twenty twelve al-jazeera traveled to iraq people here are definitely scared to speak on camera they're saying that if they talk to us they think they'll be arrested down the line to take the pulse of a country ravaged under us occupation some of these graves are completely destroyed it's one of the most holy and sacred sites in all of iraq turned into a battleground between the mighty army and the americans six years on rewind returns to iraq after the americans at this time on all just see. a side of hope at the winter olympics as athletes from the two koreas barger de unified flag watched by top officials from both north and south.

parts of the robot you watching are just there alive my headquarters here in doha coming up in the next thirty minutes colombia's former rebel group the fox suspended political campaigning of its security concerns following days of angry protests. and egypt launches a sweeping military operation against what it calls terrorists and to criminal groups of the side they've been sealing plus. a space x. rockets head fears of russia that its legacy could be under threat. both to the program it's am in south korea the first full day of competition at the winter olympics is just getting underway later the day the first medals of the games will be awarded winners are set to be crowded biathlon cross country skiing speed skating and ski jumping it follows a lavish opening ceremony attended by both u.s. vice president by peds the north korean leader sr the tasha going to report from

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 kim jong has quickly become a power broker in another historic moment south korean president mungy 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 and mosconi it was 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 this i.c.b.m. into continental body stick missiles capable of delivering a nuclear strike as a continuum for united states in the runup 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 knowing that. i hope that with north korea not pleats participation this could be peace a lympics and i hope we can achieve we unification between the south and the north . the mood here is good to south korea's hosting the olympics and athletes are coming from around the world a good opportunity to promote south korea. and the hope is this will set the stage not only for a sporting spectacular but historic breakthrough with their northern neighbors natasha going to aim elders era south korea. gordon chang is a columnist for the daily beast and author of the book nuclear showdown north korea

takes on the world he joins me now via skype from bedminster in new jersey could have you with us on the program so i mean how much of a domestic success so far president moon had in terms of these over chills to north korea being in the light of a joint team on the sister of the north korean leader arriving now for the olympics you know the president moves getting what he wants which is reconciliation with north korea really is just a first step but this is what he's in vision now not everybody in south korea likes this and it's not just the conservatives who don't like anything the moon wants it's also a good portion of the moon's constituency who think that moon is going too far so for instance with this joint ice hockey women's i soccer team which is the first time ever they feel that a joint team you have south korean athletes being turfed off their own team to make way for the north koreans and many north many south koreans are just furious that if north korea is at the games as we say they are is it a sign that the serious about improving long term political ties all resists just

a temporary sort of smoke and mirrors campaign. well you know we won't know intel a couple years from now but there really is no indication that the north koreans have changed their fundamental goals which is to take over south korea and what they're doing is attempting to subvert the democracy there they would be very successful in creating this appearance of progress you know we'll just have to see but the kim family has had these goals for seven decades they've pursued them relentlessly sometimes they've been charm offensive sometimes they kill people but that's their goal has remained the same and kept on going to the north korean leader has been talking more and more recently about quote unquote final victory which is north korean lingo of course taking over the south in theory we have been talking and been hearing about the charm offensive president move wants this to be a peace games and just sort of a side bar would have been so difficult for the vice president vice president pence of the u.s. to have turned around and shook shake the hand of the north korean leader as sista

to sort of diffuse the tension. well you know he could have done that something else he could have done and that is at the opening reception and dinner the president hosted. vice president pence went there but only for five minutes and then he blew off the dinner and that really regardless of the relationship with north korea this disrespected president moon that was not a good thing for the vice president to do you know nonetheless though there are some things that the vice president pensive has done which are really good for instance bringing beer the father of ottawa beer the north koreans chilled last year so you know when you think it about all the things he's done some good some bad but as you point out on the optics of some of these things with regard to north korea they haven't been that good we've seen the u.s. and south korea is that polls really in terms of the way they want to approach

north korea in terms of dialogue sanctions or even at any time of diplomacy where is their relationship right now in respect of the way the south is treating the north. well you know first of all between washington and seoul i mean there obviously is this wide gap in the way they use north korea but we've got to remember the south korea is more than just moon j.n. you know mungy in comes from he's sixty five he comes from a generation that was very anti american and korean nationalist they want to see a unified korea nation but you look at younger south koreans they see their societies separate and apart from north korea and there's south korean nationalists and i think the vice president pence is probably more in tune with most people in the south korean electorate certainly more than moon jerry in and so you know moon

