still have an opportunity to win olympic gold the chance to design the official mascots for the two thousand and fourteen winter games in sochi is being a thrown open across the country in a contest that's just got underway sean thomas is outside the games media center in moscow. it's the first time in olympic history that this competition has been open to the public really and it's also open to so many in fact any russian living in russia is eligible for this competition and it's also the first time that such a competition will be chosen by the public as well in fact be eligible participants can choose their designs s.m.s. text message and the winner will be announced in february just three years to the date that the olympics in sochi kick off now there have been some one official mascots that have already started to gain some popularity in fact the city of sochi back in march announced a design of a dolphin on skis and that's what that's one fan favorite also

a national hero of the much beloved. who is also already the official mascot of with the russian national team is also a possibility that is come up and popped up as an unofficial mascot another unofficial mascot as well a couple others have been an octopus in a mammoth but these are just some of the designs officially back in one nine hundred seventy two the first olympic mascot came into existence in the ready for the seventy third olympic games in munich since then there have been a cartoon characters and animals that represent the country and the feel of the nation and so the hope is to get the entire country rallied around in this competition to get as many participants as possible so we can have a cute and lovable creature for the sochi olympics in two thousand and fourteen traditionally the mascot has become a symbol of the country in fact many people remember back in one nine hundred eighty me show the bear that was a beloved symbol of the olympic games here in moscow so this is this is more than

just a design competition it's a design it's a competition that will rally the spirit of the country and it will create a symbol that will become the face of the olympics that people can get behind and support and bring russia on to be international stage but also there's a monetary side to. as well because of course the mascot with it comes merchandise and pins in different tradeable and collectible items and so the hope is that this mascot will bring some financial revenue to the country as well so all people are looking forward to february when they're going to announce in two thousand and eleven what this mascot will be. sean told us that now still to come on r.t. the datasource summer school. the first day of school in moscow brings i think greater diversity i have details coming up. president barack obama has made a televised address to americans marking the 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 although combat soldiers have

left over fifty thousand u.s. troops remain there to train the forces in a speech obama read to rate of his pledge for food every time the surge will free up money to aid economic recovery losses will also be diverted to afghanistan will be returns of cooperation is against al qaida but obama added that with one of the two course journalist already be changing the name of the mission to help iraqis in their everyday struggle. there is some sort of political system in iraq it's flawed it's dysfunctional to a great degree because of what the u.s. itself brought into the country in two thousand and three however there was an election that sixty percent of the electorate went out and voted actually sixty six percent so the fact the iraqi people want to out and actually gave their voice and didn't boycott the election said that they believe in one way or the other and the system it's flawed the fact that we don't have a government five months after the elections is

a huge problem and it just shows you the fact that their mother straight and continues to talk about this change in mission regardless of what's actually happening on the ground in iraq is very worrying there's two completely separate timelines two completely different discourses that people are having in baghdad today no one actually cares about the fact that the operation is changing name from operation iraqi freedom to operation new dawn it means nothing to them what they care about this is there is no government on the ground they're worried about what's happening in the streets violence is escalating assassinations are escalating and basic services are still lacking seven and half years later. and antiwar activist i think ok so is the shift of attention from iraq to afghanistan is just another way for the top players in washington to profit financially. when you go into the individual characters that are responsible for the invasion of iraq the imperial motivation it's very important to make sure that we're not ascribing this to you know a conspiracy of a handful of men but really a conspiracy of factors that are much more systemic that that in that they continue

to this day and will continue under this continued occupation of fifty something thousand troops and indefinitely under our influence in iraq the reason we're able to draw down in iraq is because the powers that be in america that have always sought to have more war that have always sought to concentrate more power that it always benefited from the increased borrowing and spending that comes with war and the inflation that comes with war will always seek to convince the american people that these this military adventurism is in our best interest and now they found a better scam with afghanistan having a like that president obama saying that afghanistan is the good war we're going to go over there and that's where the fight on terror is never mind that osama bin ladin it is them flee given up on now that's the underlying dynamic and i think that's what's missing and there are a lot of other dynamics there are always things that we can't control when we go abroad. minute on this says the sift of attention from iraq to afghanistan will

work until the us sorts out the conflicts in agendas of its agencies that. while the white house puts its spin on the rebranding hold the u.s. combat forces in iraq the real drama regarding the us 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 tomorrow six years since the best school siege began in russia's republic of north a set yet more than three hundred died in the massacre by chechen militants who became the focus of russia's terrorism crackdown. in office in north setia in the town apart by the tragedy. more people are gathering at beslan school number one

