has never been more available it's a constant barrage with every day but the message is simplistic you have this. good logical rational person crazy monster and misinformation is rife dismissal and does not hold well documented accusations and evidence is part of genocide the listening post provides a critical counterpoint trying to bring mainstream you do narratives of this time on al-jazeera. north and south korea agree to march together under one flag at the winter olympics and feel the joint ice hockey team.

hello i'm barbara sarah this is al jazeera live from london also coming up on the program warnings the u.s. decision to slash its aid for palestinians risks regional stability ethiopia releases the first group of prisoners the taint during protests two years ago and being an opposition leader the art of diplomacy a day before emmanuelle mccraw meets to resume a francis says it will lead to britain to buy you a tapestry and archaeologists in mexico discover what's believed to be the largest flooded cave in the world. hello thank you for joining us marching under one flag and playing together in a joint women's ice hockey team north and south korea have announced the historic partnership for this year's. winter olympics delegates from both countries

announced of the situation after a third round of talks in the border village on. the north will also send the two hundred thirty member strong cheerleading team south korea's president has voiced his support for bringing the ice hockey players together saying it would move the hearts of people around the world it has angered south korean athletes and the public more than one hundred petitions have been launched opposing the move. the olympic meetings may have thought relations between the koreas but they've had an icy reception from japan foreign minister taro kono has warned bella gets that a me at a meeting in canada to be fooled by kim jong un's government and to consider its true intentions at the summit twenty countries agreed to stop ship to ship transfers of outlawed goods to north korea in response to its nuclear weapons program young our allies russia and china did not attend the meeting well kathy novak joins us live now from the south korean capital seoul well it certainly seems

historic and i guess it is a move in the right direction how significant in the long term though would you say this agreement is. well it certainly can significance considering the fact that before a high level talks last week there had been no official communication between the two koreas in more than two years and now they have this agreement to march together at the opening ceremony under a korean peninsula flag to form this joint women's ice hockey team and also to send south koreans into north korea for joint events that includes staging training events at a ski resort that's a pet project of the leader kim jong un and also to stage a joint cultural event at mount kumgang now south koreans haven't visited that mountain in about ten years because a south korean was shot in two thousand and eight by a security guard there and north korea has been trying to restart that tourism program so it is being seen as significant particularly after

a period of heightened tensions that the two koreas can come together for this agreement but as you mentioned there has been some level of protest as well here in the south korea people in general maybe in favor of the idea of a show of unity but first of all many have said they don't want the south korean government to cover the costs of the north korean delegations participation and also some are questioning if having this joint ice hockey team means that some south korean players will miss out to make room for the north koreans barbara so i mean a lot of criticisms and a lot of question marks so the south korea president has voiced his support he said it would move the hearts of people around the world but beyond the olympics how likely is it to lead to resolving the main issue obviously when it comes to north korea and that is its nuclear program. well yes i think the south korean president definitely wants this to be seen as

a step in the right direction thawing the situation so that in future it could lead to a situation where north korea may be able to come to the table to talk about the nuclear is asian he wants this to be seen as a turning point in establishing peace on the korean peninsula but when denuclearization has been brought up in the past north korea has said time and time again that its nuclear weapons are not up for negotiation that is something that the japanese foreign minister was reminding his counterparts meeting in canada what we should have in mind is that north korea continues to advance its nuclear and missile programs even as we speak and we should not be naive about their intent nor should we be blinded by north korea's charm offensive in short it is not the time to use pressure or to rework nose career.

so the meeting there are agreed to to continue that campaign of sanctions and pressure against north korea and south korea supports that campaign as well saying that it goes hand in hand with its policy of engagement and dialogue with north korea saying that by continuing to pressure north korea as with sanctions it is bringing about a situation where it will come to the negotiation lou negotiating table or at least that is what south korea hopes kathy novak with the latest from seoul cuffy thank you. thanks. alison ian's have denounced donald trump's decision to hold back money needed for aid that would have helped millions of people the head of the united nations relief and works agency or under has appealed for world donations to make up the shortfall that the u.s. says its withholding is sixty five million of the one hundred twenty five million

