olympic fever sweeps sochi is the games countdown reaching one day to go the torch relay on its final leg to launch the twenty second olympic winter games. and to meet the snowy peaks and sway. opinions about the it's only he needs. it when. a british couple accused of money laundering go to court to fight extradition to the u.s. telling our t.v. being forced from their home would be too much for them to bear. and they put it on the plane. and. the west recoiling is the syrian war reaches the u.s. and u.k. with returning extremists openly making terror threats against their home countries for the first time. washington weighing in on the ukrainian political crisis

sending diplomats to mediate for a second time in less than two months. eight pm in moscow i'm good to have you with us here on r t after years of planning construction and anticipation it's all come together in sochi we are now would dare away from the official start of the olympics and thousands of spectators and visitors are flooding the internet with their first impressions from meeting mascots to posing inside the olympic rings it's evident that the spirit of the games is in the air now the city itself is brimming with athletes tourists people from all over who are joining now by the olympic flame on the final leg of its at big germy journey that's covered tens of thousands of kilometers from the bottom of

the world's deepest lake to the top of the europe's highest peak to the olympic city now and our tees paul scott standing by with more. well spirits are high in and around right now no doubt at the moment being aided by the fantastic weather conditions you can probably see. glistening in the sunshine behind me temperatures are well in the double figures at the moment and the atmosphere the party atmosphere is also no doubt being boosted by the presence of the olympic torch which is in the final stages of its journey across the region over the next twenty four hours or so is going to be carried by a number of high profile public figures russia's foreign minister sergei lavrov the highly respected diplomat he's taken time out of. pick up the baton here when secretary-general ban ki moon he's here for the opening ceremony on friday evening of course it's the climax of a journey that started in moscow back in october sixty five thousand kilometers the torch has traveled it's been to the bottom of lake baikal it's gone to the top of

mt it's even been to the north pole and even to space and it's also been in the mountains which is just a short train ride from here and where my colleague. well yesterday. came up paid to the manties and to the ski resort of rose a. very only in peak hero the bobsled. was one of the torchbearers nine were in the foothills of the caucasus and despite that was still only a very short tally cabin right away where most of the sporting events are going to take place so everything is very compact and that's also the case down at the black sea in the coastal cluster there and that's something the math lease i've been impressed with everything is small you know ordered a village and everything it's close. close to do. we can go by a wall there is not a big security so we feel free and we're fairly confident the russian

tennis star maria sharapova is also in town and she has links to this part of the world too and in her opinion she says sochi is the perfect place to host. the winter olympics. swim in the black sea the same day as you can drive up and out against the best slopes in the world. no one really believe me and i am. able to experience it so i'm finally we should note that even though the ceremony is tomorrow some advance have already started the qualification in the men's and women's slopestyle snowboarding has begun and the figure skating team event would also get underway so even though we're still waiting for the colder it to be late for some athletes sochi twenty fourteen is already up and running. well as he says the sport has finally got underway after months if not years of talking although this early stage nobody knows exactly what the medals table will look like come the end of the games start. believe that they have one animal you might know they

believe that in their midst is a psychic seal this is the moment to see his life changed forever abandoned by his mother in russia's far east the seal pup was weak with hunger and vulnerable to predators his chances of survival were slim. fast forward three years and his life is now transformed. is the home of the rather shy seal now staff say he was abandoned as a pup was rescued and then nurtured back to health care the dolphinarium of course of the winter olympics he's going to be one of the animals who are going to be predicting sporting outcomes. is now fighting fit and hoping to make a splash with spectators during needs winter olympics. he's already predicted a few football matches however he's not always correct only ninety nine percent of

the time. paul the octopus was the first of his kind he made international headlines join his career as a sporting psychic correctly. eleven out of thirteen football matches staff in sochi who. will have a similar success rate and also believe that after a difficult start in life could become a favorite with the public. probably your boy. alone. is into life stuff they are also hoping that a number of dead dolphins and even alters display psychic tendencies. let's go it's. so cheap not everything though and not everyone there rather embracing the olympic spirit just yet a number of journalists seem to be on a mission to highlight the less savory aspects they've found in this city but athletes telling a different story from admiring the view to praising what they say are top notch

facilities we spoke with a number of journalists who are in sochi including a canadian broadcaster douglas gallivan were told us that many of the issues are being overblown. anytime you try to do a project this big by throwing a limp it games in a city that really was very very small before before they decided that the olympic games are going to come here there's going to be one or two challenges a few of the hotels i didn't expect them to be finished but everyone in the area is working very very hard to fix these issues and everyone of course is also very very nice and very very helpful and the problem is when you're not actually in the location when you just see a few photos tweeted perhaps over twitter and there's a few things people start to develop their ideas and when you put those things together kind of paints a picture of negativity but i think honestly from my experience here the negativity is a little bit overblown and of course all the volunteers here have been absolutely fantastic working with us the foreign media and helping us and of course after to morrow when

