organizers say it will be one to tell the grandkids as the hours tick down to the opening ceremony of the twenty second winter olympic games a show they say will be even more spectacular and the torch tree made for seizing it 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 fashion gongs at the winter olympics from the weird and wonderful costumes to the overly bright and just downright bizarre. gives the wild and unintentional peek at its plans for ukraine as a league fun conversation between senior diplomats leaves washington rather late.

this is seen to national coming to live from moscow my name is you. thanks for joining us. and with just hours to go saw che's at the center of the sporting world billions are expected to t.n.a. to see how russia will open the twenty second went to a big games i'm going to eyes as a promising a shot no one will forget to copeland a torch relay that's already made history he's paul scott he said the aisle of the capital for us right now. is being seventies seem 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 all that 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 tuesday evening and i can tell you that the forty thousand plus spectators who were going to be inside that stadium are going to be treated to a high tech pyrotechnic display a condensed journey through russian history and although the ending certainly hasn't begun in the olympic cauldron hasn't been lit we still don't know the identity of the person tossed without 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 that such she is ready to welcome the sporting world. her suppressions have been good we've been riding every day. at. places. like states we don't have this much that's accessible but so easily. right off to the. right of the sun is that every day. so yes.

i think the russians are very enthusiastic about sport and about the olympics so i expect them to play great hosts to 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 titian. well tonight 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 is going to the bottom of the world's deepest lake lake by cars going to the top of the highest peak in europe and it's 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 taken time out of his busy show jill to pick up the baton as has u.n. secretary general ban ki moon who was 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 are going to be 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 search the twenty fourteen winter olympics are now just hours away. so of course our correspondents and cameras are in place to give you the news from every venue and give you a taste of the olympic spirit and a pulse caught we just had from him has set up camp in the olympic park in the coastal cluster. where the opening ceremony will begin this evening and five disciplines will be contested here

a half hour drive into the mountains is the upper class to its hair and whether the rest of the competition will take place and that's what else he's under follow throughout the games. but russia won the right to host these olympics there wasn't even a paved road leading to the roads or who tore never mind the 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 there's 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 there's hope that many thousands of tourists will come here for decades 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. with hours left before the opening ceremony is some are simply unwilling

to be swayed by the olympic spirit like in previous selling pianos political drama is sharing the headlines where the sporting achievement of top athletes and i'm on this now with phil butler a century ago everything p.r. and senior partner visions p.r. mr butler welcome to r.t. nice to see you so we're now that you've written that some media outlets have gone over the top regarding this what's the difference between just criticism and not slinging we've seen both. hi yulia thanks for having me on the difference basically boils down to sensationalism and truth versus the actual facts we have some photographer friends that live in so she and some other collaborators they're helping us tell some stories and my curiosity was piqued obviously by the negativity on one side in the press versus what we're

hearing from very credible people on the ground in social and so the difference is . pretty obvious you're hearing some misinformation and it's gotten to the point now where it's almost ridiculous. particularly badly in times of criticism it has attracted i think the people at some level have to be affected by the criticism on a personal level on a national level and. in an athletic level as an american. i think it's safe for me to say from the moderate perspective that fairness and. fairness and good sportsmanship is something that's ingrained in us from a very early age and i think that most of the people who may not here because they

basically don't want trouble or don't want to be in the news. field and so my friends feel that it's very unfair and very unsportsmanlike to have so much criticism heaped on. politicians even in russia and so she in particular some of these stories are just way over the top so is that something specific about russia that that is easing the criticism. to be honest i'm not quite sure of course we deal with these things on a personal level as well as on an official level as a p.r. . i don't always see things as i would sitting next to someone on a barstool but i think. the world that we deal in a social media is a media it's instantaneous response and i think communicators at every level from richard edelman that edelman p.r. whom i respect

a great deal to my contemporaries and some of the social media experts understand and realize that we're dealing in the real time now and i think that there's a lot of political political things going on people are very angry and upset in the world and some there's some sense that people are trying to fan the fires of. unrest to try to change something and i don't think very many people know what that is so so she has suffered a little bit i think. and i think if the games turn out to be successful is is i think a lot of people are going to have mud on their shoes because of the stories that tried to tell in the reverse direction. for people who want to be had don't you think that takes can be the best time and the best platform for that. yes of course it's all political activism and so for interest

