looks of things are going to be updating you on the. eve of. the flame for the twenty four thousand sochi winter olympics is about to be lit before setting off its incredible mouth and all the way from the birthplace of the games in greece to host city in southern russia we bring you live coverage. week's top stories not the diplomatic standoff over syria's chemical weapons as the u.n. security council finally agrees a disarmament process and historic resolution. also at the u.n. an apparent thaw in iran u.s. relations and a phone conversation between the nation's leaders offered hope for progress and stalled talks of a nuclear program. and greek authorities crack down on the country's far right golden dawn party after the murder of an anti fascist activist linked to the

group led to mass protests. from moscow this is art. now the ceremony to light the twenty fourteen sochi winter olympics flame is just started in greece is a limpia the birthplace of the games and it's from here that the torch will travel thousands of kilometers to the host city of next year's games in russia. hundred farmers in greece watching the ceremony and to bring what sayes in sochi and both join us live now will you first tell us that what's happening where you are at the top has it been lit. well it has been lit it will be shortly i have to say it is the perfect day to light the olympic flame blue skies and blazing sunshine here at

olympia the birthplace of the lympics and the ceremony is just starting as i speak and first we will hear them and that will be followed by the national anthems of russia and greece we will then also hear a few words from the newly elected i.o.c. president thomas and then the lighting of the flame ceremony will begin and that effectively will roll back the clock two and a half thousand years because an actress dressed as a high priestess will have the honor she will use the power of the sun and a parabolic mirror to create the fire and that is effectively what was done in seven hundred b.c. that will take place about one hundred meters to my left on the remains of the temple of hera and then the flame will be brought through to where i'm standing now which is the ancient stadium and that flame will be used to light the torch the first torch bearer who by tradition is a great on this occasion is eighteen year old skeer ganesh antonio and he hopes to compete for his country in sochi then he will pass this taught to the first russian

torchbearer ice hockey star alexander ovechkin he's only been released for forty eight hours by his club the washington capitals he has to fly back to the states tonight but he says it's well worth it. i'm the one with the stuff of my life until someone gets. there and as for. probably i. probably one of the biggest one. well the torch will begin a seven day two of grace before that finishes in athens next weekend it will then be flown the flame will be flown to moscow for the start of the russian leg and what a whopper that is fifty six thousand kilometers that will be the longest torch relay in a limb pick history will see the torch go to the top of mind at the bottom of light by cow and even into outer space respect i spoke to the international space station before coming back down to earth to learn that olympic cauldron at the opening

ceremony in sochi on february the seventh so it is an amazing order to see and it all starts here right now in a limpia water was indeed well let's remind the viewers that we're watching live pictures as well of this ceremony and while we do that let's cross over to to brian what's inside she will tell us when and how is this torch going to get to where you are. well it's going to be an olympic torch relay to remember for years to come and here is why now it's going to take around one hundred days for the torch she leaves greece make its way around russia energy its final destination here at the fish venue just behind me here in sochi it'll be around a sixty five or kilometers way to travel around with around eight hundred thousand or forty thousand rather torture barrels now we're talking about the torch going from everywhere through nine times arias of russia through eighty three regions of

russia through two thousand nine hundred cities and settlements across the country it'll make it to the north pole to one of the reserves are world's biggest reserves of freshwater in the leg by call it will also make it to the top of the year of as high as mountain at that mountain l. address as well as making it to you on a special ship just outside of her at the right there to the eye at international space station where can. well take it out for a space walk now this has never been done in the history of the olympics now has i and reform already said that it's going to be the longest and the biggest raise that has yet it also have unconventional ways of getting the flavor around the country from rain d.s. slides to hot air balloons and of course there will be much more conventional ways a through train plane as well as walking at that flame with personalities are like now the russians are coordinating committee or so she has said that every russian

will be just one proximity away from that drawn meeting that everyone will be able to get a glimpse of the that firebird now of course the whole root of all of this. limping torture really really is all about celebrating all that is russian history all of that is really rich here in russia and also giving them this a new emerging russia right here in sochi where those lympics winter games will be held back to you to run once a year in sochi and under former in the olympics in greece thank you both. and i will bring you more from the ceremony in the store much of the really throughout the day plus a lot of coverage is available on our website of course r.t. dot com.

