the countdown to the next winter olympics begins that's exactly one year until russia hosts its first ever winter games that promise to become the most unique and the most expensive in history. but not all officials are in a celebratory mood or russia's president lashes out at overspending and sacks a key figure behind sochi two thousand and fourteen. meanwhile the turmoil in tunisia intensifies fresh clashes between anti-government protesters and police are companied by political chaos with the ruling islamists defying the prime minister's defy decision to reshuffle the government. and no compromise is in sight e.u. leaders gear up for a clash over cuts as they arrive in brussels to hammer out a budget deal. good

evening we've got news and analysis from around the globe broadcasting live right here from our moscow headquarters you're watching r t with me lucy conference of well let's get straight to our top story now we've got the sochi winter olympic games it's now exactly one year until the opening of the two thousand and fourteen winter games in russia special giant clocks that you can see or perhaps the world in the next show are counting down in the biggest cities and they've begun that begun the countdown for the events that will be held in the black sea resort city of sochi but the clock is also a ticking for the organizers who say that final preparations are on track and the finishing touches are being made to make the event on forgettable well for how things are going on the ground let's turn now to our tease andrew farmer who is in sochi probably slightly better weather than here in moscow. well tell us exactly

how things are going on down there are things on track. well the prelim pick spirit is in full flow here in sochi because within the last few minutes a lavish ceremony marking one year to get started is being held in the bolshoi here . will host the final during the olympics but tonight he's going to host a spectacular skating show that will involve three hundred people or so including famous figure skaters past present from russia will them be great just like we're told a lot of the soldiers die exactly one year before the ceremony all this is taking place down by the black sea during the live picture you will be able to hop on to try and get up into the mountains within thirty minutes what you on the back it's a similar story that will have to be built from scratch with the pretty much complete promise that president putin was of there looking at the news as well as the ones down here he was pretty much plays with everything he saw something like

eighty five percent. completed according to the organizers although he did have some criticisms i'm with why these olympics will be the most unique is. there sort of this is a very unique olympic games this is the first time the first games there are taking place in the sub tropical area never before has it been done also you have to understand look at this this is february and we as were edging closer to the games you have to understand this is going to be a very unique event because literally you have the beach and then fifteen minute drive you have the snow capped mountains so if you're tired of watching snowboarding or ski events you can always take a break down by the beach and possibly work on your town as well so you can see it right there stowe and then the beach now of course of course and was insulted to a look at the construction and what's happening. down there on the ground and he

was pretty much happy with everything his saw but there were some things that he heard that did not leave him very happy and also of course did not leave some of the officials happy as well. are the really cost overruns yes a serious increase in costs but since they use their own funds for the construction on phones it's financed by the funds of president palin who's the shareholder of crescent spends so it's largely finance at the expense of sperm bank yes and these cost overruns are paid for by sperm bank yes it spending one of the costs of this whole facility cost what's the overall. picture and usually be reassessing the amount of. what's a rough estimate. the initial price is one point two billion now it's. one point two billion has turned into eight billion yes well done good work let's move on and of course the russian president was being sarcastic at that point in fact the man

who is responsible for the cost overruns and the delays in work has been sacked as you can see some officials very disappointed others less so we will of course bring you more from sochi later on throughout the program as the celebrations get underway to mark the one year countdown to the winter olympic games. all right well it's going to be a battle between the north and the south that uneasy meeting in brussels states are on a collision course over spending plans for the next few years britain is the loudest voice among those calling for a budget cut something fiercely opposed by southern countries who are heavily dependent on funds well for more on these wiping financial cracks let's cross live

to test our cilla who is in brussels for us hi there tells us the second attempt by the e.u. leaders to agree on a budget so some fierce debate is expected is that correct. that's right this is the second time they're going to try to hammer out an agreement on that you budget which ended in a deadlock in november of last year and even before coming into the summit there was already a lot of disagreements a lot of strong words and we've seen some of the leaders who had arrived here already making strong statements first of all david cameron continuously saying that if the budget is not brought down to a level that he is happy with there will be no deal we're coming from a one trillion a euro proposal starting from last year it has been brought down to around nine hundred fifty billion still not happy with that especially at the northern countries as you mentioned you have the u.k. germany the netherlands denmark among others and. countries from who are saying that they may use their veto if they're not happy such as the czech republic they

