Whos under international sanctions, has been allowed by the Un Security Council to travel there. Choe hwi will be attending with the sister of north koreas ruler her presence is seen as a significant diplomatic move in itself. The hope is that all this could help reduce tensions on the peninsula. Well, not so much of a thaw quite yet, on thursday pyongyang put on a massive parade, a show of military might and missiles. The bbcs Stephen Mcdonnell is in pyeongchang. I mean, you can imagine the excitement here in pyeongchang, today, after all these years of preparations, finally it is Opening Ceremony day. Now that means we are going to have elite athletes competing in these mountains and, of course, this hugely significant geopolitical clash playing out here at the games. This hugely significant geopolitical clash playing out here at the games. I mean, even before the Opening Ceremony starts today, weve just heard that president moonjae in will be hosting a Cocktail Party with vips. You can imagine the potential there theres american Vice President pence there. Oh, well introduce you to kim jong uns sister. How are you going . Nice weather were having. Even though it might not be like an official meeting between the us and north korean camps, the potential for that type of thing is going to be all around the games but this engagement, this unexpectedly high level of engagement from the north koreans has prompted quite a bit of debate here and, when they march into the stadium together, as a unified korean team, with this flag featuring the korean as a unified korean team, with this flag featuring the Korean Peninsula, some people will think that is absolutely fantastic and others are not so happy about it. To give you a bit of an idea of the differences in opinion, we spoke to south koreans about this and here is some of what they had to say. But whether people like it or not, that engagement is actually going ahead. Kim yo jong, the sister of the north korean leader, is having a meal with moonjae in, the south korean president , and so there are hopes these games might actually bring some sort of ongoing dialogue following just such enormous amount of tension on the Korean Peninsula over recent years. And in the past couple of hours, appeals by 47 russian athletes and coaches hoping to take part in the games have been dismissed. And coaches hoping to take part in the games have been dismissed. It follows a ban imposed on the country by the International Olympic committee after an investigation into state sponsored doping. The ioc has already invited a further 169 russians who have met the anti doping criteria to compete as independent athletes. Bbc Sports ReporterAlex Capstick is in pyeongchang, and he was at the News Conference when the court of arbitration announced their decision. It was a very short announcement, matthieu reeb, the secretary general of the court of arbitration in sport thats sports highest authrity said that the cases brought by the russian athletes, 45 russian athletes, two support staff, earlier this week, have been dismissed so they will not be able to compete at these olympics and that is significant because the ioc had been very, very concerned about this matter escalating, following the decision by cas a couple of weeks ago that overturned lifetime bans. On a number of athletes, on 28 athletes who have been suspended, were completely cleared. So they were worried that this would not go their way. They would be relieved at this and they will hope that this draws a line under the matter at least for now because these 47 russians went to cas there were two athletes involved in the talks, in front of the panel, and they were hoping they would be part of this russian neutral team thats been allowed to compete here. But in the end, cas decided that the invitation process, they looked at all of the applicants and they decided that 169 were eligible they did not want anyone even suspected of being involved in the doping process thats been going on in russia over the past 5 or 6 years something russia has denied they did not want them involved something russia has denied they did not want them involved at all, and in the end cas has come down on the side of the ioc. The Un Security Council has failed to back an appeal from United Nations aid officials for a month long humanitarian ceasefire in syria. Four days of clashes have killed scores of civilians. Russias ambassador to the un dismissed the proposal as unrealistic. Allahu akbar. Its been called syrias 96 hours of hell. Bringing four days of bombing and bloodshed rarely seen before, even in syrias brutal civil war. More than 200 dead since monday in scenes like this. The rush by rescue workers to help, always with the threat that more bombs might fall. Just outside the capital, damascus, Eastern Ghouta is home to 400,000 people, now under siege. Jisreen, to the east, attacked too. 58 civilians killed its thought on thursday alone. Supplies are short, medicine exhausted, doctors few. This week, the un called for a month long ceasefire, but the Un Security Council has not backed that appeal seen by some as impossible. We want to make sure that there is a cessation of hostilities in key parts of the country, so that we can better gain access for humanitarian aid, and so that we can evacuate people who are in desperate need of medical help. Meanwhile, the Syrian Regime has accused america of war crimes after dozens of its fighters were killed in air strikes in the north east of the country. The us says the washington backed Syrian Democratic forces were responding to an unprovoked attack. We have the inherent right to defend ourselves, and we had seen a buildup for over a week. It was unprovoked. We are comfortable and the secretarys comfortable with the judgement of our commanders on the ground. There is normality here too or Something Like it, but civilians in parts of damascus have now seen shelling in areas previously untouched by fighting, as syrias seven year war shows no sign of ending. Andrew plant, bbc news. Ina in a separate instance, us troops killed 100 troops from the syrian government. Well earlier i spoke tojim jeffrey from the Washington Institute for near east policy and former Us Ambassador to iraq and turkey. He said many of the other players in the region want the us out of syria. You have three laws on top of each other. You have three wars on top of each other. The civil war between the syrian government, assad, the russians and iranians in support against a huge Resistance Force thats still fairly active. That is that attack in Eastern Ghouta by the russian air power and possibly syrian chemical weapons. Then you have got Counter Terrorism campaigns by the israelis against hezbollah in the south, the turks against the pkk offshoot the pyd kurds in the north, and the us against isis in the east and finally you have got and thats where youve got the clash between the us and the syrians an effort by the us, turkey and israel, not well co ordinated or spelt out the pressure of the russians to find an overall solution to this conflict that will end the bloodshed and push back iran which seems to be behind most of the really bad things that seem to happen. Is there any hope for Eastern Ghouta . Russia is saying a ceasefire is not practical. 