first step is half the journey and i would like to hold this meeting with tenacity and perseverance kathy novak is our correspondent in seoul she joins us now live kathy first of all tell us who was in these delegations and how big of a breakthrough is this first meeting in more than two years. well it is a high level delegation the men that we were just hearing from there were the chief ministers who are in charge of in her career relations on both sides of from the south korean side you have the unification minister and then his north korean counterpart along with their deputies leading five member delegations on both sides that include representatives in charge of sports and culture and the olympics and it is significant because these two countries have not had any kind of communication for a long time it's been as you said more than two years since they have sat down for a formal meeting but they haven't even had informal talks in the form of picking up the phone and talking across the hotline that exists at the border for almost two years so it is significant to go straight to this high le

that one hundred patients were in the building at the time let's go live now to launch a series kathy novak who's outside so. kathy tell us exactly what happened. while this fire started around seven thirty am local time adrian and it was it completely extinguished by around ten thirty am local time but not soon enough not before dozens of people as you say were killed and dozens others injured fire authorities say that the majority of those deaths have been attributed to suffocation and the suggestion is that those victims inhaled the toxic fumes so their deaths caused by suffocation and not actually by. burns as you mentioned this fire started in the emergency ward of a hospital where people were being treated where people were ill the president convened an emergency meeting this taking the situation extremely seriously here's more from the president's spokesperson. that the president moon j. held an emergency meeting of his chief aides a short while ago to discuss the fire at a marion hospital he expressed regret and sadness over the situation of the fire that broke out at sage on hospit

a gathering is expected to focus on participation in the upcoming winter olympic games in china kathy novak is our correspondent in seoul following this story for us kathy we've had the chinese envoy going through his soul in the past few days and now japan so plenty of shuttle diplomacy ahead of that important meeting tomorrow. yes these top nuclear envoys say they want to capitalise on what south korea's foreign ministry is calling a peace momentum brought about by developments such as this high level meeting that is due to take place at the border between north and south korea on choose day the japanese and south korean sides say they want to intensive fly diplomatic efforts in the hopes that it will turn that momentum in to a way to bring about a new nuclear ization ultimately of north korea that of course is the ultimate goal but starting somewhat smaller with these talks on tuesday where the focus will be on the potential for north korea to send its athletes to participate in the winter olympics that will be taking place here in south korea next month so the fact that the north and so

doesn't have water sprinklers because if it's a relatively small size the law doesn't require them kathy novak al-jazeera soul in vienna a ninth rand of u.n. led talks to find a solution to the war in syria appears to have reached a dead and well let's get more from her to abdul hamid who's in vienna for us hi there hoda so what's the latest. well what's the latest is that the opposition delegation is holding a meeting as we speak with u.n. envoys the fandom is to it's been going on for about an hour now we do know from sources what they're discussing really at this point now that the syrian government delegation has rejected this working document earlier in the day now they're discussing the attendance coming so she meeting called upon by the russians with turkey and iran as a guarantee now from what we understand from our sources is that basically the conditions set by both the opposition and the u.n. secretary general and to a new good terrorist for both the opposition and for the u.n. to indorse to so she have not been met there was no discussion around that they didn't get anything from t

doesn't have water sprinklers because if it's a relatively small size the law doesn't require them kathy novak al-jazeera soul. now in haiti around two million people who live in the capital port au prince are appealing for help to get clean drinking water the devastating earthquake eight years ago wrecked sanitation systems and temporary taps and toilets keep breaking down charlotte dallas has the story. this is the only source of drinking water in the delmas neighborhood of port au prince a twenty leagues a bucket of water costs sixteen cents blanchard is one of few haitians who can afford the daily ritual and. would like to get drinking water we'd like them to build a tank so we can get water because it's life without it we can't live we need the state to build a bathroom there's no bathroom here. but those who cannot afford the sixteen cents for clean water come here the water is contaminated but they fill up their containers and drink it anyway despite the threat from was a born cholera more than half a million haitians have had the disease. so. we need water if the people don't have wate

