>> announcer: this is al jazeera. ♪ hello and a warm welcome to this al jazeera news hour with david foster and some of what we have coming up, in the next 60 minutes, a glimmer of hope for the syrian city of homs, six hours in a cease fire and is it likely to hold? executi plitive not deleted.

and putin and the most expensive games in history hours away. i'm in australia and why the berry industry here refers to their products as white gold. ♪ three years of fighting in syria finally a glimmer of hope for the besieged city of homs and the continued violence on what was once a major city is now a pile of rubble and has been referred to as leading the battle against bashar al-assad the capitol of the revolution and reduced to rubble with just a few people, maybe as many as

3,000 still in the city, trapped in many of the old parts, extremely dangerous of them to move around and we understand at the moment they are gathering, waiting for the first aid to come in. no sign of that yet. we have been told it probably won't happen even though the convoy has moved out of damascus until saturday. and homs has over a million people and battleground in the civil war and launching offensive on the city two years ago and tried to crush resistance and we go to the city of the southwest and bombarded for a month and left destroyed, the old city of homs and that is under tight siege from government troops for more than a year now. let's go live from beirut and lebanon and you have been in touch with people there and what is happening? >> we know the cease fire still

holds. however, the evacuation which should have started three hours ago hasn't started just yet. we understand from the governor of homs as well as the u.n. it's due to logistical and technical reasons. we know the u.n. convoy which is carrying the humanitarian aid has arrived in homs and know the u.n. teams who are ready to deliver the aid and carry out the evacuation are actually based outside the old city of homs in the neighborhood there. however, we do know that for logistical reasons there are delays and maybe the u.n. is trying to choose the best way, the best route to try to evacuate the civilians and we also know there is a heavy military and security presence there. we understand that the syrian government is also looking for armed rebels who may have fled the old city of homs during when

the cease fire began and they are looking for those people to make sure that the evacuation is safe. we understand that up to 200 people will be evacuated on friday. they include mainly women, children and men over the age of 55. the men, younger men, who are between the ages of 18 and up to 50 will have to come forward to the authorities and if they are wanted they have the option of laying down their arms to evacuate. so these are the procedures that are taking place now. however, the evacuation has not started just yet. >> how long is this cease fire likely to hold? i know that but what are the terms? >> well, we understand that the united nations brokered to this agreement between the syrian government and the rebels. so the government and the rebels didn't actually talk but there

has been an immense amount of pressure on both sides to actually implement the cease fire and it is delicate but still holds. the hope is if humanitarian team also be able to evacuate people first, up to 200 people and then start delivering aid inside the old city of homs, the remaining people who are not evacuated on friday to start delivering aid to them. so it is going to be a deg kit cease fire and it's also going to take some time. this is not something that is going to be completed and finished today. over the course of the next few days we understand from the governor of homs who we spoke to they will continue to evacuate small batches of civilians and delivering the aid so this is not something that is going to happen very quickly. it will take several days and it's organized in a certain way to only address the needs of a small number of people throughout the coming days. and we understand there are up

to 2500 civilians who are still stuck inside homs and they also include an additional 700 rebels. >> take another look and ask to put it up again and that is a picture of the u.n. convoy as we understand it, sort of moving out of damascus on the road to homs. and while you were reporting from lebanon, i know that you are in pretty close touch with those people who have been in homs all of this time, particular contacts of yours, what do they say under the conditions of which they have to live? >> they have been struggling, david, for over a year. they have been basically stuck and confined in the city of homs neighborhood. it's very dangerous there they say. sometimes they are not able to leave their homes because of the danger of sniper fire. they have not really received much aid recently, even basic

necessities such as flour, food, fuel to keep them warm. so these people are in the most p precarious civilians in syria and this would be a breakthrough if they managed to evacuate the civilians who want to leave and have not been able to flee in the last year or so and deliver aid inside the old city of homs which has been shelled a lot and the people there are just very vulnerable and desperate. >> reporter: thank you very much. united states is being forced to say embarrassing sorry after a senior diplomate was on tape lying to an opposition leader and swearing about the european union of a recording of a leaked phone conversation victoria newland made remarks discussing ukraine's future and strongly suspect russia leaked a private phone conversation and this is

