what makes this movement this era we live in cities so unique this is really an attack on itself is a lot of misunderstanding a distortion of what free speech is supposed to be about the context is hugely important level wise to publish if you have a cue to be offensive or provokes it's all about otherwise people do. setting the stage for a serious debate. up front at this time on al-jazeera. and live from studio fourteen here at al-jazeera headquarters in doha fully back to bow welcome to the news great let the games begin the winter olympics are officially underway in china with north and south korea marching on don't one slog for the

first time in more than ten years but creating even more buzz is the presence of north korean leader kim jong un says she's had a historic handshake with a soft korean president could this mark the beginning of recounts the. bring all the latest updates from the game think losing the russian doping scandal the athletes marched under a neutral and then pick up the opening ceremony on the morning of the event forty seven of that compunctions had a pill to take heart and reject it. also on the grid the second u.s. government shutdown in three weeks it was a brief one this time as politicians in the house and senate and the president have not approved a massive spending bill but the uncertainty is not over for millions of undocumented immigrants we'll have a live report from washington and the new hot spots in the war on drugs with violence expanding to top tourist destinations mexico's government announces a deployment of fountains of police to several cities to fight the rising number of

murders we'll have reports from cancun. and i'm a hell of a comment activists and journalists all the latest targets inside the little crack down we have all those details next to us throughout the show using the hash tag a.j. news grid. and we can be live on air and streaming online for you tube facebook live and at al-jazeera dot com thank you for joining us call it the spirit of the games or an unexpected but extraordinary show of unity it's been an explosive start to the twenty eighteen winter and then picks quite literally and figuratively. north and south korean athletes marched side by side under a unified flag for the first time in eleven years at the opening ceremony of the games in pyung chang but of even more significance the presence of kim jong un

sister in north korea's delegation she is the first member of the north korean leaders sami to set foot in the south since a war between the two countries in the one nine hundred fifty s. as you can see from these soldiers came junk shook hands with the south korean president and she sat right behind me. and not far from the u.s. vice president mike pence. now politics aside nearly three thousand athletes from ninety two countries and territories are taking part in the olympics the highest number in the history of the event that russia go name has a report from gang no one in south korea. a step towards reconciliation for the first time since the korean war more than half a century ago a member of north korea's ruling family is welcomed in the south the arrival of leader kim jong sr is fascinating many south koreans jiang has quickly become a power broker in another historic moment south korean president moon j.

in greeted her at the opening ceremony before she sat near u.s. vice president mike pence the two didn't appear to exchange greetings then the moment many had been waiting for north and south korean athletes marched under a unified flag as a celebration of ethnic nationalism it's the first time they've done that at an international sporting event in eleven years moon said the winter olympics offer a meaningful opportunity for a world divided by conflicts to unite critics say the north korean charm offensive is only intended to advance its agenda a moscow to use decided to look nice for a vial of this option if you would use chance chances is that president krom view authorizing me to take a ration bought as a program of ease that main ship fundamentals have not changed. i

determined to have an end of i.c.b.m. into continental body stick missiles capable of delivering a nuclear strike as a continental united states in the run up to the games the north koreans have absorbed much of the spotlight first by agreeing to participate and then by sending a high level delegation to the south this week american diplomat said they would soon unveil the toughest economic sanctions against north korea yet while also saying a diplomatic solution was the focus. for now this is a moment for south koreans to show the world what it done. namak country they live in during the opening ceremony spectators were taken back in time to show the history of the korean people and what organizers called their relentless pursuit of peace or not. i hope that with north korean athletes participation this could be peaceful and picks and i hope we can achieve reunification between the

south and the north that the good. mood here is good in south korea's hosting the olympics and athletes are coming from around the world good opportunity to promote south korea. and the hope is this will set the stage down only for a sporting spectacular but historic breakthrough with their northern neighbors natasha going to aim alleges era south korea. joining us on the news great is shall he jang who is an associate professor at a renmin university of china is via skype from beijing thank you so much for being with us kim your jong is certainly stealing the headlines in south korea how significant is this does our presence raise hopes you think could this be the opportunity for we constantly ation between north and south korea. certainly she came over to the so in the first place then to the young pings demonstrated to north korea sincerity to seek to improve the relationship with sauce kranz and also

saw south koreans due to a sincere occasion to make peace talks on a pig a great success but are nonetheless all the sins carry a very important somebody the barter we have to be careful what will happen and ways next stage of saturday's exactly lunch meetings between the two in between in between they can do you assess her and the president president the mucho years and that will be some see why we have to pay special attention eggs that clichy is due to meet the south korean president on saturday even though we saw that historic handshake earlier today between the two she said to be a trusted advisor to her brother kim jong un what message do you think she might be bringing from north korea to south korea. and second says the number of the

