Him well. President Trump Defends a former white house aide accused of Domestic Violence angry process of force former Guerilla Group foreign to suspend its Election Campaign in colombia friday prayers turned to anger as demonstrations continue over the jailing of a former Prime Minister in baghdad. Hello there a very warm welcome to the program the u. S. Vice president mike pence avoided meeting the sister of the north Korean Leader as the Winter Olympics got underway and simmered says koreas leader in did break the diplomatic ice shaking hands with kim jong il tasha game reports now from south korea. A step towards reconciliation for the First Time Since the korean war more than half a century ago a member of north koreas ruling family is welcomed in the south the arrival of leader kim jong sr is fascinating Many South Koreans jiang has quickly become a power broker in another historic moment south korean president moon j. In greeted her at the Opening Ceremony before she sat near u. S. Vice president mike pence the two didnt appear to Exchange Greetings then the moment many had been waiting for north and south korean athletes marched under a unified flag as a celebration of ethnic nationalism its the first time theyve done that at an International Sporting event in eleven years moon said the chain Winter Olympics offer a meaningful opportunity for a world divided by conflicts to unite critics say the north korean Charm Offensive is only intended to advance its agenda. Decided to look nice for a vial of this option if you would use chance chances that president krom be authorizing me to take their ration bot as a program of ease that made fundamentals have not changed. I determined to have. A i. C. B. M. Into continental body stick missiles capable of delivering a Nuclear Strike as a continuum for the United States in the run up to the games the North Koreans have absorbed much of the spotlight first by agreeing to participate and then by sending a high level delegation to the south this week american diplomat said they would soon unveil the toughest economic sanctions against north korea yet while also saying a diplomatic solution was the focus. For now this is a moment for South Koreans to show the world what it done. Namak country they live in during the Opening Ceremony spectators were taken back in time to show the history of the Korean People and what organizers called their relentless pursuit of peace or in that picture while in peace i hope that with north korea not pleats participation this could be peace lympics and i hope we can achieve reunification between the south and the north that the good. Mood here is good to south koreas hosting the olympics and athletes are coming from around the world Good Opportunity to promote south korea. And the hope is this will set the stage down only for a sporting spectacular but historic breakthrough with their northern neighbors theres going to aim alleges era in south korea. President trump has come to the defense of the white house aide his quits after being accused of Domestic Violence well portia resigned earlier this week after two former wives made separate allegations of far bill and physical abuse as you probably know he says hes innocent and i think you have to remember that he said very strongly yesterday that hes innocent. So youll have to talk to him about that but we absolutely wish him well did a very good job while he was at the white house lets go live as alan fischer whos in washington hi there allison just how controversial is trumps decision to defend this former aide. Well its not playing oh well for him but then if it sent a pattern from donald trump we know that when Michael Flynn his National Security advisor resigned in the weeks afterwards donald trump was still calling him a very good man and didnt need to resign he stood by roy moore who you remember was running in the Alabama Senate race he was accused of having inappropriate relations with young women particularly a couple who were under age again donald trump didnt with joy support for roy moore and College People to vote for him if you think even farther back there were incidents where two senior people at fox news were fired because of Sexual Harassment he gave him their support so this is donald trump sticking by people that he thinks are loyal to him the big difficulty with his statement is that many people said there was no words of comfort for his victims that you remember that donald trump was accused before the election of sexually assaulting a number of women was actually caught on tape boasting about it but he went on to say that all those women were lying so he thinks that men should be given the benefit of the doubt it really is kind of tone deaf at the moment in america when the me too movement is growing such power and influence are women are standing up for themselves and just in the last hour weve been told by the white house a white house spokesman has put out a statement saying john kelly the chief of staff has not offered to resign because of the scandal and that would suggest of course that there were reports circulating the john kelly had indeed offered to resign there are reports in some newspapers that donald trump is casting a run for a new chief of staff but that is new because weve had that tensions between him and john kelly have been quite high for some time finally rob porter when he got the job at the white house he would have filled out a declaration form and very close to the top of that is are you under any restraining order if he takes that no hes in big trouble because clearly at that point he was and that means lying on a form. But if you take that yes then people will be saying why didnt the white house threw up some red flags why wasnt something done about this man at a very early stage it didnt have to drag on this long and allan trump also said the white house is soon to release this letter