The philippines government reaches out to help people displaced by storms and Political Violence in mirali. Hello and welcome my names peter w. Watching al jazeera live from my headquarters here in doha also coming up vote counting is underway in liberias president ial election. Russias Biggest Party makes it official backing putin for another term in the kremlin. Also this half hour the legacy of pakistans first woman Prime MinisterBenazir Bhutto ten years after her assassination. Top story beginning in the philippines where the government is setting up more than six hundred temporary shelters for people displaced by the conflict in the city of murali the army the area from separatist fighters in october after a five month siege the fighting cause more than a billion dollars worth of damage and thousands of people are still homeless or are we was hit by Tropical Storm tembin last week making the situation there much worse rob mcbride has more now from morocco. On the edge of more our way this is a hopeful sign in an area that has been plagued by conflict and now the effects of these damaging storms this is a new Housing Development for people whove been displaced by months of fighting between Government Forces and also fighters who are linked to i still be given its importance president rod really go to turkey and it will be coming here to perform the ceremony it is very important for him in his presidency he is from. Mindanao he calls himself a son of mindanao and has promised that the people will find eventually long lasting peace and the people here have suffered from the double effect of both the storm and also conflict so its very important around the building exercise for the president to be here in this hole of mindanao faces the classic guy lam out of a conflict which holds up development then the lack of money and jobs then feeds into the underlying feeling and rest which then contributes just. The violence all of this is of course not helped by have being batted by the storm. The u. S. Has imposed sanctions on to north korean scientists linked to the countrys Missile Program the u. S. And south korea kim jong see and reap young our senior figures in north Korean Leader kim jong uns Ballistic MissileDevelopment Team now the sanctions are the latest move by the u. S. To pressure pyongyang into abandoning its Weapons Program in south korea the era of the Electronics Giant samsung has appeared in court again hes appealing against the conviction in a Corruption Case legia yong was sentenced to five years in august only submitted in the peel in september and the high court is expected to hand the ruling next month and he can only be kept in detention until then under south korean law another case was part of a bribery scandal that also saw the impeachment of the countrys former President Park geun an egg. Vote counting well underway in liberias president ial runoff between the former football star george weah and the current Vice President joseph despite a low turnout Election Officials have praised the process thats expected to produce the first democratic transition of power there in more than seven decades mohammed the reports now from the capital monrovia. Thousands lined up to vote in more than five thousand polling stations across liberia arriving long before the stations opened the tunnels however nowhere near the foster homes held in october that had been delayed twice after being contested in court amid claims of a declared it is in the foster round Officials Say the reduction of candidates from twenty two just to may have cost the among voters a kindle for for the socalled. New process to score small this morning and i hope. This morning the contests is between a former International Football star george where and Vice President just whack i the wino would replace africas first female head of state Ellen Johnson sirleaf who came to power after the countrys lost civil war told me years ago im not associated there were losing them to do this theres virtually no they said to me that im going to wind up work hard to know we know georgia seventy two year old Joseph Walker has served as layby as Vice President since two thousand and six he too wanted in the capital and had red bearded coaches in terms of democracy we went in one time they were doing to our work and i would use a tool. We had to do they were going through the process is it working to the president or do we are willing to live with both wear and walk promising peace in liberia and also want to corruption in one of the worlds poorest countries if the results. It will be the fourth time in generations the blood videos will witness the transfer of power from one elected leader to another International Observers also praising what they call of Violence Free paul says about five million liberia the ballot box placed bullets but this is a big election for everyone whos following democracy west africa the trend has certainly been you know more towards the democratic shift and really rooting them washed firmly and i think that is what we will see here in liberia today the liberian people are determined to do what theyre ready to do it. And im im very confident they will there are two weeks within which to declare that exalts its official so how about confident that well have them ready in four days Mohammed Atta will just. Be the International Committee of the red cross and red crescent have begun medical evacuations from eastern guta the besieged rebel held area in syrias capital damascus almost four hundred thousand people have been trapped there by Government Forces since twenty thirteen the enclave has been the target of hundreds of airstrikes and artillery attacks the u. N. Had earlier called for five hundred people in need of Urgent Medical care to be allowed to leave. Turkey reportedly wants to use a military base in the rebel held syrian province of an observation post the country already has its troops deployed in some areas of it as part of a deescalation agreement but the region has recently come under heavy attack by president Bashar Al Assads forces zina holder has that story from beirut. Those who were killed in this airstrike were internally displaced syrians a woman and her two children their new home a tent has been destroyed whatever belongings they had now rubble they moved to tell it to convolute in the southern edges of the rebel controlled province of idlib and search for safety but in recent weeks the region has been the target of heavy airstrikes. The displaced from came here the planes came and hit them theyre targeting civilians there are no unfortunates here where do you want us to go or i its not clear if the bombing raids are being carried out by Syrian Government planes or those of its ally russia but what is clear is that the strikes are only increasing. They are putting pressure on the civilians but the civilians will pressure the rebels not to fight because the regime has made major advances on the ground. They want people to hazed arrivals and the regime is trying to pressure the rebels to agree to a political settlement. The stepped up air strikes coincide with a ground offensive by proGovernment Forces who have been advancing from the northern countryside of hama and the southern countryside of aleppo towards. They entered small parts of the province advancing into the administrative borders for the First Time Since the rebels forced them out of and two thousand and fifteen an all out assault on. Fighters many of whom were forced other areas by proGovernment Forces its still not clear whether the government intends to. The whole province or whether its just to control of some areas in the countryside. What is clear is that the government wants the air base back it is one of the Largest Military airports in the north turkey reportedly wants to use database as an observation post