i have to give something back to my friend of mine who seem to many of us are. going with. surfers fighting against one simply. starting january seventh on the job. this is it we news live from berlin a major prisoner swap between ukrainian forces and separatist rebels the exchange of three hundred eighty prisoners is underway in eastern ukraine or in the capital kiev for more on why it's happening now and what the immediate future may bring

also coming up. detained in me in mar a court orders to workers journalists to be kept in custody for another fourteen days over allegations they've reached the country's official secrets act and. going to go go go go go go not mucking around conservationists in south africa getting to grips with food raiding boone's find a new way to keep these uninvited guests at bay and far away from humans. thank you very much for your company. in a bloody conflict that has been grinding on for years now a rare let up in tensions ukraine's forces and pro russian rebels in that country's restive east are exchange. prisoners ukraine central government is releasing three

hundred six prisoners and expects the separatists to release seventy four of its captives and return all this after talks in moscow mediated by the head of the russian orthodox church. while it's being called the largest prisoner exchange in the east ukraine conflict and the w.'s very own david stern is and ukrainian capital kiev with the very latest david to talk to us a little bit about whether this swap has actually taking taken place so what are you hearing. or not hearing anything yet we will only hear about it after it happens and the logistics and the mechanism of it will also become clear but as you say what we're anticipating is that seventy four ukrainian soldiers will be released as well as three hundred six from the russian backed insurgents now what we're hearing at the moment again this will only find out if this is actually

the fact but what we're hearing is that first it will be the ukrainians who are released they will then go to nearby cities and then they will be flown back to kiev little bit later closer to the evening the insurgents will be released at the moment we're still waiting to hear whether it is under under way but we did the last thing we heard it was happening any time soon are it happening any time soon can you tell us a little bit about who made this prisoner swap possible in the first place. well again this is going to be clearer later if it happens maybe a lot later but it is part of the ongoing talks the peace talks this is the try a lateral contact group which meets in minsk there those are the russians ukrainians the o.c.e. as well as the russian backed separatist taking place are taking part there one thing we can say is most likely one person did play a role at least a role in it and that is viktor amid the chook who is

a very interesting and slightly ambiguous figure he is a ukrainian he represents ukrainian side but he's also a very close to russian president latter put a lot of near pugin in fact mr putin is the godfather to mr than with jukes daughter and he has been the person who has been very key up until now in these talks for the prisoner exchange all right and david stick around because we're hearing that another prisoner swap is also being worked on at the moment because a spokesperson for the pro russian rebels had this to say a little earlier. that there are sixty more prisoners and key had who were not part of this exchange they weren't included in the first list we've placed them in a second round of prisoner exchanges we haven't forgotten them we'll continue this discussion after the new year. but. they're encouraging sounds they're coming from that spokes person does this mean that a cease fire is now on the horizon. well

it's difficult to say it also should be said that the ukrainians maintain that around one hundred of their soldiers are still in captivity in the east and what we are seeing are i guess you could say a number of mixed of developments this is obviously very positive but at the same time the fighting has continued and in fact within the last week has become considerably worse and in just the last twenty four hours another ukrainian soldier has been killed and five wounded what we're hoping for is a cease fire for the holiday season that's not happening yet that perhaps given the progress on the prisoner front this could be something that could happen in the in the near future our david stern reporting from the ukrainian capital thank you a courts in myanmar has extended the detention of two reuters journalists for another two weeks authorities have charged the reporters were violating the country's official secrets act that carries

a maximum sentence of fourteen years the journalists were reporting on the crisis in wrecking state tour a military crackdown forced more than six hundred thousand random muslims to flee the country. while known in the blue jacket hadn't seen his family in two weeks. even so as he and fellow journalist charles solo arrived to a courthouse scrum he protested their innocence. we're just carrying out our jobs we would never violate journalistic ethics he told the crowd. in the frenzy no amount of police or press could stop his wife. the men are accused of breaking secrecy laws as they pursued the story of a military crackdown on range of muslims human rights groups and foreign governments have condemned their arrests observers say it's an attack on press

freedoms. outside the hearing while loans wife called for him to be released. i want my husband to be free soon and i trust him that he would never violate the rules of law he has good morals so he should be free soon. but not for another two weeks at least as the judge extended their detention shows so low had his say. we tried to tell the truth. with the men level range while dunn's wife made one final bid to hold him. a trial date has been set for january tenth. aren't to tell you now about some of the other stories making news around the world. russian russia's election commission has accepted vladimir putin's application to run for president