this week's u.n. general assembly gathering was marred by some major diplomatic breakthroughs foreign players reached their first agreement on syria since the start of the conflict there and then historic phone calls open the prospects for real progress over international concern about iran's nuclear ambitions and the tsunami reports now on changes in tone and policies. hope for diplomacy progress on two fronts at the united nations a new tone in policy towards iran and a security council resolution on chemical weapons in syria the open union we've been hearing increasingly often the argument that the threat or use of force which is directly precipitated by the un charter might be the most efficient way to solve international problems the united states of america is prepared to use all elements of our power including military force to secure. our core interests of the rich but rare consensus at the u.n.

emerged after years of deadlock over how to deal with the syrian crisis the un security council unanimously passed a resolution to secure and eliminate syria's stockpiles of chemical weapons according to the geneva agreement put forward by russia and the u.s. the mandate outlines a legally binding compliance but no threat of automatic sanctions or military action i think it shows they were turning towards a diplomatic solution at least on the issue of chemical weapons but the other issue that is still remained outstanding is what will happen outside of the issue of chemical weapons will the promise to be pursued by the united states or will they continue to find as they have the opposition are in the opposition it was still a day that happening and trying to deepen the conflict over there were sided another way it's a u.s. policy that iran's new president says has no place in the region his debut at the u.n. this week star hassan rowhani reach out but also defend tehran from political attacks iran is an anchor of stability in unstable region the iranian threat is imaginary

and is used as an excuse for the misdeeds of others iran poses absolutely no threat to the world or the region ronnie made it clear that iran does not want nuclear weapons and that it wants peace but also to be treated as an equal a rainy and u.s. officials praise high level meetings that took place on the sidelines of the general assembly and the country's president spoke over the phone for the first time in over three decades but what would it take for a would be photo op to become a new u.s. approach towards iran but as has our very tied there his hands are tied that there are people and lobby groups in the united states that do not want to see the united states and iran after thirty four years of demonizing the country to have relations the u.s. is in a tough spot it has to keep north. the relation of the middle east and now the alienation of the arab muslims in general against the us is mostly due to the

commitment and the double standard the us shows in its relations with israel obama said to meet with israeli prime minister netanyahu on monday in washington now is the real test will the u.s. be able to move forward with diplomacy in the middle east both with iran and syria the first week at the u.n. general assembly has opened the door to rethink a failed policy the question is will the obama administration shot it the first chance they get reporting from new york and nice anally r.t. . the u.n. resolution on syria stresses that all parties in the conflict need to comply with the disarmament and nonproliferation requirements author and historian jail and hone says ensuring the rebels cooperate with the most challenging task that's the weakness of this peace process recall that just a few days ago from the so-called rebels officially with the more extremist faction

basically saying that the less extremist factions to somehow be purged and expelled the extremist faction of course is spearheaded by the al nusra front close to al qaida keep in mind as well that some of the so-called chemical facilities in syria or under the jurisdiction of rebel forces if the rebel forces are not part of this process it's unclear to me how it can be resolved that is to say how can chemical weapons be destroyed not the least how can these chemical weapons be found if the rebels are not part of the process. president rouhani of iran receive a mixed welcome in tehran on his return for making headlines in the u.n. general assembly in new york thousands of his opponents chanting anti-american slogans threw eggs and shoes at his car and i think it was triggered by the historic phone conversation between hardy and obama the first direct talks between u.s. and iranian leaders for three decades well after the cold president obama voiced

hopes of progress they were tehran's atomic ambitions so that serious obstacles remain norman solomon from the institute for public accuracy says those obstacles can be overcome and he paused long as in both countries on to down to dictate policy. the u.s. government is under great pressure from the hawks in washington many of whom while the united states to either attack or nod towards israel launching an attack on iran within the next year or so the role of the us i think is now to see what's possible diplomatically and i think it's a combination you know it takes two to dance and ronnie and obama are beginning to dance that was not possible under the din a job it was not possible or would not be possible under a president romney or president mccain for instance i think that is

a very important factor a combination and it's a matter of timing. but it will be very important for the grassroots leaders as well as the powerful in both iran and the united states to keep this on course so that the hardliners in the country don't gain the upper hand. and we have a much more analysis on the signs of a throwing iran us with nations as well as predictions for future nuclear talks on our website altie dot com. well hearings have started for eight greenpeace campaigners just days after a court ordered that twenty two other activists should be held in custody for two months or accused by the authorities of being part of an attempt to scale an oil platform and endangered environment in the lives of workers what is your personal looks at why they were protesting what the future holds for the polar region. the pictures that stormed international media greenpeace activists trying to climb onto