400,000 people in the midst of all this. A doctor saying these are the worst four days Eastern Ghouta has ever gone through, never the level of bombardment we have seen in the past 96 hours. Absolutely. Lets be clear, the russians agreed with the turks for a ceasefire for a deconfliction zone in Eastern Ghouta and the russians are violating that. They are the primary source slaughtering civilians and Vladimir Putin is doing this in part for revenge for the pane shot down and many people will die for the death of one pilot. A journalist tried to cover it says it gets to the point we do not even want to ask anyone to film because it is so incredibly dangerous. What difference will it make any way . Well, in the short run, that could well be because there is a lot of the un pressure pushing the russians. Just like in aleppo. The fighting will eventually end. On a larger scale, this is very similar to bosnia in the 1990s, until the us decides to take a leading role and use all elements of american power, military, diplomatic, with a Large Coalition in a co ordinated fashion to bring the entire conflict to an end we will have new ghouta, between different components, as far as the eye can see in this horrible, horrible conflict. In the United States, lawmakers are scrambling to gather enough congressional votes to pass a sweeping spending deal worth hundreds of billions of dollars. Its unclear whether congress will be able to pass the funding bill to avoid a partial Government Shutdown by midnight local time. Our north america correspondent peter bowes earlier told me the bill continues to face detailed scrutiny in both houses. There are two hurdles. Initially, the senate, where senator ryan paul has been trying to introduce an amendment which has simply delayed things. Assuming it passes in the senate, it then goes to the house and there are bigger disagreements out in the open from both sides. The republicans and the democrats. Some republicans object to the extra spending that is laid out in this bill, some 300 billion on defence spending and other domestic spendings, and also the democrats have their concerns, their continuing concerns about the fact that this bill does not include any provision for the so called dreamers, those young people brought to america without the proper documentation. That issue of immigration again is not addressed by this spending plan. If it is not passed, if it does come to another shutdown, partial or not, President Trump has said in fact he would welcome it. He seems to feel that the democrats took the blame for the last one, and they could perhaps take the blame for this one if it comes. Yes, we have been getting mixed messages from the president. He did say that, and he said it repeatedly, lets have shutdown. There are also concerns of, as far as he is concerned, about whether there will be any funding for his wall on the southern border with mexico. But then he seemed to change his tune because the message from the white house was that they approved of this spending plan as it was written. In fact, it was bipartisan, it had the support of the leadership of both parties. It is unclear really were President Trump actually comes down on this. I think the bottom line certainly coming into this today all of the key players, at least those key players in a position to make this happen, believed in the same thing. They wanted to make this happen, to see it go ahead, they did not want to see another government shut down. The current temporary measure expires injust the current temporary measure expires in just about 45 minutes. The senate has now adjourned until then without agreeing another budget deal. More on that to come. Theres mr mandela. Mr nelson mandela, a free man, taking his first steps into a new south africa. Irans spiritual leader Ayatollah Khomeini has said hes passed a death sentence on salman rushdie, the british author of a book which many muslims say is blasphemous. The people of haiti have flocked to church to give thanks for the ousting of their former president , baby doc duvalier. Because of his considerable value as a stallion, shergar was kept in a special secure box in the stud farms central block. Shergar was driven away in a horse box the thieves had brought with them. There stepped down from the plane a figure in mourning, elizabeth ii, queen of this realm and of all her other realms and territories, head of the commonwealth, defender of the faith. Good to have you with us on bbc news. The latest headlines a north korean official under international sanctions, choe hwi, has been allowed by the United NationsSecurity Council to travel to the Winter Olympics in south korea. But therell be no games for 47 russian athletes and coaches accused of doping. Their appeals have been rejected just hours before the Opening Ceremony. Last december, two reuters journalists were arrested in myanmar. Wa lone and kyaw soe oo are still injail, awaiting trial for allegedly obtaining confidential government documents. It was known that the two journalists were covering the aftermath of some of the brutal violence inflicted on the rohingya last year. Since their arrest, rumours have circulated around what they were investigating. Now reuters have published what they believe is the real reason for their arrest, revealing details of the story they were working on a detailed investigation into a mass execution in a village in eastern myanmar. James clayton from newsnight has the story. On the 12th of december last year, two myanmarjournalists working for the reuters news agency, wa lone and kyaw soe oo, travelled to a restaurant in northern yangon to meet two Police Officers. They never came home. They were arrested and later charged under the official secrets act for allegedly obtaining confidential documents. Theyre being held in a jail in yangon. Reuters have published what they believe was the real reason for