it was going to give on the road which provides a lifeline for around five million palestinians in gaza the west bank jordan lebanon and syria that the u.s. is on his biggest donor giving nearly thirty percent of its budget the e.u. u.k. saudi arabia and germany are the other main donor countries the u.s. had already drastically cut its contribution from three hundred and fifty million dollars donation last year imran khan reports on what the impact will be. it will be camps like these jalazone in the occupied west bank that will be affected most by the us decision to cut a refugee funding to the united nations relief and works agency otherwise known as . there isn't a household here that doesn't rely on whether it's health education a waste collection fifteen thousand refugees live here. it would be a big problem with. the agency wasn't here for just two days you would see thrashed by leg up. in places like gaza residents fear they will be left destitute because

of the u.s. decision the israeli siege of gaza already creates acute shortages of food electricity and other essentials as well as causing high unemployment and infrastructure to crumble you know i think you should have mercy on the people and the little my husband is in his room i can't buy only eleven on syria jordan and elsewhere five million palestinian refugees are reliant on. the agency has a deficit and says this new cut further harms its operations we are going to be working relentlessly to extend the donor base to find other donors to come in to fill this gap because our sincere hope is that we will be able to maintain services to some of the most marginal and fragile communities vulnerable people in the middle east we hope that regional security regional stability will not be threatened but that has to remain a risk in light of the u.s.

with auction politically the palestinians say the u.s. is no longer a part of the peace. it does the heart of been the thinking over there but as the leadership and it shows that we are parked it shows that being over the political track of where the president and his administration would have come from to this issue it proves every day because of euro's and because of that another one us president don't try. has already caused controversy nationally with the announcement that the u.s. embassy will move from tel aviv to jerusalem and that's angered palestinian president mahmoud abbas can't be learned here this sins of donald trump when he wrongly claimed that jerusalem is the capital of israel is a challenge to millions of muslims and christians this is favoritism for the sake of the israeli occupation for the israeli crimes for the israeli attacks on our palestinian people this means that the us has chosen to violate international law

how can we trust is administrator how can we trust this superpower we will never trust them again we will never accept them as mediators between us and the israelis the u.s. cut the funding has cemented the feeling here that the u.s. is now part of the problem and has picked the israeli side the us president donald trump said he was looking for the deal of the century which we need and the palestinians or palestinians say that deal is now history and rank on al-jazeera jealousy in refugee camp in the occupied west bank. military military court has ruled that a palestinian teenager who was filmed the slapping an israeli soldier must be kept in custody until her trial she was arrested amid a rest following the u.s. decision to recognize to slim as israel's capital a video of the incident went viral on social media gaining international attention head to mimi has been hailed a hero her actions are seen as a sign of resistance by many palestinians but the altercation calls outrage in

israel. if he has released an opposition leader jailed more than a year ago for his part in antigovernment protests maria good dina is one of one hundred fifteen prisoners freed and among five hundred twenty eight people who had charges against them dropped by the government he was greeted by thousands of his supporters hundreds of people were killed in a two thousand and sixteen crackdown after months of protests by the country's people with more than ten thousand people arrested. why does their correspondent mohammed have though joins us live now from the hot mohammed it had been announced a couple of weeks ago had and by the government that they would make a few releases of prisoners that they would shut down one of the main prisons at the time they were question marks people welcoming the decision but sort of wondering whether it was actually going to go ahead so how significant is it that it does seem that for now at least those promises are being held.

yes indeed bob this is he a very significant move on one that is unprecedented in ethiopia's more than history of course the release of the fost botch of the five hundred and twenty seven prisoners the prime minister announced two weeks will go will be released would come as a relief to all those who are doubting and were just thinking about was just another political talk by the prime minister but what many people excited about is the intention to close the mark prison in this it's mainly full of political prisoners and has been used as a torture chamber for the last fifty years and the release of key leaders like mera good dina a man who was a huge you following in the region many in the government feel will help

