it's only a matter of hours now before the official start of the twenty four scene of winter games anticipation is growing with the entry surrounding the opening ceremony just adding to the excitement plus. he says the competition is just about ice and snow now that all the athletes have gathered here in sochi will be giving out the fact. that we're drilling picks from the we had a wonderful costumes to be overly bright and just downright bizarre. and embarrass us diplomats try to laugh all from the parent lehi explicit phone chat over how they could tailor the next ukrainian government's.

watching r t international with me marina koester a very warm welcome. well as you can see you're about see there we go we have eight hours twelve minutes remaining that's the olympic countdown clock in the heart of in moscow there are just a matter of hours to go before the flame of the winter games is let's at the olympic stadium and what some of the competitions have already kicked off on the world this hole that's breath for the official opening ceremony and organizers do promise it will be mind blowing artie's paul scott says in the olympic capital for us. it's been seventy since so she was awarded the winter olympics and in a few hours' time we're going to see the culmination the climax of all that hard work and old out planning the opening ceremony gets underway at eight fourteen pm local time in the fish stadium that you can probably make out behind me and i was

fortunate enough to get a ticket for the final dress rehearsal on choose david and i can tell you that the forty thousand plus spectators who are going to be inside the stadium are going to be treated to a high tech pyrotechnic display a condensed journey through russian history and although the ending ceremony hasn't begun in the olympic cauldron hasn't been lit we still don't know the identity of the person tossed with that despite those things the sport has started the events began on thursday and the continuing to run throughout friday and also has spoken to a couple of athletes who have tested their venues ahead of their events and they say the sochi is ready to welcome the sporting world person precious having good we've been hiding every day. like states we don't have this much it's accessible but so easily. cut off to live. right in the sun every day. so yeah.

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 called again well tonight's opening ceremony will also see the climax of the journey for the olympic torch it's on its record breaking sixty five thousand kilometer journey around the world's largest country it's in the final stages of that journey of course has been to the bottom of the world's deepest lake lake by kalas being to the top of the highest peak in europe mt elbrus and has even been into outer space on the north pole and in the. last twenty four hours it's been carried by a number of high profile figures as well including russia's foreign minister sergei lavrov he's taking time out of his busy show jill to pick up the baton as has u.n. secretary general ban ki moon who is here for tonight's opening ceremony and organizers say that for the olympic torch relay it is almost

a case of mission accomplished it's of course the longest and biggest torch relay in time and history so it's been a huge logistical effort to make this happen in russia in winter time but it's been a fantastic journey and i mean every dream we endure going to school we had before we started has really come through so it's it's been an amazing journey really showing the first verse of everybody over the next few hours the olympic torch is going to snake its way through such a before arriving here in the fish stadium for the opening ceremony and atmosphere is building because the such the twenty fourteen winter olympics are now just hours away. well we've got a team of correspondents working across the olympic host city were just a report by paul scott he's actually in the coastal cluster and will give you a little idea of what we mean here this is where the olympic ceremony will take place and also of course we know that athletes in five kinds of sports will be

competing and everything else will take place up in the mountains and even on points in all ports and it might look far as i actually just a half an hour ride away and this is where our teams and a farmer is there for us. when russia won the right to host these olympics there wasn't even a paved road leading to the never mind a telly cabin but now look at it it is a fully fledged european style ski village there are hotel chains here as well as restaurants and cafes and is even a nightclub around the corner but this place is in it for the long haul because long after the olympics have packed up and gone home is hope that many thousands of tourists will come here today. kates to come to something like sixty kilometers worth of ski runs and three ski areas around this place and that is set to be expanded so this little tour even though it's been short does show that there's much more to these olympics than just sporting venues it's all about the overhaul and the entire regeneration of a region. and before the medal counts big dance let's take

a look at some basic numbers the term in these games so these are that's once the second winter olympics and they're definitely record breaking almost three thousand athletes from the largest ever number off country eighty eight will compete in sorting in a record number of sporting events ninety eight and that's twelve competitions more than in mine coover four years ago we have another record song she has broken and that's the cost these are officially the most expensive winter games in history but these olympics are not just about sportsmanship and counts and medals there's one more competition and despite snowboards it's still going to catch your size so designers worldwide have put all their efforts into making the teams the gold standard of olympic fashion so who better to sense a look at the results and artie's vary on march the. course all the eyes will be on the procession tonight at the opening ceremony and indeed what people are wearing