in next year's vote putin is seeking a fourth term in office and he's expected to win he has an eighty percent approval rating and there is no strong contender yet. the red cross in syria says evacuations have begun of critically ill patients from the rebel held on klav of eastern hotel forces loyal to the government of president bashar al assad are currently beseeching the enclave were almost four hundred thousand people live the u.n. called on the government to allow the evacuation of five hundred patients who need medical care south korea says the comfort women rao with japan is unresolved despite the two countries having reached a deal in two thousand and fifteen officials in seoul say the agreement over south korean women who were forced to work in japan's wartime brothels fails to meet the needs of the victims. former u.s.

president barack obama has given his first major interview since leaving office to britain's prince harry the two set down together for a special edition of b.b.c. radio four s flagship program the today programme guest hosted by none other than the prince while they discussed a range of topics including obama's feelings upon handing over the presidential baton to donald trump and although obama should away from mentioning trump by name he delivered a clear message about people in leadership roles it ing to be more cautious in their use of social media and now when the interview aired earlier today the prince was asked about his friendship with obama here's what he had to say we the same kind of minds a look on the charitable. foundations and mainly on the youth of the youth of today well enough to invite him to wedding well i don't know about. the

the in points or the guest list to get the so who knows where who knows where you could be going to the one room that spreads. very thorny question there right now next we had to the u.s. where of course everyone loves a white christmas but people in the city of area in the northeastern u.s. got all lot more than they bargained for a record amount of snow has fallen since christmas day and it just keeps on coming the only thing people can now do is try and dig their way out. without them this city would be in much deeper trouble snowplow drivers in erie pennsylvania are currently in high demand today will be probably pad fifteen hours easily. we've been out since two in the morning. but that will hardly be enough police of closed a number of roads already this city declared a snow emergency after a record breaking one point five meters of snow fell in just forty eight hours.

many locals spent christmas shoveling their way out. i'm used to snow i've been born and raised here so but not this much in one day that thirty hours fifty three and says and here it comes again so and they said this storm isn't over till tomorrow afternoon so i can only imagine what we'll get again tonight like it wasn't last. you know it's a little ridiculous but i keep economic at it we'll get it clear. however the dogs of erie seem to be enjoying the white outs. and they will have plenty of time to do so more snow is forecast for today. now imagine coming home from work to find a huge trashing your kitchen all that nightmare is real for many people on south africa's cape insula where baboons often break into homes and rummage for food but now a new method of deterring the furry primates could put an end to this monkey business

once and for all. go go go aboon bug larry in south africa's keep peninsula people dashes primate is an almost daily occurrence thanks to brazen but boone's inception of their next meal. part riley has seen her fair share of the monkey business there are a lot of them in cape town and coming to your house and they make an awful mess. with it but not too bad they have been in my house quite often. they're not aggressive they're find them aggressive and they're not really interested in you they're looking for food that's what they're 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. callers are used to track the baboons movements once the pesky primates get close

to town come the boom boxes. of pertaining to or predators along the prison sounds of being killed they're scared to go. if you bang. reinforces this earth and they're 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 it's music to their ears and i've noticed in the last two weeks since the team arrived with what they call the virtual friends we've had large literally for the last two weeks there will be there are magination are there certainly but there are. at stake is the region's famed boon

population until recently the cheeky monkeys would have been shot following positive results the plan is now to rule the system another keep one suburbs hopefully ensuring that fewer and fewer light fingered friends are killed unnecessarily. all right time for some sports news now in boxing day football yesterday in the english premier league tottenham forward harry kane was given the opportunity to break a longstanding record came out of his thirty seventh thirty eight and thirty ninth premier league goals this year in a five to win against south side hampton the england striker breaking alan shearer his record of thirty six goals in a calendar year which was set back in one thousand nine hundred ninety five kane is also the highest scoring striker in europe this year with a total of fifty six goals for club and country. you got all

your statistics there in cricket australia may have won the ashes but arch rivals england impressed on day two of the fourth test in melbourne australia were all out for three hundred twenty seven following a lower order batting collapse england meanwhile ended the day on one hundred ninety two for two with alastair cook powering his way to his thirty second test century australia have a three nil even the best of five series and one of the longest running competitions in sports history all right that does it for me we'll have more news at the top of the hour but stay tuned it's d.w. news up next where gary hart alford's.