in easing the pressure and the demonstrations on the trials that have been happening not only on me but also in the moderate region of ethiopia i suppose mohamed with that you're sort of answering my next question which is why is all of this happening now do you think well first of all it is about. giving something to the people who have been protesting for close to two years and who still have grievances against the ruling is european people's revolutionary democratic front which has basically controlled most power in ethiopia for almost the last three decades but the other main issue here is ethiopia is one of the most robust economy is in africa and has been growing at. a list eight pos sun for the past decade and is trying to position itself as an environment where foreign companies can come on him best and therefore feels that

these reforms have to be done to give these foreign investors the atmosphere they need to be able to community appease a poor country a country of one hundred million people most of them jobless and the government will really benefit from increased foreign investment the hunted with the latest i think here. still to come here on al-jazeera indonesia's government is accused of not acting fast enough to deal with an outbreak of measles and now nutrition and every note how for profits and catalonia is new parliament meets for the first time but can it reinstate catalyst please demand this president even though he is actually in value.

hello we've got some fine weather reads to central and southern parts of china at the moment so pleasant skies there in hong kong twenty one degrees celsius with the numbers around shanghai around twelve degrees celsius a little bit of cloud towards the southwest of the country but nothing much to speak of might see a few spots of right here on friday possibility of a little bit of drizzle rain just pushing into hong kong as we go on into friday but essentially i think it should stay lotty fine and dry by say a little bit risky right now some showers to winter's flanker over the next day or so but essentially across much of south asia it just looks settled and sunny we'll see temperatures in chennai getting up to twenty nine degrees celsius see a little bit of cloud there into southern parts nothing much to speak of temperatures should get up to around thirty one degrees still on the coolish side there in new delhi temperatures here at around twenty two celsius and that's a similar sort of temperature that we can expect across the arabian peninsula twenty two celsius there for abu dhabi fun interop here in doha with some pleasant sunshine once again hopefully not too much of

a breeze to see but getting up into the mid twenty's here over the next couple of days further north things not looking quite so pleasant around the east the sort of the mediterranean some nasty storms coming through here snow over the turkish mountains temps in by rick struggle to seventeen degrees. the benefit of people. who witness documentaries that open your eyes. at this time on al-jazeera.

a reminder now of the top stories on al-jazeera north and south korea are to march under the same flag and field a joint women's ice hockey team at this year's winter olympics the city was announced after a third round of talks in the border village of punjab. palestinians have denounced decision to hold back sixty five million dollars from the un agency aid the agency helps palestinian refugees in gaza and the west bank and then neighboring countries if he has released a leading opposition figure who was jailed for his part in antigovernment protests matter how good he now was among the first group of one hundred fifteen people out of more than five hundred who are to be freed. indonesia has the

ploy to military paramedics to combat a health crisis in a remote part of pop or province at least sixty one babies have died from malnutrition and diseases such as measles over the last four months the government admits its response has been too slow and is the living thousands of packages of food and medicine that vast and reports from jakarta. three year old three c. a b. were died weighing only six kilograms less than half the healthy body weight a child her age like other malnourished and seriously ill children of the us my tribe and she traveled with her mother many hours to get to a clinic trying to save her life but there are only nine doctors who are available for more than two hundred villages in this one covered area in the south all of them are based in the districts capital hours away from their patients the outbreak

of measles started in september and spread quickly because only a few children have been immunized many died because their undernourished bodies were not strong enough to fight the disease the government admits its response has been too late. or. yes what we have done is not enough but let's not focus on who is in the wrong let's focus on how to solve it because we are dealing with this reality right now we thought our colleagues in poplar could handle it but it turns out they need help and to be pushed more that's what we're doing now. since popular became part of indonesia in the one nine hundred sixty s. pop ones have often criticised the government from a collector in the far eastern province a small army movement has been fighting for independence and many problems have died because of military violence over the years to bring peace to government a fatwah more autonomy and improved its infrastructure. to what is

happening to be as much as it jakarta does not care enough about papa despite building roads and the development we have seen since we got more autonomy poppins don't feel their lives have been proved. the government has called the measles outbreak an extraordinary situation and has sent food and medical teams to the area also flying doctors and the military has been called in to help but due to the remoteness of the affected villages many fear for some help will be too late children dying of hunger and disease are a huge blow to president last fall to stop military fire from bringing welfare to the despite his frequent visits to this restive province this tragedy painfully shows that a lot more needs to be done to reach the traditional inhabitants of. that fossil al-jazeera. a leading voice in hong kong's pro-democracy movement has been sentenced to jail for a second time for his role in protests in two thousand and fourteen joshua wall has