messages she made brain to the printer the moon's number ones whether or not she will present and he's old brother's letter to the president whether or not the part of the moon and continuing who. could meet this year's and also those who would send a verse from message a face to face to saucepans leaders what the really shines norse or north korea really have early at the opening ceremony today we saw that she was sat not far from the u.s. vice president mike pence who had said before this opening ceremony that this would be the opportunity perhaps to call for a tougher stance on north korea to what extent do you think this seemingly warming of ties between north and south korea is irritating the u.s. is driving a wedge between washington and south korea because there is a sense in some quarters in washington that the south might be moving too quickly

with north korea. i said can you see is ironically it's a united states and south korea and some of the traditional allies about that they are not on the same page in their relation in their policy toward north korea when south korean worked so hard to improve its relationship with north korea and the united states similarly played on any kind of a speculation such a candle for the crossman to between two krenz will produce any sense a second if it comes so the relationship that relationship between saw north korea and the united states they must agree that the ongoing process meant to between two koreans at cease almost limitations and we have to keep in mind even though the relationship between two korea two craig improved but two states have been mocking the confrontation russia's competitions for more than symond he says so

it's very hard for the two stays to build meaningful mutual trust and also those moscow saucepans is united states iowa and the two countries that promise to renew their mitra exercise ses in the middle of next month and as north korea has made promises that the well the it will take counter top measures against upcoming meter accessories yeah so the angles are approximately between two koreans a quite a fright so it'll be interesting to see what happens after the winter games very good to talk to you and hear your views on this shouting gen from running university joining us from beijing and you know many people are calling the winter games in south korea the peace and then picks and there's a very interesting debate on this issue and a discussion program inside story some analysts question if north korea is serious about peace overtures or just using the games to improve its image washer

discussion by taking on the shelves tab on al-jazeera dot com and then on inside story. while at tatiana's now joining us on the news great to look at the some of the reaction to this opening ceremony of the winter games in south korea touch absolutely thank you very much for the hard hard for the opening ceremony has been the top global trend over the past few hours hundreds of thousands of tweets as you can see here from this map showing you where they're coming from along with the event hash tag trying twenty eighteen most of these tweets are posted from the east coast of the united states the u.k. canada brazil and australia rounding out the top five russian aphids took part in the opening ceremony with out team uniforms or the russian flag one hundred sixty eight competing as a specially named a limping catholic from russia team due to doping sanctions and just hours earlier the court of arbitration for sport dismissed the appeal of a further forty seven the wanted to compete in on how small

the russian doping scandal is arguably the most murky sob story in the history of sport and yes i spent years covering the fee for scandal but this involves the public being completely cheated mobile's being involved a nation of people who isn't from the top down how did we get to this position where four years ago putin's grand plan for sports or succeed in russia around the home olympics the very expensive saatchi winter olympics and of the allegations it was shown by investigation but there'd been systematic doping in washoe for the international olympic committee found forty three russian competitors for life. fast forward a couple of years of politics and then we get into a situation where the ultimate coach in sport a court of arbitration for sport overturned those lifetime bans by say they're not clearing the dopers completely but there's not enough evidence for lifetime bonds

so the russians want to compete here twenty eight of them supposedly allowed to compete in the international olympic committee so i know we're still not inviting them so the russians appeal again and it goes back to the court of arbitration for sport bystander in pyongyang and it goes to the guy who the goings on actually begin today the division of the court of arbitration for sport dismissed the application filed by thirty two russian athletes against the international olympic committee it does also dismissed the applications filed yesterday by fifteen actually it's an coaches against the u.s. so the cast this isn't is very good news for the international olympic committee have been fighting the legal and political battles for months even years over the russian scandal. afterwards he said we welcome this decision which supports the fight against doping and brings clarity for all athletes like all of us i just want to get on with the sport now. and that sport is in full flow throughout sorts of

day with the first murders of the guns being decided in five events one of the events is speed skating there were plenty of korean interested not but most interest of course in the unified women's from korea but mike has to be the first guy against switzerland. welling's reporting from pyongyang there in tatiana we back later in the news hour to talk more about the winter games and the furor over a calling toss n.p.r. in china i know you have more on that stay with us tatiana and now we're going to go over to right here mohammed a social media producer to find out what people are saying online about the winter games dreda of people talking politics or competition there's a mix but most of the focus right now is on kim jong and her visit to south korea which has created a media frenzy people around the world are taking interest in this historic nature of her visit but also more interest in her specifically. people are watching her every move and talking about her smile how relax she looks and also how she

