so. scandal brewing over an alleged phone conversation that could sully washington's reputation in ukraine as it sends diplomats to despair is there to mediate the political crisis. a big fever sweeping sochi with the torch relay now in the

final leg before the opening ceremony of the twenty second winter games. a british couple charged with money laundering go to court to fight extradition to the u.s. they tell our t. that being forced from their home would be just too much for them today. and it might put us on the plane. in countries recoil as the syrian war reaches the u.s. and u.k. with returning it stream is openly making threats against their home countries for the first time. our top story this hour a scandal brewing is washington's real stance on ukraine may have leaked on the web an alleged phone conversation between us a secret assistant secretary of state victoria nuland and the u.s. ambassador to ukraine has appeared on the you tube let's get more from our tease

marine important live for us in new york summary know what do the two allegedly discuss. well what you hear these two high u.s. officials discussing is literally putting members of the ukrainian opposition moving them around like as if they were playing chess on how to configure a new government in ukraine the u.s. ambassador to ukraine geoffrey pyatt and the u.s. assistant secretary of state of nuland who are trying to figure out who would be who would be best in what position they said that one of the opposition leaders yacht's a nuke is the guy with the economic experience and the best governing experience that he's the guy that should be on the inside when they also mentioned klitschko another opposition leader and another one more city book those to you the two u.s. officials say that those are the guys that should remain outside of government they even referenced klitschko as

a complicated electron in the circumstance of creating a new government they said they mentioned even troubles that he's having in his marriage right now how that could come into play with him having a role in the newly formed ukrainian government spoke about keeping the moderate democrats together they also spoke about the fact that they need something to make their plan stick once they new government is formed if it starts gaining altitude they need some kind of symbolism a u.n. figure to come into ukraine give a nod to it they say if that doesn't happen they said that there was russians could come in enter pito any plans the u.s. is now putting in place for the new ukrainian government and was there anything significant in the recording. there was another significant probably the most controversial part of the recording is when they were discussing

an international personality to come out and quote unquote midwife this thing they said that they rather have a u.n. official come in and help glue this thing together and then victoria nuland the assistant secretary of state the u.s. made a very controversial comment about her european allies let's take a listen so that would be great i think to help glue this thing and have the u.n. help glue it and you know the e.u. . so obviously that created major headlines instantaneously after this recording hit you tube the spokesperson for. the state department jen psaki was fielding many questions at a press briefing earlier on thursday she said she insisted that

newlin actually apologized to someone in the european union for the comments that she made let's take a listen been in close contact with a representative ashton also let me convey that she has been in contact with the e.u. counterparts and and of course has apologized but. for these reported comments of course not confirming that you're. under snow going to speak to a private diplomatic conversation but i'm obviously speaking to the content of the report. misaki went on to to charge and maintain a position that the u.s. is not trying to interfere with ukrainians internal politics ukraine's internal politics she insisted that you can the u.s. still believes that it's up to the ukrainian people to decide their future and

determine their path forward said that u.s. officials have apologized for this conversation she also hasn't confirmed the authenticity of this conversation but when referencing the conversation the kind of language that was used ms psaki also made somewhat of a joke about where miss nuland picked up her or her words and her use of i guess curse words let's take a listen you may know the story of how she lived on the russian boat for about eight months when she was twenty three in she learned how to perfect perhaps certain words in a couple of languages so perhaps that speaks to that more than a pervasive viewpoint you know suggesting that she is a predisposition against russian no i was suggesting that she learned russian curse words and curse words. i was making and learning the curse words on a fishing boat. that press briefing

was extremely heated misaki was getting torpedoed with with questions from all the reporters in attendance about what how this conversation took place why the u.s. is trying to. mind the business of the ukrainians internal politics why the u.s. is getting so involved with this story clearly is a shock for many that are following the situation and now seeing how involved the u.s. is and how much of a role it is trying to play in forming a new government obviously this is just the beginning of the story more may possibly come out in the coming days we'll have to wait and see all right marina thanks for that update. after years of planning construction anticipation it's all come together in sochi less than a day away from the official start of the games and thousands of spectators and visitors are flooding the internet with their impressions from meeting mascots to posing with the rings it's clear that the spirit of the game is in the air the city