been given a three month jail term for contempt of court and as already been taken into custody high court judges have rejected wong's lawyers request to release him on bail while their demand for an appeal is being considered another activist rafael wall was also jailed fourteen other is received suspended sentences for their role in the protests popularly known as the umbrella will lead. a tight military court has this missed the case against a historian who was being prosecuted for insulting a sixteenth century king eighty five year old selec a civil roxanna had to question the official account of the king's role in a battle more than four hundred years ago the case was dropped for lack of evidence the scholar was welcomed has welcomed the courts the citizen but he refuses to apologize i stand by that effect i stand by did truth. i don't stand by those who have and what i said. to just the

past i didn't ask you to believe me i get very affects us all. right the historian as a scholar that's all i had to. a former u.s. intelligence officer has been arrested and charged with allegedly holding on to classified information gerri. is accused of maintaining handwritten notes including names and details of spy recruits and other cia employees he now lives in hong kong and was arrested arrested when he flew to new york on monday the u.s. justice department says f.b.i. agents searched at lee's hotel rooms in two thousand and twelve and found two books containing the notes was thing in the u.s. politicians they were trying to prevent a possible government shutdown on the anniversary of donald trump's first year in office congress will need to push through a short term spending bill by friday to avoid federal agencies shutting their doors

over the weekend democratic leaders have said that they won't back the spending plan unless there are guarantees to protect young immigrants known as dreamers who are facing deportation. pope francis. hours after three helicopters and a roman catholic church were set on fire nearby a least ten catholic churches have been fire bombed in the past week the eighty one year old's stop in the outer county a region is seen as the most complex of this trip because it's the center of a sentry's old conflict with local indigenous groups during the mass pope francis urged the indigenous people to reject violence in pushing their case well unless an american editor to see a new man has more now from. there are far less people here than what organizers had expected they had. predicted some two hundred thousand would come no more than

one hundred fifty thousand have arrived and i spoke a short while ago to the head of the organizing committee he says that people were having a hard time getting here and he is certainly referring at least in part to the fact that some of these groups are opposed to the pope's visit had police barricades in access roads leading up to this part of the area this is rather a very conflictive area where the land of a small but very very radical group of people who are demanding that incest land be returned to the indigenous my pooches have been carrying out these attacks you just mentioned and so while the majority of which is are peaceful there is a lot of concern here about an increasingly tense atmosphere. in catalonia a new and returning members of the regional parliament have met for the first time since snap elections in december the process session a roger to rule new was chosen as the new speaker but uncertainty remains over who

the president will be separatist parties hold enough seats for a majority government and they want to reinstate the former leader catalyst was the moment now he's in self-imposed exile in belgium madrid says that in stating him would be legal and how has more now from barcelona. the first session of the new catalan parliament has now concluded and politicians accomplished their first main task that of the choosing a new parliamentary speaker that is such a strategic position because effectively he will be the one who sets the new political agenda moving forward now asked widely expected it was the majority coalition of separatist parties those who favored this region breaking away from the rest of space who posed their candidate not all those politicians who were elected in elections in december were able to take part today handful of them as still in spanish jails another group have fled to belgium to try and avoid charges

of rebellion relating to the referendum on secession which was held back in october the next task of parliament is going to be more difficult this could happen sometime over the next ten days and that is choosing the new head of the cattle and government the separatist party say that they want to reinstate the ousted leader whose demand currently in brussels but the opposition parties here in the catalan parliament have said they don't want a virtual president they won't accept that also at the same time the spanish prime minister mariano rajoy has said he will not accept calls to months candidacy and will once again impose direct rule on catalonia if that happens everything seems to suggest right now that the political crisis between catalonia and the central spanish government will bramble on. fire. britain's prime minister has welcomed the news that french president emmanuel mccrone wants to lend the tapestry to the u.k.