from the democrats on this alleged f. B. I. Bias against him and its russia pull well donald trump likes to do this doesnt he likes to try and build up the big reveal let me mention that a few hours ago its no five oclock on a friday evening and we have seen no sign of it now the fact that hes talking about a letter is interesting rather than the actual memo itself whats this all about well lets go back to a week ago when the republicans put out a memo four page memo detailing what these so what f. B. I. And department of Justice Justice abuses into the donald trump collusion investigation that was being carried out they of course said this was going to be bigger than watergate it turned out to be not very much now the democrats wanted to put out a Ten Page Memo rebutting the original four page memo it eventually got out of committee it went to the white house the white house is due to declassify it but its in discussions with the department of justice and the f. B. I. The fact that donald trump said were going to issue a letter rather than the memo suggests that that memo isnt going to be released this is why this is going to be a difficulty for donald trump because a week ago he was saying we absolutely need to release the republican memo we should get everything you know there transparency is good people should be able to see what is going on if he does anything that seems as if hes blocking or delaying the democratic memo people will be saying look hes over usually get something to hide and this will build more pressure on donald trump and what is proving to be a very difficult friday on fisher there live from washington d. C. Allan thank you. Now earlier President Trump signed off on a spending bill officially ending the Government Shutdown after just a few hours the stopgap measure will extend government funding until march the twenty third can but how can has more now from washington. With the stroke of a pen u. S. President donald trump and the Government Shutdown that lasted more than five hours while most americans were asleep everything about this stinks to tell you the truth most of the drama curd in the u. S. Senate as members of congress debated lifting strange limits on Government Spending the vote to keep the government running held up by a single seven republican rand paul who says Government Spending is out of control everybodys getting more spending. The military the rights getting more military spending the left is getting more well versed branding and youre getting stuck with the bill the late night debate played out for hours of revenge only passing in the Upper Chamber but still needing approval in the house of representatives the deal raises spending caps by roughly three hundred billion dollars over two years one hundred sixty five billion will go to the military one hundred thirty one billion going to domestic spending including does that aster relief programs but this also means the deal will send the deficit soaring to more than a trillion dollars by next year and it doesnt include a key democrat demand protection for Illegal Immigrants known as dreamers brought to the United States as children still without legal status and potentially facing deportation if congress doesnt act but the leading House Republican promised immigration can only be addressed once the government is fully funded im confident we can bring a bipartisan solution the floor that can get signed into law and solve this problem the program to protect dreamers was eliminated by President Donald Trump last year in congress has just leaks left to legalize their status for many could face deportation kimberly helped get aljazeera washington Mexican Marines who are arrested in a tourist Drug Cartel Leader with a five Million Dollars bounty on his head it is a coup for the government which is currently deploying thousands of federal Police Officers to combat a huge surge in violence in the country well than twenty five thousand people were murdered in mexico last year thats the highest number in decades manuel rapala reports from the mexican city of cancun. Police in mexico city have captured the leader of one of the countrys deadliest drug cartels the set us with a mighty yankee side of a u. S. Citizen born in california has been evading authorities since two thousand and fourteen the United States had a bounty of five Million Dollars for his arrest us authorities have already requested his extradition now this capture is significant for several reasons two thousand and seventeen was a record breaking year for homicides in mexico and mexico has been struggling to curb back violence for over a decade since the start of the militarized approach to the drug war most recently the federal government has announced that as many as five thousand federal Police Officers would be dispatched to several mexican cities cities like the one near the u. S. Southern border states like get a little where organized crime and cartels compete over territory and and routes for Drug Trafficking and tourism destinations like aint good where we are now where the milling over into New Territories and new cities here in mexico still to come here on aljazeera. A. Rival political supporters joined together in senegal demanding free and Fair Elections in twenty nineteen. Where in brazil but not in rio for the countrys most traditional caught of all that law when we come back. The skies a largely clerical smuts of a strike we have still got one it says shop shall is the finals of the country just around the Cape York Peninsula just towards the top end was the kimberley clad in the rain thats been making its way through the fos south wont see much right on this if the truth be known temperatures still going up to around twenty celsius adelaide and from about a thirty two in brisbane and those temperatures getting high as they go on through the mix. The days perths a high of around twenty seven degrees