and. for good and for the for the negative always tend to gravitate towards these kinds of activities because there's so much focus on the olympics or any sporting event for that matter. but the queen is basically about forgiveness the troops are sort of world report inciting the troops or is so the other day and just impressed me as. is what we should all be doing. when you have deliberate games i think when you put everything aside unless it's the most onerous. human rights violation anyone could possibly imagine we need to put these things aside and compete against one another in the spirit of excellence and the pursuit of being better at everything we do so yes the olympics is the perfect medium for us to come together and make peace that that's what we want to thank you very much for your opinion phil but let's say in chief of everything p.r.

and senior partner at tunnel visions p.r. thank you very much again for your for your perspective. and before the medal count again take a look at some basic numbers that organizers have been keen to get out and these are the twenty second winter olympics and by all accounts a record breaking almost three thousand athletes from the largest ever number of countries eighty eight countries that will compete in some chick in a record number of sporting events i say sporting events we have here and another record soldier has broken is the cost these are by far the most expensive winter games in history but it's not all about the numbers of course in the midst of the sportsmanship there's another fierce contest that for many is no less important the top designers worldwide has put all their efforts into making the team is the gold standard lympics fashion and she's not in entries now reports. course all the eyes will be on the procession tonight at the opening ceremony and indeed what people

are wearing other uniforms are they costumes all of a political statement so let's give you a wrap of what you can expect tonight let's go straight to the german team bell set they stand out from the crowd we have them design by blocking out that total 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 there tonight said the 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 they are here in the pico says that coat with a slim sweatpants with a floppy hats with a star design in the colors red white and blue so 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 efforts 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's von holzen who and he's actually just one eighth mexican he's actually descendant of german royalty people say he's a prince. other people don't he'll be wearing the lair o. outfits and you certainly won't miss him in his truffled ruffled succeeded with his

red tie and come about and that's the prince hubertus von holding her moving on to the russian bombshell that is arena 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 would 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 this is evening with again broadcasting from our olympic studio in sultry and in time of year i will be working to bring you the atmosphere the results and what's happening behind the scenes stay with us.

the g twenty fourteen promises week ultimately in the exhilarating winter forcing our team. joining us now a make over now and the rest of our local news team for sochi twenty four take. on our team. the he has refused to comment on the role washington is a current game playing in ukraine's very own game of trying to link phone conversation between top u.s. officials has exposed to in a walk aims of the state department 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. in the intercepted phone call u.s. assistant secretary of state victoria nuland draws a full roadmap of how a new ukrainian government should be only not ised season or in a fortnight explains from. 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's let our viewers actually take a listen for themselves. the piece was obviously that complicated electron's year especially the announcement of him as 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 a read really fast on where he goes on this stuff i'm glad you sort of put him on

the spot on where he fits in your 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 they're not going to do the government just let him sort of stay out in doofus 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 need to screech into any 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 into 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 shows the us 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 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 good for me to call that 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 in a couple of languages so perhaps that speaks to that more than a pervasive viewpoint you know suggesting that she is a predisposition to. sing that she learned russian curse words and curse words on that it is amazing. 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 high official officials in ukraine are laughing at this moment after their 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 german chancellor angela merkel has called the use of such language an acceptable and load the news of former deputy speaker of the belgian parliament says this is a sneak peek into real diplomacy. ok to do real good diplomacy behind closed doors this confirms that a long stance of the united states and the you by the way towards other countries did is dana to show floor for democracy. of other countries this once more undermines the whole claim of transparency and democracy building and get back to the building of political institutions these are all ideological efforts to influence the politics in other countries this is what the united states has been doing for decades he just confirms along stands it also by the way shows how casual these people can talk about the politics of another country. and if you

will know our website has got it all the links of the leak itself as well as their reaction of the u.s. state department go to dot com. and also later in the program david cameron puts the screws on the scots delivering a speech punctuated with nationalist rhetoric and waxing lyrical about what he says are the benefits of staying part of the u.k. that's after the break.