helping to bring pyongyang to the negotiating table for the first time in two years from seoul kathy novak reports. the first official talks between north and south korea in more than two years ended with an agreement that could make president vision of a peace a limb fix a reality says domestic support for his policy of dialogue with north korea helped bring about the rare meeting and he had someone else to think as well. there was the accomplishment of south korean dialogue was largely credited to president trump i'd like to express gratitude to him in a statement the white house welcome to the talks and said the u.s. and south korean presidents recently agreed to continue the campaign of maximum pressure on north korea toward the goal of complete and verifiable denuclearization says the other purpose of that pressure is to bring the north to the negotiating table adding that he would be willing to talk directly with north korea's leader kim jong un. i keep myself open to any meeting including a summit if it's helpful for an improvement of south and north korean relations or a settlement

president trumps first year in office has been north korea and the second of our five part series kathy novak reports from seoul. it was a year that saw the leaders of the united states and north korea exchanging threats of nuclear war and some rather undignified insults donald trump called the north korean leader little rocket man. the u.s. president a mentally deranged dotard they boasted about their nuclear buttons. the u.s. mainland is within the range of a nuclear strike and as you can hear bolton is put on the desk in my office at all times and sparked fears the korean peninsula could be edging closer to war they will be met with fire and fury. like the world has never seen it certainly has elevated the level of tension on the peninsula president trump has made this issue his most important foreign policy issue so it has brought a lot of attention globally. during trump's first year in office north korea launched its first successful tests of intercontinental ballistic missiles demonstrating that its weapons could reach the united states it conducted its biggest ever nuclear bomb test a

emergency room on the first floor firefighters say one hundred patients were inside at the time kathy novak has the latest from the capitol so. this fire broke out in an emergency room in a hospital in the southern city of meir young at around seven thirty am local time the fire was extinguished by just before ten thirty am local time but dozens of people were injured and the fear is that the death toll could rise further president moon has said this is an extremely regrettable situation and all of the attention now must be put towards those critically injured patients who were in this hospital about one hundred people in the hospital itself and then another ninety six in an adjacent building known here as a nursing hospital that is a kin to a hospice we understand that all ninety six patients in that adjacent building were evacuated safely and the fears are for the people in the hospital itself questions will be being asked about safety at that hospital as an investigation continues into the cause of this fire just about a month ago twenty nine people were killed when a fire broke out at a

lifting sanctions to facilitate that visit but the meeting isn't just focusing on sporting ties as kathy novak explained some soul. until recently the north koreans have refused to even pick up the phone when the south koreans tried to place calls at the border hotline so it was significant to see recently one the man in charge of into korean relations for the government in the north stepping over the border into the southern side of what's known as the truce village at pun one job leading a five member team of high ranking officials into a meeting with his south korean counterpart. in our talks resume after north and south korean ties have been severed for a long time but i believe the first step is have to journey on what is number one we came to this meeting today with a serious and sincere attitude and with the thought of giving our brethren who have high hopes for this dialogue in valuable results as the first presents of the here . the meeting did produce results and agreement for north korean representatives to attend next month's winter olympics in pyongyang chung south korean presiden

doesn't have water sprinklers because if it's a relatively small size the law doesn't require them kathy novak al jazeera. india celebrated sixty ninth republic day with a military parade attended by leaders from ten southeast asian nations it's the first time that many foreign leaders have attended the event that being hosted by prime minister narendra modi today marks the adoption of the indian constitution in one nine hundred fifty nearly sixty thousand security personnel were deployed in new delhi for the parade modi's decision to invite leaders from all ten southeast nations that make up the assy and group is being seen as a bold move to try to isolate china as part of its act east strategy new delhi is hoping to strengthen political and economic ties with southeast asian nations india's trade with r.c.n. is dwarfed by that with china in the past two years china's business with southeast asia was more than six times that of india india's also moved to counter china's influence in the region by signing a maritime agreement with nations blocks but alarmed by china's building of artificial i

kathy novak looks at how the story could provide insight into the current tensions on the korean peninsula. north korea's leader kim jong un opened this military museum in twenty thirteen with valuable trophy as the centerpiece the u.s. has played captured in one thousand nine hundred sixty eight and still on display in pyongyang today here's a recent has a little bit of this can be a good educational place if you can pass on the completion of the war in iraq to a new generation so they can win against the u.s. all here listen if they start or not there were. many thought the united states should have gone to war in one thousand nine hundred sixty eight and it was preparing for that possibility eighty two men were taken prisoner and one was killed in the attack on the ship carrying classified documents and equipment but the us was fighting in vietnam and did not want a second korean war it held a series of meetings with north korea at the border village of puntland and after eleven months the prisoners were released the deployment of for the was properly backed by really strong and on mrs