certainly upstaged the man in front of her this is kim myong now he is north korea's ceremonial head of state and some are referring to her as north korea's princess but is her visit a visit of diplomatic breakthrough or just propaganda wealth and fyfield from the washington post points out that kim jong il in north korea's government is far from ceremonial she's the deputy director of the party's propaganda department and is often spotted at events making her brother pretty presented as a strong leader adding that his cult of personality is a priority now just yesterday she was seen peeking out behind a column while her brother was speaking at a military parade they can see her lost to kim jong was targeted by u.s. sanctions for her support of the regime the u.s. says that her department's the p a d is responsible for newspaper and broadcast

censorship which helps conceal ongoing and serious human rights abuses in north korea this includes forced starvation sexual assaults and forced abortions. let us know what you think about her visit and that main question i asked around the kinetic breakthrough or propaganda coup show you a full season the hash tag is good a message me directly i'm not really a moment and radio we've been getting a lot of comments on the winter games n.p.r. in the presence of north korean leader kim jong un sr in the north korean delegation there one comment here from donna on face book live donna writes from australia and she says what a brilliant opening ceremony loved every minute another comment from noor also on facebook says i don't think the winter games can change change came jones ideas of to tell terry elysium and one more comment from britain this is a kind of action which is not only good for both of the koreas meaning the presence of the south korea north korean leaders sr but also for the entire world the north

korea wants peace thank you for your comments and you can keep them coming on this story and others that we're covering on the news great today use the hashtag a.j. news great on social media now moving on to other world news and u.s. president donald trump has signed off on a spending bill officially ending the government shutdown after just a few hours the stopgap measure will extend government funding until march twenty third white house correspondent kimberly hockett has more from washington it was a u.s. government shutdown that occurred while most americans were asleep for five and a half hours and several agencies in theory only shut their doors will members of congress debated lifting strict limits on government spending or servicing about this stinks to tell you the truth most of the drama occurred in the u.s. senate the vote to keep the government running held up by as a single senator republican rand paul who says government spending is out of control everybody's getting more spending. the military the right's getting more

military spending the left is getting more well first bending and you're getting stuck with the bill the late night debate played out for hours and eventually passing in the upper chamber but still needing approval in the house of representatives through he'll raise a spending caps by roughly three hundred billion dollars over two years more than half going to the military the rest non-defense spending including much needed money for disaster relief programs infrastructure projects and community health clinics fiscally conservative critics say the budget deal will send the deficit soaring but the deal doesn't protect illegal immigrants brought to the united states as children providing a pathway for legal status has been a key demand of democrats they previously been protected as part of the obama era daca program the leading house republican says the issue will soon be

address my commitments to working together on an immigration measure that we can make law is the sincere commitments let me repeat on the commitment to working together on an immigration measure that we can make laws is sincere commitment we will solve this doc a problem with that promise the house republicans and democrats passed the budget deal sending it to the white house for the president to sign into law and committee joins us now live from the white house in washington kimberly the bill has passed but it was a tough battle does this put an end to america's budget crisis. it does in the short term but there is certainly some concern about how this came about i think that the sort of reflections now that the crisis is over is just how concerning the amount of money is that has been authorized to be spent usually what

you see when there is a democrat in the white house for example and republicans on capitol hill or reverse is the sort of check and balance this back and forth process in the budgeting but this time we have republicans controlling congress a republican the white house and it was a spending free for all and that's why you saw rand paul making his fellow republicans rather uncomfortable in the senate even shutting down the government for five and a half hours to call what he says in his words is hypocrisy right that right now this is a party that is known for fiscal conservatism certainly didn't see that folly and interesting question here from one of our viewers kimberly bobbie who asks what was the point of this shutdown the point of the shutdown was that an absence. you have to have money to fund the government and this is such a divided washington a divided congress that what has been going on has not been a passing of budgets as we typically have seen years ago but these short stopgap

what they're called continuing resolutions right they haven't been able to grae beyond a few weeks in terms of finding this hopefully will get over that hurdle and the bill still doesn't provide protection for the so-called dreamers can believe the hundreds of thousands of young undocumented immigrants who are facing deportation and that was a key demand from the democrats why wasn't it part of this budget deal. well it was what essentially shut down the government in january democrats tried to push this again but this is an election year folly and there were political calculations to be made a lot of democrats concerned that they could look like the bad guys in all of this if errol workers were out for an indefinite time so what was eventually negotiated was that there was this is sure it's as you heard in my report there from paul ryan look let's just get the funding issue resolved and then i promise you we will address this issue of immigration but there are already many democrats that are