can do six he can create a rupture with the united states but i'm not so sure that he has the support of the majority of south koreans because you look at opinion polls recently moved it's lost a lot of these last ten points in about a week because of the olympics we shall see what happens certainly in the coming weeks and months for them but gordon chang there in new jersey thanks so much for joining us sir thank you let's go to the americas colombia's full rebel group the fog has temporarily suspended its campaign for upcoming elections because of demonstrations of threats to its candidates the group became a political party last year after it made a peace deal with the colombian government adding more than fifty two years of conflict but many colombians the still angry at the foka believe its members should be in prison or in the end though we have decided to suspend campaign activities until we have sufficient guarantees we call on all parties and political movements without exception to make a statement rejecting this type of aggression we invite all to meet us at the forum

to agree of a game of clean rules jorge of a split though is the director of the conflict analysis research said try to professor of economics at a time out here at a university he says faux concerns about the safety of the activists are justified . it's a very risky situation it's a difficult transition from conflict to political parties beijing for the now party for america really grew because there is strong need for vindication for revenge even in the general population go especially in urban areas then this is why decision by far to soft campaign only in politics where the free of the country they need to go see their nasty to a share of their risk the general feeling in the population is that they have not.

subject themselves to the new system of justice. you see here that you have. special justice for the transfusion system and that is what makes people really i'm really against the fire they feel the very air ration of course what they fire need to luis to recognize and address the very strong sense of sentiment in the population against political party nation with. the egyptian army hers a lot of what it's calling a comprehensive operation against terrorist and criminal groups in the sinai peninsula is a televised statement said of the spokesman said it involves landsea death forces covering subdural side at areas a little delta western desert hospitals have been put on high alert order to prepare extra beds and stuff to deal with emergencies and medical evacuations well

earlier we set about shoes a professor of security studies at the heart institute he says there's a political dimension to the new offensive. if you saw the pattern from twenty thirteen on words you'll find the scale ations happening with one major political events are coming up so when the coup happened in july twenty third dean you had miscreation following in september and the whole idea part of the coup and that is all that of the new regime coming is that security and counterterrorism needs to be implemented partly in sinai but also elsewhere the interesting part about the communique of the armed forces is that they're not talking just about sinai they're saying there's an escalation in central delta and there's in this collation in the western deserts which are the two other areas that you saw some kind of political violence happening in there i think it has to do a lot with the force going presidential elections i think these escalations and the level of. men and the ship to sinai is not new cutting

spending the internet communications blocking roads this is all not new has been happening since twenty fifteen and probably before twenty thirteen as well so i'm not sure if there's something new or there's a measured saying that you know the strongman is back he's trying to secure the region and therefore mobilize for him in the next presidential elections which is happening next month. the turkish military is establishing a new position in syria's province as part of efforts to expand the so-called deescalation zone they've deployed told. to turkey's state news agency russian forces are expected to position themselves six kilometers outside the town their objective is to create a lie dividing syrian government forces the opposition fighters to prevent called tact it appears to be the size of it ted bob bob with the ground fighting it recent weeks there the white house bit civil defense volunteers say one of their said does it cards or could it live was targeted by government as strikes the u.n.

has reduced its appeal for me but flag humanitarian truce to allow aid to be delivered to eastern guta it lip. president trump is to come to the defense who has come to the defense of a white house aide who's quit after being accused of domestic violence rob porter resides earlier this week after two former wives made separate allegations of verbal and physical abuse as you probably know he says he's innocent and i think you have to remember that he said very strongly yesterday that he's innocent. so you'll have to talk to him about that but we absolutely wish him well did a very good job while he was at the white house elisha has the latest from washington d.c. . well this fits into a pattern for donald trump standing by people that he perceives to be loyal you remember that one might flynn resigned as the national security advisor just a few days later donald trump was calling him a very good man saying that he didn't need to resign he stood by roy moore who was

running for the republican party in the senate in alabama he was accused of molesting young women a number of them under age don't trump didn't disavow his candidacy in fact he said that people should go out and vote for roy moore that he should be listened to when he said he was innocent and you remember that donald trump himself before the election was accused of sexually assaulting a number of women he even boasted about it on tape but he said that all the women were liars and that he should be believed when he said he was innocent no what really annoys some people is that there were no warrants for porter's ex-wives who are the victims in this who came forward with these allegations and we've had very recently to the white house has put out a statement that john kelly the chief of staff has not offered his resignation to donald trump because of this scandal which suggests that there are reports circulating that john kelly had indeed offered his resignation because of the way