to its nuclear weapons program young our allies russia and china did not attend the meeting well kathy novak joins us live now from the south korean capital seoul well it certainly seems historic and i guess it is a move in the right direction how significant in the long term though would you say this agreement is. well it certainly can significance considering the fact that before a high level talks last week there had been no official communication between the two koreas in more than two years and now they have this agreement to march together at the opening ceremony under a korean peninsula flag to form this joint women's ice hockey team and also to send south koreans into north korea for joint events that includes staging training events at a ski resort that's a pet project of the leader kim jong un and also to stage a joint cultural event at mount kumgang now south koreans haven't visited that mountain in about ten years because a south korean was shot in two thousand and eight by a security guard there and north korea has been trying to restart that tourism program so it is being seen

is in the southern city of medicare and managed to rescue dozens of others trapped by the flames kathy novak reports now from saw i the fire started in the emergency ward at about seven thirty in the morning it quickly spread to other parts of said john hospital and took firefighters more than an hour to bring under control and another two hours to extinguish. all or should we stop the fire from spreading from the first floor to the second floor during the initial phase and therefore also prevent a different spreading to the rest of the building. despite the rescue effort patients and medical staff were killed most were suffocated by inhaling toxic fumes about one hundred patients were being treated in the hospital when the blaze broke out about ninety other people in an adjacent nursing unit were safely evacuated president in ordered an investigation into the cause of the fire. that the president moving expresses regret and sadness over the situation of the fire that broke out essays on hospital which led to a high number of casualties not long after the fire in that fire in the southern ci

let's speak to kathy novak our correspondent in seoul kathy tell us more first about who was in today's meeting and how much of a breakthrough is this. well there you have the point people from either side of the border when it comes to enter korean relations so from the south korean side the unification minister and then his north korean counterpart their deputies and then other representatives for sports culture and the olympics five members on either side so it was significant that they were sitting down and talking at all as you said it's been more than two years since any formal talks in almost as long since there were any unofficial talks between north and south korea there is a hotline at the border that is used to make phone calls from the south to the north and vice versa south korea had been calling the north for months and months with no answers so as you heard there it is being seen as a positive sign from residents here that these men are sitting down for talks and that they were able to come to an agreement for north korea to send a delegation here to south korea for the w

pond and kathy novak she is following the story from seoul so i've had the chinese on warpath herself in the past few days and now japan kathy plenty of shuttle diplomacy taking place and the region ahead of those crucial talks between the north and south tomorrow. indeed in many ways these are the countries that have most at stake when it comes to these tensions on the korean peninsula we have as you mentioned the chinese envoy but he's been in town and also now the japanese envoy and of course japan saw two intermediate range ballistic missiles being tested out of north korea flying over its country so these are countries that really want to see some progress towards diffusing the tensions here and they are holding out hopes that these talks that will be happening here tomorrow will go some way to ease even of the situation the south korean news agency young is also reporting that south korea's nuclear envoy after those talks will be heading to the united states for talks with his u.s. counterpart joseph yun to update him on the outcomes of those talks and also to talk about possibl

doesn't have water sprinklers because if it's a relatively small size the law doesn't require them kathy novak al-jazeera soul. you're watching out as there are still to come eight years after the haiti earthquake millions remain without the most basic necessity cleaning water. we pack trash and sent to stand empty lots rainy behind the ongoing delays in sending range of refugees back to rankine state. follow the weather still remains rather unsettled across western parts of the middle east certainly up towards the levant little area of cloud his circulating away brought some very heavy rain across some sundried outpolls into television and also brought some flooding has the results of fact that what's the weather will make its way further east which has been affecting southern israel moving across the gaza strip will push across a good part of iraq some wet weather there into baghdad on saturday then snow further north that snow affecting northern parts of iran as well and again it not just a little further east was tempest in tehran struggling to get to around seven celsius by sunday then we