concerned that promise will be kept and guess why because they've heard it before this is an issue that has been unresolved not for years but for decades in washington thank you very much for that kimberly as you heard there's still a lot of uncertainty about the fate of hundreds of undocumented young immigrants who are now facing deportation from the u.s. dhaka the deferred action for childhood arrivals policy which was suspended in september two thousand and seventeen allowed individuals went to the u.s. as minors and remained undocumented to work legally there and this opinion piece on our web site explains how their life is now a bargaining chip in u.s. politics very insightful read it's on our web site at al-jazeera dot com our time now for a look at the day's other news let's go to sue turton in our london new center hi sue hi folly elise two people have been killed and seventeen injured by two bombs detonated during friday prayers as a mosque in the libyan city of benghazi officials say the devices were planted in

separate rooms inside two weeks ago her own thirty five people were killed by a twin bombing at a mosque in the same city. syrian government won't planes are continuing to bomb the rebel held area of eastern ghouta and what's been the deadliest week since twenty fifteen more than two hundred and thirty people have been killed in the last four days aid agencies say they're unable to help the estimated four hundred thousand people who live in the besieged enclave the area just outside of the capital damascus is running desperately low on food medicine and medical equipment the u.n. has renewed its appeal for a month long humanitarian truce to allow aid to be delivered and the syrian government is also carrying out a major offensive in its live province in the northwest of the country the white helmets say one of their centers in cool was targeted by asteroids the u.n. has renewed its appeal for a month long humanitarian truce to allow aid to be delivered to go to and it is

a bijection army has launch what it's calling a comprehensive operation against terrorists and criminal groups in the sinai peninsula local media are reporting an unusual increase in the number of military vehicles in north sinai hospitals have been put on high alert and ordered to prepare extra beds and nursing staff to do with emergencies and medical evacuations the u.s. state department is demanding an investigation after the reuters news agency published a story about the slaughtering of or hinge of muslims in myanmar the report lays out we have vents leading up to the killing of ten ranging men and has witness testimonies from buddhist villages as well as security personnel the two journalists behind the investigation have been detained in myanmar and denied bail and the warning to silver's report contains images that some viewers may find disturbing. it's a chilling and detailed account of what can only be described as

a premeditated massacre the photographs provided to reuters by a buddhist village elder don't lie the first the news agency says was taken on september first and shows the ten ruhi captives lined up in a row the second taken the day after shows their slain bodies in a mass grave their ages range from seventeen to forty five among them were students fishermen farmers shop owners fathers they were all part of the same community from the village of indian in myanmar's northern rakhine state but a little bit about the building when they were taken them away they said do not worry we will send your sons back soon we have taken them for me till i was going on on the new one of indian six thousand raija remained in the village as of october and surprisingly their relatives are reluctant to move back that. i will not go back there how can i go they killed our husbands we have

a list of babies how will they survive myanmar's military says the ten men belong to a group of two hundred terrorists that had attacked them earlier but accounts given to the news agency by both ranger and buddhist witnesses deny such large scale attack ever happens in the village the writer story draws for the first time on interviews with buddhist villagers who confessed to torching rohingya homes bury bodies and killing muslims it also marks the first time soldiers and paramilitary police have been implicated by testimony from security personnel themselves the two reporters behind the story while lone and cure are both myanmar nationals and were detained on december twelfth for allegedly obtaining confidential documents a statement released by the military on january tenth confirmed what they were preparing to report a ten writing demand had been massacred in that village their release coincided with a judicial request by prosecutors to charge the two journalists under the official

secrets act they've been denied bail and if convicted could face up to forty years in prison on the silver al-jazeera. that fit for me for now back now to folly in doha so thank you very much for that to the maltese now where riot police have been deployed to a protest outside the headquarters of the ruling party opposition supporters continue to demonstrate against an ongoing political crackdown by president i mean . this week he ordered the arrest of two supreme court judges after they overturned criminal convictions against government opponents a human has also declared a state of emergency accusing the court of supporting a cool and it's not just a crackdown on the course the media has also faced pressure right back with us what are you saying about this online raid that's right funny a lot of people are talking about raj t.v. and the channels suspended its operations overnight to protect its journalists raj t.v.

says that mobs have threatened to attack stuff and burn down the building these are threats that some politicians have supported and the you can't pass it to the maltese has criticised the government for its crackdown on free speech james darrius and several other european diplomats were in the maldives this week to help mediate in any country the suspension of fundamental rights is a matter of great seriousness we understand it may occasionally be necessary but the situation here does concern us i'd also like to say that we come here as friends i'm here is the british ambassador in britain of course is a very longstanding friend of the maldives and of mold of ian's we are here because we want to talk with the government about these issues of concern because we are concerned that all should go well for the maldives and for the people of the maldives. and it's not just the europeans that are trying to resolve the multis political crisis it's also generates a lot of interest in the region now the country is made up of

