a milestone in his presidency. donald trump set to sell his agenda to an audience of divided lawmakers and divided americans. another deadly assault in kabul. isis is claiming responsibility for this one. an attack on a military base. and the music industry's best and brightest pay tribute to the me too movement. >> hello and welcome to our viewers joining us here in the united states and of course all around the world. we are live in atlanta. i'm rosemary church. >> i'm george howell from cnn world headquarters. "newsroom" starts right now.

the u.s. president is a day away from delivering his first state of the union address, and it is an important moment, certainly for his presidency after what's been a roller coaster first year in office for donald trump. speaking to a divided nation, a main focus of his speech is expect to be his plan for immigration reform. >> lawmakers from both parties are stressing the need for compromise. boris sanchez has more now from the white house. >> reporter: white house officials telling cnn that the president is set to strike an optimistic tone during his state of the union address on tuesday night. the theme of this speech, building a safer, stronger, and prouder america. a source telling cnn that the president is expected to try to reach across the aisle and appeal to people that are not in his base, in part doing that by touting his economic record and the major success that we've seen recently in the u.s. economy, specifically, with the stock market and low unemployment numbers. the president is then going to

shift and talk about infrastructure and ask congress for a trillion dollars to fund his infrastructure plan. the main focus of this speech, though, where all eyes will be is in the portion where he talks about immigration. the speech coming at a critical time in the debate for immigration reform. and the president is set to sell his vision to the american people in exchange. for offering a pathway to citizenship for some 2 million undocumented immigrants, the congress is going to ask congress for $25 billion to fund his long promised border wall. and he is also going to ask for major changes to legal immigration. and as right now, that's where the sticking point is right now between republicans and democrats on things like what this white house calls chain migration that is the sponsoring of relatives by naturalized immigrants. marc short, the legislative director of public affairs for the white house took to morning talk shows to say that the president has offered concessions on offering that

pathway to citizenship, and now it's time for democrats to offer concessions. listen to more of what marc short said. >> i think that the president made enormous appeal and showed enormous leadership in putting forward a plan to resolve the daca issue, an issue that has plagued our country for decades. and yet the outcry from democrats when he went further than many people thought he would in providing not just permanent residence, but pathway to citizenship for 1.8 million people living in the country. and yet so far democrats have continued to cry they don't want to solve the problem. we're anxious to solve the problem. >> democratic lawmakers have said that proposal from the white house is dead on arrival, in part saying that those changes to legal migration being proposed by the administration are inhumane. all this as far as the preview for the state of the union is what's on paper. a white house official telling cnn that the president is expected to speak from the heart. and as we've seen before, often that can mean him going into tangents and talking about things that are not on paper, that are not on the script, potentially leading to distractions.

we'll see exactly what happens on tuesday night at the state of the union address. boris sanchez, cnn at the white house. >> all right, boris, thanks. the u.s. president also sparring over the black unemployment rate. not with a political adversary, but with hip-hop mogul jay-z. >> mr. trump responded to comments the rapper made during an interview on jan jones' new show on cnn. >> he is somebody who is now saying, look, i'm dropping black unemployment. black people are doing well under my administration. does he have a point that maybe the democrats have been giving us good lip service but no jobs. maybe he is going to say terrible things but put money in our pocket. does that make him a good leader? >> no, because it's not about money attend of the day. money doesn't equate to happiness. it doesn't. that's missing the whole point you. treat people like human beings. it goes back to the whole thing. you treat me really bad and pay me well.

>> right. yeah. >> it's not going lead to happiness. it's going lead to, again, the same thing. everyone is going to be sick. >> mr. trump later tweeted this, somebody please inform jay-z that because of my policy, black unemployment has just been reported to be at the lowest rate ever reported. >> all right. so here is the situation. it is true that the african american unemployment rate hit a record low of 6.8%. that was last month. but that's still well above the rate of 3.7% for white americans. let's talk more about all this now with the deputy head of the u.s. americas program at chatham house live this hour for us. thank you so much for your time today. on this point about the unemployment rate for african americans, let's talk about the president's comments. because he is talking about a rate, a trend quite frankly that was taking place before he ever