correspondents following the story rob mcbride is in china i will go to him in a moment but first kathy novak joins us from the south korean capital seoul cathy so rex tillerson was asked about the difference in policy between the u.s. and its allies south korea how is seoul handling those issues cathy. yes the question is around the fact that the u.s. is pushing for this campaign of maximum pressure and of sanctions against north korea while south korea is conducting talks with north korea and pushing a campaign of more engagement and dialogue rex tillerson though when asked about it said that there is no difference between the policies of the u.s. and south korea and south korea's foreign minister made similar remarks saying that these campaigns actually go hand in hand that ultimately the goal of the sanctions and pressure campaign is to bring a north korea to the negotiating table so right now there is another round of talks going on between north korea and south korea regarding the north's participation in the winter olympics and what south korea hopes is that this thawing relations here

of started in an emergency room on the first floor five hundred patients were inside at the time kathy novak has more from the capital seoul. this fire broke out in an emergency room in a hospital in the southern city of near young at around seven thirty am local time the fire was extinguished by just before ten thirty am local time but dozens of people were injured and the fear is that the death toll could rise further president moon has said this is an extremely regrettable situation and all of the attention now must be put towards those critically injured patients who were in this hospital about one hundred people in the hospital itself and then another ninety six in an adjacent building known here as a nursing hospital that is akin to a hospice we understand that all ninety six patients in that adjacent building were evacuated safely and the fears are for the people in the hospital itself questions will be being asked about safety at that hospital as an investigation continues into the cause of this fire just about a month ago twenty nine people were killed when a fire broke out at a fit

of started in an emergency room on the first floor five hundred patients were inside at the time kathy novak.

follow choose days official talks between the two sides the first in more than two years from salt kathy novak reports the first official talks between north and south korea in more than two years ended with an agreement that could make president vision of a peace a limp dicks a reality says domestic support for his policy of dialogue with north korea helped bring about the rear meeting and he had someone else to think as well. there will be accomplished mint of south korean dialogue was largely credited to president trump i'd like to express gratitude to him in a statement the white house welcome to the talks and said the u.s. and south korean presidents recently agreed to continue the campaign of maximum pressure on north korea toward the goal of complete and verifiable denuclearization moon says the other purpose of that pressure is to bring the north to the negotiating table adding that he would be willing to talk directly with north korea's leader kim jong un. i keep myself open to any meeting including a summit if it's helpful for an improvement of south and north korean relations or a s

its biggest foreign policy challenges has been north korea and the second of our five part series kathy novak was from seoul. it was a year that saw the leaders of the united states and north korea exchanging threats of nuclear war and some rather undignified insults donald trump called the north korean leader little rocket man kim jong un dubbed the u.s. president a mentally deranged dotard they boasted about their nuclear buttons. the u.s. mainland is within the range of a nuclear strike and as you can hear bolton is put on the desk in my office at all times and sparked fears the korean peninsula could be edging closer to war they will be met with fire and fury. like the world has never seen it certainly has elevated the level of tension on the peninsula president trump has made this issue his most important foreign policy issue so it has brought a lot of attention globally. during trump's first year in office north korea launched its first successful tests of intercontinental ballistic missiles demonstrating that its weapons could reach the united states it conducted its biggest ever nucle

city managed to rescue dozens of others trapped by the flames an investigation is now underway kathy novak reports from seoul i the fire started in the emergency ward at about seven thirty in the morning it quickly spread to other parts of said john hospital and took firefighters more than an hour to bring under control and another two hours to extinguish. all or should we stop the fire from spreading from the first floor to the second floor during the initial phase and therefore also prevent a difference spreading to the rest of the building. despite the rescue effort patients and medical staff were killed most were suffocated by inhaling toxic fumes about one hundred patients were being treated in the hospital when the blaze broke out about ninety other people in an adjacent nursing unit were safely evacuated president in ordered an investigation into the cause of the fire. that the president moon expresses regret and sadness over the situation of the fire that broke out a safe hospital which led to a high number of casualties not long after the fire in that fire in the southern city of

