>> were the victims of china's forced disappearances. reporters" on france24.com. .> welcome to frce 24 here are the headlines we are following. diplomacy as choreographed inside the stadium at the winter olympics as leaders from north korea, south korea, and the united states are seated near each other. bill goes to

president donald trump to end the nation's second government shutdown in just three weeks time. the death toll from the death toll from a syrian airstrike surges past 200. meanwhile, france 24 goes to the north of the country as kurdish coalition fighters prepare against turkish fighters for a new era of the syrian war. ♪ molly: thanks for joining us in the newsroom. i am molly hall. we start with the moment that athletes have been waiting for. the 2018 winter olympics have ,fficially begun in pyeongchang south korea. you see images from the opening ceremony. over the next few weeks,

athletes will battle it out for olympic glory. an opening ceremony is settled titled piece in motion. there are unique circumstances with tensions between north and south korea as well as the united states. for more, let's bring in our correspondent who joins us from the capital of south korea. clovis, what more can you tell us? s: a very lively and impressive demonstration, marching to the so-called kpop music of south korea.

a huge delegation, a lot of athletes dancing. they made a very strong impression on the spectators, the spectators of course, very cold, but orgizers have given hand warmers another gear to stay warm, such as gloves. and in the stands, while there the southacy on when korean president went to shake the hand of japanese prime minister shenzhen have a and also shook the hand of the the northkim jong-un, korean leader, she was sitting diplomacynd, a little there. spectators apparently quite surprised to see the north korean cheerleading squad, 229 supporters, cheerleaders as they are called, who were chanting slogans of unity, saying "we are

for the unity of the korean peninsula. of course, your critics saying this is simply a charm offensive. that's also what the u.s. vice pence is saying regarding the actions of north korea, north korea that is .eally on best behavior for the time, no diplomatic incident since the high level delegation arrived in south korea. so that is what is going on for the time being in this opening ceremony. clovis, i know you have been talking to athletes in the run-up to his games. what are they talking about their expectations and really what they want to get out of this experience? have several you categories. you have the athletes that are clearly here to win the gold or at least a metal. lindsey veteran skier

vonn, age 31, from the u.s. this could possibly be her last games. she won iues to finish on a great know. she is one of the favorites in downhill, so she should that she is one of the favorites. -- she wants to finish on a note. there's also a 22-year-old american on top of her sports. you have athletes lking to win several gold medals and you have athletes from smaller nations, let's say, who are maybe not as experienced as though stars who are here to really take part in the event, to do their best, to appreciate what there is to appreciate and there's a lot in these winter olympics. there's really very big moments and the career of any sportsman or sportswoman. it is unique really. so, great moments with this opening ceremony. two weeks ofith

sporting events are south korea, winter sports, let's expect, rock is to be broken and medals to be clenched. molly: clovis, thank you for that. clovis joining us from so, south korea. the u.s. congress has passed a crucial federal spending bill hours after a delay. this since the measure to president donald trump to in the country fell second government shutdown in just three weeks time. what we saw took place a few hours ago with the house of 186resentatives voting240- in support of a bipartisan package that lips federal spending limits by nearly 300 billion dollars over the next two years. he comes after the senate cleared the measure in the middle of the night here in had missed a midnight deadline, but one conservative senator, rand

paul, refused to allow an early vote on the compromise bill. but now the signature by president vote -- by president trump will reopen the government. i am joined by our correspondent. we are looking at the movement that is coming out of washington in the last two hours or so. how are we seeing republicans and democrats spend this measure, spend this bill in their favor? they are both claiming victory in a sense. the bill does increase spending significantly -- $300 billion, more or less over the next two years, and that includes spending on things the republicans like and increasing spending on things that democrats like. so there's 80 billion -- sorry on defense,increase which is something the republicans like, $64 billion on nondefense things, which is

obviously very good for democrats. both parties have been touting those respective victories. speaker paul ryan talking about a great victory for men and women in uniform, not surprising. equally not surprising, the senate minority leader chuck schumer, a democrat, talking about the funding this means for education, for infrastructure, for medical research and things like that. so essentially both parties there, molly, being able to take something away from this, which is very important for their agendas in this crucial year, elections midterm will be held in november. there were plenty of things -- well, several things that had bipartisan support such as .isaster relief criticismthe obvious is in terms of debt, it kicks the can down the road because it