he's handled this there's also another problem too for all porter when he got the job at the white house he would have filled in a form a declaration form one of those questions are you currently under a restraining order which apparently he was at the time though if he takes that no he's in the trouble because he lied on a federal form and that is a felony if he took to yes then people are saying why didn't the white house do something about this situation before it got to the stage why weren't they more proactive in finding out what this was all about and perhaps doing something about it at that point so more trouble for all porter perhaps in store but certainly a bad friday for donald trump. well still ahead here on al-jazeera the e.u.'s main bridge should negotiate three issues a warning to britain decision time is here. also basically deploys thousands of extra police to fight a rising tide of drug related crime in tallest hotspots those stories on the other side of the break.

from the waves of the south. to the contours of the east. coast i once again the weather looks logic watch across a good part of central and southern china temperatures in hong kong at around twenty two degrees some of the west the weather though pushing up towards the southwest and some snow on the northern edge of fact that will get pushed a little further south which is we go through sunday perhaps the snow not as widespread but the cooler air does set in say hong kong getting up to around nineteen degrees celsius but at least it should be largely sunny mostly sunny too across a good part of malaysia thailand looking set faddle a peninsula gently settled and sunny the heaviest showers now look to be gathering just around that western side of borneo northern areas of indonesia seeing some rather heavy showers as we go on through the next couple of days to carter said

seeing more heavy right temperatures here at around thirty degrees celsius we'll see temperatures around thirty celsius across a good part of india and there is looking lousy dry but a fair amount of cloud across the country not to as a northwest because see some increasing clouds some fickling cloud just bringing a little bit of rain maybe some snow into the northwest of pakistan over the next day or to let me go with the increasing kind of course the eastern side of the country today but again as i said should stay largely dry it stays logic dry across the region peninsula highs here in doha of twenty six degrees. there with sponsored by qatar and nice. it was a bomb. which modern day venezuela was established. for over a century this lucrative resource has divided the people both less than coasts with the world's largest reserves charting the impact of industrialization and the legacies of its prominent leaders we shed light on the troubles afflicting

venezuela today the big picture the battle for venezuela at this time on al jazeera . welcome back to our viewers there i was a whole robbed over by our top stories athletes of north and south korea have barged into a unified korea's flag for the opening of the winter olympics appealed chick south korea's president who used the sara lee to reach out to pyongyang shaking hands with the north korean leader a sister. also colombia's former rebel group the fog has temporarily suspended its political campaign because of demonstrations and threats to its candidates because kate a political party last year after

a peace deal with the colombian government did more than fifty two years of conflict. the egyptian army has launched what it's called a good comprehensive operation against terrorist at the criminal groups in the sinai peninsula in a televised state that the army spokesman said it involves and i'd see it our forces covering the central sinai of the areas in the dial delta or the western desert. the european union's chief breaks it to go shater has warned that plans for a period of transition to ease britain's withdrawal could be at risk michael bodying says a substantial disagreements with britain are jeopardizing blood's plans for a transition period of around two years after it formally leaves the e.u. and twenty nine t. he also rejected criticism from britain's brics it minister david davis who described proposals to say should britain if it breached rules during the transition as discourteous. it was shoulder your bend the position of the european

union is very logical from my point of view by asking to enjoy the advantages of the single market the united kingdom that it has to accept all the rules and the obligations until the end of the transition that's only logical it also has to accept the consequences of its decision to leave gold to new considering this agreement to be quite frank transition today is not a given if these these agreements persist the transition is not a given the mexican marines have arrested a dettori as drug cartel leader with a five billion dollars bounty on his head. the lead here is the leader of the loss of that house cartel that stoked chaos across much of mexico with its drug trafficking operations it's a coup for the government which is also deploying thousands of federal police officers to combat a huge surge in violence in the country more than twenty five thousand people were burdett indexical last year that's the highest number of decades in january five

