you interview. this is why you should care only on the. fast approaching the preparation finish line there's just a month until sochi twenty fourteen gets going we check how the olympic city will keep visitors moving and safe. water leaves a bitter taste we look at how disputes over resources could spark major conflicts across the world and here what could be done to stop them. and iraqi forces face off with islamic extremists for control of a key city the u.s. weighs in by sending drones in midtown to baghdad.

my from moscow you're watching r t international with me and he said now a good to have you with us straight to our top story ready steady and only a month to go sochi is ticking the final boxes and it's winter olympics preparations artie's paul scott is there. these are confident that everything is on track. all the eleven venues have been completed built and tested to international standards on more than one occasion and all the transport networks including the high speed rail service between the coastal cluster and the mountain cluster are also up and running now there is still some work to be done but it's mainly superficial in terms of sprucing the city up so it looks nice come the opening ceremony on february the seventh what you can see behind me is the coastal cluster or the olympic village where six of the venues are housed where six of the venues are based including the fish stadium which is going to host the opening ceremony on february the seventh forty thousand lucky ticket holders will be crammed inside the stadium that you can see behind me enjoying what organizers are promising will be

a spectacular spectacle at the moment rehearsals are ongoing but the content of the show is a very closely guarded secret well with a month to go today is the day that the security operation kicks in in earnest now a controlled zone has been a stop to around all of the venues with a number of checkpoints in the city basically spectators will only be allowed into the venues or to designated areas if they have a ticket and also proof of id however thirty thousand police and security officers are going to be on patrol in the region and over the course of the weekend president vladimir putin amended a decree saying that demos can take place in designated areas if organizes get permission so it seems that the games organizers are taking every step that they can to ensure the most expensive limpid games in history passed off peacefully but there's still one thing missing the olympic torch which is still en route on the

longest relay in the history of the games from space walks and diving to the bottom of the world's deepest lake it's now on its way through central russia james brown's been following its voyage which he described to the sea friends. james brown welcome to the studio what do you have with you here the torch of the olympic games can you give us a look at this as you say this is my. personal torch it's as you can see very one of the car and souvenir let me let me have a look at it i mean this this is not light by any means heavy this respect but yeah it is what about for actually really oh yeah i'm going to train the whole lot about that is heavy quite and this is a better record breaking relay for the olympic torch going places it's never been before you were following it which one of the milestones do you think was the last memorable are important i think for me i've been to several going to by car was amazing they took the torch down under water into my car so you had the burning

flare torches specially made and passed very impressive on the water and then flew the torch back with the man with the jets on to the on to the very good video so that it was it was a sight to be seen but it's there was one amazing moment and a real once in a lifetime moment was going with the torch to the north pole you see on t.v. and you read it and then you think wow that must be really must be very interesting never going to go and then this opportunity came up to go on this nuclear icebreaker he's huge. ship of that was can cut through to me to think of it. as fuel by two gigantic reactionists your which is a strange feeling in itself yeah go and stand by god. but we were going to go to the north pole with the flame and we made it. less and for half a day which was a world record pace arrived in the middle of the polar nights within

a picture in the north pole for the very first time in history. such as underground quite a transformation to become the world's winter sports wonderland takes a look at the massive boats the entire region has been experiencing. the caucasus mountains are known to attract days with a love for nature and now they become an attraction for new opportunities and business one family decided to leave behind the metropolis of moscow for a change of scenery and lifestyle and a new business saw them using the found in this landscape bad did the city win the olympic bid play in the influence to possible sochi winning the olympic bid encouraged us to take action as we became more sure that the region will now be developing fast and world so yes i'd say this fact did have an influence on our decision to move here leaving well paid jobs behind men's making a living was

a number one priority so they turned to soon de mar using his head for business to help his creative like christina at first it was not much more than a pastime but the business blossomed to david product line consists of again except shampoos show a gels and creams you might even for gadgil looking at a bar of soap as everything looks appetising. there's a whole arsenal of bottles and flasks with essential and cosmetic on aisles and greetings are going to be a source locally water from the local mountains is used alongside herbs and spices which christina picks has cells with no previous experience in the soap making industry and no formal education in chemistry christina studied up on her own time with the business is doing well this future looks even brighter with plans to it's