a small group of islands in the indian ocean and as the closest powerful country that being india has been under pressure to intervene especially as we're seeing the mall deeds now tend to india's rivals for support the island nations sense special envoys to i quote friendly nations this being china pakistan and saudi arabia this will happen on thursday to discuss the situation that india is especially concerned about his influence in the mold seize the two countries signed a free trade agreement in december and defense analyst yusuf orange i want to says that india needs to act on the multi situation to show that it has influence in the region and this really just begs the bigger question do these regional powers actually care about the domestic impacts of this crackdown or is this really more about political posturing we've got to get your thoughts on this get in touch that's using the hash tag aging is great thank you very much if you're watching us

on facebook coming up the story of abu ghraib kemal father of kittens and still ahead on the news great report sodje arabia has hired international p.r. firms to help sell its yemen eight plan to the world to do serious. we've got thickening cloud making its way towards the middle east over the next couple days i think it should stay largely tribal you can see that already spilling in from the mediterranean so we're going to see some gray skies there into the love of syria lebanon jordan turkey just getting up to around twenty three celsius for by route a similar value for jerusalem if anything lechler just nudging a little further east was as we go through sunday so even much of iraq could see. cloud cloudy enough cloud thick enough into afghanistan northwestern parts of pakistan for some rain and more especially some snow kabul around three degrees

celsius on sunday afternoon meanwhile temperatures picking up across the arabian peninsula largely fine interop particularly on saturday but i think that we have across northern parts will see a little further south worse twenty six celsius thirty degrees celsius in riyadh on sunday and we'll see temperatures picking up in doha as we go on into the early part of next week so we'll be approaching the thirty degree mark already we've got temperatures picking up once again into southern africa particularly across the the a western cape cape town has seen some rain it has now made its way through dry skies coming in behind ninety degrees celsius on saturday and a high of twenty five by sunday. news has never been more available it's a constant barrage of it with every day but the message is a simplistic you have the frame the good logical rational person crazy monstrous

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 challenging mainstream media narratives at this time on al-jazeera. al-jazeera. where every.

headlines on al-jazeera and the stories trending on our web site al-jazeera dot com at number one they're not surprising the landmarks and shake at the winter olympic ceremony between the sister of a north korean president kim jong un and south korea's president

a story we've covered on the street today number two president trump's palestine deal is a real estate transaction controversy surrounding a doll in terms of recognition of jerusalem as israel's capital not dying down also a story that a lot of you are looking at the u.s. who are the white supremacist supremacists running for office and another story that's stranding trending in the has a lot of people talking israel demanding payment for jeep that killed a palestinian and warned not for you guys have it on our website the israeli army is suing the family of a young palestinian man who was squashed to death by one of the vehicles they say the twenty one year old damaged a jeep before the incident which happened three years ago imran khan has a story. the israeli army killed a name in june two thousand and fifteen and now it wants twenty eight thousand

dollars for damages to this jeep to crush the twenty one year old after his death ability family filed a lawsuit against the israeli state the case continues then in january this year the army build the family. this is a copy of the lawsuit given to us by the family lawyer. they reopened there so shameless that they are demanding compensation not because they want the money because they want to make it impossible for us palestinians it's not about the money they want us to give in but we say we have the right you won't break because. in june two thousand and fifteen there was a raid by the army. leader mullah that turned violent the israelis say ability through a fireball of the jeep which then swerved into him for over three hours the family says the army wouldn't allow medics to treat of the law as he lay beneath the jeep he eventually played to death the entire village turned out the funeral. lawyers

say asking for compensation is part of a new israeli strategy to penalize palestinians for any kind of resistance are in slow motion. messing up the. story honestly we're not used to seeing this sort of claim but if you take it in context where israel is going when it comes to killing finds and bills of votes in the knesset i think they're heading to a level where anyone who is the word occupation can be harassed arrested and possibly find as you might be considered to insult the state and its inhabitants. al-jazeera reached out to the israeli ministry of defense for comment it says it has submitted a statement of defense to the court stating that the event in which the plaintiff was killed constitutes wartime activity as defined by the law and therefore the state is immune from prosecution in this event in the light of the damage that was caused to the i.d.f. jeep as

a result of the molotov cocktail three mother plaintive the ministry has filed account to suit a bill is remembered very fondly anything as a moth to the palestinian cause graffiti of his face adorns the walls of the village people here say they'll never forget about him. the family say they will continue to fight for justice for the law and they've named the new poem son of to him they say they would rather face whatever consequences there may be than pay the israeli army any money imran khan how does it go from olic occupied west bank saying in the region sound arabia is reportedly recruiting several international public relations firms to promote a new multi-billion dollar aid plan for yemen erin a news agency focusing on humanitarian issues says a p.r. campaign could reduce imports of vital goods into a key rebel held port critics say the campaign is an effort to win a propaganda battle after nearly three years of conflict saudi arabia had pledged