the opening ceremonies happening i think all of that will be behind us all the if attention hopefully will focus on the athletes in the sports as opposed to the living accommodations of journalists which in the end it is a privilege to come here and cover the games and in about six minutes time we'll be going live to sochi with our own kevin owen entities who now are standing by to kick off our official coverage. of the g twenty four team promises we alternate in the exhilarating winter sports in our. social media and use in our way to make heaven and the rest of our lives take news team for sochi twenty four will take. on. well the spirit of the games might offer the warring sides in syria some respite or rush urging all those involved in conflicts around the world emphasizing syria to sign a so-called olympic truce to stop the violence at least during the time of the

events but the situation in the conflict zone seems to worsen daily its consequences being felt far and wide as hundreds of europeans who joined the fight in sochi returned home the alarm is being raised that they are bringing jihad back with them a group of extremists with british citizenship fighting in the middle eastern war zone now threatening to carry out terror attacks back in the u.k. they are already spreading the virus of extremist propaganda issuing posters urging people to join their cause among targets public transportation financial centers not just the u.k. one of the pictures shows a militant in front of the white house in washington laura smith has more. these are the first direct threats as far as we know that we have seen that have come out of syria death threats to attack public transport to attack financial centers and there's an estimated hundreds of britons that have joined this rebel groups in syria according to

a couple of studies that have been done it's not just britons although they are the most numerous there are around three hundred fifty according to these couple of studies that we've found but there are also three hundred belgians more than two hundred each from france and germany and around about one hundred fifty fighters who've gone from the netherlands to syria this group that we're talking about in britain is a group called riot how we which is a british jihadist group faction in syria they've got this facebook page and they've issued these threats online mainly if you take a look at their facebook page which is quite a shocking thing actually. the post is that they have posted these motivational posters that we're talking about are accompanied by likes on facebook requests to be tagged by various people. now this is coming a. number of other developments for example u.s. intelligence saying is saying that it's received reports that al qaida has set up training camps in syria specifically to train fighters to return home to their own

countries to perpetrate terror attacks in their own countries and u.k. intelligence authorities say they're taking these threats very seriously indeed political commentator john white things of britain's policy missteps actually contributed to the rise of extremism in syria. this tunnel events is entirely predictable and i think they have to be taken seriously this is the fruits of disastrous policy followed by the british government which they got to city over the last two years which has done nothing except so instability through the region with instability has grew and and the ideology of al qaeda the interests of the british and sitting governments are not the entire going to take the actually the same and that is to defeat this malign ideology because it is a clear and present danger not only to the sitting government and to the entire

region but increasingly to the west and to people in the west. mass unrest in the ukraine seems to have made the country a popular destination for u.s. diplomats but later state department official now in kiev victoria nuland plans to meet both the leadership and the opposition offer washington support in putting together a new government as are he's made important i reports this follows a long tradition of u.s. involvement in the politics of some other nation. in less than two months u.s. assistant secretary of state of victoria nuland is making her second visit to ukraine where anti-government protesters have received the full support and backing of washington u.s. officials say this trip is aimed towards aiding the country in forming a new government and helping ukrainians fulfill their democratic aspirations now back in december it was the stomachs of protesters that ms nuland helped fill as she walked around he's independence square handing out now now for many this seemed

to put an entirely new twist on international meddling in recent years the u.s. has cemented its reputation in siding with anti-government opposition movements taking place in sovereign countries such as tunisia egypt libya and syria. put in the case of ukraine u.s. officials are actually flying over the atlantic to visit and possibly strategize with pro european union protesters a power play that critics say washington would condemn if the roles were reversed for china russia or any other great power or even a regional power like iran came to the u.s. and was encouraging the protesters there would be a hue and cry from the american media like you'd never hear of before they would say why are these people interfering in our internal affairs but of course the united states sort of has a double standard because it often interferes in the affairs of other countries and

thanks nothing about it in all fairness critics say the u.s. does sometimes show restraint when it comes to foreign conflicts for example in bahrain as brutal and deadly crackdowns against peaceful unarmed protesters have taken place the u.s. has in mind its own business america has also respected its right to remain silent as saudi arabia recently enacted a new law allowing the kingdom to prosecute in jail anyone who exposes corruption or demands reform reporting from new york marina port nine r.t. stay with us here on our t.v. lots more coming your way after this short break.