what she had to say about the former boxing world champion turned opposition leader. >> so i don't think he should go in the government and i don't think it's necessary and doesn't have a good idea and he doesn't have the economic and governing experience. what he needs is klitch on the outside and talking to them four times a week. >> reporter: this is how she dismissed the diplomatic union. >> that would be great to glue this and have the u.n. glue it and [beep] the eu. >> reporter: we are live and there is the embarrassment factor of this undoubtedly and we understand that victoria may well be making a statement from kiev pretty soon. there is the diplomatic fall out of accusing russia of being behind this. >> absolutely right and we are

waiting for that press conference and victoria to start and will face tough questions about her comments about the european union and the accusations that russia may be behind this. i think the americans are going to have to struggle to explain exactly what they meant in this private phone conversation with the ukrainian ambassador but whether it was private or public i think the ukrainian people it doesn't really matter. what people are really wanting to know more about is the level of involvement with the americans that have been shaping the future of the country. this phone call was particularly revealing and showing the americans have preferences between sort of the key opposition figures that they prefer, for instance, yatsenyuk over "the boxer" turned politician vitali klitschko who

has to stay home and do more homework and opposition are relying on being cohesive at the time they try to maintain pressure on the ukraine president and many would prefer to see him stand down but knowing that the americans have their own choices about who should be in the future government and who should be the future prime minister it could cause frictions among the opposition group but at a very, very critical time. regarding the russian allegations, i don't think the russians will be rubbing their hands with glee over this but it does go to repeated russian allegations that the americans are meddling too much in ukraine's affairs. the suggestion is look if the americans have this attitude then the russians do also. the president of ukraine is off

to sochi and probably meeting with the president vladimir putin and see who they would like to lead the government. >> reporter: thank you for that and we will be live in sochi a little bit later in the program and we are if kiev. in egypt four policemen have been injured in two explosions in the cairo neighborhood giza and the blasts were set off on the giza and it's not clear if they were thrown by attackers and in canada they want the journalists free and one has joint canadian ship and 41 days since the government detained three of our staff and canada prime minister has remained silent on the case of the canadian, egypt ion and fahmy, and we report. >> reporter: john grayson is

comfortable and arrested in egypt last year and held 50 days and it was heavily publicized and it became a cause for celebrities and politicians a like. >> the fact that petitions were being signed in our case ben afflack and charlese and impressed by robert dinero. >> reporter: and the release of the canadian prime minister but harper has been silent on the case of can'ted yanukovich and egyptian journalist fahmy and greste and shami are in prison in egypt and he says he knows what is behind the different treatment. >> this is a case not involving a full canadian which we

editorial against. >> reporter: this was hosted by al jazeera to bring attention to the imprisonment and the harsh conditions they were living in. >> mohamed and my fellow canadian had to deal with appalling conditions and held in times and cells with no access to light, little food or water, cells infested with insected and forced to sleep on the floors without blankets or pillows. >> reporter: they are now being held in a cell together but the message from this group, it isn't enough. >> journalism is not terrorism. >> reporter: most canadians don't know about the story and why is why the network hosts events hoping the people will pressure the government to say something and hoping the average person will weigh in with this simple sign. these pictures are spreading on social media, the images of so many sending a powerful message from the powerless and not

politicians or celebrities but their message is clear, free the journalists, free speech. patty with al jazeera, toronto. >> reporter: south korea is urging north korea not to cancel reunions of separate rapted families. the president says the northern neighbor should not quote break the hearts of the families involved and they threatened to pull out of the deal if the south continues with join military drills with the united states but south korea is refusing so far to back down. >> translator: i'm glad that north korea accepted our proposal but a day after we reached an agreement they said they may reconsider because of the joint drills. north korea should not break the hearts of the separated families once again. it may seem like they recently launched a peace but especially at times like these we should say words are not important, taking them into action is.