took office. but taking credit for all of it. >> yes, absolutely. like loot of trump claims, there is a kernel of truth there, but it reflects a larger deception. the about employment rate has been dropping for years. the trend line has continued from the latter years of the obama administration into the trump years he can certainly take credit for not having changed the trend. arguably he could take credit for some improvement at the very margins. but the underlying trend is not something trump can take credit for. indeed, there are a lot of factors. any president, in party. >> in time which are responsible for the unemployment rate. >> the u.s. president again looking ahead to a milestone here. his state of the union address. very important moment for his presidency. topics that will be on the table. immigration, infrastructure, and possibly prison reform. we hear the president will also try to reach across the aisle to

speak beyond his base. especially on the issue of immigration in order to push for some tougher policy. but the question here, jacob, will democrats be open to that offer with these tougher policies. >> i don't think they're going to be particularly open. one of the things, we heard marc short speaking about it a moment ago. but one of the points the democrats have been making is the situation with daca was created by trump. that the change in policy, the crisis was created by trump, changing an obama era policy. so i think it's a bit disingenuous for trump to say this is a crisis we need to solve immediately. he could solve it with executive action. he has chosen to expand the remit of what he is willing to do, the kinds of deportation he is willing to order i.c.e. to carry out in order to buy himself more negotiating space. i don't think the democrats are going to be in much of a mood to accept any offer on that front. on the other hand, they have

somewhat limited power. they're the minority in both houses. they do need to be brought in to some kind of deal. but their ability to put leverage on the president is limited and somewhat attenuated by that. >> also i want to talk about this interview that took place on itv, the british broadcaster. the president's response to retweeting the islamophobic videos from the far right group britain first. his not apology apology as some are calling it. let's listen. >> you're telling me that there are horrible racist people, i would certainly apologize if you would like me to do that. i know nothing about them. >> and you would disavow yourself of people like that? >> i don't want to be involved with people like that. you're telling me about these people. because i know nothing about these people. >> so jacob, when i heard that, it reminded me of something i heard a coupe of years back. this similar situation president trump found himself in while campaigning, discussing the

former ku klux klan grand wizard david duke. listen closely. >> well, i have to look at the group. i don't know what group you're talking about. you wouldn't want me to condemn a group they know knock? i'd have to look. if you would send me a list of the groups, he will do research on them. and certainly i would disavow if i thought there was something wrong. >> that back from february 2016. jacob, the question here. the similarities. because some people see this type of sidestepped response as dog whistle support for these groups. >> trump certainly doesn't apologize for anything. the biggest apology we've seen him make was in response to the "access hollywood" tapes. and subsequently it's been reported he changed his story and said those were fake. this is -- a lot of people have been saying this is not really an apology. it's an offer to apologize. well, he retweeted those words. he has an obligation since he has the most sort of public

twitter account. maybe not the most followed. but the most public twitter account in the world. certainly the twitter account that draws the most news of any in the world. i think he has certain obligation to look before he tweets. and to then not say oh, well, i don't understand. i think an abdication of responsibility there. >> jacob, thank you for your insight. >> and we are trapping developing news from afghanistan. an attack on a military base near kabul has killed at least 11 soldiers and wounded 16. an official says the assault is over, and at least four attackers are now dead. isis claims it's responsible for an take on the afghan military, but says it targeted a military academy and not the base. >> all of this comes after a saturday bombing, a bombing that killed more than 100 people in kabul. this happened when an ambulance packed with explosives blew up

on a crowded street. it got past a checkpoint. the taliban claimed responsibility for that earlier attack. >> and for more we are joined live from kabul by journalist bilal sarwary. bilal, the attack is over as we just reported. but what is the situation on the streets right now? and of course now we're getting this higher death toll as a result of that attack. how tense is the aftermath? >> look, kabul is a city with a really broken heart. as i've said before, the streets are empty. you really don't find the same, you know, chaos of life that you would have here, the traffic jams. and i really feel sorry for the seven million people or so who live here. because you can't go to restaurants you. can't go to shopping malls. they've all been attack and there are these constant attacks. the fatalities and casualties today that you're alluding to,

