Not willing to discuss the burning issue its Nuclear Program the syrian bombardment of Eastern Ghouta intensifies civilians inside the rebel held and play say the warplanes just one stall and chinese ears main opposition valves to step up onto a stir she protests unless the government drops its new budget. And im far is small in doha all the latest sports news including a great step forward in the olympic spirit thats how the i. O. C. Are describing north koreas decision to send athletes to next months winter games and jiang chang. Much anticipated talks between north and south korea have wrapped up on the all being described as a major diplomatic breakthrough officials from the chinese side for eleven hours and eventually agreed seoul would lift sanctions temporarily so north korean ashley could visit the south for next months Winter Olympics it represents the biggest thaw in relations for years opinions Nuclear Ambitions were off the table florence lim reports from so. Until recently North Koreans refused to even pick up the phone when South Koreans called the border hotline so it was significant to see resawing gorn whos in charge of into korean relations for the north korean government stepping over the border into the south he led a five member team of high ranking diplomats into a meeting with his south korean counterpart in whats known as the truce village at panmunjom. Our talks resume after north and south korean ties have been severed for a long time but i believe the first step is have the journey with the we came to this meeting 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 gift of the year on the meeting did produce results north korea says it will send a delegation of athletes and team members to next months Winter Olympics in south korea the south says it will consider suspending sanctions if it helps north koreas participation in the games in. Both sides have also agreed to hold military talks to prevent accidental clashes and ease tensions as well as conduct other high level exchanges to improve into create ties but attempts to discuss north Koreas Nuclear bomb and Missiles Program got nowhere with the head of the delegation from pyongyang warning that such discussions could damage relations the north has long maintained that its Nuclear Arsenal is necessary to deter an invasion by u. S. Troops and south koreas proposal for talks on reunions for family members whove been separated for decades met with little response from the north despite that many in the south see any talks happening at all as a positive step. For us. I believe these forward diplomatic discussions can result in peace for an a c. The Korean Peninsula is a dangerous place thats under the constant threat of war and i hope those concerns to become a reality and after a year of high tensions on the Korean Peninsula and in japan and across the pacific including the threat of military action by the u. S. These talks are already being heralded as a breakthrough florence aljazeera seoul for more on this lets talk to ambassador joseph the tranny in washington hes a former special envoy for Six Party Talks with north korea and a former cia director of east Asia Operations thank you very much for spending the time to talk to us. Here is almost a clever way of the North Koreans behaving by having these friendly talks with their neighbors by getting some sanctions lowered to allow them to send a team to the olympics i was cutting the United States out of the equation im kind of wondering how china might react to this they might also say well its worth easing sanctions. You know china has been very positive and rusher certainly also on this and and we all want to be hopeful but i think your points are very accurate i mean weve seen this before with north korea i think sanctions are biting and theyre significantly hurting and so north koreas looking for some relief and they feel theyve had a good year twenty seventeen was a very good year for. Going with the missile launches it to include an Intercontinental Ballistic Missile nuclear test a socalled Hydrogen Bomb so hes now saying ive shown what i could do and i realize you all have these sanctions to include russia and china implementing these sanctions so i need a little relief so i think some of us who have been involved in negotiations and weve seen twenty five years of the goshi ations and and what have we accomplished not for much given where north korea is with the nuclear and Missile Program so i think the key is to be hopeful to watch things but to be very realistic this is not a breakthrough this is been done before by north korea but hopefully itll be dilutive different this time but we should exact something from north korea this should be confidence building also coming from north korea as it is from south korea and the u. S. With the suspension of joint military exercises and they need to stop launching missiles and having Nuclear Tests indeed and thats what north korea has always said the reason for its Nuclear Program now the white house reacted saying its not the cheney for north korea to End International isolation by denuclearizing but is there a sense here that actually start to thaw could we just say well maybe they will have Nuclear Weapons from now on because its going to be nobody really pushing to get rid of them if indeed its true that theyre only pointing in the United States. Well i think this is this is the point im making and i think your point is right on the mark north korea wants to be accepted as a Nuclear Weapon state to be the nice Nuclear Weapons state to accept the fact that they have Nuclear Weapons i think many of us is saying and i think south korea certainly china and russia are with japan in the United States i think were all in sync on that issue of denuclearization comprehensive the nuclear is a ship of the Korean Peninsula north korea with Nuclear Weapons would lend itself to a Nuclear Arms Race in the region and also the potential for proliferation possibly Nuclear WeaponsNuclear Materials to include for so material getting into the hands of nonNuclear Weapon states getting to the hands of nonstate actors to terrorists i think north korea with Nuclear Weapons would be a danger to the region it would be a danger to the Global Environment the Global Community weve got that north korea is now sending them to send a team to south korea for the olympics that deeming the peace and takes its a symbolic move though isnt it its not really about sports here its about the fact that they are being welcomed back into the fold if you like thats exactly right the big welcome to the fold this is this could be a very positive confidence Building Measure if we see reciprocity from north korea no nuclear test no missile launches if they resume the separated families where they bring the Families Together to visit with the brother in the north those would be positive moves but eventually north korea has to sit out and talk about the Nuclear Weapons program very good to get your thoughts such as the chinese speaking to us in washington thanks very much for thank you. Turkeys Foreign Ministry has summoned the ambassadors of iran and russia to protest the violation of a socalled a deescalation a zone in syria turkey is reportedly accusing syrian troops of breaking the agreement in their push to retake opposition held areas in the province russia iran and turkey agreed on for deescalation zones last may in an effort to wind down the seven year war russia and iran support the government of syrian president Bashar Al Assad while turkey backs opposition groups and other deescalation zone is the damascus suburb of Eastern Ghouta the Syrian Governments bombardments of the rebel held and calais is intensifying rebel