their journalists arrest, an investigation that focused on the village of inn din. The violence that took place here in late august and Early September last year was echoed across parts of northern rakhine state. This image shows the extent to which the rohingya part of the village was burnt to the ground. Only the buddhist area, to the top left, was spared. But what reuters claim to have found was even darker. Theirjournalists had been told by a number of sources that ten men had been picked out of a crowd of Rohingya Muslims and executed. Reuters say that after a day of interrogation, they were led into a wood. Reuters say this image was given to theirjournalists by a local buddhist. Weve decided to blur parts of the graphic image. Back in myanmars capital, naypyidaw, at around the same time as the arrests, myanmar authorities were themselves looking into the execution. On the 10th of january, the military announced on its Facebook Page that theyd undertaken their own investigation and that soldiers and local buddhists had indeed taken part in an execution. But the military were forced to kill the bengali terrorists, they said, because police stations were being attacked by rohingya militants, and it was unsafe to transport them. A decision was made to kill them, says the military statement. But reuters say that buddhist villagers their journalists interviewed reported no attack by a large number of insurgents on Security Forces in inn din, or that the ten men had any connection with terrorism. The news Agency Claims theirjournalists also gathered unique evidence of military involvement in attacks on Rohingya Muslims, speaking to not only local villages in inn din, but Police Officers and members of the paramilitary. Reuters believe that the evidence the journalists obtained is the real reason for their arrest. But the myanmar authorities are continuing to pursue charges against the two journalists. Will telling the story help wa lone and kyaw soe oo . Well find out in court. James clayton there, from newsnight. A myanmar government spokesman told reuters they statement goes on the government defended their operation in rakhine now, asian stock markets have dropped sharply in early trading, following on from more steep falls in the United States on thursday. The nikkei in tokyo and hang seng in hong kong were both down more than 3 , and shanghai stocks fell more than 5 on opening. American shares are now more than 10 down on the record highs they reached in late january. Live now to washington and heather long, economics correspondent on the washington post. Good to talk to you again. Most a nalysts good to talk to you again. Most analysts seem to be telling us still do this volatility is an overheated market finding it is more natural level, what do you reckon . That is definitely what i am hearing as well. Keep in mind it is typical, on thursday, the United States market entered what is known as a correction, 10 drop its recent high of on friday, january 26. |j correction, 10 drop its recent high of on friday, january 26. I think we might have lost you, can you still hear me . I think we might have lost oui hear me . I think we might have lost our connection there. So again, it is not unexpected, it is not unusual to see this kind of turbulence and the sea at last for a few more days. Heather, we have got some Communications Issues that lets stick with it in the hope that we can get you back in vision. Obviously, stock markets are not the whole economy of the country, there is much more to it than that. How much nervousness is there that volatility on the economic markets could impact on the so called real economy . It is definitely a possibility, if markets were to stay down and continue to go down say for several months. It makes people feel poon several months. It makes people feel poor. It sounds crazy but even though they have not technically lost money in their bank accounts, it still has people see that sea of red, they begin to feel poorer and usually dont spend as much many our money. And right or wrong, the American Economy is triggered by people going out and spending money. As much money. The other key factor to keep an eye on and that really triggered some of the massive selling on thursday in the us market is the announcement that the government of the United States is looking to seal a budget deal and spend about 0. 5 trillion, money we do not have, we have to go out and spend that money on world markets. That will cause bond markets, Us Government bonds, to go up and that is starting to speak the equity markets once again. Still waiting to hear what is happening on that budget deal in about half an hour, when the senate gets back together. If you can, there is a businessman famously in the white house, President Trump in very quick to boast when the stock market is doing well. He has taken credit for that, public release, how is he dealing with these . Well, he has only tweeted once about it. It is kind of surprising he has tweeted at all about the market downturn. He called ita about the market downturn. He called it a big mistake that people were selling shares, he said all of this is good news, it is evidence of an economy that is growing faster, wages that i picking up. But of course, in the market, investors are a lwa ys course, in the market, investors are always thinking about six, nine, 12 months down the road and they are starting to say wait a minute, all of this spending that President Trump and the Republican Led Congress is doing right now, it is highly unusual to see this amount of stimulus, government stimulus, in a period of such strong Economic Growth and investors are starting to get concerned about an economy that will overheat and then the Federal Reserve will be forced to raise Interest Rates very quickly, which tends to really begin to hurt Economic Growth and hurt the value of the stock market. Heather, thank you very much for that. Thank you. For the last few days, paris has been the venue fer anthlbimvmzl as the bbcs tim allman reports. If you like vintage cars, then this must be like paradise the sleek lines, the polished metal, vehicles both from the dawn of the motor age, and some a little more recent. Translation the retromobile show gives us the chance to rediscover the glories of the past. We should not forget that behind each car, theres a man, and its always human adventure hiding underneath. Some of these cars are nearly 100 years old. Many of them broke records at legendary race tracks, like Linas Montlhery and le mans. Magic there. Aerwafezefta fences. 155. 355; a 55; 5 55. . , f