they did not happen in the front lines somewhere in a remote or a valley on the border with pakistan. so that is quite a worrying development that afghan cities, including kabul is becoming another deadly front. put yourself into the shoes of an afghan soldier, i would say. when he is killed, he is the sole breadwinner. he leaves behind a young widow. he leaves behind an orphan. and i think for the afghan society, the weight of these coffins is just too heavy. because when these coffins go back to the remote villages and districts from where these soldiers have come to join the afghan national army and afghan national police, most of the times just to put food on the table, i think that's the most heartbreaking aspect of this conflict. you also have a situation where the government continues to promise that they will prevent these attacks, and then they can't prevent them. so there is a demand in this

frustration and anger for better security. after all, kabul is the capital of afghanistan. it's the city of 7 million people. and as a result of these attacks, people's lives and businesses have really been paralyzed, you know. people have lost their incomes. so for the moment, security situation remains extremely volatile. and kabul remains on a very high state of security alert. >> and this is the problem, isn't it? both the taliban and isis successfully carried out these attacks in kabul, or near kabul. and i wanted to ask what afghan authorities are saying about this. you mentioned security. are they promising anything as far as security goes in the capital going forward? >> well, this morning when i was coming to work, i saw visible signs of security. i saw armored humvees, extra police. we are now being told that investigators will be questioning the individual who

was detained in the area. he has been described to us by the minister defense spokesperson as one of the five attackers. we'll have to see what evidence the government provides to back that claim up. i think one of the major challenges for the afghan government is to really find out about the sleeper cells, to find out about the support network of these military networks. i mean after all, these attacks have been happening for the last two or three years. so the question everyone is asking, why so many attacks? why so many they aye tac-- atta in one area in this city. you to remember in the past two, three years both the taliban and islamic state expanded their areas of recruitment. these are areas that would previously provide soldiers and policemen to the afghan national army and police. so a lot as happened. at the same time, the american military and the afghan

government and other international forces are killing mid and high level commanders both from the taliban as well as the islamic state. and then, you know, the further complication that one can hardly understand is the pakistan element. because both kabul and washington really wants pakistan to move against the leadership of taliban as well as the pakistan best militant network. the leader of the haqqani network is the head of the operations for the taliban and kabul simply wants pakistan to go after him and other commanders and stop supporting the haqqanis and many other taliban leaders. >> all right, journalist bilal sarwary joining us there live from kabul. many thanks to you. ahead, cnn is getting exclusive access inside the civil war that's taking place in yemen. next we take you to the front lines of that battlefield. plus the river seine flooded some parts of paris over the

weekend. yet life is going on as normal for most people. we will check on the river's rise. that's still to come. stay with us.

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yemen's prime minister is accusing southern separatists of attempting a coup. government forces and the separatist group clashed on sunday in the port city of aden. at least 18 people were killed. >> both groups used to be on the same side. they fought together against houthi rebels. but now they aaccuse the saudi-backed government from corruption and want to remove it from power. nic robertson is following this story from abu dhabi. he joins us now live. nic, what is going on in yemen? how did the separatist and government forces end up at odds with each other? >> the tensions have been there for some time. in fact you could say decades. when you talk to people in the south, they'll take you back to 1974 or other points there have been three civil wars between north and south in the past four decade. but what's happening right now, if we think back to when the houthis took control in aden back in 2015, it was the

southern separatists who were the most organized there. and they were the ones who began to push the houthis out. and they feel when the government game, reestablished it, reestablished itself in the south, they gave up too much. they're not getting enough back from the government. i was speaking with one government official who is in aden right now. i'm just going to play you a recording of the gunfire here. he sent me this gunfire that is happening in aden around his house. [ gunshots ] you can hear those gunshots there. he tells me that it's been heavy fighting overnight. it's heavy fighting again today. i asked him if he thought that the government would be overthrown at the moment. he said no, he doesn't believe that's likely to happen. we do know that the prime minister and the seat of government in aden is very, very secure and heavily, heavily defended. there is additional security around there from coalition forces and particularly the

forces who have a presence there in aden and have helped bring some stability to the city there. so this is something that we know is happening in the city. the pictures you're looking at now are from somewhere completely different in yemen further to the north outside the capital sanaa, where there are also government forces -- where there are also government forces pressing on the houthis. but what we're seeing happening in aden right now is really something that has been simmering in the background for some time. the implication, from what we're hearing from government officials is this is something that can be dealt with politically. however, at the moment, they say the prime minister of the yemeni government says this does threaten the broad-based coalition that seeks to overthrow the houthis. >> so where is this all going? what is the likely outcome for the conflict here in yemen?

