al jazeera, from international politics to the global pandemic, and everything in between. join me, if i take on the life dismantled misconceptions and debate the contradictory mark lamond hill, and it's hardly get up front on al jazeera ah . the bay ging winter olympics begin overshadowed by cove at 19 and a diplomatic boycott over china's human rights records. ah, are you watching al jazeera life from to how with me for the back? people also ahead. russia and china present a united front. their leaders commit to a stronger strategic relationship in the face of pressure from the west. the u. s.

waves, some sanctions on iran, as talks continue to try and salvage the 2015 nuclear agreements. americans job machine is going stronger than ever. and the u. s. reports better than expected employment growth despite the pandemic. but businesses are still struggling to fill empty positions. the winter games in bay jane have kicked off with a spectacular ceremony. it's the 1st city to host both the winter and summer olympics. nearly 3000 daphne are in a strict bubble because of the current of our span, demik, and foreigners, and not allowed to attend. the games are fraught with political tensions due to concerns about human rights abuses, which prompted some countries to stage a diplomatic boycott associated press force. correspondence. stephen wade has more on the festivities in beijing. i was in the 2008 ordering ceremony here. 30

and a half years ago. it was 30 to 33 degrees, sweltering hot pac stadium, 91000 people right now back and we have maybe 20 or 30000 fans. we're not sure. maybe 40 percent full and it's below 0. it's one or 2 degrees below 0 here. so it's a very different different atmosphere. and what games of course are much smaller than the summer game. so they're really not not comparable. but paging is the most unlikely. can have one or lympics, but in 2015, 6 european countries who should have had or could have been for dropped out too expensive or political problems the out to see what had was left with are not because expand and beijing, they chose beijing, beijing i think was more surprised than anybody. so the games are here. the run up to the games have been filled with contention. the weaker the genocides is going on in northwestern chin. john, the region here has occupied the press, the chinese have tried to avoid it. they see has tried to avoid the sponsors or

tried to pretend like they don't see it. i think everybody will be glad like yours or when the game to get started. the focus goes on, the athletes and the politics probably will be put aside. however, it's very possible with natalie to may speak out, or we have a lot of contention for these 2 and a half weeks while we're in beijing or russia's president, was one of the few world leaders to attend the winter olympics. opening ceremony. vladimir putin hell talks with his chinese counterpart. she ging ping. it was she's 1st face to face meeting with a world leader. since they started the pandemic. katrina, you report somebody that in the putin and she didn't ping standing shoulder to shoulder showing what they describe as an unshakable bond. the leaders of russia and china met ahead of the opening of the winter olympics invade. ching, it's the 1st time president she has met a foreign counterpart in person since the beginning of the pandemic for certain the true story, or spirit or friendship and the strategic partnership. her router,

the unprecedented levels of jolie is out there. so she went to olympics 80 years ago, we promised to meet again. we have kept our promise. the leaders signed a joint statement, presenting a united front on a range of foreign policy issues. they called for nato to end it expansion and for the military alliance to abandon its so called cold war approach. they also denounced the orca security alliance between the united states, britain and australia, and the formation of further blocks in the asia pacific. the statement comes as both russia and china experienced souring ties with the u. s. and it's western and european allies. but doors, allies are also at odds. they see that the west is not speaking with one voice, and i'm has some odd division. so this benefits both russia and china. the visit comes as tensions escalate over the presence of more than $100000.00 russian

soldiers on its border with ukraine. washington is threatening to impose tough sanctions on moscow. should its forces invade? they ging says russia security concerns are legitimate the intention, me, yeah, here is to send a very clear message to the west that russia has options that russia china relationship is a possible alternative for, for moscow. and it is not going to be backed into a corner. and leaders are expected to find 15 agreements on issues ranging from trade to technology during putin's visit. russia will increase gas applies to china, and has announced a 30 year contract for a new pipeline between the 2 nations. china already received gas through what's named the power of siberia pipeline that began pumping supplies in 2019 economic support from china could undermine any western method to punish any possible russian incursion into crane. but unless say, an even bigger concern,

