arabic to find out more visit arabic don't. go green eyes this age will be the one to tell the grandkids and the hours tick down to the opening ceremony of the twenty second went to allenby games a show they say will be even more spectacular and the tall tree lay preceding its plan. 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 the winter olympics from the weird and wonderful costumes to the overly bright and just downright bizarre. this is all seen to national coming to you live from moscow i'm due nash and

welcome to the program and with just hours to go of the sun tell disposing wild billions are expected to tuning to see how russia will open the twenty second winter olympic games organizers are promising a show no one will forget to compliment a torch relay that's already made history as a pulse caught isn't the end of the council for us. it's been seventy is 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 that stadium are going to be treated to a high tech pyrotechnic display a condensed journey through russian history and although the opening ceremony

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 in 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 sochi is ready to welcome the school ting world first impressions having good we've been putting every day and i'm happy to have. played states we don't have this much success with that so easily. right after this it's right in the sun but everything. so yes. 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 they called to

begin 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 going 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 figure. as well including russia's foreign minister sergei lavrov he's taken time out of his busy schedule 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. biggest torch relay in time in 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 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. and no doubt our correspondents and cameras are in place to give you the news from every venue in sochi and give you a taste of the olympic spirit and pulse court set up in the olympic park in the coastal cluster of sochi right here where the opening ceremony will begin this evening five winter disciplines will be a contested here but a half hour drive into the mountains is the upper class step where the rest of the competition will take place in pe and that's where his anger follow will be throughout the game. when russia won the right to host these olympics there wasn't even a paved road leading to the road or who tour 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 it's hope that many thousands of tourists will come here to 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 top 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 count begins less now take a look at some basic numbers that organizers have been keen to get out there and there are at the twenty second winter olympics as you can see 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 sancerre in

a record number of sporting about ninety eight sporting events are there as well but it's not all about the numbers in the midst of the sportsmanship there's another fierce contest that for many is no less important top designers worldwide have put all their efforts into making the team is the gold standard of the limbic fashion martin andrews 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 the political statements so let's give you a wrap of what you can expect tonight let's go straight to the german team they'll set the 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 attitudes 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 of 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 leaving 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 that don't he'll be wearing the lehrer outfit and you certainly won't miss him in his truck folds ruffled succeeded with his red tie and come a band that's prince hubertus von. moving on to the russian bombshell that is. recently she posed for a glossy magazine wearing just lingerie with curling stone she's got lots of tongues wagging lots of 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 tonight 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 pairing 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. sanders that this evening will begin broadcasting from our lympics to the insulting and in time of year i will be walking to bring you the atmosphere the results and what's happening behind the scenes there don't miss it. g twenty fourteen promises week ultimate end exhilarating winter. storm easing our way to make seven zero and the rest of our late news team to sochi twenty four take. on. the u.n. has refused to comment on the wrong washington is apparently playing in ukraine's very own game of. a leaked phone conversation between top u.s. officials has exposed in

a walking's 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 organized auntie's marina portnoy 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 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 a read really start on this stuff i'm glad you sort of put it 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 getting our calling into 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 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 leaks conversely was she's 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 the 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 burring 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 against russian no i was suggesting that she learned russian curse words and curse words on the diseases of these issues english. i was making a joke about her learning the first words on a fishing boat there you see

a us folks person trying to make a joke out of a situation that is quite scandalous quite embarrassing not sure of any high official i officially 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. so german chancellor angela merkel has called the use of such language an acceptable and that led the new state of former deputy speaker of the belgian parliament says this is a sneak peek into oriel the diplomacy open to the real world of diplomacy behind closed doors this confirms a long stance of the united states and the you by the way towards other countries dillies dana to show for for democracy to some of the of other countries this once more undermines the whole country of transparency and democracy building and get

back to the building of political institutions these are all ideological efforts into one's politics in a in other countries this is what the united states has been doing for decades it just confirms a longstanding it also by the way shows how casual these people can talk about the the politics of another country. under here. and all the links to the leak itself as well as the reaction of the u.s. state department go to aussie dot com. and also on the program this hour david cameron puts this cruz on the spot delivering a speech punctured situated with nationalist rhetoric on what a miracle about what he says as the benefits of staying part of the u.k. all that later.