i want to go to shiloh scattered around into w. I. But nothing too much to speak of forty one celsius and alice with the really hot weather will be for the time being time just for the way into the southeast adelaide twenty three celsius twenty one there for melbourne as the winds go around to the south westerly direction but a thirty seven in brisbane saw the things to come heat wave is set to set in here as we go on through the next few days we got rain sets again across the zealand over the next few days quite a bit of cloud just spinning in across the country i think the heaviest rain will be around the north falling through sas day spreading further south which as we go on through sunday and that wet to weather will start to bring those temperatures down temperatures on the slide for the Korean Peninsula over the next few days heavy rain is to southern parts of japan and thats all making its way east. On counting the cost of wild swings for Global Stock Markets look at whats going on and why it matters how we mean twenty eighteen are still fighting for equal rights in the workplace and boss us shell is defying expectations but will it make life more difficult for opec counting the cost at this time. Welcome back our mind in our top stories here on aljazeera says koreas president has used the opening of the Winter Olympics to reach out to pyongyang shaking hands with the north korean media system but u. S. Vice president mike pence avoided any contact because president dont come to the defense of a white house aide his quits after being accused of domestic by well porter resigned earlier this week after two former wives made separate allegations of verbal and physical abuse. Mexican marines arrested in the tourist Drug Cartel Leader with a five Million Dollars but im t. Almost head also maria gives our volunteer is the leader of the last set us cartel. Of colombias former rebel group the fark has temporarily suspended its Political Campaign because of angry protests. Became a Political Party last year when fighters to mobilize as part of a peace deal with the colombian government a historic move that ended more than fifty two years of war but many colombians are still angry at the group believe its members should be in prison. Or even though we have decided to suspend Campaign Activities until we have sufficient guarantee we call on all parties and political movements without exception to biggest statements rejecting this type of aggression we invite all to meet us to the forum to grieve a game of clean rules. Well im joined now by colombian journalist katie evil form the capital bogota and katie just reflect for us if you will a bit more on why theyve suspended campaigning. Hi julie short over the weekend at Campaign Events for the party local parity there were some angry protests so some people were throwing eggs and vegetables at some of the candidates so they were just scared of increased mental increased violence against them how well are the likely today well not well at the moment. The polls are saying that theres about a two percent acceptance rate amongst the colombian people so theyre not likely to do well in the congressional or the president ial race that theyre running in and katie we can see from the protests obviously reflect some of the feelings of the public but how is the population more generally dealing with this you know fifty years of. This kind of sudden change into being a Political Force yeah so as you know there was a referendum on the peace deal that happened in october twenty sixth and they got voted down by the colombian people and was only then passed in congress. A few months later in december twentieth sixteen so its only been about a year now up to what you said fifty years or fifty years of conflict so theres definitely a lot of mistrust still amongst the colombian people towards one of the rebel groups or an armed rebel group and is now transitioning into a Political Party and katie the president though has said he you know hes committed thats right the president is Vice President made statements there saying theyre committed to the security and the safety of the party and there are all the parties including that feyerick in their campaign afterwards and that theyve provided you know the security that they need so. As i gave you what happened. And katie did do you think there is kind of at any level in the population the faith that you know one day the farm will be you know a normal part of the Political Landscape and that the country will be able to put some of this past you know half century behind it well im not sure about bob but it is important to mention that as part of the proper as part of the of the Peace Agreement the fark as a party will have ten getting to you in congress through twenty twenty sixteen so this coming election there will definitely be ten members of the party in the in the congress so maybe that will normalize their presence as a Political Party you will see kids evil clear joining me from bogota kitty thank you thanks really at least one person has been killed and one hundred and twenty two others injured after two bombs were detonated during friday prayers in a mosque in the libyan city of benghazi Officials Say both devices were planted in separate rooms inside two weeks ago around thirty five people were killed by a twin bombing at a mosque in the very same city the gyptian armys launched what its calling a comprehensive operation against terrorist and criminal groups in the Sinai Peninsula making the announcement in a televised statement an Army Spokesman says it involves land sea and air forces covering central sinai in areas of egypts nile delta and Western Desert hospitals have been put on high alert and ordered to prepare extra beds and staff to deal with emergencies and medical evacuations. Syrian government warplanes are continuing to bomb the rebel held area of eastern and whats