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 th