fighters are desperately trying to cling on to the territory even resorting to talks with syrias russia in no mans land four hundred thousand civilians are struggling to survive the winter with medical and Food Supplies running low on. The fog of dust from buildings reduced to rubble was still thick as people began transporting the injured and pulling out the dead. Twenty three people were killed in iraq strikes in eastern guta on monday night. You know if you made the derby the warplanes didnt stop day and night they shell only civilians and target residential neighborhoods and markets eastern is a short drive to the capital damascus which is remained relatively calm throughout the war but the lives of the four hundred thousand people here are very different the never ending stream of bombs has created shortages of everything from food to fuel. The last two weeks have been especially intense one hundred twenty six people are estimated to have been killed since december twenty ninth. The new i five a man on that video who demand the International Community stops the shelling of innocent civilians we dont have any food or mates in here and use kuta we under siege for a long time and we hope god will help us. Syrians contemplating leaving their homes are faced with a dilemma for example the displaced who sought refuge in opposition held in lib are in danger again it is the largest rebel stronghold and Government Forces are in the midst of an offensive to regain control tens of thousands of civilians already in dire circumstances have been recorded as displaced since the first of december due to the fighting with the onset of winter save shelters among the biggest concerns as many families are fleeing into areas that are already at full capacity into communities with depleted resources people in eastern guta fear if they leave their homes theyll never be allowed to return the un is accusing the Syrian Government of implementing a policy of force displacement to radically alter the demographic makeup of areas previously controlled by the opposition natasha going to aim aljazeera. French president Emanuel Mccraw is hailing his visit to china as the beginning of a Historic Partnership is when i was saying the thing a federal trade deals with chinese president xi jinping microns been pushing for French Companies to have greater access to the worlds biggest population especially in Nuclear Power era space and phoned romney bright has more from beijing china and france are hailing this visit as a new era for Strategic Partners xi jinping and Emanuel Mccraw signing multibillion dollar trade deals from aerospace to Nuclear Energy projects and reaching what they say is common consensus on a range of issues from Climate Change to international security. We have made an agreement to improve global issues we are faced with Climate Change and terrorism china will be working together with france so we can have a win win situation and develop a new strategy that helps everyone in the world we have both agreed to have open and deep communications macross says his visit is a recognition of chinas role on the world stage and shes preeminent position as chinese leader this is microns first state visit to china as president and he wants the trip to become an annual event to highlight the deepening relationship between china and europe growing stronger as their respective relations with the United States become more unpredictable and strained and i think. It is time for european leaders including the french president Jacques Rogge to really balance off their leashes against the United States with their relations with china macron began his visit in the ancient city of scheana one of the starting points of the ancient silk road. His full support for what president xi calls his belton Road Initiative of new road and rail links seen as the modern day equivalent of connecting east with west is popular here mccrum will also take away from beijing a recommitment to the paris climate agreement seen as crucial after the United States walked away from it in doing so france and china are positioning themselves as Global Environmental leaders setting an example for the world to follow robin briard aljazeera beijing political analyst and economist tango says china and france are moving forward in replacing the u. S. As the worlds primary superpower. I think you can sum it up in what macron said lets make our world great again obviously a dig at donald trump but it reflects reflects the reality that things are changing saying that b. As the us retracts there is an opening there and i think macron intends to take that opening not only for france but e. U. And that means cooperating with china whats happening is that the vacuum thats being created obviously is being filled and china is aggressively pushing out it wanted on its side france to recognize and be of very vocal proponents of the belt and Road Initiative its master plan one trillion dollar effort but that effort needs more money it cannot be done by china alone so theyre looking for Partners Europe is obviously the one the belt and Road Initiative most of it goes towards europe its the biggest market for china so therefore it makes a lot of sense micron is doing the right thing by getting their first extracting very good concessions for his economy and also putting himself as a leader macro is looking he has to have a partner if you can in his book revolution he made it very clear that hes pro globalization hes very concerned about climate warm Climate Change these types of things are drawing him closer to china because the u. S. Simply is not playing ball. Coming up on this news hour from london bad weather and toxic gases complicate the search for thirty one missing sailors off the coast of china u. S. Tech giant apple is being investigated in france over its submission that it deliberately slow down its own government phones and in sports the u. S. President on the trump tries to school political points out of College Footballs biggest game. His is Prime Minister yousaf childhoods trying to soothe antigovernment sentiment promising twenty eight will be the last year of Economic Hardship it follows protests in ten towns on monday demonstrators took to the streets angry over price and tax increases the hikes have been imposed a sponsor of a new austerity measures agreed with foreign leaders lenders theyve been processed in sudan as well where the cost of a loaf of bread doubled after the government removed subsidies from its twenty eight team budgets the movies in line with reforms agreed with the International Monetary fund jordan has announced its cutting the state subsidies on bread as of next week prices could surge by one hundred percent and the recent protests in iran were triggered by price rises for basic food items like eggs and poultry. To talk more about this im now joined by World Affairs analyst klitzman thanks very much for coming in to aljazeera just broadly when weve got all these countries now saying that theyre hiking up prices and people cant afford the very basics like a loaf of bread what is going wrong with with a functioning economy is it should be able to provide for their that people a great question two thousand eight hundred sort of very dismally for the middle for the middle east and north africa these issues are not new issues to the region to previous issues sick time for them to develop florists what we see today and its not good for the people themselves the softness of situations by analyzing economies of the middle east theyre much more opaque much more difficult to understand political decisions take a lot more effort to understand as opposed to western democracies. And economies so more deeper analysis wo