until north korea gives of the nuclear power and becomes a responsible power of the city we should not lower or guard for a moment and we should keep steady and solid, if north korea provokes we must firmly punish them. >> reporter: well the joint south military exercises will start at the end of the month and 850 people from a u.s. battalion and are coming ashore on the port of buzan and our correspondent harry faucet is there. >> the u.s. has more boots on the ground on the korean peninsula including tanks and armored vehicles joining the 850 battalion and the regimend that arrived from texas. >> it's small but a front-line

combat unit and increasing a unit like mine of transporters would not have the same capabilities but adding this unit it adds fire power and maneuverability. >> reporter: this is a demonstration that south korea is getting value for the 850 million a year it pays the u.s. military and as an added deterrent to north korea. this deployment comes days before the schedule started annual combine exercises which means south korea and the united states and in the midst of complex negotiations of un and seoul of families separated by the korean war. earlier on friday a south korean motorcade crossed the border to check on the mountain resort where the reunions are due to be held in two weeks time. >> translator: the purpose of the visit is for preparations so south and north korean elderly people will not face discomfort. >> reporter: acquainted in principle just this week and

already north korea put it in doubt. warned on thursday that the south korean exercises must be cancelled, adding dialog and acts of war could not go hand in hand. last year the exercises coincided with a break down in years with north korea making repeated threats of nuclear war and seoul and washington have a new defense strategy with nuclear scenarios and plan to rehearse it in the coming week's exercises, harry faucet, south korea. >> reporter: australia's prime minister says government efforts to stop asylum seekers are working and talking after 34 undocumented migrants in a flimsy boat were reportedly returned to indonesia and six weeks since they reached australia and has not happened for six years. >> the important thing here for

both countries is to stop the boats. and i'm very pleased to note that today is the 50th day without an illegal boat arriving in australia. i think you better go back to 2008 before you have a period like that. the 50th day without an illegal boat. so these policies are working and they are tough policies but they are working. >> reporter: coming up, on the news hour we will meet the person guilty of the largest ever insider trading scheme and a drug for alzheimer's disease helped him earn $275 million. and rubber farmers talk about the lack of investment in industry and back the opposition and we will have a full report on that and we are live in sochi where the action is underway and the opening ceremony and the winter olympics has even

started. ♪ in bosnia antigovernment demonstrations over unemployment have spread. up to 45 people were injured on thursday during the largest protest in tusla and treated in the hospital for injuries and several arrests and tear gas was fired in the crowd. protesters are workers who were laid off when state-owned companies were privatized and then collapsed and the unemployment rate is the high nest the balcans. in yemen they are protesting against a gas deal between french and the company and it was led by nobel peace prize winner in the capitol and they accuse the government of selling liquid gas well below market prices. some places in thailand will go back to the polls at the end of the month and it was disrupted by antigovernment protesters forcing polling stations to

close in some parts of bangkok in the south and this report is here. >> reporter: the south of thailand is left behind by the rest of the country and it fuels resentment even on low-tech rubber farms and they joined antiprotest angry about financial support and would rather have the opposition in power. >> translator: they have the ability to make deals in foreign markets and push the price higher, therefore the farmers will have a better life. >> reporter: a state of emergency exists in the three southern most provinces leaving the army in charge and trying unsuccessfully to put down armed muslim groups who want to break away from thailand which is mainly buddhist and almost 6,000 people have been killed since 2004. traditionally most people in southern thailand have supported the largest opposition party the democrats which is why they were able to disrupt the election so

