Up the u. S. President donald trump refuses to declassify a democratic memo on the rusher investigation citing National Security concerns. Colombias former rebel group the fox suspends political campaigning amid security worries after angry protests. Also this hour breaking barriers in sri lanka as a Record Number of Women Candidates Campaign for seats in the forthcoming election. The first full day of competition at the Winter Olympics is now well underway in south korea later today the first medals will be awarded winners are set to be crowned and biathlon Cross Country skiing speed skating and ski jumping meanwhile away from the slopes on the ice rinks diplomacy is drawing almost as much attention as the games themselves live now to my colleague natasha can and so natasha i mean the choreography of this theyre getting down to the nitty gritty everything theyre looking after everything even right down to the symbolism of whats on the different menus today. Yes oddly enough that has actually been a topic of coverage in the south korean menu one of the items served was a fish dish that swims between the two koreas and its preparation requires a freezing and thawing another thing that was fixated on by the south korean media is a document that was placed on the desk in front of kim jong un sister kim yo jiang as she was meeting with south korean president moon j. In it has only fueled speculation that perhaps theres a letter from the north Korean Leader to president moon and that perhaps its also an invite for president moon to visit north korea now this is an opportunity that president moon is seizing upon hes hoping to utilize the pyongyang Winter Olympics as a launching pad to reboot intercourse and relations after a very tense twenty seventeen this is an issue near and dear to his heart as the son of north korean refugee parents and he does have reason for optimism twenty seventeen it was a tense year but since the beginning of twenty eight seen there have been developments with north korea unfolding at a breakneck pace analysts however say though were seeing a lot of symbolic symbolism and a major Charm Offensive on the part of the North Koreans they really doubt that this will provide a Seismic Shift in the relationship between the two countries some are saying that what were seeing is north korea in the driving seat attempting to drive a wedge between the United States and south korea an alliance and to advance its own agenda clearly natasha the u. S. Particularly is not prepared to walk away from sanctions those big barriers on knots about to come down but i guess the key thing here is this is the step change its a step in the right direction. Well the south korean government certainly feels that way we heard from the former say u. N. Secretary general ban ki moon who feels that this is a positive thawing between the two koreas but when we talk about the relationship between the United States and north korea it does not look like things have shifted keep in mind that the u. S. Vice president mike pence was in a v. I. P. Area very cramped quarters at the Opening Ceremony on friday he did not exchange not even pleasantries with the north korean delegation he says it wasnt a snub he says that he did not exchange pleasantries with the ceremonial head of state in particular because they were close enough but pence and north korea did rebuff president moons attempt to facilitate a dialogue between them pences team says that he feels that the lack of interaction was a mutual feeling among both countries bear in mind that there has been more tough talk from the United States on north korea this week pence said that the toughest economic sanctions ever are coming to north korea and japan said that if he had exchanged comments with the north korean delegation he would have conveyed a very strong message one in appropriate for an olympic venue the North Koreans say that they have never begged for dialogue with the United States and theyre not about to start the tasha thank you. Now the u. S. President donald trump has blocked the release of a classified memo written by democrats on the House Intelligence Committee citing National Security concerns the memo rebuts a document prepared by the committees republicans which was made public last week the republican memo allege the f. B. I. Was biased against trump during its investigation into his president ial campaigns links to russia the memo was released despite public opposition as expressed by the f. B. I. Now trump claimed that document quotes totally vindicated him but democrats and some republicans well they dispute that now the white house states this although the president is inclined to declassify the february the fifth memorandum because the memorandum contains numerous properly classified and especially sensitive passages hes unable to do so at this time however given the Public Interest and transparency in these unprecedented circumstances the president has directed the Justice Department personnel be available to give Technical Assistance to the committee should the committee wish to revise the february the fifth memorandum to mitigate the risks as identified by the department kristen salumi has the latest now from washington. President trump started his weekend surrounded by controversies first his refusal to release the democratic memo on the Russian Investigation citing National Security concerns the white house released a letter from the Deputy Attorney general and the director of the f. B. I. Citing their concerns that the memo could jeopardize ongoing investigations and sources but democrats point out the f. B. I. Made the zach same objections to releasing the republican memo and President Trump went ahead and released it anyway they are of course outraged by this they wanted to tell their side of the story they say that a lot of facts were left out of the republican memo and fact democrats in congress are accusing the president of a double standard another controversy yet another white house staffer resigning because of allegations of Domestic Abuse the man is David Sorensen a speechwriter for one of trumps Senior Policy AdviserSteve Miller Sorenson for his parts denies it vehemently he says in fact that she was the one abusing him this on the heels of rob porter the staff secretary someone very close to President Trump having to step down because of his two exwives accusing him of Domestic Abuse in that case. They told the f. B. I. During a background check porter was given access to top secret information in his role at the white house despite these concerns so all of this for the president to deal with over the weekend. Colombias former rebel group the fog has temporarily suspended its campaign for forthcoming elections because of demonstrations and threats to its candidates the group became a Political Party last year after a made a peace deal with the colombian government ending more than fifty two years of conflicts however many colombians are still angry at the fark and they believe its members should be in prison. Or. 