right from the scene. first struck you and i think the church. on our reporters twitter. and instagram. to be in the know. on. there's a scene here when you're in the arctic you have feel entire world at your feet she looks like a fairly simple shit but really she's not simple little. handful of people ever have access to the nuclear icebreakers the real king here is that the polar bears and ice breakers come second not a single complex expedition to the arctic can be conducted with the russian nuclear powered fleet of ice breakers we've undertaken

a unique operation in. the northern sea route russia's arctic ice breakers. this is our team to national welcome by the british prime minister has wrapped himself figure a survey in the british olympic 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 this culture stash party has happily criticized him for giving this speech south of the border and he's laura smith 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 knows currently and he also made the

emotional case for staying part of the union and this is where he really played the scots at 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 the scottish national party of using the olympics in this way as a political tool and he certainly did labor that point also a lot of people have all asked out sort of outside in the real world and also in the city. when he made the speech why did he get gotland why is he making a 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 and the pond came as an activist would be guest scotland movement and his hit live with us right now mr cain hello welcome to all he very nice to see here so as we just heard mr cameron made a very impassioned plea to the scottish people and to keep them in the u.k. to saying this will work. i don't i don't think it will work i think it was a very ordered speech members of the new campaign about a month ago were ordering the scottish government not to politicize the commonwealth games and there we have david cameron standing in front of the velodrome connecting the olympics to the great british but so there's a huge amount of hypocrisy there but i think we look at david cameron and we see everything necessary independence if you ask anybody for independence for a one way answer to the question why would you want to or yes the answer is because

there will be no tory government in scotland for ever and there he is there we are at the moment suffering under policies like the bedroom tax like the austerity budget from a from the tory government yet again no matter whether we have a scottish parliament no matter how many liberal m.p.'s descended to westminster we didn't vote for under inflicting their policies on us so here is very embodiment of the reason why we need independent while the scottish national party has criticised mr cameron for giving his speech in london as well as capitalizing on the olympics isn't this a sign the no campaign is getting a little. frantic and wore it a bit. i think it will campaign is beginning to fall apart on one day they will campaign will send for example even labor shadow ministers like cattle in flint and ed balls to go out and says you know we will not create an energy market with you we will not create

a currency union with you you know and if you had any we have towards independence venture funds cable was up saying your whole banking sector will pick up sticks and leaves will one day its independence will be a disaster and then the next day we are loved bombed by people like david cameron and m.p.'s say we love you don't go there there's a fundamental incoherency or if this was a modern age you would say that one of the partners was by paula needed quite a lot of therapy and economists and business leaders and defense leaders that said independence wouldn't benefit scotland what do you think. but it would in terms of defense it would directly benefit scotland to the tune of a billion and a half pounds if we if we measure the size of our army to the size of our small european competitors we have an immediate peace dividend straightaway there the financial times earlier this week identified the fact that on the very day of independence on the on the budget as it stands and including oil and gas scots will be fourteen hundred pounds a head better off than the average income levels in the rest of the u.k.

no one really argues that scotland as an economically viable the question is how can we actually grow an economy how can we rectify extreme inequalities between rich and poor which we've inherited from being in the u.k. system and they can go forward into the to the future into the way the world is the common today i was talking about the great british soft superpower there's an element of not soft per precious of per hour i don't agree with you know it's the fourth or the fourth largest army and it's a six largest exporter there's nothing particularly great to be proud of there and i think the scottish brand has a huge amount of salt per we can do a lot of good for ourselves in a way the world and a lot of good for own prosperity if what independent of us that were the escaflowne part cain thank you very much indeed for your time thank you and also in line for you an ugly moment will c.n.n. after it released its list of the walls ugliest monuments to bone cancer decided to

label an important well what's even moral unsightly triggering a theorist reaction from veterans who force the not had to r.t. dot com for the full story. and also on life liberty the output of grass on the red carpet be at the shop on the red planet robot robot here he also say i found by the files that a photo of outline taken from. the syrian government has confirmed it will take part in a second round of geneva peace talks on monday and while for people in this to. city of homes there has been a somber spite from fighting thanks to a three day ceasefire those fleeing will join the estimated three and a half million refugees already driven from their homes by the civil war closely about one family was among them too high but mark live is a refugee in her own country forced from her home by civil war she and her daughters are hiding some two hundred kilometers from the village in

a three room apartment they share with another family their 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 with fiji's who fled across the border to neighboring countries but most of those forced from their homes by the spiraling violence are displaced within syria to solve these internally displaced people remain extremely vulnerable and their numbers continue to swell. some 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 kicked 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 age 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 are 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 it's only their ideals that gives them the strength to carry on policy r.t. damascus syria. thanks and i'll say itself on our show been.

our guests should know that we too can precedented measures to ensure their safety is but it's about this will not get in the way of their comfort for a ticket but i can say for sure that they won't even know a soul that they will feel welcome with them as they will be needed just such

a residents are very hospitable people. so. why. has 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 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 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.