say that this is unfair to their country not just the czech republic you have we've also heard possibilities that italy may use its veto even if it has to do so on its own because it's not happy with cuts on funding that it benefits from so you have northern countries that feel of they're putting in more than they're getting and you have southern countries who are heavily dependent on a lot of the subsidies especially farming subsidies which make up about forty percent of the e.u. budget and the loudest voice on countering the approach. is france. french president francois hollande who is saying that they should not be cutting too much otherwise it will be the economy and let's not forget this is a david cameron's first e.u. summit after that in or out referendum that he had suggested in twenty seventeen if he's reelected he's going to ask the british people should they stay in the e.u. and this has gotten some of the countries thinking that u.k. is not so much of a team player now all of this is happening as there continues to be

a steady protest on the street the irony is not lost there there was a lot of budget cuts a steady measures imposed on the people quite quickly by the national leaders yet here. at the summit today are very they're having a lot of difficulty agree on a budget on their budget but let's put it in context the e.u. budget itself is a very small proportion of the total expenditure nevertheless the symbol it carries on agreeing to have spending cuts or how to move forward together is something that everybody is looking at now if there is no deal what's going to happen is it's going to send a very bad signal that these twenty seven countries just cannot work together especially at a very crucial moment where they need to come come up with a solution to fix the economic problems and secondly the e.u. will have to work with a much smaller provisional budget which is only about a twelfth of last year's a budget now that means a lot of the development funds those funds that southern countries are dependent upon may not actually be available and this will just slow or slow down

a lot of the already slow economies if you were going around in circles here because that's exactly what's happening we don't see a step forward at this point well a critical moment for the you indeed are are still reporting from brussels thank you for that. well moving on in tunisia anti-government protesters as a protest are increasingly turning violent with police in the capital security forces used tear gas to disperse crowds of the interior ministry and earlier in the southern city of golf's hundreds of demonstrators threw stones and chanted anti regime slogans while artie's mayor nowshera is in the tunisian capital and joins us live how do things look on the ground there right now any sign of the protests slowing down are stopping. well actually it actually says there are no signs that the nation capital is getting any karma protests protests continue here supporters

opposition supporters are on the streets again and. again marching against wednesday's murder of the prominent opposition leader here something they say the government and the ruling islam is a party. behind their tent and to government slogans and they are not calling for justice or for fair investigation for example but some of them are sending a very clear message that the government the current authorities should step down and well a very dangerous situation right now here in tunisia police as you just said is using tear gas and. firing tear gas at protesters while there is panic we haven't received any information about casualties today but we've been hearing and that at least one policeman died on wednesday during the clashes between opposition supporters and police officers one is told was thrown. to him

from the crowd well we're hearing the sounds of ambulances and that could be the sign that this already turned violent here today as well security is obviously tight not flew out to nation's capital and throughout the country there is a lot of police literally we can see groups of small groups of officers at every corner while it's clear because at any moment it may become even more violent than it is today and as you've just been hearing about similar beilenson similar protests in the southern city. south of the country and that means that this wave of violence is my. from the country well it's a very it's a turning point for the country and it's a very dangerous point but this sad thing is that the war of spin is that

a fear is all that will go even further as to morrow they will be funeral. killed position leader and tradition of a very significant day for all arab spring countries well. expect even more. for the protests well let's see what's going to happen tomorrow all right well looks like certainly a tense situation where if an emotional stay safe reporting live from the tunisian capital now of course we're always eager to hear your views about the situation at our teeth dot com you can head over to our online poll and weigh in on what you think the outcome of the latest uprising let's find my position here uprising is will be now we here we have our little poll here you'll find four options to choose from let's take a look at how the options have been divided so far now a third of you who have already voted think that tunisia will plunge into further