already its military is deployed in some areas of it live. As part of a deescalation deal. It is supposed to be a safe area. The opposition now fears the presence of Al Qaeda Linked fighters and it will be used by the government as an excuse to step up the Bombing Campaign they also fear that proGovernment Forces are no longer busy on other fronts and are now turning their attention to adlib. Favorite. Russian president Vladimir Putin has been nominated for reelection hes running as an independent candidate but is backed by the pro Kremlin United Russia Party hes expected to win use force in march easily push and refrain from campaigning but has praised his governments management of the economy after the country rebounded from its worst recession in two decades. Of course these have been difficult years for both the country and for those who had to ensure Stable Development and overcome the difficulties that stemmed from the World Economy i can say that the russian government not only did everything that it could but in my opinion even more than that you have a stench and we solved all the economic tasks at hand. Staying in russia the Electoral Commission has allowed t. V. Personality. To run against puts in elections is nominated by the group Civil Initiative shes the daughter of putins former mentor Anatoly Sobchak still active mayor of St Petersburg but critics say her decision to run plays into the hands of the kremlin by creating an offer shell contest. Those most ill to come for you here on aljazeera including these stories as tensions rise on the Korean Peninsula one familys hopes for a reunion continue to fade. In the United States five hundred million. Every day there are bam or if i can its called the strollers in Seattle Campaign the push to keep Plastic Waste out of the worlds oceans. Hello and welcome back now across western parts of europe the weather is turning colder with the risk of snow across the alps but also further north across the u. K. Will see some snow sort across the middle east ten centimeters of snow in places further south certainly temperatures struggling there madrid just making double figures but the whiz come from the south for the east side temperatures a pair of good fries in quite nicely as they were looking at twelve in bucharest on thursday theres a snow pushing down into the balkans region unsettled weather generally then across more eastern parts of the mediterranean but the cold air sitting across the you came fronts temperatures of just five in both london and paris on the other side of the Mediterranean Sea weve got showers for coastal parts of old syria and tunisia certainly tunis will see a big drop in temperatures so head through into thursday and its looking quite cool further along the coast in indy car only seeing a high of eighteen across central parts of africa we have some showers for the bone but otherwise weather conditions are the humidity find plenty of sunshine for Lagos Nigeria and i crank out over temperatures around the thirty degrees for southern parts of africa weve got heavy showers for parts mongolia some be in zimbabwe through towards mozambique but further south is looking largely dry and fine should be a decent day in durban with high sierra of twenty seven. Welcome back recapping our top stories for you so far today the government in the philippines says its setting up more than six hundred temporary shelters for people displaced by the conflict in the city of murali the army read so clear from separatist fighters in october for a five month siege around we was also battered by Tropical Storm tembin last week. The counting is underway in liberias president ial runoff between the former footballer george weah and the current Vice President joseph despite a low turnout the process is expected to produce the first democratic transition of power there in more than seven decades and the russian president Vladimir Putin has been nominated for a fourth term in office was running as an independent candidate but hes backed by the pro Kremlin United Russia Party hes expected to win the vote comfortably shuttles take place in march of next year. Was twenty seventeen comes to an end were looking back at some of the biggest stories of the year through the eyes of five families in our final report we focus now on tensions on the Korean Peninsula and families split between the north and the South Florence luis spoke with a man whos been separated from his father for nearly five decades. This is one of kong and charles treasured possessions its the only photo he has of him with his father he was two years old when he last saw his dad nearly fifty years ago it wasnt until he was nine that he found out the truth. I asked my mother when he was coming home she told me he was on a business trip to the United States and will be home for christmas i believed her and waited and waited his father. Had been traveling on a domestic flight in south korea but it was hijacked and flown to north korea the incident sparked an International Outcry in north korea eventually returned most of those on board the flight that refused to allow eleven of us to leave including kwans father. There was a time i hated my father so much because i was told by my family that he stood out too much during ideologist sessions in the north he would argue with the of dorrys and thats why he wasnt sent back to hong has spent much of his adult life campaigning for his fathers release setting up a group to the south korean government and International Community to pressure north korea to release the remaining crew and passengers. When there were tensions around the Korean Peninsula intensified my fathers case was pushed aside whenever there were any issues between the core yes and our story became the least priority its a tragedy my family has to carry looking inward. And security concerns on the peninsula had deepened this year in september north korea tested a Hydrogen Bomb weapons experts also say north korean scientists appear to have made rapid progress with each missile test and could possibly combine nuclear and Ballistic Missile capabilities by next year. One realizes these developments will make a reunion more unlikely but hes certain his dad still yinz for home and here can seem to try to defect in two thousand and thirteen i heard that the rest of the people in his group who made the same attempt were all executed the one was then in march two thousand and sixteen i heard he was living in pounce on what i was told last december you know that the surveillance was too strong for anyone to approach him or took him that i can prove. But one is not giving up determined to be reunited with his father no matter what it takes florence lee aljazeera saw. Its exactly ten years since pakistans first female head of state was assassinated Benazir Bhutto was killed at a Campaign Rally after a suicide bomber detonated explosives. On the legacy she left behind. Oh. Gould in the art of complicated pakistani politics by have followed i dont think i really porto energy but go became the was youngest Prime Minister and pakistans first woman state. Was actually an incredibly. During her lifetime she got such wide screen off. Literally everything she wasnt really into she was the thing that isnt. She had a strong command on foreign funding she had intense interest. In pakistan the bottom of her feet in the Prime Minister twice been as it was unable to recover from corruption charges during her second term as Prime Minister she was barred from politics but i managed to did my gender card with mccarthy in two thousand and seven paved the way for her return in october two thousand and seven when i did vote. Don ending almost eight. She had a narrow escape procession was bombed into southern port city of karachi but despite that her life continued read the political rally across the cou