>> as far as we can tell at the moment, because things are still playing out in aden, the very least this is going to set back efforts to bring an organized and pressured force against the houthis, who the government says they control 85% of the territory in the country, that the houthis only have 15%. but when we were there the week before last, government officials told us that they need to bring that pressure to bear on multiple axises. which mean from aden in the south they want to push up the coast toward an important port city. they want to push from where you saw the fighters on the desert hilltop, that's near the capital to the east of the capital of sanaa. they wan t to push in from ther as well. when you have infighting what is happening between the southern separatists and the government who were you were saying was on

one side, that's going to make it much harder for the government to be able to rally forces in the south to push north. because they do need those separatists who have an interest in securing the south, but not the north. they immediate them to push further north. the reality is this slows down the efforts to reestablish across the whole of yemen peace and unity, and to establish the government into actually recognize government back in the capital. which means for the people a third of the population are close to starvation. a million threatened by outbreaks of cholera. shortages of food. shortages of water. that means the civilians will continue to suffer for longer. rosemary? >> indeed. our nic robertson joining us there and covering the yemen conflict from his vanity the age point in abu dhabi. we thank you. all right now. to tell you about the situation in paris that city is on a flood alert. a lot of water there. heavy rain caused the river seine to burst its banks. look at that. >> the water levels were expected to peak around 6 meters

on sunday. the flooding has disrupted train services, shut down tourist riverboats and forced pars of the louvre museum to close. >> in the middle of it all following the story our jim bittermann live in paris. a lot of water behind you. >> no question about it. this is where it peaked last night. just before midnight last night. it peaked to 5.84, which about 12 feet above the normal level of the seine. still well below the levels of the flood just two years ago, 2016. however, this is a very different kind of a flood this time around. mainly because of the volume of water that still exists and still is upriver and other feeder rivers the river seine, as well as the reservoirs around paris, which can have a buffering effect on floodwaters. in fact, they're all full. and also complicating the dry-out period here is the fact that there is rain in the forecast as of tomorrow night.

so it's going to be very, very slow drying all of this out and drying out all those homes and what not that were flooded. now, too early to tell about damages. but one of the security officials who used to be in charge around the paris area said in fact he would fully expect it would be in the hundreds of millions of euros. that's not only because of the river traffic cut off as rosemary mentioned. the merchandise boats that go up and down the seine. but also loss of commerce and the damage from waters themselves. another headache, at least for pair regio parisians is the commuter lane. the iric which goes along here has been flooded for a week now and probably won't be open until february. now people are turning their attention downstream there are still a number of major cities downstream and all this water is going to be headed in that direction very soon. >> all right, jim bittermann,

thank you so much with the view of the seine river. a lot of water flowing. >> unbelievable. extreme weather is becoming the norm in many places across the globe. meteorologist pedram javaheri joins us now with the latest examples. pedram, this seems to be a constant, doesn't it, these extremes? >> absolutely. and we're just looking at this winter alone across paris in particular, rosemary and george. this is the top three wettest on record through january. you look at 100 millimeters, or 4 inches what is normal in the wet season across this part of the world. we're almost doubling that and getting up to about 7 inches of rainfall so far that has come down across this region. but what jim bittermann was alluding to as well, the rainfall is concerning. the seven-day forecast now from tuesday through the next week there puts rainfall, at least the possibility of it each of the next seven days. scattered about this region. and when you follow the blue line here indicative of last

week's water levels above 3 meters, pushing up close to what would be 6 meters. just shy of what occurred in 2016. we know that. major disruptions across the area. took with it upwards of four lives in france, 11 lives in germany that particular flood event. $1 billion in associated losses with that. and the louvre artwork had to be removed because of the threat for water. now we're seeing the lower level of the louvre at hour closed because of what is happening across portions of paris and the water levels rising. the river seine right here, but there are hundred morse tributaries associated with this river. when you look at this, we know some 250 communities and towns have already been impacted farther downstream. expecting another 200 or so towns to be in the path of this. certainly when the story begins to dwindle a little bit for paris, which certainly they deserve it at this point, and we think peak of the flooding there, at least the gates. you've got to be concerned some time monday night. expect water levels to rise