are their uniforms are they costumes all of the political statements so let's give you a wrap of what you can expect tonight let's go straight to the german team will certainly stand out from the crowd we have been designed by. that all the coats in what could be described as a rainbow childish garish effect with that bright colors of pink yellow blue green a few people have said that it's a nod towards the anti gay attitude and subjects running the controversy of the games but personally i think it's just a throwback to the cab as a my little pony so that's the german team for you expect them to be that in lights said be selling out in the procession let's move on to my opinion and what i think are the most stylish and chic uniforms that will be showing tonight they are of course america some say new york is the fashion capital of the world and the costumes uniforms are designed by ralph lauren they were unveiled last year and of course. all here in the pico says that cool with a slim sweatpants with

a floppy hats with a star design in the colors red white and blue sky personal thumbs up to the american team now let's go from something quite acceptable to the weird and wonderful let's take a look at the scandinavian country of norway and the curling team in the zigzag effort of what you can see now in the colors also in red white and blue they wanted to feel at ease on the ice with what they're wearing and they certainly will be wearing those outfits so fingers crossed that costume will work for them because personally i would not want to wear that outfit living also a great guy he's been in the papers and covered by lots of the media it's the mexican ski championship herbert von holzen who and he's actually just one eighth mexican he's actually descendants of german royalty people say he's a prince of the people that don't he'll be wearing the lair oh outfits he said he won't miss him in his truffled ruffled succeeded with his red tie and come

a band that's the prince hubertus von holzen who are moving on to the russian bombshell that is arena sit over recently she posed for a glossy magazine wearing just lingerie with her curling stone she's got lots of tongues wagging lots people are looking forward to seeing her tonight of course she isn't just a pretty face but she is a celebrity here in russia of course and i will also be seeing other teams from around the world including great britain and the rest of the russian team so while three billion people might be watching the opening ceremony for the famous torch bearing other people will see it as a fashion and somewhat political statement regarding what people are wearing let's look forward to an excitement here is just incredible. stay with us as who began our special coverage of the games from our olympic stadium and sawtooth us live from rome.

twenty fourteen promises the ultimate in exhilarating winter. storm and you see no way i'm a criminal and i'm the worst of all of these teams for sochi twenty four take. all the. phone call of washington's behind the scenes casting for ukraine's next leader calls red faces at the state department that's especially after the conversation appeared to talk up a special role for the e.u. so that would be great i think alluded to the u.n. help glue it and you know the e.u. in the parent conversation with the ambassador in kiev the u.s. this top diplomat for europe victoria nuland outlined a failsafe scheme to forge a new government and then for in the port with more on the leak and that role well what you hear during this four minute conversation is basically two top u.s. officials strategizing about how to form ukraine's new government it sounds like

they're playing a game of chess with the opposition leaders as the pieces on that chess board they're trying to determine which opposition leader has the best economic and governing experience to work inside ukraine's new government and which opposition leaders should remain on the outside it's a bit shocking to actually hear i had to listen to it a few times to really grasp the fact that there are strategizing on how to put together the government of another country instead of paraphrasing everything let let's let our viewers actually take a listen for themselves. the piece was obviously that complicated electronics you're. going to miss deputy prime minister and you've seen some of our notes on the troubles in the marriage right now so we're trying to get her read really fast and work here on this stuff i'm glad you sort of put it on the spot on where he fits in the scenario so i don't think leetch should go into the government i don't

think it's necessary i don't think it's a good idea in terms of her not going to the government just let him sort of stay out and do fish judical homework and stuff i think he is the guy who's got the economic experience the governing experience he's the he's the guy you know what he needs his cleats in tiny book on the outside he needs to be talking to them four times a week well clearly this is a highly embarrassing situation for the united states particularly because we've been here u.s. officials insist for so long that they're not involving themselves in ukraine's internal circumstance. for for the spokesperson for the for the u.s. state department she had a pretty difficult day on thursday jen psaki was put in the hot seat journalist one after another reporters kept asking her why u.s. officials are interfering in ukraine's internal problems at one point corresponded said point blank that the leaked conversation go over our list is attempting to