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 agree of a game of clean rules George Restrepo is the director of the conflict Analysis Research center and a professor of economics at the university he says the fox concerns about the safety of the activists well they are justified. Its a very risky situation its a difficult transition from conflict to political participation for. Now partly. Because there is this strong need for vindication for revenge even in the general population colombia specially in urban areas then hes a wise decision by far to go Campaign Open in politics where its a different cities of the country they need to consider does he do a share this is very risky to merge the general feeling in the population is that they have no want. So get themselves to use new system of justice. P. C. s with the help of a special justice for peace Transmission System and that is what makes people really. Against the far inferior is a very fair situation of course what they fire me to. Recognize and address these very strong sense that sentiment in the population against political participation with justice Egyptian State media is saying the security alert has been raised to its highest level nationwide after the Army Launched what its calling a comprehensive operation against terrorist and criminal groups in the Sinai Peninsula president sisi had sets a separate deadline to crush faces there after the attack on a mosque in the event of that killed more than three hundred people all schools in north sinai a closed until further notice. To sri lanka where more women than ever before are hoping to get elected into government choosing representatives in more than three hundred local Government Elections a change in the war now requires women to. Reports from. Entering the latest political race with a bang rosie sennight form of this is world diplomat and parliamentarian is aiming to become to be out of colombo shes the first woman to even try i strongly believe that you cannot have democracy if you do not interest the needs of the made the population the majority of the population. Shes one of more than seventy thousand women. With elections a Record Number of women for positions in three hundred forty institutions a recent change of the law has made it mandatory to have twenty five percent of women in local government more than twelve times the number now. The marxist Peoples Liberation front says the changes will give more deserving women a chance in our country it was a ministers daughter or siblings or those from. But we think honest. She come into politics the laws are made this election can do that. Its a view that this vote in colombo endorsed you this high time that you learn comes the politicians at least. Theres a list of the beam in. Its the first time in decades that elections to all local bodies around the country are being held on a single day the stakes are high for all Political Parties going into this local Government Election with the president by policy recently and Prime Minister become a singer whose parties are contesting separately its a battle to keep and be the man they defeated three years ago which is the reason why local issues such as roads street lights and Garbage Disposal are taking on the intensity of a national fight the Coalition Government of the president and Prime Minister is struggling to maintain its popularity following a series of scandals and failure to deliver on its Campaign Promise to root out corruption both leaders have travelled around the country to support their candidates their main threat is former president rajapaksa despite being voted out of his bid for a third president ial rajapaksa still commands the loyalty of a larger voter base a base hes trying to mobilize for a new political front despite the fact that hes not a member of it and remains a member of his successors party the power or the way forward for the Upcoming National elections will be starting from this but the boy saw it is for the president for the Prime Minister was coming from the poor people and Political Parties and in the other hand the former president s campaign will have a. Whatever the larger political stakes local election voters will be hoping for a competent candidates both male and female to ensure the smooth running of. Finance aljazeera colombo. Still to come here on aljazeera we look at the how the public in turkey viewing the military offensive targeting kurdish fighters in syria. And does she in fame get ready to elect a new leader here in dublin ill be looking at the political journey of gerry adams whos headed the party for decades. How i think northern parts of the middle east may will see a little more cloud over the next couple of days it should be largely dry the levant saying that class just spilling in from the mediterranean times it may be thick enough for a few spots of fine but nothing much to speak of the temperatures in beirut spiked added around twenty three degrees or so for much of iran it should be settled it should be sunny or tehran getting up to around eleven the south has little bit of wintry weather just around the the high ground there for afghanistan maybe a little bit of rain sleet and snow a couple it around four or five celsius over the next couple of days temps just getting up into the low twentys at this stage as we go on through our sunday night is the cloud is pushing its way further southward so it will cloud over a little across the Arabian Peninsula over the next day or two twenty six celsius and twenty seven in riyadh riyadh picking up to around thirty one degrees as we go on through sunday and even here in qatar we may see the temperatures getting well up into the high twentys as we go on into the early part of next week we have temperatures into the high twentys across a good part of Southern Africa at present will see thirty four and dry weather coming into cape town temps is edging up here was to go on through sunday very heavy rain for zimbabwe and also mozambique. For the nomadic jackass tribe survival is about reaching their destination if we dont hurry will never be able to give the tramp up in the storm we follow the mongolian herdsmen on a treacherous migration. Dangerous the ice is a thing as they strive to preserve their traditional way of life. Or sometimes lose a battle there was called for because of the storm risking it all mongolia and this time on al jazeera. Welcome back instead recapping our top stories the city right up to speed with a breaking story for you this hour coming to us via the Reuters News Agency out of jerusalem israel apparently shot down an iranian drone launched from syria and in response it also has struck iranian targets there thats according to the Israeli Military there are consequential elements of the story as well now during that operation an israeli f. Sixteen that took part in the israeli army strike inside syria for some reason was quote abandoned over galilee whether that means the aircraft was shot down on not at this moment we simply dont know it remains unclear whether the jet was hit by Syrian Regime anti aircraft fire more on that for you just as soon as we can. The uns Refugee Agency is raising concerns about growing violence in yemen which it blames for an increase the number of people forced from their homes since december the u. N. H. C. R. Is estimating more than eighty five thousand people have been displaced across the country more than sixty thousand have fled regions near the west coast in the have died governments yemen is the worlds biggest humanitarian crisis twenty two Million People are in need of aid the civil war intensified early in twenty fifteen when the saudi Led Military Coalition intervened in support of the governments which is fighting against the three rebels shall be a man too is a us yemen spokeswoman she says displaced people often have no other choice other than to move into other conflict zones. Well this is the big dilemma because in yemen theres ongoing conflict and every single governor at them has been affected by so a finding is that from holding our instance people being trapped with my governor s. So they make me think im just trip to districts trying to make the journey through the east we also see a large amount of people saying to be on which is the east of those governorates but its a very time situation when you have people who are remaining with my governor and moving from other multiple times because. We are really puzzled as to why the situation in yemen is allowed to continue the way it is now the population of yemen is twenty nine million and yet were seeing a situation in two thousand and eighteen when twenty two Million People in the country and now fixed a complex and in need of monetary systems and this is absolutely poland and the situation is absolutely dire here on the ground and were finding out of us is really not supported enough i mean were trying to respond to the needs of people whove been displaced across the country ther