means traders can make cryptocurrency deposits only for bank accounts set up under their names kathy novak explains. park young uk hasn't worked since he quit his job at a pub in july he hopes to find a new role through a government employment program in the meantime he's trying his luck trading digital currencies. i've been living off my savings i have expenses but knowing comes so i thought big going could be a way to earn some money with a. park could only invest about five hundred dollars but was happy to make one hundred dollar profit when prices surged came to one's company specializes in block chain the technology underpinning crypto currencies he says they're attractive for many who find it hard to keep up with the rising cost of living and bank interest rates are low and there are limited to opportunities for investment so the new crypto currency is appeared along in on time to return on investment it's estimated more than two million south koreans own cryptocurrency. south korea accounts for ten percent of global trade but south korea's economy accounts for less than two percent

hundred thousand people have signed an online petition against a major cryptocurrency crackdown kathy novak al jazeera soul sports peter mariam thank you so much european football's transfer window comes to a close this week and clubs are busy finalizing last minute deals to strengthen their squads nowhere more so than in the english premier league with a new spending record for the january period were set on tuesday top of the table manchester city added athletic bilbao defender emerick paul two to their roster taking the total premier league spending up to three hundred and fifty six million dollars that's over fifty million higher than the previous mark set in twenty eleven twenty three year old laporte joined city for a club record fee of eighty million dollars of course to the. actual in many things. i think he's intelligent he will be. he will reproduce the situation but he has to leave the individually you know for the english players the young players will come in the premier league always a little bit you know. will be patient because he doesn't come for three months going for four

this announced after a third round of talks between the two sides it's late in seoul but we've got kathy novak with us to talk us through all of this and kathy i mean it's not the first time that we have had this sort of unification but certainly not under these sorts of circumstances and this amount of tension on the peninsula. absolutely it has been quite some time since we've seen something like this and significant agreement if you consider the fact that before last week the two koreas hadn't had any official communication for more than two years and now you have them coming to this agreement to march together under the korean peninsula flag at the opening ceremony fully form a joint women's ice hockey team as you mentioned and significantly have joint training inside north korea that's happening at a ski resort of north korea which is known as kim jong un the leaders pet project there's also an agreement to have a joint cultural event not kumgang in north korea that's significant as well because south koreans haven't been able to visit that mountain for ten years since a south korean tour

in the southeastern city of many young many of them elderly people being cared for in innocent kathy novak has a report from seoul. i the fire started in the emergency ward at about seven thirty in the morning it quickly spread to other parts of said john hospital and took firefighters more than an hour to bring under control and another two hours to extinguish. all. stop the fire from spreading from the first floor to the second floor during the initial phase and therefore also prevent a different spreading to the rest of the building. despite the rescue effort patients and medical staff were killed most were suffocated by inhaling toxic fumes about one hundred patients were being treated in the hospital when the blaze broke out about ninety other people in an adjacent nursing unit were safely evacuated president in ordered an investigation into the cause of the fire. at the mill and president moon expresses regret and sadness over the situation of the fire that broke out essays on hospital which led to a high number of casualties not long after the fire in that fire in the southern city

spot and kathy novak she is live for us in seoul so progress on the into korean talks cathy but are they any such of a solving the bigger issue to talking about the bigger issue of the north's nuclear program. well monday and has been making this speech and taking questions on the occasion of the new year and obviously the north korean nuclear issue is the big challenge of his presidency and he has really emphasized that his priority is to promote peace that there cannot be another war on the korean peninsula and that he says that with the support of south koreans he was able to promote his policy of emphasizing dialogue which culminated in these high level into korean talks just yesterday which were the first talks in more than two years so the fact that both sides could sit down at all is being celebrated but of course he says that the ultimate goal must be to pursue a denuclearized north korea and he says that he had the that the united states has supported the interest in talks but of course it would want to see the bigger goal realized of talking more about denuclearization and when

korea in his new address in sharp contrast to his strong warnings directed at the united states kathy novak has more now from seoul. the winter olympics are just twenty two days away and the two koreas have come to a last minute agreement that they will walk together at the opening ceremony the south korean government says it's all part of an effort to promote this event as the peace olympics but not everyone here is happy a recent poll found only about four out of ten support the idea of marching under a unified korean peninsula flag and others are against the idea of a joint women's ice hockey team. than those who think we need to carry our own flag i'm also against a united team because the athletes have worked so hard as a team so this is not fair it's not it's going to leave that up we should be unified anyway so i think it's a good idea we are the only separated nation in the world and i think it's mainly because of political reasons. some critics have questioned the decision to allow south korean athletes to train at a north korean ski resort which is known as the leader kim jong un'