easily and vowing to do it again. but there is some support for the government partly because it's paid compensation for incidents like this. more than 80 people were killed ten years ago when police and soldiers piled muslim protesters and put them in trucks and sophisticated them and the government for the time is back in power and for some people whose 19-year-old son was killed their actions now are enough to win her support. >> translator: this government give us a lot of support. they give us compensation and help in other areas as well like with student education fees. >> reporter: many parts of the south are now bracing for elections in the prospect of further disruptions and this mediator works with separatists and community groups and didn't want to be identified. he says fighting for independence, not against democracy and any further

complications with the voting could cause more violence. >> translator: in my opinion it might cause more problems because we have been living in a democracy and want to see the system go ahead. >> reporter: a lot of people from the south have traveled north to the capitol bangkok to join a protest movement that is trying to remove the government. many of those left behind in the movements heart land won't change too as long as it brings opportunities and peace and wayne with al jazeera. >> reporter: also in thailand hundreds of farmers have been on the streets demanding payment for rice which they sold to the government and say the payments are several months over due. a state-run rice subsidy program fell through and the government failed to sell the grain to overseas customers. the opening ceremony of the most expensive olympic games in history just a few hours away and spent $50 billion to stage the winter games in sochi.

there is a massive security clamp down and athletes assured safety despite the threat of attacks and paul brennan has the latest from the black sea resort of sochi. ♪ after 65,000 kilometers the journey of the olympic flame is nearly complete and in the streets the torch relay is drawing closer to the olympic stadium and the excitement has been noticeably growing and staging the games is a matter of national honor for russia and listening to the people here the words being used over and over again is pride. >> translator: i'm very glad, very emotional, there are so many people here. >> translator: iel -- i am proud for my country. >> reporter: this flame will unite the country and more united and happy. >> reporter: you see the excitement that comes with the torch passing through the streets of sochi a few hours

before the opening ceremony but after the olympics have passed what then? ioc president on friday talked about a successful olympics emphasizing again the unifying power of sport. >> it's exciting and i'm really longing for the second when the olympic flame shines over the olympic stadium and i'm sure so are the athletes and i'm sure it will be an exciting show. >> reporter: these games have permanently altered this coastal resort and not always for the better. vladimir used to fish in this stream when he was a boy and now the water is lifeless and polluted by the apartment blocks further up the hill. >> translator: the athletes and their officials at the olympic park are celebrating today but the problems for sochi are still here, and after the olympics it's the citizens of sochi who have to cope with those problems and issues and economy and social issues, all those problems appeared because of the

olympics. >> reporter: there will be a temporary reprieve and the sport will take presence over the politics but previous olympics have been judged by their legacy and the legacy of the sochi games remains a huge question mark. paul brennan, al jazeera, sochi. >> the sky is blue and the sun is shining, there is one thing as we introduce richard, one thing that is vital for the winter games have they got it? >> there is a possibility and by the time we get to tuesday we might see some and it's an interesting place, sochi because it's a humid and sub tropical, sochi. but temperature wise, they really do and have done it at sea level and get the sunshine and in february and 100 plus sunshine and temperatures of around 10 degrees. the big thing of course is sochi is a 65 meters or so, the games themselves are up at a high level, base elevation is 645

meters. by the top station and 2300 meters and behind me you see it's further south and the three valley resorts. the fact they are quite high is obviously in their favor. but it is quite dry at this time, 107 plus hours of sunshine and you see on the satellite there is not much happening there and looks like it's fine and 30 at sea level and thankfully temperatures decrease 1 degree celsius going up and should be sub 0 at the ski resort so fine weather over the next couple of days and things looking relatively quiet which is contrast of western europe and i come from that part of the world and it's for weather forecasting and we have not seen such a spell of weather with such deep depressing and racing in for the last 40-50 years. truly exceptional stuff. this is a vicious low we have going across the northern france

and through and into the baltic states at the moment. there is worst to come because this area is about 943 millie bite and blasting across the uk and we have mountain seas at the moment and will only get worse in the coming days, david. >> reporter: unrest in kenya is having a disaster on the tourist industry and youth at a mosque in mombassa and catherine reports. >> it's the lifeline on kenya's coast and the season is on the fourth month. but in the cooler evening breeze the beaches are uncharacteristically empty and worried there have been frequent grenade attacks in the area and fights are common and is a malaysia group is getting