been an eco friendly hotel for now the magic happens in the kitchen so i believe that i've got across the way the games themselves will add potential clients raw business a future hotel and products or. organizers of the olympics as say the new infrastructure created in the city will draw more tourists and help small businesses a place the elim picks a home based business sourcing local organic products and materials and herbs from our own thoughts as well as the caucasus mountains now if the president saw it she is bubbling with fever for the winter games but it looks like its future the olympic and paralympic games will blossom if you take the example of upcoming businesses like this one with a in sochi r.t. now they were into the final month until the games began we continue our special

coverage from sochi as a gears up for the winter sporting spectacle stay with r.t. international for that. water is life so they say but rivalry over supplies can lead to bitter conflicts as you see since the mid twentieth century the planet seen nearly a hundred and eighty just disputes connected to water resources these include both small clashes or protest as well as large scale conflicts so it might surprise you to hear that it's water rather than oil that could be what's fought over in the coming years post the reports now from one of the centers of enmity over water the middle east. the bible tells us that within

a short distance from here jesus turned water into wine two thousand years later the great american might be turning the wine back into water bubby carballo has been living in the golan heights for over thirty years each day he attends to seventy odd an orchard keeping his wine in a center that was once a syrian bunker he is proud of the wine he produces but knows that in the absence of water none of this would be possible but i know for sure the water is important because it's the second main resource that we have other than the land each crop needs water and without it you will destroy all the crops and destroy all of the farming here it can turn the golan heights into a desert and it's not just about the golan heights rainwater from its catchment feeds into the river jordan providing a food of israel's water supply the disputed region was seized from syria after the six day war and residents of the golan remember that water was a key issue in the conflict and one of the stands here understands the importance

of the work that all the water supply of israel because every door was raining here all but one is prone to the security of god so we can say that it is and must. respect the prisoner who have been poured over these what the phone says it's a worldwide rule that whoever controls the water controls the land but the problem is in some places there's very little water to go around bring you have the common waterfalls shared by several foreign nations there's always the possibility of clash of riches conflicts that should be manageable was put out of control and examples of possible conflicts are plentiful syria's major water sources travel through turkey and iraq making it vulnerable while jordan is reliant on a river with syria bill today egypt. recently expressed concern if

a country is using the upper now to generate electric power in the dry landscape of the middle east water is a prize more precious than diamonds in its absence famine and drought are quick to follow but this is a region that very seldom needs an excuse for war and water shortages might just tip the balance police here r.t. in the golan heights. as problem mentioned in her report egypt is now locking horns over water supplies with ethiopia which is building a dam on the nile but egypt which is massively dependent on the same supplies is wary the project might leave its entire population with no water when it comes online in three years that it will science professor sayed said it predicts tension will boil over we have to remember that egypt has only six to seven percent of its land and the rest of the egyptian territory is there's a bevin there's a so that can really be a serious affecting national security and that's why immediately when the european

there is the issue of hi there the world some. experts here is that the world talk about military option and go in to war was this your beer because if you cut water on us we would be buying eighty five percent of the water. and water comes from and so it's serious in fact that in two thousand and fifteen egypt will be one hundred fifty million people and we would be needing in addition to the fifty five point five billion cubic meter we need twenty one billion cubic meter extra from where do we get it in. towards. the fifty five point five cubic meters what would happen to egypt in the u. two thousand and fifty if we don't have more water. and mideast affairs journalist adel darwish thinks nations have no choice but to rationally share their common

supplies and not politicize their disputes as the population grew and as i recall sort of grew and. buz grew or was all it was. what it is when dealing probably will reach a point or hardly any fresh water lives on the planet that could be averted if the idea i was exploring a while back what we call a water bank the rivers or water resources shirred among nations. the usage of it what you wish for agriculture what do you wish for and what do you wish for power generation and complain see each other by sort of making the water dollar or daughter pound or whatever and then we quantify it into more cooperative projects but without giving the human nature and nature of politicians i probably not very optimistic. i had for years surely here in r t britain's banking bullies

are some peers claims that a major high street bank is profiting from small businesses with slate of hand financing instead of being their safety net one couple tells us how they've all everything. for free to. take the bus back to slow motion housing time bomb ticks away of the british economy over which george osborne presides he says twenty fourteen will be a year of hard truths the hardest of all being that many must live so that the few marginal seat voters he needs a win at the property roulette wheel so the hard truth for twenty fourteen is that in the boom bust property market never must supply meet demand for the libyan foreign market protesting you know so hurry run it by now to get the job they know job get a loan because if you don't get the government back scheme will face