it's technology innovation all the lives developments around russia we've got those huge earth covered. dramas that can't be ignored. stories others use the notes to. say since changing the world right now. to picture a day. from around the globe. look like.

you're watching also international life from moscow welcome back may british prime minister has wrapped himself figures who are in the british and other big flags today calling for scotland to vote against becoming independent from the u.k. but as david cameron kept up the pressure from the olympic stadium in london these coldish national polls he has have really criticized him for giving this speech south of the border off his lowest west now reports. he wasn't actually talking to the scots he said he was actually talking to everybody else in the english the wealth of welsh in the northern irish he said four million scottish people would be able to vote in this referendum but in fact sixty three million people would be affected everybody in the british isles and he urged those other people who don't have a vote to play a part he said you may not have a vote but you do have a voice so what he wants everybody to do is or tweet anyone scottish that we know and tell them that we don't want them to leave the u.k. that's essentially his message today we want you to stay and that message betrays

his worry really and could be quite timely in the recent poll has shown that support for scottish independence south of the border has leapt a little bit in the last few months january poll showed twenty four percent in support up from twenty one percent in november so he'll be slightly worried about that as far as the points that he made goes he stressed this intricate tapestry of the u.k. as he called it he said there are business ties agricultural ties but there are also personal ties to he said his own name is a scottish clan name it cameron cook it knows parent name and he also made the emotional case for staying part of the union and this is where he really played this got to their own game of course they have the scottish national party has appealed to national values and this is what david cameron did in his speech he said that the u.k. is more than the sum of its parts and that he cares too much to stay out of the

argument he really laid it on very thick talking about g.b. not just to refer to the olympic team but to refer to the united kingdom as it stands at the very minute and so he's been accused by this of just national policy of using the lympics in this way as a political tool and he certainly did labor that point also a lot of people have asked out sort of outside in the real world and also in the stages. when he made the speech why did he go to scotland why is he making this speech from london his argument of course is that he was talking to the people of england wales and northern ireland he wasn't necessarily talking to the scots but the scottish national party accusation again is that he was too cowardly to go to scotland that he won't come and he's too scared to take part in a face to face debate about the future of the united kingdom. online for you at r.t. dot com an ugly moment for c n n after it released its list of the world's ugliest monuments they were all cast and decided to label an important world war two

memorial and slightly triggering a furious reaction from veterans who for the nazis had to r.t. dot com for the full story. and also online celebrities out photographed on the red carpet by the earth is shot from the red planet robot robot you're also taking a sound bite of the first ever photo of our planet taken from mars. the syrian government has been stunned it will take part in the second round of geneva peace talks on monday meanwhile for people in the syrian city of homs there has been some respond from fighting thanks to a three day ceasefire to allow civilians to be evacuated and humanitarian supplies to be sent in those fleeing will join the estimated three and a half million refugees already driven from their homes by this civil war. that one family who was among them too high but mark leave is a 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 very crime supporting president bashar assad. 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 solve these internally displaced people remain extremely vulnerable and their numbers continue to swell. so i've been told many times to stop supporting assad and everything will be fine but i won't change my principles and they'll. when we will fight his first got hold of through high birth she was eight months pregnant they kept her so badly she lost the baby but she refused to change her politics. i

ran away with my children and 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 back 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 won't be their last victim i may die to. syria's death toll stands at more than one hundred thousand with no sign of fighting a base for many internal the future means a distant dream for those who high back it's only their ideals that gives them the strength to carry on. c.r.t. damascus syria. coming out opinions kaleido the top political issues in cross talk

. recently it online poll by the liberal dollars 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 was slavery really that bad it was a bone 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 in other words were a generation mean mean me these people could never imagine sacrificing the great and wonderful me for any cause sacrificed me to the blasphemy i'd rather. 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 as would have been worked to death and shot a nazi death camp it pays to make a few sacrifices for society a fascist my opinion.