fighters here and tourists will stay away and her business has been getting worse since 2007. >> translator: we are effected and used to be 300 of us here and now we are only 5. >> reporter: everyone who lives here depends on tourism and yet to recover from the 2008 and 2013 election balance and any additional strain will have serious consequences. there are people in 2005 during the good times and investing in the business and watching closely the events unfolding in her town. >> in 2005 it was more afraid about this. today we are more afraid about terrorists, bomb, bomb blasts. >> reporter: hotels on the beach have been shut since 2007. >> to bring down the economy of this country causing us the only

way we think of industry is to go head on. >> reporter: traditional elders say young people in the coast feel effected and makes them an easy target for extremist groups. >> translator: the government should focus on uniting here and give them projects and even small projects will make them develop. ♪ in the meantime she tries in her own way to show tourist and the coast is still safe but she says as things get worse even she might have to live, al jazeera mombassa. >> reporter: still to come, moving mountains and beams in argentina and are they refusing to sell their crops. and we are in australia and why the dairy industry here refer to this as white gold.

>> reporter: in sport we hear from the boxing legend saying he still has a future in the boxing ring.

welcome to the news hour with david foster and the top stories say government leaders will attend the second round of peace talks in geneva and syria's deputy foreign minister say government leaders will be there as a cease fire hazard begun in the besieged city of homs designed to let aid in and some civilians out. the united states has been

forced to apologize after a diplomate aligned an opposition leader in ukraine and swore about the european union and suspect russia of leaking a private phone call made by victim yeah newton. the most expensive olympic games in history and spent more than $50 billion to stage the winter games in sochi and athletes are being assured of safety despite threats of attacks. a former u.s. hedge fund manager has been found guilty of involvement in one of the country's biggest ever insider trading schemes and prosecutors says matthew misused secrets from clinical trials of a new alzheimer's drug to help his company earn more than a quarter of a billion dollars and an appeal is planned against the 20-year prison sentence and we report from new york. >> matthew's work as a portfolio

manager in 2008 earned him a $9 million bonus. and now the prison sentence of up to 20 years. he worked for the investment company, sac capitol advisors, a firm which was once the envy of the finance industry. >> the trial gives us insight how sac operated. he stayed very close to whatever sources he could find that could give him an edge on information of what was going on. >> reporter: the trial revealed that he called his boss sac founder steven coen a day after a doctor passed on confidential information about a new alzheimer's drug that produced disappointing results. shortly after that call sac began selling off $700 million worth of shares in wyatt, the two pharmaceutical companies involved in the test and when results were made public the prices plummeted but sac made

millions and steven coen faces charges for failing to supervise him and others guilty of insider trading. he has an unnamed presence throughout the month-long trial in manhattan except when one person testified that said it was coen that investigators were really after and coen is not criminally charged but under investigation by the f.b.i. >> they want to see these guys go to prison as opposed to get fined or barred from the industry. and so do i think the public is appeased? no. is it a step in that direction? probably. >> we will continue to pursue insider trading investigations. >> reporter: in november federal prosecutors announced sac plead guilty to insider trading charges and agreed to pay $1.2 billion fine. the firm can no longer invest money for outside clients but unlike martoma steven coen is a

freen extremely wealthy man, al jazeera, new york. >> reporter: found in mexico and police discovered 20 bodies in the western state and 19 people are being questioned. riot police in brazil talk about protesters complaining about high train fares and took over rio central train station before the weekend riot and several people were injured and one of them a cameraman. argentina has major economic problems and inflation soaring and the value of the peso has nose-dived and because of that some farmers are hoarding their crops as we report from buenos ares. >> they are a big income and soy is the latest bone of contention