the scene of a truly horrific attack when over thirty heavily armed terrorists held over a thousand people children hostage at a school right on the first day of the school year exactly six years ago people are coming in bringing flowers and candles there visiting the school's gymnasium where most of the hostages were kept and it's been turned into a memorial capped almost exactly the same as it was right after the terrorist attack wednesday is the first out of the three days of commemoration of violence that's how long the siege lasted and various activities are planned both. and in other parts of the republic of the north of syria. including the release of three hundred thirty balloons into the air in accordance with the amount of the victims of this attack although six years have passed the atmosphere of hearing this line is rather dim and the air is full of sorrow since this tragedy really shocked the

entire country since that day six years ago. have been best friends although the prefer not to talk about what you know to the media which still makes them afraid of the first day of the school year. the man was killed right in front of us. he's barred you leave the breeding three times three days i think he used to work in the school both girls were going to the first green 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 there was a children parents and 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 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 lead their lives to see the children most of the terrorists or eliminate it but by that time over three hundred innocent lives had been lost. 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. visiting the school changes people and their views on life they start looking at it from a different perspective. the

attack brought a huge international reaction with sympathy and help offered from around the world many of the survivors went through rehabilitation 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 commemoration events are also going to be held at the city of angels the cemetery where most of the victims are buried even though it's the first of september the beginning of yet another school year here in this slide. the school year is going to start on the sixth of september after all the commemoration of events are done and it's going to begin it will be a lesson off piece when local students are going to hold a minute of silence in commemoration of the victims off this horrifying attack. next hour you can watch our special in-depth report on the best school siege.

their childhood was all rich shadowed by this tragedy. these two feel the fear they faced. don't remember every second of the slightness. it will remain in their memories and hearts forever. and using so. innocent. little angel wings on r.g.p. . which brightened

a few. songs from feinstein. starts on t.v. dot com. more news today violence is once again flared up. these are the images go for it has been seeing from the streets of canada. giant corporations are all today. let's check out some of unease making headlines around the world this hour the militant wing of hamas says it was behind the killing of four israelis in the west bank including a pregnant woman as two men and two women died when the car was fired on by a gunman near the city of hebron happened on the eve of fresh peace talks taking

place in washington the israeli and palestinian leadership condemned the shootings on the ground. took to the streets to celebrate. the owners of the chilean miners collapsed trapping fifty three workers have asked for forgiveness at the hearing in front of lawmakers the miners have been stuck seven hundred meters underground since the beginning august drilling is underway to try to get them out but take up to four months to complete the specialists including a doctor and psychologist heading to the site. tens of thousands of children and pakistan are bearing the brunt of the two borne diseases that are spreading to severe flooding in the country officials say they were affected by a rise of cases of malaria from stockton into more than one hundred thousand pregnant women are also facing the risk of infection and disease worst ever flooding in the country has claimed over sixteen hundred lives with seventeen

million affected in total. and more than six thousand indonesian villages have returned to their homes on the slopes of the mount some of them think that that's despite mornings that they're putting their lives at risk after a surprise eruption at the weekend forced many thirty thousand residents to be evacuated to safety a volcano had been dormant for four hundred years and officials are saying it's not monitoring its behavior. now that millions of russian students are now back in class after a three month summer holiday and joining them are children who are both excited and nervous about their first ever day at school and this year officials in wasco upon it in a scheme integrating disabled people's integrated stream education stacy peterson's went along to one such school. what's going on right now is a ceremony able see a little bit of a behind me there was music playing earlier but now there it's died 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 this able to students and non-disabled students together officially now there's been some schools like the one behind me that have been doing this for a while the schools actually been integrating students for about six years but moscow is officially starting to do it over all of that and this is based off of a decision by the moscow city duma that up passed a bill that said that there can be up to three church disabled students in a classroom but those numbers cannot exceed exceed ten percent of the overall student body if you take a look at at russia and moscow it's pretty difficult for people who are part of the stable 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 but this program is meant to tackle that at an early age and at this school that 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 help able body students to think about disabled students as regular people and to treat them with tolerance and with his back and acceptance and also gives this able bodied students a chance to meet and 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. 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't. we're of course no word to bond him but they want him to be more social to be independent and to get to do profession in the future it wasn't possible to get all of the stools to start this integrated lessons this year but

two hundred schools in moscow take a part and so students from far away outside of the mosque us to me live 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 ramps and poised in order to have a more integrated classroom. so the citizens that now it's time for the business news will stiffly monday and we know the international motor show is taking place in moscow and we understand that foreign carmakers of so what should be driving sales call sales out of the doldrums right to carry but some experts actually think this could have a bad impact on local brands are more later on in bulletin but now top stories bottom of putin has been visiting the city of nebraska to see the town and to tour the country's biggest myna there is nickel is currently the subject of a battle for control by its two biggest shareholders roussel chief better past the