i marinate join me. in that in part and financial commentary contributes and much much. only on bombast and. our guests should know that we too can president good measures to ensure their safety is but it's about this will not get in the way of their comfort of it but i can say for sure that they will. they will feel welcome with us where they needed to so sure residents are very hospitable people.

thanks for staying with us sixty minutes past the hour and our british couple are facing a desperate battle to avoid extradition to the u.s. cardinal legal triangle they are a legal tangle rather they're telling our case test our sylvia had rather take their own lives then be ripped away from their families. one morning fourteen months ago a life changing knock on the door with two policeman from scotland yard and i said where i was sorry mr dunham would come to arrest you and your husband since then they've been out on bail and are fighting extradition to the united states to await trial after claims from the dunham's former company in the us that they have more than one million dollars in illegitimate expense claims something the couple say are without merit showing as evidence that they've gathered some say they're not afraid of trial but the worst fears being sent to the states is the possibility of being denied bail and spending years behind bars apart from one another simply waiting for their day in court if we were away from this country is. for

a very good chance he would have. we're confident we would win. because we are innocent but we would then be shipped but there's no compensation and. wrongful acts for the ocean. can you imagine coming back to this country you know three or four years later no harm no money no job and you're now in you know sixty two sixty three years by and trying to rebuild your life controversy has long surrounded the u.s. u.k. extradition act of two thousand and three signed in the wake of nine eleven critics claim the dream and is biased against the u.k. if the u.s. citizen wanted by the u.k. government you have a higher standard of evidence that you need to provide in the u.s. and also as a u.s. citizen you have the opportunity to go to a u.s. court to plink your case and unfortunate for purchases since there is no such

opportunity to have your evidence tested in the u.k. court before you were exploited and that's a basic unfairness to an independent review in two thousand and eleven found at the treaty quote does not operate in an unbalanced manner but this contradicts findings of the parliament's joint committee and human rights which called for a renegotiation to ensure british citizens get the same protections as americans conservative m.p. who sits on the committee looked at nationalities of those extradited and found at thirty five britons have been sent to the us and steve thousand and four versus just five u.s. nationals who made the opposite journey that's seven times more but for every argument on this side of the atlantic a counter is thrown back the united states has never denied a request under the treaty whereas the united kingdom has denied multiple requests from the united states if the relationship is imbalanced i would say it's imbalanced against the united states but that is little comfort to the dunham's and others like them who teeter on the edge of desperation knowing it's very lives at

stake from the moment they put us on a plane. the first opportunity we can and. yes there is still u r t london. and finally in the boat in some twenty four hours a spectacular show will kick off the two thousand and fourteen winter olympic games in sochi and now for the first time we can go live to our studios in the host city our own a nice in our way and cavanagh and joining me live from sochi it looks like a great set up we've got there the view looks amazing tell us what can we all look forward to. hello matt you're absolutely right the view here is simply magnificent we can only imagine to what lengths our producers that our t. had to go to get this place the competition must have been for. the top of. the top of a big hotel here the russian seasons and beneath us of course gray davis to go to

sochi see you saw it all the news in the so-called lower cluster the just underneath us and that's right just there that giant building i hope you can see behind me is the fish arena that's where the opening ceremony will take place friday evening and we're going to presenting from this gorgeous studio from the very start of the going to the exactly twenty fourteen fourteen local time and that will be with you every day royd fruitful february twenty third of those games times were close what a lineup we've got one of whom we missed that's right we have athletes diplomats politicians and internationally renowned personalities joining us here to tell you about sochi and the twenty second winter olympic games and it's not just here either drive into the studio so nor was our t.v. screen you called it as well didn't you took a breath was quote. one of the city's major roads given quite a surprise a much closer of the telling off those bunkers giving a sermon right the middle of the well it's not just billboards we set up mobile

studios really prominent venues across the city will be able to bring you the winners participants and spectators of these games and also very much in evidence of an emergency row plea reeling in footage from around the city as the games get underway we'll be showing you the pictures right here on you can also catch up with the brightest events in sochi on the web site as well and just to be clear to clear up i say any confusion olympic events will all be happening either behind us here in the lower class or a short drive away in the mountains in an called area. all of the upper class but of course this very place is the hub studio this is where it's all going to be coming from from here will connection with all the other studios our correspondents . cameras dotted around the city and all the connected together here. but let's all get to it i should say our very own martin andrews has been seeing what's

happening around town we can join him now to get some more sense fascinations been up to all the she's hot spots rumors and gossip is that not right martin. that's right guys can you believe after seven years we're finally here tomorrow. as for now the relay of the torch is taken one hundred twenty two days one hundred twenty three days to more of a sixty five thousand kilometers of the largest country in the world that's covering eighty three regions over one hundred cities it's been up in space it's been underwater you name it but it is finally here in fact today the torch was also very busy today it was held by the foreign minister sergei lavrov it was also held by various sports men and women it was also held by the president of the i.o.c. thomas bach with a surprise guest ban ki moon the secretary general of the united nations so lots to look forward to and of course lots of speculation regarding who will carry the torch to morrow of course two years ago in the olympic games in london we had