and in 12 months the value of the currency dropped 63% with a large fall in late january. so despite government claims that the currency has finally stabilized some soy producers are hoarding some of last year's harvest hoping for a better price depreviousing the government of badly needed currency revenue. >> what the producers are selling is they will do it when they see signs of stability and talking between 3 1/2 and $4 billion worth of grain. >> reporter: that wouldn't be so much if it weren't for the fact that argentina reserves are running dangerously low and inflation by most estimates is 30% and rising. >> translator: basically too much money has been injected into the economy to finance public sector spending and started a huge fiscal deficit and generating inflation. >> reporter: with the long history of economic booms and busts they worry they could be

facing another crisis like the one that forced their country to declare the world east largest debt default but it's different from 2001 when people were literally trying to break down the doors of the bank you see behind me. back then the country was bankrupt. people lost all their savings. poverty reached nearly 50% and exports were nil. not nearly as acute today's problems are perhaps more like the late 1980s when hyper inflation reached nearly 12000% but the situation then was also different, argentina had come out of a war and military dictatorship and the country heavily in death and political instability was acute and none of that is true at the moment. yet as an old previous crisis the government is spending beyond its means. far from belt tightening measures the president announced

this week she is increasing pensions and school subsidies as she attacked the agricultural and business sector and instead of the foreign currency and other maneuvers they need to bet and reinvest in the country because the country put faith in them. appeals are unlikely to fix the current monetary woes and asking if another of their cyclic crisis is enevenable no matter how abundant the crop. >> reporter: argentina is interconnected and the diary in the street, milk used to come from local cows and now it's shipped thousands of kilometers and it accounts for 30% of global trade and eu, 31% and

followed by the united states and australia and it has half the yield of 9 liters and most in asia with japan and china forming the largest markets. what am i getting to? we will find out what is driving demand in china in a moment but we have a special series with andrew thomas in australia. >> the tankers roll in every few minutes. inside each are 20,000 liters of milk and put in huge tanks and bacteria added and left for 12 hours to ferment and also talking about cream cheese and it's used in other foods like ice cream and the smaller packs go to the individual tubs head for super market shelves. this is the main production facility. it's currently around 20,000

metrics per year and we plan to get around 30,000-38,000 metrics per year. >> reporter: , in fact, this company expects it will achieve four fold growth in ten years. this machine has 12-2 kilogram blocks a minute and operates 19 hours a day. in a year almost 3 million packs along this line and virtually all of them heading for north and southeast asia. chinese demand in particular has driven the company's growth and two years ago made it an attractive target for a bigger diary company, the take over was part of a trend and the economy scale in production and the growing asian market mean the big players are in an enviable position. >> translator: white gold is a good name and can bring it to any part of the world and as the

affluence grows so does the different products and at the forefront of demand are diary products. >> reporter: 7% share of the world's diary trait and is significant but dwarfed by new zeela zeeland. and that explains why safety scare earlier this year involving new zeeland's biggest producer of baby milk was a threat and dairy products are considered white gold if they are as pure as the color suggests. lots of these, cows that mean australia and new zeeland are well placed for the diary industry and king island has more cows than people and the same is true for the whole of new zeeland and no doubt possibility for white gold as you saw described in that report

are huge for these two countries. after the tour on the man land on the king island diary here on king island i heard the same message again and again. three things are key, brand, ability to produce efficiently and in volume and the ease of export. that third one is crucial. in 2008 new zeeland signed a free trade agreement with china and since then products to china has increased 6 fold and it has been modest and australia is pushing for a similar free trade agreement because cause craig reports it's china where most of the future growth of the diary industry is expected to come from. >> milk, bull tear and yogurt, staples of almost every breakfast in the west and now increasing in the east. chinese tastes are changing and so it seems that chie these people's tolerance for lactose, a new generation is being brought up on dairy products and