elsewhere downstream that is going to be a major concern for friends across paris over the next several weeks and further downstream as well. i'll leave you with the photos what is happening across tehran and iran where upwards of nearly 57 meters of fresh snow came down. over a meter into the mountains. major disruptions across the capital city and of course the highways, the airport briefly shut down because telephone snowfall. parts of 20 provinces, guy, impacted across the middle east in iran with heavy snowfall this past weekend. >> unbelievable. thank you so much, pedram. we appreciate that. >> thanks, pedram. a high profile arrest in the middle of a moscow street. well will go live to moscow for more details about the man behind the latest protest across russia. plus, the grammy awards featured politics, surprises, and a lot of music on sunday night. who went home with the most trophies? we'll tell you as "cnn newsroom" continues live in the u.s. and around the world.

welcome back to our viewers here in the united states and all around the world. you are watching "cnn newsroom." i'm rosemary church. >> and i'm george howell. the headlines this hour. u.s. president donald trump is a day away from a pivotal moment in his first year in office. his first state of the union address set to happen tuesday night. a white house official says that a big focus will be the administration's immigration plan. at least 11 afghan soldiers have been killed by an attack on a base near kabul. an official says four attackers are dead, and the assault is over. isis is claiming it's responsible for an take on the afghan military. all this comes after a bombing killed more than 100 people in

kabul on saturday. did you catch the 60th annual grammy awards that took place on sunday? politics took center stage. one of the biggest moments of the night was kesha's emotional performance of her song "praying." she paid tribute to the me too and the time's up campaigns against sexual misconduct and against gender inequality. well, police on sunday snatched up russia's main opposition leader right off the streets of moscow and threw him in jail. >> alexei navalny, he was arrested. it came during sunday's protest against the kremlin. you see the video here of it happening. this over the upcoming presidential election, which he says is rigged. navalny has since been released and tweet head is free until a court hearing. >> matthew chance joins us now from moscow. he spoke exclusively with alexei navalny before these latest protests. so matthew, alexei navalny

doesn't have much support from voters, does he? so why does president putin feel so threatened by him? >> well, i think that as these protests across the weekend on sunday demonstrated, alexei navalny is one of the few, if not the only opposition figure in russia that can call these kinds of numbers out. now whether those numbers are sufficient to topple president putin i think is unlikely. navalny polls somewhere in the region of 2%, according to the official polls which are admit lid flawed. and president putin polls much higher, often more than 80%. so yes, he doesn't have the figures it seems to really challenge vladimir putin. but at the same time, the kremlin is concerned that he represents certainly an emerging threat. as indicated by these nationwide protests that were called to boycott the upcoming march 2018

presidential elections in this country in which navalny has been barred from standing. monitors across the country report that more than 350 people, including alexei navalny himself were detained. russian police quickly swooped in fighting through his supporters to drag alexei navalny from the nationwide protests he organized. he now faces another spell in a russian jail. occupational hazard he told me ahead of the protests when standing up to the kremlin. as the leading opposition figure in russia, you've been harassed. you get regular visits from the authorities, the police, the other inspectors. you've been insulted. widely. and of course you've been attacked.

how concerned are you in a country like this where opposition figures have been killed in the past? how concern ready you about your own safety and security? >> translator: i'm a reasonable man. i ran my election campaign for 12 months. and out of these months, i spent two in prison. so i have a clear understanding of what this regime can do. but i'm not afraid, and i'm nato not going to give up on what i want to do. i won't give up on my country. >> reporter: and it seems there are many russians on his side. in towns and cities across this vast country, navalny's anti-corruption movement says thousands turned out to support his call for a boycott in the march presidential elections in which president putin already 18 years in power is expected to be returned. >> translator: the putin regime is built on corruption. and putin himself is the most corrupt. his family is directly involved in corruption.

according to a official, over 20% of the population lives below the poverty line. why are we so poor? because they steal so much. >> reporter: regardless of the popularity of that issue you have been prevented from standing in these forthcoming presidential elections. do you think that vladimir putin is genuinely concerned or fearful of you as a political opponent? >> translator: he is scared of all real competition. we see in these elections that he only allowed those to run who did not even resist, do not even do any campaigning. >> reporter: and alexei navalny is certainly not one of those chosen kremlin-friendly candidates. official opinion polls suggest his support is at barely 2%. but in the tightly controlled world of russian politics, dominated by vladimir putin, no other opposition figure can rally so many on the streets.