one point five billion dollars to help the war torn country that's half of the un's humanitarian appeal and bruce fein is a constitutional lawyer any told al-jazeera saudi arabia is helping those areas of yemen already under control of its allies. the amount of money they're spending and non of that really their foreign agents that they're hiring is is staggering and if they were doing the right thing they would need to pay anybody right why do you need to pay did they would be nominated for a nobel peace prize the pictures are still going to be the same was going to be the bombings the devastation of this still be starvation certainly in the north where huge numbers of civilians are the program that the saudi arabians have announced is designed to assist those areas of yemen that are already under the control of saudi allies if you will and so it's benefiting its own civilians and the opposition the

houdinis they still are being denied a civil union in that area the minimum humanitarian aid needed to avoid starvation well for more on this story let's speak to eric ecan barry who's an advocacy associate at yemen peace project his life from washington thank you so much for your time so what do you make of saudi arabia promoting this new multibillion dollar aids plan for yemen is this a genuine campaign to help the people of yemen or rather an attempt by saudi arabia to improve its image after the international pressure it's been on. yeah i think all you need to know about the plan is that the day after it was announced oxfam norwegian refugee council save the children came out and said that we were not consulted on this plan even though that they bear a major international humanitarian organizations operating on the ground in yemen they were not consulted in the writing and it has substance of matters that they strongly disagree with at the same time it looks like booz allen hamilton had a hand in writing the plan i don't know how many how many humanitarians are working

to booz allen hamilton i don't know how many humanitarians are working at corpus m.s.l. group so on that basis it really does seem to be more repeal or push or even a propaganda push right than an effort to substantively ameliorate the condition of the seventy percent of yemenis that live under control of who the rebels in north and west yemen so do you get a sense that the saudis are under damage control mode after the criticism they've been under you know from various international organizations and even the un oh absolutely we just some haven't been so much on postpone of visit to london due to likely protests since december the united states particularly department of state and usaid have been pushing the saudis very hard and very publicly on this to lift fully lift the blockade to actually ameliorate the humanitarian crisis in north and west yemen and to begin you know taking steps towards a peace settlement that can be the only resolution to the humanitarian crisis this plan is very clearly a response to that but you wonder how the plan itself will work i mean it promises

one point five billion in new humanitarian funding for distribution across u.n. agencies and international relief organizations how is this going to help especially if they don't lift some of the bookcase they have in place right now in yemen. yes there are major substantive concerns with the plan the one point five billion is probably the best aspect of the plan in as much as it's given over to neutral u.n. professionals but even that in twenty fifteen we saw for vice reported that saudi arabia tried to attach strings to two hundred seventy four million and gave to the u.n. saying you know you can't distribute this in who controlled territory. but beyond that beyond the top line number which is fairly positive the plan really as bruce fein was saying earlier is going to essentially politicize aid in saudi arabia it really tries to diminish the role data port data port and salif or to the north accept about eighty percent of imports to saudi arabia both humanitarian and commercial and is trying to sideline that in favor rerouting fuel throughout in

favor of putting in safe passage corridors emanating from the saudi border that will never to be can become militarized and never to become become hotspots for violent conflict eryxias marry into likely substantively help thank you so much all sharing your views with us thank you eric econd barry from the yemen peace projects joining us on the news great from washington d.c. meanwhile saudi arabia's crown prince mohammed bin salman has come under heavy scrutiny online this comes off the back of a sweeping on tie corruption crackdown last year and they continue to be more arrests is back with us with the latest on that right. now well as a saudi crown prince tries to make new efforts to modernize the country with new plans to diversify the economy promote a moderate islam and also give more rights to women many human rights activists are now saying that there is currently a heavy crackdown on journalists and activists. the

latest one is no she's an activist some to book and she's recently been detained this is because as far back as january twenty third and could also face up to five years in prison if found guilty and now some have linked her arrest to a video that she uploaded criticizing saudis move to allegedly normalize relations with israel. whether you love or hate the people of palestine should not affect your judgment and the reality on the ground when it comes to the arab israeli conflict israel is an occupation force there not just a regular state their occupation and they are stealing lands what does it mean when we see normalization with israel it means accepting the occupation there is not a single benefit for arabs when we normalize relations with israel. but this is also sponsor why it is based on line about freedom of expression in saudi arabia aides said that free speech is more important than freedom to let women drive cars