been the deadliest week since twenty fifteen more than two hundred thirty people have been killed in the last four days aid agencies say they are on able to help the estimated four hundred thousand people who live in the besieged on clay the area just outside of the capital damascus is running desperately low on food medicine and medical equipment supporters of bangladesh former Prime Minister. Been continuing to protest after she was jailed or corruption charges on thursday the seventy two year old was given a five year sentence for embezzling two hundred fifty thousand dollars in donations meant for an orphanage her eldest son and four aides were given ten years for support to save the verdict is politically motivated. He reports now from dhaka. Thousands of people came out of the citys biggest mosque by from a car on to protest again from a Prime Minister call of those yes by the heavy presence of riot police in the straight a lot of this protest have gathered near the Party Central office but theyve been discretions because of the police all eyes are on the high court now Bangladesh Nationalist Party wants to appeal her body. Called son heavily influenced by the government critics and opposition are saying the Barnabus Court is nowhere neutral specially in the lord called their influence by the government and about it was politically motivated we have yet to see what the high court roddick will be to odds our case never the last Bangladesh Nationalist Party saying it will still run for the election even if their leader is behind the bar that other leaders to give them guidelines including khalid as the son who is in london but the protest across the country is continuing critics annexed by their saying this is a major concern for instability in the country unless the Major National party takes pride in the election otherwise the country will go into Political Uncertainty down the road the Prime Minister has announced the election to be somewhere around december of this year we have yet to see how the political fallout is down the road cynical so position participant demonstrating in calls for a free and Fair Elections ahead of the twenty nine hundred president ial vote comes a week before the end of the child for salva mayor and a physician challenger to president macky south nicholas hakas into following the story for us. Told to gather together and. They were gathered slowly in the election ahead of the president ial election that will take place in two thousand and nine no those elections are a year and a half away so why is this happening right now well. Well you say here its because the government is imprisoning their political leaders in the last few years weve seen the former president of. Being in prison on corruption charges insurgency. There is no doubt the mayor of the car with tony also facing corruption charges he says this trial is politically motivated now we spoke to this person of the government and the representative of the ruling party in this is what he had to say the. President sound is a real democratic hes result of an election with several canute is his ambition is not to be the only candidate democracy has gone through to a successful peace who transitions currently were heading to the polls with a party with a great record and the weak position in difficulty. If this is the first time the government has allowed a protest since the parliamentary elections and theres been demonstrations for the past few weeks across various west african countries than. Even in tunisia some are protesting against the rising cost of living others are calling for political change and so this protest although. Stable and economically sound has to be taken in the light of whats happening throughout the region Young Africans tired of being ignored taking to the streets in order to get their voices heard and offices in baltimore have been accused of stealing hundreds of thousands of dollars selling drugs and guns propping has an arresting innocent people its been called the most startling us face Corruption Scandal in a generation quite a statement in a country where Police Scandals are pretty commonplace would you as an eye considering a verdict after a three week trial she have for tons it is. A bold move Police Officer planting drugs to implicate an innocent man its the sort of police. Corruption story weve become accustomed to along with those of racial profiling and unprovoked violence and when these stories emerge authorities are quick to blame a few bad apples and promise further training of individual officers but the testimony of four former detectives here at the Baltimore District court over the last few weeks has revealed not only the depths Police Corruption can reach but also the framework in which it flourishes at least one officer charged was promoted even as complaints about his conduct racked up and the city paid out hundreds of thousands of dollars in settlements for violent misconduct these men were part of baltimores Gun Trace Task force described as an elite Crime Fighting unit but in fact four of these men have testified that not only were they stealing and selling guns they didnt bonked on a criminal rampage against the citys Africanamerican Community and it wasnt just guns they stole but drugs cash and valuables some they sold some they kept they would rob houses sometimes they would supply their militarized Police Equipment to members of the public so that they could rob houses while the officers kept watch they attempted to terrorize africanamerican men driving their cars at high speed towards people and then chasing and arresting anyone who ran they would have toyed guns handy in order to plant them on suspects if they were quote in a jam they shot an innocent person some three thousand of their arrests and now under review none of this has come as any surprise to those in black neighborhoods like sam town who have long complained