extends the federal debt limit until march 2019. it does not deal with the debt issue. but perhaps that was the price to pay to get both parties on board so they can take things to the voters and say, look, we secured this and that. it does notssue involve or address is the daca program, also known as the treatment program, all of those young immigrants brought to the country, to the united states as children. it does not address the matter in terms of immigration policy. armen: that's right. the house minority leader was urging her fellow democrats to oppose this bill if it did not link the dreamers. and ultimately, this is a big disappointment for her, for nancy pelosi, because her fellow democrats did not follow her on that and ultimately it seems the general mood was we've got to get something done here for the bigger picture and not just have

dreamers as sort of the spanner in the spokes here. a setback for her particularly. just to tell you what is happening generally on the dreamers issue, remember last month, a federal court blocked donald trump's attempt to suspend the program. at the moment, this is all going through the court system, and that means the original cut off point for the dreamers, which was going to be march 5, that no longer stands. there is arguably a bit more breathing space to find a compromise and there is talk of delaying this whole daca issue until after the midterms, so sometime next year in 2019. of course that will not relieve those facing uncertainty who do not know whether they will find themselves illegal on u.s. territory, that it seems there is going to be a little bit more time perhaps to find some sort of solution. thank all right, armen,

you for that analysis there. of government raids, civilians have been killed. a human rights groups as the 50 eight civilians, including children, were killed on thursday alone. in a closed door session, the council and the and took no action for your just a note, some viewers may find images in this report disturbing. a relentless pounding has lasted for four days straight. since monday, the syrian government troops have waged an intense air campaign on the only opposition pocket left near the capital of damascus. more than 200 civilians have .een killed the u.n. and the u.s. have

called for an immediate cessation of hostilities to evacuate the critically ill. in alosed door session -- closed recession the un security council could not agree on action. the main ally russia said a cease-fire was not possible. >> we would like to see a cease-fire, but with the terrorists, i am not sure the agreement would be useful as proposed. the groundoctors on say it is the worst four days since the war started in the humanitarian situation is desperate. in estimated 400,000 people are trapped and face severe shortages of food and medical supplies. critically ill and injured patients are in need of evacuation for treatment. the enclaves have a been under siege since 2013 but the government only stepped up its campaign to retake it this week. other developments,

turkiswarplanes have targeted turkish fighters after a lull in airstrikes after the shooting down of a russian warplane elsewhere in sia last weekend. this comes after the warning of a new offensive in the town of manbij. our correspondent met with turkish fighters as they prepare for a possible launch against them. is a sort of cold war. clashes are rare. they keep an eye on each other. they are less then a kilometer from an area held by pro-turkish rebels. >> we are on alert. at any moment, the situation could deteriorate. >> we control the side. the other side is controlled by pro-turkish militants.

>> that is our turkish base, built two weeks ago. they reinforce that position and installed heavy weapons. when they shoot at us, we fire back. we use machine guns. they have heavy weapons. sometimes we also face artillery fire from the turkish base. of course, local residents worry . like us, they can't defend themselves -- unlike us, they can't defend themselves. reporter: the arab kurdish forces have been preparing for an offensive for a year and a half.

they know they have the international coalition's support. and american forces regularly patrol this area as if to send turkey the message to keep out of manbij. molly: it is time now for a business update. i am joined by yuka. hi, yuka. we will start with the olympic we do know that south korea is hoping for a boom in tourism. ka: that is right. south korea is hoping that it will bring in 40 billion dollars into the region. nuclearith many other -- olympic games, the cost is above the initial budget to $30 billion. this is located in one of the poorest regions of south korea.

that theydents hope the windfallto see in years to come. take a listen. >> this used to be all countryside. there were no roads. but now, things are much better. up amoved here to set business because that's where the winter lipids are staged. i'm looking forward to making lots of money. winter's where the eight olympics are staged. i'm looking forward to making lots of money. ka, this part of france israel he ill equipment comes to extreme -- this part of france is ill-equipped 20 comes to extreme weather. yuka: yes, it has impacted retail and tourism sectors. the eiffel tower was closed all to friday and saturday, due concerns over safety and that is quite a significant loss in

revenue. authorities are asking drivers to stay part. well some were having fun in the parisian snow, others were desperately trying to keep their businesses afloat. this company in the east france is facing a dilemma -- whether forhould accept orders deliveries it is not sure it can complete. >> information on which roads are open or not changes every two or three hours. we can get the gen light to send a truck, but when heets ther the road is closed. reporter: unusuly heavy snowfa caused majorraffic disrupon in the rth of ance thi wee leang -- leaving the ban of heavy lorries in a region that has impacted businesses that rely on the delivery of goods. the snow is already costing