and then he uses the hash tag political dress day and then the veteran saudi journalist jamal khashoggi wrote did you get the message not a word or else now it's important to note that saudi arabia is attending the u.n. summit on human rights in geneva next month but a report by human rights watch points out that saudi arabia's new counter terrorism law is actually a vague and overly broad so much so that it does not restrict the definition of terrorism to violent acts and in some cases could actually result in the death penalty for example article thirty of the law says criticizing the king and crown prince in a way that brings religion or justice into deaths in disrepute is a terrorist act so let us know what you think of these latest developments in saudi arabia get in touch that's using the hashtag a.j. news good message me directly on that really mohammed ali. thank you very much to mexico now where the government says it will deploy thousands of police officers to

several cities to fight the rising number of murders now remember twenty seven thousand was the most violent year for mexico with more than twenty five thousand murders the highest in decades officials worry that violence linked to drug cartels and organized crime is painting a rather grim picture of this otherwise it delay tourist destination so here's what the government is doing in january five thousand additional police officers were sent to several cities popular with tourists most of them were deployed to the one hour which borders san diego in california the rest were sent to baja california sewer along the touristic areas of life spas and last cobbles some were deployed to the get rare oh yeah let's go and cancun now joining us is our correspondent manny of apollo who is live from the coastal city of concord money also more police forces being deployed to several cities in mexico yet we see that violence rates

crimes and homicides are continuing to rise why is this. well two thousand and seventeen was in fact an exceptionally violent year for mexico but mexico has been struggling for years over a decade now to to rein in that violence that's the result of what security analysts would say is a failed strategy that began under the administration of former president felipe because they don't but was continued under current president and he kept on yet though which is a crackdown on drug cartels that in turn has caused a splintering of smaller organized crime elements that officials now are worried could spill into even more territories in mexico and this is all over all a result of fighting over control of production distribution and of course the sale of illicit drugs not only cocaine and heroin but methamphetamines and the production and distribution of the synthetic opioid offensive i don't know where we are in can't you and i want to give you a sense of what we've experienced over the course of the last few days take

a look. police and military forces are holding a routine checkpoint in cancun in response to a homicide rate that has risen three hundred percent in the last fourteen months this driver was detained after officers found a half dozen mobile phones and a handgun in his vehicle but even with the cooperation of military state and local police law enforcement agencies are struggling to fight crime. related to organized crime committed by criminal groups competing for control over other criminal groups all of it is related to the sale of drugs. we rode along with the division of federal police officers patrolling a popular beach mexico's peak tourism season is fast approaching and the government is dispatching some five thousand federal agents across the country for tourists looking for white sand and turquoise waters however the violence seems far away and

the soledad i feel very safe i walked around late yesterday and it was very calm and i haven't noticed. a lot of bad things happening or anything. can cool draws in billions of dollars from tourism every year once the sun sets bars and nightclubs are packed with party goers but just a short drive away there is another more dangerous side to the city. we're in a residential neighborhood near the center of town and police have blocked off this road behind me after the shooting took place only about one hour ago police tell us that two people were shot and the gunmen fled sadly this is a scene that plays out on a near daily basis here in cannes koon the district attorney says there are one to two murders on average every day civil society groups argue that the recent increase in police hasn't served everyone equally. for their government to protect . hotel industry but what about the ones that work in that

industry and then return to the areas where crime. and violence prevails walking along the hotel district the two sides of the city become apparent a nightly patrol by federal police makes foreign tourists feel safe but it also keeps the nearby violence out of sight and out of mind. so we have heard that an estimated five thousand federal police officers have been committed for this new increase in police presence across the country a handful of cities here in cannes crew and it being such a popular tourist destination billions of dollars generated here a third of all the tourism money that's generated in mexico comes out of camp crude but that's can't be good when you're looking at other states where violence is on the rise states like to get ahead oh in cities like the one out it's control over production route of production and distribution routes for illicit drugs it's the

proximity that the one has to the united states so there's different reasons why these elements of police forces are being sent to these different cities and municipalities across mexico but ultimately because we're coming out of a year of record of homicides in the country the strategy is to prevent that violence proof from spilling into new territories and new cities here in mexico thank you for that manual reptile in cancun and we have more from mexico on the news great tomorrow this time from the other side of the country away years of naco violence has burdened people in acapulco with major mental health problems and mexico's war on drugs isn't just crushing the country's tourism industry but it's also costing the media industry a lot this am on a website deadliest beat reporting on mexico's war on drugs takes you through the life of journalism cover the drug beat how they've risked their lives to cover and

on cover the story watch it's a fascinating film it's on our website at al-jazeera dot com now the soviet union put the first satellite the first man and the first woman in space but this week's astounding developments in the push for commercial space exploration has many in russia where eads or a chinese expats. the pitches and the achievement amazed millions of people around the world but space x. is falcon heavy rocket launch with its gracefully landing boosters didn't seem to impress russia's state space agency roscoe's most they dismissed it as little more than a p.r. stunt for either on musk's tesla electric cars if you have noticed ross cosmo said on a russian radio station this launch went up not with some empty dummy or a load which he wouldn't regret losing in a failure but with one specific car. there's some truth in what ross cosmo says ilan musk is among other things