the demand is now soaring. >> translator: more people are starting to pay attention to eating healthy and we see daily consumption of dairy products rising. >> reporter: milk and cheese are considered luxury and premium products reserved for baby and elderly and wealthy and spends 7 billion annually on imported milk and it's set to rise as consumers are willing to pay more from safe products from developed markets where countries like australia are telling in with a abundance of producers to fill the needs. >> translator: it's rising constantly, the demand keeps going up, when it comes to buyer milk most customers will consider australian products as the first choice. >> reporter: new zeeland has a jump on experts to china helped largely by the tree trade

agreement but the resent botulism scare tarnished the image after the state media here declared the 100% pure campaign a festering sore. and they want to grow a larger china market if australia is successful in the free trade agreement with china in the coming months, craig with al jazeera beijing. >> reporter: still to come on the news hour, we hear from the woman who inspired the oscar film philamena and doesn't blame them for her son. >> reporter: you have heard about corruption and human right abuses but now it's time for the sport and i'm talking about the winter olympics in sochi.

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♪ just getting a little extra news out of syria. you may remember throughout this program we have been reporting on a cease fire in homs, the city of about a million people which has been under siege for a number of years and state tv is now saying the evacuation of civilians, it will be a number of civilians, not the 2000 which are believed to be left there but a certain number of women and children and people over a certain age they say it has begun. this we understand is a picture of the u.n. convoy which is

being allowed in, on its way from damascus to homs a journey of 100 kilometers and the syrian state television says the evacuation of those besieged civilians has started. more on that later and now the sport. >> thank you, so much, david. the most expensive winter olympics in history will officially get underway in russia in a few hours time and the opening ceremony of the $50 billion games coming up, on friday and high ranking officials and diplomates and close to 3,000 athletes are on russia black sea coast and details of the opening ceremony are closely guarded and briefly distract the world about security risks and human rights concerns. >> it's exciting and i'm really longing for the second when the olympic flame shines over the

olympic stadium and i'm sure so do the athletes and i'm sure it will be an exciting show. >> i expect a wonderful competition in the new world of winter sport because it's a new sport that has just been created, not only for today but for the next generation. >> reporter: and our reporter rory is there for al jazeera and live for us in sochi. this is the costly game in olympic history and does sochi look ready for you? >> well, i think if you have been looking through your twitter feed over the last week or so and reading news blogs and websites you might well have seen lots of photos being posted by foreign journalists who are arrived in sochi to find their hotels for a large part not ready and dogs in rooms and

brown water coming out of the taps and no wi-fi in some hotel rooms without beds so that is from the foreign press pack but it's not about the foreign press pack and not about foreign correspondents like me and my colleagues and it's about the athletes and the fans and for the large part it seems like the facilities are all highly spec and ready to go and i have not heard too much griping from any of the actual visitors who have come here to watch the sport. so once the games get underway i think the moaning from the phoning pack will be forgiven or forgotten and we can actually just get on with the sport. >> what can you tell us about the opening ceremony that is coming up? >> well, there are questions there. first of all, who is going to be there, who is going to be attending because of course we know there are some high-profile western leaders who will be here

and barack obama and merkel and people like ping the chinese leader and viktor yanukovych and banki moon from the u.n. the other big question is who is going to be lighting the flame and i will be diving head first into the realm of speculation because that of course is a big secret. one of the rumors that has been doing the rounds is that alena might be doing it. she is a former gymnast who is rumored to be vladimir putin's girlfriend or new wife and the rumor she will light the flame has been swached by the kremlin and they say absolutely night. a rumor that has slightly more credibility is it might be the russian group tattoo. i don't remember if you remember them. but 2002, 2003 they had a global

hit with a fairly racy pop video with to girls kissing in it, dressed in school uniforms. of course if they light the flame that is going to be very interesting. but in light of all the stuff about russia's antigay propaganda law but one thing we are fairly sure of it's not pussy riot here lighting the flame. >> i will chime in if tattoo turns up and we will have sport in and first metals will be handed out on saturday and what can we look forward to there? >> well, there are five metal events taking place on saturday. i'll go through some of those. it is slope-style snow boarding and cross country women's and free style women mogul and 5,000 meter skating and men's