>> right. well supporters of alexei navalny say the fact that these nationwide protests took place in such numbers shatter the myth that vladimir putin has unassailable popularity. but the fact is those polling numbers, however flaw they'd may be, speak for themselves. vladimir putin still polling at well over 80%. and frankly, he still look likes a shoo-in the march presidential elections. rosemary? >> it certainly looks that way. matthew chance joining us live from moscow where it is nearly 11:40 in the morning. many thanks to you. the grammy awards on sunday night were full of surprise, full of politics and memorable moments. >> and we will discuss the night's biggest moments when we come back. stay with us. hi, i'm the internet! you know what's difficult?

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music and politics went hand in hand sunday at the 60th annual grammy awards. stars arrived on the red carpet hold organize wearing a white rose, a show of solidarity for

the me too and time's up campaigns against sexual misconduct and gender inequality. singer and activist janelle monae was the first to address the movement in an impassioned speech. >> we offer you two words, time's up. we say times up for pay inequality. time's up for discrimination. time's up for harassment of any kind. and times up for the abuse of power. because, you see, it's not just going on in hollywood. it's not just going on in washington. it's right here in our industry as well. >> all right. so there was that speech. and then there was this emotional performance by the singer kesha. listen. ♪ i hope you're somewhere praying ♪ ♪ praying ♪ i hope you're somewhere changing ♪ >> with song called "praying" she signed a light on the me too movement.

she was joined on the stage by other artists including camilla cabello who took the opportunity after that performance to give a speech about immigration while introducing u2. >> tonight in this room full of music's dreamers, we remember that this country was built by dreamers, for dreamers chasing the american dream. just like dreams, these kids can't be forgotten and are worth fighting for. >> and by the end of the night, the biggest winner was bruno mars, who took home seven trophies, including song of the year, album of the year, and record of the year. >> and then the show wouldn't be complete without host james corden taking a jab at the u.s. president, donald trump. in a skit he holds mock auditions i should say for the spoken word album of the michael wolff book "fire and fury." inside the trump white house. but it was one surprise

appearance that really got the crowd going. >> he had a long-time fear of being poisoned, one reason he liked to eat at mcdonald's. nobody knew he was coming and the food was safely premade. >> that's it. that's the one. >> music journalist and musician david sinclair joins us now from london via skype. thank you so much for being with us. so bruno mars won seven trophies, including all the big ones, song of the year, album of the year, and record of the year. but the night appeared to belong to kendrick lamar, who not only took home five trophies, but also opened the grammys with a commentary on racial issues in the u.s. and earned a standing ovation of his performance. was he is man of the moment or did that belong to bruno mars? >> the song of the year is probably out of date now and

it's also probably in that sense kendrick lamar swept the ball. he was the man of the moment in terms of what he was saying and how he was saying it. the opening sequence of a medley of tracks from his album, it was really powerful. anyone who thought they were tuning in to see a music show and light entertainment was quickly disabused. >> and what were some other powerful music moments that stood out to you? and what will people be talking about as ahead? >> well, i think as you mentioned in your introduction, the kesha performance of "prayer" was a pretty intense, emotional moment in the show. she, of course, she went through a terrible period of -- she was in a big dispute with her former producer who she accused of sexual assault and all sorts of things. and it sidelined her whole career for about two or three

years. so coming back from that, obviously much stronger than ever was very big moment. i think that was captured very well. i saw youtube on a barge outside the statue of liberty. they looked a bit cold and uncomfortable to me. bono was wandering around with a mega phone, which seems to be his way. i'm not sure that was quite a success. i rather enjoyed james corden with sting and shaggy on the new york underground. >> yes, you're getting ahead of me. i did want to talk about james corden and one thing he particularly did. u.s. ambassador to the u.n. nikki haley took issue with the skit that had various stars reading from michael wolff's controversial tell-all book "fire and fury," including a surprise appearance from hillary clinton. haley said "this was trash and ruined the show." what did the audience think, though? >> well, i think the audience at

