Midnight in london and 9am in seoul, where after months of tension between the two koreas, theres signs of a sudden and dramatic change. For the first time in over two years, north and south korea have engaged in formal military talks to try to defuse tensions between the two countries. The north will also send a delegation to the Winter Olympics taking place in south korea, next month. Our correspondent Rupert Wingfield hayes reports from seoul. The skiers on the slopes of pyeongchang today were moving a little slower than they will be in a months time. Then, the worlds best will be flying down these pistes. And now we know that when the Olympic Games open here on february 7th, there will be a full north korean team competing. They will march in side by side with their south korean compatriots. Translation i think with sport, we can put everything aside and everyone should do their best to achieve their goals in the competition. North korea isjust 50 miles away in that direction, and the north has really completely overshadowed preparations for the olympics here. Some teams have threatened to pull out. Ticket sales have been slow you can see this place isnt exactly humming with skiers. So there is immense relief here that the north and the south are now at least talking. This morning, north koreas chief delegate, ri son gwon, strode across the demarcation line that divides the two koreas. He warmly shook the hand of his south korean counterpart. The weather is cold, he said, but despite the cold, the peoples desire for improving relations is unfrozen. Its hard to overstate how dramatic and rapid this shift has been. Its only a month since north korea test fired this huge new missile, boasting that it could hit any city in the United States. Off the coast of korea, us aircraft carriers massed, their decks swarming with supersonic strike aircraft. It felt like this region was teetering on the brink of war. So is pyongyangs sudden change of heart real, orjust a tactic to avoid war with america . North korea would like to gain time in order to avoid a potential immediate retaliation by the United States against its wmd facilities and eventually re engage in the provocation cycle so that it can threaten the United States with nuclear action. The Winter Olympics may be a cover for kim jong un, a convenient excuse for him to step back from the brink. But here in the south, any chance to talk is better than the terrifying alternative. Rupert wingfield hayes, bbc news, in pyeongchang, south korea. Later, well hear any interview ricoh did with people who are spent time in north korea. Rico. Lets take a look at some of the days other news. President trumps former chief strategist, steve bannon, has resigned as executive chairman of breitbart news, the right wing news organisation. Mr bannon was widely quoted in a new book which painted an unflattering picture of the trump white house, and which accused the president s son of treasonous behaviour. Breitbart said that mr bannon was a valued part of its legacy, and theyd always be grateful for his contributions. Heres our north america editorjon sopel on what it means. David willis is in washington. The moment that the funding of support behind him, his position became untenable. Absolutely. That was the crucial thing that brought about the circumstances and now steve bannon out at breitbart as a result, the mercer is said that they would no longer back its plan to field far right candidates in Congressional Elections coming up later this year. Now they seem to have bowed as well to a request from the white house, sarah sanders, the white house spokesman last week saying that breitbart should consider is that sacking sacking steve bannon. That has happened, a dramatic fall from grace as a man who was edited to steering donald trump to victory in the tradies 16 president ial election. But too early to write him off altogether. He is a man of independent means, he was a former hollywood producer, worked at goldman sachs, he is not short of money and there has been regulation at one point one c was busy with white house duties he was starting a right wing new channel to rival fox news. That project was put on hold because partly he had duties at the white house. Now that may resurface, who knows . Too early to write steve bannon off. What happens to all the candidate . The candidates that he was threatening in the mid term, the right wing candidates that he was going to fund, what happens without planning . It would seem that project has been put on hold. This was a plan to shake up the Republican Party on the part of steve bannon. The sort of thing he loves to do. Article it aimed at the Senate Majority leader, mitch mcconnell, a man who has been held in low regard by steve bannon. It remains to be seen whether and other financial backer steps in to help steve bannon achieve that aim but it is a considerably expensive one. He is going to need somebody, if not the mercers to help in that of. Fascinating, we will have two wait and watch. Think it very much that. As ha rq and watch. Think it very much that. Asharq thank you very much. Thank you very much. Also making news today. A tanker in the East China Sea continues to leak oil, three days after it was hit by a cargo ship. Chinese Officials Say theres a danger the tanker will explode, as well as the added concerns over the Environmental Impact of the leak. One person has been confirmed dead. 31 of the crew are still missing. Police in italy and germany have arrested 169 people in a joint operation against one of italys most Notorious Mafia groups, the ndrangheta. Most arrests were made in italy, and include the head of the Southern Province of crotone, and two other mayors. The criminal network is based in southern italy, but it has expanded its reach into the rest of europe. Police say at least five people have died in flash floods and mudslides