construct a new government in a sovereign country and actually bring officials in from the un to seal the deal one thing u.s. officials had not spin their way out of it is the profanity and dismissive tone victoria nuland used when referring to the european union and its involvement in ukraine for that an apology was issued she's 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 you're not confirming that because it's your shoes i'm just not going to speak to a private diplomatic conversation but i'm obviously speaking to the content of the reports. misaki also tried to make somewhat of a joke when she was in damage control mode when she was referring to the use of profanity when it came to victoria nuland the assistant secretary of state 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 and a couple of languages so perhaps it 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 on the disease and. i was making an error learning the first words on a fishing boat there you see a u.s. spokes person trying to make a joke out of a situation that is quite scandalous quite embarrassing not sure of any. official in ukraine are laughing at this moment after they're hearing this leaked conversation on you tube about you know the united states strategizing on how to build a new government in a sovereign country foreign policy expert to both points out that the u.s.

may be trying to divert public attention away from what spoke of political tricks. we have a situation where a high ranking official of the u.s. government who's even been to kiev an issue of what was distributing cookies to the demonstrators back when they were still relatively peaceful is referring to these guys as you know glitch see in tiny book i would i would seriously be upset i would i would consider this an insult she's apologized for a comment to she's not admitting she made which is itself a confirmation that the comment was made but will she hasn't apologized for is the plans to midwife a new government in ukraine in other words she's she's apologizing for you but she's not apologizing for trying to overthrow a government in kiev and calling that popular democracy obviously there's more to it than that i don't think anybody in the u.s. establishment to sorry for what they're trying to do i think they're very proud of it and i think they're going to pursue it. and if you want more our website has got all the links to the leak itself as well as the reaction of the u.s.

state department it's all there for you online at r.t. dot com. also there and ugly moments for c.n.n. after it released its list of the world's ugliest monuments and that's after the broadcaster found space to call an important world war two monument on slightly triggering a furious reaction from veterans who fought the nazis head for the full story online. plus in saudi arabia of which hans is about to begin quite literally religious police have formed a special task force to find and track twitter users suspected of being witches the details are all on our dot com.

can't say. we speak your language anything but they will not advance to play music programs and documentaries and spanish what matters to you breaking news a little tonnage of angles kid in the stories. you hear first see this all teach spanish find out more visit eye to eye

ball tito it's called. play. place.

close i. it's a. pleasure to have you with us here on t.v. today i'm wrong researcher. to call come back to r.t. and turn national now later this year scotland holds

a referendum on independence by the politicians in london are going to do whatever they can so prevents a yes vote from happening prime minister david cameron will give a speech today urging scots to remain within the union he will argue a breakaway will undermine the position of rights and. smith reports the ranks of the independent supporters are slowly but steadily growing. keeping up the pressure is the name of the game in the race to the scottish referendum on independence david cameron's speech on fridays the latest harry in the fight and it comes as polls show a jump in support for separation since the scottish national party produced its white paper in november with details of how an independent scotland would work there's been a small number of people who want scotland to break away january poll of more than a thousand respondents twenty nine percent in favor from twenty six percent in

november the campaign also appears to be convincing those south of the border support for scottish independence in england and wales has risen to twenty four percent from twenty one in november but it's certainly not all plain sailing for the pro independents campaign dudley chief will be he is the most prominent businessman yet to criticize the thinking behind it depended but others have followed the head of a leading north sea investment bank has said separation would be a threat to prosperity both those opinions are pretty important because the economic case for independence rests largely on how much money scotland would be able to get for north sea oil and gas and westminster is sure to use that to its advantage in the next stage of what's being dubbed project. and in some other global news more than one hundred people mostly police officers were injured

when a rally against high unemployment and one can corruption violence in northern australia security forces you see here gas to disperse the crowds of stone foreign culture asters puts hash in local government buildings the protests erupted after force companies were privatized plates of files for bankruptcy. pakistan. has launched long awaited negotiations with the taleban layer a gruesome dialogue to strike a peace deal with the islamist movements this follows recent taliban attacks on military convoys checkpoints and civilians which have claimed thousands of lives taliban factions in pakistan have been battling the country's government for years that was in the bed to establish an islamic state in the region. clashes have erupted in the brazilian city of rio de janeiro that's following the rally against recent price hikes and transportation fees reports say at least twenty people have