about Police Corruption this was the home of freddy gray who died in Police Custody in twenty fifteen their answer is clear Law Enforcement has to be transformed and i just feel like you have to be Occupying Force in order to be a Police Officer but this was the mayor of baltimore as a response to a question about whether she was even following the trial no i have no evidence. She and the Police Commissioner sticking to the few bad apples argument which is we can infer. After an instructor at the Baltimore Police academy said this about almost a third of the new batch of Police Officers who graduated last week were giving them a badge and the gum tomorrow the right to take someones liberty ultimately the right to take someones life if it calls for it and they have not demonstrated they can meet constitutional and legal standards meanwhile the baltimore officers who testified in court say there are many others throughout the criminal Justice System from internal affairs to the state Attorneys Office who help them cover up their alleged crimes she ever time see aljazeera baltimore. Whats the time of year again con of us getting underway in brazil and for most people that means the sound of parades of Rio De Janeiro but the most traditional carnival of all is in the Northeastern State of parnell vocal aljazeera as they see in human is there. Im in a sea for the capital of states where carnival is a multicultural. Affair that lasts for five days behind me on the ball nichols these are the giant dolls for which this state is famous they began in the early one nine hundred step pay homage to different personalities past and as you can see in present more than eighty will be parading next week and the longtime coordinator of the event was kind enough to give us a sneak preview. Here to see for the festivities got underway over night. This is called mark got to approach caution based music with strong african roots brought here to the seafront by slaves eighteenth century. And there was also the foot able and Nineteenth Century rhythm that pin number is famous for its a fusion of martial music a kind of brazilian tango and some african rhythms. Carnival is a time for celebration but also for excesses especially of alcohol which is increasingly leading to sex abuses out here on the streets for the second year in a row activist karaoke is taking part in a campaign for women to speak out and to monitor places where abuses are most likely to happen. During carnival theres a culture of permissiveness people think its normal to grope you to force you to kiss them to have sex with women specially. But even with that millions of brazilians and foreigners have come here to celebrate the preparations are underway for what will be the main event on saturday called the rooster of the dog and thats when this gigantic rooster will lead the Worlds Largest street parade more than a Million People taking part and it begins at the early hours of the morning when it ends no one knows. You can find it much more on our web site head straight to. Aljazeera dot com. To remind of our main headline said the Winter Olympics have officially opened with a historic show of unity between north and south korea athletes from the two countries marched together and the south korean president should cans with kim jong il joe joe joe the sister of north Korean Leader kim jong il and u. S. Vice president mike pence who arrived after those handshakes sat close to the North Koreans but avoided contact yes President Donald Trump has signed off on a spending bill ending the second Government Shutdown this year well this one lasted just a few hours the deal to extend funding was agreed by congress but disagreements between republicans and democrats over immigration remain on resolved President Trump has come to the defense of a white house aide whos quits after being accused of Domestic Violence well before she resigned already this week after two former wives made separate allegations of verbal and physical abuse as you probably know he says hes innocent and i think you have to remember that he said very strongly yesterday that hes innocent so youll have to talk to him about that but we absolutely wish him well did a very good job while he was at the white house Egyptian Army has launched what its calling a comprehensive operation against terrorists and criminal groups in the Sinai Peninsula making the announcement in a televised statements an Army Spokesman says it involves land sea and air forces covering central sinai and areas in egypts nile delta and Western Desert. Mexican marines are arrested on a tourist Drug Cartel Leader with a five Million Dollars bounty on his head while samaria these are valentina is the leader of the last set us cartel the still chaos across much of mexico with its Drug Trafficking operations its a two for the government which is also deploying thousands of federal Police Officers to combat a huge surge in violence in the country. Colombias former rebel group the fark is temporarily suspended its Political Campaign because of angry protests the group became a Political Party last year when fighters demobilized as part of a peace deal with the colombian government a historic move that ended more than fifty two years of war many colombians are still angry about past violence and believe far members should be in prison. To see a headline they were counting the cost of. The benefit of saddam people so bad to see all the outcry witness documentaries about open your eyes at this time on aljazeera. Alone housing seeker this is counting a cost on your weekly look at the world of business and economics this week while swings for Global Stock Markets why it could be a sign the borrowing costs are going up faster than expected. Also this week suffragettes one hundred years on look at how women in twenty eighteen are still fighting for equal rights in the workplace. Plus a surgeon you