in moscow welcome to the program people in russia are being asked to wrap their brains and come up with the official mascot for the two thousand and fourteen winter olympics and paralympics in sochi the symbol will be chosen the national competition that's about to get underway correspondent sean thomas can tell us more now short how is the contest being laid out. well it's certainly an unprecedented event it's the first time in olympic history that such an event has been open to so many and what i mean by that is the competition is open to any russian citizen living permanently within the country of russia and so anyone can join it's also going to be voted on in chosen by s.m.s. text voting by anyone in the country so it's the first time that the mascot will be designed by someone just any random person in the country as well as chosen by the general public it's also significant in terms of the fact that this mass this mascot will be the face of the olympics in two thousand and fourteen down in sochi

so the race is on it to find that next person now also in terms of how many people can enter anyone can enter in terms if they are a russian citizen and how many times can they enter pretty much as many times as they want so it begs the question if you look back in history to the one nine hundred eighty olympics there was me show the bear but now we have the winter olympics and so there are many people who are speculating whether or not another cute little furry creature to russia a fictional character from russia will be the next olympic mascot twenty fourteen yes now we see these down the years what is so significant for such sporting events you think. well it's significant for many reasons number one because it brings a general unity face to the olympics it's a character that people can identify with also there's a possibility of generating revenue in terms of the mascots their collectors pay.

their their their face that people can identify with you can have toys that are involved with it but generally it's a character that the entire country can rally around that everybody can get behind also it kind of brings up that olympic fever traditionally the mascot is announced three years actually presented three years before the sochi olympics so the winner of this competition will be presented in february of two thousand and eleven just three years before the sochi olympics begin. great stuff thank you. thank you for that. still to come on r t the day to swap summer for school rooms. the first day of school and. have details coming up. barack obama has made a televised address to americans marking official end of combat operations in iraq

he said the war is now a closed chapter and praised the u.s. military for helping to give iraq back to its people. forces have left iraq fifty thousand u.s. troops remain there to train local forces in his speech obama reiterated his pledge for full pull out in a year's time he also said resources will now be diverted to afghanistan for intensified operations against al qaeda leaders. withdrawal will follow to in due course the president then turn to america's ailing economy saying restoring it is the country's most urgent task when i listen when a director of the council for national interest since its financial problems which where americans the most. i suspect we're going to see that you're producing divisions that you see. even for unity in his speech. richie's. least. yes so he sort of hit those notes the way you're supposed to do

with the press and i do think that the majority of people in this country dislike the kind of partisan bickering that we continue to see i think that part of the speech will go across. so i think they'll be mixed reactions i think the public and we'll see it a certain way and democrats will see it another way and meanwhile the number of troops sent to afghanistan increase the did of course go on to talking about the economy i think you want to switch it to that because of course that's what many americans are concerned about their so many people that have lost jobs here that have lost homes so the economy and its direct result from the war is a major factor here and i think he tried to discuss that and move in that direction and tried to give people the impression that something positive would be going with happening on that sphere again i think you'll find that democrats supporting him and the republicans that's one of the roles of the president is to be a leader to make people feel confident that there's some that their nation is in

good hands one of the important rules is to inspire people to certain actions if it isn't sometimes of compassion so i think that was an element of his speech that he was trying to assume that important position and he may have six i think you covered we succeeded with many people but i don't think he did succeed with everyone will be my guess well meanwhile iraq remains in political deadlock after an inconclusive election in march while insurgency continues to plague the country in the past week dozens of civilians died in a wave of terror attacks by dad based journalist neil rosen who has chronicled the wall says america's declared victory comes at a high price for iraqi people. they didn't get rid of saddam hussein at the cost of hundreds of thousands of lives of iraqis millions of displaced tens of thousands of iraqis who were languished in american prisons years of their lives were lost york is destroyed shattered dirty desperate people of very poor living amidst