is it possible deepening a military corporation between moscow and she didn't being has often spoken of his deep friendship with i didn't putin, who was the 1st major leader to confirm his attendance at the beijing winter olympics. the u. s. u k. canada and australia have not sent officials to the vet in protest against china's human rights record. katrina, you, i'll to 0. they jing dimitri babich is a political analyst for the russian use media company over a fire. save ords near. he says the 2 countries have many shared interests. basically, both countries are based in the same gen, in the same danger. i would say wrong whether or not the states that the other western countries. this is a very unfortunate development. roger didn't want to china didn't want this. but as we know from history, common threats, a real rap unites various nations. many lions of any formal i

s u. c. washing them and they knew in their rhetoric they, using russia in china, trying to fax a neighbor in congress, ought to come back historically on to the russian or the chinese. and in fact, russia and china congress. and this is the stress on these was made an appointment statement made by president and, and where you asked me why russia and china are interested in each other. because our economists and our political exploration of complimentary russia has natural resources from china has the cheap labor acknowledges and, and the economic might say, on the other hand, chinese, inferior to the states and its allies in the pacific military. and here russia can

help and rather than put in his head to meet the german chancellor and french president in moscow next week to discuss the ongoing military tension in eastern ukraine. it. tasha butler has more from paris on present. my visits the french president manual micro is hoping to use some of his powers of pers, no persuasion to try and de escalate the crisis with russia. ukraine when he arrives in the russian capital on monday to meet of vladimir putin, the russian leader. now the 2 men had a telephone call on thursday evening. we understand it last just an hour. and this is the 3rd time that the tooth spoken on the phone in the past few weeks is all part of the french presence efforts to really try and push diplomacy to try and put the european union back at the center of diplomacy. because the li say, are very adamant that this isn't about a manual micro on

a solo mission to moscow representing fraud. this is a manual micro trying to talk to russia on the health of the european union. france has the rotating presidency of the european union at the moment, and he is traveling to moscow very much on behalf of the e. you, it's worth also noting that micro will be going to key as just after his meeting with president putin. no doubt, to brief for lensky, the ukrainian president on the talk that he had with a russian leader. in other world news, the u. s. is waving sanctions on yvonne civilian nuclear program as talks to save the 2015 nuclear deal, enter a critical stage. the waiver was ended by former us present donald trump. a 2020 let's go live to alger series, was being jordan in washington dc. i was explained to us what the u. s. has done here. well essentially what, so the secretary of state, as snape,

lincoln has done on friday is restore one part of the deal that was reached back in 2015. this sanctions waiver allows foreign companies and governments to assist a ron in the maintenance of 3 of its nuclear reactors who share a rock which is a heavy water reactor and the terran research reactor. otherwise, without this a waiver, these companies and other governments could find themselves in trouble with the us, possibly facing sanctions or ra, criminal charges of their own for assisting the government. this is a purely a maintenance some type of relationship. bringing in parts, bringing in the ability to monitor the amount of, of, of uranium that has been processed. and basically making certain that everything is safe at these 3 facilities. does this mean the u. s. n even are close to,

to resolving their differences off? no, it does not. a department spokesperson told me in the last hour so that this is a technical step one that needed to be done just for the safety of these facilities . and to, in order to was try to make certain that all of the terms of the j, c, p, away or raw nuclear deal can be complied with. you need to have the ability for other parties, not just the u. s. and a raw but other parties, other companies, other governments to know what's going on inside these facilities have the technical information available. so that they can best provide the assistance that the iranians would need to keep these facilities running. and i, the spokesperson told me that this is also the kind of situation where even if there is no eventual return a full compliance with the iran nuclear deal. this is still

a step that needs to be taken because it's in everyone's interest to make certain that you don't have some sort of accident that could possibly harm people in the region or potentially worldwide because there wasn't the ongoing maintenance that needed to be done. thank you very much for that. roslyn jordan life or a say in washington. more than half the un security council have condemned north korea for launching and medium range ballistic missile in a joint statement. 8 countries including the u. s. france, japan and the u. k said that ongoing, silenced by the body, would only embolden pyongyang. they describe sundays launch as a significant escalation that seeks to further destabilize the region, but china has urge a u. s. 3, engage in dialogue with north korea and quote, accommodates, it's can say still ahead on al jazeera, the u. s. republican party stands behind right as was dont capitol hill,