unrest about a quarter as you can see there fear that the latest upsurge of public unrest will lead to a government crackdown on protesters littlefield or of you believe that the country might see another revolution and almost a fifth as you can see there think on the contrary that the leadership is ready for a political concessions so make sure to go online and to have your say to vote. news today violence is once again flared up. these are the images the world has been seeing from the streets of canada. giant corporations rule the day. welcome back you're watching our team well from drone strikes to torture techniques tough questions are up ahead for barack obama's nominee for cia headed out as

confirmation hearings in the u.s. senate john brennan is widely seen as an architect of the u.s. drone strategy in an effort to avoid scrutiny around brennan's canada saying the u.s. president has even agreed to hand over a classified documents justifying the killings of american terror suspects abroad and that comes after years of keeping those a secret parties going to to can reports brennan's confirmation it might broaden their horizons for america's drone fleets take a look. in the shadows know more drones are moving into the mainstream drone makers in the u.s. military pushing to defend the killing machine drones are more properly titled remotely piloted vehicles allow us to do is to project capability without projecting vulnerability in their revolutionizing work. by allowing us to see and. from half a world away a major drone manufacturer lockheed martin has financed an hour long documentary on

drones aired recently on u.s. public television counting the technological capabilities of the killing machine from trailers like this pilots of the predator and its larger cousin the reaper have killed thousands of individual since two thousand using remotely piloted aircraft contrary to popular belief actually provides the greatest degree. of ethical oversight for their use this young man in pakistan would probably disagree several of his family members died at the remote hands of a drone more than a thousand other civilians were reportedly killed by u.s. drone strikes in pakistan and yemen we find ourselves murdering people in many cases children with no evidence whatsoever that they're involved in any criminal or terrorist activity the numbers should not come as a surprise considering the broad definition the obama administration gives us to who should be on their kill list the leaked memo on targeted assassinations from

the us justice department suggests the us government can kill people even without evidence that they are actively plotting against america if you extend the logic or studio logic being proud by the white house now where you come. live a few might say that we're in danger of going over we're getting very close to zero thought crimes that if somebody a u.s. citizen or otherwise is believed to be thinking something that could lead to actions against the united states then this illogical logic would present the idea that it would be ok for the president to order that that person be killed despite the u.n. raising concerns about the legality of the use of drones the u.s. has said to expand its remote control warfare setting up new drone bases across the world the latest announcement a new facility in asia where obama has redefined war there an intervention in libya he made the case that the war powers act in a pride because there is no risk to american soldiers and so under that rationale

he can expand the global war while in his state of the union address claiming that we don't need perpetual war for peace but it is perpetual war when you can drop bombs on any country and then claim that it's not working john brennan often referred to as the architect of the administration's drone war counts the new opportunities for the u.s. to war wage. without risking american lives there's another reason the targeted strikes can be a wise choice fister teacher consequences that inevitably come with the use of force. as we have seen deploying large armies abroad won't always be our best offense all in all the u.s. now has around ten thousand drones in its fleet not all of them carry weapons of course a lot of them are for surveillance both domestic and international there's a great push both from the administration and the drone makers to present them as america's next best thing john brennan if confirmed will soon be at the helm of the

cia and no one doubts that under him the program will expand even further the goal is pretty much clear to be able to control the world with a remote control in washington i'm going to go. also ahead for you iran grants egypt alone to help the cash strapped states stay afloat with sudan also likely to get a financial boost this of course comes as tehran remains under pressure from several rounds of u.s. backed sanctions over its nuclear program. and britain private messages sent between internet users could be decoded and monitored the government says it's to keep the country safe is another story is are coming up for you after a short break stay with us. free. education free. for free. range free.

free. free. download free blog videos for your media project free media r t dot com. you know sometimes you see a story and it seems so you think you understand it and then you glimpse something else you hear or see some. part of it and realized everything you. are.