trash during hours of checkpoints and desperately trying to obtain electricity so yes there are some freedoms. that exist now that didn't exist before but there's also the iraqis say a democracy of death and random bombings in the freedom to down the street so there's no way to say whether it was worth it and what strikes me every day that i'm here is not a family i meet that hasn't had their men murdered kidnapped beheaded defend these displaced not a family you meet hasn't been touched by the occupation the violence that came with it so while the american administration is celebrating its victory i think we should never forget the high cost of iraqis paid for this american victory. artie's military analyst says the shift of attention from iraq to afghanistan won't work until the u.s. the conflicting agendas of its agencies that. while the white house puts

its spin on the rebranding of the u.s. combat forces in iraq the real drama regarding the u.s. policy is slowly unfolding in afghanistan it was richard holbrooke one year ago that the united states has to abandon any efforts to eradicate him poppy fields in afghanistan what is really striking just recently the same approach has been replicated regarding the fight against corruption the main logic among the u.s. decision makers who are trying to sabotage the general petraeus efforts in afghanistan is based on a false assumption that if you push too hard against the drug farmers or against the evident politicians they will be driven into the hands of the taliban nowadays the us foreign policy in afghanistan is completely torn apart by the turf battles

between the different american agencies on the one side the cia provides the political cover for its corrupted and drug infested assets on the other side they d. a and b. i doing the best trying to overcome the resistance from the afghan president also provides political cover and protection for he's warlords for his corrupted drug lords and cronies that's why the us president doesn't have the luxury to wait till december for the us afghan policy review. commemorations to succeed since the best school siege will get underway to on wednesday russia's republic of north a sense you know more than three hundred died in the massacre that by chechen militants who became the focus of russia's terrorism crackdown. is in north the setia in the town with the poem by the tragedy. it's a very sad day in this land today six years since the city's school number one

became the scene of a truly horrific terrorist attack wednesday is the first out of the three days of commemoration of events marking each day of the scene according to the unfortunate tradition people gather here at school number one bringing flowers on lighting up candles three hundred thirty balloons are going to be released into the air in accordance with the amount of victims of the attack and although six years have passed the events of those days and the emotions are still fresh in the people's memories since their days six years ago. have been best friends although the prefer not to talk about what united them the nightmare which still makes them afraid of the first day of the school year so glad a man was killed right in front of us children. his body lay there bleeding throughout the entire three days i think he used to work in the school both girls were going to the first grade but instead along with over

a thousand other people they were held at gunpoint for three days by a group of armed men rigged with explosives. we were given this much water on the first day and that was it. teachers all held in a terrifying ordeal which shocked the world several people were killed straight away many were forced to drink their own urine this place speaks for itself what's left of the school's gymnasium where most of the hostages were kept during the three day long nightmare denied food and water with the pictures of the victims on the walls and the hundreds of the launch of signs this room is still filled with grief and sorrow on the third day of the siege a random shot is thought to have a lot of the terrorists explosions ring out and the shooting began special forces entered the building prepared to leave their wives to see the children most of the terrorists were eliminated but by that time over three hundred innocent lives have

been lost. dever son and niece were killed in the attack she now has the mothers of comedian organization founded to ensure the memory of the tragedy is never for a garden with this site of the horror now a memorial but. lose it in this school changes people and their views on life they start looking at it from a different perspective. cherish. the attack brought a huge international reaction with sympathy and help offered from around the world many of the survivors went through in other parts of russia and in europe but despite the brave battle for cover you for those whose lives changed forever that day it will be a long time before the first of september will once again be a celebration of the new school year echoing the children's laughter in this town you got going off our d. . line here and in the next hour you can watch our special in-depth report on

the best known school siege. there conduced childhood was overshadowed by this tragedy. these two feel the fear they faced. and remember every second of the slightness. it will remain in their memories and hearts forever. the town and using soldiers. found innocent victims. of little angels one dog she. took every month we give you the future we help you understand how to get there and what to bring the best in science and technology from across russia and around the world.