why they call the events of january 6, legitimate political discourse. ah, where the arctic meets the tropics, and that's the case with these 2 air masses in the us southern states, the moment you get dramatic was obvious, he gets mad and you know about this significant which storm rain where it's warmer, in between the 2 freezing rain and of course is enough energy difference here to spin up some pretty storm, a rare tornado cited with this damage and soil in alabama. toast tonight because the snapped trees. and in texas snows, no. dallas not caught in houston, but it's certainly cold that far south. now eventually the sun will do its work even in february and things will might a bit. so dallas says temperatures rise to steadily about 8 degrees, but normally it should be 17 light times about 5,

you're seeing nighttime temperature by day as a best guess. that during sunday there'll be significant rain again in florida, potential flooding here. but really the systems don't offshore. what's best on the ground, different matters, still disruptive, more snow to come for parts of ontario. otherwise, sunshine is predominant to the size were that coda leaks who hans, the shower big chassis, likely mexico, and probably guatemala. as a result of that temperature difference. and it's still raining in espanol, which is it was but hasn't entirely dried up south of that. still a potential forbid or flooding in kito and pots of product. why ah ah, inculcated culture of knowledge, openness and pluralism, world wide, and to reward merit and excellence and encourage creativity. the shape come out. award for translation and international understanding was found to promote

translation and honor translators, and acknowledged the road and strengthening the bonds of friendship and co operation between arab islamic and wild coaches. lou lou ah, welcome back. a recap of our top stories on al jazeera, the beijing winter games have kicked off where they says spectacular ceremony, but concerns about human rights abuses have overshadowed event with some countries staging a diplomatic boycott. the us is waving sanctions on iran civilian nuclear program, as talks to revive the 2015 the nuclear deal enter

a critical stage. the waiver was ended by former us present donald trump in 2020 and more than half the un security council has a condemned north korea for launching a medium range ballistic missile. they described sunday's launch are this significant escalation that seeks to further the stabilize to reach a european union has imposed sanctions on molly's transitional prime minister and members of entering president, a senior graters in a circle. the block hit 5 individuals in total with travel bands and asset freezes . include molly's top military leaders who were behind a co in may. multiple sanctions were imposed last month by west africa regional organization echo us after the military joint delayed elections until 2025. a flare up of violence in north western ethiopia has disgraced thousands of sudanese in south sudanese refugees. the u. n. refugee agency says it's in a race against time to bring them food and medical care. the violence is focused in

the building shown goal demos region. it's home 270000 refugees from sudan and south sudan, and more than 500000 in turn, latest space ethiopians. you and hcr says fighting broke out in the town of toggle between federal forces an, an identified armed groups. on january 18th, a refugee camp was looted and burned a 2nd facility to be destroyed since late december. more than 20000 people have now been displaced. many of them have made their way on foot to areas near the regional capital. i saw you in a she are says it's ethiopia is operation needs 335000000 dollars this year, but it's only got 9 percent of that so far. well, earlier we spoke to the un refugee agency spokesman nevin kirk, on which we explained the steps being taken to help the vulnerable victims were looted and burned. and the some 22000 refugees who are also there were forced to

flee yet again. and now to find refuge in 3 different locations within the region. and what we are trying now is to bring them to safety to working with the government counterparts. this is the refugees and written the service of the deal here, as well as with other humanitarian partners. in 1st bringing them to, you know, safe locations but also to secure the emergency assistance that is really life saving in the situations. and yes, we're working very closely with the government. the government was very quick to identify a temporary site near another camp in the region. the chemicals, sorry exactly, to house those 20000 refugees from the 2 camps that have