thousand additional police officers were sent to several torah cities where violence linked to drug cartels that organized crime have been high most of them have been deployed to tier water which borders side diego and california the rest would bark a lot of the tourist areas of pans and lost her boss. cooed chewed up a cigar aside as the states and askew of. zammit as low as it could could back soko with the details. police and military forces are holding a routine checkpoint in cancun and 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 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 all 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 in turquoise waters however the violence seems far away the soda i feel there is say 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 sunsets 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. but. that work in that industry. to the areas where i'm. walking along the hotel district the two sides of the city become apparent the nightly patrol by federal police makes foreign tourists feel safe but it also keeps the nearby violent out of sight and out of mind and ended up on oh i just see to cancun

mexico. and in parts of observers investigation into violence on the streets of mexico we travel to acapulco on the country's pacific coast where doctors acing an epidemic of mental illness caused by constant gangland killings that's on saturday here. something else opposition parties have been demonstrating in a call for free and fair elections ahead of the twenty nine thousand presidential vote the trial of a high profile opposition figure on corruption allegations does choose to end this week for some of the dhaka is expected to challenge president mbeki at the polls the close. is following the story for us. that they were together. their election head of the presidential election that will take place in two thousand and nine. elections are year and

a half away so why is this happening right now well they say here it's because the government is there with their political leaders in the last few years we've seen the former president of. being in. on corruption. and then there is. the mayor with. corruption charges he says this is politically motivated. the government and the representative of the ruling party and this is what he had to say we. don't believe that the president sound is a real democratic he's result of an election with simple canute it is he's ambition is not to be the only candidate democracy has gone through to successful in peace who transitions currently we're heading to the polls with a party with a great record and a weak position in difficulty. this is the first time that the government has

allowed a protest since the parliamentary elections and there's been demonstrations for the past few weeks across various west african countries in chad in new here we go even in tunisia some are protesting against the rising cost of living others are calling for political change and so this protest all those is stable and economically sound has to be taken in the light of what's happening throughout the region young africans are tired of being ignored taking to the streets in order to get their voices heard and. now the seventh union put the first satellite the first man and the first woman in space but this week's astounding developments in the push to commercial space exploration has left russia oh many in russia worried challenge reports from moscow now on how elon musk's gained maybe russia's loss. the pitches and the achievements amazed millions of people who are 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 mosques test 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. with don't reveal his successes 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 low 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 concerned 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. and you can follow all of the stories that we're covering here on al-jazeera by logging onto our website at al-jazeera dot com it's updated twenty four hours a day. you're watching i was there i was a whole realm of these are all top stories affluence from north and south korea have marched and re unified korea's flag for the opening of the winter olympics in pealing chang south korea's president in use a ceremony to reach out to pyongyang shaking hands with the north korean leaders

sister colombia's former rebel group the fog has temporarily suspended its campaign for upcoming elections because of demonstrations and threats to its candidates the group became a political party last year after it made a peace deal with the government adding more than fifty two years of conflict but many colombians are still angry at the fog and believe its members should be imprisoned. we have decided to suspend campaign activities until we have sufficient guarantees we call on all parties and political movements without exception to biggest statement rejecting this type of aggression we invite all to meet us to the forum to agree of a game of clean rules the egyptian army has launched what it's calling a comprehensive operation against terrorist telling criminal groups in the sinai peninsula in a televised statement an army spokesman said it involves land sea and air forces covering central sila in areas of the nile delta and western desert. the turkish

military has establishing a new position is serious province as part of efforts to expand the so-called deescalation zone they've deployed it tallaght current according to turkey's state news agency russian forces are expected to position themselves six kilometers outside the town the objective is to create a lie dividing syrian government forces and opposition fighters to prevent contact it'll be the science of intense bombardment to ground fighting in recent weeks. the european union's chief breaks it to negotiate a war that plans for a period of transition to ease britain's withdrawal could be at risk michel barnier says substantial disagree with britain are jeopardizing lovebirds plans for a transition period of around two years after it formally leaves the e.u. and twenty nine t. he also rejected criticism from britain's minister david davis who described proposals to sack should britain if it breached e.u. rules during the transition discourteous those were the headlines about the board

use it thirty minutes next on al-jazeera its inside story to stay with us. the forgotten conflict and forgotten people of yemen and their suffering has only increased during the sandy led war against for the rebels millions are facing famine disease and widespread shortages what will it take for the international community to stop the barrage of bullets and bombs this is inside story.