around 60 million dollars a day. that could really endanger small businesses because they cannot turn a profit. the government said it was working on a series of measures to upsetemporary losses. this includes a temporary extension of working hours requirements and extending tax deadlines. they were also considering allowing lorries back on the road this weekend. molly: we will turn our attention to financial markets. this is certainly has been a wild ride for global markets, triggered by a loss in wall street thursday. a name according to one analyst -- he calls it the short volatility flash crash.

major indices are all firmly in the red, as you can see, with paris and freight for down with a 1%. friday's trading -- it appears to be headed for the worst week since the financial crisis. but till it the -- volatility is key here. some say fear not because the --nomy is and a sharp rise. it increased by 2.5% from the previous quarter. inpared to the same period 2017, factory output was up. that suggests a boom in the manufacturing center.

british petreum has reed to take over shell. -- the owner of will scoopmirror" up the title. it is the biggest shakeup of the british newspaper will businessn ages. a new spokes baby for gerber. the 18-month-old with down selected afteren winning a fan photo contest. he has the winning smile and joyful expression according to the company. front seatll take a and gerber's social media -- i gerber's social media campaign. molly: and setting a record -- tell us more. yuka: it is a white diamond the

size of a strawberry. it's going on sale at sotheby's. it is smaller than the current world record holder of this type, a 100 53 caret oval diamonds, which fetched more than a quarter of a million dollars in hong kong. sotheby's expects that this will -- ald for an higher price higher price because of it's rarity in quality. by humanerfection hands, so this is the largest flawless diamond ever graded by the gia. for that.nks, yuka, it's time for our press review. i am joined in the studio by solange. hi, solange. molly: hi, molly.

molly: we start with the start of the winter olympics. korean pressnorth are really covering the leaders, all abuzz about this army of beauty. they say that they are likely to get more attention than the north korean athletes. they were chosen by the regime because of their looks, because of their beauty. they have to be 5'3" and come from prestigious universities. some of them have become stars in north korea and south korea. this is the first time in a decade that they have represented pyongyang. molly: it's interesting how they are being seen abroad. we see this in "the new york times." says thatthe times" this is about state led sexism.

they say it is interesting how they are portrayed in north korea, that they represent. he and innocence and that -- they represent. he -- they represent purity and innocence. beauties is hand-in-hand with being a cheerleader, the cheerleading is in essence a top socket and -- a top topic and h will. they say they can be distracting . they say that it is so really -- ridiculous it is almost thrilling. molly: the french and international press has been having some fun. solange: yes, to demonstrate , we have a cartoon by

okeke --i hope i am not browsing that wrong. "e prize goes to a cartoon in lithographed young -- headacion," kim jon-un's an ice skater. they say they have put the nuclear tensions on hold and created a positive buzz about the regime. molly: we will turn our attention to syria where the capture of two jihadists is making headlines in the night a kingdom. solange: yes, they were called the jihadi beatles. syrianre captured by kurds and handed over to u.s.

forces. let's go to "the eye." who are the islamic state group beatles. was jihadi john. he executed hostages. he was killed. two others are in u.s. custody, according to "the new york times," which broke the story. raises anork times" interesting question about what they will do with those men. i have been stripped of their nationality. to take may not need them back. they could be sent to guantanamo, but that would open up a whole bag of conditional worms, and the u.s. government does not want to do that. there is the option of trying to deal with this in the united states, but there could be a trial and they could get off for procedural reasons. all right, we are going

to shift gears completely. i understand you have some potentially exciting news. solange: infertility is on the rise and this could be a breakthrough for women who struggle to get pregnant. "the times" and "the theirndent" put this on front page. they have found a way to grow human eggs in a lab. it sounds freakishly sci-fi, and maybe it is. they take an immature egg and grow it until it becomes a mature one. what is cool is women's whose egg's never become fertile because they had cancer treatments or cannot get pregnant, or maybe they are older, this means they have a shot at having a baby. the study does come with a warning. it says that the lab eggs have

theyeen tested to see if can become embryos and babies. that has not happened, but it would be a major breakthrough in fertility medicine and the science says you cannot for

>> my name is philippe vergne. i am the