been arrested one train station in the city center was closed after police battled mass rioters there security forces also used tear gas against protesters as violence continued in nearby streets. there is light relief for inhabitants of the syrian city of homs after the government for which the agreements with figure one so evacuated thousands of civilians from the besieged city now there will be joining the stream of refugees driven out of their homes by the civil war that number has already been estimated three and a half million people artie's policy or has the story of one such family the refugee in her own country forced from a home by civil war she had two daughters are hiding some two hundred kilometers from the village in a three room apartment they share with another family the crime supporting president bush on our side. the terrorists want to kill me they broke into my house

to find me they looted everything they kidnapped six members of my family all because they are looking for me. a lot has been said about the desperate situation facing refugees who fled across the border to neighboring countries but most of those forced from their homes by the spiraling violence are displaced within syria itself these internally displaced people remain extremely vulnerable and their numbers continue to swell. i've been told many times to stop supporting assad and everything will be fine but i won't change my principles and they will. when we will fight his first got hold of through high birth she was eight months pregnant they keep her so badly she lost the baby but she refused to change her politics. i ran away with my children my mother is very dear to me it is now the second aid faster all that has passed without me being with her my mother has god by her side

he will not abandon her. they are kidnapping young people sixteen year olds and they're cutting them into pieces when asked if she'll give herself up for family sake through high buy in fashion pieces no. if i die i want my daughters to continue in the same way everybody is going to die my mother may die but she wanted their last victim i may die to. syria's death toll stands at more than one hundred thousand with no sign of fighting a beijing for many internal refugees home remains a distant dream for those like through high but it's only their ideals that gives them the strength to carry on policy r.t. damascus syria. more news for in about half an hour from now next here on r.t. international it's over to washington d.c. for our financial show boom bust to stay with us.

the play. the olympic spirit travels with the flame from its birthplace of greece. joining james brown for an elemental and epic journey around russia and beyond. where art. thou.

there is obviously more for the ladies because it's pink. women wanted to avoid rape they really needed to buy guns and learn how to use them i'm. sure this is the one that i want to go with them once again it's the fear from. women definitely the target of the gun lobby feeling you don't kill them when you kill me many would have so many would you would just prefer. i know to say more and more if that's really scary marketing tactics which implies that women have some sort of moral obligation to own guns to protect their family and young girls shoot out here too so we do have a pink or. more kids young kids choke on food than are killed by firearms if being armed made us safer in america we should be the safest nation on

earth were clearly not the safest. what. they were there i marinate this is boom bust and these are the stories we're tracking for you today. prolific businessman investor and author jim rogers is on today's show you won't want to miss that he's giving us his views on everything from trade agreements to emerging markets to farming you definitely want to miss that then plus do you think business in europe is squeaky squeaky clean think again we'll tell you why coming up and finally in today's big deal ed harris and i discussed what those pieces of paper in your wallet what they're actually worth yeah you know the things as dollar bills or pounds or whatever it is wherever you're watching from you want to miss a moment of it and it all starts right now. our

lead story today the price of corruption specifically in the european union now a recent report published by the european commission revealed that corruption cost the e.u. roughly one hundred twenty billion dollars a year now that's around one percent of economic output overall forty three percent of firms in europe see corruption as a problem and almost top of all companies doing business on the continent say that corruption is an issue for them the report now is a major blow to the e.u. which is often portrayed as one of the world's cleanest regions however encounters with corruption do vary widely across the blocs now the recent report says that you

citizens believe greece italy lithuania spain and the chest the public are the most corrupt the corruption is can. it was rare in denmark finland and sweden in fact in two thousand and twelve the corruption that perception index ranks finland as the least corrupt country on the planet and in twenty thirteen denmark was ranked least corrupt however for the same year greece greece came in at eighty tied with china not good and the e.u. commissioner of home affairs she said quote corruption undermines citizens confidence in democratic institutions and the rule of law it hurts the european economy and deprive states of much needed tax revenue bottom line keep it clean keep it in the green at least in theory it should be that way.