the grammys obviously was delighted. i think they found it all -- i think they knew what they were getting into when they went to it. but, of course you, have you to be a little bit careful. this is a big crowd out there that like music but don't necessarily agree with all of that. we used to are the same thing in britain when margaret thatcher was in power there was a big feeling that oh, the music industry united in opposition to her and her policies. you've got much the same thing going on with trump in america. of course margaret thatcher got reelected. you have to be a little bit careful about alienating some people whilst obviously fighting the good fight and taking your message to the people in other sense. >> yes, i certainly can sometimes be dangerous in injecting politics into shows like this. david sinclair, thank you so much for joining us. we appreciate it. >> a pleasure. coming up next, competing in the winter olympics is challenging enough. >> but two north korean skaters will be facing diplomatic

pressures as well. we'll tell you about it. sses to run. they have passions to pursue. how do they avoid trips to the post office? stamps.com mail letters, ship packages, all the services of the post office right on your computer. get a 4 week trial, plus $100 in extras including postage and a digital scale. go to stamps.com/tv and never go to the post office again.

the winter olympics next month in south korea will be the largest ever. >> that's right. almost 3,000 athletes from 92 different countries are expected to compete.

much of the attention will focus on north korean athletes. >> yeah, they will compete in five sports after a diplomatic breakthrough. and two north korean skaters are getting a lot of attention, as our brian todd reports. ♪ >> reporter: their coach says neither of them have a drivers license or a credit card. when ryom tae ok and kim ju sik take the ice at the winter olympics, all they'll be counted on to do is skate their hearts out and help diffuse nuclear tensions on the korean peninsula. >> that's going to be a very big deal. i promise you, he will be covering all of figure skating. that is not a time when you want to go get popcorn. >> reporter: after they march into the opening ceremonies under one flag with their south korean counterparts, ryom and kim will likely command intense scrutiny from a worldwide tv audience and from their government. >> for every athlete that is there, i suspect there will be

two handlers with every athlete that is sort of protecting the athlete, making sure they don't say anything they shouldn't say to the press. and also keeping them from defecting in case any of them have that idea. >> ryom and kim finished in 15th place at the world figure skating championships last year, and their coach tells us even he doesn't expect them to win a medal at the olympics. but all the tension leading up to the games combined with the skating style of this teenager and her 25-year-old partner make them a must-watch. >> they skate with passion. they skate with, you know, with their heart. and that's why usually when people watch them and compete, they become instantly crown favorites. >> reporter: in past competitions, ryom and kim have skated to music from the nutcracker. north korea has a surprisingly good olympic record. they've won dozens of medals at

the summer and winter games since 1964, including seven medals at the rio games in 2016. their best performances have been in weightlifting, wrestling, gymnastics, boxing, and judo. how have those athletes, along with ryom and kim been able to train inside a secretive regime cut off from the rest of the world? >> it's a very much state-supported regimen. they're trained by the state. they're fed by the state. about like many of the or north koreans where there is a lot of famine and hunger, they're fed well. they're taken care ofs. >> reporter: their coach says ryom's and kim's support team will do their best to eliminate distractions in pyeongchang and keep them focused. it will be a tough job. >> they are not one of the best teams in world. yet they will be watched as if they are. they're going to be watched as if they're one of the greatest pairs teams to ever skate just because of the magnitude of the moment and the sense that by being there, they make those games safer.

>> reporter: kim ju sik and ryom tae ok are not the only north korean athletes competing in pyeongchang. the international olympic committee has announced that more than 20 north korean athletes will compete there, including short track speed skaters, alpine and cross-country skiers. and there is a plan to integrate the south korean women's hockey team with a few players from north korea. according to riot errs and roit errs and yonhap, they're concerned it might disrupt. >> i'm rosemary church. >> and i'm george howell. thanks for being with us. >> have great day.

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democrats want job protection for the russia special counsel. this comes word when donald trump wanted mueller fired last year. state of the union is a day away and the president will make his pitch to the nation, but won't hit the road to sell it. he had a long time fear of being poisoned. >> yup. that is just one moment from the politically charged grammy