itself brimming with the athletes of visitors and tourists joined now by the olympic flame finally on its last leg of its journey that's covered tens of thousands of kilometers from the bottom of the world's deepest lake the top of europe's tallest peak the olympic capital now where our teams martin andrews has more. well off to one hundred and twenty two days the torch is finally here in the sochi area to arrive yesterday some more of the one hundred twenty three days will be complete i don't make its way to the opening ceremony tomorrow night at the time will be fourteen minutes past eight of course to represent twenty four if you go back to two years ago we had the likes of david beckham james bond and queen elizabeth the second he made appearances so everybody is really talking about who will be carrying the torch tomorrow earlier on today we had a lot of rough we had. the i.o.c. president he was also carrying the flame i also a surprise visitor from the likes of ban ki moon the general secretary of state for

the united nations as well as famous russian actors and musicians and earlier on we caught up with the french figure skater and this is what he had to say about the rising excitement here in the sochi area in general i think the russians are very enthusiastic about sport and about the olympics so i expect them to play great hosts of the world and so far what i've seen has been very impressive and i can't wait to get down to the venues and see the competition. and also the world famous tennis star maria sharapova i did her comments on the excitement surrounding the twenty fourteen winter olympics same in the black sea the same day as you can drive up and out stinson best slopes in the world. you know and really believe me and i am. people to experience this on. a course it's quite interesting to the fact that the games actually started today why is that well that's because there are twelve new events added since the vancouver games in twenty and of course everybody is

talking about carrying the torch and who will win those magnificent medals that were unveiled to the various journalists yesterday and to talk about fortune telling let's speak to pull scott with a very interesting guest. seize the moment to see his life changed. about. by his mother in russia's far reached 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 stuff they say that he was abandoned as a pup was rescued and then nurtured back to health care the dr marion i'm from the course of the winter olympics is 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 your needs are going to remain picks.

he's already predicted a few football matches however he's not always correct only ninety nine percent of the time. pull the octopus was the first of his kind he made international headlines during his career as a sporting psychic correctly predicting 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. how do you avoid. a low. isn't a lone star fair also hoping that the number of dead dolphins and even alters display psychic tendencies. let's go it's a multi so. everyone's embracing the olympic spirit though a number of journalists have been tweeting out the less savory aspects of the city

they've been fighting but athletes telling a different story from admiring their view to praising what they call top notch facilities we spoke with a number of journalists though are in sochi including the c.b.c. broadcaster douglas gallivan who told us that many of the issues are he thinks being overblown. anytime you try to do a project this big by throwing a limp big 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 but the problem is when you're not actually in the location we 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 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 one of the central issues that as a dog the lead up to the olympics is the issue of gay rights in russia and the opportunity now to discuss this all with underneath me granya in a new york based director for the institute of democracy and cooperation thank you for joining us so homosexuality is legal in russia but why did it seem that now was the good time for russian officials to introduce this law especially with the games so close. well you know i think that this has nothing to do neither with all them pics nor even with the gays in general

because this is the larger problem russia is trying to put together and consolidate russian nation and russian state around somewhere leos and this their lives are conservative this moment not because russia doesn't like liberal elites but unfortunately liberal their lives were discredited during the ninety's that's why now this is an attempt to strengthen family ties. belonging to the proudness all of us they and their identity of their cultures and traditions and then this russian court at this would like of course the first locals to strengthen family ties and family values this is a valid reason and that's why as president put in a mansion to live kids alone and this is the same policy in many places including several states in the united states especially which you know prohibits

our democracy of homosexuality and it didn't create any problem in two thousand and two when american olympic team went to salt lake city to participate in all the antics once the games begin to expect the spotlight to shift to the sport and athletes or do you think this issue will still loom over the games. i think i would like of course and such to show sport results rather than their sexual orientation but i hope that. because organizers and president himself said that you are welcome independent to your gender religion. ethnicity and sexual orientation you are welcome to participate i think that organizers will do their best in order to let everybody to feel comfortable and i hope that this issue is not going to steal all or so for

people who want their voices to be heard though what better forum is there then the olympics to make a statement. i think of that they do it out everywhere i think russian media is very open contrary to manage state months and western press that russian media is totally on there that can show you have independent newspapers independent david channels and all these problems are in discussion and i don't think that there must be some space so places and special events in order to raise these questions to discuss only. for people who want to be heard do you think the kremlin will yield on this issue if protests happen during the games. i don't

think that i think the president of. international olympic committee to mention the olympics is not the place for politics. i think that there are going to be a manifestation in december but even if some. incidents will happen i don't think that this. will all the rest over there olympics it could be some single events and i don't think that dave going to have any serious impact on all the process of limpid. all right mr migranyan thank you for a time. round the clock on air and online stay with us for our coverage from sochi bringing you all the everything from the rinks to the slopes online and on our web site r t dot com where you have a special section twenty fourteen dot r.t. dot com.