been abandoned. and thankfully, the government was very quick to, to establish actually that the temporary site where these people can find safety in the us, the republican national committee has voted to censure ms. chaney and adam kims and j. the 2 lawmakers are accused of defined party leadership by participating an investigation into the january 6 bytes. republican politicians have largely boycotted the democratic lead inquiry into what they call legitimate political discourse. when i speak to adolfo franko about this is a lawyer and republican strategist, joining us from alexandria in virginia. very good to have you with us on al jazeera, so legitimate political discourse, that's how the republican party is choosing to view the events of january. thanks. do you agree with that characterization? well, i don't agree entirely with the characterization that's been made here. of obviously, the discourse of, in the clinical discourse,

practiced by the vast majority of people who attended the rally, which were tens of thousands is absolutely legitimate to, to legitimate expression of protocol expression in our country. which been condemned by both president trauma, the republican party. and all republican leadership are the small number relative to who attended that rally that participated as you correctly described in a riot in a mob that is inexcusable and a breach of every norm of our laws and traditions, and should be condemned. but unfortunately, what's been done on capitol hill is an extension to somehow suggest that this is abuse, frankly, of approximately 75000000 people. and certainly all the people who attended peacefully rally like that. what we remember from those live pictures on television, it was an peaceful at all, i mean, but by calling legitimate, our medical history or so. i mean, is it, this is not undermining what happened that. what happened is very different from

what we've seen in the us in the past. well, what that, those pictures that you saw were a distinct minority of the numbers of tens of thousands were attending that day. so at the you have to draw the distinction the political discourse to be clear with your viewers that republican party is saying used to be defended as the people who peacefully marched in washington, who peacefully participated in the, in the rallies at the white house. and throughout pennsylvania avenue, every one condemns the rioters that took place in these activities. every republicanism, including as it it prob, so we need to draw the distinction. i think it's an unfair characterization to suggest that the 10s of thousands of people who attended your peacefully, i was there, right? we're in some shape or form responses. whatever you want to call it today, you have to top republicans have been censured because of their views on this. i mean, what, what it, what is the message the party sending here that is this a warning to other people who dissent out there that, you know,

it's not going to accept this. well, the reason they've been censured left because of their views. the reason they've been centered is because they're participating in a while and a political theatre of capitol hill. exec were the leader of the democratic party for the 1st time of the house speaker. for the 1st time in our history. as denied the minority leader, the republican leader, his right to select members of the committee. so that was the decision of the republican leadership. first time in our history that a speaker says, no, we're going to have functionally, a partisan view of what happened or review or should say of what happened in these events. that's what a dispute here had a leader mccarthy. the republican leader in the house been allowed is it's our tradition for 250 years to select his members. we will not be having this debate, right? just inherent in there. it's a, it's a white wash and it's

a partisan political. the drives taking place, the credit is for a president trump, but this also exposes, wouldn't you agree, the stock divisions within the republican party today? not at all of 200 over 200 members of congress. you have to share that view 2. 0, one of them has decided not to lecture because you will lose and i venture to say less chatty will lose or electron that i don't represent you in their own districts right back home. that's about on my mind that it was 240 members. i was that possibly reflecting divisions of the republican party. let's talk about hines. you resident pence for a moment because that's another surprise that came today from a vice president pen faint today that president trump was wrong in saying that he had a right to overturn the vote and had many opportunities to weigh in on this question . why only now? well, 1st of all, i think vice president pence has been consistent in that position. it was consistent even with the president. well, he was, while he was vice president,

obviously he acted accordingly. so vice president, what vice president pence said today is not consistent with his own actions on january 6 and subsequent. but every single time he's on an opportunity he has said he's not, he's not had the authority to do that. so i don't think it's any difference of opinion. they have a difference of opinion. president trump still maintains that the vice president had more than a ceremonial role. the vice president disagrees. and the only reason this is news, today's is because the vice president 1st really major speech political organization united states to state what has been his position and according and, and how he acted accordingly on january 6, james franco, think he was talking to the spanish thanks for your time. thank you. so chrysler, sorry, oh, i'm big james. if you ah, less head to the u. k. now, where another conservative n p has sent a letter of no confidence in prime minister boys johnson. iron bows says