a floating platform in russia's north arrested by coast guards was. shot all thirty activists from eighteen countries were detained and are now awaiting whether they will be officially charged greenpeace claims their actions were peaceful but the authorities say they could have endangered not only the lives of the rig's workers but the environment itself. it's obvious they are not pirates but they tried to storm the platform and these people violated international law by coming dangerously close to the president's common scheme an international arctic conference organized by russia or here in city huts the only city in the world located exactly on the arctic circle line where the presidents of russia finland iceland other officials along with around four hundred experts have gathered and the arctic environment is what this forum is all about as average temperatures warm up and the arctic is opening up new opportunities for trade routes and energy

projects moscow says only companies with experience working in the tough region and enough funds to do it properly and without harming nature must be allowed access and cleaning up the heritage of the cold war era is another issue abandoned military bases equipment and piles of barrels with fuel i know a map the arctic binary assessment program has been involved in that but russia has really been working on its own to try to claim we have a ways to go and they're not alone there are places around the planet or similar things that happened when people didn't recognize it as something they did had long term negative consequences for the environment the arctic nations seem to be on the same beach and looking after the north wall is a responsibility they must carry together so that the mistakes of the past aren't repeated especially when their every move is under such intense scrutiny you've got this going off in the arctic circle. well there were heading into a break now but stay with r.t.

for a look at the remote island in the south atlantic inhabitants say the british government is squeezing the life out of their community forcing them from their homes. technology is the name and aviation is the game which is late he still takes heat to the max. brings innovation so you don't look around at night she looks or has come to see our day. we speak your language. news programs and documentaries in spanish what matters to you. a little turn a tip angle is stories. here.

the spanish find out more visit. to greece where authorities have made a move against the far right golden dawn party its leader along with a number of senior officials and other members have been arrested in connection with the murder of a prominent anti fascist rapper two weeks ago and actually golden dawn activists in the killing saw thousands join protests across the country since the fighting to win any seats in the two thousand and nine election golden dawn has made

a breakthrough in the twenty twelve parliamentary voted one eighteen seats out of three hundred after gaining support among the country's youth in particular. has the details. this was the largest show of public anger over the killing of published physis the thirty four year old hip hop artist an anti-fascist activist the man who killed him is believed to be a supporter of the far right golden dawn party had this is a group the currently controls eight hundred seats in parliament it's been described as neo fascist. largely for its campaign of intimidation against immigrants whom it blames for some of the economic woes affecting greece right now now while problems was not the first person to die at the hands of neo nazis in greece he was the first non migrant to do so and this has sparked outrage all across the country with all similar protests similar scenes last week in the early hours of this wednesday thousands of greeks marched in a largely peaceful protest they marched towards the offices of golden dawn which were secluded essentially protected by the police a group of

a small group of protesters who had their faces covered in wearing helmets have broken off started hurling petrol bombs a lot of anger over this murder that still fresh in people's mind golden dawn isn't just a fringe group that has eighteen members in parliament out of three hundred it's on its way to becoming the third largest political force in greece the question is of course whether this murder even though the group does say that it has it disavows any ties to the murder the question is whether the political fall out of the public outrage is going to result in a decrease for support for the group and we have seen some public polls showing that it's gone down but at the same time the group doesn't joy very wide support among certain neighborhoods in greece and this is really been a correlation with the rise of the economic crisis their member that greece has been in recession for six consecutive years in a row we have employment nearly nearing thirty percent two out of three young people out of work and one of the things that we found at least when speaking to political experts is they said that basically when people really don't have much to hold on to economically it's not unusual to see people turning to more radical

ideas and while there are some hardcore supporters of golden dawn who might have ideas that are very much out of line with the mainstream golden dawn really trying to solve. sell itself to the public as anti-establishment as being able to do things when the government may not be able to will. it's on the cards and there susie a specialist in greek politics spoke to my colleague kevin owen he believes the more the government tries to suppress golden dawn the more it may flourish so far as the position of the m.p.'s for whom arrest warrants have been issued is concerned by the fact that they will be on trial in under arrest they will not lose their status as members of the greek parliament or so seems to be the case if you try and close something and you drive it underground it thrives conversely. that is correct and i am personally against a full band of golden dawn precisely for the reason you outlined in your question

it seems that the greek authorities are not entirely clear about what to do so far . not banning golden dawn because they want to avoid a situation whereby the movement of the organization rather goes on the ground and becomes a more frightening force in greek politics at the same time however they're arresting its members and they're going for something like a de facto ban without a proper legal. greece is not the only country where far right parties are gaining support polls suggest all across the european union right wing support is growing rapidly what is peace all of the reports from austria right leaning parties are expected to do well in today's parliamentary elections ok i think we have some technical problems with that still trying to bring it back