a year of bourne's hard plus thirty troops. welcome back you're with arts and international live from moscow returning now to the countdown to sochi twenty fourteen which is not the one month mark the olympic host city now an r.t.s. paul scott hall. well here we are overlooking

the coastal cluster all the olympic village six of the venues are behind me six of the eleven venues are behind me they've all been completed tested and ready to go but i'm delighted to say that joining us now live on r.t. is the chairman of the sochi twenty fourteen organizing committee dimitri dimitri mr thank you very much for joining us here on our here we are then one month to go until the start of the games i'm sure there's still quite a bit of work to be done but what would you say is the single most important thing to be done but between now and february seventh. first of all merry christmas for everybody it's christmas time here in russia and then cheer and you can see that. russia ready to host the most innovative and complex games ever all stuff in place that will read this of each on the olympic mall to all men in transportation system including access to the venues and of course separations so there i mean what are what are the things to be done between now and february the seventh finishing

touches on the thing remaining to hold the games where ready to welcome the world in less than thirty days ahead and this is going to be the twenty second edition of the winter olympics what's going to be different about these games it's quite old standing because it will be a russian game send russia all the red the rise to the bar very high will be incredible games by many aspects including the incredible number of medal events it will be in ninety eight and there will be eighteen days of wonderful competition there and will be the biggest ever. t.v. audience and what's the world going to learn not just about russia but about sochi as well. such is a beautiful city it's subtropical city this is really outstanding that we're hosting the winter games here. along the palm trees and their wonderful beaches but most of. don't think that ever since his state of the art and purpose built to host

the most complex in the fish and game ever that's what such he can can show the rest of the world but what's the legacy for such as we are we looking at such as legacy right now such a change from the ordinary soviet style resort to the really international now all year round winter and summer sport distain nation and world sport to come i have to ask you about security it's a it's a big issue what is being done to keep these games safe so spectators can come here in peace of mind that these games will be safe and has the safety operation been amended or changed in any way following the recent events in volgograd from the beginning of the construction phase the security was the paramount importance of the proportion for the games and by being in all for all international experts and the i.o.c. the russian state assortative provide incredible measures and incredible things to

guarantee is the safest and the most secure games ever amongst what how can we reassure spectators that these games are going to be perfectly safe you should see and should come and see that it's really calm and friendly environment all security place and i want to ensure that this by the. tourism is a global threat here in sochi everybody will be protected these games haven't come cheaply i think it's fair to say what do you say to the critics who say that the expense and the cost of these games isn't justified no it's just because and i can ensure that the budget for durations of the games which i'm directly in charge of is roughly the same like for the previous games since about two point two billion dollars as for the construction of the olympic related infrastructure competition. non-competition venice and supplying infrastructure like power plant or

a sewage system. exactly the same as we were committed in our can do data file in the big book around seven billion and half of that provided by public funds their risk figure sometimes appear in the media has nothing to do with the entire limbic infrastructure it might be figures of rain over eighty of. innovation of the environment in the region ok and i'm sure these games have taken up a measurable amount of your time over the last seven years have you had any chance to think what you might do after these games. started to cells and five when i was lead in successful beat campaign so the games will be successfully it will be almost nine years so for the most active part of my life but after a limpid games the most important things for me will be going to paralympic games and i thank you very much for your time thank you very much for joining us live here on a site there you have it behind me as i say six of the venues including the fish

stadium which is going to be hosting the opening ceremony on february the seventh rehearsals ongoing at the moment the contents of the show are closely guarded secret we don't know what to expect but the countdown to the start of the sochi twenty fourteen winter olympics is well and truly underway all right looking forward to it paul go and see if you can score some tickets to those so that opening ceremony in fact paul scott live with the meters you know shank the president of the sochi two thousand and fourteen organizing committee thanks for that. well to other news now the u.s. war in iraq may have ended more than two years ago but washington is now rushing in emergency shipment of drones and missiles to the country the firepower is designed to help the iraqi government retake the city of full luiza which has been overrun by al-qaeda linked militants earlier extremist forces crossed over from neighboring syria joining up with their allies in iraq the radicals want to set up an islamic

state and their ranks are swelling with thousands of new recruits iraqi leaders have been struggling to control the country in the aftermath of the u.s. withdrawal two years ago iran has also offered to help baghdad and analysts say the islamic state will fill the gap left by america but we have seen in this town and washington for the past three years been the some sort of a disinterested iraq you know like iraq does not exist right off their radar screen so. really it's a volatile situation military was never prepared it was always predicated on sectarian lines unfortunately it is does not have the kind of weapon that it needs to fight this by it doesn't have combat airplanes it does not have combat helicopters bronze ally in the area its biggest ally is maliki so they are not going to stand by idly and see the country break up or going to war or being in the maliki overthrown by a guy that type so again i think that they would come to the aid or at least with