the g twenty four team promises the call to make an exhilarating winter. soldier and it's now a make seven zero in on the last of all of these teams for sochi twenty four taking . on. russia urging those engaged in conflicts around the world but particularly in syria to observe an olympic truce the details on that after a short break. but. down in the fine. in the rest i think.

it's a. pleasure to have you with us here on t.v. today i'm sure. hopes that the spirit of the sochi games might offer warring sides in syria some respite russia urged all those involved in conflicts around the world emphasizing syria to sign an olympic truce to stop violence at least for the duration of the

games but the situation in the conflict zone seems to worsen daily consequences being felt far and wide hundreds of europeans who join the fight in syria return home alarms being raised that they're bringing jihad back with them a group of extremists with british passports who are fighting in the middle eastern war zone now threatening to carry out terror attacks back in the u.k. already spreading the virus of extremist propaganda issuing posters urging people to join their cause among their targets public transport networks financial centers not just in the u.k. one of the pictures showing the white house as well as laura smith has more from london. 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 center. and this is an estimate of hundreds of britons that have joined the hottest 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 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 that 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 commentator john white thinks britain's policy missteps may have contributed to a rise of extremism in syria the so alarming to tunnel events is entirely predictable and i think you have to be taken seriously this is a disastrous policy followed by the british government which we've got to study over the last two years which has done nothing except sure instability through the region with instability has. grew into. the ideology of al qaeda the interests of the british and sitting governments are no antagonistic yeah 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. a british couple

facing a battle to avoid extradition to the u.s. charged with embezzling more than a million dollars they told r.t. stars are so here they'd rather take their own lives then leave their families one morning fourteen months ago a life changing knock on the door with two policeman from scotland yard and i said were. done i'm going to 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 that some say they're not afraid of trial but their worst fears be sent to the states 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 why we're confident we would win. because we are innocent that 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 agreement is biased against the u.k. if you're a 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 plead your case and unfortunate for purchases since there is no such opportunity to have your evidence tested in the u.k.

court before your expert i said and that's a basic unfairness to an independent review and twenty eleven found at the treaty quote does not operate in an unbalanced manner but this contradicts findings of the parliament's joint committee in 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 four versus just five u.s. nationals who made the opposite journey that 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 to divulge to pull 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 many. more tests are cilia r t london. or not as some other stories making global headlines this hour transport chaos sweeping london for a second day with millions facing delays due to a workers' strike in the underground with most stations out of action commuters have had to stay home or face massive lines for buses and overground trains unions declared the strike over plans to close ticket offices and cut jobs. hundreds in yemen marched through the country's capital sanaa expressing anger against a gas deal between the government and french oil company total procession headed by nobel prize winner how a coal car many protesters chanting anti corruption slogans experts say yemen's economy severely hurt by the deal signed under the leadership of the country's former president. worlds apart coming up next stay with us.

you know the playing. field in big spirit travels with the flame from its birthplace in greece.

joining james brown for an elemental and epic journey around russia and beyond to. where i think i know. anyone going to the wall street superhero jamie that. drug goes wild. and the other orders the evil the refused to help bellow long-term capital management oh it's dick the gorilla fold. here to mediate this lie this balsam will be rescued this stage rumble in the wall

street jungle with a seven hundred billion charge out the audience yes the game is rigged. the g twenty fourteen almost a week old to me and exhilarating winter in our team if you join me and you see no way i'm a criminal and the best of all it takes to stay in for sochi twenty four take. on. the welcome to wilds of part it's one of the sweetest and most toxic wards and then your language the one that can be used to both save and kill people in large numbers. what does it mean in today's world doesn't the quest for freedom often

result in the worst form of tyranny to discuss that i'm knowledge joined by famous technologist and philosopher richard stallman dr spellman thank you very much for your time i know that you've been a very vocal advocate of freedom for many many years and you define freedom as. having control and though having control of your own life exactly and i think that whenever we speak about the use of software or even about governance having control presupposes some sort of knowledge some sort of expertise and my question to you whether that makes freedom a privilege something that you have to actually work for something that you have to earn and deserve rather than you know if you know you disagree totally first of all we need to distinguish freedom from power freedom is having control of your own life but when power.