can handle eighteen million passengers a year and boats everything for what waits is interactive kathy novakas more. this is the brand new terminal at inchon international airport the main gate way for people arriving here in south korea travelers are testing out technology that's been introduced to make their experience more efficient and a bit more fun as in any airport there are plenty of places to grab a coffee but for something a little different why not order a latte from the robot arista for those who may want a workout after hours of sitting on a plane there are a selection of active games at the digital gym and to take the flying experience to the next level strap in for some virtual reality based jumping. for calmer option passengers can sit in the indoor garden and take in a musical performance or experience some examples of traditional korean culture. before boarding their flights travelers can come and check out some of the artworks on display this interactive piece has taken traditional works and digitally enhanced them to be projected on the curved screens. just one of a numbe

spite the planned display of unity at the games a massive security operation has been arranged kathy novak reports from kyung chan . a gunman holds two hostages in this police demonstration in young china a swat team bursts in takes down the attacker and frees the victims it's a drill just one of the scenarios police are preparing for with hundreds of thousands of visitors about to arrive before north korea agreed to send a delegation one of the biggest worries was it might disrupt the games now police say they are more concerned about so-called lone wolf terrorist threats involving attackers from other countries bomb detection robots that can identify and destroy suspicious items are among the tools available to protect against that threat. they go to the mood to prevent a terrorist attack in collaboration with intelligence agencies around the world over the past year we have banned the perrys from entering the country. more than thirty thousand people considered to be a security threat have been blacklisted though police say they are not aware of any specific plots one of the major tasks

hundred thousand people have signed an online petition against a major cryptocurrency crackdown kathy novak al jazeera saw. and we're going to run to the top stories on our jazeera secessionist forces say they've taken control of the southern port city of aden that's where the saudi backed government of president or hardy had been basins twenty fourteen when it was pushed out of the capital by who the rebels the russian's news agency says the u.a.e. backed forces have confined the government of president hadi to the presidential palace suggesting splits in the saudi led coalition. has more now this assassination of the south moving one step closer to declaring the south of yemen and their control now the succession is backed by the united. have the opposite in aden and how that are most likely to further expand their control to other areas like b.n. and also of which gives them more advantages in the near future of the of the most powerful but it's a group operating the russian sponsored talks aimed at finding a political solution to the war in syria has begun in the black sea resort of soc

quality the concentration of fine particles in the air in seoul reached a dangerous levels on sunday kathy novak has been talking to commuters and so. people may welcome a free ride but in terms of public reaction to this move by the sole city government there's quite a bit of cynicism about whether it will really work first of all souls' public transportation is already quite affordable it costs an average of about a dollar per ride and also people are blaming their pollution problems mostly on china. the main cause of the fine dust issue comes from china so we don't think that's effective the issue should be fixed in china first. if public transportation is free when we have high levels of fine dust fear people will drive and it will help lessen the pollution or to be more of these coming from china but if we can do something about it like having fewer cars it will help china is taking steps to curb pollution and actually the air quality here in south korea this winter has been a little bit better than it had been in previous years last year a joint study between a korean research institute an

emergency room in the face fell firefighters say one hundred patients were inside the hospital kathy novak has more from salt. the fears now remain for the dozens of people who were injured in the emergency section of this hospital as the fire also spread to other areas quite quickly the president president and has raised concerns about the people who may have needed to be on life support because of course these were critical patients in the hospital fears for them questions being asked but this still a fluid situation and investigation ongoing into the cause of the fire u.s. president donald trump says millions of dollars in american aid will be withheld from palestinians unless they pursue peace with israel palestinian leaders insist a two state solution cannot be achieved if the u.s. continues to recognize jerusalem as the capital of israel. donald trump is proposing a plan that could give citizenship to one point eight million undocumented immigrants to the u.s. as children it would also create a fund to finance a wall along america's southern border with mexico the white house says th