this city's after war. starting march tenth on. visited every news live from berlin to south korea officially kicks off the two thousand and eighteen winter olympics to see a pictures of the olympic stadium n.p.r. chuang where the opening ceremony is getting underway but not everyone is in the mood to celebrate a final ruling bars dozens of russian athletes from the competition also coming up politics at play this olympics brings the first ever visit to south korea by

a member of the north sea the ruling that dynasty can draw on sister what is behind her diplomatic democrats the border. and a race against time after the earthquake in taiwan rescue crews try to locate a family trapped under this hotel that aftershocks make it dangerous work. i'm so new so much going to good to have you with us the opening ceremony of the twenty third winter olympics are about to start in a pyong chuang south korea and we have some live pictures here of that stadium nearly three thousand athletes from ninety two countries will be entering this sold out stadium over the coming hours of the games have had to overcome multiple hurdles ahead of this huge gala event the i.o.c. and the athletes will be looking to put all their troubles behind them and kick off the olympics with

a bang. and we have more in the story with john think. jonathan the opening ceremonies are usually pretty spectacular what can we expect. something we can expect lots of pageantry for these kind of ceremonies. big fireworks display but also a bit of politics thrown in because among the thirty five thousand people inside the olympic stadium those lucky enough to have got tickets will be u.s. vice president and also the sister of north korean leader kim jong. significant because for the first time since. two thousand and six north and south korea. under unified korean flag the other big story obviously in the buildup to this is russia one hundred sixty nine russian athletes competing as independents will be marching the flag itself to. compromise effectively. clean to participate once all the speeches and the way that we have the show

the centerpiece really of these kind of ceremonies the theme we don't know too much about the show is understood to be centering around pace not surprising given the politics and also it's going to incorporate some korean culture past and present that may include music fans who are interested in. the weather is also going to be a significant thing at this ceremony it's going to be very very cold and there's no roof on the stadium so people have been given see them hats and blankets just to keep the. fireworks we're seeing some pretty. really beautiful this is a huge ceremony a very big event important for south korea as you were saying and a lot of people you mentioned one aspect of this that people were worried would overshadow the controversy. about that controversy that hasn't really died down until today because in rio two years ago. the question of whether russia or

participate dominated the build up to these games and today cast the car court of arbitration for sport has basically turned down an appeal by forty seven russian athletes and coaches to compete in these games and they were banned by the i.o.c. state sponsored. four years ago some of them have had those bans overturned by the court of arbitration for sport just last week others hadn't even been banned from so essentially the case from the russian side was that they should be allowed to compete the eye is sees a criteria for deciding who could compete at the games is unfair according to the russian noise and discriminatory against as an individual athletes as are about here the court of arbitration for sport ruled in favor of the i.o.c. the traitors of constitutes the process. to establish an invitation list of russian that leads to complete. from russia could not be

described as a sanction but rather eligibility decision and jumping beyond that story just very briefly there's also been some controversy in the u.s. camp yes shani davis who's a very decorated american speed skater is not taking part in the opening ceremony now his camp says that's because he wants to focus on his race and he was very annoyed that he lost out on carrying the flag that such the consumer and the loser erin have now that was decided on a coin toss because the vote was tight a lot of people thought shani davis should have carried the flag he's done a lot to advance black athletes in the winter olympics he was the first black athletes who actually win an individual win for them to go and so he's very disappointed he called the decision dishonorable all right well the opening ceremonies have gotten underway in pyongyang and jonathan crane from database sports thank you very much for bringing us up to date you're welcome. now these games also have historical political aspect as we were hearing a high level government delegation from the north as attending these opening

ceremonies officials from young including here you see kim jong the sister of north korean leader kim jong il she is the first member of the north's ruling dynasty to visit the south officially the two countries are still at war but these olympics appear to have started to thaw in relations at the opening ceremony athletes from the two countries as we've heard will walk side by side under a unity flag and correspondent jason strother is covering all of this for us he joins us on the line hi jason tell us more about kim jong and why her visit to south korea is so important. precisely because she is the first member of the kids emilee to make it down here to the south you know there has been surprise there was a lot of surprise when kim jong moon her big brother said that he wanted to send that flee to south korea to participate in these games up until the beginning of this year it looked pretty clear that north korea was not going to participate even

though some of their athletes qualified but south korean president moon j.n.r. did all he could to accommodate the north koreans it has led to a rip a retreat it's in some of the tensions we fall last year but the question is how long lasting this reprieve might be jason this story surrounding the north korean delegation has been getting so much media attention are the hosts of the olympic games concerned that the athletic competition will be overshadowed. well unfortunately pretty much in almost any olympics all of the politics take the good medals so to speak over the actual sporting events that you know there's been a mixed reaction here in south korea even to some of the olympic sports including the women's ice hockey team both north and south korean athletes will compete under a unified flag but you know a poll out just