allegations of parties being housed during lockdown, and johnson handling of the fallout has made its position untenable. a total of 13 m. p. 's have not publicly called for the prime minister to go more may have done so privately, boys. johnston's grip on power has also been rocked by a string of resignation from his team of 8 northern islands. high court says import checks on food from great britain should remain in place for now. the ruling suspends and order from the minister of agriculture to hold custom districts. the european union says that move regional the 9 and protocol and agreement between westminster and brussels, signed in 2020 to implement breakfast. it's aimed at avoiding border checks between northern ireland and the republic of island. bryan fini is a political commentator from northern island. he says the democratic union is opposed to the protocol because the d u. p believes the protocol cuts northern ireland off from the rest of the u. k. the british government also wants to prove

recalled, changed because they didn't realize at the time serious effect that was going to house since last september that he had been threatening to pulled on the executive protocol wasn't radically changed or removed, which is what they really want. and that didn't happen because he hasn't been successful. and the leader of the d. u. p. kept in the threats of come to the point or is it cool if he hadn't carried the mike, it was going to be a laughing stock. so what happened yesterday? they pulled on the executives, and there is a deal of complicity between the british and the last year. the british were if you like, recognizing with the u. p. o position really justifying their opposition to the protocol to such an extent that last june, the united states formerly reprimanded the british for the british charge

for london, said for and saving tensions in ireland. so that the british pulled back from that position in december. and though they're looking for a day, but they weren't going to get was the reason that the d p pull, the executive don yesterday was last week. the leader is a party met forest johnson of british prime minister. and johnson told him, he thought there was a less than 30 percent chance, that they would get a radical change in the protocol. and if they didn't get it later, the d p asked him do walk away unilaterally. and johnson did not ever, not commitments. so they decided to pulled, i pulled on the executive, the u. s. job market has seen an unexpected up turn in january despite a connie fast shortage, more than 700000 more jobs were created in november and december. the white house

is hailing the figure as a sign which honda me, has remained strong despite the cobra. 1900 pandemic, which happened just in the past 3 weeks. today's extraordinary job report that data was collected. the code crisis has been cut in half down and half in just 3 weeks. still to many cases, still we have to be on the, on the alert. but to be clear, this is a dramatic decline. while americans have been quitting their jobs in record numbers, especially in low wage work as slightly due to health fears and generous stimulus payouts because of koby 19 managers are now getting creative to entice them back. kristin salumi explains beach weather is still months away, but businesses along the new jersey coast are already looking to fill summer jobs, including more than $400.00 at this boardwalk, fund zone. if we don't have the employees unfortunately,

like we had to do last year to shore in our hours. so a lot of the guess i wanted to come, we couldn't stay open and see the whole time that we usually do. so a lot of guess or disappoint in that, so we're hoping we can go back to our regular operating hours. we just need to have those employees to fill those long days. nearby restaurants are also looking for more help. normally we'd wait for april or may to start hiring for the summer. we're starting now at the robinson l house. they've raised their starting salaries to $15.00 an hour. well above the states minimum wage. places that rely on tourism like here on the jersey shore really have struggle, but labor shortages are a factor nationwide across retail and service industries. many businesses that have been dealing with supply chain issues, forcing them to raise prices are also now having to raise wages. big chains like macy's, department store, have cut operating hours. others are getting creative, offering bonuses on the case of this pizza delivery chain. cash incentives for

customers who pick up their own orders. some states have even deployed the national guard in response to health care workers shortages experts, blame fewer child care options for working parents, and generous government benefits during the pandemic for the problem. i think there's jobs to become a lot more unpleasant. we've also giving people lot of money. they're not still getting money, but they certainly got a lot of money over the last couple years. they have less need to work. and also they have more option. others say the pandemic lead many people to rethink how work fits into their lives and to question whether jobs involving long hours and low pay are really worth it. industry groups, including the national retail federation, are pushing the government to authorize more work visas for immigrants to make up for the shortages. for every workers looking for a job, there is almost 2 jobs open that they can choose from. so that's really putting a strain on our, on our, on our members for sure with the pandemic and it's special unimed.