a guest appearance by david beckham and queen elizabeth the second of course we have that video in the fake actor parachuting into the games with james bond so a lot of people talking about who will carry the flames for lots of excitement and certainly i personally can't wait for the party tomorrow night our. photo yes indeed that's just a taste there for you of what we've got lined up for you over the coming weeks and don't miss out in tune in twenty four hours from now for our special olympic coverage so. now so how they but. great can't wait to check back in with you later for more so r.t. reporting from the heart of the winter games will be broadcasting daily from sochi throughout and online at twenty fourteen dot r.t. dot com.

stay with us at r.t. international next over to our washington d.c. studios for a financial show boom bust. recently an online poll by the liberal dozhd t.v. channel that's rain in english has caused quite a storm of rage across the country how could a stupid online poll cause russia wide anger while they pose the question was

defending living grad from the nazis worth it because retreat in their opinion could have saved hundreds of thousands of lives what is offensive from culture to culture differs a lot but from a russian perspective fighting to the bitter end to stop the german genocide machine was worth it this is basically like if a somewhat popular news outlet had a poll on martin luther king's birthday asking well slavery really that bad it was a poem for the economy but why would someone create this poll is because the people who wrote it are sick with the disease are types total self infatuation egoism and greed and other words were a generation mean mean mean these people could never imagine sacrificing the great and wonderful me for any cause sacrificed me to the. me i'd rather kiss their boots and learn german but it wasn't for millions of russians put their self-interest as a distant second then all those great and wonderful me s. would have been worked to death and shot a nazi death camp it pays to make a few sacrifices for society to fascist my opinion.

so. over there i marinated and this is boston these are the stories that we're tracking for you today. first up investment adviser and financial blogger mike shed locked discusses minimum wage inflation and the overall health of the u.s.

economy you won't want to miss our interview that's coming right up then film director jim bruce is back on the show today he is joining us live from los angeles to discuss is the latest documentary money for nothing plus he's giving us his take on the regime change over the fed and finally in today's big deal ed harrison and i are talking wall box water wall bucks you might be asking you've got to stay tuned to find out it's all coming up and it all starts right now. our lead story today cigarette now for those of you out there addicted to tobacco you know full well that when you need a nicotine fix you just got to have it however one place you're not going to find

it is that c.v.s. no not anymore now the country's largest drugstore c.v.s. caremark has announced that starting october first they will no longer sell cigarettes and other tobacco products the move will cost the chain an estimated two billion dollars per year however that loss of sale actually accounts for just a small fraction of the company's total revenue which topped one hundred twenty three billion dollars last year now c.v.s. is the first major pharmacy to ban tobacco sales though many smaller independently owned pharmacies have already done so c.v.s. medical officer dr troy brennan said quote this action may not lead many people to stop smoking smokers world probably simply go elsewhere to buy cigarettes but if other retailers follow this lead to the products will become much more difficult to obtain so how do smokers feel about all this we hit the streets to find out. people like me who want to stop smoking we have to go

a little bit further to get the pack of cigarettes you know and for me to get up at midnight or some way that or ten o'clock at night to go to c.v.s. when they're only have twenty four hours i can run in and grab a tax cigarettes but if i can get them so easily it'll make me think twice before i go out and buy that pack i think tobacco is on its way out and it's going to become more of a niche market and not something that you're going to find in every corner store i think it's good for their image i think they're going to take a slight hit on their like market share or whatever but i think overall it's a good choice for them for their if they want to be concerned of the pharmacy that smart. now while c.b.s. executives know full well the decision will cost them billions of dollars in the short term the company believes they'll make more in the long run by banning tobacco sales and by ditching tobacco products c.v.s. can further develop their pharmacies into full fledged health care providers striking more profitable deals with hospitals and health insurers in the process now c.v.s. didn't become a multibillion dollar drug store by being bad at business they did not but there

you have it. the u.s. economy has seen an even recovery over the past four years now this despite the economic expansion and the fed's best efforts to put a floor under asset prices many people are feeling the weight of poor wage growth despite all of this now our next guest financial advisor and economic blogger mike shylock talk to us about the situation and i started off by asking him why a lot of people still are saying that they don't see the recovery and believe america is still in a recession today. tell us we're back in a recession now i've accidentally an erroneous fully thought we were on the verge of recession a couple of times well the.