in terms of arms and supplying arms and so on because the u.s. so far has fallen short of doing their jobs to get a small business off the ground you need the backing of a bank but you carefully because not all seem to have your entrepreneurial interests at heart laura smith been to meet one couple in britain who found their lender more predatory than protective and discovered they're far from alone. chris richardson and ernie bernstein used to own this hotel but not anymore three years ago out of the blue they say their bank took it from them nat west stole our hotel this hotel beyond me here these hours always will and it will be coming back if there's justice in this country these guys will be arrested. we will be giving this october back in two thousand and ten chris and ernie had a loan from now west to do up the coniston hotel and conference center in north kent they were just eleven days from opening when their bank manager told them

there was a problem releasing the latest tranche of their loan he said no worries don't worry about it. and that is the last we've ever heard of. we have not heard from him later the owners know the bank was saying they'd run out of money despite having one point six million pounds of their agreed loan left now west then revalue to the hotel at just over a third of its original price so the hotel found itself in administration from where it was snapped up by west register the bank's property. the kicker r.b.s. and its subsidiary now west are majority owned by the taxpayer but it's a ruse r.b.s. has been accused of many times over lawrence tomlinson is a small business advisor to the government his recent report exposes the seemingly duplicitous nature of banking operations my report focuses on r.b.s. and what we're saying is that restructuring division georgi today in

a way that the businesses they were supposed to be helping get back to health were taken put into distress for the benefit of the bank we actually see b.s. has its own property company called west register and we're seeing r.b.s. owning those customers property after they've been in distress told linton's report is twenty pages of examples and findings under headings like engineering or defaults and it's their fees in response r.b.s. said in a statement no evidence had been provided to support the allegation that the bank had systematically profited on the backs of their customers and they'd be looking into it fully. recent ernie's hotel is now a thriving business fitted out exactly as they left it but it belongs to the bank and their lives have been destroyed put me from a very wealthy man back on tax credits. more family suffered

heavily through this. bank's property company. last year. she sadly. got cancer and march this year and she'd already my. three three girls that one answers and justice determined to fight back chris and ernie cling to the idea that one day they'll walk through these doors of the hotel again laura smith artie kent. well the man who was on your side when the banks beat you down is max kaiser he's up next on our international.

there are many internal battles in society liberals and conservatives will never agree on gun rights or abortion but there is one battle that is often more generational than anything the battle for school uniforms teachers argue that uniforms eliminate a big distraction in the classroom and break up the caste systems that can evolve at school between the cool fashionable kids and the ones who can barely afford lunch like me in my younger years but teenagers will scream uniforms crush their freedom of expression and that they have a right to express who they are their individuality who has the right to dictate to them what to wear the thing they don't realize is that if the school doesn't tell them what to wear that big corporations and m.t.v. will all the cool individuals who dress alike and blindly follow all the trends are just obeying corporate marketing instead of their parents yeah for some reason it is bad if the school punishes you for dressing improperly but if the cool kids make your life a living hell for not wearing the right brand of shoes well that's all well and good for some reason hey look at it this way school uniforms are cheap which leaves

more money for parents to buy you video games being individual in your actions and not a fake individual in trendy clothes but that's just my opinion. welcome to the kaiser report max keiser five four three two. a bust that are slow motion housing timebomb ticks away under the british economy over which george osborne presides he says twenty fourteen will be a year of hard truths the hardest of all being that many must lose so that the few marginal seat voters he needs may win at the property roulette wheel so the hard truth for twenty fourteen is that in the boom and bust property market never must

supply meet demand for those before our market pricing it all so hurry done it by now to get the job they know jobs get a loan because if you don't get the government back scheme you'll face a year of oz bourne's hard to bust austerity true of zero zero zero. zero yes max cory doctorow of boeing boeing says this factor slow motion housing time bomb housing in the u.k. is a microcosm for everything wrong with neo liberalism corruption cronyism grinding human misery and funny accounting to prove that it's all working honestly so he's talking about and everybody in town has been talking about james meeks piece in the london review of books called where will we live because right now at the moment there are about two hundred fifty thousand households being formed per year in the united kingdom and yet only about one hundred thousand.