join us for technology update on r g. the dramatic example of the firmness of. courage. they managed not only to stay alive. but to keep their faces and souls in inhuman circumstances. nine hundred danes in besieged linen ran through the eyes of the survivors. check out some other news making headlines around the world the militant wing of hamas says it was behind the killing of four israelis in the west bank to the credit of the two men and two women died when their car was fired on by

a gunman there the city of hebron it happened on the eve of fresh peace talks taking place in washington israeli and palestinian the. ship cannot demonstrate things on the ground twenty thousand people dancing to the streets to celebrate. the owners of the chilean mine which collapsed trapping thirty three workers of asked for forgiveness at the hearing in front of lawmakers the miners have been stuck a seven hundred meters underground since the beginning drilling is underway to try to get them out but that could take up to four months to complete nasa specialists including a doctor nutritionist and psychologist heading to the site. friends of thousands of children in pakistan are bearing the brunt of waterborne diseases that are spreading due to severe flooding in the country officials say they were affected by the rise of cases of malaria from starting. over from two thousand present with the risk of infection disease the worst ever flooding in the country has claimed

sixteen lives with seventeen movies. more than six thousand indonesian villages have returned to their homes on the slopes of mount cane and that's despite warnings that putting their lives at risk after a surprise eruption at the weekend which forced thirty thousand residents to be evacuated to safety. for four hundred years and officials admit they were monitoring its behavior. millions of russian students are returning to school after three months summer holiday they're getting back down to work with mixed feelings of enthusiasm and trepidation officials in moscow are piloting a scheme integrating disabled students into mainstream schools stacy patients is that one of them in the most scary where you are stacey how the students enjoying being back in the classroom if a tool. hello to you carry what they haven't started

a class just yet you mention the mixed feelings that they had i saw some kids walking by their little nervous they're excited to the friends they had seen all summer but definitely a little nervous to hit the books but what's going on right now is a ceremony be able to see a little bit of it behind me there was music playing earlier but now they're down a bit and what they're just talking and the kids are greeting their new teachers with flowers so it's a special time and there are new faces among the crowd as moscow officially introduces its inclusive education which brings its able to students and non-disabled students together officially now there have been some schools like the one by. me but i've been doing this for a while the school's actually been integrating students for about six years but moscow is officially starting to do it overall and this is based off of a decision by the moscow city duma that passed a bill that said that there can be up to three church able students in

a classroom but those numbers cannot exist exceed ten percent of the overall student body as you mentioned disabled students there tell us a bit more about how this new program designed to integrate them is going to work. well if you take a look at russia and moscow it's pretty difficult for people who are part of this able community not only is it difficult to just get around in the streets but it's also difficult to just get integrated in the rest of society because there has been such a negative stigma with this program is meant to tackle that at an early age and at this school the kids don't just don't describe their students as disabled or non-disabled they're just regular students are not allowed to use those terms in the classroom so it's meant to to help able body students to think about disabled students as regular people and to treat them with tolerance and respect and acceptance and also gives this able bodied students

a chance to to experience something that all kids want to be a part of going to a regular classroom meeting friends playing having a teacher we talked to a family today and here's what they shared with us. your professional room i really want to go to school and i'm happy i can study now because so many schools refused to take me before just because i can. work of course and word to bond him they want him to be more social to be independent and to get the profession in the future. now that it wasn't possible to get all of the stools to start the. integrated lessons this year but two hundred schools in moscow take it apart and so students from far away outside of the mosque ostomy lips city limits are coming in with the opportunity to have this kind of an educational experience but by next year all schools should be up and ready with the special desk and

poised in order to have a more integrated classroom kerry all right great pictures and great stuff thank you very much indeed for that. stephanie will be hit with all the business needs to stay with us. i'm grateful for the full story we've got it's. the biggest issues get a human voice ceased to face with the news makers. hello

and welcome to the business but it's one of the out of my pre-teen has been visiting the city of net else to see the town and to talk of the country's biggest myna nodal snicko that's currently the subject of a battle for control of my it's too big a shareholders i don't sell chief like that of pasta unfathomed patani and the head of interrupts the two billion as each and twenty five percent of mineral scum want to buy the other out there to notice that the conflict was damaging the company and the solution was in need it but the government insists it will not force the issue as always known nicol continues to operate successfully. the dispute appears to boil down to a difference of opinion about how that us nickel should be run and who should benefit the company's chief executive father mr actual cost ski describes the problem as he sees it. the conflict is due to a difference in the interests one side wants a gradual development of the company to improve our mental and social conditions while the other one wants to take everything there isn't