biathalon-10 kilometer sport and the snow boarding will get most attention mainly because of the u.s. star shaun white who pulled out of the event on wednesday and has a wrist injury but saying he didn't think the actual course was safe enough. but this is just the beginning. over the course of this whole games there are going to be some 300 metals, nearly 300 metals up for contention. >> reporter: hotly in pursuit of tattoo in sochi and we will speak for you later on and thanks for now. action underway and the united states, canada and norway and the metals will not be decided until saturday and this is underway and the team figure stating and plachenko is in second place after the short program. this is the 31-year-old 4th olympic and won a gold and silver in salt lake city and

vancouver. and lindsey vonn, the 2010 down hill champion has been struggling with a serious knee injury and pulled out of the games last month, the u.s. team hoping they can still win metals in her absence. >> we definitely miss lindsey, she is a big presence on our team and always the one to beat so you don't really feel she is not here, but i think also it just leaves a lot of opportunity for everyone else. >> reporter: and u.s. secretary of state john kerry a big hockey fan was on the ice for a certain moneyel puck drop of a game between the capitols and the winnipeg jets and beside him was carlson and wheeler and going to sochi for the u.s. team aiming for a first goal since 1980 and canada on the defending olympic champions. new zeeland crickets are in a good position and scoring 224

and all out for 503 in reply india and in trouble on 130 for 4. and he claims his fighting are well and truly in place and the 35-year-old is promoting the april rematch for the america's typically bradley and now a politician in the philippines and world champion and he lost the welter weight champion when the pair first met in 2012. >> pressure for me because i have to prove i can still fight and i still have the style of the old and i prove it and i'm happy with my performance in the last fight and this time around i'm excited. >> i'm happy to clear the dark cloud i have looming over my head when i walk down the street and mention it, saying he did

not beat him, i'm sick of that, man, i really am. >> reporter: much more sport aren aren't -- and the latest at al jazeera.com/sport. more from me later. >> plenty more from sochi and thank you very much indeed. the woman who inspired the oscra film philamena says she doesn't blame the government and the catholic church for such practices and claudia caught up with her in rome. >> this is the moment that she thought would never happen. on wednesday, pope francis met the woman's whose story became an award winning movie that shocked catholics worldwide and tells of a search for her son, given up by adoption by irish anyone's in 1955 when she was an unmarried teenage mother.

on thursday she was in rome to promote the project, a campaign which calls on the irish government and the vatican to open up records on forced adoptions. >> i could not believe i got to meet the pope. and meeting him after all the years of feeling such unforgiveness within myself that happened all them years ago, just the sense of relief that over the gift had vanished from me and meeting the pope was what an honor it has been for me. i know he is going to do something about the situation and which is such relief for me as well and for me and lots of other people and lots of other mothers that were like me in the past, you know. >> reporter: and her son was one of thousands of children believed to have been given up for adoption by irish nuns and

he showed the film to the pope's private secretary. >> they loved it and visibly moved and laughed at a lot of humor in the film and congratulated me afterwards and said this is a very good film and a good message in this film. and there was kinds of a hearty, a warm feeling and positive feeling because i think perhaps there was nervousness but when the film was over they were delighted. >> reporter: the film was not so well received in other vatican circles where it was seen as an attack on the catholic church. the vatican did not comment on the meeting between pope francis and her and people hope the success of the film will help thousands of other mothers to find the children who were given up by adoption by irish nuns in the past and i'm in al jazeera, rome. >> reporter: that's it for me and the news hour team, thanks for watching. we will see you later, good-bye. ♪

♪ let the games be again, in just a few hours the opening ceremony kicks off in sochi, russia as athletes get ready to take part in the games. embarrassing for a top diplomate and what she said and she is apologizing and who they are blaming for secretly recording her phone conversations. the rough winter has many states dealing with a big road salt shortage and they say it's not a bad thing for