a master of promoting his various products but thrust cosmos also seems to be covering its eyes to the main point space x. is a space technology game changer and it's a game some russians fear they're likely to lose. reveal his success is in fact that he made the process less expensive he's workers are to be used multiple times therefore he doesn't have to build a new rocket every time and the price is lot he can take a satellite into orbit cheaper and we'll lose it in this competition because our rockets can be used only once igor corage and go is one of a number of deeply concerned russian defense and space analysts he's concerned for russia's share of the space market and concerns space x. will benefit the u.s. military the workhorses of russia's state space program like this so you see i suddenly feel like aging remnants from a different era which they are really so used first launched in one thousand nine

hundred sixty six a new cosmodrome called rostock germany and russia's far east has brought some modernization but millions of dollars have gone missing from the accounts because my dreams corruption scandals highlight the country's problem with self sabotage even on projects of national priority with russia's illustrious history of space exploration is still a few thoughts of national pride but as the dawn breaks on a new era one of commercial space travel russia will have to match innovative nimble relatively cheap operators like space x. if it's to stay competitive that's a huge political and technological challenge and one the country is only just waking up to rory chalons al-jazeera moscow. coming up after the break be here with sport and to tell us how iraq over samsung phones has upset people in iraq the head of the saga of the winter games in chalk stay with us.

tatton is back with us sent out and all people are talking about today in sports is the winter games of course they are absolutely thank you very much fully we saw the opening ceremony of pyongyang twenty eighteen a bit earlier on is one particular flag bearer that's created a bit of debate this was american loosely tied to aaron how men carrying the u.s. like into the arena she is now a five time limpy and that was given the on off to winning a coin toss and that subset the lose a shani davis

a speed skater who became the first black athlete to win individual winter olympic gold back in two thousand and six he refused to take part in that opening ceremony well this was shani davis his reaction on twitter he said team usa this summer me tossed a coin to decide of twenty eight hundred flag bearer ny problem i can wait until twenty twenty two has tiger black history month twenty eighteen his tweet hasn't gone down well with a lot of people it attracted three and a half thousand comments this was the most popular reply thousands like sour grapes to me if it were up to me you'd never be up for the thunder in the future one of davis's u.s. team mates a bump that accorded nick cunningham was also critical he said carrying the flag goes beyond when the losses and it's an honor to even be considered your only proving the queen fit to the correct side what has what u.s. officials had to say as well there is a series of votes as you know there are eight federations on the winter program

resulted in a four four time in the approved and published head of time guidelines the ties broken by client flip and the election of aaron hamlin occurred she's a four time limpy and the sole u.s. woman to win and singles lose so we're excited ever. well speaking of flag barrus you might remember this guy painted tough a tough weather taekwondo competitor who carried the tongs and flag during the twenty sixteen rio olympics games shot list and covered in coconut oil fossil was two years and harry was again in pyongyang you think the freezing temperatures might have prompted him to wear clothes i guess not he's competing in cross country skiing but back to rouse and that was another one before these games about some song phones the south korean company had said that all competing at least in pyongyang would get the latest version of the small buy ins but then iranian and

north korean athletes appeared to miss out the international olympic committee was concerned about breaching u.s. sanctions against each country iranian officials want happy about this and neither were a lot of twitter users in the country a hash tag ban something started many read like this was something is selling millions of phones in iran they refused to give gifts to rainy and athletes this is shameful and disrespectful and not the one raised to pity profiling and racism taken to the next level but there's a happy ending to report hey the iranian athletes now have the samsung phones as have the north koreans although the latter have been told to return them before they go higher the i.o.c. have apologized keep up with everything connected to pyongyang viro dedicated web site had to al-jazeera dot com flash appeal jan twenty eighth seen get in touch with us throughout the winter olympics i'm on twitter and i am typing on a tweet me all use the hash tag a.j. news good it's now back to fully. thank you very much tatiana and you can get in

touch with us at all times here on the news great using using the hash tag he's great on social media and all the other ways to get in touch with us right here for me for the back to one whole team thank you very much for watching we'll see you here in studio fourteen at fifteen hundred g.m.t. to buy from. facing realities growing up when did you realize that you were living in a special place the so-called secret city getting to the heart of the matter while it is activists to live in jail just because she expressed herself hear their story

on and talk to al-jazeera at this time. we understand the differences and the similarities of cultures across the world. so no matter where you call home al-jazeera will bring in the news and current affairs that matter to you. al-jazeera. the twenty eighteen winter olympics open n.p.r. when extraordinarily show of unity between north and south korea but the u.s. keeps its distance.