time and head of intervals the two billionaires each own twenty five percent of no real skin want to buy the other pizza noted that the conflict was damaging the company and the solution was urgently but the government insists it will not force the issue as long as new nickel continues to operate successfully. the dispute appears to boil down to a difference of opinion about how little snicko should be run and who should benefit the company's chief executive flooding a structural cost describe the problem as he sees it. the conflict is due to a difference in 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 is in the company and even more 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. their cell is adamant it will not

instead like that a pasco says he will try to get minority shareholders to agree to appoint independent professionals to the board but the chief executive of known nicol left little doubt as to what shareholder he was favoring as he referred to the twenty nine percent drop and resell share price since the beginning of the yap the company led by that of pasta. 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 twenty nine percent because the person who told us how to work how to control our company he's the leader among the losers now what do we use is we listen to through the prism person who did not see in managing a company successful and why we have the world's dividends fifty percent seventy eight percent is the world average and everyone is happy here for some people fifty percent is not enough. and that turn out to be acting markets asian stocks are high

on what they say pouncing back on the previous sessions losses a rise in chinese manufacturing data has given us move to invent investor sentiment and better than expected g.d.p. growth in australia the biggest supply of oil into china has also had a positive effect and the. european stocks are mixed in early trading weakness in technology stocks is dragging on the foot but basic materials are on the rise. of russian markets a fact of positive on the first trading day of september here in moscow marshall gains on the my sex being led by energy named after but it's tracking the south down around a third of a percent look russia's second largest oil producer has announced net income for the second quarter fell sixteen percent to two billion dollars despite 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 conto conoco phillips speaking exclusively to business r.t. vice president you need explained why. if we think that the purchase of almost eight percent of. the tension on the market and that. the company is interested in increasing its free float on the market the more stable they are we are also looking at listing on one of the asian markets in the future i think it's enough to ensure future stable and reliable company before. foreign carmakers at a moscow international make to show you have ticked russia to drive best sales at the economic downturn but experts warn success will come at the expense of domestic brands than an official reports. car giant jazz shows off the models it hopes will

kickstart sales this year for the first time is presenting no cause only vans altos down it's called its main cause a cyber unfortunate 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 we get sales or successful between now and the end of here told to get sell sales will be around seventy five thousand russia's largest automaker after is gearing up to make calls for renault and nissan top analyst deal 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 awful awful lot before well increasing the market share sides sort of such a section for us for the first time last month foreign cause in russia outsold domestics without radical redesign experts see the wheels coming off national producers russia will overtake germany and you're just coming in as early as next year in the mind share that come from foreign cars meaning the domestic brands something the end of the road is approaching the new version. and that's all from the existing for now but i'll be back with all of you next hour you can always find the stories on our website at r.t. dot com slash.

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come on come on come on. this street still keeps its secrets but now it's time to move felix to the soviet finds me teaching seems to often between black and white on the aussie. wealthy british style but. sometimes it's crisis. card. markets why not come to. find out what's really happening to the global economy with mike's cause or for a no holds barred look at the global. financial headlines tune in to kaiser report on r g. the dramatic example of the firmness of. courage. and honor.

they managed not only to stay alive. but to keep their faces and souls in inhuman circumstances. nine hundred danes in besieged learning ran through the eyes of the survivors each. hungry for the full story we've got it first hand the biggest issues get a human voice face to face with the news makers. of a failed state this is not a provocation but a warning that the. faithful to it a machete first step is what you should disappear quickly traced pieces they have no idea about the hardships to face. one it is this is it all of them too nice and for any army the life of

a usaf is the most precious thing in the world. is of self-sacrifice and heroism with those who understand it fully you have to live a. real life stories from world war two. to true nine hundred forty five dollars on t.v. dot com. in some petersburg ots available in hotels a story of a little ambassador for in a sense politico tell patroclus photo patris photo golden golden novotel center. extol dostoevsky live in a sea of colors if you visit. let's

take a look at the headlines. olympic competition battle to create the best mascot for the two thousand and fourteen winter games in russia kicks off with a nationwide contest. remembers the deadly beslan school massacre six years ago more than three hundred people dead most of them children. time to turn the page president obama praises u.s. soldiers as you walk combat mission officially ends he said they put iraq's future back in the hands of its people and the focus can now be shifted to america's ailing economy.