this comes on the eve of mccown's visit to britain where he is expected to push for more money to boost security at the port of cali to stop migrants there is a maze said it was very significant that people would be able to see the pappa street in the u.k. it was made more than nine sentry's ago and shows the norman invasion of england in ten sixty six the mayor of by us says it will be about five years before the tapestry can travel because restoration work needs to be carried out. state of conservation it remains of tools does not stick with dates from sixty six so that is job based work that needs to be done for decades well french police have raided the headquarters of dairy company like the lists over a salmonella scandal that's seen dozens of babies full sick the firm has recalled milk powder from eighty three countries after it was revealed its factories were

contaminated with the bacteria the company's own tests made the discovery norvasc but its products stayed on sale for months french foreign officials and health authorities are looking into what happened. it's going to mexico now in the discovery of what's thought to be the world's largest underwater cave the network of flooded tunnels and chambers is around three hundred fifty kilometers long a team of archaeologists divers found human bones and pottery and are hoping to use them to gain a better understanding of the mayan civilization porch of their jan reports. deep underneath the state of kin tonneau role in eastern mexico new the sandy beaches of canned coon the tourist resort on the caribbean coast scuba divers explore what they say is the world's longest and largest underwater counterproductive for people with stretching for three hundred forty seven kilometers the freshwater caves are known as you know dead dust all horse the maze of underwater channels is not only

extensive but also deep up to one hundred meters in some spots so on the simple sea not there's muslimeen of the sea and there are about two hundred underwater caves in the quick for a system which we thought could be connected but we were not sure of that so now we know about the collection and the flows of water while the way the city put them into the way. scientists think the kids were used as a source of fresh water during the ancient maya civilization divers began exploring the mayan our coffers in the one nine hundred eighty s. mayans considered the cave sacred to the portal to talk with the gods of the north down a northern me in other years and it gives us a wonderful perspective a new understanding of how the leaders of the ancient settlements and how the ancient mayans developed it allows us to understand more clearly the rituals and the pilgrimage sites and finally the great previous by an example means that we know of which run along this cave system. at the peak of their civilizations in the six to ten centuries mayans master agriculture mouths and the strong to me as well

as building hospitals and sporting arenas and they're credited with creating calendars and discovering chocolate. mayans abandoned their cities around one thousand years ago when spanish explorers arrived hundreds of years later they found most cities overgrown the. this discovery by divers deep underwater may shed more light on what happened above so long ago. al-jazeera. amazing find that much more on that and everything else we've been covering on the web site the address al-jazeera that called. now reminder of the main headlines north and south korea have announced a historic partnership for this year's winter olympics delegates from both countries announced the situation after

a third round of talks in the border village of john north and south korea will march into the same flag and feel the joint women's high school team japan responded to the move with this warning what we should have in mind is that north korea continues to advance its nuclear and missile programs even as we speak and we should not be naive about their intent nor should we be blinded by north korea's charm offensive in short it is not the time to pressure or to rework notes career. palestinians have denounced donald trump's decision to hold back money needed for aid that would have helped millions of people the u.s. says it's withholding sixty five million of the one hundred twenty five million it was going to give the united nations relief and works agency or the agency provides a lifeline for around five million palestinians in gaza and the west bank jordan

lebanon and syria and the u.s. is its biggest donor. ethiopia has released the leading opposition figure jailed more than a year ago where goody now was one of one hundred fifteen prisoners freed the first of five hundred who had charges against them dropped after a government undertaking tens of thousands of people were arrested in two thousand and fifteen and two thousand and sixteen in a crackdown following months of protests by the country's people. that alone is regional parliament has met for the first time since snap elections in the same deputies chose secession supporter roger toronto as the new speaker but uncertainty remains over who will be the catalan leader separatist parties hold enough seats for a majority government but madrid says it would be illegal for the exiled former leader is pushed the moment to continue as leader but francis has held the mass in just hours after three helicopters and the roman catholic church were set on fire nearby

the catholic leaders at stopping the at a county a region is seen as the most complex of the trip trip because it's the center of centuries old conflict with local indigenous people that's the news for now up next witness in the valley of guns n roses.