a company and even i'm against taking the money out this may benefit shareholders right now but in the next years the company won't be able to develop its. roussel is adamant it will not sell up instead o. look better pascoe says he will try to get minority shareholders to agree to appoint independent professionals to the board but the chief executive of nickell left a little doubt as to which shareholder he was favoring as he referred to the twenty nine percent drop in the share price since the beginning of the year the company led by that of pasta. so your search since the beginning of the nickel has been the only company to increase its share price twenty three percent of us have a negative dynamic the leader among them is the person you just interviewed with a twenty nine percent decline the person who told us how to work how to control our company he's the leader among the losers now whatever he says we listen to through the prism of a person who did not succeed in managing

a company successfully we have the world always dividends fifty percent seventy eight percent is the world's average and everyone's happy here for some people fifty percent is not enough. let's turn now to be active markets asian stocks are high on wednesday pouncing back from the previous sessions losses arise in chinese manufacturing data has given us more clues to invest a sentiment better than expected g.d.p. growth in australia at the biggest supply of volume to china has also had a positive effect in the region. the russian markets finished tuesday fashion in the red but energy stocks have fallen into the close and telecom continued its winning streak from monday the only view chip gaining more than three and a half percent. russia's second largest oil producer has announced net income for the second quarter fell sixteen percent to two billion dollars that's just quite a strong rise in revenues the company says it was hit by taxes and costs which rise

faster than the price of crude oil separately the company says it does not intend to buy back the entire eleven point six percent of its shares from current owner conoco phillips speaking exclusively to business r.t. vice president need for dune explains why. if we think that the purchase of eight percent of. the tension on the market and. the company is interested in increasing its free flow. on the market. we're also looking at listing the asian markets in the future i think it's enough to ensure a future stable and reliable company before. foreign carmakers at the moscow international like to show have tipped to russia to drive themselves out of the economic downturn but experts warn success will come at the expense of domestic brands daniel reports. joint jazz shows off the models it hopes will

kickstart sales this year for the first time is presenting no cause only vans alter stats called its main cause a cyber one seat unit with january to june sales scraping one thousand amid reports so i was production line will be turned over to miss a these g.m. or told to cause the chairman of gases he's now banking on these because they're always my first focus is to make sure that big our sales are successful between now and the end of here told to get sell sales will be around seventy five thousand russia's largest automaker after vies is gearing up to make calls for renault and nissan top analyst gil in a second over told r.t. this marks the beginning of the end for the clunky lot of brand leading to a joint toyota plant making only full remodels mr jones betting on a spurt in its own russian sales we will go on our fiscal year which is end of

march up to one i'm not positive gal's which small as a double for the year before well increasing the market share so it's sort of just such a toss up for the first time last month for him cause in russia outsold domestics without radical redesign expert see the wheels coming off national produces russia will overtake germany if you're just coming as early as next year at the moment share that with foreign cars meaning the domestic brands something the end of the road is approaching an emotionally healthy. self and the business stephen f. but i'll be back with morphine next hour and you can always find more stories on our website at r.t. dot com slash business.

wealthy british scientists i. guess the time to cut back on. the. markets why not come to. find out what's really happening to the global economy with max cons or

for a no holds barred look at the global financial headlines tune into kinds a report on our. dramatic example of the firmness of. courage. an honor. they managed not only to stay alive. but to keep their faces and souls in inhuman circumstances. nine hundred days in besieged linen ran through the eyes of the survivor. more news today violence is once again flared up. these are the images cobol has

been seeing from the streets of canada. china operations are all day. says.

you know you're watching auti the headlines for you then pick competition the battle to create the best mascots for the two thousand and fourteen winter games in russia kicks off with a nationwide contest. to. russia remembers the deadly school massacre six years ago which left more than three hundred people most of them children. time to turn the page president obama congratulates his country and successfully put iraq's future back in the hands of its people seeking to ease americans worries over the ailing economy. and equal opportunities for all disabled peoples in russia over again to mainstream schools for the first time.