to the bit later. now let's go to another story now as one of the last outposts of the british empire ascension island in the south atlantic is still said to be suffering the effects of colonialism u.k. stands accused of evicting families that have lived for over a century worse take a look no dissension olens a tiny spot on the world map it's home to bury a thousand people many of whom may now have to leave reportedly to make way for an american military base for the on the who are mainly british citizens will not be allowed to stay after retirement if they're unemployed and eighteen because similarities the explosive inhabitants from diego garcia part of britain's indian ocean territory on the island was forced for the depopulated the nineteen seventies also to make way for a military base and those living on ascension island now say that similar to diego garcia london is squeezing the life out of their home will smith reports the tiny

island in the mid atlantic made of volcanic rock and covered in paint. but the eight hundred people. but now the story of attention island has all the hallmarks of being another diego garcia the british and indian ocean island whose inhabitants were forced to leave to make way for a u.s. base by having lived that generation. good memories. it's not for them. you know when you see them you got this because they are enjoying the. islanders accuse the british government of. operating families who have been there for more than a century ten years ago it all so different person was promising democratic institutions for the island a legal right to live and to own property it wanted

a viable community that but today the population's already decreased by a quarter with communities replaced by contract workers retired or unemployed people eighteen had to leave and the similarities with diego garcia and the dominant feature on the island is you guessed it an american base heavily used during president obama's recent trip to africa there are also satellites and submarine tracking stations and one of those now infamous listening posts run by g c h q the british government now conveniently insists ascension has no indigenous population and many residents believe they intend to evacuate the island completely and abandon it to the americans far from the dreams of a permanent home they had a decade ago. reduced to haul in the special relationship. family comes from the island he says he's citizens can be forced out on the whim of

the us military. i have been there several times though and i say most most people on ascension out of our sense of indian origin in my family seven years ago i was born there there is a very very strong sense that ascension on it is being all one might almost say starve to death and there is a precarious kind of political representation there is the absence of guaranteed property rights or indeed a very much property rights at all people are born they have people to live their entire working lives their people do wish to retire there but cannot do so may not do so is not permitted if this is because the answer we think there's any serious doubt because of pressure from the american base there which is largely intelligence related and it is a serious question to be asked about why on british territory british citizens living there these are full british passport holders of why these peoples are being treated like this for the sake of a station

a base which is almost certain you might know more of the details of this in fact engaged in the activities that have been such a huge global story in terms of spying on pretty much everyone but that is happening on british north american territory and a british population there is being mistreated. presence of u.s. forces is causing anger in italy where thousands are routed in sicily city of palermo the installation of a u.s. military satellite station in the region because of concerns about the health and environmental risks posed by any increase of radiation levels so easily as witnessed a number of demonstrations against the u.s. radar station that's been the construction since twenty eleven. pakistan city of shower has been the target of yet another devastating blast along a bomb attack on a bus on friday and these thirty three people including children are reported killed latest explosion in a police station within seventy others were taken to hospital and security forces

say a remote control car bomb was the likely cause this all happened next the site of an attack on a church last week that killed over eighty people. in tunisia is misled the government has agreed to resign or in pressure from the secular opposition the decision follows political deadlock a nationwide protest triggered by the july killing of an opposition leader a suspected islamic militants country that was the birthplace of the arab spring will now be led by a provisional government until new elections can be held. a real party looks at the latest state of the art science breakthroughs and technology update. i think anyone who lives in the united states knows a few people or just dismal geography

a certain small percentage of the country just can't get it that canada is above us but how important is knowing geography anyways well one author on the washington post blogs recently wrote that knowing geography really doesn't matter that much he was writing in response to the game where is damascus which challenges people to find syria's capital on a blank map he said that whether americans can find syrian a map doesn't affect the wisdom of a punitive strike meant to uphold international norms against the use of chemical weapons and often disasters draw our attention to places we'd never heard of before like pearl harbor or columbine or syria but let's look at this way i don't exactly know where persons kidneys are or how exactly they work so by all normal logic that means i'm not qualified to have an opinion about whether we should remove john doe's kidneys my opinion doesn't count because i am kidney ignorant so if you know so little about syria that you can't even find it on a map then you are more likely to believe from a guy in a suit on t.v. that there must be an intervention to save the people there you have no idea who they are or why they are suffering or how to save them but gosh started that

intervention sounds nice knowing at least where a country is on the map is the first step in building informed opinion but that's just my opinion. wealthy british style stock. market 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 in to kaiser report on our. street.