in southern california. Its the first rainfall in more than six months in Santa Barbara county, which was recently scarred by the largest wildfire in the states recorded history. A recording of irans Supreme Leader speaking almost 30 years ago has emerged in which he says hes not qualified for thejob. The clip which appeared on social media, comes as Ayatollah Khamenei blamed foreign enemies for the recent unrest in his country. Britains prince harry and his bride to be Meghan Markle have visited the studios of a Radio Station in brixton in south london, to learn about its work supporting young people. The couple met presenters and staff from reprezent fm which trains hundreds of people every year in media and employment skills. Lets return now to our top story the agreement between north and south korea to hold military talks to defuse border tension, after their first high level meeting in two years. The us has given the development a cautious welcome. This is what the White House Press secretary had to say. The north korean participation is an opportunity for the regime to see the value of ending its international isolation, by denuclearising. We hope we can move forward on that front. Earlier i spoke to andray abrahamian, a Research Fellow at the Pacific Forum of the centre for strategic and international studies. I asked him first what was his take on the dialogue. I think it is and and important development. Kim jong un is certainly feeling pressure from sanctions and is interested in exploring ways out and he has also noticed a real divergence in the interest of washington, dc and south korea over last year and i think he is try to exploit that gap that has developed. In the short term, both south and north korea have a real co nve rg e nt south and north korea have a real convergent of entrance. South korea really wa nts convergent of entrance. South korea really wants the olympics to go off well and without incident and north korea wants to have its athletes participate and also showcased some other cultural and sporting prowess in front of the world. On the flipside, has the north being drawn into this dialogue because sanctions are starting to bite . There is a little evidence over the last couple of that sanctions are starting to bite. We are seeing the Exchange Rate fluctuate a little bit. The price of gas shut up but then stabilised a if you months ago. I think overall, the economy is now robust enough in north korea that kim jong un is more robust enough in north korea that kimjong un is more keen to explore what is possible now with south korea and where the diversions is with washington. Also to seek what mainly the Moon Administration may be able to sell in dc in terms of a compromise position. What does this mean now in terms of improved relationship between seoul and washington, given that seoul and pyongyang and now talking directly to each other. There is a real risk in the relationship between seoul and washington. Both sides are going to have to be very careful and be in co nsta nt to have to be very careful and be in constant communication and Co Ordination because we have seen over the last year, vijay ins primary objective is to make sure that a war does not break out on the korean peninsula. That is his main task. He is most interested in defusing tensions as much as he can. Washington on the other hand is for interested in applying as much pressure as possible. That includes rhetorical pressure as well. The interest two have diverged a little bit and interest two have diverged a little bitand in interest two have diverged a little bit and in the past and a previous seoul and washington governments, the administrations have done a real job of making sure they dont drift too far apart. To see if that will will be the case in 2018. We will have two c. We will have to see. A japanese astronaut on the International Space station says hes grown nine centimetres since arriving just over three weeks ago. Norishige kanai said he was worried he would not fit into the seat of the soyuz rocket that would bring him home. Libbyjackson from the Uk Space Agency explains. Its normal for astronauts to grow, for their backs to extend while they are in the space of. As soon as you get up there, you are floating around there and cannot feel the effects of gravity and say your spine decompresses is and the vertebra relaxes and the muscles relaxed. Nine centimetres is an awful lot, normally it is between two and five centimetres of. As soon as gets back on earth and feels gravity, the spine will compress and the muscles will get stronger. There are some risks of problems when people come back to earth but he will be fine within a if you weeks. Going into space, as soon as you get there your body starts to adapt because you are not feeling gravity. Your bones and your muscles weaken, the fluid in your body shifts around. There are lots of things. If you are to stay in space forever it wouldnt be a problem but because when they come back to earth they do a lot of exercise to make sure that they are to row as they can be when they are to row as they can be when they get back. As strong as they can be. Youre watching newsday on the bbc. Still to come on the programme a heaving mass of catholic humanity ta kes to a heaving mass of catholic humanity takes to the streets of men a lot for one of the philippines largest festivals of. Also on the programme and the self propelling suitcase which follows its owner, just one of the marvels at this years major tech show in vegas. The japanese people are in mourning following the death of emperor hirohito. Thousands converged on the imperial palace to pay their respects when it was announced he was dead. Good grief after half a century of delighting fans around the world, Charlie Brown and the rest of the gang are calling it quits. The singer, paul simon, starts his tour of south africa