sia khaleesi became the 1st black male captain to lift the trophy proving lechner pheno the politics and sports can go hand in hand. Well or an oscar assault to be the worlds oldest has died at the age of 57. 00 in tanzania a female eastern black rhino living in a Conservation Area died of Natural Causes there are only about 5 and a half 1000 black rhinos left and africa this is due to fly from berlin lets get your mind of our top stories this hour the ukraine government and russian backed separatists have completed an exchange of prisoners captured during transfer 5 year conflict as part of the bereavement means for all europe this month between ukraine and russia the conflict has so far flamed more than 13000 lives. This is the news im brian thomas from the entire team thanks so much for being with us. 50 years of religions for peace people from many different states for working together toward a common goal the peaceful resolution of religious conflicts