welcome back you're watching r t well iran has extended a helping hand to egypt offering a loan to the cash strapped country now sudan may also be in line for a rainy and assistance all this despite the fact that tehran itself is subject to several rounds of u.s. backed sanctions over its nuclear program and political analyst saeed mohammad marandi says that we're in for a geopolitical shift in the region with iran trying to challenge american influence there. they are giving or offering these loans basically to encourage trade between iran and egypt and sudan because iran believes that the overthrow of some of the dictatorships in the region have opened new opportunities to bring about greater regional cooperation and iran wants the help of these countries away from the

american orbit as it were in iran the feeling is that the united states and the e.u. are already rapidly on the decline a number of dictatorships that they have been backing have been overthrown dictatorships that they are backing like saudi arabia and other oil rich arab regimes are growing their future is becoming more questionable and attempts by the united states the e.u. and the oil rich dictatorships to create a civil war in syria and to overthrow the syrian government so far failed after two years so american policy in the region is is not doing well and the iranians feel that as time goes on it is the iranians who will be in a stronger position when living on the u.k. the british government is considering using so-called black boxes to monitor

private citizens internet use they say it's in the interests of safety the movement has been criticized as a pointless invasion of privacy in our car of the deputy director of the big brother watch organization says the new measures would do nothing to catch people who pose a true security threat. the u.k. government seems to think that it's necessary to monitor the communications of every person in great britain rather than actually looking for the people who are actually committing crimes that are going to drive those people further and further underground of the internet and they're only going to capture the the innocent and the incompetent as far as i'm concerned not by any means saying that communications data isn't important but when you have the director general of m i five talking about the evidence. bill and calling it pretty horrid assumptions that we've been made that the m i five obviously going to need this information and will react to

this information if they're saying that this bill isn't based on fact it's based on fund the full. imitations of facts and this is why we need to go and have a very hard look at this bill get more evidence have a much further in-depth consultation to actually get the facts about what is needed and how it can be done. well the south korean internet mega had gone dumb style seems to be facing some competition from gaza but it turns out that showing up on the internet wasn't just for fun for the palestinian the creators of this video clip you can get that full story at our t.v. dot com. also for you on our website easing preflight nerves and getting into the holiday mood with a drink may soon become illegal in russia the government is now considering a ban on alcohol consumption on passenger planes after a series of in-flight brawls.

the news today is once again. these are the images the world has been seeing from the streets of canada. trying to corporations rule today. well syria's capital damascus has witnessed some of us most intense clashes in recent months rebels attacked government forces in an attempt to seize control of key approaches to the city center the fighting came despite an earlier offer by the opposition leader in the laws table to negotiate with president assad's deputy now the government could also be willing to talk of that's according to its ally iran whose foreign minister was quoted at the egypt sponsored islamic summit recently however there are splits within the opposition that could make stability unlikely even if they do bring down assad that's according to syria tribune editor in chief

ali mohamed to take a look at just i mean it's just like we were with minds here and this time we'll be nicer ones different now and it's not really you know we do be actually in the in the trying even with the you this. message. it's a blacklist the not of defending it because they know they cannot control it so nor be because lucian is dreaming you believe that they can control the group stuck to the top leader believing they are doing the most important part is that these are the princes and they will if you created people they are not full of the shows they are not fighters for freedom they are just workplaces and the coalition will only be able to do what its founder and main financing. entity we ask them to do and if they don't do that they will lose the financing of the support so they have to do this and simply have they don't know how to hold and they cannot because they

are not united and they don't have the same view was so it's a big mess some of the international news in a brief now we turn to where the supreme leader ayatollah khamenei has rejected a u.s. offer of direct talks over its nuclear program saying the two countries cannot negotiate when tehran has a gun pointed at it now this comes just a day after washington tightened economic sanctions on iran aimed at restricting trash from oil production u.s. vice president joe biden made the offer of a one to one discussions last saturday. the leader of hamas says that he is in talks with palestinian president mahmoud abbas about affording a coalition government khaled mashal mentions that both parties are getting ready ahead of parliamentary and presidential elections push the fatah movement headed by abbas out of the gaza strip in two thousand seven hundred flights between the two sides. or wildfires in australia are making their way across the

south of tasmania while emergency services are bracing for worsening weather conditions authorities have called on some locals to to move from inaccessible areas until the danger has passed now this latest wave of fires comes after a bushfire destroyed nearly two hundred properties just last month. well stay with us at our team coming your way our special report on how video games can affect your state of mind don't go away. speak your language. documentaries in arabic it's when you hear. the teachings of the.