tomorrow, in spite of protests and violence from some black activist groups. They Say International artists should continue to boycott south africa until majority rule is established. Teams were trying to scoop up lumps of oil as france recognises it faces an ecological crisis. Three weeks ago, the authorities confidently assured these areas that oil from the broken tanker erika would head out to sea. It didnt. The worlds tallest skyscraper opens later today. The burj dubai has easily overtaken its nearest rivals. This is newsday on the bbc. Im rico hizon in singapore. Im kasia madera in london. Our top stories. After months of rising tensions, representatives from north and south korea have met to try to defuse tensions. Lets take a look at some front pages from around the world. On several front pages, including the japan times, is the much anticipated hand sha ke between north and south koreas delegation and the news north korea will attend the upcoming olympics. French president Emmanuel Macron made the front page of the china daily, celebrating joint progress with president xijinping. And the Straits Times also led with the korea meeting and the upcoming military talks that have been agreed too. Now, what stories are sparking discussions online . Yes, lets look at what is trending right now. First the lizards in florida now alligators in North Carolina are showing how they adapt to survive cold weather. At Shallotte River swamp park theyve been poking out their nostrils and breathing through holes in the ice. When the water is this cold, they enter a state of hibernation and doing this helps them to breathe. It is unsurprising that alligators have been around for so long. Calls have been growing for the release of two reuters journalists in myanmar who are facing accusations of breaching the countrys official secrets act. Wa lone and jaw soe oo were detained on december 12th and are due to make their second appearance in court in yangon on wednesday. The two had worked on reuters coverage of the crisis in the Western State of rakhine. An estimated 655,000 Rohingya Muslims have fled to neighbouring bangladesh. We spoke to reginald chua, coo of reuters, about how they re holding up. We have not had a lot of contact with them. They were held incommunicado for two weeks and then briefly showed up in court did they spoke to reporters and met their family which was great. We only had a few moments although wa lones wife sat with him. They have had some time with their family and we have hired lawyers. They have had sporadic contact. From what we can see their spirits remain high and wa lone was quoted as saying they are doing the best because they have done nothing wrong. Former us president bill clinton is adding his voice for those calling for the pair to be released. How hopeful are you . We have been gratified by the outpouring of support in myanmar and around the world. I guess we will find out in the next few hours when they come back the second court hearing. In an ideal and just world i think we would recognise that they arejust doing their i think we would recognise that they are just doing theirjobs, they are hard working journalists are just doing theirjobs, they are ha rd working journalists and should be released. In a worst case situation they may call for charges under official secrets act. It is a broad act many grey areas and you andi broad act many grey areas and you and i could probably be found guilty of something under that act. We are hoping for the best. You have any more detail about what they were doing when they were arrested . They reporting on . We would rather not talk about what they were reporting on, at least at this point. I can tell you that they were just doing theirjob as a journalist. Nothing more, nothing less. They had been called to dinner with some policeman and then they showed up to big the driver dropped them off and they never left. They were arrested after that. And so it is hard to see what it is that they are guilty of here. Hundreds of thousands of devotees in the philippines capital manila have joined the annual procession of a black statue ofjesus christ known as the black nazarene. Its one of the biggest religious festivals in the largely Roman Catholic nation. The statue is believed to have healing powers for the faithful who came out in force to show their devotion. The bbcs Howard Johnson was there for us. It is believed that this statue was carved in mexico in the 16th century and then made its way to the philippine capital where by the late 17005 philippine capital where by the late 1700s of it was housed in the capital. Today, millions of devotees flocked to the area around the church to watch the annual event where the statue was carried through the streets on a cart, a wheeled ca rt the streets on a cart, a wheeled cart pulled by devoted his using ropes. I was watching a being pulled through the streets and as it approached the crowd started whooping and cheering and shouting viva black nazarene i saw people hammering on top of the statue, trying to wipe a cloth or touch the head or the foot of christ in the hope that it would transfer some believed miraculous powers. I spoke to devotees who told me they had been there since one in the morning. One person told me he had been there for the last ten years hoping that by seeing the statue it would bring good fortune to his family. There are health and safety issues every year with the transfer of black nazarene. Busier authorities said there looked at the root to make sure there were no bottlenecks that could create crashing. They also looked at the bridges and stress tested them along the route to make sure that they could hold the devotees. In a small section i saw i saw at least five people being carried away. There was a very hot day and people were dehydrated. At the same time i saw a heavy army, police and red cross presence on