a few weeks ago showed that seventy percent of south koreans oppose the joint team they don't want the north korean feeling all the spotlight from the southern players so unfortunately no matter how you look at it it's and whenever north korea is involved especially politics always triumphs over the games. and jason in general what is the atmosphere in south korea right now are people excited about the start of the olympics. people are excited although perhaps not as excited as the trial of the olympic you're ready to fight to be i think you know in the days ahead you know. will leave the building up there are a couple that. freed up at least are expected to bed a little. short track speed skating and some of the other athletes promising to i think i read today the hope is that south korea will and around the fourth place in terms of their battle. right journalist jason strother reporting for us from seoul

thank you jason thank you now to some other stories making news around the world a brief u.s. government shutdown is set to end after the house of representatives passed a bill to fund the federal government through march twenty third the senate passed it a few hours earlier the bill also increases overall spending limits over two years the president is expected to sign the bill into law activists say airstrikes in syria's eastern near the capital damascus have killed over two hundred people in the past four days the bloodshed has led the united nations to call for an urgent ceasefire to evacuate civilians and deliver humanitarian aid. the european parliament has expressed deep concern about the human rights situation in turkey in a resolution lawmakers urged president. to lift the state of emergency he had imposed after the failed military coup in two thousand and sixteen they say is being used to stifle legitimate opposition in the country. and the reuters news

agency says an investigation into the massacre of ten hinge a man by me in march soldiers led to the detention of two of its reporters while loan and chaos all who are awaiting trial on charges of illegal possession of state secrets while reporting on the ongoing crisis search operations have carried on into a third day following an earthquake in taiwan the death toll has risen to twelve and more than two hundred fifty people have been injured right now crews are working to locate any remaining survivors. fighting against gravity and racing against time rescue workers and while en city desperately search for anyone holding on to life in the collapsed buildings and the aftershocks just keep coming more than two hundred since the powerful quake hit just before midnight on tuesday rescuers have pushed through each night to find and free people.

excitement among firefighters as residents of this building reach out the windows for help but signs of life are becoming less clear as each day dawns. we can say a rescue dog seemed to recognize possible signs of someone moving but the dog didn't bark so we can't absolutely be sure whether or not there are people in there but that was promising. the ongoing tremors threaten the safety of rescuers inside the damaged buildings and authorities fear at any moment they could fall completely. we must demolish these dangerous buildings right now but we don't want if there were to be another earthquake they would cause irreversible damage all around. machinery tears apart buildings believed to be empty and the death toll rises as firefighters elsewhere dig deeper

into the rubble. the island is prone to earthquakes and the only chance the taiwanese may have of avoiding more devastation is investing in better buildings the government says their focus now is just that. now the ink is barely dry on the agreement between germany's main political parties to form a coalition government but already critics and supporters alike are poring over the documents small print two issues in particular causing contention refugee policy and germany's role in europe. you might have expected the new grand coalition deal to open with policies directed at germany but instead the opening pages look beyond germany's borders to europe and that no doubt will be music to the ears of french president manuel mccann who for months has been reaching out to germany for help in pushing through a u. reforms. one person who certainly welcomes the agreement is the e.u.

commission representative in germany who know. these are for them and when you read through the contract the elements about europe act as a third source of inspiration for the europe we will lead in the coming months and for the decisions to be made. following on from the speeches of e.u. commission president i'm french president michel essential elements are also included as to how we can form a common future foundation in europe. as is common kind of the importance of germany's role in her became evident in the handling of the refugee crisis back in two thousand and fifteen images of asylum seekers queuing down the street at this registration center and the berlin neighborhood of motivate made international headlines now three years on the keys may have gone but integration is still a big challenge the deals decision on family reunification has also drawn criticism . is on the scottish particularly critical of the family reunions for refugees with

limited status we are in contact with those affected on a daily basis with children and families who want their wives and kids here minus who just have to have their parents here for them this is a great loss of trust in our institutions institutes. but just a few hundred meters away in berlin's government district there's a sense of relief among many voters after five months of uncertainty there's been four and if that were finally moving forward they should find the ability to make a decision on. grovers just the big powers of a country contest say ok we'll go it alone even if they don't get a majority as we've been through i think it's good the west thinking ahead again and why not just exploring a negotiating but actually taking action. despite the deal merkel isn't out of the woods just yet now the fate of a new grand coalition lies in the hands of the social democrats posse members all

four hundred sixty thousand of them will have the chance to vote on the deal by march second only if they vote in favor of the jail while it finally be signed and sealed. you're watching deja vu news still to come on the program u.s. and asian markets plunge once again but investors in europe are taking it in stride . go ahead al first we'll have that story coming right up and business.